My AARP plastic arrived recently, and whatever sting it might have carried was completely offset by getting it from a petite, smiling woman in a US Postal Service uniform, who was belting out "Happy Birthday" in her remarkable voice. Imagine the familiar tune with a bit of gospel wail, a touch of rap and much serious old-school funk.
I knew our mail carrier had an unusual first name: Angel'le, so after she went on her way, I dialed up CD Baby to see what was what. I found two CDs, "Angelistic, "from a couple years back; and a five-song sampler from a new album, "'Til I'm Satisfied." I ordered both. (They came in the mail on her day off. No singing from the fill-in guy.)
My birthday serenade was no fluke; this lady's got pipes. Samples from Angelistic can be heard on CD Baby; snippets of the new stuff are on the site for her production company, 2070's Music Group.
My fave, "Ball & Chain," is a feisty, smart anthem to independence.
Now, it isn't that a sharp, artsy postal person is such a surprise, of course. There are plenty of fine painters, singers, designers, writers and the like lugging our mail around. (My longtime mail-guy in Seattle could talk the glue off a stamp once he got rolling about opera, and he could do it in three languages.)
The real point is that there's no reason to get all bent about an AARP card when you can toss it on the pile, dodder back to the CD player and crank up some very good noise.
