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I am not normally one to ask for prayer on my blog, but for those of you who pray I have three requests that are big on my mind today. In no particular order...
We have a family member who has suddenly had to deal with a mental health issue. Not for me to explain further, other than it has been a struggle to get him to accept the help he needs- in particular, taking medicine. How horrible it is to not be in control of the one thing that controls you- your mind. Pray that his troubled mind will be calmed, that he will accept the help he needs, and that the family will be able to hold up under yet another stress.
I have a friend whose son's future is being affected by Congress and the damnable sequester. Again, not mine to explain, other than it is leading towards depression and the shaking of his faith. Pray that God will surround him with wise counsel and enable him to deal with the challenges set before him.
Third, at last not in my personal circle, but someone who needs prayer. In the Swiss B-league hockey playoffs, a player from Olten was checked into the boards and hit head first. It is likely he will never move below the chest again, and not altogether clear how much other motion he will retain. His name is Ronny Keller, and he is 34 years old. Pray for healing and the courage to face what may come next.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sunday message
This one fooled me on where we were going. The first day, it was the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree in Mark 11. On e-sword all the commentators brought up that the tree was a symbol for Israel, giving the show of bearing fruit but not the substance. But, I said to myself, Israel is to be spared a remnant, so I thought maybe we were going to have a series on God having mercy DESPITE... And when the next two were the storioes of Jonah's plant after he preached in Nineveh, and David sparing Saul when he could have killed him, I was sure I was on the right track.
But then I went back to the fig tree. There was something there that kept tugging at me:
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
Why make the point of HOW it had withered? Because leaves fall off in season, branches dry up but the plant goes on. Jesus killed it at the roots- in other words He didn't prune it, He took its LIFE. The need for the tree to bear fruit was so important to Jesus, that its barrenness was a capital offense.
That's when I realized that this week's narrative was more than just God's mercy when we don't deserve it, but HOW He wants us to live our lives. And the Monday lesson- job one is bear fruit!
As I said, Tuesday I was at the back of Jonah. For those who never got past the whole whale thing, Jonah preached (unwillingly) in Nineveh and many were saved, as God was going to destroy the city had they not repented. That was jake with Jonah, since he hoped that God WOULD put and end to them. But then God taught him a lesson in mercy, involving a plant that gave Jonah shelter one day and died the next- how foolish he was being getting mad about a plant dying, when he had no problem with thousands of people dying. Jonah was willing to see them die because of all the evils Nineveh had heaped on the world. But God wanted him- and us- to have mercy on these people. They did not know God, they were in need of teaching, preaching, and repentance. A lot of times we look at the mess this world is in and just want to wash our hands of it, let them get what they deserve and move on. I know I do. Sometimes I think I'm the most like Jonah of all Bible characters. But God says teach on, preach on- in other words, show mercy to those who don't deserve it by our standards.
And Wednesday brings us back to David and Saul, in I Samuel 26. David was on the run from Saul, who sought to kill him, and he and Abashai had found the king asleep in his encampment. Abashai was for ending things once and for all, even offering to do it himself. But David refused him, saying, "What right do we have to slay the Lord's annointed?" So they let him live- and then let Saul and his general Abner KNOW they had let him live. Saul, as he often did, said he repented of his sin against David, but David made it clear in the opening verse of Chapter 27 that he knew the persecution would go on- possibly leading to his death at Saul's hand eventually. He had mercy anyway. And the lesson here is, mercy in the face of your persecutors. Or, as God might put it to ME, "Fighting with atheists may be fun, but remember- the goal is to change their hearts."
Thursday took me to Joshua 14, where Caleb is speaking to Joshua 45 years later about the time the two of them stood against the other ten spies encouraging the people to take the Promised Land.
6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’[a]
Caleb was trying to make a point about Joshua letting him lead the attack into that particular area despite his age. But our point here to draw is blessings follow when we follow the Lord wholeheartedly.
Friday brought me to Mark again, this time the 8th chapter. Here we see the contrast between Jesus mercy on those who followed to learn and receive from Him, and the pharisees who demanded a sign.
For those who followed to learn, He turned seven loaves and a few small fish into a meal for over four thousand. For those who DEMANDED of Him:
11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
Intersting that Mathew adds the caveat "except the sign of Jonah". My Bible adds "a wicked and perverse generation". This is a point about how to come to God- with needs rather than demands, with faith and openness, rather than demands to "prove it".
And that brought me to Saturday morning and the end of 2 Kings. (Ever notice how often I get sent to the END of books? I guess if you are trying to summarize, go to the summary, eh?) Here we have Judah defeated and mostly exiled by Babylon and Nebuchadnezzer. But a remnant remains, along with Chaldean settlers, and the king sets a gent named Gedaliah over them as governor. In the meantime, the last surviving king of Judah, the 18-year-old Jehoiachin, sits in a Babylonian prison.
Gedaliah then extracts an oath from the people still in Judah:
24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
Wise advice, but dissidents led by Ishmael, a scion of the former royal family, came up and killed Gedaliah, his followers, and the Chaldeans with them.
26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
In the meantime, Jehoiachin had been a good boy, and when he was about 56, the then-king of Babylon let him out of prison, sat him at his own table as a friend, and he knew peace the rest of his life. Moral of the story, and a big one for our present age- God would rather us spend our energy serving him than in politics, particularly fighting "city hall". So what do we end up with as the way God wants us to lead our lives?
1. Bear fruit!
2. Show mercy to the lost.
3. Forgive our persecutors.
4. Follow Him wholeheartedly- no matter how scary the destination.
5. Come to Him with our needs, not with an attitude.
And 6. Live in peace with the rest of the world.
But if you really want the OTHER side of the story...
God has mercy on us:
1. When we disobey;
2. When we don't know Him;
3. When we persecute others;
4. When we're too afraid to listen;
5. When we're deliberately wicked;
And 6. When we rebel against authority.
BUUUUUT... He had that mercy only on a REMNANT.
Do you really want to take the chance?
But then I went back to the fig tree. There was something there that kept tugging at me:
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
Why make the point of HOW it had withered? Because leaves fall off in season, branches dry up but the plant goes on. Jesus killed it at the roots- in other words He didn't prune it, He took its LIFE. The need for the tree to bear fruit was so important to Jesus, that its barrenness was a capital offense.
That's when I realized that this week's narrative was more than just God's mercy when we don't deserve it, but HOW He wants us to live our lives. And the Monday lesson- job one is bear fruit!
As I said, Tuesday I was at the back of Jonah. For those who never got past the whole whale thing, Jonah preached (unwillingly) in Nineveh and many were saved, as God was going to destroy the city had they not repented. That was jake with Jonah, since he hoped that God WOULD put and end to them. But then God taught him a lesson in mercy, involving a plant that gave Jonah shelter one day and died the next- how foolish he was being getting mad about a plant dying, when he had no problem with thousands of people dying. Jonah was willing to see them die because of all the evils Nineveh had heaped on the world. But God wanted him- and us- to have mercy on these people. They did not know God, they were in need of teaching, preaching, and repentance. A lot of times we look at the mess this world is in and just want to wash our hands of it, let them get what they deserve and move on. I know I do. Sometimes I think I'm the most like Jonah of all Bible characters. But God says teach on, preach on- in other words, show mercy to those who don't deserve it by our standards.
And Wednesday brings us back to David and Saul, in I Samuel 26. David was on the run from Saul, who sought to kill him, and he and Abashai had found the king asleep in his encampment. Abashai was for ending things once and for all, even offering to do it himself. But David refused him, saying, "What right do we have to slay the Lord's annointed?" So they let him live- and then let Saul and his general Abner KNOW they had let him live. Saul, as he often did, said he repented of his sin against David, but David made it clear in the opening verse of Chapter 27 that he knew the persecution would go on- possibly leading to his death at Saul's hand eventually. He had mercy anyway. And the lesson here is, mercy in the face of your persecutors. Or, as God might put it to ME, "Fighting with atheists may be fun, but remember- the goal is to change their hearts."
Thursday took me to Joshua 14, where Caleb is speaking to Joshua 45 years later about the time the two of them stood against the other ten spies encouraging the people to take the Promised Land.
6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’[a]
Caleb was trying to make a point about Joshua letting him lead the attack into that particular area despite his age. But our point here to draw is blessings follow when we follow the Lord wholeheartedly.
Friday brought me to Mark again, this time the 8th chapter. Here we see the contrast between Jesus mercy on those who followed to learn and receive from Him, and the pharisees who demanded a sign.
For those who followed to learn, He turned seven loaves and a few small fish into a meal for over four thousand. For those who DEMANDED of Him:
11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
Intersting that Mathew adds the caveat "except the sign of Jonah". My Bible adds "a wicked and perverse generation". This is a point about how to come to God- with needs rather than demands, with faith and openness, rather than demands to "prove it".
And that brought me to Saturday morning and the end of 2 Kings. (Ever notice how often I get sent to the END of books? I guess if you are trying to summarize, go to the summary, eh?) Here we have Judah defeated and mostly exiled by Babylon and Nebuchadnezzer. But a remnant remains, along with Chaldean settlers, and the king sets a gent named Gedaliah over them as governor. In the meantime, the last surviving king of Judah, the 18-year-old Jehoiachin, sits in a Babylonian prison.
Gedaliah then extracts an oath from the people still in Judah:
24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
Wise advice, but dissidents led by Ishmael, a scion of the former royal family, came up and killed Gedaliah, his followers, and the Chaldeans with them.
26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
In the meantime, Jehoiachin had been a good boy, and when he was about 56, the then-king of Babylon let him out of prison, sat him at his own table as a friend, and he knew peace the rest of his life. Moral of the story, and a big one for our present age- God would rather us spend our energy serving him than in politics, particularly fighting "city hall". So what do we end up with as the way God wants us to lead our lives?
1. Bear fruit!
2. Show mercy to the lost.
3. Forgive our persecutors.
4. Follow Him wholeheartedly- no matter how scary the destination.
5. Come to Him with our needs, not with an attitude.
And 6. Live in peace with the rest of the world.
But if you really want the OTHER side of the story...
God has mercy on us:
1. When we disobey;
2. When we don't know Him;
3. When we persecute others;
4. When we're too afraid to listen;
5. When we're deliberately wicked;
And 6. When we rebel against authority.
BUUUUUT... He had that mercy only on a REMNANT.
Do you really want to take the chance?
Friday, March 8, 2013
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.
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.
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?
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!
Today is March 8th, 1971 and you know what happened tonight...
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. |
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... |
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. |
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!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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:
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:
Sunday, March 3, 2013
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...
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:
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.
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:
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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.”
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.
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!"
Friday, March 1, 2013
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.
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.
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!
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... |
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!
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