And the colored girls say, “Doo, ta-doo, ta-doo, doo ta-doo doo…”

 

It amazes me that so many people survive their 20’s.

 

In addition to the fact that it’s mind numbingly boring, another thing that I hate about being 30 is this compulsion I now have to evaluate my 20’s. I guess I have too much faith in the cathartic nature of art to help us bring order to the chaos of our pasts. I keep looking back at the most important or memorable moments from my past and asking, “Okay, what do I do with this?”  It’s made me who I am and all, but other than that, how do I make these things tangible and then move on? How do I download these experiences into something so that they can quit rattling around in my head?

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I think you can tell a lot about your life by the music that you connect with your past.  For example: I’ve never been a big fan of Lou Reed or The Velvet Underground (I’ve said horrible things in mixed company about women, gays, lesbians, Jews, the elderly, the handicapped, cancer victims, and interracial couples to name a few, but I’ve never had a room full of people turn on me as fast or as violently as the time I mistakenly identified The Cowboy Junkies as the original artists of Sweet Jane).

 

However, I made this mixed tape of Lou Reed solo stuff with a few Velvet Underground songs, and it’s like being in the fuckin Way Back machine. I guess I used to hang out with a Velvet Underground sorta crowd, cause Lou Reed’s music has this way of implanting itself into memories from my life that they formerly weren’t a part of…

 

Andy’s Chest: my ex fiancé, Caryn

Perfect Day: Robyn’s funeral

Walk on the Wild Side: Shawn, Lori, Dean and everybody I know who died young

Sweet Jane: waking up in Jen’s studio apartment on Grand on Saturday and Sunday mornings

I Love You Suzanne: Oddly enough, this song doesn’t remind me of Suzanne, so much as it reminds me of all the guys she dated that I didn’t particularly care for. Especially Keith.

Hanging Round: The night I somehow ended up at the Coffee House in Dogtown with a very drunk Craig Downs

 

The whole CD has this vaguely, last call at The Way Out Club, sitting in an empty recording booth at KDHX at 3AM, falling asleep on Suzanne’s floor, feeling to it.

 

Two questions for Lou Reed fans who may be reading this….

 

1. Remember when all the heroin rockers from the 70’s went through that awkward phase in the 80’s? You know, the whole dawn of MTV, Let’s Dance era?  Lou Reed put out a single called The Original Wrapper that I LOVED that I’m sure his fans hated. It had this really bad Mike Nesmith looking video with people in skintight pants roller-skating. I have no idea what album it was on, but if anybody has a copy, hook a brotha up.

 

2. I found this version of Perfect Day, Lou sings the first couple lines and after that each line is sung by a different artist, “We Are the World” style. By the end there’s a full on choir doing the “You’re gonna reap just what you sew” part.  The only voices I think I recognize are David Bowie, Bono and maybe Kate Bush. I’m assuming it was done for charity or a greatest hits album. Anyone know how this track came into being?