Wild Thing

I am sitting here, on a Saturday morning, with music blaring from the cheerleader's room. It is rare that she is even here, alone, on a Saturday morning, without her posse that travels with her. It is odd that she is awake so early and that she did not spend the night, elsewhere. She had to babysit, last night, so I guess that put a cramp in her style. When you get used to them either being gone or ignoring you when friends are here, it's sort of jarring to have so much activity accompanied by the loud music and the dancing and jumping up and down. Her room is on an upper level so it sounds like the dishes will start to fly out of the kitchen cabinets due to so much vibration.

In my ever changing moods, I enjoy having her home even if she is LOUD. But, honestly, the apple didn't fall far from the tree with her love of music. She gets it from Mr. Man and me and surprisingly, today, her music is a choice of 80s new wave!! This is so much better than her usual music choices. For one, I can bebop while typing. For another, I can sing to all of the songs because I actually understand the words. And, it is so funny that this is her music choice because my love of 80s new wave and late 70s/early 80s punk rock have been on my mind, all week.

I am a really mellow chick, most of the time. I have a love for classic rock, Dead, songs of the 60s/70s/80s/90s. I can be a hippie chick or I can revisit my love of punk and new wave and be just as happy. I don't really remember when or how I started listening to punk and new wave but as soon as I heard the driving beat of the songs and started the fast paced dancing, I knew it was for me. It is such an adrenaline rush once you start jumping up and down to the beat. My first small punk concerts that I attended were probably late in my high school years. Back then, you could get into clubs at the age of 18. If you weren't 18, you could sneak in rather easily. Dark, hole in the wall, reeking with the smell of beer and sweat clubs. Most of them were painted black with really jarring lighting. The bands would take the stage, start their fast paced shows, take no break, start throwing beer at the fans, started to remove their clothing, the crowd would begin to slam dance even crazier and a good time was had by all. Good people up in the mosh pit. Sort of like fellow deadheads at a Dead concert except way more revved up and we traded our tie dye attire for black boots, thrift store ruffled skirts and motorcycle jackets. Or mini skirts, boots, motorcycle jackets, lots of big hair.

Being at the front of the stage, where all the action was, a total must! It wasn't fun until you started getting slammed into, thrown around and had beer blasted all over the place. But, the music was the best. Once the punk of the 80s started to fizzle, I took up listening to a lot of ska. A lot of the same beats with great, jamming songs.

So, listening to the cheerleader's choice of music, this morning, is making me smile and bringing back a whole lot of slam dancing memories. In that time frame we were wild things. My fav version of Wild Things has always been the version performed by one of my all time fav punk bands, X. I have seen them quite a few times, over the years, and most recently, two years ago. There is nothing like an X concert so if they do tour, again, they are a must see. The lead singer, Exene, is the goddess of all punk, in my opinion. She has been ill so fans are hoping that a tour will once again happen!

It's Saturday! The weather at Maggie's Farm is rockin, I am taking Elle Woods out for a spin and making a punk playlist for my Ipod to take with me. Go ahead, check out some vintage punk bands and rock your day!!!