Right Round, Baby Right Round, Like A Record Baby...

And speaking of Dead Or Alive…

P.S. Billy, no one was speaking of Dead Or Alive, no one cares about Dead Or Alive anymore outside of 80’s irony/nostalgia fits.

Okay. And in writing about Dead Or Alive yesterday, I was reminded of the few months that I was listening to them when I was in high school. And this was mostly because of a friend…

See, said friend came out of the closet in high school. Slowly at first, in fact I was the only one in our school that he told for quite awhile. He had tested the waters for a couple of weeks before hand, dropping hints that were broader than John Candy after a month long nacho binge. Still, I imagine it must have been fairly scary not really knowing how a friend is going to take the news, not knowing if a friend is still going to be a friend.

Once he was out, it was as if there was this hole in a dam. I became an outlet for his stories that he couldn’t share with anyone else. I got to hear about a lot of clubbing, was taught the finer points of cologne choices, I learned what a “fag hag” was. I’m smiling thinking about how excited he would be talking about his weekend escapades and finally feeling comfortable with himself.

I remember driving around Laguna Beach the summer that we graduated, drinking vodka and fountain 7-Up out of gas station big gulp cups, and listening to Youthquake and Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know by Dead Or Alive. It was warm and we sang really loud. He was excited about the future tumbling his way, I was way freaked out with no idea of what the hell I was going to do. But somehow, if I could just focus on the drive along the coast and to that irresistibly danceable New Wave sound, I didn’t need to worry about it.

We pretty much went our separate ways after graduation, but I remember a lot of laughs and a lot of listening to what was apparently all the rage in the dance clubs at the time. Man that guy loved his Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy…