Trippin' Down Memory Lane

I was sitting at T's gym class the other day and for I-don't-know-what reason I started thinking about a couple I knew when I was in high school in San Diego, and how the last time I saw them she was pregnant and how that kid would be like 23 now. Totally freaked me out. Out of curiousity, I Googled their names and stumbled on this great blog all about the underground music scene that was happening in San Diego in the mid-80s. SO many of the people I used to hang out with were commenting on the blog it was like having a mini-online reunion. But these are no ordinary high school friends.

Back in the day, I hated (and I mean HATED) high school. Somewhere in there, I started hanging out with an amazing group of people around downtown San Diego. Totally into music from bluegrass and R&B to obscure 60s garage bands. This was way before SD got fancy. At that point, downtown was the haunt of sailors, hookers and tattoo artists - and me and my friends as we went to basement clubs on 4th street to hear all of the local bands play. I've only been back a handful of times since then and I think there's now a Cost Plus on the site of our old club.

Back then, things were real and raw and everyone was cool and unusual and very, very intellegent. And funny. I was so lucky to have found a group of people to hang out with to get me through a tough time in my life. As things go, I moved away to college and then up to SF. I saw a couple of people here and there over the years, but mostly lost touch. Whenever I thought about that magic time, I always pictured everyone else staying exactly the same,, playing in bands and hanging out while I got older, got married and had kids (and became decidedly less cool). Imagine my surprise when I saw photos of some of my old friends and...they got older too! Although, I have to say, we are the hippest group of hmhmhm-year olds I've ever seen.

Reading the comments section of the blog, I've noticed a longing pulling at me as I see names that I haven't thought about in years and rifled through stacks of old photos of those days. The nearest I can figure is that it's a longing for the person I was back then, back to that magic couple of years when life was about the music and the people and whether we were going to Balboa Park or the Presidio to hang out. Knowing all that is to come in the next several decades, I like how things have turned out and wouldn't really want to go back. Well, maybe not for longer than it would take to sit in the courtyard of Che Cafe' and see the Tell Tale Hearts and the Morlochs do a back to back set.



I haven't changed that much, have I?

On this date: In 1977, Star Wars opened.