Month: December 2021

Music…

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Band Aid

and Words

It’s Christmas time
There’s no need to be afraid
At Christmas time
We let in light and we banish shade

And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas Time

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

It’s the winter of 1984, and there’s a little song that gets increasingly more air play.  Both the local radio stations and MTV play it.  Music was my refuge and I listened (and watched videos), but somehow this song and its video was different.  This song is both familiar and different.  I hear vocals from many voices which I recognize, but the name ‘Band Aid’ is not one I recognize.  The video similarly has a collection of many artists all collaborating on this one project.  That song, of course, is “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Continue reading “My favorite Christmas song” →

Music…

You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul

The First Album

Modern Talking

and Words

Deep in my heart, there’s a fire, a burnin’ heart
Deep in my heart, there’s desire for a start
I’m dying in emotion
It’s my world in fantasy
I’m livin’ in my, livin’ in my dreams

You’re my heart, you’re my soul
I keep it shining everywhere I go
You’re my heart, you’re my soul
I’ll be holding you forever
Stay with you together

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I felt liberated upon graduating high school.  Everything was rushing until the very end, only to be followed by an abrupt and eerie silence.  I coasted for about a month.  I bused or waited on tables for a bit, but not anything that I really remember.  In some ways that summer was transformational.  I survived high school by integrating into the realm of everyone.  Never did I prostitute my values, but I wasn’t really being who I really was; I wasn’t my most authentic self.  Though that was largely driven by the simple fact that I didn’t know who I really was.  There were very few people like me in my high school, and basically no one with the same experiences.

Continue reading “Finding my kin, among a dozen dance floors” →

Music…

Pac-Man Fever

Pac-Man Fever

Buckner & Garcia

and Words

I got a pocket full of quarters, and I’m headed to the arcade.
I don’t have a lot of money, but I’m bringing ev’rything I made.
I’ve got a callus on my finger, and my shoulder’s hurting too.
I’m gonna eat them all up, just as soon as they turn blue.

‘Cause I’ve got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
It’s driving me crazy.
Driving me crazy.

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

This was me circa 1983; I won’t deny it.  I lived near the Grand Prix Race-O-Rama; they claimed that they were the World’s Largest Arcade.  I spent more hours at Grand Prix that I care to admit; it embarrasses me to this day.  I wasn’t able to drive then, so I either got a ride from my sister or rode my bicycle there.  When I did the latter, it took me the better part of an hour but did it happily.

Once there, it was my refuge; it was this fifteen-year-old’s Nirvana.  It housed multiple gigantic rooms with stand-up arcade games that lined the walls packed tightly, separated by only inches.  The centers of each room were outfitted with row upon row of cocktail table versions of the same arcade games.  The rooms were illuminated by the glow from each screen as each game was played or they continued in ‘point of sale’ mode.  The sound on each arcade game was configured so that you could near it, but it didn’t overwhelm anyone else’s playing.  The effect was that the entire room was bathed in kaleidoscope of lights from these screens and their sound effects.  Their combination was both never precisely the same, but it was always there and always consistent.  It became the soundtrack to my teenage years in a twisted way.

Continue reading “Becoming the master of my own world, in 25¢ increments” →