Chapter 18, Minneapolis, 1985

HUBBA HUBBA ZOOT ZOOT

To escape life, when we are teenagers, Carolyn and I listen to music in our bedrooms. Carolyn’s favorite band is The Cure, and they are scheduled to play at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis. It’s late October, but luckily, there is no snow on the ground, and Dad lets Carolyn drive a bunch of us in his Oldsmobile. I can’t believe Carolyn is including me in her friend circle. She is a junior in high school and I am only in junior high. I know all of The Cure songs, but only because Carolyn plays them nonstop on the record player in her room. The show opens with The Baby Scream from the Head on the Door Album, but Carolyn and I love the songs best on the album Boys Don’t Cry. The encores at the end of the concert are loaded with these songs, and we all loudly belt them out from the pit. I can’t wait to go to concerts with my friends, to drive, to feel as grown-up and free as I do this night with Carolyn.

Music is a huge part of Carolyn’s life. One of her closest friends, Mike, plays at our junior high dance with his band. He sings a song about a boy I know called Zinjanthropus Head and a love song for my best friend’s sister called An Ounce of You. Carolyn drives me to the dance and hangs out with Mike and the band. Carolyn’s albums are sacred. I am not allowed to touch them unless she is in her bedroom: Elvis Costello, The Clash, Bob Mould, New Order, and Modern English, to name a few. It was the highlight of my tween years to be invited into her room to listen to her albums. Upstairs at Eric’s by Yaz is the ultimate healer when a boy in my class finds me invisible. In college, Carolyn meets a boy named Jason, whom she dates for many years. Jason is dark-blonde with shoulder length hair and artsy glasses. He walks up to Carolyn at a party and asks, “Do you smoke?” “No,” she answers. “Are you in a sorority?” “No. Not my thing,” she says adamantly. “I own an art gallery downtown.”

Carolyn and a friend, Kim Montgomery, open their first fine art gallery in downtown Minneapolis when Carolyn is nineteen. Having interned for a year at an established gallery, she and Kim, who is older with much more sales experience, decide they have a new vision for selling art. Kim is a beautifully put together, talented art connoisseur. Carolyn is an angel-faced Scandinavian spitfire. Together, Carolyn and Kim develop an impressive collector base in our hometown.

Jason works at First Avenue, a concert venue and club made famous by Prince in the movie Purple Rain. Jason helps me get my first fake ID. He introduces me to music I wouldn’t have otherwise known, like Trip Shakespeare, a local band. A musician on the side, Jason often plays with his band in Los Angeles, where I live after college. Once, Carolyn asks him to write a song for me. It’s called My Girlfriend’s Little Sister.

The music scene in Minneapolis is one of the best things about our hometown. It’s the home of Prince and famous record producers Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam. My first boyfriend, Bruce, loves to listen to Janet Jackson and often prank calls my sister asking for, “Miss Glasoe if you’re nasty.” Wall posters are huge and trendy and Carolyn has an enormous Clash - London Calling poster in her bedroom. The word London is pink and the word Calling is green. There is a black and white photo of a man in the center, bent over and holding an upside-down guitar. It’s cool and edgy. Our mother hates it. I beg Carolyn to drive me to OarFolkjokeopus, a record store uptown, so I can buy a cool poster too.

Carolyn wants me to have a “make-over.” She buys me a pair of Doc Martens like hers and convinces my mom to buy me the newest Guess jeans. They are army green with tight tapering around the ankles. Carolyn gives me a white buttoned-up blouse to wear with them, collar up. At the hair salon, Carolyn tells our hairdresser to cut my hair like hers -long bangs but short on the sides and back. I spray Sun In in my hair to make my bangs more blonde. Carolyn says emphatically, “Lila, you look good!”

Poem -What Tough Is- (a recipe for laughter and shenanigans)

Take one large school bus, sift it weekdays through southwest Minneapolis in the early 1980’s. Add a handful of young Cavanaughs, a pair of Kellys, a trio of Winjes, a smattering of Overbys and a generous helping of Mattison. Mix well and let simmer.

If you can handle it, and want some more regional spices, throw in a couple Glasoe Girls from near Diamond Lake/Pearl Park. Toss in some large string instruments too just in case the driver’s radio breaks and we can’t hear “Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot” on WLOL-FM.

Shake and stir for about a 45 minute ride and head for a college preparatory school situated in a Valley that is Golden.

Carolyn, You were the girl on the bus who could stand up to the fellas. And I remember how tough you were then. Many times you were outnumbered by us dorky, teenage boys – but it didn’t seem to matter. You knew how to humiliate, embarrass, insult, laugh, joke and tease better than all of us combined! Your energy and tenacity made the rides that much more enjoyable and certainly memorable. Today we are all bus buddies again just waiting for you to get back on the bus. Carolyn, show us what tough is!

-Kaj Winje, Childhood friend, 2015