What is your go-to bad mood song?

JENN McKINLAY: Occasionally, I get into a MOOD for no good reason at all. It’s more than just the blues, which can be alleviated by a snack. No, this is a much deeper darker sort of mood. I believe Truman Capote called it the “mean reds” in Breakfast at Tiiffany’s. When this darkness comes upon me, there is usually only one cure. Music. I mean I could take a nap but then I risk not getting my work done, so music it is! While most 80's tunes can cheer me up, yes, even a good Rickroll (as a prank, of course) my go-to tune is: There She Goes by the The La’s

How about you, Reds? What’s your go-to song for mood elevation?

 

RHYS BOWEN: The sound track of Mama Mia is my go-to for driving and mood improving. And singing along loudly!  But I can’t have music on when I’m writing. I have to have silence.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I put on Defying Gravity. That ALWAYS works. And Nessun Dorma. Sometimes Warren Zevon’s Lawyers, Guns and Money, because it always makes me laugh. Nobody's Side from Chess. (It’s so nice and bitter and cynical!) And I Can Do That, from A Chorus Line.

There are SO many!

HALLIE EPHRON: What a great question! Top of my list would Paul Simon Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes. And then anything on my ancient album of Harry Belafonte gets me dancing around the room. (And I’m with Hank on Defying Gravity. I heard it first at the show on Broadway and it brought the house (and the curtain) down.)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: No doubt for me, it’s Tubthumping, by Chumbawamba. I don’t know if they did anything else, but really, after recording that masterpiece, why would you need anything else?

If I have to get up early in the morning and I’m dragging and play 9 to 5 by the one and only Dolly Parton. Just the first bars with that heartbeat bass line and I’m dancing across the bedroom floor. And speaking of 1980s movies about New York, the best overall mood lifter in the world is Carly Simon’s Let the River Run. Just hearing it makes me want to put on a teeny-tiny skirt and a blazer with big ole shoulder pads and dance my heels off.

LUCY BURDETTE: Lots of good ones here already–for me it would be something Motown. Maybe Your Love Keeps Liftin’ Me, or My Girl, or You Keep Me Hangin’ On. It’s not that they’re all cheerful songs, but I they call for lip-syncing and dancing and I answer the call!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, I LOVE Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes–that was going to be one of my top picks. I had my musician characters do a cover of it, along with another pick, Chuck E.’s in Love by Rickie Lee Jones. Which segues right into Corrine Bailey Rae’s Put Your Records On. I dare anyone not to perk up after those three! Sunday Morning by Maroon 5 will have you smiling and tapping your feet even on the first few bars. (And look at thirty-year-old Adam Levine in the video!) Last but not least on the pop/rock front is Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s Suite Judy Blue Eyes–singing along to that has got to release massive endorphins in your brain..

And for something more 2026, Olivia Dean’s Man I Need. She’s so good.

For classical, any Bach chamber music, or a rousing sing-along to the Hallelujah chorus from Beethoven’s 9th.

This might be the happiest post I've ever put up -- the songs had me GROOVIN'!!!! How about you, Readers? What's your go-to happy tune?

Día de los Muertos

Jenn McKinlay: In Arizona, we know a thing or two about the dead. We live in a place where the summer temperatures are so high that even the ghosts probably spend July haunting air-conditioned buildings.

Recipe and photo: https://flanandapplepie.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/calaveras-de-azucar/

But Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is something altogether different. It's not spooky or scary, even though it takes place right after Halloween, and shares a day with the Catholic All Souls Day. Día de los Muertos dates back over 3,000 years to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican and Aztec rituals honoring ancestors. In modern day, it is a beautiful Mexican tradition celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed, welcoming their spirits home for a joyful reunion.

Families create colorful ofrendas, or altars, adorned with photographs, candles, marigolds, favorite foods,and treasured mementos. The bright orange marigolds are said to guide spirits home, which seems perfectly reasonable. If I were navigating the afterlife, I'd appreciate a little floral GPS, too.

The year my brother passed away unexpectedly I was understandably struggling. At the encouragement of my friend Maritza, I made my own ofrenda, and it really helped with both my grieving and gave me a sense of his presence for which I am ever grateful. I kept that altar up for months.  

Of course, there's also pan de muerto, a sweet bread that's practically worth crossing the mortal divide for (see below photo and recipe), and calaveras de azucar (sugar skulls) decorated in dazzling colors (see above photo and recipe). 

Photo and recipe: https://mexicanfoodjournal.com/pan-de-muerto/

Traditionally, families share stories of their loved ones, celebrating their lives. My friend, Jesus, told me they always laugh about his uncle who fancied himself quite the dancer after too much beer and my former co-worker, Anna, said they always remembered how her grandmother could silence an entire room with one raised eyebrow.

Here in Arizona, where Mexican and Indigenous traditions are woven into the fabric of our communities, Día de los Muertos feels especially meaningful. It's a reminder that death may end a life, but it doesn't end the stories, the laughter, or the love.

And if a departed relative happens to stop by for a little pan de muerto, well, who are we to turn away company?

Just make sure there's enough for everyone. Even the guests who don't need parking.

How about you Reds and Readers? Have you ever made an ofrenda, eaten a calavera de azucar or pan de muerto? Or do you have an ancestor or deceased loved one who you're thinking of today (every day)? 

Live and In Person, It's...Zombies?

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I should start by saying a read a lot of current event stuff, mostly online. I subscribe to two newspapers, three magazines, five political/economics/tech news substacks and I have three relentlessly informed children sharing info and articles with me (along with baby pictures and dumb memes.

This is to explain why I've become aware of a groundswell in opinion, but can't point you to the sources: the idea that as we get deeper and deeper into the Age of AI, we are all craving real experiences, happening live around us,  with other people. People with no Instagram filters, even!

In the years immediately following the pandemic, multiple prognosticators were opining on the end of dinner and cocktail parties. But guess what? They seem to be back from the dead and doing fine, even if it's potluck and mocktails instead of sirloin and martinis.

I myself have seen a surprising uptick in the numbers of readers attending author events. I honestly thought showing up in a library or bookstore was going the way of the horse-drawn trolley, but it seems folks still want to turn up for the ride. The last few I've gone to (one for me, others for several authors) there were couples or groups in the audience who were clearly making an evening of it, with dinner and/or drinks before or after.

My fabulous and endlessly energetic sister Barb put together a fun event designed to bring some attention to her Coldwell Banker office, and to benefit Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Alexandria, VA. (Barb is the most dog-crazy person in our family, which is really saying something. She always has 3-4 pooches, each one with some weird disease or defect. If no one else will adopt That Dog, my sister will.)

 

It was a flash mob dance to Thriller in downtown Alexandria, VA. The Realty firm paid for four or five hour-long lessons from a local dancer, and Barb and her colleague got a local brewpub and a pizza joint to donate beer and pizza for the participants. They were hoping to get 50 dancers; they had to stop admission after they signed up 120. The city of Alexandria agreed to close off one block for something like half an hour, which was a problem when two thousand spectators showed up for the fun. 

Keep in mind, this was a random Saturday in October! Everyone in involved in the event was gobsmacked, the restaurants and stores in the area did a roaring business, and the shelter raised over $5,000. Win, win, win.

When she and I were talking it over, we kept landing on the idea that people were hungry for real-life experiences. For getting out with their kids, or their friends,  or their families, and doing something that wasn't on a screen. I'm sure ChatGPT can tell you anything you want to know about Michael Jackson, or the song Thriller, but it can't put you in the middle of a crowd of dancing zombies. Thank heavens.

 

What do you think, dear readers? Are we entering an era when being live and in person becomes more and more important? And what recent examples can you share?