I’ve been feeling a change in energy for some months. We’ll see whether this woo-woo sensation of being inordinately optimistic and hopeful is founded in reality or the first stages of dementia or senility. After a particularly rousing dream set, the sensations were sharper today, leading to lyrics from the Spacehog song, “In the Meantime”.
In the meantime, my mind proceeded to bring the song fully to stream. I hope you enjoy it and find a worthy choice as theme music for this Tuesday morning in 2021. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and vaccinate. Cheers
I was watching Vera late last night. Second or third time through it, so the plot twists aren’t surprising. Always love that character as brought to the screen by Brenda Blethyn, and the production team. They mentioned the Romany on the show. My mind barked, gypsies. Cher immediately sang, “Gypsies, tramps, and thieves,” and was gone, making way for “Gypsy Woman”.
“Gypsy Woman” was a 1970 hit song for Brian Hyland. Had to look that up (thanks, Wikipedia!). This was another song for which I knew words and melodies (they’re simple and easy to learn, fitting my learning style) but knew nothing about the song or artist. I remember at the time of its release that I already knew the song, but it sounded different, which puzzled the heck out of young me. Later I discovered it’d been released almost ten before by the Impressions, who had a hit with it. Ah hah!
What I didn’t learn until now was that Curtis Mayfield wrote the song. Here it is for your listening pleasure. Be positive, test negative, wear a mask, and vaccinate. Cheers
Attacking issues head-on has always been my preferred style. It doesn’t make me popular with many but to avoid doing things because you don’t want to upset others doesn’t often work. Likewise, fearing of the outcome isn’t a good reason for not doing the right thing. Defining ‘the right thing’ can be quarrelsome. Recent example: Trump supporters are screaming ‘stop the steal’. They think they’re doing the right thing because they’re feeding on false information. Their dear leader, aided and abetted by Fox News, OANN, Newsmax, and spineless Republican politicians at multiple levels, keeps barking about illegal votes and election fraud. Matters have been addressed in court; the evidence has never been found nor presented. That doesn’t stop the mad dog and his followers.
With all of this in my head this AM, my brain tied it up with the Incubus song, “Drive”, the 2000 song all about resisting fear and standing up.
*PAUSE*. I know that there are some out there that’ll respond, well, isn’t that a reason not to wear a mask, lockdown, and practice social distancing? I reply, “No. That’s not the same at all.”
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. Also, keep up with the facts. Don’t allow yourself to wallow in lies and fear. Cheers
A classic song by The Beatles, “Revolution” (1968), crashed my mental stream this morning with the intensity of an asteroid hitting Earth.
You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world You tell me that it’s evolution Well, you know We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution Well, you know We’d all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution Well, you know We’re all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Yes, I’m not happy with D.C. status quo. Its BAU approach doesn’t address needs quickly enough. I want change but I don’t want destruction.
Meanwhile, reading of the assault on the capitol the other day and the aftermath, it’s Kabuki theater. While photos of identified Trump supporters spill over the news and social media, and they crow about what they’ve done, some who’ve identified and called out claim their innocence despite the overwhelming evidence that says other. They left behind a swath of evidence. Despite this, right-wing media and supporters have also attempted to blame antifa. The disconnects with reality would be hilarious except for the seriousness behind their willingness to casually trample democracy and abuse freedom. Going back to the song — and Trump — there are always claims, but where are the plans? Where is the thinking? And that extends to his base. There’s nothing concrete there, just vague notions of what they will ‘do’.
Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask. Enjoy life as you can. Cheers
After masking up, we went grocery shopping this morning. I sort of felt like a ninja, what with being masked and out in the dark. Ninja shopper! (Critics are calling it a most-see comedy!) Sunrise was at 7:43 AM; we were back in the house at eight. After returning, “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones (1978) crawled into my mental stream. I suspect that as I put groceries away and contemplated the day’s activities, some underlying sentiments about routines and the way things were before the pandemic landed were circulating in my head. Thoughts like, be a nice morning to go to a coffee shop, have a cuppa, do some writing, you know?
(Ah, let’s indulge for a moment, remembering how it was or imaging how it’ll be, walking down the hill (for the coffee shop is on a hill, 4th Street) through morning air that chills my skin with wintry graces, keeping me huddling in my clothes. Silence is keeping us hostage, although a truck’s far away exhaust tries to break the scene. Tissue-thin sunshine keeps it from being night but this light has faint presence and lacks many therms. I open the door.
(A bell jingles in response to the door’s movement. Faces come my way for a moment, assessing my presence. Warmth smooths over my face. Classic rock bounces off hard surfaces. Espresso machines hiss and gurgle, as patrons laugh, chuckle, and speak. Workers call to each other about croissants (yes, they’re done, maybe burnt on the edges and caramelizing from the clues snaking up my nostrils). Sniffing against a delicate dribble of escaping snot, I eye the place for a free work space, darting away to stake my claim. After parking my laptop bag on my territory, I join the line, watching, waiting, smelling, listening, calculating time and costs, gazing at the glass counters and the pastry temptations within, considering options about what to eat and drink.)
But we are where we are, enduring, surviving, hoping to see a light at the tunnel’s end, fingers crossed that it’s not some new disaster coming toward us. Stay pos, test neg, wear a mask, and enjoy the music. Cheers
George Thorofloof & the Delafloof Destroyers(floofinition) – Popular and accomplished flooues-based rock group from the Delafloof area of Floofmerica.
In use: “Besides original material such as “Floof to the Bone”, George Thorofloof & the Delafloof Destroyers found record gold with re-invented older material such as “Who Do You Bite”, which didn’t hit the charts, but became known as one of their signature songs.”
I was vacuuming yesterday and writing in my head when a song, “You Got Your Troubles”, plugged into the ol’ mental stream. Although I knew the lyrics and melody, looking up the year and artist was required. I guess it was the 1960s but that’s a broad range. Wikipedia informed me that the performing artists were The Fortunes, and it was a hit in 1965, when I was nine. The Fortunes had two other hits that I recognized, so I’m pretty embarrassed that I didn’t know who they are.
“You Got Your Troubles” is a song despairing a romantic breakup. Those words, though, you got your troubles, I’ve got mine, slip nicely into the 2020/2021 maelstrom. ‘Bout the only folks who don’t seem to have troubles are the super wealthy, who are becoming superwealthier as others cope with their troubles. My troubles, of course, aren’t deep. I’m more like a cat who’s dissatisfied with the treat offered to them, or a writer disappointed in how a story is going. Nothing deep or serious, other than irritation that we have an outgoing POTUS living in an alternate reality attempting to drag more in with him. There are trombies who eagerly swim along with him, exclaiming, “Yes, let’s go to the alternate reality and everything will be happy! Give me more Kool Aid.”
Stay positive (as I do, ha, ha), test negative, wear a mask, and vaccinate. Here’s the music.
No, don’t have COVID-19, haven’t tested positive, etc. Just slammed into the wall. Built of stout same ol’, same ol’, reinforced with tedium, overlaid with boredom and frustration, the wall is a staunch mutha. “I want,” my mind screams like a hungry wailing infant. I want something different today. I want a road trip. I want a beach! I want a coffee shop, solitude, and privacy. I want something different that’s something old, something borrowed, something new.
Sounds like I’m getting married.
“Shake It Up” by The Cars plugged into the scene. Released in 1981, it’s a poppy techno-rock hybrid. I need the sentiment today. Shake it up. Change some damn thing. Break the tedium structure.
I want to tell you, stay positive, but hitting this wall today, I don’t feel positive myself, so it’d be hypocritical of me, right? But I’ll encourage you anyway (and meself), stay positive. Test negative. Don’t do anything crazy because you want to shake it up. Wear a mask.
Sometime this morning, Irene Cara singing “Flashdance…What A Feeling” started pumping through my head. Don’t know how many people remember this 1983 song, the title song from the movie, Flashdance. As a movie, Flashdance didn’t blow many people away, but the music, with “Flashdance…What A Feeling” becoming a number one hit and winning an Academy Award, and “Maniac” also reaching number one, had a big impact. We were stationed on Okinawa at the time, and the movie and songs seemed to dominate. Of course, our selection via the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service was limited. Remember, this was before a few years before net and web broke out. Really, we were just starting to play with Commodore 64s and TRS 80s at that time.
Our limited exposure and options probably make us poor candidates about what was happening with pop culture at that time. For example, Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” commercials came out the next year while we were still living on Okinawa. We never saw the commercials, so we didn’t understand the jokes which used the commercials as a reference.
Anyway, for whatever reasons, my systems are fired up with “Flashdance…What A Feeling” this morning. I’m putting it out there to get it out of my head. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. Cheers
Out trudging our surrounding vales and hills yesterday, doing a mile in the afternoon, pushing for some cardio. Though a wintry sense hovered in the air, an inspiring freshness imbued it. Rain seemed headed my way from smell and look and the sun was taking a slow dive through purple and red scales. Such an atmosphere kicked in a well-remembered walking song, “Ramble On”, by Led Zeppelin (1969).
When I was young, my mother always told me, “You have two legs. Walk.” She also regaled us with her youthful walks. She lived in a tiny town, Turin, Iowa, on the floodplain’s edge. Her walk to school wasn’t far. Walking was the normal means of getting about town, and the town was made for walking. I know, because after hearing from her, I visited Turin one year, and walked around it. It’s just a few blocks square.
Her insistence that I have two legs and can walk kicked in a walking habit for me. Walking is mode of transportation, alone time, and a meditative process. It invigorates my writing efforts. Naturally, it also fuels memories. Playing into memories comes music. I always played some in my head when walking.
I had transistor radios when I was young. They were cheap and broke easily. Didn’t help that I would drop them. Battery-operated, new batteries was a constant issue. So, the music had to come from my head. “Ramble On” quickly became a walking fave. Its guitars, drums, and vocals, found an eager fan in my thirteen-year-old self. That thirteen year old seems to still be alive inside.
Michael Seidel, writer 