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

Fourth Sunday of Easter
Marty Haugen, "Shepherd Me, O God (Psalm 23)" from Shepherd Me, O God (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Real Can of Yams, "Sometimes, San Rafael" from the Nothing Can Kill the Grimace E.P. (The Last Angry Man)

Skammentary:

"You'll take the long road home,
You'll take the one less traveled,
You'll leave your flesh and bone,
You'll leave your heart unraveled.

"Sometimes, San Rafael!
Sometimes, San Rafael!
Sometimes, San Rafael,
You win."

Thank you for joining us for this thirteenth SKApril! Stay tuned in May for the SKAfter Party, Narwhal Day, & in just three months' time, SKAugust. In the sage words of the Reel Big Fish, "don't stop skankin'!"

Ska! Ska! Ska!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

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

Skammentary:

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

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Club99, "Don't Feed the Tiger" from Club99 (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Club99, from Italy, are toward the jazzy end of ska. "Don't Feed the Tiger" is largely instrumental.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

MU330, "Danska" from Press (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLVII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 62nd Anniversary of Mercury-Atlas 3
25 April 1961: Mercury-Atlas 3 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying an unnamed Mercury capsule atop an Atlas LV-3B rocket; the pitch & roll program to steer the booster out over the Atlantic did not initiate & the range safety officer issued the self-destruct command; the launch escape system worked flawlessly, carrying the capsule away to a successful splashdown.

Commentary: To place Mercury-Atlas 3 in context, the test took place thirteen days after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space during the orbital Vostok 1 flight & ten days before Alan Shepard became the second man & first American in space during the suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight of the Freedom 7 capsule.

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Fighting Gravity, "Barber of Skaville" from Shish-ska-bob (Rude Boy Bravo Charlie)

Skammentary: Enjoying some high culture here in SKApril.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Unified" from While We're at It (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"We are with you, not against you,
We only hope you got the common sense to
Realize we're unified,
And realize we're here to back you
And not let anybody else attack you,
So you know, we're on your side,
We're unified,
We're unified…"

The Stars My Destination: The Soyuz 1 Disaster

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 56th Anniversary of Soyuz 1
Fifty-six years ago to the day, 24 April 1967, Pilot Vladimir Komarov perished when his Soyuz 1 capsule crashed into the Earth's surface after its parachutes failed to deploy during atmospheric re-entry, the first man to die during a spaceflight.

Three cosmonauts were meant to launch aboard Soyuz 2, equipped with the same flawed parachute-deployment system, & rendezvous in orbit with Komarov aboard Soyuz 1. The Soyuz 2 launch was called off due to thunderstorms near the launch site; otherwise, they would have perished, too. After the tragedy, the Soyuz program was delayed for eighteen months while the parachute system, among others, was redesigned.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Soyuz 1
The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXXVII

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: In Memoriam
The Phenomenauts, "Heroes" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Requiescat in pace.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Reel Big Fish, "A Little Doubt Goes a Long Way" from Cheer Up! (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Maybe it's not right
(I have a girlfriend),
"Made a friend tonight
(Who is a girl and)
I just wanted to talk to you,
But then I started wondering
If she's the one, or not—

"So, I gotta go, gotta,
Before I do something stupid,
I gotta go!
I gotta go, gotta go,
Before I do something lame…"

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Kemuri, "Go! Go! Go! Go! Glow!" from Freedomosh (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey-san)

Skammentary: This increasingly hopeless & nihilistic world could use Kemuri's philosophy of P.M.A., positive mental attitude.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII!

The Aquabats!, "Marshmallow Man!" from The Return of The Aquabats! (Captains Thumbs Up!)

Skammentary!: The Aquabats!' idiosyncratic take on the classic ska plea for rude boys to simmer down & amend their violent ways.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Loose Ties, "She'll Never Know" from Champ of the Week (Superfan Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: My friends, The Loose Ties, make their return to the SKApril limelight for the first time since 2018. Welcome back, guys & gals! It had been too long! Love, your Superfan.

"Well, we say—

"Do it now!
You can't be sure that you know how, but,
You gotta try,
Or you'll never know what passed you by.
Do it now!
The timing's right, no time to fight, well,
There it goes,
Your chance to really show,
I guess you'll never know…

"There it goes,
Your chance to really show,
That's the way it goes,
I guess she'll never know."

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Interrupters featuring Tim Armstrong & Rhoda Dakar, "As We Live" from In the Wild (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"We're running out of time!…

"If not us, than who?
If not now, then when?
Is there a hero among us
Or are all of the good ones just dead?

"Life is for dancing, life is for moving,
Long as I'm breathing I am renewing,
Life is for dancing, life is for moving,
Long as I'm breathing—Hey!

"As we live, as we live,
This is the time for love,
As we live, as we live,
This is the time for love.

"In the fall of the Western civilization,
Leave the bus and arrive at the station,
Music vocation, stereo citation,
Peace and love raise the world vibration…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Red Stripes, "Don't Build Twice" from Made in Hong Kong (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Stand up for what's right & stand up for your rights, but make sure in doing so you are indeed in the right.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLVI

The Space Race—Astronaut Group 2 (the "New Nine"), Part V
Charles "Pete" Conrad Junior (2 June 1930-8 July 1999), Captain, U.S. Navy—He flew Gemini V (1965), Gemini XI (1966), Apollo 12 (Yankee Clipper & Intrepid, 1969), & Skylab 2 (1973); he was the third of the twelve Moonwalkers & won a bet with the journalist Oriana Fallaci by his first words on the Moon, "Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small [step] for Neil, but that's a long one for me."

Commentary: Conrad was named Charles after his father, but his parents agreed that he would always be called "Peter," eventually "Pete." Peter was not his middle name—he didn't have a middle name—but a nickname.

Conrad was noted for the saying, perhaps even the motto, "If you can't be good, be colorful."

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: The New Nine—Pete Conrad
James Darren, "I've Got the World On a String" from This One's from the Heart (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Pete Conrad
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCLXVI: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini V, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCLXVIII: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini V, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXXXIX: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini XI, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXL: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini XI, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXVII: The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 12, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXIX: The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 12, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXX: The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 12, Part III

Commentary: Even this lengthy "Wayback Machine Tour" is not yet exhaustive, as Captain Conrad would command the first manned Skylab expedition (May-June 1973). Look for "Explorers' Club" coverage of the fiftieth anniversary of Skylab 2 later this spring & summer, heaven permitting & should the world perdure.

Requiescat in pace.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Bruce Lee Band, "Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the Division in the Heartland E.P. (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: The Bruce Lee Band is a SKAffirmative Action pick, since they hadn't been spotlighted in SKApril since 2017, but front man Mike Park had not been absent that long, as since then his other band, The Chinkees, furnished SKApril R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2019 & 2021.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Bite Me Bambi, "This Love Is Dead" from the Hurry Up and Wait E.P. (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: It warms my checkered heart that fourth-wave ska carries on the venerable third-wave tradition of romance leading only to heartbreak, obsession, misery, & occasional mayhem.

"This isn't what I wanted,
This isn't what I planned,
As I stand here gun in hand…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Divine Mercy Sunday

Second Sunday of Easter | Divine Mercy Sunday
Mike Hilliker, Melanie Rea, & Holy Redeemer Music, "Lord Have Mercy" from Mercy: Songs for Holy Week (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Toasters, "Fire in My Soul" from Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: When "Fire in My Soul" started running thru my head, I feared the song had already been selected for a previous SKApril. Huzzah, it had not & was still available. I thank my ska muse, be that the Holy Ghost directly; my dear friend whose name I do not know, my guardian angel; or the strange, unfathomed depths of human memory & will.

"You cannot touch me, you can't control
Fire in my heart, it's burning out of control.

"Fire, fire in my soul,
Fire, fire in my soul…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Less Than Jake, "Look What Happened" from Anthem (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Via group text to the Blue Tree Whacking brotherhood, K. Steeze transmitted a photo of his adorable son wearing a onesie emblazoned with the words, "I (heart) Ska Punk;" one chubby leg was raised & Steeze added slyly, "Working on his skankin'." "Look What Happened" was soon suggested as a lullaby, followed by a discussion of whether the Borders & Boundaries version of "Look What Happened" or the Anthem version should be L.T.J.'s contribution to SKApril 2023, & just look what happened."

"And I swear it's the last time
And I swear it's my last try…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Planet Smashers, "The 80 Bus" from Attack of the Planet Smashers (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary, eh: The Planet Smashers are excellent exemplars of one of the core principles of SKApril in action, SKAffirmative Action. The Planet Smashers are a fun ska band & "The 80 Bus" is a worthy song, but left entirely to my own whims, SKApril would be much less diverse, featuring a much heavier rotation of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, & Less Than Jake, the titans of '90s ska-punk. Limiting each band to only one song in SKApril is essential to spotlighting lesser bands like The Planet Smashers. After SKApril 2022, I also made a note that The Planet Smashers had not furnished a SKApril song since 2018, making them a higher priority. The rules of SKApril, including SKAffirmative Action, make this month-long celebration the sheer delight it is.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLV

Operation AXIOM
10 April 1963: The Wreck of the U.S.S. Thresher SSN-593—The American submarine Thresher sank in the Atlantic Ocean during dive tests, with one hundred twenty-nine souls aboard; the Thresher had been circling the support ship U.S.S. Skylark; debris was first detected on 12 April & the wreck was found in June 1964; the Navy's Submarine Safety Program (SUBSAFE) was instituted as a response.

Commentary: The Thresher was not one of the Submarines of 1968, she was lost five years earlier & sank while in communication with the Skylark rather than disappearing mysteriously.

Requiescat in pace.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Edna's Goldfish, "Everyone I Know Is from Lindenhurst" from The Elements of Transition (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

We try so hard so we can be alone,
We try too hard, but everything we worked for has gone wrong!

"You can't stop me!
I wanna be invincible,
You can't stop me!
I wanna be invincible,
Can it be so simple?
Can it be so simple?
Can it be so simple?…"

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Vostok 1

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 62st Anniversary of Vostok 1
Public Service Broadcasting, "Gagarin" from The Race for Space (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Happy Yuri's Night, space cadets! Hyperlinks: Cosmonautics Day, International Day of Human Space Flight, & Yuri's Night.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Vostok 1
№ DCCCX: The Sixtieth Anniversary of Vostok 1

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

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

Skammentary: The Hippos are the first SKApril All-Stars of this 2023 festival, having furnished a song for every SKApril all the way back to 2011. This is all the more impressive since The Hippos only released three albums before breaking up & were one of the first bands I liked to move away from the ska sound, so that really only one & a half of those albums is ska-punk. The last two years, I've despaired of The Hippos' chances of retaining their All-Star status, only for them to come through in the clutch.

"Officer, please, don't ticket me,
My violation doesn't dseserve a citation,
Please!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Ska Vengers, "El Cumbanchero/Red Fort Rock" from XX (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: The Ska Vengers are the first Indian band to participate in SKApril. Truly, ska's reach & appeal are global.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLIV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-6, Part II
7-9 April 1983: Musgrave & Peterson conducted the first extravehicular activity (E.V.A., "spacewalk") of the Space Shuttle program, debuting & test flying the new Extravehicular Mobility Unit (E.M.U.) spacesuits; this was the first American spacewalk since Skylab 4 (February 1974); payloads included three Getaway Special canisters; after 81 orbits, the Challenger landed at California's Edwards A.F.B.

Commentary: S.T.S.-6 featured the last four-person Space Shuttle crew until S.T.S.-135 in 2011.

As of this writing, E.M.U. are still used by American & international astronauts on the International Space Station. The new type of spacesuits for the planned Artemis Moon landings are not projected to be ready until 2026 at the earliest.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-6
William Shatner featuring Dave Davies, "Mr. Spaceman" from Seeking Major Tom (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Skameleon, "Intro Sandman" from Ska Makes Everything Better (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "Intro Sandman" is a ska cover of part of Metallica's "Enter Sandman." Skameleon are, as their ska pun name (ska + chameleon) would suggest, a cover band. Aus Deutschland.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Beverly Hills All Saints' Church Choir, Craig Phillips, Thomas Foster, & Beverly HIlls All Saints' Brass Ensemble, "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" from Easter (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Sonseed, "Jesus Is a Friend of Mine" from Jesus Is a Friend of Mine (Rude Boy Bravo Charlie)

Skammentary: Sonseed was not a Christian ska band like The O.C. Supertones, but produced "Jesus Is a Friend of Mine" to help spread the Gospel in the heyday of 2-Tone ska (late 1970s-early 1980s). My thanks to Bravo Charlie, a fellow Knight of Columbus, Twitter acquaintance, & ska fan for introducing me to "Jesus Is a Friend of Mine."

"The music may sound different, but the message is the same,
It's just an instrument to praise His Name!…"

Saints + Scripture: Sacred Triduum | Holy Saturday

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
"Holy Saturday 2023"

'Tis Holy Saturday, act three of the Sacred Triduum, the Saturday of Holy Week: Holy Saturday-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Saturday, & Wikipedia-link Sacred Triduum; Holy Week-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Week.

Scripture of This Night
Mass Readings—The Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
I. The Book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one thru chapter two, verse two
(or, the Book of Genesis, chapter one, verses one & twenty-six thru thirty-one[a]);
Psalm One Hundred Four, verses one & two; five & six; ten; twelve, thirteen, & fourteen; twenty-four; & thirty-five;
or, Psalm Thirty-three, verses four thru seven, twelve & thirteen, & twenty & twenty-two;
II. The Book of Genesis, chapter twenty-two, verses one thru eighteen
(or, the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty-two, verses one, two, nine[a] thru thirteen, & fifteen thru eighteen);
Psalm Sixteen, verses five, eight, nine& ten, & eleven;
III. The Book of Exodus, chapter fourteen, verse fifteen thru chapter fifteen, verse one;
The Book of Exodus, chapter fifteen, verses one & two, three & four, five & six, & seventeen & eighteen;
IV. The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-four, verses five thru fourteen;
Psalm Thirty, verses two, four, five & six, eleven & twelve, & thirteen;
V. The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-five, verses one thru eleven;
The Book of Isaiah, chapter twelve, verses two & three, four, & five & six;
VI. The Book of Baruch, chapter three, verses nine thru fifteen & thirty-two thru chapter four, verse four;
Psalm Nineteen, verses eight, nine, ten, & eleven;
VII. The Book of Ezekiel, chapter thirty-six, verses sixteen, seventeen(a), & eighteen thru twenty-eight;
Psalm Forty-two, verses three & five & Psalm Forty-three, verses three & four;
or, the Book of Isaiah, chapter twelve, verses two & three, four(b/c/d), & five & six;
or, Psalm Fifty-one, verses twelve & thirteen, fourteen & fifteen, & eighteen & nineteen;
VIII. The Letter to the Romans, chapter six, verses three thru eleven;
Psalm One Hundred Eighteen, verses one & two, sixteen & seventeen, & twenty-two & twenty-three;
IX. The Gospel according to Mark, chapter sixteen, verses one thru seven.

Commentary: Triduum Readings.

Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the women who were the first witnesses of the Resurrection.

Jesus goes into the kingdom of death and brings to that dark place the light of God—and more to the point, he brings the power of God, and with this power, he breaks the hold that death has over us. In the language of the Church Fathers, Jesus has tied up and defeated the devil, thereby freeing us from the one who held us for ransom.

Thus the Resurrection of Jesus is the declaration of victory over this terrible power. In all of the Gospel accounts, mention is made of the huge stone rolled across the entrance of Jesus’ tomb. This seems to stand for the awful finality of death, the irreversible, dense facticity of it. It seems to be that power that can never be countered or gainsaid. But in Jesus’ victory, that stone is effortlessly rolled away.

The power that has held us ransom has been overthrown; the dark cloud that has brooded over our lives, turning us in on ourselves and outward in violence, has been removed. With Paul, we can mock the former lord of the world: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Video reflection by Marc DelMonico, Ph.D. (U.S.C.C.B.): Triduum Reflection.

Video reflection by Doctor Tim Gray (Augustine Institute/Formed.org): Triduum Reflection.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"The readings in the Paschal Vigil carry us into the mysterious arena where human sin meets God's justice & mercy. There life & death 'have contended,' & there the victory of the risen Christ over death stands out as the source of our salvation & the model of Christian living."
—Pope Saint Paul VI (1897-1978, r. 1963-1978; feast: 29 May)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"The One Who is our very life descended into our world, & bore our death, & slew it with the abundance of His own life. Thundering, He called us to return to Him in heaven."
—Saint Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (354-430, feast: 28 August)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"I knew that God wanted something from me. I was only twelve years old, living with my parents in Yugoslavia, when I first sensed a desire."
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"Solitude can be very rewarding & full of blessing because in the silence of the inner being, one finds God."
—Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)