I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.
June 30, 1985. It was day 2 of my annual trip to Mississippi with my Mother. We had arrived at Grandma's to find her little shack was not clean and mice were everywhere so we had packed her up and gone over to my Aunt E's house. Her oldest son RC arrived about the same time with his new girlfriend. She was the same age as me, 18, and a very pretty blonde, so I foolishly spent most of my time flirting with her. RC was in his 30's and was a black belt in karate so it's a wonder he didn't break me in two. I suppose he knew I was no real threat. He ran out and rented a VCR along with the movies Rhinestone, Revenge of the Nerds, and Purple Rain.
We watched all of these movies the next afternoon which would have been this day back in 1985. Grandma enjoyed Rhinestone, but she didn't care for Revenge of the Nerds. The infamous shower scene with Booger yelling "We've got muff!" was too much for her. She asked what channel we were watching. RC said, "It's channel 3, it's the only channel we can get right now." She then got up and said she was going home thinking her house was just next door. We eventually straightened that out and she went to bed. It made me sad to see her losing her grip on reality. It would happen to my own Mother beginning in 2014.
I wouldn't stay sad for long in 1985 as Prince was about to rock my world. I had not seen Purple Rain on its theatrical run. I had been a Prince fan since "I Wanna Be Your Lover", but the movie just didn't seem too appealing based on the trailer. Boy, was I wrong!! I loved the film. Prince was great as the moody musical genius and the music was great as I knew it was, but Morris Day and Jerome just about stole the film. I do know that some of the scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, but most of the movie was shot in Minneapolis and 2 of my favorite bands of the moment were also from there, The Replacements, and Hüsker Dü, so seeing the city was exciting. I had even made a mixtape for the trip with The Replacements "Let It Be" on one side while "Zen Arcade" by the Hüskers was on the flip. RC's brother Sammy still lived at home and he happened to have the Purple Rain soundtrack so I would borrow it so I could play it in the car on the way to and from Memphis. This is where we headed after just a couple of days in Ripley, Mississippi.
To be continued.
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