It was a hootenany

From the strolling-down-memory-lane department (we join the conversation in progress):

What year did Say Anything come out? 1989? That seems likely. It was the year Don't Tell a Soul was released, so there would have been a Replacements tour to support it.

What's that? Yeah, it is loud in here. Oh, you missed what I said first. I'm telling you about the only time in my life I won tickets from a radio station.

So, anyway, it's '89, I think. I'm the assistant manager at a comic book store by this point. (Yes, comic books. It was a pretty big deal back in those days. Now they just focus on making everything into movies. I digress.)

Anyway, it was a slow Sunday, late afternoon. I'm sitting in the back, on a raised platform from which I can see the whole store. It was just me and one cashier, sitting up front at the register. Phil, I think it was. He went on to become a comic book artist, as a matter of fact. We had the radio on, tuned to KROQ. This was back when it was still a listenable station. Eh, maybe I was just younger then. Well, of course I was younger 19 years ago, but perhaps it was simply that back then KROQ was still playing music I liked.

They played music I liked that afternoon at least.

I don't remember the name of the DJ who was on the air. On a Sunday it wouldn't be Jed the Fish—he worked weekdays. Perhaps Sluggo (Doug the Slug). It would be fitting if it were him, another Doug. Eh, whoever it was had good taste and knew his 'Mats history.

The station had a pair of tickets for the upcoming Replacements' show at the Hollywood Palladium. I don't recall if they'd gone on sale yet or not, but for whatever reason I didn't have a ticket at that point. Anyway, in a move that astounds me to this day, the DJ didn't just pick a random numbered caller to be the recipient of the tickets, but rather concocted a quiz to decide the winner.

He played the song "Within Your Reach," which had been used in Say Anything. Yeah, now you get why I asked before. It was on the soundtrack. However, to win the tickets, you had to call in and say the name of the Replacements album on which it originally appeared.

Being a pretty big 'Mats fan at this point, I knew the answer. However, I was working. And besides, I never believed I'd even get through if I tried; any previous attempts at calling in during contests always resulted in nothing more than the automated "We're sorry—all circuits are busy" message, so I held no hope that trying this time would be any different. I sat there listening to the song, continuing to work. Then after well over a minute—which ordinarily would be well past the point where a winner would be found in such matters—I picked up the phone and dialed the number.

It rang. I was surprised, but I figured, Eh, this just means they already have a winner and others have given up. It rang and rang for at least 30 seconds. By this point the song was practically over.

Then a voice answered, "This is KROQ," and before the person could even ask I blurted out the answer: "Hootenany." I said it matter-of-factly, with no rising intonation; I knew the answer, and I knew I knew it.

The person replied "That's right" with a tone of astonishment, which I interpreted as meaning he'd just sat through call after call of people with no clue. His tone probably connoted a sense of relief, just to have the contest be over finally. "You're the winner."

I wasn't on the air or anything. I didn't scream in delight. I probably said something to indicate I was happy to win, but I didn't freak out. They put me on hold, and then another voice came on and got my address so they could mail me the tickets.

The cashier found out not by me telling him, because I was still waiting on hold, but by hearing my name announced by the DJ as the winner of the tickets. I could see him all the way from the back jump up from his chair and whoop.

Huh? Oh, yeah. "The 'Mats." That's a nickname for the band that comes from turning "Replacements" into "Placemats" (which was either derogatory or self-deprecating—or both), and then just "Mats." I forget where I first picked up on that, but amongst fans it's a pretty common method of reference, and meant respectfully.

At least I've always assumed so…

What's that? If you gotta use the restroom, go. Yeah, that was pretty much all I had to say about that.