Like the label I'd saved from a bottle of Crystal Pepsi, the product Homer Simpson referred to when he said "It was the magical summer of 1992. The clear cola craze gave us all a reason to live."
The label read (and still reads) thus:
Right now, there's a new taste loose on the planet...A
completely different kind of soft drink with a unique
cola flavor. Absolutely clear, wonderfully refreshing,
it's everything you want...and nothing you'd expect.
What you get is purely the best - all natural flavors,
no preservatives, no caffeine and no artificial colors.
The ingredients, by the way, were "carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, phosphoric acid, natural flavors and citric acid (for tartness)."
I also found playbills from my spring 1992 trip to New York City, for a high school journalism seminar and sight-seeing. One night some of us students did dinner theater at Forever Plaid* -- one of my classmates was the person an actor asked at the beginning what year it was -- and another night we did a Broadway show. It was the musical adaptation of The Secret Garden at, let's see, the St. James Theatre. We were in a balcony. I remember I had trouble following the play -- I've yet to read the novel -- though I did like the music, mainly the instrumental side by Lucy Simon (Carly Simon's sister).
Prepare to smile, the theater geeks I know: the one name in the cast I recognize is John Cameron Mitchell, some five or six years before he created Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He played the brother, Dickon, and got to sing featured parts on at least two songs. So Past-Me has seen him. (Since then, I've only seen him in a clip explaining the creation of his film Shortbus, but I know he's earned fans for lots of good reasons.)
Speaking of New York, I don't even remember when or where I got this, but I found a signed filming guide for the Tuesday, Oct. 27th, 1992 edition of Late Night with David Letterman. (Signed by Letterman. I just realized saying it was signed meant it could've just been signed by Biff Henderson or someone random.) It's sort of a script -- scripted bits are in it, like Paul Shaffer doing one-sentence (and sometime one-word) movie reviews -- but "filming guide" seems a more honest description. That night's scheduled guests were Kathie Lee Gifford (a sit-down talk and her singing "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"), comedian Bill Hicks (not the performance that got pulled from the show and went unaired until a few years ago), and author Mark Leyner. Here's the opening:
Tonight: Kathie Lee Gifford, comedian Bill Hicks and Mark Leyner. Plus: Paul Shaffer and the World's Most
Dangerous Band. And now, a man who wants to sell you an Oldsmobile...David Letterman!
Completely coincidentally and therefore pointless, it was show #1701, which this longtime Star Trek fan smiles about. More significantly, the episode was recorded and aired less than a year before Letterman took the show from NBC to CBS.
What else will I find? MAYBE I'LL BLOG ABOUT IT.
* The zombie parody would be Forever Pallid.
