Something for Thursday

It's not much of a secret that my musical tastes sometimes run to the more obscure, and this band is no exception. They're not unheard of -- you still hear a couple of their songs on "Greatest Hits of the 1980s" things -- but The Hooters never really cracked into the mainstream, alas. I loved their blues-influenced sound and their singers' voices, both of which sounded like they'd smoked just enough Marlboros in their lives to get a little character.

Anyway, this song is off their album One Way Home, and it's easily my favorite off that album (which is, in turn, one of my favorite albums from the 1980s). It's an eerie song with supernatural undertones, and I eventually ended up writing a short story based on it. That story ended up being the first tale I ever submitted for publication anywhere. It was rejected, of course, but the editor wrote a note in the margin that she'd come this close to buying it. Oh well...funny thing was, that first rejection slip felt pretty good. It felt like I was in the game, you know? (Every rejection slip since then, though? F*** those editors!)

Here are The Hooters, with "Graveyard Waltz".


Oh yeah, and here's the story I wrote. Maybe I'll re-read it one of these days...but I'm a bit afraid of what I'll think, given that it was written by the Me-of-fourteen-years-ago....