The Lion King

The Lion King came out in 1994. Opossum was living in Oregon at the time. Nana wanted some time free from the kids, so she asked our regular babysitter Jodie—I think that’s her name—Brown to take us to see the film. I was very much opposed to going. The plot did not appeal to me. It being the early 1990’s, I used the vernacular of the time to inform my mother that I did not wish to see the movie because it was “gay.”

At the time, I appreciated the music then known as “Oldies.” This included anything from the dawn of Rock ’n’ Roll up to the beginning of the 1980s. There was one station in Oregon that I would listen to non-stop: KISN-FM. From my research, it seems this call sign was assigned to several stations over the years that played Oldies in the Portland area. Regardless, I remember I went to one public broadcast at a mall and met a DJ. I had a black t-shirt from the station with the call-sign, the frequency, and a big lipstick kiss image on the front. I used to call them (once I got caught sneaking out of bed to call from the phone in the guest room) and request “The Monster Mash,” “The Midnight Hour,” and other songs I’m sure they’d rather not play on repeat. Once, I asked my dad (your grandopossum) to call and request a song whose title escapes me. It was likely “Sleepwalk.” I was listening all day to hear him. Just as a recording of him making the request came on, Nana called me from my room urgently. I didn’t want to miss it, but my mom called me, so I went. She had the radio on upstairs and wanted me to hear what I was already hearing downstairs. My dad’s voice sounded pretty cool on the radio.

While I’m on the subject, I used to do a lot of weird things back then. I would record the radio onto a tape, and relisten to my favorite recordings. It was always a good day when I got a recording with an Elvis song. I would tape over the write-protect holes on the bottom of old cassettes or advertisement cassettes that came in the mail to get more tapes. Nana volunteered at a library then that was getting rid of a bunch of junk, so getting old tapes was easy. My parents gave me all of their LPs when they got a CD player. So I’d record my favorite songs or whole sides of an LP onto a tape. I had a kids’ turntable that was beige, textured plastic. It opened like a briefcase and had a built-in speaker. I don’t recall if it had a power cord or batteries. I also had a small, black boombox that could record to tape. Usually, I’d just put the boombox next to my turntable on the floor of my room, set it up to record, and rush out while hoping no one made too much noise before it finished. I don’t know what I did with these tapes. I don’t remember ever listening to those. I think I just liked recording.

I used to ask my dad to record my one song from a CD on repeat to a cassette tape, so I could listen to the song I had chosen ad nauseum. I had a red cassette player with a speaker on the front behind a blue grill. I want to say the speaker had two extra blue circles at the top so it looked like Mickey Mouse. I think it was a Sony Walkman for kids, but I’m not sure. Uncle Ari had an identical one. They had a narrow strap so we could wear them about like a bag. We were total ballers. Mine didn’t close all the way. Its door would wiggle a bit while I was listening to my tunes. I loved that player and used it non-stop. At night, I would place it under my pillow and fall asleep while jamming out to Otis Redding or something else on repeat. Ari was more into computers and friends, so I think his cassette player fared better than mine.

I’m pretty sure Ari understood I had a bit of a fixation with Oldies music. He was excited to see The Lion King, and didn’t want my protests to derail his chance at a good time. He tried many ways to convince me to go. There would be candy involved, he pleaded. I was not moved. We’d go with the babysitter. I did like her, but not enough to sit through that movie. I reiterated that, “I don’t want to see it. The Lion King is gay.”

Surely, that was a winning move on my part! However, he disproved my hypothesis so swiftly that it still stings a bit to recall. “Elton John did the music.” I still didn’t want to see the movie, but Ari had a point. How could the movie be gay if Elton John did the music? I didn’t feel he had fully won the argument at that point, but I do remember being driven to the theater.