Posts

Note To Self.

-
Image
 So, after spending the last year gathering stories, bits of wisdom, and cautionary tales from various women, it has really made me start to reflect on myself. I’ve been through the wringer, and also, quite obviously, I’ve lived to tell about it. What would I say to try and reassure my sixteen-year-old self? So many things that I feel as if my head could explode! First of all, just hold on. Seriously, dig your feet in and hold on, because absolutely everything passes. All of those things that you absolutely believe are the end of the world? They are not. Trust me. In a few short years, you won’t be able to call those things to mind, even if someone offers you a million in cold hard cash and is standing there holding the briefcase. Thankfully, the passage of time seems to bring a healing sort of amnesia, so just hold on another minute. Let that minute turn into an hour, into a day, into next week. Everything will pass. I have to caution you, though, because just as all of the bad t
Read more

Can We Talk For A Minute?

-
Image
I'll never forget getting in a cab probably 15 years ago. The driver was in his 40s and had big curly headbanger hair, still frosted as if it was 1988. He was wearing an old  RATT  concert tee that blended in with his sleeves of tattoos. He was on the phone at first trying to figure out who was going to get the  Motley Crue  tickets for him and his friends once they went on sale the next day and I instantly liked him. He was like a fossil leftover from the 80s but the thing was, he was the real deal. He stayed true to the music that he was raised on and had no desire to change any of that. Or at least that was my first impression. I've since learned never to think for certain that I have someone all figured out in a quick glance or three. As the cab finally started to move he asked if I minded the radio and of course, I didn't. I remember being intrigued by him but also worried that he wouldn't get me to the airport on time.  Then he told me he didn't like what was
Read more

Wild Side.

-
Image
Motley Crue's  " Wild Side " always takes me back to high school- on one day in particular. When I was in 11th grade I'd spend my morning cramming in all of my academic classes so that my afternoon could be spent at a vocational school. Cosmetology seemed like a dream job for a 16-year-old girl that spent plenty of time teasing her own hair, and being in beauty school meant that I had a little card that gave me access to every professional beauty supply store around. My supply of Apple Pectin shampoo was endless and eventually, I traded in a big can of Aqua Net for an even larger can of Vavoom which cemented your hair in place AND made it smell like coconut. Anyway, the afternoon bus was filled with headbangers that had zero desire to go to college when they could be learning how to take a car engine apart, cook like a pro, or even become a medical assistant, all while in high school. This bus ride was the high point of most days because we truly became a family and h
Read more

George.

-
Image
(ICYMI- written a day after George's death on Christmas Day, 2016) George Michael's death kind of feels like shutting the door on my own childhood. I can still see my dad coming through the door with a big grin on his face. It was the summer of 1984 and he was carrying a record in his right hand. That sight was actually quite familiar because back then dad worked at a radio station and he made a habit of “borrowing” records overnight. He would tape them on a scrap tape and then add the song to the mixtape in his expansive musical library where he thought it sounded best. The next morning he would slip that record back into the pile at work and act as if he never had it in the first place. On this particular occasion, it was a group called Wham! That had put a smile on his face. He was barely in the door when he began telling me about the song and how I had to hear it, right then and there. I followed dad upstairs and curled up in his big green armchair as he fiddled with his tu
Read more

It's Urgent.

-
Image
  When I was nine my parents moved us into a huge old house on top of a hill. It was maybe 2 miles from our other house, but far enough to mean a new neighborhood, new friends, and a new school. As we were moving in, I realized that this street was filled with kids. To the right of us was a brand-new playground that had been built where a very old hospital had stood for 50 years before (yeah, we're gonna go there eventually). Total kid magnet and I was so close to it that I had tennis balls come flying over the fence and into my yard several times a day. The end of our yard faced an alley that was also lined with kids my age, so at a glance, this looked like a pretty good situation for me. We moved in at the beginning of summer intentionally so that once school started I'd already have friends. If you walked to the very end of my yard, on the left was another backyard, on the other side of a silver fence. As my parents first carried boxes into the house, I met Jennifer, a girl
Read more

Because Your Kiss Is On My List.

-
Image
The other day we took a ride to do some shopping at a mall about 25 miles away. There are outlets about five minutes away but ironically enough (especially for a house full of book nerds) the nearest big bookstore is at that mall, so off we went. We moved to this area years ago and there are a few constants in "the salt life": there is humidity even during boots weather, deer, raccoon's & ducks do coexist in our backyard and last but certainly not least,  Hall & Oates  is  always  on the radio. Always. We noticed this pattern after a few months. Every time we get in the car there's a Hall & Oates song. Eventually, the kids were sold on this duo and when I started to rebuild by record collection we "had to" get Hall & Oates. Not that it took a lot of convincing. I was raised on Daryl and John. I think my dad had all of their early stuff and by the time they were making slick videos in the 80's I was totally sold. I mean, does any 80's
Read more

Don't You Want Me, Baby.

-
Image
 I don't really remember a ton about being 11 years old but there is one thing that does stick in my head and that is that 1982 was the year of  The Human League  in my house. I'm not sure if my dad was still working in radio at the time but he certainly still had his radio buddies and the ability to get his hands on any new music from just about anywhere. Let's back up, in late 1981 The Human League released  Dare , their third studio album which didn't really strike too much of a cord here in the states until they dropped " Don't You Want Me " and its unforgettable video. I'm really not sure what it was about the video that made it become so iconic, but for whatever reason, the visuals really stuck and somehow felt way ahead of their time. My dad didn't just love "Don't You Want Me" but he had to get his hands on a special German (I think) extended mix import that featured what sounds like machine guns on the track during the chorus
Read more