The Lyrics

The earthquake on the central California coast today (Dec. 22, 2003) reminded me of the last big earthquake that my husband and I experienced - Northridge, Jan. 17, 1994. Even though it sucked big time, there was one amazing thing...

At 4:31 a.m. when it was still quite dark -
And the Northridge earthquake caused all power to be off the mark -
Unheard of in L.A. -
Tripping over rubble
Slipping into spills -
Looking through what used to be our window -
Ohhhh, we saw the Milky Way

When we checked the neighbors' to see that they were all right�
And compared our stories, we could admit it was a total fright
And saw the Milky Way
Shake shake shake shake shake shake -- we saw the Milky Way
Shake shake shake shake shake shake -- we saw the Milky Way

Not bad, not bad
Compared to some, not bad
Some homes and some apartments were toast
California's where you can find faultlines most

6-8, it was extreme
Temblor came, and it went
The electric poles bent
Extreme
6-point-eight was extreme

With the sinkholes in the streets and buildings tumbling down
Seems like nothing much is going right in this entire town
Not just another day, doo doo doo doo doo doo
There's so much left to say, doo doo doo doo doo do
Then there's the Milky Way

Not bad, not bad
Compared to some, not bad
Some homes and some apartments were toast
California's where you can find faultlines most

6-8, it was extreme
Temblor came, and it went
The electric poles bent
Extreme
6-point-eight was extreme

When we looked around the house and saw a major mess
Broken brick wall in the yard and other things that bring on stress
We knew we'd have to pay
Husband says it could be
Worse in many ways
Aren't you glad we didn't have a chimney?
And we saw the Milky Way

Oh, we saw the Milky Way, shake shake shake shake shake shake
We saw the Milky Way, shake shake shake shake shake shake
Not just another day!

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Guy - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

Amazing how much of the heavens you can see when there are no urban lights blocking your view. Earthquakes have a way of telling you just how powerful nature can be. I've been in a few in Japan but nothing major. Worst was about a 5 pointer in 1987 when my bed moved three feet across the floor while I was sleeping in a room on the 5th floor of a hotel. Not fun.

Mari D - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

Having lived in California all of my life, I've been in three big ones: 1971, 1987, and 1994. The trick is not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your experience in Japan sounds like something out of "The Exorcist"! How long were you there?

Guy - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

I lived there for three years in the 70's and was there for about 6 weeks in the summer of 87.

Meriadoc - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

But wouldn't those Milky Ways melt if the power was off? Oh! Stars... ;-)
I spent the day of the '94 quake huddled under a blanket, wishing they'd hurry and get the gas turned back on...

Paul Robinson - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

Mari D - Excellent job! You were fairly close to this shaker, weren't you? We felt it a little (well I didn't, but some folks here did) down in Torrance (just a little south of L.A. to you non-Californians out there). Yeah, I've been in California since 1959 and remember them all. The oddest for me was 1994 - I happened to be living in the same apartment building in North Hollywood in the apartment (#8b) adjacent to where I was living during the 1971 quake (apt. #7) (a really long story). Things got tossed around the place pretty good but all that broke was the top of the toilet tank (It apparently "jumped" straight up and landed in a manner as to crack it straight down the center) and 1 jar of salsa that fell out of the refrigerator. I wasn't damaged or harmed at all, but knocked out every light in the city and it seemed you COULD see every star in the sky at that moment (this NEVER happens in L.A., too much 24/7 artificial light). I guess since you're not sending your comment in from the Red Cross that you're more or less ok. good.

Mari D - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

We could barely feel yesterday's quake; some co-workers and I just thought that we were dizzy. Paul... Strangely, in 1971, I was a senior at North Hollywood High and they cancelled classes for a week. My dad was in the business of repairing and restoring furniture, art objects, etc., so business was really up then (along with glass companies). Our high school prom was held at a venue directly above the dam that ruptured during the quake. It's all everyone talked about for a long time. Meriadoc... where in LA were you and your blanket? It would have been nice to have some Milky Way bars then!

Johnny D - December 23, 2003 - Report this comment

The Milky Way - "The Backbone Of Night" - lovely sight, lovely parody. 5's

Stray Pooch - December 24, 2003 - Report this comment

Denver. 1968. I'm reading "Ripley's Believe it or Not True Ghost Stories." There is a story about a poltergeist shaking a bed around. Suddenly, my bed (a rollaway cot in my basement bedroom) starts rolling all around the room. I'm screaming my head off and running up the stairs. My mother has no idea how I was able to get up the stairs since she hasn't been able to get off the floor! "It's an earthquake!' she yells. "Is that all?" I think. Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time!! No real damage but you can understand why I still remember the title of the comic I was reading 30 plus years ago! I still think God was in the mood to play a trick on some poor eleven-year-old kid that night - lol!

Paul Robinson - December 24, 2003 - Report this comment

Mari D - North Hollywood High, eh...Where was your Dad's business? My Father owned the Car Wash at the corner of Laurel Canyon & Oxnard at the time (from about 1961 to 1975 or 76, actually). Small world...hmmm...Disaster stories...I lived in the Baldwin Hills area when THAT dam broke back around 1963 (albeit and fortunately on the OTHER side of LaBrea), and was up around the side of the dam up until just before it broke I think (I swear, I didn't do it). Was collecting lizards for 8th Grade Science class extra credit with a friend (1 point for dead ones, 2 points for live, I'm serious, really...lizards, I mean, not friends.). I had grown tired of dust, dirt and reptiles and insisted on leaving and when we got down to Coliseum and LaBrea water that was about a foot high started rushing pass us heading North down LaBrea. Friend Joel insisted I saved his life, not sure about that but was glad to be where we were instead on along the side of the dam (it broke it the front, though).

Mari D - December 24, 2003 - Report this comment

Paul -- Wow. I remember the Baldwin Hills dam disaster being all over the news. We lived in Studio City (right down the street from the drag bar and the Christian Science church), but my dad's business was in L.A., the real, actual city of L.A. or, as we in the valley used to say "over the hill." And my alma mater is Cal State Northridge, home of about a million dollars worth of damage from the 1994 quake. Stray -- don't know much about Colorado earthquakes, but it sounds like your mom wasn't impressed by it! How big was the quake?

nally - December 27, 2003 - Report this comment

I remember the 1/17/94 quake very well. At the time my parents and I were living in a mobile home (which was obviously very mobile during the quake--it shifted off its foundation!) in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. It was badly damaged, so we had to live in hotels and motels for the next three months while it was being repaired.

To Mari D-- you say your alma mater is CS Northridge? Wow, that's where I currently go to school!

Rick D - December 27, 2003 - Report this comment

I was there when that nice big library you enjoy was a big hole in the ground.

David Chrenko - December 27, 2003 - Report this comment

Golly Wow! What is this, "Old Neighborhood Week?" Paul, from 1976-79 I worked for Bomp! Records (record label, rock magazine & record store) at Laurel Canyon & Magnolia. Nally, I, too, attended CSUN in the mid-70s, while I also played in a band with Rick D, who is now Mari's husband. And Mari, Rick, et.: In '94 I was living in Ventura, and working at KDAR, on the top floor of a 15 story high rise. After our power was restored in the afternoon, the Program Director called, and wanted me to do earthquake coverage with him. The elevators were out, so I had to climb 15 flights. Just a couple minutes before I was to join the PD in the on-air studio, a huge aftershock hit. The building started swaying, and our massive suspended audio speakers started crashing against the walls. We were literally bouncing around the place. By the time we had to go live, we were both so nervous, that about all we could do was laugh and crack "earthquake jokes". Thanks Mari for rekindling such fond memories! Shakey, Quakey Fives.

Paul Robinson - December 30, 2003 - Report this comment

David Chrenko, yes, it appears my disaster rememberances triggered some delayed memory aftershocks. It seems more than a few folks here were around the SoCal area for some serious geological Rockin' & Rollin'. I was at a Supermarket that now stands at Laurel Cyn. & Magnolia a couple months ago picking up some stuff for my Dad (he still lives in No. Hollywood, well they call it "Valley Village" now). That corner has changed quite a bit in 40+ years (what hasn't?). The Hollywood Fwy. used to end at Magnolia (the construction went on beyond that but they didn't open it to traffic for at least another year, don't know why), so we would get off it and turn right on Laurel Canyon every day to go down the his business. Way upstairs on the 15th floor? Not a fun place to be during an earthquake.

Paul Robinson - December 30, 2003 - Report this comment

Stray & nally, So let's see: a roll-away bed that was rolling away and a mobile home that was on the move. Trouble with rubble; sinkholes and power poles...brick walls that fall. I can't add anymore to that, except - good job, Mari D., you shook loose a few memories.

Mari D - December 31, 2003 - Report this comment

Wow! This is amazing! There's nothing like an earthquake to shake things up!

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