Translating from English to English

I've spent the last few years buying my music via taking surveys on Opinion Outpost and cashing the points in on Amazon.com.  Late last year, there was some trouble with the availability of Amazon rewards.  So, I waited.  And waited.  Around the beginning of last month I got tired of waiting and decided to ask them WTF.  Here's the answer I got:

Hi Martin,

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

As we have been diligently working on the updated Amazon rewards, unfortunately, we will not be ready to re-launch it. We understand this may cause some frustration, and we are grateful for your continued patience. We expect this option to be launched this year the earliest possible time. Please continue to take advantage of our other great rewards options. Again, we are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused

Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,
John
Opinion Outpost Helpdesk

Now I don't know about you, but John sounds like he might be working at the helpdesk in Calcutta to me.  "Hi Martin"?  "This year at the earliest"?

Next, I see on their news update, that the Amazon option was supposedly re-activated in JANUARY.  Go check it out, still no go.  So, I tried again.
Question:Your news date 1/18 says, 'We are proud to announce that after a short time of being unavailable, the Amazon.com reward option is now back up and running. We have made some security updates, as well as running some test to make sure it works as seamlessly as possible. We appreciate all the support and participation of our members and we are constantly looking for ways to improve the membership experience." Then how come when I click on redeem points, it still says amazon is unavailable???

And here's the new answer.
Hello Christopher,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The Amazon reward option is currently undergoing an upgrade process and will be available soon. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and can ensure you that we are persistently working on improving our website to serve you better.

Best regards,

Noni
Opinion Outpost Helpdesk
So Noni responds in perfect, if not especially enlightening, English, while John could have passed for a b-list scammer.  Go figure.  At least Noni knows what a first name is.

Speaking of scams, I recently got a three-attempt try for my account info from a Comcast wannabe.

You'll remember attempt #1:
Dear Comcast Customer l.easterday@comcast.net,

Today, 19 March.2012, your security is top priority at Comcast Team!
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In order to maintain high security, the administrators have been assigned with the task to manually identify our clients.
To link your account to our new update you just need to Relogin your account using the secure link bellow.
The link will redirect you to our update login page. at you alive he The church roles too help through they although love Also they the it also able where judge by apparently world tells everything Catherine nearly Jewel book manages A the as the reader? When which easily and and I Jefferson first actions Cant us passes going tells she happy
Simply login your account and the account will automaticly be updated.
Click here to confirm&update your account.

Thank you for your cooperation.


Sincerely,
Comcast Team.
in but popular shows ask nearly Until war so her blatant is Marochetti of sudden has to most the The cannot The which an Square become Cat one respect of and Grant part as away about In to river on they
Here's #2:

Constant Guard™ Alert
Dear XFINITY Customer,
Please read this entire message.
In an effort to improve our customers' experience, Comcast has been reviewing some user accounts and sending e-mails that direct customers to an : Account Reconciliation .
We appreciate your prompt attention to this important security notice.
Sincerely,
Constant Guard from XFINITY

So at least we've went from cheesy attempt to something with a professional looking header.  And we've lost the ghost phrases in between paragraphs.

Here's #3:

Subject: Your account access is limited

IMPORTANT NOTICE, PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE MESSAGE.

Today, 22 march 2012, Comcast has been reviewing some user accounts and sending e-mails that direct customers to an : Account Reconciliation .

We appreciate your prompt attention to this important security notice.

Sincerely, Constant Guard from XFINITY

Oh, boy, now I've been LIMITED!!  And notice the pushy "Please read the entire message" line in the last two.  Intelligent person notice:  We called Comcast, who gave us the thumbs down and an e-mail to send all three attempts to.

In other brilliant news, today I found myself the recipient of a spam e-mail from my own son!  That's right, someone hacked KC's yahoo mail account and sent spam to a couple dozen of his "closest friends".  He's already had his facebook password hacked twice.  Knock on wood, nothing like that's happened to me- yet.  And if it does, don't be afraid to let me know.

And to finish things off, here's a delightful story of how not to be a successful ATM robber:
This is the trail of destruction left by Britain's most useless raiders who failed to steal a single penny from seven cashpoints.

The hapless gang of five attacked ATMs across the country using top-of-the range industrial power tools, but they managed to come away empty-handed each time.

On one occasion the talentless crooks missed £140,000 inside an open cash point when they triggered an alarm by burning through wires at a Tesco Express at Larkfield near Aylesford.

Bungled: Damage to Tesco Superstore in Kingsnorth, Ashford

Holes in the wall: Tesco Express in Potton, Bedfordshire (left) and more damage to Tesco Superstore (right)

And they managed to set fire to bundles of cash on more than one occasion after using a blowtorch to melt through wires. They were so noisy they even woke up a neighbour.
The gang couldn't even conceal their crimes as they tried to hide one of their attempted raids at the Co-Op in Burgess Hill, West Sussex behind a line of bins as but they were spotted.

 

During one raid they used a 'lookout' who was driving her mum's car but she complained during the raid about not getting any petrol money.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that the gang only succeeded in smashing a series of holes in walls across England.

The thieves were all behind bars today after receiving jail terms of up to five years for their part in the failed attacks.

THE TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION

Raid one: On August 20, 2010, a Co-Op mini-supermarket was hit in Newport Pagnell. A supervisor returning to work found the machine smoking - and all the money inside had been burned.
Raid two: Five days later at a Tesco Express in Potten, Beds. Just bricks were removed and no money taken.
Raid three: The Co-Op in Milton Keynes was targeted the following day. Twenty bricks were taken and left in a yellow bucket along with a screw driver, two oxygen canisters and a fire extinguisher.

Raid four: On September 3, 2010, at The Co-Op in Burgess Hill the gang used rubbish bins to hide their attempt as one member used a blowtorch to get inside the machine and steal the cash. However, it just melted wires and triggered the alarm. They were so noisy they even woke up a neighbour.
Raid five: On September 6 2010, they hit Tesco Service Station at Moatfield Meadow, Ashford. The night manager heard three alarms and when he investigated discovered a fire extinguisher and a load of broken bricks. The ATM was singed but unopened.
Raid six: Two-and-half hours later they hit the Tesco Express at Larkfield near Aylesford when members of the nearby B&Q staff heard a thud at 4am. The Tesco manager reported the alarm had been triggered at 3.30am but the machine with £140,000 inside was still unopened.

Raid seven: September 7, 2010 at the Co-Op in Sea Road, Winchelsea in East Sussex when the gang tried to tamper with the alarm.

Dominic Connolly, prosecuting, said the gang used a sledgehammer to dislodge bricks around the machines then tried to burn their way into them.

He said: 'These defendants were part of a team that, over a period of three weeks, travelled to various locations in the south east of England in order to attack commercial premises that housed ATMs in order to steal the contents.

'However, despite their extensive efforts, no money was actually obtained.'

Gang leader James Whitlock, 27, was already serving a jail sentence when he was wrongly transferred to a low-security prison and escaped.

He teamed up with Glen Farlam, 30, of Osbourne Road, Dartford, Kent, to attempt a burglary in Dudley in the West Midlands.

Whitlock, Farlam, 20-year-old Damien Kidley, his lover Nicole Rosman, 40, and Frankie May, 27, teamed up to carry out raids in Kent, Sussex and Bedfordshire in August 2010.

Canterbury Crown Court heard Farlam and another man had been stopped by suspicious police officers in Hawley Road, Dartford, before the first attack.

Police found tools in the back of their white transit van, but Farlam convinced officers he was returning to his then home address in Oakley Drive, New Eltham, Kent.

Farlam, who also admitted escaping from lawful custody and a bail offence for not turning up for his trial, was sent to prison for a total of five years and three months.

Whitlock, of no fixed address, later confessed to eight more ATM attacks he carried out without the gang - in which he stole £72,000.

He was jailed for four years and ten months.

Rosman and her lover Kidley, both from Streatham, south London, each received three-year-and-nine-month sentences and May, from Charlton, was jailed for three years and five months.

All but Farlam had admitted burglary and attempted burglary charges.

Farlam was found guilty by a jury at a trial last year.


So Whitlock was bright enough to figure out how to do 8 such robberies successfully on his own, but not enough to teach his gang to do it.  Gotta love forethought.

Eurohockey update

First off, we have our second champs.  They are the Oji Eagles of the Asia League.  They finished a 3-1 series win over the Nikko Ice Bucks with a 4-3 OT win.  Nikko had knocked off Anyhang Halla of Korea in the first round, while Oji beat the Nippon Paper Cranes 3-0. Oji, who finishes 26-7-9, have dominated Japanese hockey, racking up 34 All-Japan Championships, 13 Japan League titles, and this, their second Asia League crown.

Oji plays in the city of Tomakomai on the north island of Hokkaido.  The pictures above show Midorigaoka Park and the port.  Here's more from their English website:
The Tomakomai Port was opened in 1963 as the first large-scale, man-made excavated port in Japan, and was designated as an important port in 1981. Today, it has become an important port not only for industry but also as a distribution center, handling about one third of Hokkaido's total cargo volume, and is playing a great role in the development of Hokkaido's economy as the largest international trading port in northern Japan.
Various corporations, involved in a wide range of industry, including oil refining, automobile, electric power,lumber, chemical, nonferrous metals, and assorted feed locate their operations on the waterfront of the Tomakomai West Port which has been improved to cope with the modernization of freight traffic, forming a large coastal industrial area. Above all Toyota Motor Corporation Hokkaido started operation there in October, 1992, and is expected to grow as an extensive industry.

Tomakomai is a City of 174,000 on the south edge of the island.  Well north of the quake/tsunami area, they received only minimal damage.

Next, a look at leagues that have reached their finals.  In Austria, Black Wings Linz and KAC Klagenfurt split the first two games, both 3-2;  But then the regular season champs topped KAC 6-2 at home and 4-1 in Klagenfurt to take a 3-1 lead.
In Belarus, Zhlobin leads Neman Grodno 3-2, all of the games 3-2 wins except Zhlobin's 5-2 game three win in Grodno.
In Denmark, Blue Fox Herning was the bane of SonderjyskE yet again, taking them out in the semis 4-1 to advance to the finals against Odensee.  The series begins  next Saturday.
In France, season champ Rouen faces seventh seed Grenoble in the finals.  Grenoble makes the finals after twin upsets over #2 Dijon in the quarterfinals and #3 Chamoix in the semis.  And in the finals, they are trying to do it again:  after Rouen won 4-3OT and 8-2 games at home, Grenoble won the next two games in the south of France, 5-4 and 6-4.
Thursday, Val Pusteria and Bolzano, the 1-2 teams in Italy Serie A, kick off their final.
It will be a Tuesday kickoff in Norway's GET-Ligaen between the top 2 teams, Stavenger and Lorenskog.
#1 Kosice and #3 Slovan Bratislava start their finals a week from Sunday in the Slovak Extraliga.


The rest of the leagues look like this:
In the Czech Extraliga they've reached the semis.  8th ranked Kometa Brno, who upset top-ranked Sparta Praha 4-2, faces #2 Plsen and lead them 3 games to one, while Pardubice and Liberec are even at 2 apiece.
Finland is only in the first round, but Jokerit (downing IFK 4-0) and JYP Jyvaskyla (over Assat 4-1) are through to the quarters.  First place KalPa looked good too, winning the first three against Blues Espoo, before dropping the next two 3-1 and 5-2.
In Germany, ERC Ingolstadt faces Adler Mannheim and Eisbaren Berlin takes on Straubing Tigers in the semis.  Straubing knocked out my Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 4-0 winning the games in Wolfsburg 2-1 and 3-1 and the two at home 7-0 and 7-3.
In the Elitserien, #1 Lulea got tagged out by #7 AIK 4-1 in the quarters.  The semis feature Skelleftea vs AIK and Brynas vs Farjestads.  Skelleftea and Brynas each lead their series 2-1.
In the UK, they have a two-week playoff.  Each series is a 2-game best goals match, the quarters this weekend and the rest I believe start Friday.  Nottingham and Braehead started early, with Braehead winning the opener 3-0 and Nottingham taking today's game and the series 5-1 (a 5-4 win). The others have played game one and decide things tomorow.
Finally, in the KHL, the East semi show Traktor and Avangard with a win apiece.  In the West, Dynamo Moscow has won 5-4 OT and 2-1 matches against SKA St. Petersburg in what may be a major upset.
Just to put a bow on the VHL season, for some reason they have the top contender in each conference playing the other guy in the other conference.  Thus, Diesel gets Ruby Tyumen while Taurus gets Donbas.  Not only that, but Taurus ambushed Donbas 5-1 in their series opener.  Wow!
That's it for this time.  Next time, we'll have more champions, and maybe- since they don't have the schedule up yet, a look at this year's Aussie League!

The Great Seventies countdown- the end of the road

"So now you've seen the progression, from songs that just sounded neat, to songs attached to certain places, events, and sometimes people, to those that began to symbolize the early teenage angst of the day,"says the Host.  "More of the window into me.  And now we come to the end of our journey- the songs that meant the most from the time that meant the most.  I am reminded of the immortal words of Baz Luhrman in the classic Wear Sunscreen: Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Oh, never mind.
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded.
But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

And with that, we move on one last time.

10-  (They Long To Be) Close To You, the Carpenters, #1, 1970.  I have vivid memories of listening to the light music of what was then WFWR at Dr. Dahling's office.  There were two songs that I always counted on hearing while I was there.  This was one.  Also, I remember that there was one of those Ronco lps out there that featured Ed Ames doing this song.  Ed was Mingo on the Daniel Boone show, and that explains that.




9- We've Only Just Begun, the Carpenters, #2, 1970.  And this was the other.  So far above the commercial for a bank that this song began life as.



Okay, I'm tearing up already, thank you.

8- Shannon, Henry Gross, 1976, #6.  By 1976, I had this thing in my mind that "the next Beach Boys" would soon arrive and make beautiful music for us again.  Not surprisingly, the best two examples (the other one is coming) both featured vocal assists from- the Beach Boys.  You can't do it better than they did, and Henry Gross proves it here.




7- Listen To What The Man Said, Wings, #1, 1975.  I mentioned a love for Linda McCartney last time.  I usually spend my time on this song just trailing her vocals. Here I found a somewhat faster-paced version of this classic.




6- Wishing You Were Here, Chicago, #11, 1974.  This is the other Beach Boys-assisted tune.  I used to go with my sister's family up to her in-laws place on Snow Lake.  This song, playing on the 8-track as we glided through the channel to Lake James in the speedboat is like a pillar that my memories rest on.



5- Superstar, the Carpenters, #2, 1971.  These guys again?  The oboe and horns at the beginning of this song are the easiest way to bring me to complete silence.  Another of those songs that I attach a reverence to.



God, I miss Karen.  Don't you?

Okay, now we enter the Holy of Holies, so to speak.

4- Nights Are Forever Without You, England Dan and John Ford Coley, #10, 1976.  My favorite memory from the Mike Douglas Show (and there are a lot of them) was watching Dan and John sing this.



Man, I could use a Pepsi right now!

3- Mandy, Barry Manilow, #1, 1974.  The first song I ever officially said was my favorite.  In a day when 45s were much cheaper, I paid my niece a whole dollar for this.  Has there ever been a more powerful vocal, really?



2- Strange Magic, Electric Light Orchestra, #14, 1976.  On the original, the ending with the magical keyboard progression, Jeff's vocal, the female vocal, the band's "na-na-na", and everything else going on, I just get lost.  "You, walking meadows in my mind... making waves across my time... oh, no... oh, no..."  This video is from the Zoom concert, with Jeff and Richard Tandy being the only originals here, and the girl was Jeff's GF at the time.



And now, we come to the end of this journey.  No matter if I do every countdown that I can think of, it will never be as good, or so bittersweet to pass, as is this moment.  Enjoy, one last time, the number one song.

1- No Time, The Guess Who, #5, 1970.  No time for a summer friend, no time for the love you send.  Seasons change and so did I- you need not wonder why...



And there you have it.  The eighties countdown will be along after while when I'm satisfied I have gotten the kinks all ironed out.  But it will never be as good, or as fun, as this one was.  Thanks to all of you who have commented and apreciated this labor of love.  See you when the world turns back around to our time...

Spring: still Springing

Here's pics of the latest walk.

Scrappy with, "Damn it, take me for a walk!"

The little white guys are springing up...

I love Dutchman's Britches.

Now THAT'S a shaggy tree!

I just thought this was cool.



Now it's time to make a trip to The Spot...

The spot is a hidden little grotto, close to everything (look at picture three here, that's the retirement apartments in the background) but seen by no one.

Little maple guys getting a start.

SOMEBODY knows how to enjoy The Spot!  (Scrappy does good camera work, eh?)

Others just can't sit still..

Aw, the little purple guys...

I didn't know what this fellow was, but he felt like a soft mushroom to the touch.  Three or four of them called The Spot home.

It was odd to go down into the dry bed and find the remains of old Strohs, Olympia, and Miller Lite cans.

A jerk at the other end...

And this? This was the camera going off as I adjusted my hat...

Time Machine week 9

It's March 30th, 1970.  The great triple crown winner and movie star Secretariat was foaled today.  The Soviet hockey team completed a 9-0-1 run to win the world championship with a 3-1 win over Sweden.  Longtime Dynamo Moscow star Alexandr Maltsev picked up his 15th goal of the tourney to lead all scorers.  And there we were, listening to music.  But that's what we do on Time Machine, and this week the reign of the top ten blasters continues as three songs take big jumps in or within, and one of them jumps all the way to make its top ten debut as #1!  Also, the interesting story of Little Sister, a heartbreaking story on WATN,  the probable first jazz song ever recorded, linking up Edison Lighthouse to the Pink Panther, and the mysterious phrase, "Klaatu barada nikto"... and what it had to do with the Beatles.  Saddle up cowpokes, and let's ride!

This week, I remembered to count all the hot 100 debuts- there were 11 of them- and three are worth noting.  At 88, Ray Stevens- always better for me when he's serious- with Everything Is Beautiful.  Chicago comes in at 84 with Make Me Smile.  and WAAAAY up at 55, BJ Thomas hits with Everybody's Out Of Town.  Happy 42nd birthday to you all, and let's see who else celebrates this week.

Turning 30 this week are Genesis' Man On The Corner, Charlie Daniels' great vietnam vet song Still In Saigon, and an AOR track from Shooting Star called Hollywood that I drank many a cold one to.  Turning 35... well, let's hold off on that for just a moment.  Hitting the big 4-0 are Paul Simon's Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, the Staple Singers with I'll Take You There, and Todd Rundgren's I Saw The Light.  The Byrds' My Back Pages turns 45 this week, and turning 50 is Jimmy Dean's PT 109.  Now, about the 35th birthday crowd... We have Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke, Alan O'Day's Undercover Angel, and Bill Conti's Rocky theme, Gonna Fly Now.  And one more...

You perhaps have never heard of a Canadian band called Klaatu.  Named for the alien from The Day The Earth Stood Still (thus the "Klaatu barada nikto" tease), they were a three (and later, a four) piece rock band that hit this week in 1977 with the original Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (which the Carpenters would hit the top 40 with in a couple of months) from the lp 3:47 EST (which was the time that Klaatu's ship landed on Terra Firma in the movie)- which was simply titled Klaatu in the US of A because record execs figured the public would be too stupid to get the reference.  They had modest success in Canada, and a little less here- until the Providence Journal's Steve Smith combined 1) the fact that there were no names in the albums credits- just Klaatu; 2) a somewhat Beatle-esque sound to the record; and 3) an abysmally slow news day, into a wildfire-like rumor that Klaatu was just a front for what was really a Beatles reuinion disc.  That not everybody was taken in was proved by the headline soon after in the UK mag New Music Express- "Deaf Idiot Journalist Starts Beatle Rumour".  Eventually, somebody had the brainstorm of checking at the music patent office, and the wildfire rumor fizzled out.  Still, the record was a pretty pleasant listen, and no animals were harmed in the commision of the rumor.

Neil Diamond bags the biggest dropper, with his Until Its Time For You To Go tumbling 20 to #64.  And the Ides Of March take biggest mover props with Vehicle moving 40 notches to land at 59.  Real close, in fact, to our Where Are They Now artist, Bobbi Martin with her classic For Love of Him.  Now, I have an unusual story here, which was written in 1989 (Bobbi having died from cancer in 2000) and reprinted on Recordonline.com in 2007.

A CATCH IN HER THROAT; A SONG IN HER HEART

By Mike Levine

Times Herald-Record

Published: 3:20 PM - 01/14/07

Sunday, January 8, 1989 - The drummer wanted the Coney Island baby who worked the Steeplechase. He got her. In the amusement park swirl of their affair, Virginia became pregnant.

Are we going to get married, she asked the drummer?

Sure enough, sweetie.

He got a friend in the band to dress up as a preacher. He pronounced them man and wife.

Virginia believed it, too, until one night in the club, she heard them laughing about the joke they played on Al Ellsworth's girl. The drummer caught her shame and anger. He said, c'mon, honey, let's get married for real.

She said fat chance.

A few months later, Barbara Martin was born, as hungry for love as ever a child is.

She felt some love from her mom, who raised her until momma joined the Army. She felt some from her grandmother whom she lived with in Baltimore.

But mostly she felt love when she opened her mouth in song. God, that girl can sing beautiful, said momma, said grandma, said her friends who would crowd around her at parties. She sang for them.

When Barbara was old enough to ask about her daddy, her mother just said: He's dead.

The little girl believed it for a while, but then she found herself singing for her lost father, too.

When she was 15, she showed up at a little club in Baltimore and sang for a man named Kahn. She worked there every weekend at $10 a night, all night long.

It was a child's dream and she worked hard at it. If she could only get famous enough from her singing, everyone would love her and maybe her father would appear.

She knew she couldn't get famous shuttling back and forth between Baltimore and Minnesota, where she lived with her mother. Go. Chase your dream, said her mother. Just remember you can always come home.

Bobbi Martin, 17-year-old singer, moved to New York City. She moved in with a Baltimore girl and got a job working for a union. On lunch hour, she'd cross 8th Avenue and sing over at a veterans function for a few bucks.

Soon, she got a good manager, a recording contract. She even had a minor hit in 1965. Whatever town she played in, she checked the phone book for Ellsworths. None of them was her father.

In '69, she wrote a mid-tempo ballad with plaintive, almost childlike, words:

``For the love of him,

Make him your reason for living,

Give all the love you can give him,

All the love you can.''

She recorded it, just like so many other songs. Then lightning struck.

Bobbi Martin had a major worldwide hit. She did the Ed Sullivan show. She did Carson 10 times. A near regular on Dean Martin. The Christmas show in Vietnam with Bob Hope. She sang from Australia to Vegas but nobody called to say he was her father.

She was playing Harrah's in Reno in 1970 when her mother showed up. She was grinning from ear to ear. Told everyone she was Bobbi Martin's mother.

Popular woman, that Bobbi. She got married a year later. After the wedding, she had some time to kill before she went on the road. She visited her momma's home in Minnesota.

Her mother was lying on a couch saying she didn't feel so well. Her mother had never told her she had cancer.

A week later, the nurse said come quick, your mother is slipping fast. I love you, said the daughter.

Her mother winked and then she was gone.

Bobbi Martin lost her singing voice. The doctors called it a swelling of her vocal chords. Here's what it was:

She had no one's love to sing for.

She did have a daughter to raise, born in 1975. She tended to family life in Dallas, loved the girl, brooded about her mother's death and her father's absence.

In 1981, her marriage fell apart. She lived off the remnants of ``For The Love of Him'' royalties.

She knew she needed a fresh start. She worked painstaking hours with a vocal coach. Gradually, her singing voice returned.

She called her New York City music connections. What's close to the city and a good place to raise the girl? Last year, she settled in New Windsor.

First thing she did, out of habit, is check the phone books for Ellsworths. She figures he's dead.

But she has a life to live, a daughter to love, music to make. She has a job she likes, selling real estate.

Last month, she sang in public for the first time in years. She was the entertainment at a dinner for Korean- Americans at the Middletown Holiday Inn. She sounded great, her voice rich and strong. The audience was appreciative but they didn't know her, never heard of her hit song, and they had some socializing to do.

The singer didn't seem to mind. All life long, she had always sung to please someone. Her father, her mother, her daughter.

Bobbi Martin knows it's time she learned how to sing for herself.

The top 40 has 5 debuts this week.  At 40, up a measely 3 spots, is Neil Diamond (again with Neil Diamond!) and Shilo.  Also a three notch gain to 39 for Gary Puckett and the Union Gap with Let's Give Adam And Eve Another Chance (another graduate of the world famous BJ Thomas school of unnecessarily long names).  At 38, up 9, is a song called You're The One, by a girl group called Little Sister.  Once agian, I have ferretted out an interesting story here.  Little Sister consisted of Vet Stewart, Mary McCreary, Elva Moulton, and Tramaine Davis.  The started out in gospel and then became the backup chorus for Sly And The Family Stone.  Davis soon went solo, marrying Walter Hawkins, brother of the Edwin Hawkins of Edwin Hawkins Singers fame, and ended up singing on their hit Oh Happy Day.  She went on to have a highly successful gospel career.  Sly promoted the remaining Sisters for their own contract, and produced their lp, including this hit song.  However, he shortly lost interest, and the girls went back to being chorus for the Family.  McCreary left then, and was soon married to Leon Russell, and collaberated with him on The Wedding Album.  Small world, eh? Anyhow, the remaining debuts are:  Shocking Blue's follow-up to Venus, Mighty Joe, a 4-notch move to 37; and British band Marmalade with the haunting Reflections Of My Life (which I once thought was the Hollies), moving 11 spots to 34.


Our look at years past tumbles us onto a duo of Arthur Collins and comedic tenor Byron Harlan.  They had the #1 this week in 1909 with Right Church, But The Wrong Pew, and in 1911 with Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey.  From the mid 00s to the mid 20's, Collins and Harlan were top of the line action, having rolled up 12 top dogs and 89 top 40 hits- all of them making the top 10.  The list included their takes on such standards as Under The Yum-Yum Tree and Alexander's Ragtime Band, both of which they took to the top.  Also under their belt is the very first recording of what might be termed a jazz tune- a song called That Funny Jas Band From Dixieland, recorded on November 8th, 1916.  The beginning of the end for them- at least for Collins- came in October of 1921, at a demo of the "Edison Diamond Disc" sound recording system.  He was supposed to sing with the record player before an audience, then walk away when the lights were doused, leaving the audience to guess whether it was live or EDD.  Unfortunately, some idiot left a stage trap door open, and Collins was seriously injured upon falling into it.  Those injuries would eventually contribute from his death from heart failure in 1933 at the age of 69.

Two songs bolt into the danger zone that the top ten has become the last few weeks: taking the hit this week are Rainy Night In Georgia, down from 3 to 11; and Ma Belle Ami, down from 6 to 17.

Santana slides 3 from 7 to #10 with Evil Ways.  Norman Greenbaum blasts into the top ten from 19th to #9 with Spirit In The Sky.  The Hollies nudge up from 9 to 8 with He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother.  So does Frijid Pink, moving from 8 to 7 with House Of The Rising Sun.  The Jaggerz slip from 2 to 6 with The Rapper.  And that brings us to the song holding at #5- and our six degrees victim.

Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes by Edison Lighthouse was written by Tony Macauley and performed basically by the ubiquitous Tony Burrows, who was also the First Class, White Plains, The Brotherhood Of Man, and maybe even Klaatu.  Macauley was also successful at his trade, having written hits for his band, the Foundations, such as Build Me Up Buttercup.  Later on he would pen the #1 Don't Give Up On Us for TV cop and frustrated musician David Soul (the Hutch of Starsky and Hutch- the TV show, not the movie).  Soul's first career choice was music- so much so, that he had appearances on the Merv Griffin Show circa 1967-8  as the masked "Covered Man", who "wants to be known for my music".  Soon after, he became known for a role in the TV show Flipper, and music took a back seat to acting.  Flipper was scored by a Polish immigrant named Henry Vars, who among a long list of other things did music for Daktari.  (Kids, if you don't remember Flipper or Daktari, you need to get into the classic dvd section and look them up, especially if you have any love for animals.)  Daktari featured music composed by Vars and conducted by percussionist Shelly Manne, who has also a list of credits as long as an Obama speech, including playing the drums on the themes from the Pink Panther Movies.  And there you go.

Bob, I'm sorry but Bridge Over Troubled Waters drops from #1 to 4th.  Instant Karma shines up a notch to #3.  The Jackson Five leap from 10 to 2 with ABC.  and the new number one song, jumping from 12 last week to #1 this week...

The Beatles and Let It Be...

Enjoy your tomorrow (AKA Friday) while I'm off making the big bucks at work on OT.  Tune in tomorrow (AKA Saturday) for the top ten of the Seventies countdown.

A lot of odd stuff...

Okay, first off, I want to let you know that I've actually put a new post up on my Cap blog- see the link over there on the right.  Check it out, I do stumble onto some fairly interesting stories as I catalogue my beer cap collection.

Man, I smell OT coming on at work- not that that's a bad thing... I just wish my clone could work it for me.  I have had two days of being a victim of my own stupidity.  Examples:  Making 12 cushions that were supposed to have a front side of one color and backside of another out of just the one color; Forgetting more than once that the cushion I was making was a "case" which meant I should've made two of 'em; Making a canopy set that was supposed to be a bench w/o the top with the top anyway; locking onto the idea that KA04 was the light and KB02 was the dark, to the extent that I made 2 of the dark and one of the light instead of vice versa- which meant I had to lose the "extra" and make another light one- and finished it off by putting the rolls away in the wrong spot three seperate times; discovering after laying up 5 different colors for one cushion that I had only put down half the plies for three colors, grabbed one roll that was flat out the wrong stuff, and messed up the yardage tags on two rolls; and finished the day making the fronts for four cushions that we had run out of back fabric for.  All in pretty much a day and a half.  I'm going to blame it on the table I was working on, which was not my usual table:  it's a foot wider than any other table, has a 1/2 inch gap between two sections AFTER you use an iron weight to hammer it closed, the roll racks are not bolted down and thus rock like a drunken sailor everytime you so much as look at them, and the mouse on the table's computer really sucks, as in if I had one at home, I'd go out and buy a sledge hammer to dispose of it.  See, it's not just me...

Lokomotiv got knocked out of the playoffs Monday morning, losing 3-1 in Penza.  Galimov got us on the board with three left in the game to avoid the shutout.  Hell of a season, guys, see you next fall in the KHL!!!

Here's a fun news story from FoxNews:

New York City bans mention of dinosaurs, dancing, birthdays and more on student Tests

| New York Post

 

NEW YORK – In a bizarre case of political correctness run wild, New York educrats banned references to "dinosaurs," "birthdays," "Halloween" and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests.

That is because they fear such topics "could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students."

Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism.

Even "dancing" is taboo, because some sects object. But the city did make an exception for ballet.

The forbidden topics were recently spelled out in a request for proposals provided to companies competing to revamp New York City's English, math, science and social studies tests given several times a year to measure student progress.

"Some of these topics may be perfectly acceptable in other contexts but do not belong in a city- or state-wide assessment," the request reads.

Scratches head several times.
First, let me ask my fundamentalist friends, are you offended by dinosaurs?  Job 40 and 41 does a pretty good job of describing a Brontosaurus (or Apatosaur, if you are more modern) and a Mosasaur, so I don't necessarily associate dinos and evolution.
Second, does Halloween really suggest paganism to anyone besides Wiccans and Druids (who ARE pagans)?  And why would they mind?
And third- thank GOD they made an exeption for ballet.  Leotards are much less suggestive than, say, what you wear to PolkaFest.

Oh, I'm hoping my friend Bobby G.  will take up the story on the Southwest Allen County Schools lockdown tomorrow.  In a nutshell for you non-locals, a lawyer in the district discovered someone ransacking his garage.  Lawyer turns to run, perp shoots him and flees.  Area schools call a lock down, as it was just after 8 AM.  Thing is, while students arriving by bus were shipped elsewhere, those arriving on foot or bike heard the announcement over the PA that the school was shut down- and while there was SUPPOSED to be somebody outside to heard the pedestrian kids into the building for safety, no one was out there, and many kids had to hoof it home through the SAME AREA the perp was supposed to be.  Just to top it off, parents were e-mailed (yeah, I'm sure a lot of 'em were just waiting by their computers for an emergency e-mail) but no one was called.  Needless to say, the district is looking into issues with their lockdown proceedure.

I guess that's about it for today.  I suspect I will be working in advance on Time Machine if they announce OT tomorrow, so have a nice next couple'o'days.

Sunday message

I got to thinking the other day:  Which Apostle would you rather be- James, John, or Peter?

These were the three that had entry everywhere Jesus went.  They were with Him at the Transfiguration, in the garden, where ever Jesus just needed the “two or three”.  James, the first to die for the Gospel.  Peter, the rock on which the Church was built.  John, who passed the torch onto the next generation.  Which one would you be?

Now, flip the question- which Apostle are you?    Would you be James? James was not mentioned after the arrest; he was one of those who fled when Jesus surrendered.  When the heat came down, he disappeared.

Would you be John?  Remember, John had an in with the High Priest (John 18:15) and thus was right there when the trial of Jesus took place.  And though he was right there, he said not a word.  After it was almost all over, he came back to help pick up the pieces (john 19:26-27), but he spoke not a word when it might have altered the course of events.  (Note that while God might not have wanted him to alter the events, he in his mortal, pre-Pentecost mind couldn’t have known that.)  When the heat came down, he stood by, silent.

Would you be Peter?  Peter stood a ways off, concealing his Identity; even lying about it, saying he wasn’t involved, when confronted.  When the heat came down, he denied being involved.

Now, I’m not saying that what they did after that dark night wasn’t important.  But without Christ’s victory over sin and death, they had not the faith and courage to stand up and be counted.  And why not?  Go back to the last time Jesus took the trio with Him;  into the garden Gethsemane to pray.  Three times He asked them to pray, “Lest they fall into temptation”.  Three times He found the pillars of His Church asleep.  And sure enough, they fell into the temptation of fear; One ran off, one stood by silent, and one denied involvement.

And this is what that lesson tells me.  The disciple Jesus wants, the one I need to be, isn’t any of these three.  When Jesus needs me to pray- for my kids, my friends, anyone- I need to put the knees into it and actually pray.  Not just, “…and God bless Aunt Martha, and Joe at the factory.. and… ZZZZZZ…”  Focus on the prayer, pray for God’s will, pray that I can withstand it when the heat comes down. The kind of Disciple I need to be is the one who stays awake and prays at Gethsemane.