This week's M10 and other odds and ends

Including the just finished wrap to the fantasy football season, the annual All-Star Game.  It has been an annual event since 2008, and the Purple division (Home of the KCAs, the Fiery Beagles, and the spanking new champion Aguas) rolled to its fifth victory in 8 games, a 62-34 win over the Gold division.  With so many injuries this year, I ended up having to sub no less than 5 players with the next man up, and one of those subs- Frank Gore of the Colts, who hadn't scored in over a month- took the MVP with 2 TDs.    Moving on...

This week had a chance to be an all retro-soul debut week, and it misses that only narrowly.  The first of three debuts belongs to a new 9-piece band reminiscent of Gladys Knight und der Pipsters from Seattle.  They are Grace Love and the true Loves, and they come in at #10 with this:





Number nine broke the streak that could have been.  The band that comes in here is an indy band called Ducktails, and their deceptively named Headbanging In The Mirror takes the #9 spot.







At this point, as many of you have already heard, the Martin 50 for the year is decided, and it is a good one!  I told Laurie, "I've done charts for a long time.  One of the indications of a good chart is where you hit the first song after which you wish you could cram them all into the top 5.  That started at #19."  There were 57 songs made the M10 this year- but not all of them made the M10.  There are 6 tunes that never got into the M10- and the 9 #1 songs of the M10 are clustered between #s 11 and 2.  That's right, the top song for 2015 didn't even appear on the M10 (Came out to me in April, M10 started in late August).  Not exactly sure how they will be presented yet, so stay tuned for more info after the New Year.


Number eight, the last of the debuts, has an interesting story.  Back in 1972, Pepsi did a series of local "Sounds Of The Summer" contests for high school bands, and the winner in Virginia was a funk band who called themselves the Equatics.  Their lp, Doin' It!!!, became an unknown funk classic and this year was released to CD.  Their hit from that lp sits at #8:





This was not a good week for older tunes in the M10.  Numbers 4, 6, and 9 dropped out, and Avril Lavigne falls from 3 to #7 with I'm With You, which peaked at #2 a couple weeks ago.

Last week's debut at 10, Boz Scaggs' Small Town Talk, is the hottest of the bullets this week, strolling its way up to #6.


Another of those items I was going to address is the upcoming Beauty Contest.  I still haven't figured out how I am going to mash them into one (maybe two) posts yet, but I can tell you there were 53 candidates for the contest, fifteen semi-finalists, and 6 girls patiently awaiting to see who Scrappy will pick.  And even though she has him pretty well bribed, KC's friend Jessica is NOT eligible:

Here are the girls that didn't make the semis:

Sally Carr (Middle Of The Road)
Karen Chandler
Sophia Loren
Barbara Streisand
Laulie Jean Norman
Janis Joplin
Debbie Neville
Linda Parrish
Patty Valentine
Lisa Loeb
Betty Friedan (EYYYUCK!)
Dee Dee Sharp
Barbara Lewis
Little Peggy March
Mary Ann Mobley
Nancy Sinatra
Alex Kingston (Put that sonic trowel away!)
Aretha Franklin
Carly Simon
Susan Cowsill
Patty Hansen
Etta James
Anita Ward
Claudine Clark
Suzanne Pleshette
Barbara Bel Geddes
Debbie Gibson
Gayle McCormick
France Joli
Rena Scott
Donna Fargo
Betty Boop (yes, that Betty Boop)
Helen Kane
Corrinne Morgan
...and the Singing Nun.


Little Green Cars move up a couple notches for the second week, pulling into the #5 slot with Harper Lee.

The other guy that looks like me, Dent May, moves a strong 4 into the #4 slot with Born Too Late.

Alvvays slips one more into the #3 spot with Archie Marry Me.

Beach House takes dead aim at its third top dog;  Beyond Love moves up 3 to #2.

And the Decemberists, who have been in the hunt since the 10th of November, remain at the top with The Wrong Year!

Next week, things begin to turn back to normal... maybe... I guess you'll have to tune in next Friday to find out!