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Blogging Computers Health Internet Radio Sports Television Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  WELCOME to the monumental 1,000TH blog entry here on the WordPress incarnation of this here blog. It took about 21 months to get to 1,000 posts. As most of the other blogs that were near and dear to me have come and gone this one right here just keeps on churning along. I thank each and every one of you for reading, commenting, laughing, agreeing, and disagreeing with me. Let’s keep it goin’ indefinitely.

2.  I finally gave in to Twitter, and now you can follow me at the majorhitwaves name. You can also read my last 7 Twitter tweets over on the right-hand side of this blog’s home page underneath the ‘Follow Me On Twitter’ heading. I personally made myself crack-up severely when I selected my Junior year in High School picture from 25 years ago as my avatar. I’m still chuckling at that.

3.  This past Sunday morning my favourite radio deejay in the entire universe – Kelly D. – actually tried to convince me that Major League Baseball should be my favourite sport to follow due to its extensive utilization of statistics (being the statistician that I am). I told her that I find Baseball to be boring whether it be on the radio, on television, or LIVE and in-person. Although the Florida Marlins do intrigue me with their consistent high-scoring games whether they win or lose. I adore numbers that constantly change. Numbers are my favourite toys.

4.  My ‘Trouble In The Tropics’ forecast from yesterday is right on-track as you can plainly see. We are now within that 24-hour window where the remnants of once Tropical Depression Ana are affecting us. The 3 to 5 inches of rain has begun, and the 25 MPH wind gusts at times are here. Expect rapidly improving conditions (sunny, hot, and dry) by tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon – and continuing for at least the next 4 to 6 days.

5.  I just weighed myself, and I currently weigh-in at 173 pounds. I’ve pretty much been stuck in the lower-170s for several years now. I was previously stuck in the upper-160s for several years, and before that it was the mid-160s. I see a negative trend developing here. I’m getting heavier as I get older. I’ve been advised by my middle-aged counterparts that this is standard operating procedure, and that there is absolutely nothing that I can do to prevent it from happening. Gotcha. As long as my cholesterol drops like a rock (with the Lipitor) it’s all good.

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Career God History Home Life Music Radio Weather

Saturday Night Retro

This month of August 2009 marks several notable anniversaries for me. It’s the 3RD anniversary of my new Life courtesy of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It’s the 8TH anniversary of me being a homeowner after renting this same home for 6 years prior to that. Further back into the 1990s it’s the 16TH anniversary of me working for my current employer – the 482ND Fighter Wing. That was an indirect result of what happened 17 years ago this month – Hurricane Andrew’s destruction of Homestead. And going way back 25 years ago this month it’s my silver anniversary with the USAF. I actually joined the Delayed Enlistment Program a month prior to my Senior year in High School in August of 1984. 10 months later I was getting yelled at in Basic Military Training.

Here’s a U.K. TOP 25 hit from 25 years ago from one of my favourite electronic pop groups of all-time – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD). It’s from their critically-acclaimed 1984 album “Junk Culture”. It’s a virtually unknown song here stateside, so this ‘Saturday Night Retro’ pick-hit of the week is for all of my European readers who enjoyed the OMD pop phenomenon back in its day. Here – my friends – is that song all about those “Tesla Girls”:

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Blogging History Life Music Radio Television

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

It started as an experiment 5 weeks ago to replace the now defunct ‘Friday Night Blogroll Review’, and now it’s a runaway smash hit that’s become the fastest-growing weekly blog series of the summer.

Back during the Autumn of 1976 I was a 9-year-old kid attending the 4TH grade at Magnolia Elementary School right in the middle of my Lanham Maryland neighbourhood. My little brother was just learning how to walk on his own as he approached 18-months-old. WPGC ‘AM & FM Morningside’ was the TOP 40 radio station to dance to as the disco beat went on and on.

Here’s a classic track that took its sweet time to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – over 4 months – but it finally got there in October of 1976. It’s 23-year-old (at the time) Walter Murphy with his modern (at the time) disco remake of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” from 170 years earlier !  It’s “A Fifth Of Beethoven”, and here’s how Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band performed it LIVE on the legendary “Midnight Special” on NBC-TV on Friday August 20TH 1976: 

‘The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party’ is a joint MASSIVESMASH.COM / The Major’s Life Blog production.

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History Music Radio Travel

Saturday Night Retro

It’s a short edition of the ‘Retro’ for this Saturday night, as I just returned home late tonight from a one-day trip down to Key West and back with a buddy. It was a total blast. I got to spend a couple of hours out on the big island, but have no fret for I shall return to see it all again in just 38 days as the first of two ports-of-call on my upcoming Carnival cruise vacation.

Having absolutely nothing to do with Key West or Carnival cruises it’s the originally-scheduled ‘Saturday Night Retro’ concept and music video for tonight:

Back during the latter portion of 1988 Miami Top 40 radio station Y-100 was the station to listen to at the workplace. They dayparted their music back then in that they were essentially a ‘work-friendly’ hot adult contemporary station during the work day. But then at precisely 3 PM right after the top-of-the-hour station identification they went totally ballistic, loosened their tie, untucked their shirt, and suddenly rocked hard. We all knew that it was 3 PM and nearly time to call it a work day – when this hard rocker was cranked up as loud as can be: