Free 1982 by Jian Ghomeshi Page A

vomited in the bathroom near John Ruttle’s parents’ bedroom. I had had one too many Rockaberry coolers, and I had single-handedlyconsumed two bags of corn chips as well. I learned that vodka coolers didn’t agree with me. But I wished I had some alcohol to offer Wendy.
    A Flock of Seagulls were next up, featuring front man Mike Score. He had that “seagull” hairdo that would soon become a 1980s punch line. Flock of Seagulls played a relatively proficient half-hour gig that included their hit song “I Ran.” Midway through their set, my sightline to the stage became slightly obscured in the jostle of the crowd. A very large punk guy decided to position himself directly in front of Wendy and me. His name was Forbes. At least, I think his name was Forbes. I learned this through deduction. A voice from a few rows behind us yelled, “You’re an asshole, Forbes!” during a break in the Flock of Seagulls music, and the large punk guy turned around and grinned and gave the finger to the voice a few rows back. So we learned that the large punk guy was Forbes. I’m not sure if that was his first name or his last name.
    Forbes was probably about six feet tall, but he seemed even taller because he had a spiked mohawk hairdo atop his six feet. He had army pants on and a white tank top. In later years, this kind of shirt would be referred to as a “wife beater.” But at the time it was just a tank top. Or “white shirt with no sleeves.” The tank top allowed Forbes to showcase his muscles and his underarm hair. Forbes also had very impressive combat boots on. They were impossible to miss. They were huge and they went up almost to his knees. I checked that my Adidas bag between my feet was secured safely away from Forbes’s combat boots.
    Next onstage were the Beat. This was the first big musical highlight of the day. The Beat were called the English Beatin North America. They were a multi-racial ska/New Wave band that was unquestionably cool. They were big in alternative circles along with other 2 Tone label bands like Madness and the Specials. It probably worked out for the best that their name had become the English Beat, because in the Canadian New Wave world, anything “English” was coveted. At the house party at the end of Grade 9 at Rosanna Dray’s place, everybody had danced to the Beat for most of the night. Rosanna had long black curly hair that she teased and hairsprayed, and she was New Wave and everyone knew she was a good dancer. When she had a house party, all of her friends attended expecting to dance.
    Throughout the party, Rosanna kept going back to her turntable and putting on “Mirror in the Bathroom.” No one complained at these repeats in programming. “Mirror in the Bathroom” had been the big Beat song at the beginning of the ’80s. Rosanna yelled at John Ruttle at one point during “Mirror in the Bathroom” because he was dancing too close to the stereo and making the needle skip. It was never easy negotiating enthusiastic dancing and a turntable at a party in 1982.
    The English Beat had a profound effect on New Wave fashions. The Beat—along with the Specials—had made the wearing of little fedora hats and vests cool. Ranking Roger, one of the lead vocalists from the Beat, often seemed to have a hat and a vest on, and his energetic style and Jamaican-influenced vocals had become the enduring centre of the Beat’s image. Everyone wanted to be Ranking Roger. A lot of Beat fans had started wearing vests like Ranking Roger. A case in point was Wendy’s brother, Paul. Mind you, Paul wore his vest over a pirate shirt, because he was demonstrating that he wastheatrical. Beat fans didn’t wear pirate shirts. But it was still a similar vest. And in your vest you would do a ska dance by swinging your arms in the air one at a time and moving your feet in the same direction. This dance looked even better with a fedora. Or you could pogo. Lots of mods liked to pogo as well. The point is, the