Pat Green-Author

Recently heard some fellow Xers saying our musicians just played, they did not get into politics. And today's musicians should shut up and play. Time for a little music history from 1985.

In 1985, Little Steven helped organize Artists United Against Apartheid and recorded “Sun City" without industry support. More than 50 artists participated, including Pat Benatar, Motley Crue, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Run-DMC, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, Joey Ramone, Bono, Keith Richards and many more. The message was simple. We ain't playing there! Why?

Sun City was a luxury resort in apartheid South Africa that gave enormous paychecks to play there. Playing there helped South Africa present a shiny rich white tourist-friendly face to the world while millions of Black South Africans lived under a system that denied them the most basic human rights. The UN had been calling for a cultural boycott, and these musicians decided their talent wasn't going to be used to help apartheid even though there was a cost outside Sun City.

This dragged apartheid into MTV, radio stations and record stores. Teens like me who couldn't have explained foreign policy now knew what those musicians meant when they said they weren't going to play Sun City and what people were suffering through. The UN reported that artist visits to South Africa declined significantly in 1985.

Did this bring down apartheid? Absof**kinglutely not. South Africans fighting apartheid did that work over decades at enormous personal cost. But international sanctions, boycotts, political pressure and activism were pieces of a much larger puzzle that led to free elections.

The musicians understood something important. You do not always get to separate the stage from the world outside the stadium. Taking the money is a statement and refusing the money is a statement. History sometimes remembers which one you chose. Decades later when a career is over and a voice is shot, legacy matters.

Today's strange little full-circle moment.

Since the stroke, changing how I eat and getting serious about strength training has put me back in the same suit size I wore in high school and college, back when I worked at Silverman’s.

I just scored this vintage Florenzi wool double-breasted suit. We carried that Italian brand.

It is already tailored almost exactly to my current measurements, and it is absolutely making a cameo in Hearts of Glass: Die Young and Stay Pretty. My character Ford would so wear this with his employee discount. This is the second vintage suit I have bought that I literally used to own.

There is another reason I buy vintage. A well-made 30- or 40-year-old wool or silk suit that has survived this long will often outlast a lot of what is being sold today (even name brands). Better material, better construction, no fast-fashion nonsense.

And you pay less for it.

Sometimes the past still fits.

The women at Cozy Quilt Cinema changed their format to give me the space to talk about how stumbling across Gypsy 83 helped bring me back to life after my stroke. This may be the most vulnerable I have ever been on a podcast.

We talk goth kids, Stevie Nicks, bullies, daddy issues, and a strange little movie that found me when I was lost.

I hope you’ll join us in the Blanket Fort and listen. It would mean a lot.

***I ifnally got to hear the end of the epusode. That may have been the coolest last 3 minute close out and fade into music I have ever heard in a podcast!***

Special thanks to Chicago Street Markets for hosting a wonderful event. It was lovely meeting the amazing authors, vendors, and wondrous attendees! I need to unwind to some Joe Jackson now.

If she were still with us she would have been 55 today. A year younger than me. Her life and her music meant so much to me and it is one of the few celebrity deaths where I cried. In 2021 I did a self published documentary about coping skills and mental health. I had a model wear Dolores' iconic gold makeup from Xombie for the images for the book and even showcased some of this images in various galleries in the Chicagoland area. Sold a copy to a a pub in Dublin. Wonder if they still have it.

Goddesses and Odin she was amazing and a gift taken away too soon.

Happy Birthday Dolores. Fifty five, still a young one!

You’re sorely missed in this world by all who love the wonderful songs and music you left behind, and more so by all who knew and loved you for just being you.

Photography by Ellis Parrinder, licenced by Camera Press.

I was in the store getting meds the other day and thought about the ladies at Likewhateverpod for some reason. I am realizing every episode is kinda about serial killers and true crime. But this week it is also about their personal Mt Rushmore of good people we have lost. So check them out if you wanna hear about how not to get caught, best burner practices, and the beauty and wonder that was Dolly Parton, Steve Irwin, Fred Rogers, and Bob Ross. Check them out wherever you listen to podcasts.

Good heavens dear readers, you're beautiful!
Thank you for the kind words and wishes. I just got home. Special thanks to all the staff at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital the last 3 days. Due to their efforts we have the following:
1. The smoking gun as to why I had a stroke in April.
2. A medicinal plan to attakc the issue.
3. Over 90% success rate in said plan.

The last 5 months have been fear and hell with more questions than answers. It could take as long as 5 days for the meds to "kick in", but after that, we got this.

We got hope and light at the end of the tunnel. They blinded me with science!

This Sunday Chicago Street Markets will be hosting Plants Paws and Pages at the Lockport Metra Station in Lockport, Il. I’ll be one of the 6 attending authors present. Come say hi while getting succulents and pet supplies (assuming I’m out of the hospital).

I know I’ve been pretty quiet lately.

On April 3rd, I had a stroke. Right now, I’m back in the hospital recovering from what may have been a TIA.

Social media, writing posts, promoting things, and generally being “public” haven’t been at the top of the list for a while.

I don’t know yet what creating publicly looks like on the other side of all this. I don’t know how often I’ll post, what I’ll have the energy for, or what parts of myself I’ll want to share.

I just know it needs to be different beause I’m different right now and I’ve been trying too hard to be the same.

I appreciate the people who are still here. I’m healing. I do have an event coming up this weekend that I will speak about tomorrow, I just needed to get this on the table first. Hopefully, I get to go home tomorrow. That’s up to neurology.

Stay totally awesome.
Stay true to you.