Escape Goat

I’m not sure of the date on this photo, but it was definitely after December 1988, because our fall 1988 pledge paddle is there in the background of the old Pi Kappa Alpha TV room at the University of Maryland.

It was early 1989 when my PiKA brother, Rich Dickson, mentioned at one of our chapter meetings that the fraternity would be running a large-scale, multi-day sale of ACA JOE clothing to benefit Family Stress Services in Washington, D.C.

When Pi Kappa Alpha Ran ACAmania at the University of Maryland For a couple of years, we had a big sale of the clothing company's products to benefit charity

I don’t remember this show, College Mad House, at all, but it was going on while I was at the University of Maryland. I looked it up: it ran from 1989 to 1991, and Greg Kinnear hosted the first season.

On this episode, it's University of Maryland Terps vs. University of Virginia Cavaliers (1990).

College Mad House - University of Maryland Terps vs. University of Virginia Cavaliers (1990) Hosted by Greg Kinnear

Summers working in College Park, MD, were fun - there would always be that core group of people you'd find at the Bentley's, the Vous, or Santa Fe.

This was the summer of 1992 - a summer with highlights for me that included working at Cluck U Chicken, going to Lollapalooza 2 in Virginia, and playing lots of Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega.

I was at the University of Maryland for five years and one summer session, but I only went to four away weekends while I was there. During my final semester, in 1993, the fraternity's finances were a bit unstable, and we didn’t have one.

Fraternity Away Weekends Were Fun and a Little Weird Looking back, it's wild that some brothers would take virtual strangers on a weekend trip

This music video from the Catholics was before my time at The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Maryland. It was shot sometime around 1983.

But the place looked the same in the fall of 1988 when I pledged. I haven't seen any other video footage of the house, so it is really cool to see my home from a couple of years ago in this video.

Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) - The Catholics The Catholics rock out the old PiKA frat house at University of Maryland. Made circa 1983 and filmed in 16mm by The Beat Brothers. Cameo by Root Boy Slim. Or...

The first time I can remember waiting out for tickets was probably early 1987 for the Genesis “Invisible Touch” tour that came through Maryland in May 1987. I was jammed in my friend Matt’s VW bus with a handful of Pi Kappa Alpha brothers. Matt and I were still in high school.

It was freezing outside as we waited to buy the Genesis tickets at the Hecht’s department store in Laurel, MD. We got paid something like $50 or $60 for the night to buy tickets, and that was huge to me, since I was making around minimum wage as a movie theatre usher.

After that night, it became a regular thing. We’d sleep out on the streets of Richmond, VA, Washington, DC, and various places around Maryland. My brother, Mike, worked with a ticket broker, Ricky (Ticket Rick) Rae, and he would set up the ticket waitouts.

Frat Boys Scalping Tickets to Pay for Tuition How Pi Kappa Alpha brothers at the University of Maryland slept out for concert tickets to make money to pay for college

This was a snow day at the Vous - probably 1992, because I wasn't 21 yet in snow days before then, and I rarely risked my fake ID(s) at the Vous, though I ultimately lost my last one there.

This video is from 1990 or so - some guys who worked at Ratsie's take us on a tour back in time to see how College Park, MD looked back then.

It is wild to see the old Vous, Bentley's, Purple Pizza, People's Drug, a big line for the Cellar, Gourmet Deli, and more - sadly, no shots of the Pi Kappa Alpha house.

CollegeParkMaryland1990 A few looks at College Park Maryland in 1990.