This song, off the second Heartbreakers album is perfection! The album was slightly over 30 minutes long. This song is less than three minutes. Every second, every note, perfect. This is another of those seminal albums that created my love of music. After this album, TP battled against his record label against what he thought was (and most likely was) unfair compensation. It took a few years and once settled, he released a little album called Damn the Torpedoes! I saw Petty in Cleveland about six months before he passed (Joe Walsh opened, how about that bill?). I actually grieved his passing. He was ever present in the entirety of my adult life at that point in time and it was a real loss to me.
Well, the talk on the street says you might go solo
Good friend of mine saw you leavin’ by your back door
On this journey of mine, I have been given quite a few gifts. They may mean nothing to anyone but me, but I am grateful for them. The first gift is my absolute superpower in terms of how I present myself to the world. Is every outfit a winner? Is my makeup flawless every time? Of course not, but I have found a way to present me (this ability does not translate to anyone else, just myself) in such a fashion that I am almost immediately perceived positively by anyone who sees me. Gift two, the smile, which was generally bottled up from my birth just after the Big Bang until about 2014. That smile works! It draws attention and it diffuses potential issues. As I have recently stated, I have no real memory of a cross word spoken to me and have had very, very little online hate. Almost none. And anything I would call negative is someone wanting to have sex with me. That is unavoidable completely online and has also been fairly minimal.
And the final gift, which leads us to this day, June 7, 2026, is the friendships I have fostered as a female. Maybe I am splitting hairs, but I think you understand. I think I have wrapped around my head to the fact that I am not a woman, but that I am female. And on this day, this female was asked by her friend Darla, owner of Darlafoxx Bridal & Formal, someone who has had me model her gowns on numerous occasions over the past four years to be her first guest on a podcast she is doing: The Next Chapter: Beyond the Gown with Darlafoxx Bridal & Formal. The podcast is about real people, real journeys, the challenges we’ve faced, the lessons we’ve learned, and the chapters that have shaped who we are today.
The day was sublime, low 80’s, zero humidity. Knowing I would be video recorded, I paid attention to the details, as best I am capable. I did the photoshoot you see here downtown and headed to Darla’s place. I knew very little about her vision for this. I did no mental prep, just wanting to be alive in the moment. It ended up that I was the guest and there were four people on the panel, “interviewing” me. A great friend and fellow model (younger than our daughters), her mother, Darla and Salomon, a male model and someone who could plant you in a millisecond! We figured the podcast would be about 20 minutes.
Yours truly blabbered on and on for about an hour. It was wonderful! They would ask a question and maybe 20 minutes later I would clam up. It was a fabulous experience and so liberating. When this gets set up and posted, I will obviously share the link. It was me at my best, explaining our people, me, how I got here, what it all means to me, yada, yada, yada… Many of the points I have made here were vocalized, many of the analogies I have used were used in this context, stories people who know me in TRL have heard a lot of this, but I simply spoke. In my own male voice, making no illusions about who I am, what I am, that I have a damn bit of advice for anyone. I am all ME, with my flaws, life experiences, what little mental capacity I have been blessed with, things I have seen, things I have done, things that have opened my eyes, things that have repulsed me, things I know work…for ME. One other gift Kandi has been given (her alter ego only had a little of this), is a high likability factor. Most people who engage me in any way, like me. Don’t know how, don’t know why, but it happens to be true.
Stay tuned at some point in the future for my podcast debut!
I need to know (I need to know)
Because I don’t know how long I can hold on
If you’re making me wait, if you’re leadin’ me on
I need to know (I need to know)
6 Responses
Kandi,
The bottom line is all about being YOU , your true self , forget about gender , forget the transgender label , the interview was about the PERSON you have become . It doesn’t matter if you say it two words or two thousand words .
To add a recent story :- When I was on holiday in the Channel Islands recently I spent some time with two couples , we chatted and shared stories about the our days out . One morning at breakfast I mentioned I’d forgotten to take my medication , when they asked what it was for I replied , ” to stop me talking so much !” ( It’s to lower my blood pressure ).
I feel we are both lucky to be free to be US , sometimes you choose not to be Kandi , that’s OK you’re comfortable with that I choose to be Teresa 24/7 that’s where I’m happiest , because we are comfortable the world accepts us without question , without comment . To me it’s a feeling that is hard to describe , if you recall the old song , ” He has the whole World in his hand ” that is what it feels like .
Amen, sister!
Very cool!!
❤️
Your smile is organic. It comes from the joy you get being your true self, Kandi.
❤️