Classic Hifi Care

Halfway through my daily hike tonight, the NPR news ended and I switched headphone radios to listen to a different station. My daily walking companion is a little Sony SRF-59 headphone radio, a little wonder that males one AA battery last forever. But its tuning mechanism gets really stiff in the cold weather, so I switch to a Sony SRF-88 for the other station.

Sunday is the night for American Routes, Nick Spitzer's wonderful program from New Orleans. You can read this week's playlist and listen online here:

http://americanroutes.wwno.org/archives ... ce-Gerrard

In any event, as I was strolling along in the dark, Hank Williams came on, singing "Honky Tonkin'" That was good enough, but when the steel guitar break came, I was struck by one of those moments of wonder. The great gift of getting older is that you have these moments of being absolutely transfixed, at least if you're lucky. The moment came at the steel guitar break. There's something so American in that sound, and so creative. I got choked up as I do in those moments. How about the rest of you--do you have those times when the experience is so wonderful that you are left in wonder?

The first time for me was when I was in my mid-30s, in England, at the British Museum. My mother had said, "make sure you go to the Autograph Room." They mean "manuscript." And there in a glass case was the manuscript version of Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations," one of my favorite compositions. In Elgar's own hand, the notes he wrote for the magic music. I was literally speechless. I tried to signal my siblings and no words came out. Now that I'm old I have those moments regularly, mostly related to music. I figure it's a sign of maturity and experience. We have to accumulate experiences before we can be truly awestruck.

Chris Campbell

My recent "moment of wonder" came just yesterday. You have heard the saying "fighting like cats and dogs". Cats and dogs are at least allegedly sworn enemies. We have a spoiled dog and two equally spoiled cats. There is generally pandemonium at meal time. If a cat even looks at the dog dish, there are immediate repercussions. The cat gets to my chair before I do, then the dog chases him out at "cheese time". Lately, the dog has been under the weather a bit. Nothing serious, but he doesn't feel well. Those two cats, his sworn enemies, have been by his side 24-7 for the last two weeks. They wait for him to eat, then, when he lays down, they pile on top of him. He would normally growl at them for that, but he makes not a sound. All that is sticking out under those two cats is the tip of the dog's nose. They know nothing of medicine, probably don't know what's wrong with him, but they KNOW something is wrong. These "dumb" animals bury the hatchet and stick together when the going gets tough.

Musically, I am always in wonderment at Bobby Vinton. The male equivalent of Connie Francis, with a rangy, pure, almost child-like voice, crystal clear with no upper limit. Never screechy, never reaches for the note, never slides up or down to hit the note. Just nails it dead on. Probably never recorded a bad note in his entire career. There are many singers whose material I enjoy, but there is something magical about Bobby Vinton...