BS: Phew what a scorcher!

Subject: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 05:41 AM

Right sunny in the UK this week!
I was just thinking about different music and other stuff that evokes that Summer feeling..

A golden oldie that remind me of my late teens as an art studentSummer in the City
Ginsberg's 'Sunflower Sutra'
Despite the fact it doesn't reference sun or heat, it reminds me of climbing around dusty dry areas of waste-ground in the Summer, and making such discoveries as a kid.
Unlikely to be of interest to very many, this track will probably be played to death by me this summer as it captures a heat haze.. Sun
and David Hockney
For starters..

Any more?

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Maryrrf
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 07:41 AM

For me it's Ventura Highway.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 08:10 AM

Summer of 1970   'In the Summertome' Mungo jerry.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Maryrrf
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 08:41 AM

That one too, Tug. And another one I remember listening to while we worked on the farm probably around 1970 - "I've Got a Never Ending Love for You". I remember the day vividly - must have been late June or early July. Back then the neighbors would come over and help. We painted a fence while listening to the radio in the old farm truck - amazing the battery held up. Those were good days...

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 08:43 AM

It was hotter when we listened to Radio Caroline in the summer of 67!!

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 12:31 PM

30°C? Try 37.7/100°F...... which we had in the Wash DC area last week.. right now it's 'only' 33.8°C...that's 93°F.

Last Summer was 'relatively' mild, but this one is heading for records. I think we have just had the warmest June ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Micca
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 12:55 PM

Bill, is it to "compensate" for the snow you had? Ya think?

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 01:05 PM

Yep, Micca... that is in line with my theory that "it all averages out". If we are overly cold for a month, it will get hot...if it hasn't rained recently, get ready for floods.

All very scientifically tested by occasional observation and choosing the right sets of data.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 01:26 PM

"Grantchester Meadows" .. by Pink Floyd

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 01:54 PM

I can't wait to save up the money to spend my summers in a cooler climate. I was made for the arctic. 20 degrees is too hot for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 02:11 PM

Going up the Country


The Drifters do it for me...


Under the Boardwalk

Up on the Roof

Remember hearing these being blasted from transistor radios playing WHAP Hopewell radio station on hot summer days spent at Crystal Lake (manmade swimming hole surrounded with sand beach).

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 03:30 PM

102 F yesterdsay - that's about 39 C, I think (like many American parents I know that 40=104=high fever)

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Maryrrf
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 04:25 PM

We're broiling in Richmond and really need rain. Yesterday got up to 103 F, today I think it is "only" 100 F. Tomorrow will be better - 94 F but Wednesday will bring relief when temperatures will be in the mid 80's. No rain in sight though.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 04:37 PM

The thread started off with remembering the hot "good old days."

I recall recording OATs at 45.6C (114F) during vehicle tests I ran at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona ca. 1965; but the only truly objectionable effect was that the boot polish kept melting and running off my boots into puddles on the test track. (That meant a new spit-shine before I could wear them the next day, of course.)

I clearly remember the year when it topped 38C (100F) on each and every day for 30 consecutive days here in Wichita Kansas during the late 50s.

I was a lot younger then, and recall how the pavement heat caused blisters on your feet if you stood still too long, and a couple of times when I helped "old ladies" (probably 25 or 30) pull their shoe heels out of the asphalt pavement when they crossed N. Main St. a little too slowly; but at that age the kids didn't find it too inhibiting to normal activities.

The thermometer has been recalibrated without my being told, however. I find now that wise elders (like myself of course) need to be very careful about trying to do anything very "physical" in our recently more common 33C (92F). That's especially the case for those of us who were "indoor slaves" for many years, and may be a bit out of condition for outside activity.

The variation in our temperatures recently, usually near 33C, makes it difficult to find the line between hurrying in and out between the (air conditioned) truck and places of busines (air conditioned, of course) at a fast enough pace to avoid hyperthermic effects while still moving slowly enough to avoid a "cardiac event."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 05:22 PM

".. the year when it topped 38C (100F) on each and every day for 30 consecutive days here in Wichita Kansas during the late 50s."

Me too! My Mother & I were invited to go visit my Uncle in San Diego. When we got on the train, it was 103....we got to San Diego in balmy 78, and spent 2 weeks there...when we got OFF the train back home in Wichita, it was 105...

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Smokey.
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 05:31 PM

I'd much rather be grumbling about cold weather than about hot.

Nevertheless:

"Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 06:16 PM

Well, we got a bunch of rain today! Helps...but the humidity id pretty high.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 07:32 PM

My grandmother used to say that when a thunderstorm occurs whatever is the season will become more so.

In other words, if it happens in the summer time, it will get/remain hot. If in winter it will become cold.

Has anyone found that to be true?

She also used to say: A sunshiny shower won't last half an hour.

(She was full of aphorisms. Once she found me whistling a tune and said, A whistling girl and a crowing hen will always come to some bad end. Crushed my feelings- it was not until years later that I remembered that she herself whistled constantly.)

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 10 - 10:04 PM

In our grandmother's day, a lot of those aphorisms were taken 'sorta' seriously....even when they didn't seem to pan out. THEN they would say: "The exception proves the rule."
(--the reply obviously, is: "thus, the more exceptions, the better the rule")

Bill D's theory that "it all averages out" is as good as any.

Let's face it...many people just like simplistic answers and explanations of life and nature. It provides something to feel knowledgeable about for folks who didn't have lots of formal education.

The most common one I can think of is the one about the weather...used almost everywhere... "If you don't like the weather around {your state's ...or city's ...name here}, just wait 30 minutes!"

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 09:56 AM

More musical associations..

Pretty much anything from Santana's live double album Moonflower, which was picked up for pennies on vinyl at the local village Summer fete one year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjk7uZ5fsZk

And this documentary about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, which I saw on C4 on a Summers day back in the Eighties.
Anita O' Day singing Sweet Georgia Brown: A Summer's day of Jazz Anyone who hasn't seen it, really should.

I would have been reading lots of Kafka short stories (amongst other things) during the Summer hols around the same time too: The Metamorphosis

Anyone else got any more?

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Smokey.
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 02:00 PM

Al Di Meola's 'Elegant Gypsy' album.

Janis Joplin doing 'Summertime'.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 02:24 PM

In the heat a couple of Summers ago I wrote this... just memories of my younger days as things have much changed in the UK since.

Bringing The Harvest Home

The Summertime is coming fast and the days they do grow long,
I cannot wait to hear the birds, as they sing their morning song.
The grain will ripen in the fields and the fruits begin to grow,
The flowers will bloom with colours bright, where quiet rivers flow.

Chorus:- And the sun will shine and the birds shall sing,
when we bring the harvest home.

The workers all will bare their chests, as the sun performs its tasks,
They will take the apples to the barns, to fill the cider casks.
We will take the hops to the barleycorn, to ferment they will not fail,
We will drain it from the coopered vats, into the supping pail.

Chorus

We will feast ourselves on Summer fruits and such other great delights,
We will drink the cider and the ale, through the warmth of Summer nights.
For the harvest in its abundance, we will all with one accord,
Remove our tythes into the Church and give thanks unto the Lord.

Chorus X 2

(c)Mike Hill (2008)

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 04:59 PM

My grandmother used to say that when a thunderstorm occurs whatever is the season will become more so.

In other words, if it happens in the summer time, it will get/remain hot. If in winter it will become cold.

I only ever experienced one thunderstorm in winter. During a really bad blizzard in Virginia. Tipped about 8 inches on us. It was the weirdest sound ever... thunder muffled by snow. Thrilling too. As I remember it did get very cold. I could freeze dry the laundry in less than a half hour.


When the sun is shining during a shower... The Devil is beatin his wife.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 05:11 PM

When you hear extended, rumbling thunder.."The potato wagon's rollin'!"

I never did ask why... it just sounded like it 'might' be a wagon load of potatoes .....

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Royston
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 05:45 PM

'Sunshine Superman' by Donovan, always makes me think of lazy languid summer afternoons

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: open mike
Date: 29 Jun 10 - 09:11 PM

hot time, summer in the city, back of my neck feelin' hot and gritty..
hotter that a match head....

we got triple digits here even in the mountains...hooray for air conditioners..

soon (next week) it will be the 2 year anniversary of the fires that destroyed 200 homes in my neighborhood, including mine.

it rarely rains in the summer here..when it does sometimes it is accompanied by the dreaded lightning.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jun 10 - 02:15 AM

Alaska, this summer, has had hundreds of wildland and forest fires touched off by lightning. The last I knew, some of them had been contained. Firefighters from out of state have come to Alaska to help.

Again, as far as I know, there have been no lives or improved property lost.

An extra warm spring in the Interior of Alaska following an extra dry winter, they said, resulted in tinder box conditions.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jun 10 - 11:48 PM

Royston, me, too. Love Donovan's, esp. that one.

Also, Bus Stop by the Hollies.

Don't know why unless it was because of a first summer love which I know wasn't going to last past August, but Dionne Warwick's Trains and boats and planes seems like a summer song to me, as well as Petula Clark's "Downtown.

Great thread, thanks for starting it! It has been an awful heat here in the high desert of Colorado.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jun 10 - 11:54 PM

Forgot to say, GS, great song. Thanks for sharing it!

Another fav. from the summer of 1966 was Herb Alpert and the TJB's Lonely Bull. Also, Taste of Honey.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 12:02 AM

I know I should get all of my stuff gathered and just post once, but youtube is just such a mine. Couldn't pass up sharing a funny old live show clip of Herb Alpert mixing it up with a bunch of Charley Chaplins while "Whipped Cream" was playing in the background: HERE.

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 02:27 AM

when a thunderstorm occurs ...

In the 6 years that I spent in the Boston area, I heard only ONE clap of thunder. News reports confirmed it as being the only such incidence in several years.

Most of the "natives" fled to the street to look for the explosion that they were sure must have occurred. (A few asked if there were still molasses tanks in the area.)

Thunder is sufficiently rare in the northwest that a visiting native from Seattle was so enchanted by the almost continuous spring thunderstorms in Kansas that she asked us to try to record some so she could listen to them back home.

Although there are "peak seasons" here in Kansas, it's rare for a month to pass without at least one or two audible rumbles, although most folks here don't much notice anything that you don't feel - unless you still "see" the lightning stroke (eyeball remanence) when the rumble starts, in which case you run like h***.

In a crowd here, when there's heavy (thunderstorm) weather about, you can pick out the people gaping blankly with their lips moving. They're counting off the seconds between the flash and the rumble to keep track of how far off the lightning is, to decide whether to move to shelter. I'm not sure they teach "the countdown" in schools, even here; but all the old farmers I've known taught it to the kids.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Phew what a scorcher!
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 12:05 PM

Southeast Alaska rarely has thunderstorms - they say there's not enough variance between the upper and lower air - but when it does, it can be a doozy. Coming from the west across ocean water there is nothing to affect it, I guess.

Once, when I was living at a house museum, I had served tea and cookies and five of us were sitting at table. The air was black outdoors.

Suddenly there was a crack! and a fireball came through the window, passed between two of the guests, traveled into the next room and vanished with a snap!

One shaken woman said, I'm from Kansas and I've never seen anything like that.

That same strike traveled into the house upstairs and burnt out my computer, which I had to replace. It also went into the computer room of the State Office Building (which we call the SOB) and wiped out their voicemail system.

I do NOT like lightning.