Being a teen in the 60s

by Peter Twitchell

Moses “Uksuuq” Wassilie and I go way back. It was a frigid cold evening January 01, 1967 I ran into “Moe Man” as we knew him in music circles, at the Swanson’s Theater porch in minus -60 below zero chill factor weather. We had a brisk wind coming from Siberia.

This was typical winter weather in western Alaska.

This deadly weather was not fit for man nor beast, but nothing seemed to faze us teenagers in the deadly environment. Us boys loved it.

“Moe Man” wore a scarf around his neck, bell bottom jeans, and Beatle boots was the fad of the day. As young teenagers in Bethel we moved like the wind and never slipped as we ran across the frozen tundra!

It was impossible to slip and fall, our feet were just too quick and fast. It felt like skating on the frozen icy tundra!

The Beatle boots never held up to the cold weather. I went through two pairs of Beatle boots before the winter was over. The glue that held the boots together was not made to endure the constant cold.

Moe Man had a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, and his bell bottom pants were stiff and hard. In a hoarse voice Moe said, “I’m going to need you to sing for me tonight. Do you know ‘Black is Black’ by the Los Bravos?”

I said, “I got the album but don’t know the words.”

We left the showhall and ran home to copy the words. The dance went well.

1 Comment

  1. Hi Peter I was ab6th grade teacher in bethel for 2 years 1968 through 1970 were you one of my students

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