Most places I go, if the subject of high school comes up, there is always this amazing respect for the name New Trier. I found New Trier to be an accelerated time of learning and building friendships.

Having the opportunities in music was one of those learning experiences which actually helped me make a living. I miss the advice of school band conductors Sam Mages and Roger Mills. I still communicate with Roger Mills. Occasionally I contact some fellow members of the rock group The Maniacs, which was headed by Gerry Grossman. Do you remember us? The first year New Trier was open The Maniacs played eleven times for school functions.

My college degree is in television, radio, and speech. I haven't used the degree for too much. During the 1970s I played with a number of Chicago bands. I finally formed my own group called The Spectrum Orchestra. I started a music booking agency Called Bands Are Us! in 1978 which handled seven bands. But at the end of the 1980s it was more than obvious that there was less demand for the kind of "live" bands I handled. Electronic music has cut into live music, and I have to admit, some electronic music does a better job than some live musicians.

I still play some, but in the 1990s what increasingly was getting my interest was the Stock Market. I have became an avid personal investor. I've always liked electronic gadgets and inventions, so technology investments were and are my chief investment interest. Needless to say, investing is financially better than music! I'm sure if New Trier had a stock which represented its product of a quality education, the stock price would be high like some of these technology stock prices!

As far as avocations go, I am an audiophile. That is, I am constantly trying to experiment with specialized stereo equipment to get the electronic reproduction of music to sound as close to "live music" as is possible. I am quite an expert and would be glad to give anyone advice on what stereo equipment to buy. In fact, I'm a member of The Chicago Audio Society. If you're interested in music sounding in your home "as real and enjoyable as possible," here is the Chicago Audio Society's Web page.

Ham Radio, which I also learned at New Trier, is another avocation. Likely my strangest avocation is my experimental interest in paranormal/psychic/spiritual phenomena. There is growing "scientific evidence of subtle results" psychically produced by the human consciousness. The bad news is that most of the time these results are produced by our unconscious minds. That means these psychic effects are rarely deliberately caused by our conscious efforts to produce them. If you want to read a credible book on the subject, read The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin, Ph.D.

I have spoken at conferences on the subject of psychic and prayer phenomena when I was president of Spindrift Consciousness and Prayer Research. Spindrift is a nonprofit group that has done a number of unusual experiments. I still do radio talk shows for Spindrift. If you're interested, I maintain the Spindrift Web page. My E-mail is spindrif@xnet.com.

It is definitely a treat to hear from my New Trier associates, so be in touch. My telephone number is 1-847-593-7790.

Oh - my middle name is William, and now I am known as Bill instead of Bruce.

Take care,

Bill - a.k.a. Bruce - Sweet