You’ll often find me shopping for the evening’s groceries at the Trader Joe’s in Northwest Portland.

On the rear bumper and windows the of cars in the always-jammed parking lot, and the buttons clasped to the backpacks of customers browsing the aisles, you can tell that this is an intown, liberal, hip crowd. If the Republic were confined to the store’s footprint, put it this way – the ketchup at the inagural ball would be guess what brand. And when it comes to music, more of this crowd listens to Lyle Lovett than Toby Keith – I assure you.

Which is why the music most often played on the Northwest Trader Joe’s P.A. system often makes no sense to me. Today I heard “Too Much, Too Little Too Late,” the soft disco ballad from Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams. When that song ended, on came “No Tell Lover,” a sappy ballad from Chicago’s sappy ballad period.

Not all that long ago, at the same TJ’s I heard the 1970s metal classic “Easy Livin” by Uriah Heep. I am not making this up.