Sunday, November 12, 2006

But Wait, There's More

We had houseguests overnight, so I was awake early, flinching in anticipation of the video game eruption that would no doubt be taking place in our living room as soon as both boys (home and away) were conscious. I turned on the TV to wile away the moments before Nintendo became my soundtrack, and watched an infomercial.
Why would I choose to watch an infomercial? Mostly because I could stare at the images and avoid the sound issue because I didn't really care what was being sold. Then something happened. I realized that I did care. Not enough to scramble from my safe warm bed to dial the eight hundred number, but I was caught in a demographic induced trance that kept me gazing at the television for more than fifteen minutes. Time Life was hawking a series of CDs. This nineteen disc set was called "Classic Soft Rock." I lay there, staring at the faces of artists and bands of yore, trying to guess what Soft Rock Classic that each one would have to contribute to such a collection. Seals and Crofts, America, The Doobie Brothers, Billy Joel, Christopher Cross, and even Boston. All for the low, low price of just - well, I confess that part was lost on me, since I didn't intend on buying it. The part I did notice was their insistence that all of these Classic Soft Rock Hits could be yours for "less than one dollar a song." That puts them on a par with iTunes.
I guessed that Rod Stewart would show up singing "Maggie May." David Gates and Bread would be on hand for "Make It With You." The whole show was being presided over by Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, better known to the world as Air Supply. They even did a little stripped down version of their hit, "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All."
That's when I realized that even though the sound had been off all this time, the music was playing in my head. I fumbled for the remote control and turned off the TV. It was time to get out of bed.

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