Time Machine Co-ordinates VIXLV47831657

Today, we enter the Twilight Zone- March 16, 1957.  For it is said that something amazing happened today.  According to the tinfoil-hat brigade...

That's right folks, it's hard to believe it has been quite that long but sixty years (as of last year) has come to pass since the day everything changed when President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon met Valiant Thor shortly after he landed in Alexandria, Virginia on March 16, 1957.

And just who is Valiant Thor?


Believed to have come from Planet Venus Commander Val or Valient Thor was a Venusian who was sent to earth to stop humanity from wiping each other out by following a nuclear war since at that time Cold War was at its peak. 

 (T)he late Phil Schneider, a geologist and engineer who said he had level-1 security clearance in secret government projects...  said the alien had been working for the U.S. military since 1937. Thor had six fingers on each hand, an oversized heart, one giant lung, copper oxide blood like an octopus, an IQ off the scale (could be estimated as 1200), and could speak 100 languages fluently (including alien languages). He also said his lifespan is 490 years. He even proved to the audience once by speaking a fluent language which was not recognised as any language from this world.

And they bitch about the Russians these days....


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I don't even know how to go about topping that one, so maybe let's just settle in and enjoy some good music, a battle to the death for the M10 #1, a somewhat tamer Panel battle, what Terry Gilkyson has to do with the Beach Boys, Mitch Miller, or Dean Martin, and much more!  Well, maybe not THAT much more; but it will be fun!  Well, I hope it'll be fun...

"You're starting to sound like me!  Well, maybe not LIKE me... maybe a little more like..."

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Today, we welcome Kay Starr to the Panel mike!  It's good to finally meet you!

Thanks, good to be here!  Well, not good per se, more like...

Sigh, I see we have found our running joke for the day...

I used to know a brave named Running Joke at the reservation...

That's right, you were born on a reservation, your father was full-blood Iroquois...

Yes, that's right.  I got my big break at age 9 singing to the chickens after school!

And then, an aunt got you on a talent show, and you did great...

Well, for a little girl who sounded like a jazzed-up Alfalfa...

Thankfully, you didn't LOOK like Alfalfa.  Anyway, you know the drill here.  We have 14 stations this week, and 11 contestants- which means the votes are all spread out, and the winner won by a 3-2 count!  All right, here's the list..

Let's see... So I get to knock out two birds with one stone here... the song Butterfly is on the list twice, once by Charlie Grace, who was at 11 on Billboard, and Andy Williams, who was #9- but both together were at #5 on Cashbox.  

I have Jimmy Bowen and the Rhythm Orchids at # 17 with I'm Sticking With You, and... yes?  Do you have to go to the bathroom?

Er, no, but I have a story to shoehorn in here.  The Rhythm Orchids were a band of high school buddies that hit it big when they shared a gig with Roy Orbison, who knew a guy, etc etc.  The record here, which Jimmy sang, was actually the b-side to a tune that the other singer for the Orchids sang- that being Buddy Knox and the bigger hit Party Doll!

VERY nice.  Now our next song is Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders... um, I take it you have ANOTHER story?

Yes, ma'am.  The Easy Riders were a folk band, managed by Mitch Miller.  They were responsible for another couple of songs we know- last week's contestant Memories Are Made Of This from Dean Martin, and a cover of a 1927 song called Tell The Captain- which would eventually be worked into the Beach Boys' classic Sloop John B.

And that was a big song, too?

Yep, in about 8 years...

Then maybe we could stay on point, I do have a career to get back to.  The song they have on our Panel list was Marianne, which they and the Hilltoppers had at #2- Billboard had the Orchids at 5 and the Hilltoppers at #8-  I always liked that one.  "All the little children love Marianne... down by the seaside, sifting sand.."

Sounds great!

Oh, aren't you sweet!  Frankie Laine is next, with Moonlight Gambler at #15.

Then we have Perry Como's Round And Round at #7.  I vote for him- what a man!

Tommy Sands had Teenage Crush at #3.

Patsy Cline had Walking After Midnight at #14.

The Four Lads were at #12 with Who Needs You?

And Young Love- the Sonny James version- was at #1.  On Billboard he was at #4 while Tab Hunter's version was at the top.  And that's the list!

Thank you, Miss Starr!  And now, I give you our top 2 and a couple of ringers to pick the winner from.  Who captured the whopping 21.4% of the vote?  Was it Charlie's Butterfly, Andy's Butterfly, Sonny's Young Love, or Terry's Marianne?  Answer later!

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Debuting on the M10 at #10 is an act that has had now 3 top tens- including the #1 Love Is... !  The very latest from Dinosaur Jr...





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Our 6D victim was Elvis...

Not sure I'm likin' that, kemosabe...

  Not my fault, King; Too Much didn't get a vote.  I hit a Elvis  history page that brought up how it was that, sandwiched between Love Me Tender and All Shook Up, it became a "forgotten man".  But more interesting to me was the discussion about the guitar break...


Elvis’s vocal on “Too Much” is an energetic but simple, repetitive chant. What gives the recording its distinctive character, instead, is Scotty Moore’s unusual guitar solo. In the 1971 radio documentary, The Elvis Presley Story, Scotty recalled how it came about:

“I don’t remember now exactly what I had nailed down for the solo instrumental part. It was in an odd key … well, for most guitar players, I would say. When my instrumental part came, I absolutely just got lost. I didn’t know where I was at. But from the experience we had already gained in these months behind us, in playing on stage, you go ahead, you just keep on going, and this is what I did. And this was the take that was released.”

In his 1997 book, That’s Alright, Elvis, Scotty again described his guitar solo, this time attributing spitefulness to Elvis in his decision to use that particular take: “We did several takes, but on this particular one, I just got lost. I just kept chunking away. I didn’t make any mistakes, but it wasn’t the same solo I played on the other takes. Somehow I came out of it exactly where I was supposed to be.”

When the song was over, Elvis called for a playback. As he listened, he looked at Scotty with a grin. “He knew I had gotten lost, but he loved the way it turned out,” said Scotty. “When the song ended, he raised up and said, ‘That’s it,’ and he did it for damned meanness. He knew I had gotten lost and he knew damned well I would have to live with it.” (From Elvis History Blog)

Nice to know that I'm not the only one you crapped on, eh, Elvis?

You wait, I'll get you for this...

Prolly so, but for a while, we're even...

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Second debut, this one from that new hotbed of music- Michigan, specifically Grand Rapids, home of the three-person act called Major Murphy...




No. 1 starts out at #9....


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Stat Pack time!

Once again, I had 11 down out of the 50.

#50 belonged to Georgia Gibbs with Silent Lips.

The big movers were two- 11-notch movers Gone by Ferlin Husky (31-20) and Why Baby Why by Pat Boone (34-23).

The UK #1 was Tab Hunter's Young Love; Sonny's was at #14, while Moonlight Gambler was at #28.

And among the week's debuts were Little Richard's Lucille (#44) and the prototype doo-wop song, Little Darlin' by the Diamonds (#29).

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The remaining M10:

We kick off with a pair of songs that drop 2 spots- Frankie Cosmos's Jesse to #8, and Decemberists' Severed at #7.

Which gives the Moondoggies enough space to actually climb for a change to #6, up 3, with Easy Coming.

And gives Dan Croll a lane to move up from 10 to 5 with Tokyo.

Holding at #4, Shilpa Ray and Rockaway Blues...

Holding at #3, Sunflower Bean and Twenty Two...

Holding at #2- just barely- Mikaela Davis and Little Bird...

And holding at #1 for a second week...

...Beach House and Lemon Glow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And who got the three votes?  Well, it was, no wait, it wasn't him, it was, no that's not right either...

Just kidding, this week's winner is....

Andy Williams with his Butterfly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, we go to 1958... wanna ride along, Kay?  Kay?  Wait, here's a note...

"Left with Elvis.  Later. Love, Kay."  

Boy, you can't leave nothing laying around with him about...