Is It Me?

Am I brain-dead? Or just (to put it more politely) a little distracted? You be the judge.

Years ago, on a flight from Huatulco (that’s in southernmost Mexico in case you didn’t know), I experienced what I call a magical moment. Actually, it was several moments strung together to encompass the entire flight.

See, I had the back of the plane to myself (always a good thing) and, for some reason, the flight attendant kept my Vodka tonics replenished without being asked (also a good thing!). Sheryl Crow was playing on my tape player (yes, this was before CD’s and Ipods) and between the Vodka and Sheryl buzz, the plane could have vanished from the sky and I could have cared less.

Flash forward to yesterday. I hadn’t bought a Sheryl Crow CD in a long time so after loading up the flat screen monitor (see earlier post) I decided to browse the music section. Hm. Lots of Sheryl between now and my last purchase. How to choose? Squinting at the copywright dates, I aimed for something recent. Finally settled on one called “Pickin’ On Sheryl Crow.” Cute, I thought. Probably a selection of “he done me wrong” songs. Perfect.

Only, when I got home, surgically removed the outer wrappings and opened up the jewel case, a slip of paper fell out. On it were words to this effect: “If you liked Pickin’ On Sheryl Crow, you’ll like…” what followed was a list of others who’d been “picked on” including everyone from U2 to the Dixie Chicks.

Uh-oh.

Sure enough. I’d bought the CD of some instrumental group who covers other, er, more famous people.

Can you spell R-I-P-P-E-D O-F-F??????

I mean, it was in the SHERYL friggin CROW bin.

Okay, I admit if I’d read the back cover blurb I woulda noticed. But …who reads that crap? All you need to know is the artist name and the playlist, right? Well, both of those were right there. I’m not lying. There’s nothing on the cover but “Pickin’ On” (big space) “Sheryl Crow.”

Grrrrr.