Time Machine Co-ordinates VVIII41621779

Today we merge right into February 17th, 1979, and find that Vietnam is at war.  Not with us, but with China.  China was looking at "punishing" Vietnam for taking out their buddy in Cambodia, serial mass-murderer Pol Pot.  ANNNND it was a great way to dig in the spurs to the USSR, who had just signed a 25-year friendship treaty with Vietnam- and WITH whom a 30-year friendship treaty had JUST expired.  The Chinese army burst through lightly defended border lines, tried to tempt the Vietnamese army into a trap, hoping to knock out much of their main forces at one blow.  The Vietnamese never committed large amounts of Regular Army forces, didn't do a lot of slug-it-out fighting, and used Russian intel to avoid the trap; so after a few weeks of the attempt, China declared that they "had forced the gate" to Hanoi and thus really didn't need to GO there, and pulled out.  Whether their cases of Hanoius Interruptus were from not wanting to get caught in the same sinkhole the US did, or the idea of daring the Red Army to a fight in Mongolia lost its luster, IDK.

And welcome to our Time Machine for the week, in which we have a pretty big Panel blowout; a Doctor Who cameo on the 79 in '79; Carole King, Sly and the Family Stone, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac, all on the 6D; and the Arcs slide their tendrils into yet another story- not bad for a band that charted on the M10 once for one week!  And we have three debuts, so let's kick off with one right now!

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Our first debut is the second single from a group that missed the M10 with their first by THAT much!  One of the most memorable (for me) songs that I just couldn't squeeze into the M10 at the time was a tune called Handsome by a band called Drug Cabin.  Drug Cabin was supposed to be a side project for members of an already-established indy act out of LA called Ambulance LTD, but it took on a life of its own.  Handsome, which was a Spotify suggest to me, was off their 2014 EP Wiggle Room; and the song Spotify slipped me this time was the title cut.  It debuts at #10.





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Our Presidents this week, Paul and Paula, now have the floor for the Panel picks.  Guys?

HE: Thanks, Mr. Martin, and thank you out there in radio land for voting for us last week!

SHE:  There were nine candidates from 21 stations this week, Paul, and they were all pretty big- well, almost...

HE:  The list starts off with one Mr. Martin indicates is a favorite of his, Olivia Newton-John's A Little More Love.  It was at #4 on the Cashbox countdown.  Hey, Paula, how many hits did we have?

SHE:  Well, we made the top 40 3 times, and the hot 100 5 times...

Um, guys...

SHE:  I'm so sorry, let's get back to the list.  Now this next song didn't chart here... because it was about cricket!

HE:  Not the insect, but the game.  It was called C'mon Aussie C'mon by the Mojo Singers, and was basically Australia's version of Talkin' Baseball.  Needless to say, it was #1 there, not here, so you might not want to vote for it.

You guys are doing a great job of padding your appearance...

SHE:  Thank you!

...but this isn't a day-long event, so...

HE:  Okay, speed it up!  Next up is Rod Stewart's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy...
SHE: I always have...
HE:... and it was the #1 on Cashbox this week.  Then comes  Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive at #5, Chic's Le Freak at #5, And Nicholette Larson's Lotta Love at #8.

She: Also we have Barry Manilow's Somewhere In The Night at #13, The Bee Gees and Tragedy at #21, and the Village People with that silly YMCA song at #6.  Back to you, Chris!

Thanks, Paula.  I won't mention the three singles you had that never got out of Bubbling Under Land;  however, I will tell everyone that there are just three candidates that got multiple votes.  So bend your considerations towards ONJ, Rod, and Chic, as we move on to the next debut this week:

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I'm skipping for now over a lower debut for story reasons and am revealing our high debut- all the way up at #6.  Give a warm TM welcome to- Chicano Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






All I will add today is- look out, Foxygen....

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Carole King's 1974 lp Wrap Around Joy featured top ten singles Nightingale and Jazzman, which was lyriced (is that a word?) by David Palmer.  David you might know as the vocalist on early Steely Dan hit Dirty Work, which is one of my favorites.  And I stumbled onto a very nice cover of this song... which I'll get to in a minute.  On that same album were covers of Sly Stone's Everybody Is A Star (of the recent election controversy), and a hit by pre- big-in-America Fleetwood Mac, Hypnotised.  But the hit single on this lp was a song that had been passed down by Bruce Springsteen but not recorded by him at the time.  You see, he wanted to send it to Elvis, but was a bit too late.  So he gave it to the Pointer Sisters, and there, tucked in with all those covers on their lp Energy, is the song that charted highest but got no Panel Love- Fire, at #2.


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This week in the UK, the top song was Blondie's Heart Of Glass- which was just coming onto Cashbox at #78.  The highest here that was charting there was Le Freak (3 here, 36 there), and the vice versa was Heart Of Glass.  Now I might have mentioned somewhere that I had NEW Blondie in the rotation, and perhaps someday I'll sneak it in.  Like many acts from the good ol' days who are still singing, it just doesn't quite have the same vibe for me.  I have been through new lps in the M10 period by Elton John, Paul Simon, the Zombies... and outside of Boz Scaggs' Small Town Talk, not many of them making an impact.  This week, I noticed that the Pretenders were charting in the UK with one of their first singles (which didn't chart here, but should have) called Stop Your Sobbing.  I bring this up because the debut on the M10 at #7 this week... is brand new Pretenders, from the lp Alone... with a little help from Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant...





This new lp was produced by Dan Auerbach, who's best known for being a teammate of Leon Michaels on the Arcs!  Funny how stuff just keeps tying together...
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Our #79 in '79 this week is a tune I didn't know by name but vaguely remembered after playing by Queen, called  Don't Stop Me Now.  It was #9 on this week's UK chart, but it is already higher on CB than it would get on Billboard (85).  Funny thing is, this song was covered by UK act Foxes (who, while she may be a fox, is only one person), and that cover, which she never released, was used TWICE on Doctor Who- on both Mummy On The Orient Express and on Hell Bent!

So maybe THAT'S why it sounds familiar...

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No hints for the vote-  I'll just tell you that the winnah got 52.3 % of the vote- a total whupping!

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And now, the rest of the M10!

Gimme Shelter slips for Puddle Of Mudd from 7 to 9 in its 8th week.

Castlecomer goes back to #8 after a week at 6 with If I Could Be Like You.

POWERS drops from 2 to 5 with Dance.

Every week, I say, I'm surprised I have this song up here- and then the next week it moves up again!  Colony House, from 5 to 4 with You And I.

Orwells hold at #3 with Black Francis.

Surprise, surprise!  Sweet slams it back into forward and goes from 3 to 4 to #2 this week with the Peppermint Twist.

And the number ones?  M10 says...

...Foxygen for a third week with Follow The Leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the winner of the Panel vote and next week's president...

....Rod Stewart and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next time, 1976!  Be There!

Martin World News

So today was a complete disaster at work (well, your yesterday), so this is a good time for a MWN because I'm ready to have my revenge on the planet!

ITEM:  Remind me not to go to a Central Michigan University Valentine's Day party... at the College Republican's group party, somehow a Valentine's gift bag with a surprise card was given out- I'm guessing someone wanted "someone special" to get this bag and forgot to "mark it with an X".  So instead, it went to a passing member of the Organization of Women Leaders.  Inside it was, among things that WERE supposed to be in it, a valentine with a picture of your friend and mine Adolph Hitler on one side, and the truly tasteless wish "My love burns for you like 6,000 Jews" on the other.


Amazing what passes for humor amongst our youth.  A friend of the recipient posted it on social media, and the CRs immediately apologized.  Frankly, this is one of those scenes where people SHOULD rise up and suspend the group privileges until the culprit is found and expelled IMHO.  And while they're at it, how has CMU slinked away with no one bashing their "Chippewas" nickname?  I'm surprised we haven't seen a "call them the wood chippers" by now.  To the CRs:  There is a douchebag in your midst, and you make EVERYONE look bad by allowing it.


ITEM: You've all heard of Fake News by now, but what about Fake Propaganda?

 The head of Lithuania's state tourism agency has resigned after admitting her agency promoted the Baltic country in an international social media campaign by using landscape photos taken in other countries, the AP reports. Jurgita Kazlauskiene resigned Friday after local media had blasted the State Tourism Department for its campaign "Real is Beautiful" for using stock images from Nordic and eastern European countries. Kazlauskiene said she stepped down so "people who work here don't become objects of ongoing attacks."

Here's Scrappy sniffing for švilpikas just south of Vilnius, Lithuania

ITEM:  Consider this a public service brought to you.  The next time someone wants to debate you about the "cruelty" of the President wanting to keep out all the delightful refugees, and they don't want to listen about how messed up Europe is because of them, show them this:

This is a map of violent crimes committed by migrants JUST in 2016.  Here's the legend:


Purple balloons: Sexual assaults
Pink balloons: Rape and attempted rape
Red balloons: Robbery and theft
Green balloons: Riots and intimidation
Blue balloons: Criminal assault
Red flames: Arson
Yellow triangle: Terrorist attacks
Black balloons: Homicide and attempted homicide
Green rectangle: Sexual assaults in public swimming pools


You can follow it up with, "You were saying...?"


ITEM:  And if you want to debate them on the integrity of the news media, show them this:

Model Emily Ratajkowski revealed in a tweet Monday that an unidentified New York Times reporter called the first lady a "hooker."

"Sat next to a journalist from the NYT last night who told me 'Melania is a hooker,'" the model tweeted.

The Bernie Sanders supporter added it doesn't matter what your politics are, "it's crucial to call this out for what it is: slut shaming. I don't care about her nudes or sexual history and no one should."

Melania Trump thanked Ratajkowski on Twitter for defending her."Applause to all women around the world who speak up, stand up and support other women." 

"I want to take ownership of a mistake I made," New York Times features writer Jacob Bernstein said on Twitter. "Speaking at a party in what I thought was a personal conversation, I nevertheless made a stupid remark about the first lady."


He continued, "My editors have made it clear my behavior was not in keeping with the standards of the Times, and I agree. My mistake, referring to unfounded rumors, shouldn’t reflect on anyone else and I apologize profusely."

You can apologize, but you can't take it back.  This is precisely the kind of stupidity that robs the left of a chance to air legitimate grievances and reveals an agenda of unreasoned hate.  As you saw on my recent rant, there are those on the left who are willing to discuss ISSUES, and do it rationally,.  And as you saw on a longer ago rant, there are those on the left for whom hatred of the President is everything and all their reasoning capability is subsumed by it.

And that the media gives fan to the flames demeans their profession, to the point where earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal told its reporters they could be objective or "find employment elsewhere."  Bravo, WSJ!  Reporters, either be a journalist and REPORT NEWS, or go write a blog.  Like me.

ITEM:  And now for the sake of flushing the poison and bringing joy, here is Mia the distracted Beagle:


Mia the distracted beagle

ITEM:  Talk about pissing $3 Million away:

Researchers at Harvard on two active studies that received over $3 million last year surveyed nearly 7,000 people to determine if their urine smelled funny after eating the vegetable. The results were published in the BMJ scientific journal, which uses its final edition each year to publish articles that are "quirky, amusing, and creative—but all scientifically sound."

The results concluded a "large proportion of individuals of European-American descent cannot smell ‘asparagus pee'—the unpleasant odor present in urine after people eat asparagus," according to the T.H. Chan School of Public Health.


This would win my newly-minted 20th Century Fox IDGAF video award, but alas, the video clip has been pulled over copyright issues.


The researchers said they have much to learn about the odor of urine.


ITEM:  A while back, I had a story somewhere (that I THOUGHT I shared, but maybe not) about how Iran was going to start licencing camels to better ID them in case of a drunken camel accident.  On that same vein, I had another story not too long ago...

Police tell Namibians:  Don't Drink And Walk

Pedestrians in Namibia's capital are being warned that they'll be breathalysed if they are unlucky enough to be hit by a car, it's reported.
Police in Windhoek will treat those travelling on foot in the same way as drivers if there's a collision - provided the pedestrian survives, the Namibia Press Agency reports. Police spokesman Edmund Khoaseb says when pedestrians are hit it's often on weekend nights after people have had tipple or two.
"Most of the time, the victims will be coming from bars and under the influence of alcohol, which makes it difficult for them to fully concentrate on the road," he tells the agency, adding that motorists could also slow down and be more attentive. It's not clear what the consequences of any elevated breath test readings would be.

According to the BBC article, police will also be teaching classes on how to properly cross the road.

But then today, Iceland got into the act:

Iceland Police Tell Drivers Stop Staring At The Sky

Officers in southern Iceland say that twice last week they had to pull over cars driving erratically, initially on suspicion that the drivers had been drinking. But on both occasions the entirely sober visitors were simply mesmerised by the appearance of the Aurora Borealis in the sky above them, Iceland Magazine reports. The site has dubbed it "driving under the influence of the Aurora".


Of course the article goes on to lay the blame upon tourists, who are causing problems by stopping to take pictures of "sheep, horses, or anything else which captures their attention".  I wonder if shoe-tying is involved as well...

The Next Blog Button revisited...

Almost one year ago, I did a bit I called "The 'Next Blog' Button", wherein I went to YOUR blogs, hit that "next blog" button, and had a laugh at what you led me to.  And while I thought about doing a MWN tonight, I just couldn't get interested in what moth eaten celebrity said what about Trump, or which executive order led to that celebrity's deportation/castration/institutionalization, and I thought this might be fun again.  Now, before I get started, rest assured I did not ignore you if you don't see your blog here.  Either you don't comment all that much and wondered if I'd get a laugh, or your blog connected to something very near and dear to your own heart, or I just couldn't figure out which udder to squeeze to milk the comedy from it.

So let's see what I found this time!

At Bee Bee's 50's, Fabulous, and Forever a Jersey Girl, I found a dude writing in Norwegian about Japanese animation.

Eburgie sundied likee Bisbee...

At A Beer For The Shower, I got a post on the Golden Globes, of all things!  The post-er was a "journalism student, lover of penguins, cocktails, lingerie, and worrying too much."

Whoa, I think that's MY blog...

At Larry's Back In The USSR blog, I got a post titled "Nazi Malaysia", wherein the whole post was a picture of this guy with the caption "F***ing Nazi":

When I did a couple of clicks to see if Google knew who this was, what I got was- no lie- "Best guess? Public speaking."



I can't say that I got anything real great off of Holli's blog laugh-wise, but the next blog, described as "Growing old disgracefully", had an interesting flip card feature, where the page was full of thumbnails that when you moused over them, flipped to show you the title of the post it linked to.  Which I thought was kinda cool.


Jo-Anne's place linked me to a photography site, of which the first three pictures were of a blurry cat's face, a doorknob, and a fuse box.  Might want to work on the subject matter on that one.


The commentary of my counterpart across the aisle, Roland Hansen, met up with a self-described "Independent Connecticut Yankee."  I was gonna ask how that was working for him, but then I looked over and saw "Followers (0)."



My lovely mother of four Monkey Butt linked up with some dude from London who apparently hates everything, including winter, America, the Brexit, and the BBC.  And that's without scrolling down...



My man Bobby G I had a bit of a problem with.  The first one I went to was a "small country blog by a small country couple," who hadn't posted since September.  So I said, "They haven't been posting, so let's give them a mulligan."  And I tried again.  And this time, I got a "Southwest Georgia Storm Tracker" who hadn't posted since summer 2014.  I sure hope he got bored (or smart) and not caught.



If you remember the last time I did this, MY blog went to "this blog has been removed".  This time, I hit on the blog of the continuing adventures of a graduate of the Kansas School of Art, who featured among his graphic drawings "dendrite cell illustration", "chromosome replication in bacteria", and "inflammation illustration."  I would show you some of his stuff- especially his dendrite , which looks like a creepy 8-tailed sperm- but he very sternly warns against doing so without permission.  And I kinda doubt he'd go for "So we can have a laugh at your expense" as a viable reason.

Scrappy saves the day...again

So here is Scrappy's hero story.  A few weeks back, we were going through the addition behind us on the way to the north end of the woods when we saw this little curly tan haired dog.

This is pretty close.  Google gets distracted so easily...

  It was loose, no one around, but wandered off without following us.  I said to myself, someone will regret not paying attention someday, and moved on.  Friday, we no more came out for a walk, going the other way, and there he was again.  He had collar and tags, but while he and Scrappy hit it off, he'd evaporate on me after I got within about 3 feet.  So I said to Scrappy, "Let's just go, maybe he won't follow us."  So we crossed the street, and he crossed right with us.

I said, "Hmm, let's see if he'll follow us to the bark park."  Which he did, in a sort of Nyah Nyah can't catch me sort of way.  But when we got there, he wouldn't follow us in.  He was an independant chap, had pulled off the great escape before, and was too smart to be easily cornered.  Just then, a car pulled up in the Bark Park lot- a Latina lady and two kids.  The boy, about 9 or ten, hopped out and started calling him.  I think he called him Ruffy, but it might have been Ralphy.  I'm gonna go with Ruffy at this point.

So he gets out, as I said, but has no better luck apprehending the little felon than I did.  All the time, Mom's in the car yelling instructions in Espanol, but neither she nor the little girl come out to lend a hand.  Just then, Ruffy dashes in the Bark Park, I slam the outer door, and think, "Now we got 'im."

Ha.

First problem is that Ruffy has no intent on slowing down, even in our lovely mud-soaked oasis of a bark park.  Second, the boy is a bit of a... well, a weenie, and the first indication of that is when he wouldn't go into the park because he had brand new, neon-turquoise shoes on and the first couple of feet into the BP was a quagmire to be generous.  So, with a sigh, Scrappy and I entered the park while the kid climbed the fricking fence so he could land on somewhat drier terrain.  I'm guessing some of Mom's Spanish lingo stood for, "Get those shoes muddy and I'll emasculate you."  Followed by, "And don't let the gringo steal your dog."

The next few minutes were spent with Ruffy making a flat fool of the three of us.  Finally, someone with a dog and no interest in the proceedings walked past, and the doggies inside traipsed over to the fence to see the doggie on the outside.  At this point, the boy, as he asked me if my dog bites and informing me that his does, manages to snag him by the collar.  The other dog and master takes off, Scrappy comes up on Ruffy, and Ruffy swings around and apparently bit the boy.  I doubt seriously that it was more than a hard nip, but the boy yells, grabs his hand, and says, "I think I might be bleeding," which I assure you he was not.

So now I'm not real fond of the idea of getting bit, and I ask him if he had a leash.  "No, we just got home from school and he got away."  WON-derful.  So now I have few options between trying to get bit myself and leaving them to their devices and let Mom watch son fail to catch the dog before it keels over from exhaustion.  That's when I said, "Scrappy!  Go hump him! Slow him down, pin him down!"


And Scrappy was more than willing.  Doing his part, I was within half-inches several more times before Ruffy would get away from me, if not Scrappy.  Finally, another kid with a dog came by, and assessing the situation, took his dog to the outside of the entrance.  Ruffy followed, and so did Scrappy and I.  And while they distracted Ruffy, I came up with Scrappy's leash.  Ruffy gave me a "What're you doing, ese?" growl, and then saw the leash and found it good.  He returned his attention to the dogs, and I got my clip on his collar.


I walked Ruffy unwillingly back to his car, while the second kid and his dog kept an eye on Scrappy and Ruffy's boy repeated his MacGyver fence-scaling routine.  The Mom said nothing;  the little girl thanked me, and I told her, "S'okay, I just like to think that someone would help me if this happened with Scrappy."  Ruffy amazingly let me get the leash off without further incident, and I returned to Scrappy, telling him that was enough adventure for one day.

Just to warm you up...

...I have a neat story of Scrappy coming up Monday, but until then here's some pics of us in the muck and mud of a nice warm day.

Birds singing, squirrels playing...

Suddenly Scrappy veers off the trail to see something...

..nearly making me fall in THAT...

...and ultimately turning back around- JUST after I "fell across"...

"If you went barefoot, the mud and water wouldn't bug you so much..."

Ever hear of the book, A River Runs Through It?  Yeah, this was like that...

Time Machine co-ordinates VVII41521063

Today we land in February 10th of 1963; I'm still wearing diapers, but not Bobby Kennedy.  After his brother the President suggested the Marines go back to the Teddy Roosevelt standard of hiking 50 miles in 3 days, Bobby did it in 17 HOURS and 50 minutes.  Not to be outdone, the Beatles struck in another way the next day.  After their first two UK singles, Please Please Me/ Ask Me Why and Love Me Do/ PS I Love You hit the British charts, George Martin needed another ten songs to fill out their first lp- and they got them, from 10 that morning to 10:45 that night- 12 hours, 45 minutes for ten songs, in what was called later the 585 most productive minutes in music history.  Among the songs recorded that day were I Saw Her Standing There, Do You Want To Know A Secret, and Twist And Shout.  But that's tomorrow, and today...

Well today it's time for Time Machine, and this round we see yet another of my famous "anomalous records" on the M10; a heartbreaking lead-in to the 6D; a quick game of "love that instrumental"; and the odd case of the missing station!  Ask not what you can do for Time Machine, but read on for what TM can do for you!

Hey!  That sounds like something Jack would say...

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First up, the M10's one new kid.  Some of you might remember the 70's Canadian act Lighthouse (One Fine Morning), I know I sure do!  So when Spotify suggested I listen to a new song by Lighthouse, I did, and then looked to see if it was the same band.  Despite being stuck in the same place by Spotify, they are not; nor are they the Christian band I tumbled across on Facebook.  No, they are a rock band from the UK and their new single beat out 3 other "let me in, just for a week, please" songs to nab the #9 spot.  UNfortunately, they are so new the do NOT have even an audio track up, and they don't even have it on their soundcloud account yet!  So I will share it with you when it becomes available in the wider world.  The song is called Loaded, and while you can find Lighthouse- Loaded on YouTube, it is a DIFFERENT Lighthouse (possibly the originals) and a DIFFERENT Loaded!  But since I can hear it, I charted it, so there!


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So in addition to a missing song, I also have a missing station on the Panel!  You see 43 stations voted- but there was a 44th station.  That station was WYDE out of Birmingham AL.  They had a Top 30- but with the following caveat:

To present a more accurate survey, the following songs are listed in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (caps mine).

So how does listing them alphabetically- with no numbering- make it "more accurate?"  And while you're puzzling that one out, chew on this- NONE of their 30 songs were among the 10 songs that got votes this week!  I would have to say that the LAST thing their survey was, was accurate!

But anyway, let's move on to the stations that played fair, and look at who THEY voted for!  For that, let me bring in one of our five co-Presidents this week, Marlon Jackson!

Man, this is some honky crap, I don't know None of these songs!

Well, you were just 6 years old at the time...  So just read the list off.  You'll be okay.

Whatever, man... Lessee...

Okay, the first song is All I Have To Do Is Dream by... hey, wait a minute!  This says by Richard Chamberlain!  Even I know the Emory Brothers did that!

Um, you mean the Everly Brothers, and yes they had a big hit with it.  But Richard Chamberlain covered it and was at #102 this week on Cashbox.

102?  How did he even get on here?

Well, it was just starting out, kinda like you.  Let's move on.

Aight.  Next is Hey Paula by Paul and Paula.. huh?  It was at #1 on CB, so I bet ya know where I'm putting MY money!

Then comes The Night Has 1,000 Eyes by Bobby Vee, which was at #6.

And then Pipeline by the Chantays, which... doesn't even come onto the Cashbox charts until next month?  Man, this is some crap...

Then comes Rythm Of The Rain by the Cascades, which is at #11...
and Ruby Baby by Dion, which was #3...
and Surfside by the Denvermen... who is that?  "A Sydney-based band from 1961-65?"  Really?  I am DONE here, dude!

Um, while I pick up the pieces of this story, here's contestant one in "Pick the best instrumental" this week- Australia's the Denvermen:





Okay I think our President just resigned, so let me finish off the group.  The Four Seasons have the next contestant with Walk Like A Man, which was CBs #5.

The Rooftop Singers with Walk Right In, they were at #2 this week.

And finally Bobby Darin with You're The Reason I'm Living, which was back at #21.

Now to shrink the field for you (and maybe remind you just WHO they were, I'll cut out the single vote contestants.  That gives us a 4-song race between Paul and Paula, the Cascades, the Four Seasons, and the Rooftop Singers.  I'll give you a little more help a bit later.


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Before I go to the 6D, let me throw in our second instrumental contestant, and on the way do our UK list.  The highest UK song on the US charts was Del Shannon's Little Town Flirt, which was 7 there and 16 here.  The highest here that charted there this week was Presidential hopeful Walk Right In, which was of course #2 here, while #21 there.  And their #1 was an instrumental from two members of Cliff Richard's fragmenting band, the Shadows- Jet Harris and Tony Meehan:






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This is Barbara Jane Harrison, Jane to her friends.  She received a posthumous George Cross for her heroism during a plane crash on April 8th, 1968, just moments after takeoff from Heathrow in London.  She worked the back escape door, even after the slide had melted from the flames; and when it seemed everyone was off that could be gotten, and she had the chance to jump- she turned back inside to help a severely disabled woman and two other people.  Seconds later, the remains of the plane were rocked by explosions, and she was never seen alive again.


During that same crash, a UK singer by the name of Mark Wynter had escaped, and was noted for helping a dazed young lady to get away from the plane.  Because of their actions, only five people died that day- Jane and those last people she was helping.

And what does this have to do with the 6D?  Well, Wynter had the UK hit version of the song (#6 in '62) that charted the highest without getting a Panel vote- Steve Lawrence's Go Away Little Girl, which was this week's #4.


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So the Presidential race this week was close for quite a while and all of the remaining four had more than 11% of the vote.  But in the interests of helping y'all out, I'll tip you this: the top 2 were 1-2 on Cashbox this week.  So if you voted for the Four Seasons or the Cascades, better luck next time.


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That brings us swiftly to the M10!

Grace Mitchell holds at 10 with Kids (Ain't All Right).

As you saw but didn't hear, Lighthouse debuts at #9 with Loaded.

Black Joe Lewis slips to #8 with PTP in his 8th week- which brought me up an interesting question.  That's a LOT of weeks for a song that stopped at #3- but is it the most?  While 4 songs that topped out at 3 managed 7 weeks on the M10, only one other tune did it for 8 weeks- the Shakes with Tranquilize, which actually was at #3 twice during its run.

Gimme Shelter slides 2 spots to #7 this time.

Castlecomer moves up to #6, up a pair, with If I Could Be Like You.  Likewise, Colony House moves a pair to #5 with You And I.

Sweet still has a shot at that most weeks for a #3 title- they peaked last time, and drop one to #4 with Peppermint Twist in week #5.

The Orwells take Black Frankie up one more spot to #3.

Holding at #2 is POWERS with Dance for a second week.

And your #1s?  M10 says...

...Foxygen for a second week with Follow The Leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And our new Presidents, with 37.2% of the vote...

...Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, AKA Paul and Paula!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The fickle finger of fate sends us to 1979 next time!  See you then!

The more things change...

This is kind of an extension to the "personal life" section of my last post- while I would say I am far, far from disaster mode, the wonderful set of coincidental stupidity just keeps coming.  First, for those of you not Indiana bound, we have gone from two nice if rainy afternoons in the 50s and 60s (or 10s to 15s if you do the C thing) to coming out to my car after work and spending three or four minutes brushing SNOW off my car.

Add in the continuation of "reset hell" on my cutter at work.  A brief look at statistics will tell the tale.  This year so far, I had been averaging over 260 panels cut a day.  Monday and Tuesday I averaged 137, and got 193 today.  To put it another way, my stupid machine reset 30 times today- once for every 6.4 panels I cut.  Best estimate, I've lost a rack full of boat covers over the last 3 days.  Solution?  While I have been assured that it is "in the works" and is being given its due priority, as far as I know, the only progress having been made is an e-mail sent Monday to our Missouri plant (You know? those fine folks that sent us the Haney) that was totally ignored, and re-sent today, with a cc to our plant manager just to scare them.  I know thing go faster with corporate if they know a plant manager is in the loop, looks like it's the only way to get results in Missouri as well.

Mind you, I am not trying to bash the factory I work at, nor the people therein.  But I get a bit frustrated when I hear all the talk at higher levels of "efficiency" and "standardization across the plants", and yet here I sit fighting this machine for the last twenty work hours waiting for someone outside our plant to have the common courtesy to return a frickin' e-mail.


Now, fast forward to dinnertime, in which I nuked a Michelina's Five Cheese Lasagne.  Now, you know I'm not big on doing food reviews.  But... do you remember Clara Peller?

Well, I coulda used Clara when I opened my lasagne and asked...

WHERE'S THE CHEESE?????"

Honest to God, this "five cheese" dish had barely a dusting of something that may have been cheese between two of the five noodles.  So, to combat cheese deprivation (and after firing off an e-mail to Michelina's*), I decided to make some "Chris nachos", which are basically potato chips with sliced mushrooms and a layer of every cheese in the house at the time.

HOWever, someone- I don't think it was me, but can't be sure- bought styrofoam paper plates instead of the FAR superior paper ones, and only a minute and ten secs of microwave time left my "nachos" resting on two large melted holes.  Thanks, Obama!

(* For anyone wanting to write and complain to Michelina's, be sure to use a paper plate (styrofoam will do here) and a magnifying glass, because they will ask for their best-by date and product ID number, both of which are invisibly indented on the bottom of the box in which your cheeseless meal lies.)

So after all of that, I believe I shall just go upstairs and read.  I don't think the house will catch on fire if I don't place the book on the light bulb, and the meteor will have a better chance of getting me by my big bedroom window.