FORWARD FLIGHT

By Ben Greenman

from forthcoming collection, as yet untitled

One of the small coincidences of history—even the most cursory investigation reveals more of them than the average mind could fathom—is that the news of a hundred years from now will be just as full of Cherry Miller as it is today. The band, known for its literate lyrics and the onstage theatrics of front woman Belinda Arp, will be one of only three acts from the rock and roll era to survive the forward flight of time’s arrow, the other two being The Beatles and Personal Approach, and pilgrimages to the band’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, will outpace even those to Liverpool and Baltimore. Arp’s grave, in Tod Homestead, will be a common destination for devotees, who will leave, as they have for the better part of the century, flat glass marbles in either purple or green in tribute to the cover art of the band’s debut record, Aubergine. Once a year, on Arp’s birthday, a Cherry Miller tribute band, Blossom Valley, will perform a gravesite acoustic rendition of the band’s final hit, “All We Ever Talk About Is Nothing At All.” The growing attendance at the annual ceremony suggests that Cherry Miller will survive another century at least.