Karen Booth
Here’s something you probably don’t know about me: I’m a singer. No, not like a singer singer. I’m not “for hire” or “talented” or “good”. I just like to sing, all the time, everywhere. I can’t help it. For example, I’m incapable of not singing in the car, unless we’re listening to talk radio, which I avoid at all costs. If my hubby is driving, I turn and mumble-sing (it’s a thing, look it up) into the car window. He would make fun of me if I sang for real, but I can’t keep it in. I’ve got the music in me. Somebody said that once. Regardless, the fabulous Shoshanna Evers is in charge of RNRHS today and even though she wasn’t really singing, she had the guts to get up in front of her school and pretend like she could sing. Which is pretty much what I do in the privacy of my shower every morning. I just want to know one thing. Who else is guilty?
Shoshanna Evers
Typical Suburban NY High School, class of ‘98, currently: I’m an erotica author, syndicated advice columnist, RN, and stay-at-home-mom. My tagline is Sexily *Evers* After…
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Probably anything by Green Day. That song that goes “I hope you had the time of your life”…
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I had a Sublime t-shirt that I stole from my older brother. I started listening to them just so I could wear the T-shirt and not be a poser. Although now that I think about it, I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: the Backstreet Boys. (Sorry fellas!) I just couldn’t get why they were so hot.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I never went to concerts in high school. I did, however, dress up as Posh Spice with a group of my girlfriends dressed as the other Spice Girls, and we lip-synched “Tell Me What You Want (What you Really Really Want)” for a talent show… so that was basically a concert… or not. LOL!
Best high school make-out song: I’m trying so hard to remember the songs I used to make out to in high school, but I can’t remember the music – just the taste of cherry Chapstick mingled with cigarettes, which is what my high school boyfriend used to taste like. I guess I have a different sense-memory when it comes to things like that.
You can learn more about Shoshanna and her Sexily *Evers* After books at shoshannaevers.com. Her latest is Bedhead, available from Ellora’s Cave!
Just so everyone is aware, my blog is not devoted to all things NKOTB. I’m not going to rename it “Hangin’ Tough”. Obviously, I need to circulate a memo that reminds everyone that if we are to perseverate about any band in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, it shall be Duran Duran. I am in charge, after all. Julie A. Lindsey is today’s resident Block Head, but she threw in some LL Cool J to keep it real and some Color Me Bad to keep it, uh, less real. You know I appreciate both ends of the spectrum. Julie’s got a brand new book out this week, Bloom, which is the first in her Seeds of Love series. Check it out, congratulate her and while you’re at it, tell her that the NKOTB thing is cool–we all have our own unexplained musical preoccupations.
Julie Anne Lindsey
McKinley High School, Canton, Ohio, Class of ’93, Currently: I’m a wife and mother to three nutty offspring, plus I write.
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: LL Cool J. We played “Boomin’ System” so loud, so often, I’m sure I rattled my brain. “Rump Shaker” was also a huge party song and Sir Mix-a-Lot….holy smokes I’m cracking up at my keyboard now, answering these questions and searching YouTube for the videos. Too funny! Oh look, my dork is showing.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: Tee shirt! I snuck away one weekend with some friends who loved country music (few and far between at my high school) to attend Jamboree in the Hills a HUGE Lollapalooza style country music festival that comes to southern Ohio every year. I was another person that weekend. No R&B. No hip hop. I wore cut off, bleached out jean shorts, some borrowed Justins (super cute boots) and a cut off white tee that said “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” It was exactly the balance I needed and when I got home, I realized my little world was way smaller than I’d ever thought before. Two hours away there was a whole other culture livin’ life completely untouched by my world. Mind you, I went through the exact same revelation when I arrived at college. LOL. Some lessons we keep learning.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: I never got into Mariah Carey. She’s huge always has been, I know. I just never heard her sing and felt my booty shake. She didn’t/still doesn’t do it for me. LOL
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I have an envelope full of ticket stubs from NKOTB concerts in Ohio! I even saw Kid-n-Play open for them once LOL (Yeah, hip hop was my public face, but I stayed a closet Block Head till the very end) Sadly, I missed their reunion tour last year, but not for lack of trying to find a sitter!
Best high school make-out song: Oh boy. Color Me Bad “Sex You Up.” That song got a LOT of action back then. Not from me of course *blushes* *coughs* but that’s what I heard.
Julie’s sweet romance novella Bloom launched Turquoise Morning Press’s new Honey Creek line this week. Two more in her Seeds of Love series will follow in 2012. You can learn more about her at blog.juliealindsey.com.
Author Maisey Yates gives us a glimpse into her teen days with tales of her inclination to don black, black, and more black. I spent some time wading in those waters…lets just say my dad has made every funeral joke known to man. Of course, if a person had any emotional depth at all, they would understand that a teenage girl must BROOD. She must explore the darkest corners of her mind, contemplate her existence and the reasons boys are so unbelievably lame and confusing. When that is done, she wants to show the world what lives in her heart, and what says that better than black nail polish? Lots and lots of black nail polish.
Maisey Yates
Homeschooled, Medford, Oregon, Class of 2004, Currently: I write intense, passionate, occasionally funny romance for Harlequin Presents.
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Oh man, that’s HARD!! I think I will always remember me and my three best friends (we were known as the Fearsome Foursome) pretending to be a girl group and singing the mash up of Dismissed, by ZoeGirl. We had some attitude. And since I know very few people will know the song…here’s the video:
ZoeGirl “Dismissed”
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I had a necklace that had a guitar pick on it that I got at a Switchfoot concert. I wore it all the time. Because it looked cool and gave guys the impression that I might play the guitar.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Now I have to remember what was popular when I was in high school…Basically most anything pop-ish (except the above) because we were WAY TOO COOL to like pop music. We wore black and painted our fingernails black and scowled and went on all guy surf trips…(that’s a story, I tell you.)
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I had some solid concert experiences in high school. I went to a concert festival that lasted four days and saw some of my favorite bands. Newsboys, DC Talk, Switchfoot, Jennifer Knapp. I got to meet Switchfoot and buy the above mentioned over-worn necklace. So Switchfoot gets the honor of being my favorite concert. I also got to see them more than once in high school.
Best high school make-out song: I didn’t make out in high school. True story. I got my first kiss the summer I graduated. I was too busy wearing black to date, I guess. But if I could have made out with a boy to any song, it probably would have been “Hold Me” by Plumb. I think I was in high school when that song came out…I’m getting senile.
You can learn more about Maisey at maiseyyates.com. Her latest for Harlequin Presents is The Petrov Proposal.
Author Roni Loren is my guest today, discussing the musical landscape of the mid-90s. I adore the imagery in her post of the flowery dress and combat boots–that was my uniform through much of high school and college. I may have single-handedly kept Dr. Martens in business or at least helped them ride out the rocky late 80s. My daughter is thirteen and is drawn to eerily similar wardrobe choices, which amuses me. To her, it’s unimaginable that Mom used to walk around in creepers and black tights and vintage dresses. And it’s not even that she’s at the point where I’m a disdainful human being, she just can’t fathom me that way.
Roni Loren
A little catholic high school in small town Louisiana, Class of ’97, Erotic Romance Author
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Alternative and grunge were big in my early high school years (before music went into the cesspool that was the late 90s). I listened to Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill album a LOT. It was like balm for my angsty soul. I also remember dancing like a fool to The Cranberries’ Zombie at one of the homecoming dances wearing (of course) a flowery dress with combat boots. *facepalm* I think I believed I was Angela from My So-Called Life. Unfortunately, there was no Jared Leto by my side.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: My best friend and I got back into New Kids on the Block our freshman year when they came out with a new album. I remember we went to the thrift store and bought the old concert t-shirts. I’d like to say we wore them to be ironic, but sadly we weren’t that cool.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Hootie and the Blowfish. I just never got the appeal. Also, all those hip-hop/dance-y songs that they put on those Jock Jams albums and played incessantly on the radio.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I didn’t see a lot of them in high school. (I’ve since made up for that. I’m a bit of a concert addict.) But I would probably pick Alanis Morrissette since I was such a big fan.
Best high school make-out song: Almost anything by Boys II Men. But frankly, I didn’t do that much making out in high school, so I’m no expert, lol.
You can learn more about Roni Loren at roniloren.com. Her debut, Crash Into You, is out now!
Fellow Ellora’s Cave author Sidney Bristol shares her teenage music memories with us today, full of bands I know little about. I mean, I know about Limp Bizkit, I’m not that out of it, but some of the other artists, like Demon Hunter, are outside my scope of familiarity. That doesn’t happen very often but is one of the coolest thing about doing this blog–seeing the breadth of music and experiences that make up my contributors’ stories. Sidney has a brand new book out today (!), titled Flirting With Rescue. Be sure to check it out!
Sidney Bristol
Grandview High School, Class of ’03, Currently: Author and IT Education, Administrator
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Reliant K. If I never hear another Reliant K song, it will be too soon. As the only person among my friends with a car, I did all the driving and they did all the picking of music. I would have preferred some grunge or metal – anything except pop Christian rock! Don’t get me wrong, like any good teen in the Bible Belt I had a thing for talented Christian rock, but that only went so far.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: Oh! This is a hard pick. There are two, but one of them I got the summer after I graduated, which leaves the other. It was a drum stick I caught standing front and center at one of the Triptych tour shows from Demon Hunter, a melodic metal band. I still have it. Every time my brother sees it he smirks and asks me if I remember the guy who peed his pants. The story goes that we were some of the first people in line and got prime spots right up near where the singer stood. One moment I’m really into the music, the crowd pushes and I get lifted halfway onto the stage. The singer bent down and sang, sharing the mic with me. The moment passes, the crowd recedes and I can slip back down, only there’s this huge goth guy behind us that grabs my little brother by his throat and shoves him down on the ground. Keep in mind that around this time he was rail skinny and tall, super long hair and glasses. Not threatening at all. The goth guy? Kinda scary. But scary never seems to show up on my radar until after the moment has passed. I grabbed this guy by the collar of his shirt and yanked him around and started yelling and getting up in his face. That was my brother he was trying to stomp the brains out of, and if anyone was getting to brain him, it would be me. He left, and moments later I caught the drumstick. We later found out from a friend of a friend of a friend that the guy peed his pants.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Oh god, any of the boy bands. They were more popular when I was in jr high, but they somehow managed to hang on and terrorize me in high school as well.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I think the best ones were back in my early high school days. There was a really active local scene as far as the venues went. There were two groups that were really awesome to see, Animal Couch and Travail. AC was kind of a heavy rock, industrial female fronted group and Travail was about as metal as you could get. There was one really big show that was a ten hour event. There were so many acts involved. The venue was really special too. It had a concert venue, and then several side rooms to hang out in and whatnot. It was loads of fun.
Best high school make-out song: I think the only boyfriend I made out with we were listening to Limp Bizkit at the time. Yeah, real classy I know! If I were to pick one, maybe The Road Goes on Forever (and the Party Never Ends), which was the theme song of my graduating class. Yes, we really were that country.
You can learn more about Sidney Bristol, the self-described recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict at sidneybristol.com. Flirting With Rescue is out now!
