Notes

JOB OPENING: Last week Melodye wondered if 280 was going to be open by Fair time. As a resident of that area I have wondered the same thing all summer. As a person who works near downtown St. Paul (the city construction has made it all but impossible to get into and out of), the various detours and one lane roads caused by construction is getting a wee bit frustrating. I'll also have to admit I've never been to the Minnetonka Cheapo becaues the last time I tried to get to Ridgedale the construction on the freeway was so bad I just gave up. thus we here at the newsletter decided what we rally need is a traffic reporter. The job includes giving us updates on the various road projects MNDOT has started and finished or started and not finished. You don't get a helicopter but you do get free paper and a pen to use. Anyone interested should contact David immediately.

The editorial staff would also like to bid a fond adieu to Kevin O'Connor who is one hell of a human being and a nice guy to boot. We wish you good luck Kevin although we feel some trepidation for your departure. It's merely speculation but we have to wonder if part of your decision to leave was caused by our cow report last week which made you itch to head back out west...

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The visitor met his second cousin in Seattle. He was given a tour of the city by the 71-year-old woman. She asked him what he wanted to see and he responded in his typcial mono-syllabic manner, "Uh record stores I guess." So she showed him to as many stores as she knew and after having visited a few she asked the visitor a question. "Why do you like records?" she asked. It was a farily straight forward question and the visitor, never one to give straight forward answers scratched his hatless head in utter bewilderment. How do you answer such a question? What is a good explanation for a life long interest?

As a child the visitor called anything round "a record." he even read his first words off the label of a Burl Ives' 45. He looked at the woman in front of him and said, "I like to watch things go round and round." it didn't seem like much of an answer but it did its job. It ended the conversation.

Upon hi sreturn to Minnesota, the visitor's favorite mother of two told him her youngest daughter was spending a lot of time sitting in her room listening to a Randy Travis tape, reading the small lyric sheet insert, while singing along. (Who did this remind him of? the visitor wondered.) That a metropolitan child of eight could relate to and find enjoyment in the music of a multi-millionaire "traditional" country singer provided a little more insight into the question the visitor had skillfully avoided. Music while universal is also individual, bringing together people together in a personal way.

Presumably all of us working here have some type of interest in music on "records." Is there an adequate answer to the question why? "It occupies my time..." It's a diversion... an expression... a release..." "It makes me dance..." "I don't know what it means Mervyn but it sure makes my feet tap." Maybe some things are better left unknown. Do we know why a cat purrs? Why a saw buzzes? Why the mega mall was built?

The visitor spent an hour or so watching the wheels spin round and round and decided his next step was to write an Andy Rooneyish (emphasis on the word "ish") column. He was tired but it was a good kind of tired.