“Steppin’ Out” – Joe Jackson.

Wait, is it Friday already? These fall break weeks mess with my mind. The girls were arguing yesterday about what day it was; one insisted it was Saturday while another claimed it was Friday. And they only get two days off, so it really shouldn’t be that tough. We’ve had a couple sleepovers and another friend over to play. Today is our annual flu shots and Steak & Shake day. L has a soccer tournament that begins tonight, in the rain and cold. We’ll all probably be sick when they go back to school on Monday.

Last week’s local AT40 was from 1982. While listening I realized the fall of 1982 was this big, important moment in my musical life, when the music I listened to became like 90% mine. I was still influenced by what my mom listened to, for sure. But by that fall I was spending evenings home alone as she worked, had my own radio, and was finally listening exclusively to FM radio, which sheared off some of the 1970s remnants that the AM pop stations still played. I couldn’t pull out just one song from that countdown to write a Reaching For The Stars post about, but this one kind of sums up that fall, when the charts were full of varied and interesting sounds. This isn’t a terrible groundbreaking song in most ways. But to my 11-year-old ears, it sounded exotic and amazing.