Time Machine week 86

One of the advantages of being a Time Lord- or a blogger- is you can write ahead, in little chunks, and schedule.  That is what is happening on today's TM because my back is messed up somewhat and I don't wanna spend a whole lotta concentrated time working on this (Because I can't spring for the gorgeous blonde secretary to take dictation here).  At any rate, by the time you see this, we'll be in August 19th, 1972- the early morning on which the first Midnight Special appeared after Carson on NBC.  John Denver was guest host, performing Take Me Home Country Roads, and was joined by Andy Kaufman, Argent (Hold Your Head Up), Mama Cass (duet of Leaving On A Jet Plane with John), Harry Chapin (Taxi), the Everlys (All I Have To Do Is Dream), the Isleys (Pop That Thang), Helen Reddy (I Don't Know How To Love Him), Linda Ronstadt (Long Long Time), War (Slippin' Into Darkness), and David Clayton Thomas doing some solo stuff.  Wolfman Jack was of course there, and they themed on getting young people to vote.  According to my best stats, it didn't help- voting under 30 dropped slightly in '72, and those that did still voted for Nixon.

Even on trial I still got it...

And we welcome you to the Time Machine of the week the M10 completed its first full year!  This week we'll celebrate with a couple of specials, three new debuts, and when the six degrees became the tops of the pops!  Let's dive right in and discover the Pompatus of Love, shall we?

____________________________________________________


The Panel this week who managed not to vote for the most popular song in the UK (and #6 here) consist of:  KQV Pittsburgh; KGGF Coffeyville; WKLO Louisville; KSTN Stockton; WSTP Salisbury NC; WOLF Syracuse; KSO Des Moines; WMEX Boston; KGY Olympia WA; WDGY Minneapolis; KRED Eureka CA; and WTIX New Orleans.  They collected 26 different songs, including five that got #1 votes- but not much else- and didn't make the Panel Four.  Those would be:  Mel and Tim's Starting All Over Again (Louisville), the O'Jays and Backstabbers (North Carolina), Mac Davis' Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (Iowa), Chicago's Saturday In The Park (Olympia), and Elton John's Honky Cat (NOLA).  Our low charter section is a bit down from last week;  Stockton had the Eagles' Take It Easy at #2, notwithstanding it left the big chart in July; and Arlo Guthrie sat at #70 with City Of New Orleans.

And the Panel Four, which included 2 songs that got NO #1s, looks like this:

Without a #1 vote and 13 points, the national #3, Luther Ingram's (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right.

Without a #1 vote and 15 points, the national #2, Looking Glass and Brandy.

With 22 points and the #1s of Stockton and Minneapolis, the national #5, the Hollies and Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress).

And at the top, with 5 number ones and 34 points, the national top dog.... stay tuned.


_______________________________________

Our first debut this week, which sits at #10, is the latest from a founding father act of Alternative.  They formed in the mid-eighties, broke up just before the new millennium, and reunited with the original lineup in 2005.  They are Dinosaur Jr, and they are here with this gem:




_________________________________________


Well, one of the things I have been wondering about is the Panel's #1 picks.  You see, I wondered if this week's #1 hadn't been #1 before (it had not), but I learned some fun facts about the Panel's top picks I thought I'd share.

First off, who's been there most.  Well, that top spot goes to the Beatles- and maybe Elton John.  The Beatles have 5 Panel #1s to their credit- She Loves You in week 13; Get Back in week 25; Yesterday, week 46; We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper, week 58; and I Want To Hold Your Hand just 3 weeks later.  Now, EJ also topped five times, but one was a repeat:  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, week 6; Crocodile Rock, week 10; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, week 53; and Philadelphia Freedom in weeks 19 and 70.  More on the repeat offender list in a bit.  So you could give EJ a demerit for the repeat; but since Neil Sedaka's Bad Blood (week 72) was an uncredited duet with Elton, I figure it's a wash.

Nobody else had more than two tunes in the list- and five of these were repeat offenders, too!  And the really weird thing about the repeat offenders- their repeats, save Philly Freedom, all came back to back!  The first repeater was George Harrison's My Sweet Lord, and there's a funny story about that one- it back-to-backed itself!  On Dec 18th, 2015, I did 1970 and it won.  I then skipped the next two weeks (as it was Christmas and New Years Day), and when I resumed, it was January 8th, I was in 1971- and George was still there!

Then came weeks 66-7 when the next two repeaters struck.  Week 66 was the second time for the very song George got sued for copying on My Sweet Lord- the Chiffons and He's So Fine!  They had also hit in week 16- the first time was the week of March 13, the second the week of April 1st.  And on week 67, Bobby Goldsboro hit for the second time (the first was wk 21) with Honey.  Those episodes were from the weeks of the 8th and the 24th of April.

And our last two repeaters came just a little while ago, weeks 83-4.  In week 83, the Stories' Brother Louie hit for the second time, the first week 35.  Those weeks were prolly the closest to being the same week- July 29th and August 7th.  The next week, the Lovin' Spoonful had their repeat of Summer In The City, first time week 37.  The Spoonful won for the weeks of August 5th and August 21.

_______________________________________

Debut #2 comes to us from a band with the unusual name of M.A.G.S.  Leader Elliot Douglas named the band after his grandma Maggie- it was supposed to be just Mags, but someone else had the name, thus the abbreviation.  Kinda like Alvvays is actually Always with the slight adjustment.  Anyway, here's the song at #9...






___________________________________

So now that we're at the one year mark, who tops the M10?  Well, the latest top ten by points includes one song still on the chart!  There are 13 songs that have broken the 50 point mark (10 for #1, 9 for #2, etc.)  so a couple miss this countdown.

10- Nada Surf, Believe You're Mine, the highest song without a week at #1.
9- Telekinesis, Lean On Me (1 wk at #1)
8- Agnes Obel, Familiar (2)
7- Two Versions Of Tomorrow, Eleanor Friedberger (3)
6- Lucius, Madness (1)
5- Flo and Eddie, Keep It Warm (3)
4- You'll Always Be Lonely, Tangerine (4)
3- Beach House, Space Song (2)
2- Beach House Traveller (4)

And at the top-

The Jayhawks and Quiet Corners And Empty Spaces (4)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the top ten collected just under half of the #1 weeks.

_____________________________________________

So now that we've gone through the Bobby G list of composers (got any more, buddy?) I thought we'd go a little more current-events and get a quote from former London mayor and all around madman Boris Johnson:

My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.


With or without pimento?

Okay, so let's get to the UK ten this week.

10- Country legend Faron Young had a #3 country hit- but only #92 on the big board- with Four In The Morning.

9- The Bee Gees were at #32 here with one of my faves, Run To Me.

8- Back in June, Cashbox had Sylvia's Mother by Dr Hook at the top.

7- Rod Stewart was climbing at #72 with You Wear It Well.

6- The Partridge Family was at #26 on the way down with Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.

5- Hot Butter and the instrumental Popcorn was at #42 here.

4- Donny Osmond hit #3 in April with Puppy Love.

3- the first of two US non-charters- Hawkwind and Silver Machine.

2- Novelty studio band Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs had their one hit wonder over there with Sea Side Shuffle.

And at #1, the tops of the pops- but with no Panel Love-

...Alice Cooper and School's Out!

______________________________________

Debut #3, coming in at #8, is by a band so obscure all I really know about them is that they are from the North Island of New Zealand!  Introducing Shakes...






___________________________

And with that, we are ready for the REST of this week's M10:


7 and 6 are long timers finally dropping!  The Monkees, who surged to a second peak of #3 last week, slide to 7 with You Bring The Summer.

6 is the M10's #8 all time- Agnes Obel and Familiar, dropping a pair.

5 and 4 each climb a notch- Quilt's Roller to 5, and Acres Wild to 4 with Pastel Waves.

Our big mover this week is Phantogram with Fall In Love.

And, as I told Laurie, that fast a move prolly means that Marlene Gold and the Pom Poms will be a bridesmaid this time, with 1-2-3 still stuck at #2.

So, the #1s...


M10 says its 28th and final #1 for year number one is...

...the Explorer's Club and California's Callin' Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And the Panel's non-repeat pick?

Gilbert O'Sullivan... Alone Again, Naturally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, two more new specials to celebrate the 2nd year of the M10- and 1967!

The year this bad boy- the first car I drove- came from!  (No I did NOT drive it new, silly.  I was behind the wheel with Dad working the pedals though, very soon later...)

Playing Newspage Go!

This is going to be more of a hybrid "Who's Dumber" sort of thing today.  And we kick things off on the fly with...


STOP #1:  Things you hear from liberal media


Now this isn't an attack on the media- just sharing a couple of radio- related incidents at work.  I was listening to NPR today (because I wasn't interested in music and the other alternative was Glen Beck), and they were talking about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's tight primary race.    I found it interesting to listen to the left leaning NPR people actually weighing in in an internecine battle.  But after hearing the end of the story, I said, "Dear God, as stupid as these people were to put her IN office in the first place (IMHO), they're certainly not going to take the next step and put THIS clown in?"  Why, you ask, is her opponent a clown?  Well, it seems that during a recent debate, DWS lambasted him because, on his website, he has a plan to "disarm the Middle East".  Yeah, I know you're laughing already, but wait.  DWS, a good Jew herself, hit him hard about how he could even suggest stripping Israel of weapons in that neighborhood.  According to NPR, "Put on the spot, he replied that Israel wasn't included in the plan."


So, what's worse than a candidate who seriously thinks he can take weapons away from Israel?  How about one that thinks there is one living Arab who will had over THEIR weapons while Israel keeps theirs.

Meanwhile, our floor boss was listening to the aforementioned Beck, who was having fun with a clip from the Kardashian's show.  Apparently one of the ladies recently visited Cuba.  When the other asked if it was terrible, the traveller said "No, it's great, that guy's been in charge for like 50 years and he knows what he's doing."

Meanwhile, in the part of Havana ( the other 95%) where the limo driver DIDN'T go...

But I had to tell my co-worker, "Well, that's the SECOND dumbest thing I've heard today..."


STOP #2:  If you get frequent manicures, you are probably NOT a monster

Apparently deceased Nazi Joseph Goebbels' former secretary, 105-year-old Brunhilde Pomsel, has just come out with her life story in a short (rather ironic, no?) film presented at the Munich Film Festival called A German Life.  The title of the Fox News article about it, Joseph Goebbels' secretary: Working for Nazi 'just another job', intrigued me, so I had a peek inside.  And there I found this:

She described Goebbels – who rallied Germany to Hitler’s cause and covered up the German ruler’s crimes – in glowing terms, commenting on his “gentlemanly countenance” and remarking about his well-kept nails.

“He had well-groomed hands – he probably had a manicure every day,” Pomsel told The Guardian, laughing. “There was really nothing to criticize about him.”


Well, they obviously did a good job getting the blood out from under his nails.  She goes on:

“Those people nowadays who say they would have stood up against the Nazis – I believe they are sincere in meaning that, but believe me, most of them wouldn’t have,” Pomsel said.

Well, at least the ones that think that a manicure is the highest form of humanity, I guess.


STOP # 3:  The Price Is Right

The newspage had a link to "The most popular restaurant in the Olympic Village Is...", so I guessed McDonalds (because cheeseburgers!), and peeked into this one and...


I was right.  But with a good reason.


It seems the McD's at the Village is giving FREE food to the athletes.  And even strict training regimens are no match, and the lines seem to go on forever...

Until the other day.  In an effort to slow the wild success of the venture, the restaurant has put a cap on how many items one person can get at a time.  Capped at 20 (yes, two-zero) items.  Not that I blame the athletes.  If you put a McDonalds across from my place, and they even just said, "You can get what you want at 1975 prices", they're marquee might just as well read, "You too can look like Michael Moore..."


STOP # 4:  The headline says enough


Keep in mind, this story is about a 19-year old in Florida (what, again!?) who got pissed off at slow service in a restaurant and decided to take it out on some random couple. The header?

Double-murder suspect allegedly bit face off victim

Thank God he wasn't trying to get service at the Olympic Village McDonalds...


STOP # 5: And that's why you use the parasol


You've got to read it like it's written to get the funny here.  From BBC:


Russia uses Iran for Syria air strikes


So Russia has given up high explosives, and is now dropping "Iran" on ISIS.  Thus, they are able to drive out the enemy and fertilize the ground in one shot.

Sunday Message- Before November Comes

We live in a nation where one side says it's okay to protest authority- and so what if someone else's property gets damaged in the process;  the other side says it's all right to degrade our leaders for the poor job they do.  One side thinks nothing of stretching the truth for a sound bite; the other side wants to build walls.  One side says we must bend over backwards for the poor; the other says the poor are poor of their own device.  Both sides say things that serve their purpose.  What is God's side of the matter?


Exodus 23 (and the preceding chapter, quite frankly)  is a particularly scathing indictment of this current society, given to Moses while on the Mount of Revelation.  As I read it, I couldn't help but think of when King Josiah re-discovered the Books and read them to the people, and they cried.  I wonder if we would cry now...


Let us take a look at part of this chapter.


Exo 23:1  You shall not raise a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 

Not to get too political, but CNN's broadcast of the false story about the Secret Service speaking to Trump about the "2nd Amendment comment" is just the most currently glaring of the examples available.  The news media, which we falsely believed was once honest and impartial, now has become so partisan on both sides it is barely worth listening to, and has gained a worse reputation than the politicians they shill for.

Not that the media and the pols have the market cornered, though.  Apply and read on...


Exo 23:2  You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shall you speak in a cause in order to follow many in order to wrest judgment. 

First thing I thought of was Ferguson.  Out of every 100 protesters that have even a clue of what they are protesting, how many just go to parrot what they've been told without looking into it?  How many just take advantage to wreak havok?  And beyond that- if we accuse the political parties of dishonesty and trustworthiness, and then VOTE for them, how are we not indicted?  Moving along...

Exo 23:3  And you should not favor a poor man in his cause. 

Exo 23:6  You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his cause. 

Two separate verses, one overriding thing- wealth or lack thereof should NOT affect judgment.  And yet, rich criminals have a lot more access to judgment than poor innocents.  And rich innocents get accused of using money to escape judgment BECAUSE they are rich.

We had a conversation at work the other day, when a vendor gave us all company-labeled boat key-ring floaties.  One person said, not like those of us that make OUR wages can afford a boat, to which I responded tongue in cheek, "Those are for CUSTOMERS!"  A joke yes, but also a divide.  And we judge on divides in this world:  black/white, rich/poor, man/woman.  How do you judge?  How do I judge?

Exo 23:4  If you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 

Exo 23:5  If you see the ass of him who hates you lying under his burden, and would hold back from helping him, you shall surely help him. 

I thought about the pictures I have seen on Facebook of the Israeli athlete holding out his hand to the Egyptian athlete he had just defeated, and the Egyptian refusing it.  But wait, had it been the Egyptian offering and the Israeli refusing, would the picture have been posted?  I was angered by yet another story from India last night where a man walking was struck by a truck and seriously injured; the truck driver got out, looked him over, and drove away.  The next guy that came along stopped long enough to steal the dying man's phone.  One of many stories that I have shared about the septic tank India is becoming; but would I have blinked if it happened in New York, or Fort Wayne?  It's all about examining the MOTIVE for your actions...

Exo 23:7  Keep far from a false matter, and do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 

Exo 23:8  And you shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 

The heat on the "Clinton mafia" is rising; every day you see a new story about some low level DNC staffer meeting an "unfortunate accident" after harming Hillary's campaign in some way.  True?  Who knows.  Now it's the "pay for play" DOJ that Hillary ran.  But before we jump on the bandwagon against her, stop and think:  What has the other guy done?  Are we calling attention to one's evil to justify the actions of the other?  Again, as the prosecutor would say, "goes to motive..."

Exo 23:9  Also you shall not oppress a stranger. For you know the heart of a stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

And if you think I am hitting one side too hard, how much of the other campaign has been built directly contrary to this principle?  I have long been opposed to illegals getting amnesty, and for the same reason I oppose free trade- I have no desire for an "even tide for everybody" lowering our nation to the world's level of mediocrity.  But how do I- how do we- square that with this?

I don't have the answers on this one.  All I have is a realization that in following our "political leanings" and looking at things on a MACRO level, we may be bringing ourselves into judgment- not by the world, not by the atheists and LGBTs, not by the Muslims and the Europeans- but by God's Word.  Can we vote with our noses held, for "the greater good", realizing that it is in the end a "secular government"- and then go forth and live our lives in the micro?  Can I "vote against" and still love?  Can I "vote for" and not hate?  I don't know about you, but I have a lot of thinking- and praying- to do before November comes.

Time Machine week 85

Today was a busy day, August 12th, 1970:  Willi Brandt and Alexei Kosygin signed the Treaty of Moscow, which pledged both sides to non-violence in dealings with each other (of course, the Cold War and all those nukes kinda made that redundant); Elvis gave his "best performance ever" in Las Vegas at his midnight show; Curt Flood lost his lawsuit trying to overturn baseball's reserve clause; and Janis Joplin was at Harvard, giving her last live performance before her death just over 50 days later.

I figured you all would prefer this pic to the one of Willi and Alexi signing the treaty, with Brezhnev glowering over them...

And so we welcome you to this week's Time Machine, as we close in on the M10's final week of year one.  And this week:  the return of Mistra Know-It-All; a big turnout for this week's low charter story; the UK top 10 manages a week with only ONE song that never charted here (though a couple of 'em cut it close); and (not really) in honor of the Olympics, a truly international M10, with 6 nations represented!  You don't have to run around with a torch- or watch any sports, Jo-Anne- just hop in and let's go!


_____________________________________


Our wonderful Panel this week includes WFUN Miami, KPUA Hilo, HI, WFAA Dallas, CKLW Detroit, KIOA Des Moines, IA, WSGN Birmingham, KIKX Tucson, WHBQ Memphis, WNHC New Haven, KMBY Monterey, KTLK Denver, and KISN Vancouver WA.  They totalled 25 different songs, which included #1s for Edwin Starr's War (Memphis) and, a bit surprisingly, Dave Mason's Only You Know And I Know (Denver).   Before I go any farther, I better fess up that at the time of researching this post, Cashbox had not gotten the archive back up yet (they have since done so), so all chart positions will be Billboard.

And I had BB working OT on the list of low charters.  Hilo was a particular help on this, as two of their top five never charted.  One was, again surprisingly, Dennis Yost and the Classics IV with an apparent dud ( I have not listened yet, fans take no offense) called God Knows I Loved Her.  The other, which I did listen to, was a dud (IMHO) by a band called Feather.  Their song was called Friends, and for me the only noteworthy thing about it was one member of that band was John Townsend, who would be part of the title pair from the Sanford-Townsend Band when they went on to do Smoke From A Distant Fire.

Also among the "where did they find this" crowd this week was the Monster Mash, which charted on Monterey's list in anticipation of re-entering the charts in August for one of its many re-releases.  And finally, singer/actor/talk show host John Davidson charted in Tucson with about as obscure a song as I have yet encountered.  It was called I Got Love, and apparently was never on any of his lps.  It was, however, the B-side to a song called Politician ( which I learned by stumbling to 45cat, Shady), which was likewise unknown to the world at large.  The low charter that actually charted was Al Delory's peppy instrumental version of the M*A*S*H theme, which sat at #71 this week.

And the Panel Four this week?

At #4 is the national #4 as well, with 3 #1s (Miami, Des Moines, and New Haven) but only 2 other points for a total of 17- Eric Burdon and War with Spill The Wine.

At #3 is the national #5, with 22 points and the #1s of Hilo and Detroit, Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime.

At #2, the national top dog, with 28 points and a single #1 vote (Tucson), the Carpenters and Close To You.

And at #1, the national #2, with 37 points and 4 #1s.... stay tuned.

___________________________________

As I mentioned, we have a real international flair to the M10 this week, with acts from the UK, Australia, Norway, Denmark, of course the US of A, and this week Canada joins the fun!  But they don't join quite yet- instead it is a New York State duo calling themselves Phantogram which debuts at #10 with this great tune, one Sarah Barthel on lead: (Note- this one COULD deserve one of those seizure warnings at times...)





Also wanna note here:  Both of these debuts this week are songs where Spotify played me their latest, and latest didn't quite trip ye olde trigger, but showed potential- so I went through their back catalogue.  This tune was from the 2014 lp Voices.

_____________________________________

Just 13 short weeks ago we did a UK top ten that featured at #10 a Stevie Wonder tune called He's Mistra Know-It-All.  If you recall (and even if you don't), that song was the flip side to the #1 Sir Duke. Among the players on that song- and the lp, Songs In The Key Of Life- was a lead guitarist named Michael Sembello.  Of course, he became an "overnight sensation" when his song Maniac from the Flashdance soundtrack hit the top years later.  Another song on that lp was Lady Lady Lady, sung by Joe "Bean" Esposito.  Now him you might be more familiar with as the lead singer of a band called Brooklyn Dreams- the same BD that played with Donna Summer on Heaven Knows- and yes, that was Joe doing the singing.  BD's keyboard player would go on to marry Donna- that was Bruce Sudano.  And the first place you prolly heard Bruce Sudano was as the keyboardist for the band Alive And Kicking, whose Tommy James-penned hit Tighter Tighter (which Tommy gave them after he decided Crystal Blue Persuasion was too good to give up) is at #9 this week- but got no Panel Love.

_________________________________________________

That other debut goes even farther back in this band's catalogue.  The Canadian rockers Billy Talent had released this as a single ahead of their upcoming third lp in 2008, and it charted at #23 in Canada (and somehow in the 50's in Austria, of all places).  On the M10, it drops in at #9...






_______________________________________________


The last of Bobby G's great men of English music is one Ralph Vaughn Williams, a composer who actually did his work mostly in the last century.  While he had many good, and inspirational, quotes to his name, the one I chose has a special meaning for me:

I have always found it difficult to study. I have learnt almost entirely what I have learnt by trying it out on the dog.


And that would describe most of the M10's history, lol!  Anyway, it's time to...

10- Ten Years After, known for I'd Love To Change the World, sit here with a song that hit our charts in May ( and bounced off, reaching #98), Love Like a Man.

9- Another great lost hit for Jimmy Ruffin, this one called I'll Say Forever, My Love.  It is a late bloomer in the UK, having hit the US charts at #77 in April of '68.

8- The Panel's #3, Mungo Jerry and In The Summertime.

7- Marmalade, best known here for Reflections Of My Life, is on the chart with a song that is sitting at #75 this week back home, Rainbow. Deserved better than it's #51 showing here.

6- A band called Fairweather has the only non-charter in the US this week- a tune called Natural Sinner.  Vocals are similar (in style, not tune) to Mountain on Mississippi Queen.

5- You all should know Free's big hit All Right Now.  It would peak at #4 in October in the States.

4- Shirley Bassey of Goldfinger fame would peak in November (#55) here with Something, a Beatles cover.  Speaking of covers, Easy To Be Hard was the B-side.

3- The Kinks.  Lola.  Debuts here in two weeks.

2- Hotlegs, which as I understand was basically proto-10cc, with Neanderthal Man.  It debuts next week here, on its way to #22.

And Top Of The Pops this week?

... Elvis with  The Wonder Of You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That song had peaked at #9 on Billboard in June, but at 10 on Cashbox... a fact that will play heavily into my special for the M10 birthday celebration in a couple of weeks....


____________________________


And now, the rest of the M10:

Castlecomer drops a pair to #8- the Aussie representative with The Noise.

Plume Of Feathers float down 3 to #7 with the British representative, First Date, in its 7th week.

Anna Fox Rochinsky and Quilt go up 3 with Roller.

Screaming up 5 spots to #5 is Norway's Acres Wild and Pastel Waves.

The Danish contestant, Agnes Obel, drops from the top spot to #4 with Familiar.

Back at the end of May the Strawberry Runners meandered their way to #1 with When We Were Good in its seventh week.  Do we have a chance to top that coming on?  The Monkees rise to a new high water mark of #3, up 2, in their 8th week with You Bring The Summer.

The Pom Poms hold at #2 with 1-2-3.  And at the top?  well, the Panel says...

....Bread with Make It With You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And at the top of the M10?

(Photo credit Matthew Carter)

....The Explorer's Club with California's Callin' Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Because maybe it's just me, but a top ten with the Monkees and the (almost) Beach Boys is what summer is all about.

1972 next week, kids!  See you then!

Tuesday this and that- or yes, I'm still alive

What, no silly news post on Monday?  Well, I have a good reason- I've been streaming Olympic women's Rugby from Saturday through Monday.  Why rugby?  I got addicted to rugby 7s a few years back.  Until Saturday, I'd not seen the ladies play- and they rocked!  Why streaming?  Because NBC's TV born choices on events absolutely blow, and by streaming I get to choose what I wanna watch.  And the only problem I had was somehow or another, they had their streams mixed up Sunday afternoon, and I found myself accidentally with a choice I bet they never intended- either watch the games with commentators on a 20 minute delay, or live with NO announcer- and believe me, I took my sweet time on the silent side making up my mind, lol!  Another advantage to the stream was having a New Zealander announcer with rapier sarcasm versus TV's American announcers who were just as busy trying to figure out the game as they were letting you know you DIDN'T know anything about it.

USA's Jessica Javelet, who may just be the fastest human I'VE ever watched.

(Which is kinda the way I feel about the announcers on Laurie's current addiction- little league world series.  I've known how the ten-run rule works for about 40 years now, I don't need you to refresh my memory every time a team goes 5 runs up.)

Which puts me in mind- which is worse:  a reporter tweeting a story he got "from some guy who just walked up" about an Olympic kayaker who capsized after hitting a discarded sofa in the bay- or that the venue is so polluted most of the world BELIEVED it?

I had to laugh that NBC has convinced the world that their acronym stands for Nothing But Commercials with their non- stop ads* and all of their "personal interest" stories rather than showing the damn events.  But that last part is the fault of you women out there.  Who says?  Not me...


As frustrated fan Emily Donahue tweeted on Monday night, "is there a way to tell when gymnastics will actually be aired on TV? I've been waiting for almost three hours."

But John Miller, NBC Olympics chief marketing officer, claimed (a month before the Olympics) that the female demographic drove the pre-tape decision.

Miller said, "The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the [Olympic] games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one."

A user with the Twitter handle Teresa fumed, "Saying women want the olympics to be a reality show is one of the most sexist things I have ever heard."


I think I can leave that one on the table as she sits.

*The most obnoxious on streaming is the one with Amy Schumer for Old Navy- which, annoying as it is, is STILL prolly the least annoying ad ever done by Old Navy.
________________________________


To those of you who may have heard, my son KC recently was a weekend resident of Parkview North Hospital.  Long story short, he was treated for colitis and examined thoroughly for evidence of Crohn's (which as of yet has not shown up).  He is home as of this afternoon, and finally able to eat solid (if low-fiber) food for the first time since last Monday.


_____________________________________________


So I did scout the webs with an eye to perhaps a Newspage Go! post, but the world's newsmakers were pretty quiet.  I did find an odd story on the correlation between pet names and vet bills on The Mirror.  It seems, in the UK anyway, the pet name that racks up the most in vet expenses is Charlie for dogs, and Oscar for cats.  True story:  ages ago I had a dog named Charlie; and a little more recently but still long ago, Laurie had a cat named Oscar.

__________________________________________


The other eyebrow raising story I found involved a man named Chen in (where else) China who submitted to a background check in order to get a new job- only to be rejected because, according to the PD, he had been convicted of kidnapping- and EXECUTED- in 2006!  In a huge "you think you have stolen ID problems" moment, China is just coming off a huge campaign to eliminate the issuing of the same ID cards to different people.  When you consider China has approximately 93 million Wangs, 91 million Lis, 87 million Zhangs, 65 million Lius- and 57 million Chens- I guess this can be a problem if one isn't careful.  Anyway, the Ministry of Public Security has whittled the problem down from over 10 million "repeat identities" in 2009 to just TEN as of June.  Unfortunately, Mr. Chen # 56,640,000 was one of those ten, it would seem.

The real Chen #56,640,000- or IS it?

Sunday Message- Glen Beck, Ray Combs, and me

A few days ago at work, a co-worker had his radio set on Glen Beck, and I wandered over to listen for a bit.  He was asking, "If you could capture the essence of God in one word, what would it be?"  His cohort answered, "Love", which was what Glen was looking for as he was trying to look at why Christians are not perceived as very Christian anymore, they don't show love.  Now, I am not here to dispute that.  But an informal survey of the concordance shows us that God is not described thus until 1 John 4:8- some 97% of the way through the Bible!  And, at the time, I said to myself, "Giving 'love' as the answer does no good when someone is asking things like, 'Why did God allow that terrible disaster?' or 'Why did he let my spouse get that fatal disease?' "  There is a better answer to Glen's question than love.

This morning, I heard Robert Jeffers tell a story about the late game show host Ray Combs that I cannot confirm in its entirety, but I find was told in the book The Anchor Course by Tom Goodman.  Apparently towards the end of his run as host of Family Feud, one night as he introed the contestants, he noticed one wearing a lapel button that had on it 2 question marks- an evangelical group's ice breaker.  He asked what it meant, and the contestant said that they represented the two most important questions anyone could ever ask.  Ray took the bait.  "The first one", he was told, "is, if you died today, would you have assurance of getting into heaven?"  Combs replied he wasn't going to answer that on national TV, but his curiosity got the best of him and he asked about the second question.  He was told, "The second question is, "Suppose you were to die today and you stood before the Lord and He asked, why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say?"

Ray answered, "Because I'm host of Family Feud, and everybody loves me!"  The crowd laughed, and the show began.  But not long after, he was fired- a job he reportedly found demeaning in the first place- and shortly thereafter hung himself in a hospital closet.

So, is Love enough?


Certainly it is a big part of what God has done- John 3:16, y'all- but God has a lot of other essential qualities.  Several of them came up over and over again in my search through the concordance.  One was that He is a jealous God.  He was first; He is greatest; there are none before Him.  Even the devil apparently dares not dispute that, not yet anyway;  I have read in the Apocrypha where Satan once claimed that the main difference between himself and God is that God arose first from the primordial energy ooze and thus got to set the rules.  Another that gets mentioned a lot is His role as our refuge and our strength- seemingly always paired together, both a shelter when the storm is to much and the strength to brave it anyway.  Another area often mentioned is His just Judgment, that He is "no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34)" is "not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent (Numbers 23:1)", and "is angry at the wicked every day (Psalms 7:11)".

And also, His mercy comes up a lot, and His salvation.  But you know what I would have answered Glen?  I would have answered him the answer that would answer all the "but why did He..." questions, better than love, better than just, better than mercy.

 Lev 19:2  Say to all the people of Israel, You are to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. 


Holy tells us God is pure, unchanging in all things, and righteous in a blow.  This is what John means in 1 Jn 1:5-

1Jn 1:5  And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 

I rather like they way I was taught this verse back in the day- "In Him there is no shadow of turning."  He doesn't change.  He is HOLY.

I can see where, without God, I'd have been the same as Ray Combs- though I would have prolly been more of a "head in the oven" kinda guy.  But God loved me enough that, even at lowest ebb and my most ignoring of Him, He fit me with one thing that would keep me going when all else failed- a little voice that said, "But what if tomorrow is better?"  Doesn't sound much like love as WE understand it.  And it can't be explained by love as we conceive it.  But when we put God as sovereign, when we allow Him to be not just loving, but HOLY- it makes perfect sense.  Because HOLY is something beyond what we are, beyond what we are capable of on our own.  And until we set aside all the pride, all the science, all the human experience, and see God AS beyond us and holy, we have no clue.

I may have done this before... having studied runes in the past, I realize they were conceived with balances in between all the pairs of signs- except one set:

The first is Algiz:

It is the symbol of man trying to reach up to God- but never quite touching.

The other is Sowilo, God reaching to touch man:

"Hey, that's a lightning bolt."  Yep.  Get the picture?  God is above us, infinitely more powerful than us, can bring ultimate justice, or mercy.  And HE can touch US.

So yeah, Glen, love is the glue with which God holds us together.  We can do all things with love.  But we cannot touch God just with love.  We cannot enter heaven just with love.  If we could, we'd never need Christ.  But need Him we do, because we have to bring more than love to the table to get in the door.  We have to be HOLY, as God is holy.  And that's where Jesus comes in.

Time Machine week 84

Today we find ourselves in sunny August 5th, 1966 (actually, there was a little fog in the morning, I'm told), and among the things that happened today:

-groundbreaking began on the World Trade Center;

- Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas openned;

- And the Beatles released Revolver to the UK audience.  In addition to charting hits Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine (the movie came later), and Got To Get You Into My Life, the radio played Taxman, Good Day Sunshine, and And Your Bird Can Sing (the US version skipped that as it was on the US release Yesterday And Today).


__________________________________

And that's a really good lead in for this week's Time Machine, which features: the first white act to play the Apollo; a three-way at the bottom of the Panel Four (which makes it a Five); a bit about the labels that record the music of the M10; and Valerie Harper as Rhoda (huh?).  Also, here's your guessing game (that I would never really expect anyone to play)- see if you can guess the Panel picks with this clue:  four out of five songs start with an "s"- and two of them have two "s" words in the title!  So I don't have a yellow sub, but I do have a rainbow tardis.  Hop in and let's go!


______________________________________

I just helped Laurie out with another clue for you cryptographers- three of the four start with an "su", and of the two with two "s" words, one of  them has both words start with "su", and the other both start with "se"!

Yeah, I know... anyway, the Panel consists of  KDKA Pittsburgh, WROV Roanoke VA, KBLA Burbank, WNWC Arlington Heights IL (hey, I'll bet the call letters stand for North West Chicago, eh?), WICE Providence, KOL Seattle, WXYZ Detroit, WDRC Hartford, WING Dayton, KFWB Los Angeles, WCOL Columbus OH, and WQXI Atlanta.  They teamed up for 24 different songs, the low charter this week belonging to cult favorite Love with 7 And 7 Is, which sat at #79 this week.  And there were three #1 votes that couldn't make even the expanded countdown, including Roanoke's one vote for Percy Sledge's Warm And Tender Love; The Troggs' Wild Thing, who- with the help of Dayton's #1- just missed the five by a single point; and Sandy Posey's Born A Woman in Atlanta, possibly Caitlyn Jenner's favorite song (!).  (There you have it- the first ever mention of CJ on this blog, and likely the last...)

Once again this week, the national top ten (note here: this week I am using Billboard as Cashbox is down for maintenance again) didn't do so well with the Panel.  Wild Thing was the national top dog; #2- Sam The Sham's Lil' Red Riding Hood- and #9- The Stones' Mother's Little Helper- made unsuccessful runs at the Panel List, but numbers 4, 6, 7, and 8 only totalled 7 votes- and #10 is the six degrees victim!  So now that you know you're going to get some wide variations here, it's time for the Panel Five:

Tied for fourth with no #1s and 13 points, you have Napoleon XIV and They're Coming To Take Me Away (Ha Ha!), the national #5; and the double "su", Donovan's Sunshine Superman- which was just starting its climb at #61.

At number three, with also 13 points but the #1s of Providence and Detroit, the double "se", the Happenings with See You In September, the national #15.

At #2, the national #11 with 22 points and #1s from Pittsburgh, Seattle, Hartford, and Los Angeles, Bobby Hebb and Sunny.

At on top, with the other three #1 votes and 33 points, the national # 3- stay tuned...

___________________________________________

The M10 is two weeks away from finishing year number one!  That means, you can count on a party with cake and ice cream in three weeks here on Time Machine!*

*Only if you are in the actual Tardis at the time.  Your cake and ice cream may vary.


But this week, we have two debuts, and the first one at #10 comes to us all the vay, er, way, from Norway!  They are called Acres Wild ( a name they took from an old Jethro Tull tune), from the lp Ignore The Flags On The Beaches...




This is recorded on their own label, which they named Minitravolta...



_________________________

Which brings up our next topic.  On my big hardcopy notebook for the M10, I always record the act's label.  Not all of them have labels- Castlecomer still doesn't to my knowledge- and some of them record on their own dime, like Tangerine (Tangerine LLC).  But I thought it might be interesting (to me, anyway) to see how many each label had.  Surprisingly in the age of indy music, the big boppers still did okay.

Columbia (with country division Columbia Nashville) logged 12 singles.
Warner Brothers (with their Warner Nashville label) picked up 8.
Then came RCA and Sub Pop (SP Being mainly but not only Beach House tunes) each gathered five.

After that was a septet of three each, including the label that put in a cameo appearance in the Explorers Club video last week, Capitol.  As well as the two bands that have three singles off their latest lps on the M10, the Jayhawks (Universal New Zealand) and the Monkees (Rhino).  And now you know.

________________________________________

So I am on the penultimate of the "English Composers" list that Bobby G. gave me, and that name is one Henry Purcell.  One of the greatest, his time period was mid-to-late 17th century- a time where the future UK was not a name in music.  And Purcell knew it, but had hope for the future...


Poetry and painting have arrived to their perfection in our own country; music is yet but in its nonage [immaturity], a forward Child, which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the masters of it shall find more Encouragement.


Not sure why they felt the need to insert "immaturity" in there; c'mon, we all knew what "nonage" meant, right?  Anyway, this means it's time to

10- This was a Goffin/King tune that Dusty Springfield recorded over there, called Going Back.  The Byrds would cover it next year- though they only got to 89.

9- The Kinks with another "su" song, Sunny Afternoon, which would be top 15 here in October.

8- Petula Clark is at #16 here with I Couldn't Live Without Your Love.

7- Dave Berry, a teen idol with the unfortunate habit of hiding his face with whatever prop was available, was at this spot with a UK only called Mama.

6- Elvis is at #21 back home with Love Letters.

5- Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, who hit big in the US with The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, would hit the top with this tune called Get Away- and became the only act to hit #1 in the UK with their only three times in the top ten.  This would peak at #70 here.

4- Back in June, Chris Montez peaked at #16 here with The More I See You.

3- Another tune that would peak in October in the States- this time at the top- is Los Bravos and Black Is Black.

2- Out Of Time by Chris Farlowe- a bottom scraper here (peak #122), had an interesting story when re-released in 1975.  It was a tune that Jagger/Richards composed, and at the same time in '75 THEY put out a version (which was Mick's vocals over the same music), and Nazareth frontman Dan McCaffery also tried it.  With all of them on the charts at the same time, the results were not pretty: McCaffery got to #41, Farlowe to #44, and Mick to #45.

And tops of the pops?

...The Troggs, with this week's #75 in the US of A, With A Girl Like You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

____________________________________________

Where our first debut harkens back to 60's psychedelic, the one at #9 evokes the heart of the best of 90's alternative.  This band comes to us from Boston, they are called Quilt, and they are led by the pretty Miss Anna Fox Rochinsky...





_______________________________________

Okay, so Valerie Harper as Rhoda doesn't quite factor into the 6D, but she does factor in in her first screen roll- in a 1956 movie called Rock Rock Rock with included pioneer dj Alan Freed as himself.  This movie also had a couple other items.  First, it heavily featured a band called Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers, who would go on to become the first white act to play the Apollo Theatre.  Second, it starred Tuesday Weld as the daughter of a single Dad trying to raise a teenager.  Her singing parts, unlike everyone else in the movie, were not her- she was dubbed by Connie Francis.  Francis was just breaking in herself, and a handful of failed singles had preceded this adventure.  But our interest in Connie comes several years later, during a streak that saw all of her US singles chart between 91 and 134.  In that timeframe Dr Zhivago came out, and Connie asked her record company to make words for the instrumental Lara's Theme.  Once she got them, she thought them "too corny" and rejected them.  Later, she went ahead and recorded them (in several languages) and had a big hit in every language but English.  By that time, the ball had been picked up by easy listening giant Ray Conniff, who would take Somewhere My Love to #10 on Billboard this week- where from the panel would completely ignore him.


_________________________________


And now, the rest of the M10...


The Monkees and Our Own World moves up a pair to #8.

The Pom Poms fall this week from 2 to 7 with Betty.

Then we hit the Sargasso Sea of the M10, where things don't move:  Castlecomer holds at 6 with The Noise; the Monkees hold at 5 with You Bring The Summer in its 7th week.

And Plume Of Feathers slip back a notch to 4 with First Date.

If you've been doing the math, you know we have two big movers coming next, and each one covers 6 spots in a single bound.  The Explorers Club to #3 with California's Callin' Ya; the Pom Poms to #2 with 1-2-3.

And at #1?  M10 says...

... a second week for Agnes Obel and Familiar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Panel?  They say....

...the Lovin' Spoonful with Summer In The City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, forward again to 1970!    See you then!