paradisa | ♫20 [broadcast/dictated]

[As is customary with Gren's broadcasts, the first song starts to play and doesn't stop until it's through before speaking]

When I was younger, I used to dream of traveling. I never had a destination in mind. No exotic city I wanted to spend my life in. That never mattered to me so much as the journey itself, and the freedom that it meant that I would have to be able to do so. I just wanted to see what was out there, and meet people who lived differently than myself. Perspective, I guess...

[He pauses. The reality had turned out rather less glamorous that he might once have imagined as an idealistic youth, but that's what came of financing your travels by enlisting in the army. More the fool he.]

Here, travel takes on a whole new meaning. We're all travelers here without intention. We didn't have time to pack our bags. We didn't buy any tickets. But here we are anyway. And we don't even have to travel to exotic places. Paradisa brings them to us. Thought about one way it's kind of a gift. Where I come from, Florence is no more real than a note in a history book. It means a lot more now. I know a lot of people that would never have the means to travel in their own world. On the other hand, it's a little like cheating the journey out of the whole trip. There's no road dust on your shoes or kinks to stretch out of your back from a long ride. Again, we're just...there.

Of course, there's still the opportunity for the real thing. A lot of folks have left us in recent months, but not in the usual way. Packed their bags and headed off into the wild. And if you're tired of getting kicked around, it certainly seems like an option now that we know there's a whole town out there. Out of sight, but never really out of mind, I think. But that's a choice every one of us has to make.

I'm sure of some of you realized our esteemed weekly DJ was among those people, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me in the meantime.

But since I'm on the topic, why don't I open things up a little - no reason for me to do all the talking after all. For the people listening, why don't you tell me your travel stories? Either back home or places Paradisa has sent you. Where have you been and what have you seen? Or tell me where you always wanted to go, but never got the chance.

While you all thing that over, here a little traveling music, and a send-off to Hard Harry, our former radio host. If you're out there listening, buddy, this is for you. [And this song begins to play before the music continues more or less interrupted.]

((For those interested, here is the rest of the themed selections for the evening:
Big Mama Thornton - Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run, The Who - Leaving Here, Billy Joel - Travelin Prayer, Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me, The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of this Place, David Gray - Sail Away, Iggy Pop - The Passenger, Van Morrison - Bright Side of the Road))