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I remember this one Saturday in particular walking among the towering steel shelves browsing, with the sophisticated air that comes when so much lies at your finger tips, when I came to a beam of light around the end cap. It was so magnetic and magnificent it sucked me right in. When i regained my sight I realized that I had discovered the record section! Oh, to be me then, there! At 7 years old, music had roughly the same impact on me as half a can of Jolt Cola. Quickly my nimble digits flipped frenetically through the A through G rack, then H through P, then ...in the middle of the Q through Z rack the taste of fate and eternal enlightenment filled me up and would change me from that point until the very second that I write this.

This one record elevated on it's own from the heap below and into my hands in some sort of Copperfieldian floatation. I know what you are thinking, but there were no strings, ok? This masterpiece was none other than the 1979 elusive release featuring a collaboration of pop musicians and puppets knows as "The Stars Come Out On Sesame Street."

The original 1979 "The Stars Come Out On Sesame Street"

We're talking duets people! Where else would you hear Johnny Cash doing a song called "Nasty Dan" with Oscar the Grouch?

Madeline Kahn and Grover, Judy Collins and Biff.

It was the best of times. One of the songs that stood out to me was sung by the famous Puerto Rican guitarist and singer Jose Feliciano. He was born blind from congenital glaucoma but overcame his impairment and scored many international hits; most notably he's the guy who did, "Feliz Navidad." On this record he was in a room full of kids and even though this was only an audio experience for me, I could sense that every kid in the room was listening to every word he spoke and sang.

He starts out, "Hey Kids!"

They all shouted back, "Hi!"

He asked, "Did you ever think about what the world would be like without music?"

Then he continued in the "wrote a son about it, like to hear it? Here it goes" mumbo-jumbo and then ripped into the tune with his electric guitar. The room became alive. I could hear the kids dancing.

A blind man sings, "What would the world be like without music?"

Photos thanks to http://muppet.wikia.com/