Tag: John Cougar Mellencamp

Thursday’s Theme Music

“Sunshine,” my heart shouted. “Blue skies! Woo hoo!”

“I see some fog rolling in over the mountains,” my brain replied.

“Shut up,” my heart snapped. “You’re always trying to bring me down with your facts. Just let me enjoy the sunshine.”

“They say snow is on the way,” my brain observed.

So began Thursday, December 9, 2021, with a little heart and brain give and take. At 7:28 AM, the sun cracked the sky and sunshine spilled through the valley. The sun fest will continue until 4:39 PM. It’s 31 degrees F outside right now, and sunny, as my heart noted. My brain is right, though, snow levels are forecast to drop to 2000 feet and flurries are expected throughout the day. Clouds are marshalling over the ranges outside my western windows as I type.

I have “Crumblin’ Down” by John Cougar Mellencamp (1983) playing in the morning mental music stream. A general sense of change inspired the song’s entry into the brain’s holding pattern. Shifts are going on; walls are tumbling down, which led to crumbling down, which beget — well, you get it.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. Here’s the music. Where’s my coffee? I must’ve been perambulating about with the cup in hand. Now I’m on a search and drink mission. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

I use the phrase “Check it out,” often. Used it all of my life. We used it in the military, along with variations like, “Check this out.”

‘Check it out’ always meant, “Hey, look at this,” or “Notice this,” because it’s something special. In our house most recently, it’s been, “Check it out,” regarding something stupid Trump said/did, but also wildlife wandering through the yard — bucks in the day, skunks at night. Check it out.

My friend, a retired doctor, has more varied wildlife at his place. Although just a mile away, it seems further. He sends video of wildlife caught via a trail cam. Check it out, says his email subject line, and it’s a video two cubs nursing on mama bear a yard away from the camera. Or it’s a big bear scratching his back on a pine, another bear taking shelter from a rainstorm. Once in a while, it’s a cougar or fox taking a stroll.

John Cougar, who became John Cougar Mellencamp, who became John Mellencamp (the name he was given at birth), made a song of it in 1987. I saw him perform it in a soccer stadium in Germany the next year, a good show.

So, check it out.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

I have a few pieces of the old Berlin Wall in my office, along with a piece of the original original barbed wire. Yeah, so it’s all claimed; none of it is authenticated.

They’re symbols of oppression and come to mind now because of the constant chatter about people being oppressed. Businesses aren’t permitted to open, or open with severe restrictions. The restrictions are in the name of health and safety; the people protesting them believe that either the government can’t be trusted, that the restrictions are part of a larger plot, or that state, local, and Federal governments don’t have the right to make such restrictions in the name of safety and security.

Anyway, the discussions and disagreements are building metaphorical walls. The Berlin Wall eventually fell; the Great Wall still stands. I wonder how high our walls will go and how long they’ll stand?

Meanwhile, a John (Cougar) Mellencamp song, “Crumblin’ Walls”, 1983, came to mind. I saw him in concert twice, surprisingly in Germany both times.

Enough of this verbal nattering. To the music.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

How ’bout a little ditty about “Jack & Diane”? I always thought I could hear a sneer in John Cougar Mellencamp’s voice when he sang, “Two American kids doing best they can.” The song captured so much of small town Americana and references, how and where they’re hanging out, hopes, dreams, attitude and clothing.

So let it rock.

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