Tag: 2020

Monday’s Theme Music

I can only imagine the shit so many people face daily. I’m sorely aware of my privilege. I have it pretty fucking good. Don’t need to work, having put my time and life into two moderately successful careers while experiencing good luck and little tragedy.

Others aren’t having it so well. They’re struggling to pay for food and shelter. Many times, they work several jobs; work defines their lives and aspirations. They’re being forced to work for little pay under conditions that the rest of us shun. Yet, we depend on them while looking the other way and pretending all is good.

As data about COVID-19 is gathered and analyzed, and corporations, governments, and faux patriots demand that businesses re-open, that we ‘return to normal’, people must decide, should I stay or should I go? That makes the Clash’s 1981 classic the official theme music for this May Monday during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

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Sunday’s Theme Music

An old but apropos song hit my mental music stream last night. Maybe it was the sunshine and rain. Could be that the green full trees and blossoms cast a spell on me. Probably a combo of that, along with restless mind syndrome, but the weeks of limited movement and near-continuous confinement gave me a jab.

“We gotta get out of this place,” I sang to my wife, remembering the 1964 hit by the Animals. “If it’s the last thing we ever do.”

Here it is. Turn it up. Sing along. “We Gotta Get Out of this Place”. Watch the video. Dig that set.

 

 

 

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Saturday’s Theme Music

I haven’t read about many streakers recently. I am surprised.

As lockdowns and business shutdowns are argued and protested, I’d think that stripping off your clothes and running outside would be a natural mechanism to make your voice heard. Nothing makes people hear you more than running around with all your bits flapping. Makes more sense than shouting in police officers’ faces, or threatening others with guns.

Maybe I’m just too early on the curve, and the streaking is about to commence. Perhaps my idea will inspire someone to do it. Yeah, don’t look at me to be the spark plug. I’m a hairy fellow. Last time that I went streaking, people thought a mini Bigfoot was running around. Ended up with that nickname for years. Strangers would see me and shout, “Hey, Bigfoot, how’s it going?” Mom and my sisters started calling me that, too. I thought that showed poor taste on their part.

In honor of the idea, the song, “The Streak” by Ray Stevens (1974) is today’s theme music. Ray had the idea for the song but didn’t execute it until streakers were suddenly everywhere in the news. It’s a story-telling song that utilizes puns and double meanings to express what was going on from a reporter interviewing a witness. The witness is married to Ethel, and he’s always warning her, “Don’t look, Ethel,” and it’s always too late. The song culminates with the witness shouting, “Is that you, Ethel? You get your clothes on.”

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Friday’s Theme Music

“Well you don’t know what uh we can find
Why don’t you come with me little girl?
On a magic carpet ride
You don’t know what we can see
Why don’t you tell your dreams to me?
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl

h/t to Metrolyrics.com

Yeah, it’s Steppenwolf with “Magic Carpet Ride” (1968). I was a big Steppenwolf fan in those days; “Born to be Wild”, “The Pusher”, “Sookie, Sookie”, and today’s theme music were heard at least once a day in the summer of my twelfth year. Mom was aware enough of them that when an article about the group and John Kay’s escape from the Soviet side of Germany was in the Pittsburgh Press, she brought it to my attention.

It’s come up today because, hey, locked into the house, a magic carpet ride would be mighty fine to do a flyover. Even more, fantasy will set you free. Fiction writing is the fantasy that sets me free. Although my quasi-official writing time is about three hours a day, fiction writers (including me) will tell you that the story and its twists and characters invade every mental recess, influencing (and influenced by) every interaction and activity. It’s an interesting trip.

Enjoy the music. Happy Friday, and happy May 1st. Another month in the books. Persevere and overcome the current adversity, endure, and then prosper.

That is all.

 

 

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Out in the backyard last night, breathing in the quiet and cool air, looking for stars through the clouds. A cat twined around my legs and then did a tuck and roll, stretching out for a belly rub.

Lyrics from a Smashing Pumpkin song, “Tonight, Tonight” (1996) came to mind. I’d just retired from the military the year before and was in my first civilian position ever as an adult. It was a bit different, and I was questioning myself and my plans back in that era.

And you know you’re never sure
But you’re sure you could be right
If you held yourself up to the light
And the embers never fade

h/t Genius.com

Funny, but I’m still questioning myself and my plans, in this era. ‘Nuff said.

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Puzzle #10 of 2020

We began puzzle number ten of 2020 today, the bright red Corvette. Sixty by eighty-five centimeters and fifteen hundred pieces, it’ll be a decent challenge, one that will require us to be Zen: to solve the puzzle, we must be the puzzle.

 

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