Friday on My Mind: June!

It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.

June has snuck up on us. Seriously, it snuck up and stabbed May right in the heart and now wants all of our love and attention. I say we just entertain her until July comes around, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, in Seattle it could rain all of June but so far so good. June takes it’s name from the Roman goddess Juno, who is the wife of Jupiter and nowhere near Uranus. However, others say that June’s name actually originated from the Latin word iuniors. It means the younger ones, which is opposed to majors or elders which May's name was originated from, but May is now dead so we need to move on. In June, spring ends and summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere. This is also the month with the longest daylight hours of the year. For those of us who go to sleep while still sunny out I say, “thank you, June, that sucks!” A few historical events and days of note during the month of June:

• National Rocky Road Day. My favorite flavor of ice cream and I’m a vegan! Rocks nor Roads are made of dairy.
• Applesauce Cake Day. June 6th. That exists. I’m a fan of cake in all its forms. Cranberryjuice cake. Bring it.
• Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity on June 15, 1752 like a boss.
• Eat Your Vegetables Day. June 17th. Yes, eat them on this one day. Don’t eat them during all the other days of the year. You’ll be fine.
• Go Skateboarding Day. Celebrated on June 21. Go to the ER is also that day.
• Kitchen Klutzes of America Day. June 23rd. I have no idea what that means.
• Icelandic folklore says that bathing naked in the morning dew on June 24th will slow down aging and keep one youthful. If you do that every day before your Morning Show it says that you’ll eventually be arrested in Denny park.
• National Chocolate Pudding Day. June 26th. Combine that with cake day and you have one in... nevermind.

June! Watch your back!!! And now here are a few of our favorite songs that are about or mention the month of June:

Colin Meloy - June Hymn “June Hymn” pretty much says it all in its title. Frontman for The Decemberists, Colin Meloy a solo performance of “June Hymn” as a part of our broadcast from The Ace Hotel in NYC during the 2010 CMJ Music Marathon Marathon. This was prior to the 2011 release of full length, The King is Dead, which is where you can find this pretty song. The album version includes harmonies from Gillian Welch. The album itself was recorded within a converted barn on Pendarvis Farm in Oregon. Here is the video footage of Colin’s acoustic rendition live on KEXP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-gMeYU7IMk Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros Lyrics from the “Rhinoceros”: “Planned a showTreasoned my rootsIce cream snowSee you in june” A few things that Billy Corgan has been up to recently; He opened his own teashop in Chicago called Madame ZuZu's, he gave a marathon eight-hour electronic music interpretation of the Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddartha. He also performed a set at his Chicago tea shop based on “four sonic impressions on poems by the great Sufi mystic Rumi.” Here is the Billy we like to remember: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfWx9282y0 Stevie Wonder - I Just Called to Say I Love You Lyrics: “No april rainNo flowers bloomNo wedding saturday within the month of June” This song was originally featured in the movie and soundtrack for the movie The Woman in Red with Gene Wilder and Kelly LeBrock, the scientific creation from Weird Science. Stevie Wonder also performed the song during an episode of The Cosby Show back in 1986. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwOU3bnuU0k Honorable Mentions: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Watching Alice “Alice wakesIt is morningShe is yawningAs she walks about the roomHer hair falls down her breastShe is naked and it is June” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFI_AxSd6sg

Prince - I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man “It was only last June when her old man ran awayShe couldn’t stop crying ’cause she knew he was gone 2 stayIt was 10:35 on a lonely friday nightShe was standin’ by the bar”

James - Falling Down “Baby’s neptune’s in your moonVenus in your thirdShe’s in bloom from June through JuneSays, love’s no noun. love’s a reverb” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qnc93RdAqQ

Jamiroquai - Butterfly “I feel like I'm a butterfly in JuneSo colour in my wings and let me hold your handI could be the sun and you could be my moonBut all you ever say is catch me if you can” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDJyHkRBibc

Pink Floyd - Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk “You swoonJune bloomMusic seems to help the painSeems to cultivate the brain.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSJnmJR3E5o Jackson Browne - Culver Moon “Baby, Culver meAnd I'll Culver youWhen the streets are shining with the smoggy dewWhen the lights are glowing with the mists of JuneAnd the whole world is lit up by the Culver Moon” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LSulunODAk

Neil Diamond - Desiree “It was the third of juneOn that summer’s dayWell I became a manAt the hands of a girlAlmost twice my age”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-TfQMdqEKE