Kevin Coval

my first

i usually tell people it was Kool Moe Dee’s Knowlege is King or
skip that question and talk about my first mix tape, a KRS-ONE, BDP
mega mix, or my first cassette, RUN DMC’s King of Rock or LL’s Radio.

but my brother won’t let me forget, The Jets. you found out, i got a crush on you.
they were poppy like a bagel, poofy like magic and pink neon, perhaps
referenced west side story, maybe Latino, George Lopez was in the crew
i think, but definitely wore shoulder pads, for sure all 6-8 members tanned
too much under a plastic sun and they all permed their hair, and maybe
they were Latinos or at least played them on the covers of cds, like Natalie Wood
born Zakharenko to Russian immigrants, so i guess they did reference Westside Story

but The Jets were for sure my first CD.
i didn’t even buy the Kool Moe Dee. Matt Wenska gave it to me at my 15th birthday party, a surprise my moms threw for me at my father’s restaurant, even though they were 8 years divorced, she wanted to make him pay for the food. and i had to wait another 6 months to listen till i got a CD player, but The Jets was the 1st cd i bought
for sure, at Record City in the Strip Mall near Fluky’s Hot Dogs and Quick Cuts.

The Jets were a family band from Minneapolis,
who performed The Star-Spangled Banner
at the seventh game of the 1987 World Series,
their parents were from the South Pacific
island of Tonga, they are loved by mormons

but i knew none of that at fourteen in the late eighties.
The Jets were summer bubble gum stuck in my walkman, and i’d listen
laying out on a sticky plastic chaise lounge, my moms blue eye covers
on the bridge of my nose, lost in headphones and the thought of Megan
Mathy’s breasts, relaxing till i had to go to work in the restaurant and take orders
from my dad and the manager and whole families sharing a meal, but before that
i’d lather my body in chemical coconut oil, a slurpy cup of ice cubes and kool aid
in the backyard, falling in love with synth and computer hand claps, working hard
on my tan, trying to be as dark
as i can.