Phil Zorn:  

I have heard from several people so far who say they find my story both interesting and slightly surprising. I had much success in high school and college and then only a few years later, I got quite sick. Several of my newer friends from the internet observe that I write like a college professor and I am not sure that they all mean that as a compliment. But I am fairly good at knowing the rules of grammar. It is my opinion that many of you have a story every bit as interesting and in many cases more so than my own. I and other people would enjoy knowing what has happened in your life. So if you need any help in composing your story, please contact me and I will be happy to help. If you need this information, my account is with ymail and my Name is xtrapts. A lot of us would enjoy learning more about you too. In all honesty the best years of my life were probably high school and college. I graduated from Abraham Baldwin Junior College in Tifton, GA in 1966. Then I went to the University of Georgia and graduated in 1968 with a degree in Distributive Education. I was working on a Master's Degree at the University of Georgia and teaching high school for the Atlanta Public Schools when I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 1971. I left the school system in 1976 following the shooting of the Assistant Principal at Murphy High School. At the time I was the Work Coordinator for the Neighborhood Youth Corps program for students at Brown, Murphy, Sylvan, Douglass, and West Fulton High Schools. Lester Wilson who was paralyzed by the shooting was my contact person at Murphy. I had been sick for several years at that time and several of my friends with the school system suggested that I should consider leaving. I feel that they gave me very good advice and have never regretted leaving the Atlanta Public Schools. I had worked for a hotel briefly while attending college. When I filled out several job applications after leaving teaching, the first offer I got was from a hotel. I have been working for several hotels in the Atlanta area since then. It does not offer that much satisfaction as compared to teaching high school, but the stress level is much less. And the work I have done does combine together some of my math, computer, and people skills. As with many of you, the internet has been a vital part of my life in recent years. I created one of the more successful Weekly NBA Fantasy Basketball Groups with ESPN. We have just completed our 6th year together. And I suppose my main claim to fame since leaving the school system has been my knowledge of the records that were hits on the Pop and Rhythm & Blues Charts during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. I answered so many questions for members of our WNBA Fantasy Group the first summer I joined that one of them named me The Musicman. I now use musicman55 as my internet handle on most websites. In case anyone else likes Oldies, check out the True Oldies Channel at 98.9 FM. They have filtered out many of the truly great hits from the 50's, but the music they play from the 60's and 70's is much better than average. And the True Oldies Channel plays a much, much longer list of hits than FOX97 ever did. Most of us who were really knowledgeable about music burned out on the very small playlist at FOX97. Scott Shannon who used to be the Program Director at WQXI-AM in the 70's is the disc jockey and selects the music for the True Oldies Channel. I have been sick virtually every day since I was 24. Although I came close to seriously considering marriage several times, I am probably one of the few people in our class who has never been married. And although I openly admit to being a huge fan of Disco, I have never been gay. Personally I don't see any real connection to liking Disco Music and sexual preference. In my opinion black people actually invented Rock & Roll and Elvis and Bill Haley helped to make it popular. My favorite artists of the 50's were Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the Platters. The Supremes were the greatest female group of all time and by far my favorite act in the 60's. I will give the Second slot for the 60's to Marvin Gaye who had a lot of really good solo efforts and some great duets, especially It Takes Two. Number Three for the 60's would be the incredibly versatile Ray Charles. Al Green, ABBA, and the Bee Gees were my favorites during the 70's. Doo Wop and Chuck Berry were major forces during the 50's. The Beach Boys followed Chuck Berry in the 60's and clearly Motown owned the Pop and Rhythm & Blues Charts during the 60's. And the dance music of the 50's and 60's helped to create the Disco Craze of the 70's. I know by the sales figures that I was definitely not the only person buying Disco during the 70's, but it seems like most ...Expand for more