Tag: rock

Tuesday’s Theme Music

The rotations continue, no matter what is done, sunrise, sunfall. 5:46 AM, 8:47 PM in slice of world in southern Oregon. The revolution continues, despite what is done, carrying us through summer, speeding us toward autumn.

Today is Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Wildfires continue catching and growing. Two are contained, five more start. Smoke doesn’t fill the sky but bleaches the blue into a yellow-tinged gray haze. Fine grey granules, almost white, sprinkle cars and the land. Think of how they coat skin. Get into airways. Spread into lungs, interfering with body functions like breathing.

The smoke is a cooling shade, keeping temperatures from rising over one hundred F but unable to keep us from experiencing high nineties heat. Green has been dried out of the grasses. They turn into a sandy shade of brown.

But, you know, good news. COVID-19 vaccinations appear to be helping, where people are allowing themselves to be vaccinated. As disease variants rise, the unvaccinated and vaccinated become positive, but it’s the unvaccinated who are typically hospitalized and dying.

The other good news is that people are shedding their masks, unless they need it to deal with smoke (at least out here in the American west). Stores are opening. Restaurants. Movie theaters. One can again attend movies. Isn’t that good news? And the All-star break is underway. Good news, right? Good news.

While drought spreads in the west, places are flooding in the south and east as hurricanes and tropical storms strike. Did you see the photos of the flooded New York subway and roads? Places are also experiencing power outages. Sometimes from storms, sometimes because power is cut off due to wildfires, sometimes because the wildfires burn power lines. Melbourne, Australia is locked down again but the NFL is looking forward to full stadiums. There’s a water shortage growing in America but a housing boom is underway. The stock market has never been better, and look how that economy seems to be recovering. Also, the Emmy list has been released. That’s good news, isn’t it?

An ad on an Internet page seems it all up for me. Showing a pristine red and white Chevy Corvette from the early sixties, the ad informs me, “Jag EType” (that’s how they put it) “in any condition, nationwide.” While showing a Vette. Makes sense to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an optimist. Hopeful. Hell, I keep grinding away on my writing routine. Must believe some future exists for it. Which brings me to the music.

Here’s the Pretenders from 1986. They do an homage to an old television show, “The Avengers”. My wife and I quite enjoyed that series as children. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Today is Monday, July 12, 2021. The sunblast kicked off at 5:45 AM in the valley. Heat swelling will continue until 97 to 100 degrees F is struck, depending upon where you’re at and if you’re in the shadow of a mountain — or not — until we rotate away at 8:47 PM.

Finished reading “The Kingdom”, a thriller by Jo Nesbo, yesterday. Terrific novel. Kept me guessing about what was going to happen and managed to monopolize my time and energy. Besides, it was hot and smoky outside, with the air moving into the unhealthy zone. Still smoky today. Two wildfires are feeding us smoke, Bootleg (0% contained, 150,000 acres, started July 6) and Jack (11,000 acres, 10% contained).

With heat and fire on my mind, is it any surprise that Pitball started playing “Fireball” (2014) in my head? Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the cotton-picking vax, please. Here’s the music. Feel free to dance. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Sndy, Sndy. I do like that day.

Today is Sunday, July 11 (7/11), 2021. I remember the first time I ever visited a 7/11 convenience store. I was twelve. One was built along the edges of our housing development. We could walk to it for gum, candy, ice cream bars, whatever. Mom would send me on missions to procure bread, milk, and cigarettes. Salems or Kools. She shifted brands. Walking to the store was our era’s equivalent of surfing the net. Just killing the day.

Today’s daylight began at 5:45 AM and will end at 8:48 PM. Minutes are starting to be shaved off each day. Soon we’ll be heading toward the time change. Then the earth’s trip will move my hemisphere away from the sun’s pleasures. Autumn will drop on us. Winter. We’ll be racing toward the shortest day of sunlight and I’ll be longing for sunshine.

We expect cooler temps today, lows in the lower sixties F, highs around 97 degrees F. No rain in sight. Wildfire smoke soils the blue sky. Two fires east of us by a hundred miles feeds the smoke. Watch your time outside as the air quality slides down the scale into the unhealthy zone.

My brain has opened the day with Don Henley singing “Dirty Laundry” from 1982. The morning music began first with “Those Shoes” by The Eagles. Thinking about that album (The Long Run) took me onto a memory path where I visited with my wife’s family and her sister’s husband. We both enjoy rock, although he, a Vietnam vet and Purple Heart recipient, doesn’t deviate from a narrow definition of what should be heard. He despised disco with a deep passion. Did appreciate soul, R&B, and blues, but had no use for country or rap. He really enjoyed “Dirty Laundry”. And here we are.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Welcome to a new, improved Saturday. Leaner, lighter, lower, stronger, faster, cleaner, more advanced, stays fresher longer, this Saturday is unlike any Saturday you’ve ever experienced. You must try it to believe it. It’s already changed tens of thousands of lives.

“Although I’ve only been awake for about three hours and I have a hangover badgering my brain like a berserk chipmunk, this Saturday has been unbelievable,” says Beverly Beaumont of Texas.

“I don’t think I’d make it to Sunday without this Saturday,” said William Pitt of Pennsylvania.

Duncan Heinz said, “Has to be one of my top seven days of the week.”

Continuing the warm spell again today. Forecasted high of 96 degrees F with a sunrise of 5:41 AM and a sunset coming on at 8:49 PM.

For the first time in recorded history, it is also July 10, 2021. Sip on your coffee and think of that.

Four songs are looping through my mental musical stream this day in history. On top of the list is “Brass in Pocket” by the Pretenders, 1979. Second is “Signs”. Then there’s “Resurrection Shuffle”.

Dreams called out Brass. “Signs” arrived because someone posted “Signs, signs, everywhere signs,” on Twitter yesterday. My pink gray matter summoned the Five Man Electrical Band rendition (1971), followed by the live Tesla version from 1990.

Last, though, came the “Resurrection Shuffle”. Although the lyrics and melody are fresh in the stream, looking up the performer and year was required, delivering the information, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, 1971. As I never hear that anywhere, I decided this would be today’s tune. Hope you’re familiar with it.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as warranted, and get that vax. Don’t find yourself being mourned because you put off getting the vax for whatever reason. Don’t find yourself mourning others because you got sick and passed it on, and they didn’t survive. Stories of both those flavors are circulating with greater frequency. Get the vax. Here’s the tune. Cheers

Think about nothing now
You're nice and high
You're advocating love
But you don't know why
Now you getting vibrations
All down to your feet
That's the brow beatin'
Heavy leather resurrection beat

h/t Lyrics.com

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Friday’s Theme Music

Happy Call of the Horizon Day! Call of the Horizon Day is held every year on July 9. In 2021, we find it on a Friday. Go find the horizon. For me, it’s going outside, onto the street, and looking north. There it is, defined by the beginning of the mountains that define our valley. Call of the Horizon Day is about renewal. It’s a refresher for resolutions and projects, plans and dreams. Look at that horizon and think, who am I? What do I want? Half the year is gone. When I look back on 2021, what do I want to see. Sort of a turn on beginning with the end in mind.

The end of daylight today comes at 8:49 PM. While it’s currently 66 degrees F, we expect a hot 99 high. If you’ve been out since sunrise at 5:43 and felt the sun’s heat thrust in our area, you know it’ll be a hot one. But the sky is free of wildfire smoke (knock on wood). As everything is crisping and vegetation is browning, locals (including this lad) are hoping our wildfire luck continues to hold.

Musically, I’m streaming “Mr Jones” by the Counting Crows, circa 1993. Yes, it’s dream related. Dreams were all about conversations being struck up. I dubbed it the conversation dream.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Thursday began at 12:01 AM but the sun didn’t show up until 5:40 AM. Many don’t think the day begins until the sun arrives. Midnight is part of last night, not very early morning. Which side do you fall upon? Depends upon what you mean by ‘day’ for many.

Ah, well. Sunset will strike 8:49ish PM. Cooler weather prevails in the daylight hours, high of only 90 being called out. Morning was delightful, with a chilly 58 degrees when the sun brought its golden presence to the stage.

By the way, today is July 8, 2021. On this date in history, what will you do?

For music, I’m playing “Creep” by Stone Temple Pilots, aka STP, in my head. From 1993, Scott Weiland, STP vocalist once said in an interview that it’s about a young man caught between being a kid and becoming an adult. Yet, as we age, we often lament the same thing: I’m half the person I used to be. Half the energy. Half the memory. Half the ambition, etc. So, this song could be flipped to being about a young person becoming an older person. Funny, when we’re young, we’re searching for who we want to be, striving to become someone…something. Older, we remember who we were and strive to remain relevant and be someone…something. Many as they age complain of ‘becoming invisible’. Especially women.

Yeah, thinking too much, aren’t I? And not expressing it well. Should shelve it until I get some coffee in me. But no, press on, yeah? Stay positive, right? Test negative. Wear a mask, when needed, depending upon the situation and the variants. Get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

This. Is Wednesday. July 7, 2021.

Currently 75 degrees F. Said to be cooler today. 90 to 94. Today and tomorrow. Hope so. Officially hit 99 yesterday. My home system said it was 101.

Sunrise kicked off at 5:42 AM, a slow growth of light, rosy as pink rose petals at first, then clearing, sharpening, drawing shadows around everything’s backside. Sunset is anticipated at 8:49 PM, if all goes well.

Musically, I’m channeling the Beatles today. Tune is called “Get Back”. Was a 1969 hit for the lads. Billy Preston’s contribution on the keys always delights me. Fun to watch this video of that time, way back when. The hair! The clothes! The antics! The sound! Remember when you were young? Ah, yes, youth — wasted on the young.

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask if needed, get the vax. And get back to where you once belonged. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

“Today is Tuesday! You know what that means? We’re gonna have a special guest.”

The opening was something that just streamed through me head. Haven’t had my coffee yet.

Today is Tuesday, I think, July 6, 2021. July — and summer — and just streamrolling through. Sol’s first long fingers of rosy light caressed our valley at 5:41 AM. Expecting another 100 degree day, we’ll expect heat to linger for hours after sundown’s official 8:50 time. And there, in those sun up/down numbers is the compressing of the daylight. Two minutes shorter. The countdown to the shortest day of light has begun.

I watched Summer of Soul on Hulu last night. Mind music has been stirred up by it. The documentary is about the 1969 Harlem Culture Festival and a feel for the times, racially, culturally. Great music was brought up. Performers, attendees, and the people behind the production were interviewed. The difficulties encountered. Maxwell House coffee as the sponsor. Mayor Lindsay’s presence.

But the performances. The Fifth Dimension coping with not being black enough, singing “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”. Billy Davis Jr and Marilyn McCoo’s reactions as they see themselves as they were. Nina Simone’s powerful presence. The amazing talent that is Stevie Wonder. Gospel Music. The Staple Singers. “Grazing in the Grass”. People in the audience dancing. Singing. Those are just off-the-head snippets. The whole thing must be seen. Heard. Those who experienced the times will remember. Those who don’t know them will wonder.

For me, though, Sly and the Family Stone was it. Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” and “Sing A Simple Song” flushed memories through. Always admired and listened to that group. It’s hardwired into my existence. Their music has been featured here as theme music before. But I’d overlooked “Sing A Simple Song”. Well, not today. It’s my theme music.

[Cynthia:] Sing a simple song
[Rose:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, [etc.]
[Freddie:] I’m talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ in my sleep
[Larry:] I’m walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ in the street
[Sly:] Time is passin’ I grow older Things are happening fast
All I have to hold onto is a simple song at last
Let me hear you say
[All:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, [etc.]

[Cynthia:] Sing a simple song
Try a little do re me fa so la ti do

[Rose:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, etc.
[Freddie:] I’m livin’ livin’ livin’ life with all its ups and downs
[Larry:] I’m givin’ givin’ givin’ love and smilin’ at the frowns

[Sly:] You’re in trouble when you find it’s hard for you to smile
A simple song might make it better for a little while
Let me hear you say
[All:] Yeah, yeah. yeah, [etc.]

h/t to AZLyrics.com.

“Time is passing. I grow older. Things are happening fast.” That expresses life well.

Stay postive. Test negative. Wear masks as deemed needed. Get vaxxed. Sing a simple song. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Floofjet

Floofjet (floofinition) – An extremely fast animal.

In use: “Missy had heard that black labs were energetic, but when she let the two-year-old that she adopted loose in the fenced backyard, he demonstrated he was an untiring floofjet, racing around at amazing high speed. Naturally, she had to name him, “Jet”, just like in the Paul and Linda McCartney song.”

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Monday’s Theme Music

Alexa continues to attempt to gaslight me. “Today’s high will be 94 degrees.” A few hours later, “The current temperature is 97 degrees. The high will be 97 degrees.” Another hour passes. “The current temperature is 98 degrees.” My house saw 101 for the record, your honor.

Today is Monday, July 5, 2021. Sunrise came whilst I slept, stealing in with its light and heat at 5:40 AM. Sunset is planned for 8:51 PM, if all goes as planned. It usually does — as far as we know…

Today’s song, from 1966, came about from a conversation with a woman the other day. She claimed that she’d heard (an expression, as she didn’t know if she’d heard it on telly, from another live being in conversation, or read it) that painting your front door will increase your house’s value by $6,000. Didn’t know the Stones were giving house decor advice with “Paint it Black”. Reading about the song today on Wikipedia because I wanted to know more about its background, I’m amused to see that it stayed at #1 in the U.S. until replaced by Frank Sinatra with “Strangers in the Night”. What diametrically opposed songs, it feels to me – beat, tone, attitude.

Stay positive, test negative, wear the mask with asterisk, get the vax. Here’s the music. I like this video of the young rockers, before Mick completed his invention of himself and was still a works in progress. Hope you like it as well. Cheers

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