Rosanella, Rosanella, Rosanella...

Seeing Chuck Myra and Walter Powers again in Bass Rocks reminded me of when I first met them. They were playing in Marc Thor's band, The Marc Thor Band. He's the one wearing the denim jacket in the pic. For the life of me I can't remember who played guitar. Was it Ian Blast?

Along with the Humans, Girls, Lou Miami and the Kozmetix, La Peste, Neighborhoods and Unnatural Axe, Marc Thor was in my regular rotation. Yes, you're right, I rarely had a night off. As a general rule, only Tuesdays were spent at home. Marc was an amazing performer and songwriter. He wrote, sometimes with Nola Rezzo, sang and played piano. (There were some truly epic Thor-based parties at Nola's studio adjacent to the late Charles Street Jail, with the scent of Buzzy's Fabulous Roast Beef always heavy in the air.) Last I heard, Marc was composing symphonies.

Oh the songs! Circling LA is on the live Rat album. There's a 45 with Love Sucks and Trak, a song inspired by Burroughs, and there was a red flexi disc in a coloring book of gig posters that had Rosanella and Mother Isn't Right on it. Rosanella was my favorite of all his songs.

Sixteen years ago I got a new kitten and couldn't decide on a name. I wanted something with Rose in it as a way of honoring a very cool Franciscan that I loved whose drag name happened to be Rose. The kitten had been born the first week of May but the crazy cat lady I got her from couldn't remember the exact day, so I decided to celebrate her birthday every year on Derby Day which always falls on the first Saturday in May for those of you who have not been paying attention. Run for the Roses, another sign that she needed a rosy name. So, remembering Marc's song, Rosanella it was. I never realized until much later that the song was based on a bizarre Fairy Tale. God, she used to love it when I sang that song to her.