Straight to the 'Nads (aka '81-'87 mashup)

Hello to all my fellow 'nads

Thomas (Tom) Lopatka here.

This site has been a source of continuing enjoyment over the past few months. Many thanks to everyone who has shared their life experiences over the past 20 years...extraordinary.

I've been living in Switzerland since July 2000, (I first visited here in '84, pre-Chaminade, and eventually my heart led me back).

Most likely, I won't be in LA for the reunion.

In between high school and 2000 was a year at UCLA and five more at SCI-Arc, where I received a B.Arch in 1994.

There were also a variety of employments, aspects of an organic process that led to a career in film and video post-production.

They included:

Designing cemetery architecture for the Forest Lawn Company, and teaching architectural drawing and design at SCI-Arc.

This was followed a brief period of career realignment which led to 3 years at SGI during their "golden years" in the mid-to-late '90's.

During that time, for a year, I also worked a second job at night as an Inferno artist for a company in Hollywood called Imaginary Forces that specializes in film title design.

Also of note was a marriage in the early '90's (some of you were there, I recall), followed by a de-marriage in the late '90's.

These days I am working for a NFP called the AO Foundation which focuses on the (mostly) surgical treatment of trauma injuries. I head their video production unit, and spent a good portion of 2006 in South Africa, focusing on a project that trained surgeons in Sub-saharan Africa the basics of non-surgical fracture treatment (between malaria and HIV the WHO has enough on their plate). This was a really a great project to be involved with. It's perhaps difficult to conceptualize it living in the States or in Europe, but in many parts of the world, a broken arm or leg can mean a life on the margins of society - the difference between being a provider for one's family or a dependent for life.

So there you have the "Cliff's Notes" version of the past 20 years from me. It all passed so quickly.

What I really wanted to bring up was an idea I have regarding something a lot of you have pegged as key in your recollections of high school...MUSIC!!!

You see, I have a big soft sweet spot in my heart for the music of our youth, and with your help and participation I would like to put together the pentultimate playlist of "87 songs for the class of '87"...Straight to the 'Nad's.

Whether you were into Death Rock, Brit Pop, Punk, Jazz, Funk, Country, Classic Rock, Ska, Rap, King Crimson, the Iron Sheik singing the Persian national anthem or whatever.

The idea I have is to put it all together into something that is from everyone and dare I say catholic (in the sense of universal). It's not about being cliqueish or elitist, it's about the joy music brings...so if you're all about Whitney Houston, Jan Hammer, Zodiac Mindwarp, Bon Jovi, or The Housemartins...bring it on. Maybe there will be things you've never heard of, or maybe things we all knew and loved or despised, the main thing is to feel it.

Maybe it seems frivolous in the face of your career, your family lives, or the other demands of your day-to-day, but music is an amazing thing. If you don't care, don't participate, no worries...but everyone is welcome...please don't be shy.

So there's the pitch...the parameters and process follow.

The idea (today) is "87 songs for the class of '87". My original thought is that the music should have been produced between '81 and '87, the years we could have been together at Chaminade. I suspect we can keep this loose to allow for songs from KAIROS or whatever. Somehow it feels right, like an older song that was in a movie released during those years, that could be OK too.

So if you are into it, send me an e-mail (tlopatka@gmail.com) with your favorite song, or top 3, or top 10, or even your top 87 (or something in-between).

Also, if you have a playlist somewhere in webspace, let me know and I'll do what I can to incorporate it all.

I hope to put the whole thing together in the next few weeks, so a quick turnaround is key.

Once the initial 87 are together I'll post it here.

Naturally there won't be room for all of everyone's favorites (although I suppose there might be if we drop the "rule of 87").

Afterwards I'll send it back to you one-by-one in the order I received your suggestions.

Then, if you choose, you get to strike one song off the list and replace it with one of your own.

Send it back to me and the process continues to the next person.

When that's done I'll post that result as well.

The idea is that the result will somehow be both collective and individual...a real camel (you know, a horse designed by committee). The real soundtrack to a movie John Hughes wishes he could have made.

If time permits, I'd like to put the result together into something concrete, like an .mp3 CD or P2P fileshare. If it comes together as hoped, please respect all copyrights and use music you own.

So there it is, my own modest proposal. I hope you are all up for it. Let's see what it turns into.

My best to you all,

Thomas