Anthology of MLW, 1976-1986

Origins, Chronicle Vol.1 This Is 10: Serving up Sass & Saturday Cartoons. A playlist full of nostalgia, identity, humor, and memory fragments. My first ten years of living on Earth. It’s packed with hop-scotch memories, emotional messes I didn’t have words for yet, and the music that helped me survive and serve up the sass throughout childhood. Some of these songs came from the TV, some from the radio, some from the backseat of a car — but all of them stuck. They’re stitched into my identity like patches on a JanSport backpack.  

Some folks start to sing it when they hear my name — “Oh, Mandy…” I get a kick out of it. And for the record, the cover by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes? Total banger. That song — the original Barry Manilow version — is actually how I got my name. My parents both liked it. If I’d been a boy, my dad had big plans to name me Jack Daniel Witt (yep, JD for short). So I guess from the jump, I was either destined to be a song or a shot (Childhood is osmosis; adulthood is the echo).   A Soundtrack in Fragments

Named Mandy after Barry Manilow —Scorpio sun, Gemini father, Cancer mother. Born on November 11th in Houston, TX.

A child at the beach, Cold ocean breeze, Parting from my father before I knew what that meant. A glimpse of home in Kansas, Fluffy clouds — lasting impression. Then Colorado called. Covered in baby powder giggles “Look, Mom — it’s snowing!”

Le Freak spun rage into disco revenge. Rapper’s Delight made nonsense sound like genius. I watched The Facts of Life and sang De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da In the Air Tonight foreshadowing of a bloody knee,

Cool as a cucumber, Stitches stitched into the scar on my right knee.

MTV premieres. Video kills the radio star. Don’t Change will become my GenXer anthem. I’m dancing in my room, Feeling like a Lucky Star With my mom and my Granny Ruth — Just girls taking a moment for fun.

George Orwell looms. All Granny wants to do is teach me Hot-Cross-Buns on the piano. All I want to do is watch Inspector Gadget - go go gadget third arm.

Age 8. Age 9. My two brothers entered the picture - hello live-in babysitter! A white lie to impress a schoolboy —Yes, I totally have Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo.

Social humanitarian acts. Holding hands across the World. My father tells me, and I tell him, Don’t You (Forget About Me). The Golden Girls with Vegetarian turning Granny Ruth. Her side hustle as an Antique dealer played out at the Mile High Fleamarket. From my jukebox to your heart, Mandy Miller