Valentine's Day

I'm nothing if not contemplative. It occurred to me that we are all in the business of love. That's right Pedro, we're talkin' DIGITAL AMOUR. A lot of music after all, has its roots in the most complex of emotions, so perhaps its time for the newsletter to take a look at the basis for what's behind much of our stores' product. People want something that can express in them or vicarously for them that feeling, that familiarity that makes them shake their body in a rhythmic fashion, or makes them bounce up and down while doing their best impression of Mario Lanza. "When you sing the song that I love, I can't stop the beating of my heart, I don't know why." Lucky for them (and us) we got aisles and aisles full of the toe tappin stuff. Drop down fifteen bucks and it's yours. Take a scroll down Cupid's alley and you'll find on one side Meatloaf singing that he wants her, he needs, but there ain't no way he's ever going to love her, and two out of three ain't bad. On the other side Bonnie Tyler croaks that she's having a "total eclipse of the heart." What do these two songs have in common? Same writer, that's all. He must be a bit moody. Sometimes love can lead to that, I guess. Cupid can also misfire, sometimes his radar is a bit askew, but love is not like a light, you can't just turn it off and on. It ain't just there for the fifteen hours we are open. It takes effort, it takes different forms: I love my sweetie, I love my mum, I love Max, "He gets his kicks from a tiny toy, a green frog filled with catnip," I love the cool refreshing thirst quenching taste of Lemon Sunkist. "I drink tomato juice every night. Why don't you get out of my sight before I go to sleep in my bed. I only wanna be like TOMATO HEAD." All in different ways! That special lady I love most drinks an occasional whiskey seven and sneaks a smoke every now and then. Maybe she existed once before, maybe she still exists in a Japanese geisha house. Stabbed by a Shonen Knife. I wanted to find her that perfect two minute song that would encapsulate all I feel in a pithy poppy tune. But there was too much to remember. "The summer sun disappears behind the sea. And the shadows grow longer with the passing days. Colors fade as the time goes by and I'm looking for the reason why our beautiful summer had to end." I love time. What's ahead, what can be, what was, what made us what we are man, that's something I can appreciate. The mind forgets but the heart always remembers. Read that in a fortune cookie once. In my heart I love another, on the outside I search for the other. Trying to be me acting like me nervously at ease. Yes, we must all search for the woman who put the "ELF" in Philadelphia. Sometimes love means walking away. Sometimes it means staying. Ambassador Barry said so. "Oh Mandy, well you came and you gave without taking. But I sent you away oh Mandy. Well you kissed me and stopped me from shaking, and I need you today oh Mandy." A familiar young couple I know, struggled and decided to go their separate ways. Physically but not exactly emotionally. You combine their ages and all you get is 55. Combine the two they turned to and you get something closer to 90. That could be a sign of love I suppose. And all these people wheezing about the winter. loving those Coca Cola Bears. "We sat in an empty theatre and we kissed, I asked her please to cross me off her list." Love leads to other emotions. And sometimes Justine Bateman. "I found the happiness I waited for, the only girl that I was fated for." So what is this newsletter about? It's about time. A tribute to all the love that surrounds us, that we sell, that we encourage, that engulfs us, consumes us, and lights an occasional match or two. You may not contribute but you can feel. You may not read but you can recycle. Wrap a fish, write an article. Both take an effort. Only the bait on the hook is sharper than Cupid's arrow. Happy VD.