More fun with wastebook

Before I get started, let me congratulate President  Obama on his decision to not go forward with the Keystone Pipeline project (“Because we haven’t had time to study it,” Be sure to use whiney voice to read quote.)  He has done yet another great service to the cause of racial equality by proving that numbskulls like Jimmy Carter who should never have been elected President come in all colors, flavors, and ethnic groups.

We start off with #45 today- actually, I’ll be hitting a subsidiary point of this one.  The main story was the spending of nearly $700,000 in Nevada to spruce up ONE (count ‘em, one) highway exit with “striped” boulders and “Native” vegetation.  This is, of course, bad enough; but Coburn goes on to mention that it came on the heels of a Lawsuit that Clark County had to settle on a $120 million road widening project.  It seems that they rejected a bid $4.5 million LOWER than the one they took because “the contractor was not properly licensed”  (read: non-union); the judge smelled horseshit and the county ended up paying an extra $5 mil to the non-union outfit for screwing them.  Mr. GiaQuinta, Mr. Moses, can you see WHY most of your constituents want the Right-To-Work legislation to pass in Indiana?  Can you see why we’re sick of union manipulation, corruption, and lies?  Of course not, you have union dollars clouding your vision.
Martin Savings: outside of what could be saved by banning unions altogether, which I won’t go into here, the county could have saved $9.5 million dollars just by being honest and following the law instead of crawling into a union pocket. Why, you could’ve decorated 13 1/2 more exits with that!

#40 is another one of my beaten path, because this is one of those few times I’ll say, “See?  Barney Frank is right!!!”  The Congressional Committee on Wartime Contracting estimates that upwards of $4.4 billion was wasted on inefficient, corrupt, and inflated contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011 ALONE.  I realize that many like minded conservatives such as myself decry the removing of the least dollar from the defense budget, but OMG you idiots, LOOK AT THIS!! I hear way too much about how defense cuts will “hurt our navy, hurt our reputation, hurt our vets”, etc.  So cut the right spots and it will only hurt crooked contractors.

#36, which I had to throw in just because of the ridiculousness of it.  $50,400 went to the Oregon Cheese Guild who are using some of it to develop the “Oregon Cheese Trail”, which you can see here.  Just think, had the Donners just took the Oregon Cheese Trail, they wouldn’t have had to eat each other.

Finally, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t take a poke at our good friends at USAID.  This one’ll crack you up.  We start out with a $23 million, 3-yr project to aid Pakistan with its electrical grid failure by getting them to use less energy.  The first year ended with these results: 15 industries targeted to develop energy conservation plans, 0 completed. 10 companies targeted to evaluate energy efficiency, 0 completed. 300 energy companies targeted to upgrade equipment, 0 did so. 4 energy distribution companies targeted to implement conservation strategies, none did so. 300 energy sector employees trained, 138 actually got the training.  So one year and $2 million later, they “changed strategy”.  Where have we heard that before?

The new strategy was to get farmers to ditch their old, inefficient energy pumps that USAID would pick up half the cost of.  Their contractor told USAID that they would be able to provide the pumps for $500 per, but as the year drew on, the cost just for the pumps rose to “$1,000 to $4,000”.  Thus it was that instead of paying $5.5 mil for 11,000 pumps at $500 per, they paid $10 million for 963 pumps at $8,500 per!
The IG’s report found that while USAID and the contractor blamed most of it on floods that wracked the nation last year, the real causes were mostly farmer indifference.  Why didn’t the Pakistani farmers jump on the deal?
1- farmers wanted some bucks for the old pumps that they had to get rid of, and USAID failed to anticipate this.
2- the cost of new masonry and electrical also weren’t factored in, and most farmers flat couldn’t afford them.
3- pump manufacturers didn’t want to participate in a short-term program.
4- the regional energy utility was penciled in as a partner, but they declined to participate.
5- almost 8,000 farmers submitted “letters of interest” in the program. USAID, having not the example of Gunner Kiel to learn from, assumed “interest”=”participation”, assumed that all of these were going to participate, but only one out of eight actually did.
6-USAID was allowing one day for the required cement to dry.  Probably not a good idea, since the concrete needed 28 days to cure.
7- and probably the most important, even with USAID paying half, farmers could get the pumps cheaper FROM CHINA.

The IG’s reports that the program be discontinued when it hits year #3 in March.  Even if they did renew, USAID would have to re-budget for a more reasonable pump price, bump their contribution to 75 %, and kick in another 10% for the old pump.
Martin savings:  Let ‘em buy from China.  Require USAID to formulate a coherent plan before giving them ANY money. The current system is a lot like giving a 3 year old a Toys ‘R Us gift card and sending him in alone.  Another way to save money wqould apparently be to stop training the unemployed and just send them to work at USAID, where an education (and common sense) isn’t exactly required.  Or even expected.

Uhhnn… Sorry, I must have blacked out…

Sorry, this post has nothing to do with the protest against SOPA (although I was one of those who sent the letter to his congressman- and, said congressman has posted on facebook that he plans to vote against it), I just couldn’t resist the tag line.  So lat me get on with my pirating.


Former Umpire Marty Springstead died at home at the age of 74.  Marty was one of the true good guys, a well respected official (which puts him ahead of 99% of NFL refs this year).


Next, The CBS evening news led off with perhaps the stupidest thing I have EVER heard on broadcast television:
“The cruise ship captain under fire for abandoning his vessel while thousands of passengers scrambled for rescue has reportedly come up with an explanation for his flight - he accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat.”


COME. F’N. ON.

I tripped and fell into a lifeboat.  That’s why the commander of the coast guard spent a half-hour vainly trying to order my yellow ass back onto the ship.  So now not only is he a craven coward, but also a blatant liar.  Sorry to be unforgiving, but It will be a fine day when he adds “Convicted felon” to the accolades he won with this trip.


As of right now, Cashbox has not gotten their server back up.  Rest assured, that with a little warning and scads of extra time (yep, another early weekend due to lack of work), I will be doing… something… this Friday.  Not sure what, but I just had an idea and if I remember it long enough I might just try it.  Assuming SOPA doesn’t stop me.

Add caption

Now, I realize that I do my hockey posts for my own entertainment.  My followers include those who dislike hockey, those who don’t understand hockey, those that can’t skate (me neither), and Lord help us, Philly Flyers fans.  Never the less, I have an addendum to last night’s post, in particular the glancing blow I dealt to the Continental cup tourney.  It seems that once they got to the Sunday games, they weren’t going by goal differential amongst all four teams, but only the differential in the games between the three teams still in it.  Thus, when Yunost won, they needed a Rouen win of 2 goals or less.  Donbass needed a win, and they trailed Rouen 3-2 with less than three minutes left, which would have given the cup to Yunost.  But Rouen scored twice IN THE LAST 2 1/2 MINUTES to get their 3-goal margin and the cup!  And the game was in Rouen, can you imagine what that arena must have been like when that last goal went in?

They're calling it "Le Miracle de Rouen"!

Tune in tomorrow, when- at Average Girl’s request, I will do a post about yoga, and… what?  That got blacked out?  Pirating charges?  Oh well, maybe I’ll just raid wastebook for more bon mots instead.

The boys in Orsk

Before we get to this morning’s game, I have a few notes and going’s on to tell you about.  The Continental Cup, which involves clubs from all over Europe, had its “superfinals” – a four team round robin for the championship- over this weekend.  The finalists were our good friends from Donbass, the perrenial French champs Rouen, the Belorussian Extraliga champs Yunost Minsk, and Italian kingpins Asiago.  Friday it was Donbass edging the Belorussians 2-1 and Rouen blowing out Asiago 6-0.  Saturday Yunost surprised Rouen 4-2 and Donbass took its turn at the Italians 6-2.  So three teams had a chance at the crown on Sunday, with total margin being the tiebreaker.  Yunost took out Asiago 4-1 leaving them 4 goals to the good and and essentially eliminated.  They needed a Donbass loss by 2 AND a Rouen tie, which of course could not happen.  Rouen needed a 2 goal win to tie Donbass; what they got was a 5-2 win, earning them their first cup championship.  Defending champ Yunost finished second, leaving Donbass third.

Which brings us to our game in Orsk. Lokomotiv coach Vorobiev said before the game: “ We arrived in Orsk on the eve of the match.  Did not even see the city, just rested from the road.  The match at Chelyabinsk was very heavy, we had time to recover.  The mood of the team, battle.  The guys are working, trying, but they are not used to playing against adult players.”  The three game losing streak was endangering their seeding in the upcoming tournament, and they desperately needed a win to close their road trip.

Orsk, for its part, is hockey crazy;  Not only did they sell out the 4,600 seat arena, but sold almost 1,000 SRO tickets at the door at game time!  Special pricing made the tickets cost ($ equivalent) 1.88 to 3.76.  The pricing was explained by officials as, “it’s about the prestige of the full stands.  By the time we pay everyone, we don’t make any money.”

The game opened with Orsk’s Anton Buhanko (which, amusingly enough, comes through google translate as “ a loaf of Anton”) scoring at 3:41 of the first for a 1-0 home team lead.  But at the 14-15 minute mark, two skaters from Orsk drew penalties, and Egor Martynov scored on a shot from the blue line to even things at 1-1 at 15:50.  Still, Orsk escaped from the first with a lead when the league’s leading goal scorer, Roman Muzychko, beat Pavel Shegala while lying at the side of the goal for his 22nd and a 2-1 lead.

How do you stop a guy who scores from HERE?

The second period was scoreless, with Orsk goalie Sergei Magarilov stopping Daniel Romantsev on a penalty shot.

The third, however, belonged to Emil Galimov.  His 5th of the year came at 5:13 of the final stanza and tied the game 2-2; his second, on a shot from way out where he was hoping to set up a rebound but Magarilov whiffed on it, came at 13:37 and gave the kids a 3-2 win.

Afterwards, Vorobiev said, “We played well in Chelyabinsk, but had no luck.  Tonight, we were lucky.”

The kids now have 9 days off before they return home to play Lada Togliatti, who played in the KHL the first season before being demoted.

More wastebook fun

Before we begin, I have a little story from FoxNews via the NYTimes about some of our favorite wastrels, the Occupy Wall Street movement.


Single dad trying to take back home from Occupy Wall Street protesters


They’re occupying his home.
Occupy Wall Street protesters announced with great fanfare last month that they moved a homeless family into a “foreclosed” Brooklyn, N.Y., home — even though they knew the house belonged to a struggling single father desperately trying to renegotiate his mortgage, The Post has learned.
“They’re trying to take a house and say the bank is robbing the people because the mortgage is too high — so contact the owner!” fumed Wise Ahadzi, 28, who owns the home at 702 Vermont St. in East New York.
Occupiers “reclaimed” the row house on Dec. 6 and ceremoniously put out the welcome mat for a homeless family.But Bank of America, which has been in and out of foreclosure proceedings against Ahadzi since 2009, confirmed to The Post that he is still the rightful owner.Meanwhile, the family that OWS claimed to be putting into the vacant house has not yet permanently moved in.
 And it turns out the family is not a random victim of the foreclosure crisis, but cast for the part, thanks to their connection to the OWS movement.OWS last week said it has spent $9,500 breaking into the house and setting it up for the homeless Carrasquillo family. A photo of the smiling family covers a window, under the slogan, “A place to call home.”The head of the family, Alfredo Carrasquillo, 28, is an organizer for VOCAL- NY, a group that works with OWS. His Facebook page shows him in a “99 Percent” T-shirt at an OWS protest in November.
The Post visited the Vermont Street home last week — six weeks after OWS announced that the Carrasquillos were moving in — and the family was nowhere to be found.In fact, the only people occupying the house were occupiers themselves.
“They only stay here sometimes,” a protester named Charlie said of the Carrasquillos. “There’s not enough room for the kids.”
The occupier refused to say how many others were inside, but at least two more protesters could be seen at the house, along with mattresses on the floor, during The Post visit.“We’re almost done with the basement,” he said of the renovations.The real property owner is livid because he could be raising his two little girls, Imani, 3, and Kwazha, 10, in the two-story home instead of in a meager, two-bedroom rental in Brownsville while he tries to sort out his mortgage nightmare.
Police notified him in early December that the vigilante vagrants moved into his East New York digs, he said. He immediately ran over to the house to see for himself.


Wow, major credibility blow! As if these A-holes had any credibility to begin with.  It's a shame that they took a good idea and filtered it through all their leftist propaganda to create the same thing they always create- a pile of lying, disingenuous shit wrapped in a pretty foil wrapper to make it look like candy.  And the only ones dumb enough to believe this crap are those who never pull the wrapper off.





#52- the NSF passed out $126,242 to "several researchers" to study the websites of political candidates.  One of the goals therein was "to see whether candidates live up to their campaign promises."
Martin savings- here's a big clue, Mr. Researcher.  If you're getting money for this, they're not keeping their campaign promises.

#50- Our good friends at USAID are sending $1.35 million to Barbados to set up an "entrepeneur initiative".  Just so I don't seem holier-than-thou, I must mention that the whole thing is being partnered by Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.  The reasoning behind sending money to Barbados to help them be a more efficient, high tech, user friendly tourist trap?  From a USAID rep:  "(It will) address the challenge of creating new business opportunities in Barbados and its neighboring countries, especially for Carribean young people."
Martin savings:  Number of unemployed in the USA as of November 2011- 13.1 million.  Number of people in Barbados, total: 273,331.  Do the math.  Frankly after what happened in Columbus yesterday, they might get more bang for the buck if they gave IU's share to the athletic Dept.

#49- Let's just let this one speak for itself.

Numerous reports indicate the Department of Energy‘s Weatherization Assistance program is

riddled with waste and abuse. After issuing a Management Alert about such problems in 2009,

the U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General (DOE IG) found the weatherization program
suffered from poor workmanship, inflated material costs, and inadequate inspections in 2010.

The investigation focused on Illinois‘ weatherization

program, which received $242 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The report found substandard home assessments,weatherization workmanship, and contractor billing, which ―put the entire program at risk.

In another example, New Jersey was forced to end a $4 million federally-funded weatherization

job training program after a lack of job demand left trainees without prospects

-only seven of the 184 aspiring workers that received training found work in the field.

The program received $230 million in FY 2011 through regular appropriations. The program

also received an additional $8.1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

(ARRA) {AKA the stimulus bill}, nearly eight times the normal amount of annual funding for weatherization purposes
across all federal programs.

 The DOE IG has described ARRA funding for green energy as so at odds with the realities on the ground that it was akin to attaching a lawn mower to a fire hydrant.

Illionois corrupt?  Programs in New Jersey incompetant?  Say it ain't so!  The federal government paying inflated prices?  Green initiatives being "pie in the sky"?  Cahmahn!  All right, maybe.  Here's a bit from the report on the Community and Economic Development Ass'n of Cook County Illinois:

The IG report paints a grim picture of CEDA's efforts. Of the 15 homes IG inspectors visited, 12 failed final inspection because of substandard workmanship. In 10 of the homes, contractors had billed for labor or materials they did not provide. CEDA, meanwhile, did a poor job on inspections, earning a 62 percent final inspection error rate on homes that state officials had reinspected, according to the report.

IG inspectors also found that CEDA approved materials with inflated costs from contractors, with prices for smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and thermostats marked up as much as 200 percent above retail. Compact fluorescent bulbs were almost triple the price; one lamp listed in CEDA's catalogue was $3.50, compared to an average retail price of $1.33.

Here's some more bon mots about the efficacy of "throwing money at a problem":

Inspector General Gregory Friedman, testifying before a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, outlined a range of problems, from a flood of $35 billion in stimulus money that overwhelmed the department's $27 billion annual budget to weatherization programs of such shoddy quality that more than half of those audited failed inspection because of substandard workmanship.
Even as the Energy Department hired new workers to manage the sudden inflow of funds, Friedman said, the state and local governments responsible for spending the money were laying off workers and were "simply put, overwhelmed".

And just so IU doesn't get all the Indiana bashing this time, here's #46.  Once again, our porker is the NSF (Which I wonder if it stands for "National Science Foundation" or "Never Sufficient Funds"), who gave Notre Dame $764,825 to study the "wireless and social networking habits of college freshmen."  250 students will each be given a specially rigged Sprint Smart phones (not surprising, as Sprint CEO David Hesse, a leading organizer of the study, is a Notre Dame alumn) that will track their location (to see how far apart they have to be before they text instead of talk?), digital communications, and purchases.  Plus, two years of free service from Sprint!

Martin savings, part one:  Get this: "More than 98.8 percent of college students own a cell phone, according to a 2010 study from Ball State University. The study also found that 97 percent of students use text messaging as their main form of communication."  Could they have not saved $ buy just funding Ball State to do additional study on their established frame work?  (But then Sprint wouldn't have gotten such a sweetheart prospecting deal, Chris!)

Martin Savings, part 2:  The most expensive Sprint plan I found was $99/mo.  Over 2 years for 250 students comes out to $594,000.    That MIGHT mean that the tracking gizmo is $683 PER PHONE-  which is abot 2 1/4 times the highest price I found for a smartphone.  I say just have them turn in the phone after the 2 years, dissect the memory, and save $170,000.

Sunday message +

Last night as we prepared to watch New England’s 45-10 dismantling of Denver, there was an ad that came on featuring a group of children reciting John 3:16.  Some read a verse, some interjected things like, “that’s a lot of people”.  I’m not here to pontificate about the ad, but about mine and KC’s reactions to it- and how we were both off base a bit.

KC, being in a cynical time in his life, immediately said, “It’s just a shame that they have to have kids come on and say what grown men are ashamed to.”  Which is true, but it really didn’t apply here, and I admonished him with, “I don’t think it’s about grown men being ashamed, but about kids being cuter.”  KC’s right, in a way, though; but the shame might lean more toward the fact that we need something “cute” to draw our attention to the message.

Where I jumped the track was in attitude; as I watched, I was all about wondering who sponsored the ad (Focus on the Family, as it turned out).  I’m thinking, who’s going to catch the wrath of all the “civil libertarians” out there this time?  The UMC?  The Catholic Church? Perhaps the Mormons, as that is a) Tim Tebow’s church, b) the Bible verse the world is currently attaching to Tebow, and c) it is his team getting pummeled at the moment.  And of course, the answer here is, what of it?  Mormons are in the spotlight lately what with Mitt Romney’s campaign, Tebow’s successes (or lack thereof), and the recent “I am a Mormon” ad campaign.  And it would seem the “proper” evangelical take on this “should be” “Pay no attention to them, they are a cult”.  That is what we’ve been taught, but I’ve been thinking about that.  I don’t know what goes on either inside their church or in their hearts;  I don’t know if they consider Joseph Smith a prophet or a nutball that just happened to start their church (from what I’ve HEARD, I lean toward the second).  But I do know that their ad campaign features the redeeming effect of the love of Christ in their lives, and then I look at Mark 9:38-40:

Mar 9:38  And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out demons in Your name, and he does not follow us. And we forbade him, because he does not follow us.
Mar 9:39  But Jesus said, Do not forbid him. For there is no one who shall do a work of power in My name who can lightly speak evil of Me.
Mar 9:40 For he who is not against us is for us.


And yet, all of that was off the point that God made to me this morning.  The point was the children themselves.  Now, it’s easy for us to think, “Will they still believe this when they are older?”  And with the hordes of FFR chomping at the bit to “evangelize” such kids for atheism (which “isn’t a religion”, I am told), It’s easy to be discouraged on the subject.

But then, it hit me, as I prayed that God would keep each one of them in this faith they show now.  It hit me that I can PRAY for them, and be confident that my Loving God will do His will in their lives.

And conversely, FFR can spread their hate far and wide, but… they have nobody to PRAY TO to prevent the saving of these children’s souls.

Which brings us back to KC’s cynicism, and my own pessimism about this world.  It’s so hard to watch every day the evil that people run after, the bad choices made, and those who actively (whether they realize it or not) work to see Satan’s will done on earth.  But we forget the HUGE ADVANTAGE we have in that WE CAN PRAY!  And those prayers put the Creator of the universe on our side.

Now I don’t have to harass FFR to know what their response to that is- “Go ahead and talk to your imaginary friend and see what good it does.”  They have a limited conception that would only accept a God who performs like a genie in a bottle.  Say a prayer, and “Poof” comes the answer.  Sorry, Jafar, it don’t work that way.  God’s goal is not one of this earth, and often can’t be seen on this earth.

So this morning, I praise my “Imaginary Friend” because He is the Big Advantage- and all that I need to get through.  And thank you for those children.  It is not surprising to me that the verses immediately BEFORE the ones I quoted go like this:

Mar 9:36  And He took a child, and embraced it, and set him in their midst. And He said to them,
Mar 9:37  Whoever receives one of such children on My name receives Me. And whoever receives Me does not only receives Me, but Him who sent Me.

-----------------------------------------------------

And now on to the “+”.  Lokomotiv played Mechel Chelyabinsk yesterday morning.  Mechel blew out to a 3-1 lead by 11:55 into the game on goals by Dmitry Tsybin (4:28), Nikita Panasenko (7:57), and Sergei Topol (11:55).  Rafael Akhmetov got his 4th to tie things at 1-1 for about 2 minutes before the deluge hit.  But we weren’t rolling over just yet; Kirill Kapustin got his 3rd at 17:08 to cut it to a 3-2 game after 1 period.  Youngster Nikita Lozhkin got pulled after Panasenko’s goal- having given up 2 scores on 5 shots- and Pavel Shegala came in.
  But the real star was Mechel goalie Vladislav Fokin.  Despite a 14-6 barrage against him in the second, the score did not change.  Dmitry Kostromitin gave Mechel back a 2-score advantage just 23 seconds into the third, on one of their 6 shots they got in the period.  Again Lokomotiv terrorized Fokin, out shooting Mechel 17-6 ( and thus 31-12 over the last two periods), but could not beat him again until Emil Galimov tallied his 4th with 3:11 left.  But even with Shegala on the bench the rest of the way for the sixth attacker, Fokin would not be moved, and Lokomotiv had lost its third straight game.  Mechel, perhaps, won a pyrrhic victory, with 4 players going down with injuries- two with fractures- in the course of the game.  For our part, coach Petr Vorobiev said that while they team played well, “The goalies played poorly, and this is the result.”

Monday, the boys will face off against Yuzhny Ural (South Urals) out of Orsk, a city located where the line between Europe and Asia reaches the Kazakh border.  The ticket office opened for this game Saturday morning and sold out all 4,500 tickets in 3 hours!  If nothing else, Lokomotiv really brings out the crowds across the league to see them.  For example, 2,500 turned out for Saturday’s game in Chelyabinsk; the Game Mechel had Thursday against Yuzhny drew 750. ( the caveat being that Orsk draws well normally, and the night after Mechel drew 750 the big team-KHL leading Traktor- drew ten times that to watch their team get beat 2-1 in a shootout by… wait for it… Avtomobilst!)

the great seventies countdown week 7

"Those of you that travel here by time machine, "  the host announces, "I have talked to Randy Price from Cashbox Time Machine Repair.  He tells me that the problem this week was server related and should be solved in time for next week's trip.  But for today, as we are gathered here, the show must go on."

210- Love Me, Yvonne Elliman, 1976, #14.  My #1 girl.  You should hear Robin Gibb on the Bee Gees version, too.

209-I'd Love You To Want Me, Lobo, 1972, #2.  Anyone out there that doesn't go silent to hear the "ooo-ooo-oooh" in the chorus?

208- Lucky Man, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, 1971 (#48) and 1973(#51).  A classic AOR fairytale song, it was thrown in to fill out the debut lp by Greg Lake, who'd written it a decade before when he was 12.

207- Goodbye Stranger, Supertramp, 1979, #15.  The third single off the huge lp Breakfast In America.  Loved the chorus, put up with the verses.

206- Your Move/I've Seen All Good People, Yes, 1971, #40.  As you can see, progressive rock got less than deserved attention on the pop charts.  That's why I liked it.  "Don't surround yourself with yourself/ Move on back to squares..."

205- It's Too Late, Carole King, 1971, #1.  Half of a 2-sided #1 with I Feel The Earth Move.  My other #1 girl.  From the great all-time album Tapestry.

204- Ripples, Genesis, 1976, non-charting.  From (to me) the best of all Genesis lps, A Trick Of The Tail.  Listen to the lyrics and see if it doesn't capture you.


203- Oh What A Night (December 1963), the Four Seasons, 1975, #1.  C'mon, those of you that followed the sixties countdown KNEW you wouldn't get away without the Four Seasons!  Hard to believe that this song's original composition was about prohibition ("December 5th in 1933").

202- Cowgirl In The Sand, Neil Young, 1970, unreleased.  The great album Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere had the one single (Cinnamon Girl) which was far surpassed by the two long tracks- this one at 10:06 and Down By The River at 9:13.  "Old enough now to change your name/when so many love you, is it the same?/it's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game..."

201- Drift Away, Dobie Gray, 1973, #5.  This song's what it's all about for me in music.  "Beginning to think that I'm wasting time/ I don't understand the things I do/ the world outside seems so unkind/ and I'm counting on you to carry me through..."

200- Love Hurts, Nazareth, 1976, #8.  I knew Roy Orbison hit with this first.  What I didn't know is he got it from an Everly Brothers lp.

199- Dreadlock Holiday, 10cc, 1978, #44.  When they weren't overtly trying to be pop, few bands were as fun as 10cc.




198- Ships, Barry Manilow, 1979, #9.  This has become my favorite "post-big 4" song from Barry, the Sinatra of my generation.

197- Ruby Red Dress (Leave Me Alone), Helen Reddy, 1973, #3.  Another of Helen's crazy women.

196- Love Is Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb, 1977, #1.  Yes, I have this higher than Shadow Dancing.  It was too much different than everything else to not get my attention.

195- Good Timin', Beach Boys, 1979, #40.  Paraphrase the comment for #203.



194- Kentucky Rain, Elvis Presley, 1970, #16.  Almost the best of "Fat Elvis" (See last week to figure out this isn't an insult to the King).

193- Feelin' Stronger Every Day, Chicago, 1973, #10.  Chicago with horns ALWAYS beats Chicago without horns.  Too bad Peter Cetera couldn't get that through his fat head.

192- Sour Suite, the Guess Who, 1971, #50.  Hey, it was #12 in Canada.  Still wonder what they had against Indianapolis.

191- Tangled Up In Blue, Bob Dylan, 1975, #31.  As Darius Rucker says, "Ain't Bobby so cool...?"


"That is our show for this week, " the Host says as the lights go up.  "Here's a little soft something to listen to on your way home.  Good night, everybody!"

Hey. where’s my Time machine??

Good question.  Answer is, the Cashbox US site is down- IE says it “can’t find it”- so for the first time in almost 90 weeks, no time machine.  I’m looking into some options if it doesn’t recover, but let’s just look at it as a Friday the 13th thing.  I thought perhaps it could be a convolutions of Friday the 13ths, but in 1977 it would have been a Thursday.

One of the considerations I’m looking into is the CKLW charts off my former favorite Detroit radio station.  The chart for this week had 4 tunes that we haven’t yet experienced.  One of those I mentioned as a debut a few weeks back, Hall and Oates’ Do What You Want, Be Who You Are.  Billboard had this song peaking at #39 here, but on CKLW it was spending a third week all the way up at 11.  Then comes a song that was in its second week at 16, the Dramatics (best known for Whatcha See Is What Ya Get) with Be My Girl, a song Billboard peaked at 53, but went to #3 R&B. Ironically, the Dramatics would cover Do What You Want in 1979.  Then comes a Canadian band called Conspiracy with a disco number called Night Chaser at 25.  Finally, Fly By Night, an AOR track that was actually the title cut of the 1975 lp by Rush, sat at 29.  Why it waited that long to make their chart, I have no idear.

Their top ten this week 35 years ago had Bob Seger’s Night Moves slipping to #10 after peaking at 9 last week; Hot Line  by the Sylvers climbing into the ten at #9, up 4; Burton Cummings was down 2 with Stand Tall, a song that peaked at #4 two weeks before; ELO was also down 2 with Living Thing, after stopping at #5 for a couple weeks; Dazz had peaked at 4 as well for Brick, and slipped 2 to #6; Stevie Wonder was at #5, up 3, with I Wish; the Jacksons had shot from 10 to 4 with Enjoy Yourself; and the top three held their spots- You Make Me Feel Like Dancing at 3, Tonight’s The Night at 2, and Rose Royce’s Car Wash at #1.

I could get on Cashbox Canada’s site, and sent them a message about the problem.  Have not heard back as yet.  Thus, as the Dramatics said, whatcha see is whatcha get.  Hopefully once they get over their bout of Triskaidekaphobia  we’ll be right back here next week.  In the meantime, enjoy the balmy weather- and no Alisha, it’s too cold to go out and make a snowman!