Rice Krispie Radio

Snap … Crackle … pop …

That’s the only sound I could find as I scanned the radio bands.

I guess that is to be expected as you cross any area of sparsely populated areas. Since this was Arizona, and I was heading to Utah, I had thought of this and was prepared.

Armed with my trusty portable CD player and a handful of hits riding on the passenger seat, the soundtrack for this adventure is in my hands. No country, no metal, no rap. But best of all, no Rice Krispie radio.

I feel kind of sorry for the Volvo. Its poor radio doesn’t know what hit it. The first owner was a talk radio icon in my hometown, now retired, and the current owners have probably never heard of the likes of The Tragically Hip, Joan Osborne, Allanis Morisette, or Ani DiFranco. The car doesn’t seem to mind. Mile after mile the Volvo eats up the road, letting the sun shine through the sunroof as the tunes blast back out. A good trade.

It’s a good soundtrack. A bit repetitive at times, but occasionally appropriate.

As I’m pulling into the four corner’s monument one of DiFranco’s disks spews, "At every state line there’s a new set of laws…"

Hauling up the inclines of the hills, trapped between two semis the soundtrack from reservoir dogs happens to be playing "stuck in the middle with you."

Keith Morison pauses to think while writing a journal entry and drinking a steamed cider to soothe his vocal chords after a long day of singing.
OLYMPUS D500 PHOTO © Keith Morison - photo by Starbucks Barrista Kerala Woodworth/1999

Now, if I can only find a CD with the song, ‘there’s no cheap hotels in Vail,’ we’d be set.

With a sound track like this, it’s a good thing I’m traveling alone.

You see I like my music loud, and not only that, but when the right song hits me at the right time, I’ll sing along. So if you see a Volvo driving along with a lot of loud music and the sound of a man yelling the lyrics horribly out of tune, give me a wave.

I dread the day I’m sitting at an intersection, belting out one of my favorites, when Ani Difranco is in the next car and recognizes the sound of one of her songs being butchered. It won’t be the radio this time, but maybe a leg or arm, but probably the jaw, so I won’t be able to sing.

Snap … crackle … pop.

A good soundtrack is the key to making the long distances traveled pass easily.

OLYMPUS D500 PHOTO © KEITH MORISON/1999