Yeah, I'm a sucker. But after a one-month hiatus, the Song of the Day feature has returned to the Spunik Music website, and I'm involved again. Here's how it happened.
One of our regular Users, Pangea, decided to revive Song of the Day after it took the month of June off. Given my love/hate relationship with SOTD (I love it, but it makes me crazy when Users give absolute insane ratings, like scoring Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" 0.5 out of 5). But I liked the theme Pangea chose for the newly revived July SOTD. I told them I would give a song rec, if that was alright, but I didn't feel up to rating all the songs. (And honestly, at that point, I wasn't 100% sure I'd still be alive at the end of the month.)
Anyway, for new readers, this blog entry refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month (except for last month), one User hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The list of July songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day July 2022.
1. The theme for the month was "Comeback songs", which was defined as "a song that was part of an artist's comeback."
2. Participation was very good this month in comparison with the last couple of months where the SOTD existed, in terms of people listening to and voting on the songs. Nevertheless, most of us still got to make two recs during the month. My first rec, and the one that inspired me to get involved again, was Blondie's "Under the Gun", my favorite song from their 1999 comeback album (which had been their first LP in 17 years.) It was written as a tribute to their fallen friend Jeffrey Lee Pierce. It scored a little over a 3 out of 5 with the others, which was fine with me - some Users brushed it off, but others certainly enjoyed it. At the point I decided to make a second rec, in all fairness, I decided it would be taking advantage if I didn't also take part in the scoring process. So I went back to the beginning and scored all of the songs for the month. My second rec was Psychotic Waltz's "Devils and Angels", the opening track from their 2020 album The God-Shaped Void, their first LP after a 24-year hiatus. I didn't really think it would go over well, but it scored an average of 2.93, so more people enjoyed it than I'd thought might. Blondie - Under the Gun; Psychotic Waltz - Devils and Angels.
3. I had a fairly decent month listening-wise, with a average rating of just slightly under 3. I was pretty happy with that. My highest rated song of the month was Fairport Convention's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" with a lovely vocal by Sandy Denny. (Although I think I still prefer the Judy Collins cover of this song). Fairport Convention - Who Knows Where the Time Goes.
4. I might be calling this a little early, but I don't think so. The highest overall group rating for the month went to Portishead's "Silence" (not one of my favorites, but whatever), although it was somewhat closely trailed by D'Angelo's "Really Love" (which I liked better) and that brand new 2022 pop icon Kate Bush (Stranger Things fans will get it) with "Sunset". Portishead - Silence.
I know I used to make a YouTube playlist for the month, but I didn't do that this month, and I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. However, if you go the list itself (at the end of paragraph 3 above), there's a link for every song, and all of them were available on YouTube this month.
As for the promised health update, it's this. I've moved my care to Sloan-Kettering in Commack, NY. They have a planned treatment course of chemotherapy for me, which they seem to think will help me feel better, at least for awhile. The doctor thinks she can give me a year and a half or so (which is more than the other place seemed to think was realistic). Personally, I feel like that's a little optimistic. But then again, I also know that when you're feeling lousy, whether your back is out or you have cancer, while you're feeling that way, it seems like you'll never feel good again. So that could be coloring my assessment.
In any event, I have my cardiac clearance for surgery, and they plan to put a metal port in me to make the chemo easier to administer. I'm not looking forward to any of it, but we'll see how it goes. You know I'll be leaning heavily on music to see me through it. And if I can see my daughter's birthday, my wife's birthday, our Anniversary and maybe even the holidays this year, that would be great.
That's all for now, my friends. Stay healthy and safe.
