Tag: 1972

Wednesday’s Theme Music

The clouds have taken a wide stance today. Their defenses are stretched thin. Blue sky and sunshine pour through the gaps.

Today is Wednesday, May 25, 2022. We’re into the last week of 2022’s fifth month. Time has slowed for me, which I appreciate.

It’s 60 F out right now, but our local weather dude said we’re probably going to experience the year’s warmest day to date, with our smell segment hitting the low eighties while other parts of the region see the upper eighties. Sunrise was celebrated at 5:41 AM. Closure at the other end of the daylight portion of our day will be at 8:35 PM.

I’m beset by a song I sang to my cat last night. Called “Motorcycle Mama”, I leaned its words and melody by heart without making a conscious effort, also learning to play it by ear on the trombone. Why was I singing it to my cat? That’s a good question. A very good question. I don’t have a good answer. I lack any answer for it. My neurons said, “Don’t look at us. We’re as mystified as you.”

I had to look up the year and artist. I figure it must have been 1970 to 1971 but was clueless about the group or individual behind it, which turned out to be Sailcat, and 1972. My childhood friends didn’t know why I liked this song so much. I appreciated its mellow approach and gentle humor. Decades later, I’d be with two friends having a beer when the three of us broke out in spontaneous harmony and sang it completely. That was memorable fun.

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, etc. Don’t let complacency or weariness take over. I’m off for the coffee. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Another lovely sunrise, full of bravado and promise. Then clouds announced, “That’s enough,” and blanketed the sunshine. “Save some for later.”

Today is Monda, May 16, 2022. The sun’s entrance was made five hours and forty-nine minutes after midnight. Sunset will begin at 8:29 PM. Our valley’s temperature is 52, with breezes running warm and cool playing around us. A high of 69 F is possible, they say.

One of my cats lost their fight with cancer two months ago. As always, it was a gritty fight. I wrote about his passing at the time and I’m dealing with the soft sorrow of reminders and gaps. Well, one of those happened. The late Boo had a specific nesting spot in the backyard. He’d face the back door and do a loaf in the sun. Whenever I came to the door, he’d been watching and say hello. My other two cats, Tucker and Papi, have taken to resting in Boo’s old space. They began this the past few days. First Tucker did it two days in a row, and then Papi.

My mind said, WTF? It of course channeled Boo back into immediate thoughts. This morning, seeing Papi out in Boo’s spot, watching him watching me, hearing him give me a soft hello, the neurons called out “The Needle and the Damage Done” by Neil Young (1972). No, Boo didn’t pass from heroin and a needle. Neil’s raw introspection and simple melody is what I felt when considering Boo’s absence, for that’s what the song is about — “Gone, gone, the damage done” — whether it’s by drugs, cancer, or other diseases. So, for Boo.

Stay positive, test negative, etc. I gotta see a cat about some coffee. They’re onto me. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

It’s midweek. Wednesday. And half of March of 2022 has passed on. It’s now the 16th. The news is pretty much the same. War is going on. Russia is being expelled from organizations. Threats are being aired. Trump issued a statement full of lies that have been repeatedly debunked. But he can’t change his nature as a liar. And people still believe him. Look up to him, etc. Meanwhile, another strong quake hit Japan and tsunami warnings were issued. Just what’s needed to feed our anxiety fatigue.

The Earth kept spinning. The sun ‘came up’ and will ‘set’ again, 7:21 AM and 7:18 PM, respectively. Almost to twelve hours of daylight here, and I feel it, brothers and sisters. The temperature is now 37 F but we expect 67 F today. While yesterday gave us slashes of rain followed by shocks of sunlight, today’s clouds hoover like faded giants on our northwest horizon. It’s sunny, people.

A wide range of songs are being played by the neuron jockeys in today’s morning mental music stream. I’m going with the Yes cover of Paul Simon’s “America” from 1972. Friends did not get this one; everyone I knew at that point asked with different degrees of doubt, suspicion, and surprise, “Do you like this?” It wasn’t until I met Scott a year later, in another state, another school, that I discovered another person who knew it and liked it. This particular version is an intriguing recording of them recording the song in the studio. Wonderful seeing that talent at work in such young people.

Hope you like it, and the sun is shining for you, and you’re safe, healthy, and happy somewhere. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, when needed, and get the vax and boosters. I’m off to coffee so I have a fresh cup while listening to the song. Then back to writing’s sanctuary, where the madness is cranking up. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

If you heard a thud earlier today, that was probably Wednesday landing.

Today is March 9, 2022. It’s chilly here, winter-spring, or wing. Blossoms have shown up on trees. Star asters and lilies are shoving their colorful heads out of the ground. Temperature now is 45 F and we expect 52, with some showers possible. The clouds look like they’re not sure about their orders, like, yeah, maybe they’ll come together for some rain, or maybe they’ll just call it off and drift home to Cloud City. (That’s where almost 99% of the clouds live, you know. Have you ever been?)

The sun checked in at 6:33 this morning. Check-out time is 6:10 PM.

The line, “And I’m getting old,” popped into my head last night, just an offshoot of general reflecting upon life, death, and existence, and the world’s current state. That’s a line out of a 1972 song called, “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young, according to the neurons. The line kindled the song and so it remained, looping through the morning mental music stream as I made and consumed breakfast, awaited word about Papi, and read updates about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I love this acoustic version’s sense of introspection and loneliness.

So here we are. Stay positive. It’s a fight, I know. We’re all getting old, aren’t we, although many of us don’t think of ourselves as getting old until some magic point is reached. That magic is a different moment for each, superficially the same, one that can be categorized as a happening, like getting forgetful, or feeling weary, but it’s different for you than from me. I think.

Test negative. Wear a mask if it’s needed and get the vaccine and booster when you can. I’m back to the kitchen for a warmer. Have a better one. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Some call it the end of the business week. The last working day. Others call it the start of the weekend. In this 24/7 world, it’s none and all of these. We can agree that it’s Friday, January 28, 2022.

The sun’s golden light silently came up and over the valley’s horizon at 7:28 AM and will take its light and leave at 5:21 PM. Our mild temperatures, a result of stalled systems, continue. Last night’s low was about 36. It’s now 56 and pleasant, and we expect a high of 62. Meanwhile, I’m reading about the bomb cyclone hitting back east, also known as winter storm Kenan, about to do a massive white dump on the U.S. Two feet of snow in places, flooding, possibly hurricane level winds. That, friends, is winter.

I have a David Bowie song fluttering through the morning mental music stream. “John, I’m Only Dancing” was limited in release. Just too risqué for the U.S. in 1972, the very important people in charge (VIPIP) pronounced. I heard it through some small Pittsburgh station who liked rebelling against such restrictions and then I later owned it on Changesonebowie, which came out in 1976, a terrific album for Bowie fans. I could listen to it forever and a day, as Mom would express it.

Here’s the music, and my coffee, right on schedule. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

The last Thursday of January, 2022, is upon us. We’ve already passed an entire month, as we’re now on the 27th. Does that seem too fast to anyone else? Who is in charge of the speed of time?

Sunrise hit like a bowling ball slowly rolling through the pins at 7:29 AM. Sunshine will flee the scene at 5:19 AM. It’s 44 F now but is expected to hit 61 before descending back down to 32 at night. A fine day, but I will tell you, it gets cold fast when the sun starts making its day-end run. I was with friends, outside, having a beer at 4 PM yesterday. All of us were dressed for it but that sun slide away and took all warmth with it. We dropped from 58 to 45 fast, and it wasn’t a friendly 45. What we endure for a beer with friends.

“Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass (1972) is riding my mind’s rails in the morning mental music stream. I can honestly say I don’t know why. It’s a song I know well from AM pop on transistor radios. It’s also showed up in a number of movies over the decades. Something about the song, a story with pop rock atmosphere, about a girl in a fishing village in love with a fisherman, settles into the mind groove and plays without offending. I also used it — twice — as part of the floofinitions when the floof-rock (flock) group Looking Floof and their hit “Brandy (You’re A Fine Pet)” was featured.

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. I need some coffee. See if that’ll help me match January ’22’s speed. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

“It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day.” Already is. H/t to Johnny Nash for those words and the song they’re from, “I Can See Clearly Now”, from 1972. That’s my theme music today.

Today is Saturday, January 8, 2022. Man, the year is flying by. As this is the late Elvis Presley’s birthday, let’s pause for a moment to imagine an 86-year-old Elvis.

39 degrees F right now but we expect a high of 49 degrees and a low of 32. Not bad for a winter day in our valley.

On happy news, our zip code, 97520, has reached the 80% vaccination rate for our eligible people. Yea, us. On a less happy note, the zip codes around us are mostly mired around fifty to sixty percent, including the large city nearby, Medford. Of course, the Omicron variant has cases zooming to record levels.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when ye’ can. Hope you have a bright sunshiny day. I’m gonna go get a hot, hot, black cuppa coffee. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Hello, sojourners, here we go, another Thursday, the final Thursday of December and 2021. That’s a lot to put on any day of the week, to be the last of its kind. Let’s hope Thursday endures.

It’s December 20 and 33 degrees F here in Ashland, up from the overnight low of 24. Snow…yes, we have some. Want some? Snow flurries expected today but so too is a high of 40. The sun popped in with an early morning show at 7:39 AM before yielding the sky to clouds. When we reach 4:48 PM, the world will turn away from the sun again, putting its reach beyond our horizons.

I’m singing along to “Coconut” by Harry Nillson as it plays in the morning mental music stream. The trigger was the breakfast oatmeal breakfast ritual where a last-minute ingredient was coconut. Coconut went quite well with the chopped figs and dates, cranberries, walnuts, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds already residing in there, along with brown sugar. The song is a fun novelty song about being sick, calling a doctor, and a lime and a coconut. Good singalong song as the lyrics are darn simple.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and the vax and boosters when you can. We still have 796 people requiring a shot to reach 80% in my zip code. It’s slowly trickling down as cases shoot up.

Here’s the music. Time for the coffee quest. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Not snowing. But snow in its piles and layers across lawns, trees, and just about everything but the street still dominates the mind’s intake.

Thirty degrees F. Soft grays infused with whites blanket the sky. Creamy blues enhance the edges above the snowed in evergreens and low mountains.

Today is December 29, 2021. Wednesday. Today, tomorrow, and the day after, and we’re done with 2021. Can stick it in the garage with the other years.

Sunrise crept in more like it was fog than it was sunshine at 7:39 AM. Sunset cometh at 4:47 PM. Sunset is slowly ratcheting back. Sunrise has hit a pause. More daylight is in the offering, if the clouds will let it in.

A 1972 Steely Dan song, “Dirty Work”, is floating on the morning mental music stream. Came into the stream last night as I cleaned the cats’ litter box, harvesting the potatoes. I don’t think much more needs said about that connection.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaccine and boosts when you can. Here’s the music. There’s my coffee. It’s like a moment of Zen. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Another Monday has dragged itself to our doorstep, whimpering, here I am. We have no choice but to take the poor critter in and make the best of the day. “We’ll call it December 20, 2021,” we declare.

This Monday is little different from others this season. Windy, with temperatures slogging through the forties. A bleak sun huddles among clouds, displaying a marbled blue-gray sky. Daybreak came at 7:36 AM and sunset is due at 7:41 in the afternoon. Of course, we’re in a valley and the sun sets behind the mountains. Mountain shadows overtake us about 3:30 in the afternoon, cutting off the sun’s scant heat almost instantly.

Was out last night checking out the moon. Strong one, it burst through the clouds, which anointed it with a colorful corona. The clouds restlessly paced and squirmed. Stars and planets showed their faces but were gone in seconds. All that kicked in a David Bowie song, “Starman”, 1972, into the mental music stream. It still resided there this AM. Because the song sings about a starman being out there.

There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile

h/t to Genius.com

Well, let’s hope we don’t blow it. We often seem on the verge.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Stay informed and alert. I have my coffee. Now I’m gonna listen to the music. Cheers

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