This time Belinda Carlisle is to blame...

A few months ago I wrote a blog about hearing a Taylor Swift song got me started on something...(www.gregorytalks.blogspot.com), and it happened again. This time it was Belinda Carlisle ( solo Belinda, not GoGo's Belinda).   It isn't so much that Belinda Carlisle got me on a tangent about anything, but in some weird, cosmic way it set off some sort of chain of events that had me remembering a million things from my childhood this week...I'll explain.  So, I was working in Nebraska this week...wah.wah.  ( I know, VERY glamourous...but hey, I did hear Lady Gaga was in Omaha this week working on her video or something for "You and I"), anyway, I'm in Nebraska, my IPOD planted firmly in my ear.  Now, usually I listen to a playlist I've created , or a specific artist (sometimes I start at the A's and force myself to listen to the songs in alphabetical order, without skipping any...I look at it as a lesson in tolerance...what was I thinking downloading that song?)   So today I hit the shuffle button and let the  thing play as it saw fit.  "Valentine" by Belinda Carlisle came on, and I don't know if it was the song, her, the heat outside, or what, but it immediately took me back to the summer of 1987.  I had just graduated from high school, and Belinda Carlisle was performing at the Peoria Civic Center.  I went with my friends, Amy and Stephanie.  I remember buying a 6ft poster of her and a button ( you all remember that jean jackets filled with buttons were all the rage back then...come on, who's with me?)  Ah, as I stood there listening to that song, I couldn't help but smile.  There is that part of you that wishes you could be a young, fresh from high school  kid whose whole life is still in front of them.  So, I went about my business and headed out for the hotel.  As I got in my rental car, a smell caught my attention....I don't know if it was the after effects of the Belinda Carlisle ?) or maybe it was just the Culver's across the parking lot, but I had this craving for a Little Chicken from Sea Fare...I KNOW, Right?  Ok, Ok, let me explain.  On north Main street in Canton, Illinois there used to be this small little restaurant (where HYVEE stands today).  In my parent's day, I think it may have been a Dog and Suds or something like that, but when I was in high school, it was Sea Fare.  Over the lunch break, they would serve  chicken strips and fries in a wax bag, so they were easy to grab and go. Sometimes on Friday, we would go all out and eat the salad bar, with the vanilla pudding (which was right out of the can).  Ahhhh, Little Chicken...I miss you.  Well, it was nice while it lasted Nebraska, but it's time to go.  I caught an early morning flight back to Denver and the early hour, coupled with the lack of sleep from a raging thunderstorm that moved through Omaha, I was exhausted by 3pm.  I thought maybe a cat nap might be in order so I flipped on the tv (mostly to use as background noise so I would fall asleep), but much to my surprise and delight what did I find...CHARLIE'S ANGELS!!! Not the movie version kids, the real life Aaron Spelling TV version.  I was disappointed to discover it was an episode from later years (after the shark jump) when it was Cheryl Ladd, Jaclyn Smith and Tanya Roberts..wah.wah.  In this very special episode the girls traveled to Hawaii and Kris was kidnapped.  Jane Wyman (Angela Channing on Falcon Crest) played a psychic that helped them track her down and rescue her from a derranged landscaper that wanted to kill her.  Ah, we've come along way in the drama department....THEN, wait for it.....Hawaii Five-O.  Not the new version, the old, back in the day version when Andy Griffith was young and played a street hustler.  At this point I got up and made Rocco's Crispy Pizza Crust from his book "Now Eat This" ( I mean this blog is called Gregory Eats, afterall)....I haven't been too impressed with much I've made out of the book, but I keep trying, and the crusts were actually pretty good and only about 130 calories.  Then, to top off my night...Hogan's Heroes.  I loved that show.  I always loved the idea of them getting away with stuff and the sneaky ways they would do it.   It's interesting to think now how a show like that would be received today, but we'll save that for another day.  I think it's always fun to think about how smells, and songs, tv shows or anything can trigger our memories, and next week I go home to where it all happened.  Sea Fare is long gone, but hey, there's always Brown's,   oh and Monical's...and Hannam's...have a good weekend and stay out of the heat (enough with the heat already!)