By the beginning of 1995 I'd been attending First Christian Church in Georgetown for a while, and one night that winter I received a short visit from Larry Paul, the senior minister. It was mostly just one of those polite check-ins one does with new-ish attendees, but it also included an attempt at getting me more plugged in to the church: Larry Paul mentioned that Kathy, the associate minister, was collaborating with a church in sorta nearby Richmond to take college students on a mission trip to Florida over spring break. Might I be interested in joining them?
And so on a Saturday morning several weeks later, I found myself speeding down the interstate toward the southern tip of Florida in a church van with Kathy and Dan (Kathy's counterpart at the Disciples church in Richmond), Cheryl, Maggie, and Rob--three Georgetown undergraduates--and several students from Eastern Kentucky University. We were on our way to a Habitat build site in Homestead, to assist in the ongoing recovery from the August, 1992 landfall of Hurricane Andrew.
Our home-away-from-home for the week was a former strip mall converted into rooms with rows of bunk beds and facilities for showering. For the most part we were assigned duties piecemeal across the site, but Dan arranged for us to all join in on a roofing project one day (I'm in the back wearing a Cincinnati Reds cap).
We did get to play tourist one day, and I have a few swell pix from a trip through a part of the Everglades and a quick visit to South Beach. It was definitely a worthwhile experience, the only time I've visited the Sunshine State on spring break. I think I did wind up bonding to some extent with the GC students.
But one thing I still hold in my head from the trip is how I acted like a complete twit at times. I was in a phase of "standing up for myself," which in practice meant I complained far too often to Kathy and Dan whenever I wasn't satisfied with whatever was going on. They probably expected drama from the students but not the other accompanying adult/chaperone. I know I exasperated them; it's one of those times when I wish I could have a do-over.
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In the meantime, Martha and I were continuing to solidify our weeks-old romance. She and I made a quick weekend trip in mid-April to my old stomping grounds in Champaign-Urbana. A few friends from my bridge crowd hadn't graduated yet, and those who had departed were coming back for what turned out to be one final big gathering in Illinois. The hosts were Jay and Michelle, who were literally days away from becoming parents.
Several of us trekked out to the Blue Course at the University of Illinois golf club on Saturday (yes, there's also an Orange Course). Here, Greg, Toby, and Karl are taking notes on my excellent putting form--no doubt I drained this one from 25 feet.
And there's also a pic of the official photographer for the event:
It was a quick but fun trip. The next time I saw most of these folks was fifteen months later, at Martha's and my wedding.
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Some excellent tunes this time out on the Modern Rock Track top 40. Let's peruse a few of them.
37. Blues Traveler, "Run-Around"
They're not quite a one-hit wonder but I'd understand you mistaking Blues Traveler for one. I've always enjoyed this song, which climbed in the summer to #8 on the pop charts. The clip is lots of fun, too.
Toward the end of the Florida trip, the troupe went to dinner at a Hard Rock Cafe. Maggie was at my table; when "Run-Around" came on while waiting for our food, she began swinging to the beat. I wasn't the only one who liked the song.
33. Stone Temple Pilots, "Dancing Days"
From Encomium, a Led Zep tribute. Must have heard it a time or two in Homestead, as mention of it summons me to the strip mall parking lot, sitting in the van waiting to head out in the morning.
28. Jeff Buckley, "Last Goodbye"
Lots of musicians have flamed out/killed themselves due to excessive drug and/or alcohol abuse, including Buckley's father Tim. Jeff's accidental drowning two years following this one MRT appearance may well have come from modestly reckless behavior but is among the saddest tragedies to have occurred in the rock world. He had relationships with two singers I enjoy (Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins and Joan as Police Woman); it's probably long past time for me to check out Grace.
24. Mike Watt, "Against the 70s"
In the late 80s a guy I met in grad school loaned me his copy of Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime. I did give it a full run-through, but I suppose I wasn't ready at that time for a parade of sub-2:00 punk songs (I'm listening again as I write this, and I don't dislike it). Following the demise of Minutemen and the disbanding of his subsequent band fIREHOSE, Watt got Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, and a bunch of others to help him out on some solo work, as evidenced here.
18. Adam Ant, "Wonderful"
One of any number of songs that puts me on the road to or from Versailles visiting Martha at her apartment while we were courting, listening to what passed for alternative radio in Lexington.
17. Belly, "Now They'll Sleep"
Didn't get into King the way I had Star; I must have sold the CD at some point. I'm realizing now that I underrated "Now They'll Sleep," so maybe I should at least seek King out on YouTube now.
16. Dave Matthews Band, "What Would You Say"
Here they are at last, the act I may well have heard on the radio more than any other across the last half of the 90s. Never bought one of their albums but I understand the appeal; some of their songs are quite good.
14. Matthew Sweet, "Sick of Myself"
It could be that the last time I made a purchase at Record Service in the Campustown section of Champaign was on the April '95 Illinois trip. Pretty sure I walked out of the store that day with Matthew Sweet's 100% Fun and Joan Osborne's Relish.
At the end of 1995 I put together the last mixtape I'd ever assemble for college roomie James, an overview of what I'd been listening to since the previous December. Since I was already beginning to buy fewer CDs, the tape had a "Single Side" and a "Multi-Side," the latter of which contained multiple cuts from my favorite albums of the year (Sweet and Osborne made the grade, along with the group at #7 below, Ben Folds Five, and the Jayhawks). "Sick of Myself," one of my top 10 songs of the year, kicked off that second side. I 100% adore the double false ending.
Sweet, who's about eight months younger than I am, suffered a debilitating stroke this past October. Here's to continued progress in his recovery.
12. Juliana Hatfield, "Universal Heart-Beat"
Hatfield has never stopped recording; in the last seven years, she's showed she's a true child of my generation by releasing tribute albums to Olivia Newton-John, the Police, and most recently ELO.
7. Elastica, "Connection"
My birthday Wordle word this year was RUMBA, which always brings to mind Wire's "Three Girl Rhumba," which I likely wouldn't know were it not for Elastica's, er, shall we say, tribute to it. I loved "Connection" from first listen, and one of its lines became the tagline for side two of that tape for James:
4. Better Than Ezra, "Good"
Fun, fun song; it's also fun to joke around with the band's name. Would reach #30 on the Hot 100 in July after getting released as a single.
2. P.J. Harvey, "Down by the Water"
A haunting piece, particularly the repeatedly whispered "Little fish, big fish/swimming in the water/Come back here, man/Gimme my daughter" at the end. Likely the high point of Harvey's career.
1. Live, "Lightning Crashes"
I've already hit on a few of the tracks on the '95 tape to James in recent editions of MRT (songs by Aimee Mann, Letters to Cleo, and Weezer)--others will appear over the course of the year, including this one. Even though Throwing Copper was almost a year old by early spring '95, its most affecting cut was then making a big splash and landed in the fifth spot on the Single Side.
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