The Wordsmith's Forge

I knew him first and foremost as the voice of kindly musical authority on many, many a Sunday night, and quite a few Saturdays as well - there were three or four countdowns on the air at different times, and in my part of the Midwest, we got them all. I was absolutely addicted to the top 40 charts from ten years of age to twelve or so. I couldn't even begin to count how many hours I spent on the swings in the backyard, Walkman on my head and countdown in my ears, or in the blue recliner in the living room with the stereo tuned to a signal that slooooowly faded in to perfect, or upstairs, sitting bolt upright on my bed in the dark, absorbed in the show. I have bits of musical trivia forever in my brain thanks to him, not to mention the details of the sort of fantasy world only a ten-year-old could dream up, populated by musical artists and fairy folk, full of ridiculous buildings and vehicles and of course, a dozen shameless self-inserts. Casey was always the good witch figure in that world, to David Perry's (occasional countdown stand-in, to less than stellar effect) evil usurper who must be vanquished. ... I was a strange little kid. :)