THURSDAY JAM: Why does the sun shine?

Does that answer the question? Probably not.

But between the proposed solar farm in Russell Township (It's off ... at least for now.) and the coming total solar eclipse (It's on ... but the weather may not cooperate.) I feel like I've been writing more about the sun than I have about potholes, which is weird for early spring.

So I got to thinking: What's the big deal with the sun?

For that, we turn to some of my favorite musical nerds — They Might be Giants co-frontmen John Linnell and John Flansburgh.

While the song never expressly addresses solar farms or solar eclipses, listen to the science facts of the sun and you can see why:

A) It provides a lot of power that is ripe for conversion into electricity; and

B) That power could burn your retinas right to a crisp.

By the way, we here at the Banner Graphic abide by AP style 99 percent of the time (though don't get me started on their take on the percent symbol or runs batted in), but I don't understand why we don't capitalize Sun or Moon. I propose we start calling them by either their Greek names (Helios and Selene) or their Roman names (Sol and Luna).

Maybe that's a discussion for another time.

Anyway, enjoy the song and learn something along the way. The song was written for kids, but aren't we all really kids?

Quick sidenote for those of you who are interested in music gear — from a non-musician who only sort of understands such things. The keyboard that John Linnell is playing appears to be a Roland Phantom X6 synthesizer (according to no less as source than the internet), but on this song at least, it does a pretty good job of mimicking the sound of a Vox Super Continental organ, which Steve Nieve played on many of my favorite Elvis Costello records. I love that sound.