Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Now, on with the countdown...

I'm listening to the Sox game on XM, like you do when you don't have Extra Innings. (I'm still seriously tempted by it - cable had a free preview on all last week and I loved getting to turn the game on and watch in on TV. (Wow. I feel like some sort of freakish throwback to maybe the 50's... "Holy Toledo, Mabel - we can watch the game on that thar television.")

Sometimes, during the commercial breaks, they play ads for other XM stations, and I swear I just heard one for Casey Kasem's American Top 40. "Do you remember waking up and knowing it was Sunday morning because you would roll over, turn on the radio, and hear Casey Kasem say, 'Now, on with the countdown.'" Why yes. Yes I do. I remember the little red radio I had too. It was rectangular, about 8 inches wide by maybe 6 high and few inches deep, rounded on the sides, and bright cherry red. With a handle on top. I remember going outside at the old house, setting the radio at the base of the big tree, and swinging on the rope swing for hours.

It's funny, because I was never actually that huge a fan of the countdown. I didn't care especially where Madonna hit, or anyone else for that matter. Sometimes I would tape the countdown because I knew that a song I particularly wanted a copy of would be in the top ten or so, but generally it wasn't a big deal to me. But it is evocative of the 80s for me, the way I imagine VH1 would like "I love the 80s" to be. Just hearing that quote made me virtually able to smell the spring grass in the front yard, and feel the thump of the hard packed earth under the swing where my siblings and I had worn away the grass with our feet on the swing.

It feels like a long time ago.

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