Autumn Makes Me Think of Gia Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s I was a budding astrologer, writer and weather forecaster. Still in school and working, the times were changing. I used to hang out with a group of artists and writers down on South Street in Philadelphia and as the resident budding astrologer would talk of the future and the coming of the 1980s. I met and knew some creative people, writers, singers, musicians, artists and even one who had reached fame, though she was three years older than me. She moved to New York to pursue fashion modelling and after a year and a half had passed the next time I saw her was on the cover of my mothers Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Her name was Gia Carangi. When we used to hang out on South St. I was 15-16 years old at the time and South St. was a cooler place in downtown Philadelphia were all the creatives would hang out and meet. It had a 24-hour diner which was perfect for us writers and artists (and a budding astrologer.) Gia once she passed me a rough music tape of a band that she loved called BLONDIE. She later scurried me secretly to New York City for what she said was going to be a Halloween party. I didnt know what costume to wear, but Gia said not to worry about that and come as yourself if you want (it was too cold on that autumn trip to NYC on the train from Philly.) Anyway, once I got there the Halloween party actually turned out to be a music video for BLONDIE, thats where I saw them in person for the very first time. (Its the second video on this post.) The video was for a song called ATOMIC, one of my favorite Blondie songs, and the event itself was wild (to say the least) but it defined the atmosphere of the times and I did listen to classic rock and punk music. Some of my best friends were punks. Gia is in the video with me, dancing to ATOMIC. She wore pink pants and boots that day with her long brown hair flowing to the music of Blondie. I think she felt that she owed me one for reading her horoscope and invited me to make me feel better. I told her that the 1980s would be a dark time, at least to the middle years of the decade. I was but an amatuer at the time, but I think what I told her scared her, but I told her the truth. Still, Gia listened. It was later said that she carried the seeds of her own destruction. That was true enough, but the gal had plenty of heart and she absolutely loved Blondies music. So do I. Autumn always makes me think of Gia. It always seemed that whenever we had serious talks that it was in the fall season. She called me old man even though she was older than me. I was always giving her advice that she said she should have been giving me. I was but a kid then. Im very sad to think of Gia today, but her story taught me much about the evils of fame, success and not learning to be yourself without needing others to want or like you. Thats what happened to Gia. Anyhow, the music video below is just for Gia, who succumbed to drug use and mental illness and died at the much-too-soon-age age of 26 in autumn 1986 after friends tried to find her in Atlantic City. We were too late. youtube/watch?v=TU3-lS_Gryk
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 09:39:27 +0000
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