Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Archives for September 2011

30 for 30 Project, 1984: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” – Wham!

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Apparently, 1984 is the point when the 80s were completely gay.

Note that from me that label is never meant as slander. Here it’s about the celebration of all things glamorous and fey being totally mainstream, and it’s the only explanation I have for Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” hitting number one in the same year as “Karma Chameleon” from Culture Club.

Hell, the number one album spot spent over half the year occupied by Thriller and Purple Rain, neither especially a symbol of restraint and masculinity. In 1984 it was totally cool to be a over-wrought, over-styled, over-the-top male vocalist.


(Watch me cover “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” on YouTube. For more info on my 30 for 30 Project, visit my intro post.)

1984 is also a year that I have some vague musical recollections from, and I’ll tell you that in my house we are all about gay 1984. We had all four the LPs mentioned above, and songs from each are encoded on my DNA. I even had a somersaulting routine set to the prior year’s “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya.” [Read more…] about 30 for 30 Project, 1984: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” – Wham!

30 for 30 Project, 1983: “Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran

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There are certain bands – significant, important bands – that I grew up completely ignorant of.

This was surely my parents’ fault. My father, as has been established, brooked with no current music. My mother was all about her Motown, disco, and glossy 80s dance pop.

There was no middle ground for New Wave or 80s rock, so I grew up assuming both were either non-existent or unspeakably terrible.

(Watch me cover “Hungry Like the Wolf” on YouTube. For more info on my 30 for 30 Project, visit my intro post.)

As a result, I know some bands less as artists and more as totems of their time. Duran Duran is one such band. I’m sure I saw an occasional video on MTV growing up, but they’re largely a band I know about in retrospect as a symbol of New Wave acts that lasted long enough to constitute a small genre of 80s rock that wasn’t all about Americana. [Read more…] about 30 for 30 Project, 1983: “Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran

30 for 30 Project, 1982: “Back on the Chain Gang” – The Pretenders

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My fascination with the Pretenders began with a television commercial.

I’m sure you remember it. Barbie and G.I. Joe racing around in a toy Corvette to the vamped drum intro of “Message of Love.” It was an awesome commercial. My mother is ace at identifying older tunes tapped for commercials, and in the pre “just Google it” age it was her who told me the song was by The Pretenders.

I knew of this group and their bang-èd singer Chrissie Hynde, but had never bothered to pick up any of their LPs until after the commercial. As is my way, I decided I’d rather get to know The Pretenders album-by-album than via greatest hits, and bought all three of their first LPs on New Years Eve 1999.

To my surprise, I actually knew a lot of the songs. Seemingly all of them – even the non-singles. It was like they were already tattooed on my brain. But the one that really resonated – which, of course, I had heard a hundred times before – was “Back on the Chain Gang.”

There was something about the simplicity of that first line, “I saw a picture of you.” All it took was a single wistful glance at that forgotten photograph to hijack the narrator’s world and sent her crashing into the sepia-tinged realm of memory, where she rages against and eventually resigns herself to her lot in life as a broken-hearted survivor. [Read more…] about 30 for 30 Project, 1982: “Back on the Chain Gang” – The Pretenders

#FollowFriday Interview: @brimil, Artist & Connector

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Britt amidst her Philly-themed paintings in 2010. © Steve Boyle

Today my suggested #FollowFriday is a woman who – with no exaggeration – has altered the course of my life.

Her name: Britt Miller, or @brimil.

I could list all of positive ways my life has changed with Britt’s influence and collaboration, but this one quote from her sums up our shared philosophy:

No one beamed down and made me an artist, or “successful,” or well-connected overnight. This wasn’t a gift, it took work. Make moves, do work, tell people.

Why follow Britt? She engages. She’s funny. She’s a painter whose work has appeared on everything from sneakers to television talk shows. She’s an athlete who has powered through a half-Iron Man. She’s a communications professional and a business student about to embark on a year of international travel.

Most importantly, Britt is a Connector. She’s always happy to make a random new acquaintance, because she understands the true value of a robust network lies not in the present, but in the future. Those seemingly meaningless connections have paid off for her and her followers again and again.

Enough from me – let’s hear from Britt, in her own words.

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@krisis: There is a fan-favorite CK post about my perspective on meeting you for the first time. What’s your side of the story?

Britt and I pose in 2009, a few hours post-skydive, as shot by @Mikeyil

@brimil: I met you while I was working at IBX in Philadelphia. I was very passionate about social media and kick-starting the business use of social media to connect with customers. You came to the first social media meeting, and the rest is history :)

@k: Yes, a history of jumping out of planes together and you being my personal digital life coach and partner in all things FAME. Can you explain this “FAME” thing we have? I can never quite articulate it when people ask me.

@b: Ah, FAME is very difficult to express in words. FAME is the act and feeling of constantly achieving your wildest dreams (they start small at first, then grow; FAME is never over), and having friends, family, and eventually strangers support you in your endeavors. It’s being recognized and praised by society over something that you poured your heart into. FAME.

@k: How do you use primarily Twitter?

@b: I use Twitter to promote my art, to stay in touch with and connect with new friends, to follow people/things I’m interested in – accounts that post about art, travel, social media, Philadelphia, etc.

@k: In the past few years your original art has gone from a regular hobby to an actual business. What was the decision point where you said, “this is something I’m serious about”?

@b: The switch from hobby to business certainly came when I made my website, held my first First Friday show, and sold my first piece to a stranger. Those three events happened over a period of time, but after all three happened I think I realized that I had something there, and with a ton of hard work, it’s gradually taken off since then. [Read more…] about #FollowFriday Interview: @brimil, Artist & Connector

30 for 30 Project, 1981: “Physical” – Olivia Newton John

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I’ve spent my life hating Olivia Newton John’s 1981 hit “Physical” for no good reason.

I had a reason, mind you. Just not a good one.

“Physical” held the longest run at number one on the Billboard chart for the majority of my childhood. Ten weeks, as Casey Casem would remind us on his countdown any time a song strung together multiple weeks at number one.

Not just any ten weeks. Ten weeks starting the year I was born.

(Watch me cover “Physical” on YouTube. For more info on my 30 for 30 Project, visit the intro post.)

I was eight or nine years old, and I hated this Olivia character. I had seen her weird Happy Days hair on the cover of the VHS of Grease. Why should her silly song with its antiquated video of prancing fat people hold the record when newer, more relevant luminaries like Michael Jackson or Madonna were clearly more deserving. [Read more…] about 30 for 30 Project, 1981: “Physical” – Olivia Newton John