A lot of people are doing their lookbacks on 2013 today; I kinda think that I covered that on that 35 questions thing I copied a while back (And Kelli at The House Of Hale has been doing such a great job on in installments). So I thought I might look back and see what I did on my previous New Years Eves.
The first was NYE 2010, and it was a lot of statistics. I talked about my 260 posts (actually 254, since I didn't know the stats page counted your aborted posts), which with this is up to 1,225; my 3,015 page views (of which I have 27 times that now); of which the USA was first (and still is), Denmark was second (now 9th), Germany third (still third), UK fourth (still 4th), Russia 5th (now 2nd, thanks to all the Russian scammers), Canada 6th (now 7th). I then went on to do my top ten posts (the first place "by a wide margin" then is now 7th, 319 pageviews from the top) and a top ten of my who's dumber posts. Finally, in lieu of a New Years resolution, I listed seven things I'd like to see... of which only two came true- my daughter stepped up and got her drivers licence, and we all stayed safe and sound. Congress working together, not so much; our African American community taking responsibility for their own failings rather than blaming the man, very slow progress.
The second was NYE 2011, and it was split between a very short post on one side of midnight saying toodles before I went off to a party; and another actually on the other side explaining the connection to the song I spend the moments after the New Year comes playing. The third is 2012's, and it started with a post about my Life Verse from the Bible and how I got there, as well as two long, well-thought out comments from the aforementioned Ms. Kelli and Bobby G. A pictorial covering the same ground as the one I linked above followed.
And now we are here, on the cusp of another New Year's beginning. And today I have a story about a certain insane dog to tell you.
You see, yesterday we had the second "Meeting of the Blogs" between Bobby G. and myself and our significant others. It was held at the world famous Fortress of Reason in beautiful SE Fort Wayne, and one of the delights of the business was Scrappy getting a gift of a pair of rawhide chew bones. As you will see, he appreciated the gifts...
...HOWEVER, they brought back one of his old habits I thought buried: getting a treat and then whining until I try to take it away from him. Unfortunately, this became an EXTREME comeback. It used to be that after a few minutes of playing "take the treat", he'd be ready to devour on his own. Not this time. After several rounds of this, I came up with the brightest of ideas: Ask him if he wants to go out, seize the treat and hide it while he's out, give him another treat when he comes back in, and his pea brain forgets all about it.
The plan worked out better than perfect: he took it outside with him, and left it out there. He got one of his Christmas doggie cupcakes, and it would seem all was well.
But then, he noticed it was gone. He spent about five minutes looking around, and then tumbled onto the fact that he'd left it outside. And he wanted out to go get it. Since he was intent on being just as annoying in wanting it as he was in eating it, I let him out; he immediately shot right to it and brought it in, and for the next fifteen minutes I pulled, pretended to eat it, wrestled, and chased him around the room until he finally was content to chew it on his own. Within about a half hour, he had one of the knots loosened and removed from the bone, and shortly thereafter it was consumed. He continued to chew the rest all night (with short breaks to beg for people food and M&Ms); and when I went to bed he tried to bring the remnant up with him. Laurie took it (and hid it away with the other bone for another time). When that time may be, I don't know... I do have a variety pack of beer in the fridge in case nothing else develops tonight, and maybe that will encourage me to allow round two.
It'll sure beat trying to get a walk in today...
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Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
Martin World News Special report
Okay, what's special is that I'm not doing a lot of travelling on this one, just 2 BBC stories and some meaningless personal fill-in.
ITEM: One of the pics my daughter didn't get posted in time...
ITEM: And I forgot to mention last week that the NHFFL All-Star Game ended in a record setting 76-35 win for the Purple division over the Gold. That's 4 wins in 6 ASGs; Purple Division teams have also won 4 of 6 Super Bowls in those years (though not necessarily in matching years).
ITEM: Okay, our first story involves an article titled "Ten truly bizzare Victorian deaths". A reporter for BBC Magazine named Jeremy Clay found that the Victorian world wasn't all that safe. Among his ten gruesome descents to room temperature are:
-1875, a factory full of women workers were confronted by... a MOUSE! A dashing young man came to the rescue, leaping up onto a table and snagging the rodent. But the mouse wasn't finished; he escaped the dude's hand, ran up his shirtsleeve, out his open collar, in his open mouth, and proceeded to shred his pipes into a painful expiration. Fifteen "Mouse-Sushi" bars were closed soon after.
-Mid 1880s, Sam Wardell had a problem. He was the lamplighter for the NY community of Flatbush, and was a bit concerned he might miss his alarm clock waking him to go put the gas lights out at daybreak. So he linked the clock to a lever on a shelf near his bed, onto which he set a ten-pound stone. The clock sounded, the shelf dropped, the rock goes BAM!, Sam wakes up.
You can see where this is going, right? Eventually, during a family gathering, his bedroom arrangement got moved around, and he was too tired that night to re-position it. Perhaps he should have called in before he went to bed...
-1869, A young lady, much like the young man in the first story had a problem with what they ate. She developed a painful abdominal condition, and doctors were unable to save her. And what, pray tell, was her disease?
Whatever they imagined they might find, it can't possibly have been what they actually discovered - a solid lump, made up of human hair, weighing two pounds and looking for all the world like a black duck with a very long neck.
Later, the girl's sister mentioned to the docs that she had been eating her own hair for some dozen or so years.
The stories also included a pall bearer who tripped and was crushed by the coffin; Two maids who were torn to bits when their mistress's cat collection were caught in a fire; a Russian "corpse" that proved to be alive, at least until the townspeople, thinking he was a zombie, finished him off; a sailor who drowned because his rescuers were not allowed to strip down to dive in after him because there were ladies present; another Russian family killed by an alcoholic pet bear who wasn't interested in giving up a keg of vodka; a farmer from Laurel, Indiana, who laughed until he died from exhaustion; and two idiots who decided to find out who had the greater stamina, while drunk, in the hottest part of the summer, by walking six miles (which they never finished).
ITEM: The next article, pieced together from news stories and linked to them, were "100 things you didn't know last year." Among them were:
-A joint Spanish/English team that found that the exact same chocolate seemingly tastes better or worse depending on the color of the cup it's served in.
-2% of Europeans lack the gene for smelly armpits. There's a gene for THAT? Explain that, evolutionists!
-Due to stress, etc., women look their oldest Wednesday at 3:30 PM. But fear not; By Thursday they are most ready to have sex.
-Female hawksbill turtles can store sperm for up to 75 days.
-The most popular pornography search term in Syria is "Aunt."
-Some flowers and plants use trace amounts of caffeine and nicotine to keep bees coming back.
-The Norwegian version of the "roll over or under": A TV show on preparing wood for fireplace use was inundated with calls and texts about whether to stack the split wood bark-up or bark-down.
-Among the baby names they will not let you use in New Zealand are V8, 4Real, Lucifer, and Justice, which has been rejected 62 times since 2001. On a related note, you cannot call a Birmingham, UK, city councilman a "Commie" by e-mail- their system will block you. However, you can apparently still call them a pinko, red, Bolshevik, leftie, Nazi, or fascist with no problem.
-There are only two escalators in Wyoming.
-Bill Clinton was taught a jiu-jitsu move in case Yasser Arafat tried to hug him.
-A universal law of urination means that elephants, cows, goats and dogs all take roughly 21 seconds to empty their bladders. Judging by Scrappy, that's about right; anyone got an elephant they can time?
-Lee Harvey Oswald still has an overdue book out from the Dallas Library. I think I'd write that one off...
-As a young man, Pope Francis worked as a bouncer. No word on what kind of club it was.
-A friend of mine just did a post on soul mates, so I'll throw this one in: The odds of finding your soulmate is one in 10,000.
-Even mothers who can correctly estimate the height of their other children will think the youngest child is shorter than they really are.
Gee, I DIDN'T know that last year!
ITEM: Time to clear the old junk e-mail box.
This first one caught my eye because it was a comment on an old post of mine, and had a somewhat curious hyperlink:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Noah's ark... really?":
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this post and the rest of the
site is extremely good.
Here is my web page: blogger.com
Needless to say, it didn't REALLY redirect to Blogger... and why would you redirect to a site you ARE ALREADY USING to attract a potential spam victim, anyway? Might have wanted to think that one out a bit more... for example, you should try one like this:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Lotsa Little bits Vol. 6":
Attractive part of content. I simply stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts.
Any way I'll be subscribing for your augment and even I fulfillment you get
right of entry to consistently quickly.
Feel free to visit my blog post ... Extreme Whipping
See? Much more likely to get a response THAT way!
Finally, I got this one from "Credit Reporting Team" telling me my credit rating had changed. And I can see where you might be able to rope some people in with this approach. HOWEVER, you MIGHT not want to have this as the FIRST line of the e-mail:
ITEM: One of the pics my daughter didn't get posted in time...
ITEM: And I forgot to mention last week that the NHFFL All-Star Game ended in a record setting 76-35 win for the Purple division over the Gold. That's 4 wins in 6 ASGs; Purple Division teams have also won 4 of 6 Super Bowls in those years (though not necessarily in matching years).
ITEM: Okay, our first story involves an article titled "Ten truly bizzare Victorian deaths". A reporter for BBC Magazine named Jeremy Clay found that the Victorian world wasn't all that safe. Among his ten gruesome descents to room temperature are:
-1875, a factory full of women workers were confronted by... a MOUSE! A dashing young man came to the rescue, leaping up onto a table and snagging the rodent. But the mouse wasn't finished; he escaped the dude's hand, ran up his shirtsleeve, out his open collar, in his open mouth, and proceeded to shred his pipes into a painful expiration. Fifteen "Mouse-Sushi" bars were closed soon after.
-Mid 1880s, Sam Wardell had a problem. He was the lamplighter for the NY community of Flatbush, and was a bit concerned he might miss his alarm clock waking him to go put the gas lights out at daybreak. So he linked the clock to a lever on a shelf near his bed, onto which he set a ten-pound stone. The clock sounded, the shelf dropped, the rock goes BAM!, Sam wakes up.
You can see where this is going, right? Eventually, during a family gathering, his bedroom arrangement got moved around, and he was too tired that night to re-position it. Perhaps he should have called in before he went to bed...
-1869, A young lady, much like the young man in the first story had a problem with what they ate. She developed a painful abdominal condition, and doctors were unable to save her. And what, pray tell, was her disease?
Whatever they imagined they might find, it can't possibly have been what they actually discovered - a solid lump, made up of human hair, weighing two pounds and looking for all the world like a black duck with a very long neck.
Later, the girl's sister mentioned to the docs that she had been eating her own hair for some dozen or so years.
The stories also included a pall bearer who tripped and was crushed by the coffin; Two maids who were torn to bits when their mistress's cat collection were caught in a fire; a Russian "corpse" that proved to be alive, at least until the townspeople, thinking he was a zombie, finished him off; a sailor who drowned because his rescuers were not allowed to strip down to dive in after him because there were ladies present; another Russian family killed by an alcoholic pet bear who wasn't interested in giving up a keg of vodka; a farmer from Laurel, Indiana, who laughed until he died from exhaustion; and two idiots who decided to find out who had the greater stamina, while drunk, in the hottest part of the summer, by walking six miles (which they never finished).
ITEM: The next article, pieced together from news stories and linked to them, were "100 things you didn't know last year." Among them were:
-A joint Spanish/English team that found that the exact same chocolate seemingly tastes better or worse depending on the color of the cup it's served in.
-2% of Europeans lack the gene for smelly armpits. There's a gene for THAT? Explain that, evolutionists!
-Due to stress, etc., women look their oldest Wednesday at 3:30 PM. But fear not; By Thursday they are most ready to have sex.
-Female hawksbill turtles can store sperm for up to 75 days.
You see, I have this tiny freezer in my... you know... |
-The most popular pornography search term in Syria is "Aunt."
-Some flowers and plants use trace amounts of caffeine and nicotine to keep bees coming back.
-The Norwegian version of the "roll over or under": A TV show on preparing wood for fireplace use was inundated with calls and texts about whether to stack the split wood bark-up or bark-down.
-Among the baby names they will not let you use in New Zealand are V8, 4Real, Lucifer, and Justice, which has been rejected 62 times since 2001. On a related note, you cannot call a Birmingham, UK, city councilman a "Commie" by e-mail- their system will block you. However, you can apparently still call them a pinko, red, Bolshevik, leftie, Nazi, or fascist with no problem.
-There are only two escalators in Wyoming.
-Bill Clinton was taught a jiu-jitsu move in case Yasser Arafat tried to hug him.
Of course, Hillary had a special move for the Mrs.... |
-A universal law of urination means that elephants, cows, goats and dogs all take roughly 21 seconds to empty their bladders. Judging by Scrappy, that's about right; anyone got an elephant they can time?
-Lee Harvey Oswald still has an overdue book out from the Dallas Library. I think I'd write that one off...
-As a young man, Pope Francis worked as a bouncer. No word on what kind of club it was.
-A friend of mine just did a post on soul mates, so I'll throw this one in: The odds of finding your soulmate is one in 10,000.
-Even mothers who can correctly estimate the height of their other children will think the youngest child is shorter than they really are.
Gee, I DIDN'T know that last year!
ITEM: Time to clear the old junk e-mail box.
This first one caught my eye because it was a comment on an old post of mine, and had a somewhat curious hyperlink:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Noah's ark... really?":
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this post and the rest of the
site is extremely good.
Here is my web page: blogger.com
Needless to say, it didn't REALLY redirect to Blogger... and why would you redirect to a site you ARE ALREADY USING to attract a potential spam victim, anyway? Might have wanted to think that one out a bit more... for example, you should try one like this:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Lotsa Little bits Vol. 6":
Attractive part of content. I simply stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts.
Any way I'll be subscribing for your augment and even I fulfillment you get
right of entry to consistently quickly.
Feel free to visit my blog post ... Extreme Whipping
See? Much more likely to get a response THAT way!
Finally, I got this one from "Credit Reporting Team" telling me my credit rating had changed. And I can see where you might be able to rope some people in with this approach. HOWEVER, you MIGHT not want to have this as the FIRST line of the e-mail:
To report this message as SPAM, CLICK HERE.
Okay spammers, there's your free tutoring for this time around. See ya next time, folks!
Saturday, December 28, 2013
And now, our Christmas
First gift- daughter Shenan shows up! |
Not only did Scrappy get a big pull toy... |
(Can you say happiest kid in the room?) |
...but also gets a talking Underdog! |
(Soon to be missing his legs. Thank God he can fly...) |
As well as edible treats. |
Now, for KC... |
gift card, Old Navy... |
Indians jacket... |
Vikings man cave sign! |
Shenan gets gift card and outfit. |
Pretty in pink... |
Dad gets Book on the Duke... |
Complete with 8X10s! |
I'll let you caption this. |
Laurie gets the cheap gifts... |
Plus a "snug smock". |
Not bad, eh? |
Then comes the big prize... |
...blue-ray/DVR player! Hooks up to computer so YouTube and Netflix capable. |
One Happy family! |
The End. |
Friday, December 27, 2013
Time Machine week 100, part two
When we left off, Vietnam Vets were holding the Statue of Liberty hostage, Bing Crosby had the biggest Christmas hit of all time, and Pittsburgh had a song we never heard of at #1. Today we resolve these plot lines, as well as; get to this week's big movers; look at why it was that Elvis didn't make our longest-charting singles list; and have a six degrees connect Sly Stone with- Deliverance??!! Yep, so let's get back to it!
First off, let's take the case of Think and their song Once You Understand. Think was a studio group put together by a writer of children's songs named Bobby Susser. A childhood friend of Paul Simon, he had helped Simon on his first records as leader of Tico and the Triumphs, who hit #99 with a song called Motorcycle in 1961. But, as you will hear, this is anything but a children's song:
Because of the ending , it was banned at many radio stations- and in looking at the oldies records I use for "number ones across the country", it would seem that KHJ in LA, Both Chicago stations, and CKLW in Detroit were among those who banned it. Of all the stations I look at, only KDWB Minneapolis also had a record of it, peaking at #3 in January. It was the biggest mover on Cashbox this week, up a quick 30 to #58. Ironically, another mostly-spoken word tune, Les Crane's Desiderata, is the big dropper, tumbling 31 to #49.
Next up, the next chunk of the top 50 of 1971!
20- Want Ads, Honey Cone. 140 points, same as:
19- Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted, Partridge Family- the song David Cassidy didn't want to do.
18- Knock Three Times, Dawn. 141 of its total of 179 in 1971.
17- Superstar, Carpenters. 142 points. One of three songs titled Superstar to chart. Murray Head's JCS theme came in at 65; the Temptations paen to David Ruffin, subtitled Remember How You Got Where You Are, missed the top 125.
16- Draggin' The Line, Tommy James. 144 points, along with:
15- Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond.
14- Just My Imagination, Temptations. 145.
13- Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson. At 146, the highest country crossover.
12- Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver. Yeah, technically a country crossover, but it only hit #50 on the country charts. 147 points.
11- It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move, Carole King. 150.
We have 5 debuts on the top forty this week. First out of the blocks is Carly Simon's Anticipation, climbing 11 to land at #40. Next, Bob Dylan with his tribute song, George Jackson, for the Black Panther leader killed in San Quentin Prison, a six notch move to #38. Next comes a song called White Lies, Blue Eyes, by a "band" called Bullet. Actually, this song was recorded by a studio group before a band was ever formed, and the band that was formed included singer Roget Pontbriand. Roget would go on to spend two weeks with KC and the Sunshine Band (replacing a trombone player who had to be taught a lesson and subsequently returned), and 2 1/2 years with Wild Cherry as a trumpet player who, while touring with them, saw all his recording contributions end up on the cutting room floor. ("Wild Cherry recorded a huge amount of material. Unfortunately, none of my parts ever made an album.") Bullet's one top 40 hit comes in at 37, up 4. Charley Pride climbs 11 to #34 with the #1 country song this week, Kiss An Angel Good Morning. And moving up 9 spots to #33, Badfinger with Day After Day.
If you read the comments on TM, you'll see that our friend Bobby G., in expressing his surprise at Monster Mash being the longest charting song of the Martin Era (1962-79), mumbled something about that Elvis hadn't shown up on the list. So, I decided to look into this. And here's what I learned.
The King had his golden age in the mid-to-late fifties. At this point, Cashbox was only releasing a top 50, so it's kind of apples to oranges. But in that timespan, he racked up 20+ weeks on the top 50 five times. One of them, Don't Be Cruel, logged 23 weeks; the other four (Heartbreak Hotel; I Want You, I Need You, I Love You; Hound Dog; and Love Me Tender) all hit 21 weeks.
Shortly thereafter, the chart went to top 60, and he had Jailhouse Rock last for 20 weeks there. But never again on the top 60, the subsequent top 75, or the hot 100, did he hit the 20-week mark. And now you know.
And now, the finale of 1971's top 50!
10- Gypsies, Tramps, And Thieves, Cher. One of seven big hits (Peace Train, #51; Spanish Harlem, 48; Got To Be There, 44; Baby I'm-A Want You, 41; Imagine, 36; and one more, coming up) that did not hit either of Cashbox's 1970, 1971, or 1972 year end top 100 charts because of the way they divide the year. 151 points.
9- Theme From Shaft, Isaac Hayes. This is the other one. 153 points.
8- How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Bee Gees. Also with 153.
7- Never Can Say Goodbye, Michael Jackson. Boy, was that prophetic! 154 points.
6- One Bad Apple, Osmonds. 155.
5- Mr. Big Stuff, Jean Knight. 159.
4- Indian Reservation, Raiders. 160.
3- She's A Lady, Tom Jones. 162.
Then come the undisputed masters of the year:
2- Maggie May, Rod Stewart. 178 points. And the clear #1...
1- Joy To The World, Three Dog Night. With a grand total of eight weeks at the top and 198 points.
____________________
Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out. Dropping are Rock Steady (7 to 21) and the aforementioned Theme From Shaft ( 5 to 13).
The Staple Singers climb from 14 to 10 with a song many of us (sadly, myself included) know better from the Bruce Willis cover- Respect Yourself.
Holding up its descent at #9, the Chi-Lites and Have You Seen Her.
Moving up a pair to #8, the Dennis Coffey instrumental Scorpio.
Up a notch to #7, on the same week that their variety show went from summer replacement to 4-year fixture on CBS, Sonny and Cher with the #1 AC song this week, All I Ever Need Is You.
Moving into the top ten from 11 to #6, Don McLean's American Pie.
Up a notch to 5, David Cassidy and Cherish.
Three Dog Night hold at #4 with An Old Fashioned Love Song.
And at #3, our former top dog, our #1 R&B song this week, and our six degrees victim.
Family Affair (down 2 to #3), two years separated from their last hit, wasn't really "the Family." Only Rose sang on it with Sly; Bobby Womack was guitarist, and Billy Preston was on the keyboards. Of course, Billy was on a ton of things, from the Beatles to the Stones, to- believe it or not- the lp Barbara Joan Streisand. He played on three cuts of that lp, including the hit cover of Carole King's Where You Lead (which hit #40 at the end of August). Another cut off that album which might catch the eye is I Mean To Shine, written by Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, with Becker playing organ on the track. Also on that track playing guitar is Eric Weissberg- and Weissberg is most famous for his role on the Theme from Deliverance. Squeal like a pig!!!
The Jackson Five move into the runner up spot with Got To Be There. But they ain't there yet, because our new #1 is...
...Melanie with Brand New Key!!!!!
Next week it's back to normal for Time machine and the Statue of Liberty. See you in 2014 on Time Machine!
First off, let's take the case of Think and their song Once You Understand. Think was a studio group put together by a writer of children's songs named Bobby Susser. A childhood friend of Paul Simon, he had helped Simon on his first records as leader of Tico and the Triumphs, who hit #99 with a song called Motorcycle in 1961. But, as you will hear, this is anything but a children's song:
Because of the ending , it was banned at many radio stations- and in looking at the oldies records I use for "number ones across the country", it would seem that KHJ in LA, Both Chicago stations, and CKLW in Detroit were among those who banned it. Of all the stations I look at, only KDWB Minneapolis also had a record of it, peaking at #3 in January. It was the biggest mover on Cashbox this week, up a quick 30 to #58. Ironically, another mostly-spoken word tune, Les Crane's Desiderata, is the big dropper, tumbling 31 to #49.
Next up, the next chunk of the top 50 of 1971!
20- Want Ads, Honey Cone. 140 points, same as:
19- Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted, Partridge Family- the song David Cassidy didn't want to do.
18- Knock Three Times, Dawn. 141 of its total of 179 in 1971.
17- Superstar, Carpenters. 142 points. One of three songs titled Superstar to chart. Murray Head's JCS theme came in at 65; the Temptations paen to David Ruffin, subtitled Remember How You Got Where You Are, missed the top 125.
16- Draggin' The Line, Tommy James. 144 points, along with:
15- Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond.
14- Just My Imagination, Temptations. 145.
13- Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson. At 146, the highest country crossover.
12- Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver. Yeah, technically a country crossover, but it only hit #50 on the country charts. 147 points.
11- It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move, Carole King. 150.
We have 5 debuts on the top forty this week. First out of the blocks is Carly Simon's Anticipation, climbing 11 to land at #40. Next, Bob Dylan with his tribute song, George Jackson, for the Black Panther leader killed in San Quentin Prison, a six notch move to #38. Next comes a song called White Lies, Blue Eyes, by a "band" called Bullet. Actually, this song was recorded by a studio group before a band was ever formed, and the band that was formed included singer Roget Pontbriand. Roget would go on to spend two weeks with KC and the Sunshine Band (replacing a trombone player who had to be taught a lesson and subsequently returned), and 2 1/2 years with Wild Cherry as a trumpet player who, while touring with them, saw all his recording contributions end up on the cutting room floor. ("Wild Cherry recorded a huge amount of material. Unfortunately, none of my parts ever made an album.") Bullet's one top 40 hit comes in at 37, up 4. Charley Pride climbs 11 to #34 with the #1 country song this week, Kiss An Angel Good Morning. And moving up 9 spots to #33, Badfinger with Day After Day.
If you read the comments on TM, you'll see that our friend Bobby G., in expressing his surprise at Monster Mash being the longest charting song of the Martin Era (1962-79), mumbled something about that Elvis hadn't shown up on the list. So, I decided to look into this. And here's what I learned.
The King had his golden age in the mid-to-late fifties. At this point, Cashbox was only releasing a top 50, so it's kind of apples to oranges. But in that timespan, he racked up 20+ weeks on the top 50 five times. One of them, Don't Be Cruel, logged 23 weeks; the other four (Heartbreak Hotel; I Want You, I Need You, I Love You; Hound Dog; and Love Me Tender) all hit 21 weeks.
Shortly thereafter, the chart went to top 60, and he had Jailhouse Rock last for 20 weeks there. But never again on the top 60, the subsequent top 75, or the hot 100, did he hit the 20-week mark. And now you know.
And now, the finale of 1971's top 50!
10- Gypsies, Tramps, And Thieves, Cher. One of seven big hits (Peace Train, #51; Spanish Harlem, 48; Got To Be There, 44; Baby I'm-A Want You, 41; Imagine, 36; and one more, coming up) that did not hit either of Cashbox's 1970, 1971, or 1972 year end top 100 charts because of the way they divide the year. 151 points.
9- Theme From Shaft, Isaac Hayes. This is the other one. 153 points.
8- How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Bee Gees. Also with 153.
7- Never Can Say Goodbye, Michael Jackson. Boy, was that prophetic! 154 points.
6- One Bad Apple, Osmonds. 155.
5- Mr. Big Stuff, Jean Knight. 159.
4- Indian Reservation, Raiders. 160.
3- She's A Lady, Tom Jones. 162.
Then come the undisputed masters of the year:
2- Maggie May, Rod Stewart. 178 points. And the clear #1...
1- Joy To The World, Three Dog Night. With a grand total of eight weeks at the top and 198 points.
____________________
Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out. Dropping are Rock Steady (7 to 21) and the aforementioned Theme From Shaft ( 5 to 13).
The Staple Singers climb from 14 to 10 with a song many of us (sadly, myself included) know better from the Bruce Willis cover- Respect Yourself.
Holding up its descent at #9, the Chi-Lites and Have You Seen Her.
Moving up a pair to #8, the Dennis Coffey instrumental Scorpio.
Up a notch to #7, on the same week that their variety show went from summer replacement to 4-year fixture on CBS, Sonny and Cher with the #1 AC song this week, All I Ever Need Is You.
Moving into the top ten from 11 to #6, Don McLean's American Pie.
Up a notch to 5, David Cassidy and Cherish.
Three Dog Night hold at #4 with An Old Fashioned Love Song.
And at #3, our former top dog, our #1 R&B song this week, and our six degrees victim.
Family Affair (down 2 to #3), two years separated from their last hit, wasn't really "the Family." Only Rose sang on it with Sly; Bobby Womack was guitarist, and Billy Preston was on the keyboards. Of course, Billy was on a ton of things, from the Beatles to the Stones, to- believe it or not- the lp Barbara Joan Streisand. He played on three cuts of that lp, including the hit cover of Carole King's Where You Lead (which hit #40 at the end of August). Another cut off that album which might catch the eye is I Mean To Shine, written by Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, with Becker playing organ on the track. Also on that track playing guitar is Eric Weissberg- and Weissberg is most famous for his role on the Theme from Deliverance. Squeal like a pig!!!
The Jackson Five move into the runner up spot with Got To Be There. But they ain't there yet, because our new #1 is...
...Melanie with Brand New Key!!!!!
Next week it's back to normal for Time machine and the Statue of Liberty. See you in 2014 on Time Machine!
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Time Machine week 100- part one!
Today is December 26th, 1971. Today, a group called the VVAW- Vietnam Veterans Against War- took over the Statue Of Liberty to beg President Nixon to end the war. "If he sets a date for the pull out, we will leave", they said. When a judge told them, "Get out, now", they did, on the 28th.
And just like them, Time Machine is going to occupy for a few days- two to be precise- because there is SO MUCH to cover this week, including: Comedy, times two; the top ten charting Christmas songs; and 50 to 21 of the top hits of 1971! Let's have at it, shall we?
First today, let's peruse the tops of the charts- where we don't find a lot of change. Only one international chart changes- France's top list moves the song Pop Concerto by, not surprisingly, the Pop Concerto Orchestra, into the top spot. This was a studio band put together by songwriters Paul de Senneville (who became one of France's greatest pop songwriters) and Olivier Toussaint (who was the singer). Around our nation, Let's Stay Together tops things in Detroit; American Pie holds forth still in LA and Minneapolis; Chicago is split between Brand New Key (WLS) and Sunshine (Go Away) (WCFL); and Pittsburgh has at the top a song we'll talk about more on tomorrow's show- a song called Once You Understand by an act called Think.
And now, how about we crack open that top fifty? These are the top 50 by my unique point system, with ONLY points earned within the year 1971. And we start with 50-41:
50- Dave Edmunds, I Hear You Knocking. That handsome guy from England leads things off, at 88 points. Since I break all ties, Dave gets the spot ahead of fellow 88-pointers Peace Train and Tired Of Being Alone.
49- Another Day, Paul McCartney. 91 points.
48- Spanish Harlem, Aretha Franklin. One of the few Aretha tunes I can stand. 92.
47- Do You Know What I Mean, Lee Michaels. 94.
46- If I Were Your Woman, Gladys Knight and the Pips. 96.
45- Me And Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin. Her posthumous hit garners 98 points. But so do three others:
44- Got To Be There, Michael Jackson. Also high in our top ten this week. And;
43- Have You Seen Her, Chi-Lites. And;
42- Lonely Days, Bee Gees. And rounding out the first ten-
41- Baby I'm-A Want You, Bread, which gathered 99 points.
The last week of 1971 gives us 15 debuts in the hot 100, including six that I will mention. Leading off in that 100th spot, one-hit-wonder Climaxx with Precious And Few. Robert John makes his first big mark with a redo of the Tokens' The Lion Sleeps Tonight at 93. Next, for a little fun, we have a comedy classic that comes in at 90. Here, with a little help from the Justice League:
Just above it at 89, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton come in with the familiar theme to All In The Family, Those Were The Days. If you've never listened to the 45 RPM version, look it up, it's hilarious. But it is NOT today's second comedy video- you'll have to wait just a bit for that. Coming in at 83 is War with Slippin' Into Darkness; and at 60, Three Dog Night comes in with Never Been To Spain.
Which brings us to this year's last birthday songs. Once again, I found nothing of note at the 30-year-old mark; turning 35, we have the Babys with Everytime I Think Of You; Styx with Sing For The Day; disco star Sylvester with his big crossover hit You Make Me Feel Mighty Real; and Evelyn Champagne King with I Don't Know If It's Right. Turning 40, the Allman Brothers' instrumental Jessica and the spoken word gift from Canada, Byron MacGregor's Americans.
DINNNG!! That bell tells us we're about to hit the next ten on the year's top 50:
40- Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Marvin Gaye. The first tune over the century mark, at 100.
39- My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. 102 inside 1971.
38- Groove Me, King Floyd. 103 points.
37- Rainy Days And Mondays, The Carpenters. 105.
36- Imagine, John Lennon. Sorry leftists, 109 is all he got.
35- Mama's Pearl, Jackson Five. 110. Also getting 110:
34- Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Paul and Linda McCartney. Still #1 in New Zealand, BTW.
33- Smiling Faces Sometimes, Undisputed Truth. 113.
32- Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Aretha Franklin. Just didn't care for her gospelized version. 114, just like:
31- What's Going On, Marvin Gaye. There's more to come, but before we escalate, back to the birthday songs.
Turning 45, we have the late Joe South with Games People Play; the Foundations with Build Me Up Buttercup; and the Doors with Touch Me. (They should get together with the Divinyls and touch each other, eh?) Leslie Gore hits the big 5-0 with You Don't Own Me (this weeks' shake-my-head-it's-that-old song); and turning 55, The Harry Simeone Chorale with The Little Drummer Boy, as well as this one I never heard of before...
Now, the other day Bobby G. mentioned something about doing a best-charting Christmas song list. I looked on wiki, and this is a really complicated ordeal. For one, many of the Christmas songs we know and love, like Elton John's Get Into Christmas, Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime, and Elvis' Blue Christmas- mainly because they never pressed a single until years after its release on his Christmas lp- never charted. Also, Christmas songs charted on so many different charts. The R&B and Country Charts, Billboard's specialized Christmas and Children's Music charts-neither of which I had any access to- it looked near impossible. But someone who did have access- a blog site called Zoomerradio- reviewed BB charts going back to the mess of early charts they had back to the 1930's. Combining all of them, they came up with this list:
10. Blue Christmas, Elvis Presley.
9. The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole.
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gene Autry.
7. Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms.
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Jimmy Boyd.
5. Merry Christmas Darling, The Carpenters.
4. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, Spike Jones.
3. The Little Drummer Boy, The Harry Simeone Chorale.
2. The Chipmunk Song, David Seville and the Chipmunks (always my favorite).
And at #1... as if you couldn't guess...
1. White Christmas, Bing Crosby, probably the biggest selling single ever.
Y'know what? While we're on the subject, another favorite of mine is one you probably never hear. Try this on for size...
And we'll wrap up today's half of the festivities with the next set of the top 50 of 1971:
30- Family Affair, Sly and the Family Stone. They'll be getting a six degrees tomorrow (which means we'll be seeing a brand new #1 (not-so-subtle clue there) ). 116 points.
29- Brown Sugar, Rolling Stones. 117, even without a week at #1.
28- It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr. The final Beatle to get into the action, with 118 points.
27- Yo-Yo, The Osmonds. 122 points, same as:
26- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Joan Baez.
25- Put Your Hand In The Hand, Ocean. A real golden age for songs of faith on the top 40. 127 points, same as:
24- Ain't No Sunshine, Bill Withers, and:
23- Treat Her Like A Lady, Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. The name of that group kinda confused me, being a 2nd grader in a Catholic School at the time. Why did they have a nun?
22- You've Got A Friend, James Taylor. 137 points.
And wrapping up today's list:
21- Don't Pull Your Love, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds.
Tomorrow- well, if I tell you tomorrow's show, I won't have a teaser! So just come on back!
And just like them, Time Machine is going to occupy for a few days- two to be precise- because there is SO MUCH to cover this week, including: Comedy, times two; the top ten charting Christmas songs; and 50 to 21 of the top hits of 1971! Let's have at it, shall we?
First today, let's peruse the tops of the charts- where we don't find a lot of change. Only one international chart changes- France's top list moves the song Pop Concerto by, not surprisingly, the Pop Concerto Orchestra, into the top spot. This was a studio band put together by songwriters Paul de Senneville (who became one of France's greatest pop songwriters) and Olivier Toussaint (who was the singer). Around our nation, Let's Stay Together tops things in Detroit; American Pie holds forth still in LA and Minneapolis; Chicago is split between Brand New Key (WLS) and Sunshine (Go Away) (WCFL); and Pittsburgh has at the top a song we'll talk about more on tomorrow's show- a song called Once You Understand by an act called Think.
And now, how about we crack open that top fifty? These are the top 50 by my unique point system, with ONLY points earned within the year 1971. And we start with 50-41:
50- Dave Edmunds, I Hear You Knocking. That handsome guy from England leads things off, at 88 points. Since I break all ties, Dave gets the spot ahead of fellow 88-pointers Peace Train and Tired Of Being Alone.
Tough break, mates! |
49- Another Day, Paul McCartney. 91 points.
48- Spanish Harlem, Aretha Franklin. One of the few Aretha tunes I can stand. 92.
47- Do You Know What I Mean, Lee Michaels. 94.
46- If I Were Your Woman, Gladys Knight and the Pips. 96.
45- Me And Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin. Her posthumous hit garners 98 points. But so do three others:
44- Got To Be There, Michael Jackson. Also high in our top ten this week. And;
43- Have You Seen Her, Chi-Lites. And;
42- Lonely Days, Bee Gees. And rounding out the first ten-
41- Baby I'm-A Want You, Bread, which gathered 99 points.
The last week of 1971 gives us 15 debuts in the hot 100, including six that I will mention. Leading off in that 100th spot, one-hit-wonder Climaxx with Precious And Few. Robert John makes his first big mark with a redo of the Tokens' The Lion Sleeps Tonight at 93. Next, for a little fun, we have a comedy classic that comes in at 90. Here, with a little help from the Justice League:
Just above it at 89, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton come in with the familiar theme to All In The Family, Those Were The Days. If you've never listened to the 45 RPM version, look it up, it's hilarious. But it is NOT today's second comedy video- you'll have to wait just a bit for that. Coming in at 83 is War with Slippin' Into Darkness; and at 60, Three Dog Night comes in with Never Been To Spain.
Which brings us to this year's last birthday songs. Once again, I found nothing of note at the 30-year-old mark; turning 35, we have the Babys with Everytime I Think Of You; Styx with Sing For The Day; disco star Sylvester with his big crossover hit You Make Me Feel Mighty Real; and Evelyn Champagne King with I Don't Know If It's Right. Turning 40, the Allman Brothers' instrumental Jessica and the spoken word gift from Canada, Byron MacGregor's Americans.
DINNNG!! That bell tells us we're about to hit the next ten on the year's top 50:
40- Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Marvin Gaye. The first tune over the century mark, at 100.
39- My Sweet Lord, George Harrison. 102 inside 1971.
38- Groove Me, King Floyd. 103 points.
37- Rainy Days And Mondays, The Carpenters. 105.
36- Imagine, John Lennon. Sorry leftists, 109 is all he got.
35- Mama's Pearl, Jackson Five. 110. Also getting 110:
34- Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Paul and Linda McCartney. Still #1 in New Zealand, BTW.
33- Smiling Faces Sometimes, Undisputed Truth. 113.
32- Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Aretha Franklin. Just didn't care for her gospelized version. 114, just like:
31- What's Going On, Marvin Gaye. There's more to come, but before we escalate, back to the birthday songs.
Turning 45, we have the late Joe South with Games People Play; the Foundations with Build Me Up Buttercup; and the Doors with Touch Me. (They should get together with the Divinyls and touch each other, eh?) Leslie Gore hits the big 5-0 with You Don't Own Me (this weeks' shake-my-head-it's-that-old song); and turning 55, The Harry Simeone Chorale with The Little Drummer Boy, as well as this one I never heard of before...
Now, the other day Bobby G. mentioned something about doing a best-charting Christmas song list. I looked on wiki, and this is a really complicated ordeal. For one, many of the Christmas songs we know and love, like Elton John's Get Into Christmas, Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime, and Elvis' Blue Christmas- mainly because they never pressed a single until years after its release on his Christmas lp- never charted. Also, Christmas songs charted on so many different charts. The R&B and Country Charts, Billboard's specialized Christmas and Children's Music charts-neither of which I had any access to- it looked near impossible. But someone who did have access- a blog site called Zoomerradio- reviewed BB charts going back to the mess of early charts they had back to the 1930's. Combining all of them, they came up with this list:
10. Blue Christmas, Elvis Presley.
9. The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole.
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gene Autry.
7. Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms.
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Jimmy Boyd.
5. Merry Christmas Darling, The Carpenters.
4. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, Spike Jones.
3. The Little Drummer Boy, The Harry Simeone Chorale.
2. The Chipmunk Song, David Seville and the Chipmunks (always my favorite).
And at #1... as if you couldn't guess...
1. White Christmas, Bing Crosby, probably the biggest selling single ever.
Y'know what? While we're on the subject, another favorite of mine is one you probably never hear. Try this on for size...
And we'll wrap up today's half of the festivities with the next set of the top 50 of 1971:
30- Family Affair, Sly and the Family Stone. They'll be getting a six degrees tomorrow (which means we'll be seeing a brand new #1 (not-so-subtle clue there) ). 116 points.
29- Brown Sugar, Rolling Stones. 117, even without a week at #1.
28- It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr. The final Beatle to get into the action, with 118 points.
27- Yo-Yo, The Osmonds. 122 points, same as:
26- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Joan Baez.
25- Put Your Hand In The Hand, Ocean. A real golden age for songs of faith on the top 40. 127 points, same as:
24- Ain't No Sunshine, Bill Withers, and:
23- Treat Her Like A Lady, Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. The name of that group kinda confused me, being a 2nd grader in a Catholic School at the time. Why did they have a nun?
22- You've Got A Friend, James Taylor. 137 points.
And wrapping up today's list:
21- Don't Pull Your Love, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds.
Tomorrow- well, if I tell you tomorrow's show, I won't have a teaser! So just come on back!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
A few thousand words about Christmas (or a few pictures)
***NOTE: New video starring SCRAPPY after all the pictures!***
And now, so you can see what I mean about Scrappy turning into "Incredible Hulk-Dog" Here's his latest movie; at about 4 minutes, he goes into "IHD mode"- running blindly everywhere- and right after, he begins the tearing up of the rug...which we still don't understand. Enjoy!
Frosty by Sunday |
Scrappy's Landing Christmas Eve |
Just starts snowing as we went out Christmas morning |
The fun of Christmas? The kids! |
Papa TJ, Mama Katie, Young'uns Jackson and Lizzie, Uncle Josh |
Final young'un Sierra, Aunt Rachel |
Aunt Emily and Cousin Abby |
...and, cousin Blaine |
Blaine's dad Andy, Grandpa Jack taking a selfie, Blaine and Mommy Kristen |
Emily trying to pass out presents, harassed by paparazzi |
Emily and Baxter |
Jack's new toy- a device for cooking marshmallows and dogs over a fire, that looks like a fishing pole. |
Lizzie with Sierra's new hat. |
Me and Baxter |