Cities aflame with mindless ramblings

This post is more sort of a trip down memory lane than anything else. For me the songs that had the greatest impact on me were the songs I heard growing up. Unfortunately that was way before most of current crop of DJs and dancers were born. Such is life. The following is a bit of rambling blog with minor references to strip clubs.

The first album I ever bought was Blue Oyster Cult’s first album. Actually, it wasn’t the first album ever bought was Willie Horton’s Greatest Hits. I really didn’t want the album but I wrecked my parent album. We had a Telefunken radio/record player, early 1960’s vintage. This thing wasn’t some portable piece of electronics it was furniture.






If I had to describe it in a word, it would be industrial. The tone arm on the record player was cast iron. Most tone arms you measure in grams, this thing was in pounds. It looked more like a part of a car suspension than something you’d play music with. The motor for the turn table sounds like the starter from world war two tiger tank. This thing had an industrial growl to it. If you didn’t want to play records you could probably use it to resurface the brake rotors on your car. In the hands of small child it could render an album into vinyl hamburger in short order.

Blue Oyster Cult always has had a special place in my heart because it was the first group I “discovered” that played music that was so totally different than anything I had heard before. Until then pretty much everything I listen to was the typical AM pablum the permeated the radio air waves in the early 70’s. One afternoon with nothing to do, I was turning the radio dial up and down trying to find something to listen to. On the far end of the dial I found KVAN 1480, the monomaniacs. “Cities aflame with Rock and Roll” by Blue Oyster Cult was playing. It was like nothing I had ever heard. In retro spec it’s not that remarkable song, but it was my first glimpse into a wider world of music. The Partridge Family didn’t cut it any more. KVAN 1480 was a really odd station. First they didn’t broadcast 24 hours a day. I think at 8pm or 9pm they’d sign off. Sunday mornings they would play religious music. Listening to the Monomaniacs you could go from scriptures to Alice Cooper to Friendly neighborhood narco agent in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately I’ll probably hear Friendly neighborhood narco agent in club long before BOC.

To really get a feel for how revolutionary this was for me keep mind that during this time there is no internet, cable TV, barely any FM radio. Everything you heard was through AM radio. Which basically means it was really rare you heard anything different. Suddenly finding this music was mind blowing. In retrospect Cities aflame may not be a great song, but it still gives me chills.

I never really fit in high school. I wasn’t good at sports I spent most of my time just trying not to be noticed and get through the day. Computers and technology were just starting become mainstream. Curiously my high school baby boom era career counselors were completely useless. I took the high school electronics science course my junior year. I read both text books (solid state electronics and tubes) and completed all the course work for the year plus extra credit by the end of November. I seem to have an aptitude for electronics. Yet when I went met with career counselor he told me to forget electronics because all the stuff was going to be made in Japan in a couple years. He recommended that I become a mechanical engineer and go to work for Boeing. It took me about three years to figure out the counselor was an idiot. I wasn’t at very good at mechanical engineering. But I was better at mechanical engineering than english. As you've probably figured out with my horrible editing.

One aspect about the strip club culture that always made impression on me is how accepting some dancers are of fringe personalities. If you are respectful to the dancers (and I include tipping in being respectful) most dancers will accept you. People who in polite society would be ridiculed or ignored are welcomed. I know there are ultra bitches who think they own the world and cynical dances who hate customers, but for the most part dancers are very accepting. The strip club environment is far more accepting than my work place. I’m considered a pariah since I don’t golf. Literally every one of my peers is a golfer. It amazes me how many business trips are planned around golf tournaments. I always feel more comfortable in a strip club than I do in a meeting room.

I tend to be a contrarian at times. If you tell me that I’m going to love something before I tried it I will begin to hate it. This is how I tend to be toward music. If it’s really popular I don’t like it. One of the really by big band from high school was the Eagles. I hate the Eagles. I really hate the Eagles. I can die a perfectly happy man never hearing Hotel California again. One of the things about the 70’s is when something became popular it became inescapable. You heard this song everywhere. It was on the radio when you got up for school, somebody was playing it on their car eight track tape player. It was on the car radio on the way home from school. I think even our parakeet learned to sing parts of the song. In a couple of months it would change to something new, Saturday Night Fever, Convoy, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I absolutely and positively do not miss that aspect of the 70s. I like being able to download music, I like being able to search Pandora for new musicians.

It’s frustrating when I hear the same music at the strip club. Come on, there is so much stuff out there. One group I always expect to hear in a club but rarely do is Queen. It seems to be a good fit, very upbeat and theatrical. Bohemian Rhapsody is actually one of my least favorite queen songs. They are (or were since Freddie Mercury died) one of the best groups I’ve seen in concert. David Bowie was another amazing show.