Mini Pops? Yes the Mini Pops. I'm dating myself but the Mini Pops were my first introduction to current rock music. I lived in a small town growing up, very small, less than 1000 people. Of course I didn't really know it was small, or for that matter, limited in any way. Up until that point I had really only listened to the "rock" music of my parents. This was my first contemporary rock music. Kid's singing popular rock songs. I stared over and over at that cassette cover as I listened to the songs over and over on my knock off Walkman cassette player. (It was super cool, it was white and had a strap to carry it over the shoulder and two detachable speakers (stereo!) ... for when I wanted to rock out! 4 double A batteries and I was a rock star on the move!)
My favorite song on the album was easily "Video Killed the Radio Star". Play, Stop, Rewind, Play Again. I'm surprised I didn't wear the cassette out entirely. At the time I was mesmerized by the song and the cover art. These kids, no older than me had somehow managed to land a gig where they had released an album and got to dress up in super fancy costumes! I didn't have access to videos where I lived. We had 3 channels and you had to have a motorized antenna on your house to accomplish that (or crawl up there an move it yourself)! So no MTV or MUCH music for me. My medium? The TV commercial. That was as close as I got to watching videos.
I don't recall exactly how we got the cassette but I can guess it went something like this. A TV commercial showing clips of videos of the kids singing modern rock songs. A trip to the nearest city and the K-Mart/Zellers and actually seeing the cassette in the store. Then pleading with the parents to buy it for you. I think we had 3 different Mini Pops cassettes in total, but it was this one and Video Killed the Radio Star in particular that struck me. I was a latch key kid so TV (Video) was raising me and I found the lyrics particularly poignant, even if I was only 8ish. It made sense to me. My parents loved radio but to me radio was dead, long live TV! The song was sad but with a catchy beat. I could see the "figurative" radio star actually dying. At the same time my mind would swirl with pictures all sequenced together in my own video. I wanted to sing, I wanted to dress up and be in a video, I wanted to be a Mini Pop, or maybe for the first time I wanted to be a rock star.
Thanks for sharing but what does any of this have to do with Yoga or Acro Yoga, you ask? The more I explore movement, the more I perform and teach classes my brain goes back to that little kid. Now as an adult I'm playing out those same visions in real life. When I was a kid it was all about my imagination. Where I lived there were no such opportunities. The Mini Pops was something I could only imagine, nothing I could ever actually do. Sure I'm not singing, I'm not a rock star, but I am an artist. I'm learning to dance, I'm learning how to choreograph not only Acro but dance too! Putting it all to music, in my very own "music video". I'm playing! I'm playing just like I did as a kid. One of those rare full circle moments in life. Sure its just a hobby for me. I have a day job and find it hard to believe I could ever support myself with play enough to ever fully leave it. What is important though is that I do it at all. To me yoga and Acro yoga especially are like play. For the first time as an adult I find myself reminded of being a kid and just playing. If you go to any kid and say "go play", they inherently know what that means. At least I did as a kid. As an adult? If you had asked me to "go play", I'd have said, "Play what?". Now in some way I've recaptured play in my life. Not only play but those same dreams and videos that would run in my head.
I remember coming up with my own "video" routines where I'd lip sync and move around to tell a story to some of my favourite songs. One of those songs was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Mini Pops. In fact it wasn't until I was in university and had moved to the "big" city that I finally had access to MUCH music and saw/heard the real song/video. It struck a memory yet to my head didn't sound quite right. Not quite right because the Mini Pops cover was what was instilled in my memory. Now my adulthood gives me access to that same play and thanks to the miracle of Youtube I can finally see the whole Mini Pops video for Video Killed the Radio Star that I only ever glimpsed in commercials.
I remember that kid. The way that kid thought and dreamed. Now that I'm "all grown up", those same things that interested and intrigued that little kid, I'm doing as an adult. I didn't get here on purpose either which, maybe for me, makes it even more poignant. Rather I stumbled here in anything but a straight path and only now after having been on this path for 6 years (and likely longer) am I just starting to see where I am and how much it resembles many of those same things that little kid dreamt about. I say "many" because I still haven't been able to figure out how to change into He-Man, or get my vehicle to transform into an awesome robot, or manage to raise 6 million dollars to get the bionics implanted in my body to make me a super hero! A guy can still dream though!
My favorite song on the album was easily "Video Killed the Radio Star". Play, Stop, Rewind, Play Again. I'm surprised I didn't wear the cassette out entirely. At the time I was mesmerized by the song and the cover art. These kids, no older than me had somehow managed to land a gig where they had released an album and got to dress up in super fancy costumes! I didn't have access to videos where I lived. We had 3 channels and you had to have a motorized antenna on your house to accomplish that (or crawl up there an move it yourself)! So no MTV or MUCH music for me. My medium? The TV commercial. That was as close as I got to watching videos.
I don't recall exactly how we got the cassette but I can guess it went something like this. A TV commercial showing clips of videos of the kids singing modern rock songs. A trip to the nearest city and the K-Mart/Zellers and actually seeing the cassette in the store. Then pleading with the parents to buy it for you. I think we had 3 different Mini Pops cassettes in total, but it was this one and Video Killed the Radio Star in particular that struck me. I was a latch key kid so TV (Video) was raising me and I found the lyrics particularly poignant, even if I was only 8ish. It made sense to me. My parents loved radio but to me radio was dead, long live TV! The song was sad but with a catchy beat. I could see the "figurative" radio star actually dying. At the same time my mind would swirl with pictures all sequenced together in my own video. I wanted to sing, I wanted to dress up and be in a video, I wanted to be a Mini Pop, or maybe for the first time I wanted to be a rock star.
Thanks for sharing but what does any of this have to do with Yoga or Acro Yoga, you ask? The more I explore movement, the more I perform and teach classes my brain goes back to that little kid. Now as an adult I'm playing out those same visions in real life. When I was a kid it was all about my imagination. Where I lived there were no such opportunities. The Mini Pops was something I could only imagine, nothing I could ever actually do. Sure I'm not singing, I'm not a rock star, but I am an artist. I'm learning to dance, I'm learning how to choreograph not only Acro but dance too! Putting it all to music, in my very own "music video". I'm playing! I'm playing just like I did as a kid. One of those rare full circle moments in life. Sure its just a hobby for me. I have a day job and find it hard to believe I could ever support myself with play enough to ever fully leave it. What is important though is that I do it at all. To me yoga and Acro yoga especially are like play. For the first time as an adult I find myself reminded of being a kid and just playing. If you go to any kid and say "go play", they inherently know what that means. At least I did as a kid. As an adult? If you had asked me to "go play", I'd have said, "Play what?". Now in some way I've recaptured play in my life. Not only play but those same dreams and videos that would run in my head.
I remember coming up with my own "video" routines where I'd lip sync and move around to tell a story to some of my favourite songs. One of those songs was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Mini Pops. In fact it wasn't until I was in university and had moved to the "big" city that I finally had access to MUCH music and saw/heard the real song/video. It struck a memory yet to my head didn't sound quite right. Not quite right because the Mini Pops cover was what was instilled in my memory. Now my adulthood gives me access to that same play and thanks to the miracle of Youtube I can finally see the whole Mini Pops video for Video Killed the Radio Star that I only ever glimpsed in commercials.
I remember that kid. The way that kid thought and dreamed. Now that I'm "all grown up", those same things that interested and intrigued that little kid, I'm doing as an adult. I didn't get here on purpose either which, maybe for me, makes it even more poignant. Rather I stumbled here in anything but a straight path and only now after having been on this path for 6 years (and likely longer) am I just starting to see where I am and how much it resembles many of those same things that little kid dreamt about. I say "many" because I still haven't been able to figure out how to change into He-Man, or get my vehicle to transform into an awesome robot, or manage to raise 6 million dollars to get the bionics implanted in my body to make me a super hero! A guy can still dream though!
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