We have been exploring My Musical Evolution through the Academy Days. So far it has been about the albums I owned back then. In the interest of being thorough, there were still a few artists and songs that should be included. John Lennon was killed my sophomore year and his album Double Fantasy was getting a lot of attention. I didn’t own Double Fantasy. Even now, I only own a Greatest Hit collection. Lennon had a bunch of good music but I’m firmly entrenched in Team McCartney. I think it actually might be because of his life as an activist. I’ve always been turned off by artists turned activists. It isn’t the message, it is the path. I guess it bothers me that people will pay attention to the beliefs and opinions of a person not becuase they have devoted time and study to a cause but because they have a hit single. I’m not saying that artists shouldn’t have opinions, I just don’t like the idea of artificially adding value to that opinion with non-related stardom.
(Just Like) Staring Over
Woman
Watching The Wheels
I don’t know exactly how it got started but somehow The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme got associated with Adam and Me. I should rephrase that. I have no idea. Was it something we decided? Did somebody else think of it. What I do know is that I ended up with the 45 and we used to play it. I’m going to jump ahead with little story about The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme and rootbeer. One of the things Adam and I used to do was make homemade rootbeer. I never thought of making soda before and I don’t know if Adam did this frequently or if it was his first time too. Basically using rootbeer extract, yeast, water and a bunch of sugar we made naturally carbonated rootbeer. It took about an hour to cook up then a couple of months to age and carbonate. It was the best tasting stuff ever. We made 2 or 3 batches during the Academy Days. I don’t think you can get that brand of extract anymore. So we had our own brand of distinctively tasting rootbeer. Now fast forward to the mid 1990’s. I’m cleaning the basement of my house on Cortland Ave. I put a randomly selected mix tape into the boom box while I’m down there cleaning. I also am drinking a can of generic rootbeer. The music is playing I’m cleaning. I have nio idea what song will come up next. This mix tape was one out of dozens. I put the broom down to take a sip of my rootbeer. At that exact instant The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme comes on the tape and in those first few notes, the generic rootbeer in my mouth is transubstantiated into our glorious homemade rootbeer. It was shocking. I can’t explain it. That one mouthful was exactly how I remembered it. Sadly, it was generic again on the next sip. It just goes to show you how powerful the mind is and the effect that a song can have on our reality. I was so blown away by this experience that I called Adam right away and described it to him. Some songs are linked to people, some are linked to moments in time and some are linked to sugary carbonated beverages.
Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out
Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby
Another movie trip we made was to see Fast Times At Ridgemont High It was full stuff that high school kids thought was funny. We all wanted to have pizza delivered to a classroom. This song stuck out.
Pure Prairie League – Amie
There is something really nice about this song. I used to sing it to a girl named Annie changing Amie to Annie of course.
Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes
Styx -The Best Of TimesMy cousin had the Paradise Theater album and I was able to enjoy it a little bit.