Seals and Floof (floofinition) – An American soft floof rock (flock) musical duo from Texas.
In use: “Among Seals and Floof soft flock singles that were considered hit songs was “Diamond Floof” in 1973.”
Friday’s Theme Music
I remembered the Killers’ song, “Human” (2008) this morning. The song has never been a favorite, and its success surprised me. Different tastes, right?
Many were enamored by the line, “Are we human, or are we dancers?” The line evolved from a Hunter Thompson throwaway line about the United States raising a generation of dancers, afraid to step out of line.
The whole thing came back to me as I noted, with some pleasure and approval, that young people were heavily involved in the Black Lives Matters protests. One of the most disheartening parts of protesting in my fifties and sixties was the absence of young people. Didn’t they care? Or were my values so out of step with their values?
Older generations often malign younger generations. My generation, the boomers, were no different. It takes time to filter the world and yourself. Bursts of rebellion against expectations and norms are required and expected, but the way each generation finds to act out and express itself remains different. Social media is the thing now, not taking it to the streets, so the protests are a throwback, old school.
Yeah, rambling. Not sufficient coffee yet to form coherent sentences. Here’s the music. See if you can spot the line (hah!).
Are we human
Or are we dancer?
My sign is vital
My hands are cold
And I’m on my knees
Looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?
[Bridge]
Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight?
There is no message we’re receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?
h/t Genius.com
That is all.
The Beach Floofs
The Beach Floofs (floofinition) – American floof and roll band. Formed in Califloofia in the early 1960s, the band became one of the most influential groups in the early floof rock (flock) movement and were inducted into the Flock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In use: “The early Beach Floofs sounds focused on cars, surfing, romance, and the Califloofia flock and roll sound. Some critics declared their album Floof Sounds to be one of the most important albums of the 1960s.”
Thursday’s Theme Music
Yes, today I do have an earworm.
Cutting the grass and trimming trees last night. As I started, “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (1972) by Loggins & Messina began playing in my head. It continued throughout the evening as I sipped a beer afterwards and coped with a Hulu outage.
The song was playing like a radio alarm clock this morning. Earworm, I sighed.
So, I’m sharing it to dislodge it. It’s a trick that works. Please bear with me. I thought about going with a live version but it lacked the piano playing. I like the piano playing. I considered a Poison version, too, but, sorry, the L&M studio version remains my preference.
That is all.
Floofy Playground
Floofy Playground (floofinition) – Indy alternative floof rock (flock) band formed in the mid 1990s in Floof York.
In use: “Floofy Playground’s biggest hit to date is “Sex and Catnip”, which came out in 1997 and reached the top ten in many floof charts.”
Wednesday’s Theme Music
This is one of those days when I awoke and for some unknown reason have some song snatch in the stream. Does this happen to others? Am I the only one with a playlist in my head that goes click when I get up and start thinking?
Sure, I’m not. These aren’t the same as earworms, mind you. Sometimes they are earworms, which is a song that’s stuck in your head. There’s a different feel to earworms than just a the mental jukebox flipping something on. These songs aren’t necessarily stuck, just present. I’ll heavily bet that they are related to some auditory cortex wiring, though.
Aside: remembered this WebMD post from a few years ago and dragged it into the light: “Songs Stick in Everyone’s Head”. It mentions reasons related to neurosis and obsessions, and the cognitive itch. As a writer, I become obsessed; that’s a large part of being a writer for me, getting obsessed with ideas, concepts, stories, and characters, and trying to wring them out of my head and into the world in a way that the rest of the world might understand.
Today’s song, “What’s My Age Again?” is from 1999 and a group named Blink-182. I really liked the album name: Enema of the State. Good play on words? With many people and orgs battling ‘the state’ for a variety of reasons, maybe that’s the cognitive itch that supplied my stream with this song.
Or maybe the cognitive itch is the song’s year, 1999. Seems like things really began spinning weird with Bush v Gore and the Florida hanging chads (which could be the name of some kind of group) in the next year. 1999 was a good year for me in my world. Maybe my mind lauds it as the last good year.
Well, here it is. The song, I mean, not my world. It’s a video. I’d not seen it before today, but it’s amusing to watch three naked men (except shoes and socks) running around.
That is all.
Tuesday’s Theme Music
A bit of contra programming for myself today. Reading the news and watching videos of protesters losing eyes from police firing rubber bullets into crowds sickens me. Some respond, well, the protesters shouldn’t have been there. I disagree. They have the right to assemble right included in the bill of rights. Why huge police forces must escalate with violence is the disturbing part. Fighting fascism, the fascists say in classic double-speak.
It’s all hard to handle, which kicked the Black Crowes’ cover of the song by the same title into my music stream. Otis Redding wrote and recorded the song, and it’s been covered by many since the song’s first release in 1968. I enjoyed Otis Redding’s version and found the BC’s cover was a fatter, slightly up-tempo version that works for me. So here it is, from 1990.
Goo Goo Floofs
Goo Goo Floofs (floofinition) – American floof rock (flock) band formed in Floofalo, New York, in 1986. The band have achieved considerable success, selling over fifteen million albums.
In use: “One of Goo Goo Floofs’ many pop floof songs includes “Floof Balloon”. Released in 1999, the song reached number sixteen on the floofstream charts.”
Puzzle #11 Is Finished
We finished the “Dream Garage” (Michael Fishel) jigsaw puzzle today. Took us three days to assemble the 1,000 pieces.
While the odd shapes put me off, I enjoyed the puzzle details and vivid colors. Remember how gas stations often blazed with neon signs? Seeing those logos invited television jingles into my head.
“STP is the racer’s edge.”
“See the U.S.A in your Chev-ro-let.”
“Only Mustang makes it happen, only Mustang makes life great. Mustang, Mustang, ’68!”
“You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the big bright Texaco star!”
Then the cars. Four of them were the sort of cars I slobbered over as a fourteen year old in 1970: Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, and Challenger. I ended up only owning a Camaro. It was a fun, memorable car, good gas mileage, excellent performance, and reliable. It was just a 327, though, not an SS 396 featured in the puzzle.
Besides the Coke and car stuff, there was a cigarette machine (how long since I’ve seen one of those?), a Wurlitzer jukebox (in the puzzle’s center), a pin-up calendar (over above the purple Challenger) and movie posters for Some Like It Hot and Bullitt. (See Steve McQueen up there in the right hand corner by the clock?)
Be a few days before we begin the next one. We have several in the closet awaiting their turn, but I’ve been eyeing a few on the net, so…we’ll see…
Monday’s Theme Music
War.
Climate change. Natural disasters.
COVID-19 pandemic. Rising deaths.
Black lives matter. Police brutality. Corruption. Protests. Riots. Looting. Tear gas.
Murder hornets. Asteroid heading for Earth. Forty thousand year old worms dug up, thawed out, and living again.
2020 is seen by many to be a year of worsening situations. Many read something new happening, fill with dread and ask, “Oh, no, is another disaster about to strike the planet?”
Chuckling to myself over this today, Europe’s song, “The Final Countdown” (1986) entered my musical memory stream.
The song is about leaving Earth, but you know, just pause a mo’ and shift words around, and it’ll work for this year.
If we need a theme song for this year, maybe this is it. Maybe it is the final countdown, not to leaving, but to another crisis.
