track 4: like a virgin

I know, I know, how surprising, a homosexual writing about Madonna. Look, we're not going to get all crazy here. It's hard to write something about someone who has already had everything you can imagine written about them. I'm not going to talk about her being some brilliant artist (although she has to be some kind of mastermind), a great singer (I don't think she is) or the second coming (because that's Kylie). But let's face it, she's one of those few who has gone from pop star to superstar to icon. Whatever you think about what she does, you have to admire the fact that she's risen up with a hell of a lot of determination and yeah, hard work. She's been doing this for 27 years now and has managed to stay current and just as vital as she was when she began. I don't think that's something you can say about any of her peers- and let's face it, there are exactly two other people in that iconic category: Michael Jackson and Prince. Above all, and in the simplest of terms: I just like her music.

I remember quite clearly hearing "Borderline" and Madonna for the first time. I was in my babysitter's van with her sons and my brother. She had left us in the van with the radio on while she went into some store. I was sitting upside down in the front passenger's seat when the song came on. I thought it was Irene Cara. I loved it. I collected the 45s of "Borderline" and "Lucky star" and wore them out. Our babysitter had cable television, which at the time was something so exciting and new. MTV! MTV playing music videos! I remember watching the video for "Do you really want to hurt me?" by Culture Club and thinking "she's pretty!" Oh, little Ricky... Madonna was all over MTV and I loved her.



In November of 1984 Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin came out. At some point, I had saved up my allowance and was going to get the album at last. I am sure that it was all I could talk about, because even to this day discs that make music or movies play make me very, very excited. My dad did not approve. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he told me I was not to buy the album. Friday night, International Mall, Camelot Music. I disobeyed. An "Angel" I was not. Although now I can totally understand not wanting your 10-year old to buy an album with a song called "Like a virgin." I don't think I was punished, beyond probably an admonishing "Oh, Ricky..." However, for years I would associate buying Like a Virgin with my parents divorce, because as I remember, that night after our trip to the mall was when they sat us down and gave us the news. It was definitely the beginning of a rocky time in my life. But Mom assures me that had I not purchased a Madonna album, the outcome would have been the same. In the spring of 1985, when my dad had moved out, I remember him calling to see if we wanted to go to the movies with him one weekend. I don't know if I was mad about the whole divorce thing or if it was just me being the selfish prick that I can be, but I said to him, "The only movie out that I even want to see is Desperately Seeking Susan and you hate Madonna!" I was only eleven, but I think that's the meanest thing I ever said to my dad.



Surprisingly, all of these associations didn't stop me from liking Madonna any less. I had the poster for Susan on my bedroom door. I wanted that jacket so bad. I have most of the 45s for her singles from the first three albums, including a blue 45 for "True blue" that I loved. To this day the smell of patchouli oil makes me think of my cassette of Like a Prayer (still my favorite Madonna album). Oddly enough, when Erotica came out on October 20, 1992, my dad gave me a ride to Spec's in South Miami, where I bought the CD the day it came out. But I didn't listen to it until I was home and alone. On March 3, 1998, the day Ray of Light was released, I listened to every previous album while I waited for UPS to deliver my copy. I would listen to "Frozen" on repeat play forever, picturing the spectacular video by Chris Cunningham. Since then, I've been less enthusiastic about Madonna's music. It wasn't until 2008's Hard Candy that I truly loved an album more than just a few select songs, but whatever may come, and as much as I might roll my eyes at myself for being such a stereotypical 'mo, I know that her music is always going to be part of me.

track 3: the tide is high

One LP I remember loving was a compilation released by KTEL Records in 1981 called Full Tilt. I can't remember what many of the tracks were, but there are two that I will never forget. One was the Alan Parsons Project song, "Eye in the sky" and the other one was Blondie.

I played "The tide is high" over and over again like a madman. When my parents had a patio built behind our house in the early/mid 80s, I would plug my Mickey Mouse record player in and turn the patio into my own personal roller rink. I'd stay out there for hours, skating around in circles and singing along to whatever record or radio song I was listening to. I would sometimes imagine that one of our neighbors would hear it and think, "My God! That kid can sing!" and I'd be catapulted into a life of fame and fortune.
This never happened.

What's interesting is that as much as I loved "The tide is high" and seem to remember loving "Rapture," I never really got into Blondie until years later, when the soundtrack to Muriel's Wedding came out. It had "The tide is high" and it sparked a forgotten memory for me about how much I loved the song. I also flashed back to some ABBA memories, but that's a story for another time. I immediately checked out more Blondie and Parallel Lines, the two-disc Platinum Collection as well as the recently released Remixed Remade Remodeled became constant residents of my Discman.



It was a revelation to discover that there was more to Blondie than the polished new wave pop of "Tide" and "Heart of glass." I love the ragged and raw stuff like "Hanging on the telephone" and "X offender." I became obsessed with "Dreaming" and "Atomic" and to this day I think that "Fade away and radiate" is one of the most bewitching songs ever.

Check out the video for "The tide is high" or download the track from Amazon:

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!"

track 1. out here on my own

The first 45 I remember having was Irene Cara performing the theme song to the movie Fame. I had quite a collection of 45s. With my Dad's 1950s or 60s record player (which, I am happy to report is still in perfect order and working condition! I will strive to get a photo), you had to use an insert to play 45s.




It's probably a really familiar image to people born post-vinyl, but maybe they don't know why. Maybe they do, now that vinyl is back in vogue. Anyway, you'd have to stick this into the center of a 45 to play on a regular record player, that is unless you had a record player with a pop-up center. I used to love buying 45s and would play them over and over (again and again) over and over.



This 45 was especially good because as much as I liked the song to Fame, the B-side was a ballad called "Out here on my own" and I fell absolutely in love with it. It would be the beginning of a trend, because for the rest of my life I've always fallen harder for the beautiful and sad ballads. I was around 7 years old in 1980, when Fame came out. About 15 years later I would discover another beautiful and sad song, Joni Mitchell's "River" and it seems like there's an obvious path from point A to B with these two tracks. While "Fame" is all upbeat-pop, something about "Out here on my own" feels like the sort of thing you'd hear from a singer/songwriter, which is where my musical tastes would later gravitate towards. (In fact, it was written by Michael & Leslie Gore) It became one of my favorite songs. I even remember making a trip to Coral Gables where there was a music shop called Allegra Music and getting the sheet music so that I could sing along. If youtube had been around back then, I totally would have been the little 8-year old kid singing along to Irene Cara.

Oddly enough, I have still never actually seen Fame, but here's the music video of Irene Cara singing "Out here on my own" from the movie.

prelude: Olivia

Both of my parents loved music. My dad played guitars and sang folk songs while my mom sang at church. I was always fascinated with the record collection that filled the bottom shelf of the behemoth wooden piece of furniture that housed our gigantic record player.




The line in Paul Rudnick's play, Jeffrey about how gay kids grow up with the picture of God as seen on the cover of the original cast album for My Fair Lady is absolutely true in my case.



I would flip through the albums, heavily populated with folk music acts like Peter, Paul and Mary and The Limelighters, featuring a dose of singer/songwriters like John Denver and some 70s AM radio stuff like Bread, Anne Murray and Olivia Newton-John. There was also inexplicably for anyone who has ever known my parents, a couple of Cheech and Chong comedy albums. The Bill Cosby made sense, but the weed-lovin' stoners? Not so much in my house.

The first singer I fell in love with was Olivia Newton-John. I remember the records we'd listen to: Come On Over and Have You Never Been Mellow, but mostly I remember the cassette that was always in the car with us, simply titled Olivia aka Let Me Be There.


We used to take lots of family vacations, the camper hitched to the back of my mom's awesome Camaro or whatever car my dad was driving at the time. We'd get through Florida, which is an interminably long and incredibly boring state to drive through- at least if you're going through the middle of it, and eventually make it to North Georgia and North Carolina and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. On the way we'd have my dad's tape box, a simple, yet sturdy black case that held Henry Mancini and John Denver and Billy Joel's The Stranger and Olivia. Olivia was always my favorite, and as I write this, listening to her clear, cool vocals, I have to say I love her just as much as I ever did. One song that will always return me to the back seat of the car, smack in the middle of the curving roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains is "Let me be there." Before she got Physical and before she was Sandra Dee, Olivia sang a mixture of pop and country songs, including a great cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." "Let me be there" definitely falls into the former category. It's not the pop/country stuff of today, but something that was lyrically and musically simple and really quite lovely.

Here's a video of Olivia performing the song in 1973, the year I was born. Watch it on youtube. I also thought I'd share a link to Amazon.com and three of the Olivia albums I like.