Red Rider – "Lunatic Fringe" (1981)

’Cause you’ve got to blame someone

For your own confusion

I’ve refereed basketball at all of the 25 public high schools in my county and nearly all of the 40 middle schools.

This season, I made my first visit to Roberto Clemente Middle School, which opened in 1994.  

My game there was unusual because the visiting team scored 75 points, which is more than most high-school teams score in a game.  (Middle-school game quarters are only six minutes long, while high-school teams play eight-minute quarters.  So scoring 75 points in a middle-school game is the equivalent of scoring 100 points in a high-school game.)

After the game had ended, I strolled through the halls of Roberto Clemente Middle School and took these photos:

And last but not least:

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“Lunatic Fringe” – which was written as a commentary on anti-Semitism – sounded familiar when I heard it on Sirius/XM recently, but I’m not sure why.  Maybe I heard it on the radio back in 1981, when it was released on Red Rider’s second studio album, As Far as Siam.  

Or maybe I remember it from the soundtrack of “Smuggler’s Blues,” the Miami Vice episode that featured it on its soundtrack.  (That episode’s soundtrack also featured the late Glenn Frey’s “Smuggler’s Blues.”  Frey had a prominent on-screen role in that episode as well.)

Click here to listen to “Lunatic Fringe.” 

Click here to buy that recording from Amazon.