Superstars Superseding Sleep

I woke up a few nights ago and was unable to promptly return to sleep. As is the case at least 95% of the time, the television was still on because Suzanne likes to fall asleep watching "Law & Order" or the Food Network. I don't recall which choice she made that night, but at 3am the staple broadcasts of most cable networks are supplanted by "paid programming", otherwise known as infomercials. Typically, I have no problem ignoring "Set it and forget it!" rotisserie hawkers or whatever the newest miracle diet pill might be. On the night in question, however, the infomercial unequivocally commanded my attention. Kenny Rogers (now sporting a mustache and goatee rather than the beard of my youth) was hosting yet another Time Life collection of compact discs: Superstars of Country Music.

What a bargain: "the grandaddy of country-hits collections---150 of your all-time favorite songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s!"** for a mere $119.96 (plus tax and shipping, of course). That's TEN discs, folks. All digitally remastered, I'm sure. Even Kenny looked impressed.

As a child, I was certainly influenced by my parents' taste in music. Hank Williams, Freddy Fender, the Statler Brothers, Elvis, the Carpenters, Anne Murray, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, the freaking Perry Como Singers... I wonder how many other folks my age know all the lyrics to Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go" or Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska"? Well, I do. (As an aside, growing up in a house where Ace Cannon and Boots Randolph 8-tracks were also common makes it not such a mystery that my brothers and I chose to play the saxophone, wouldn't you agree? Well, if you had ever heard of Ace or Boots, you would.)

That night, I watched - and thoroughly enjoyed - the entire infomercial. It was truly a walk down memory lane, condensed into a nice half-hour nutshell.

All that was missing was "Music Box Dancer" by Frank Mills.


**Disclaimer: assertions, choice of hyphenation and spelling of certain quoted text is solely at the discretion of Time Life. Wannabe assumes no responsibility as to the veracity of such claims, nor for any grammatical idiosyncrasies

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