Corona-chles II

Working from home, continued:
Well, it wasn't great that first day (3/17). It took forever to do things on my laptop that I could do in seconds on my desktop at work. So I decided to go into work, and spent the rest of the week there.

Subways:

Unlike just a couple of days before, the trains were now almost empty. And those of us who were on them were aggressively avoiding each other.

Masks:
I don't wear a mask, even when on the train. Am I stupid? I don't know. I just heard it wouldn't help. Now all those folks who wear them at the drop of a hat look like prophets. Next Step, fashion versions. Get ready. After all, we need something to distinguish the elite from the rabble. Me, I'm not shaving. That keeps people away.

Gloves:
I honestly don't know how to use them without not only touching my face but likely swallowing them whole. I may have inadvertently started that condom-up-the-nose trend a couple of years back...


Working From Work:
Ah, but for those three days (3/18-20) I was very productive! Which is the important thing, right?

Working From Work, Reconsidered:
But by Thursday night Mrs. Jaybee - a cancer survivor - was getting a bit nervous I'd pick up something and drop it right on her questionable immune system.
And it hit me. What. The. Fuck. Am. I. Doing??  How could I run when I knew?
So Friday I brought home my docking station, keyboard and mouse, to see if I could unflatten the curve of my lesser productivity as home.

Music:
Playing Decade got me back to practicing guitar using Neil Young music. I mean, he just kept hitting the right notes. Random lines pop up with a new relevance, like:

See the sky about to rain

The subways are empty, and so are the cafes...

In the stands
The home crowd scatters
For the turnstiles...

If you see him in the subway, He'll be down at the end of the car.
Watching you move Until he knows he knows who you are.

And here's another - completely un-pandemic unrelated one - for good measure:

You're watching your TV, and it's watching you. 
From 1975 no less!

But I guess your favorite artist has lyrics that will suddenly take on a whole new meaning now.

By Sunday (3/22) Mrs. Jaybee was pretty sad and wanted to hear something upbeat, so we tried Alvvays and the New Pornographers which worked well. Neil was on point, but we just didn't want to feel that way anymore.

Looking Human:
I haven't shaved since my one day working from home last week And Mrs. Jaybee likes it!
She said I should continue to grow it for the duration of the pandemic. And with the barbershops closed, I'll end up looking like old Neil himself up top there.
Who am I kidding? I'm 62, it'll probably come in white, which, if I wasn't before, I will surely now be the whitest man in America. So, who am I kidding? I'll look like Leon Russell. (Time to dig out my old white communion suit...)
I did figure out why Mrs. Jaybee likes it, though. It's just her way of being quarantined with someone else. Clever girl!

Fails:
During Mrs. Jaybee's first day of teaching from home, I stood behind her and dropped an f-bomb - a real doozy, too - behind her while her students were signing in. They really behaved themselves that day.

It could have been worse. 

Anyway, stay well - and stay the fuck back - okay?

Corona-chles I

Everything else seems to require some adjustment, so why not this? Later I may get to say "before we were so rudely interrupted" but I fear that won't be for some time.

And if the Kinks can misspell it, why can't I?  Well, Jaybee, talent, for one thing. But if this blog has ever had a message surely it's been that a lack of talent can't stop you.

Back when things were "normal" I was living my version of a life, writing this stupid blog about my dumb reactions to questionable music, or my even dumber reactions to unquestionable music. And there I was, trying to figure out where to go next regarding pop music from the 2010s, while hedging those bets to get back to the World History Project, working my way through Beethoven's Nine Symphonies. And I will get back to it. You've been warned.

But for the moment (and the length of this pandemic, I guess) I must digress.  With random - and hopefully some non-random - observations during this Time of the Pandemic. Because who knows what things will look like when we come out the other side.

So I hope you'll forgive the stupid/cute play on words in the title. It can't be helped. After all, virtually anything you or I say may, in retrospect, or even at the time, immediately seem ignorant, stupid, puerile, insensitive, in bad taste, etc. If I make a joke the day hundreds die, I hope you'll understand it's just my way of dealing. So please forgive the inevitable foolishness to follow. I'm only human, for now at least.


Some Random Observations:

The morning paper delivery: 
This morning it was outside the gate and suspiciously close to the open garbage can. Bad aim? I think not. Last week I had just picked up a flyer on my way into the house when I heard the paper land a couple of inches behind my foot. He and I have been in a sort of Cold War for years. But the paper outside the fence might have just been his version of social distancing.

News articles:
I can't read articles entitled "How the Pandemic Has Changed Us". Jesus Fuck, can I please actually change first and then see if you got it right??

Working From Home:
It's not all it's cracked up to be.
My wife and I were both working from home on St. Patrick's Day. She's a teacher, so first off, a hearty fuck you to anyone who thinks she's on vacation. She had to learn how to use a virtual classroom from scratch the day before. And on St. Pat's she's sitting at the dining room table, teaching a class.
Which meant I had to retreat to our finished-but-you'd-never-know-it basement. I spent the first hour sneezing from the dust, leaning over my laptop. I'm used to my office at work with the two monitors, so I was miserable. But, on the other hand, that's where the vinyl is.

Music:
You didn't think you'd escape this, did you? First, I worked my way through Beethoven's First and Second Symphonies and his First Piano Concerto. Then I got to the vinyl James got me last Christmas. I decided I'd start with Decade. Work got pretty hectic after that, so I didn't any further. But it was the correct choice.

Politics:
My Facebook friends think I'm a commie-pinko-liberal-sad-sack-pain-in-the-ass.  (Let's not get into what my enemies think.) But what they don't know is how much I hold back, withholding judgment until I've got my facts straight, like in 2003 when everyone was wondering if invading Iraq was a good idea. And since we're not holding that against George Bush and Friends, why would I expect anyone - of my friends that is - to hold this catastrophe against the current occupant?
It's harder to evade politics that one might think. No sooner is someone bemoaning the politicization of the pandemic (against the current occupant, naturally) than they're nitpicking someone else's decisions. Fuck, at least they are decisions.

Social Distancing:
I not all it's cracked down to be. It was not for nothing that Decade (containing "The Loner" of course) resonated, even though I'd heard every last song a million times.
But I guess we'll find out if all those jokes we told ourselves about hell being other people start to ring hollow.

Complaints:
Just about everyone has been handed a difficulty or two in this situation. Mine are pretty minimal. I work in healthcare, but in IT, not in clinical work, so while my sister is sitting at home, bored out of her skull, I'm working harder than ever. Given all the layoffs, I should count myself lucky. I know I am. I hope to stay that way. But I'm tired. In all likelihood, so are you.

Lead-In To an Old Joke: Guess Who's In the Hospital? 
Lots of tired staff.
Hospitals are running out of supplies and their clinical staffs are exhausted.
Why didn't they prepare for this, you might ask? Well, they did to the extent possible, given their limited resources. Oh, did you think all the money is going there? Well, like your paycheck, it's only there for a minute, and then it's off to the medical supply, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, who are doing a little better, thank you very much.
Back in 2008, it took a while, but the recession eventually made its way to health care, and there were severe cutbacks that we're living (and dying) with still.
So despite the inevitable second-guessing to come about what we must do to be better prepared next time, I can foresee the coming recession mowing down everything in its path. And with tax revenues drying up, politicians will have to make tough decisions about where to cut their budgets. And guess where they'll eventually end up looking?
Why, health care, of course.

Punch Line to Said Joke: Sick People!
Have you tested positive? Have you been tested? Of course not! After all, we're not South Korea, are we? Get in line, and have your cash ready.
But do you know someone who has tested positive? Are they a loved one? And have you done the math yet, about what demographic they're in, and if it's one of the safer ones or not? Youth does not appear to be the safe haven we thought it would be. And, who am I kidding? I'm in that problematic, older age range, where bad things happen.
But the attention-whore in me isn't afraid of catching it. The father and friend in me is, though. How could I live with myself if I passed it on to a loved one?

As Neil would say How can you run when you know?

To Infinity and Beyonce

Decade Catch Up: After thoroughly researching the best of the decade polls and methodically identifying what I missed, I resolve to use laser focus to drill down and fill those gaps. That lasts about a week, and then I get distracted by who else, Brian fucking Eno.

Frank Ocean: Channel Orange (2012) This one appeared at or near the top of just about every decade poll I found. Frank Ocean is first and foremost a songwriter. And he’s real good at it. He’s written many for other people, and here he’s out on his own. So this is not an assemblage of songs acquired from other people. It’s his vision. He can also sing and produce, so this is his show all the way. And it’s quite the show. Surprisingly melodic. Surprisingly affluent - a lot of this is about young wealthy people living in California at the beach. There are love songs here, but they’re not just plopped in for the sake of having hits. They’re about people living in this milieu (no, I don’t fucking believe I used that word, either) he’s describing. And the musical background is practically Eno-worthy. A- "Super Rich Kids" Beyonce: Lemonade (2016) Another one consistently atop or near the top of just about every decade end poll I found. This record is surprisingly rocking. And at the same time surprisingly varied in tone (Christ, there’s a country song here), dynamics and volume. I was bracing myself for a histrionic lesson in empowerment from a very powerful diva. The lesson would be correct but it wouldn’t be coming from the right source, and that kind of thing is exhausting. But, by starting quietly and slowly picking up the pace, adding real feeling, this superstar earns my respect (which I assume she was losing sleep over). I guess celebrities have feelings, too. I’m not sitting up at attention all the way through, like with Janelle Monae or Rihanna, but what slips past me seems pleasant enough. And there’s at least one moment that brings a tear to my eye. So, diva or not, it’s not histrionic at all. Pretty damned controlled, in fact. B+

"All Night" Fucking Eno:

Fripp & Eno: (No Pussyfooting) (1973) If allmusic.com is accurate this is Eno’s first record without Roxy Music and, god bless him, he goes hardcore experimental by laying down some drone music that the guitarist from King Crimson Robert Fripp solos over. And. It’s. Not. Bad. At. All. Even pretty every once in a while. But I am occasionally asked by a family member what the hell we're listening to, but that's the effect I'm going for. Oblique Music tells the almost too good to be true story of BBC accidentally playing the tape of the album backward, and when Eno calls to tell them, they say “That’s what they all say”. This deluxe edition includes a backward version, All I can say is it was an honest mistake. B+ "The Heavenly Music Corporation I" Devo: Are We Not Men? No, We are Devo! (1978) The other funny Eno story is about how this radically arty band somehow hooked up with him to produce their first album. It’s hard to remember that back then Eno’s producing attempts were anything but sure things. He even tried to work with Television but that ended real fast. His No New York hard-core punk compilation was widely panned by the artists who were involved. And this love fest. Devo had already been honing their craft and alienating mid-Western audiences for years, so they knew what they wanted. And it sure wasn’t Eno’s kinder, gentler approach. At one point they’re listening to the playback of one of the songs and the band thinks they see Eno turning a know to add something to the mix, and they’re all over him. Hey, what do you think you’re doing making our record sound nice!!??? One wonders now - even Devo - what a real Eno-centric album would have sounded like. But I don’t think he’s returning their calls. But it was an excuse to finally get this record and find out just how weird it really is. And now, with the benefit of forty-odd years, it sounds more consistent and catchy than you’d think. You'll seem like nice folks so I'll give you the hit here. B+

"Satisfaction" But if you really want to know how disturbing these guys were here are just check out some of their early videos Let's start with a relatively benign collaboration with...Neil Young!? “Human Highway” To a warped early version of "My My, Hey Hey": “Hey Hey” To the truly disturbing "Jocko Homo":

Enjoy your Sunday!

Next time, 2019!, or 1812, I'm not sure.