Classically heat-obsessed

KBAQ (89.5 FM), the classical music station, is among the nicer things that come with living in Phoenix. I would surely go insane without its soothing reassurance that civilization is not a desert mirage. It can sometimes appear that way in Arizona, this land of Sen. John McCain & Co. But I digress. KBAQ is a hoot during our periodic but extraordinary "hot spells" in August. This week, with daytime temps averaging 112, it's all the announcers can talk about. Instead of erudite factoids about the composers between sets, we mostly get: gosh-it's-so-hot-today-and-there's-no-end-sight-so-stay-cool. Over and over again between Bach's "Air on the G-String" and Glazunov and Mendelssohn and Debussy ad infinitum. I kid the announcers, of course. Their work is superb. Late August means we're way past the it's-a-dry-heat cliche. Think hot, humid, haboob -- like the planet Venus. But at least we have the music. That's something.