A Video for the War -- OK, Back to the War -- It Cost a Gazillion Dollars

Whenever I get upset with New York, which is often, I usually listen to Stevie Nicks. In a perfect universe the both of us would have been twins or something, but a last, we are separated by space and time and I only consult her on Youtube (which, I continue to think is the second coming).

So, as I go through another administrative hell with yet another educational mastodon, I decided that I needed to talk to Stevie. So, magically (you know how Ms. Wicca operates) the first of Stevie's "Stand Back" music videos appeared on my Youtube search. This particular video is called the Scarlet Version. It is a corny re-enactment of a civil war scene and was trashed in favor of the now famous electric lights version of the song (funny, concealed in her "Scarlet" commentary is all I want to say about Bush's War, as well as the act of self editing). It still hits me in my gut,because I remember riding in many a dirty white cameo or rimmed out little black tinted windowed Toyota with the Appalachian foothills surrounding me in hump backed silhouettes listening to Stevie. I love her voice because it is preachy, bitchy and sisterly. Her vibrato draws a line in the sand like a lioness awaiting a watering bull.

It brings me back to riding with a chef from Anniston, Alabama to Birmingham, Alabama to escort him to one of his "meetings" because he had a hard week and did not want to relapse (what we do for the love of straight guys). I remember devouring canned smoked oysters and wine coolers. I remember watching lightening storms. I remember the smell of wet green leaves and Newports. I remember dish water blond white girls smiling at me on the bus smelling like Marlboro's. And, I remember watching Showtime's movie intermissions which included videos by The Police and Stevie. It was a whole Saturday afternoon full of a British Robin Hood mini-series and repeats of Clash of the Titans. A whole Southern world where we never talk about race, where everyone is a good ole boy, where recreation is work and sport is leisure. It is a world that is still there . . . oddly enough. It is still hot, humid and full of surprise visits from people you may not have seen in12 years.

It is my New York kryptonite.