How'd I Miss My Coming Out? (Part 2): They Call It "Xanadu"
Source: AfterElton.com (Original Article)
Originally I had something completely different planned for Part 2 of How’d I Miss My Coming Out?, but then I watched the Tony Awards on DVR and it sparked something. It doesn’t help that AfterElton’s love for Cheyenne Jackson has slowly created my own mini-obsession with that tall drink of water so this week we’re getting a little light in our skates as we reminisce about Xanadu.
There were a couple things I worshiped as a kid that were pretty damn gay; I’m talking things I would have traded a whole set of Garbage Pail Kids cards for or possibly even sold my little sister on the black market if it meant keeping these things in my life. Yes, I was that dramatic in grade school.
One of these treasures from my youth was Olivia Newton-John and the other was roller skating. So imagine my glee when in 1980 I realized that these two great tastes go great together!
Xanadu was one of my first obsessions and one of the first signs that my parents should have picked up on. It’s not every day that you’ll see a little blonde kid dancing in his living room with huge headphones on and Electric Light Orchestra contributing to early onset deafness.Â
Not only did I think I could sing just like Olivia, I thought I was a roller skating king! I was like lighting on skates (just ask Gina P., whose tail I whooped in the Chestnut Hill Elementary School gymnasium with the entire school watching … that’s what I thought) and practicing moves was as common as piano lessons in my house. Linda Blair had nothing on my Roller Boogie!
I had the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on vinyl and knew every word by heart. I can’t tell you how many nights were spent singing those famous love songs into my pillow and thinking in my head that I sounded exactly like my girl Olivia. "Suddenly" never sounded so good as through the vocal chords of a pre-pubescent girly-voiced Aussie MasterCard Credit Card boy who thought he could match Olivia’s wispy …continue reading