Perk Up Your Ears

Picture, if you will, a 14-year-old short and chubby Mexican kid on a bike doing his paper route though one of those California heatwaves. It is 1977. He loves rock music but can't seem to figure out how to take it with him on those afternoons, as he chucks rolled up newspapers at his clients' doors, always with uncanny precision. On Saturdays and Sundays, the newspaper is delivered in the morning. As the kid is coming back from the route, he stops at a yard sale. He can't help but wonder what it is that white people do on Friday night that compels them to sell their used crap on Saturday morning. Amongst that crap, a little transistor radio stands out. It costs 25 cents, 9 volt battery included. The kid buys it enthused by the idea that he will be able to listen to the radio as he does his route. The AM radio provided daily rock epiphanies, one of which was XTC (the greatest unknown rock band in the world). From there the kid went to an endless arrey of cassette Walkmans, to Discmans, to Minidiscs... no iPods... that kid... that kid is just a bit off.
XTC has been away for a while, but Andy Partridge, founder, is still very active. From the Fuzzy Warbles Extras I give you (just click on the title to download) "Pupil Hayes" a scholastc parody of Jimmy Hendrix's "Purple Haze". It is an improvised fun version, which I hope you will really enjoy. May an epiphany come to you
I learned a lot of my English through three things; music, movies and reading. As I said before, a couple of weeks ago, this is a place for English teaching and learning and for music. I'm on a bit of a break from school, so as a result I'm on a bit of break from teaching as well.