{"id":9913,"date":"2022-08-14T20:36:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T20:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=9913"},"modified":"2022-08-15T00:21:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T00:21:15","slug":"for-randy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=9913","title":{"rendered":"FOR RANDY"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo: Bev Davies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For me, bandmates are family. For life. Forever. Current and former. And Randy changed my life, such as it is. Was. Along with Brad, whom I suspect was inspired to create his own version of the Avengers after returning to Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Thus the 45s were born. As with many ideas, the band crashed and burned within less than a year but we wrote singular songs and played memorable gigs along the way before foolishly breaking up on the eve of opening for PIL, at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, which I chalk up to youthful hubris and folly. Another dashed dream. C’est la vie.<\/p>\n

In any case, it was always a privilege and a pleasure knowing a rara avis such as Randy and not surprisingly, he popped up in one of my recent poems.<\/p>\n

FLYING DREAMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not much to do in a small town.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d skip school, drive to Richmond,<\/p>\n

hang out in the airport lounge,<\/p>\n

swig Heinekens and watch<\/p>\n

jumbo jets land and depart,<\/p>\n

rarely carded in those days,<\/p>\n

no one surprised if you drank alcohol<\/p>\n

at age fourteen. It was expected,<\/p>\n

like shedding one\u2019s virginity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My mother never flew in her life,<\/p>\n

terrified the first time I took off<\/p>\n

in a 10-seat Otter north to Gilford Island<\/p>\n

for a summer job of tree-planting,<\/p>\n

hapless recruits seated on the floor,<\/p>\n

engine cacophony so loud I nearly puked.<\/p>\n

I would have been mortified.<\/p>\n

Too young to be a hippie,<\/p>\n

I lasted four days,<\/p>\n

relieved to escape the stench<\/p>\n

of fried tofu and patchouli.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My next flight was south,<\/p>\n

to Los Angeles to join<\/p>\n

punk rock stars Randy, Brad and Karla,<\/p>\n

we, the newly formed 45s,<\/p>\n

to share a bill with PIL<\/p>\n

at the Olympic Auditorium,<\/p>\n

going so resoundingly<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t return for twelve years,<\/p>\n

pummeled but resigned<\/p>\n

to my tantalizingly<\/p>\n

close to-the-brass ring<\/p>\n

but never-was status.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surveying the girl<\/p>\n

with the Please Kitty<\/em> backpack,<\/p>\n

fevered skin crazed with crimson,<\/p>\n

I knew this flight was to be<\/p>\n

my last excursion<\/p>\n

for a while,<\/p>\n

for as long as it takes<\/p>\n

for everyone to recover<\/p>\n

our dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me, bandmates are family. For life. Forever. Current and former. And Randy changed my life, such as it is. Was. Along with Brad, whom I suspect was inspired to create his own version of the Avengers after returning to Vancouver. Thus the 45s were born. As with many ideas, the band crashed and burned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9913"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9920,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions\/9920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}