Magic Jewball

I briefly mentioned that I had been in Albany last week for the beginning of the Sukkot holiday but I didn’t say why, mostly because I didn’t have the time to explain. See, I had a few things to tell the governor about the ridiculous tax New Yorkers have to pay on Internet purchases and… oh, I kid! Despite the fact that I hate that tax mightily and think it’s incredibly stupid, I had other fish to fry. And that fish was my BFF from HS, Christine. Christine didn’t actually go to my high school but rather lived one town over and went to public school anyway. It should seem obvious that she didn’t go to Yeshiva by her name except that that isn’t really her name. And I didn’t invent that just to disguise her on my blog but rather, that was always what I called her. It’s a long story and this isn’t going to be a long post so there we are.

Anyway, Christine and her delightful family live up in Albany now and she is a professor at SUNY (I’ve always had really smart friends; it’s a curse, I tell you). I actually sat in on one of her classes, silently regretting all the times I sat through my own college classes eating, giggling with my friends, or just reading a book (the woman right next to me was doing that last one and we were in the front row!). Just another thing to add to my “when they invent time machines” list.

Christine and I share many 80’s earworms: Squeeze, Depeche Mode, Yaz…. but this is the song that I used to sing at her all the time (I usually sing at people as they beg me to stop) and still makes me think of her, even though I don’t see her very often these days. Siousxsie & the Banshees are known for their darker, grimmer, more Gothic numbers but this one is like a puff of 60’s-pop-tinged whipped cream. It’s light, it’s melodic, and the lyrics about the strawberry girl/banana-split lady always make me want to eat sweets. Kind of like my friend, Christine.

Napster:
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Christine

Streaming audio available on the iPod Song of the Week page.