This week's Wednesday

Wednesday is my day off from retail work, which makes it my designated day to record my parts for each week's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio and to try to get around to doing whatever else needs doing. I always run out out of Wednesday before I run out of Wednesday things to do.

This week's Wednesday earns me a merit badge in BE PREPARED! Knowing that my Wednesday schedule was gonna been an eensy li'l bit packed this time around, I moved all of the prep and most of the execution for our next radio show out of Wednesday's domain entirely. Dana and I set up the playlist Monday night, I finalized it, and dragged the individual tracks into a show folder, awaiting only the back announcements. I recorded back announcements during a break at work on Tuesday. Efficiency! I also completed individual track annotations for the eventual posted playlist. Tuesday night didn't allow me quite enough time to check the spoken-word segments, but it was good to have the rest of the rock 'em-sock 'em process completed before Wednesday.

I had a rough night Tuesday. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get comfortable. I think I must have dozed some, but not much. I was out of bed before my 6:00 alarm sounded. I had a doctor's visit scheduled Wednesday morning at the unholy hour of 7:30. I was not aware that it was even legal to draw blood that early, and I want to go on record with my opposition to the practice. I also want to go record with my opposition to the concept of The Bachelor, but that's a rant for another day. 

Before leaving home for my appointment, I had just enough time to update my online banking and check the spoken files for the radio show. Of fourteen back announcements recorded, three would need to be redone to correct a little too much crunch in the consonants. I'd correct those later. Off to the doctor!

Fasting bloodwork means no breakfast; that's fine, but it also means only black coffee, and I like my coffee like I like my women: Pale and saccharine. NO! I KID! I'm a kidder. This slight variation on the old joke (about the presumedly muy macho playa who prefers both his java and his female companion du soir to be blonde and sweet) must defer to an occasional interest in drinks 'n' dames best described as dark and bitter. Hell, as long as they're hot and caffeinated, the proper kicks are in their appointed place. Feel free to sub in the beverage, gender, and labored analogy that suits you.

Of course, the doctor doesn't see anyone until 8:00, and all of the staff were puzzled and apologetic about the practice's portal insisting--INSISTING!!--that I had to be there by 7:30. Not their fault, and no big deal, really. My first visit to a new primary doctor and his staff, and I have no complaints. My appointment was without incident, and I was out of there by 8:40. Back in my parked car, I took the opportunity to record the revised back announcements. I was home again just after 9:00.

Brenda also had a GP appointment scheduled, and I had offered to drive. Her appointment  wasn't until 11:30. I nuked a big mug of water to supplement the previous dark and bitter brew with the instant-gratification version of pale and saccharine Café Bustelo espresso. I added the corrected back announcements to the radio show folder, and forwarded the completed file to Dana so's he could do that alchemic magic of converting the whole mess into another exciting episode of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. I ate a bagel as a late breakfast, and whisked Brenda off to her doctor.

Her appointment was also routine. We went from her doctor's office to Comix Zone, because four out of five doctors agree that we should whomp the livin' chicklets out of any fifth doctor that doesn't dig comic books. We then made a stop to join a local senior center, all while maintaining my long-stated insistence that I may have to grow older, but there's no way in hell I'm ever growing up. Hey, I have the newly-purchased superhero comic books to prove it.

We still had some shopping to do, but lunch was the more immediate priority. As we passed Masala Heaven in Cicero, Brenda suggested that a benevolent diety would want us to enjoy some Indian buffet. That's...not precisely what she said, but you get the gist. Good choice, too. We love Indian food, and we left Masala Heaven well satisfied.

After shopping was done, we returned home. We studied our new senior center's newsletter, and I took care of a couple of computer-related tasks, one relating to my day job and one for the blog. I received a text from Gary Frenay updating me on a few matters relating to the Flashcubes and my forthcoming book Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. I've continued to edit the book's initial interviews, and I'm getting ready to start scheduling additional interviews. It's still my hope to complete this book in time for Summer 2026 publication: One year after the original target date, one year before the Flashcubes' fiftieth anniversary. Think of it as a 49th anniversary commemoration of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse.

As late afternoon became later afternoon, I took a break to lay down. Didn't really need or want a nap; just had to re-charge a little. About a half hour later, I joined Brenda for a dinner of ice cream and cookies--see above comments regarding my adamant refusal to grow up--and we watched some television.

In between the latest episodes of Bridge Street and Jeopardy!, the feature attraction on this week's Wednesday was the concluding segment of the fascinating two-part HBO Max documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. Each part runs about two and a half hours, and although we'd heard good things about this project, it's a challenge for us to set aside that much time to watch something on TV. Nonetheless, we got around to watching Part One in its entirety on Saturday, and we had time to watch Part Two on Wednesday. Such a moving, informative, and enriching document, delving into subjects like creativity, ambition, talent, family, love, loyalty, betrayal, purpose, determination, abandonment, parenthood, addiction, depression, responsibility, Jewish identity, the Holocaust, rock critics, pop music, rock music, classical music, the record business, and more. It was five hours well spent, and watching it reminded me that I'm long overdue to write a Greatest Record Ever Made! essay about Joel's "An Innocent Man." Brenda remarked that she didn't think she could pick just one favorite Billy Joel song.

When Brenda went to bed, I returned to the computer to continue editing Flashcubes book interviews. And I looked again at this blog's stats, as I continue to obsessively check its cumulative view count. Two weeks ago, I wrote that Boppin' had accrued 1,900,000th views, and that I hoped it would reach its two millionth click in time for its tenth anniversary on January 18th. That seems likely; at this writing, the stats count totals 1,961,894, racking up more than 60,000 views in two weeks. 

For now, even Wednesdays must end, and this one ended with an achy left arm. I got my COVID and flu shots in September, but this week's doctor visit added two more shots, and still no evidence of any of the damned needles giving me super powers. You can see why I have so little interest in growing up.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here