Gert's Tea

My memory was jogged a few days ago. I'm not even sure what jogged it really, but I started thinking about Gert's Tea. Of course this will have been nothing you would have ever heard of. It was just a fancy of a friend and I maybe.... 20 years ago??

We were still in highschool and this memory places us in her living room, sitting on red shag carpet, in front of the cassette deck stereo, fantasizing about the group Pearl Jam. Remember them? I think we were mostly talking about the brilliance of the group and wouldn't it be sweet if WE could come up with something nearly as witty (we would have had to find some musical talent as well I suppose, but that's beside the point).

For what it's worth, I have similar fantasies in my modern life, but moreso those reflect the genius and plain out right stupidity of the current crazes and WHY could I not have thought of them first. Zhu zhu pets? Really?? It's a hamster! And those Go Go Bones? A hunk of plastic!! Marketing genius - like a pet rock or Chia pet! I digress.

My friend said she heard that the brilliance of the name Pearl Jam was that the lead singer had a grandmother named Pearl who liked to make jam. I'm sure you follow the connection here.

SO! MY Grandma ALSO had the name Pearl. But, we didn't want Pearl Jam to feel we had copied, so we felt we should consider other options. I'm not sure why we didn't consider either of my friend's grandma's names, but my other Grandma (we called her Gran) had the name Gertrude. I recall her serving coffee when my family would visit, but we figured every grandma must like tea - at least deep down.

Thus was born "Gert's Tea". Obviously we never made it big. Pearl Jam stole the market for granny named rock groups, but I'm sure we stood a chance if PJ hadn't gotten there first.