Posts
... looking in the eyes of a babe or child that depends on you.
... holding hands walking down an autumn lane.
...knowing that you have a Saviour who cares more about the broken person sobbing in disillusionment than the sin he regrets committing.
...telling your son, "F- you when he makes a joke about your favorite team.
...waiting for news of people who you don't even know who are suffering.
How sad that some idiot/s in Boston don't know what love is.
But they know what hate is.
Hate for themselves so virulent that they have to inflict the pain on others to feel.
Hate for whoever they blame their problems on rather than the man in the mirror.
I don't care if you are an Islamic fanatic hoping for your however-many virgins.
I don't care if you are a twisted mind who believes they hear voices.
I don't care if you are IRA, or ETA, or Tamil Tiger, or Posse Comitatus.
I don't care if you are a devout Christian who feels called to destroy an abortion clinic.
I don't care if you are the high school junior who pushed the freshman wimp down to make yourself feel big.
How can what you are or what you did make you feel as good as love would?
How is it that you look upon death and destruction as an accomplishment?
No love, no honor, no courage... not even intelligence. Hate is the legacy you leave, the monument you've built.
A cold stone that people spit on.
Not worth having a name, not worth being known.
I'd rather seek love instead.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Sunday Message
This week, two things were facing me spiritually. One was a constant theme of the Book of Daniel- I'd been listening to a preacher on the way in to work speaking on him, and Saturday morning I woke up to hear Dr. Jeremiah finishing a talk on it. The main theme of the messages was how Daniel grew up faithful, and thus was able to resist not only the temptations but the commands of his rulers in Babylon and Persia without bending.
The second was my personal battle against my "thorns in the flesh", and what the readings were saying to me. This all wove itself together Saturday morning in a set of mirror-image readings that spoke to what needs to be done in a world hurtling toward judgment- and the consequences of not doing them.
So let me break this into three sections- the Monday/Saturday readings on the greater picture, the Tuesday/Friday readings on where I/we should be, and the Wednesday/Thursday on where we might actually be finding our/your/myselves.
Monday was Ezekiel 27, the passage on "the Ship Tyre". This, and it's mirror-image in Revelation 18 (the fall of Babylon) used these two famous cities to describe a great and wealthy power at the end of time. And if you read them both, you can see that this could very well be the United States it is talking about. How many times has the question been asked, "where is the US of A in prophecy?" Now read them and see.
In Ezekiel, this city is described thusly:
- taking pride in its own perfection (VV3-4);
-relied on its own "wise men" to guide them (VV 8-9);
-vast amounts of luxury items, brought in from all over the world, including "human lives" (VV 12-24)- the mirror-image Rev 18:13 calls this "and souls of men";
-worldwide reach and power (VV 25-26).
All of which leads to an ultimate and swift judgment; as Rev 18:17 put it, everything gone in just one hour. Why isn't the US of A in the Bible? I say it might be; just not at the end.
The Saturday mirror was Daniel 8, where he has the vision of the two-horned Ram (Media-Persia) being destroyed by the one-horned goat (Alexander the Great). But as Gabriel interprets this vision to him, it becomes clear that not only is he showing Alexander and his successors, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, but he is also looking at this far-future time. Because the Antichrist, if you read vv 8-12, is more than just a man. He is a "little horn" who grows up to reach the Host of Heaven, and cast some of them down to trample them, even comparing himself to "the Prince of the Host"; I believe this tells us the Antichrist will be Satan incarnate as man, trying to reverse what Christ did as an incarnate Man. Another verse says he will "cast truth to the ground". Jesus calls Satan in John 8:44 "a liar and the Father of it". And I really think all of those who are willing for their own comfort and political purposes to say that homosexuality is "natural", a baby growing in the womb is "not alive", and God "does not exist" ought to look closer at what side they're on. And considering this, look at how verse 12 ends: "He did all this AND PROSPERED."
But the final thing I need to mention about this Antichrist that such people will no doubt love and follow comes in two verses: verse 24- "His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power"; and in the next verse, "But he shall be broken without human hand."
Tuesday/Friday starts in James 5, where he lists several characteristics that we will need, which Daniel had, to overcome.
-Perseverance;
-"letting your yes be yes and your no be no"; in other words, integrity in yourself;
-prayer;
-calling on others to help;
-forgiveness and its flip-side, confession.
He finishes with the encouragement that Elijah was a man just like us, who by these qualities was able to do great things for God; and then adds one final goal- to turn our erring brethren onto the right road. So many times I see comments on others' blogs of, "as long as you don't tell me about it/ I don't need saved/ I don't need preached to". And so often we just say, fine. But it isn't fine, and we cannot let those who don't understand that dictate how we minister. Sorry, if you don't like it, pal, but I am commissioned to tell you.
The Friday mirror was Philippians 1, which Paul frames with the famous verse 6, " Being confident in this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Paul goes on to name off some of the good works God wants to see in us:
-love;
-growth in knowledge and discernment;
-approval of "excellent" things;
-sincerity in belief;
-and the use of one's fruits to the glory of God.
So it is these attributes- perseverance, love, integrity, study, coming together, sincerity, forgiveness, confession, and good works- that James and Paul tell us- and Daniel's life shows us- will save us from the judgment and falling for the lies out there now and the ones to come. But is this where you and I are at?
There are two kinds of people who are falling short in these categories, and that's where Wednesday/Thursday come in. Wednesday covered the unbeliever, courtesy Hebrews 10. The writer gives a clear picture of what those who refuse to believe are doing, from God's POV:
-They are trampling the Son of God underfoot;
-They are setting His sacrifice for our sins "as something common";
-They are insulting the Holy Spirit, whose grace is freely given to save them.
The writer adds something to put this in perspective:
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[e] says the Lord.[f] And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”[g] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The other group is brought up in Revelations 3, the letter to the Church in Sardis, in which God says, " You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead", and tells us to strengthen that which remains before it dies as well. How close am I to James 5 and Philippians 1? On a scale of Philippi to Sardis, where do I fall? We are told that if we are closer to Sardis, there are two things we need to do- "Hold fast and repent". Somewhere in between Elijah and Tyre we all fall. Where do we want to be? Would we rather spend our eternity in the white robes promised to a faithful Sardis, with our name in the Book of Life and our cause defended before God by Christ, or wait and face Him without an advocate? As for me, I need to repent and hold fast. What will you do? Remember, as I said at the beginning, we may find soon that we are facing not only temptations, but COMMANDS.
The second was my personal battle against my "thorns in the flesh", and what the readings were saying to me. This all wove itself together Saturday morning in a set of mirror-image readings that spoke to what needs to be done in a world hurtling toward judgment- and the consequences of not doing them.
So let me break this into three sections- the Monday/Saturday readings on the greater picture, the Tuesday/Friday readings on where I/we should be, and the Wednesday/Thursday on where we might actually be finding our/your/myselves.
Monday was Ezekiel 27, the passage on "the Ship Tyre". This, and it's mirror-image in Revelation 18 (the fall of Babylon) used these two famous cities to describe a great and wealthy power at the end of time. And if you read them both, you can see that this could very well be the United States it is talking about. How many times has the question been asked, "where is the US of A in prophecy?" Now read them and see.
In Ezekiel, this city is described thusly:
- taking pride in its own perfection (VV3-4);
-relied on its own "wise men" to guide them (VV 8-9);
-vast amounts of luxury items, brought in from all over the world, including "human lives" (VV 12-24)- the mirror-image Rev 18:13 calls this "and souls of men";
-worldwide reach and power (VV 25-26).
All of which leads to an ultimate and swift judgment; as Rev 18:17 put it, everything gone in just one hour. Why isn't the US of A in the Bible? I say it might be; just not at the end.
The Saturday mirror was Daniel 8, where he has the vision of the two-horned Ram (Media-Persia) being destroyed by the one-horned goat (Alexander the Great). But as Gabriel interprets this vision to him, it becomes clear that not only is he showing Alexander and his successors, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, but he is also looking at this far-future time. Because the Antichrist, if you read vv 8-12, is more than just a man. He is a "little horn" who grows up to reach the Host of Heaven, and cast some of them down to trample them, even comparing himself to "the Prince of the Host"; I believe this tells us the Antichrist will be Satan incarnate as man, trying to reverse what Christ did as an incarnate Man. Another verse says he will "cast truth to the ground". Jesus calls Satan in John 8:44 "a liar and the Father of it". And I really think all of those who are willing for their own comfort and political purposes to say that homosexuality is "natural", a baby growing in the womb is "not alive", and God "does not exist" ought to look closer at what side they're on. And considering this, look at how verse 12 ends: "He did all this AND PROSPERED."
But the final thing I need to mention about this Antichrist that such people will no doubt love and follow comes in two verses: verse 24- "His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power"; and in the next verse, "But he shall be broken without human hand."
Tuesday/Friday starts in James 5, where he lists several characteristics that we will need, which Daniel had, to overcome.
-Perseverance;
-"letting your yes be yes and your no be no"; in other words, integrity in yourself;
-prayer;
-calling on others to help;
-forgiveness and its flip-side, confession.
He finishes with the encouragement that Elijah was a man just like us, who by these qualities was able to do great things for God; and then adds one final goal- to turn our erring brethren onto the right road. So many times I see comments on others' blogs of, "as long as you don't tell me about it/ I don't need saved/ I don't need preached to". And so often we just say, fine. But it isn't fine, and we cannot let those who don't understand that dictate how we minister. Sorry, if you don't like it, pal, but I am commissioned to tell you.
The Friday mirror was Philippians 1, which Paul frames with the famous verse 6, " Being confident in this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Paul goes on to name off some of the good works God wants to see in us:
-love;
-growth in knowledge and discernment;
-approval of "excellent" things;
-sincerity in belief;
-and the use of one's fruits to the glory of God.
So it is these attributes- perseverance, love, integrity, study, coming together, sincerity, forgiveness, confession, and good works- that James and Paul tell us- and Daniel's life shows us- will save us from the judgment and falling for the lies out there now and the ones to come. But is this where you and I are at?
There are two kinds of people who are falling short in these categories, and that's where Wednesday/Thursday come in. Wednesday covered the unbeliever, courtesy Hebrews 10. The writer gives a clear picture of what those who refuse to believe are doing, from God's POV:
-They are trampling the Son of God underfoot;
-They are setting His sacrifice for our sins "as something common";
-They are insulting the Holy Spirit, whose grace is freely given to save them.
The writer adds something to put this in perspective:
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[e] says the Lord.[f] And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”[g] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The other group is brought up in Revelations 3, the letter to the Church in Sardis, in which God says, " You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead", and tells us to strengthen that which remains before it dies as well. How close am I to James 5 and Philippians 1? On a scale of Philippi to Sardis, where do I fall? We are told that if we are closer to Sardis, there are two things we need to do- "Hold fast and repent". Somewhere in between Elijah and Tyre we all fall. Where do we want to be? Would we rather spend our eternity in the white robes promised to a faithful Sardis, with our name in the Book of Life and our cause defended before God by Christ, or wait and face Him without an advocate? As for me, I need to repent and hold fast. What will you do? Remember, as I said at the beginning, we may find soon that we are facing not only temptations, but COMMANDS.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Yet another hockey post...
...but we are closing in on the end. At least until the 20th when the Aussie League kicks off!
We have one new champion- but not really a new champion. Johnathan Janil had 2 scores and Francois-Pierre Guennette got the winner in OT as Rouen took the French title with a 4-3 win in game seven over Angers. The Dragons de Rouen win their fourth straight title and 11th over all, second only to Chamoix's 30 championships.
Meanwhile...
In Norway, Stavenger can win it all tomorrow in game six against Valerenga, in a series where the loser has scored just one goal in each game.
Thursday in Slovakia, Dusan Pasek had a hat trick to keep Kosice alive- their 6-2 win over Zvolen was their first in 4 games. Zvolen's next chance at their second all-time championship is tomorrow.
In the Czech Extraliga, Zlin beat Plzen 3-0 for a 2-1 series lead.
In Sweden, the league's leading scorer, Canadian Bud Holloway, scored at 8:30 of OT to give Skelleftea a 1-0 win over Lulea in game one of their final series.
Michel Loichat, a late season call-up from Basel, scored twice in Bern's 3-2 win over Fribourg today that gives Bern a 3-2 lead in the Swiss finals.
In Finland, the final two, Tappara and Assat, had a week off watching the third-place series, and kick off their final series Monday.
In Germany, I was puzzled to see that although the first round was best of seven, the semis were best of five. It's back to a seven game series when 2nd-seed Kolner and 4th Seed Eisbaren Berlin kick off the German finals tomorrow.
In Denmark Fredrikshavn and SonderjyskE go at it again Sunday with Big F up 3 games to 2.
And in the KHL, Jakob Petruzalek got the only goal in Dynamo's 1-0 win over Traktor, and have a chance at winning their second straight title Monday, holding a 3-1 lead.
We have one new champion- but not really a new champion. Johnathan Janil had 2 scores and Francois-Pierre Guennette got the winner in OT as Rouen took the French title with a 4-3 win in game seven over Angers. The Dragons de Rouen win their fourth straight title and 11th over all, second only to Chamoix's 30 championships.
Meanwhile...
In Norway, Stavenger can win it all tomorrow in game six against Valerenga, in a series where the loser has scored just one goal in each game.
Thursday in Slovakia, Dusan Pasek had a hat trick to keep Kosice alive- their 6-2 win over Zvolen was their first in 4 games. Zvolen's next chance at their second all-time championship is tomorrow.
In the Czech Extraliga, Zlin beat Plzen 3-0 for a 2-1 series lead.
In Sweden, the league's leading scorer, Canadian Bud Holloway, scored at 8:30 of OT to give Skelleftea a 1-0 win over Lulea in game one of their final series.
Michel Loichat, a late season call-up from Basel, scored twice in Bern's 3-2 win over Fribourg today that gives Bern a 3-2 lead in the Swiss finals.
In Finland, the final two, Tappara and Assat, had a week off watching the third-place series, and kick off their final series Monday.
In Germany, I was puzzled to see that although the first round was best of seven, the semis were best of five. It's back to a seven game series when 2nd-seed Kolner and 4th Seed Eisbaren Berlin kick off the German finals tomorrow.
In Denmark Fredrikshavn and SonderjyskE go at it again Sunday with Big F up 3 games to 2.
And in the KHL, Jakob Petruzalek got the only goal in Dynamo's 1-0 win over Traktor, and have a chance at winning their second straight title Monday, holding a 3-1 lead.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Time Machine # 63
April 12th, 1971, dawns. Stevie Wonder's lp Where I'm Coming From, his testimony to Berry Gordy about what he'll do once he is no longer stifled, is released today. Other than that, Shannen Doherty was born today...
...entirely up to you whether that was noteworthy or not.
Welcome to this week's Time Machine, and despite the paucity of subject matter in the lead in, we have a pretty good show for you today. Oh, and not much of a where are they now, either. But I have a mess of birthday songs, a top 40 debut that meshes pina coladas and cannibalism (sort of), a lookback on somebody you've actually heard of, the Partridge Family hit that almost wasn't, and a video for your perusal (wow, that's two weeks running!). Follow along as Tilting At Windmills begins its second millennium!
This week in 1971, 9 songs hit the hot 100 for the first time. One of them, at 78, is the Honey Cone with Want Ads. The other, at 91, is this little gem:
Ah, the Guess Who. So, on we go to this week's birthday songs. Turning thirty this week, two of my favorites- Men At Work's Overkill, and the Tubes' She's A Beauty- along with Lionel Ritchie's My Love (which will be ironic in a couple of lines). Lighting 35 candles are Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing, Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street, Carly Simon (who'll also come up again) with the Michael McDonald comp You Belong To Me, and one of the best summer songs of all time, Heatwave's The Grooveline. Turning 40 is another tune called My Love- a far superior record by Paul McCartney and Wings- along with Dr. John and Right Place, Wrong Time. Coming in at 45 years old this week, Dionne Warwick's Do You Know The Way To San Jose and Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing by Tammi Terrell and her partner (who'll be coming up later), Marvin Gaye. Finally, turning 55 is David Seville (of Alvin and the Chipmunks fame) with his first novelty hit, Witch Doctor. Blow out the candles...
Our big mover upwards this week will become the second (and last) top 40 hit for Brenda and the Tabulations- Right On The Tip Of My Tongue, rising 23 spots to #64. The big dropper was recent top dog One Bad Apple, falling 24 to #46.
The late Perry Como, who recently got a lookback feature, pulled into the magic Where Are They Now spot this week with I Think Of You, so no WATN this week. In its place we have... wait, we already did Shannen Doherty's birthday. Guess we're out of luck this week!
Oh, I know, I'll move the lookback feature here. This week in the year 1959, the biggest mover in the top 40 went from 90 all the way to 38, on it's way to petering out at 16. It was called Take A Message To Mary, and was sung by the Everly Brothers. Now believe me, growing up around my mom, there were three acts you had to like- Andy Williams, Ricky Nelson, and Phil and Don. As young singer-songwriters they were more or less discovered by family friend (theirs, not ours) Chet Atkins, who in the fullness of time got them introduced to manager Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose publishing and Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records. Archie liked their writing, and threw in a recording deal to get them. The first single for Cadence was Bye Bye Love, and they never looked back. That song, believe it or not, had been rejected by 30 different acts- including Elvis Presley. Their success grew, and they toured with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Phil was one of Buddy's pall bearers the day the music was buried; Don, inconsolable, didn't even venture out to the funeral.
The brothers switched from Cadence to Warner Brothers in 1960, christening their new partnership with Cathy's Clown. By 1962, they had raked in $35 million in record sales- but then it went south. They had a "falling out" with Wesley Rose, and as a result lost the writing talents of those responsible for most of their hits (who were under contract to Acuff-Rose)- including themselves. By the time things got settled, they'd lost the public's ear. They broke up in 1973- and reportedly spoke to each other only once in the next decade, and that at their father's funeral. They got back together in 1983, and though their last studio lp was in 1989, they still perform together- sometimes with Don's son Edan, and sometimes just Don and Edan.
We have an unusual story leading off our look at the top 40 debuts. Up ten to #39 are a group called the Buoys, with a song called Timothy. Now they were being promoted to Scepter Records by Ruppert Holmes, he of later Pina Colada fame. The best deal he could work was a one-single deal- but Scepter wasn't going to promote it. Now Ruppert had an idea that had seemed to work well in the 60's- get the song banned on radio, so the kids would buy it. So what he did was write a song about three miners trapped in a cave in, and how two of them ate the other one to survive. The tune was catchy enough that it began to play on the radio, and as it got more requests, DJs and radio stations- and Scepter Records- figured out what it was about (as it wasn't expressly mentioned that it was cannibalism- "My stomach was full as it could be/And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy"). Scepter, sweating out a major backlash, told radio execs that Timothy was a mule, but Holmes would have none of that. Long story short, it made the top 20, but the notoriety pretty much made the Buoys a one-hit wonder.
ALLLLLso debuting this week: The WATN from a couple weeks ago, Smoky and the Miracles' I Don't Blame You At All (presumably not sung to the other two guys in the mine), climbs 9 to #38; The Fuzz, a female trio led by one Sheila Young, climb 7 to #37 with I Love You For All Seasons; in fact, the next two also go up 7 notches, with Ray Charles at 36 with Don't Change On Me and Dawn's I Play And Sing at 35. But our highest debut, up 19 spots to #29, belongs to Bread with If.
Hmm... I guess that brings us to the "two songs enter the top ten, two fall out" stage. Those droppers are For All We Know (7 to 16) and Oye Como Va (10 to 14).
Janis Joplin's posthumous hit Me And Bobby McGee tumbles 6 to #10 this week.
Sammi Smith makes it into the top ten this week, moving from 13 to 9 with Help Me Make It Through The Night.
A Pair of Beatles move up one each into the next to slots. The first is Paul with Another Day at 8.
The second is George at #7 with What Is Life.
Ike and Tina slip a spot to #6 with Proud Mary.
Leapfrogging (so to speak) 13 spots to #5, Three Dog Night with Joy To The World.
And next up, our six degrees victim.
Falling from top dog to #4 this week, the Partridge Family's Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted almost never got recorded. David Cassidy hated the song (especially the spoken word part- which, while I love the song, agree with him on that), and refused to do it. Taping of the show had to be stopped while execs both from the record company and Screen Gems pleaded with him. He finally relented, though begging them not to release it. Anyway, to the six degrees part: one of the co-writers was Wes Farrell, among whose credits were a pair of songs on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. These two were performed by a band called Elephant's Memory, which as you might recall from another six degrees were John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band for a time. One of the members of this Greenwich Village group's members ( for six months) was a lady vocalist named Carly Simon (see, I told you she'd be back! Now where's Marvin...?). After this stint she came out with her self titled debut, which contained That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (AKA mom and dad have a loveless marriage, so I'll just live with them while avoiding marriage myself.). This was on of a couple of songs every album that she co-wrote with a friend named Jacob Brackman. Who? Well, he was a Harvard graduate, hired by Newsweek as a reporter (for six months, again), then moving on to the New Yorker, then becoming a film critic for Esquire, where he was gainfully employed when he met Carly in 1968 when they were both Camp Counselors at a campground in the Berkshires. He also lent a hand with other hits like Haven't Got Time For The Pain, in addition to having a hand in some fairly successful musicals.
This week, it's two and three trading spots, with one former top dog- Tom Jones' She's A Lady- slipping to 3, and another- the Temptations' Just My Imagination- climbing again this week for the second in a row after its tumble from the top, coming in at 2.
Which means the new # 1 this week is....
Marvin Gaye, at last, with What's Going On !!!!!!!
That's 1,001 in the books- 152 of them weekly Time Machine posts! So I guess see you in 48 weeks for another big milestone- or next week for more mundane fun.
Welcome to this week's Time Machine, and despite the paucity of subject matter in the lead in, we have a pretty good show for you today. Oh, and not much of a where are they now, either. But I have a mess of birthday songs, a top 40 debut that meshes pina coladas and cannibalism (sort of), a lookback on somebody you've actually heard of, the Partridge Family hit that almost wasn't, and a video for your perusal (wow, that's two weeks running!). Follow along as Tilting At Windmills begins its second millennium!
This week in 1971, 9 songs hit the hot 100 for the first time. One of them, at 78, is the Honey Cone with Want Ads. The other, at 91, is this little gem:
Ah, the Guess Who. So, on we go to this week's birthday songs. Turning thirty this week, two of my favorites- Men At Work's Overkill, and the Tubes' She's A Beauty- along with Lionel Ritchie's My Love (which will be ironic in a couple of lines). Lighting 35 candles are Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing, Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street, Carly Simon (who'll also come up again) with the Michael McDonald comp You Belong To Me, and one of the best summer songs of all time, Heatwave's The Grooveline. Turning 40 is another tune called My Love- a far superior record by Paul McCartney and Wings- along with Dr. John and Right Place, Wrong Time. Coming in at 45 years old this week, Dionne Warwick's Do You Know The Way To San Jose and Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing by Tammi Terrell and her partner (who'll be coming up later), Marvin Gaye. Finally, turning 55 is David Seville (of Alvin and the Chipmunks fame) with his first novelty hit, Witch Doctor. Blow out the candles...
Our big mover upwards this week will become the second (and last) top 40 hit for Brenda and the Tabulations- Right On The Tip Of My Tongue, rising 23 spots to #64. The big dropper was recent top dog One Bad Apple, falling 24 to #46.
The late Perry Como, who recently got a lookback feature, pulled into the magic Where Are They Now spot this week with I Think Of You, so no WATN this week. In its place we have... wait, we already did Shannen Doherty's birthday. Guess we're out of luck this week!
Oh, I know, I'll move the lookback feature here. This week in the year 1959, the biggest mover in the top 40 went from 90 all the way to 38, on it's way to petering out at 16. It was called Take A Message To Mary, and was sung by the Everly Brothers. Now believe me, growing up around my mom, there were three acts you had to like- Andy Williams, Ricky Nelson, and Phil and Don. As young singer-songwriters they were more or less discovered by family friend (theirs, not ours) Chet Atkins, who in the fullness of time got them introduced to manager Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose publishing and Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records. Archie liked their writing, and threw in a recording deal to get them. The first single for Cadence was Bye Bye Love, and they never looked back. That song, believe it or not, had been rejected by 30 different acts- including Elvis Presley. Their success grew, and they toured with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Phil was one of Buddy's pall bearers the day the music was buried; Don, inconsolable, didn't even venture out to the funeral.
The brothers switched from Cadence to Warner Brothers in 1960, christening their new partnership with Cathy's Clown. By 1962, they had raked in $35 million in record sales- but then it went south. They had a "falling out" with Wesley Rose, and as a result lost the writing talents of those responsible for most of their hits (who were under contract to Acuff-Rose)- including themselves. By the time things got settled, they'd lost the public's ear. They broke up in 1973- and reportedly spoke to each other only once in the next decade, and that at their father's funeral. They got back together in 1983, and though their last studio lp was in 1989, they still perform together- sometimes with Don's son Edan, and sometimes just Don and Edan.
We have an unusual story leading off our look at the top 40 debuts. Up ten to #39 are a group called the Buoys, with a song called Timothy. Now they were being promoted to Scepter Records by Ruppert Holmes, he of later Pina Colada fame. The best deal he could work was a one-single deal- but Scepter wasn't going to promote it. Now Ruppert had an idea that had seemed to work well in the 60's- get the song banned on radio, so the kids would buy it. So what he did was write a song about three miners trapped in a cave in, and how two of them ate the other one to survive. The tune was catchy enough that it began to play on the radio, and as it got more requests, DJs and radio stations- and Scepter Records- figured out what it was about (as it wasn't expressly mentioned that it was cannibalism- "My stomach was full as it could be/And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy"). Scepter, sweating out a major backlash, told radio execs that Timothy was a mule, but Holmes would have none of that. Long story short, it made the top 20, but the notoriety pretty much made the Buoys a one-hit wonder.
ALLLLLso debuting this week: The WATN from a couple weeks ago, Smoky and the Miracles' I Don't Blame You At All (presumably not sung to the other two guys in the mine), climbs 9 to #38; The Fuzz, a female trio led by one Sheila Young, climb 7 to #37 with I Love You For All Seasons; in fact, the next two also go up 7 notches, with Ray Charles at 36 with Don't Change On Me and Dawn's I Play And Sing at 35. But our highest debut, up 19 spots to #29, belongs to Bread with If.
Hmm... I guess that brings us to the "two songs enter the top ten, two fall out" stage. Those droppers are For All We Know (7 to 16) and Oye Como Va (10 to 14).
Janis Joplin's posthumous hit Me And Bobby McGee tumbles 6 to #10 this week.
A Pair of Beatles move up one each into the next to slots. The first is Paul with Another Day at 8.
The second is George at #7 with What Is Life.
Ike and Tina slip a spot to #6 with Proud Mary.
Leapfrogging (so to speak) 13 spots to #5, Three Dog Night with Joy To The World.
And next up, our six degrees victim.
Falling from top dog to #4 this week, the Partridge Family's Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted almost never got recorded. David Cassidy hated the song (especially the spoken word part- which, while I love the song, agree with him on that), and refused to do it. Taping of the show had to be stopped while execs both from the record company and Screen Gems pleaded with him. He finally relented, though begging them not to release it. Anyway, to the six degrees part: one of the co-writers was Wes Farrell, among whose credits were a pair of songs on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. These two were performed by a band called Elephant's Memory, which as you might recall from another six degrees were John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band for a time. One of the members of this Greenwich Village group's members ( for six months) was a lady vocalist named Carly Simon (see, I told you she'd be back! Now where's Marvin...?). After this stint she came out with her self titled debut, which contained That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (AKA mom and dad have a loveless marriage, so I'll just live with them while avoiding marriage myself.). This was on of a couple of songs every album that she co-wrote with a friend named Jacob Brackman. Who? Well, he was a Harvard graduate, hired by Newsweek as a reporter (for six months, again), then moving on to the New Yorker, then becoming a film critic for Esquire, where he was gainfully employed when he met Carly in 1968 when they were both Camp Counselors at a campground in the Berkshires. He also lent a hand with other hits like Haven't Got Time For The Pain, in addition to having a hand in some fairly successful musicals.
This week, it's two and three trading spots, with one former top dog- Tom Jones' She's A Lady- slipping to 3, and another- the Temptations' Just My Imagination- climbing again this week for the second in a row after its tumble from the top, coming in at 2.
Which means the new # 1 this week is....
That's 1,001 in the books- 152 of them weekly Time Machine posts! So I guess see you in 48 weeks for another big milestone- or next week for more mundane fun.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A thousand reasons
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking
truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative.
And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football
league.
That was the first thing I came up with for my blog when I put the first designs together almost 1200 days ago. A mission statement, if you will, of my newly-christened blog, Tilting At Windmills. Between the name and this statement, you can see what it was intended for at the start.
First, it was my voice in the crowd. A place to have my hearing in a world where my government, my family, even my church wasn't neccessarily listening. A permanent electronic record of a man who one day would just be a stone with a date on it who nobody remembered. And unlike my previous "fifteen minutes of fame" moments, someone might actually know who I was afterwards.
Second, it was to be my soapbox. For someone as inhibited socially as I can be, and for someone who'd rather debate in the written word than face to face, it was a perfect place to voice my opinions without stumbling over my tongue or having to feel the hot flushes of self-consciousness. I could say more perfectly what I met, and not have my insecurities keep me from doing so.
Third, it was going to let people know how I felt, and what I named myself. In a world where most people who had similar views as me were being hit with PC nonsense, I could be true to what I believed and the hell with the rest. (In fact, the "PC be hanged" in the banner was at first going to be "PC be damned", but I decided it might take some of the "family show" air out of the tires. My first compromise, just to be polite to the newbies.)
Fourth, it was going to reflect the things I loved- God, history told truly, sports. And beyond that, I really didn't know where it was going to go.
Finally, it was going to be about fighting for honour, even if I was the only one who saw the battle. Even if all the odds were against me. And as such, it was going to be an exercise in boosting my self-esteem. Letting me be a hero, if a humble one, one who recognized that his "glittering armor" and "sharp, two-edged sword" were made of tinfoil and broomsticks.
But there were a lot of things I didn't know it would be about, and many of them are the reasons why anybody reads this thing even now, and are the things that have meant the most to me.
One of those was entertainment. When I look at how stiff some of my earliest posts are, I feel like I was writing them in suit and tie (which I assure you was not the case). Some things I tried to treat too reverently at first; but most of you know I've gotten over that. Even in the most serious of posts- for example, the Sunday Message series- I inject a bit of snark, because God knows I'm a smartass, and deals with me as such. (And believe me, God is way funnier than I am!) But not just the smart stuff. I enjoy how I've grown Time Machine from a dry recitation of what was on the charts in a certain week to an entertainment program that takes a lot of time and work to bring you. It is the one thing I do that I really wouldn't mind making a living at. I challenge myself to tell you about some day's minor disaster at work in a way that will get you laughing far quicker than the actual events get me to.
Learning how to do things on the computer also came with the package. I've had to teach myself posting pictures, formatting tables, using Paint, downloading videos, and other fun things, both to improve the "product" and to get around the occasional roadblocks that using a large, impersonal format like Blogger entails.
The debates have helped me grow as a person as well. Whether it be the once-constant battle with atheists (which I have trimmed by cutting down on allowing myself to be baited), the rather strenuous conversation with Delaney Bramlet's former agent over who wrote Superstar (in which he accused me of deleting a comment because he forgot which post he commented to), or the battles of wits with half armed trolls (such as the dust-up with "John Rambo" AKA Peter Allen Nolan, the he-man woman hater), such conversations have helped in many ways. Not the least of which were knowing which battles are worth fighting, when to abandon civility and just let both barrels fly, and honing my ability, atrophied since my divorce, to win arguments even when the other person doesn't realize they've lost.
But those are the things that came from me. Much more valuable are the things that have came from you. My shell really opened up when I got invited to a few "blog parties" (remember them?) and met new people, many of them who led me to even more. People who didn't neccessarily agree with me. People who had different interests. People from Malaysia, Canada, Australia, the UK, and people from my own home town. People who have shared their convictions, have shared prayers and comforts, people who have given of themselves. The great postcard campaign. Several beer caps. Artwork that proudly hangs just feet away. People who became more than blogs- they became FRIENDS.
The babies who I've watched grow up on their family's blogs. Morgan, Nora, Aubrey. Children growing into young adulthood like Skippy's Wallene, Juli's Oldest, Youngest, and Bonus Brother. Momto8 and Fourth Frog's clans. Mynx's boys and Miss S. My Nephew Andy's kids. Bouncing Barb's grandkids. It really becomes an extended family, in which your heart swells with their accomplishments and falls with their hurts, their break-ups, their illnesses. Like being a parent all over again without the diapers, or a grandparent for the first time without babysitting duties.
The ministry it has allowed me. To take what I learn from God and pass it on. To plant a seed, be an encouragement. Sure, that is God giving to you through me, but if it touches you, effects your heart, turns your mind, that is gold to me as well. You give me that when it causes you to turn to God and say, "Yeah..."
So why do I blog? Funny how it grew from self-glorification into a tree with branches named sharing, caring, learning, laughing, crying, hoping, and dreaming. Those branches bore a fruit I would have never guessed tasted so sweet. And in a way, I suppose, it makes me more than just that name on the cold stone.
And, it gives me a place to put the fantasy football stats where I won't lose them. ;)
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
And then there was one...
One of the things I bring up in the forthcoming "why I blog" anniversary post is the need to present the dumb dealings at work in a humorous enough was that you get a good laugh out of what's happened several hours (usually) before I do. Today is one of those days.
Now, mind you, we are a bit slow right now because our main customer is having issues with other suppliers. So it really was a low-impact day for the most part. Except for three things, two of which belong in the "there are those who do things right, and those who make mistakes, and thankfully I'm in category one" file. The first one came my way about 8 o'clock- a special job sheet with three late "dealer service" (AKA somebody ordering from an old old catalogue) orders. The first one I cut successfully, but when I tried to issue the yardage used, I got the message, " This order is firm. You may not issue fabric." Not having any idea what a firm order is, I e-mailed the boss and went on to item 2. It was not a complete cover, just the bow part, and the marker (what the computer uses to tell the Gerber what to cut) did not exist. So I called the engineer, and left him to sort that one out. The third one, when I scanned it, said, "The 2-up marker for this part does not exist. sending the standard marker instead" (which apparently meant- as I learned later- that the job was calling for me to cut 2 covers, and the computer only has markers for one). So another call to the engineer, who never heard of "2 ups" and was completely baffled. I asked him whether to cut one or two, and he said he'd get with the boss and let me know. In the meantime, boss e-mails me back about item one, saying, "This has to be fixed by engineering before you can issue fabric."
So then engineer turns to the super, and she says I have to make 2 of them. While he's doing that, I find the boss and show the item in question to him, and he says, "the engineer should know. What did he say?"
"To ask you."
"Um, I'll go check on it."
Moments later, the engineer, who's talked to the super, IMs me to cut two, which I was doing when boss brings out a rush order in navy blue. I'm cutting the rush order when engineer emails me that item #2 is now in the system. About an hour later, boss emails me with the job number for the one I cut two of, along with a copied message he got saying they only wanted one. An hour or so after that, super comes out with a new rush order for the same item in another color. She says the boss didn't have her check the order against the email request, and thus he gave me the order in the wrong color. Did I mention that a few days back they cut my stock table to 1/3 its former size to put the cut covers rack closer to me? Or that on that smaller table I already had several items left over from when the Gerber was down and the other plant sent us stuff we didn't use? Or that just as I was seeing light at the end of that tunnel, here come these two items that nobody wants? Okay.
In trying to cut the second rush (out of sand, which is infamous for having oil spots that we can't use), I hit a point where the fabric cut off- the result of a flaw the manufacturer actually caught. Seven lousy yards later, there was another break. Why bother to roll a lousy 7 yards on the roll? Oh, well, says I, I can get 2 panels out of it. Except that as I was folding the second panel, I learned that the good side (we cut bad side up so the sewing marks are on the bad side) was covered with something that resembled a greasy chain belt being dropped on it. Make that seven yards, only five usable. That's that Chinese quality, BTW.
Soon later the second-shift engineer and proto guy come over to have me show them the basics on the gerber so they could use it in a pinch. During the show and tell, I was showing them how to change the blade when I made my mistake- for whatever reason, I fling my hand in the direction of the tool holder and sliced a good deal of my left pinky knuckle. Took 2 bandaids to shut it off. Super tells boss, boss asks if I've had a tetanus shot. Who the hell knows? So an hour before the end of the day, off I go to clinic.
Along the way, I'm driving beside a lady who sees traffic slowing in front of her and found running me onto the curb was a better option than just slowing down, or God forbid, give more than a cursory look in her side view mirror. Surviving that, I arrive at the clinic at 2 PM to get a simple shot- and come home 2 hours later after a piss test, 4 stitches, and a lecture on my blood pressure, and an invitation to come back in ten days to remove the aforementioned embroidery. Oh, and now I know when my last tetanus shot was.
Hopefully I live through the rest of the night, and will be back with #1,000 tomorrow. Just gotta make sure I keep clear of Laurie when she's using a knife.
Now, mind you, we are a bit slow right now because our main customer is having issues with other suppliers. So it really was a low-impact day for the most part. Except for three things, two of which belong in the "there are those who do things right, and those who make mistakes, and thankfully I'm in category one" file. The first one came my way about 8 o'clock- a special job sheet with three late "dealer service" (AKA somebody ordering from an old old catalogue) orders. The first one I cut successfully, but when I tried to issue the yardage used, I got the message, " This order is firm. You may not issue fabric." Not having any idea what a firm order is, I e-mailed the boss and went on to item 2. It was not a complete cover, just the bow part, and the marker (what the computer uses to tell the Gerber what to cut) did not exist. So I called the engineer, and left him to sort that one out. The third one, when I scanned it, said, "The 2-up marker for this part does not exist. sending the standard marker instead" (which apparently meant- as I learned later- that the job was calling for me to cut 2 covers, and the computer only has markers for one). So another call to the engineer, who never heard of "2 ups" and was completely baffled. I asked him whether to cut one or two, and he said he'd get with the boss and let me know. In the meantime, boss e-mails me back about item one, saying, "This has to be fixed by engineering before you can issue fabric."
So then engineer turns to the super, and she says I have to make 2 of them. While he's doing that, I find the boss and show the item in question to him, and he says, "the engineer should know. What did he say?"
"To ask you."
"Um, I'll go check on it."
Moments later, the engineer, who's talked to the super, IMs me to cut two, which I was doing when boss brings out a rush order in navy blue. I'm cutting the rush order when engineer emails me that item #2 is now in the system. About an hour later, boss emails me with the job number for the one I cut two of, along with a copied message he got saying they only wanted one. An hour or so after that, super comes out with a new rush order for the same item in another color. She says the boss didn't have her check the order against the email request, and thus he gave me the order in the wrong color. Did I mention that a few days back they cut my stock table to 1/3 its former size to put the cut covers rack closer to me? Or that on that smaller table I already had several items left over from when the Gerber was down and the other plant sent us stuff we didn't use? Or that just as I was seeing light at the end of that tunnel, here come these two items that nobody wants? Okay.
In trying to cut the second rush (out of sand, which is infamous for having oil spots that we can't use), I hit a point where the fabric cut off- the result of a flaw the manufacturer actually caught. Seven lousy yards later, there was another break. Why bother to roll a lousy 7 yards on the roll? Oh, well, says I, I can get 2 panels out of it. Except that as I was folding the second panel, I learned that the good side (we cut bad side up so the sewing marks are on the bad side) was covered with something that resembled a greasy chain belt being dropped on it. Make that seven yards, only five usable. That's that Chinese quality, BTW.
Soon later the second-shift engineer and proto guy come over to have me show them the basics on the gerber so they could use it in a pinch. During the show and tell, I was showing them how to change the blade when I made my mistake- for whatever reason, I fling my hand in the direction of the tool holder and sliced a good deal of my left pinky knuckle. Took 2 bandaids to shut it off. Super tells boss, boss asks if I've had a tetanus shot. Who the hell knows? So an hour before the end of the day, off I go to clinic.
Along the way, I'm driving beside a lady who sees traffic slowing in front of her and found running me onto the curb was a better option than just slowing down, or God forbid, give more than a cursory look in her side view mirror. Surviving that, I arrive at the clinic at 2 PM to get a simple shot- and come home 2 hours later after a piss test, 4 stitches, and a lecture on my blood pressure, and an invitation to come back in ten days to remove the aforementioned embroidery. Oh, and now I know when my last tetanus shot was.
Hopefully I live through the rest of the night, and will be back with #1,000 tomorrow. Just gotta make sure I keep clear of Laurie when she's using a knife.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Lotsa Little Bits Vol. 13- and post # 998
ITEM: I didn't know this was going to be a LLB post, but I just ran into so many interesting things to gab about, so...
ITEM: I heard a 19-year-old U of Michigan student on Rush Limbaugh today complaining that his courses in Nursing school were about 80% indoctrination. Rush asked him for an example, and he said, "For example, we are being taught that in the battle between liberty and equality in today's society, we must always choose for equality."
Say WHAT?
I think the first thing I will bring up in response to this is a comment that Bobby G. made on my Sunday Message this week:
"And it also happens to be the hallmark of our founding documents, because opportunity arises from freedom and liberty.
WE ALL are granted EQUAL OPPORTUNITY both by GOD and...BY LAW."
But the first thing that came to mind was this panel from Avengers #214:
Proof again that Edwin Jarvis should be President (except for that pesky citizenship requirement) and Barack Obama would be better suited to be the White House Butler.
ITEM: Bobby, to answer your question on that last post, your first comment came on post 186, October 1st of '10. And speaking of comments on that last post, I got an e-mail from that friend of mine that thinks her internet will dissolve if she gets a Google account so she can comment publically. It goes like this:
My internet will not dissolve!!!! We love you any way despite the hokey!!!! Great bird pictures!
(The original was in a neon lavender kinda color, though.)
ITEM: I know there is an Irony and a pretty good post which would connect the cosmics of Annette Funicello and Margaret Thatcher dying on the same day. I'll leave it to one more ambitious than myself. All I know is they were women that their respective nations didn't know what they had when they had them.
ITEM: Oh, yeah, Skippy, the Reds have St. Louis and Pittsburgh this week, both on the road, while the A's have the Angels in Anaheim and the Tigers in Oakland.
ITEM: Speaking of deaths, the music biz lost (and I forgot to add to last week's Time Machine) producer Phil Ramone. He produced for a long list of stars- too long to list here- and won Grammys for Album of the year on Billy Joel's 52nd Street and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, Record of the year for Just The Way You Are, and original score for Flashdance, as well as ten other grammys. Yesterday we lost another big producer- Andy Johns, who was known for, among many others, several Stones' lps like Goat's Head Soup.
ITEM: Today's hockey update: Assat downed Jyvaskyla 1-0 to win their way into Finland's finals against Tappara.
Dynamo took out Traktor again today, 3-2, to take a 2-0 lead in the KHL finals.
Stavenger's Oilers blasted Valarenga 5-1 to take a 3-1 lead in the Norway finals.
And it was Zvolen over Kosice 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the Slovak finals.
ITEM: I also heard on Rush something about the ATF trying to get a Facebook-like database so they can find out not only what we say, but who we know. I wonder if, once they find out of the state of war between Bobby G. and Myself against North Korea, whether they'll arrest us or give us some of the munitions that homeland security's been stockpiling? That's it for today, kids!
ITEM: I heard a 19-year-old U of Michigan student on Rush Limbaugh today complaining that his courses in Nursing school were about 80% indoctrination. Rush asked him for an example, and he said, "For example, we are being taught that in the battle between liberty and equality in today's society, we must always choose for equality."
Say WHAT?
I think the first thing I will bring up in response to this is a comment that Bobby G. made on my Sunday Message this week:
"And it also happens to be the hallmark of our founding documents, because opportunity arises from freedom and liberty.
WE ALL are granted EQUAL OPPORTUNITY both by GOD and...BY LAW."
But the first thing that came to mind was this panel from Avengers #214:
Proof again that Edwin Jarvis should be President (except for that pesky citizenship requirement) and Barack Obama would be better suited to be the White House Butler.
ITEM: Bobby, to answer your question on that last post, your first comment came on post 186, October 1st of '10. And speaking of comments on that last post, I got an e-mail from that friend of mine that thinks her internet will dissolve if she gets a Google account so she can comment publically. It goes like this:
My internet will not dissolve!!!! We love you any way despite the hokey!!!! Great bird pictures!
(The original was in a neon lavender kinda color, though.)
ITEM: I know there is an Irony and a pretty good post which would connect the cosmics of Annette Funicello and Margaret Thatcher dying on the same day. I'll leave it to one more ambitious than myself. All I know is they were women that their respective nations didn't know what they had when they had them.
ITEM: Oh, yeah, Skippy, the Reds have St. Louis and Pittsburgh this week, both on the road, while the A's have the Angels in Anaheim and the Tigers in Oakland.
ITEM: Speaking of deaths, the music biz lost (and I forgot to add to last week's Time Machine) producer Phil Ramone. He produced for a long list of stars- too long to list here- and won Grammys for Album of the year on Billy Joel's 52nd Street and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, Record of the year for Just The Way You Are, and original score for Flashdance, as well as ten other grammys. Yesterday we lost another big producer- Andy Johns, who was known for, among many others, several Stones' lps like Goat's Head Soup.
ITEM: Today's hockey update: Assat downed Jyvaskyla 1-0 to win their way into Finland's finals against Tappara.
Dynamo took out Traktor again today, 3-2, to take a 2-0 lead in the KHL finals.
Stavenger's Oilers blasted Valarenga 5-1 to take a 3-1 lead in the Norway finals.
And it was Zvolen over Kosice 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the Slovak finals.
ITEM: I also heard on Rush something about the ATF trying to get a Facebook-like database so they can find out not only what we say, but who we know. I wonder if, once they find out of the state of war between Bobby G. and Myself against North Korea, whether they'll arrest us or give us some of the munitions that homeland security's been stockpiling? That's it for today, kids!
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