The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

No Doubt, "Don't Speak" from Tragic Kingdom (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Overheard at the green grocer.

The Explorers' Club, № MXVII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
25 March 1924: The Hellenic State was proclaimed, soon renamed the Hellenic Republic; King George II had left the country after a failed royalist coup (22 October 1923); a plebescite abolished the monarchy by 69.9% to 30.1% (13 April); the politics of the republic were dominated by the liberal "ethnarch," Eleftherios Venizelos, including coups & counter-coups by different Venizelist factions.

Commwentary: This period is remembered as the Second Hellenic Republic, to differentiate it from the revolutionary government during the Greek War for Independence (First) & the debt-ridden modern bureaucratic state (Third).

Lest we forget.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Interrupters, "Raised by Wolves" from In the Wild (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Daniel Schmit, "My God My God (Psalm 22)" from Mercy: Songs for Holy Week (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Queen & David Bowie, "Under Pressure" from the Classic Queen compilation (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: I sang to myself quite a bit during "play-in-traffic day," the twice-a-year M.I. Drive, a Knights of Columbus fundraiser for our fellow citizens with intellectual/developmental disabilities. But the song that kept coming back to me over & over again was "Under Pressure."

Bonus! Fish Fry Song o' the Day

Less Than Jake, "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" from Anthem (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whalesucker)

Commentary: Many of the local schools, having not had many snow days in out disgustingly warm winter, took the opportunity to call a snow day last night. The forecast is for snow throughout the fish fry's hours of operation, but the die is cast: I have to order the fish a week in advance & this is our final fry of the season; so, there's no holding on to excess fish for next week. It's do or die, & we might well die.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

William Shatner, "King Henry V / Elegy for the Brave" from The Transformed Man (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "Argh… I'm a Pirate" from the Popsicle E.P. (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Give me back my brain…"

The Rebel Black Dot Songs o' the Day

The Proclaimers, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" from Sunshine on Leith (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Yesterday, I drove one thousand eighteen miles (1,018), from Yarmouth, Maine to Grand Blanc, Michigan, staying within these United States, eschewing the shortcut across Southern Ontario in the Canadas for reasons both practical & political.

Mxpx, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" from On the Cover II (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Operation ÖSTERREICH: V Week of Lent Edition

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 342.0 lbs.
This weigh-in: 338.8 lbs.
Difference: -3.2 lbs.

I'm somewhat surprised by this result, because I was traveling from Saturday through Tuesday & I give myself blanket permission to eat terribly when I'm on the road (including air travel). But I skipped dinner at the aerodrome on Saturday night, because I wasn't really hungry, & when I got off the freeway to hit a fast food burger joing on Tuesday night, none was to be found; they must have been miles down the road, & I didn't have the patience to deal with that nonsense. I elected to have grab a snack from the filling station. This is not virtue, dear readers: your humble narrator is a connoisseur of filling station food, this particular filling station convenience store was inconveniently lacking anything substantive like sandwiches, leaving only snacks on the menu.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH!
The Aquabats!, "Holiday Road!" from the I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas Too! E.P. (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Bonus! Song o' the Day

Meaghan Smith, "It Snowed" from Wish upon a Star (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Though I had a few dicey moments yesterday driving through a snowstorm around Buffalo, New York, it made my black heart sing to wake up this morning, on the second day of spring, to a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, even if it will all melt by this afternoon.

Bonus! Song o' the Day

Jimmy Eat World, "The Middle" from Bleed American (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Hey, don't write yourself off yet,
It's only in your head, you feel left out
Or looked down on,
Just try your best,
Try everything you can,
And don't you worry what they tell themselves
When you're away.

"It just takes some time,
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride,
Everything, everything'll be just fine,
Everything, everything'll be alright, alright…"

Bonus! Song o' the First Day o' Spring

"The cruel, hot summer
led into the long, hard fall,
becoming the dark, killing winter
until spring replenished us all."
—Bill Willingham, Fables

Vernal Equinox
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, "A Touch of Spring" from Ska=Almighty (Mike Papa Whiskey-san)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Saint Joseph's Day

The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Viergin Mary
Daniel Schmit, "Joseph's Song" from Christmas Hope (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

John Linnell, "Maine" from State Songs (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: You'll never guess where I was.

"Maine is the world that went south,
Maine is a punch in the mouth,
Maine at the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart!

"Maine is the devil you know,
Maine is the heaven below,
Maine at the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart!…

"Maine is the poison you love,
Maine is the hell from above,
Maine at the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart!

Bonus! Song o' Saint Patrick's Day

Flogging Molly, "Sentimental Johnny" from Swagger (Mike Papa Irish Whiskey)

Commentary: Above is Bridget Regan, the actress, not Bridget Regan, the fiddler in Flogging Molly.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the V Sunday o' Lent

The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Matt Glaser, Evan Stover, Jay Ungar, Art Baron, & Molly Mason, "Kingdom Coming" from The Civil War: Original Soundtrack Recording (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Dance Hall Crashers, "Blind Leading the Blind" from The Old Record (1989-1992) (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Fish Fry Song o' the Day

Less Than Jake, "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)" from ? (Rude Boy Mike Papa Wreckfish)

Commentary: The inflation conflagration has caused a decrease in real wages (nominal wages have increased, as President Biden likes to crow, but wages have increased at a slower rate than inflation; meaning, those higher wages have less purchasing power than the lower wages of yesteryear) & real people are suffering. We at the fish fry have felt this ourselves. We had to raise fish fry prices in both 2022 & 2023, because the cost of our supplies increased so much, but we held prices steady in 2024 & we still have the least expensive fish fry around.

"Well, I really don't know
If it matters at all so,
But we try to keep the prices low
For our records and our shows…"

The Rebel Black Song o' the Ides o' March

Operation AXIOM: The 2,068th Anniversary of the Assassination of Julius Caesar
Mustard Plug, "Twist the Knife" from Can't Contain It (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Reel Big Fish, "Somebody Loved Me" from Cheer Up! (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"I think somebody loved me once,
I think somebody loved me once,
I think somebody loved me once,
But I cannot remember why…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Goldfinger, "Superman" from Hang-Ups (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Starting to ramp up to SKApril? Don't mind if I do!

Operation ÖSTERREICH: IV Week of Lent Edition

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 348.8 lbs.
This weigh-in: 342.0 lbs.
Difference: -6.8 lbs.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Robbie Williams, "No One Likes a Fat Pop Star" from Swings Both Ways (Mike Papa Watercress)

The Explorers' Club, № MXVI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mars 6 & Mars 7
5 August 1973-12 March 1974: The identical Mars 6 (5 August) & Mars 7 (9 August) landers lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop Proton-K rockets; Mars 6 transmitted degraded data during its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere, but contact was lost prior to a presumed crash landing; Mars 7 had difficulty separating from its cruise stage & missed Mars completely.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Mars 6 & Mars 7
Dennis McCarthy, "Out of Control/The Crash" from Star Trek Generations: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Song o' the Day!

The Aquabats!, "The Legend Is True!" from Hi-Five Soup! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Commentary:

"I like your face and you like mine too,
I like your face and you like mine too,
Your looks are legend,
And the legend is true!
I like your face and you like mine too…

"And there across the sky
I can see what makes the legend,
The legend is true,
And it's you,
Yeah, you are the legend,
The legend is true!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Mustard Plug, "Beer" from Evildoers Beware! (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: On this week's Chris Demakes a Podcast podcast, I learned that Mustad Plug's "Beer" is not about beer. I suspect I already knew this, as "Beer" is not included on my playlist "Prost!"

Autobahn

This afternoon, while motoring through Grand Blanc, I espied a remarkable sight: A Pepto-Bismol-pink Maserati Quattroporte sporting the vanity license plate EATCAKE. Whether this is an exhortation to eat cake (of the carpe diem/you only live once variety) or an echo of Rousseau's "let them eat cake" ("Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"), I leave it to you to decide. I found the pink paint to be garish, but was at the same time delighted with the coincidence of the day before being the Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, on which priests & deacons vest in pink. (Technically, the vestments are "rose," but I have little patience for clerics who are persnickety about wearing rose not pink, yet casually refer to their usual Lenten vestments as purple when theliturgical color is technically "violet.")

Commentary The pink Quattroporte above is not the car I saw—I was too busy driving to take a photograph—but the fruit of an internet image search for "pink Maserati."

Bonus! Song o' the Day
Real Can of Yams, "Always, Grand Blanc" from the Nothing Can Kill the Grimace E.P. (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "Death or Radio" from Schematics (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Let's hold hands and listen to shitty bands,
Tossing records out the window.
Now, it's either death or radio.
Who are you and where did you come from?…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the IV Sunday o' Lent

The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)
The Articles, "Mr. Pink" from Flip F'real (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day

Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "The Way It Goes" from Schmatics (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Snow! Glorious snow! It should all melt by tomorrow, but for today the world is blanketed in snow, glorious snow!

Bonus! Song o' Trivia Night

Melbourne Ska Orchestra, "Get Smart" from Melbourne Ska Orchestra (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today

Samstag, 9. März
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Old School Off the Bright" from A Jackknife to a Swan (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Flush the boys out of Dot,
We're gonna need them there,
And tell the trouble-makers that
Hang out in Harvard Square:
We need every able asshole,
Every asshole you can spare,
We’re going off the bright,
Invite them to this fine affair…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday!

Freitag, 8. März
The Aquabats!, "Red Sweater!" from The Fury of The Aquabats! (Captain Thumbs-Up!)

Bonus! Fish Fry Song o' the Day

Kemuri, "Raindrop" from Freedomosh (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whale Shark)

Commentary: Last week, my co-chairman was away at a convention, which left me pulling double duty: performing my own responsibilities & much of his, too. I'm very glad he's back this week.

Alas, the forecast is for rain throughout the afternoon into the evening, which I suspect will depress turnout, at least slightly. Rain or shine, though, we'll be frying fish in the fry trailer & baking fish in the kitchen. Come on out!

The Explorers' Club, № MXV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mars 4 & Mars 5
21 July 1973-28 February 1974: The identical Mars 4 (21 July) & Mars 5 (25 July) probes lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop Proton-K rockets; Mars 4 suffered a computer failure (30 July) that left it unable to perform orbital insertion maneuvers; Mars 5 succesfully orbited Mars (12-28 February), though for less time than planned, probably due to micrometeoroid damage.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Mars 4 & Mars 5
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars" from U.H.F.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today

Donnerstag, 7. März
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Green Bay, Wisconsin" from While We're at It (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"She drew a war tribe skull with a Sharpie fine point marker
On the back of her army green Fred Perry parka,
Drove her Vespa motor scooter overnight right through the valley
To the Lake Geneva motor scooter rally,
Checked into the Château Royal Inn,
She had to let the living part of life begin…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday!

Mittwoch, 6. März
The Aquabats!, "My Skateboard!" from The Fury of The Aquabats! (Captain Thumbs-Up!)

Commentary!:

"I just wanted you to come over,
Sit on my couch and hold me tight,
But you went out with some dumb jock
And left me with my skateboard tonight!…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH: III Week of Lent Edition

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 355.4 lbs. (Wednesday, 21 February)
This weigh-in: 348.8 lbs.
Difference: -6.6 lbs.

In the three weeks since Ash Wednesday, I have lost almost twelve pounds (11.8 lbs.), an average of almost four pounds per week (3.93 lbs./week), which is almost twice our weekly goal of two pounds per week (2 lbs./week). That's three "almosts" in one sentence. This weight is still the low-hanging fruit, but 'tis movement in the right direction nonetheless.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Lalo Schifrin, "Mission: Impossible (Main Title)" from The Best of Mission: Impossible—Then and Now: Music from the Original Television Soundtracks (Mike Papa Watercress)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Reel Big Fish, "Take On Me" from BASEketball: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: A '90s ska-punk cover of an '80s pop song? Yes, please. YouTube-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today

Montag, 4. März
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Another One Rides the Bus" from "Weird Al" Yankovic (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" came up in conversation this morning. Given the choice between an earnest original & a parody, nine times out of ten your humble narrator will choose the parody.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day before Yesterday

Samstag, 2. März
Toto, "Africa" from Toto IV (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: During the three & a half hour drive to Xanadu on Saturday, I heard "Africa" twice, on two different radio stations.

Yes, I am aware that this map is outdated, that it does not contain South Sudan.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the III Sunday o' Lent

The Third Sunday of Lent
Sufjan Stevens, "In This Temple, As in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth" from Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Fish Fry Song o' the Day

Reel Big Fish, "Sell Out" from Turn the Radio Off (Mike Papa Whelk)

Commentary: Last week, I order twenty per cent (20%) more fish than I had the previous week, when we sold out early; last week's fish fry went the distance, but we had no fish left over. We are blessed to have such loyal customers. We acknowledge this & strive to give them value for their hard-earned money. This Lent, we have also been blessed with fair weather, most importantly dry roads, which is quite a help.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Smash Mouth, "Road Man" from Astro Lounge (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: I'm not going anywhere to except around town running fish fry errands, but methinks "Road Man" came to mind in part because I have a long journey coming up in a fortnight, the longest journey I'll undertake since the Before Times, before the pandemic & our botched response to the pandemic.