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'HFS, Chef Geoff's and Rappin' About the Debt

It's the 'make it rain' edition of 'The Rundown.'

 

Happy Thursday, Rockville!

Wow, so that’s what temperatures in the 80s feel like. I’d forgotten.

The National Weather Service says to expect more of the same for the next few days. Usually I prefer enjoying this (awesome collaboration) in the summer time, but it’s felt more like this lately. I’ll take a few clouds if it means lower temperatures.

The other day I started writing a “Rundown” intro, then decided to put it away for a rainy day. Well, today’s that rainy day and with it comes some news that makes that intro all the more timely. So here it is—now with news!:

A long time ago, in a youth far, far away, there was a radio station called WHFS. They held an annual music festival at RFK Stadium. (OK, I know they still hold the HFStival, but it isn’t the same—or maybe I’m just way too old and hooked on terrestrial radio.)

During one particularly memorable festival, the heavens opened up just as General Public broke into “Rainy Days,” giving sweaty festival-goers a much-needed shower and a summer concert moment to remember.

(Full disclosure: I wasn’t there that day. I was with a few friends in the bleachers at Camden Yards on my 18th birthday. Cal Ripken hit the fourth grand slam of his career. It was awesome. But not as awesome as that year’s HFStival—or so the rest of the senior class at Sherwood High told me. I’ve touched on this before. Check out the sixth graph.)

Those things stay with you. Maybe it’s the sights, but more likely it’s the sounds. The music is the catalyst, triggering memories of the sights, the smells and the feel of summer. It’s a chain reaction where each sense triggers memories of the others. And it’s why summer concerts are great.

Here’s the “remembering when rain was fun” edition of “The Rundown”:

About this column: A random rundown of need-to-know news.

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