Category: music

Munda’s Theme Music

It’s FOFFing* outside in Ashlandia, where the voters are liberal. Munda has fallen on us and can’t get up. A later winter storm is driving through the valley and the temperature is sticking to 35F. Supposed to rocket up to 48 F but that rocket might not get liftoff, if we use those clouds for our reasoning. If we use history and experience, the weather could go in any direction from here.

This is Munda, March 17, 2025. Which is, yelp, St. Patrick’s Day. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you. Are you wearing green to draw some Irish luck your way?

*FOFFING: Fat Ol’ Flakes Falling

Watching those flakes reminded me of a cat experience. This is about Jade. She came to be with us in Okinawa. She belonged to the people up the hall in our apartment building. They had a toddler, and Jade didn’t take shit from anyone, telling them so with claws and teeth. So she came to us and was with us for 20 years more.

When she was four, we moved from Okinawa to the United States. This would be January, 1985. We were in San Antonio after landing to visit family. Jade was with us, as we’d just flown into the country. It began snowing. Jade had never seen snow, so she went out to experience it. She would take a step and shake a foot. Step, shake. Step, shake. Finally fed up of it after a minute, she returned to inside the motel room. I still grin, remembering her reaction.

Been catching up on the news. Hear there was some wicked weather across the United States and that the Trusk Regime thumbed their nose at a judge. It’s enough for me to groundhog back to bed for six more weeks. But I’ve served myself coffee so that’s not a current option.

Out of all that news catchup, The Neurons direction Twenty One Pilots to play their 2016 song, “Heathens”, in the morning mental music stream.

We don’t deal with outsiders very well
They say newcomers have a certain smell
You have trust issues, not to mention
They say they can smell your intentions
You’ll never know the freak show sitting next to you
You’ll have some weird people sitting next to you
You’ll think “How did I get here, sitting next to you?”
But after all I’ve said, please don’t forget

h/t to Genius.com

The coffee is doing its function. Take it slow and roll through Munda, St. Patty’s Day. Here we go. Cheers

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Sunda’s Theme Music

Winter blahness continues its hold here in Ashlandia. Yeah, it’s a low key sprinter day. Cold rain pelts the world. I know it’s cold because I stepped out to call in Papi, aka Butter Butt. Butter Butt refuses to accept that it’s bad weather outside. He heads out there as if there is nothing wrong, and then darts for cover and huddles. Fifteen minutes later, I check on him and he sprints in. After three episodes like this, he finally announces, “I’ve decided to stay inside today,” and curls up like he’s ready to read a good book.

Papi never looks up and see the ominous layers of clouds. He only knows that the wind is blowing, there is no warming bit of sunshine to be found, and rain is splattering beyond the porch. Those clouds tell me it’s going to be a cold, wet one, and we’re not discussing beer. Temperature is holding at 37 F but never fear, it’s gonna crowd the low to mid forties before beginning its late afternoon descent back into the mid 30s.

This is Sunda, March 16, 2025.

Locally, we’re cheering on the Southern Oregon University women’s basketball team. Undefeated, they’re progressing through the NAIA championship seedings. We’re hopeful that they’ll take a national championship. I hope I haven’t jinxed that by putting it in eprint. The fates often get irritated with me and end whatever makes me happy. Maybe it just seems like it.

Today’s song is in honor of MAGA America. News of tariffs being levied on the U.S. in retaliation for tariffs PINO Trusk put on others, along with stock market drops and growing unemployment has The Neurons playing “Love Hurts” in the morning mental music stream. Although covered by Cher, Jim Capaldi, the Everyly Brothers, Emmylou Harris, and Roy Orbison, the song in my head today comes from a group called Nazareth. Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band. I knew their work and songs like “Hair of the Dog” and “Broken Down Angel”. When they released “Love Hurts”, I was taken back. Yet, it works. Well, for some.

Anyway, “Love Hurts” was put into place because every time complaints about being fired from a job, falling stock prices, cut benefits, or dissatisfaction in general emerges from MAGA land, PINO Trusk quickly reassures them that yes, there will be some pain, but they’ll be great in the end, so great, you won’t believe it.

Coffee is consoling me again. Hope your day goes well and features some pleasant weather. Here we go, one more time, eye on the clock. Cheers

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Saturda’s Theme Music

It’s a blah day outside our windows. Winter is singing its final stanzas. Bleak ropes of gray clouds are strung together. Mists cling to the snowy mountain tops. Rain has fallen off and on, and the temperature has crept from 34 F to 41 F as a sharp wind whistles and moans.

This is Saturda, March 15, 2025, in Ashlandia.

My wife has been busy doomscrolling. She mostly goes onto Reddit and hits different forums. People who worked for the Federal government have set up many of them to tell about what’s going on in their offices around the nation. She shares tales with me. She also passes them on to her friends; they suggest that she needs to do less doomscrolling because she’d acting so dark, depressed, and pessimistic. I agree with them. But, it has a hold on her. Despite her statements that she wants to do less doomscrolling, she keeps feeding on the darkness, and it feeds on her.

The newscape is fucking bleak out there. How cheerful are we expected to be as PINO Trusk and the GOTP guts the government, slashes services, burns the U.S. Constitution, and talks about using American troops to invade other places?

How much cheerfulness should we offer as the stock market drops and drops, wiping out years of gains?

How cheerful can we be as PINO Trusk tries moving the country backwards in regards to air and water protections, civil rights, especially minority rights, trade and defense agreements?

What level of cheerfulness should we convey as greater discussions of a financial recession become more frequent?

Cheerfulness is a hard-won currency in this era. Maybe it’s just me and my wife. Maybe we’re too invested in following the news and doomscrolling. Perhaps we’re in an information silo where we’re only fed bad news, and it’s really much better. Inflation is dropping, and despite the stock market declines, people are growing happier and more satisfied. Maybe the erosion of freedoms isn’t as great as we fear.

Out of all of this, The Neurons have employed a song called “Unwell” in the morning mental music stream. “Unwell” was released in 2003 by Matchbox 20. The group’s lead vocalist, Rob Thomas, wrote the song.

On the live DVD Show: A Night in the Life of Matchbox Twenty, lead singer Rob Thomas states that he wrote the song as a metaphor for humanity in general, a song for people who are “messed up and feel alone like that. We all feel a little messed up sometimes… you’re not alone.”

h/t Wikipedia.org

I think many of us ar feeling messed up and alone. We’re also feeling frustrated, disappointed, and depressed. The future does not look good as we try to see what is to come. As the song’s lyrics go, “I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired.”

Coffee and I have reached another cooperative agreement. Hope your day is strong, filled with hope and optimism. Here we go. Cheers

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

In this corner, we have Oblivious Man.

Oblivious Man, whose superpowers are obvious, is Richard Grennell. Mr. Grennell made the news in wake of JD Vance being booed at the Kennedy Center.

Apparently taken back by the booing, Mr. Grennell responded.

Richard Grenell, whom Mr. Trump named as the center’s new president, posted on social media on Friday morning that the video showing Mr. Vance being booed “should challenge us all to commit to making the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed.”

“It troubles me to see that so many in the audience appear to be white and intolerant of diverse political views,” he wrote. “Diversity is our strength. We must do better. We must welcome EVERYONE. We will not allow the Kennedy Center to be an intolerant place.”

Gosh, Oblivious Man, you do know that you have your job after a purge by the intolerant individual who appointed you to your position, don’t you? You know, the one who called the Kennedy Center Board ‘too wokey’.

Yes, because PINO Trusk has been so fucking inclusive as he espouses his positions against diversity. So welcoming is PINO Trusk as he establishes a list of 43 countries whose citizens are not very welcome in the United States. So fucking tolerant is PINO Trusk as he investigates colleges for being too tolerant, too welcoming, too inclusive, arrests people for not thinking like him, while pursuing mass arrests and deportations.

Oh, Oblivious Man Grennell. I hope you wake up and smell the bullshit.

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Frieda’s Theme Music

Winter is perched in Ashlandia and its surroundings for another day. Yesterday, we sequenced through snow, sleet, rain, sunshine, repeat. Today seems like a duplicate effort. Snow is falling, the temperature is crowding 38 F with a questionable chance the air temp will light up 48 F. This is Frieda, March 14, 2025.

I read with serious dismay that the US Postal Service struck a deal to let DOGE ‘improve’ services.

That’s great news, innit? Yes, that’s snark.

I don’t find it great news at all. All that I’ve seen of DOGE so far is cutting headcount without having knowledge about what they’re doing. This has fed chaos in many areas of government. Facing outrage and backlash to the chaos, GOTP politicians have stopped holding townhalls and avoid meeting their constituents. Meanwhile, many agencies which had DOGE cuts had to hire people back, either because vital positions had been cut, or courts ruled that what DOGE did was illegal. Coupled with PINO Trusk’s tariffs, economic war, and imperial military interests, the stock market is rushing down, talk of a Trumpcession is heating up, and corporations are putting plans on hold and laying off/terminating employees due to ‘economic uncertainy and instabilitly’. Good times! So much winning!

Anyway, I’m not optimistic about what will happen to the mail system with DOGE’s ‘help’. The length of time needed for mail to be delivered has already increased. So have stamp prices. Post offices and satellite offices have been closed. We all drive further to wait longer to get postal business done. Our mail takes laborious, convoluted routes. Doesn’t go from A to B no even A to C. No, it now goes A to K and then back to H, up to P, back to D, and then, finally, B, it’s destination. Dog knows what DOGE will do to it.

Another series of uplifted dreams washed through my sleep. I awoke feeling rested, vigorous, and almost joyful. Weirdly, The Neurons inserted a 1986 song called “Mad About You” by Belinda Carlisle into the morning mental music stream. I have nothing against the song; I know it from the car radio. Driving in my car, doing errands, commuting to work, etc. It’s a bouncy tune with easily heard and appreciated lyrics, simple for a sing along, Maybe you know it and will sing along.

Coffee has established its presence in my system. I’m ready to get out into the snow and wind — didn’t mention the wind before, did I, but, yes, there is wind — and get down to bidness. Have the best day possible for yourself and yours. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thirstda’s Theme Music

Winter returned, granting snow some visitation rights. An inch of the white crystallized water coated my home’s area when I looked out. By 8 AM, it was melting. 9:30 found it a swiss-cheese icy shell of itself. 35 F, we’re not expectin’ any great warming and ‘they’ tell us that 40 F is where the temperature reach will end. No more snow is expected but the surfeit of swollen clouds suggest rain is an option. The sun seems to be peering out and saying, “I think I’m gonna stay out of this.”

I have a Doobie Brothers song from 1978 in the morning mental music stream. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins wrote it. Then Loggins recorded and released it, followed by a Doobie Brothers release with McDonald on vocals. The Neurons plugged it into the morning mental music stream after reading a Justice Alito opinion. Ever an impatient, irritated rightwinger, Alito is adept at twisting words and ideas to support rightwing ideas.

From Alito’s Fiery Rebuke of Supreme Court Ruling Against Trump: The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Trump administration was wrong to withhold foreign aid funds owed to nonprofit groups. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett broke from conservative justices in the decision. President Donald Trump has publicly expressed his plans to cut 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts and slash an additional $60 billion in foreign aid spending.

What really has hizzoner is a tizzy is that he thought the lower court Federal judge is overstepping by ruling that PINO Trusk’s regime must pay its obligations. The money was already earmarked for proper payment, through proper and legal process. Doesn’t matter for Alito, who bends over whenever PINO Trusk orders it.

The song “What A Fool Believes” is about relationships, of course. But embedded in those lyrics is an unwillingness to accept the truth. The song is about a man trying to return to a relationship without understanding that the other person has long since moved on, and whatever love was there is no more. In the same sense, Alito and other hard right winger wants to see whatever benefit they can in every situation for Trump, and deny what is really happening. This is often wonderful for the GOTP but detrimntal to our nation.

I also got drawn into a gleeful reading of a Law & Crime article:

‘Is that really how you think this all works?’: Outraged judge repeatedly mocks DOJ lawyers, tears into them for being unprepared during hearing on transgender military ban

The judge ripped into the DOJ lawyers for trying a Wizard of Oz defense: “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

The man behind the curtain is PINO Trusk’s Defense Secretary Hegseth. He’d X’d, “Transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption.”

The DOJ’s lawyer resisted the implication that Hegseth’s repost was in any way determinative of the government’s actual policy.

Reyes did not credit this approach.

“Why shouldn’t I look at the words of the guy who issued the policy?” the judge asked at one point.

The government’s attorney replied that people use colloquial terms to mean more specific things all the time.

The judge strongly rejected this argument.

“Is that really how you think this all works?” Reyes asked. She went on to explain that the X accounts in question collectively have “millions of followers” and are funded by the U.S. public. “We’re not talking about people, we’re talking about the secretary of defense.”

The lawyer went on to essay the notion that Hegseth was possibly using “shorthand” to refer to the overall policy.

Again, the judge rejected the notion.

“Do you believe the secretary of defense was using loose language he didn’t comprehend or that he didn’t think out?”

The attorney quickly replied: “I’m not arguing that.”

The DOJ lawyer went on to insist the court should look to the words of the policy itself rather than Hegseth’s social media post. The court, however, remained unconvinced.

“The record is that his word is: this covers all transgender people,” Reyes told the government lawyer.

That’s what we witness out of the Trusk Regime and the GOTP time and again: what you see them doing is not what they’re doing. What they’re saying is not what they’re saying.

I’m glad a Judge called them out on that bullshit.

Coffee is singing its love song to me again. Have a the best day you can. Here we go again. Cheers

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Wenzda’s Theme Music

Weather is dipping our beaks into the winter pot. Rain has shown itself, following a path fashioned by a lumpy charcoal and gray sky carpet. Sunshine has shown no plans to be much involved today, telling us in its slow way, you’re on your own for warmth.

This is March 12, 2025, in Ashlandia. 45 F and light rain, it’s down from an earlier temp of 48 F. 51 F is supposedly the day’s high.

With all the negative news stories raining through our days, another blogger brought out one of the world’s classic protest songs. “Ohio” was written by Neil Young and recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in response to American National Guard shooting protesting students at Kent State University in May of 1970. What a dark time. Before then, most adult Americans distrusted and blamed the protestors. This event marked the beginning of a change. Shame that such a watershed moment had to be bloody but that’s often the outcome when change is sought, and that’s not just in the United States.

With “Ohio” in my ears, The Neurons began thinking of other famous protest songs. They were soon queuing in my head. One eventually took over the morning mental music stream. “Get Up, Stand Up” was written by Peter Tosh. Bob Marley and the Wailers came out with it in 1973. The lines hooking The Neurons this morning were part of a stanza saying, “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. So now we see the light, what you gonna do? We going to stand up for our rights.”

That’s the protest needed now. As the Trusk Regime rages like a fire through people’s rights and needs, burning the protections set up by checks and balances, people need to stand up.

Coffee has stood up for me again. Hope you have a solid day in all needed regards. Time to press on once again. Cheers

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Twosda’s Theme Music

Sunshine richly soaks Ashlandia’s end of the valley where I5 climbs into the mountain pass between Oregon and California. But this Twosda finds it a chill morning. 42 F, the sun is pulling us out of the mid-thirties trough where we spent the night. Like yesterday, our high will eye the 60s; I saw us at 64 yesterday at my place.

This is Twosda, March 11, 2025. Although spring is closing on us, a winter warning has been issued for tomorrow. That’s wholly in keeping with expectations. Before reading of that warning yesterday, I applauded the spring but then reminded myself that winter likes to make one last, dramatic March appearance in our area.

The Neurons are treating me with “Only You Know and I Know” in the morning mental music stream. Dave Mason penned the song, but Delaney & Bonnie had more of a hit with it in the U.S. I had the Dave Mason original in mind this morning. Comes solely out of thinking about PINO Trusk and his sneering as he ‘makes dramatic announcements’. That’s how the mainstream media often portrays him. ‘Trump Makes Dramatic Announcement About New Tariffs on Canada’. I’ve seen the first iteration and the rest of this song and dance is tiresome. But you and I know how much of his grandstanding is done to keep his base’s attention; he loves it when they thrill over his words, swoon over his actions, orgasm and gasp over his power and prophecies. Never mind that many of his words are lies, his actions are bullshit, and his power is right out of the dictator handbook.

But you and I know. Those of us with some smattering of understanding about history and politics know. Smattering to me is that you learned about these things in junior high or high school, but also that you understood and remember it. PINO Trusk’s base often does not.

Anyway, I enjoy this video of Dave Mason and his group performing a rockin’ rendition of the song. Hope you do as well.

Coffee is purring away in my innards, restoring some of my faith in my existence. Hope you have a royally awesome day. Here we go. Cheers

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Munda’s Theme Music

We’re rockin’ into a new work, children, hustling toward spring in Ashlandia. It’s Munda, March 10, 2025. Sunshine highlights clouds stretched thin and silvery against a weak blue sky and misty green mountains. 38 F now, but 60 is possible. We poked 66 yesterday, and it was lovely. Air felt fresh but cool, and the sunshine offered a warm counterbalance.

Called Transitions, which is the place coordinating my custom-made compression socks. The right one still hasn’t been received so I wanted to see if they can provide any tracking info or insights into why. Ordered 2/19/25, my physio expected it by Feb.’s end. We’re in limbo with my treatment until that puppy comes in. Basically, I’m done with the massage therapy when it is received, as this is a ‘maintenance’ sock to help my body cope with lymphedema. The Transitions individual responsible for my case is out so her pleasant, accomodating supervisor took the info, passed it on, and told me to expect a call back tomorrow.

Today’s song comes from a 2023 television series. I’m re-watching The Last of Us. Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal star in this dystopian series about a zombie issue. Twenty years after the breakout, he’s taking her across the depleted U.S. because she may have the answer to a cure/vaccine, as she seems immune.

Yesterday’s episode introduced us to Bill, played by Nick Offerman. Bill is a misogynistic prepper. Living alone, intelligent and well armed, he’s set up a compound where he can live free from zombie attacks and outsiders. After a few years, along comes Frank (Murray Bartlett), a survivor trying to make it to Boston. Bill feeds Frank and the two become lovers and a couple. It’s such a sweet, sweet story, and my favorite episode.

A Linda Rondstadt song, “Long Long Time”, is the couple’s song. The Neurons appreciated the 1970 song and kept it alive in the morning mental music stream.

Hope you have someone who helps you carry on through the days.

Coffee has met my taste buds and our daily romance continues. Have the best day possible. Cheers

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Sunda’s Theme Music

Another Sunda has come upon us, and it’s landed on 3/9/2025. We set our clocks ahead today in most of the continental U.S., part of our human struggle to make the best use of time and light and be productive. Arguments abound about the productivity of changing time and I’m not going there. It’s 48 F in Ashland, mostly sunny. A soft zephyr hisses around trees. Thin clouds skirt the area and sunshine peeks through, giving us a springy winter pastiche.

I don’t know why one song dominates the morning mental music stream. The Neurons have shuffled a 1983 Michael Jackson song in. “Human Nature” is a soft pop ballad written by Steve Porcaro…originally Porcaro had success with a band called “Toto” that he helped found. Meanwhile, he played keyboards or synthesizers on Michael Jackson songs. The Toto song, “Rosanna”, was said to be based on Porcaro’s girlfriend for a while, Rosanna Arquette, which was denied and then acknowledged. Porcaro played on so many albums with other artists in the late 1970s through the 1980s, if you listened to pop and rock during that period, you were exposed time and again.

Michael Jackson, of course, was the King of Pop for a long reign. This song was from the Thriller album, which was the #1 album for 37 weeks. “Human Nature” was one of seven hit songs from the album, with all of those songs reaching the top 10. The biggest hits from that album would be “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, and “Thriller”. With all of those songs on that album, the album became the best-selling album of all time, selling over 70 million copies. Staggering.

Meanwhile, “Human Nature” was written originally by Steve Porcaro. Quincy Jones was producing Thriller. He heard a demo of “Human Nature” and liked the sound but he had the lyrics re-written by John Bettis, a songwriter who wrote over 1600 songs for pop and country music performers. His songs and music was often featured in hit films of that era, like Cocktail, Say Anything, Vision Quest, Curly Sue, and a whole chunk more. What a business it all is.

The chorus of “Human Nature” is well-known:

If they say why (why?), why (why?)
Tell them that it’s human nature
Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way?
If they say why (why?), why (why?)
Tell them that it’s human nature
Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way?

h/t to AZLyrics.com

That phrase, “tell them that it’s human nature,” is often used to explain the unexplainable about people’s actions.

Coffee has overtaken me again. Hope you have a most excellent Sunda to repurpose an old phrase. Here we go. Cheers

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