It was 1996. I was working at Tower Records, living in a two bedroom apartment with my four year old daughter. Her dad and I were no longer together, but he was still in her life then, though it wouldn’t last. It was a weekend she was visiting her dad that my Tower-coworkers-friends-family and I went to see Trainspotting at the theater in Costa Mesa that only played indie and foreign films. I’d see it again, at the same place, with a boyfriend who would move in with us for a spell. Looking back, its weird to think that Tower Records is gone. That movie theater that showed only indie and foreign films is gone. The boyfriend and I, long gone, not lasting thru the end of the 90’s. Life changes. The future is unknowable, but full of changes.
I played the life out of my Trainspotting soundtrack CD. There was a second soundtrack that was released, too, if I remember right. Iggy’s “Lust for Life” was one of my go-to tracks. I had my own memories attached to the song, beyond the movie. It was one of my favorites to dance to on Sunday nights at 1970, an underground 70’s themed club in Hollywood in the late 80’s-early 90’s.
1970 is gone, too. But the music, like the movie Trainspotting, is still here.
“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else.” – Mark “Rent-boy” Renton, Trainspotting (1996)
