November 4, 1988

In 1988 I remember going to a department store after school called Zayre. It was on the order of K-mart, with Blue Light specials and sometimes had a photographer setup inside with fake baby powder blue backgrounds on a pull-down screen, the typical toy section, electronics(where we got our first Atari 2600 system), and of course, there was a decent music section.

I remember as a kid, I would try to somehow take out an 8-track tape from the locked case, which had holes within a transparent plastic "wall" for the customer to be able to view and hold the album they were hoping to buy. Such albums I remember seeing were by Ozzie Osbourne's "Bark at the Moon," Blondie's "Heart of Glass"(I had a big crush on her back in the day), or even Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall". If you wanted such an album, you had to ask the clerk to unlock the case and you would be able to select your pick and then buy it.

Later, they came out with cassettes, which I still collect and have, despite this being the CD era and beyond.

 On that day, November 4th, 1988, I walked to the store(which was right across the street from my high school), and bought U2's "Rattle and Hum." My sister's boyfriend, Brian, was a big U2 fan. I found that I liked some of their stuff from the "Joshua Tree," so I got their next album, "Rattle and Hum"-a double-album of gold! "When Love Comes to Town," was a firey duet with B.B. King, "Angel of Harlem" was a sweet, soulful song of hope, and "Van Diemen's Land" introduced us to Bono's "silent" partner, The Edge, who sang lead on the track. Many more songs made the whole thing an event when listening.

My favorite song was "Desire." It had everything a 15 year old boy was into:"a red guitar on fire," guns("over the counter, with a shotgun"), money-all stuff that now peppers most of today's video game graphics. Look at Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto, or any video game that involves fire. It's all there, but for me, instead of the video game frenzy, my addiction has been music. U2 summed it all up. My "Desire" was to be a musician(I have played guitar for about 20 years) or have music somehow be in my life- always.