track 37: heal it up

During my days at MDCC, I traveled around on buses a lot. I think I'd do stuff just to get out of the house, which is the complete opposite of the way I am today. Often on Tuesdays, I'd take the bus down to South Miami where I'd pick up new CDs the day they came out at Specs on US-1 and then see a movie at the Riviera movie theatre next door. I remember the most: Deee-Lite's Infinity Within, The Lemonheads Come on Feel the Lemonheads, being insanely excited about buying Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's - a collection of hits, rarities and three new tracks by my beloved Go-Go's! I remember unwrapping The Essential Divinyls before catching My Own Private Idaho for the second time and even seeing Jurassic Park there by myself. Sometimes I'd even skip classes entirely and just go for a movie and a trip to Specs.



However, one Tuesday towered above all the others. October 19, 1993. That was the day that Concrete Blonde's Mexican Moon was coming out. I was terribly excited. I had even got a postcard from their mailing list, The Happy Hermit, saying that a limited number of the CDs would come prepackaged with Dream 6, an EP released in 1983 before taking the name Concrete Blonde. This was like my holy grail. I went into Specs incredibly psyched. You couldn't go too early or else they wouldn't have unpacked everything. But there it was, Mexican Moon! Only no Dream 6! I left and walked down to Dadeland Mall and checked the record stores there.

This was no easy feat. Because my feet were not at ease. Since high school, I had been having recurring problems with my big toe. The toenail kept growing far into my flesh. Somewhere around this time, I had a tiny surgery that resulted in half of my toenail being removed. I remember that it happened to be the same day that Concrete Blonde was performing on "MTV Live" which was a pre-TRL show and I was bummed about A) surgery, hello... and B) missing CB. My stepfather taped it for me (see, not all bad) so I could watch it when I got home. (And then commented during the interview sequence that Harry Rushakoff, the band's drummer "looked like a fairy" so there you go.) Here's a clip of them performing their cover of "Everybody knows" which I'm pretty sure is from that show:



Despite the discomfort of, you know, walking, I walked to Dadeland and none of the stores there had the fabled Mexican Moon - Dream 6 combination. But Mexican Moon was good enough for me. It was another amazing album by my favorite band. I loved the single, "Heal it up" as well as the title track and the beautiful "Rain." Concrete Blonde was always a band who had really great CD singles. I love their b-sides as much as anything else they did. This time they released singles for "Heal it up" and "Mexican moon" that had a cover of Bob Dylan's "Simple twist of fate" and a live version of the Tears for Fears song "Shout" that kicked. ass.



Soon after Mexican Moon, Concrete Blonde broke up. There was a great collection of b-sides called Still in Hollywood and eventually a collection of singles called Recollection. I was absolutely crushed, but the promise of some new projects involving Johnette cheered me up. The first would be a collaboration with Holly Vincent on Mammoth Records that was called Vowel Movement. It was fun enough at the time, but I think that only a couple of songs made their way to my ipod a decade later. Much better was her collaboration with Marc Moreland of Wall of Voodoo, called Pretty & Twisted. They released one self-titled album on Warner Brothers and it was really great, including songs like "¡Ride!" and my favorite, "The highs are too high." She would also combine forces with Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads for their No Talking, Just Head album, featuring the original band without David Byrne and a rotating cast of singers. Johnette would be the main singer for their tour. Soon after this, Johnette & CB guitarist Jim Mankey collaborated with a band called Los Illegals for an album called Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals. Word was that it was a one-off thing and that Johnette would release a solo project soon. But for that, we'd have to wait a decade.



(I eventually did get Dream 6 when it was made available for sale through the awesome CD Baby website. It's good early stuff and includes an early version of Mexican Moon's "Rain.")


next time: "i want a boyfriend • i want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas"

track 6: mad about you

By the summer of 1986, the Go-Go's had broken up (and broken my heart by doing so), but Belinda Carlisle had moved on and recorded a solo album. I probably purchased the 45 of "Mad About You" as soon as I had laid eyes on it.



The song itself is one of those upbeat and romantic pop songs that Belinda would specialize in and I don't know, maybe the song shaped the sort of music I'd listen to for the next 5 years or so. I'm not sure why I was drawn to love songs like this, because despite being on the verge of teenhood, I wasn't really crushing on anyone. Except for the singers of the songs: Belinda, Martika, and Debbie Gibson. Maybe it was simply because these songs just make me happy, and still do. The b-side was a slinky and sophisticated pop song called "I never wanted a rich man" that I hadn't heard for years until recently, when I finally bought the album on CD.

The first time I purchased her debut, Belinda, it was on cassette. I actually remember it very well because it was during that summer when I went to Los Angeles to visit my Mom's side of the family. In my memory it's one of the very first things that happened there, we went to a Peaches near the ocean and I bought Belinda. It was the soundtrack of that time for me and it's unbelievable that I didn't wear the tape out. I remember riding around in the back of a truck with my Grandfather and his wife Dorothy, her daughter Doris, my California cousins, Dwayne and Veronica and my Aunt Della and her husband Mark. I remember going to Magic Mountain and testing my roller coaster mettle. I remember driving through Beverly Hills and one morning's very slight earthquake. Being on a long cross-country flight and not being the bit afraid.



I don't know why it was so difficult to find on CD, but I recently got it and listened to it on my ipod. I recognized every note and lyric despite not having played the cassette for at least 15 years. The music you love just gets in your subconscious and stays. I first played it on a train ride to work. Sometimes I find myself in these reveries where I think about my life now and how I'd never have imagined this is what it would be like. I never expected to move so far from home. Imagine going back 23 years and explaining to that kid listening to Belinda on his Walkman that one day he'd be listening to the very same songs while on a train looking out at the daily sight of the Brooklyn Bridge. Sometimes I wonder how I ever made it this far and how I ever got here. I'd go crazy if it weren't for this music, my constant companions, the songs that made me.

Speaking of Los Angeles, here's the video on youtube. Check out links below for Belinda Carlisle's CDs or MP3s!

track 2. vacation

The first full LP I recall having (that is, the first one that wasn't Disney-related children's music) is The Go-Go's second album, Vacation from 1982.



I got it probably a year or two after it had been out. I was 9 or 10 years old and they were my favorite band. Vacation was a gift from my Uncle Ron, who was visiting Miami with his wife Michelle. There was a mall that would have been pretty new at the time where the family would usually go to every Friday night. My brother and I would spend our allowances on G.I. Joe figures at Toys R Us (where I'd end up working a decade later). We could usually afford one a week. Or I'd buy 45s at Camelot Music or Record Bar. Then we'd all go have dinner in the food court, Taco Viva or Sbarro's Pizza. After, we'd go home and my mom and Granny would watch "Dallas" on TV. On weekends, my brother and I got to sleep in our sleeping bags in the living room after staying up late watching "GLOW: The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling!" Anyway, I remember going with my uncle and his wife to International Mall and picking out the record. I think when we got home, I immediately played it on my little Mickey Mouse record player for them out in the patio.

The Go-Go's would continue to be my favorite band during the 80s, despite the fact that they broke up after their third disc, Talk Show came out. I actually saw them on the tour for Talk Show with my mom. Okay, so usually when asked what my first concert was, I say with pride, "The Go-Go's!" But it's not 100% true. It's the first concert I went to as a fan. In reality, my first show was Melissa Manchester. My mom was going to see her with some friends, but when a friend was ill, she agreed to let me go instead. I don't remember where it was. But I had a set of binoculars. However, in 1985-86, when The Go-Go's came to Miami I somehow got my mom to get tickets for us to go. I was so excited. And then I got sick. No matter. I went to the show anyway, at Sunrise Musical Theatre. The opening act was INXS, who I didn't know at the time. It might have been around the time Listen Like Thieves was released, but definitely before Kick came out and everyone knew INXS. All I remember was that they were loud and I was miserable and during intermission, vomited in the restroom. Finally, The Go-Go's came out and you know, I don't remember much because it was so long ago, but I'm sure they rocked. Once the set was over, we made our way out as I was still not feeling well. Once we were out in the lobby, heading out the door we heard them start up again for an encore. One of my favorite t-shirts ever was my Talk Show tour shirt. It's still somewhere in a drawer, and obviously far too small for me now, but it's one of the few musical souvenirs of my youth that I would still wear with pride. For a few years, I had this amazing poster of the band above my bed. I had got it at Atlantis, this water theme park, of all places. It was my favorite poster that was eventually torn (by mistake...?) by my stepbrother. Every once in a while I check out ebay to see if I can find one like it, but I've never seen anything even close. To this day, hearing the title track, or frankly any song from their first three albums, makes me want to jump up and down with joy. The Go-Go's and their music are always going to be favorites of mine.

Watch the video and do "The Belinda!"