Everything gets tied together somehow, doesn't it? In weird, subtle ways? In ways that are unremarkable, won't change your life, and fill up a blog entry to make it seem like you've written something semi-substantial rather than just "here's a link to a video on YouTube?" Know what I mean?
At the very least, there are moments collected through life that seem so disparate and unrelated that all the sudden seem to become one and serve as a direct bridge between your own personal interests that you start to wonder what kind of cosmic, karmic glue is holding everything together in the first place. That "it really is a small world" kind of feeling.
Twenty-ish years ago were the days when there were only three TV networks, cable was in its relative infancy, and "Superstations" still roamed the planet. Channel 38 in Boston was one of them and, as such, they aired a lot of feature movies and local sports events (Red Sox games with Bob Montgomery and Ned Martin, lots of Bruins games, etc.). Most evenings they would air a movie (or two) on "The Movie Loft", hosted by Dana Hersey. Anyone who grew up in New England in the 80s remembers his voice.
My brother and I would stop everything we were doing if "The Warriors" came on. A cult classic in every sense, and worthy of its own post at some point. I think I gave my brother "Warriors"-themed Christmas gifts at least two or three times. An old VHS tape for sure, defiinitely a poster, perhaps a t-shirt?
(If you've never seen "The Warriors", by the way, the film is 30 years old and you've had plenty of opportunities by now. And also, shame on you.)
"The Warriors" was directed by Walter Hill, and co-starred Deborah Van Valkenburgh. Five years later, the duo paired up again in 1984's "Streets of Fire". I'd seen that one on the Movie Loft many, many years ago, too, but remembered little about it other than Rick Moranis was in it.
But the music, and the soundtrack ...
I remembered a song from the soundtrack being quite the hit on WTAG, Worcester's a.m. easy listening pop station: "I Can Dream About You" by Dan Hartman. The song was very catchy, and I remembered it because the Hartman is a white guy, and in the movie it's performed by a black doo-wop group.
But that was it ... I had no recollection of the plot, the stars, the rest of the soundtrack ... anything, really.
Thanks to the ability to stream Netflix movies via my XBox 360, I added "Streets of Fire" to my queue, figuring maybe I'd revisit it if the mood hit me. Nicole beat me to the punch, seeing in my list, and asked if we could watch it the other night.
It was absurd, ridiculous, and absolutely fantastic in a way that only disposable 1980's movies can be.
So not only are Deborah Van Valkenburgh (as Reva Cody, sister of the film's "hero") and Rick Moranis in it (as Billy Fish, a music agent), so is Michael Pare (as Tom Cody, misunderstood rebel with a heart of gold). Amy Madigan (as the singularly-named McCoy) plays almost the exact same character as Pare, except as a woman. A very cute, very young (19 years old) Diane Lane is Ellen Aim, Cody's former love interest and current love interest of Billy Fish (her manager), and the leader of the band Ellen Aim and the Attackers, who are apparently worshipped as god-like figures in whatever the hell city this movie is supposed to take place in.
More, you say? Willem Dafoe plays the villain, Raven Shaddock, who kidnaps Ellen Aim during a concert at the beginning of the movie, apparently just for shits and giggles. I don't think they ever actually explain his motivations. But if you were Shaddock, and thank your lucky stars you're not, you'd probably be ready to kidnap someone on a whim, too - having to wear latex overalls without a shirt and being surrounded by bikers whose motorcycles burst into flame with only the slightest provocation will do that to you. Literal "Streets of Fire" in this movie throughout.
(Not good enough? Robert Townsend is in the doo-wop band, Richard Lawson (who was part of the paranormal research team in "Poltergeist") is a police officer in a town where EVERYONE has a shotgun, and Bill Paxton plays Clyde the Bartender, because why wouldn't he.)
The kidnapping takes place as the band plays "Nowhere Fast" - a song I didn't remember at all up until Nicole and I watched the movie the other night.
Here's where it gets a little weird for me: literally minutes after the song ended, the movie barely fifteen minutes in, I had to look the soundtrack up on IMDB. "Nowhere Fast" was performed by Fire, Inc.
The lead singer of Fire, Inc.? Laurie Sargent.
The same Laurie Sargent I had seen countless times in concert in Boston in the earlier part of this decade with Orchestra Morphine after Mark Sandman died, then with their post-Morphine project, Twinemen.
Some of the best shows I ever saw (and taped!) were OM and Twinemen at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, where I would literally sit in the front row of the tables set up around the "stage" (in reality, just an empty spot on the floor in the middle of the room) mere feet away from her microphone.
Laurie Freakin' Sargent. Who knew? I wish I did, because if I knew then what I knew now (and had the song stuck in my head to nearly the point of torture - wonderful, wonderful torture), I'd have been compelled to say something to her about it.
This is an absolute gem of overlooked '80s awesomeness, and for days, I have not been able to get it out of my head.
I downloaded an mp3 of the song and put it on my iPod, and it's all I can listen to. Seriously. A 24-year-old song I hadn't heard for the better part of two decades and didn't remember at all is now just about the only song I have heard for the past three or four days.
Bring the dog out, listen to the song. Wash the dishes, listen to the song. Surf the internet, listen to the song.
I can't make it stop.
The Warriors -> Walter Hill -> Streets of Fire -> Fire, Inc. -> Laurie Sargent -> my ears
So here you have it, with my not-so-secret hope that maybe this gets stuck in your head, too: From the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack, "Nowhere Fast" by Laurie Sargent and Fire, Inc.
Aaron Perrino: I challenge you to dare Laurie Sargent to perform this song with you live with Dear Leader someday. And if she says yes, make sure I know well enough in advance to be there with my minidisc recorder.
At the very least, there are moments collected through life that seem so disparate and unrelated that all the sudden seem to become one and serve as a direct bridge between your own personal interests that you start to wonder what kind of cosmic, karmic glue is holding everything together in the first place. That "it really is a small world" kind of feeling.
Twenty-ish years ago were the days when there were only three TV networks, cable was in its relative infancy, and "Superstations" still roamed the planet. Channel 38 in Boston was one of them and, as such, they aired a lot of feature movies and local sports events (Red Sox games with Bob Montgomery and Ned Martin, lots of Bruins games, etc.). Most evenings they would air a movie (or two) on "The Movie Loft", hosted by Dana Hersey. Anyone who grew up in New England in the 80s remembers his voice.
My brother and I would stop everything we were doing if "The Warriors" came on. A cult classic in every sense, and worthy of its own post at some point. I think I gave my brother "Warriors"-themed Christmas gifts at least two or three times. An old VHS tape for sure, defiinitely a poster, perhaps a t-shirt?
(If you've never seen "The Warriors", by the way, the film is 30 years old and you've had plenty of opportunities by now. And also, shame on you.)
"The Warriors" was directed by Walter Hill, and co-starred Deborah Van Valkenburgh. Five years later, the duo paired up again in 1984's "Streets of Fire". I'd seen that one on the Movie Loft many, many years ago, too, but remembered little about it other than Rick Moranis was in it.
But the music, and the soundtrack ...
I remembered a song from the soundtrack being quite the hit on WTAG, Worcester's a.m. easy listening pop station: "I Can Dream About You" by Dan Hartman. The song was very catchy, and I remembered it because the Hartman is a white guy, and in the movie it's performed by a black doo-wop group.
But that was it ... I had no recollection of the plot, the stars, the rest of the soundtrack ... anything, really.
Thanks to the ability to stream Netflix movies via my XBox 360, I added "Streets of Fire" to my queue, figuring maybe I'd revisit it if the mood hit me. Nicole beat me to the punch, seeing in my list, and asked if we could watch it the other night.
It was absurd, ridiculous, and absolutely fantastic in a way that only disposable 1980's movies can be.
So not only are Deborah Van Valkenburgh (as Reva Cody, sister of the film's "hero") and Rick Moranis in it (as Billy Fish, a music agent), so is Michael Pare (as Tom Cody, misunderstood rebel with a heart of gold). Amy Madigan (as the singularly-named McCoy) plays almost the exact same character as Pare, except as a woman. A very cute, very young (19 years old) Diane Lane is Ellen Aim, Cody's former love interest and current love interest of Billy Fish (her manager), and the leader of the band Ellen Aim and the Attackers, who are apparently worshipped as god-like figures in whatever the hell city this movie is supposed to take place in.
More, you say? Willem Dafoe plays the villain, Raven Shaddock, who kidnaps Ellen Aim during a concert at the beginning of the movie, apparently just for shits and giggles. I don't think they ever actually explain his motivations. But if you were Shaddock, and thank your lucky stars you're not, you'd probably be ready to kidnap someone on a whim, too - having to wear latex overalls without a shirt and being surrounded by bikers whose motorcycles burst into flame with only the slightest provocation will do that to you. Literal "Streets of Fire" in this movie throughout.
(Not good enough? Robert Townsend is in the doo-wop band, Richard Lawson (who was part of the paranormal research team in "Poltergeist") is a police officer in a town where EVERYONE has a shotgun, and Bill Paxton plays Clyde the Bartender, because why wouldn't he.)
The kidnapping takes place as the band plays "Nowhere Fast" - a song I didn't remember at all up until Nicole and I watched the movie the other night.
Here's where it gets a little weird for me: literally minutes after the song ended, the movie barely fifteen minutes in, I had to look the soundtrack up on IMDB. "Nowhere Fast" was performed by Fire, Inc.
The lead singer of Fire, Inc.? Laurie Sargent.
The same Laurie Sargent I had seen countless times in concert in Boston in the earlier part of this decade with Orchestra Morphine after Mark Sandman died, then with their post-Morphine project, Twinemen.
Some of the best shows I ever saw (and taped!) were OM and Twinemen at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, where I would literally sit in the front row of the tables set up around the "stage" (in reality, just an empty spot on the floor in the middle of the room) mere feet away from her microphone.
Laurie Freakin' Sargent. Who knew? I wish I did, because if I knew then what I knew now (and had the song stuck in my head to nearly the point of torture - wonderful, wonderful torture), I'd have been compelled to say something to her about it.
This is an absolute gem of overlooked '80s awesomeness, and for days, I have not been able to get it out of my head.
I downloaded an mp3 of the song and put it on my iPod, and it's all I can listen to. Seriously. A 24-year-old song I hadn't heard for the better part of two decades and didn't remember at all is now just about the only song I have heard for the past three or four days.
Bring the dog out, listen to the song. Wash the dishes, listen to the song. Surf the internet, listen to the song.
I can't make it stop.
The Warriors -> Walter Hill -> Streets of Fire -> Fire, Inc. -> Laurie Sargent -> my ears
So here you have it, with my not-so-secret hope that maybe this gets stuck in your head, too: From the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack, "Nowhere Fast" by Laurie Sargent and Fire, Inc.
Aaron Perrino: I challenge you to dare Laurie Sargent to perform this song with you live with Dear Leader someday. And if she says yes, make sure I know well enough in advance to be there with my minidisc recorder.
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