I Think I Have Writer's Block...Or Do I??/Flashback (BB 7/28/84)

 Good morning, everyone. Sitting here by my computer wondering what I want to write about today but struggling to figure out how I want to say it. I guess this what they consider writer's block; when you have a bunch of ideas floating around in the hamster wheel, but nothing is coming out. I just found out that it actually a medical condition, who knew? I sure didn't. But from scanning the Wiki article, it seems a lot more than what I made it out to be. For example, in a couple of letters that I have written for Samantha, I wrote what was on my heart and once I got started, I didn't have difficulty getting the letter written. Now I did have anxiety in so much as if I said too much or didn't say enough. But at least she knows how I felt, and still feel. So, I'll just leave it at that.

But as far as deciding as to do another flashback or my whacked thoughts on what's happening in the world, that is where I'm somewhat indecisive. Even just now as I went to the garage refrigerator to grab another Coke Zero Sugar, I had thoughts racing through my brain as far as what exactly what I wanted to write about. When I do these flashbacks, it's like the title of an Eddie Money song, "I Wanna Go Back" and somewhat relive those moments, even though the best is still yet to come. But as my former roomie once explained to me years ago, why would I want to go back? Meaning that I'm not progressing in my life as I should be. That to me as a matter of opinion, though I have the feeling that Morty Smith is trying to speak to me in the way he spoke to his sister that one time.

"You just got to get it together..."

Of course, there are many ways I could go with that quote/rant that are so relatable with events that have occurred in my life over the past few years. But that's an entirely different topic. Another thing that I have in the back of my mind as I try to write this is I know that any minute, my computer will take a temporary dirt nap and I'll have to wait minute to reboot everything. In a way, that can be a good thing because it can allow me to reset my train of thought. But I really could use a new computer. 

ANYWAY, I promised in my last blog entry that I would do a flashback feature, so here it is. For today's post, we're throwing it back to in my opinion the greatest year in music, 1984. So, without further ado, here were the Top 40 songs according to Billboard Magazine for the week ending July 28, 1984.

40. Boys Do Fall In Love by Robin Gibb. Amongst the four Gibb brothers, we all think that Barry and Andy was virtually the voices that we all think of, but fraternal twin Robin had this song that charted. I don't believe Maurice, his other twin, had a song that reached the Top 40.

39. She Bop by Cyndi Lauper. As most of you are well aware by now, this song overs a, ahem, somewhat taboo subject...

38. 10-9-8 by Face To Face. Why did they stop at eight instead of going all the way to zero? Was there an abort that we didn't know about? Well, I guess the band Europe would fill in that gap three years later...

37. The Warrior by Scandal f/Patty Smyth. Video for it was somewhat cringeworthy. Let's just say that I don't have a desire to see dudes dancing around in leotards...great song though.

36. The Glamorous Life by Sheila E. Congratulations to her by the way as she recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

35. If This Is It by Huey Lewis & The News. For some reason, when this song came out as a ten-year old, I wanted to add an extra beat/syllable to this song. Probably because at that age I only listened to the song and didn't fully grasp music at the time. Something I would learn a couple of years later.

34. Lights Out by Peter Wolf. The lead singer of the J. Geils Band still doesn't have his most noteworthy solo work on Spotify. I hope that changes soon.

33. Turn To You by The Go Go's. This was their last chart hit as a group before Belinda Carlisle went solo.

32. Rock Me Tonite by Billy Squier. Speaking of cringeworthy videos, the video for this song practically wrecked Mr. Squier's career. Incidentally, a fellow Sailor told me about this video back in 1993. He wasn't wrong...

31. Alibis by Sergio Mendes

30. Sexy Girl by Glenn Frey. A song that could define Samantha.

29. Missing You by John Waite. Arguably his most noteworthy song, but there is a note about this song that in retrospect is a bit creepy...

28. No Way Out by Jefferson Starship. Last chart hit before they were rebranded as "Starship."

27. The Heart of Rock & Roll by Huey Lewis & The News

26. Romancing The Stone by Eddy Grant. From the movie of the same name, but it didn't have a cringe music video like the movie's sequel did. Wait, what's my obsession with cringeworthy music videos in this entry???

25. She's Mine by Steve Perry. I hope to say this someday, even though I would love so much to be hers...

24. Dance Hall Days by Wang Chung. One of my all-time favorite lyrics came from this song. "Take your baby by the wrist, and in her mouth an amethyst."

23. Round And Round by Ratt. In probably is the most Tampa thing ever, WFLA radio's top-of-the-hour news break utilized this song. I wish I was kidding.

22. I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man) by Kenny Loggins. From the "Footloose" soundtrack and arguably my favorite Loggins song.

21. The Reflex by Duran Duran

20. Panama by Van Halen. As a soccer fan, this disappoints me as the US fell in the CONCACAF Gold Cup to Panama. Hey, at least Panama has sloths. 

19. Sunglasses At Night by Corey Hart. An iconic 80's hit. By the way, I almost accidentally typed out Carey Hart, the extreme sports star that's married to another musical star, P!nk...

18. If Ever You're In My Arms Again by Peabo Bryson

17. Self Control by Laura Branigan. This is the FOURTH entry on this list in which there is a music video I have to question. This one has an instance towards the end that could be construed as r***. I doubt that shit would fly in 2023...

16. Magic by The Cars. The fifth entry on this list in which I'm talking about the video, although this one I wouldn't consider cringy. I'm probably mistaken, but there is a set of twins in this video, one of which may or may not be the mother of a Facebook friend of mine and is relatively well known i  the Orlando area.

15. Stuck On You by Lionel Richie. At the time I thought Lionel was pivoting towards country, in retrospect, he was merely getting in touch with his Tuskegee, Alabama roots.

14. Doctor! Doctor! by The Thompson Twins

13. I Can Dream About You by Dan Hartman. And I try to every night, at least.

12. Almost Paradise by Mike Reno & Ann Wilson

11. Breakin'...There's No Stopping Us by Ollie & Jerry

10. Jump (For My Love) by The Pointer Sisters. Kind of fitting video for this song with the Los Angeles Olympics mere weeks away from this timepoint. Speaking of which, four years from this time, they'll be back there!

  9. What's Love Got To Do With It by Tina Turner. Rest easy, Ms. Turner.

  8. Legs by ZZTop

  7. Sad Songs (Say SO Much) by Elton John. Congratulations, Sir Elton on your retirement.

  6. Infatuation by Rod Stewart. A feeling I may or may not have had in the past, and including right now...

  5. Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol

  4. State Of Shock by The Jacksons. Featuring Mick Jagger, who just this week celebrated his 80th birthday, but for some reason wasn't listed on this song.

  3. Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen. Revisionist history here, if Courtney Cox isn't the woman pulled out from the crowd in the music video, does "Friends" happen?

  2. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. Yes, this franchise is still alive and kicking, although the debut of the "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" sequel is now being delayed thanks to the SAG/AFTRA strike.

...and the number one song on this date thirty-nine years ago was...

  1. When Doves Cry by Prince. I haven't seen this movie to this day. I have seen bits and pieces though, most of them involving Appolonia, for obvious reasons.

And after about four hours of sitting at my computer, I'm able to power through. I hope to have more entries for your reading, dining and dancing pleasure later this weekend, in the meantime, enjoy your weekend!

BS

P.S. Hey Mark, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE YOUR THREADS APP?!

Ya Man Is Tired...Plus Other Stuff

 Greetings once again, and am I tired. Tired of the virtue-signaling. Tired of all the dog whistleblowing. Tired of what social media has become; a breeding ground for the things I just mentioned above. Same with mainstream media. Hypocrisy lives (and thrives) there. Whether it be CNN or MSNBC and their fixation on the former President being a dipshit, or Fox News's fixation on Biden's bum-ass son. 

What happened to the days of "Just the facts, man/ma'am?" I was watching some YouTube videos last night of some breaking stories when I was in high school. Two in particular: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the near upheaval in Beijing that culminated in that massacre in Tiananmen Square. I was too focused on my schoolwork at the time to really fully grasp what was going on at the time. Plus, my household at the time couldn't get cable (we virtually were between BFE and Timbuktu). Another thing I don't remember hearing about at the dawn of the 1990s was the toxic medium known as talk-radio; the Rush Limbaughs, the Sean Hannitys, the cryin' Glenn Becks (DON'T get me started on THAT douchecanoe). When we listened to the radio, we had groovy music and we were informed with actual news, along with the weather and sports. Not the political spin we hear about all the time nowadays. 

Heck, the world is on freaking fire right now, but thanks to modern-day mainstream media, our attention spans are somewhat focused on something that's still sixteen months away. Damn you, Telecommunications Act of 1996. Maybe we ought to launch something called "anti-social media," but I think Squealon Muskrat already has that market curbed with his awful reboot of Twitter, which is going about as well as one Bum-Ass Governor's pipe dream, I mean, presidential campaign. Speaking of which, thanks a lot, Squealon, for ruining one of the best techno/rave songs in history (which I think can only be found on YouTube, btw). 

I'm debating right now if I should do a regular flashback on Friday, or if I should do a special one for Sinead O'Connor, who sadly passed away yesterday.

Training camps are underway across the National Football League, and this is a reminder that preseason football is only a week away. I see predictions from various "experts" and others seeing that my Bucs won't win many games this season. I think otherwise, I think they could actually steal the NFC South this year. Will they win the Super Bowl? No, but it doesn't hurt to dream, even though they're a mere three years removed from their triumph at home at SBLV:

Good times during the pandemic.

Hot take: the Tampa Bay Rays, who have lost their stranglehold on first place in the AL East, won't even make the playoffs. Neither will the Miami Marlins. Talk about free-falling, Tom Petty.

No, I haven't paid much attention to the Women's World Cup, although our US team tied Netherlands last night Down Under.

I'm suddenly blanking, fortunately not like Mitch McConnell on Wednesday. That was scary stuff, and brings to question once again if term limits should be imposed on Senators and Representatives much like the President.

I think I should stop here while I'm behind. My squeeze took a brief vacation this week and is back safely, so that's good news. Maybe I'll get to see her next week. In the meantime, my sister and I will have a lot of work to do getting the house organized and cleaned for our youngest sister's arrival. 

I should be back Friday morning as mentioned before with a flashback entry for you, in the meantime, take care.

BS

Mark...We're Waiting...

 Hello, I thought I'd come on here a second time today, but this time to turn your attention to threads, more notably what has been happening with the new app in the week since its launch. While the launch here in the US was successful (dare I say, even Meta-successful?), I saw something on there had raised my concern.

Engagement has dropped off, big time. There was an infographic on there that showed how much it had dropped off, but I can't find it because you can't see what posts you liked on the Threads app...yet. Nor do we have the ability to 1) get a chronological order of thread posts and 2) we get threads from accounts that users do not follow. Now we all know that the application is still in its infancy, and there is still a positive outlook for Threads, but in the day and age of instant gratification, one has to say, Mark, we're waiting. 

Guess you know who I'm rooting for in this virtual cage fight.

photo from from ithinkdiff.com

BonyScribe

Flashback: July 15, 2005

 Greetings everyone. It's Friday, you know what that means. It's time for my somewhat weekly flashback feature on this blog. Today, we're going back to a one of my favorite years in music, 2005. Hard to believe that 2005 was already eighteen years ago. Dubya was entering a second term, we were fighting a forever war in Afghanistan in our wild goose chase to hunt down OBL, but we did capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq, so there's that. The Devil Rays still wore green, and still sucked, and Florida was still licking her wounds from four hurricanes that nailed our state. So, here were the Top 40 songs for this week according to Radio & Records Magazine from 2005.

40. Pimpin' All Over The World by Ludacris. There is a reason 2005 was a favorite year for me musically; it had a little bit of everything in it. Hip-hop, ballads, hard rock, emo punk, alternative, even a little country. WFLZ radio was actually listenable for once!

39. Ohio (Come Back To Texas) by Bowling For Soup. Never really was a big fan of theirs, other than "1985" of course. 

38. Haven't Found by Pras Michel f/Sharli McQueen. Well, as Rob Thomas sang in 1999, "man it's a hot one." Even worse than ever before across some sectors of the nation.

37. Lonely by Akon. According to The Express, 111 million Americans, mainly in California, Texas, and Arizona are under heat advisories.

36. Summer Nights by Lil' Rob. According to the article, which includes video from CBS This Morning, Death Valley National Park could set a GLOBAL heat record. Although the actuall worldwide record is up for debate. Just last week, the Earth had several days of record-setting heat. Bottom line though: stay indoors!

35. Just The Girl by Click Five

34. Let Me Hold You by Bow Wow f/Omarion. Another consequence of all this heat is that our oceans are turning green. When I was deployed in the waters of the Middle East, I noticed that the waters of the Persian Gulf were of a pea-green hue. At first it was because of how the geography of that region (hot and sandy) was, but I didn't think at the time it was because of how hot that region of the world got.

33. Energy by Natalie. I guess Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants will get his wish after all; to achieve global domination.

32. These Boots Were Made For Walking by Jessica Simpson. Yes, Jessica did try to remake the Nancy Sinatra classic from the 1960's, and somehow it charted. 

31. Hate It Or Love It by The Game f/50 Cent. G-g-g-g-G u-NIT!!

30. Beverly Hills by Weezer. That's where I want to be, although I've never been to California. Don't think if I go I'll be rolling like a celebrity though.

29. Lose Control by Missy Elliott. Speaking of Beverly Hills, or the greater Los Angeles area in general, the SAG has joined their compatriots in the writing field in going on strike, so effectively all of Hollywood is shut down.

28. Speed Of Sound by Coldplay. I don't watch too many scripted television shows nowadays, but this obviously a serious blow to anyone who enjoys watching their favorite programs and movies. I don't know the exact workings of Hollywood, but I assume that unless AMPTP hires non-union writers, no project is going to go forward.

27. Mr. Brightside by The Killers. I bet you've already sung the lyrics to this song in your head. You're welcome.

26. Collide by Howie Day. I'm not really one to have a wedding song if I were to get hitched, which I've never been close to being. But if, for some reason, I had to choose a wedding song, this would be one of my choices.

25. Cool by Gwen Stefani

24. Incomplete by The Backstreet Boys. That's how I sometimes feel being single to be honest.

23. Cold by Crossfade. A personal favorite of mine, probably because of the relationship my late father had with his kids, including myself. Despite that, he did have his heart in the right place.

22. Chariot by Gavin DeGraw

21. How To Deal by Frankie J

20. Grind With Me by Pretty Ricky. This is the kind of slow jam that I loved back in the day. Unfortunately, I didn't have someone to slow grind with at that time.

19. These Words by Natasha Beddingfield. This just in, apparently Margot Robbie is "mid." Of course, people are in an uproar over it and rightfully so.

18. Sugar (Gimme Some) by Trick Daddy. This was the Twitter post that created all the fuss. Look at her though, do you honestly think Margot Robbie is "mid?" Nick, I suggest you crawl back into the hole you came from.

oh wait, does your Twitter bio say that you're from the "Free State" of Florida? I guess that would explain your misogyny.

17. Holiday by Green Day. An all-time favorite of mine, and probably my all-time favorite goal song (The Vancouver Canucks used this as theirs for a while around a decade ago).

16. Untitled by Simple Plan. How could this HAPPEN to MEEEE! A favorite amongst users of YTMND.

15. Get It Poppin' by Fat Joe f/ Nelly

14. Baby I'm Back by Baby Bash

13. Just A Little Bit by 50 Cent

12. You And Me by Lifehouse. See #26. Another one I could possibly use if that day comes.

11. Oh by Ciara f/Ludacris

10. Let Me Go by Three Doors Down

  9. Listen To Your Heart by DHT. This outfit actually released two versions of this song. This one and a stripped-down "Candlelight" version of the Roxette classic from 1989. Question, why didn't Jennifer Lopez do the same thing with "Ain't It Funny?" just a couple of years before??

  8. Pon de Replay by Rihanna

  7. Scars by Papa Roach. Though probably not their signature song (that would be "Last Resort"), it did get the most airplay amongst their songs, at least on mainstream radio.

  6. Don't Cha by The Pussycat Dolls. Actually, don't YOU wish you all were as hot as her?

  5. Switch by Will Smith

  4. Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. "This s*** is bananas" according to the song. Speaking of which, All Elite Wrestling just yesterday announced some changes to the way their performers have to do their spots. Reaction to this among the IWC (internet wrestling community) has been split, with some saying such changes are necessary while others are decrying it for becoming another clone of WWE.

  3. Don't (Mess) With My Heart by Black Eyed Peas. My opinion is that AEW decided to make these changes as a result of an absolutely insane spot that Sting (who's 63 years old, mind you) performed on Sammy Guevara during an episode of "Dynamite" a couple of weeks ago. Seeing this live, I thought Sting did more damage to himself than just the busted mouth he received. In any event, I think it caused Tony Khan and company to do some soul searching, because tha could have ended VERY badly.

  2. Behind These Hazel Eyes by Kelly Clarkson

...and the number one song this week eighteen years ago was...

  1. We Belong Together by Mariah Carey. Sorry Mariah, I have someone else in mind. 

Well that's your flashback for this week. Hope to be back here again later today or sometime this weekend. In the meantime, take care and please, stay hydrated!

BonyScribe

Another Day, Another S***post

 Hello again, everyone. Had nothing else better to do this late Tuesday evening so I thought I would get some thoughts out of the way. So, with a Coke Zero in hand, here we go...

No, I didn't watch tonight's baseball All-Star Game, nor did I watch the home run derby last night, but I understand Randy Arozarena of the Rays finished second, continuing Florida's incredible streak of being first loser in various sporting events. As for the rest of the 2023 season, here's how I see it playing out:

AL East: Baltimore
AL Central: Minnesota
AL West: Houston
ALWCs: Tampa, New York, Seattle
NL East: Atlanta
NL Central: Cincinnati
NL West: Los Angeles
NLWCs: Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco

For the World Series, I have Atlanta beating New York, finally getting their revenge from 1996 and 1999.

My computer has REALLY been annoying me as of late. I'll have it on yet do absolutely nothing, and the computer wants to overheat and automatically shut itself off. Granted my laptop is a decade old, and it is high time I get a new one (one that actually has a microphone jack for the microphone I got from Wish several years ago). I know I have enough saved to get one down the road. Question is, when do I ask to get one because I made the near-fatal mistake in 2017 after my stroke of signing my finances away to my sister, thinking that my condition would not improve. Yes, I have loss of feeling in my left side, and sometimes I have to use a cane. But at least I can move somewhat, albeit not very fast plus I have to watch my balance at times.

Maybe I'm getting cabin fever but being able to go out by myself for one day a month is a little tedious. I know my family wants to put a short lash on me, but like I told my squeeze the other day, I am responsible and can take care of myself. Heck, I took a bus trip to St. Louis just before the p(l)andemic hit. So, I don't see why I can't go out more often.

I haven't watched the news much this week, but I do know that the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico is incredibly hot. This week some temperature around the gulf have exceeded 95 degrees. That's hot enough to potentially threaten Florida's coral reefs.

Unfortunately, I had to interrupt my writing of this by a few hours. Apparently, Spectrum was playing tiddlywinks with everyone's (at least in Spring Hill) WiFi last night, then my computer startyed acting up...again. Hate when they randomly do that, but...

$29.99!!!

I wonder the if actor in their commercials, John Hoogenakker (Hoogenakker?), has ever been told he looks like a spitting image of Vincent Van Gogh? But I digress...

As I was going to say before that hiccup last night, the heat dome over the Gulf that's helping cause this isn't going away anytime soon, and sadly we here in Florida may experience more heat indices of over 110 degrees before the week is over. At least here in the Tampa Bay region, we've had some thundershowers in the morning to cool us off a little bit (but not this morning).

At least we have some good news to report: Sweden looks to be joining NATO in the near future now that Turkey has gotten off their high horse. I'm here to see MC Vladdy Daddy sweat some more over that news. Tick Tock, Vladdy P! Also, Brazil has reduced deforestation in the Amazon by a third. While not optimal (that would be all deforestation to stop), at least it is a start.

Hey, hey Tampa Bay! At 11AM the Bucs release their creamsicle jerseys for 2023.

Oh, and I'd thought I'd share this post from the world's second biggest man-child. Very mature, dude.

Well, that's about all for now. More to come later this week, perhaps even today. Be good!

CT

Flashback: July 10, 1987

 Greetings, everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday, even though it was hot, like excruciatingly hot. This morning I was thankful to see rain for the first time all week, if only for a brief respite considering how hot it has been. Today, I'm flashing back to the year in which I was called a Brillo pad because of my short haircut, 1987. And, along with it are my thoughts from back then as well as what's going on currently, and there have been lots to talk about this week. So, without any further yapping, these were the Top 40 songs according to Radio & Records Magazine for the week ending July 10, 1987:

40. Since You've Been Gone by The Outfield. Not to be confused with the Kelly Clarkson smash from 2005 ("Since U Been Gone"). Just realized something that will make you feel old. It has been the same number of years between the two songs I just mentioned as it has between Kelly Clarkson's hit and now; 18 years. No, this note was not sponsored by Metamucil nor Geritol. Do they still make Geritol these days?

39. Living In A Box by Living In A Box. As I alluded to in the last flashback post I did, the smackdown between Squealon Muskrat and Mark Zuckerberg is taking place, but little did we know until a couple of days ago that this fight would take place online.

38. Moonlighting by Al Jarreau. On Tuesday, Zuckerberg launched "Threads" as an alternative to Twitter, and man has it been a breath of fresh air. I didn't delete Twitter, but I did uninstall it from my phone. I've yet to configure it so that my feed is in chronological order, and I'm not sure as of right now that can be done yet but expect to find much more of me on there and much less of me on Twitter. Sorry, Squealon. By the way, since the song listed here is from a TV show, we don't hear much of that anymore, I think the last TV theme that charted was the theme from "The Sopranos," and that was over 20 years ago.

37. Flames Of Paradise by Elton John & Jennifer Rush. Flames of Paradise sounds like either the title of a primetime soap opera, or a Harlequin romance novel. It is neither, however it could be used to describe exactly how scorching hot it has been this week, and not because I saw my love interest on Monday.

36. La Bamba by Los Lobos. Planet Earth set a record for the hottest day ever. For three consecutive days. According to one tweet, scientists speculate that it may have been the hottest day on Earth in 125,000 years. That I think is more than all of recorded history...EVER. I hope the Earth doesn't literally catch fire before I'm dead and gone, although I'm not confident of that.

35. Just To See Her by Smokey Robinson. We go from a song at #37 talking about flames to a song by a man named Smokey. Remember, only you can prevent wildfires.

34. Always by Atlantic Starr. Arguably the #1 prom song of that spring, and although I never attended one, it's like I told my love interest, "Always."

33. It's Not Over ('Til It's Over) by Starship. This song pays homage to Yankee great Yogi Berra, albeit in title only. But, that's one of the whimsical phrases Berra was known for. Another one being, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it."

32. In Too Deep by Genesis

31. Head To Toe by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam. Another song thjat got people on the dance floor in 1987.

30. Hypnotize Me by Wang Chung. There was a kid at my school named Louis in which some people in my class called "Wang Chung." To this day, I have no clue why nor do I want to know why he was called that. But then again to quote Peter Gabriel, "the place where I come from (I lived in St. Pauls, NC at the time) is a small town, a town so small, they use small words..." and undoubtedly small minds.

29. Only In My Dreams by Debbie Gibson. One of my dream girls growing up, because she was close to my age. Tiffany was the other one.

28. One For The Mockingbird by Cutting Crew. A couple of weeks ago, John Sterling, longtime radio voice of the New York Yankees had a scary yet rather humorous (in hindsight) incident as he was calling a game between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

27. Who's That Girl by Madonna. Sterling was calling the action as Justinn Turner of the Red Sox was at bat. Suddenly, a foul ball came screaming toward Sterling and somehow, he didn't realize it until it was too late. 

26. Rock Steady by The Whispers. The video of it is even more hilarious, which is in the same link by the way because Twitter for some reason is down. Gee, I wonder why?

25. Hearts On Fire by Bryan Adams. Anyway, that incident of another radio broadcaster being plunked by a foul ball. In the infancy of the Tampa Bay Rays (1999 to be exact), Paul Olden, who interestingly enough is the current PA voice of the Yankees, was in the Rays radio booth at Fenway Park when Bobby Smith fouled a pitch back behind home plate.

24. Don't Mean Nothing by Richard Marx. Footage of it no longer exists, and this was before play-by-play people had cameras in their respective booths, but sports station WDAE had a clip of it at the time: 

Paul: "Here's the pitch to Smith, and it's swung on and fouled back towards ME! (thud)
Charlie Slowes (now with the Washington Nationals): "You okay, Paul?

That was Smith's lasting legacy with the franchise, and up until 2008, was probably (other than Wade Boggs hitting a HR for his 3,000th hit) the most memorable moment in franchise history up to that point.

23. I'd Still Say Yes by Klymaxx

22. Seven Wonders by Fleetwood Mac

21. Every Little Kiss by Bruce Hornsby & The Range. I think Hornsby doesn't get enough credit for how good he was in the late 1980's maybe it was because it was in the middle of an era where "image is everything"

20. Back In The High Life Again by Steve Winwood. SPEAKING OF HIGH...what kind of a party was going on at the White House the other day? Apparently, there wasn't a party, although one could've wrongly speculated that Don, Jr. and Hunter may have had some sort of bizarro bonding session there. I know Don, Jr. is going through an alleged breakup with Kimberly Guilfoile but, dude...get a grip!

19. Wot's It To Ya? by Robbie Nevil. That's what people on the right wing would probably say to me about that last article.

18. The Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson

17. Happy by Surface. I seem to forget that this was that group's first foray into the Top 40. I remember that they had some hits in the early 90's but I didn't know they went as far back as 1987.

16. Luka by Suzanne Vega. This was actually a very sad song concerning child abuse. A little catchy, but it shouldn't overshadow the message behind it.

15. Songbird by Kenny G. Something you don't hear much of anymore; instrumentals

14. Girls, Girls, Girls by Motley Crue. Tropicana (Field)'s where I lost my heart.

13. I Want Your Sex by George Michael. In rural NC where I lived in 1987, a grand total of zero radio stations played this song. I don't think the stations in Raleigh even played it. I only heard this song on MTV. Nowadays, you have a song called WAP reach number 1 on Billboard magazine. So much for the "moral majority." I told y'all that Mayberry was dead.

12. Cross My Broken Heart by The Jets. You know, I wonder if fans of the New York Jets would sing this now that Mr. Discount Double Check is their QB? Nahhhh...

11. Kiss Him Goodbye by The Nylons

10. Rythym Is Going To Get You by Miami Sound Machine

  9. Funkytown by Pseudo Echo.  I don't care what anyone else says, THIS version is better than the 1980 version by Lipps, Inc.

  8. Something So Strong by Crowded House

  7. Heart And Soul by T'Pau. I remember an old school buddy of mine would pick on my cousin because she looked like the lead singer of this group.

  6. Point Of No Return by Expose. Remember when I did a flashback in which Nu Shooz had a song with the same title as Stevie Nicks called "I Can't Wait"? Well this is the other song that I referenced, and yes, Expose is still around.

  5. Don't Disturb This Groove by The System

  4. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2. Here Bono and Company paid tribute to Mr. Magoo.

  3. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) by Whitney Houston. I definitely do, and I will...soon.

  2. Shakedown by Bob Seger. When this song first came out, I thought the title of it was "You're Busted." Thankfully I was wrong.

...and the number one song this week thirty-six years ago was...

  1. Alone by Heart. Still love this song to this very day. 

Well, that puts a wrap on this week's flashback. Time to figure out how exactly to set up my "Threads" app. Until later this weekend, stay cool, stay hydrated, and take care.

CT

My Independence Day S***post Extravaganza (Cut Short Due To Illness)

Greetings and Happy 4th of July!!! Hope you're safely enjoying the festivities and fireworks. Regardless of how freaking hot it is. Down here just north of Tampa Bay, it feels like Satan's armpit. I was able to try to enjoy the outside weather for about thirty minutes earler today, but I couldn't stay out for much longer than that; it was that hot. In fact, a Facebook friend of mine from Wesley Chapel had a heat index of 113! I'm sorry, that's too much. In Orlando, it got just as hot, but it appears as if the 4th of July fireworks at Lake Eola might get delayed. 

Here in Spring Hill, my plans are for now maybe catch some of the street fireworks being set off in and around here, but my squeeze is feeling under the weather suddenly, so that may change. No, I'm not watching baseball; the Rays continue to disappoint me (they no longer have the best record in baseball, and before the month is over, I don't think they'll even lead their division). I might watch "A Capitol 4th" since Belinda Carlisle is among the featured acts, but I might just watch the Lake Eola fireworks from my computer; that is, if my computer doesn't take a dirt nap. I mean it is more than a decade old.

Anyway, have a safe and sound Fourth, and I'll be back with another post sometime later this week.

CT