Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Reel Big Fish, "Nothin'" from Turn the Radio Off (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Every time I try so hard I get nothin', nothin'!
They say, 'Try and you won't fail,' I get nothin', nothin'!
I did all that I could, I got nothin', nothin'!
Tried so hard for nothin', nothin'!…

"I never wanted it that way,
Guess there was nothing I could say,
I don't know what I want but I know I don't want this!
I give up, I give in,
I know I'm never gonna win…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs
This weigh-in: 332.4 lbs.
Difference: +2.2 lbs.

The goal is to lose at least two pounds per week (-2 lbs./week), not to gain more than two pounds per week (+2 lbs./week). This week was an outreach to those who perfer the inhuman uniformity of the metric system: I gained a kilogram (2.2 lbs. = 1 kg.)

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Letters to Cleo, "Pizza Cutter" from Wholesale Meats and Fish (Mike Papa Whale)

The Rebel Black Dot Songs o' the Day: SKAugust

The Mighty Mighty Bostones, "The Impression That I Get" from Let's Face It (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

&

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

Skammentary: August 2022 has been a bad month. This week in particular has been dreadful. I'm so grateful for the light SKAugust has shone in these dark days.

It is jawdropping to think that twenty-five years have passed since that auspicious night in 1997—the Summer of Ska—when I was introduced to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones & "The Impression That I Get" & Reel Big Fish & "Sell Out." I was not then in the habit of watching M.T.V., but that night I was awake in the middle of the night, pacing the family room with the television on to provide background noise. (Blessedly, there was almost no internet then.) Seeing & hearing the music videos for "Sell Out" & "The Impression That I Get" was a revelation. My life changed that night, immeasurably for the better. At least that's the impression that I get.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Forces of Evil, "Angry Anthem" from Friend or Foe? (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: I'm so angry I can barely see straight. I feel betrayed, deceived, used, & abused.

"If I had my way, I'd never speak to anyone again,
I goota say, I hate people, I'm so sick of them.
I just can't stand the bullshit,
Wish I was so far away from it…

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Hippos, "Don't Worry" from Forget the World (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"So, you know that everybody's going to
The ska shows when it used to be just you,
You feel betrayed, alone, left out,
All your favorite bands have all sold out.

"Don't worry,
I, I still love you.
Don't worry,
I, I still love you.

"Now you see them on M.T.V.,
No way they're gonna remember little old me,
What's become of your ska scene?
All the bands want money, all the bands are mean.

"Don't worry,
I, I still love you.
Don't worry,
I, I still love you.

"So please come to the show tonight,
I promise everything is gonna be alright,
Boys are gonna go start a pit,
But all you wanna do is dance, you're sick of this punk bit.

"Don't worry,
I, I still love you.
Don't worry,
I, I still love you."

The Explorers' Club, № CMI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner 2, Part I
27 August 1962: Mariner 2, A.K.A. Mariner-Venus 1962, lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket; based on the Ranger probes & exactly the same as the lost Mariner 1, Mariner 2 survived an unexpected roll by the Atlas during ascent & was set on course to rendezvous with Venus; instruments included magnometers & infrared & microwave radiometers.

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Moonshot Song o' the Day: Artemis I

Potshot, "Don't Fail to Ride" from Dance to the Potshot Record (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: This morning's first attempt to launch the colossal S.L.S. rocket (Space Launch System, which is as dull & uninspiring a name as humanly possible) on the Artemis I mission was scrubbed due to a problem with one of the four engines in the Core Stage, the giant burnt orange central section. The next potential launch window is on Friday, 2 September, but we won't know if a Friday launch is feasible (I suspect not, & fear that the S.L.S. will have to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for partial disassembly) until after a review meeting tomorrow afternoon.

"We are going!," but not today. Ad astra per aspera.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Less Than Jake, "The Space They Can't Touch" from GNV FLA (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"So you're feeling like you're just a waste of space now
And you keep feeling like you're always out of place,
Don't you think it's strange you always feel the same now?
Who measures the desperate measures?
When it gets too much remember—

"There is a space they just can't touch
And this pressure's on to be good enough,
It's all the words that add weight,
Trying to drag you down…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXII Sunday in O.T.

Better Late Than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Audrey Assad, "Humble" from Fortunate Fall (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Better Late Than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Edna's Goldfish, "Eventually Anyway" from Before You Knew Better… (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"I saw you sitting there
Looking on top of the world,
He was holding you like you were his.
You didn't see me but I was there last night,
His arms around you holding you tight,
Now I know that you aren't mine…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Better Late Than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Less Than Jake, "My Very Own Flag" from Pezcore (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Less Than Jake, "Last Hour of the Last Day of Work" from Borders & Boundaries (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"So when ambition
Turns into competition,
I'll never be the better man…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Less Than Jake, "Danny Says" from Hello Rockview (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: I'll never hear "Danny Says" without thinking of my dearest kith in all the world & those halycon days at the the turn of the millennium. I'm very grateful for that happenstance.

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 336.0 lbs
This weigh-in: 330.2 lbs.
Difference: -5.8 lbs.

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

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Reel Big Fish, "I'll Never Be" from Turn the Radio Off (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Everybody's lookin' at me,
Thought I saw my face on M.T.V.,
A magazine that she won't read that stole her heart
But it's not my fault,
Lookin' at my picture, she forgot about her boyfriend, yeah.

"I'll never be a rock and roll star,
I'll never be anything, anything at all!
Drive me crazy, can't get away,
Somebody tell me, when do we get paid?

"Everybody's looking at me,
Thought by now I'd be on M.T.V.,
A magazine like Seventeen or Rolling Stone,
And I won't be alone
With your money in my pocket and my face on your T-shirt, yeah.

I'll never be a rock and roll star,
I'll never be anything, anything at all!
Drive me crazy, can't get away,
But I tried, I tried, I tried, I tried every day, every day!
Said I'll never be a rock and roll star!
I'll never be anything, anything at all!"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Toasters, "Weekend in L.A." from Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Took a week's vacation, a holiday in the sun,
Weekend down in California, see what's going on,
Doin' time in the city, I just don't understand,
I could be lyin' with some freak, doin' some limbo dance.

"Weekend in L.A.!
Weekend in L.A.!
Weekend in L.A.!
Weekend in L.A.!…"

The Explorers' Club, № CM

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part IV
22 August 1922: The Assassination of Michael Collins—Anti-Treaty I.R.A. ambushed Collins's convoy as the National Army commander-in-chief toured his native County Cork; the local National Army commander ordered Collins's car to flee, but Collins preferred to stay & fight; he was the only fatality; his body lay in state for three days & an estimated 500,000 persons attended the funeral in Dublin.

Commentary: Michael Collins was both a soldier & a terrorist, a politician & a spymaster. He had returned to the practice of his Catholic faith during the last months of his life & in preparing this episode I couldn't help but think of Saint Matthew's Gospel, 26:52:

Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Lest we forget.

Bonus! Song o' the Queenship o' the Blessed Virgin

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Daughters of Mary, "Hail Holy Queen" from De Profundis (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Goldfinger, "This Lonely Place" from The Best of Goldfinger (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Now you've got a choice
To leave your place,
Your lonely place behind,
To true to yourself and let it go,
It's better than you think…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXI Sunday in O.T.

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Johnny Cash, "The Man Comes Around" from American IV: The Man Comes Around (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"There's a Man going 'round taking names,
And He decides who to free and who to blame,
Everybody won't be treated all the same…"

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Reel Big Fish, "Down in Flames" from Why Do They Rock So Hard? (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"It's alright, it's okay,
It was gonna happen anyway,
We had our chance, we made our point,
But you're not gonna take that
Away…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust!

The Aquabats!, "Aquabat March!" from The Return of The Aquabats! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Skammentary:

"Please don't kill us,
We're just the Aquabats!,
We're just trying to have
A little fun,
Ha ha ha ha ha!
So if you want to fight
We can duke it out,
Just please don't kill me
With your gun.

"We're all just peaceful happy Aquabats
We would never take a life (no, we wouldn't, no, sir!)
We don't want to fight,
But if we must,
Please be cool:
No guns or knives."

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Mustard Plug, "We're Gunna Take On the World" from Pray for Mojo (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Open up your ears, my friend,
I'll tell you a story that never ends,
About the band that plays for you now.
It started back in '91,
Started playin' just for fun,
And couldn't stop ourselves, didn't know how.

"Then we began playing shows,
And kids started tapping their toes,
And people kept askin' for more,
And even though we really sucked,
We kept it up, didn't give a fuck,
'Cause that's what the music is for!

"We're gunna take on the world!
Come on, every boy and every girl,
We're gunna take on the world!
Come on, every boy, every girl!

"Then a man from Hollywood
He said to sign, he said we should,
But we were too drunk to respond.
'You'll be so rich, yeah,' said the man,
'You'll get a bus and leave the van,'
But we were too punk to move on!

So we went back on the road,
And kids kept on coming to shows,
We sang, danced, and drank lots of beer,
And so it goes, we'll never stop,
We'll tour 'til we reach the top,
We'll tour 'til the end of our years!

"We're gunna take on the world!
Come on, every boy and every girl,
We're gunna take on the world!
Come on, every boy, every girl!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Reel Big Fish, "All I Want Is More" from Turn the Radio Off (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Yeah, I wrote this song for her,
But it won't make up for anything,
I know it's too late,
So why do I wait?
It's not my problem anymore…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 339.6 lbs
This weigh-in: 336.0 lbs.
Difference: -3.6 lbs.

Year to Date: 2022
Highest weigh-in: 366.4 lbs (2 February, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord)
Lowest weigh-in: 336.0 lbs. (17 August)
Difference: -30.4 lbs.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Grapefruit Diet" from Running with Scissors (Mike Papa Waif)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Spring Heeled Jack, "Mass Appeal Madness" from Songs from Suburbia (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: I praise the Lord of Hosts for all the hard-touring bands I've seen over the quarter century (!) since the Summer of Ska & I thank the Lord of Hosts that He never called me to be a touring musician.

"We've been gone for so long
That it doesn't really matter where we're going to,
There's no looking back.
I know I should be strong,
But my heart isn't in it and I don't know my limit,
So all I can do is move on…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

MU330, "Rocket Fuel" from MU330 (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Being an uncle is great, because you get to play with the kids & have fun, but when it comes time to take care of them there are parents & grandparents ahead of you on the depth chart. I hope I can get my nieces & nephews into ska.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXCIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Vostok 3 & Vostok 4, Part II
13-15 August 1962: Nikolayev & Popvich spend several periods unstrapped from their ejection seats, floating in their capsules; the two Vostoks passed within four miles of each other, due to their precise launches & orbits; Nikolayev set a new endurance record: nearly four days in orbit; both cosmonauts ejected from their respective capsules after re-entry & parachuted to earth seven minutes apart.

Commentary: The official Soviet news agency, T.A.S.S., reported that Vostok 3 had changed its orbit in response to the launch of Vostok 4—though it had not—creating the impression that the Soviets were close to achieving orbital rendezvous. In reality, the Vostok capsule was not capable of orbital manuevering. Rendezvous of two manned spacecraft would not be achieved until N.A.S.A.'s Gemini VII & Gemini VI-A flew rings around each other three years later (December 1965).

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Vostok 3 & Vostok 4
Guster, "Fall in Two" from Parachute (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: According to some reports, the capsule displayed in a Moscow museum to represent the first spacewalk during Voskhod 2 (March 1965) is actually either the Vostok 3 or the Vostok 4 capsule.

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Song o' the Assumption o' the Blessed Virgin

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Michael Bublé, "Ave Maria" from Christmas (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: I love you, Mom!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Chinkees, "Merry Mary, Will You Still Marry Me?" from Searching for a Brighter Future (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XX Sunday in O.T.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
John Williams, "Brother of the Cruciform Sword" from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: This Sunday, the Lord Jesus Christ reminds us He will be a source of division, that those of us who follow Him must separate ourselves from anything in this world, even kin, that would separate us from Him. I heard two homilies on Sunday, neither priest having the gumption to preach on that theme. Pray for our priests!

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Mustard Plug, "Throw a Bomb" from Pray for Mojo (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Hippos, "Irie" from Forget the World (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Well, the superficial life is wrong,
I won't look cool if my hair's too long,
Maybe I should be different from everybody,
Maybe I should be, well, maybe I should be me…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Dance Hall Crashers, "Cold Shower" from Honey, I'm Homely! (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"If I asked, would you wanna walk me home?
Would I be safer if I was alone?
I wish I could tell you what I want from you,
I would if I knew.

"I want you more,
More than I ever thought I would,
I want you more,
More than I ever should…"

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXCVIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Vostok 3 & Vostok 4, Part I
11-12 August 1962: Vostok 3 lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying Pilot Andriyan Nikolayev aboard a Vostok 3KA capsule atop a Vostok-K rocket; the next day, Vostok 4 lifted off carrying Pilot Pavel Popovich; Vostok 3 & Vostok 4 marked the first time two spacecraft had orbited simultaneously & the first time multiple cosmonauts had been in space simultaneously.

Commentary: The dual flights of Vostok 3 & Vostok 4 launched just over a year after Gherman Titov's one-day flight aboard Vostok 2 (6-7 August 1961).

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Vostok 3 & Vostok 4
Guster, "Two at a Time" from Keep It Together (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Less Than Jake, "Happyman" from Losing Streak (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Someone on Twitter, not anyone I know but a friend of someone I follow, or at least someone followed by someone I follow, tweeted:

"Comment and I’ll pull a song out of my mental catalog for you."

I commented, as I am wont to do in such cases:

"Comment."

He replied:

"Ok I’m cheating a little bit because I looked at your bio, but:

Less than Jake-Happyman"

Thus, today's SKAugust R.B.D.S.O.T.D. I'm a happy man.

Bonus! Girl Trouble Song o' the Day

Wheatus, "Teenage Dirtbag" from Wheatus (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Man, I feel like mold,
It's prom night and I am lonely.
Lo and behold,
She's walking over to me.
This must be fake,
My lip starts to shake,
How does she know who I am?
And why does she give a damn about me?…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 340.0 lbs (Wednesday, 21 July)
This weigh-in: 339.6 lbs.
Difference: -0.4 lbs.

Barely any loss at all & certaily well short of our two pounds per week (2 lbs./week) goal, but at least we're moving in the right direction again after a recurrent bout of gluttony surrounding the annual observance of the auspicious day.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH!
The Aquabats!, "Pizza Day!" from Myths,Legends, and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol.2 (Captain Thumbs Up!)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Everybody's Better" from A Jackknife to a Swan (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Everybody's better than I am,
I think everybody's better than me,
And everybody's swell, I guess,
They're doing well, more or less,
Everybody's better than I am, I think…

"Everybody's acting like I don't matter,
Everybody's into the act,
Too many of them to avoid,
It could be that I'm paranoid,
I matter as a matter of fact…

"You know, to be king you don't need a castle."