Oh, what to do on a dreary Saturday morning doing it’s best imitation of properly wet and dreary British weather?
I’ve spent the morning going to the shoppes for groceries, Nick’s off to work at DQ and I’m thinking it’s well past time for lunch but haven’t a clue what I’m in the mood for considering that my local Burger King was recently torpedoed amidships and is going to be in dry dock for a while.
Usually when I’m that ambivalent about what lunch will be, I’ll inevitably remember there’s a local purveyor of Calabash-style seafood very conveniently located at the State Farmer’s Market very near I-40’s Exit 297 and pop over there for a lunch plate of popcorn shrimp.
Calabash-style, for those loyal readers who may not be aware, is a delicacy that comes from about as far south and east as you can go in this state as the town of Calabash literally one mile from the border. Only Carolina Shores is closer to that other former colony! 🙂
Anywho, the wonderful thing about Calabash seafood is that the breading is not a thick concoction but rather a light coating that is then deep-fried very quickly. Normally, getting a Calabash fix would involve driving about three hours (thanks to the new I-140 bypass that goes round Wilmington all the way to US-17 south of the city and misses all of the nasty traffic!) but if you want to save the trip, go to the Farmer’s Market. You’ll be glad you did!
Anyway, the “NC Seafood” restaurant is in an industrial space and normally is fully loaded with picnic tables full of people (and I mean *FULL* during the lunch rush) with an overflow area of picnic tables outside that’s usually covered by a tent. Thanks to the COVID-19 restrictions, the outside tables are still there but there’s no seating inside the restaurant proper. And even without the restrictions, this joint was never pretentious and hoity-toity with reservations and fancy dress required…it’s like being in your neighbour’s backyard with a fryer and a cooler full of Calabash’s finest from their docks.
Whilst waiting for my order (which rarely if ever takes very long even during the busy times…the people working here are efficiency personified and very friendly!), I happened to recognise the tune being played over the speakers and couldn’t help but quietly sing along. Without the massive number of picnic tables, the acoustics are actually quite good.
When the song got to a particular set of lyrics, I couldn’t help but have impertinent thoughts followed quickly by a bit of a laugh. OK, sue me…I’m not a professional singer by trade and it wasn’t like I was playing the PNC Arena or the Met, eh? 🙂
The gentleman next to me caught me laughing and was curious as to why.
Here are the lyrics in question from Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind”…
I never thought I could feel this way And I've got to say that I just don't get it I don't know where we went wrong But the feeling's gone And I just can't get it back
I pointed out that whilst I was sure it was an unintentional oversight of whoever was programming the set list, that was one song I would have definitely steered far away from on Valentine’s Day weekend! 🙂
The rest of the time waiting for my order was spent commiserating with my new queue buddy about how much we both missed the days when listening to the radio involved a real local DJ who not only curated the play list but would also provide insight into the music and the artist. In this case, that song is one of Gordon’s most popular tunes but it’s referring to the breakup of his first marriage!
Not exactly Valentine’s Day fodder, wouldn’t you say? Unless by Valentine’s Day you’re more in mind of thinking of the infamous massacre at the behest of Al Capone…
Nowadays, what passes for “commercial radio” often involves a syndicated broadcast team for your morning drive-time shows and DJ’s running remote sets from some faceless building in Dallas the rest of the time. Very rarely are you going to find actual humans doing local radio locally. The AI-based broadcasting tools have gotten so lifelike that they really don’t need the actual people doing the on-air voiceovers and consolidation of the radio stations in a couple of huge media companies ensures what you will hear will be advert-laden dreck that sounds remarkably consistent regardless of station or format.
I always imagined the DJ being that mate you’d hang out with because you loved music and the stories behind the songs and your mate knew ’em all.
Those days are long gone and sadly I don’t think they’re coming back.
And that my friends is why I have no use for commercial radio of any sort anymore (even SiriusXM even though it has decidedly less adverts because it’s a subscription-based service).
I’d always laugh when SiriusXM would try harassing me over the phone to sign up. They’ve never succeeded because their competition is my iPhone and a Bluetooth connection dubbed “WFOX”. Why in the world would I pay them a monthly fee?
WFOX.
It plays only what the music that I like, does repeats and requests upon demand, and most importantly no commercial interruptions. It is the best radio station in the world…bar none! 🙂