With friends, lovers, murders, laughter and travels, this memoir recounts the high times of one man's life up through the 1970's. The landlady raised parakeets in the basement of the boarding house on South Stone Avenue. My attic room surrounded the chimney, and that was a real blessing during the Chicago winters-but it wasn't much for socialization. The two largest rooms on the top floor floor became gathering places for us 'top of the stairs' level occupants during the 1970s. Mostly commercial artists, musicians, and gentle folk, we soon happily found ourselves settled into a routine that was to become some of the best days of our lives.