A Little Bit Of Hodgepodge

Hello again from America's most dysfunctional metropolitan area. Thought I would briefly touch base on some things I wanted to write about over the past few weeks, but didn't get to do so for one reason or another. So, here we go...


You're The Man Now Dog

Remember a couple of weeks ago on my Twitter page I had some songs that were rather quite eclectic to say the least, and I asked what those songs all had in common? Well, it is now a defunct website, but YTMND.com up until the advent of twitter, Vine, TikTok, etc., was a somewhat popular site to post memes and the like, such as this one, or this one. Anyway, they have a wiki devoted to it that lists some of the popular memes, and in it, there even is a soundtrack to most of the background music for their memes, which is where I made a playlist and posted said songs on Twitter. So it was a bit of an enjoyable time capsule to about a decade ago...

I Just Took A DNA Test...

Sunday night marks the beginning of the latest Top 40 chart week, and it looked as if Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" may have dethroned "Senorita" and the top of the chart, but the behemoth of a song from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello continues to gain in airplay, so it looks like it will hold on for a third week. Look for Post Malone to debut with "Circles" this week. He even has his own Funko Pop now, so maybe if a four-year old scribbled on my face, I might become famous (no I won't). All kidding aside, he has a hot debut album that dropped today (as well as the aforementioned Cabello) and I should give it a listen sometime tonight.

Stop Annoying Me With Your Toxic Positivity!

I don't know what peeves me more, the fact that everyone cocks up the geography of this region (TAMPA BAY is NOT a city people!), or that a baseball team that practically nobody gives a shit about, except for about a maybe 10,000 people (including those that have multiple twitter accounts), are doing so well and will likely make the wild card, only to get swept by the teams everyone DOES root for around here, the Evil Empire. Seriously, you tried to give away tickets Tuesday to people who were displaced from Hurricane Dorian and only sold 6,844. And even less on Thursday. If a tree fell on Scrub Boy (those of you who follow me closely on twitter know who I'm talking about), and nobody is around to cover it, does it actually happen? America's ballpark my ass; team of the people my ass...enough about an otherwise irrelevant team.

College Saturday...

As mentioned a couple of posts ago, I would take five games without any knowledge or research and pick the winners. I picked two games on opening week, and lost them both. After a week off, I'll try and do better.

Missouri over West Virginia . I don't like WVU, their coach has a stupid hairdo, plus it's Missouri, who I owe a lot of gratitude for saving a special someone's life

Georgia Tech over USF. UCF>>>>>>>>>>USF; forever.

Texas A&M over Clemson. Picking the upset here, A&M almost had Clemson beat last year, this year they finish the job

Illinois over UConn. Why is Connecticut even in the Bowl Subdivision? I hear they're leaving for the Big East again, so why not downgrade their already struggling football program?

Alabama over NM State. Too easy, plus seriously, have you seen New Mexico State's logo? Hello? Gun control? I'm surprised someone hasn't been triggered (pardon the pun) by it.


Well, that's my little bit of hodgepodge for today. Enjoy the rest of your Friday



Twitter


CT

My 2019 NFL predictions thread

Hello! Labor Day has passed which means three things; Halloween candy starts appearing on grocery store shelves, basic white folks go cuckoo over pumpkin spice, and the NFL season is upon us. And this season is special because the NFL is celebrating 100 years in existence. Two of the three original franchises that has stuck around for all 100 seasons kick off the season Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.

In years past, I would take to various outlets on social media and predict the game winners each week; I won't do that this year.  Instead, I'll use this post to give you who I think will be around come January and the first week of February in Miami.

NFC South:

I start with this division because it's the division with the closest team to me (Bucs) , the team where I was born in (Falcons), and closest team to where I grew up (Panthers, which came along after I finished high school). That leaves the Saints as the only outlier, and guess what? After their horrible pass interference no-call that went against them last January in the NFC Title game, they're going to win this division again. The other three teams will be battling it out for second, which is basically a crapshoot as to who will be the most mediocre. The Bucs are interesting, because IF EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT (and knowing Tampa's history, there's a better chance of a Hurricane actually making landfall there than everything going right), they MIGHT contend for a wild card spot. On the other hand, I don't think they'll be as bad as what some experts are making them out to be. So I say, 8-8 (and I'm being somewhat generous).

NFC East:

I think Philly takes it, partially because I have a soft spot for that city and the fact that I loathe the Cowboys. Giants will be better in my opinion, and as for the R******s, screw them. Dan Snyder has ruined everything about this franchise; their "home" games are now a de-facto home games for visiting fans; think Tampa during the 80s. As for the Cowboys, I think they'll at least get a wild card; they're just too good, which unfortunately we'll have to hear Skip Baeless (sic) chirp about how great they are all year despite having two playoff wins since 1995...

NFC North:

I hope to move to St. Louis one day (personal reasons), so my "future" team, the Bears, gets my nod.
Packers will be mediocre; I don't think Mr. Discount Double Check has enough pieces around him. Let's just hope for his sake Danica's she-shed doesn't get hit by lightning and burn to the ground. Enough with the lame insurance commercial references though. Minnesota places third (because to hell with one particular fan who's obsessed with pumpkin spice), and Detroit just hopes to somewhat relevant.

NFC West:

I think the LA Rams take it again...barely. Surely they have to have a bitter taste in their mouths after scoring 3 points in the Super Bowl, which kinda makes me want to put on my tin foil hat about the  pass interference no-call I alluded to in a previous paragraph. I like Seattle, they recently traded for LaDaveon Clowney plus Russell Wilson is getting paid. they'll surely get the wild card...at least. San Francisco should be improved, as long as Jimmy Garrapolo plays a full season. Arizona? Forget it, they may be last in the conference.

AFC East:

Easiest division to forecast. New England and three scrubs. Hopefully Buffalo will turn some heads this season. Jets and Dolphins are rebuilding.

AFC North:

Most people think the Steelers will be back; I say not so fast. I love Cleveland. I think they'll win their first division title in THIRTY years. Ravens and Steelers will battle for second. Bengals will stink.

AFC South:

This was easy, then Andrew Luck retired, now it's a battle of supremacy among four average teams. Tennessee is my pick because they're the least flawed in my opinion. Maybe the Texans can step up. I don't trust the Jags, and the Dolts can rot.

AFC West:

Kansas City should have won the AFC last year, but a critical offside penalty negated a game-clinching interception, and the bad guys won...again. This year we should see more Mahomes magic, and maybe another deep playoff run. That is unless the LA Chargers have something to say about that, thing is Philip Rivers isn't getting any younger, and his window of opportunity is closing fast. Denver is about average, and can anyone what the hell is up with the leagues most dysfunctional team, the (insert your city's name here) Raiders? Antonio Brown, football's biggest drama queen, has done nothing but complain the entirety of training camp. Thank goodness Pittsburgh no longer has to deal with him.

NFC PLAYOFFS:

Chicago over Dallas
Seattle over Philadelphia
-------------------------------
New Orleans over Seattle
Chicago over LA Rams
-------------------------------
New Orleans over Chicago

AFC PLAYOFFS:

LA Chargers over Tennessee

Cleveland over Baltimore

------------------------------------
Cleveland over New England
Kansas City over LA Chargers
-------------------------------------
Kansas City over Cleveland

So, we get the Super Bowl we SHOULD have gotten last year this year. The last time the game was in Miami was 2010, and the Saints beat a high-powered offense that year in Indianapolis. This year, history repeats itself.

SUPER BOWL  54:

New Orleans over Kansas City.

Happy Football!!


CT

College Football Is Here...ALREADY?!

Can you believe it? We're not even a week to go until September and already college football is underway. Watching the first few minutes of "College Gameday" this morning, the experts were talking about Clemson and Alabama in the championship game...again. Ugh, same shit, different year.

I wish somethin could be done to fix the continuity problem that college football seemingly has; every year you can pencil in five or six teams to be in championship contention. Alabama, Ohio State, a second SEC school, a Big XII school, Notre Dame, and an ACC school. It's gets redundant and tiresome after a while.

Unfortunately, the current system is dominated by television, and as Daft Punk once said, television rules the nation.  But what if college football weren't held down by exorbitant television deals and ESPN? And it was a utopian sport without the shady recruiting practices and under the table deals (I assume they happen) that the big schools get away with more often than not?

A few months ago, I decided to totally revamp the system in my head. First, there would be a sixteen-team playoff to determine the national champion. Second, I would totally realign the conferences. How so? Well, let me explain.

Currently, the "power 5", as it's known, looks like this:

Atlantic Coast		Southeastern		Big Ten		Pac 10		Big 12
Boston College		Alabama		Illinois		Arizona		Baylor
Clemson		Arkansas		Indiana		Arizona State		Kansas
Duke		Auburn		Iowa		California		Kansas State
Florida State		Florida		Maryland		UCLA		Iowa State
Georgia Tech		Georgia		Michigan		Colorado		Oklahoma
Louisville		Kentucky		Michigan State		Oregon		Oklahoma St
Miami		LSU		Minnesota		Oregon State		Texas
North Carolina		Mississippi		Nebraska		So. California		Texas Christian
NC State		Miss State		Northwestern		Stanford		Texas Tech
Pittsburgh		Missouri		Ohio State		Utah		West Virginia
Syracuse		South Carolina		Penn State		Washington
Virginia		Tennessee		Purdue		Washington St
Virginia Tech		Texas A&M		Rutgers
Wake Forest		Vanderbilt		Wisconsin

with the other conferences in the Bowl Subdivision looking like this:

Conf USA		Independents		Mountain West		MAC		Sun Belt		American
Charlotte		Army		Air Force		Akron		App. St		UCF
Florida Atlantic		BYU		Boise State		Ball State		Arkansas State		Cincinnati
Florida Int'l		Notre Dame		Colorado State		Bowling Green		Ga Southern		Connecticut
Louisiana Tech		Massachusetts		Fresno State		Buffalo		Georgia State		ECU
Marshall		Liberty		Hawaii		Central Mich		Idaho		Houston
Middle Tenn				Nevada		Eastern Mich		LA-Lafayette		Memphis
North Texas				UNLV		Kent State		LA-Monroe		Navy
Old Dominion				New Mexico		Miami OH		New Mexico St		USF
Rice				San Diego State		Northern IL		South Alabama		SMU
Southern Miss				San Jose State		Ohio		Texas State		Temple
Texas El Paso				Utah State		Toledo		Troy		Tulane
UTSA				Wyoming		Western Mich		CCU		Tulsa

One of the first things I did was take the schools from the American Conference and add them to the Power 5, making it a Power 6 and shut up UCF fans who feel they're slighted from the national conversation. Second, I decided to put schools in conferences that geographically made sense; that means that West Virginia is out of the Big XII, and Missouri and Texas A&M are out of the SEC and back in the Big XII. Also, Maryland, Rutgers, and Penn State are no longer In the Big 10. I also decided to break up the northern schools in the ACC, which means Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, and BC are out of that conference.

As for the American, I decided to completely obliterate the conference altogether since geographically it's all over the place. The three northeast schools, UConn, Temple, and Navy I decided to leave in. I also decided to add Pitt, Syracuse, and Boston College from the ACC, Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland from the Big 10, and West Virginia from the Big XII. I also tossed in Army (natural rival with Navy) and UMass to make it twelve teams so a championship game could be played. The American now has all of the northeast's FBS schools in one conference; oh and the backyard brawl between WVU and Pitt is back. You're welcome.

As for Cincinnati, I decided to place them and Louisville from the ACC and place them in the SEC to replace Texas A&M and Missouri. The Big XII with the departure of West Virginia and the re-addition of A&M and Missouri makes 11 teams; they need a 12th. Why not Houston? Problem solved. The Big Ten now has a problem with 11 teams. Simple solution: add Notre Dame. Then you have the ACC who I split apart already. They've gone from fourteen to ten schools. But don't worry, I've got a solution. Hey, UCF. You know how you complain about being in an inferior league and not much recognition. Well, you and USF can take your petty "War on I-4" to the ACC. Good luck with that.

That leaves the Pac 12 as the only conference remaining. Truth be told, I was going to leave them alone, but then I realized that Boise State might complain that I had given preferential treatment to UCF for putting them in a power conference and not them. So at the last minute I added them and BYU to the conference.

So, here's what your new Power Six would look like:

								Atlantic Coast Southeastern Big Ten Big 12 Pac 10 American UCF Alabama Illinois Baylor Arizona Boston College Clemson Arkansas Indiana Kansas Arizona State Connecticut Duke Auburn Iowa Kansas State Boise State Penn State Florida State Cincinnati Michigan Houston BYU Rutgers Georgia Tech Florida Michigan State Iowa State California Maryland Miami Georgia Minnesota Oklahoma Colorado West Virginia North Carolina Kentucky Nebraska Oklahoma St Oregon Pittsburgh NC State Louisville Northwestern Texas Oregon State Syracuse USF LSU Notre Dame Texas Christian USC Navy Virginia Mississippi Ohio State Texas Tech Stanford Army Virginia Tech Miss State Purdue Texas A&M UCLA Temple Wake Forest South Carolina Wisconsin Missouri Utah Massachusetts Tennessee Washington Vanderbilt Washington St
								As for the other conferences, they would look like this after realignment:
								Mountain West MAC Sun Belt Conf USA South Atlantic Air Force Akron Arkansas State UAB East Carolina Colorado State Ball State Texas El Paso Louisiana Tech Ga Southern Fresno State Bowling Green New Mexico St Memphis Georgia State Hawaii Buffalo Tulsa Middle Tenn Charlotte Nevada Central Mich So Methodist Troy Florida Atlantic UNLV Eastern Mich Texas State South Alabama Florida Int'l New Mexico Kent State UTSA LA-Lafayette Marshall San Diego State Miami OH North Texas LA-Monroe Old Dominion San Jose State Northern IL Rice Southern Miss Appalachian St Utah State Ohio  Idaho Western KY Coastal Carolina Wyoming Toledo Tulane Liberty Western Mich
								The 16-team playoff would go like this: Winners from the Power Six conferences get an automatic bid, plus two winners amongst the other five conferences. Plus eight at-large bids. First and second round games would be on the campus of the higher seed, then the bowl system would fill in the other matchups. Until you get to the National Championship game at a pre-determined site.  Would this solve everything wrong about college football? Of course not, but it doesn't hurt to dream. As for this season, I'm going to try something I haven't done before: predict the winners of certain games. Since there are only two this week, I have two picks. No research or analysis here, just fling by the seat of my pants. This evening in Orlando, Miami and Florida renew acquaintances. Honestly, I think this could (and should) be an annual series, but it seems like one school keeps trying to duck from the other. I am a Gators fan, but not a "Tim Tebow is our lord and savior, and the world needs to revolve around him" Gators fan. And no fangirls, he isn't going to get called up by the Mets this season, so quit dreaming. You're almost as annoying as Rays fans (who I promise to get to in another post...someday). As for Miami, they have not even been to the ACC title game let alone win an ACC title...yet. Hopefully the game will be entertaining, but I have Miami in an upset.  The other game pits Arizona at Hawaii. My only thought on this is will I stay up to watch it? Probably not, but it would be nice to hear Rich Waltz (formerly of the Marlins and ow with CBSSN) again. Arizona wins a squeaker.  Enjoy your Saturday! CT

A Hashtag Game Played, And A Nerve Touched...

Early Monday morning, I participated in a hashtag game entitled "#RepublicansMakeMe." My response was simple and honest.  Apparently, I touched a nerve; over 34,000 impressions and counting. Well, for those of you who may be intrigued, allow me to explain.

As most of you know, I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and have been in this area for the better part of the last two decades, since my enlistment in the Navy ended. For most of the first ten years, I'd say living here has been somewhat enjoyable; I don't like it now.  A main reason for this is of course #FloridaMan, but another reason I've grown disgusted with Florida is politics, especially in the era, or error of Trump. Florida is of course the ultimate swing state politically (remember the late Tim Russert with his white board on the night of the 2000 election?), and the Tampa Bay area lies right on the ultimate swing vote region; the I-4 Corridor.

Now you don't need me to tell you that I-4 sucks. Orlando? Right on I-4. Disney? Just off I-4. Daytona Int'l Speedway? Not far from I-4. You get the idea. It's full of gridlock, headaches, and possibly road rage (which is a dangerous combination in and of itslef, #FloridaMan and road rage).

But that's the whole interstate, we're talking Tampa, which is he western terminus of the highway from hell. Here you pretty much have an even split between left and right, but by listening to "local" news-talk radio (and I use that term VERY loosely) it's rather one-sided. I haven't listened in almost three years because of this very fact. On said station you have two old guys (I guess they haven't retired yet) complaining about the left, followed by Mr. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs himself, Glenn Beck (more on him later), then Rush Limbaugh, then Sean Hannity, then the former #1 morning FM personality now Trump fanboy Todd Schnitt. Then, if not preempted for Lightning hockey, it's Mark Levin, who beckons for the halcyon days of the Reagan administration and basically will call anyone who dares calls his show to disagree with him a moron and then proceeds to hang up on said caller. In other words, an insufferable murder of crows (as opposed to murderer's row) of right-wing talking heads.

So essentially in my mind, you have 16-hours plus of right wing (12 of those NON LOCAL) talk crammed down our throats all day courtesy of the iHeart (iHate Local) Radio behemoth. It's like Sinclair Broadcasting only it's radio and it makes me want to puke. Yes, I know that a radio station is not the reason to move from an area, but when you have to put up with listening to Trump clones all day and all night, enough is enough.

What's weird about all this was up until 2015, I supported the GOP. My stepmom grew up not far from where Reagan grew up in Illinois, and was an election official in the (predominantly Republican) precinct of  the town in North Carolina I grew up in. The Tea Party (and Sarah Palin) helped put a big damper on the GOP, and the eight years of Obama weren't as bad as Republicans made it out to be; in fact it was pretty damn good if I'm being honest I had my suspicions about Bush to be honest, but I was too naïve I guess to speak out about it, except one time.

In the year following 9/11, I noticed that the aforementioned radio station was heavily backing anything and everything GWB said. I called it into question on an internet bulletin board, only to get shot down by a nighttime radio host (and company douchebag guy) on the FM sister station. So after that I kinda kept quiet about everything. In retrospect, I shouldn't have. Remember Glenn Beck? Well, before he rose to nationwide "prominence" he was the PM drive host on said AM station I was talking about. In the days after 9/11 he basically gave a rousing rah-rah speech on his monologue. Next thing you know he's nationally syndicated under the ClearChannel national umbrella. The rest, as we used to say, is history.

Now, hindsight being 20/20, was that speech really a rallying cry to the folks stationed at MacDill AFB ( based in Tampa)? OR...was it an attempt by ClearChannel at the time to try to influence public opinion and policy? This goes back to BEFORE 9/11, to 2000 and the hotly contested presidential race. Where is GWB from? Texas. Where was ClearChannel located? San Antonio. Coincidence??? Did they stand to lose more if Al Gore won? Who knows...

But I do know this, the above is a primary reason I want to move to a more moderate area.

CT

Mission Accomplished (Part 3)

Hello again everyone. Seriously, the weather across central Florida this week has really affected my vibe; I have had little motivation to get much of anything, let alone this blog done. Suffice to say the "Sunshine State" isn't living up to her nickname, and all this rain needs to leave.

Anyway, this is the third part of this series of posts (the first two an be found here and here) regarding my system that I have used to chart songs over the years. Now at the end of yesterday's entry, I said that I had found a website that allowed me (and anyone else who's interested) to access old Radio and Records magazines from yesteryear. Well, up to a point. You see in 2006, R/R was bought by VNU media and integrated with Billboard Magazine's Radio Monitor to create a new chart based off Neilsen Soundscan data. Billboard would buy Radio and Records outright three years later,ad effectively ended the publication.

But the methodology used by Radio and Records up until 2006, Mediabase 24/7, would continue, and does so to this very day. I think I mentioned how they went about compiling this data in an earlier entry to this blog, I think it was called "Radio Days." Anyway, the points system I go by is based off those findings, with a few exceptions.

First let me explain how my system works. For every song that reaches the Top 40, a preset point value is assigned. For the first 25 positions (40-16), it works like a reverse points system (40 gets 1, 39 gets 2, and so forth). Then the system starts getting weighted heavily towards the top, like this:

15. 28 pts
14. 30 pts
13. 32 pts
12. 34 pts
11. 37 pts
10. 40 pts
 9.  45 pts
 8.  50 pts
 7.  55 pts
 6.  60 pts
 5.  70 pts
 4.  80 pts
 3.  90 pts
 2. 100 pts
 1. 125 pts

There are also bonus points awarded for chart longevity, and where they are on the chart. I'll explain it over the weekend. Basically, the longer the song is on the chart, the bigger the bonus. Also, the year is the actual calendar year, not from November to November monitored by publications (which would explain "Walk Like An Egyptian" grabbing #1 song of 1987 even though it peaked in December of 1986).

In this weekend's post, I'll go into detail what I have found out from these charts, as well as my rankings for the top song of each year since 1980. Until then, stay dry...

CT

Mission Accomplished (Part 2)

Hello again everyone. As you may have read in my post yesterday, I decided to embark a quite ambitious project where I decided to create a points system for the top 40  pop charts. Today, I'll explain how I came up with this system. Now yesterday I mentioned that I thought that "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon, despite not finishing a week at number one on a weekly survey, finished as the top song for the year 2000. To me, that made little sense. I thought to myself, "how can this be possible?" It was like winning the (then-called) Winston Cup in NASCAR without winning a race. So I thought, "why not combine the two?"

So, I decided to embark on creating a points system for chart performance. No, it was nothing official, it was something coming from a chart geek that I wanted to keep to myself at the time. At first, I it was somewhat primitive, positions 31-40 would get 1 point, 2 points for 21-30, 5 points for 11-20, 10 for 10, 20 for 9, 30 for 8, and increasing by 10 points up to 100 for #1. I also assigned bonus points for chart longevity, and at the time a bonus for high debut and biggest mover. No, this wouldn't be permanent as time would go on, and I had to miss a few countdown shows on the radio because of work commitments. At times I would take my notebooks of said charts and brought them to work; I still have those notebooks by the way.

Eventually over time, I would lose interest in these charts, primarily because "American Top 40" had a new host, and their methodology for tabulating their charts changed dramatically; going away from R/R / Mediabase 24/7 to USA Today for some whatever reason. But the message board I mentioned on yesterday's entry existed, so I could still keep tabs.

Then a few years ago, I found a breakthrough, when old issues of "Radio and Records" was found on a radio archive site, this one to be exact, and from there I could finally go to town on completing this list.

Tomorrow, I'll explain what points system I eventually settled with, as well as a few differences in R/R charts and the ones I used to compile said list. Until tomorrow...

CT

Mission Accomplished (part 1)

Greetings once again. Ever set out on a project that you had an idea of executing in your spare time, tweak some parameters of said project as necessary, and then accomplish said project? Well, that's what I have done over the course of at least the past decade. I may or may not have mentioned it on this blog before, but if I have, indulge me.

For as long as I can remember, which stretches back some 40+ years, I have had a fascination with the Top 40 charts and countdown shows; from "American Top 40" to "Countdown America" and later in my youth, the "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40."  And as such, I would listen to these countdown shows whenever I had the opportunity; up until 2004 when Ryan Seacrest took over for Casey Kasem.

In the year 2000, I came across a website that's still in use today, which keeps tabs on every song that has ever charted on the old Radio and Records magazine, now MediaBase 24/7. What I wanted to at the time was attempt to recreate every R/R top 40 chart, but doing so using just that website would be impossible as they only gave the week a song debut and it's peak position at the time. Fortunately for me, I came across a web board would allow me to fill I those holes. By the end of that year, I had a new motivation; the top song of that year, "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon, didn't reach number 1 on a weekly survey. I thought to myself, "that doesn't make much sense." And so, I decided to come up with a points system based off those charts.

Tomorrow, I'll go into detail as to how I came up with my points system, and what I eventually learned from it. Stay tuned.

CT

My Endgame

Hello, I thought I would create this post as a roadmap of sorts to future dreams/aspirations. So I seem like I'm going somewhat over my head, indulge me.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably know by now that I am more than a little fed up with living in Florida, especially greater Tampa. Sure, the weather's nice in winter and the hockey team is good, but that's about it. #FloridaMan has made me lose almost what pride I had in this state. Combine the facts that our state is run by a Trump clone, a toxic at best radio scene (that I have refused to listened to since 2016), and general apathy about this region, and you can pretty much conclude that I want out.

Right now, I'm on disability because of my stroke two years ago, and other than somewhat regular visits to the VA clinic, I practically have zero life. I have been out on my own twice since my stroke; once to celebrate my birthday at Hooters, and the other occasion was to see "Avengers Endgame." I plan on taking a bus to St. Louis soon (I don't know when exactly), and I do have a few plans on carrying out while I'm there.

There is someone who I am talking to who I would love to see, but also I want to check out the area to see if I would like it. You see, the place where I was employed at, the Postal service, has their main facility right downtown; right across the street from Enterprise Center on one side, and Union station on the other. I want to investigate whether I can get back to working THERE (instead of Tampa; I have no car currently, and that place redefined toxic). If so, I could look at apartments in the area (looking around downtown or across the river in Illinois) and see if it could be possible to relocate there.

Of course, this is very preliminary and is speculative, nothing is being planned; yet. Just speaking about leaving Florida to existance...

CT

Food For Thought...

I was listening to my early 80s playlist on Spotify the other day, and "Human Touch" by Rick Springfield was starting to play. The opening lyrics go lie this.

    Everybody's talking to computers,
    They're all dancing to a drum machine...

The song came out in summer of 1983. I had just left Orlando Christian School and was going to attend a different elementary school for next year (I wasn't aware I was going to move to NC yet). Social media was eons away; we communicated through a land line telephone or via mail. We actually danced to live bands back then.

Look at us in 2019. Our primary form of communication is via computer (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Younger people dance to EDM (electronic/digital music), so essentially a drum machine. Could it be possible that Rick Springfield somehow could sense the future? Food for thought...

CT

Video for someone...

Looking at my pageviews, and I've noticed that over the frame of the past year or so, I've had hits from Germany. Now while I don't know exactly where in Germany, I know it's somewhere in the country.

That said, I thought I would post a video near and dear to someone in particular over there. If that person is seeing this, contact me at twitter.com/bonyscribe.

CT

Radio Daze

I was having a discussion on Twitter the other day with Diane, who lives in Central Florida, about how one particular radio station in Orlando used to play awesome music on the weekends, then suddenly stopped when their parent company, Clear Channel, thought it would be a better idea by axing their locally-produced programming with a cookie cutter default classic rock station from their iHeart Radio service sometime around 2010. Those in greater Orlando who listened to their "real music weekends" for the better part of about a decade or so I imagine were none too pleased with the decision; I know I wasn't.

Long story short, I stopped listening to that station (living in Tampa being a factor), and truth be told, I really haven't listened to radio in about three years. A big reason is because of Spotify and Pandora. Another reason is that radio in the Tampa market absolutely sucks. We have two pop stations, both of which suck to me. Both stations to my knowledge alter the pitch and speed of the music they play, I guess to make it sound fresher. No Bueno if you ask me. Another reason is the other genres of music on the radio aren't quite up my alley (especially country) and talk/sports radio is pretty much hot garbage, especially where I'm located. Oh, and don't get me started on that heaping pile of crap (in my opinion) known as BTLS.

Radio seeming to be substandard is something I've had to deal with for sometime now. Beginning in the 90's all the way up until present-day. Late 1993 was especially horrible for me from a listening standpoint; I had just transferred from Orlando to Goose Creek, SC (just outside Charleston) for Naval Nuclear Prototype School, and the station that was closest to XL 106.7 (which I listened to for about a couple of years, including high school) had just tweaked their format to a more AC-leaning. There were three Urban stations and three country stations there. And no dance songs at all. Plus I don't think any station there played either Casey Kasem, Shadoe Stevens, or Rick Dees' countdown shows (remember when those were a thing?). No thank you.

When I transferred to Norfolk six months later, it was more balanced at first. Z104 up there was akin to G105 in Raleigh or the aforementioned XL. You could practically listen to most of the top 40, as well as other hits, without changing the station. Then I was deployed for six months overseas; when I returned, the radio scene kinda shifted slightly. Of course, I had discovered sports talk radio at this point, so I didn't think it was a big deal. In 1996, it all changed. Z104 had gone from pop to rhythmic CHR. Plus WWDE (2WD) had become a pop lite station. Another station was pop-leaning rock. To put it bluntly, it was like segregation had come to music radio; if you wanted one particular song, it was on station A. If you wanted a different song, you had to switch to station B, and so forth. Oh, and one vivid memory was this hideous commercial, which is even lamer because the audio cuts out at the worst possible time:

Yes, they took off from "Friends." Pathetic.

Anyway, to get a sense of Norfolk radio at the time, here was a list of songs played on WNVZ, Z104  at this time 23 years ago this week:


 BRANDY /Sittig' Up In My...
MARY J. BLIGE/Not Gon' Cry
PLANET SOUL/Set U Free
TONY RICH PROJECT/Nobody Knows
3T /Anything
MARIAH CAREY /One Sweet Day
TONI BRAXTON /Let It Flow
DIANA KING/Ain't Nobody
 LA BOUCHE/Be My Lover
GROOVE THEORY /Keep Tryin
MONICA/Before You Walk_.
 DEBORAH COX/Who Do U Love
L.L. COOL J/Hey Lover
MAX -A- MILLION /Sexual Healing
EVERYTHING BUT... /Missing
SEAL/Don't Cry
SIMPLY RED/Fairground
WHITNEY HOUSTON /Exhale (Shoop...)
DEVONE' /Energy
J'SON/Take A Look
 SOPHIE B. HAWKINS/Only Love...
 INTRIGUE /Dance With Me
COOLIO/Fantastic Voyage-
COOLIO/Gangsta's Paradise
SA- DEUCE/Don't Waste My Time
LINA SANTIAGO/Feels So Good_.
MONTELL JORDAN/This Is How We Do It
TLC/Diggin On You
CRYSTAL WATERS/100% Pure Love
GROOVE THEORY/Tell Me
DENINE W /COLLAGE/AII Creed Out
ALL- 4- ONE/(She's Got) Shillz
SOUL FOR REAL/ Every Little Thing.
ADINA HOWARD/Freak Like Me
BLESSID UNION OF.. /0h Virginia
 REAL MCCOY /Another Night
2PAC F/DR. DRE/Califomia Love
 HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH/Time -
MARIAH CAREY /Always Be My Baby
JOE/All The Things...

Now compare that with the official Radio & Records chart that week (It's on Page 24, WNVZ's playlist is on page 28). Note that there's no Alanis on Z104, no Natalie Merchant and pretty much minimal Hootie, but Simply Red?!! I can't say "weird flex but okay" because that's more of a WTF than a flex. So, let's just say my memories of listening to the radio weren't very memorable, especially in Norfolk, Virginia.

But thank goodness for Spotify's existence; I can make up for lost time...


CT

Late Birthday Flashback

Hello and welcome again, albeit a little later than I wanted. Before I get to the flashback I wanted to write about last weekend, I have a couple off things to say.

First, Valentine's Day. Yes, the mother of all "Hallmark Holidays." Mine actually wasn't bad considering I didn't have a Valentine (which means I can get to wish as many "Happy Valentine's Days" as I want and not get in trouble for it). So I took my sisters out to Olive Garden. Not terribly satisfied with the location (US 19 in Pasco County, FL; a topic I'll write about in a later blog), but the food we got was more than worth it. Overall, I'd give it a solid B; I would have given it an A- had my sister not dropped the ball and left my bank card at the house, meaning all the birthday money from last weekend got spent. Thanks a lot, sis...

Second, this so-called "National Emergency" that our Dimwit In Chief earlier today declared a "national emergency" because he thinks there is too many immigrants at the southern border with Mexico and they must be stopped. Puh-leez… Yeah, we've had issues with illegal immigration the last 50 years, but a "national emergency?" Most of us literally saw two 110-story buildings crumble to the ground in a terrorist attack, and that wasn't called a national emergency.

You know what's a national emergency? Yellowstone erupting, being attacked by an alien force, Russian forces invading (remember the movie "Red Dawn?"). NOT whining that you're not getting an unnecessary border wall. That's like saying not having sex in eight years is a life or death crisis.

Anyway, enough about the DIC and onto a happier note. I turned 45 last weekend and on Twitter, I asked which year I should do my flashback on. There was a tie initially between 1985 and 2008 so I ran a second poll. 1985 won, so that year will be my focus. I turned 11 and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons; I contracted chicken pox and wound up missing a week of school. I don't have vivid memories of the music I listened to back then, because my family listened to country music (and while I didn't exactly love it, I at least tolerated it). Pop music was in its extended heyday, with artists like Madonna bursting onto the scene. Overall, the Radio and Records magazine chart for the week of February 8, 1985 was solid from top to bottom. Here below is said chart, from 40 to 1

40. Just Another Night	Mick Jagger
39. Somebody	Bryan Adams
38. One More Night	Phil Collins
37. I Wanna Hear It From Your       Lips	Eric Carmen
36. Ooh Ooh Song	Pat Benatar
35. Love Light In Flight	Stevie Wonder
34. Keeping The Faith	Billy Joel
33. Tragedy	John Hunter
32. Material Girl	Madonna
31. Like A Virgin	Madonna
30. Save A Prayer	Duran Duran
29. Naughty Naughty	John Parr
28. High On You	Survivor
27. Tenderness	General Public
26. Lovergirl	Teena Marie
25. Private Dancer	Tina Turner
24. Rockin' At Midnight	Honeydrippers
23. Relax	Frankie Goes To Hollywood
22. Only The Young	Journey
21. Too Late For Goodbyes	Julian Lennon
20. Solid	Ashford & Simpson
19. Operator	Midnight Star
18. Foolish Heart	Steve Perry
17. I Would Die 4 U	Prince
16. Jungle Love	Morris Day & The Time
15. Mr. Telephone Man	New Edition
14. You're The Inspiration	Chicago
13. Sugar Walls	Sheena Easton
12. Misled	Kool & The Gang
11. The Boys Of Summer	Don Henley
10. The Old Man Down The        Road	John Fogerty
9. California Girls	David Lee Roth
8. The Heat Is On	Glenn Frey
7. Can't Fight This Feeling	REO Speedwagon
6. Easy Lover	Phil Collins & Philip Bailey
5. Method Of Modern Love	Hall & Oates
4. Neutron Dance	Pointer Sisters
3. Loverboy	Billy Ocean
2. I Want To Know What Love       Is	Foreigner
1. Careless Whisper	Wham!

Hello again/ January 25, 1991 flashback

Hello again everyone. After a couple of months on hiatus, I have decided to dust off the old blog and write. Hope everyone had a good holiday season, but now it's back to life.

Tomorrow in Tampa is the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest, or as I call it, DrunkFest 2019. It happens to fall on a significant date in Tampa history too; On January 26, 2003, hell froze over and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. Yes, the Bucs actually won a Super Bowl. Which is something so unthought of it's like the Boston Red Sox reversing the curse of the Bambino and winning the World Series, or the Chicago Cubs doing the same, or me finding the love of my life...I guess I got carried away.

Also, next week sometime I want to write a blog regarding the ideal place that I want to live going forward. No, I'm not moving anytime soon, just putting it out there.

Anyway without further ado, I made a playlist last night on Spotify that recreates the Top 40 songs (per Radio & Records magazine) on this date in 1991. Personal anecdote here, I had just moved back to Orlando after spending the previous 7 and a half years in North Carolina, right as Desert Storm broke out. I was getting acclimated to my new (old) environment, but may things about Orlando itself had changed between 1983 and 1991, that some places had become unrecognizable. But here were the top 40 songs that week:


40. Does She Really Love That Man  by Breathe (their last top 40 hit)

39. Get Here by Oleta Adams (remember when Greyhound Bus Lines used this in their adverts I the late '90s?)

38. Hold You Tight by Tara Kemp (I had a crush on Tara, unfortunately, she would have one more hit and never to be heard from again)

37. Don't Hold Back Your Love by Hall & Oates (their last Top 40 hit)

36. Miles Away by Winger (power ballad by a hair band to get more album sales)

35. From A Distance by Bette Midler (thank u, next)

34. Love Makes Things Happen by Pebbles and Babyface (the next we'd hear from Pebbles, she tried to screw over TLC)

33. Candy by Iggy Pop (his only Top 40 hit; duet with Kate Pierson of B-52s. A personal favorite of mine)

32. Shelter Me by Cinderella

31. This House by Tracie Spencer (she was only 14 at the time!)

30. Coming Out Of The Dark by Gloria Estefan (her first single after her near-fatal tour bus accident in 1990)

29. Waiting For That Day by George Michael

28. Impulsive by Wilson Phillips

27. Waiting For Love by Alias

26. Moneytalks by AC/DC (Believe it or not, their only top 40 pop hit on R/R)

25. If You Needed Somebody by Bad Company (the new lineup that had a couple of hits in this time period, not the 70s lineup)

24. All This Time by Sting

23. Justify My Love by Madonna (other than the steamy video, did you know backing vocals were performed by Lenny Kravitz?)

22. Because I Love You by Stevie B

21. Wicked Game by Chris Isaak (speaking of steamy videos, holy cow! I almost fell in love with Helena Christiansen)

20. Show Me The Way by Styx

19. Heat of the Moment by After 7

18. One More Try by Timmy T (this actually hit No. 1 on Billboard, which to put it in a sports analogy, is like Loyola Chicago reaching the Final Four last year)

17. Rescue Me by Madonna (never saw the video for this song)

16. I Saw Red by Warrant

15. Do the Bartman by Bart Simpson (yes, from the cartoon. Remember their album "The Simpsons Sing The Blues?" Mind boggling when you think about their longevity)

14. I'll Give All My Love To You by Keith Sweat (I imagine this son closed out many a prom in 1991. I didn't know though because I couldn't go)

13. High Enough by Damn Yankees (their biggest hit by a mile)

12. Play That Funky Music by Vanilla Ice (so he followed up "Ice Ice Baby" who he ripped from Queen with a song he ripped from Wild Cherry. Got it)

11. Disappear by INXS

10. Where Does My Heart Beat Now by Celine Dion (her first of many hits)

 9. Someday by Mariah Carey (remember the kid who was famous for drumming on a bucket in a Levi's jeans ad back then? He was in the video for this song)

 8. Just Another Dream by Cathy Dennis (Rick Astley provided backing vocals for this track)

 7. All The Man That I Need by Whitney Houston (two days after this chart, Houston would perform her iconic version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Super Bowl XXV in Tampa.)

 6. Gonna Make You Sweat by C+C Music Factory (Everybody dance now! Now you have that song stuck in your head; you're welcome)

 5. After the Rain by Nelson (Funny story involving what I think was Nelson in Fort Lauderdale in 1997 while I was in the Navy. I'll tell you at a later time)

 4. I'm Not In Love by Will To Power

 3. Sensitivity by Ralph Tresvant (first solo effort since New Edition took a break in the late 80s)

 2. The First Time by Surface

 1. Love Will Never Do (Without You) by Janet Jackson

There they were. I'll spare you the Casey Kasem spiel at the end (God bless his soul). Now I'll put out playlist on Twitter.