Summer Bliss

I was 19 years old, just packed up my stuff and left for London. I didn't have much of a plan, no job, a little bit of cash in my pocket and a shared room in a London flop hotel. Pan Am 103 just crashed in Lockerbie, London's Financial District exploded from an armored car bomb, the IRA was in full force, images of Tianamen Square was on the telly every night, apartheid in South Africa was raging on, the Cold War was still in the back of your mind, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were in office.

3 bootleg cassettes that I bought in Camden Market put it all in perspective for me [U2's Rattle and Hum, Peter Gabriel's Plays Live, and Simple Minds Street Fighting Years. Even though these three were pretty heavy political albums, the music and lyrical qualities help transcend the politics. 

It was also one of the hottest summers in London's history, I had a crazy swedish girlfriend and great mates with whom I ultimately shared a "PHAT" flat in South Kensington. I would meet up with my girlfriend every sunday afternoon up at Hampstead Heath and just chill with a bottle of Pimms and soda. Not a worry in our minds, we were totally boho, walking bare foot through the city (you could do that in London at the time and not worry about thrashing your feet), smoking a bit of the magic weed and listening to music. Nothing epitomizes that time for me more than the album "Street Fighting Years". My musical tastes have moved on, it's pretty hard to listen to that album now; but, every once in a while I'll put on Soul Crying Out and remember the warm British sun on my face and the psychedelic sunday hazes.