In 1986:
• Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Boy George, the lead singer from Culture Club, appeared on an episode of The A-Team
• Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of Miami Vice portraying a crime boss named “Mr. Frankie”
• The Dead Kennedys played their last concert at UC Davis
• Dollywood opened in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
• Cleveland, Ohio is chosen as the city where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be built
• The Monkees embarked on a successful tour of American stadiums on their 20th Anniversary Tour
• Black Flag play their last concert
• The Pixies formed
• Wham! breaks up
• Irish rocker Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy dies
• Richard Manuel from The Band commits suicide
• The KROQ Top Ten Songs includes music by: Talking Heads, Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel, B-52's, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Smiths, Dramarama, Oingo Boingo, Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys
• I purchased LP's by: The Go-Betweens, Cactus World News, The Cure, The Housemartins, Robyn Hitchcock, The Jazz Butcher, Love and Rockets, The Lucy Show, and That Petrol Emotion
• I purchased singles by: The Church, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, The Painted Word, Primitives, Rosemary's Children, Screaming Dizbusters, Something Happens!, Soup Dragons, and Ten-Ten
Twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper had long since taught the band to play… but I remember helping my best man squeeze into a pair of dress pants pulled from the bottom of a pile of dirty clothes in the back of his closet; a pair of pants so tight, he could barely retrieve the rings from the pockets when I turned to him on the altar and asked him to hand them over. I remember the name tags worn by Lori and I (before the wedding began) that said “Hello, I am the Bride” and “Hello, I am the Groom.” Even Fr. George got in the spirit of things with a sticky tag that said “Hello, I am the Priest.” I recall another friend who had agreed to photograph our wedding was lost en-route—somewhere in the state of Pennsylvania. I remember the bagpipe player who was hired to play the last piece of music literally did not arrive inside the church until minutes before Lori and I were presented to the congregation as a married couple. And there was another friend from Washington who, by pure coincidence, was discovered walking from the interstate to the church (had he not been spotted because of a serendipitous wrong turn he would never have made it to the reception). I remember the wedding band, comprised of a bunch of guys who taught public school with my new mother-in-law, were only able to play about 20 of the songs from the “every-wedding-band-worth-their-salt-will-know-these-songs” list we had sent them months before the reception — but we begged and, in the end, even paid for them to stay and play an hour past the time they had agreed on. I remember my mother requested “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen approximately ten times (the band played it three times). I remember one sister who split her dress up to her ass dancing on a table with my bride. Later, back at the hotel where we all stayed, I vaguely remember a dart board rolling about the hall for some unknown reason… I don't recall whether anybody was throwing darts at it at the time. I do recall getting up at 5:30am the next morning to drive some friends to the airport, and later that afternoon taking the remaining stragglers to Skyway, a local drive-in, for cheeseburgers, onion rings and malts. All of this because of two little words: “I do.”
• Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Boy George, the lead singer from Culture Club, appeared on an episode of The A-Team
• Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of Miami Vice portraying a crime boss named “Mr. Frankie”
• The Dead Kennedys played their last concert at UC Davis
• Dollywood opened in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
• Cleveland, Ohio is chosen as the city where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be built
• The Monkees embarked on a successful tour of American stadiums on their 20th Anniversary Tour
• Black Flag play their last concert
• The Pixies formed
• Wham! breaks up
• Irish rocker Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy dies
• Richard Manuel from The Band commits suicide
• The KROQ Top Ten Songs includes music by: Talking Heads, Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel, B-52's, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Smiths, Dramarama, Oingo Boingo, Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys
• I purchased LP's by: The Go-Betweens, Cactus World News, The Cure, The Housemartins, Robyn Hitchcock, The Jazz Butcher, Love and Rockets, The Lucy Show, and That Petrol Emotion
• I purchased singles by: The Church, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, The Painted Word, Primitives, Rosemary's Children, Screaming Dizbusters, Something Happens!, Soup Dragons, and Ten-Ten
Twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper had long since taught the band to play… but I remember helping my best man squeeze into a pair of dress pants pulled from the bottom of a pile of dirty clothes in the back of his closet; a pair of pants so tight, he could barely retrieve the rings from the pockets when I turned to him on the altar and asked him to hand them over. I remember the name tags worn by Lori and I (before the wedding began) that said “Hello, I am the Bride” and “Hello, I am the Groom.” Even Fr. George got in the spirit of things with a sticky tag that said “Hello, I am the Priest.” I recall another friend who had agreed to photograph our wedding was lost en-route—somewhere in the state of Pennsylvania. I remember the bagpipe player who was hired to play the last piece of music literally did not arrive inside the church until minutes before Lori and I were presented to the congregation as a married couple. And there was another friend from Washington who, by pure coincidence, was discovered walking from the interstate to the church (had he not been spotted because of a serendipitous wrong turn he would never have made it to the reception). I remember the wedding band, comprised of a bunch of guys who taught public school with my new mother-in-law, were only able to play about 20 of the songs from the “every-wedding-band-worth-their-salt-will-know-these-songs” list we had sent them months before the reception — but we begged and, in the end, even paid for them to stay and play an hour past the time they had agreed on. I remember my mother requested “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen approximately ten times (the band played it three times). I remember one sister who split her dress up to her ass dancing on a table with my bride. Later, back at the hotel where we all stayed, I vaguely remember a dart board rolling about the hall for some unknown reason… I don't recall whether anybody was throwing darts at it at the time. I do recall getting up at 5:30am the next morning to drive some friends to the airport, and later that afternoon taking the remaining stragglers to Skyway, a local drive-in, for cheeseburgers, onion rings and malts. All of this because of two little words: “I do.”
The Happy Medium Song of the Day, in celebration of 20 years of marriage, is “I Do” by The J. Geils Band.
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(Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)