Tag: Arlo Guthrie

Satyrdaz Theme Music

They tell us that it’s foggy out there. I’m looking out the windows and all I see are blue skies and sunshine to beat the band. It’s 32 F degrees, ’bout the same as yestidaz temperature at this time but it doesn’t feel nearly so cold on account of the plentiful sunshine headin’ our way. That’s how it is today, Satyrda, November 22, 2025, in Ashlandia of southern Oregon, or SO, as we call it. BTW, the high temp for SO will be in the low 60s. Maybe.

Brekkie has been done up and served but while I was doing it, I regarded my wife’s early Friendsgiving Day preparations. They reminded me that Thanksgiving is this coming Thirstda in ‘Merica. That kind of thinking led to The Neurons offering of the song called “Alice’s Restaurant”. Other than that refrain and the song’s object being about a visit to Alice one Thanksgiving and how it came to change Arlo Guthrie’s life as told via the tale of a massacree, there’s not much about Alice’s Restaurant in the lyrics. I listened to them all this morning, smiling in memory of hearing it other times, chuckling at the turn of phrases and events. A good way to waste time while sipping a fresh coffee, and a fine antidote to the trumplusional world we’re facing on this Satyrda.

I read today about how Trump denied what he said he said. Typical Dizzy Don, using terms he doesn’t understand, throwing them about, shouting about killing others, and then pretending that he’d not said all of that, and that his toadies hadn’t repeated much of it.

Trump says he wasn’t threatening lawmakers with posts about ‘seditious behavior’

“These are people that, in my opinion, broke the law,” Trump said. “Now what happens to them, I can’t tell you. But they broke the law. That is a terrible statement. I can say that if I ever said that and there were a Democrat as president, all hell would have broken loose.”

I don’t think much of Lame Donny’s opinion. Too many of his opinions are built on thoughts with less substance than air vapor. Of course, those Democrats didn’t break any law, but as a person who regularly breaks laws and has been convicted of doing so, Dozy Donny wouldn’t know what the law is if it bit him in the ass. Remember, this burning match of intelligence is the one who wasn’t sure if he was supposed to obey the Constitution.

Trump, asked if he has to ‘uphold the Constitution,’ says, ‘I don’t know’

By the time Dumb Donny answered that question, he’d been sworn into office twice. An adult American, supposedly a graduate of accredited school systems, Dim Donny couldn’t answer a question which most high schoolers would get right.

My eyes are rolling and my head is shaking as I think and type that.

Anyway…

Though it’s sunny and clear, peace and grace are nowhere to be seen. Hope they show, hope they show. Back to the coffee and on into the day we go. Cheers

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Thanksgiving’s Theme Music

Mood: Thanksthinking

Football and parades are on television. Dawn cracked open a blue sky this morning. Sunshine spilled out across 28 degrees F. It’s 43 and feels like 53, with a high of 48 projected. It gets windy, driving Papi to floofishly beat on the front door window for immediate entrance. His tail highpoints in salute as I let him in. Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah) gives the ginger blade an askance look of pity as Papi passes him.

Thanksgiving memories erupt. Going to my paternal grandparents on cold and gray Pittsburgh days. Greeting cousins, aunts, and uncles seen only four times a year. Sitting at one of several children tables. Warm house, laughter, cigarette smoke, beer, and whiskey sodas. The children are herded into the cellar to contain noise. The problem: there’s nothing to do in that cellar except mill around. One by one, we quietly sneak back upstairs.

Mom and Dad separate and divorce. Mom remarries and becomes host and cook, but man, she can cook. Thanksgiving meals are always delicious feasts around traditional offerings. We play card games after the meal and gorge on leftovers for days.

Basic training saw me in San Antonio. Luckily, I had Uncle Paul and his family there to host me for Thanksgiving. Danny White led the Dallas Cowboys to victory. Later, I’m stationed in the San Antonio area. Uncle Paul’s family still lives there and my wife and I visit them for Thanksgiving.

A Thanksgiving follows in the Philippines, where my crew invites me into their house for an American-Filipino Thanksgiving. We play a new electronic game called Pong on television.

Our tour in Okinawa is broken into two phases: pre- and post-base housing. In the pre-phase, food prep is shared between several houses. We barely fit into one of the small apartments to eat. Once we’re in base housing, we’re in a large, comfortable space where my wife plays cook and hostess in Germany. As we return to America, Thanksgiving gets more complicated. We’re alone sometimes, or I’m on shift working. Later as I become more senior in rank, we become host for young co-workers and friends. We do the same after being assigned to California.

Out of the military and tired of hosting, we go out for dinner on Thanksgiving for a year or two in Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, California. My wife has become a vegetarian. An awful attempt with tofurkey is made. Stuffed acorn squash. We end up buying turkey breasts and having much smaller meals. Thanksgiving transitions to Friendsgiving. Friends host others like us and we collect at their homes. The meals feel like the ones I enjoyed as a child. I’ve gone full circle.

I’m going with “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie for today’s theme music. It’s a staple of my existence, and The Neurons are okay with it. Alice Brock, the Alice in the song, passed away earlier this month. RIP. It plays in the background of my morning mental music stream (Trademark roasted) as I go about preparing to go to Friendsgiving at our friends’ farm. We prepared our food contributions yesterday. Corn souffle, prepared with my wife carefully watching me, is my contribution.

Coffee and I continue renewing our daily relationship. The house weather system says its 50 F out. Plentiful sunshine baths the street. Hope you have a memorable Thanksgiving if you’re participating, and a great day no matter where you are.

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: retrospective

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, October 3, 2023. 52 F outside, it’s foggy and wet. A light rain falls in Ashlandia, where the water is limited and the optimism is eternal.

A prepondence of Ashlandia trees have embraced autumn and show its effects in their color stylings. This isn’t true in my neighborhood slice. I guess the trees here are late adopters. All immediately outside my window remains verdant with a wet sheen. We’re warm and dry in the house, and the domino effect is that it’s a cozy fall morning. Coffee has brewed, embedding the ambiance with wistful nostalgia.

I’m happy that it’s still shorts weather.

Meanwhile, the cats take opposite approaches to the fall weather shift. Papi, the young ginger blade who likes being outside, came in from the rain and colder temperatures. Right now, he’s posing on the master bed, looking calm and majestic in the soft grey light through the windows. Tucker, a big old cat with thick back and white fur, has headed outside and is curled up and asleep by the front porch cairn, protected from rain by the eaves.

While it’s cool now, we’re going to work our way up to 69 F. People aren’t doing much of the work; the sun, wind, and air do the heavy shifting today.

I tried Amla — Indian Gooseberry — powder today. My wife is always searching for healthy additions to our diet and habits. She’d read about amla and ordered the powder off the net. I added a serving to my oatmeal this morning. The gooseberry powder infused the oatmeal with a sweet berry flavor that I much enjoyed. I’ll be on watch for its impact on my health.

I have “City of New Orleans” as covered by Arlo Guthrie in the morning mental music stream (Trademark screwy). The Neurons selected it because I was reviewing a bill last night from the City of Ashland. This is a utility bill – water, electric, sewer, storm drain, street and street lights. $104 for the month. Half of it is services, fees, and taxes. Part of that is because the electricity charges are offset by our solar panels. 2K, I had them installed back in 2010.

I see clearly how The Neurons were thinking: City of Ashland = “City of New Orleans”.

While I searched for a video version of the song I wanted, I discovered a fascinating video of Mike Campbell explaining how “Boys of Summer” was written. I’ve always enjoyed that song and had wondered who the guitarist was when it was first released. Turned out to be Mike Campbell.

Campbell, who played with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, also backed Don Henley and Stevie Nicks. He’s a guitarist who I’ve long respected for his clean and simple playing style, so hearing this tale was a treat. It was also a fascinating reveal of some modern rock history, and an engrossing explanation in how he and Henley wrote the song, “Boys of Summer”. Many obstacles and near disasters were overcome. Check it out if you have a moment.

Campbell’s closing remarks reverberated with the writer in me. “When you hit a stumbling block, you gotta keep going. Don’t give up. Keep pushing, pushing, pushing, and working till you get it right.”

Stay pos and fresh, strong and optimistic. Coffee has been guzzled on my end. I’m ready to commence the day. With a morning like this, I’m expecting to have a good day.

Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thanksgiving Theme Music

A little humor, a little Arlo Guthrie, a little Thanksgiving Thursday throwback theme tune. Pretty good alliteration, doncha’ think?

“Alice’s Restaurant” (1967).

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Apropos of nada, I awoke to the song “City of New Orleans” (1971) streaming through me. Written by Steve Goodman, made famous by Arlo Guthrie, it’s about how people pass time while riding across America on a train, what they pass, and how the train trip is a metaphor for change in America.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

I associate this song with Thanksgiving, and as it’s the day before Thanksgiving in America, I thought I’d proffer this humorous, mellow gem from nineteen sixty-seven.

Peace out.

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