true blue, madonna, i love you

time. i never know where the times goes. this is certainly worthy of another blog at another time...surely one to explain why i've been a little MIA the last couple of weeks. but for today...i'll focus on this weekend. so, i found myself on an impromptu road trip friday night. i needed to decompress from the week, so i didn't mind the time to just focus on the road and drive. i grabbed two folders of my CDs...one containing soundtracks and compilations, the other containing mostly mix CDs i made many moons ago. after singing along at the top of my lungs to the first half of the first rent CD, i realized i was getting hoarse. (side note: i was surprised that i could still remember every single word to every single song...after not having listened to it in probably 6 years. gotta love angsty teenagers and their obsessions.)

so after a little 'rent' and 'chess,' i pop in the 'immaculate collection.' and i haven't listened to madonna in a setting when i was at liberty to think about it for years. but it brought back so many memories. when i was a little kid, i remember having this little pink radio. (ah, the 80's.) this radio went with me everywhere, and audio tapes were the invention of the gods! every weekend, i would go outside in my back yard...inventing stories with my yorkie, recording nature sounds, and documenting our adventures with this little pink radio. this little pink radio was also used for more practical purposes...like recording piano lessons. but most often, this pink radio was my ticket to pop star land. the first 2 tapes i ever remember having were madonna's 'like a virgin' and 'true blue.' my parents didn't buy these for me...i believe i must have confiscated them from my older brother, who was in high school at the time. (it's certainly not the last time i ever confiscated music from my brother. 'no, robert, i don't know where those sting and peter gabriel CDs are.') in any case, i remember dancing around my yellow bedroom and singing along to 'like a virgin,' complete with high-pitched yelps. let it be said that i am sure i am not the first nor only 6/7 year-old to have done that...madonna inspired a whole generation little girls to reminisce about our 'purer' days. and i remember thinking that she looked so pretty on the album cover...and yet, so bad. if only i knew what i was singing about at the time!

then came 'true blue,' and everything changed. in my childlike eyes, madonna seemed a bit more wholesome. for a minute perhaps...and despite 'pappa don't preach.' her voice was stronger, her songs more consistent...and she was now a blonde. this was indeed the beginning of a new era. whereas i only knew a few songs from 'like a virgin,' i memorized every single track on 'true blue.' every single one. i danced the salsa to 'la isla bonita,' imagining myself in some ruffled, off-the-shoulder peasant dress on some tropical island. (san pedro? where's that?) then, there was 'open your heart,' which i firmly believed captured my feelings about whatever crush i had at the time...my rendition of that was particularly heart-felt. and last but not least, there was 'live to tell,' which was one of my favorite songs for many years following. i remember performing my own dramatic interpretation of that song for my dogs and stuffed animals...they were the fortunate audience for a great many of my dramatic endeavors at that age. i used to re-enact TV commercials for them...i was determined i could be more convincing than whichever woman was pushing dawn dishwashing soap or campbell's soup. (did everyone do this? ...or was i just a strange little kid?)

regardless, the point is that, listening to these songs the other night, i was transported back to a time that i remember very vividly. back when my brother drove 'jack,' the white ford grenada. when he was in high school and i, elementary. when i was convinced every molly ringwald/brat pack movie was just like his everyday reality. when i played with 'my little ponies' and lusted after my neighbors 'jelly shoes.' (my mom never bought me jelly shoes...i think she thought they were tacky. of course, i was an odd kid who never asked for things, so i probably never told her i wanted them.) when all my stuffed animals had specific personalities and when i thought barbie was a little slutty. when places like 'federated' existed...and when my brother and i would spend the summer mornings mowing lawns, then the afternoons, at the neighborhood pool. (well, he mowed lawns, and i usually watched.) when garfield was cool and i had a pink rabbit phone, with red eyes that lit up when it rang. when i watched my brother's tape of back to the future everyday and thought leah thompson was the most beautiful woman in the world. when i wrote little stories about rabbits and mice... (i had an obsession with rabbits and mice at the time, due to my love for movies like 'the secret of nimh' and 'watership down.' i would write these little stories and bind them into make-shift books, and my mother still laughs about the earnestness of my 'diane and corey' books...yes, there was indeed a series.) when i wanted to be sarah jessica parker in 'girls just want to have fun.' when i would basically rewrite the story of 'girls just want to have fun'...except with mice and rabbits. (don't ask me how a child's logic works.)

ah...good memories.

i leave you with this, madonna: a tribute to you...