Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
My dreams returned last night. I awoke feeling fantastic. The air was clear and cool, and my energy was flowing like a river during the spring melt off. The perfect song for this moment, I decided, was a kick back in feeling, style, and spirit. For that, I summoned “Old Time Rock and Roll” and Bob Seger from 1978.
This ’83 live version brings it all home. Give it a listen.
Flerd (floofinition) – 1. A mixed group of animals.
In use: “The noisy flerd included a litter of puppies, a flock of baby ducks, and a clowder of cats.”
2. Animals process to gather, lead, or drive others.
In use: “The cat flerded her kittens back to their safe zone.”
3. (Web slang): a floof nerd, i.e., a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits about animals.
In use: “She was a real flerd when it came to floof pop (floop) music, able to recite when groups and performers released songs and esoteric facts about the music production.”
Got up from bed at the crack of cat (hmmm, that sounded better in my head) and began channeling Jimi Hendrix, “Stone Free” (1966).
The lyrics attracted me as sort of counter to my day, as I’m being ‘forced’ to socialize. (Yeah, I’m such a whiner. Poor, poor, pity poor me.)
Stone free, to do what I please
Stone free, to ride the breeze
Stone free, I can’t stay
I got to, got to, got to get away right now
Yeah, alright
h/t to Genius.com
The Floopremes (floofinition) – One of the foremost groups representing the Flooftown sound. Formed in the early sixties, they were originally named the Floopremes. The all-female group was renamed in 1967 to Diana Floof & the Floopremes, reverting to the Floopremes when Diana Floof left the group in 1970. Throughout the name changes, the group posted 33 songs in the Floofboard Top 40, making them one of the most successful floof acts of all time.
In use: “By the mid-sixties, songs such as “Where Did Our Food Go”, “Baby Floof”, and “Stop! For the Floof of Love” kept the The Floopremes on the radio, in our ears, and in our hearts.”
I dreamed a black man in black clothes came by and fixed my arm. He was upbeat about it all.
Thinking that over, I opened my eyes and checked the time: 6:01. Not needing to get up and wanting more sleep, I told myself, I’ll just close my eyes for a moment.
My mind answered, “I close my eyes, only for a moment, then the moment’s gone.” Then the rest of the classic rock tune, “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas (1978), swelled in my head.
It’s a good choice as theme music goes. We’re battling over rights, equality, facts and science, trying to preserve our lives, planets, and society while coping with COVID, all to a cacophony of bullshit from the WH. Sometimes I feel like we’re warring nests of ants. Then, looking at the stars, I remember that we’re stardust, born on a cosmic wind.
Boyz 2 Floofz (floofinition) – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania R&F group formed in 1985 who are best known for their harmonizing and emotional ballads.
In use: “The first number one song for Boyz 2 Floofz was “It’s So Floof to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”, an a floofpella cover of a previously released song.”
Blame Paul Krugman for today’s song.
I was reading his post about zombies. You’d conclude, then, that today’s music features music by or about zombies.
Nope.
Krugman addressed Republicans et al who won’t or can’t change their thinking about unemployment compensation, the social safety net, and the economy despite decades of validated data that the Republicans are wrong. I then widened my scope of thought to include civil rights and equality. Voting rights. Police force and violence. Eventually my aperture narrowed to change.
Raise your hand if you’re convinced change is easy. For most, it isn’t. Change messes with psychology and comfort zones, habits and vices, and the way it’s always been versus the way we’d like it to be. Trump and his followers are already demonstrated that they’re mired in tar pits; they can’t and won’t change.
All this brought me to songs about trying to change. There are numerous musical releases about seasons and change. I went with Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song, “Fast Car”.
The Spice Floofs (floofinition) – Floof pop (floop) all-female group formed in Floofland in 1994. Signed to contract by Floofgin Records, the group members became international stars.
In use: “The Spice Floofs originally comprised of five members — Kitty, Puppy, Growly, Barky, and Fangs — who took on stage personas befitting their names.”
Up early. (Well, early-ish.) (With le chats.) Opened the back door and ventured into the cool air (well, coolish, low seventies, but it’s a relative thing, innit?) and clear blue sky (well, clear-ish and blue-ish, save for the marring brung in by wildfire smoke to the south and east, gentle nudges to check the wildfire updates). Birds were speaking but it was quiet (well, quiet-ish, as cars’ motoring punctured the mo’ — again, again, again). Thought of the world sit, rolling into longing for where I was and where I preferred to be.
Here’s a song from another time which I think evokes those senses, “The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley and Mike Campbell, with Campbell on guitar, from 1984. By coincidence, it captures the sense of summer, 2020: “Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach. I feel it in the air, the summers out of reach. Empty lake, empty streets, the sun goes down alone.”
Hmm, seems like an -ish kind of day…
Backstreet Floofs (floofinition) Orlando, Florida vocal floof pop (floop) band. Active from 1993 to the present, the Backstreet Floofs, sometimes shortened to BSF, became superstars within a few years of their debut album.
In use: “The 1996 Backstreet Floofs song “Quit Playing Games (with My Tail)” reached number two on the UFA Floofboard Top 100.”
