The CBC weekday afternoon show is Here and Now. It has feature called Gill’s Jukebox. Gill Deacon offers up a theme late in the week for the next week, and listeners can suggest songs. Every day, she reads a few listener-submitted anecdotes and plays their song.  I must say, some of the tunes in my Spotify list are a direct result of Gill’s Jukebox. I’m also a big fan of Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap for the same reason.

Themes are fun.

I have a friend with whom I have thematic musical throw-downs. Someone suggests a song, and then the other one of us bounces back a related song, and we have a theme for the battle. Then we throw song links at each other until one of us can find a way to get to Menudo, or one of us surrenders. Granted, most are resolved by surrender or the requirement to do actual DayJob work, but it’s always fun to see if someone’s going to take the Six Degrees of Menudo Victory. It’s like catching the Golden Snitch. Instant Victory. We both have a pretty immense musical catalogue in our heads. While the battles are usually based in 80’s music, sometimes other obscure things that have a tenuous link to the theme we established get tossed in the mix . Truly, it’s one of my favourite things about our friendship. So, so good.

In homage to Gill, Randy, and my friend, I give you the Sweary Ms Mary Thursday Throwdown.

As this is Pride Month, let’s start there: