from the LP Specials, Two Tone Records, 1979Getting arrested is no fun when you’re an adult---I suppose most people would argue that it’s never “fun” to get popped, but when you’re a dumb adolescent kid it can be a real rush, particularly given the badge of honor that such events bestow upon one in the eyes of other young delinquents, but you also know it will be erased from your record as soon as you turn eighteen (shit, so many people celebrated their 18th’s even harder due to the sudden clean slate, and fittingly, most of us had fucked that up within the year…d’oh). I found myself sitting in a downtown Cleveland jail well before my 19th birthday, on a minor possession charge that would’ve normally been a ticket, but I still had an out of state ID so they threw my ass in jail, on a Friday night no less (double d’oh). It would have been smarter to heed the advice that the Specials were giving rude boys & rude girls in this famous cover track, “…stop your messin’ around, better think of your future; time you straightened right out, creating problems in town…” Although the lesson was duly noted, it took a couple more big fuckups & seven years of ducking the warrants that were trailing me before the lesson was truly learnt. Frankly, tucked away in my nest of a suburban life these days, it all seems so far away. This one goes out to a particular niece & nephew of mine, although I think you’ve both mostly sharpened your games accordingly; sure love you guys!
