The Kitties Did It

 Last time I graced you with my presence on here almost two weeks ago, the Florida Panthers were on the verge of sweeping the Edmonton Oilers to clinch their first Stanley Cup title. Then things went a little squirrelly, then a little sideways. Next thing we knew, Edmonton had rallied from 0-3 down to tie the series and force a winner-take-all game 7 Monday night in Broward County with all the momentum in the world. Fortunately for our feline friends from South Beach, Sergei Bobrovsky regained his stellar form and the Cats won Game 7 and their first Stanley Cup title. 

The title gives the Miami/Fort Lauderdale region the grand slam of professional sports, meaning that their teams have won titles in the MLB, NBA, NFL, and now NHL, an accomplishment last achieved by Dallas/Fort Worth region last year when the Texas Rangers won their first World Series. If only the Dolphins can get their act together and win one before my time on earth passes; their last title was just before I was born, in January of 1974. 

But, anyway, congratulations Cats, and thank you for cementing Florida as the new State of Hockey. Oh, by the way, if you're reading this on Tuesday, google "Panthers Stanley Cup" for a nice little surprise.

 

Congrats Kitties, and in the words of the late Jim Mandich, "ALLLRIGHHT MIAMIIIII!!!"

BonyScribe

Flashback: June 15, 1996

 Hello again. It's been a few weeks since I did a flashback Top 40 blog post (about three weeks ago to be exact). Usually, I roll a 20-sided die to determine which year I choose for this blog, however with the Florida Panthers, the team I called the LOLCats for the longest time, on the precipice of their maiden Stanley Cup titleprecipice of their maiden Stanley Cup title, I thought I would turn back the clocks to 1996, the year they first reached the Final (and only their third year of existence). Now unfortunately for them, they would get swept by Colorado (who had just poached the team from Quebec City), and it wouldn't be until last season that they won a Stanley Cup Final game, but the rat throwing craze hit fever pitch in South Florida. So, grab your rats and get ready to toss them, as we go over the top 40 songs (provided by Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart) for this week in 1996.

40. Standing Outside A Broken Telephone Booth With Money In My Hand by Primitive Radio Gods. Man, that was a long title. Anyway, this song got, despite having heavy airplay over the summer of that year, didn't reach the Hot 100 singles chart. Remember, I'm going off airplay here. 1996 was weird, man.

39. Your Loving Arms by Billie Ray Martin. Not to be confused with country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus or late baseball manager and New York Yankees legend Billy Martin. To me this song sounded somewhat familiar to AC/DC's 1980 classic "You Shook Me All Night Long."

38. Jealousy by Natalie Merchant

37. Children by Robert Miles. It was a later song by Miles that I enjoyed more, "One and One." Sadly, Miles passed away from cancer in May of 2017. F*** cancer.

36. Big Me by The Foo Fighters. This was their first crossover hit from their self-titled debut album. I didn't know at the time that frontman Dave Grohl formed the band (that's what being in The Navy will do to you; there are some things that you lose awareness of). The video for it was a spoof of those Mentos commercials that aired in the 90s.

35. Salvation by The Cranberries

34. Machinehead by Bush. Probably my favorite Bush song. I thought it was from the movie "Swimfan," but it actually came from "Fear." I knew it was from a movie, but it was that I didn't see.

33. Flood by Jars Of Clay

32. Mother Mother by Tracy Bonham. Add this song to Madonna's "Oh Father" in 1989, The Nixon's "Sister" from later in 1996, Avicii's "Hey Brother" from 2014 (has it really been ten years already?), and either the aforementioned "Children" or Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child Of Mine" and you pretty much have a family tree playlist. Don't know if songs from Sister Sledge ("We Are Family") or Sly & The Family Stone ("Family Affair") can be included, maybe if you're a boomer it could.

31. 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) by Coolio. As I recall, the pop radio station in Richmond, VA (I lived in Newport News at the time) played the unedited version of the song. Apparently, the n-word was acceptable on the radio up there, and to that I say...

30. Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla. The first song, or anything for that matter, that I remember of the portrayal of God as a female. 

29. You're Makin' Me High by Toni Braxton. Excuse me while I stare at the following picture for a bit...

28. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) by Los Del Rio. I'm sorry if I triggered certain memories here. One of these days, I'm going to come up with a "Jukebox From Hell" and this song will be included in it.

27. The World I Know by Collective Soul. A favorite of mine from back then.

26. 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins. 1979 was a pretty decent year, what little I remember of it.

25. Champagne Supernova by Oasis. Loved loved loved this song. 

24. The Earth, The Sun, The Rain by Color Me Badd. I avoided CMB like the plague back in the 90s, kinda like I avoid Bruno Mars present-day.

23. Be My Lover by La Bouche. Another mind-numbing banger from the mid-90's, where it seemed like songs like this were a dime or dozen. By the way, the young woman that worked at the laundromat down the road from where I was staying in Newport News sort of resembled lead singer (now deceased) Melanie Thornton.

22. Closer To Free by The Bodeans. True story, just before I left the Navy, I was invited to see a concert featuring the Bodeans by a red-head. I didn't take her up on the offer though because she happened to be MARRIED to a guy on the ship I was stationed aboard that had left for the Mediterranean (I stayed behind because my EOS date was like a month afterwards.

21. Fastlove by George Michael. I had to look up exactly when Michael had that controversial bathroom encounter that kind of derailed his career. It was 1998, I thought it was sooner.

20. Sweet Dreams by La Bouche

19. Sittin' Up In My Room by Brandy. Fun fact: I never watched an episode of "Moesha."

18. Name by Goo Goo Dolls. This song brings up another thing about 90s music that I didn't like; songs stayed in the top 20 for a long, long, long time. This particular song was on its 44th(!) week on the airplay chart. Of course nowadays, some songs have lasted an entire year in the Hot 100 (I think "Levatating" by Dua Lipa comes to mind).

17. Everything Falls Apart by Dog's Eye View. The beginning of this song really spoke about how my outlook on life was back in 1996; "Don't look now, things just got worse..." You know Einstein's Theory of Relativity? Well, I joked that I had Tyn-stein's Theory of Negativity. Too bad I was an angry cynical young punk back then. Maybe if I had a lot more gratitude back then, my life may have played out different...or not. But definitely one of the two.

16. You're The One by SWV. Actually, she wasn't the one after all.

15. Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel. She was rather cute when she first started out, her and her snaggle tooth.

14. Insensitive by Jann Arden. I know of a few persons that are in fact insensitive, couple of them have red hair, too.

13. Tha Crossroads by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. This was actually the number one song on the Hot 100 for this particular week, a wonderful tribute to the late Easy E.

12. Theme From "Mission: Impossible" by Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen. Otherwise known as the OTHER two members of U2 (besides Bono and Edge). I saw this movie while it was out in the theater, and I believe it is the ONLY Tom Cruise flick I've seen on the big screen. I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan.

11. Follow You Down by The Gin Blossoms. No comment.

10. Wonder by Natalie Merchant. When you talk about the ladies of 90s music, Natalie is just, kinda there. Sure, she was solid at what she did, but there was no real hype about her, I think she was more geared to VH-1 than MTV whereas Mariah, Alanis, Janet and Madonna got most of the run on that network.

  9. Old Man & Me by Hootie & The Blowfish. Debut single off their follow up album to Cracked Rearview, Fairweather Johnson. You know, come to think of it, this was around the era of those Big Johnson T-shirts that some guys used to wear, and if you combine it with the term "fairweather friend," and...

Shut up, Bonyscribe.

  8. You Learn by Alanis Morissette. After all this time, I finally figured out how to correctly spell Alanis's last name. I guess I did learn after all!

  7. Missing by Everything But The Girl. The name of the band fits my life to a T so far. I'm still hoping to change that part.

  6. Nobody Knows by Tony Rich Project. One of several one-hit wonders that permeated the decade of the 90s.

  5. Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman. This song sort of threw me off for the longest time. It started out like a lazy river but finished like a fast car (pardon the pun), and I have always had difficulty whenever I heard this song in pinpointing where the pace of the song subtly changed.

  4. Ironic by Alanis Morissette. None of the scenarios in this song are actually ironic. That's something you can't do on television, let alone songwriting (see what I did there?). 

  3. Killing Me Softly by The Fugees. The video to this song exploits one of my biggest pet peeves; talking aloud in a movie theater. That and making a mess of the theater. Don't they have any consideration for the poor teenager who has to clean up thier mess. Wait a minute, what if said teenager was a classmate of the group in the movie theater and they just wanted to prank that person? Doesn't make it right but still...

  2. Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey

and the number one (most played) song this week according to Billboard Magazine this week in 1996 was...

  1. Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion. From the movie "Up Close and Personal" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford.

So that puts a wrap to this week's flashback. On Saturday, the LOLCats Panthers will try to put a wrap to the 2023-24 NHL season. Now to dodge some raindrops for the rest of the weekend. Stay safe, everyone.

Bonyscribe

I Missed My Calling In Life

 Hello, and Happy Hurricane Season. Also, Happy Pride month for those who celebrate, now leave me alone. Doing some thinking over the past week, and I think I missed my calling in life. When I was a little bitty Bony Scribe living in Orlando, my father had all sorts of CB radio equipment in the garage. I remember hollering across a sinkhole/slash retention pond in our backyard, trying to emulate at my young and naive age the host of televangelists my mother would watch on television on Sunday mornings. But, as I grew older, my passions evolved towards sports and sports broadcasting, although I was anything BUT athletic growing up. In my teenage years, when I was living in small town North Carolina my focus turned to radio, but like I've said many times on this blog, it was somewhat Podunkville; the nearest major metro area was some 70/75 miles away (Raleigh/Durham) in a period of time in which North Carolina still had much of a Mayberry feel to it. Nowadays, Raleigh is a top-30 market. But did my parents do anything to help me with that? No. They were from the "greatest generation" and their philosophy on life was that I should continue my father's legacy, and that was to become an electrical engineer. 

So, instead of trying to become a broadcaster, I joined the Navy in the nuclear power program; I found out that I wasn't that good at it, but I survived, then after that I was going to attend USF, but surprise, I had a baby on the way back in Virginia. So, instead of going to school, I joined the Postal Service. It wasn't until 2010 that I tried to pursue that broadcasting dream of mine, and lo and behold, I was somewhat good at it, but again, life got in the way and that dram went away. I always thought that there was a small possibility I eventually re-pursue that dream, then I had a stroke in 2017. That dream was all but dead then. I guess I could have done a broadcast engineer or someone behind the scenes, but I had delusions of grandeur, I guess. Also, I think I would not have liked broadcasting in the Tampa Bay area because there are too many politics involved in this market; just my opinion but I don't think a neutral/left-leaning ideology would work in this market; I would be better off in Miami or possibly Orlando if I stayed in Florida. Maybe I could fit in in a larger market, like Philly or NYC. I don't know.

What I'm saying is I think I missed my calling in life I think. But you know what some say, never say never...

Bony Scribe

Flashback: May 23, 1987

Hello, everyone. I had started this particular post about a week ago when I was going to complain about our (Florida's) governor's latest controversial policy regarding climate change. But I didn't want to put that kind of negative energy out in the Universe; heck there already is when you consider him, the buffoon who's on trial in New York this week, Squealon Muskrat, and some pissant who got busted for opioid possession (among other things) and will likely be put away for a while next week, I wanted to write about something positive. So, I decided to pull a (broken) Matt Hardy and delete that topic for writing and go with my old reliable: a 1980s flashback, when life sure seemed much simpler, and I (and most of us Gen-X'ers) were seemingly happier.

This week, we're going back to 1987, when the Edmonton Oilers were facing off against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final, Al Unser won his fourth Indy 500 title in a huge upset (not really), the Golden Gate Bridge turned 50 years old, President Ronald Reagan hadn't yet told Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," and yours truly hadn't started wearing eyeglasses yet; that would come in October. As for the Top 40 that week? Well, here's what Billboard Magazine ranked the pop chart for that week:

40. Serious by Donna Allen. I think I've mentioned this on one of my social media channels before, whether Facebook or Twitter (no Squealon, I REFUSE to call it what you renamed it to), but Allen was a member of the Swashbucklers (Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders) LONG before the Bucs were good, or when they decided to have guys join the squad and wave pom-poms, yuck.

39. Alone by Heart. This song debuted in the top 40 that week, it would go on to (by my data) be the highest rated song of 1987. I may have to give a refresher on how I come up with said data sometime in the future, although I've said it in the past, on this very blog even.

38. What's Going On? by Cyndi Lauper. What's going on? Lauper is still doing Cosentyx commercials, that's what.

37. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship. I think this incarnation of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship gets a bad rap because of "We Built This City" when I think this was their best song from that era.

36. Jammin' Me by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I'm thinking of people who I should tell to get back, like Tom said in this song. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Marc Zuckerburg, Steve Harvey (he's everywhere), LeBron James, I could go on and on...

35. Sign O' The Times by Prince. Pretty powerful song once you listen to the lyrics, which maybe I should have done more often when I was younger.

34. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) by Aretha Franklin & George Michael. I'm hoping she'll be waiting for me in the very near future. In a related story, I may be delusional.

33. Don't Disturb This Groove by The System. I remember first hearing a snippet of this song on a TV commercial for a local radio station in Wilmington, NC. No, I couldn't get that particular station; Lumberton was too far for their signal.

32. Get That Love by The Thompson Twins

31. The Finer Things by Steve Winwood. I like the finer things too, like Calabash style seafood complete with clams and hush puppies, pulled pork BBQ, Cheerwine. By the way, there's a sugar-free version of Cheerwine that allegedly can be found here in Tampa Bay. I need to do some investigating.

30. Lessons In Love by Level 42. I don't quite remember what was on the previous 41 levels, and I'm not sure if Avicii's hit from 2011 covered that. I do know that I'm nowhere near the level I need to face the final boss. Wait, what the hell am I talking about? Anyway, on with the countdown.

29. Fascinated by Company B. I remember this song not when it came out, but during a talent show at Hoke High where two girls did a dance routine to this song. One was a red head named Cyndi and the other was named Angela.

28. I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me by Whitney Houston. Second week in the top 40 for the song who would be runner-up to "Alone" as my song of the year, although neither would be Billboard's #1 song of 1987, which was "Walk Like An Egyptian" by the Bangles. Yes, I'm using this as an excuse to display Susanna Hoffs iconic glare:

27. The Right Thing by Simply Red

26. Heartbreak Beat by Psychedelic Furs. I think "Love My Way" was a better song from them, but that's just me.

25. Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House. I'm not, also, go back to what I said for #34.

24. Songbird by Kenny G. I seem to remember hearing about two decades ago that the number of instrumentals in the Top 40 were decreasing rapidly. In fact, other than Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400" and Darude's "Sandstorm" I can't think of any instrumentals this millennium that have had any impact.

23. You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. Visions of Chevy Chase hijacking the music video, proving that he was rather unlikeable back then as well.

22. Just To See Her by Smokey Robinson. When this song was released, I was thinking about a couple of girls from elementary school in Orlando I wanted to see again. They're both married now, and I only got to see one of them.

21. Day In Day Out by David Bowie. Talk about a coincidence, this was the song that just played on my Spotify.

20. Se La by Lionel Richie

19. Meet Me Halfway by Kenny Loggins. In a lifetime, I always reached for the tuner button on my radio when this song came on.

18. If She Would Have Been Faithful by Chicago. Fortunately, that's something that I haven't had issues with...yet.

17. Diamonds by Herb Alpert. Remember what I wrote down for #22? Well, I imagined that one of those said girls was Janet Jackson in the video for this song.

16. In Too Deep by Genesis.  Another thing that I haven't had difficulty with over the course of my life, being too deeply involved with someone...yet.

15. Head To Toe by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam. I recall that certain radio stations (G105 in particular) would add in a random sound drop in the extended pause toward the end of the song. If I was a radio DJ, and this song played on my airshift, I might throw in Dave Mishkin's "SCCOOOORRRRRREE!" for the aforementioned pause. 

14. Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi. Right now, I'll settle for just being wanted.

13. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You by Glenn Medeiros. Uhhh...

12. I Know What I Like by Huey Lewis & The News. Redheads, Bucs football, the Stanley Cup playoffs, etc.

11. Right On Track by The Breakfast Club

10. Talk Dirty To Me by Poison. Can't say that I've had a woman talk dirty to me, yet.

  9. La Isla Bonita by Madonna. I don't know about you, but I liked her better in her Like A Virgin era better than her True Blue era, probably because one girl I had a crush on back then kinda looked like her.

  8. Always by Atlantic Starr. Always...someone told me that and I'm going to hold her to it.

  7. Big Love by Fleetwood Mac

  6. Heat Of The Night by Bryan Adams. NBC missed an opportunity in my opinion. The next year, they would premiere the TV show "Heat of the Night" based off the 1960s movie with Sidney Portier. They could have used this song for that show, but either NBC didn't contact Adams or the record company. Either way, a lot of hoops would have had to have been jumped through to make that happen that at the time my then-14-year-old brain had no clue about.  

  5. (I Just) Died In Your Arms by Cutting Crew

  4. You Keep Me Hangin' On by Kim Wilde

  3. The Lady In Red by Chris Deburgh. Don't care for the song, but the premise of it? Another story.

  2. Looking For A New Love by Jody Watley

and the #1 song this date 37 years ago was...

  1. With Or Without You by U2

Kinda mailed in the last few songs because as I'm typing this, it's nearing 2am here in Florida. So, until next time (maybe this weekend). Take care!

BonyScribe

Flashback: April 23, 1993

Hello, again everyone. Well, I finally decided to put my fingers to the keyboard after almost two weeks away from this blog. My mental and emotional state wasn't the best in the world during that time, unfortunately. However, writing is usually my way to get over what I'm feeling at the time, so I thought I'd give you another flashback. 

I had debated on which year to do at first, a couple of weeks ago I had rolled my D20 die (which I use in determining what year to do), and it came up at 16, which meant I was either going to do 1995 or 2015. However, a quick look at the 2015 chart at the time showed me that the song that I thought ruined pop radio for me, Bruno Mars' "Uptown (Sk)unk," was in there, I automatically decided to go with 1995, which interestingly enough was around the time my ship (USS Eisenhower) had returned from the Mediterranean/Persian Gulf. It was also the time of that hideous Oklahoma City bombing. But, like I said, my mental state was in the toilet, so that brings us up to this week. I thought about doing 1990, because in a Facebook post I shared last week, I said that my life had peaked (so far) during that year. Plus, the project I'm working on is covering 1990. But then I thought why not roll the die again. At first it came up 12, but I had done 1991 AND 2011 already this year. So, after another roll, it came up 14, which meant 2013, or 1993. 

Portion of old school Orlando skyline, from "Orlando Weekly"

After a quick analysis of what was charting this week in 2013, I decided against it because honestly, I didn't recognize half the songs on said chart. I mean there were back-to-back Taylor Swift songs, Maroon 5, Demi Lovato and Fall Out Boy, but near the top was that damned Bruno Mars, and much like the movie on Disney +, we don't talk about Bruno on this blog, plus it might trigger my emotional problems from last week. So, 1993 it is. I had just started Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando at the time, and in a way, I was kind of enjoying life. I got to see a few Magic games (it was Shaq's rookie season), I was able to hang out at the Edge on weekends, but other than that, schooling was tough; it was the first time in my life that I had struggled learning academically, but I persevered and made it through Power School...barely. Anyway, here were the Top 40 songs according to Radio & Records magazine for April 23, 1993.

40. So Close by Dina Carroll. Her only chart hit, and in a way, it somewhat describes my life...

39. That's The Way Love Is by Bobby Brown. This was right around the time Bobby and Whitney were an item. If only we could see the red flags coming from that relationship. 

38. Lost In Your Eyes by The Jeff Healy Band. Believe it or not, the late Jeff Healy isn't technically a one-hit wonder ("Angel Eyes" in 1989); this song began a three-week run this particular week.

37. What You Won't Do For Love by Go West. A remake of Bobby Caldwell's tune from 15 years prior.

36. Somebody To Love by George Michael & Queen.  Another remake of a classic. Recorded at Wembley Stadium in 1992 during a benefit concert for Queen's late lead singer Freddie Mercury. 

35. Come In Out Of The Rain by Wendy Moten. Outside of this song, she was virtually unknown to the general public at the time. It wouldn't be until she was runner-up on "The Voice" (a show I don't watch) that her star would fully shine. 

34. Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang by Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre. The song that launched everyone's favorite smoking buddy into super-stardom. No, I don't smoke, and that's likely why I'm not involved with anyone. 

33. Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty By Nature. To this very day, I can remember waving my hands with everyone else at The Edge to the chorus of this banger..."HEYYY! HOOOOOH! HEYYY! HOOOOH!"

32. Sleeping Satellite by Tasmin Archer. She was primarily known in England, but this song was a favorite of mine, and her lone hit in the US.

31. Silence Is Broken by Damn Yankees

30. Dedicated by R. Kelly and Public Announcement. You know, I wonder what R. Kelly thinks about all these allegations that have come out on P. Diddy.

 

29. I Feel You by Depeche Mode. As I recall, the video for this song was low-key kinda sexy.

28. That's The Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson. Speaking of sexy, remember the cover of her self-titled album that came out that year, "Janet?" How about the cover of "Rolling Stone" the week that said album was released?

27. That's What Love Can Do by Boy Krazy. Talk about an outlier, this song was everywhere in the spring of 1993. No, I never saw the video on MTV, so I don't know if that was why it was so popular. EDIT: I just watched this, and other than the lead singer looking like a blond Belinda Carlisle, it wasn't that spectacular. Maybe I'm not giving this song enough credit for being a banger. Maybe I should just shut up.

26. Cat's In The Cradle by Ugly Kid Joe. Remake of Harry Chapin's classic from 1974. 

25. Come Undone by Duran Duran. Follow-up to their widely successful "Ordinary World" from th band's "Wedding Album." I thoroughly loved both songs.

24. Tonight by Def Leppard. Speaking of tonight, game two of the Tampa Bay Lightning's playoff series against the Broward County LOLCats. Hoping for a better effort from the Bolts tonight. I swear I'm going to incorporate Florida sports into this blog soon, if I ever get my sh!t together.

23. Comforter by Shai. Speaking of getting my stuff together, remember the computer issues I was having? Turns out I ordered a lemon for a laptop. It was made by Shenzhen Global Industries, and I got it really cheap from Wal-Mart. You know, instead of our government going after TikTok, why don't they concert their efforts on preventing us consumers from getting hoodwinked by companies like SGIN, like an anti-lemon law for direct-to-consumer imports? Okay, rant over.

22. I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me) by Expose. I'll refrain from commenting at this time.

21. Livin' On The Edge by Aerosmith. Unforgettable video for this hit, and I think my sister still tries to imitate Steven Tyler's lip quiver at the end of it.

20. Tell Me What You Dream by Restless Heart. One of the very few country crossover hits from this era.

19. Angel by Jon Secada

18. Love Don't Love You by En Vogue. Speaking of entities that aren't very well loved, O.J. Simpson died this past week. Here's a general reaction from most people:

17. Connected by Stereo MC's. Another banger that I used to dance to at The Edge. Still one of my all-time favorites.

16. Buddy X by Neneh Cherry. I hope she wasn't seeing into the future and describing a potential friendship with none other than Squealon Muskrat himself.

15. Love U More by Sunscreem. Another favorite of mine from this particular year.

14. Don't Walk Away by Jade. One of the sexiest videos I've ever seen.

13. I'm So Into You by SWV. They had a monster 1993 and early part of 1994. Didn't hear too much from them after that though.

12. Two Princes by The Spin Doctors. A somewhat relatable song in the fact that I don't have very much compared to others at this time...BUT

11. Simple Life by Elton John. One advantage of not having too much is having a relatively simple life, I guess. 

10. The Morning Papers by Prince & The New Power Generation. I don't know about y'all, but I preferred Prince & The Revolution myself, which is not to say that the NPG weren't talented, because they were, but after this particular era is where Prince's career started going sideways.

  9. The Crying Game by Boy George. This song should be very fitting for this decade, if you know what I mean. This particular post by the way was not sponsored by RuPaul's Drag Race, seen about every night on VH-1, which used to stand for Video Hits One but now stands for gosh-awful reality television.

  8. Nothing My Love Can't Fix by Joey Lawrence. For some reason, I used to get him confused with that really annoying kid from later seasons of Diff'rent Strokes, Danny Cooksey. Altogether now, "WHOA!"

 

  7. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting. Turns out, I have lost faith in a particular someone. Sad.

  6. Who Is It by Michael Jackson. It wasn't a friend of his, nor was it his brother as sang in the song. Was it Macauly Culkin? No. Was it Liz Taylor? No. Wait, I know, it was propofol. Rest in peace, Michael.

  5. Freak Me by Silk. Freak me you ask? It's been a while hate to say.

  4. Informer by Snow. I've seen the lyrics, and there's absolutely NO way I could ever recite them, even if my voice wasn't somewhat affected by my stroke in 2017. Not at that speed. A licky-boom-boom-down. 

  3. Looking Through Patient Eyes by PM Dawn

  2. Love Is by Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight. You know the skyline picture of Orlando from earlier? Well McKnight is from Orlando (although not a native), and he graduated from Evans HIgh School. Now why didn't I know this beforehand?? Last year, I did a flashback from 1993 (which I would hyperlink, but it was dedicated to someone I won't mention), and songs from "Beverly Hills 90210" were very prevalent in that chart. This I think is the only song from that soundtrack on this week's chart.

...and the number 1 song this date 31 years ago was... 

  1. I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston. Which come to think of it, describes what ideas I have in increasing the number of eyeballs to this blog. I guess a grassroots campaign is necessary for me to increase clicks on this blog. I'll get right on that.

Hey, I managed to get through this blog post without any technical errors, which I guess is an accomplishment. Seriously, I would like some feedback as to how I could make this blog even better in the future. I guess I can take a small nap before my sisters wake up for the day now. Until next time, enjoy your Tuesday!

BonyScribe

Total Eclipse Of The Scribe...

 Hello, hope you're all having a good week. A lot has happened so far this week, most notably the total solar eclipse that occurred on Monday. I missed the one in 2017; I was in the hospital because I had suffered my stroke just days beforehand. This one I had the privilege of sitting outside for, and I got a "picture" of the sun just as the moon passed over it:

I caught it off a reflection off my camera phone through the sunroof of the kitchen in my house. I wanted to try to get a better shot during the peak of the eclipse, which just shy of 60% here in the northern reaches of Tampa Bay, but my elder sister (who can be somewhat overprotective like my late oldest sister, just less annoying and petty) decided to hang out to smoke, so I couldn't really do that. But, I did notice the sky get a little darker, and the surroundings not as bright as they normally would on a clear spring day down here. And no, nothing monumental happened, like a rapture or the Apocolypse. I swear some people take things like an eclipse and overthink it, or what I called it in the Navy, "nuke it out." What's that? You mean "the rapture" will allegedly take place in a couple of weeks? Okay (makes cuckoo gesture).

I Like It When I'm Right...Sometimes.

Also on Monday, the college basketball national championship took place, and as I told you on this very blog a couple of weeks ago, Connecticut took it all, dominating every game they played in the tournament. They're the first to repeat since Florida in 2006-07 and have solidified themselves as one of college basketball's bluebloods. Now if only the ACC allowed them in several years ago. Speaking of the ACC, what a run by the NC State Wolfpack! They came up short against Purdue, but still, a magical run for what some college basketball fans as the third wheel in the three-team rivalry in the Raleigh-Durham area. Speaking of which, Duke appears to be the way too early favorite for next year, but don't be too surprised if UConn pulls off the threepeat, which I believe has only been done by UCLA.

Pro Wrestling Is Back!

For those of us who love the "sport" known as professional wrestling (like me), that particular term is back in the WWE. In the past generation, such a term was taboo in the powers that be (Vince McMahon) of the WWE, but since he's gone (and there's more beer for us) the term "Sports entertainment" has been put on indefinite hiatus, and "professional wrestling" is back. And did it come back with flair (WHOOOOOOO)! WrestleMania 40 this past weekend from Philadelphia was arguably the best WM of all time, carried by an outstanding program on Sunday. Cody Rhodes finished the story, ending Roman Reigns' 1,316-day reign as WWE Undisputed Champion. It was an emotional victory, heck I even cried after he won; Dusty Rhodes (his late father) was my favorite wrestler as a kid. In fact, the last two times I shed tears was over wrestling; Sting's final match a month ago being the other. You could hear the emotion in ring announcer Samantha Irvin's (who by the way, shot to superstardom) voice. All the babyfaces celebrated in the ring. It was quite the moment. 

The same cannot be said about the company he helped found, All Elite Wrestling. Last night on their weekly Dynamite program, footage aired of an incident involving former talents CM Punk (who was promptly scooped up by WWE after his ouster) and Jack Perry (who's working in New Japan Pro Wrestling) at 2023's All In event at Wembley Stadium in London, in which the latter goaded the former into a brawl. Punk on a podcast had some not-so-flattering things to say about his former employer, or his boss, Tony Khan. Turns out, Punk was speaking the truth, and in doing so, made Khan look like an idiot. There's one GIF that encapsulates the decision by Khan to air the footage, if you know, you know:

Tuesday Was A Good Day

Tuesday was my first day out since the disaster of last month, and it went well. I only drank water, but did have one shot of Fireball, and it didn't taste well. So, I promptly abandoned that idea, even though I made a toast to myself saying, "here's to someone else's bad decision with one of my own." I think you may know who I'm referring to there. I won't get into what was discussed, but I left 1) sober and 2) feeling much better about things. Afterwards, I went to Cracker Barrel to have lunch, and on the way there, I noticed a siren coming down US 19. However, it wasn't an ambulance, police, or sheriff's deputy. It was a truck for the US Forestry Service. I've never known Forest Trucks to carry sirens on them, but I guess they're allowed to, even though there wasn't a forest fire in the area; it was a hauler carrying two trucks. I have no clue as to why they were travelling on US 19 either, as Ocala National Forest is nowhere near that road, unless it was coming from the Panhandle (Apalachicola Forest). Rather curious to me. Anyway, I had a nice dinner a Cracker Barrel and an even nicer rest afterwards. Now, I'm back to burning the midnight oil again. I guess I'll never learn.

Coming Up

Tomorrow, I should have my flashback feature for y'all, even though I haven't rolled my D20 die to determine which year I will choose. This weekend is also The Masters golf tournament (yawn), and at the beginning of next week, my one sister turns (gasp) 70. Plenty to look forward to this weekend and beyond. So, until tomorrow, I hope, take care.

Bony Scribe 

April 3, 2011 Flashback and Other Goodies

Hello again, everyone. Been a couple of weeks since I last posted on here, but that definitely doesn't mean I haven't been around, and I'm glad that people have been paying attention to what I've said on other platforms (cue the crickets chirping) 

All kidding aside (it WAS April Fools Day), I would like to present to you a long overdue flashback since it has been a couple of weeks for that as well. This week, we're going back a mere thirteen years to 2011, when I had just moved back into my old house in Tampa with a friend from high school (that I initially wanted to take further, but didn't work out), but instead of having memories of that time frame (because I was at the Post Office working and not in school), I will submit random thoughts throughout this particular flashback. So, here were the Top 40 songs for April 3, 2011, loosely based on data from Mediabase 24/7.

40. Waiting For The End by Linkin Park

39. Back To December by Taylor Swift

38. Closer To The Edge by Thirty Seconds To Mars. Pause here since this week as a rather cruel April Fools joke, Jared Leto (the worst Joker in cinema history) came out instead of Pat Sajak as host of Wheel of Fortune alongside Vanna White. On behalf of almost everyone, Merv Griffin Productions, please don't do that again.

37. The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco. The only song to debut in the top 40 that week, replacing Rihanna's "What's My Name" (it was Ohnana).

36. Hit The Lights by Jay Sean f/Lil' Wayne. Not as popular as their previous compilation from 2009, "Down," which was one of the biggest hits of that year.

35. Sing by My Chemical Romance

34. Rolling In The Deep by Adele. I remember radio stations, apparently paranoid of being fined by the FCC, slightly edited this song because the powers at be (primarily Crap Channel) THOUGHT that one line of this song said, "I'll lay your shit there" when it was actually "I'll lay your ship bare." Goddamn I Hate ClearChannel (iHeartMedia iHateMedia nowadays)!

33. Backseat by New Boyz f/The Cataracts)

32. Bow Chicka Wow Wow by Mike Posner f/Lil' Wayne. Nope. Can't relate to that at this moment.

31. Marry Me by Train. Trying. Not. To. Get. Triggered. 

30. Rhythm Of Love by Plain White T's. I remember a song called "Rhythm Of Love" by Scorpions, as well as another song with that same title by Yes (both coming out in Summer of 1988), but I don't remember this one, at all.

29. Stereo Love by Edward Maya

28. I Need A Doctor by Dr. Dre f/Eminem

27. Moment 4 Life by Nicki Minaj f/Drake

26. For The First Time by The Script. Here's a pro tip, I guess. It helps to actually listen to the songs you're going to be discussing while writing in your blog. It helps jog memories. That said, this song is somewhat relatable to current times...

25. Price Tag by Jessie J f/B.O.B. Sad to say, it actually is about the money money money to some people. Ted Dibiase would laugh about this. Shameful.

24. Jar Of Hearts by Christina Perri. Speaking of which, Wrestlemania weekend is upon us. It's being held in Philadelphia this year. A lot of anticipation is going into it this byear and I'll definitely be watching, albeit on my phone because the computer I'm typing this on gets hot too easily and the newer one can't boot up properly. Time to have it looked at I'm afraid.

23. Hold It Against Me by Britney Spears

22. Rocketeer by Far East Movement f/Ryan Tedder

21. Pretty Girl Rock by Keri Hilson

20. Lazy Song. And this reminds me as to why I shy away from doing flashbacks from the 2010s; I loathe Bruno Mars. 

19. Yeah x3 by Chris Brown. Speaking of loathesome acts, we have Chris Brown. Maybe him and Bruno can tour together sometime...

18. Down On Me by Jeremih f/50 Cent. I remember there was some kid that was a YouTube sensation for lip-synching songs in front of the camera. One time, he made one such video with this song, and 50 himself made a cameo. I didn't really care for the kid doing these videos because he bore a striking resemblance to a particular Tampa radio personality who is quite polarizing. Then again, aren't most radio personalities in Tampa polarizing?

17. Firework by Katy Perry. I used to have a crush on Katy, then she got annoying. Still, I wonder how she shot fireworks out of her boobs...reminds me of someone...you know, nevermind.

16. On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez f/Pitbull

15. Written In The Stars by Tinie Tempah f/Eric Turner. As I recall, this song was used for Wrestlemania that year. 

14. Till The World Ends by Britney Spears. I think Kesha (yes, THAT Kesha) released this as a demo before Britney got a hold of it. I think this was before Kesha became famous and ultimately ruined by Uncle Luke. Yuck.

13. Just Can't Get Enough by Blackeyed Peas. This was right at the height of this group's success. Too bad Stacey Ferguson left the group a few years ago...

12. What The Hell by Avril Lavigne. I've been waiting for this one. The other day on Facebook, a post was made by College Sports Only, and I couldn't help nut notice the picture they posted regarding Indiana State's basketball team. They reached the Final Four of the NIT all despite getting the shaft by the NCAA selection committee. That group selected Virginia. Anyway, here is the photo that was posted:

Here you have Indiana State, and their star player, Robbie Avila, who let's be honest, kinda looks a bit dorky in this picture. Meanwhile, you have another dorky-looking white guy (below) getting passed over in favor of another substandard entity from Virginia. 

YEAH, WHAT THE HELL INDEED?!

11. Grenade by Bruno Mars

10. Blow by Kesha

  9. Coming Home by Diddy-Dirty Money. Uh, you sure about that?? You sure about that?? 

  8. Tonight by Enrique Iglesias f/Ludacris

  7. More by Usher. According to Wikipedia, this song was released under the deluxe version of his Raymond v. Raymond album, but after it was released as an iTunes exclusive, which just so happens to be the Jimmy Joker remix that played on the radio. The other version (that isn't available on Spotify) can be found here.

  6. Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor) by Pitbull. Mr. Worldwide was ubiquitous in 2011, yet on this chart, he only appears twice. I thought it was more...

  5. E.T. by Katy Perry f/Kanye West

  4. ...Perfect by P!nk. Pretty much what I think I have to be to snag someone.

  3. S & M by Rihanna

  2. Born This Way by Lady Gaga

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

 1. Forget You by Cee-Lo Green. Very, very relatable; just listen to the lyrics.

Tomorrow, I'll have the electric devices on overload; the Final Four, and Wrestlemania, will be going on simultaneously, and NC State is one of the semifinals (they begin at 6:09). My pick for the National Title game (UConn-Purdue) is still in it, maybe next year, if I'm feeling confident, I can make some serious bank from picking some games. But alas, not this year. Anyway, this weekend should be very exciting. I hope you all enjoy it!

As for this blog, I hope to have more on the way, as soon as I get over this chronic depression of mine. I wouldn't hold my breath though, as evidenced by the last couple of weeks. But, I really want to get back into the swing of things. 

Until next time.

BS