ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
LYNN NEARY, HOST:
And I'm Lynn Neary.
It's time now for your letters. Yesterday, we brought you a recipe for a tasty drink from Scandinavia. It's called glogg - made from red wine, port, aquavit and spices. And we can assure you, it goes down easily.
SIEGEL: But it appears that our warning not to drink too much glogg came too late for Ben Liles of Salado, Texas. He told us about a pre-Christmas party thrown by a colleague from Sweden. Liles writes this: He created the concoction, glogg, and we were all fascinated by it. And when he lit the large bowl on fire, we knew it was serious stuff. We asked him where the potion got the name of glogg, and he explained it by the time you finished one cup, glogg was about all you could say.
And truly, it was fascinating to watch as all the party attendees drank their glogg, including a tall Norwegian who just wanted to sing some sad songs, and the new person several of the professors became. None of us ever forgot that party, although I'm sure many of us would prefer to do so.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NEARY: We also got emails about a new telephone service that's really a pop rock pick-me-up.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIALING)
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Welcome to Callin' Oates, your emergency Hall & Oates help line.
NEARY: That's right - Hall & Oates, as in the musical duo famous from the 1970s and '80s.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: To hear "Private Eyes," please press 4.
(SOUNDBITE OF TELEPHONE BUTTON)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRIVATE EYES")
HALL & OATES: (Singing) I see you, and you see me...
SIEGEL: Well, that song transported Al Cardona of Sylmar, California, back to the year 1981 and to memories, he writes, of a young man experimenting with music, girls and other things.
After your story ended, I closed my garage, sat on my workbench, and pushed the play button on my old Kenwood tape recorder and listened to the whole "Private Eyes" album. Thank you for the big smile and the tears.
NEARY: And Mr. Cardona ends his letter with what we presume is a compliment for our story's brevity: You did it in a minute.
SIEGEL: And for all you lovers of Hall & Oates listening now, you know what he meant.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DID IT IN A MINUTE")
HALL & OATES: (Singing) You did it, you did, you did it, you did it, you did it in a minute. I know, I know, I know, I know you did you did it...
SIEGEL: Well, if you think we did it in a minute or you'd rather have those 60 seconds of glogg back, give us a shout. Just go to npr.org and click on Contact Us, at the bottom of the page.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DID IT IN A MINUTE")
HALL & OATES: (Singing) Well, I still can't say I know when a love is real, or touch and go. And if two can be one, who is the one two becomes? Oh-oh, oh-oh, am I quick enough to see when I'm ready and it's right for me... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.