Jordin Sparks was crowned the youngest American Idol winner today. I thought I was the only nutcase until I shared my frustration over ice-cream with Anna and Siobhan. Today Siobhan (sorry, sweetie, too tired to put the accent over the "a", but let's imagine it's there) sent the following email."So a moment for the brief sanity of the American nation! They overwhelmingly voted for Jordin..."
I woke up late (been sick with heat exhaustion since monday), and had an overwhelming moment. I saw Gladys Knight perform my favorite song, Midnight Train to Georgia. That song took me back to 1998 when I discovered this store in Hyde Park, Chicago called "2nd Hand Tunes". I went and paid 3 dollars for a Gladys Knight album and kept going back for people I heard of but never wanted to pay full price for. My eclectic collection thus had Eddie Brickel and the Bohemians, Louis Armstrong, Aaron Copeland, early Janet Jackson, and bunch of Jazz CDs (they were $1 each).
I used to take my diskman and a blanket at night to sit by Lake Michigan (two blocks away from my Kenwood apt), where you could sit and watch the waves for hours in peace. Midnight train to Georgia was a frequent companion. The song is one of my all-time favorite even though, most of my life, I've felt the opposite of what the song says. The lyrics go:
I'd rather live in his world
Than live without him
In mine
My philosophy, time and again, has been I'd rather live in my own world alone than park my booty in someone else's fantasy island. But it's always nice to imagine what the greener pasture tastes like.
