Flashback to the summer of '83

"Well, Josh, now you get twelve or fourteen weeks off so you can come back refreshed." So said my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Hinkley, as we said our goodbyes and I got ready to go off to junior high school. I still remember his comment 27 years later because I'd never thought of the summer in terms of weeks before. Only 12 or 14 weeks? That's not long enough! Yet I'm sure kids these days don't get even that many.

Well, it turned out to be a great summer. I started playing the cornet, I read lots of Garfield cartoons, and above all, I saw "Return of the Jedi" for the first two times. I was remembering that summer tonight and thought I'd make a music mix for my iPod. I didn't know all the songs then, not quite being 11 years old. But I sure know them now:

1. Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
2. Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me
3. The Police - Every Breath You Take
4. Men at Work - It's a Mistake
5. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Family Man
6. Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know
7. The Tubes - She's a Beauty
8. Berlin - The Metro
9. Chris DeBurgh - Don't Pay the Ferryman
10. Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
11. Styx - Don't Let It End

(imagine flipping the 90-minute Memorex cassette tape over at this point)

12. Grandmaster Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Do It)
13. Prince - 1999
14. Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long
15. New Edition - Candy Girl
16. The Kinks - Come Dancing
17. Men at Work - Overkill
18. David Bowie - China Girl
19. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
20. ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
21. Journey - Faithfully