Time Machine co-ordinates VIXLII47522376

Today we find ourselves in February 23rd of 1976- the day that saw the start of the first trial of serial killer Ted Bundy.  He had been arrested and charged with the kidnapping of near-victim Carol Deronch, who escaped only because, in the fight to handcuff her, he got both cuffs on one wrist, and she escaped.  His second choice that night wasn't so lucky.  I wouldn't have shared this happy story, except virtually nothing else happened that day.  Not even a plane crash.  Nor a birthday worth making fun of.  So we start this week much as it has been all week for me- with a resounding THUD.


(BTW, I just turned spellcheck off once and for all.  It wanted me to spell Bundy "Buddy".  Not. Gonna. Happen.)


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So welcome to this week's Time Machine, where we have 3 new debuts; three of my favorite songs in the top ten that were IGNORED by the Panel this week, along with a third consecutive near miss of overtime; and who were Cycle V, and what did they have to do with Giorgio Moroder, Jane Birkin, or Fritz Lang's Metroplis?

"Truth be told, zey had nothing to do vith me..."

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First comes our first debut- a song I stuck into the top ten literally halfway through my first listen!  From Everett, WA, here are the Moondoggies...






They take the #10 slot with their latest.


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Today, we welcome Barry Manilow into the co-pilot's chair!  How goes it, Barry?

You know, playin' the piano, writin' the songs...

Now, your future self has actually had a hit on the M10 just recently- this might be a first for a POTM to be a M10er!

M10?

My non-time-limited weekly top ten.

Oh, really?  What song did I do?

Well, I can't tell you, because you haven't done it yet!  Uh, actually, I guess you've done half of it by this point...

I did half a song already... and the other half I did in...

It's a medley, and you put the two halves together last year my time- in 30 or so years, your time...

Good grief, I'm still doing music in thirty years?  And people still like it?

Sure!  I don't call you "the Sinatra of our generation" for nothing...

Sinatra... wow...  When do they start calling me that?

Um, well, I'm the only one so far doing it, but...

Hey, that's something, I guess.  So what are we doing here?

I give you the list of this week's contestants- 16 #s on 41 stations- and you read 'em.

Okay, let me have the list...  Eric Carmen is the first guy, with All By Myself at #4 on the week's Cashbox chart.  Hey, can I make comments if I like it?

I encourage it!

But if you get the "POTMs" from the year they won... and have them read a list from the NEXT year...

Let's not over-think this, B.  Okay?

Right.  Next is Queen- always did like their style...

So I've heard...

...with Bohemian Rhapsody, which is at #28.

This week has two songs about the CB radio fad.  The first one is CW McCall's Convoy, at #32.  Say, these songs are all charting pretty low...

Yeah, that seems to happen a lot in the '70s.

Gary Wright is at #16 with Dream Weaver.  Getting warmer...!

Paul Simon is at the top with 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.  Say, I recall that having quite the chart contest with MY I Write The Songs.  Is that coming up?  

Funny story about that.  We'll pick it up in a bit.

Hmmm...  So Elton John has both sides of a double-A in the countdown.  Grow Some Funk Of Your Own is at #10; I Feel Like A Bullet In The Gun Of Robert Ford is at #27.

Larry Groce's Junk Food Junkie is at #30.  You know, I should do that in one of my shows...

Yeah, you'll kill 'em at the part about having a Big Mac on your breath...

(Cross look)  ANYway, the Miracles are at #5 with Love Machine.

The Ohio Players are at #29 with Love Rollercoaster.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were at #17 with Oh What A Night (December 1963).

Dr Hook covers a classic, Only Sixteen, at #31.  Another low charter!

9 out of 16 were #15 or below...

Wow, lot of variety there.  Rhythm Heritage was at #2 with the Theme From SWAT.

Rufus and Chaka Khan was at #18 with Sweet Thing.  I mean, were.

The other CB song, Cledus Maggerd's White Knight, was at #22.

And that leaves us with Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing at #6.  Hey!  So were is I Write...

We're getting to that, hang on.  So this time, I'm going to twist the game a little bit.  I'll give you all the top 2- which were 12-11 in votes- and three ringers with only one vote each to choose from.  So your choices are:  You Sexy Thing;  SWAT; Bohemian Rhapsody;  Love Rollercoaster; and 50 Ways.  Pick out those top two, and I'll update you a bit later.

So now, about I Write...

No, now we get debut #2.  You remember her from Dent May's Across The Multiverse, and here she is on her own at #9- Frankie Cosmos:




This is a fan-made video so hopefully you'll all get to see it before some record company guy complains and it gets pulled.


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Now, getting to the point Mr Manilow was trying to make.  There were 4 songs on the Cashbox top ten that didn't get a Panel vote.  One was our 6D victim at #3, which we'll get to later.  The remainder were three of my favorites of all time- at #7, the Eagles and Take It To The Limit; at #8, I Write The Songs;

WHAAAAAT!?!

...and at #9 ELO's Evil Woman.  In fact, out of 41 stations, Take It appeared in the top 10 of a chart 15 times, with a high of #2;  Barry made the top ten 14 times with a high of #3; and ELO made the top ten 10 times with a high of #4.  Needless to say, I am a bit disappointed...

WE are a lot disappointed...

...with the Panel this week, but if it just went off the CB chart, what fun would that be?

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I know we are a bit early for video #3, but I have a surprise in the Stat Pack, so here is a new debut off a soon to be released lp by an act that becomes the second act to have SIX M10s under their belts...  this is... Beach House:





Note:  If you don't want to be hypnotized, you might wanna look away during the video.  And, this debuts at #8.


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The first (and basically only) national concert I saw (sorta) at the Memorial Coliseum was Joan Jett.  I didn't get to see Joan- my future ex-wife saw someone she apparently didn't want to be seen with me by, and made up a story about avoiding her "brother"- making us leave HALFWAY through the first act.  We can bash her some other time;  important thing is, the act I was TRYING to watch was called House of Lords, and they were led by one Greg Giuffria, who I would hear later as the leader of his own, self-named band, which had a hit with Call To Your Heart.  This becomes pertinent to our story as he was later (or earlier) bandmates with one Frank Dimino in an outfit called Angel.

Uh...yeah...

Later- or earlier, I never noted the timeframe- Frank was the lead singer for an outfit called Cycle V, a studio throw-together that did Seduce Me Tonight on the Flashdance soundtrack- and one other thing.  Producer Giorgio Moroder decided to do a modern soundtrack to the 1927 silent cult classic Metropolis by Fritz Lang.  Among those on the soundtrack were Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, Jon Anderson of Yes, Billy Squier, Adam Ant, Loverboy- and yes, Cycle V.  Moroder was much more known for a song which a singer of his had started a lead lyric to but had no idea where to go with it.  He thought about it- and then combined it with the near-orgasmic parts of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsborough's Je T'aime Moi Non Plus- which is why Jane told us she wasn't really involved- and came up with the song at #3 without a Panel vote- Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby.


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Sta Pack time- in a sec.  But first:  Your two songs that do the real duking out are- SWAT and 50 Ways.  If you took them, you are still in the running!

The top song in the UK this week is one of our Panel contestants- Oh What A Night!  Also charting from the Panel picks in Jolly Ol' are Bohemian Rhapsody (#36), Convoy- yes, Convoy (4), Love Machine (14), and our 6D victim from Ms Summer (#12).

The #76 in '76 goes to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils with If I Only Knew, a song from the lp strangely- well maybe not strangely- The Car Over The Lake Album...

No, that IS strange...

The #101 was a song by Anne Murray called, The Call.  It was top 5 Canadian Country, and was written by Gene McLellan, who also wrote Anne's Snowbird and Ocean's Put Your Hand In The Hand.

Big mover was Maxine Nightingale's Right Back Where We Started From, up 27 spots from #77 to #50.


I knew 58 songs in the hot 100 this week, and while I didn't see much I knew in the Bubbling Under, I found Terry Bradshaw, of all people, at #120...




What I wouldn't give to watch him look into Bill Shatner's eyes and sing this on Better Late Than Never...

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The remaining M10:

Moon Taxi stuck again, this time at #7 with Let The Record Play.

Shilpa Ray goes up 2 to #6 with Rockaway Blues.

Back down again, stopping at #5 again, for the Shacks and Follow Me.

Reversing direction in week #7 is illuminati hotties, one spot up at #4 with (You're Better) Than Ever.

The Decemberists get shoved down a very unwilling notch to #3 with Severed. 

Voodoo Children move into the runner-up slot with Tangerines And Daffodils.

Which means a second week at #1 for...

...Lucius with Neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAND the winner of this week's election, with a mere 2.43% margin...

Paul Simon and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, Rhymin' Simon and 1977!

The upcoming student gun protest, and all I have to say on it

If there's one battle currently in the wars of society I'd just as soon check out of, it is gun control.  By that I mean, I can see where both sides have screwed the pooch over and over again, and not owning a gun isn't a big deal to me.  HOWever, I can look unbiased at history and realize that in the past REAL Nazis showed that they could control a country without private guns so much easier.In other words, no matter who you are, I am prolly on your more moderate side.  That said...

I heard on the way home today an IPFW student was organizing a gun protest at the Courthouse for Saturday.  Said that the latest shooting was his tipping point, he'd had enough, and wanted to do something about it.

My first thought was the usual... "Good, hope it rains Saturday."

Then I remembered that I need to work on my attitudes and my ways of looking at things, and my next thought was...

I said to myself, "Why SHOULDN'T it be a tipping point?  You know, this is happened too many times now, and no matter what you see as the solution, one thing is obvious...  something's broken."


Even President Trump seems to think so... although his "solution" is ineffectual and not germane to what's happening.   Bobby G is more to the point in his blog today: "If you want culpability, look to the FBI, who managed to drop the ball with this latest shooter (because they were too busy trying to unseat our president with bogus charges), and the physicians and pharmaceutical companies who allow the over-medication of at-risk people while not taking into account any possible adverse "side-effects" from their drugs."

But those are also the tip of the iceberg.  The couple who took the latest shooter in said they knew he was troubled over his adoptive mother's death, so why do you let him into your home WITH A GUN?  I'm not saying refuse him a place to stay, but you say to him, "As long as you live here, the gun stays with US and LOCKED UP."  Some doctor somewhere was treating him at one point, and with someone like this, shouldn't a doctor keep in touch regularly- and have to report to authorities if they lose touch with him? 


Or how about "The gun wasn't an automatic, it was SEMI-automatic."  I don't know that much about guns, but does the "semi" really matter if it SHOOTS FAST?  But that is one thing we are good at in America, parsing words.  I'd really love to loop in the abortion debate right here, but let me stay on one controversial subject at a time.  Admit it:  The NRA holds back certain laws that MIGHT be beneficial because of the fear titled, "If we give in on this one thing, how long before..." and the gun-control people are too busy playing their political game to think about what little Sherman might do to Peabody if he DIDN'T have a gun...

I tried to bring up the mental health aspect on FB the other day (shoulda been my first clue) and a "former friend" decided that instead of just pointing out where she thinks the President is doing wrong, has to festoon her comments with the extreme hatred she felt for Trump, completely invalidating anything productive she might have had to say.  Who's going to listen to a sermonette on what a bastard the President is, when you get labelled a "hypocritical Christian" for saying the whole thing is better debated without the insults?

So let us tally a few things up.  Among the problems we AREN'T talking about are:

Wasting time on political agendas
Throwing out non-solutions to placate the masses
Discussing the topic from a basis of hate
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY both at home, school, and doctor's offices
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY from big Pharma and political parties
Why the FBI cannot seem to take the time to do its job competently
Wasting time on semantics

All of which add up to...

So, to Brandon Blumenherst, my apologies.  I shouldn't have wished precipitation on you just yet.  If you can divest yourself of political hate and focus on the real problems, I will wish you a dry and successful protest.  However, if your agenda is the same as MOST protests- bash Trump and scream at the NRA- then you're on yer own.

After the "flood"...

So yeah, wasn't around last night.  The "under construction" sign on my head took a bit of a beating the last two days, as I begin to pay the price for not disciplining my spiritual life ere now.  Yesterday was a "fuse waiting for a light" kinda day that I mostly managed to keep under wraps, followed today by a "feel sorry for me" day today.  But things were better once home, as we present for your brief viewing pleasure, "What a 68 degree day in February looks like".

water...

"You think?"

"Could be a bit warmer... but feels good..."

"Hmmm... which lake do we go?"

Sunday message: Letting the Egyptians get to me

Sometimes you check the oven and the cake isn't done.  And I think that is where I am at today.  Last night was a big ordeal and I had to learn a lot of lessons in a hurry.

At least, that's what I told myself.  I am going through a lot of self-reflection and changes, and it is changing the way I see the world around me.  Once upon a time, a Christian would go to a grocery store and wonder if the lady ahead of them in line was a believer or not.  Now, you go on Facebook and you can figure it out in 10 minutes or less.  Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but a line that was once fairly blurry is a lot sharper to our perceptions these days.

And it can hurt.  To know that someone you might have been friends with 10, 15 years ago, you just can't be around now.

And this is one of the many things that I am trying to work through.  And I want to do it RIGHT NOW, because that is the instant-gratification temperament the world has taught me.  But God has a different plan.  He has heard my prayers about "doing things right this time", and that involves a lot of reflection, a lot of leading, and a lot of prayer.  All of which are things I either never possessed or haven't used in a while.  So I get all froggy, and want to move on to the "easy" part.

(Pause to let the laughter die down)


And I get this for an answer.  "Lightning is expensive.  And it will burn your butt."

And I chuckle at first, because I realize I have been asking for a bolt from the blue.  But there's a deeper meaning.

There is a cost.  Lightning is expensive.  You pay for moving faster than God wants.  Ask my kids the price of moving into a marriage at my speed instead of God's.   Ask them if the butt-burning we ALL suffered was worth it.  And that's just one example.  My life, quite frankly, is a big bowl with a variety of "examples" mixed in with "things I'd like to go at my speed."

Then, I get another answer:  Are you praying as you ought- "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"- or are you trying to bring YOUR perfect world into focus?

Three days after adding the lost souls of India to my prayer list, I read an article about a Christian minister in India, hung in his own living room.  Three days after adding foster children to my prayer list, a foster child kills 17 people at his old school.  And I'm like, "Am I doing more harm than good?"  I told Laurie, "Perhaps I should stop praying in the bathroom, before the floor gives and it falls into the living room."

And she reminds me, for every story the media overreports, there are a lot of stories where that Hindu turns to Christ, where that troubled teen gets help, that you'll never hear.  And that is so true- and it points out just how many potential messed up people are out there.  PRAY FOR PEOPLE.


And I get stuck on people who don't love the Lord, that attack me for being "a typical hypocrite Christian", and their words keep me up at night, that the more I pray for them, the more hostile they become.  Fuzzy line coming into focus.  And I am comforted by, "Why focus on those whose hearts are hardened, what they think of you.  Consider instead the ones who know you best, who support you."

And I see that.  But I am just learning these things, and it is hard to realize that some people just won't be helped.  And of course, I argue with God.  And God says, "I chose Israel and delivered them, but I did NOT deliver Egypt.  Look and see who chose to harden Pharaoh's heart first."


So I did.  Exodus 7:3, God hardens it first.  In fact, going down the list, you see 6 times that God hardened his heart, twice it "became hardened", and three times Pharaoh hardened it.  But the curious thing is when you look at the aftermath of plague #7:

Ex 9:34-  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart...

2 verses later, Ex 10:1- Now the Lord said to Moses, "Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart..."

What do you draw from that?  I draw that there is a decision making process by man that is yet controlled by God.  Being outside of time, he knows which way you will choose- and then sets things up to make it easier for you to make that choice.  That's why I saw a Christian mother spend time every morning with her prayer book, and Pharaoh- well he got magic tricks from fakers.  That's why a man who saw himself as the Pride of the World was humbled by a man who SIX TIMES made excuses why he COULDN'T do the job.

We can't let the Egyptians get to us.  The Spirit teaches us what they will never accept.  And this world is theirs, not ours.

And most importantly, we really don't want to be hit by lightning.

Time Machine co-cordinates VIXLI47421675

Today, we leave the fields of 2018 and drift down to February 16th, 1975- the day BEFORE AC/DC released High Voltage for us old timers, and the day that South African PM BJ Vorster told fellow apartheid boss, Rhodesian PM Ian Smith, that he was no longer going to send him South African troops to help him stay afloat, as he had concluded, according to Wiki, "white rule would be untenable in a country where blacks outnumbered whites 22:1."   Unlike his OWN country, where the odds are only 10:1.  Unless you count the people in country illegally right now from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), escaping their wonderful majority rule government, a number approaching 3 million.  Nice improvement, Zimbabwe!

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And having had my fill of politics for the day now, welcome to the music end of the story here, where we will have:  Ringo Starr on the Panel picks; a trip through commercial jingles thanks to the #75 in '75; the bizarre story of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel; the all-star team on the lp I put in the category of "Stupidest names for #1 albums"; and a new #1 on the M10!   No, we're not bringing the Young brothers in for a visit, so leave your copies of Highway To Hell WAAAAAY outside, and let's go!


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One debut this week, and you know this lady- at #8, Shilpa Ray:





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Let's welcome in Ringo Starr!

Hello, Sir Richard, and... uh, you know this isn't a Thomas the Tank Engine thing...

Say wat?  But Elvis told me...

Well, you know how, on Doctor Who, the first rule is, "The Doctor lies"?  Well, on TM, the first rule is, "Elvis lies".

Oh, faddle.  Then this is music, after all?

Yep.  I'm going to give you the Panel picks- songs that were getting #1 votes around the country this week in 1975- and you'll read 'em off for the listening audience.

Well, thank God!  I am quite fed with Sir Toppem Hat and all that rubbish.  Fancy a blast? (Pulls out a flask)

Uh, well, I would, but I've gotta fly this thing.  Laurie's off to work, and Scrappy...

...well, he don't fly, so...

Quite all right.  You have the list?

Right here.  13 candidates from 27 stations.

Very good.  In alphabetical order, as well!  First off we have the "weekly song from Lorenzo Marquez."  Where exactly IS Lorenzo Marquez, anyway?

Well, apparently I have been spelling it wrong for forever, because it's Lourenco Marques, and it isn't an island like I thought, because it is the capital city of Mozambique in Africa, and it isn't even Lourenco Marques anymore, because when the Portuguese left it got renamed Maputo.

Maputo.  Wonder what that means?

I don't know, but don't ask a Spanish speaker!

Why- oh.  OH.  Anyway, the #1 song there was the Rolling Stones' cover of Ain't Too Proud To Beg, which had peaked in the States last December.

Then we have the Eagles with Best Of My Love, which was #4 on Cashbox.

And The Doobie Brothers and Black Water at #5.

Carol Douglas, a young woman with a one-hit wonder called Doctor's Orders, was at #18.

The Ohio Players held the second spot on the survey with Fire.

Olivia Newton-John- speaking of loverly ladies- is at #9 with Have You Never Been Mellow.  

Then comes one of the most influential acts of Australian music- the Skyhooks.  Their song was called Horror Movie, and it was the first of two #1s they had Down Under- and to show how big a career they had, the second one didn't come until 1990!

Labelle and Lady Marmalade was at #17.

Barry Manilow had the first of four contestants that were on the current British chart.  Mandy was at #13 in the states, and debuting at #41 back home.

And another was Frankie Valli with the uncredited Four Seasons and My Eyes Adored You- #8 here in the states and #12 back home.  Good heaven, what is with all the red squiggles?

I don't know, the Google/Blogger dictionary took stupid pills today.  It wants me to spell Manilow "Mani-low", it wants me to spell Lourenco the old, wrong way, and wants me to spell Valli "Villa".  I'm good and close to turning it off.

Perhaps I shouldn't 'ave spilled my my drink on the keyboard, wat?  Anyway, next we have AWB, the Average White Band from up in Glasgow, with their song Pick Up The Pieces at #3, as well as debuting at #32 back home.

The Carpenters are at #19 on their way down with Please Mr Postman- which is all the way up at #3 in the UK.

And finally, another loverly lady- Linda Ronstadt, at #1 with You're No Good.  How's that?

Excellent, my friend, excellent.  So with a short list of stations that gives us an average of 2 votes per song, needless to say the vote totals were awful low- 5-4-3 was the tally at the top.  But to keep you good and confused, let me give you five choices.  Pick yer winner from Mani-low, Ohio Players, AWB (or as the squiggle prefers, AWN, whatever THAT is), the Eagles, and Linda.


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So this week's 6D victim was Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman at #6.  What struck me about this tune's album- the bizarrely-titled Fulfillingness's First Finale- was the sheer amount of current and future star power it had.  Among the names you'll know (?) on the credits are:

Michael Sembello, the "Maniac" guy;

Jim Gilstrap, whose claims to fame are two- he's the voice on the first two lines of You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, and he sang the theme to the TV show Good Times;

Denise Williams, the "Too Much Too Little Too Late" girl;

Paul Anka- yes, Paul Anka;

Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers;

Funk Brothers bassist James Jameson;

a capella stars the Persuasions;

The Jackson Five on You Haven't Done Nothin';

Minnie Ripperton of Loving You fame (which the squiggle thinks I should spell "Coppertone");

And even Sergio Mendes dropped in to do some Portuguese lyrics.

With a list like that, who NEEDS a 6 degrees?

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The UK #1 this week is a tune called Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) by an outfit called Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel.  But it wasn't actually "THE" Cockney Rebel.  Allow me to explain.

You see, this band had a couple hits over there, but friction developed, as it often does.  It seems that ol' Steve let things get to his head- and before the height of their fame, the band said adios muchacho and quit.  Steve went on with session players, but kept the name.  And Make Me Smile- supposedly written about his "traitorous" bandmates- became "their" biggest hit.

You've done it all, you've broken every code

And pulled the rebel to the floor

You spoiled the game, no matter what you say

For only metal, what a bore

(Ooh la la la)

Blue eyes, blue eyes

(Ooh la la la)

How can you tell so many lies?

(Ooh ah)

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A second Stat Pack story this week involves our #75 at '75- A tune called Isn't It Lonely Together by (Fred) Stark and (Rod) McBrien.  Fred Stark, was apparently known for his commercial jingles- including the McDonalds "you deserve a break today", the WindSong perfume "stays on my mind", the Mountain Dew "Hello sunshine, hello Mountain Dew", GE "we bring good things to life", and "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet".  With McBrien, another ad exec and music engineer who I found little else about, he charted with this:

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Since I've pretty much done most of the Stat pack, I should mention that I knew 47 of the hot 100, but only one of the bubbling unders- Jose Feliciano's Theme from Chico And The Man.  I always loved that show but my favorite scene involved Charo coming up to Jack Albertson and saying in her inimitable accent, "I've got something to get off my chest."

Albertson turns to the camera with slightly bugging eyes and says, "This is a job for Superman!"

Our #101 this week was the pre-fame Atlanta Rhythm Section with Angel (What In  The World Has Come Over Us).  I listened to this, because the AllMusic reviewer said:  "and "Angel (What in the World's Come Over Us)" even adds harmonies almost worthy of Crosby, Stills & Nash. "

If anyone sang on that song but Buddie Buie, I sure didn't hear 'em.


And I just realized I never figured up the week's big mover.  Ringo, could you turn that dial right there... no, that one...

Why certainly... well!  The winner is, Ringo Starr, the No No Song, 26 notches to #50!

You realize that no one is going to believe that I forgot this until now, and it just happened to be you...

Pfaugh!  Let 'em doubt!  We know it's true!

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The M10:

It was a tremendous battle, with new songs clawing to get in, but the Tracks hang on with, er, Hanging On at #10 for a second week.

BORNS, however, erodes still further, dropping 2 more to #9.

Moon Taxi gets a chance at last to move up, but can only move up one to #7 with Let The Record Play, because Dent May lobbied his way into dropping just 2 to #6 with recent #1 Take Me To Heaven.

A much bigger drop for illuminati hotties, as (You're Better) Than Ever drops from its second turn at the top to #5 this week.

Which means the Shacks nestle back into that #4 slot with Follow Me- and there they stick because the top three have the seeming of another "1a, 1b, 1c" ordeal.

At #6, up 3- Voodoo Children and Tangerines And Daffodils.

At #2, up a spot- Decemberists and Severed.

And the new #1- and their third-

Lucius, with Neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Panel pick, capturing that whopping 18.5% of the vote and narrowly missing a third straight OT:

...Barry Manilow with what was, in '75, my favorite song (and still in my top 5)- Mandy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next up, 1976! Be there!

Parkland

I am sure you have heard by now, we had another school shooting.  And we who are Christians pray for the victims, and atheists say, don't waste your time.  Tough tooties, atheists, I prayed anyway.  For the families, for the victims, and for the shooter and those like him.  I asked hard questions about the whys, and got hard answers.  Some might say cold answers and cold comfort, but bear with me.

First thing I want to point out, is Jesus our Savior has been there.  On both sides perhaps.  I am going to go into speculation here, because we don't know this kid's motivation.  We know he was "a former student", 18-years old.  So let's make a speculation he was a loner, bullied/ignored by the popular, the mainstream.  And he felt a need to "pay them back for what they did."

Now think of Jesus on the Cross.  At a certain level, He is the victim.  We don't know the motivations of the crowd, jeering at Him, spitting on Him.  Maybe He was for some of them just a generic victim, representing in their hateful minds someone who told them what to do at some point.

At another level, He is the shooter.  Bullied, attacked by "popular opinion", suffering like no one else could have- and He more than anyone had the ability to stop the pain, and declare, "Vengeance is mine."  He could have blown them all away with a thought.

But the conclusion of either angle is, He said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

He made a choice not to hurt back.  He made a choice to forgive.

Second thing, He HAS spoken about such things to us, IN THE BIBLE.  Here is His take on what happened today- and what might happen tomorrow:

Luke 13 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”


See, the Heavenly perspective is that there isn't a lot of difference in how you live OR die on this earth, if you haven't been saved by grace.  If I may "go Pence" again tonight, it was explained to me, "There is no difference between his sin and yours.  You shut Me out and did what you wanted.  SO DID HE."

People keep getting lost in the whole good deeds, good life" thing, and it just isn't so.  Will Hitler and Stalin end up in hell?  By the way their lives ended, I'd bet heavy on it.  What about a good guy like, say, John Denver?

John Denver?

From an article by Bill Fay, Baptist Press, from 2010:

One day in a frequent flyer room, I looked over and saw John Denver. It was pretty obvious with his distinct features and signature guitar that it was him.

I went over and said, "John!"

He jumped up, stuck out his hand and said, "I haven't seen you in a while."

I said, "No sir, we've never met. But I am a man who's prayed for you for over five years, and I have a message for you from your dead father, Dutch."

You see, years earlier, in the height of my pagan lifestyle, John Denver's father was the co-pilot on the Learjet that used to fly me around the country to do my illegal mob business.

His father -- whose hand I held when he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ -- made me promise that one day I would share with his son. I said, "Dutch, if God provides the moment, the privilege is mine."

Now it looked like the moment was going to come.

I met with John in a private room in the Denver airport for the better part of two hours. I took him line by line through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There wasn't a single verse of Scripture he did not understand -- nor was there a single verse of Scripture that he would accept.

Finally, I said, "John, when did you make up your mind Jesus Christ would never become your Lord and your Savior?"

He could remember the date, the time and the place. A godly Sunday School teacher, like some of you, said to him Jesus Christ was The Way, The Truth and The Life.


I left with a saddened heart, tears in my eyes.


And that is the cold, hard way of things.  Perhaps John had a change of heart after that meeting; we can't know.  But without it, he'll be right there with Adolph and Joe.  Maybe on a different level?  Who knows.  And why would it matter?  Hell is eternal, and it is awful.  And you wouldn't wish your worst enemy there.

Even if he was an 18-year old who let anger control him, and destroy a lot of innocents with him.  So let's pray for the victims and their families.  And include in that the prayer that they will be able to forgive.

What you chose...

So eminent spiritualist Joy Behar tells us that Mike Pence is mentally disturbed for communing with his Savior.  Well guess what?  So am I.   But you knew that.

"See?  We agree on something!"

Tonight was a prayer time in which I learned several things.  But the one most important involved a prayer for her- and others like her- whose all-inclusive, tolerant hearts have nothing but hate for those she disagrees with- especially those who love the Lord.  "Lord," I said, paraphrasing myself, "You can open the hardest heart, and replace it with a "heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26 for your benefit, He already knew).  Why can't you do it for (insert your favorite committed unbeliever) ?"

Because they made their choices long ago.  I cannot do anything for them if they choose not to let Me.  They will one day ask why, and I will have to say, "This is what you chose."

"This is what you chose."

We will all hear this one day beyond this world.  But which way will we be facing when we hear it?

"As for I and my house, we shall serve the Lord. " (Joshua 24:15)

But what about the Joy Behars you know?  What about you?

The prophets prophesy falsely,

And the priests rule by their own power;

And My people love to have it so.

But what will YOU do in the end?

(Jeremiah 5:31)