Tag: 1973

Monday’s Theme Music

Yep, turn the page. Start a new leaf. Begin anew, again. November is upon us, a continuation of the autumn months for those of us above the equator. We’re like a ship sailing toward winter. Clouds grow darker and heavier. Sunshine thins and fades, surrendering us to increasingly cold air. We hover around warm spots, watching the horizons for signs of snow, awaiting the next phase.

Or we shrug and press on. Or gather winter sports equipment, put on warmer coats, and head for the hills. Who cares what season it is? Well, we care, but each season brings it personality in. We can usually find things to love and admire in each season. The cats, though, are definitive summer folk. They’re already going out only to dart back in with complaints. “Where is the sun? Turn off the wind. Make it warmer.” So they go until they find a faintly suitable place and curl up, gradually replacing their mutterings with snores.

Today is Monday, November 1, 2021, the first Monday in November. So, we’ll have five Mondays in this month, along with five Tuesdays. The sunshine shifted into the valley with meager offerings at 7:44 AM. The sun will fade away at 6:05 PM. Temperatures will stay chilly with rainfall and winds contributing, giving us a high of 56 degrees F. But the air is clear and absent any signs of wildfire smoke.

For reasons that aren’t in focus for me, a 1973 Marvin Gaye song is playing in the morning mental music stream. Yes, Marvin is singing, “Let’s Get It On”, a smooth, lovely song, evocative of hopeful young love and sex. Hearing the song conjures scenes of dark houses with slow dancing, making out on furniture, quiet pairings of couples who sneak away for some privacy. All this goes with the Halloween period because growing up in the western Pennsylvania area as a teen, that early darkness in alignment with parents’ work hours afforded some unique opportunities to visit with friends in their houses. We were usually outside in the summer and spring, see, while winter brought freezing air and heavy snow that made such visiting difficult. Also, reaching into November, you were a month, almost two, into the new school year. Got to reacquaint yourself you hadn’t seen for a while, rekindling affection and interest. I guess I untied the knot about why the song is hovering around my mind this morning.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Here’s the music, there’s my coffee, and here we go, galloping on into November. Onward, he cried from the rear. Let’s go. Cheers

0

Monday’s Theme Music

Greetings! Happy Labor Day in America! This is a holiday in the U.S. It’s one of the three-day weekend holidays. This was Congress’ gift to the country — particularly the travel industry — in 1968 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

It’s September 6, 2021. Monday, of course. We’re not doing anything special for the holiday. Wildfire smoke and COVID-19 (and the current Delta variation that’s so virulent here in southern Oregon right now) have muted it for us. Might be different if we had family close to us.

Sunrise arrived at 6:41 AM. Sunset, when the Earth turns away from the sun, will come at 7:36 PM. And I think I need to go back and fix an assertion I made on a previous post that we’ve gone below twelve hours of daylight per day. Blame it on a lack of coffee. Or a lack of cogent thinking. Or poor math skills. Temperatures continue to rise but we’re not hitting crazy levels, topping out in the low nineties. AQI for this morning is 163, Unhealthy. We haven’t had a day rated as Moderate since August 25. They’ve all been unhealthy or extremely unhealthy since then, a fact known in many areas out here in the U.S. western states.

Rickie Lee Reynolds died. 72 years old. Heart attack. He was the Black Oak Arkansas guitarist. Black Oak Arkansas was a southern rock band with some glam influences in their stage performances. They came out with a cover of “Jim Dandy” in 1973, while I was a high school junior. Weirdly, I’d encounter this song often on diner and NCO Club jukeboxes for many years. And I’d play it. Which exasperated my wife. She doesn’t like the song. But it’s a throwback, innit?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, avoid crazy cures like ivermectin, and get vaccinated. Have a enjoyable Labor Day, if that applies to you. Gotta get my coffee. Here’s the music. Cheers

0

Friday’s Theme Music

Today is Friday, July, 2021’s, final Friday offering, the fifth Friday of the month. July 30.

It’s a humid morning. 76 F at 7:30 AM. Sky of indiscriminate color. Maybe off-white. Tinged faint yellow. Little of this from smoke, little of that from clouds. Nothing blue. Just a long flat plain.

Sunrise — or daylight — began at 6:02 AM. Sunset will be 8:32. Anticipated highs will be like yesterday, touching 97 to 100, depending on small variations caused by geography. We were at 100 but other friends reported only 98.

Went with ZZ Top this morning for my theme music. “La Grange”. 1973. Dusty Hill – the bassist passed away so they’re on my mind. I first experienced ZZ Top in high school art class. Thanks to Scott M for bringing them in. Tres Hombres. Went out and bought that album as soon as possible. Introduced my wife to it. “Jesus Left Chicago”. “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers”. You know it. Maybe you don’t. Good album.

Anyone else having WordPress issues? I find that the toolbar for the blocks disappear. I can see it over on top on the left. Select a block. Gone. Oh, fun. Those features on that toolbar aren’t available once it disappears. Say, bold. Italics. Even the keystroke commands fail. For that matter, just selecting and highlighting a block is impossible. WordPress says, “Nope. Not gonna do it.” Not for all posts. Just for some. Here and there. Enough to make you ask your computer, “WTF, WordPress.” Enough for you to glower and grit and think, “Surely there’s something better out there.” Oh, but the inertia to search for a new one isn’t there. They know this, I think. Depend on it. I can hear their sinister little voices dripping with contempt. “They won’t leave. They’ll just post snide little comments and give us low ratings. But they’ll stay.” Snort. Snicker. I work around, using Word to type and format everything, then cut and paste. Anyone else having these issues? Or should I take it personally?

Stay positive. Test negative. Hope you can. D variant is striking even if you’re vaxxed. Difference is that less vaccinated head to the hospital. Fewer die. So wear a mask as needed. Looks like it’s needed again. And get the vax. Every little bit will help.

Here’s the music. Cheers

0

Wednesday’s Theme Music

In a befuddled state of mind. Was traveling so the day of the week and my psyche are misaligned. Is this Tuesday, I asked myself. No, thinking verified, remembered, they picked up trash yesterday (oh, yeah), followed by Fitbit on the wrist validation. It’s Wednesday. Okay. We’re starting to synchronize. Wednesday, 7/28/2021. I guessed sunrise was about 6:00 AM and sunset would be about 8:34 PM. Nailed sunrise but sunset is at 8:36 PM.

We’ve resumed standard summer fare. Yesterday remained cloudy all day. Morning showers surprised us a few times. Nothing more came of it but temps were cool. We’ve been presented an azure slate today. Expect temperatures to range into the upper nineties.

No smoke from wildfires. Knock on wood. Know they’re out there. Bootleg fire is over 400,000 acres. Fifty-three percent contained. Lava fire is 78% contained. Jack fire is 60%. They’re an hour to two hours east, south, north. Nothing burning to the west. Yeah, knock wood.

I have “Roll Over Beethoven” hovering in my head today. It began with trying to roll over in bed and finding myself trapped by others, unable to roll over. After grunting through that otherwise silent struggle (followed by annoyed feline appraisals) and reflecting on dreams, the Beatle version of the song went through. Then, for whatever reasons, I compared it to the Chuck Berry original. Next came the ELO version. When I was thinking about the song this morning after I awoke, I found this live ELO version happening. Enjoyed it. So here it is.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax, and keep rockin’. Here’s the music. Cheers

2

Friday’s Theme Music

“Should I try to do some more? Twenty-five or six to four.”

That’s how it briefly felt (befuddled and dazed), trying to scope the time when a dream’s sharp end poked me suddenly awake. Turned out to be 2:33 AM. A trip to release some fluids was in order, followed by a need to add more fluids. Cats, curious about what I’m doing up, seeing an opportunity for a meal, cosied up with purrs and mips. I opened the back door and let cool mountain air and clear starlight seduce me for a few minutes before regular programming was resumed.

Sunrise on June fourth Friday of 2021 came a few hours later, 5:46 AM. We ended up over ninety F yesterday. The weather masters all insist that today will top out in the high eighties, same claim as yesterday, so I believe we’ll peek into the low nineties before the Earth’s movement takes the sun out of our sky at 8:43 PM.

While ambulating about the hills yesterday, “I Ain’t the One” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973) started playing in my mind. I’d been thinking about conspiracy theories, partly because, news, reading of the fiction and non-fiction type, and partly, you know, fiction writing. In fiction land, I’d just finished reading “The Searcher” by Tana French a few days ago, and am now into “The Long Way Home” by Louise Penny along with “A House in the Neighborhood” by Bob Mustin, enjoying them all. Before that lot, I’d read several Lee Child books from the Jack Reacher series, and a few by each by Jonathan Kellerman, Craig Johnson, and Keigo Higashino. Parallel to them, I read “The Grammarians” and just finished reading “The Fifth Risk” by Michael Lewis. Almost all these feature some conspiracy theory thinking. Happens naturally when things happen in fiction and explanations are tasted for what and why. Over in the non-fiction side, “The Fifth Risk” is about DOE concerns about the U.S. electric grid and the Trump administration’s approach to things. Their approach included conspiracy theories about what bureaucrats and political appointees are up to. An interesting albeit painful read.

I queried my head about what conspiracies have to do with “I Ain’t the One”. It took a while of noodling to realize that buried at the song’s end was the clue. Here’s the song’s final lyrics.

Got bells in your mind, mama
And it’s easy to see
I think it’s time for me to move along
I do believe
I must be in the middle of some kind of conspiracy

Lynyrd Skynyrd – I Ain’t the One Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

I muttered a bit at my mind about that feeble connection. I mean, come on, man.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and please get the vax. Cheers.

0

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Guten morgen. Today is Wednesday, May 29, 2021. Muted sunshine began filling the valley this morning about 5:46 AM and will go on until the sun leaves the scene 8:29 PM. Cold cloudiness could lead you to think we’re headed toward autumn instead of summer. People on the morning’s exercise Zoom call were worrying over their vegetable plants and freeze warnings.

I’m in a “China Grove” frame of mind this morning. No particular reason for the 1973 Doobie Brothers song except that I like its energy, and the feel it imparts. So, why not, right?

Wear a mask when needed, stay positive, test negative, and get the vax. Cheers

0

Saturday’s Theme Music

Hello, world. Saturday, April 3, 2021 is or has arrived, depending on where you are when you read this. It could also already be gone by the time this post crosses your path.

The timestamp shows that Sol showed up in Ashland at 6:50 AM Pacific Time. She’s gonna cut out again at 7:39 PM. Meanwhile, she is warming us a bit, so we’re expecting a high temp in the low seventies F.

Today’s music is “Kodachrome”, brought to you by Paul Simon back in 1973. Over on Facebook, Mom shared a series of photos showing four to six young cousins from, the offspring of three different sisters, cuddling and playing in a chair at her house. These would be grandnieces and grandnephews to me. The oldest was ten and the ages dropped off to two. All are caught smiling and laughing. The photos were taken a few years ago.

It reminded me of going home at times. Home was always where mom or my mother-in-law lived. They always asked, “When are you coming home?” I may have left those homes when I was a teenager, establishing homes for me and my wife around the world, but our mothers always asked, “When are you coming home?”

Part of being back home was discovering the old family photos. As older relatives, boxes and envelopes of old photographs arrived. Time was spent studying these things. Sometime notes, dates, or memories established what we were seeing, but many times, we were left with questions of who, when, where?

Thinking of these digital photographs, caught on phones, transferred to computers, displayed on FB, I wondered what it’ll be like in fifty years for these children. Will FB be there to display the photos and remind them of who put it on the net? Or will they be processing through some machine on some night when their mind is restless, put in the right information and stumble across the photos by themselves? Will they remind that date, that chair, those cousins? Will they all still be tight as friends?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, get the vax, and build some memories. Here’s the music, released back when I was a kid. Cheers

1

Thursday’s Theme Music

Good morning, and welcome to the third rock from the sun. It’s Thursday, March 4, 2021. (I think — or so says my computer, calendar, and Fitbit, but can they be trusted? They could be part of the fake news conspiracy.) Sunrise was 6:42 AM in southern Oregon, and the solar orb will ‘set’ at 6:04 PM. (But it doesn’t really go anywhere, does it?) The temperature is already 53 degrees F (or so science claims, if you can believe it) on its way to a prediction of 64. (But then, what do they know?)

The Wayback Machine was fully engaged this morning. I’m embarrassed to admit the song I was singing was being sung to a cat. I was barely awake. The cat, Tucker, was on the pillow beside me, peering at me as his Mack truck purr rumbled through my bones. He was doing a little kneading. So I sang *ahem* “Boogie on reggae kitty. What is wrong with you? Boogie on reggae kitty. What you tryin’ to do?”

The cat liked it.

The song, of course, is “Boogie On Reggae Woman” by Stevie Wonder (1973), a fusion of funk and jazz that was part of the music happening of the popular music/classic rock era. I love the sound that Stevie brings. It’s sad that we don’t hear boogie mentioned often these days. Used to be, “You want to go boogie?” Or someone would say something and you’d reply, “Boogie on.” Feel me?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask and get the vax.

0

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Blame it on the weather. Blame the pandemic. Maybe it’s the trumpshit surrounding the established routines of presidential elections, or December. Memories always clot Decembers. Maybe, though, it’s just my brain having fun with me.

However I finger-point, my mind was shuffling music this morning. After five or six songs (trying to remember how many but they were coming and going, doing a Waring blender mashup in my mind), “The Cisco Kid” by War (1973) found the groove and rose to dominance.

It’s a fun song to sing along with. The words are simple but the story told don’t make sense. That’s okay, it’s music. The funky sounds, solid bass, and steady rhythm will carry you forward. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the song, you can listen to it and let it start taking your body into dance moves.

Please enjoy, and remember to be positive, test negative, and wear a mask. Cheers

0

Secretly

The sun is beating on my head through my hat. I’m just the help. It’s a role that I enjoy.

Some.

“Boss me around, baby,” I do NOT say. I stay mute, gloves on hands, left arm in its removable brace, hoe nearby, spade in hand.

My wife is the master, planting her garlic for winter. She’s serious about her garden. Fresh bulbs had been procured, along with the right soil and fertilizer. Potatoes occupy the usual garlic winter home. A new one is required. “Somewhere in the sun,” she proclaims with steely vigor, looking around.

A song spurts into my head. Oh, hey. Did you happen to —

“We need to move the compost bins,” my wife declares.

We’re in the side yard, where most of the gardening is done. Boo, the backyard panther with a white star on his chest (like he’s sheriff) (guess, that would be a floofriff) moseys along toward us, talking as he comes. One compost bin (previously emptied) is moved to a new location. With this happening, Boo retreats to the backyard He wants nothing to do with work.

I shovel the compost from the full one to the empty one’s new location. The song resumes it secret playing in my head. Oh, hey. Did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world. And if you did, was she crying?

Yes, Charlie Rich is serenading my brain with “The Most Beautiful Girl” as I do as I’m told. (We’re now on breaking up the soil where the garlic is to reside.) I blame my mother for this song. While Charlie Rich’s voice and the accompanying music is coming off vinyl courtesy of Mom’s mohogany Magnavox console stereo, it’s Mom singing along along with Rich who is actually singing in my head. She used to frustrate me by singing this song when I was trying to talk to her about it. It was apparently funny to her. The song came out in 1973. I would turn seventeen that year. I’d left home a year or two before to live with Dad, but would return to Mom for major holidays. Dad, single guy that he was, didn’t do holidays.

Why did Mom sing that song to me? Why was I singing today? These the mind’s mysteries. At least, they’re my mind’s mysteries. I don’t know what goes on in others’ minds. I barely comprehend what’s happening in my own.

“Now I just need to water them.” My wife was finished. I was dismissed.

It was a good day. Time to go wash my wife’s car. Wonder what song will be playing?

Oh, wait, Rose Royce begins their 1976 hot song, “Car Wash”. I was stationed in the Republic of the Philippines when it was out. My good buddy Bopie introduced it to me.

At least this one is task appropriate.

3

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑