Thirty Years Ago SALLY, why keep kissing frogs when there's a prince standing behind you? Turn around. It's the magic frog you kissed long ago. You're loved. Prince. BWANA. Crystal Pier is a beautiful idea. We'll laugh and be happy. I'll show you the stars at night and we'll play in the sand and sun in the day. I really do care. I love you. Sparling. -- CLASSIFIEDS, September 23, 1976

Twenty-Five Years Ago Concert promoter Marc Berman will pay $85,000 to rent San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium for the Rolling Stones' October 7 appearance, and if he's not cautious, Berman may contribute even more to the stadium's bank account. His contract with the stadium calls for the 3:00 p.m. concert to end by 8:00 p.m., with "absolutely no amplified sound...after 10:00 p.m." Should the Stones rock on past the deadline, Berman must pay a $1000-per- minute fine. -- CITY LIGHTS: "GET YER YA-YA'S OUT," Paul Krueger, September 24, 1981

Twenty Years Ago Tufuku was upset. Over the weekend, an old "running partner," his "road dog," had been shot in a drive-by killing. His assailant was unknown, said Tufuku. Studying my frown and knowing, by then, that it was incomprehension he saw on my face, he added, "Your road dog, he's the guy, he's got two dollars when you go to eat, you know you got a buck when the time comes to pay." -- " AT THE CORNER OF POVERTY AND CRIME, PART II," Judith Moore, September 25, 1986

Fifteen Years Ago Mojo Nixon: "When I did a cross-country bike trip ten years ago, I gave to my close personal friend Buck Parker my funeral instructions. I've been to a few traditional Christian church, organized-religion deals and thought they were lacking in vitality, humor, and the acceptance of death as part of life. "So my instructions to him are as follows: I don't want to be buried in a coffin; I want people to carry me, hopefully, like in a sheet -- I have this Dale Earnhardt race car blanket that would be nice. It would be good if it was a full moon, raining, bonfires, and dogs howling. They can just be carrying me in the sheet while they sing, whatever song they're singing -- possibly an Elvis song or maybe a Pogues song." -- "DROP DEAD GORGEOUS," Edited by Sue Greenberg, September 26, 1991

Ten Years Ago A few years ago, Mike Wilken and some friends with a professional video camera drove to a village southeast of Ensenada. There they met with a Baja Indian named Benito Peralta. With the camera running, Peralta recounted in the Paipai Indian language an ancient story about a monster who lived in a cave in the arroyo running through the community. Later, Wilken and his friends went to the cave and recorded some of the children playing where the mythic monster crunched his victims' bones. -- "ONE THOUSAND SURVIVORS," Jeannette De Wyze, September 19, 1996

Five Years Ago The drawback to asking Steve Esmedina to write a movie review in my stead, ostensibly to give me a break, was that it would then fall to me to edit it. A drawback, first, because of his habit of testing the limits of a deadline, and second, because the further he pushed the limits, the more he needed editing. For me, as for others in my position, it was always a question of weighing what Steve had to offer against what he would exact in toll. I can't be sure what ultimately tipped the balance, but memory tells me it might have been the review of Slap Shot. Memory again must tell me, because the printed version will not, that the opening line ran something like, "Slap Shot should have been called Slap Shit." -- BLUBBO'S WORLD: "BETTER ON THE MUSIC PAGE," Duncan Shepherd, September 20, 2001