What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Friday, April 29, 2016

Time Machine week 70



Today, we pass through April 29th, 1975.  The beginning of the fall of Saigon.



What more need be said...



And we move on to the purpose of our little show here, which is to celebrate the music whose singers' ranks grow thinner each day.  I had barely put a eulogy to Prince on last week's post when we lost Billy Paul as well.




Hopefully, we'll get a little break before the next legend passes from the scene.  In the meantime, let's enjoy what we have!  And this week, that includes the six degrees discovery of a movie influential in the extreme to rock and roll- and you may not know it; the decision- do the Jayhawks have what it takes to tie the record at 4 weeks in the top spot; another rout in the Panel Four, while votes were cast for not one, not two, but three songs that had already fell from the national charts; and the cast of the 70's TV show Emergency!



(Well, a couple of them, anyway!)

Okay, so you know how we do this:  Buckle up,  hang on, and SIT DOWN!  (Yeah, a bit mixed up, but we're time travellers, we can handle it!)

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This week's Panel comes to us by:  WFIL Philadelphia, KRIZ Phoenix, CKLW Detroit, KHJ Los Angeles, KEBQ Kansas City, WRKO Boston, WIXY Cleveland, WYSL Buffalo, newcomer WHYI Ft Lauderdale, WIRL Peoria, Kola San Bernardino, and WCFL Chicago.  They gave us a combined 25 different songs, including #1 votes for Supertramp's Bloody Well Right (Buffalo) and Ace's How Long (Boston).  They also gave us 3 songs no longer on the Cashbox national survey.  Shirley and Co.s Shame Shame Shame dropped off two weeks back, but still got a #5 from LA; dropping off last week was Frankie Valli and My Eyes Adored You, but still netting a #3 from Ft Lauderdale (who also had Shirley and Co. at #2); and another dropper last week was Sugarloaf's Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, which was #5 in Buffalo.  The lowest song actually ON the CB chart was Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, which was at #2 at CKLW, and #65 nationally.

And the Panel picks?

At #4 with 11 points and the #1 from San Bernie, Dawn with He Don't Love You, the national #3- and the only other tune to get a #1, since the top dog got the other NINE.

At #3, with 12 points, the national # 5, Sammy Johns and Chevy Van.

At #2, with 13 points- a mere 42 behind the top dog- the national #1 this week, BJ Thomas and Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.

And at the top, with 55 points, the national runner up (having just fallen from the top spot)... stay tuned.


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This week, we have another statistical oddity... this is the FIRST week in M10 history with NO debuts!  But just so you don't think I was too lazy to imbed a video, I have one that just missed the cut a couple of weeks ago.  She's from Brooklyn, but of Indian descent, and she's solo after breaking up her band known as Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers.  Shilpa sounds a lot like Blondie with the appropriately-named Shilpa Ray On Broadway:






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And now, some words from philosopher and historian Thomas carlyle:

Song is the heroics of speech.


Well put! And with that, it's time to



10- This week we lead off with a song that would go top ten here in the US of A in January of next year- Sweet and Fox On The Run.

9- The Three Degrees had better luck there than here with their Take Good Care Of Yourself, a #64 on the R&B chart here.

8- Gary Glitter's former band, imaginatively named the Glitter Band, were here with The Tears I Cried.  Fortunately, glam was not so big here.

7- The latest hit by hungry philosophers 10cc- Life Is A Minestrone- was at 104 here in the states.

6- Peter Shelley was best known for discovering such acts as Ten Years After and King Crimson; but he's on the chart this week with Love Me, Love My Dog.

5-  The Bay City Rollers covered a Four Seasons tune?  That's right, and  here they are with Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye).

4- Millie Jackson took a song called It Hurts So Good to #24 two years back; here it's covered in reggae style by Susan Cadogan.

3- And since we can't go a week anymore without a Bobby Goldsboro reference, they decided to re-release Honey.  It hit #2 in '68; it would end up there again in '75.

2- Minnie Ripperton is in the runner up slot with a song that sat at #13 here this week and got 6 points from the Panel, Loving You.

And the Tops of the Pops?




...another glam outfit, Mud, with a cover of Buddy Holly's Oh Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mud had some connections to somebody in the six degrees, so why don't we stop there first?


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I stumbled onto one of the most influential to Rock music movies of all time this week.  A musical comedy- as you can see, starring Jayne Mansfield- called The Girl Can't Help It.  How was it so influential?  Well, start out with the singles that either came off the sound track or were brand new when they were added to it.  That list starts with Be Bop A Lula by Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, which made it to #7 in the year of the movie, 1956.  The title track was performed by Little Richard, and influenced John Lennon's path into music.  That song was written by none other than Bobby Troup (Dr Early on Emergency!), who also did the score for the film.  Little Richard only got to #49, with the song, though; also a bit short on the charting side was a tune performed by Eddie Cochran called Twenty Flight Rock- a song that Paul McCartney played at his audition for Lennon.  As you can see on the poster, Troup's fellow alum from Emergency!, Julie London (nurse Dixie McCall) was also in the film, and she sang the #9 hit Cry Me A River.  This was in between her just ended marriage to Jack Webb and her soon to be marriage to Troup.  Fats Domino also had a top ten from the movie with Blue Monday, and the Platters and Nino Tempo also performed in the movie.

So how does this all tie in to the six degrees victim?  Well, the title song was also covered on The Animals' first lp, along with their big hit House Of The Rising Sun.  That tune was produced by Mickey Most (who also worked with Mud, among others).  One of those others was the band Hot Chocolate, and on of Mickey's productions for them- the sad ballad Emma- is the highest charting song this week (#6), that got no Panel love.

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And now, that closed-to-visitors M10:


The sunset of Nada Surf is approaching: Cold To See Clear drops from 4 to 10, while Believe You're Mine tumbles from 2 to 5.

Jimmy Ruffin holds at 9 with Farewell Is A Lonely Sound.

The numbers game backs Strawberry Runners down a notch to 8 with When We Were Good.

Rah Rah jumps them into the 7 slot with Fix Me.

Ruth B moves up 4 hot notches to #6 with 2 Poor Kids.

Tell me if you've heard this one before (actually, you heard it 2 weeks ago):  Lucius drops from 3 to 4 with Madness.

Bad Water goes up from 5 to 3 for Carroll.

And that leaves us with the top two.  And a very tough decision for me- one which made me listen to the contenders several times to make sure I didn't make a stat based decision.  And with those listens completed, I moved Redspencer's Ride It Out from 6 to 2.

And the #1s?  M10 says:





...the Jayhawks claim a fourth week at the top with Quiet Corners And Empty Spaces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the meantime, that monsterous #1 on the Panel Four...




...Elton John and Philly Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, one giant step backwards with 1974!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Tuesday, and it felt like summer

Not so much today, but here's what Boofus and I did yesterday:


Finally, my Jack-In-The-Pulpits are making an appearance

Open the roof, there's the preacher

Trees are finally greening up

Wild blue phlox, I'm told

Little butterfly takes a break from buzzing us


There used to be just one place in the whole woods I found Jack In The Pulpit.  Tuesday, I found them in about five places, nowhere near that spot.


Scrappy takes a dip at North Bank

Actually saw a fish here... first one in about 4 years.  I think he was lost...



Don't let those heavenly trees fool you.  It's a climb from North bank to Dead Tree Road!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The annual A to Z mashup part two

And now, it's time for round two of my A to Z blog challenge mashup, where I solve the problem of being too lazy to join a blog challenge that requires posting on a theme every day for 26 days (weekends off) by accomplishing the same thing (sorta) in two fell swoops.  This year's theme- expressed mathematically as (subject * n [with  n being a letter of the alphabet]) *Google.  This time, the subject is/are the main Presidential candidates, plus the former Marco Rubio and the disgusting eater John Kasich.  Last time, I did A through M; this time, we start at N.

Trump, N- Net worth.  Apparently he and Forbes are battling it out over whether The Donald is worth 4.5 billion or 10 billion.  Me, IDK, but even the low ball number would take me- if I avoided taxes and spent nothing- at my current pay 185,000 years and change to make.

Cruz, O- gave me Cruz OR Trump, which led to ad producer TrumpQuestions.com.  This superPAC was founded by one Katie Packer, a former Romney strategist who's motto is stand up for principles and fight against Trump.  Which is mildly amusing, since it was Republicans that stood for their principles and stayed home in 2012 that beat Romney.

Hillary, P- Polls.  Which, thank God, even when spelled the other way, didn't combine Hillary and these polls/poles:



Rubio, Q- quotes.  In an effort to be hip and millennial (see "Rubio, X"), during the great filibuster quoted both Jay-Z and Wiz Khalifa.  Imma vote f'that li'l bro', shizz.


Bernie, R- Reddit, where I found this on his reddit:


...and I thought old white guys couldn't jump...


Kasich, S- Slogans.  This took me to a site that had the slogans of all 24 alleged current or former candidates.  I found it the height of creativity that Hillary and Jim Gilmore both came up with the stirring "for America"; and was even less impressed when Bobby Jindahl came up with "Tanned, Rested, and Ready"- and I KNOW where he got that:



And Kasich?  He really put some thought into his- "K for US".  Color me stunned.


Trump, T- Twitter shadowbanning.  Twitter is being accused of hiding posts from a variety of political opinions they don't like, including some Trump videos.  I learned that on the Libertarian Republic, where non-stop popup ads nearly shadowbanned ME.  Long story short, I follow Trump on Twitter for giggles, and if he's being blocked, they don't do the job very well.

Hillary, U- UFOs.  She told Jimmy Fallon that one of the things on her agenda was getting to the bottom of UFOs- although, in true liberal fashion, she wants to change the nomenclature to UAPs- Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon.

Hillary will soon introduce running mate BEM...


Cruz, V- voting record.  As in, not much of one.  While the median votes missed by current senators sitting now is 1.6% for their careers, Ted's is 17.2.  Even in the quarters from January 2013 to his announcement he was running, he was over the median 6 of 9 quarters- and over 10% four of those quarters.  Sounds like a great subject for a "you had one job" meme to me.


Bernie, W- Wife Jane O'Meara Sanders.  As president of Burlington College, a small school with a $2 million budget, she purchased 32 acres for expansion from the local Catholic diocese- for #10 million.  Somewhere towards the "where are we going to get the money to finish paying for this?" end of proceedings in 2011, she was asked to resign.  And in 2013, sometime after the school got an "irresponsible with their money" rating, they cut a deal with the diocese to get out of a lot of it.  This story has the potential to become all-too-familiar...

Rubio, X- as in GenX, of which Buzzfeed called him a GenX fraud, because listening to Tupac and quoting Jay-Z isn't quite enough to make you a hipster.

Kasich, Y- as in Young women, who John doesn't understand.  As one "young lady" found out when she tried to ask him a question at a U of Richmond town hall in October, only to be told, "I don't have any Taylor Swift t-shirts to pass out.


Nothing to do with the post, I know, but it's funny
And finally.....

Trump, Z- Zoolander, which Trump played himself in...




Trump has actually played himself in a handful of films, but only once did he NOT play himself- when He was Waldo's dad in 1994's Little Rascals remake.

How's that for irony?

Monday, April 25, 2016

Monday odds and ends



Odds:  Pretty good that you pick up a paper and learn like Keith Richards did:



Last night I found out that we added a #1 to the pop and R&B pile of hits by now deceased acts, as Billy Paul passed on Sunday.  He was famous for having a thing going on with Mrs. Jones, and is but the latest in a parade of musicians and singers vacating the planet this year.  Is it really worse this year than any other year?  Survey says:  YES. A recent BBC article gave us the facts, Jack.

They have a file, like most news organizations, of ready made obits for celebrities, and they published a table on how often they had been dipping into it.  In just the first three months of 2016 (which leaves out Merle, Prince, and Billy), see how this year stacks up to the past few years.

2012- 5 obits pulled from the files.

2013- 8.

2014- 11.

2015- 12.

2016- 24.

Another example cited in the article was the Daily Mirror's gallery of famous deaths.  In 2014 at this time, the gallery was 38 strong.  Last year at this point, 30.  This year- 75.


Whether you blame it on when the fascination with celebrities started, the age of the "baby boomers", or my own advancing age, that's a LOT of deaths.


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I feel I need to give Ted Cruz some advice.  Since he's always hitting me up for campaign contributions by e-mail, I feel I have the right to offer it.

The other night, I was half listening to a campaign ad.  It seemed reasonable, peaceful, a non-attack ad.  A positive ad.  At the end, I heard, "I'm Donald Trump, and I approve this message."

Hmm, that was a pleasant surprise.  Followed right after by a Cruz ad depicting a vote for John Kasich as a vote for Trump.  "Kasich mathematically has no chance," the ad explains, "If you want to stop Trump, vote for me."

REALLY?  So, Ted, what you're saying is that Hoosiers are too stupid to understand the issues, and you have to SCARE them into voting for you.  How about telling us WHY you are a better choice than Kasich or Trump.  Ted might be the best choice for President, but I am beginning to see that the reason he trails Trump is he has NO IDEA HOW TO RUN A CAMPAIGN.  First clue, Ted- stop being a PENIS and treat voters like they have half a brain.  It isn't the Democratic primary, after all (you knew I had to throw that one in somewhere...).


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And now, Sunday walk to Shoaff Park pictures...



Scrappy ran into a couple of old friends, including this lady beagle and his dalmatian buddy.

Moss is cool...









Lots of blue jays

They were practicing river rescues.  And, peeing in the woods.



Scrappy:  water dog.  Any water.

"Just cause we're at the 2 1/2 mile point doesn't mean I WANT to rest..."

"Y'all come back now, heah?"

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Another meeting of the great minds of Fort Wayne



And that would be myself and the inimitable Bobby G, who sometimes singlehandedly prove that there is intelligent life in Fort Wayne.  Oh, and our respective better halves, of course.  Today's get together kicked off with a long awaited presentation to the "Gs" of this:



Story behind:  My friend from Australia, Trish Ward (former blogger, too- I woulda linked, but she just jumped out of the game), who as you might notice is a painter of no mean skill, recently ticked "trip across the US of A" off her bucket list.  It was in NYC's Central Park she met her first squirrel, and when she posted the finished painting, I said, "I know just the perfect person for that!"  You can see more of her work on Facebook on Trish Ward- My Art.  They were very happy with the artifact, which will, I am told, will be hung above the master's throne in the living room there at the Fortress Of Reason.


Afterwards, we got reciprocated, notably with a copy of "Doctor Who:  The Complete Guide" (which I made it all the way to the Third Doctor on the way home in).  Then after pizza and chocolate cake ( these guys really know how to treat guests) we made our way to spend a beautiful day at Foster Park.


Away we go!



Warning: Lots of neat flower pics ahead.

Spring has indeed sprung.  Right there it is!



"Hey, Irma!  Friends of yours?"



"If I had my sonic, I'd get us in there..."


Bleeding hearts... the kind that used to grow in our front yard, not the ones I'd like to Gibbs-slap...

Butterfly sex

Look out, Laurie!  That tree's about to grab you!
Shooting craps at the gazebo.  Well, not really, but it looks that way...

"Yeah, they put up this sign- 'Stay off the golf course'- after we walk on the rough for the last ten minutes?"

One big-ass leaning tree...

The Mighty Bob to the rescue!


Bob tries his squirrel-whisperer talents on the local avian population:  "Quack, quacky quack..."

"There's a lot in what that guy says..."