track 16: falling

In the Spring of 1990, a television show called Twin Peaks started to air. There was a short half-season that spring, and then one more season the next fall, when I was beginning my senior year of high school. I was incredibly into the show, which is probably where the obsession I have with the Pacific Northwest (that continues to this very day) began. I had never heard of David Lynch before that and probably wouldn't see any of his other work until after my high school days were done. However, the show was so intriguing and I was dying to know Who Killed Laura Palmer.



The music for the show was composed by Angelo Badalamenti, who is a frequent collaborator of Lynch's. I didn't know who he was either, but the dreamy, mesmerizing score absolutely got to me, nothing more than the show's theme song, "Falling." Sung by Julee Cruise, the song first appeared on an album called Floating Into the Night, a collaboration between Cruise, Badalamenti & Lynch, who wrote lyrics. I didn't actually get the album until more than a decade later, but it's full of beautiful music, including the gorgeous song "The world spins."



Anyway, this post isn't solely about Twin Peaks or Julee Cruise. In fact, I'm not familiar with anything Cruise did aside from Floating.... However, it was the cassette single for "Falling" that is the star of this entry. Because it played during the car accident I was in one rainy day in 1990. November 3, 1990 to be precise. I know this because it was the Saturday after the movie Jacob's Ladder opened. I was going to see it that night with a few friends [who star in track 17: nothing compares 2 u] that night.

But earlier Saturday, I was going with my friend Kristi Perazzini to Bayside, a shopping center in downtown Miami. This is the same mall I saw Tiffany in, by the way. My big purchase that day was the cassette single for "Falling" and it was playing in her car's stereo while we were driving back home in the rain. We had gotten somewhat turned around, but had finally found our way to Sunset Drive, a main road, and were heading west towards Kendall when the car lost control and began to spin. And spin and spin. I remember seeing a telephone pole right ahead, but the car turned again and we ended up coming to a loud crashing halt on the concrete median. When the car stopped and it was apparent that we were both okay, I remember pushing the door open and... suppressing laughter. My defense mechanism? Happiness to be alive? I don't know, but I immediately checked myself and felt guilty.

There we were two teenagers on Sunset Drive with a car stuck on the median that was going nowhere. It's 1990, before either of us would have had a cell phone- and I'm sure she would have had one, even if I probably wouldn't have- so we have to walk to the intersection of Sunset & 87th to get to a pay phone. Kristi doesn't want to go alone and even though I'm pretty sure it's not the smart thing to do, I go with her. We find a phone and call... her mom. Who must have freaked out. We go back to the car to find a cop waiting by it. He can't believe we left the scene of the accident, but I think in the end blames the fact that we're, you know, dumb teenagers. The tow truck arrives and the driver remarks with astonishment that he can't believe we walked away from this scratch-free. Until that point, I don't think that either of us had realized how serious it was. The axle was completely broken and Kristi's car was finished forever. (She then inherited her mom's great big silver Cadillac, which was a lot of fun to ride in and in retrospect, probably a hysterical sight to see two teenagers going around town in.)



The "Falling" cassette had flown out of the tape player and into the back seat. Kristi banned it from ever being played near her again. That night I did still go see Jacob's Ladder with my friends. They were all stoned and I was still in mild shock, so I don't think anyone could have told you what that movie was about, just that it was "so. fucked. UP!!"

I had taken driver's ed during my junior year and been pretty unexceptional. I think that seeing how easy it is to lose control of a moving automobile and having such a close call might be why I never really enjoyed driving and stuck to public transportation.

Another favorite story about Kristi is how we tried to go see the movie Pet Sematary three times but could never get in because we weren't 17 yet. This was actually something that happened during our junior year. The first time we tried, it was the day the movie opened. A friend of ours bought tickets for us. Sadly, there was actually an usher at the door to the theater, who wouldn't let us in. We ended up seeing Speed Zone, a Cannonball Run sequel, instead. Another time, we decided to buy tickets for Beaches and then sneak into the other movie. Again, we were foiled by a movie usher collecting tickets at the theater entrance. I can't remember the other time, but I don't think I have ever seen Pet Sematary to this day. If I did, I'd probably just be disappointed.