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Music Was The Common Bond

Posted by Luminator (A) on August 23, 2015 at 07:44:06

In Reply to: Dumb guy or not, you've got your arm around her posted by Otis1 on August 23, 2015 at 02:27:56:

Let's go back to the summer of 1986. Peter Cetera's "Glory Of Love," from Karate Kid 2, was ubiquitous. Because of this song, I assumed that I'd go back to Honolulu, and get a girl from Punahou. After all, many of the Punahou girls looked like Tamlyn Tomita.

But then I went home to San Francisco, for the 86-87 school year. I met CT through clubs and common friends. Around Halloween, I traipsed through the courtyard. It was an odd mix of food wrappers, haze, low-lying yellow-orange light, warm sun, and cold ocean air. Under the walkway, the hoops punks and their hoochie girlfriends were rapping to the Beastie Boys and Run DMC. On the outdoor tables were the modern rock fans, who were playing material from Erasure, New Order, and The Smiths.

One of CT's girlfriends came bouncing along, Tigger-style. In a sing-songy voice, she teased me, "CT likes you, CT likes you, CT likes you."

And she was right. All of a sudden, I felt this huge weight or burden on my shoulders.

A couple weeks into November, about a dozen of us sophomores and freshmen were taking a break from playing sports. As was common, we were discussing (popular) music. I don't know what brought it up, but I argued that, instead of listening to what the media kept playing over and over again, you need to dig into those artists' "secondary" hits, which are often better than the #1s.

Someone mentioned Robert Palmer. So I argued that, instead on hearing "Addicted To Love," play Palmer's killer "Hyperactive." Or, if you are a true fan, go back to his Powerstation days, and select "Communication."

Our friend Andy happened to have these, and he said something like, "Damn, we can always count on Lummy to find the good stuff."

CT had this amazingly logical, analytical, organized, structured way of thinking and writing. Even in speech, she was cognizant about using proper grammar. She did not split infinitives, use indefinite pronoun reference, botch subjunctive mood, or misuse who/whom. On top of that, her hand writing was neat, uniform, legible, and pretty. Even when she'd slip love notes into my locker, they were grammatically correct.

One phenomenon which did trip up CT was hormones. One January afternoon, on account of clubs, about ten of us were discussing a weekend field trip. Um, let me use today's jargon. About me, CT said something sexually inappropriate, made an unwelcome advance. Of course, our schoolmates were giddy. And that's really when CT and I had to confront the girlfriend/boyfriend thing.

Remember, because she took honors and AP classes, CT's weighted GPA was well north of 4.0. No dummy, she didn't just ask her friends for advice. Since she was a favorite of several teachers, she turned to them for guidance. As a student with bad grades, I was toast.

One of the counselors sat me and CT down. Yes, the counselor said that she and the staff provided information on sexual health. But she really wanted to have me and CT discuss relationships. My instinct was to clam up, but the counselor somehow got me to put down some of the barriers (okay, so I couldn't get OMD's "Forever Live And Die" out of my head).

CT said she loved watching me play sports, lead underdogs, take on bigger, older, faster, tougher opponents. "Someday, he'll fight for me." She said she admired my "crafty" and "devilish" way of thinking. She said she aways looked forward to me writing notes or letters, which would make her heart beat faster, and blush with excitement.

I looked at her like, 'Wha?!" Finally making eye contact with the counselor, I said in a boyish tone that when I was with CT, I felt as though I were walking on eggshells. I was afraid to make mistakes, afraid to let the bad Lummy slip out, afraid that nothing I was or did could ever be good enough for CT. One of the toughest things I did (which makes writing about audio a piece of cake) was drumming up enough courage, to tell the counselor that I did think about CT as the mother of my children, and that those thoughts were intimidating, confusing, distressing, AND interesting and exciting.

Bless that counselor; she told me and CT that what we were feeling was perfectly normal. There was nothing wrong with me and/or CT. We just needed to be armed with the right and appropriate information, and be mature in the proper setting.

CT and I were "fine," definitely got along as friends, found common ground and halfway points. Hint: the music helped find that common ground. By telling each other what we liked and disliked, by being open to different genres of music, CT and I developed good chemistry.

After that counseling session, CT and I made Steve Winwood's "The Finer Things" our song.

In April or May 1987, despite being underclassmen, CT and I decided to go on a tour of Sacramento area colleges. Though still spring, it was in the mid-to-upper 90s. I wilted in that heat. Man, we could not escape hearing Atlantic Starr's "Always," Kim Wilde's "You Keep Me Hanging On," and Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Our jitney bus had left UC Davis, when I stood up and said, "Since we're in Sacramento, why don't we play Tesla, who are from Sacramento?"

I handed Tesla's Mechanical Resonance to the driver, who popped it into the jitney's cassette player. I pointed out that Tesla preferred to use tube amps, and avoid, as much as possible, synthesizers and signal processors. Though unfamiliar with Tesla, the students on the bus loved and rocked out to "Modern Day Cowboy." CT was proud of me.

Several of my classmates (but not CT) would go on to see Tesla in concert. In fact, in 1990, my brother got to see Tesla do the "Unplugged" show at Slim's in San Francisco.

We ended that 86-87 school year with Heart's "Alone," Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls," and Simply Red's "The Right Thing." With music that good, how can you not become an audiophile? Oh, we already were audiophiles :-)

Music = life. Regardless of what our first stereo was, when writing about audio, I do not separate music and life.

Every now and then, I do see and communicate with CT. She was so stellar in biotech, her employer made her a lawyer, to protect intellectual property. Sheesh.

Okay, of the guys here, which ones actually did marry a woman who looked like Tamlyn Tomita? For the gals here, sorry, Punahou's Barack Obama is taken :-)

Edits: 08/23/15 08/23/15 08/23/15 08/23/15 08/23/15

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