Family ties

Kate Wildblood

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Families – what are they like? They say you choose your friends not your relatives and as I emerge from a week of family time I'm feeling that choice. Seven days of DNA and all that comes with. The shared eyebrows, the family nose, the tales of childhood and the memories of those around me. No longer a Wildblood but a Prevost, no longer a club DJ but a wedding one, banging out (but not too loud the uncle's got tinnitus don’t you know) tunes, I related to those surrounding me as it all got very faaaammaaaleeee.

But are these cousins, aunts and uncles my true family? As I plug through life working out strategies and saving graces I stick to a plan conceived under duress.

You’re no family if you’re no friend and no friend if you’re not family.

My expectations are high but the depths to which I’ll go for my loved ones are never ending. And so I go back to family values. Those who stick with you, those you rely on, those who tell it to you straight. Am I alone in finding blood thinner than water?

As mentioned in a previous column I recently suffered some top ten troubles, trying to work out my fav tunes of all time. But with decisions made and tracks settled on, I find that the list defines my life and the family ties within. Whether it’s my mother-lead musical education thanks to Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’, the emotional snowstorm that is Coco & Putmann’s ‘L'Ombra Della Luce’, the fruity family love I feel thanx to Donna Summer, my queer beginnings courtesy of Barbra Streisand’s ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ or the Bent love I feel for my Queen Josephine. And as I Wildblood through life working out the whys and wherefores and those who need to be in my loop I can’t help but reckon a mix of blood and water is what’s needed. A father in a Superman cape to rescue me when times are unbearable, a cousin to relive those Seventies outfits and Nan-cooked meals (fag ash and lard anyone?), a missus to lie beside every night no matter what, a dear friend whose saving honesty I will never question and a mate on the dancefloor to get me through life’s next mix. Family, it’s said, will fuck you up. Best choose wisely then.