(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes puts out a call for your dirty laundry!)
We call them “guilty pleasures,” those indulgences we secretly enjoy but are embarrassed to admit. Unlike moral guilt, the shame we feel is really just a fear of others discovering our “low-brow” or “uncool” tastes.
I have a friend whose name, for the sake of confidentiality, will remain anonymous. He is a connoisseur of ’60s music, particularly garage punk, and has earned himself quite a reputation as a “cool” guy. He rarely takes off his sunglasses, plays in a ’60s punk band, and for all intents and purposes has committed himself to a total garage-punk lifestyle. Under his bed, however, lies a dark secret which would bring his carefully contrived image tumbling down if discovered by the rest of the world: the “Titanic” original motion-picture soundtrack. He doesn’t want you to know, but “My Heart Will Go On” brings him to tears each time he hears it.