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boogers in the attic

1988. Around the time that I was in the sixth grade, my friend Shaun and I had dreams of becoming great musicians. I remember, with great fondness, those good-ol'-days when we used to get together for "jam sessions," using improvised instruments. We converted Shaun's acoustic guitar into an electric guitar by inserting a Mr. Microphone in the echo chamber. Another good friend, Scott, would sometimes join the fun by drumming wooden spoons on pots and pans. (Our mothers hated that.) I usually played on Mom's piano or electric organ, and of course we all took turns singing.

We were just children passing away our summer days. We never really got that good, but we always had lots of fun. (It was always fun to impress girls by telling them we were in a band -- little did they know.) We eventually called our band "The Good Side." It didn't really matter what our name was, since we rarely actually performed.

But that changed during our high school years, when our instruments were more sophisticated and our music was more popular -- at least among our small circle of friends, anyway. In December 1988, we cut a tape of our two favorite songs and distributed copies as Christmas presents. (We couldn't afford much else, so this was a perfect substitute for long hours at the mall.) The original tape, Boogers In The Attic, was recorded forward on Side A, and backwards on side B -- just for the fun of it -- and also because there were "subliminal," backwards messages that we wanted people to uncover from "The Bad Side."

Listen to Boogers In The Attic

Our Christmas release of Boogers In The Attic was the climax of my musical career -- and just the start of Shaun's. I've lost track of Shaun over the years, but I hear that he's traveling the states making money just for singing. I ended up so busy with college that most of my really fun talents, including music-making, have atrophied beyond all recognition. Now I'm just a computer geek who gets A's in school. People warned me, "Don't let school get in the way of your education." But I guess I didn't listen.

Charlton Rose
16 Aug. 1997