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Category: GenX

The NeverEnding Story: the most influential film of my life

Published May 18, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
May 18, 2020

Atreyu and Falkor the luck dragon.

The summer of 1984 was a banner time for movies. See Ghostbusters, Sixteen Candles, Revenge of the Nerds, Karate Kid, et al. The Orpheum theater in Marshalltown, Iowa had a new movie playing called “The NeverEnding Story” (NOTE: last movie I saw at the Orpheum was Caddyshack II in 1988). I had $5.52 in my pocket from my paper route job. That was enough for a movie ticket, popcorn and pop in those days.

I watched “The NeverEnding Story” by myself, with only 40-50 other people in the theater. It shaped me forever. All I wanted from that point forward was to save my Childlike Empress (aka Moon Child). read more

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Who is listening in 2020?

Published April 29, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
April 28, 2020

This is Brian’s 1996-97 broadcasting school tape. He really thought he was cool, trying to rap! 🙂

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30 years ago today: Paula Abdul reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Opposites Attract”

Published February 15, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
February 15, 2020

I skipped school on Thursday, February 15, 1990. I’d met this cute eighth grader at Skate North in Des Moines the previous Friday and was going to spend the day at her house. Problem was that I was only 14 (no driver’s license) and she lived far out in Urbandale. The bus took me part of the way, before I walked the last three miles.

My journal is a bit illegible the rest of the way due to spilling something on it over the years. But her mom came home early and I ended having to hide in the closet and climb out a window when the coast was clear. In-school suspension was coming the next day for the truancy. But hey, she was really cute! read more

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RIP Marie Fredriksson: My 5 Favorite Roxette Songs

Published December 11, 2019

by Brian A. Wilkins
December 10, 2019

The duo of Per Gessle (L) and the lovely Marie Fredrikkson are Roxette.

My good friend Blake had a memorable, funny comment when we were roommates at Iowa State University in 1994. “Black men aren’t supposed to be Roxette fans.” He said that after observing the fact I had three Roxette CD’s in my collection. That’s what happens when you’re black and grow up in 1980s Iowa.

Roxette vocalist and keyboardist Marie Fredriksson passed away yesterday in Djursholm, Sweden at the age of 61. She had been battling brain cancer for over 17 years. She is survived by her husband of 25 years, Mikael Bolyos, and their two children. read more

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Lucinda Williams vs. Mary Chapin Carpenter: Who did “Passionate Kisses” better?

Published November 24, 2019

BrianWilkins.org
November 23, 2019

Mary Chapin Carpenter version

Lucinda Williams version

Hung Jury

Lucinda Williams wrote the song. It was a track on her eponymous third studio album released in 1988.

The song didn’t chart in the States for whatever reason. “Passionate Kisses” reached #169 on the Aussie charts in 1989. That was the extent of its commercial success. There was/is no music video for the song. That may have contributed to its relative anonymity in the last few years of the MTV MUSIC TELEVISION era.

Mary Chapin Carpenter added her own sugar and spice to “Passionate Kisses” in 1993. The song was suddenly ubiquitous, just four years after the Lucinda Williams original. It reached #4 on the U.S. Hot Country Singles chart, and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chapin Carpenter won a Grammy in 1994 for Best Female Country Vocal Performer. Williams won a Grammy that year as well for Best Country Song. read more

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5 Most Groovy Gospel Songs Of All-Time

Published August 30, 2019

BrianWilkins.org
August 29, 2019

My good friend Shannon loved the song “Son Of A Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield.

I told her that I’m the son of a preacher woman (Church of God in Christ, or “COGIC”), which apparently is/was pretty rare in genuine Christian institutions – female pastors. Shannon got a chuckle out of that fact since we smoked weed and drank together all the time in the early 2000s.

Generation X kids know how it is – many of us were forced to go to church every Sunday. Some of us also had to go to church on Wednesdays and even Sunday School before church. Church was so normal that there was even the sitcom “Amen” that ran from 1986 to 1991. read more

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