I was up late flipping the channels the other night which is the best time for a local

PBS station to put on their premium shit. If you're lucky you'll get that alone in the wilderness show

about Dick Prenache and the sledding wolverines or a mini marathon of Joy of Painting

which is just the perfect way to fall asleep and

sometimes one of a treasure trove of classic concert films. Now I know I

present myself as the very hip and now host of friendly fire, but I'll have you know

that my musical interests have always been before my time.

The very first concert I ever went to was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at the Tacoma Dome,

the giant concert venue with the acoustics of a shipping container south of Seattle.

I was in middle school and let me tell you, wearing that concert t-shirt the next day did not

have the making me cool effect that I had hoped for, except with the teachers, which as you could guess had the opposite effect.

So I really like settling into an old concert film from time to time,

and one of my favorites that I've lucked into on PBS has been

from the Highwayman recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum in New York in 1990. The first

time I saw it, it blew my mind, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson and

Waylon Jennings and Chris Christofferson. They're the four richest men in country music and they're singing songs about being long-haul truckers or ship captains or dam builders.

Only Chris Christopherson could credibly be all three.

Four of the best standing in a row, each taking a lyric before everyone sang the chorus.

It made me wonder why we don't get more supergroups. The idea is so tantalizing and you don't just get them in bands. They're probably most pervasive in sports teams, but also and maybe especially in fictional worlds like comic books and movies.

But a supergroup is no guarantee of success.

That doesn't stop people from trying.

For every traveling Wilburies, there's a 2004 LA Lakers.

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