" (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker " / Rolling Stones Week 2/5

Although fully 95% of that stupid piece of literature I like so much-Ulysses -falls under this category, but one of my favourite lines/parts of Ulysses occurs in an early scene- it's one of the three early Stephen led scenes before the book centers on Bloom*. Stephen, in full "Plan A" type glory, is talking to his boss in the school he teaches @. They stodgy stolid old man (maybe not best word- I'll dictionary myself later) and the young vibrant man are discussing the meaning of God or what God is. The older man drones on and on but is suddenly interrupted by the loud joyous shouts though the open window of the school children @ recess. Stephen immediately interjects "There- that is God". I've always agreed.

Despite my frenz egging and egging me on (I- just-didn't-listen) , it took until the PENTUMULATE bowling nite of my classes grammer school career to finally go and check it out. So, fall of 1979, I took that long bus ride w/ frenz to the bowling alley @ 63d and Central- rite across from Midway. The other kids had been playing in bowling leagues for years, but it was all new to me (One had to pay to bowl, so of course I grew up never having bowled- my cheapness didn't start w/ me- it was all learned).

But what a site**- what a fucking site:

there were cute 7th grade girls, the slam of the ball into the pins, running kids, yelling kids, shouting kids, lites and flashes, the buzz of hundreds of people in the alley, there were 6th grade girls- of who I probably had a crush on seven of them- and there were strangers and strange places to stick our noses in, blurs, there were 8th grade girls - and all those girls were wearing that uniform- people @ the bar, the shoe bazaar, movement, chasing, chances to write stupid frases on the overhead lite, shouting, frenz and frenz and frenz, and, of course, girls and girls and girls..........and a certain 7th grader that held precedent over all other girls @ St. Rita of Cascia Grammer School.

WOW!!

As I wrote, the first time was the pentumulinate bowling nite (after school, really) of our 8th grade class. Fuck if I wasn't lucky for finally going and experiencing it - and the last nite of bowling I was fully ready and waiting for the reexperiece. Usually, the second time is a disappointment- but we all knew that THIS WAS IT, and the last nite of bowling simply put is a day I put amongst my favourite days of my life.

It was really a replay of the previous week- wilde, wilde, Oscar Wilde. Extra Wilde. WOW Wilde. I think all of us knew that a point in our seriously short lives was passing by us (damn that touchy march of time that binds us !). For me fer sure, I knew and felt this. My endemic impulses to romanticise the past- this exercise here, I guess- was very alive @ that moment. I realised that we as a crew would never go down this path again, so we were especially "young and alive" that day, and never more than on the bus trip home.

All of grammer school was a wilde ride, but the 3.5 mile CTA bus ride from Central back to Marquette Park was a fucking riot-wilde ride. Jam packed with kids, the oldest of which were graduating and needent need to behave that well, it quickly developed into a free for all. Running, screaming, playing, throwing, windows open: God was very apparent in us that day. The bus ride and the day ended with me and another kid trying to get off @ the Francisco stop, but the whole crowd of kids on the bus shouted to the driver to ignore us and drive on. He listened. The bus went on an extra two stops before the driver- not wanting to lose his job, I'm sure- finally stopped the bus when we opened the back doors- wind whistling in- just to make the point that we wanted off.

Of all things, it was that last frenzied pandenomic ride home- 15-20m @ most- that I remember. It especially left me with a stunned exhausted exhilaration as I dazed my way back the extra two blocks home from the bus stop.

I didn't know it @ the time, but in Stephen's terms, God surely was there. I think I felt her. I think he moved me. But one thing was sure. I absolutely knew, rite then and there, and without any doubt, what God SOUNDED like: Her presence was revealed to me in......the bowling alleys juke box. They had many 45's longtemps forgotten, but they also had one that started me on my path as a fledgling rocker- it was the Rolling Stones mid Seventies '45 " (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker". I played it both times I was there, and forever more, that exciting mix of mayhem and music, of girls and growing up, of experience and romantic times, was forever associated with, I guess, The Rolling Stones. As stated above, I liked the group before and they were heavy in my mind, but the fortnites experiences forever made me cross the Rubicon and never look back.

The next step was to convince them to come live with me- so I could play them all the time on my record player. But that's to-morrow.

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*=and the weird thing is, I actually expect people to know what I'm referring to- not that I'm saying I'm some especial divo who knows the book, but it so much a part of whatever inside me @ this point....please bear w/ me)

**= and please remember, I'm writing from the perspective of a 13 yo.