Born On This Day- July 1st... Deborah Ann Harry

Summer 1979, I am living in the historic Browne’s Addition of Spokane. After spending the mid-1970s living in NYC, I have moved back to the city where I grew up, trying to re-group & decide what to do next. I immediately got work in the theatre. I never would have believed when I left Spokane in 1972, on the day I graduated from high school, I would find myself wanting to a be a big fish in a tiny pond, instead of the tiniest minnow in the very biggest pond & so I return to my hometown.

I spot this girl in an aisle at the supermarket. She is wearing cat glasses & a leopard skin coat over a tiny black jumper & a skirt of tropical fruit themed oil cloth, paired with cowboy boots. I had only seen this type of female in NYC & certainly not in tried & true, conservative Spokane. I cruised her for a bit, before getting up the nerve. ME: “Excuse me, but I just need to tell you how fabulous your look. You can’t possibly be from Spokane. You are really putting it out there? SHE: “Well, I’m not from here, but I am here now. I know I look fabulous; that’s what I do, & you look like a pud. But, I think I like you sweetie. Wanna come to a party with me?”

I go to this party with my new friend. There are boys kissing boys, boys kissing girls, girls kissing girls. I drink something handed to me & I smoke something passed to me, I snort something on the coffee table, & I was really loving the music. I was loving the music a great deal. It was my first time hearing Blondie & the song was named- Heart Of Glass & I am crazy for it. I dance for hours.

I bought the album- Parallel Lines with the songs like One Way Or Another & Sunday Girl. I am zany for Blondie, but I stayed with Debbie Harry after the breakup of Blondie & I have never strayed far away.

Rapture was my first rap song. I have had several firsts with Debbie Harry.*

I am crazy for her solo albums & her work with Jazz Passengers.  As the face & sound behind one of new wave's most influential bands to emerge during the punk heyday of the 1970s, Harry was the ultimate diva. She was the Blondie front-woman, a vixen with hypnotically wild stage moves & an edgy cool voice. A killer sneer matched her signature blonde hair & made her a star. I love her. She is a goddess to me. Debbie Harry is my muse. Debbie Harry is a Gay Icon.

Not enough to be an influential musician, her acting career spans over 30 film roles & numerous TV appearances. She looks & sounds astoundingly hot at 67 years old. Today is her birthday.

*Sordid footnote: I did mushrooms with the husband, circa 1980, & I had a sequence of time during that experience, where I went “into” The Husband’s medieval Flemish tapestry. I was walking the candle lit hallways of a castle, wearing stunning Aramini clothing. The soundtrack from this debauched adventure was Call Me by Blondie.