GROOVES

The Beatles, The Beatles (The White ) It seemed like everyone had this album, and what was this — I loved the same record adults did? I perceived it as everything: accessible: playful, ominous, THAT important, mysterious, intriguing. I’m only 10 years old but it captured the CHANGED world as I saw it and I felt important and a part of it all. MY LIFE David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust It’s hard to describe what it meant to be an utterly lost, sad and confused 13 year old, desperate to fit into a social peer group, who took every opportunity to ridicule and exploit me. I turned to drinking, drugs and sex to cope. And then this KATHY VALENTINE record comes out. I see, hear and feel every song as a reprieve and promise that A native of Austin, Texas, Valentine played being outcast has an endgame that far surpasses my immediate surroundings. in several Austin bands before relocating to Los Angeles. While with her first L.A. The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main St. band The Textones, Valentine wrote Hips, heart and head — every part of my being responded to these songs. The “Vacation” and “Can’t Stop The World.” album seemed like a full-on musical expression of doing whatever you wanted, however you wanted. I imagined the guys in the band being insulated, catered Her next band, The Go-Go’s, would go on to to, an exclusive club having the best party ever, needing nothing but each record those songs. other, guitars, bass and drums. I wanted the same for me. Valentine joined The Go-Go’s at the tail end of 1980, just in time for the band’s big The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks breakthrough with 1981’s Beauty and the If you liked rock and roll, things were pretty bleak as 1977 wound up. Was it Beat album. In between stints with The gone forever? Sure seemed that way. And then the Sex Pistols came out with Go-Go’s, Valentine has also recorded and this and call it what you want — the truth was undeniable: rock was back in a savage way and there was hope for all us young musicians. If this record could performed with The BlueBonnets and The be made and released, who knew what else was in store? Delphines. She released a solo album, Light Years, in 2005. Blondie, Valentine’s first book,All I Ever Wanted: I saw them on TV. Went immediately to buy a record and got this second LP A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir, was released because I liked the cover better than the first album. I’d never heard such earlier this year. Valentine recorded a a seamless blend of everything I loved in music. It left an imprint that’s still soundtrack to go along with her memoir buried under most of the songs I write. Cue the elements: gritty and pretty co-exist, drive that melody like it’s a hot rod. that can be heard on Spotify. A self-titled documentary on The Go- The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat Go’s directed by Alison Ellwood will air Only motherhood has changed my life more than this album. Literally, on Showtime later this year. The band is tangibly, historically. Sometimes, random chance and fate converge to make scheduled to tour the USA this summer to dreams come true. promote the documentary. —John Curley Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight I’m a Texas kid and had plenty of exposure to blues, got it from the get-go. As a teen I drifted to more contemporary sounds: punk, raw pop, trashy rock. But in my 30s, I got more serious about my guitar playing and went back to the basics. If I ever need a reminder about what it takes to make the hairs stand up on my arms, this is the go-to. The original trance music.

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue If anyone ever told me I’d be spending most of the ’90s falling in heart-racing, enthralled, enchanted love with jazz, I’d have bet my bank account against it. But that’s exactly what happened. Kind of Blue was the portal into a world where the beauty of music could leave me in tears.

Missy Elliot, Supa Dupa Fly I liked hip hop but had this weird sense like it wasn’t mine to enjoy. Jazz, blues, they’d been co-opted long before my time. Even the Beastie Boys didn’t grant access — they were young, they were New York. I was a transplant Texan ex-Go-Go pushing 40. Then Missy: a woman doing something great in a genre that had been dominated by men. It felt righteous, felt familiar. This record opened the door. Mikel Rouse, Swingers Castle Seems like no matter what the state of things are, a true artist always finds a way and a place to keep making art. I watched this artist take inspiration where he found it and before my eyes, a house in the Hollywood Hills and a Steinway transformed into a stunning record. It made me want to create something of my own, outside a band, and led to the soundtrack to my memoir.

12 JULY 2020 goldminemag.com RUBY MATHEU RUBY