Subject: RE: how baywatch changed my life
From: horanp (horanp@kenyon.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 26 2001 - 11:01:08 GMT
I'll respond more in detail later, but just let me recommend: You want
REAL Irish rebel music and REAL Irish rock? Check out The Pogues or
The Popes, both led by the same jaggy-toothed drunk and esteemed
songwriter, Shane McGowan. They're the best.
More later, you retard...
Pete.
>===== Original Message From "Jive Monkey"
<monkey_jive@hotmail.com> =====
>Seven summers ago I, a conspicuously retarded 17 year-old, was also
a
>lifeguard at the Imlay City, Mi. pool, what would have been the local
pool,
>if I had lived anywhere near it. In any case, I was paid to sunbathe and
>flirt with my coworkers (all female, tan, and under 20), fellow lifeguards
>and possibly travelers as well, though I never asked that, not really
>knowing the phrase at the time. One lazy day (as they all were),
someone
>brought in a copy of a music magazine, either Spin or Rolling Stone,
which
>featured a riveting and totally out-of-place Pulitzer worthy piece on the
>conflict in Northern Ireland, or “the Troubles” as I’d learn to call them.
>I was enthralled and felt an instant identification with the freedom
>fighters of the IRA, as I thought of them then (it may be helpful at this
>point to refer you back to my “conspicuously retarded” nature, a
condition
>which haunts me to this day. Despite working in such close proximity
to so
>many attractive, scantily clad, and downright horny teenage girls, I was
>more interested in some fighting going on in a far-off province, and
ended
>the summer just as I had started it: alone, and a virgin. Obviously the
old
>think tank wasn’t firing on all cylinders, and, sadly, still isn’t), and
>wanted to learn more, lots more, preferably at great expense. A typical
>pre-internet American youth in search of information, I ran off to the
video
>store and rented a copy of “Blown Away” starring Tommy Lee Jones as
a
>devoted Irish terrorist and Jeff Bridges as an Irish ex-terrorist now
making
>amends working on the Boston PD bomb squad (where else?). In the
midst of
>all this high drama the director decided to include some authentic Irish
>music, and, of course, U2’s “The Joshua Tree” was the best and really
the
>only choice. There’s actually a scene in the movie in which Tommy
Lee’s
>character, recently escaped from the Maze, is seen purchasing a
cassette of
>the album from a woman who can’t believe that he, an Irishman fresh
from the
>island, has never heard of U2, and she asks him if he’s been living in
a
>cave.
>
>Now, prior to this, my only exposure to U2 that I can remember was
seeing a
>classmate wearing a ZOO TV tour t-shirt while in my freshman year.
During
>the summer in question, I was listening to country music in damn near
fatal
>quantities, and slowly coming around to “modern” rock thanks to my
beautiful
>and beguiling colleagues. I had, in my even younger days, been a
huge fan
>of Huey Lewis and the News (Fore!), and my favorite album was Chris
Isaak’s
>“Heart Shaped World.” To put it more simply, I was hooked, and “I Still
>Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” became my theme song (why I
didn’t look
>right there at the pool, I still don’t know). I went out and found, at
>Borders Books and Music in Utica, a cd copy of the album, and couldn’t
>believe my good luck. Not only was that album obviously the finest
piece of
>music ever made, but too the band had already released other
albums, a lot
>of other albums, and they were still together! I needed another hobby
to go
>along with researching the Irish Republican Army, and here it was: buy
and
>listen to every piece of music these songsmiths had put together. I’ve
>since accomplished this little feat to my satisfaction, and it was actually
>kind of a let down. I mean, now what?
>
>But back to the Summer of No Love- the plight of the IRA was
beckoning me,
>calling out for attention. I knew, too, that the members of my new
favorite
>band must be sympathetic, Irish that they were, and famous for
“Sunday
>Bloody Sunday,” a rebel song if I’d ever heard one, and so I felt
supported
>in my quest for justice. I bought books, magazines, more movies (The
Crying
>Game, Patriot Games [of course causing me to then read all of Tom
Clancy’s
>so-called works, a malady which led to me joining the navy the day
after my
>eighteenth birthday and, thence, never to return to that pool of such
great
>promise. The cause and effect of what went on that summer has sent
>shockwaves through my life], etc.), and a map of Ireland which still
hangs
>on my wall; a friend of mine even gave me the flag of Ireland, which
hangs
>next to and is the same size as the map. Gerry Adams was one of my
heroes:
>if I could have voted, I would have voted for him. This all went on for
>years, but as I slowly came to understand the conflict, I began to realize
>that there were other sides to the story, other viewpoints. At some
point I
>watched “Rattle and Hum” and heard Bono lament the dead and the
violence and
>the division, all for nothing, and cry out “Fuck the Revolution!” and I
knew
>things weren’t as simple as I would have liked, that one man’s
freedom
>fighter is another man’s murderer. I began to understand politics too; I
>even saw how it affected my own life, being in the navy on an aircraft
>carrier and operating, of all things, a nuclear power plant, and I learned
>to see Gerry Adams as the politician he is, despite how good his
intentions
>may be, or could be (anyone going to disarm anytime soon? Anyone at
all?).
>
>I recently purchased a poster of Gerry Adams, printed by U2’s record
label
>to promote the single “Please,” another call for sanity and peace. The
>poster is the last of the Please promo posters that I needed to have the
set
>(the others are Douglas Hulme, Ian Paisley, and David Trimble, all in
bright
>pastels): I think I’ll frame them and hang them up, a little plea of my
own,
>though it may never be seen or heard. At some point I would have
wanted it
>as a picture of the man, but now I want it as a picture of what little hope
>there is for his people, and for the world in general, if Seattle and
Genoa
>are any indication of the future, not to mention Sarajevo, and Chechnya,
and
>Jerusalem…
>
>peace?
>andy
>
>p.s. It’s true: the reason I became a lifeguard was “Baywatch.” But it
>was the ORIGINAL series, back when it had a plot AND hot babes.
>
>
>
>
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