KCAS CAPTURE SUPER BOWL XIV

With the end of the Atlanta-Seattle game, the KCAs take the win in the 14th NHFFL Super Bowl Championship. The score is 43-15 KCAs lead the Ragin' Rhinos, with the Rhinos (9-6) out of players and the KCAs (10-5) still having a starter and a reserve in the Monday night game- TE Visanthe Shiancoe and R-K Ryan Longwell.

The KCAs win the big game for their second time, after losing two of their last three regular season games. The back breaker, just as it was in the NFL, was Desean Jackson's mind-numbing punt return on the last play of the Giants game. That score turned a nervous, low scoring affair into a 31-6 rout.

I'll have to wait until after work Tuesday to officially etch the details on the Super bowl cup, but I'll be celebrating all week long. Michael Bush smashed in two tds to finish things out, as the Rhinos managed no scores from rbs and wrs and K Dan Carpenter missed FOUR field goals. At this point, this game is the 3rd worst Super Bowl rout, behind the B2s 52-12 romp over the Beagles (in the first year of the old "Dragons" becoming the new "Beagles") in SBVI in 2002 and Buzz's 64-32 crushing of the hard-luck Angels in SBX in 2006.

Reasons to believe... or not.

As I listened to a pastor this morning, I began looking at the many ways we can come to belief, taught through the Resurrection story. First, of course, is hearing the Gospel. Whether from angelic sources as Mary Magdalene (Matt. 28:1-8), or mortal (John 20:17-18, Luke 24:33-5), the point is hearing the Good News. Second, through knowledge of the Scriptures, as the disciples heading to Emmaus learned (Luke 24:13-32). If one is not too busy trying to find ways to nitpick and twist the Word of God, as the Pharisees and Saducees did, the truth can become apparent here too. Third, by "finding the empty tomb," as Peter and John did (John 20:1-10). This is the essence of belief without seeing; they came thinking to see a closed cave, a dead body, the signs of death. Instead, they saw the open tomb, the empty bier, the folded and arranged wrappings- in other words, the signs of life. They were able to see beyond their expectations. And fourth, by personal revelation, as in Thomas' case (John 20:26-9). Sometimes even those touched by God are too stubborn to submit to anything else.

On the other hand, we see in Matt. 28: 11-5 the guards being bribed to say that the body was stolen- to lie to accomplish disbelief. We can use this as a lesson about the reasons for disbelief, if we realize that the chief priests are symbolic of Satan and his motivations, which is no stretch considering John 8:33-4 ("You are of your father, the Devil..."). First let's consider why the guards would accept the bribe (why people accept the lie). While we can and will see other subordinate reasons, the two main ones are in the passage:
v. 12; When they had assembled with the soldiers and taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers...
Which means they get their desires out of it. Rejecting God means not having to deal with a conscience beyond nuisance level. I can do what I want.
v. 14; "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
In other words, no consequences. "Imagine there's no heaven/it's easy if you try/ no hell below us/above us only sky..."
Beyond these, there are as I said some important subpoints.
1. Belief in Christ "takes away freedom"; but it's a freedom to bondage. Some people think the definition of free thinking means removing God from all consideration. But look at John 11: 47-8:
"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "what shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will take away both our place and nation."
They were afraid that the belief in Christ would take away the freedom they had, even though that "freedom" was being ruled by the Romans. Just so, free thinkers wish to be free of the concept of God to think as they will, even though this "freedom" is actually bondage to sin.
2.There is a certain fear of believing in Christ; over and over, the Gospels say that the leaders wanted to kill Christ "for fear of the people". Why would they fear the people? Because the people's belief would expose the fraudulent "faith" that gave them their power. To learn about Christ is to strip from me my false beliefs; if I want to maintain them, I must avoid knowing Him.
3.Belief in Christ changes one's concept of reality. In Matt. 26:63-66, the priests ask Jesus if He is the Christ of God; He answers yes, and they reject the answer, accusing Him of blasphemy. They couldn't cope with His answer, for that would expose their sin before God. To maintain everything they believed, they had to reject Him. Just so, many who don't want to believe are just too comfortable in their personal world view to allow Him to change it.
4.Belief is a personal insult. In John 18: 19-23, we see the priests question Jesus on His doctrine; His answer, basically, was go to those who believe and ask them. The officer's response shows that the priests were insulted by this. Many free thinkers it would seem think that belief in God insults their intelligence. This goes back to pride, the original sin.
5. The passage in John 8 gives several more similar reasons. In vv 32-39, they throw up tradition, as if their Abrahamic heritage makes them better. In v. 41, they defend themselves with self-righteousness. and from v.52 to the end, they refuse to acknowledge that Jesus, as God, is greater than them. This is something I've seen in many conversations. They cannot conceive of a God with greater motivations and different moral codes than they themselves have. Therefore, they try to apply their standards to God's actions, and come to the conclusion that...
6. He's insane. In John 7:20, 8:48, and 8:52-3 they accuse Jesus of "having a demon", even though many of them had seen Him cast demons out, and Jesus Himself logically proved you can't cast demons out and have one as well (Matt. 12:22-30). But His ways are so"crazy", as Thomas Jefferson said:
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."
To which Paul answers in 1 Cor. 1:23-4:
23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
7. It gives others a knowledge they don't have. In Luke 4:24-30, Jesus explains to the People of Nazareth their disbelief by telling the stories of non-Jews such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. They became furious and tried to stone Him at the mention that somebody beyond themselves might be gifted with knowledge of God. It reminds me of the violent attack of evolutionist/big bang theorists against scientists who work from a Christian POV. Here's an example from the AP:
Scientist alleges religious discrimination in Ky.
Published December 17, 2010
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – An astronomer argues that his Christian faith and his peers' belief that he is an evolution skeptic kept him from getting a prestigious job as the director of a new student observatory at the University of Kentucky.
Martin Gaskell quickly rose to the top of a list of applicants being considered by the university's search committee. One member said he was "breathtakingly above the other applicants."
Others openly worried his Christian faith could conflict with his duties as a scientist, calling him "something close to a creationist" and "potentially evangelical."
Even though Gaskell says he is not a creationist, he claims he was passed over for the job at UK's MacAdam Student Observatory three years ago because of his religion and statements that were perceived to be critical of the theory of evolution.
Gaskell has sued the university, claiming lost income and emotional distress. Last month a judge rejected a motion from the university and allowed it to go to trial Feb. 8.
"There is no dispute that based on his application, Gaskell was a leading candidate for the position," U.S. District Judge Karl S. Forester wrote in the ruling.
Gaskell later learned that professors had discussed his purported religious views during the search process. Gaskell told the AP in an e-mail that he didn't grow frustrated, but felt "one should not allow universities to get away with religious discrimination."
University scientists wondered to each other in internal e-mails if Gaskell's faith would interfere with the job, which included public outreach, according to court records.
The topic became so heated behind the scenes that even university biologists, who believed Gaskell was a critic of evolution, weighed in by citing a controversial Bible-based museum in Kentucky that had just opened.
"We might as well have the Creation Museum set up an outreach office in biology," biology professor James Krupa wrote to a colleague in an October 2007 e-mail. The museum was making national headlines at the time for exhibits that assert the literal truth of the Bible's creation story.
Science professors cited a lecture Gaskell has given called "Modern Astronomy, the Bible and Creation," which he developed for "Christians and others interested in Bible and science questions...," according to an outline of the lecture. Gaskell told the AP he was invited to give the lecture at UK in 1997, and organizers had read his notes.
The wide-ranging lecture outlines historical scientific figures who discuss God and interpretations of the creation story in the biblical chapter Genesis. Also in the notes, Gaskell mentions evolution, saying the theory has "significant scientific problems" and includes "unwarranted atheistic assumptions and extrapolations," according to court records.
Gaskell was briefly asked about the lecture during his job interview in 2007 with the chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michael Cavagnero, according to Gaskell's deposition. Gaskell said he felt that questions related to religion during the job interview were "inappropriate."
"I think that if I had a document like this and I was advocating atheism ... I don't think it would be an issue," he said of his lecture.
Science professors also expressed concern that hiring Gaskell would damage the university's image.
An astrophysics professor, Moshe Elitzur, told Cavagnero that the hire would be a "huge public relations mistake," according to an e-mail from Cavagnero in court records.
"Moshe predicts that he would not be here one month before the (Lexington) Herald-Leader headline would read: 'UK hires creationist to direct new student observatory.'"
University spokesman Jay Blanton declined to comment Monday because the litigation is pending.
Gaskell said he is not a "creationist" and his views on evolution are in line with other biological scientists. In his lecture notes, Gaskell also distances himself from Christians who believe the earth is a few thousand years old, saying their assertions are based on "mostly very poor science."
Gaskell was uniquely qualified for the new position at the University of Kentucky, according to court records, because he oversaw the design and construction of an observatory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He also advised UK during the building of the MacAdam facility. He currently teaches at the University of Texas.
His attorney, Frank Manion, said scientists at UK were too quick to place Gaskell on one side of the creation-evolution debate.
"Unfortunately too many people get hung up on the idea that you have to be one extreme or the other," said Manion, who works for American Center for Law & Justice, which focuses on religious freedom cases. They say "you can't be a religious believer and somebody who accepts evolution, which is clearly not true. And Gaskell's a perfect example of that."
I think it's hilarious/ludicrous that I keep hearing how atheists are persecuted in the USA when every day you see examples of nativity scenes being removed, ten commandment plaques being taken down, school outreaches being shut down, public prayers banned, licence plates on private vehicles being denied,and lawsuits to remove In God We Trust from our money being filed. Atheists like to quote Thomas Jefferson in their attacks, but somehow always forget he also said this:
"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. "
The attacks on Christianity in the public realm only go to prove what I have listed here. If there was just an honest unbelief involved, they would have the same view as Jefferson. To feel the need to attack Christianity, they are aligning themselves with those who Jesus spoke of in John 8:42-4:
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.

Step into my time machine week thirty-four

Before we go this week, I want to announce that sometime over the holidays, I'm going to follow tradition with a year end list. But... it's going to be a hybrid of the Billboard and Cashbox lists, and only counting the time period I've been doing TM, so you cheaters that peak ahead won't really know for sure what's coming next. Stay tuned for that, and away we go!



15 debuts this week, including 2 Christmas songs- at 100, Greg Lake of ELP chimes in with I Believe In Christmas; and John Denver comes in at 72 with Christmas For Cowboys. In the regular debuts, we feature 6 tunes- the Commodores at 99 with Sweet Love; Roxy Music at 91 with the classic go-to-the-club-and-get-some song, Love Is The Drug; Natalie Cole at 82 with Inseprable; the Bee Gees at 77 with Fanny Be Tender (which some dude named Gino Cunico also hit with much lower); Yet another great Linda Ronstadt cover, this time the Miracles' great Tracks Of My Tears, at 73; and way up at 69, the Eagles with Take It To The Limits. The big dropper this week are the Four Seasons with Who Loves You tumbling 34 spots to 57; the big jumper didn't even become a competition until the top forty. And finally, take heart ye "Feelings" bashers; Morris Albert at last leaves the top 40, dropping to 49.



Our #1 album countdown this week takes us to March of 1973 and the ascendance of Elton John's wonderfully titled Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player. The title comes from his reaction when Groucho Marx (of all people) made six shooters with his hands and aimed them at Elton. This album bought him his first #1 single, Crocodile Rock, along with the Billboard #2 Daniel. After 2 weeks at the top, it was replaced by Dueling Banjos, the Deliverance soundtrack played by Eric Weissburg and Steve Mandel. The title tune, originally called Feudin' Banjos, was written by Al "Guitar Boogie" Smith, who got no credit. He sued and won a landmark case that convinced moviemakers to be polite and ask from now on. Banjos stayed on top for three weeks, which brings us to another somewhat unusual entry. On April 7, Diana Ross captured her first #1 album with Lady Sings The Blues, the soundtrack to the movie biography of the late jazz star Billie Holliday. It succeeded despite the absence of a big hit single (Good Morning Heartache peaked at 34) but succeed it did, holding the top spot for two weeks.



Let's look at the tops of the other years this week before we go into the 7 count 'em 7 top 40 debuts. This week in 1995, Boyz II Men (whom I slandered last week and will thus leave alone) combine with Mariah Carey on One Sweet Day; in 1985, Mr. Mister hits #1 for the first time with Broken Wings; in 1975, you'll just have to wait to the end of the post; in 1965, the Four Seasons with Let's Hang On, one of my all time favorites and their 5th Cashbox #1 (it only got #3 Billboard); and in 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford was in his 4th of 7 weeks at the top with Sixteen Tons.



Into airplay alley this week comes Olivia Newton-John; having no more left with Something Better To Do, she re-enters at 40, up 13 with Let It Shine. Up 6 to 39 is the disco remake of the old classic Baby Face by the Wing And A Prayer Fife And Drum Corps, a group of studio musicians put together by one Harold Wheeler, who now is the musical director for Dancing With The Stars. At 38, up 12, we find hard rockers Nazareth with their excellent cover of Roy Orbison's Love Hurts. Up 6 to 37 are Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes with the excellent Wake Up Everybody. The Who's double entendre hit Squeezebox comes in at 36, up 13. The song I thought was going to be the high debut and biggest jumper comes in at 24, up a big 28 notches- the Miracles, sans Smokey Robinson, with Love Machine; and the song that said I was premature comes in at 20, up forty-two notches in just two weeks in the Hot 100, Neil Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.



Our almost but not quite this week is Frankie Valli (him AGAIN??) with Our Day Will Come. This remake of the Ruby and the Romantics #1 of March 1963 featured (as did Swearin' To God) the female vocal of Patti Austin, who'd gain greater fame with her duet with James Ingram, Baby Come To Me, which hit #1 in 1983. Our Day Will Come peaks this week at 14.



Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out. The droppers are Nights On Broadway, down 11 to 16th, and My Little Town, dropping also 11 to 18th. By the By, Fly Away climbs from 20 to 13, which means likely next week I'll tell you the Fly Away story. Along with the song and the singers, it involves a human stork, Woodward and Bernstein, and Pizza Hut.



Holding onto the #10 spot are the O'Jays with I Love Music. Also stalled at #9 are the Ohio Players with Love Rollercoaster. Leaping from 19 to 8 come Pigpen and Rubber Duck; yes, CW McCall's Convoy wastes no time trucking into the top ten. At 7th , up 6, is Diana Ross with the Theme From Mahogany-big day for Diana and movies, eh? Barry Manilow moves up 2 to #6 with I Write The Songs. Jigsaw climbs one to 5 with Sky High. Fly Robin Fly descends one spot to #4. KC and the kids drop from top dog to #3 with that's The Way I Like It. The Bay City Rollers climb 2 to the runner up spot with Saturday Night. All of which means that our new #1 song this week is...

The Staple Singers, who let Pop up front this time, with Let's Do It Again.

See you for that special countdown next week, along with our usual fun'n'games.

Flip Floppers and Radicals

I've spent some time this evening visiting a blog by a lady "on the other side of the aisle" as it were. The topic has been Marlin Stutzman in general and one of the specifics was his vote in favor of the tax cuts-for-unemployment extension compromise. This lady accuses Marlin of flip-flopping, to her because it was better for him to appease the rich people getting the tax break than to stand on his principle and vote down the unemployment extension. Of course, simply deciding to compromise for the good of the country couldn't possibly be his reason.

Earlier today, I heard Sarah Palin use the same rhetoric for President Obama for his flip-flop on the bill. And I thought the same thing here. Anyone who compromises for the good of the country is a horrible, evil "flip-flopper"; anyone who holds his ground is a radical, a puppet of his/her party's line, the reason why government is so f'ed up.

And maybe she's right (the lady blogger, not Sarah) and Marlin is just lining up his future nest egg. If so, consider this. Who is Obama's core constituency? Is it not the largely African-American chronically unemployed who thought his election would guarantee them a release from their mortgages and a full tank of gas? This group might bitch and complain about rich folks getting the breaks, but at the end of the day, as long as Obama comes through with their care package from IWD, he's all right. Obama may be a flip flopper, but at least he was loyal to the main group that put him where he's at.

Thursday Tidbits

Item 1: OT Friday all day. Wallet says Yay! Body says uhhh... Also, we lose our two days off paid for Christmas eve/Christmas. We get Thursday and Friday paid at regular time. I'm not all that upset; when it was announced, I was sure in the minority. A bad day for our supervisor (neither involved nor happy with the situation) to be wearing a "grinch" sweatshirt.



Item 2:Which means that Time machine will either be late Friday or Saturday, depending.



Item 3: The Ass ange/Michael Moore/Oberman thing. Moore tells Oberman that the rape allegations are "Hooey". Oberman gets a good laugh out of it, and then gets run off of twitter by people that think rape sympathisers are Richard Craniums. Moore spends 20k of his hardly earned money to spring Ass ange. (Whatever will Krispy Kreme do this week?) So to sum up, the talking head who can't even follow his media outlet's less than stringent ethical principles gives a forum to the leading proponant of using the freedom of speech that this nation's soldiers die for to bash that nation, and combined they laugh off abuse to women when it is committed by their fellow soldier in America bashing. When these men pass on to their reward, it would ber nice to see them have to ply their respective trades in a world as it would have been if the Communist revolution had actually happened. Can you imagine? Moore would be doing documentaries on how important it is to do and think as the politburo tells you; Ass ange would no doubt have a different idea on how easy it is to do 9 days in prison, as well as leaking something other than secrets or semen; and Keith Oberman would have the most popular heavily-sanitized newsletter in the gulag.



Item 4: Super Bowl XIV is underway, and the KCAs draw first blood on a 58 yard td pass by PHILLIP RIVERS!!!



Item 5: Here's a video that Laurie took, trying to capture Scrappy cuddling with me. What's great is his reaction when he finally sees he's on camera.

And now, Super Bowl XIV

I mentioned last week that the last time the Fiery Beagles and the KCAs met in the playoffs, the KCAs won 73-28 en route to their first Super Bowl title back in 2004. When Ahmad Bradshaw scampered 48 yards through the vagabond Vikings' mail-in defense, it added the last six points to an 80-34 KCAs victory. Michael Turner opened up the lead with his 3 tds after Pierre Garcon kicked things off with 2 scores Thursday, and Malcolm Floyd-from-Phillip Rivers also struck twice, and Desean Jackson anted up a 91-yarder. The 9-5 KCAs, just as they did in 2004, go on to face a team playing in its first Super Bowl. Back then it was the Elks and the best Super Bowl yet played, a 31-30 KCAs victory. This year, it will be the Ragin' Rhinos, who advance with a 35-12 triumph over the T-Cubs. The Rhinos, who have now beaten 2 of the three division winner in the playoffs, took a lead they never relinquished Thursday on 2 scores by unlikely candidate Bo Scaife ( Who KC only picked for Shenan's team because I think the name sounds like some skin disease and he knew it would annoy me) while the 4-time champions got goose eggs from all RBs, all WRs, and both QBs. The only game that the two contenders played this year was a 30-21 preseason win by the KCAs.

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In the FCS playoffs this weekend, Villanova proved, at least to me, that they are done screwing around (as they did much of the season); and they proved it to #1 Appalachian State as well, routing them 42-24 in a game where the Wildcats held the App State QB down from the 230+ rushing yards he had against Western Illinois to under 30. 'Nova will face Eastern Washington. The #5 seed scored first in OT and got an interception to end the game in a 38-31 victory over North Dakota State. #3 seed Delaware also moves on after their 16-3 win over UNH last Friday; they play upset minded Georgia Southern. GaSo knocked off Wofford's Terriers 23-20; they've won three playoff games this year (the only team to pull that off thus far) by a total score of 94-51, including knocking out the #2 seed the last week.

Step into my time machine week thirty-three

For those of you out there who consider this post a matter of life and death (anybody?), tis the season to get used to later episodes- the dreaded spectre of OT reared its head for the first time today. A half-day, to be sure, but nonetheless. From overtime to back in time, now, as we look back at Earth Wind, And Fire, War, and- Lorne Greene?



13 songs made their debut this week in 1975, and quite a few are of some note. Donnie and Marie, that lovable couple of kids, hit at 99 with their cover of Deep Purple (which I really like, but could do without the Marie voiceover in the middle. At 97 a country singer named Kenny Starr charted his version of The Blind Man In The Bleachers; noteworthy because his country version hit #2, an accomplishment because the former Loretta Lynn protege would never be seen again on the pop chart, and crack the top 30- barely- just 2 more times on the country chart. Needless to say, his cover didn't stack up very well against David Geddes' version (which is at 22 this week and slowing down...) chartwise.

Farther on up, Foghat makes its entrance at 81 with its most famous song, Slow Ride. That entrance alone topped its previous chart peaks outside of Fool For The City. Three notches hence at 78 we find former Raspberry Eric Carmen with the title single from his first solo album, appropriately titled All By Myself. A great album to listen to if you're not a depressed, angst-ridden teenager who can't get a girl to look at him that way; if you were, well...

At 75 we rejoin Mr. David Bowie and his follow up to Fame, Golden Years (wop, wop, wop). The best, however, we save for yet higher up. Neil Sedaka hits with his prozac remake of his 1962 smash Breaking Up Is Hard To Do clear up at 62; and at 61, here comes Rhymin' Simon (Paul, that is) with 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. He said it had nothing to do with Marvel comics, but "sneak out the back, Jack (Kirby), make a new plan, Stan (Lee), no need to be coy, Roy (Thomas)", methinks we stretch coincidence a bit thin here.



Our big dropper falls to 55 from 19- Natalie Cole's This Will Be. One way to get mentioned one last time. I struggled to find a big Mover higher than a 16-spot jump - until our second highest top 40 debut this week. Again, needless to say, we'll let that bird out of the cage a bit later.



Let's do a "specials slam" this week. First, our continuing countdown of the #1 albums of the 70's. We are at the end of 1972 and the beginning of 1973, and overlapping both for five weeks was Seventh Sojourn, the first #1 disc for the Moody Blues. No doubt propelled a bit by the third re-release of Nights In White Satin which peaked #1 Cashbox and #2 Billboard right inbetween the album's two singles: Isn't Life Strange (29) and I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock'N'Roll Band) (12). This would be the last album for the Moodies for some time, as they went on hiatus and solo projects after the tour for this album. Sojourn ended its reign the week of January 6th, 1973, replaced by Carly Simon's No Secrets. This album was headed by Right Thing To Do (17) and of course You're So Vain (1), a song made more controversial not only by A) her refusing to name who it was about, B) one of the candidates thereof singing backup on the tune, and C) having so many candidates to mention for the title. In addition to the previously hinted-at Mick Jagger, and Cat Stevens, who got his due last week on TM, you also have Warren Beatty (widely believed to be the winner), Kris Kristofferson, and the man she married just the November before, James Taylor. No Secrets was followed by War with The World Is A Ghetto. Led by the #2 Cisco Kid and the #7 title track, War held the top spot for the 2 weeks of February 21-27, 1973.



In our looks at the #1s of other years, we are back in the 4s this time. Number one this week in 1994 were those sure RNR HOFers Boyz II Men with On Bended Knee. 1984 sees Chaka Khan, with some help from Grandmaster Mellie Mel and Stevie Wonder's harmonica with I Feel For You. 1974's #1 this week were the Three Degrees and When Will I See You Again. In 1964, we have the curious rock'n'roll phenom Lorne Greene, taking full advantage of his TV fame as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza to place his spoken word hit Ringo at #1. He actually had to say on the album that the song had nothing to do with "the Beatles' wonderful drummer". In fact, it also had little to do with its real life subject, western owlhoot Johnny Ringo (as apparently, neither did his appearance in the movie Tombstone). Finally, we whizz past 1954 long enough to hear the gentle tones of the Chordettes with Mr. Sandman at the top. On with the show.



Seven, count 'em, seven top 40 newbies this week, and they don't all wait their turn. Rising 11 to #40 is the Average White Band with a funky little number (that, alas, I did not recall) called School Boy Crush. At 39, up 15 (and a contender for the big mover for a few more seconds), a song we talked about a few weeks ago when it first came in, Bob Dylan's Hurricane. Up from43 to 36, Paul Anka's Kodak moment, Times Of Your Life. I don't care if it was a commercial first, it still makes my eyes go moist. Knowing me, that was probably a contributing factor. Kiss finally breaks into airplay alley for the first time with their live version of Rock And Roll All Nite, also up 7 to 35th. EWF blast their way up from 41 to 27 with Sing A Song; and any other week, that jump would surely win the high debut, and maybe the biggest jump. BUUUUUT... the big mover goes to John Denver; you might say he flies away with it, with Fly Away rising 49 notches from 69 to 20. Keep reminding me to tell that funny story involving that song when it goes top ten. And the week's high t40 debut goes to CW McCall (nice initials) with Convoy trucking all the way from 49 to 19. Ten-four!



A dual almost but not quite this week. Pete Wingfield (whose song was 18 with a bullet on Billboard two weeks ago) ends his climb with (all together now), needless to say, 18 With A Bullet. In addition we salute Wings with Venus And Mars/Rock Show, which peaks here at 16. Oddly enough, this marked the first time that any former Beatle's single release did not chart in Jolly Ol'. (Bit of a prude about the long hair and "scoring an ounce", I suppose) And one more note whilst we are in the neighborhood. (Oh, I know, this is going to be another "Feelings" update, isn't it?) Why yes, yes it is. Feelings is still in the top 40 at 37 this week, its 27th in the hot hundred. This is its 16th week in the TOP 40- let's put this in perspective. In the 33 weeks we've rode the time machine, only 47 other songs have topped 16 weeks IN THE HOT 100. Only 30 of those made 18 weeks; 19 made 19 weeks; 8 of them saw 20 weeks. Six of those made it to their 21st week on the hot hundred, and only 2- Johnny Wakelin's Black Superman-Mohammed Ali (which never made it higher than #23) and Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy- made it as far as 23 weeks on the hot 100.



Two songs into the top 10, 2 go out. The Way That I Want To Touch You sinks from 9 to 15; and Island Girl drops from 5 to 12.



The O'Jays hit the top ten for the fifth time- an apparently glancing blow, from 11 to 10, with I Love Music. Rolling up 4 spots to #9 are the Ohio Players with Love Rollercoaster. Barry Manilow climbs two notches to 8 with I Write The Songs (or, at least, Bruce Johnston does). Simon and Garfunkel hold at 7 with My Little Town. Jigsaw climbs 2 to #6 with Sky High. The Bee Gees move down one to 5 with Nights On Broadway. The Bay City Rollers move up 2 to #4 with Saturday Night. Silver Convention drops 1 to 3rd with former top dog Fly Robin Fly. The Staple Singers move up to the runner up spot with Let's Do It
Again. And you're getting a picture of them because one thing I won't do again is post another picture of this week's #1 song. For the 3rd straight week, KC And The Sunshine Band with That's The Way (uh-huh uh-huh) I Like It.


I'd have to say that's SOME improvement over Harry Casey...


OKay, see you right here next week!