Tag: 2017

Tuesday’s Theme Music — The Man

Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

95 will be today’s high. Blue sky, sunshine, 71 F right now.

We’re in a mini-limbo with Mom’s house sale. One set of inspections is done, and it’s not bad. Repairs and issues are underway. Some are due to the house’s age. For instance, back in the day, a window in the bathroom sufficed; fans weren’t needed. Now, with the house changing hands, code stipulates bathroom fans. And the dryer duct came undone. Stuff like that.

I used to tease Mom about her old washer and dryer. Both were ‘low value’ purchases. Didn’t match: Whirlpool and GE. She bought the dryer shortly after moving in back in ’95. The house had a washer but then needed to be replaced around ’99. But those two pieces have chugged along. Same with the old gas range. We siblings pitched together to buy her a portable dishwasher from Sears one Mother’s Day in the late nineties. My brother-in-laws installed it as a permanent piece in the early 00s. Still works as well.

Mom’s house is full of things that were old but worked well. She always took care of it all.

My dental appointments didn’t go well yesterday. These are about surgical dental implants. I had the surgery a year ago. The site that remains had a cyst removed and needed more time to recover. Well, yesterday’s ‘click tests’ with that tiny torque wrench show that it needs more time. So the next steps — installing the implant — were pushed back six weeks.

Ironically, I’d changed the implant date, June 25, to July, because it clashed with my scheduled bladder surgery. Oh, well.

It feels like D.C. and Trump has entered a sort of stasis. That’s my opinion from ‘out here’. One, Trump’s war with Iran is ‘over’. We’re all digesting its consequences. Two, Trump is definitely physically and mentally run down. I don’t give a damn about official reports. We can see it in whenever he appears in public, and can read it when he sends out midnight texts.

Those texts remind me of my mother’s bout with sundowner syndrome, BTW. She was also sending them in the middle of the night and they also made little sense.

The economy and systems are all also giving the signals about what Trump’s unchecked actions have wrought. Additionally, the judicial system is pushing back. Many Trump initiatives have become a tug of war in courts, things like his ICE deportation policies, ICE killing of US citizens, renaming the Kennedy Center, building the Epstein ballroom, the tariffs…it’s a long list.

The trends are clear. Trump acts fast, asserting permission with arrogance. Shock travels the affected. Reactions set in. Legal actions are raised against Trump. Courts rule. Trump often loses but appeals decisions, frequently changing legal tactics.

All of that is Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! to cover his enormous stealing, his insider stock trading, his underhanded grifting.

It’s all slowly catching up, leading to the mid-term confrontations. I’m sure Trump rushed to a deal now because he’s trying to save face and gain back support before the mid-terms. I’m sure he believes he can gain some support with Freedom 250 and the Great American State Fair, and the pageantry planned for that.

The problem with his plan remains: he is Trump. He’ll make it about himself.

He is Trump. He refuses to understand that his policies have failed, and that’s why voters are turning against him.

So, he is Trump. He will lash out.

Our question remains, how?

Today’s song ends up being “The Man” by The Killers.

Sample Lyrics:

Don’t need no advice
I got a plan
I know the direction
The lay of the land
I know the score like the back of my hand
Them other boys
I don’t give a damn

I’m the man, come round
No-no-nothing can break, no-nothing can break me down
I’m the man, come round and
No-no-nothing can break, you can’t break me down

The 2017 song was written about the POV that you feel invincible when you’re young. That makes sense.

The song came to the morning mental music stream when I was thinking about Trump and the morning news. And I realized that the song is apt for the day because a large part of Trump is his immaturity. He remains a person who thinks himself invincible.

I hope you have an excellent day, full of peace and grace, no matter the weather or season wherever you are.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Today began with a great force shifting the world as we hurtled through space. Then, like other days, another rotation was completed (although it was just a little slower than yesterday’s) and we moved a little further from the sun. All things are relative.

Today is the only ‘w’ day in the week, Wednesday, named for another god, Woden. It’s 47 in the valley. Bright sunshine strains the eyes and heats the skin. Sunrise came at a proper 6:45 AM, and our planet’s dynamics will move the sun out of our valley at 7:42 PM. In between, we’ll hit 76 degrees F, maybe higher. There are mixed feelings about that. The heat feels good, the sunshine is engaging and energizing, but we need water falling from the sky and filling the basins, lakes, rivers, ponds, creeks, streams, and cisterns.

For the record, this is April 6, 2022.

The only dream of note was about clawing out of something. It didn’t move the neurons toward any music. Instead, they’re channeling Hall & Oates and van Halen into the morning mental music stream. “She’s Gone” from 1974 is one of those break-up songs that torches the skin and screams through the bones in sympathy with what you’re going through. I was going through a lot when it came out, so it’s memorable to me.

But it’s not today’s song. That honor falls to “Young, Dumb and Broke” by Khalid (2017). As I was pursuing memories and thoughts that the neurons churned up this morning, I remembered when my wife and I were young and broke. The neurons, being the critters they are, immediately loaded “Young, Dumb and Broke”. It’s an entertaining song, though.

Stay positive, and so on. You know the pandemic mantra by now. I’m up for coffee; can I get you anything? No. Alright. Here’s the tune. Enjoy.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Good day, Saturheads. Today is December 4, 2021. Happy birthday to you, if it’s your birthday. Hope it’s the best one yet.

Day broke with a foggy layer. Appears to be yesterday’s fog, as the day decided not to change its weather, but to just use yesterday’s weather. “It was barely used yesterday,” the day was quoted on the net (so you know it must be true). “It just hung in the sky all day. Still looked brand new. So, what the cloud? I figured I’d economize, use it again. You have any idea how much it costs to put up that much new fog every day?”

Yesterday’s highs were never achieved as fog shut down the sun’s heat. We mustered 50, I think. Expect the same today. Currently 41 F six hours after starting at 39 when the sun stumbled in at 7:23 AM. I bout it will be much warmer by the time the sun bids adieu at 4:39 later this afternoon, just three hours from now.

Been out shopping. Visited Scoffco as Costco is now labeled for the preponderance of mask scoffers. They’re not worried about catching nor spreading no stinkin’ COVID. That location was the worse of the seven stores we visited this morning. Seven? Yes. My wife has begun collecting the props for her book club’s annual holiday party. (They are the Ladies #1 Book Club.) We were on a quest for napkins, marshmallows, and specific hot chocolate, but also did personal grocery shopping. I am the official driver and part-time advisor. “Will this work, do you think?” she asks, holding something up. “Maybe,” I sagely reply, peering at it.

Being with my wife on her shopping project, my mind adopted Lauv’s song, “I Like Me Better” (2017). She no doubt makes me a better person. Her presence helps me consider issues from the female side, and she likes challenging norms and sexism. My thinking has grudgingly expanded under her tutelage. It’s only taken five decades. That’s how long we’ve been together as friends, steadies, lovers, and spouses.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed — don’t be a Scoffco’er — and get the vax and booster when you can. Time for a coffee with a muffin, so excuse me. Back later.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Song

Came across this song last night as I drifted the net. I’m a Nirvana, Grohl, Foo Fighters, AC/DC fan. This Foo Fighters cover of “Let There Be Rock” by AC/DC fills those squares.

The song itself, released back in 1977, with lyrics about the birth of rock, is sillier than I enjoy, but works well for nostalgia and thoughts of back in the day. The Foo Fighters (like always, it seems) does a fine cover. Lovely heavy bass line. I could use more of Chris on lead but the band’s intensity is mesmerizing.

While I’m on about nostalgia, we had a short net outage yesterday, reminding me of what it’s like without the web to offer news, opinion, entertainment, and diversion.

Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music Twofer

An old favorite Jethro Tull song came to mind this morning as I thought of self-isolation and the coronavirus social-distance shuffle. “Only Solitaire” is a short ‘un.

Brain-storming habit-forming battle-warning weary
winsome actor spewing spineless chilling lines —
the critics falling over to tell themselves he’s boring
and really not an awful lot of fun.
Well who the hell can he be when he’s never had V.D.,
and he doesn’t even sit on toilet seats?
Court-jesting, never-resting — he must be very cunning
to assume an air of dignity
and bless us all with his oratory prowess,
his lame-brained antics and his jumping in the air.
And every night his act’s the same
and so it must be all a game of chess he’s playing —
“But you’re wrong, Steve: you see, it’s only solitaire.”

h/t AZLyrics.com

As it’s so short, my mind jumped to a 1966 Neil Diamond song, “Solitary Man”. (BTW, Johnny Cash did an interesting cover of this song in 2000.)

The song has that pop sound of transition during those days (mid sixties). Featuring a horn section that was often used as pop went electric, becoming rock and more mainstream, the song has a sound that I associate more with adult contemporary. Interesting though, that this sound is being used by several groups now as a retro sound. Think, for example, of Portugal! the Man. WTH, I’ll include that, too. You don’t get a twofer, but a threefer.

That is all. Good day.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Today’s theme music is “Havana” by Camila Cabello (2017).

A lovely song about a brief love affair, it’s in my music stream this morning, background to routines, but I don’t know why. I had a smattering of dreams that felt inchoate. Little is clearly remembered except for an instance of awakening in alarm with the urgent question, “What was I supposed to do?” occupying me. Leaping up, I hunted for clues in a blended zone of sleep and consciousness. Anxiety ebbed back as I realized it was a dream, but I wondered about its roots.

So how does the salsa-influenced, bouncy “Havana” figure into this? Call me clueless in the morning.

As I enjoy the song, I played the video after Cabello’s SNL appearance a few weeks ago, chuckling at the reality send-up that bracketed the song.

 

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Heard this on the radio this morning in the car. After parking, I listened through to the end. Nothing was in English, so I didn’t understand it, but I enjoyed many elements. After heading out to write and walking a few miles, I reached the coffee shop, powered up the ‘puting machine, and found the song.

“Sastanàqqàm” by Tinariwen was released in 2017. Wikipedia tells me that Tinariwen is a band of Tuareg refugees playing desert blues. The song’s lyrics fascinate me.

I Question You

Ténéré,can you tell me
of anything better
Than to have your friends
and your mount,
And a brand new goatskin,
watertight,
To find your way
by the light
Of the four bright stars
of heaven,
To know how
to find water in
The unlikeliest of places,
And enlist the momentum
of the wind
To help you move forward.
Tell me, Ténéré,
how you and I
Can remain united,
with no hate for each other.
Ténéré, I can now admit that
I have travelled far through this wide world.
Ténéré, I give you my oath
That as long as I’m alive,
I will always come back to you.

https://lyricstranslate.com

  • Ténéré means desert in Tuareg

Hope you give it a listen and enjoy it as much as I did. Cheers

 

 

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Sunday’s Theme Music

I like this song, “New Rules”, by Dua Lipa. I like the beat, the embedded humor, relationship observations, and the overall message. It’s a good streaming song when for when I’m out and about walking. (Though, in a mental pause, I think, isn’t that redundant? Can I be in walking? So trite.)

One, don’t pick up the phone
You know he’s only calling ’cause he’s drunk and alone
Two, don’t let him in
You’ll have to kick him out again
Three, don’t be his friend
You know you’re gonna wake up in his bed in the morning
And if you’re under him, you ain’t gettin’ over him

h/t Azlyrics.com

I think they’re damn fine, common sense rules. Not really new, except to her. In a touch of cosmic serendipity, the song was released one year ago today.

 

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

This song has been creeping in on my consciousness like volunteer weeds taking root. Then my wife started singing parts of it and playing it.

I had a problem, though. I thought they were singing, “Ooh ooh, I’m a rebel with a kick stand.” My musical instincts told me that probably wasn’t what was being sung.

I asked my wife, and she provided the right words: “I’m a rebel just for kicks, now.”

Ah, kicks now. That makes more sense than kick stand.

I enjoy this song, with its cool rhythm, back beat, and muted brass inflections. The lyrics are awesome, too:

I been feeling it since 1966, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Ooh woo, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now
Let me kick it like it’s 1986, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still

Here’s Portugal. The Man, and “Feel It Still” from 2017.

 

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Saturday’s Theme Music

A song is trapped in my stream. I’m sharing it to dislodge it from my consciousness.

Imagine Dragons seem skilled at hooking me. I like several of their songs. I shared “Believer” before. I’ve heard “Thunder” a few times this week; it’s the song that’s gotten stuck. So here it is, for you, Imagine Dragons with “Thunder.”

Sing along with it:

Thunder, thunder
Thunder, thun-, thunder
Thun-thun-thunder, thunder, thunder
Thunder, thun-, thunder
Thun-thun-thunder, thunder

Thunder, feel the thunder
Lightning then the thunder
Thunder, feel the thunder
Lightning then the thunder
Thunder, thunder
Thunder

You ever notice how thunder starts looking weird as a word after typing it several times?

No, me, neither.

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