DJ EZ Rock & Robb Base - It Takes Two
1988 - Jam of the Summer
The summer between 3rd and 4th grade I was doing gymnastics at the local Park District where we tumbled on wrestling mats. Considering the equipment and the very low coach to athlete ratio, we learned a lot. The song of the summer was It Takes Two by DJ EZ Rock & Robb Base, you could hear it on the radio at least 2 times every hour. This summer I was so excited to go to gymnastics camp at the high school, where I think our coach was a student. For me, at that age, going to the high school was pretty exciting. A huge building that hosted over 2000 students during the year, there would be impossibly cool teenagers to idolize and dim, abandoned hallways to explore.
Squeezed behind the massive basketball gym it was a long, narrow, concrete room, all white with red trim. It had red mats and red-painted man-doors in weird high up places on the wall. With no windows or ventilation, everything was covered in light white dust and the air maintained a chalky haze that thinking back on seems pretty unhealthy. Radio reception was bad, as you can imagine. This was back when we used to tape songs off the radio, so we still had all the latest hits to listen to at practice. Packed with equipment for men’s and women’s events there was still plenty of concrete and bare walls to give the boom box a tinny echo that I sort of liked the sound of. There was also a gloriously cold aluminum drinking fountain near the emergency exit, it was the kind where a metal box is attached to the wall and in the summer heat, it was always dripping with condensation. It might not sound like it, but training in highschool gym was pretty much my 10-year-old gymnastics fantasy.
It was the end of a long practice day and I was standing in line to take my last turn and eyeing that sweet icy cold drinking fountain just a few feet away. Should I get a drink and skip my last turn? Oooohhh, and just then my jam came on, It Takes Two with that spooky open, Hit it. Whooo YEAH! Nah, one more pass. One more pass down the tumbling strip that went right through the center of the gym. It was a narrow track with a bare concrete floor on either side, one lined with wooden pillars made of two 2 2x4s each that supported a thin vaulting platform. I had it in my head to do a round-off into a line of flip-flops and then do a tuck back at the very end. My pass started off fine, but then I felt like I might be going crooked. Not sure whether to throw the back tuck, another flip-flop or just stop, I ended up doing some sort of crash.
The summer between 3rd and 4th grade I was doing gymnastics at the local Park District where we tumbled on wrestling mats. Considering the equipment and the very low coach to athlete ratio, we learned a lot. The song of the summer was It Takes Two by DJ EZ Rock & Robb Base, you could hear it on the radio at least 2 times every hour. This summer I was so excited to go to gymnastics camp at the high school, where I think our coach was a student. For me, at that age, going to the high school was pretty exciting. A huge building that hosted over 2000 students during the year, there would be impossibly cool teenagers to idolize and dim, abandoned hallways to explore.
Squeezed behind the massive basketball gym it was a long, narrow, concrete room, all white with red trim. It had red mats and red-painted man-doors in weird high up places on the wall. With no windows or ventilation, everything was covered in light white dust and the air maintained a chalky haze that thinking back on seems pretty unhealthy. Radio reception was bad, as you can imagine. This was back when we used to tape songs off the radio, so we still had all the latest hits to listen to at practice. Packed with equipment for men’s and women’s events there was still plenty of concrete and bare walls to give the boom box a tinny echo that I sort of liked the sound of. There was also a gloriously cold aluminum drinking fountain near the emergency exit, it was the kind where a metal box is attached to the wall and in the summer heat, it was always dripping with condensation. It might not sound like it, but training in highschool gym was pretty much my 10-year-old gymnastics fantasy.
It was the end of a long practice day and I was standing in line to take my last turn and eyeing that sweet icy cold drinking fountain just a few feet away. Should I get a drink and skip my last turn? Oooohhh, and just then my jam came on, It Takes Two with that spooky open, Hit it. Whooo YEAH! Nah, one more pass. One more pass down the tumbling strip that went right through the center of the gym. It was a narrow track with a bare concrete floor on either side, one lined with wooden pillars made of two 2 2x4s each that supported a thin vaulting platform. I had it in my head to do a round-off into a line of flip-flops and then do a tuck back at the very end. My pass started off fine, but then I felt like I might be going crooked. Not sure whether to throw the back tuck, another flip-flop or just stop, I ended up doing some sort of crash.
It was immediately obvious to everyone in the gym that my arm was broken. Or at least it seemed that way. Did they hear it crack? My coach was by my side in an instant. “Stay down,” she said, “Don’t look at it.” And also, “It’s fine.” which seemed like a dumb thing to say. She called for my sister to find my clothes and gym bag. Someone turned the radio off. Someone called my mom. My mom told them not to call an ambulance and that she was on her way. The waiting seemed like a long time. The gym was full of people but it was quiet and just seemed really odd. My coach asked me if I needed anything. I told her that I needed some water and she just burst out laughing. “Ok,” she said, “Should I order you a pizza too?” Why the hell did she ask me what I wanted then? By this time my arm was hurting and I could see that one half of my bone was sitting on the other half, so it looked like my wrist was bent, but closer to my elbow. “Can someone turn the radio back on?” I asked her. “Sure,” she laughed. “Let’s throw a party.”
And my 10 year old self was lying there thinking, “Damn, is this bitch for real?”
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| * I stole these images off the internet. A google search for It Takes Two brings them both up on the first page. |
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