Bring On the Team

I genuinely appreciate and enjoy the before-song riffs Steve Van Zandt uses when introducing some of the music featured on the satellite radio station bearing his name. In particular, I like the serpentine fashion in which he strings together some of the wildly disparate elements contained in those riffs. I know a few listeners who think Steve overdoes it from time-to-time. Not me; I'm with him all the way, frequently laughing out loud.

At the same time, it's difficult for me not to be a little jealous of the research team I suspect is behind at least some of that seemingly effortless riffing. This mild jealousy visited me most noticeably while doing my own research for a recently developed music course I entitled Journey Through the Past: History Via Song. It felt like every rabbit hole I'd begin to innocently explore - connecting a song to a piece of or person from history - had no end. In particular, the three songs I picked as "epics" for the course (as one example, Al Stewart's Road to Moscow) made me yearn for my own team.

And that started me fantasizing about how cool it would be if each of us could have a research team at our ready disposal. If not as regularly as Steve Van Zandt, how about if we could have that luxury for one week a year? What week would you pick? I'd take the last week of the year. That way I'd have all year to advertise myself as a New Year's Eve party-starter, then use that last week to have my team ply me with material, enough to get the dullest party popping. How much do you think I could charge for my endlessly sparkling repartee? Hell, I'd offer a money-back guarantee. 

OK, maybe you don't want to monetize yourself like me. How about this instead? With that research team feeding you bon mots, puns, historical tidbits, and the like, imagine how well you could dazzle a potential romantic partner one week every year, predictably. Come on, tell me that's not enticing.