On Thursday night I was in a club deep in Soho observing American Psycho-esque junior investment bankers mingle with gallery girls to a mix of 80's pop and contemporary electronic music. While watching the white V-neck clad Brooklyenite DJ play music on his Mac Book, a riff from Eddy Huntington'sU.S.S.R. jumped out at me like Homeward Bound in the family section of a movie rental store.
My brother first introduced me to the great Eddy Huntington via a Facebook wall post that read "Dude, I think this guy is our cousin" and included a YouTube link. Intrigued, I perused the web looking for background on this once great pop sensation from the late '80s and found, much to my disappointment, no family ties but a great story.
Born in 1965 in a small town north in England, Eddy moved to London at 18 to pursue a carrier in the entertainment business. After appearing in multiple music videos as an extra, the Italian record label, Baby records, spotted potential and took him to Milan to record his most notable work, U.S.S.R. The song quickly gained traction on pop charts in the UK, Scandinavia, and wait for it, the U.S.S.R.
After touring around Europe playing shows like this for a bunch of commies, Eddy retired from the music industry in the early 90's and went back to school. Today, Eddy is a middle school principal and gives dancing and singing lessons to his students. If you read the YouTube comments you will see multiple ones like, "Hey that guy is my teacher, he's so nice." I did not make this up.
For the last week and a half I have been writing papers and studying for exams. I have never liked school, and this miserable process, memorizing useless minutia that i will forget in two weeks, reiterates my fundamental objections to the American college system.
To get me through studying and writing papers, I turned to these songs for inspiration.
In the last two days, Ennio Morricone's masterpiece made me feel like the Capital Asset Pricing Model is as exciting as robbing a bank or stealing 250000 dollars in gold. This song could even make Olympic Curling exciting.
I also played Gordon Lightfoot's historical classic, The Wreck of The Edmunds Fitzgerald, on repeat.
I love new wave and the decade of decadence that they helped define. New Order is my favorite new wave band and contributes to my lifestyle. The spectacle their music creates makes any party more fun. As on ode to Patrick Batemen, "Their music combines an upbeat sound with complex lyrics." Here are some music videos and a clip from the dance scene from American Psycho.
ABOUT
I left my job in New York in the summer of 2011 and moved into a camper. Since then, I have driven 100,000 miles around the west, surfing and camping. During the summer of 2014, I set up a home base in the Columbia River Gorge. These are some of my stories and photos.
