THEY SAY YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST: A PRELUDE TO MY TWO SHITS WORTH

     It was the Summer of 1983 and our family decided to take a trip to Yellowstone National Park.  Even then as an 11 year old boy, I knew it was completely insane to try to take a picture of yourself right next to an antelope or invite a bear into your station wagon to dry off from a nasty summer rainstorm.  Still, we all wanted to at least observe some animals in their natural habitat.  And so we went.
     On the first night, our family stayed in some trash can masquerading as a motel.   While everyone else was tired and went to bed early,  I stayed up scanning the motels' TV set to see if there were any channels they got and our sleepily out of touch town didn't get.  Now you're probably thinking to yourself, 'this prepubescent lump is searching for the channels with the naked people making the flippy-floppy.'  And you would be wrong.  As a young music fan,  I was searching for something called MTV.  This was when they played music videos 24/7.  The network actually started out on rural cable lineups first to test the waters before expanding to the larger cities.  Believe it or not, my hometown would not get MTV on cable until around 1995.  By that time, the party was OVER!
     But in 1983, it was still paradise for a wide-eyed American pre-teen.  After watching videos for about two hours, I went to bed as well.  The next morning as everyone was getting ready to go over to the motel coffee shop for breakfast, I faked a stomach ache to get out of eating.  As soon as my family was safely out of sight, I hopped into bed and turned the set back on to MTV again.  It was great!  No one could bother me with their gargling or hair dryers.  Just music.....with pictures!
    And then something happened and I would never be the same again.  A music video a brand new song called "One Thing Leads To Another" by a band called The Fixx appeared on the screen.  What was this strange but danceable sound I was hearing?  What were these bizarre images I was seeing?  Why was there a man walking down a large tube making weird hand gestures while dogs seemed to be chasing him?  I had never see anything remotely like it.  But something about it immediately appealed to me.  This band appeared to be from another planet as far as I was concerned.  Even in 1983,  I felt like I was from another planet. An anomaly.  Maybe that was the connection.
     As the following months turned into years and then into decades,  this 11 year old trapped in a 44 year old's body is still very much in love with the music The Fixx are making.  I think I have every song they've recorded.  If not, I know I have at least HEARD every song they've recorded by visiting their official site, fansites and YouTube.  Their classic 1980s music is a time capsule of what was happening in the world, especially the idea of a possible World War III with nuclear ramifications.  Their lyrics told me it was okay to be afraid of this possibility but also to speak your mind if you didn't like what was happening around you and that it was your birthright to question authority.  I still have this mindset today even though my priorities have changed a bit.  I can't say this for sure, but I'm willing to bet that the kids my age who have been listening to Def Leppard all this time can't make these type of claims.
     By the way, I finally did make some time to see some awesome animals that Summer!