The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday
Matt Maher, "The Waiting" from Saints and Sinners (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Desmond Dekker & the Aces, "Fu Man Chu" from Rudy Got Soul: The Early Beverley's Sessions 1963-1968 (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"It make no sense at all
To say where we used to work,
It make no sense at all
To say how much you used to earn,
It make no sense at all
To say what you used to do,
This is the face of Fu Man Chu!

"It make no sense at all
To say what you used to do,
It make no sense at all
To say how much you used to earn,
It's not what you earn that make you a man,
But it's what you keep that make you a man,
This is the face of Fu Man Chu!…"

Saints + Scripture: Sacred Triduum | Good Friday

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

The Popish Plot
"Good Friday 2023"

'Tis Good Friday, act two of the Sacred Triduum, the Friday of Holy Week: Good Friday-link & Wikipedia-link Good Friday, & Wikipedia-link Sacred Triduum; Holy Week-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Week.

Scripture of the Day
Liturgical Readings—Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-two, verse thirteen thru chapter fifty-three, verse twelve;
Psalm Thirty-one, verses two & six, twelve & thirteen, fifteen & sixteen, & seventeen & twenty-five
(R/. the Gospel according to Luke, chapter twenty-three, verse forty-six);
The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter four, verses fourteen, fifteen, & sixteen & chapter fifteen, verses seven, eight, & nine;
The Gospel according to John, chapter eighteen, verse one thru chapter nineteen, verse forty-two.

Commentary: Triduum Readings.

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

Friends, today’s Gospel is John’s wonderful narrative of Christ’s Passion. On the cross, Jesus entered into close quarters with sin (because that’s where we sinners are found) and allowed the heat and fury of sin to destroy him, even as he protected us.

We can see, with special clarity, why the first Christians associated the crucified Jesus with the suffering servant of Isaiah. By enduring the pain of the cross, Jesus did indeed bear our sins; by his stripes we were indeed healed.

And this is why the sacrificial death of Jesus is pleasing to the Father. The Father sent his Son into godforsakenness, into the morass of sin and death, not because he delighted in seeing his Son suffer, but rather because he wanted his Son to bring the divine light to the darkest place.

It is not the agony of the Son in itself that pleases his Father, but rather the Son’s willing obedience in offering his body in sacrifice in order to take away the sin of the world. St. Anselm said that the death of the Son reestablished the right relationship between divinity and humanity.

Video reflection by Father Larry Christian (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Triduum Reflection.

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

Papal Quote o' the Day

"The journey also brings sacrifices, but these must not stop us. Jesus is on the Cross: you want to kiss Him? You cannot help bending over the Cross & letting yourself be pricked by some thorns of the crown that is on the Lord's head."
—Pope Bl. John Paul I (1912-1978, r. 1978; feast: 26 August)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"You need a deep freedom to be like Jesus. See, He could have been born in a palace, yet He chose to be poor… Are we so free that we can be completely naked with Jesus there on the cross?"
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Jesus took upon Himself the scourging that would have been our due in order to save the creatures He formed & loved."
—St. Odo of Cluny (880-942, feast: 18 November)

Bonus! Saint Quote o' the Day

"The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return."
—St. Theodore the Studite (759-826, feast: 12 November)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"Keep your eyes on the crucifix; for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, & the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Good Friday

Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday)
The Daughters of Mary, "O Sacred Head Surrounded" from De Profundis (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Slow Gherkin, "Sally Boulevard" from Run Screaming (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "Sally Boulevard" was on my mind every Friday o' the Lenten fish fry, as a reliable customer who paid by personal cheque has a name that matches the meter of "Sally Boulevard;" so, every Friday, as I counted her cheque, I'd substitute her name as I quietly sang the chorus from "Sally Boulevard," not quoted below.

"Here comes Sally Boulevard,
Broke me down and built me hard,
It goes fast when you pass the time,
Holding hands with Sally and Sally holding mine,
She set me right,
Left her behind, Sally Boulevard…"

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

The Skamotts, "Renji" from Pleasure Isle (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey-san)

Skammentary: I discovered The Skamotts through their excellent cover of "From Russia with Love" (from the Bond film of the same name, based on the novel From Russia, with Love). To my great delight, I further discovered that that cover was just the tip of the iceberg, or just the shore of the pleasure isle.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Holy Thursday

Thursday of Holy Week (Holy Thursday)
The Daughters of Mary, "O Salutaris Hostia" from De Profundis (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

Saints + Scripture: Sacred Triduum | Holy Thursday

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

The Popish Plot
"Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments"

'Tis Holy Thursday (A.K.A. Maundy Thursday), act one of the Sacred Triduum, the Thursday of Holy Week: Holy Thursday-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Thursday, & Wikipedia-link Sacred Triduum; Holy Week-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Week.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Chrism Mass
The Book of Isaiah, chapter sixty-one, verses one, two, three(a), six(a), eight(b), & nine;
Psalm Eighty-nine (R/. two), verses twenty-one & twenty-two, twenty-five & twenty-seven;
The Book of Revelation, chapter one, verses five thru eight;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter four, verses sixteen thru twenty-one.

Commentary: Chrism Mass Readings.

Mass Readings—Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper
The Book of Exodus, chapter twelve, verses one thru eight & eleven thru fourteen;
Psalm One Hundred Sixteen, verses twelve & thirteen, fifteen & sixteen(b/c), & seventeen & eighteen
(R/. the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verse sixteen);
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eleven, verses twenty-three thru twenty-six;
The Gospel according to John, chapter thirteen, verses one thru fifteen.

Commentary: Triduum Readings.

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

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He is giving them a visual proclamation of his new commandment: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another."

When we accept this commandment, we walk the path of joy. When we internalize this law, we become happy. And so the paradox: happiness is never a function of filling oneself up; it is a wonderful function of giving oneself away.

When the divine grace enters one’s life (and everything we have is the result of divine grace), the task is to contrive a way to make it a gift. In a sense, the divine life—which exists only in gift form—can be "had" only on the fly.

Notice please that we are to love with a properly divine love: "I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." Radical, radical, radical. Complete, excessive, over-the-top.

Video reflection by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers (U.S.C.C.B.): Triduum Reflection.

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

Papal Quote o' the Day

"With the institution of the Eucharist, we enter into the very heart of humanity's drama. Will it be life directed toward death, or life open to eternity!"
—Pope Saint John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the cross than in serving the world & its pleasures."
—Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859, feast: 4 August)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"On the Cross, Jesus said, 'I thirst.' He was not asking for something to drink. When they offered Him vinegar He didn't drink it… Very often we offer Jesus a bitter drink too. This bitterness comes from the depths of hearts & wells up in our words. When we give this bitterness to each other, we give it to Jesus."
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"Let no one think he can be totally indifferent to God in this life & suddenly develop a capacity for Him at the moment of death."
—Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-6, Part I
4-6 April 1983: The Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with CDR Paul Weitz, Pilot "Bo" Bobko, Mission Specialist 1 Story Musgrave, & Mission Specialist 2 Donald Peterson; they deployed T.D.R.S.-1 (pre-launch: T.D.R.S.-A), the first satellite of the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System, toward a geosynchronous orbit via an Inertial Upper Stage booster.

Commentary: This was the first flight of the Challenger OV-099.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-6
They Might Be Giants, "The Secret Life of Six" from Here Come the 123s (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

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

Death of Guitar Pop featuring King Hammond, "D.O.G.P. Shuffle" from Pukka Sounds (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Death of Guitar Pop pronounce their initials D.O.G.P. as an acronym, "Dog pee." Stay classy, Silky & Top Kat.

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

The Specials "Monkey Man" from The Specials (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "Monkey Man" is a seminal ska song, written & recorded by Toots & the Maytals in 1969 & introduced to a broader audience through this cover version by The Specials from 1979. Many other bands & singers have subsequently covered The Specials' cover. I discovered ska in 1997, & thus the ska-punk of the 1990s remains closest to my heart, but SKApril celebrates all ska, across time & space, from original Jamaican roots ska (1960s) to 2-Tone (1970s-1980s) to third-wave ska-punk (1990s-2000s) to the supposed fourth wave that has yet to crest.

"Monkey Man" is an insult a jilted boy hurls at the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend. Tell me again, smug & scolding ska S.J.W., that ska has always & everywhere been only political.

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

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

Skammentary: This ska cover of the theme song to Get Smart, discovered I do not recall how on the YouTubes, was my introduction to the Melbourne Ska Orchestra.

"Missed it by that much!"

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Upbeat Allstars, "Not Coming Back" from Wake Up! (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: The 23 Minutes of Ska podcast has ended; the last episode was uploaded on 9 February. Not all the songs were good, much less great, but at only twenty-three minutes per week & with those twenty-three minutes being all music & no banter, it was a worthwhile investment of time. Upbeat Allstars are the last band whose song I purchased after hearing it on the podcast.

"I got it all planned in my mind,
I'm not coming back again, no, no!
I'm gonna leave it all behind,
Somebody shoot me if I walk back through that door!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Mike Hilliker, "Were You There" from Mercy: Songs for Holy Week (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Pioneer 11, Part I
6 April 1973: Pioneer 11 (pre-launch: Pioneer G) lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, bound for flybys of both Jupiter & Saturn; the nuclear battery-powered probe carried photographic cameras, magnometers, & other instruments to study the asteroid belt, the solar wind, & the radiation environment, &, like Pioneer 10, a pictographic plaque.

Semper exploro.

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

Bombskare, "My Life in the Nineties" from A Fistful of Dynamite (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Welcome to SKApril! We open the most bouncy month o' the year with Scotland's ska juggernaut, Bombskare, providing a counterpoint to uncritical 1990s nostalgia by way of uncritical 1980s nostalgia. That said, "My Life in the Nineties" is much more '90s third-wave ska-punk than '80s 2-Tone, both musically & lyrically: the '90s were such a shambles in large part because of the protagonist's romantic disasters.

A Fistful of Dynamite is Bombskare's debut album, from 2009. Ska! Ska! Ska!

Bonus! Song o' the Lenten Fish Fry

Potshot, "Seasons End" from Dance to the Potshot Record (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiting)

Skammentary: My thanks to all for a great Lenten fish fry season!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' One Day 'til SKApril!

The Aquabats!, "Pajamazon!" from the Pajamazon! single (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Skammentary: 28 April 2020, the twenty-eighth day of the tenth SKApril. "Pajamazon!" was written prior to the pandemic-inspired lockdowns, bot as a reaction to them, but the music video—shot at home (their individual homes) by the 'Bats, their allies, & Aqua-Cadet families—for the song captures perfectly the weird, desperately euphoric "staycation" vibe of the those first weeks.

"Pajamazon!" is a fun, peppy song, but also a biting commentary on our lonely, consumerist, & increasingly dysfunctional society.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Two Days 'til SKApril

Bombskare, "Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?" from The Day the Earth Stood Stupid (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 10 April 2019, the tenth day of the ninth SKApril.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLI

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 60th Anniversary of Saturn-Apollo 4
28 March 1963: Saturn-Apollo 4 (Saturn I S.A.-4) lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a suborbital flight; the № 5 H-1 engine was deliberately shut down 100 seconds into the flight & fuel was re-routed automatically to the other seven engines, which then burned longer to compensate for the loss of thrust; S.A.-4 was the final single-stage test flight of a Saturn rocket.

Commentary: Testing the scenario of an engine shutting down & the other engines burning longer to compensate proved fruitful, as this occurred unplanned during the launches of Apollo 6 in 1968 (an uncrewed test flight) & of Apollo 13 in 1970.

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Three Days 'til SKApril

Mittwoch, 29. März
Mustard Plug, "On and On" from In Black and White (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 5 April 2018, the fifth day of the eighth SKApril.

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Exodus 90 Edition

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 342.4 lbs
This weigh-in: 337.0 lbs.
Difference: -5.4 lbs.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Spam" from U.H.F.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Weight Watcher)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Four Days 'til SKApril

Dienstag, 28. März
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra featuring Asian Kung-Fu Generation, "Wake Up!" from Ska Me Forever (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey-san)

Skammentary: 4 April 2017, the fourth day of the seventh SKApril.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Five Days 'til SKApril

Be Like Max, "Sin City Rude Kids" from Against All Odds (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 10 April 2016, the tenth day of the sixth SKApril. Thematically similar to Save Ferris's "Under 21."

Bonus! Song o' Six Days 'til SKApril

Less Than Jake, "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)" from Losing Streak (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 2 April 2015, the second day of the fifth SKApril.

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

The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Matt Maher, "Alive Again" from Alive Again (Penitent Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXL

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Salyut 2
3 April-28 May 1973: Salyut 2 lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Proton-K rocket; "Salyut 2" was a cover name for a military Almaz ("Diamond") spy station, O.P.S.-1; thirteen days after launch, debris from the exploded Proton booster depressurized the hull & tore off the solar panels; O.P.S.-1 lost power & attitude control, & its orbit decayed, burning up on re-entry.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Salyut 2
A New Found Glory, "Failure's Not Flattering" from Catalyst (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Seven Days 'til SKApril

Reel Big Fish, "Don't Stop Skankin'" from Candy Coated Fury (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 1 April 2014, the first day of the fourth SKApril.

Bonus! Song o' the Lenten Fish Fry

Barenaked Ladies, "For You" from Everything to Everyone (Mike Papa Wahoo)

Commentary:

"I have set aside everything I love,
I have saved everything else for you…

"It's your fate, but it's not your fault…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Eight Days 'til SKApril

The Bruce Lee Band, "Running Out of Time" from the Beautiful World E.P. (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 5 April 2013, the fifth day of the third SKApril.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Nine Days 'til SKApril

Nothing for Something, "Ska Kids" courtesy Sergeant Ska (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: 2 April 2012, the second day of the second SKApril. I try not to predict the future, but I can all but guarantee that this sequence—first song of the first SKApril, second song of the second SKApril—will not persist.

"Well, I see you at our shows and I think that you see me,
I get all my hopes up oh so desperately,
But after we play and I look for you some more
You are long gone and I want to scream, 'Whore!'

"But when I think about it,
Well, I think I understand,
Who'd want to kiss a guy like me?
Who'd want to hold my hand?

"Many guys will leave the show tonight
With a little girl in tow (alright),
For us it's always just dance, dance, dance,
And we never will get a chance!

"'Cause ska kids (Hey!) we never get laid,
And ska bands (Hey!) they never get paid,
Oh no, oh no, oh no…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Ten Days 'til SKApril

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

Skammentary: "The Impression That I Get" was the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. for 1 April 2011, the first day of the first SKApril.

"Have you ever been close to tragedy
Or been close to folks who have?
Have you ever felt a pain so powerful
So heavy you collapse?
No? Well…

"Have you ever had the odds stacked up so high
You need a strength most don't possess?
Or has it ever come down to do or die,
You've got to rise above the rest?
No? Well…

"I'm not a coward, I've just never been tested,
I'd like to think that if I was I would pass,
Look at the tested and think, 'There but for the grace go I,'
Might be a coward, I'm afraid of what I might find out…"