A Friendly Musical Visit Every Day

I have had ants in my apartment for years. How do ants end up in a highrise? I have no idea, but I can't get rid of them, no matter what I do. They're just tiny little things, and I do recall the evening they invaded my kitchen for the first time. It was around seven in the evening when a loud sound occured. In fact, it wasn't just a sound--it was a trembling feeling, too. Didn't feel like an earthquake. Felt more like a hundred jackhammers going at the base of my building at once. It went on for a couple minutes, and then it stopped. And when it stopped, there were suddenly all these ants in my kitchen.  Prior to that moment, I had never seen an ant in my apartment. Now I struggle to keep them at bay. I thought I was the only highrise-dweller on the planet who had this problem, but then I was talking to my partner's friend's sister-in-law (as you do), who lives in a condo building my partner actually wanted to move into, at the time. I don't know why she...

My partner is a grown-up person who happens to like teddy bears. When the process of diagnosing his cancer began, I bought him teddy bears for everything. Biopsy? You get a little teddy bear. Surgery? You get an even bigger teddy bear.  I kept giving him teddy bears until he told me we had enough teddy bears. The best bear I bought him happened to be on the clearance shelf at a bookstore. The bear had a brother, so I bought them both. One sleeps with us on our bed. He is the best bear. He is the perfect size to cuddle. My partner likes to name his bears, and he named this one after a hockey player. We don't fight over him, exactly, but somehow I always end up hugging him in my sleep. My partner hugs a bear I knitted, back when I was a more talented knitter than I am today. I can hear you asking: "What happened to the bear's brother?" Get ready to shed a tear, because I gave him to our granddaughter this summer, the first time we met. Because my stepdaughter and he...

Okay, so I finally went to the emergency room. My partner took me there. We arrived at 9 at night. We left at 3 in the morning. It was exhausting and at the end of it, all I know is that I'm not likely to die right this second. There actually weren't too many patients waiting to be seen, and because it was the middle of the night there were a fair number of young children and babies. I have warm feelings toward parents who can't wait until the doctor's office opens to find out if their child's fever is life-threatening. We shared a waiting room with a mom and her toddler, who looked to be about my granddaughter's age (did I mention that I have a granddaughter now?) and who was very nearly as cute as my granddaughter--which is really saying something, because my granddaughter is officially the most adorable kid on the planet. Around two in the morning, the child in the ER waiting room said to his mother, "Wan go home." I was thinking, "I...

 I have a funny story to go with this song.   The other day, I was saying on Twitter that I haven't been in a restaurant since last February, before the start of covid. Well, I guess that isn't strictly true, because my partner and I do place take-out orders from a local fish and chip restaurant. (Support a small business, if you can! I say that as a small business and a patron of small businesses.) The last time we ordered, my partner placed the call and then sent me in to do the pick-up. Lucky me. I'm always the picker-upper. But he paid, so I guess I can't complain too much. This took place on a Wednesday, and there's a reason I'm telling you it was a Wednesday. Remember: Wednesday. Important detail. As I was leaving with my order, a young woman stepped up to the cashier and said, "You have a sign in the window about your Monday Night special. Can I get that?" The cashier paused for a very long time, clearly asking herself the same question I was po...

 There's an episode of Frasier where Roz has to do community service in a retirement residence. An elderly woman who lives there says something to the effect of: "Every day, I look in the mirror and you know what I say? Ahh!!!" That's what I did this morning. I looked in the mirror, spotted a few new grey hairs, and went, "Ahh!"   My partner was very concerned and asked what was wrong.  I told him it was nothing, just MORE grey hairs.  He said, "Sorry--that's my fault."  Last week, he pointed out that ever since we've been living together, my "eleven lines"--those two vertical frown lines between my eyebrows--have become permanent residents of my face. One of the lyrics toward the end of this song talks about her father telling her "que je suis son cheveux blancs"--that she is the cause of his grey hair. That's not at all how I feel about my partner, but the proof is in the pudding.  Or, rather, the proof is in my ha...

 If you're a Futurama fan, you probably can't get through this song without tearing up. It's from an episode that's very much about confronting mortality. It's on my mind today because one of my cats is ailing. This comes as no surprise. He is a very old cat. I can see in his eyes that life is fading away.  There's an element of loss, especially with pets, that makes us go: why would I ever choose to love something that's sure to leave me? It's really hard to wrap one's head around the fact that anyone or anything could go at any time. Not just through death. We can lose that great job we thought we would have forever. A marriage can dissolve. A friend can move to the other side of the planet.  But does that mean this cat, that job, your marriage, your friend wasn't worth having in the first place? The people and pets and interactions in our lives teach us so much and help us to grow. It's hard to keep that in mind when we're facing loss,...

I saw the words "Charlie Brown" in a book I was reading, and immediately pulled up this song. As soon as it came on, my partner started singing along. If you've been keeping track of my posts, you'll know that it is extremely difficult to get my partner singing. Sometimes he will speak the lyrics, but I've never actually heard him break out in song and really go with it the way he did with this one. I can understand why, though: it's so much fun and so nostalgic. I certainly remember listening to it when I was growing up. He asked me, "Is this The Coasters?" and I said yes--I only knew the answer because it was right in front of me. Then he reminded me that there was a segment of the Frasier episode we watched yesterday called (you guessed it) The Coasters. It was the episode called Motor Skills, in which Niles and Frasier flunk out of an auto repair course. They try to coast, but they can't even manage that. If you're wondering how you can s...

This'll be a trip down memory lane for many PBS watchers my age and younger. I asked my partner if he remembered Reading Rainbow. He did not. He's older, so he wasn't spending the 80s watching children's shows on TV. When I explained to him that Reading Rainbow was a show about books, he was excited to hear about it. He's a bookworm if ever there was one. I guess I am, too. I guess I have been since I was young. Thanks, Reading Rainbow! If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affi...

Yesterday we had a song from Sesame Street, so today I figure I'll share the theme song from my absolute favourite children's show.  Today's Special was produced by TVO, so Ontarians of my generation will probably be able to sing along, but I'm guessing a lot of you will be like... huh? I don't think this program was widely broadcast, but I could be wrong.  It's been known to happen. Today's Special was set after-hours in a department store. It featured a store employee and a store mannequin, plus a security guard and a mouse (both puppets). I'm pretty sure I met Jeff Hyslop, who plays Jeff the mannequin, sometime in the 90s when we worked on the same... oh, what were those things called? They were on TV. Jerry Lewis did them.  They'd be on for, like, 48 hours straight and people would call in to pledge money to whichever charity it benefitted? Telethons! That's the word. Sorry. Took me a while to get there. If you're wondering how...

Another crossword-inspired song of the day, here. The clue was: 1957 Bobbettes song that begins "One, two three..." Well, we didn't get this one. As soon as I looked it up on YouTube I was like, "Oh, of course!" In case I haven't mentioned this lately, doo-wop is one of my all-time favourite music genres.  But this one isn't a tune I could pull out of my brain when I needed it. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . But you don't HAVE to d...

Yesterday I was thinking about music used and abused by TV commercials, and today I'm still thinking about that. This tune is used in the background of an ad I used to see on Youtube a lot (for an airline or travel service--I don't remember) and it's there to represent conformity. I'd tense up every time that ad came on, because in what way does Tiny Tim represent conformity? If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . But you don't HAVE to do any of that....

Just because I host a daily music blog doesn't mean I know everything (or even anything) about music. I'm an amateur--in the sense that I love music. I'm IN LOVE with music. Plus, I don't get paid to do this. The other day, my partner and I drove by a bar called Salty Dog. I asked him what that meant, because it reminded me of a song. He said a Salty Dog was a sailor. I wasn't sure how that fit with this Sharon, Lois & Bram song I grew up knowing and loving. I'm still very confused about the whole Salty Dog thing, which, as often happens, has led me down a rabbit hole: a salty dog rabbit hole. After a cursory glance at the internet of definitions, "Salty Dog" could also mean "libidinous" or a favourite person (best friend or lover, for instance). So now I'm wondering: how is this a kids' song? More tomorrow. For now, there's this. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits ever...

I only know this song from the film Ghost World , but it popped into my head today because it features the word "rare." My mother is having an adverse, life-threatening reaction to her cancer treatment. Her surgeon says this is "rare." Same thing about the form of cancer she has: it's a common cancer, but a "rare" form. Everything about my mother's health seems to be "rare," which makes it all the more difficult to treat. My siblings and I are left grasping for the next moment. We never know what will come next. Things have gone from bad to worse to worse yet to really quite bad. I don't know when it'll get better.  I don't know if it will. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my bo...

Not a bad song for Valentine's Day, is it? This tune has been stuck in my head for days. Not sure where it came from, but I'm not complaining. My relationship with my partner does feel like it's at this phase: lots of firsts, still figuring out how to live together and navigate the world side by side. It's an adventure, especially at this stage of (my) life, when hormonal changes create a lot of chaos. Last summer, a neighbour a couple floor above me must have been going through some shit, because he brought his speakers out on his balcony and BLASTED Carpenters music for hours. Usually I get annoyed when people play music that loudly, but when it's Carpenters... that's just weird. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my ...

C'est l'halloween! So I bring you a song I grew up with. I figured it existed forever, but turns out it was only written in 1981. So I guess it was actually a new song when I learned it. Another childhood Halloween memory: My class was scheduled to attend an outdoor learning sleep-away camp, which had a reputation for being the best camp ever, and we felt very lucky that we were going... except we were booked in for late October... which meant we'd be there for Halloween! There was a costume party, and I think we trick-or-treated by finding camp counsellors who'd installed themselves in the woods, but imagine the candy we missed out on!  All these years later, I mourn the possibilities. I dressed as a skunk, because I loved skunks--owing to the film Bach et Bottine, about a young girl who goes to live with her uncle (the plot of every French film ever made) and brings along a whole menagerie, including a skunk. I made the tail by bending a coat hanger, stretchin...

The other day, I was so depressed I slept all morning and spent the entire afternoon watching astrological tarot readings on YouTube. One of the tarot readers said something directed primarily at those of us experiencing depression: she said it's useful to wake up every morning and remind yourself that it's a new day. Today doesn't have to be like yesterday. At the time, it sounded overly simplistic, but this morning I woke up with this song in my head and everything clicked into place. I was like oh... she was right... I don't have to believe I'm a useless human just because I believed that yesterday. I can get out of bed, I can get some work done, and I can feel good about myself. It's a new day. This song is even more cloying than I remember it, but I've got a sister who is ten years younger than me, and she had some kind of tape of Sailor Moon songs? I don't know if they were songs from the dubbed TV show we watched or what, but we listened to ...

I fell down quite a rabbit hole to get us here today. It all started in bed. I woke up with this song in my head. Except just the "so groovy now...finally getting together" part, because I'm not sure I've ever heard/paid attention to the rest of the song. I didn't even know what it was called. Apparently "Reach Out in the Darkness" was a one-hit-wonder from a duo called Friend and Lover. There is a music video for this song set at a renfair. But when I came across THIS little production, I knew it was the one I needed to feature. Where to begin? Well, first of all, until today I never really knew who the Doodletown Pipers were. My only knowledge of them came from the pop culture reference cited above. Which, of course, comes from the episode of The Simpsons where Homer is trying to figure out whether Marge is really his soul mate. (I don't have to tell you the next line is: "Now look at her records... They stink!") I also had...

Yesterday I told you about watching The Dick Van Dyke Show in its entirety. I also mentioned that I appreciated Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam's style of comedy. Now, I knew that Rose Marie had been a child star (because I heard it in the DVD commentary--I wasn't around in the 1930s!), but I never imagined there would be lasting evidence of her performances. YouTube really is a treasure trove, isn't it? Because here's a recording of Baby Rose Marie in 1933! If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! But you don't HAVE to do any of that. I'm very happy to get a daily visit from you, so just keep com...

Last summer I watched The Mary Tyler Moore Show its entirety. That wasn't enough for me. I wanted more Moore. So I went back in time and watched The Dick Van Dyke Show (also in its entirety). I was a little wary of watching a sitcom from the 60s.  Before I delved into it, I hadn't seen a single episode. I was afraid it would be too outdated to stomach. But you know what? This is a show that really holds up. Plus, I happen to love vaudeville humour, so Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam's style of comedy really appeal to me. But, like, try to get away with a name like Dick Van Dyke these days, am I right? You'd be banned by every social media outlet on the internet! If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out ...

We've been listening to some pretty heavy songs the past few days. We need a break. This is a song my father used to sing to me, as a child. Inspired by it, I stuck a piece of bright blue bubble gum to my bedpost (I wanted to find out for myself the answer to the question this song poses), but I got in trouble when my mother, who apparently was not familiar with the song, spotted my bedpost gum. So I still don't know the answer. A question for the ages... If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! But you don't HAVE to do any of that. I'm very happy to get a daily visit from you, so just keep coming back....