TRAVELING UNTIL OUR EARS BLEED

Whenever my sister and I go on road trips together, we listen to music to help us stay awake, especially on late-night return trips after her concerts.  Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't and we end up yawning.  Sometimes I have to start shaking my head all around and leaning from side to side.  This really serves no purpose except to annoy my sister, the driver, and keep her awake and alert.

This most recent road trip, though, I actually have some control over the music.  As soon as we hit Lewiston (aka "The Last Bastion of Civilization"), the radio DJ announces that he will be playing Deep Purple after a brief commercial break.  Hmmmm. I'm thinking if he plays "Highway Star" or "Smoke On the Water," my sister (who is a classically trained soloist) will change the channel to Met Radio or Broadway.

I urge her to keep the radio exactly where it is.  "Maybe he'll play 'My Woman From Tokyo,'" I say, "or, even better, 'Hush.'"  I know she'll recognize "Hush."  Or, at least, she should have heard the chorus at some point in her life, especially after sharing a room with me for so long.  The commercial break comes, and "Hush" starts.  We sing along for most of it, and, for a choral arts geek, she doesn't do too badly.

Of course, this unleashes a monster, and before I can stop her, we are listening to all kinds of weird stuff.  We even listen to "Rump Shaka."  I know, right?  Hip-hop and rap and oldies and newer stuff and classical and blue grass... We listen to them all, and we sing along to them all like Mitch Miller rejects.

This is what happens when you take a road trip with us, and it explains completely why we usually have to travel alone, just the two of us.  For some reason, people claim their ears bleed when they're with us.  Can't imagine why.