There is a soundtrack to every life. There is a soundtrack to particular times in our lives.
Okay, I got that out of the way.
But we have all been there when we hear a particular song, especially when we haven't heard it in a long time, that will bring back memories of a time in our lives. I have wanted to write about this before, however choosing a particular period proved troublesome. Until a week or two ago. I was sitting at my desk at the office and decided to save battery power of my iPod. I logged onto You Tube and searched from something to listen to while I worked. After listening to Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' I found something that I haven't heard in awhile: 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack.
I grinned and put it on play.
I remember buying the cassette for the songs 'Cry, Little Sister' and 'Lost In The Shadows (The Lost Boys)'. And I remember how I played that tape for the next year or so.
It was 1987 and I had just got out of the Air Force. I lived with my friend, David, and his family for 6 months before moving into a room in an old house. The house was on Harvard by the Coloseum. I worked as a Processor (i.e. metal cleaner) at McDonnell-Douglas in Long Beach. I drove a 5 speed silver Ford EXP that had red interior and a sunroof. I was all of 24 and 25 years of age.
The house had several other tenants. There was the black couple in the biggest room, the huge biker guy right next to them, another black guy, El, next to the biker and there was Desi in the smallest room. Dest was a black singer/performer who worked at a restaurant while looking for work as an entertainer. He was newly divorced and not only talented but handsome as well. I think The Biker guy's name was Bill. He had a pre-op transsexual living with him named Janice. Bill had a phone in his room and whenever someone wanted to make a call, he would let them...for a few coins.
I lived upstairs (i used to live in the big room for 2 or 3 months, but decided to economize). Next to me was Don, a tall black guy who collected the rent for the owner of the house. Across from Don was R.J. who was always working as a temp and had a thing for twinks. R.J. was in his early thirties, I think, and was a geeky guy. He was probably the first geeky guy I did not have the hots for. The room next to R.J. had a heavy of rotation of occupants.
At McDonnell-Douglas, I worked the 2nd shift: 4 to midnight and had my own station, setting various airplane parts in a basket and using a crane to dip or soak them in various chemical cleaners and solutions. Mostly, I would have two baskets going at the same time. While one was being processed, the other might be in another vat or in the drier. I would get home every Friday night and find half of the house stoned and maybe sitting in the communal kitchen drinking and smoking. Once in awhile, I would join them. Most times, I'd just go upstairs and work out. I was using dumbells and a barbell loaned to me by my friend Gary, who worked at the station opposite mine. Now, Gary was a cool cat. He was a bearded Latino guy who loved porn. Gary and I would shoot the shit sometimes while we worked. I remember the guy who worked the station before Gary, but he only stuck around for a month or so after I got assigned my station. He, too, was a cool guy who used to tell me about all the women he'd meet. There were a lot of other characters who worked in the factory, but way too many to mention.
Paydays were usually on Thursdays. I'd cash my check and then go to the Ralph's Giant and buy food for the week: sandwich items, Budget Gourmet meals, fruit and fruit juice. Then, I would drive up to West Hollywood to treat myself to a chicken parmesan sandwich from the pizza place on Santa Monica Blvd. I'd put in some overtime on Saturdays which meant that Sundays was my only day off. I would usually go out to Rage on Sunday nights - meeting another bunch of strange people. I usually would carry only about 20 bucks with me and drink beer. I became friends with one of the bartenders, Steve. I remember going back to Las Vegas to visit with my old buddies from my squadron and flying home to visit my family (after coming out). And each trip I made, I would bring Steve a mug. He collected them. Steve would sometimes let me have a scotch and 7-Up for half price if I was particularly poor some nights. The last I heard of him was that he had gotten a boyfriend and they adopted a little girl.
I was newly out, on my own and wanted to do some exploring. Don was sort of like the queen who took me under his arm. He was older and did part-time work. We used to treat ourselves to dinner at cheap eateries whenever we had a little extra cash. I would buy him something that I new he was out of. He let me use his phone so that I wouldn't have to go down to Bill all the time.
On Saturday nights, I'd watch a late movie in Westwood. I did my laundry at a laundromat in West Hollywood so that I could get a sense of being out and open. I frequented Unicorn Bookstore, which was a gay bookstore on Santa Monica Blvd. I remember going through so much gay literature and poetry and magazines. I went to my first Gay Pride, so excited that had saved up a few dollars to have a good time. I met a couple of guys to make out with and a couple of guys to have sex with. Those first few years of sexual exploration can be damaging, but the experience of it all makes it wonderful!
I bought my clothes from swap meets and outlet stores anywhere between Long Beach and home.
There is so much I remember and can tell you about my experience in that house, but that's way too much for this entry. It might take several entries. And even when I moved out of the house and into a one bedroom apartment with my friend Kirk, 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack was there. And that collection of songs will always remind me of something. Maybe the time I came home and everyone was stoned and me and R.J. and Janice went into R.J.'s room and watched 'The Women'; or the time when we were all in the kitchen waiting for someone to stop using one thing or another while we talked about this and that; or the time when I took Don to Rage and he did not like it one bit; and the time I was awakened one Saturday morning by Bill beating Janice and I went down and pulled him off of her.
Those songs remind me of when I had a freedom I thought I would never experience nor could have dreamed of. I am reminded of how not only being out to my family but to have a sense of being out to so many people. I was still in the closet at work and did not share much information about my life outside of work except that I was trying to do some modeling and that I loved movies.
I often think of the older people I had worked with like Benjy (who I had met in another processing department), who worked Gary's station during the day. And Wanda, a big beautiful white woman with big hair and a sassy mouth. They were good people!! I remember driving the various freeways of Southern California, becoming familiar with which led where. There were times when I would get a bit antsy and cruise around the San Fernando Valley, sometimes wondering where the porn companies were located. (by the way, I ended up working for catalina video as a receptionist)
Yeah, I was young and let loose in a city I had always wanted to encounter. I had a job, a car, a place to live and the absolute power of personal choice.
I'm listening to the album right now. And I think back to that first year living in L.A. Well, the first year after moving from my friends' home and venturing out on my own.
It was all so new. West Hollywood was almost as magical as a castle when I thought about gay bars and gay restaurants and gay services and gay laundromats and gay bookstores.
Do you feel me experiencing the excitement all over again?
My struggles seemed small at the time. Budgeting right seemed to be my only struggle that I can recall. McDonnell-Douglas paid very well, so I had enough money to live practically as well as have fun.
One night R.J. and I were out at Rage. R.J. met some guy named Kirk and they had a couple of good nights together. They came over to my room one night after I had gotten off work. We sat and talked and smoked a bowl. After R.J. and Kirk stopped seeing each other, Kirk would come over to see me and we became friends. Good friends. And that was how I had come to leave the house: Kirk needed a roommate and asked me.
When I moved in with Kirk, I barely missed the house as Kirk and I and the circle of friends we would create was another chapter of my life. We ran into R.J. during a trip to San Francisco. He had relocated to S.F. and we met him out for drinks at The Stud. Kirk and I would sometimes talk about that house. Not much, though, as it is only the place where we met and became friends. However, I will never forget it.
And when I moved, 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack was still being played, but slowly becoming played less and less as time moved on. I was about to discover more about being young and being adult.
I guess the album reminds me of when it was all so fresh; when the experience reminds you of how wonderful life really is.
I might enter something on here about this time in my life written just a little bit better with more focus.
Okay, I got that out of the way.
But we have all been there when we hear a particular song, especially when we haven't heard it in a long time, that will bring back memories of a time in our lives. I have wanted to write about this before, however choosing a particular period proved troublesome. Until a week or two ago. I was sitting at my desk at the office and decided to save battery power of my iPod. I logged onto You Tube and searched from something to listen to while I worked. After listening to Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' I found something that I haven't heard in awhile: 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack.
I grinned and put it on play.
I remember buying the cassette for the songs 'Cry, Little Sister' and 'Lost In The Shadows (The Lost Boys)'. And I remember how I played that tape for the next year or so.
It was 1987 and I had just got out of the Air Force. I lived with my friend, David, and his family for 6 months before moving into a room in an old house. The house was on Harvard by the Coloseum. I worked as a Processor (i.e. metal cleaner) at McDonnell-Douglas in Long Beach. I drove a 5 speed silver Ford EXP that had red interior and a sunroof. I was all of 24 and 25 years of age.
The house had several other tenants. There was the black couple in the biggest room, the huge biker guy right next to them, another black guy, El, next to the biker and there was Desi in the smallest room. Dest was a black singer/performer who worked at a restaurant while looking for work as an entertainer. He was newly divorced and not only talented but handsome as well. I think The Biker guy's name was Bill. He had a pre-op transsexual living with him named Janice. Bill had a phone in his room and whenever someone wanted to make a call, he would let them...for a few coins.
I lived upstairs (i used to live in the big room for 2 or 3 months, but decided to economize). Next to me was Don, a tall black guy who collected the rent for the owner of the house. Across from Don was R.J. who was always working as a temp and had a thing for twinks. R.J. was in his early thirties, I think, and was a geeky guy. He was probably the first geeky guy I did not have the hots for. The room next to R.J. had a heavy of rotation of occupants.
At McDonnell-Douglas, I worked the 2nd shift: 4 to midnight and had my own station, setting various airplane parts in a basket and using a crane to dip or soak them in various chemical cleaners and solutions. Mostly, I would have two baskets going at the same time. While one was being processed, the other might be in another vat or in the drier. I would get home every Friday night and find half of the house stoned and maybe sitting in the communal kitchen drinking and smoking. Once in awhile, I would join them. Most times, I'd just go upstairs and work out. I was using dumbells and a barbell loaned to me by my friend Gary, who worked at the station opposite mine. Now, Gary was a cool cat. He was a bearded Latino guy who loved porn. Gary and I would shoot the shit sometimes while we worked. I remember the guy who worked the station before Gary, but he only stuck around for a month or so after I got assigned my station. He, too, was a cool guy who used to tell me about all the women he'd meet. There were a lot of other characters who worked in the factory, but way too many to mention.
Paydays were usually on Thursdays. I'd cash my check and then go to the Ralph's Giant and buy food for the week: sandwich items, Budget Gourmet meals, fruit and fruit juice. Then, I would drive up to West Hollywood to treat myself to a chicken parmesan sandwich from the pizza place on Santa Monica Blvd. I'd put in some overtime on Saturdays which meant that Sundays was my only day off. I would usually go out to Rage on Sunday nights - meeting another bunch of strange people. I usually would carry only about 20 bucks with me and drink beer. I became friends with one of the bartenders, Steve. I remember going back to Las Vegas to visit with my old buddies from my squadron and flying home to visit my family (after coming out). And each trip I made, I would bring Steve a mug. He collected them. Steve would sometimes let me have a scotch and 7-Up for half price if I was particularly poor some nights. The last I heard of him was that he had gotten a boyfriend and they adopted a little girl.
I was newly out, on my own and wanted to do some exploring. Don was sort of like the queen who took me under his arm. He was older and did part-time work. We used to treat ourselves to dinner at cheap eateries whenever we had a little extra cash. I would buy him something that I new he was out of. He let me use his phone so that I wouldn't have to go down to Bill all the time.
On Saturday nights, I'd watch a late movie in Westwood. I did my laundry at a laundromat in West Hollywood so that I could get a sense of being out and open. I frequented Unicorn Bookstore, which was a gay bookstore on Santa Monica Blvd. I remember going through so much gay literature and poetry and magazines. I went to my first Gay Pride, so excited that had saved up a few dollars to have a good time. I met a couple of guys to make out with and a couple of guys to have sex with. Those first few years of sexual exploration can be damaging, but the experience of it all makes it wonderful!
I bought my clothes from swap meets and outlet stores anywhere between Long Beach and home.
There is so much I remember and can tell you about my experience in that house, but that's way too much for this entry. It might take several entries. And even when I moved out of the house and into a one bedroom apartment with my friend Kirk, 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack was there. And that collection of songs will always remind me of something. Maybe the time I came home and everyone was stoned and me and R.J. and Janice went into R.J.'s room and watched 'The Women'; or the time when we were all in the kitchen waiting for someone to stop using one thing or another while we talked about this and that; or the time when I took Don to Rage and he did not like it one bit; and the time I was awakened one Saturday morning by Bill beating Janice and I went down and pulled him off of her.
Those songs remind me of when I had a freedom I thought I would never experience nor could have dreamed of. I am reminded of how not only being out to my family but to have a sense of being out to so many people. I was still in the closet at work and did not share much information about my life outside of work except that I was trying to do some modeling and that I loved movies.
I often think of the older people I had worked with like Benjy (who I had met in another processing department), who worked Gary's station during the day. And Wanda, a big beautiful white woman with big hair and a sassy mouth. They were good people!! I remember driving the various freeways of Southern California, becoming familiar with which led where. There were times when I would get a bit antsy and cruise around the San Fernando Valley, sometimes wondering where the porn companies were located. (by the way, I ended up working for catalina video as a receptionist)
Yeah, I was young and let loose in a city I had always wanted to encounter. I had a job, a car, a place to live and the absolute power of personal choice.
I'm listening to the album right now. And I think back to that first year living in L.A. Well, the first year after moving from my friends' home and venturing out on my own.
It was all so new. West Hollywood was almost as magical as a castle when I thought about gay bars and gay restaurants and gay services and gay laundromats and gay bookstores.
Do you feel me experiencing the excitement all over again?
My struggles seemed small at the time. Budgeting right seemed to be my only struggle that I can recall. McDonnell-Douglas paid very well, so I had enough money to live practically as well as have fun.
One night R.J. and I were out at Rage. R.J. met some guy named Kirk and they had a couple of good nights together. They came over to my room one night after I had gotten off work. We sat and talked and smoked a bowl. After R.J. and Kirk stopped seeing each other, Kirk would come over to see me and we became friends. Good friends. And that was how I had come to leave the house: Kirk needed a roommate and asked me.
When I moved in with Kirk, I barely missed the house as Kirk and I and the circle of friends we would create was another chapter of my life. We ran into R.J. during a trip to San Francisco. He had relocated to S.F. and we met him out for drinks at The Stud. Kirk and I would sometimes talk about that house. Not much, though, as it is only the place where we met and became friends. However, I will never forget it.
And when I moved, 'The Lost Boys' soundtrack was still being played, but slowly becoming played less and less as time moved on. I was about to discover more about being young and being adult.
I guess the album reminds me of when it was all so fresh; when the experience reminds you of how wonderful life really is.
I might enter something on here about this time in my life written just a little bit better with more focus.
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