Once Upon a Time on 90.1…

Many years ago I experienced the greatest summer of my life. I was 14, about to be 15 and I was taking photography classes at the Glassell School of Art down here in Houston. I was also volunteering at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in their education department helping out with their summer camp program. Every morning my VCR was set to record one of the greatest TV shows that ever existed, “21 Jumpstreet”, so that when I got home from my daily fun I could submerse myself into a total Johnny Depp coma.

But Friday nights at 10pm was where I found my favorite weekly action. Back then in 1995, Houston’s 90.1 KPFT had this lovely little radio show called “Esoteric Adventures” and it was hosted by two guys named Jim. They called themselves Jim2 (squared). It was the greatest 3 hours of my life every Friday night. It was then that I found myself falling more and more for this thing called new wave music. They played everything from Laurie Anderson to Oingo Boingo. Peter Gabriel to the Cure. Not to mention the stuff I’d never even heard of let alone remember 16 years later. I think that was the first time I’d heard “I Eat Cannibals” by Total Coelo. Each week they’d praise the musical genius Danny Elfman. It was a great show and I hated when I’d doze off and miss one second of it. They played a lot of Devo and that band became one of my best friends that summer. Not only was their music featured in an episode of the aforementioned “21 Jumpstreet”, but I’m pretty sure I wore out my dad’s vinyl copy of “Freedom of Choice” because I played it non-stop on my cheap turntable I used to have.

I lived and breathed new wave music. Whatever money I had went straight to Record Rack, Cactus Music & Sound Exchange. This was before the Internet was so popular so instead of searching online for information, I went to the old Bookstop on Shepherd & W. Alabama to see what books about music I could find. I’d rent music VHS tapes of live concerts and music videos of bands like New Order, A Flock of Seagulls and the Smiths. I would beg my parents, mainly my father, to take me every week to make sure I wasn’t missing any important rare new import that I had to have to complete my collection.

My relationship with music went far beyond my staples of The Cure, Depeche Mode & Siouxsie and the Banshees. I was realizing that I was born in the completely wrong year and wanted to know what it was like to grow up earlier to experience all of this amazing music firsthand. I was realizing that when I did “grow up” I was going to have to have a career in music. I was realizing more and more that I was not like the other kids at my school that listened to mainstream bands like Green Day & Pearl Jam. Those bands made me, and still make me, want to barf. I was different. I wanted to live in London and sit in a coffee house reading a book about Robert Smith and listen to my *walkman*. I was going to go to art school and become a music video producer and be the next Anton Corbijn, Tim Pope or Stephane Sednaoui.

But as it usually does, life didn’t turn out quite like I had imagined and hoped. I’ve learned that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be now and embarking on a new journey every day. Maybe someday I’ll end up in London, who knows? But I’m pretty happy still listening to my music and still frequenting Cactus & Sound Exchange. And lucky for me, I’ve pretty much gotten to see almost every band I have ever loved and always dreamed of seeing live. Bands I thought I’d never have the chance to see because their time had passed or so people said and thought. And I have that little show on 90.1 to thank for contributing to my obsession and addiction over the years. And so, the journey continues