THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

As a young boy, I was obsessed with all things Olivia Newton-John. Starting from about age seven, when Grease was not only "The Word," but my first album, I was hooked. The following year my aunt was taking me to the dentist while my mom worked. She bribed me with "anything I wanted" as long as I was good at the dentist. After a dental exam, filled with ONJ dreams and silver material, I made my aunt stop at Venture* and get me her new album, Totally Hot. And it was. I wore that thing out. It was Olivia getting "dirty" and trying to wash away her pure Sandy image. It didn't turn me on as it may have most young boys, it just made me lip-sync her cover of Eric Carmen's "Boats Against The Current" while my cousin Jeff played guitar on my badminton racket. Utterly gay. Sorry Jeff. You're exempt.

The grand gay finale came the next year when a shy farm boy (and his family) moved to the big city of Pekin, Illinois. I was terrified for like a year straight, like a home school kid dropped in the middle of the Fame school. But my breakout came one Saturday morning when I was reading the local Pekin Daily Times and saw a small add in the bottom corner for Olivia's new movie Xanadu. I begged, begged my mom to take me to see it but no one would budge. Finally she relented and dropped her budding queeny little boy off to see who she thought was his first crush. I saw my first movie alone at age 10 in Pekin Mall and it was bliss. It was 90 minutes of roller-skating, disco, Gene Kelly (who I even loved then), ELO, art deco and Olivia. I was in heaven.

I'm sure looking back, it was a bad judgment on my mom's and my parts. And I do realize now it's a shit movie at best, but it broke me out of my shyness and apparently closer to coming out of the closet seven years later. I've since given up my leg warmers and white roller skates, but have not given up the joy that Xanadu holds. Seeing the play brought a huge smile to my inner gay kid. Thanks, Kira**.

* Venture was the Target of the '70s. I'm old.

** Kira is ONJ's character in Xanadu.

Moosebox will be spinning tons of ONJ at The Glenwood's Tea Dance on the 29th of this month.