Okay, I admit my original intent was to do a post on "Hotel Womb" but the only video available wasn't worth spreading around the internets.

As a teenager in good old Plano, Texas and a young adult in good old Austin, I couldn't get enough of the fair prince Marty Willson-Piper and his compatriot, the sultry voiced Steven Kilbey.

The Church were my church and though I freely admit that I worshipped at the altar of Robert Smith, they ran a close second... well they may have competed with Echo & the Bunnymen for second, but let's face it my earnest teen dream heart was large enough to hold them all near and dear.

"Reptile" is an equally grand song from 1988's Starfish, an album I listened to on a virtual loop that first fall I lived in Austin. The ghosts of a thousand fantasies probably still haunt my old duplex on Speedway.

The lads are in their 50s now and still going strong with a near original lineup (only drummer Richard Ploog's not around anymore). I've been to every SXSW since 1989 EXCEPT the one they played. It's just as well... I probably would have missed them, anyway.

Labels: music, rediscovering old loves, reptile, the church