There was a long explanation of how I came to equate the Wombats new look with rock stars who cut off chicken heads and things. The post is about how I met:
Iggy Pop at the Ritz in 1986 or 1987. He didn’t tear chicken heads off just smeared gross things and more. Somehow I ended up being thrown over a mosh pit. It was thrilling.
My idea of danger is traveling without reservations. The only thing that my parents ever asked me not to do was ride on a motorcycle and I thanked them.
When I was carried over the mosh pit, my life literally was in other peoples hands. I’m a control freak, but for some reason it was a wonderful experience. And I’m claustrophobic so i was a lot better than being stuck in the crowd.
I don’t really know why it happened. I had lost my pocketbook but wasn’t broken up over that so I must have had my money and everything in my socks or boots. The doormen/bouncers knew me. The Ritz was, I thought, the most comfortable dance club in New York except for the Long Star Roadhouse.
They asked me to come to the after performance party, and to bring my friends. The food was vegetarian and very good. It’s not unusual for me to remember specific meals after 20 years.
I was with Lucia and a girl who worked for the hair salon coop Rafe was a member of. Somehow at the party after the concert I got her a job with Iggy Pop which is really weird when I think about it as I had never met him before, and barely knew her. Normally there should have been layers between him and a job offer, I think.
I’m pretty sure he asked me if I wanted a job and I told him that I was happy with mine but I knew a girl….
Why do I remember a meal and not a conversation with a rock star? I was probably nervous, and I had been dieting which turned into a lifestyle. I liked to look at food, a lot. And I met somebody that night who I was to like much, but not enough. I didn’t know that then and thought he was beautiful, sexy, and basically that was it. We liked each other enough to not go home together.
In my list of life’s regrets not working for Iggy Pop just might be up there.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I have told a more complete version of this story somewhere in the archives.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
This is national delurking week. I don’t care if people lurk, I totally understand not wanting to comment in a blog. If I didn’t have one I wouldn’t. Personally I’m in this because I love to write. It’s a way of trying out material, seeing what works and what doesn’t.
I can be self-indulgent at times because nobody pays me. Sometimes I think of putting a Paypal donation button with a tin cup and a cane, but it does feel like begging to me. I have long thought of making Courting coffee cups and salad plates in a geometric design. I really want to make them because I like envisioning them.
Then I thought sheets, comforters and towels, again because I want them. They go with my bedroom which is mostly steel based.
While the Courting shop is the height of self-indulgence it would look good with Courting Destiny: tales from the blog
That’s not to be confused with my memoir Electric Haired Chick:But, uh or the novel West of Broadway.
If people think that I’m delusional, and some people have made themselves clear about that, many more people believe in me. I can never thank bloggers enough for giving me back my mojo. It was dormant for awhile, but that might be a good thing in the end as it did give me perspective.
The first few years after 9/11 were crazy. The story’s more complex than what I have written here, and I think I will save it for when I come back but after I finish the second half of the last story. And write my memories of the three major blackouts I have lived few. The first is very short as I was a kid.
My aunt lived a few blocks up. When she called to see if we had power, she told us that my cousin Warren had started it. Yes, my sixteen year old cousin blacked out the whole east coast while putting together his new hi fi. My aunt seriously believed this. I have about three more memories that are equally as exciting. I promise that the tale of the next two will be much more thrilling. While almost anything would qualify as more exciting, I was grown up and in the city during the next two.
I’m going to focus on the memoir and novel because I never want to put up the tin cup. I’m a writer so rejection means nothing to me, and adverse reaction spurs me on. Stings at first, but when I was buying lip plumper the other day,and asked for Sephora’s best, the girl asked if I liked the ones that numb or sting.
“Sting,” I answered without a seconds thought. “I love the stinging feeling.”
The best numbs.
The novel is really my passion. I have to thank some marketing person who sent me a really bad novel to review, and once again, I thought, I can write something so much better. This time I sat down and began. I have never thought of writing as sheer pleasure except when I’m writing just for me.
The novel is pleasure, and what’s turning out to be a pivotal plot point is something that I have thought of often. What if somebody you know well and have known since you were eighteen turns out to be a completely different person than the one you thought you knew?
I still do my far share of mosh pits from time to time…
When you finish your novel I want a copy.
When I started blogging I thought the ads and stuff would be cool. If I earned say a hundred bucks in a year, it’d be for a laugh and I’d probably donate it as ill-gotten gain to St. Judes or something.
I get my little share of hits daily (excluding say Blog Explosion) and I am happy just keeping what really has become a nice journal of my life with some commentary when necessary. I wish I had more time for promotion but, I take what I can get…
Sometimes I feel like I pigeon holed myself… But it’s okay… It’s nice to have the few blog buddies and a lot of support from BIO these days…
How is that for a de-lurk? Keep it up…
Working for Iggy Pop — what a trip that would have to be! It’s cool that you even met him.
If the novel is similar to the post below, it will be great! Well, will be great anyway, I’m sure…you’re fiction is fab. And what’s this about a product line? 🙂 Wouldn’t it be cool to do that?
This will sustain me during my return and while your gone, if you fail to post.
Might as well sell ads on your site.
National de-lurking week, time to call out all those lurkers who hit my site from the same place for long periods of time.
Good luck on the novel, and I’m glad you were able to find your confidence again.
That’s beyond awesome about Iggy Pop.
Iggy Pop freaks me out. No joke.
I hope the novel continues to leak out. It’s like a White House Press Conference in here.
As for your rhetorical question at the end? Usually the one who isn’t as believed ends up hurting you very badly and you never get past it.
Had it happen more than once.
*Note to Pia:
My powers of observation are keen. It’s my witty banter that requires work. 😉
dearest Pia — i have been “delurked”, my problem seems to be in the area of “comment deficiency”. sometimes i am intimidated by your amazing writing, and belive my own words to be so potentially pale in comparison i fail to express myself at all. other times i just get lost in thought and/or distracted, with is oh-so-often my lot (such is the plight of a girl with ADD, maybe you can help me with *my* book?? then again, maybe not — i’ll probably always be too distracted to ever start!)
as for that lip plumper? i too am a fan of the “stinging” kind… but realize the “numbing” ones work best. especially if the lips are first numbed then injected with something a bit more, shall we say, permanent? (ah… what price vanity? i’ll tell you what price: the going rate is around $550. oy. and ouch.)
once your return there is a meeting i believe you MUST attend — one that involves me and a certain mutual friend who goes by the letter “G”. we’ll tawk, we’ll shop, we’ll commiserate over the price of lip plumpers and/or opportunities lost — and opportunities only just now showing up! xoxoxo
I delurked a long time ago here on Courting. (Aren’t you lucky?)
But there was a time when I, too, was intimidated by… I dunno… the writing, the politics, the pinup, the pink, the thought that this-blog-comes-up-every-seventh-blog-on-BE-so-it-must-be-huge-and-what-if-I-say-the-wrong-thing-or-sound-stupid.
And then one day, I crept out of the shadows. And I’ll say now what I said then:
“Great blogging, Pia. Keep it up!”
(And to think, I was worried about sounding stupid.)
🙂
PIA!!!! IGGY??? You have no idea HOW cool I think you are now.. lol
Iggy is a God. He’s up there in my own Private Pantheon, with Plant and Page, Lennon, and very few others.
I’m with Bone. My first visits were via BE and you came up so often. I was overwhelmed because I had just started blogging and had no idea what was going on or who would allow me to comment.
Now that I’m part of the community a bit I am a sponge. I comment where I can and I read tons. I have a feed reader full of things that are actually READ instead of waiting.
I haven’t had time to read a book but why not make this my new hobby? The words on the page are just as tasty and I really enjoy delving into lives I didn’t live. Especially yours.
I completely agree with you about putting up a paypal donation link. I don’t think I could ever do it myself. However, I’ve never had a problem with anyone else doing it.
Oh, good luck with the novel! I wish I could write in a linear fashion and do that. I honestly don’t think I’m capable. That’s why I’m a vignette kinda gal. 😉
Delurking today, because you asked me to. 😉
I’ll decloak and tell you I love to read your memoir style. I’d purchase your book any day.
Nice pages here. Great information. Will visit again and recommend.
about the only thing my mom told me not to do, that I haven’t done, is to buy a motorcycle. I’ll now have to wait till my daughter is older! But you know, last year in Honduras I found myself on the back of a bike streaming through Tegu, and then it hit me, “are you out of your mind, Sage?” You don’t want to end up in a hospital down here!”
I’m working my way backwards because I was out of the blogs for a few days. Wow – Iggy Pop, now that’s an excellent story to have in the arsenal! This post meandered about in classic Pia style – from Iggy to blackouts to de-lurking.
You’ve got a lust for life! Oh and on what Neva mentioned, when you get back and settled in…