I've grown used to thinking of power pop as a pretty esoteric interest of
mine, something that is for me almost as much a membership in a cult as it
is a hobby. It's a specialty genre with little or no mass appeal and limited
name recognition in and of itself among the music-buying public, and thus I
don't tend to encounter many people outside of this list or outside of a
music club who are even familiar with the genre, let alone fans of it.

That's why this bit of dialogue that I'm about to recreate for you between
the two WGN television sportscasters for the Chicago Cubs, play-by-play man
Len Kasper and analyst Bob Brenly, that took place in the third inning of
today's baseball game between the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers, came as
such a shock:

***

[Kasper has just named the winner of a promotion he and Brenly were running
on their WGN-affiliated broadcasters' blog, which was to come up with a
suitable piece of music for the "Fan Cam" segment of Thursday afternoon's
broadcast. The Fan Cam segment consists of the cameras panning the ballpark
crowd for thirty seconds or so to relevant or semi-relevant background
music. The winning fan had suggested using Fatboy Slim's "The Sound Of
Milwaukee".]

Kasper: Since we were the judges, Bob, people are probably wondering what
sort of music we listen to. I know that you're a big rock'n'roll fan. What
are some of your favorite groups?

Brenly: Well, I'm a big fan of Led Zeppelin, for a variety of reasons.
They've always been a huge favorite of mine. I'm also a big fan of Joe
Walsh, my fellow Buckeye from Cleveland, Ohio.

Kasper: He had that big hit, "In The City". Do you prefer his solo work or
his work with the Eagles?

Brenly: I like all of his stuff. I had a chance to meet him a few years ago
backstage in a club. He seemed like a great guy. Of course, I didn't let him
get a word in edgewise. How about you?

Kasper: I tend to prefer power pop. There's Cheap Trick, of course, the
famous quartet from Rockford. And I also loved Material Issue, a band from
Chicago that was around back in the early nineties.

***

I almost fell off my couch. That takes some doing, as there seems to be
magnets in my butt and in that particular piece of furniture that keep me
perched there for hours at a time.

I once told Shoes guitarist and huge Cubs fan Gary Klebe how cool it would
be if he and the Murphy brothers got to flex their inimitable harmonies by
warbling "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" over the P.A. during the
seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field. Perhaps this idle musing was not as
farfetched as I originally thought it was.


Gregory Sager