Tomorrow my almost 21-year old son will return to school, his circle of friends and his life. What a summer he has had, helping with the sale of our house and move and cleaning dirty houses and apartments and talking to strangers on the phone as a telemarketer! And, all without a car, much cash in his pocket or a girl on his arm. That has to suck.
One of the things I will miss the most is some of our bizarre conversations. The other day, we got on the topic of Lady Gaga, someone that Sam really really has an opinion about. His opinion is so strong, he created several paintings to comment on what he thinks of her.
I have to admit, I know zilcho about Lady Gaga. And, Sam wanted me to see one of her videos. 'Mom's it's really vulgar, totally gross'. I had to see a video that my 21-year old son, who likes to shock, finds vulgar. During a cleaning break, he had the video all ready on the computer and I watched.
Wow. Lots and lots of references to her crotch. And, lots and lots of men literally falling on her, writhing around like worms. That's about all I could equate to what I was seeing: worms writhing around. I wish I had had some salt to pour on them and put them out of their misery.
So, we had this talk about Madonna vs. Lady Gaga. Sam wanted to know what Madonna meant for me when she became popular. What I do remember is that video was a relatively new art form, and MTV actually had videos, not reality shows about rotten teenagers getting pregnant or being feted like royalty for their 16th birthday. I told Sam I thought that Madonna played to the camera, and that she was very visual and had some talent, I thought. Little girls wanted to dress like her, and altho a little strange, (remember, this is pre-pointy-bra era) having a little girl dress like Madonna wouldn't get you tossed in jail.
I liked Madonna. I still do, a little. I think the fake british accent is a little far fetched, but, she does live in England, right? I usually end up sounding like I grew up in Minnesota after about 30 minutes or so visiting relatives there. It could happen. It may be legit.
Anyay, so, Madonna was shocking, in a way. But, this Lady Gaga character.... What the heck? What is the story? I mean, in a Madonna video, there is a story. There is conflict, there is resolution. In Lady Gaga's videos, there are images edited together to arouse the viewer. It seems like it is a formula, very calculated to me. I don't like it a bit.
And, man, what an ear worm! I could NOT get the 'Fernando' song out of my head for like 3 hours. And she wants is that way.
So, Madonna vs. Lady Gaga? The winner? I call it and it is Madonna.
My daughter is gearing up for school, sort of. She's not carving out time for studying, but, more or less, what she is going to wear. I remember those days: what you looked like was really the most important thing in the universe. And, being noticed by those you want to be noticed by, was really the only thing that mattered. The six or seven hours of instruction per day sporadically stuck to my brain. The rest of the time, I was posing and hoping for some particular guy to notice me.
A guy who I wanted to be noticed by when I was a sophomore, actually DID notice me. I remember that was as exceptional to me as being voted class president. My slogan? Rose Nose. My slogan the following year? Rose Still Nose. And, guess what? I lost. Rose didn't know.
Tomorrow is Friday. I have a weekened that I can sleep late, and clean my own house. Perhaps I will catch a movie or two. Regardless, I'll be missing Sam and wishing we could talk more about Lady Gaga.
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