Step into my time machine week 77

This week on Time Machine, I have the pleasure of bringing you an new top dog on both the album and singles chart; the next class of the Martin Hall Of Fame; and the most completely stupid movie premise I have ever heard!  In addition, the dreaded #49 doom strikes for a second week in a row, and the answer to where are they now is, THEY'RE ALL DEAD! (well, not quite.)  Strap in tight, because we'll have to switch into space-travel mode as well as time this morning.

Let me open (after a swig of blueberry juice) with a snippet of the MHOF.  If you were here before, you know I divided the first three classes into categories, and the first is "Big Names".  Those honored in those first three classes were: The Beatles, the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Chicago, the Moody Blues, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons, the Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and the Monkeys.  I add two to that list this time around.
With 37 top 40 singles and 3 #1s- Neil Diamond!
And, with 17 top 40s and one top dog, along with a lot of great stuff before they became "top 40 material", Genesis!

We have 8 debuts on the hot hundred this week, two worth noting- at #92, Arnold G. Dorsey- AKA Englebert Humperdink- with After The Loving.  And at 80, the man who brought us Long Tall Glasses, Leo Sayer with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing ( which I'd have to say for me, this song never did).  Happy 35th birthday, you two!  The rest of the birthday crew this week:
Turning 40, John Lennon's Imagine; Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft; and Bread's Baby I'm-A Want You.
Turning 45, the Loving Spoonful's Rain On The Roof.
Turning 50, the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, with I'll Be Seeing You.
And turning 55 this week, Elvis with Love Me Tender.  Isn't it amazing that we seem to have a King reference every week?  Blow out the candles...

The big dropper this week was John Handy's Hard Work, a former WATN featuree, dropping 14 spots to 76.  Rod Stewart claims the big mover this week, climbing 25 to #45 with Tonight's The Night.

And speaking of the Where Are They Now feature, once again we have a slight problem.  Newbies, I always TRY to do this to the #49 song, but I've found that picking one number (at least this one) can cause some problems, i.e. repetition.  This week we have a song that hit 49 both on the way up and on the way down- Wings with the former top dog Let 'Em In.  So for a second straight week we move down a notch to 50, and there we find the Ohio Players with Who'd She Coo? on the way down.  The Ohio Players, who eventually became a vast ensemble, were based on 4 core members.  Sax player Clarence Satchell died in 1995; Trumpet/trombone man Ralph Middlebrooks passed in 1997; vocalist Robert Ward died Christmas Day, 2008; and Marshall Jones is surviving, living in Jamestown OH.

The next MHOF category is male soloist; the first waves inducted Elvis, Barry Manilow, Roy Orbison, Paul McCartney, John Denver, and BJ Thomas.  Joining them, with 35 top 40s and 2 #1s, Rick Nelson!

We dip into our #1s of other years feature now, and we are in the sixes this week.  In 1996, Cashbox was now doing a bi-weekly chart, and was about a month away from folding.  The #1 song was Donna Lewis' I Love You Always Forever.  In 1986, the top dog this week was Janet Jackson's When I Think Of You.  1976? Wait'll the end! 1966 this week the top dog was the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There; and the top dog this week in 1956 was, from the middle of Elvis' tremendous run that year, Don't Be Cruel.

Next on the MHOF is female soloists (or acts).  Last time we inducted the Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, Carole King, and the Carpenters (sorry Richard, but Karen was the voice).  This time, we add two.  With 18 top 40s and a #1, Linda Ronstadt; and with 9 top 40s (is that all?  It sure seemed a lot more) and 2 #1s, the Captain and Tenille!

Three songs enter the top 40 this week.  At 37, up 13, is Ringo Starr's A Dose Of Rock And Roll (which we featured on WATN last time); at 34, up 8, the Spinners with Rubberband Man; and at 32, up 14, another recent featuree, Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin Jr with Nadia's Theme, AKA the Young And The Restless Theme.

Next up on the MHOF is the Not-So-R&R category.  Past inductees under this banner included crooners Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams, as well as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  This time, we veer off into the Christian realm to pick an amazing singer and amazing human being, taken far too soon from us in a 1982 plane crash.  He posted four great Christian lps- For Him Who Has Ears To Hear (voted 5th on the all time Christian album list); No Compromise;  So Ya Wanna Go Back To Egypt (which he mortgaged his house to release on his own so that he could "sell" it for free, and it sold 200,000 copies and was ranked 49th on the top 100 Christian lps list); and Songs For The Shepard, as well as a Collection lp.  With NO top 40 hits and NO #1s, Keith Green!

And now, as we finally watch Frampton Comes Alive! begin to sink into the sunset, we have a new #1 album- Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life.  His greatest masterpiece almost did not happen.  He was so disgusted with the government in the USA, he was planning on forsaking music to go work with physically challenged kids in Ghana, a noble pursuit.  But Motown backed up an armored car to his door, along with a seven-year, full creative license deal.  And like I suspect most of these "occupy" protesters would, he decided on the greater good and went to work.  Nine months, two unforeseen delays, and free t-shirts from Motown reading "It's Almost Finished!" later, Songs debuted at #1- something only Elton John had done before, with Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies.  And it held that spot for 13 weeks (so, we won't be seeing another new lp profile until January!), spawning singles Another Star (with George Benson on guitar, reaching #32), As (which featured Herbie Hancock and hit #36), and the 2 #1s, I Wish and Sir Duke.  Michael Sembelo (who did the song Maniac from Flashdance) played on a few cuts, and Minnie Ripperton and Denice Williams did some background work. 

Next category in the MHOF is Personal favorites.  Past inductees here are ELO, the Guess Who, and Kiss.  This time, with 8 top 40s, Boz Scaggs, and with 13 top 40s and a #1, Bread!

Two songs enter the top ten this week, two fall out.  Dropping are Shake Your Booty (7 to 17) and Getaway (10 to 18).

Rather than break up the top ten twice, here is our last MHOF category- oldies but goodies.  Last time we inducted the Coasters, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, and the fan-nominated Jimmy Dean.  This time, with 20 top 40s and 3 #1s to his credit, Neil Sedaka!  And there you have the new class of the MHOF!

Coming into the top ten in the leadoff spot, up 2, is Steve Miller and Rock'n Me.  Also up two to enter the ten at #9, Heart with Magic Man.  At #8, edging up a spot, are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Wanna Be With You.  This brings back memories of listening to WMEE's nightly top ten, because this song, along with Kiss' Beth and Detroit Rock City, were constantly battling for the top spot.  At 7, moving up one, is Hall and Oates with She's Gone, in it's 24th week on the chart.  Which reminds me that the new resident of the grandpa chair ( in a week where 8 songs have 20+ weeks on the chart, including two in the top ten) is Kiss And Say Goodbye, back at #57, with 26 weeks.  (So much for not interrupting the top ten, eh?)  The next two songs hold their spots from last week- Still The One at 6 for Orleans and Devil Woman at #5 for Cliff Richard.  Newly minted MHOFer Boz Scaggs slips to 4 this week with Lowdown.

And at #3, we have our six degrees contestant, Walter Murphy and the non-existent Big Apple Band (which was just to give the song the "vibe" of a group, until the record company found out there really was a Big Apple Band and dropped the name) and A Fifth Of Beethoven.  Murphy's first job out of high school was as an arranger for Doc Severenson and the Tonight Show Band (AKA the NBC Orchestra).  Among the many credits for Severenson (which amazingly included no involvement on anything that ever hit the top 40), was scoring the movie with what has to be the dumbest premise of all time:

That's right, Nude On The Moon, where a couple of deadbeat scientists come into an inheritance that allows them to build a rocket ship and go to the moon.  There they find that the moon is a lush tropical paradise run by a group of topless amazons.  I can't make this stuff up, folks.  Also appearing musically was one Ralph Young, who sang the theme song I'm Mooning Over You. (I told you, I can't make this up!) Young was one half of Las Vegas act (Tony) Sadler and Young.  Young retired and has since passed away, but Sadler troups on, and recorded in 2010 a tribute album to the great French singer/songwriter Jacques Brel.  You know Brel (no, you really do) from his big hit Le Moribund, which the Beach Boys toyed with translating and then gave it up to their producer Terry Jacks, who forged it into Seasons In The Sun and hit #1.  I for one will never look at the moon the same way again.

That leaves us with the top 2 this week in 1976.  At #2 is Chicago with If You Leave Me Now, up from 4. and the new #1 song:

Rick Dees and his cast of Idiots with Disco Duck!  Rick claims it "took an hour to write and three months to find anyone willing to perform it".  So with the announcement of our new top dog duck, we conclude this week's slog through the magical year 1976.  Tune in tomorrow for the great Sixties Countdown, and be back here next week.  Maybe we'll find an even dumber movie to talk about (though somehow, I'm skeptical...).

Cassie

One of the first posts on this blog was the day we brought Cassie home.  She is a dwarf hamster, and if you've never had one, they are a delightful little creature.  Spend two weeks handling her in the beginning, being gentle and getting her used to you, and she's a devoted friend for her short life.

I've had "mice" for about fifteen years now.  It started when a girlfriend thought they were cute.  But they became the sound that made the bedroom seem less empty, the someone who came out when you tapped on their door.  And they have so much more personality than you would expect.  And yes, they are cute.

Cassie was a special little girl.  She didn't have a lot of quirks like some of the others.  She didn't get addicted to pepsi or chocolate morsels; she wasn't the one who immediately climbed up your sleeve.  She was just... sweet.  Despite the demands on my time and my careless disregard for spending time with her, she was always right there when I did come to see her.  Just like we'd never been apart or away.  Always gentle, never cross, always she acted as if I spent every day with her.

She was a sleep-talker.  A couple hours before she'd get active, she'd always bark in her sleep.  You wouldn't think a little guy like this could be so loud, but I've heard one bark from three rooms away when giving birth, so I know they have a voice when they so choose to use it.  Cassie's time was just before the dream ended.

Cassie passed today, at the ripe old age of 22 months.  The oldest survivor I had by a good 8 months.  As I took her out to bury her, I remembered when my first, Brutus, died.  I cried, my kids cried, their cousins cried.  And then we ran out and got Butt-Head (not his long-forgotten real name, just what he ended up being called).  Tears have become harder to come by as the years went on; not because of lack of nearness and dearness, but the jadedness that comes by being able to look at a calendar and know it was coming.

Cassie surprised in this instance, living so much longer than her predecessors.  And yet, the tears did not come.  I took her still little form out behind the shed and matter of factly buried her.  And then I came in and took a shower.  I thought about what I would be typing right now, and I thought about the last time I held her.  Four days or so ago- and for the first time in her life, she nipped me.  Not meaning to, but I know what it meant, I'd been there before.  "My body is sore, and tired.  I'm sorry.  But my time is almost here."  I rejected the thought as quick as I could, somehow hoping that continued denying her mortality would prevent her death.  But we both knew, as only someone who can look past the pretense in your soul can know.

I truly don't know that she will be the last.  I'll be asking my beer that on and off all night, I expect.  But for all the characters, all the tiny little personalities, hers would be a good way to go out.  Sorry, I just don't have a good way to end this.  I don't have the grim news voiceover tone saying, "Cassie Hamster, dead at 22."  But I have a beer.  Perhaps it will have an idea...

You knew I couldn't just let it go, right?

If you read last night's post, you know I got that disappointing and disingenuous answer from MillerCoors about the caps.  I thought you might enjoy the response I sent to said answer:

I am sorry to have bothered you. Who would have thought putting some crown caps in an envelope and sending them to the mail room would be so difficult? Anne Raabe at Shiner didn't say how hard it was to send crowns- she just sent me some and then invited me down for a VIP tour of their plant. Go figure. And Christy Luster over at Pabst didn't let me know what a hardship my request was, even when she responded to a question I asked about the caps she sent! I wish she'd have told me. But I guess that's the kind of treatment you get when you deal with companies that care about their customers.







Yes, I'm being sarcastic. But come on! If you would have said it was against company policy to mail out crowns to collectors, I'd have been fine. Or if you had said something about not being able to send out to the various plants, etc, etc. But what makes me upset is that you said it was " difficulty involved" in mailing them out. I've mailed caps clear to Malaysia without any difficulty. But if a multi-billion dollar corporation says it can't be done. BTW, the SABMiller web site says to "contact the local offices" i.e. you, for information on just such things. Thus I'm sending a copy of this to SABMiller so that they might take that somewhat misleading statement off their site.






Since you're so busy I'd better let you go. And hey! Don't make that beer for me, I wouldn't want to put you out.

Just to put us on the same page, SABMiller is the multinational that owns MillerCoors, and the letter was sent to one Julian Green , their public relations honcho.  See how much easier it is to just tell me the truth?

A few things before we get to the NHFFL...

First off, I'd like to make an open letter to our company's fabric vendors.  Specifically our Chinese vendors.  First, I get that you get paid even fewer peanuts than we do.  But for my peanuts I am expected to put out a PROFESSIONAL product.  I think YOU should, too.  You have a solid, one color fabric, that you manage to get some gray, paint-like crap all over.  You also take these rolls and stretch them out of all proportion.  All of which turns a two hour job for me into a 5 hour job.  Granted, you have your handy little tag gun with which you mark where a defect is going to show up, and I appreciate that.  That is, on the rolls that you actually pay attention to what you're doing.  When you leave large defects unmarked while putting tags on rolls where there are no defects, which you did SEVERAL times in the 1200 yards of that stringy yellow crap I had to cut today, I can only assume you just stick tags in at random.  Second, I appreciate that often you will cut a bad piece out of the roll.  However, it would be nice if you cut ALL of the bad stuff out and not leave another section 8 inches later.  Also, it would be helpful if, after you've cut that piece off, you don't take a marker and right some identifying code ON THE FACE SIDE of the fabric, thus causing me to scrap another half-yard of otherwise usable fabric which we did, after all, pay for.  Okay, end of rant #1.

Next item, if you stop over at the cap blog, you heard me say that I e-mailed the behemoth of worldwide beer, MillerCoors (a division of SABMiller Worldwide) to see if they'd like to contribute to the mighty Martin cap collection.  Here's their answer:

Thank you for contacting MillerCoors.

We are sorry, but because of the unprecedented number of requests from customers and the difficulty involved in mailing crowns, we have found it impossible to distribute them to the general public.
We appreciate your interest in our company.
Sincerely,
MillerCoors Consumer Affairs Department

Okay, how hard is it to grab a hand full of caps, put them in an envelope, and send them down to the mailroom?  Anne Raabe at Shiner managed it.  Christy Luster at Pabst managed it.  But (unnamed) at MillerCoors found it too hard.  Or, to put it another way, "We're too big to waste our time with collectors."  Well, you know what?  I can always make a list of products to avoid myself.  Have a nice day, unnamed.
 
Third, Here's another contestant for laziest scammer:
 
The management of world bank,after a closed door has concluded to pay you

USD$18m as unpaid contract fund.kindly send your informations for your
payment.
REV,Frank Weather
Executive Director.


Okay, what about the closed door?  What kind of contract?  What informations do you want- just any old informations?  Was the "REV" added at the last minute for "credibility"?  And WTF are you executive director of?  You might want to include these informations if you intend to make a living scamming.  On the other hand, anyone who falls for this definitely gives what they deserve.

Fourth, and I know I've said this before, but what is up with the utter and complete incompetency of the officiating crews of the NFL?  I swear, in the first 25 minutes of watching RedZone this Sunday, there were five calls blown so bad that Stevie Wonder could have overturned them!  And yes, they were overturned, the three that were challengeable.  I honestly think that the actual refs we had last season were kidnapped and replaced by Pac-12 and division III officials.


Okay, let's look at what happened this week.  And what happened is, the Gold Division is a mess. Both the top contenders got beat, and one so badly that we almost had our 4th 70+ point game.  The Clock BBQs got all of their points in the early games, and the Elks had 3 players with which to score the 19 they needed to tie.    They got 12, most of that on one 88-yd run by Jahvid Best, and lost 35-31.  The B2s didn't come that close, Buzz getting piles of points from Cam Newton (15), Adrian Peterson (18), Sebastian Janikowski (16), and the Buffalo D (12) to rout the 'Tubers 67-25 for their second straight win after an 0-3 start.
This allowed thee of the division's four 1-3 teams to move within a game of the top, with the Porkchops being the third of those after a 50-18 romp over the Ducks.  The 'Chops were sweating bullets pregame over whether to start the injured Ben Rothlesburger or the generally useless Matt Cassel.  Ben, who started, got 15 points, Matt got 12.  Decisions decisions.

Over in the Purple div., the rich got richer.  The Aguas hung on against a hard-charging KCAs team to win 53-44 and remain undefeated.  New acquisition Pierre Garcon tallied 15, and Calvin Johnson finished things off with a 78-yard reception.  The Rangers also stayed perfect after topping the Greenwoods 38-32.  Dwayne Bowe woke up in time to score 2 TDs (he was playing the Colts, after all) to lead the rangers.  The remaining game saw a brilliant 16 point rally by the Beagles overcome by an equally brilliant 16- point rally by the Angels, capped off by a Brandon Pettigrew TD Monday night to give the Angels an exciting 39-38 win and the only other winning record in the division at 3-2.  Here's the rest of the standings:





Next week, the Beagles and KCAs in a Somebody's gotta win game; Angels vs Greenwoods; and in the biggest game of the year at the seasons' halfway point, the 5-0 Aguas and the 5-0 Rangers.  Also the Clock BBQs vs the Ducks; The Elks and B2s in a game that would have been much bigger last week; and the two hottest rising stars, the Porkchops vs Buzz.

The great sixties countdown week 11- into the 100!

Remove your sandals, we walk on hallowed ground now- the top 100!

100- Solitary Man, Neil Diamond.  Despite the fact my brain keeps wanting to switch out "solitary" for "sailor" and turn it into a Popeye rag.

99- One Fine Day, the Chiffons.  Carole King never wrote a bad song, and this is another "invulnerable" song that virtually no one can screw up.  Excepting William Hung, of course, and my ex-wife.

98- Help!, the Beatles.  This is beyond a doubt the Beatles song that has never stopped growing on me.  Sing the background part every time.  And I retain vestigal memories of watching the movie a generation ago.

97- Strawberry Fields Forever, the Beatles.  I mentioned before my fondness for the later Fab Four, when they really started to put distance creatively between themselves and virtually everyone else (Except perhaps Brian Wilson).

96- Lady Willpower, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.  Don't have anything more I can add about a heavilly underrated act.



95- Cathy's Clown, Everly Brothers.  Her name wasn't Cathy, but I can relate.  "I die each time/ I hear this sound..."

94- Gentle On My Mind, Glen Campbell.  I can't help wishing I'd been a hobo when this song comes on.
"I dip my cup of soup back from a gurglin' cracklin' cauldron In some train yard/My beard a rustlin' coal pile
And a dirty hat pulled low across my face
Through cupped hands 'round a tin can/I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
That you're waitin' from the back roads
By the rivers of my memory
Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind ."

93- Puff The Magic Dragon, Peter, Paul, and Mary.  I imagine there was a long ago time this was in my top ten, before I knew what such things were.  Still gets me at "A dragon lives forever/but not so, little boys..."



92- I Know A Place, Petula Clark.  Her songs remind me of the Fort Wayne of my childhood, with Wolf and Dessaurs and all.  It was magic at Christmas time.  All the things they want to do to downtown and revitalize it now, and it's a damn shame that they didn't think about this when the suburban malls sprang up and the city leaders left W&D and Hutner's Paris to die.

91- Master Jack, Four Jacks and a Jill.  A tad obscure to most, but this song (which we had on 45) I never quite figured out how to listen to without getting a queer feeling in my stomach.



Man, that Glennis Lynne was a doll, wasn't she?

90- Crystal Blue Persuasion, Tommy James and the Shondels.  Boy, it sure is hard to believe the same garage band that did Hanky Panky could come up with something as intricately crafted as this.  A great, positive, hopeful song.

89- Do You Know The Way To San Jose, Dionne Warwick.  "L.A. is a great big freeway/ put a hundred down and buy a car..."  Yeah, good luck with that now...

88- Big Bad John, Jimmy Dean.  It's a wonder this 45 made it through our childhood with any grooves left.  Of course, foe me it helpd that Jimmy was part of the cast of Daniel Boone.  Helped out my appreciation of the Ames Brothers, too.  BTW, if you saw yesterday's Time Machine, you saw that this song turned 50 this week.

87- The Unicorn, the Irish Rovers.  See what I mean about all the great kids songs?  Here's one of the best. Making me cry as I write.



86- Five O'clock World, the Vogues.  Yes, this did have a life before Drew Carey, and a good one.  Kinda in the vein of another of my seventies favorites, Summer Breeze.

85- California Dreaming, the Mamas and the Papas.  Another sing-along song every time it comes on.  Is there any better imagry of a winter's day?

84- The In Crowd, Dobie Gray.  Definately no affinity to this song, I just like it.

83- She's Not There, the Zombies.  The fun thing with the Zombies is their sense of disconnect from the rest of society, which is put in focus in, "Well no one told me about her.. though they all knew.."

82- Rain Rain Go Away, Bobby Vinton.  Just a voice that stood out.



God, I hadn't heard that in years!

81- Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, the Shirelles.   Damn near where we started, with another great Carole King tune.

Man, the time has flown again.  To close out this weekend's trip, let's listen to the "birthday boy":

Muddling through the KHL season

I haven't forgotten about my plan to update the KHL each week, but I've been slow because nobody's broken from the pack to make it terribly interesting.  In the West, Torpedo beat Atlant last night, 3-2 to take the lead with a 6-5-1 record and 19 points.  Canadian Matt Ellison, the league's 4th-leading scorer at 5 goals-6 assist-11 points, had a goal and an assist in the win that jumped them over SKA St. Pete and Dinamos Moscow and Minsk.  SKA had just lost its first game the night before, 2-1 to Moscow, and lost Fyodor Fyodorov to a suspension after he kneed an opponent in the leg and knocked him out of the game.  KHL.ru had the video; the SKA coach just put his head in his hands after the stupid penalty.

Dinamo Riga, last year's playoff darlings, have fallen apart early, losing this week 2-1 in a shootout to SKA, 3-0 to Spartak, and 4-2 to Severstal to drop to a head-shaking 1-6-2, putting them a point behind traditional thugs Vityaz Chekov in last place.

In the East, far east team Amur topped Red Army (yeah, I know they call them CSKA exclusively now, but it is the old Red Army team) 3-2 SO to tie Avangard Omsk for the conference (and league) lead at 6-4-1, 20 points.  Yakub Petruzhalek, the league's top scorer at 4-11-15, scored the first goal of the game, and finished the game with the lone goal of the shootout. Traktor went on a 3-game winning streak to pull into a third place tie with Ak Bars at 19 points, topping Avangard Omsk (who is tied with Amur for first) 2-0, Barys Astana 4-3, and 5-1 over Metallurg Magnitogorsk.  Ol' double M's whupping was one of three losses this week for the considered favorite, also having lost to Neftekhimik 3-1 and Ak Bars 4-1.  Another favorite on the schnide this week is Salavat Yulaev, who dropped 3-2 and 4-2 matches to Novokutensk and Omsk, respectively.  This beside having the league's goal leader with Igor Grigorenko with 7.

My temporary team  of Automobilsk Ekaterinburg are not having a real good season though they did pull out a 4-1 home win against Yugra in which Denis Abdullin, one of the few players on the team with more than one goal this year, got #s 4 and 5 in the match.  Earlier in the week they lost a 3-1 game to Barys, in which goalie Sergei Mylnikov was torched for all three goals on just 11 shots in the second period.  All of which leaves them last in the East at 2-7-0, six points behind Magnitogorsk, Neftekhimik, and Sibir for last in the conference and one point up on Riga overall.

Two more bits of news on the Lokomotiv front:  first, the Penguins and Caps are planning to raise money for the families in their matchup later this year.  All players will wear Loko patches that will be autographed and auctioned off, and players' wives and GFs will be selling remembrance bracelets.  Second, the Loko team that will play in the VHL, the Russian Major League (AKA the KHL's farm league) is set to start Dec. 12th.  They will play 22 games, one against each team and be seeded accordingly into the playoffs.

Step into my time machine week 76

It's October 7th, 1976- one day before my oldest sister turns 28 and our dad turns 60,  Yeah, and his dad, already deceased, was also born on the 8th, though I couldn't tell you what year.  Had their pictures in the local paper and everything.  This morning, Gerald Ford is meeting with advisers trying to figure out how to remove the foot from his mouth after he told Jimmy Carter on national TV that there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."  In Birmingham, AL, Taylor Hicks is squalling his way into the world; somewhere else, Green Bay Packer Charles Woodson is doing the same.  And you and I are flipping time the bird aboard the Time Machine.

This week, we get the lowdown on the Lowdown, visit with Ringo and his All-Starr band(s), get hit by the dreaded #49 blues yet again, and ask the question, what song released in the USA in 1965 that hit #1 wasn't released until 1976 in the UK, only making it to #8 despite being voted one of the greatest British songs of all time?  (Hint: it's the Beatles- kinda.)  Let's get to it shall we?

BTW, next week I'll be doing my semi-annual inductions to the Martin Hall Of Fame.  Suggestions?  Bring 'em on.  My crack staff (of one) will evaluate any and all nominations with the exceptions of the Antichrist (Michael Bolton), Aretha (Franklin) and the Heavyweights, Jay and the (F'n) Americans, and the Doors.

6 songs debut in the hot 100 this week- two of them noteworthy. First is a song that placed in my top 5 of the decade- England Dan and John Ford Coley with Nights Are Forever Without You, at 83.  And way up at seventy, the "other" classic by Rod Stewart- Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright).  Happy 35th birthday to you two, and here come our other birthday songs.  Celebrating forty years from debut this week is the Grass Roots' Two Divided By Love.  What an underrated band they were!  At 45 years old are Lady Godiva by Peter and Gordon and Devil With A Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Turning 50 today is MHOFer Jimmy Dean with Big Bad John.  And turning 55 this week, Richie Cunningham, is Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill.  Blow out the candles...

Dropping 16 this week, the big droppers are This Masquerade ( to 48) and Let 'Em In (to 45).

Our big mover gets tangled up in our where are they now segment.  Rick Springfield's Take A Hand decided to hang out another week in our magic spot, so I moved down to 50- where I ran into our week's biggest mover.  Not a song I knew, so I didn't mention it last week, it debuted at 68 and lept 18 to 50 this week. That song is A Dose Of Rock And Roll by Ringo Starr, which turned out to be another delightful little, typically Ringo song.  So what's the former Mr. Starkey up to these days? Well, in January he released his latest studio album, Y Not.  In April, he celebrated his 30th anniversary with wife Barbara Bach.  And next month he kicks off a tour of Brazil, Mexico, and Chile, among other stops.
 But the thing that caught my eye in the Ringo story was his All-Starr band tours.  And what an assortment of stars he had!  The first tour was way back in 1989, and among the names along for the ride were the Eagles' Joe Walsh, the late great Big Man- Clarence Clemmons, Dr. John, Billy Preston, and last week's six degrees hero, Jim Keltner.The second tour was in 1992, and included Burton Cummings (whom I believe I mentioned last week...), Dave Edmunds, Todd Rundgren, Walsh and bandmate Timothy B. Schmitt, and his already famous son Zak Starkey, who you could practically do a six degrees on himself.  The 1995 version had John Entwhistle of the Who, Felix Cavaliere from the Rascals, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, once again Preston, and switching Guess Who members, Randy Bachman.
The 1997 version included Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke along with Peter Frampton; the 1999 set switched out Frampton for Rundgren.  The 2000 version had Eric Carmen, Edmunds again, and the voice of Supertramp, Roger Hodgson.  In 2001 Sheila E. became the first woman All-Starr, and was joined by ELP's Greg Lake and Howard Jones (who if you don't remember, treat yourself by youtubing No One Is To Blame or What Is Love.)  And in the last one I found in 2001, Sheila E. was joined by Paul Carrack and former Babys frontman John Waite.  Wow, wouldn't you like to see the reunion tour of THAT band?

We come now to the top songs of other years segment, and we're in the 5s this time.  1995's number one this week was Mariah Carey's Fantasy, and this brings up a story reminiscent of last week.  If you include her Boyz II Men duet, Mariah is on a run here that sees her at the top 25 out of 30 weeks.  Who needs variety, eh?  One of the great songs of all time was #1 this week in 1985- Dire Straits' Money For Nothing.  Man, drunken memories.  Last year at this point we saw David Geddes at the top (at least on Cashbox) with Run Joey Run.  The top song this week in 1965  was the most played song on American radio from this point until 1972- eight years!  It is the most-covered non-Gershwin song of all time, with over 1600 recorded versions.  However, it was the song that began the dividing of the Beatles.  That song?  Yesterday.  McCartney wrote it and recorded it with just an acoustic guitar and a string section.  The other Beatles fought putting it on the album, saying it was too unlike their style- but the alternative of having Paul release it under his own name was unacceptable.  Therefore, EMI refused to release it as a single in the UK- and it still made the airplay top ten!  When EMI's contract with the Beatles lapsed in 1976, they got their one last fling with the band, releasing as many singles as they could dig up all at once.  23 of them hit the hot 100, 6 made the top 50, and Yesterday peaked at #8.  BMI estimates this song was performed 7 MILLION times in the twentieth century alone.
And now, the red-headed stepchild which is the top song this week in 1955- The Yellow Rose Of Texas by Mitch Miller.

5 songs hit the top 40 this week.  The fastest climber of this bunch is Boston's More Than A Feeling, which zoomed up 16 to land at 40.  Moving up 6 to #37 is the Ritchie Family with a song I had forgotten- The Best Disco In Town.  This song was a medley of r&b/dance tunes including Reach Out I'll Be There from the Four Tops, the O'Jays I Love Music, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes' Bad Luck, TSOP by MFSB, and their own recent hit Brazil.  Moving up a dozen spots to 36 is Frampton (who still has the top lp for one more week) with Do You Feel Like We Do? The next two both move up 10 spots- The Commodores to 32 with Just To Be Close To You, and Barry Manilow to 31 with This One's For You.  Man what a great bunch that was!

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  Play That Funky Music drops from 8 to 14, and A Little Bit More goes from 9 to 15.  And as I'm out of specials until the six degrees story, here comes the top ten.

Getaway by Earth Wind And Fire holds at 10 a second week.  Up 3 to #9 are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Wanna Be With You.  Finally realizing the dream in its 23rd week between two attempts, She's Gone by Hall and Oates climbs 3 to #8.  This is, as I've mentioned before, off their early lp, Abandoned Luncheonette, which I just loved.  So here as a bonus, here's one of the best H&O songs you've never heard, from this album.



Dropping  5 to #7 is KC and the Sunshine band's Shake Your Booty; Orleans edges up a notch to 6 with Still The One. Cliff Richard holds at 5 with Devil Woman.  Climbing to 4, up 2, is Chicago's If You Leave Me Now.  And that brings us to last week's top dog- and our six degrees victim.

Which is ironically the song from Silk Degrees- Boz Scaggs' Lowdown.  Now there's a million ways you can branch from Boz, including the Steve Miller Band (where he came from) and Toto (who grew from his band) routes.   But among the other players on this song were a couple of background vocalists.  The woman is Carolyn Willis, whom we've mentioned as the female vocal on Seals and Crofts' Get Closer (which is still sitting in our grandpa chair at 27 weeks on the chart).  The other is Jim Gilstrap, who as a session musician and vocalist, has been on things as various as backgrounds on Starship's hit Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and the male vocal on the theme to the TV show Good Times.  But probably the most famous place you've heard him was a place you never knew he was at- he sung the first two lines of Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, while a young lady named Lani Groves sang the next two.  I found precious little more out about Lani besides her background credits on Stevie's lp Talking Book and some voice credits on the 1984 My Little Pony movie.  But Talking Book had a number of big-or soon to be big- names as guest musicians, including Ray Parker JR, David Sanborn, Denise Williams, and the legendary Jeff Beck.  This despite the fact that three of the ten tracks Stevie did everything himself.

So that leaves you a choice at top dog between :

Beethoven...

...and Donald Duck!

And it's Rick Dees moving up 2 to #2 with Disco Duck, so the new top duck dog is...

Walter Murphy and his Big Apple Band with A Fifth Of Beethoven!!!

That's it for this week.  Tune in tomorrow for the sixties countdown, and be here next time for the new MHOF class!