Fred Calabretta was interviewed in the Fall of 2010 for the CPTV original documentary "The 60 in Connecticut." In an effort to share the many hours of footage and rich content that does not appear in the documentary, we are posting the full length interviews online.
Interview Synopsis:
“...So as a teenager, you’re, you’re dating for the first time, you’re driving for the first time, you’re working for the first time, you’re spending more time away from your family—and you’re doing all these things in the context of the sixties, and it just was an extraordinary time period” Fred Calabretta, a typical teenager in the 60s, listened to music, hung out with friends, wore hip clothing, and enjoyed the freedom of reinvention that teens experienced during that era.
Mr. Calabretta not only listened to local garage bands like the Shags, he played bass in a band that had regular gigs at local fraternities at UConn and CT Central College. He shares stories of getting in trouble with his principal for having hair that was too long and breaking the rule against jeans in school.
Fred Calabretta emphasizes that while the 60s is remembered for phenomenal cultural events like Woodstock, it is important to remember the Vietnam War and the very different experience the very young soldiers were having over seas.
From Woodstock to Vietnam, from working at G Foxx in Hartford to the draft, Fred Calabretta shares his first hand experiences as a teenager in the 1960s. Watch Mr. Calabretta and many others in the original documentary “The 60’s in Connecticut” airing on Connecticut Public Television.