Congratulations. Another Friday has arrived. Might mean something to you. The weekend is starting. A television show is coming on that you wanted to see. Friends arriving. And the date, July 23, 2021, might also mean something. An anniversary or birthday. For me, it’s but another day and date, another in the string.
Temperatures continue to be on the cool side of summer. Maybe those shorter days are getting reflected in the temp. Sunrise wasn’t until 5:55 AM today. Sunset will be at 8:39 PM. Could be that the wildfires are affecting our weather and cooling us. The Bootleg still roars away to the east. Winds have been favorable for us, keeping our skies clear. Hooray for us, sucks for others. Sigh.
My brain is entertaining me with a 1971 song. Mouth and MacNeal came out with “How Do You Do”, a Dutch duo, saw their simple song become an international hit. It’s easy to remember and sing. So feel free to do it.
Meanwhile, try to stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the vax. Please, if you haven’t. Cheers
Welcome to a new, improved Saturday. Leaner, lighter, lower, stronger, faster, cleaner, more advanced, stays fresher longer, this Saturday is unlike any Saturday you’ve ever experienced. You must try it to believe it. It’s already changed tens of thousands of lives.
“Although I’ve only been awake for about three hours and I have a hangover badgering my brain like a berserk chipmunk, this Saturday has been unbelievable,” says Beverly Beaumont of Texas.
“I don’t think I’d make it to Sunday without this Saturday,” said William Pitt of Pennsylvania.
Duncan Heinz said, “Has to be one of my top seven days of the week.”
Continuing the warm spell again today. Forecasted high of 96 degrees F with a sunrise of 5:41 AM and a sunset coming on at 8:49 PM.
For the first time in recorded history, it is also July 10, 2021. Sip on your coffee and think of that.
Four songs are looping through my mental musical stream this day in history. On top of the list is “Brass in Pocket” by the Pretenders, 1979. Second is “Signs”. Then there’s “Resurrection Shuffle”.
Dreams called out Brass. “Signs” arrived because someone posted “Signs, signs, everywhere signs,” on Twitter yesterday. My pink gray matter summoned the Five Man Electrical Band rendition (1971), followed by the live Tesla version from 1990.
Last, though, came the “Resurrection Shuffle”. Although the lyrics and melody are fresh in the stream, looking up the performer and year was required, delivering the information, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, 1971. As I never hear that anywhere, I decided this would be today’s tune. Hope you’re familiar with it.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as warranted, and get that vax. Don’t find yourself being mourned because you put off getting the vax for whatever reason. Don’t find yourself mourning others because you got sick and passed it on, and they didn’t survive. Stories of both those flavors are circulating with greater frequency. Get the vax. Here’s the tune. Cheers
Think about nothing now
You're nice and high
You're advocating love
But you don't know why
Now you getting vibrations
All down to your feet
That's the brow beatin'
Heavy leather resurrection beat
h/t Lyrics.com
Day six of the three-day green smoothie fast. Hello, it’s Earth Day. Happy Earth Day! It’s also Thursday, April 22, 2021. Huzzah.
We achieved sunrise in Ashland, Oregon, at 6:19 AM. Sunset won’t come until almost fourteen hours later, at 8 PM. Huzzah. We reached 72 degrees F yesterday and expect more of the same, what with a clear blue sky, loads of sun beams, and a current temp of 52. Huzzah.
I am quite hungry this morning. That prompted me to sing a bit of “Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffett in my head. We eat Beyond Burgers in our household, which are plant-based burgers. My wife is a vegetarian. We also put vegan cheese on them. The side is usually a garden salad, but oven-baked tater tots often make the plate. Although, myself wouldn’t say no to a nice steak nor some roasted chicken. Yeah, for breakfast.
The 1971 Three Dog Night song, “Out in the Country”, came to me last night, though, as I gazed at the declining sunshine being flashed off the clouds in shades of pink and gold above the darkening, forested mountains. We’re out in the country, in a small town kind of way, a nice combination in a multitude of ways. I thought it would be a good song for Earth Day, so I post it here. It’s pleasantly green now. But…sigh, the rain has faded, the land is drying, and the heat is climbing. Much of it will soon turn brown. More will blacken with fire.
Or maybe not! Maybe not this year. Fingers crossed. Stay positive (boy, I’m trying – hope you’re better at it than me), test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Hello. Well, we’ve done it, most of us in the U.S.A., at least, we’ve ‘sprung ahead’. Our clocks are set forward in accordance with whatever.
Today is March 13, 2021, a Sunday. Per Sunday requirements to relax if you can and eat if ya got it, cinnamon rolls with coffee were consumed. It’s 54 degrees F outside under a sky mocking the idea of ‘sunshine’ with large gray swaths. Rain veils are drawing closer but might yet swing away, tempted by some other valley spot. Sol popped up at 7:23 AM and the orb will drop beyond the horizon at 7:13 PM here in Ashland, Oregon.
A favorite walking song has infiltrated me today. The Who released “Baba O’Riley” in 1971. I was fifteen then. Having no wheels and an independent spirit, I walked or ran wherever I needed to go. I had biked but the bike was stolen. Finances didn’t stand up for a replacement. Walking was agreeable, and remains a favorite pastime. My wife doesn’t enjoy walking with me; she wants to stroll. I’m walking, damn it. Yes, there are times for strolling, such as when we’re shopping, but when you have a place to go, I’m all in.
The defiant beat and raucous sounds found in “Baba O’Riley” lends itself to my walking attitude. So, yesterday, up there on the street, looking across the valley at the fields, the song arrived in the mental music stream as a welcome companion. Thinking about it today, I discovered this interesting rendition of it. Hope you enjoy it as much as me. I enjoyed seeing my music heroes young and alive, into their music, one more time.
Test negative, stay positive, wear a mask when required, and get the vax. See you on the streets. Cheers
Good morning. Today is Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Sunset was at 6:56 AM and sunset will be at 5:53 PM in Ashland. Just a few more minutes less between the two and we reach eleven hours of daylight. Hooty-hoo.
Today finds the sun out in full force, unfettered by clouds, giving us an early temperature of 46 degrees F. We expect to hit the mid-50s. We’re told clouds are regrouping by the coast a few hundred miles away as the clouds flow, and rain is a late day possibility, but I’m living in the present.
Although I push that claim (about living in the present), the music Wayback Machine was busy pulling in tunes from the last century. Lyrics and melody were recalled. But I was then stymied: who is that? What’s the name of the song? Damn, I should know this. Well, thirty minutes later, some memory chipped its way to the surface. Exerted by effort, memory said with the heavy breathing of extended exertion, “I think it’s Bread.”
Bread? Really? Are you sure? A few minutes of net searching confirmed the song is “Mother Freedom” by Bread, 1971, yes, fifty years ago.
Freedom, keep walkin’ Keep on your toes and don’t stop talkin’ ’bout Freedom, get goin’ Lots to be learned and lots to be known ’bout People gotta reach ’em Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout Freedom, gotta win it Gotta put yourself smack dab in it
I unnerstand why Bread didn’t immediately pop to mind for this harder pop/rock song. Bread was mostly soft pop, like “Diary”. This song wasn’t a big hit for them.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, get vaccinated, and keep on rockin’. Cheers
Good morning. Today is Sunday, Febraruary 14, 2021. Sunrise was at 7:09 AM. Gray paint has been spilled across the sky. Rain pummels our area. It’s 35 degrees F outside. Snow showers are expected, still we’re better off than in many places, where the snow is mounting like debt. Sunrise will be at 5:42 PM.
Today’s music is provided by Curtis Mayfield. “Move On Up” came out in 1971 but didn’t crack the charts in the US. That history surprised me. The song always moved and encouraged me. Seems to be true for others, as Joe Biden uses it, and it’s been employed in movies. I don’t hear it often on the radio, though.
Just move on up Toward your destination Though you may find, from time to time, complication
Bite your lip And take a trip Though there may be wet road ahead And you cannot slip Just move on up For peace you’ll find Into the steeple of beautiful people Where there’s only one kind
So hush now, child And don’t you cry Your folks might understand you By and by Move on up And keep on wishin’ Remember your dream is your only scheme So keep on pushin’
So hush now, child And don’t you cry Your folks might understand you By and by Move on up And keep on wishin’ Remember your dream is your only scheme So keep on pushin’
An old song is stuck in my head this Saturday morning, the last Saturday in January, 2021. In other news, the sun rose at 7:26 AM and will set at 5:23 PM here in Ashland. All those things happen every day, but at different times.
They call songs stuck in your head ear worms. I call them a diversion. I typically get trapped in one specific section. I call it a groove loop, a reference back to the time when we listened to records on vinyl, which had grooves.
The stuck song is “Spanish Harlem”. The stuck version is by Aretha Franklin and came out in 1971. I was about fifteen. The eternal question of why this song is stuck in my head can’t be answered today. It arrived as I decided to eat a banana as my breakfast’s second course. First course was oatmeal with cranberries and peanut butter, sprinkled with gluten-free maple granola.
The COVID-19 situation continues to alarm many, including me. We experienced a solid week of double-digit new cases, and the rolling three day average was dropping. Across the country, cases were dropping. Only two states were reporting increases on Thursday. Yet, dire warnings about the variations were increasing. Recommendations to wear two masks, or wear only N95 masks were issued. Then, last night, boom, our county reported triple digits again. It’s wave after wave. Like the ocean, some waves are larger than others, and you need to be mindful of sneaker waves.
Time for coffee. Stay positive, test negative, WAM (wear a mask), and get vaccinated, when it comes your way. Here’s the music.
A friend posted on FB about her clothes getting stuck on door handles. Another responded, “their way of telling you to slow down and reflect”.
That nudged my mind into singing, “Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last.”
Then Simon & Garfunkel began performing “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” from 1971. I’m sharing it with you to dislodge it from my mind. Please sing along.
Today’s theme music is a 1971 song by Yes called “I’ve Seen All Good People”. It came to me as I wearied through news last night and this morning. Some good people ignored masking and distancing guidance, had a wedding, and COVID-19 spread, with those good people at the center of a superspreader event. A couple who were identified by friends as good people boarded a flight to Hawaii knowing they had COVID-19. A worker who knew he had COVID-19 didn’t tell others and kept working, spreading it through an organization.
Cynical me muttered, “I don’t want good people. I want disciplined people. I want team players who understand that part of their role is to pay fucking attention, stop being selfish, grit your teeth, wear your masks, and maintain social distance.”
Then I read of the Medford school board writing a letter to the Oregon governor to increase. This while hospitals and ICUs are filling up. Positivity is rising. Cases are rising. Death are rising. By all means, now is the perfect time to send children to school.
Topping that off was news about Mike Pompeo planning a big party at the State Department, after telling State Department personnel not to have large gatherings. And I read of the Austin Mayor tell people to stay home and stay safe, doing this from his vacation in Mexico, where he’d gone to celebrate his daughter’s wedding. On top of this —
Well, that was enough. The news had me gritting my teeth, SMH, and wondering if there is anything like instant karma. (“Instant karma: just add hot water and serve!”). Which took me to a line from the Yes song. Buried in the middle, they sing:
Send an Instant Karma to me Initial it with loving care Don’t surround yourself Cause it’s time, it’s time in time with your time
h/t to Genius.com
The song is a crazy collection of harmonizing play on words and ideas. I remember it well because I listened to it often.
Please be a good team player. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and show some discipline. Yeah, it’s hard. We get it. But there are other things that are worse. I’ve read of too many good people falling sick and quite a few of them are dying.
Yes, this song was featured as theme music back in 2016. Four years later, it seems more appropriate.
“Riders on the Storm” by the Doors was released in 1971. I was ninth grade. The baseline, lyrics, and keyboard mesmerized me. I later ended up taking a philosophy in pop culture class in Japan where this song and its line, “Into this word we’re thrown,” was discussed. Ah, good times.
Seems like we’re riding a storm of uncertainty now as much as ever. The song came to me in the middle of the night, when I surfaced out of a dream. While I was reflecting on the dream, the song just rose up as a soft, subtle background. Later, we were out shopping just after sunrise. The song came to me again as I stepped out of the store into the silent parking lot and faced the sun illuminated the valley, mountains, and valley to the north. After I was home, I listened to it.
It’s an evocative tune. Hope you enjoy it. Remember, stay positive, test negative, and wear your mask. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 