A most august monkey

On Blork's command:

Tell us something weird about yourself that involves music. I don't just mean the normal weird things, like that you're a closet Barry Manilow fan or you lost your virginity at an Alice Cooper concert. Tell us the really bizarre stuff.

There's so much normal weird stuff. My first concert (at which I did not lose my virginity; nor was it misplaced at subsequent concerts) was Platinum Blonde, for whom Honeymoon Suite were opening. Age 12. Weird? No. Not even particularly embarrassing — simply a question of (relatively) small-town circumstance.

Oh wait, there was Beatlemania before that, when I was 11; my best friend invited me along — she was a huge Beatles fan (I didn't really see what the big deal was). My mother was somewhat shocked by the proposition, as it took place on Holy Thursday before Easter. The only weird thing is that my mother could feel such outrage, and then relent. The show was OK.

Fast forward 2 years. Anthem: "If only Beatlemania had bitten the dust..."

Coincidentally, J-F this weekend stumbled (?!) across some Asia fan sites. Embarassingly, that was the first album I ever bought. Weird? Not particularly, though J-F points out that it was really a guy album, that Heat of the Moment was the ultimate air guitar song.

Fast-forward to university. Psychic TV.

Psychic TV was to play in Ottawa, so I rushed out for a ticket. The show was cancelled for lack of sales. All 11 of us had our money refunded.

Was it a year later? Another show was announced. A friend of mine had just seen them in Kingston, and he followed them up to Ottawa to try to get an interview for his radio show.

Genesis P. Orridge agreed to an interview, if and only if we could find him some cheese sandwiches. Not at the bar downstairs. Not at the pub across the street. Not the bistro on the corner. Not the diner. So we went to the grocery store. A variety of breads, a selection of cheeses. And lettuce.

Genesis P. Orridge concurred that the lettuce was a really nice touch. Interview granted. We slapped together some sandwiches, Genesis lit up a joint, and I don't remember much past that.

Weird? Maybe a little out of the ordinary. Weird about myself? Questionably. Motive? The guy, the music, or simply caught up in the heat of the moment.

I see that the proprietor of The Shatnerian posts nothing weird, but does note that his favourite song is That's Entertainment, by The Jam. At which point I must confess I think I might have a little bit of a crush. (Actually, I think it's cuz when I was 13, I had a crush on a guy who liked The Jam.)

I wouldn't be so bold as to say it's my favourite song, but it's definitely some of my favourite lyrics. Among several choice couplets:

Two lovers kissing at the scream of midnight;
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude.

Though not in the least weird, it undoubdtedly speaks volumes about me.

A musical moment of which I am most proud: going out to see The Supreme Beings of Leisure just a week before my due date. Helena kicked a lot that night, but stayed put another couple weeks. She continues to exhibit an affinity for that kind of groove.

(But if you want to get Helena to sleep, forget lullabies — White Stripes' Seven Nation Army is magic, and it... centres me somehow, even though I haven't figured out what it means.)

The soundtrack to life.

Weird? Not really.

Except for that compulsion to dramatically announce "Such and Such: The Musical," (especially after having seen Bat Boy: The Musical in New York) and list the soundtrack possibilities. And even that's rather commonplace.