Tag: pop

Wednesday’s Theme Music

White frost rules the shadows. As sunshine finds it, steam rises. The temperature is balking from going up, hanging on to that overnight low of 26 F (-3 C). Steam rises as sunshine finds the frost and melts it away. A hazy blue sky and low gray clouds on the western horizon tells us little about what the weather has in store for us today. 46 F is the expected high.

It’s 12/7/2022, Wednesday. December 7 remains vivid in US history as the day Japanese naval air forces attacked Pearl Harbor. Despite that history, the sun rose and it will set, with respective times of 7:26 AM and 4:39 PM.

AC/DC rules the morning mental music stream. The Neurons heard “Shoot to Thrill” (1980) on the radio yesterday and decided they remembered that they liked it. The down under band always knows how to rock it, though they’ve felt the effects of life forces as death took the older of the rock guitarist brothers who founded the band. That was a few years ago. They still thrill us via technology.

The song has a lot of sexual overtones to it. But it’s all about a drug scene, inspired by tales of dealers providing housewives with drugs. It’s hard rock of the finest kind, part of the album, “Back in Black”, released after their lead singer died. The album lifted AC/DC to new commercial success.

Stay positive and test negative. Stay warm if you inhabit cold climes, and stay cool if you in the hot zones. Enjoy an inspired Wednesday. Speaking of inspired, where is my coffee?

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Dawn broke, and now we could see why it was so dark. Last night’s sky was clear. Enriched by unblemished moonshine, spectacular starry mountain vistas were on offer.

Today, clouds have gone come down and fog hugs the ground. Grey is the color of the sky, and sunlight evades our searching eyes.

It’s Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Hear the tick tick of the digital clocks emulating the grandfather clock’s countdown? That’s the sound of the year leaving. Or maybe it’s the sound of the next year hurrying to us. The sun showed up on our spinning planet’s piece called southern Oregon at 7:25 this morning and will toss goodbye over its sunny shoulders at 4:39 PM. It’s 0 C but we’re hopeful of reaching 44 F today. Rain? No, they say. They’re telling us that despite the overcast sky and fog I’m seeing, it’s actually mostly sunny in Ashland. Most be another part of town.

What I notice of my morning rituals is that the summer sun comes in through the large east-facing living room window. By this time of the year, the sun shyly looks in through the southern window around the corner from the living room window and twenty-three feet further up the side of the house. They have come to be known as the summer window and winter window for me.

I awoke with a Led Zeppelin favorite in mind. Coming out in 1971, when I became fifteen years old, Led Zepp’s fourth album had a song on it called “When the Levee Breaks”. Now, I enjoyed that entire album but that song was the one which usually haunted me later. Later reading revealed that it was an old country song, which added a layer of thinking that stimulated greater introspection. Its worrying lyrics and downcast beat seemed firmly rooted in someone’s existence.

Later, I found its beat and tone conducive to walking and thinking. I was then and have always been a person who enjoys walking distances. I’m one to take the long way home when I’m on my feet, climbing up hills to gain a broader perspective. So it was that I was out yesterday, climbing the hills and thinking about my writing in progress when The Neurons rummaged through my youthful memories and began playing it. It stayed in my morning mental music stream today.

When I went off looking for a version to play today, I stumbled upon this version by the Playing for Change project. Incorporating a huge variety of sounds and talented individuals, it’s even more powerful and haunting than the version Zepp gave us. John Paul Jones of Zepp is included among the musicians. Derek Trucks is one of the folks on slide guitar. I hope you listen to the song and that it stirs you as it does me.

Off for coffee. Stay pos and test negative. Here’s the video. Cheers

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Moanday’s Theme Music

Moanday is upon us again. That is Moanday as in, “Dear Lord, it’s Monday again.” I understand some people like Mondays. Come back to me and ask after I’ve had coffee.

It’s December 5, 2022. That happens to be my little sister’s birthday. She’s beautiful, intelligent, successful, and highly capable. Things every person should be. Generates suspicions in me about whether I’m related to her, though I was there when Mom brought her home and admired her as she slept. I know her husband, children, grandchildren, sisters, and Mom will all properly fete her.

Don’t you think that should be an expression? “Well, fete me, if I didn’t forget to buy that card while I was out.”

Sorry, lack of coffee is making The Neurons are little freakie deakie this Moanday.

36 F is what my weather station claims it to be. It’s a wet, foggy, gloomy Moanday, something appropriate for the moors. Our high will be 46. The end pieces of sunrise and sun drop are 7:24 and 4:39, AM and PM respectively. All but small, distant football fields of snow are gone from the mountains from what I saw yesterday. Rain is coming, they say. Probably snow a bit in the upper reaches.

Spent some time from being human and reading news to watching the volcano eruption in Hawaii. Being human is a minor theme this AM. Started with the cats. Restless due to weather, they intensely shadowed me this morning, vocally challenging me at every turn. Chatting with them, my refrain became, “Guys, look, I already fed you. I don’t understand what you want. I’m only human. I don’t understand your floofish.”

Paying scant attention, my neural Alexa told The Neurons, “Play Human by The Human League.” The 1986 soft ballad is classic techno pop. Get in a car, close your eyes, and you can be transported to the Reagan years. Of course, I sang the floof version for the cats’ amusement. First, there was, “You’re only human, a pathetic little man.” That’s how they seem to feel about me at times. Later’s version was, “I’m just a kitty, fur and claws, a cat.”

The Neurons are gasping for coffee. I need to end their pain. Here’s the music. Go ahead, drift back in time, if but a few seconds. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

It’s an auspicious Sunday morning. Fox Sports viewers are still reeling from an extreme closeup of Michigan’s Coach, Jim Harbaugh, delivered by a ref cam on television yesterday. Oh, the humanity!

December 4th has its hands around us. Mild weather in our valley is putting on airs. 40 F now, we anticipate a high that exceeds (or not) 49 F. Mostly cloudy, with the sun playing peek-a-boo with us, the ground is wet from nocturnal rain, and those clouds are saying, “Seriously, we might let loose with some water again. Don’t laugh. We mean it.”

DIY plans have gone awry. The microwave went out again last week. New parts were ordered. They arrived yesterday. Soon as I picked up that box, I knew the right parts weren’t within. The box weighed about eight pounds, which seems heavy for a door microswitch and a plastic switch holder. Emails were sent. Replies are awaited. The cats are watching the skies for carrier pigeons from customer service.

Other DIY plans are going well as new interior seals are put on the windows. Tiny measures like that make a huge difference. The house feels so much snugger and cozier. Yes, I did procrastinate on getting that done. It was overdue. I blame the cats for that.

With a weather break and the winds dissipated, both cats are out on sentry, one each covering the front and back approaches. News of a local cougar killing a pet cat has us on edge. Previous reports were out but this time, cyclists witnessed the cougar with the cat in mouth. That seems pretty accurate.

The Neurons have “Let It Roll” by Little Feat (1988) pumping through the morning mental music stream. It’s funny that this is the song that ended up there. Yes, funny, ha, ha. I was thinking of my novel in progress, pondering where the muses were going to take me. I feel like I have a blindfold on. They’re standing around me, giggling and smothering their laugher, telling me what to do. My response is, yeah, let it roll. Let’s see how it rolls out. But a number of artists come to mind when the song lyrics ‘let it roll’ go by. Foremost is usually BTO — yeah, Bachman Turner Overdrive for the uninitiated — urging, “Let it roll! Down the highway. Roll. Roll.” I speculate that the weather has The Neurons in a Germany state of mind. I was stationed in Germany for a few years in the late eighties. Weather there was often overcast. Seeing this weather reminded me of those German days. That’s when this Little Feat song came out.

Coffee time! Stay positive and test negative. Mask up as needed. Be smart about it. I know most are beyond weary. I understand. The vulnerable remain vulnerable, though. Sure, that’s their problem, right? Uh, huh. Sure.

Wait, the cats are clamoring for re-entry. Yep, the clouds came through. Light rain falls.

Here’s the tune. Enjoy. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Yippee. December’s first Saturday has arrived. Per family tradition, I get to eat like a kid all day, play games, and goof off. Not much different from most of my days.

Only four Saturdays remain of 2022. It’s so exciting to watch each Saturday overtake us and unfold like a rare flower. Today is already December 3. The heat is running, the sun is shining, but a cold northy wind is beating us like a drum. It’s 46 F and it feels like 36. Today’s high will be a rousing 51. The winds are expected to dip and the sun has issued promises that sunshine is here for the day. Speaking of the sun, its rise was 7:22 AM. Only a few weeks until the sun’s arrival starts moving back the other day, spreading daylight longer through the day. The sun’s endpoint will be at 4:39 PM. Daylight will fade shortly after.

I was singing to one of my floofmates last night. Papi, the ginger wonder, had an attitude going on. Just like sitting back, surveying the scene, a disdainful observer too cool to be involved. The way he reclined and surveyed prompted both a laugh from me and a proclamation that he was a soul cat. I then improvised lyrics to the song “Soul Man” for his listening delight. He deigned to be delighted.

Taking notice of all this, The Neurons delivered “Soul Man” to the morning mental music stream. The song, written by Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter, was a hit by Sam and Dave in 1967. That’s the song I knew and grew up with. But I must admit, The Blues Brothers version delighted me because of the characters Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi brought to stage in 1978. I’m going with the latter for today’s theme music.

Stay positive and test negative. Enjoy December’s First Friday. I’m gonna start with a hot cup of the black brew known as coffee. Here’s the music. Hope you like it more than Papi. Of course, that may have been my mocking or singing putting the cat off.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Visions of heating bills danced through my head. They warned us it was going down to 22 F last night but my system said it only declined to 29 and it’s already surged to 0 C (32 F). A high of 39 F is eagerly anticipated.

Welcome to December 2, 2022.

A hazy shade of winter dominates the blue sky. A smattering of snow on the grasses and trees tell on the season but the streets and walks are clear. It’s a Friday. Sun splashed some amazing merlot and tangerine through the morning medley before the sun cleared the horizon at 7:21. Daylight will have its place until 4:39 this evening, then we’ll likely see another orgy of clouds and color as the sun salutes us and leaves.

Got a little old rock n’ roll in my head, an offering from Bruce and the E Street Band. The song is “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” from way back in the early 1970s. I think Der Neurons found it in my cellar memory when I was addressing his ginger lordship, Papi. Papi was expressing a desire to leave the house through the door to go outside. I was telling him that he probably didn’t wanna do that because of cold and snow, but you know cats. So I let him out and back in, once, twice, thrice, as the floofverb says animals should do. I guess Les Neurons picked up on that whole door vibe. I confess to not understanding how The Neurons work. We just live together.

Song starts slow and then takes off. It’s a recording of a live rendition with young musicians. Hope you hear or look up or know the lyrics. Like many Springsteen lyrics of that period, the poet in him has listeners asking, “Wait, what did he say?”

Stay positive and test negative. Coffee is ready to warm my gizzard and infuse energy into my being. Hope your Friday is a wonderful day free of illness and woes. Here is the boss and his band. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

You were warned. It’s December 1, 2022. The year’s final month. The countdown has begun to the year’s end. It’s the final countdown, other than the various countdowns that will used in conjunction with the month’s holidays and sales. Oh, and don’t overlook the final final countdown at the common year’s end, when we countdown to midnight to start the new year. Once the new year begins, we’ll begin a new countdown of 2023. In the U.S., they’ll probably begin a countdown to the 2024 elections. Let’s hear it for countdowns!

Today is Thursday. The heater is running to ward off cold air. 33 F is the outdoor temperature. Snow tops the mountains and their firs and pines, a lovely black and white contrast to blue sky, smoky clouds, and the autumn golden, brown, and green remnants streaking the valley. Our high is 39 F and it’ll drop to 22 tonight. Prepare thyself, the advisories tell us. Sunrise was a bright 7:20 AM affair. Sunset ends December’s first day at 4:40 this evening. There’s another countdown I’m following: the days until solstice and the day when the days start gaining more daylight.

I love pies. I’m not fond of the national pie day, nor an international pie day. What is the point of those things? Same with the ones for pancakes, beer, coffee, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, etc. All good stuff but are they worthy of their own day of recognition and celebration? Being a minor cynic, I say no. That’s just me, innit.

But today is National Rosa Parks Day in the U.S. That is a holiday I can support. It reminds us of the division that once enthralled the nation, where your skin color dictated what water fountain you used, where you sat on a bus and other vehicles, what doors you used, and what services, rights, and stores were available to you. Land of the free and home of the brave, we were, so long as you were the right color at the right time. Change was needed and Rosa Parks helped deliver change. More changes are needed, not just based on skin color. We’re working on it. It’s a long frigging arc to full and true equality for everyone.

Today’s theme music is owed to my wife. She had some confusion about days and dates. When I clarified it for her, she gave me big eyes and exclaimed, “Oh my God, we’ve been through a time warp!” The Neurons immediately began playing “Time Warp ” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show outta 1975. It’s the song where the chorus sings, “Let’s do the time warp again.” Let it be my gift to you as December 1st’s theme music.

I already have coffee — was a chilly morning and I craved a warm bevvie. Hot coffee does it for me in the AM stirrings. Stay positive, test negative, and so on. Here’s the music. It’s a little rock and rolly so feel free to sing and dance along. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Get out your cards and markers. Time for daily bingo.

Wednesday. November. Thirty. Twenty twenty-two. Sunrise. Seven nineteen. Forty-one degrees F. Forty-six degrees F. Sunshine. Clear skies. Rain. Sunset. Four forty.

We have a bingo. Congratulations, sir. Here is your coffee.

Winds are blustering like a lying politician trying to distract everyone from their crimes. Our backyard flowering pear is shedding its golden leaves by the binful, turning the back land into a golden carpet. All around town, the leaves in the trees are switching to the same brown shade, beautiful in its own manner. Naked tree branches stretch toward sunshine and spring’s promise as a November day full of autumn hails the oncoming winter.

A dream provided The Neurons with today’s morning mental music stream selection. “Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins was released in 1983 and became a hit in many places. It also was used to end a dream last night. So, it comes up now as today’s music selection.

I have my coffee, thanks, courtesy of winning daily bingo. Stay pos, test neg, etc. Try to live a good life. Make moments count. Here’s the tune. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Hard frost whitens bare ground. It’s 31 F (yeah, you know what that is in C) and sunny. Gorgeous, really, with a preternaturally blue sky. Our backyard’s flowering pear still houses branches full of leaves, but they’ve gone lemony yellow. The sunshine striking its upper reaches really brings the color to life.

It’s Tuesday, the twenty-ninth of November in the common era year 2022. Sunrise came at 7:18 AM. Sunset is planned by the forces of nature to finish daylight at 4:40 PM. In between, the temperature will rise into the forties and it might run. There aren’t any clouds so I have a jaundiced view to that but then again, weather.

I have “Heavy Is the Head” by the Zac Brown Band with the late Chris Cornell filling the morning mental music stream. The 2015 song reminds me of something in the late sixties/early seventies era of classic rock that might have originated with Black Sabbath, without the finer lead guitar Sabbath’s Iommi brought. I didn’t hear HItH much on the radio back in ’15 but heard it on television while I was traveling and stopping at places, which seemed weird. But it stuck. The Neurons brought it up today because I was teasing my number one cat after number two cat took a swipe at him, talking about how hard it is to be number one and rule the house. Heavy is the crown on that furry black and white head, which led to the song.

Stay pos, test neg, etc. Have a most excellent Tuesday, as they say. Time to say hello to a cuppa joe and shift the morning into a higher gear. Here’s the music.

Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

The furnace is running. It’s 36 F (2.2 C) outside, not so bad while you’re inside, where it’s sixty-eight. No sunshine through the windows, even after I opened the blinds and curtains, and the daylight is tentative. A mottled grey field meets my eyes when I turn them skyward. Autumn is finally surrendering its grip. Nude trees wave and bow.

It’s Monday, November 28, 2022, November’s final Monday. By the week’s midpoint, we’ll be in 2022’s final month. Winter is closing in with increased speed, having already arrived early in some places. But then, the calendar gives us an average. It’s different around the world, even in the northern hemes. South of the equator, summer is coming.

42 F and rain and snow showers will play for the afternoon. The sun delivered the daylight portion at 7:16 AM and the performance ends at 4:41 PM.

“Skin Deep” by Buddy Guy is playing in the morning mental music stream. The Neurons lured it out of memory last night when I was thinking about racism and prejudice and the insanity of it all. This song was offered as part of the Playing for Change series in 2018. I admire the project, and Buddy Guy is one of my favorite blues performers. Beyond Buddy, there’s other impressive singers and musicians coming together from diverse locations to present us this music, including several choirs. Hope you’ll take a listen.

Stay positive, test negative and do what’s needed to protect yourself, family, and community. You know, like masking to keep the spread down. Coffee is here so I shall retire to the solace of a cup. Here’s the music. I’m going to listen again. Cheers

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