uh oh, having a fangirl moment

Yesterday, I tweeted about reading Luther Campbell's book.  And he re-tweeted me.  Squee!  Twice.  Squee, squee!  Okay, I'm done freaking out.  (It's just as exciting as when Steve Gibson wrote a lengthy reply to my DM on Twitter.)

I went digging through my old CDs (sigh, yes I still have a bunch) to look for my 2 Live Crew one.  I remember having to drive across town to a special store to buy it because it was banned in most stores.  This was pre-Internet.  Oh, the horror!  I couldn't find it amongst my other classics like Metallica: Ride the Lightning, so I texted my brother to see if he had it.  He said he only ever had the cassette, which he may still have packed away in a box.  Hehehehe.  It was a hot commodity back then, so I'm guessing someone 'borrowed' mine, and I never got it back.

I also remember when Luther's club on South Beach first opened, and I had no female friends to go with.  I happened to be dating a really, really white guy at the time who was super nice and offered to take me.  I think we were the only white people in the club, but I sure had fun.  :)  I dressed up in my hot-pants and thigh-high boots and grooved to great dance music.  I got a little nervous when I went to the ladies room and accidentally interrupted a drug deal.  I played it cool, did my business, washed my hands, fixed my mane of hair (black women, even drug dealers, understand that shit), and left with a quickness.  No one gave us a hard time though, which is more than I can say for the black clubs in New York City.  Not that it stopped me from going to those.  Because I was young and didn't care.

Reading Luther's book is similar to watching Billy Corben's movies -- experiencing the real Miami that I grew up in, not the hoity-toity South Beach shit depicted today.  Miami was raw, raunchy, and fkn terrifying at times.  It was also exciting and an adventure every day, where I learned more than I did from my so-called formal education.  I probably can't list most (any?) of what I learned on my professional resumé though.

I stayed up too late reading last night, and Kitten woke me very early this morning (same as she always does).  I can't lie around reading all day because I have chores to do.  Also, I need to keep myself from full immersion in the book, so I don't trigger any childhood PTSD.  He does a pretty good job of depicting how it was when the Cuban boatlift came over, and the blacks and whites ended up as unlikely allies, in many, many turf and cultural wars.  Except now I get to hear it from the black perspective.  I'm still amazed that anyone was left alive, on any side.

Maybe I can play some 2 Live Crew to make me laugh (and dance) while I do my chores.  Such a hard life today lol.  ;)  After I watch the season finale of Formula One, of course.