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Thirty Years Ago WANTED: Names and addresses of persons or groups who have been harmed or threatened by Interpol, the private French-based police organization. Contact immediately National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice, 926 "C" Street. -- CLASSIFIEDS, August 19, 1976

Twenty-Five Years Ago "I borrowed some money from my mother and in 1962 brought in my first big group, the Kingsmen, who had just released their biggest hit, 'Louie, Louie.' I rented out this huge warehouse in downtown Lemon Grove called the Feyton Building, and the place was big, but the cops only wanted so many people in there. We had 1200 people inside and another 2000 outside. And the people who were outside knew there was still room in there, so they got uptight. The guy whose building it was came around front and told me we had to close the doors because the cops wouldn't allow us to let more people in, so I ran around back and told everyone to come in through the back door. We were charging a buck and a quarter to get in but I wanted to get as many people as possible in there before the cops or the owner saw what I was doing." -- "THE SPIRIT OF JERRY HERRERA," T.K. Arnold, August 20, 1981

Twenty Years Ago It's the fourth of July at 6:30 a.m., and we're driving down the 27-mile highway between Tapacluila and Puerto Madero, the southernmost port on Mexico's Pacific Coast. Ken Franke, a retired Coast Guard captain and now a marine surveyor from San Diego, is at the wheel of a red Nissan he rented in Guatemala City. His mission is to find out what happened to the Gypsy Song, a 65-foot ketch-rigged sailboat that left the port of San José, Guatemala, about 130 miles south of here, on January 2, 1985, bound for Acapulco and ultimately San Diego. The boat's owner, 32-year-old Ron Novosat, his 64-year-old father John Novosat, and a Spaniard named José have not been heard from since and are presumed lost at sea. -- "MYSTERY OF THE GYPSY SONG," Stephen Meyer, August 21, 1986

Fifteen Years Ago Another form of mother appears in the lascivious appreciative comment mamacita ("little mama"). Men say this to women. Curiously, both feminists and fundamentalists have curbed this practice, since both camps chafe at the implication, which is, "You cute little thing, I'm going to deliver a load of manhood to you." Dimwits who think they're sharp make wordplay with mamacita and say mamasota, which means "great big mama" but actually implies "you have ten times the sex appeal of a mamacita." -- CITY LIGHTS: "DO YOU MAKE THESE EMBARASSING MISTAKES WHEN YOU CUSS IN MEXICAN?" Luis Urrea, August 22, 1991

Ten Years Ago It's getting toward cocktail hour, and you're hoarse now from shouting "Dole! Dole! Dole!" or "Kemp! Kemp! Kemp!" It's thirsty work. So you leave the convention floor a little early and wonder where there's a good bar nearby. The first good bar closest to the convention center is a step across the tracks at the ass end of the Gaslamp Quarter: Baja Brewing Company.

Lucky for you, it's happy hour from 4:00 to 7:00. The house is featuring Elephant Ale while the GOP's in town. The flier reads, "A conservative beer brewed with the ONLY clear whitewater." -- CITY LIGHTS: "COMMONLY DRUNK," John Brizzolara, August 15, 1996

Five Years Ago "Years ago there was a song by Grandmaster Flash called 'White Lines,' and a lot of ignorant people thought it was promoting drug use. These are the same ignorant people who say 'Because I Got High' is promoting drug use. I guarantee if Adam Sandler sang the song it would get played on radio stations across the universe. Because Afroman is black, people are taking it the wrong way." -- BLURT, Ken Leighton, August 16, 2001