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February 13, 2006
Old-fashioned love songs
I have a friend with an odd hobby. I have never heard of anyone else with such a hobby. But it is a wonderful hobby, and Valentine’s eve seems like a good time to mention it here.
My friend’s name is Al Hutchison. I have known him for more than half a century. When I was a tyke, he was the best friend of an older cousin of mine. Later, our paths crossed often throughout our careers. I occasionally wrote for him when he was a Sunday magazine editor. He hired me as an editor in Florida and later recommended me to the Monitor’s publisher. We were both editors of northern New England newspapers when he retired six years ago.
But Hutch’s hobby (alter-ego, actually) has nothing to do with journalism. He is a closet deejay. For nearly 20 years, he has made programs and mailed them to his friends, first as tape cassettes, now as CDs.
The programs consist of 16-20 songs with Hutch’s commentary in between. He knows music – classical, jazz, blues and swing especially, but also some folk and country and even a little rock. He has introduced me to many terrific performers that I might never have heard without him, including the late Eva Cassidy, the late Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole, and Mark Knopfler in his non-Dire Straits personae. He’s also made me appreciate such before-my-time greats as Etta James and Nat King Cole.
Often Hutch ties something going on in his life to the music we listeners are about to hear. Occasionally his programs have a theme. He has done memoirs and travelogues, for example, and made several programs of New Orleans jazz and Zydeco after Hurricane Katrina devastated the state.
Hutch calls his station WKIT – an acronym for “We’re Keeping In Touch” – and he emphasizes the “we.” He wants feedback. A side benefit for his audience is that some of us (though far from all) have known each other in past lives. Some are even related. When he hears news from a listener, Hutch often finds a way to work it into his next program, multiplying the notion of keeping in touch.
Valentine’s eve seems like a good day to mention Hutch’s unusual hobby here because his CD for the holiday was listeners’ choice. He borrowed an idea (from NPR, I think) and asked each listener to let him know his or her favorite love song.
This was a harder question than it seemed. Over a couple of days, two dozen songs riffed through my head before I settled on Louis Armstrong’s “A Kiss to Build a Dream on,” which I knew from Sleepless in Seattle (Greg Brown’s “This Band of Gold,” Elvis’s “Loving You” and Cole’s “Unforgettable” were other finalists).
Anyway, with thanks to my friend Hutch, here’s the play list for one of the two CDs he made for WKIT listeners for Valentine’s Day 2006:
Art Garfunkel – Disney Girls
London cast, West Side Story – One Heart, One Hand
Louis Armstrong – A Kiss To Build a Dream on
Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Bing Crosby – Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Eva Cassidy – Yesterday
Andy M. Stewart – A Fond Kiss
Barbra Streisand – Evergreen
Ray Price – For the Good Times
ABBA – The Dancing Queen
Willie Nelson – Harbor Lights
The Spitfire Band – At Last
Patsy Cline – Crazy
The Four Aces – Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
Jo Stafford – If I Loved You
Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey – This Love Of Mine
Ella Fitzgerald – Every Time We Say Goodbye
Michael Buble – The More I See You
Patsy Cline – I Fall to Pieces
Frank Sinatra – My Funny Valentine
Diane Schuur – My One and Only Love
Posted by Mike Pride at February 13, 2006 06:02 PM