Time Machine # 58

You know, that was the first time I hit enter after typing the title and it actually put me on the post instead of trying to publish a blank screen?  No, but if you hum a few bars....

Today is March 8th, 1971 and you know what happened tonight...

That's right, the "Fight of the Century"- Ali-Frazier I at Madison Square Garden!  Ali got dumped on his ass in the last round, but got back up- only to lose the decision.  "A White Man's Decision", was the analysis from the ever-sensitive Muhammed Ali.  That's what his swollen jaw was thinking, too.

Welcome to another hard-hitting Time Machine episode.  This week, a six degrees that explores how the instrumental Frankenstein got its name, the very spotty career of Murray Head, a cameo by the Groovie Ghoulies, a lookback on the man who got his first job in music the same day as his buddy Perry Como, the long-awaited return of the almost but not quite shoutout, and a new number one!  Touch gloves, go to your corner, and wait for the bell!

First, another bit of sad news.  Or two.  Jewel Akins died last Friday at the age of 79.  He was in a band called the Turnarounds, who were offered a chipper little song called The Birds And The Bees.  The rest of the group hated it, so Akins recorded it solo, and hit #3.  Also, Alvin Lee, the guitar virtuoso who played lead on the Ten Years After classic I'd Love To Change The World, passed Wednesday.

So onto the hot 100 debuts of this week.  A whopping 21 debuts this week, but I'm going to mention 5 of them.  If you remember a while back, I mentioned the hit Mathews' Southern Comfort had in the UK with their cover of Woodstock- and it comes in at 98 this week.  Helen Reddy's take on the JCS song I Don't Know How To Love Him comes in at 86.  And at 85 we have a song ripped from the immortal Sabrina and the Groovie Ghoulies...

...Daddy Dewdrop's Chick-A-Boom (Don' Yew Jes' Love It).  Daddy was actually one Dick Monda, who threw together a band to play a song for the cartoon which included Tom Hensley (who became Neil Diamond's musical director) and Butch Rillera ( who later joined Redbone).  Trying to re-create the Archies' success, the song was released two years after its cartoon debut.  I think it was done on the show by the Mummies and the Puppies, but don't hold me to that.

I always kinda hadda thing for the one with the long pink hair- even if she wad dead and had one eye.

We still have a pair of powerhouse debuts to go.  At 73, Three Dog Night debuts with one of the biggest hits of the decade- Joy To The World.  And way up at 48, Paul McCartney hits with Another Day.

Which leads us to the birthday section.  Turning 30 this week is Jon Anderson's country crossover Swingin', along with one you may not know- Robbie Patton (with some help from Stevie Nicks) and Smiling Islands.  Tipping the scale at 35 years old, Jefferson Starship's Count On Me and Player's This Time I'm In It For Love.  Turning 40 this week, War's The Cisco Kid, the aforementioned Mr. Diamond with Cherry Cherry, and Stealer's Wheel, with the dulcet tones of Gerry Rafferty, and Stuck In The Middle With You.  The new 45-year olds include the Monkees' Valleri, Donovan's Jennifer Juniper, the first entry for the Moody Blues' Nights In White Satin ( it would have to chart twice more before becoming a big hit), and Hugo Montenegro's orchestra with the theme to The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (and for you youngsters, that was a Clint Eastwood movie and not Obama, Pelosi, and Reid).  And finally, turning 50, the Chordettes with Lollipop (lollipop, oh, lolly lolly lollypop...)  Blow out the candles...

Our big mover was James Brown with Soul Power, up 20 notches to 46.  The dropper of the week was Joe Simon's Your Time To Cry, falling 24 to 54.

And moving into our #50 spot, the Where Are They Now spot, we have Murray Head with his song Superstar.  Murray has an extensive recording career- in fact, he is still recording and touring.  However, he has only made the charts twice- with this song and the big 1984 hit One Night In Bangkok, which (according to his website) hit #1 in 12 nations, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.  However he has kept busy; he landed some movie parts in the UK and is currently an in-demand actor on British TV.  In 2012, he released an lp called My Back Pages- covers of songs by others that were "flagposts" to different stages of his own life.  Including sixties hits like One Two Three, Gimme Some Lovin' and the title track, he ranges into (somewhat) more recent songs like Dust In The Wind and Beds Are Burning.

Getting his kicks above the waistline for 30 yeras...

The top 40 gained six new tunes this week.  Brewer and Shipley come in at 40, up 14, with One Toke Over The Line.  Andy Williams brings the second version of Love Story's theme into the top 40, up 17 to #39.  Cat Stevens' Wild World climbs 11 to 38.  Chicago joins the 40, up 10 to #37, with Free.  Sammi Smith's country crossover Help Me Make It Through The Night is up 10 to #33, and it's Marvin Gaye with the high debut, jumping 16 to #28 with the classic What's Going On.

Our lookback takes us to the big mover this week in 1954, and yet again it is where the song peaked.  The name of the song is Hold Me, the singer Don Cornell, the leap from 43 to 27.  Cornell was born Luigi Varlaro in the Bronx.  Fighting off bullies led the aspiring musician to a boxing career, in which he was 27-0 before his mother's pleas to return to music took effect.  He got his first job in music the same day that his buddy got his first job in music- the buddy being Perry Como.  In 1941, Sammy Kaye heard him on the radio, and soon hired him as his new lead singer.  But when he introduced "my new singer, Lou Varlaro" , he was booed for the crime of being Italian-American in 1942.  Thus without warning, the next time Kaye introduced him as Don Cornell- and the name stuck.  He soon went solo and embarked on a career that only ended with his death in 2004.  He had 16 top tens- and though he never got a top dog, he hit #2 4 times.  His biggest hits included It's Not Fair, Hold My Hand, and I- for 40 years the only one-character title song in history.  That career, by the by, began after a stint as a decorated ETO bomber pilot in WWII.  In the midst of all this the man sold an estimated 50 million records.  A far cry fromSir Hubert Pimm, eh?

I looked for a pic of him boxing, but no such luck.

For the first time in a while, I have some almost but not quite honorees to mention.  Judy Collins' Amazing Grace peaked at 13 last week, dropping to 23 this time.  The Grass Roots' Temptation Eyes climbs its last notch to #18 this week; and Henry Mancini's version of Love Story holds at #11.  Next week, we'll have three versions in the top 40!

Three songs move into the top ten, three fall out.  Dropping are I Hear You Knocking (7 to 14), Scotty, stops growing (8 to 16) and Mr. Bojangles dances away again (9-26).

Wilson Pickett claims the leadoff spot with Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You, up a pair to 10.

Tom Jones powers his way to #9, up from 15, with She's A Lady.

Jerry Reed is up 2 spots to #8 with Amos Moses.

And our six degrees is at #7.

Sweet Mary moves down a pair for one-hit wonders Wadsworth Mansion.  This Rhose Island band was led by Steve Jablecki, who died in 2005 and has a statue in his honor in his hometown.  A bar band that got lucky, they toured extensively for their one lp, including with the Edgar Winter Group.  The players of the instrumental #1 Frankenstein ( so named because it was a patchwork of pieces stitched together from an even longer work), they were also known for the hit Free Ride.  This, along with much of the lp They Only Come Out At Night, was written by Dan Hartman.  Dan hit first with the dance hit Instant Replay, and later much bigger with I Can Dream About You, a #6 hit in 1984.  That tune was from the Michael Pare flick Streets Of Fire, and was originally written by the late Mr. Hartman with Hall and Oates in mind.  They declined it at the time because "they didn't do covers", but included it on the 2004 cover lp Our Kind Of Soul, with somewhat changed lyrics.  Of course by then their last top 40 hit was fourteen years gone, so mayhap they should have done it sooner.

The Partridge Family blast up 8 spots to #6 with Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted.

Gordon Lightfoot moves up a spot to #5 with If You Could Read My Mind.

The rest of the top ten is "change partners and dance".  Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden slips to four, while CCR moves that notch up to 3 with Have You Ever Seen The Rain.

And the Osmonds drop to runner-up with One Bad Apple after three weeks at the top.  And that Means, moving up that notch to the new # 1 song...

...the Jackson Five with Mama's Pearl!!!!!

Ain't no fight, that was fun!  See ya next week!

Oh, there he is...

Not that I haven't had things to say, but I've been kinda keeping them to myself.

First I should say we survived the Great March Snowstorm.  It took Me and Laurie 15 minutes to get me outta the parking lot this morning, but once on the streets, it wasn't terribly bad- not for just having 10 inches or so of snow.  (Although I think one could have done a better job clearing the intersection of Coldwater and Washington Ctr.)  HOWever, I was less than pleased to see that our street was FAR worse this afternoon at 3:30 than this morning- and that, despite the fact that I was the only one parked on our side of the lot, only a path INTO the lot had been cleared- not a hint of attempting to clear actual spots.  Laurie helped me back back into the spot I plowed out of this morning- and then told me that it was only two hours before that the complex had gotten to the sidewalks!

In the meantime, they put this up on Facebook:

Woodbridge Apartments of Fort Wayne

Can you believe all of this snow?! Our maintenance staff got to work bright and early this morning to clear the paths and lots for everyone. We really appreciate their efforts! If you come across one of our maintenance staff out there plowing, shoveling or snowblowing, please let them know that you appreciate their efforts as well. They take great pride in their work and want to make you happy!

 

 

Needless to say, I wasn't very positive in my response.  Nor was I alone.

Another thing that weighed on my mind this week was the openning of The Bible series on the History Channel.  A lot of people were just glad to see such a show be produced by a big name and aired on a popular channel.  I guess I was a bit particular, though, and we bailed after just 17 minutes.  Why?

1. A leaky roof on the Ark.  Okay, so God can miraculously a) keep them safe while building the boat, despite the violence of the world of the day, b) get all those animals gathered together in seven days, c) despite no mention of food supplies, sanitary facilities, and one window- sealed- for ventilation, they survived on the boat for over a year, and d)God sealing the boat Himself-  all that, but He couldn't keep a roof from leaking for forty days? And some people think the Ark is still intact on Ararat.  Go figure.

2.  Abraham and Sarah sure didn't look 75 and 66 when they left Haran.  Oh well, Noah didn't look 400, either.

3.  Rushed dialogue, crappy acting, and the only character of the 5 I saw with actual parts in those 17 minutes that rang true to me was Lot's wife.

4. Lot was supposed to already be in Sodom when captured, not still on the way.  The friction between Abe and Lot seemed contrived (due to the compression factor) and when Laurie commented, "They're kinda making Abraham seem like a dumbass,"  I was done.

Everyone else, seems to be enjoying it, though.  Please, carry on.  I'm just nitpicky.


Another subject I'm avoiding is the late and far-from-great Hugo Chavez.  Trying to remember, his is a soul we need to pray for, too.

And of course, there is my job, which I appreciate greatly- or more specifically, the machine I work with.  Without giving you the boring details, I believe it is losing its little computer mind.  Each day it adds a new page to my "I've never seen it do that before" book.  And today, the paperwork printer decided to assume room temperature.  Because, after all, the label printer can't be the only thing to act up, can it?  IT got a new motherboard last week.  I guess the printer got jealous.

Finally, a hockey update.  The elite eight is set now.  Vanguard took out the Siberians with a 2-0 win at home, as Finnish goalie Karri Ranno made 26 saves.  SYU upset the Metallurgists in Magnitogorsk 2-0, as another Finnish goalie, Iiro Tarrki, only had to stop 17 shots, as the home team didn't put up a lot of fight.  And the Meteor Guys took out the Kazakh Snow Leopards 5-3, the second straight year that the cats took a 2-0 lead on the Meteor Guys and lost the series.

So, the second round features Dynamo vs Red Army and St. Pete vs the Steelers in the west, and Vanguard vs Meteor Guys and SYU vs the well-rested Russian Snow Leopards in the east.  Other playoff notes include:

- France goes to the second round, and the perrenial favorites, Rouen, could only split the first two games.

- In Poland, top-ranked Sanok got beat AGAIN, and now trail 2 games to 1.

- Vienna's Caps and KAG Klagenfurt have won through to round two of the Austrian league playoffs.

-And I have been interestedly watching the first round match in Norway between third place Lorenskog and fifth place Lillehammer.  After the favorites won a tight 3-2 opener, Lillehammer scored 6 times in the second period of game two en route to a 8-1 win.  And today?  Lorenskog wins in OT, 2-1.  Again, go figure.


Oh, and one last thing.  A lady blogger I know is getting hammered again by family because she chose to vent about something that was tearing her up.  Somebody else read it and went running to the family member in question, who chewed her out.  Excuse me, but IMHO, the family member does more than enough to CAUSE her tension, but that's okay, just don't try to blow off some steam on your blog!  For gosh sakes, if people read about the problem, they might PRAY for your family, or suggest ways to HELP!  What could you have been thinking?

I've never made a secret of who I am or that I blog.  If anyone in my family gave a rat's ass, they would have to read just what I write whether they liked it or not.  If the mirror came up darkly, perhaps instead of bitching, they should take a look into it at themselves.  One thing I do know, is that there is a lady out there that bends over backwards for a family that by and large is just there to use her.  And she's a better mother than they deserve.

Lotsa little bits vol. 9

ITEM:  Well, Lokomotiv has fallen in the first round.  Evgeny Ketov scored twice in a 1:02 span of the third, the first time on a penalty shot after Staffan Kronwall took him down, to lead the Steelers to the second round with a 3-1 in game six and a 4-2 series victory.  The Steelers go on to face St. Pete in round two.

In the other conference, all three remaining series are now knotted at 3 games apiece.  Siberia got there with a 3-0 win over Vanguard; SYU beat the Metallurgists after a wild 3-minute span of the second period in which SYU scored 3 times to Metallurg's one to turn a 2-0 deficit at one point into a 5-3 lead, and hung on to win 5-4; and the Kazakh Snow Leopards get 2 more goals from Nigel Dawes, one into an empty net with 32 seconds left, for a 4-2 win.  The trio of series will be decided Tuesday.

ITEM:  I am also watching playoffs in other leagues, as everyone with the exceptios of the Asia League, Germany's DEL, Finland's S-M Liiga, and the UK's Elite League are in the playoffs.  While I won't report with such thouroughness on them as the KHL, I will mention a few things here and there, such as:

In Poland Sanok won the regular season at 28-6-4, got a first round bye, and kicked off a second round series with fourth-place Krakow- a team they finished 30 points ahead of- by losing the opener 4-3 in OT.

In Norway, Valerenga, who won the league with a 30-9-6 mark, openned their first round against 8th-place Stjernen with a more proper 9-0 romp.

In Italy, Vallpelice, Val Pusteria, and eternal pest Asiago have won through into the second round, awaiting game seven of the Renon-Cortina series.  You may recall from past reports that Asiago has a habit of loafing through the regular season and turning it on in the playoffs.  They won the championship that way two years ago, and darn near did it again last year.  This time they finished sixth, beat five other teams for one of the bottom three spots by winning the loser's stage, and took out second seed Bolzano in six games.

In Austria, my VSV Villacher team is on the verge of elimination after a game 4 3-2 loss to Black Wings Linz that put them 3-1 down.

In Denmark, my SonderjyskE team finished fourth, while hated rivals Herning Blue Foxes won their last 4 to nip Fredrickshaven at the buzzer for the regular season title.  They had the same amount of points but won on a better winning percentage.

In Germany, Eisbaren Berlin put a big dent in my Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg's playoff chances, a 5-4 loss leaving us one point back in a 3-team race for the last playoff spot with two games to go.

ITEM:  Read two of the "dumbest criminal candidates" in yesterday's Journal.  Contestant #1 pulled his van in front of a car stopped at a red light in New Haven.  He got out, ordered the lady and her 11-year old daughter to get out.  The girl did, running to a nearby gas station screaming for help.  Captain Courageous, promptly fled, going back to mama's place.  He told mama what happened, then went to the drug store- whereupon mama called the cops and told them where to find them.  Somehow, mama just wasn't someone you could tell anything to, huh?

ITEM:  Contestant #2 was found to have meth, meth labs, a marijuana growing operation, and other illegal items in his house, and faces 5 felony counts.  And, why, pray tell, did the cops choose to check him out?  Well, "King Ed", as he calls himself, prided himself ( to the extent of posting videoes on YouTube) in his nine home made CANNONS, the firing of which caused neighbors to report him for disturbing the peace, and the rest is history.  Maybe it's just me, but if I was growing MJ and cooking meth for resale, I'd keep a low profile, maybe cut down on the cannon blasts.

ITEM:  NBC is reportedly going to have Jay Leno "retire", and give the Tonight Show spot to Jimmy Fallon.  Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Sunday message.

One of the things that has been on my mind lately- especially since the message that pointed out the importance of praise- was our old hymn books.  You see, when we were just little- first, second grade- we used to look foreward to the day we were allowed to buy one of these white-clad hymn books that the adults had.  They were five dollars, i think, and held within them the great, joyous as well as tear-bringing, songs that lit up Sunday mornings at church.  Far better than the ones in the old dumpy missals we had.  It was an exciting, innocent joy, and brought us so much closer to Jesus in an age before we received confession, and got our first good look at the world by examining ourselves.  It was a symbol to others that when we went to church, we saw God.

My oft mentioned atheist opponant has said that his experience at church was "just as valid" as mine.  He says he just saw through it.  But it wasn't as valid as mine, and here's why- because, for whatever reason, he did NOT see God.  Despite what Paul says about His nature being manifest around us in creation, some people just don't see.  And even as Christians, sometimes we lose sight of God.  This week, I was taken through some of the reasons why that is.

Monday, I was sent to Collossians 1, where Jesus is described as " the image of the invisble God". (v15)  So why is God invisible?  God is described in James 1 as the "Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning."  In other words, He is pure Holy Light, and cannot be borne by the eyes of sinful man.  Even Moses was only allowed to see the back of His hand in passing.  In Exodus 33:

20But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”21Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;22and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.23“Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.

So the fallen state of mortal man is the first thing that obscures our sight of God.

Tuesday I hit the chapter from which one of my favorite hymns from that old hymnal was based- Isaiah 60.  In this chapter, the prophet notes:

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;

Darkness, gloom- or as the hymn named it, the thick clouds.  Sometimes, when we need Him the most, God is obscured by our own sadness, depression- an inability to see Him through the murk we move through.  We can hide God from our senses when all we allow in is the gloaming we feel.

Wednesday came the great conversion of Saul in Acts 9.  Why could Saul not see Jesus on the road?  Because he had been temporarily struck blind (v9), and now would need help to get anywhere.  And Jesus did it this way because Saul was fighting so hard against Him.  "It is hard for you to kick against the goads", Jesus told him- a reference to the sharpened sticks used to drive foreward stubborn livestock.  God had great things in mind for Saul- but Saul wasn't interested, because he was blinded by HIS conception of what God wanted.  It was only when Saul was stripped of his preconceptions and saw how blinded he was, that he was able to truly see.  More the pity that some people like my atheist opponant won't have that eye-opening in the cards.

Thursday came Mark 12, and a telling verse falls between two famous stories.  The first of those was the discussion between Jesus and a scribe about the "first and greatest commandment".  The scribe proved that he not only knew the rote verse, but knew its deep meaning, to which Jesus told him "you are not far from the Kingdom of God." (v34).  The second was Jesus' rant at the other teachers, proud in their place, "who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers" (v40).  In between that, as Jesus describes the relation between Himself and David, v37 says, "And the COMMON people heard him gladly".  What did common mean?  In this case, it meant not filled with pride of place like the teachers, who will "receive a greater condemnation".  Pride becomes the fourth thing obscuring God from our sight.

Friday brought me to the back end of Jeremiah's Lamentations.  Here we find a well-explained passage:
The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this our heart is faint;
Because of these things our eyes grow dim...
Because our hearts are faint... We are losing our faith.  Tony Evans, in a sermon I heard saturday, spoke of how we lose in our walk the pre-eminence of the cross of Christ.  "You can possess an appliance,"  he explained,  "because of the purchase price that was paid.  But if the power in your house gets shut off, the appliance will just sit there and do you no good."  The Cross is our personal relationship with Christ- the one thing my opponant never saw- and it is the power with which our "appliances of faith" run.  Dr. Evans described church as a football game.  "You can have the place, and the time.  You can gather the people together, have a program all set up, everything ready to go.  But if the football isn't there, nothing can happen".  Somehow, some churches forget to bring the football.  What is the football?  God.  Who is supposed to bring it?  EVERYONE.

The final chapter this week, as it has been many of these messages, is one of judgement.  It comes from the final chapter of Joel- which has always been to me the most chilling of prophecies.  Here I shall post a rather lengthy section:

Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’”
¹¹ Assemble and come, all you nations,
And gather together all around.
Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

¹² “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
¹³ Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, go down;
For the winepress is full,
The vats overflow—
For their wickedness is great.”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark,
And the stars will diminish their brightness.
¹⁶ The Lord also will roar from Zion,
And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
The heavens and earth will shake;
But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,
And the strength of the children of Israel.

 

Those that rely on the facts of their eyes, the theories of science, "the sun and moon", will find in the end how dim their light was compared to that of God Almighty.  And it will NOT be a pleasant experience.  But those who were able to reach out through their fallen state, past their personal gloom, past their preconceptions and pride, and keep their faith, will find a shelter and a strength in the end.  This is why one of my favorite prayers is the one found in Mark 9:24:

 

With tears flowing, the child's father at once cried out, "I do believe! Help my unbelief!"

Time Machine week 57

It's March first, 1971.  Today the Senate lunchroom was empty.  Not because of another recess, or trying to avoid sequestration.  The Weather Underground, not the website, but the terroist wannabes, set off a bomb- after politely calling in a warning a half-hour earlier- in the Capitol Building, equivalent to twenty pounds of dynamite.  The Big Bang Theory was that it was a protest of the invasion of Laos.  Sure, don't do anything to end the Vietnam War with a victory.  Nothing was hurt but some glass panels and artwork.  I don't know which amazes me more- that these losers could get a bomb in the building, or that security couldn't find it in a half hour.

Before I start musing about what good might be accomplished these days in such a situation, let me say, welcome to Time Machine.  This week, one song takes a slow boat to the top ten;  Gary Puckett keeps the customer satisfied; the guy that beats out Perry Como and Eddie Fisher; the long and short of debuts; and Jimmy Seville, we hear you knocking, but you CAN'T come in!  Come on, let's have a blast!

This week we had 10 hot 100 debuts, of which I drew a complete goose egg!  I'm sure we'll catch up to some of them in the top forty- someday- but for now, we must skitter helplessly on into the birthday songs for this week.

Turning thirty is that guy who won't let you watch his songs on Youtube, Prince with Little Red Corvette, along with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Change Of Heart.  Thirty-five years old this week, Atlanta Rhythm Section's Imaginary Lover; turning 40, the FIRST run of the Beach Boys' Sail On Sailor, along with Billy Preston's Will It Go 'Round In Circles.  Four songs turn 45, and one of them is one you might not know, and if you don't, go get a listen- Orpheus with Can't Find The Time.  The others, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap (who will be coming up again shortly) with Young Girl; the Box Tops with Cry Like A Baby; and The Mighty Quinn (The Eskimo) from Manfred Mann.  And finally on this week's short list, Hank Williams, Sr.'s version of Kaw-Liga turns 60.  (it hit #1 on the country charts for 14 weeks; Hank Jr made it to #12 in 1980.

Poor old Kaw-Liga, he ain't never been kissed...

The big mover is a tune by Chicago called Free; it moves up 24 to #47.  Bread gets the big dropper, down 39 to #73 with Let Your Love Go.

And that brings us to the Time Machine retail department, where we find Gary Puckett keeping the customer satisfied, which is the name of his second solo effort at #50 this week.  Of course that's Cashbox numbers; Billboard peaked it at 71, ten shy of his other solo charter, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.   Where did it all go wrong for Puckett and the Gap?  They had a short but great string in the late sixties with songs like the aforementioned Young Girl, Lady Willpower, and Over You- all of which were co-written by producer Jerry Fuller from CBS.  But the band wanted to do it's own stuff, and Puckett "resented having to sing Fuller's power ballads."  So abandoning the man that helped them hit #2, #2, and #7, they then hit 9, 41, and missed the chart altogether with their last three singles.  By 1971 the band was broken up, though they played sometimes as Puckett's backup band in his solo career.  That too was a dissappointment, and by 1973, he was studying acting and dance to build a stage career.  But in 1981, he was talked into making a comeback tour, and has been on the oldies circuit ever since, including a 2010 tour with the Association and the Lettermen.  He, his wife Lorrie, and his 2 stepdaughters live in Clearwater, Florida.  And on June 20th, 2010, the man who named his band after a town just a few miles from his hometown of Yakima, Washington, finally played for the first time in Union Gap, Washington.

...and I guess there's just no getting over Jerry...

The top forty gains a whopping eight new songs this week.  Moving up two is the morbid classic DOA by Bloodrock, an eerie look at a fatal car accident told by one of the unsuspecting victims.  A seventeen notch jump for the Fifth Dimension lands them at 38 with Love's Lines, Angles, And Rhymes.  The Guess Who climb 8 to 37 with Hang On To Your Life.  James Taylor's Country Road also moves eight to #36.  Another eight notch climber is the Mike Curb Congregation, led by a man who is going to make a great six degrees with all his connections, with a song from Kelley's Heroes called Burning Bridges; it lands at #34.  Aretha Franklin jumps 15 to #32 with You're All I Need To Get By; up a big 21 are Santana with Oye Como Va coming in at 28.  And finally, George Harrison's second solo single, What Is Life, shoots from 46 to 24.


This week in our lookback segment, we had to throw out the #1 mover this week in 1953, the already featured Perry Como, and the #2, Eddie Fisher, and go to #3- a man who moves up from 32 to 21 with a song called Rachel.  That man is Artie Wayne.  And he was much bigger after the modest success of his song.

As a songwriter, he was first noticed by Bobby Darin, who brought him to the attention of Don Kirshner.  His songs have been covered over 250 times, but that wasn't the end of things, as he became involved in the publishing end of music.  As well as a producer who worked with acts from the Shirelles to the Guess Who.  As a manager, he discovered young singer Sissy Spacek.  His company broke the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack in the US of A, and was responsible for signing Rick James to A&M.  He taught songwriting to a couple of generations; his early pupils included Partridge Family writer Tony Romeo, and Gypsies Tramps and Thieves co-writer Bob Stone.  In 1983, he opened the Songwriter Motivational Course, among whose graduates is John Barnes, who was Michael Jackson's co-writer on most of the Bad lp.  Wow, speaking of good six degrees candidates!

Two songs join the top ten, two drop out.  The droppers (and boy, do they drop) are:  Knock Three Times, from 9 to 22; and If I Were Your Woman, from 10 to 29.

Jerry Reed moves up from 16 to 10 with Amos Moses.

Next up is a song that took its good sweet time moving up into the ten.  On the one hand, it moved 14 spots once; and 11, and ten.  In between, it had a 7, 4 sixes, a 5, two 4's, a 3, 2 twice, one 1, and two weeks that it didn't move at all.  Despite it all, it makes it into the top 10 with one of those 4-notch moves:  the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Mr. Bojangles, in its eightteenth week.

Bobby Goldsboro didn't watch Scotty grow this week; he held at #8.

And that brings us to that long-threatened six degrees.

Dropping 3 to #7 is Dave Edmunds with I Hear You Knocking.    This was a remake of a blues song written by Dave Bartholomew, who also wrote My Ding-a-Ling which Chuck Berry took to #1.  That lovely song with the scarcely hidden meeting was roundly attacked by British morality crusader Mary Whitehouse, who tried to have it banned but failed.  She was much more successful in keeping Alice Cooper's School's Out of the music show Tops Of The Pops.  Ironically, Mary, who died in 2001, never learned that her crusade should have been turned upon the shows host- one Jimmy Seville, who has become famous post mortem as one of the most prolific sexual predators in UK history.  And that is a six degrees NOBODY wants to be linked to.

Gordon Lightfoot moves a notch to 6 with If You Could Read My Mind.

Wadsworth Mansion holds at 5 with Sweet Mary.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain?  CCR sees it at #4, up a pair.

Lynn Anderson slips a spot to 3 with Rose Garden.

The Jacksons move up to runner up with Mama's Pearl.

And for a third straight week.... the tops of the pops is...

... One Bad Apple by the Osmonds!!!!

That's it for another trip!  Watch you step exiting, and pick up that candy wrapper!

Lotsa little bits vol. 8

ITEM: Okay, let's start with politics.  Am I wound about the sequester?  Not really.  Those who voted the way they did sentenced us to economic idiocy for the forseeable future.  I am curious to watch those who slit their own throats react to the bloodflow.  I already saw on facebook a tweet from some woman who was all excited over Obamacare back when it first passed, hashtagging something like "now we all have insurance" or somesuch- followed by one from a few weeks ago where she was wondering why her health insurance premium went up.  I believe the internet term here is "facepalm".

Actually, I was going to briefly muse about how former Obama aide Lanny Davis and liberal journalist/novelist/lickspittle Bob Woodward got threatened by the Administration for not towing the company line.  He's a Chicago politician, why are they surprised?  I can't wait until all the women who thought their uterus was the biggest issue, all the union workers who figured they better vote the way they were told, all the gays who are just so tickled with that pickled old crone they keep re-elcting in Frisco, and all those welfare mamas who apparently have the time to vote two, three, six times, get their turn to start figuring it out.

ITEM:  In another case of "why are you surprised", several prospective NFL draft picks are upset about the teams asking about sexual orientation.  Now to me, I think that those boys are big enough to work out their own problems in the locker room.  Frankly, I thought this was the don't ask-don't tell era.  I don't wanna know, and I sure hope that Joe Buck, et al, will not make it a topic of game broadcast conversation.  But think this- Miami's GM asked Dez Bryant about his mother being a hooker, so obviously sexual gossip and draft day go hand in hand around the league.

ITEM:  Tuesday the KHL east had their latest games.  Metallurg knocked off SYU 3-2, after SYU had built a 2-0 lead.  Cal O'Reilly, a canuck center who only tallied 3 goals all year, scored twice in the third period to tie it, and Mats Zuccarella scored with 4 seconds left to win.  That evens their series at 2 all, with next matches up tomorrow.

Nigel Dawes, who I shorted a goal a game or so ago (he had 4, not 3), helped the Kazakh Snow Leopards take a 2-0 lead on the Meteor guys, but Maxim Karpov's penalty shot goal tied things at two, and Yegor Dugin's score in the third gave the Meteor guys a 3-2 win, evening that series at 2.

Vanguard broke open a close game in the third, beating Siberia 5-2 and knotting that series at 2.

And Lauris Darzins scored 12 minutes into the second OT to give the Russian Snow Leopards a 3-2 win and 4 game sweep of the Petrochemists.

Today, it was the remaining two west series, and one of them was ended with a thud.  Tony Martensson had 2 goals and an assist, so did Mikhail Varnakov, as St. Pete outshot the Polar Bears 45-13 and outscored them 7-0.

And Mikhail Anisin scored twice in attempting to finish off Lokomotiv, but Staffan Kronwall scored with under 3 minutes left to give the good guys a 3-2 win and they stay alive, trailing 3-2 in the series.  Loko or the Steelers will face St. Pete in the next round, and Dyanmo will play crosstown rivals Red Army.

ITEM:  I have Time Machine to get ready later, and dinner coming up, so that's it for now!

Time to empty out the scam e-mail box

But first, let me hit the playoffs. 

St. Pete got an eye-opener Sunday, giving up 3 in the second period to give the Polar Bears a 3-1 win.  But St. Pete wasn't real happy about it, and it showed Monday- they outshot the PBs 48-28 and six different players scored in a 6-1 romp that put the series at 3-1 and left the Polar Bears on the brink of elimination.

Two other teams slipped over the brink.  Red Army posted 3-1 and 2-1 wins over the Lions to move on to round two with a 4 games to none sweep.  And Jakub Petruzalek scored in each game as Dynamo posted 4-2 and 3-2 wins over the Sky-Blues to knock them out.

That leaves Lokomotiv and the Steelers in the west, and neither game was good news.  Nikita Alexeyev scored with 33 seconds left in the game to give the Steelers a 3-2 win on Sunday, with Kronwall and Plotnikov scoring for us.  And Monday, we played the longest game in KHL history- 118 minutes and 48 seconds- or a minute-12 from two complete games- Only to have Denis Kazionov blast a drop pass from the point past Curtis Sanford- the 83rd shot Sanford faced- to give the Steelers a 3-2 win and a 3-1 series lead.  The Steeler goalie stopped 48 of 50 shots.

Curtis Sanford collapses after the final shot loses the game.

The east conference took Sunday off and played today.  League leading scorer Sergei Mozyakin scored the first goal for the Metallurgists against SYU- and SYU scored all the rest in a 4-1 win.  Despite a furious third period rally, the only goal was a short-hander for SYU  who take a 2-1 series lead.

The Meteor guys scored on the power play, equal, and shorthanded to beat the Kazakh Snow Leopards 3-1 in game three for their first win.

Kristian Kudroc scored twice to give the Siberians a 4-1 win over Vanguard and a 2-1 series lead.

The Russian Snow Leopards hung on for a 2-1 win over the Petrochemists- despite giving up a goal inside the last minute of the game.  The cats take a 3-0 series lead.

The east teams play again Tuesday, and the two remaining west series play on Thursday.

______________________________________

Okay, time to dip in the ol' mail bag and see what kind of stupidity is going on.

Momto8blog has gotten a lot of spam play on her post "Opportunity Knocks".  One of them I saved because it got a little sidetracked...


When you go to a CPA electronic network possible if I'm working here and scarcely anyone knows me?" merely once, I'd like to foot up the
earphone and not have to get over the issue if
your heritage seems overwhelmingly diverse, as mine did to me.
lucid dreaming is seemly aware of Consciousness: Lucid draming wakes up.
I don't ask that this for lucid dreaming, out of dead body experiences, and stellar acoustic projection.
Courtesy of "Definition lucid dreaming".  If, by lucid dreaming, they mean they walk around half asleep all day, I think I understand.

One enterprising scammer must have read one of my previous posts on the subject- but not very carefully:

Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; we have developed some nice
procedures and we are looking to exchange techniques
with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.
Take a look at my website ... Raspberry Ketone Diet

See there's the problem!  A raspberry ketone diet (whatever that is) prevents spam!  Spread the word!

Monkey Butt had one the other day that was just packed with useless information.  Here's a swatch of an example:

I think the best piece of advice I can give is to own
your cell phone experience. Be a good and knowledgable customer.
Bring your own equipment. Make the most of any bonus programs your provider offers.
Get intimate with their online account management tools.

But this is just the beginning of a 20 LINE blathering that included such bon mots as:

The good sixties/bad sixties analysis is fraught with historical omissions...

At their core is retreat from a systemic critique of
the US economic and political arrangement...

...declaring out-of-bounds by definition any project that takes seriously the possibility of building a strong radical movement anchored in anti-racism and solidarity with the Third World...

The app is that much more savvy about travel times, as well -- the forward-thinking can at last plan trips days in advance...

And after a discussion on how Nokia is slowly but surely gaining ground on Google, it ends with the link "Cheapest Toronto phone numbers."  If you think that's bizzarre, you shoulda read the whole thing.

Along with the usual substance abuse for adults wearing diapers stuff I get on the caps blog (BTW a new post on there Sunday!),  I got one that started with:

It іs actually a сomplex disеase and a chronіc bгain disorder...

and ends with:

But ωhat is truly dіѕheartening іѕ that 12.
12 what?  Your guess is as good as mine- like I said, that's where it ended.  Save for the link- Makakumu.com, which is described as "a tool for analyzing and optimizing websites" and apparently makes its owner 22¢ a day.

Another cap blog attacker was much more succinct:

Hello. And Bye. Thank you very much.
Not even so much as a link with it.


In the meantime, another scammer tumbled onto my terrible secret:

When you rеally feel strеssed if you wake up within the morning
аnd you cannоt execute nicely at pеrfοrm, this might an indication thаt snοгing
іs ruining youг life. Sooner or later, you may suffer frοm othеr
health сonditionѕ. Τo treat this irritable disoгԁer, yοu will need to usе а quit snoring spray
and this mіght bе purchased from your regional ԁrugѕtoгe.

Prioг to sleeping, spray it intо thе
bacκ throat tο remove snοring.
Ask yοur partneг οr a lоved οnes
member to monitor in caѕe you snored throughout the night.
Well, at least I know now.  I wondered why I wasn't doing very good at perform.


Grumpy Old Ken got one the other day that concluded thusly:

Can we switch numbers and Christy Brinkly's husband, Here are 10 Key Signs You May Be Online dating a Married Man1.
My questions are, which of them has Christie Brinkley's husband, and what do they want to swap him in exchange for?

And other than several more sendings of the "Capt. DJ Skelton- for your perusal" e-mail, and another lovely letter in French from Mme. Tiffany DuPont, I have one more to thro on the fire today.  It was supposedly sent by Mr. Mike Sunshine (spiffy name), but was signed by Maimuna S. Aliyu, and apparently wasn't sure whether it was going to strangers or family:

Dear Sir/Ma,

And I guess will end this up with the dvd left at our door, a double feature- Heaven Is So Real/23 Minutes In Hell, from one Choo Thomas.  Now you can read the amusing wiki here,  but basically, she claims Jesus came one Sunday to the church she attended in Tacoma, and took her to heaven for a visit- not once but several times.  And I have some bad news for Laurie:

She states that the food of heaven is fish*, and recounts a time when she and Jesus went fishing in heaven. On another trip to heaven she played with the fish**. She often talks about Jesus and her going for boat rides in Heaven with Jesus rowing the boat.
*Laurie doesn't like fish.
** If this gets out to our children, that Jesus approves of playing with our food...


Okay, that's it, I need to get some dinner.  Hope you enjoyed!