
Last night my friend John took me to see the Bangles at the House of Blues. It was a magical night and I was in very good company. It was one of those times where you and your friend are just happy to see each other smile. I smiled. He smiled. The Bangles smiled.
The Bangles is a band that I really didn’t get too into when I was younger. I was very young when they came out in the early 80’s I was still listening to Disney and Sesame Street music then. But as I grew older and started to appreciate rock and roll (or I should say as I started to rebel and use music to define myself), I noticed the Bangles was a girl group that rocked. I tried to get into them. I liked their style and they were all really hot chicks! I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be in the band.
Yet, their music bored me. And I really only thought Suzanna Hoffs was pretty. I was jealous because many of my boyfriends couldn’t get enough of her. In fact neither could I. I had a major crush on the tiny singer as a teen. I didn’t think of it as a crush, I only tried to dress like her and make my hair like hers. But I often wondered if she was soft or smelled good. I wondered what her lips felt like, and when I did that I would blush and frantically suppress the naughtiness.
Seeing them last night brought back memories of me wishing I looked like Hoffs. She always had a great sense of style and I wanted to dress like her. But she is petite and flat-chested. I’m the opposite. Petite, yes in height, but not flat chested. I could not pull off the halter tops she made look so sexy. So while I openly tried to dress like her and tried a perm to get my hair like hers, I secretly wondered what it was like to be close to her. Very close.
I never paid attention to the other girls. Last night they made sure I didn’t make that mistake again. Vicky Peterson stole the show. She’s a firecracker and looks as good as she did in the 80’s. Debbie Peterson (are they sisters?) still held on to that hippy style that she seems to have channeled from Bette Middler’s Janice Joplin, only with a little more powder pink. They all look as good as the day the broke into the scene.
It was an awesome show and the crowd let them know it. A mixture of older fans and younger girly girls, the audience was energetic and happy. They danced and sang along providing a chorus throughout the theater.
A band called The Bridges opened. Three sisters, one brother and a cousin make up this harmonizing folk/pop group. The songs were catchy if a bit tired and boring. But they have potential and the fact that they were all beautiful will help them move up in the music world.
After the show I left John to go backstage. I had to catch my train and it was getting close. I walked along Wacker Drive and noticed the changes since I was downtown last (a mere month ago). The building I worked in last year is gone. I passed it by and noticed a big whole in the row of buildings along the Upper Wacker. What the Fuck!?! I used to work there and it’s now gone? Oh well, it was old and falling apart anyway. I was afraid to use the elevator at times and it stank of feet.
My train wasn’t too crowded. A drunk couple provided entertainment. The two conductors sat across the isle from each other and their walkie talkies beeped over and over. The female drunk was trying to sleep and was whining about the noise, begging whoever to turn off their beeper. When her question was unanswered the male drunk chimed in and both remarked that the owner of the annoying chirp must think they are pretty important. A beep, a drunk comment; a beep, a curse. Finally they got up and looked for the beeping person. The conductor stood up and said he was the “muther fucker” with the beep. It was required to stay on so he could talk to the engineer. Apologies and spit came from the man. The woman was already passed out in another car. I got off the train and was in bed by 2:5am.
Chicago is a fun town! I had a great night!