The Floof Fighters (floofinition) – Cat and dog musical rock band formed in the Floofattle area in 1994.
In use: “Led by Floof Grohl, with songs like, “Learning to Bite”, the Floof Fighters have gone from regional wonder to international success.”
Floof Leppard
Floof Leppard (floofinition) – Floofish rock band who struck commercial success with a string of hits in the 1980s and 90s.
In use: “The song “Pour Some Kibble for Me” struck number two on the Floofboard Hot 100 for Floof Leppard in 1987.”
Saturday’s Theme Music
Thinking of all the ways we’re being told to stay home or in semi-isolation and seclusion – shelter in place, hunker down, etc. – when the thoughts dredged up an old Joe Cocker song.
“Shelter Me” is from his album, Cocker (1986). That album is known more for “You Can Leave Your Hat On” (written by Randy Newman), which was used in several movies (bet you can think of at least one) (if you’re of a certain age or older). Meanwhile, I’d play the album and grew to like “Shelter Me”, even though it has that late eighties sound that sometimes was over-used (you’ll know what I mean, if you are of a certain age).
But the song’s opening lyrics work for the age of the coronavirus.
This ain’t no place for losers
Or the innocent of mind
It’s a full time job
For anyone, to stay alive
The streets have shallow boundaries
For the war that’s everyone
What a wasteland for
Broken dreams and hired guns
Shelter me, baby shelter me
When I’m sitting like I’m losing ground
Shelter me
h/t to Metrolyrics.com
Okay, they’re not perfect, but I can play off that sense of boundaries – stay six feet away from one another, watch what your touch (don’t touch your face), and wash your hands (properly) – and the wasteland of shopping areas, airports, highways, restaurants, etc, and how some might think we’re losing ground and standing still.
Or maybe I’ve gone for a metaphor too far. Possible.
Anyway, on to the music, and Joe’s voice.
Floofnyrd Skynyrd
Floofnyrd Skynyrd (floofinition) – An American southern rock floof band known for bluesy power ballads, active beginning in the late sixties.
In use: “One of Floofnyrd Skynyrd’s most popular songs, “Free Dog”, about a young retriever getting out of its yard and running around the neighborhood, is one of the longest floof songs ever recorded for commercial release.”
Pink Floof
Pink Floof (floofinition) – British hard rock/progressive musical group formed in the late 1960s.
In use: “Two of Pink Floof’s best-known songs are “Dark Side of the Floof” and “Is Your Lap Comfortably Numb”, songs released in the early to mid-1970s.”
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Hope you’re all doing well out there in netlandia.
I thought today, being Wednesday in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, would be a good day for something lighter and sillier. While several songs leaped into mind, one leaped higher (and was accompanied by strange noises).
Here’s “Rock Lobster” by the B-52’s, 1978. Feel free to dance in the safety of your own place, maintaining a safe distance from others.
That is all.
ForeignFloof
ForeignFloof (floofinition) – Prock floof band from Amerifloof and Floofland formed in 1976 in Floof York.
In use: “Formed in the late seventies, ForeignFloof hit the charts with “Dirty White Dog”, “Floof Games”, and finally “I Want to Know What You’re Eating (I Want You to Show Me)”, their biggest hit.”
99 Floofballoons
99 Floofballoons (floofinition) – International hit song by the rock floof band, Nenfloof.
In use: “The song, “99 Floofballoons” was about balloons that animals were using to save trapped animals, but humans, mistaking the balloons for UFOs, began shooting at them. The animals used their quantum cloaking to hide further activities from humans, successfully de-escalating the situation.”
Monday’s Theme Music
Read a WSJ/NBC poll results. Posted today, the poll was conducted during 11 – 13 March 2019. It was about the coronavirus. The surprising results weren’t about support for the POTUS (not much changed there). No, more surprising was that most polled, particularly Republicans, didn’t think COVID-19 would have a major impact on their lives.
The poll was conducted as the NBA was shuttering the season for a while. The POTUS mad a speech that Wednesday and the stock exchanges showed a brief rebound. Since then…well, the news speaks for itself about what’s been shut down. It’s easier to list what isn’t shut down or impacted by the coronavirus. I guess it isn’t a surprise, then, as the POTUS has previously denounced COVID-19 as a hoax, or overblown as fake news by the media. Fox News happily supported those points for a while.
I then read another commentary on Italy’s situation (over twenty-five thousand cases now, and twenty-one hundred deaths). Then came an article that the U.S. (with over four thousand cases today) is where Italy was two weeks ago.
Finally, I read about Patient 31. She’s a woman in South Korea who carried on life as usual, attending church, eating at a lunch buffet, and working through a fever, a carrier who didn’t go and get tested, a woman now identified with a spike in South Korea’s coronavirus cases, a woman now considered a super-carrier.
Then I thought back to all the Americans who plan to continue business as usual, just as Patient 31 did.
From that came an old Bob Seger melody, “American Storm” (1986). Seger’s song was about a different epidemic, the increasing use of cocaine. But all the warning signs were ignored, and it spread. Feels like another song, about another storm, is due.
Sunday’s Theme Music
Well, from sometime yesterday, out walking in the hills, admiring the sunset’s effects on the northern mountains, came some lines from the Styx song, “The Best of Times” (1981).
The headlines read, “These are the worst of times”
I do believe it’s true
I feel so helpless like a boat against the tide
I wish the summer winds could bring back paradise
Yes, the helplessness and frustration that seems to permeate so much of life sometimes can make it seem like the worse of times. It’s not for me, of course, but stress, and that sense, comes from that lack of control and the inability to steer things, to be able to take action and change the course before we wreck.
I’m sure most of us have experienced it at least once in a lifetime, where we said, “I know where this is going, and you’re not going to like it.” Then it happens, and all the misery you predicted comes to pass and others ask, “Who could have seen this was going to happen?”
Well, hell, many of us do see these things, but we’re ignored. We don’t get used to that; it’s just frustrating.
Then it all passes, and the courses that you thought should have been taken are, and things go great for a while.
No, I’m not a master prognosticator. I just color my memories with the best of times.
Michael Seidel, writer 