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02/28/2003 Entry: "Harvey and Mr. Rogers"

I felt so stupid today. I had this equalizer I got for my DJ rig. I got it from the greatest music store in the world, Northern Kingdom Music, Rockport ME, 207-236-8721, ask for Harvey. (Mac would work too, and to a lesser extent, Jarrod.) I got it home, and plugged it in. Nadda. So, I went to another outlet. Nope. Tried a diiferent power cord. Zip. The different power cord in another outlet. Still nothing. So I called them. "I think it's broken" I said. "Bring it back, and we'll take care of ya" they said. (They always take care of Billy Rhythm.) I took it back in today. They tested the fuse. It was ok. Harv went to put it back in, and said "Hold on a minute..." The eq works on both 220 (European) and 110 power. How do you switch between the two? By pushing a little switch like most pieces of equipment? Nope. You flip the fuse upside down. And, though the box was marked for 110 volt, the unit I had had the fuse flipped for 220. Thus, when I plugged it in, it didn't get enough current to power up. Harv flipped the little fuse cradle over, popped it back it, fired it up, and all was fine. I felt like a dweeb. "Don't worry," said the lovable Harv. I've been doing this 15 years and I never seen anything like this."

Goodbye Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers was part of my after school TV Regiment for years. 4-5pm was Sesame Street. 5-5:30 was Mr. Rogers, and 5:30-6 was Electric Company, or, after that was canceled, 3-2-1 Contact. I was never a huge fan of the show, but being the mid to late 70s in Spruce Head, we had no cable. So, you watched what came in. And since the PBS station on channel 10 was located in Augusta (50 miles away--the closest station), it almost always came in with the antenna. So, that's what we watched. I particularly remember Cornflake S Pecialy and X the Owl. In fact, I wouldn't mind naming my son X. Susan won't let me. (Anyway, here's a list of puppets on the show. I'd forgotten quite a few, like Donkey Hodie and Harriet Elizabeth Cow.)

Also, Mr. Rogers had a rippin' band. I remember one show where Mr Rogers came down off the set, and showed how the show worked. There was this little trio there. They just dropped music in whenever they needed to. It was mostly unrehearsed. The pianist's name was Johnny Costa. He's actually quite a piano player. Branford Marsallis said Mr Rogers had the best jazz on tv!