So I’m gassing up at the Chevron station.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a twentysomething in an 80s Volvo station wagon, did he inherit it from his parents, or did he buy it on the cheap, running this grayed out, sun-faded mom-mobile to its final destination.<\/p>\n
We’re nose to nose.\u00c2\u00a0 Does this mean I’ve got to back up to let him out, or does he have to back out?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean we’re almost touching.\u00c2\u00a0 I pulled up appropriately, the hose is right by my tank, I’m filling up with $2.98 a gallon gas.\u00c2\u00a0 But his car is so long, he’s got to inch it forward.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s done first.\u00c2\u00a0 But I want to check the twenty odd messages on my BlackBerry.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it common courtesy?\u00c2\u00a0 Should I rev up and back out, or since I was there first, do I have the right of way?<\/p>\n
He inches forward.\u00c2\u00a0 Imploring me to leave.<\/p>\n
We oldsters are afraid of twentysomethings.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got nothing to lose, no money, no assets.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got contempt for us.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to appear hip, but really, they see us as losers.\u00c2\u00a0 And this is just enough for me to make a stand…but wouldn’t an asshole make a stand?<\/p>\n
Then he was gone.\u00c2\u00a0 And I backed out onto Fifth Street, and after cruising past the Post Office, just the other side of Broadway, just before I hit Colorado, I hear that synth chord, and then that hypnotic, lyrical guitar figure.\u00c2\u00a0 And then…<\/p>\n
It’s two a.m.<\/em><\/p>\n One of the great things about driving is it’s your own private world.\u00c2\u00a0 You rule.\u00c2\u00a0 At least at this hour, just shy of 11, out on the highway, alone.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I love about nighttime.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no hustle and bustle.\u00c2\u00a0 As those playing by society’s rules are winding down, in bed, the denizens of the dark take over.<\/p>\n There’s no pressure at night.\u00c2\u00a0 No deadlines.\u00c2\u00a0 No crowds.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the best time to shop.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially in 24\/7 Los Angeles.<\/p>\n One hit wonders are not supposed to come back.\u00c2\u00a0 Vanilla Ice is not supposed to follow up his hit.\u00c2\u00a0 Nor is Bobby "Boris" Pickett.<\/p>\n But this band from the Netherlands, with the almost novelty hit from ’73, suddenly reappeared in 1982.\u00c2\u00a0 With a monster.<\/p>\n Was it MTV?\u00c2\u00a0 Did the dearth of videos allow it to surface?<\/p>\n I’m not sure, but "Twilight Zone" is a classic.<\/p>\n It’s two a.m., the fear has gone They shoot this scene in movies all the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Man in foreign city sitting by the telephone, in a bare hotel room, rented for business, which isn’t happening.\u00c2\u00a0 Why not?\u00c2\u00a0 Have the plans derailed?<\/p>\n It’s always when you’re doing something illicit, when you’re on high alert, that a single awry detail leads to a chain of unpredictable events that seal your fate.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got no control, all you can do is follow the facts, the events, the roll of the dice.\u00c2\u00a0 Your whole life has been building to this point.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re supposed to emerge victorious, but suddenly, you’re nearing the end.<\/p>\n Maybe it’s that test you didn’t study for.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the partner who has fled with another man, someone you didn’t even know existed.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel duped, you feel like a chump.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel alone.<\/p>\n Help I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone When the bullet hits the bone.<\/p>\n This is not something you recover from.\u00c2\u00a0 The doctors are flummoxed, they can’t help you.\u00c2\u00a0 This isn’t a break, no your core structure has been shattered.\u00c2\u00a0 Not snapped, but pierced, exploded.<\/p>\n You want to go back.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that the way it is after every accident.\u00c2\u00a0 You should have looked before you changed lanes.\u00c2\u00a0 You should have wondered why you always got her voice mail.\u00c2\u00a0 You should have listened to your gut, there was no way the IRS would allow that write-off, that deduction.<\/p>\n But you can’t go back.<\/p>\n How did you get here?<\/p>\n Despair.<\/p>\n But freakily, Golden Earring’s "Twilight Zone" has just the opposite effect on the listener, it’s inspirational!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the driving bass.\u00c2\u00a0 That keeps pounding, that keeps you and the song going.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel powerful.<\/p>\n I’m falling down a spiral, destination unknown And even if you could reach them…the cell phone provider has a record of every call, every text.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a trail.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll be caught.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll be out there alone.<\/p>\n Cheaters never prosper.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, sometimes they win, but their outsider status, the telltale heart, does them in.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to function under the surface.\u00c2\u00a0 For once your foibles are visible, you’re done.<\/p>\n Just ask David Geffen.\u00c2\u00a0 An icon before "The Operator".\u00c2\u00a0 A cunning, conniving, heartless manipulator thereafter.<\/p>\n Are the winners losers?<\/p>\n Are the losers winners?<\/p>\n Who knows in the twilight zone.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So I’m gassing up at the Chevron station.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a twentysomething in an 80s Volvo station wagon, did he inherit it from his parents, or did he buy it on the cheap, running this grayed out, sun-faded mom-mobile to its final destination. 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I’m sittin’ here waitin’, the gun still warm
Maybe my connection is tired of takin’ chances
Yeah there’s a storm on the loose, sirens in my head
I’m wrapped up in silence, all circuits are dead
I cannot decode, my whole life spins into a frenzy<\/em><\/p>\n
The place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go, now that I’ve gone too far
Soon you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
Soon you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone<\/em><\/p>\n
A double-crossed messenger, all alone
I can’t get no connection, can’t get through, where are you
Well the night weighs heavy on his guilty mind
This far from the borderline
And when the hit man comes
He knows damn well he has been cheated<\/em><\/p>\n