Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Daryl Hall- Better than any wrinkle cream.

I just found out that one of the loves of my juvenile life is playing in concert where I live next month. Hall & Oates. As in Daryl Hall. I'm pretty sure if he asked me to run away with him, I'd give it a serious consider. I know I am not alone in this.

 I fell in love with Hall & Oates in 1981, at the age of ten. I must have played "Private Eyes" 987,889,735 times a day for a year. I'd sing to it with a cardboard paper towel roll (microphone) and drive my parents batshit crazy with it blaring nonstop. I don't know how they didn't develop a drinking problem with my behavior, something to be thankful for I imagine. As time went on their hits just kept coming and I was damn near obsessed. When "Maneater" came out I found new terrain. Now, I had no idea what a maneater was, only that Daryl was warning me to stay away from her, but kinda seemed to like her too. That was enough for me- I wanted to be a maneater too! I would take a bath towel and wrap it around my head for long hair and whip around the room warning my stuffed animals to "watch out boy, watch out boy!" Glorious.

I'm a little taken aback as a 43 year old Mom of three just how excited I am to see him in concert. I simply cannot WAIT. Daryl for his part has been a busy boy. He has taken to restoring houses and a few years ago  bought a property a few miles away. Husband had to talk me out of sleeping outside his bedroom window. "The police will not understand" he would tell me. I was a good girl. No stalking order for me. Yaay Andrea!  
So why is it that I am downright giddy to hear his yummy voice again? Is it the onset of grey attacking my temple? Is it the laugh lines sprouting like weeds? Do I long for a simpler time of dancing around my bedroom?
I wonder how I will feel when I see that Daryl is no longer his 1981 MTV self. Does he look in the mirror and pluck the grey terrorist strands too? Does he come to concerts hoping to be his 2015 self only to be bitterly saddened that the audience screams for "Rich Girl" instead? I doubt it. I bet he's just rolling with it. Should I just be rolling with it??

I think that's what the draw of Daryl is for me. Surrounding us are baaaad examples of how not to age (frenzied botox, mcmansion-boobs) extremes that make us feel better with our wrinkles. We sit in judgment, "well, will you look at her and what she has done to herself??!!" Ewww, we say. Boo, we say. Battle lines are drawn about women not being good girls as they age. Madonna gives a big fuck you to anyone who tells her how to do it. Bravo we say, but we still read the "what not to wear after 40" articles. Sigh.

But surprisingly instead of Madonna, Daryl is my beacon. He is smiling, without angst, traveling the globe, rehabbing houses singing his old songs with a new twist to them. There always seems to be something new in his voice. He's himself. He's honoring what it is that we all fell in love with; all the while quietly, fiercely, bravely showing us who he is NOW.

Maybe I love Daryl because he is showing me once again a glimpse of what's next for me, of how I may want to proceed in my days ahead. Because after all, it's way more fun now that I actually know what a Maneater is. I still kinda want to be one.

Thanks Daryl.

Love Always,
Andrea



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