Persistent earworm alert CCCXX

This is yet another earworm that's entirely of my own making.  For the last three days, I've had a recurring dream.  I'm at a coffeehouse or cafe where a poet chants repeatedly, "Rosie plays the castanets, and Sammy plays the bongos."

That mantra becomes a prelude to a concert by former family cats Rosie and Sammy performing on those instruments.

The audience receives the concert well each time, but I'd still like to know...

...Why those instruments?  I enjoyed listening to music many times with Rosie and Sammy, but neither of them gravitated toward pieces in which percussion instruments dominated...

...Or did they?  Perhaps my subconsciousness is finally recognizing it.

Context? CCXCIX

During a recent radio commercial for a jewelry store, I was surprised to hear the announcer say, "The guy with the trench coat is long gone."

I hope no one still thinks, "Well, the best jewelry is out of my price range, so I guess I'll trust a sketchy stranger on the street's selection.  What could go wrong there?"

Superstitious, admittedly

According to what I read, the word from Gobbler's Knob is that we're in for an early Spring.  After some of the frigid January days we've had here, I really hope that's true...

...and I'd like to believe that my listening to "Early Spring" by Finn's Motel is partially responsible for this improved weather outlook.

Online radio sampler highlights CCXXV

Thursday morning highlights:

KAFM (Grand Junction, CO) 

• What Goes Around (Comes Around)-Robert Finley (The chorus sells this uptempo blues tune, in my opinion, along with the lyrical attitude, "Why would anyone have a problem with me if I'm not harming anyone?")

KGSP (Parkville, MO)

• Annabelle-Gillian Welch (When life rarely gives you a break, it's understandable that you'd be driven to believe in a more just afterlife.  Sidebar: Props to the legal ID singer whose jingle aired between this and Styx's "Come Sail Away."  I thought I was hearing the beginning of Queen's "We Will Rock You" until a woman sang, "K-G-S-P, Parkville!")

KSJN (Minneapolis, MN) 

• Franz Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major: I. Moderato (Trondheim Soloists; Alisa Weilerstein, cello) (A movement--and a performance--of considerable vim and vigor.)

KVSF (Santa Fe, NM)

• Rocks, Lime-Robert Edwards (Rhythmically, this melodic trombone piece reminds me of "Birks' Works" by Dizzy Gillespie.)

WUMB (Boston, MA)

• Turn Yourself Around-Heather Maloney (A brave admission about needing a support system.)
  

WWHM (Sumter, SC)

• Here I Am (Come And Take Me)-Al Green (To many listeners, Green is best known for "Let's Stay Together."  I'd contend that "Here I Am..." deserves the same level of airplay, for its memorable hook and the way the tune builds. UB40 covered it, but Green's version is stronger.)

The allure of shuffle mode XLVI

It was lyrically appropriate of iTunes to pair the Genesis track, "It's Gonna Get Better," with "When You're Gone" by Amanda Shires this morning.  "It's Gonna Get Better" cautions that a healing path might be a long one, and "When You're Gone" reinforces this outlook by suggesting that things will be better once you get past a particular obstacle.

While it would be more encouraging to hear that things will clear up immediately, it's often more realistic for them to improve eventually.

Only in college CV

I'd heard through the grapevine that our college orchestra director, Mr. D.,  prioritized music majors when choosing students to play for musicals and recitals.

After hearing a student gripe to the director about being chosen for such performances so often, Mr. D. responded as I'd predicted, almost verbatim.

"You're a music major," he told the student matter-of-factly.  "This is what you do.  You play music."

A function of age XXI

Yesterday, before playing a cassette, I thought, "Oh, good.  I'm starting the tape from the beginning.  That'll allow the leader tape to clean the tape heads."

I'm trying to remember how many years had passed since I last thought that.