Time Machine week 69

Well, since I can't do any better than "the Rolling Stones began their first North American tour in Montreal" for our target year of 1965, let me start with this:

Prince has been added to the list of music legends who have died in the year of the Grim Reaper 2016.  The 57 year old singer may not have been one of my top favorites, I may have bad mouthed him for being one of those "not MY music on social media" types, and I may think that his concept of the afterlife ( as explained on 1999) doesn't jive with mine, but gee whiz, I'm beginning to feel like I'm soon gonna be all alone here.  I mean, do you realize we have lost main players from at least 16 R&B #1s, 16 pop #1s, and 60 country #1s- JUST #1s?

I read the news today, oh, boy
about a lucky man who made the grade...

So with that somber note, let's head onto a less somber Time Machine, in which we will have:  a blowout panel #1; the Stones, Beatles, the Bachelors, Sandy Shore, and the Supremes- all on one song; the return of Round Robin; and a six degrees headed off by a dummy, and proving that nowadays, it seems everything goes through Status Quo!  So get out of that Little Red Corvette, climb in the Bobby G. designed multicolored chameleon-mode-stuck-on-jukebox musical Tardis, and we'll party like it's 1965!*

*BYO hallucinogens...

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This week's panel consists of:  KAAY Little Rock, WIBG Philly, KBTR Denver, WKNR Detroit, KXLF Butte, KTSA San Antonio, WAKR Akron, KYA San Fran, KELI Tulsa, WLAV Grand Rapids, WQAM Miami, and WAXY Louisville.  This august bunch produced 24 different songs, including the non- top four #1s I'll Never Find Another You, by the Seekers, and and one I did a feature on last year on May 8th's  TM- because it was on the KYA charts that week as well!  From the semi-legendary TM vol. IV week 23:

Story number two involves the number one from (ironically) San Francisco called Land of 1,000 Dances.  Wait a minute, Chris, you don't know THAT one?   Actually yes, especially the top ten version from wicked Wilson Pickett.  But this version was by a gentleman calling himself Round Robin.  Robin, whom I found out was really Robin Lloyd, was the "West Coast Chubby Checker", and was being promoted on variations of a dance tune called Do The Slauson (Slauson being a street in his LA neighborhood). The Slauson was actually based somewhat upon a song that should be familiar from last week's feature- Bob and Earl's Harlem Shuffle!  His version of LO1,000D crapped out at 135, but he had other singles- and other careers- that were more successful.  He recently posted on a fan forum saying he had been the owner of a company that builds custom homes- "huge, wonderful custom homes", a bandmate on the same forum said- in the Dallas and Plano area for the last 27 years.


So, in other words, KYA had his Land of 1,000 Dances up there for at least three or four weeks.  As a non-charter nationally, though, it becomes our lowest charter on the Panel list.  The lowest one that DID chart?  Bobby Vinton's Long Lonely Nights was #5 in Little Rock but #63 nationally.

Speaking of Land Of 1,000 Dances, the version by Cannibal and the Headhunters also got Panel mention, and was nationally at #34.

And about that Panel Four- which was won in a 47-27 rout, with the winner collecting EIGHT number ones?

Fourth, with no #1s (aww!) and 11 points, the Kinks and Tired Of Waiting, which was #5 on Cashbox this week.

Third, with 14 points and the #1 of Little Rock, Petula Clark with I Know A Place, the national runner-up.

Second, with 27 points and the #1 from Butte, the mind-bent Wayne Fontana and his Mindbenders with The Game Of Love, which topped the national chart.

And at #1, the national #3- stay tuned.

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Three new M10 debuts this week- and one will sound a bit familiar.  The one at #10, however, is not that one.  Actually this lovely young lady came to me courtesy of the lovely young lady currently incubating my future grandcub.  Jessica introduced me to Ruth Behre- who records as Ruth B- who last Thanksgiving graduated from YouTube star to releasing her first EP.  And here's the song I like best on that record:






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So once upon a time in 1977, Status Quo set out to make a music video.  Problem being, their bassist Alan Lancaster, was in Australia with no intention of running back to London to shoot it.  So, in typical Status Quo style,  they dressed up a life-size dummy to look like him, gave "him" a bass guitar, and went on without Alan.  I would have loved to have given you a screen shot, but the video is "owned by UMG (Universal Music Group)" a Franco-American music conglomerate which, like the late Prince, doesn't believe in sharing on social media.

Anyway, the song they were singing was a cover of John Fogerty's Rock All Over The World, from his 1975 solo lp.  That record also had his original of the tune Almost Saturday Night (which peaked at #78), a song I fell in love with when covered in 1981 by Dave Edmunds (which hit #54).  That was on Dave's lp Twangin'.  That lp also contained a song made most famous by George Jones, his 1964 country hit The Race Is On.  And that song, covered a year and change later  (aka target year 1965) by Jack Jones, is the highest national chart hit (#12) that got no panel love.

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Our second debut this week comes from lats week's UK top ten! At #9, I give you Jimmy Ruffin...





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And now, in honor of her 90th birthday Thursday, and with Prince, Merle, and all the other late losses in our lives in mind, a few words from the Queen, Elizabeth II:


Grief is the price we pay for love.


And with that, it's time to...

10- Here we have a band I know I've run into before- but apparently not posted about- the Barron Knights.  The first time I heard them, they were doing a sound alike of various groups being selected to the Army, in a tune called Call Up The Groups.  Funny stuff, and their follow up- one of them, anyway, is the song at #10.  This one imagines many of those same acts- The Stones, the Supremes, the Bachelors, Sandy Shore, Val Doonican, and the Beatles- being drummed out of the music  business and having to work for a living.  It was called Pop Go The Workers, and one section was the "Beatles" to the tune of Love Me Do...

Paul's In Liverpool
And John is shifting coal
and George is down a hole, 
but Ri-i-i-ingo's...
...on the dole...


9- And actually, the song they parodied the Stones on was the one at #9- The Last Time, which was #10 across the pond this week.

8- A massive country crossover that peaked at #3 on the pop chart in March in the US, Roger Miller's King Of The Road.

7- The Yardbirds would reach the top ten in America in July with For Your Love.

6- Also reaching its height here in July (#23), one of my favorites from Donovan, Catch The Wind.

5- In America, Bobby Goldsboro (say, he's getting a lot of mentions lately) would hit top 20 with his tune Little Things; in the UK it was Dave Berry's cover that sat here.

4- Another song that has had a previous TM mention is Unit Four + 2 and Concrete And Clay.  In America, this song was at 86 on its way to a top 30 finish.

3- Cliff Richard with one of those rare songs he actually got to chart here back then- even if it was only at #118- The Minute You're Gone.

2- Van Morrison's band Them was another "wait till July" club member, when they (or Them) would hit #24 with Here Comes The Night.

And tops of the pops?  Well, that song was at 42 in the US of A, on its way to #1 (after spending 4 weeks behind the Panel's #1 this week)...

....the Beatles with Ticket To Ride (which Laurie thought was a Carpenters original until I educated her...)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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And now, the rest of the M10...


8- Erin Passmore and Rah Rah move up one with Fix Me.

7-  The Strawberry Runners with Miss Emi Knight are also up one spot with When We Were Good.

6- Our third debut comes to us from Australian band Redspencer, who sound like a wonderful mix of the Alan Parsons Project and the Strawberry Alarm Clock with this one...






5- With a big boost from what is in my top 3 favorite videos of all time, Carrol jumps five spots with Bad Water.

4- Nada Surf #1- Cold To See Clear slips from 2 to 4.

3- Lucius climbs back UP a notch after two weeks of falling with Madness.

2- Nada Surf #2- Believe You're Mine climbs yet another notch to #2.

And the #1s?

 M10 says...

A third week at the top for the Jayhawks with Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces!!!!!!!


And Panel says...

....Herman's Hermits with Mrs Brown You've Got  A Lovely Daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And that's a wrap for another week.  Tune in next time when the funeral procession Time Machine lands in...1975!

Guard your virgin ears, rant time

Normally I don't post about work unless I can put a funny bend to the story.  I'm gonna have to force myself today.  I won't go into all the gory details, but let me put it this way.  At 9 AM, I went into the boss's office and said, "Y'know, I put up with crap at Arden for 15 years before I came here, and I didn't think this job could EVER destroy my morale to a point where I'd want to give up..."


And it got WORSE from there.


What could make a day that bad?  Well, say you were interested in buying an expensive used car.  What is the first thing you'd do- have your mechanic look it over, right?  So we bought a used cutter- actually, we just got the Missouri plant's hand me down.  Did we get it looked over?  No.  Why?  Because a warrantee plan with the manufacturer was "too expensive".

Shouldn't be a problem though, if:

-our fellow plant lets us know upon starting this plan that we should order a new belt;
-our fellow plant advises us before hand that it has some "issues" and what they do to overcome them.

Wanna take a guess at how much of this actually occurred?  They put a sticky note on the machine with a smiley face sticking its tongue out.  That's how much.

We have been busting it helping them get stocked up for a customer who STILL managed to order them clear into OT and full-day Saturdays, and that's the thanks we got.  My sympathies for them are now minimal and eroding.

So here we have this machine, of which I just saw a similar by the same manufacturer tipping the scales at $90K, and its ability to work the last three days have ranged from DOA to sporadic at best.  They had to get a manufacturer tech in yesterday- and we spent approximately 8 months of my pay JUST on parts, and this morning it was doing. The. Same. Thing.

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With that- although I could add MUCH more- we will leave this sad tale (which BTW included me forgetting my lunch and the snack machine eating my dollar and jamming, thank you), and move on to why I decided to have Laurie drive us to Shoaff Park for a quick walk rather than availing myself of our own lovely wood.

Yesterday, in a similar vein of mind, we took a walk only to see half the Rivergreenway trail occupied by YET ANOTHER tree service cutting down YET MORE trees.  So let me just clarify with the subspecies of allegedly intelligent life that orders these actions- You actively WANT this stretch of "soon to be improved" (lol) Rivergreenway trail to erode and fall into the canal, just like the other end of it is slowly heading for a trip into the river.  Because what could be nicer than playing soccer in a culvert-ridden, sloppy economy-sized ditch?  Or is it that socceristas just don't LIKE trees?  Not of a mind to watch the game underneath the shade-giving boughs on a hot day?


No, I'll tell you what it is.  As I have explained before, IPFW thought expansion was the golden goose that would put them on the map, but it didn't.  They got overextended, and now they have to cut expenses where ever they can.  And a BIG expense they're cutting down is insurance.  That's why they dropped the heavily attended Riverfest; that's why they gave up the Independence Day fireworks show.  I'm betting it explains how they lost the Shindigz soccer festival to St Francis (another HUGE draw), and I believe it rang the death knell on the trees.  Why, you ask?

When we had the Big Wind Storm a few summers back, a lot of trees around here came down.  The next fall, our complex was cutting down big healthy trees in our yards- only reason for it had to be anything which had better than an N % chance of falling and damaging a building had to go.

Same thing here.  Cutting the trees along the Plex parking lots reduces insurance risks.  Cutting the lilac bushes along the north end of the greenway trail?  The brush at the edge of the woods by the soccer fields?  Can't have that, some reprobate might jump out and rob or rape somebody.  So why do it in stages?  If you know the end result is going to be a collection of 100' X 50' strips of grass surrounded by pavement and streetlights, just go for it.


So, Laurie, there's the trigger for my depression last night.  And maybe when the frustration and anger from work dissipates, I'll get back to it.

Picture Post: calling Bobby Knight

The title will become understandable towards the end, okay?


Day one:  Thursday

Robin footy

Some trees finally budding

Amazingly enough, he found his way out of this.

A dip in the Duck Pond.

Take-off

To say we have a LOT of turtles this year is accurate.  I counted a whopping 14 napping in the swamp.

Woody, guardian of the swamp

A wood duck and (somewhere) his wife

But only the second ground hog I've seen- too far away for Boofus

Blue-winged teal at the alumni pond

Day Two: Saturday

Finally in full springtime regalia

And- unfortunately- soccerista season opens

Toby and master.  We met up a couple of times.

Dude launching a fan boat on the river.

Sang us a sweet song as we went by

Now the Dutchman's Britches are popping

The flowers just seemed so happy to be alive.

The young Buckeyes are leafing out

Day Three: Sunday

I thought this was gonna be a PSA on not leaving your dog unattended, but the owner came out right after the snap from buying a drink inside the Plex.

KC Martin, master baiter.

"Hey, where's MY pole?"

"You mean we just SIT here?  This sucks..."

Woody, guardian of... oh, never mind.

"Help, anybody!  They're hanging me!"
"Well, you IS a horse thief..."

Trying the other side, as the current was bringing the line to shore

Yeah, that fishing thing is too much like work.

Guess who sat in a big pile of last year's cockleburrs?

Our only catch of the day- the elusive stick fish

Not only were there a lot of turtles, but frogs were everywhere.  They wouldn't even move for us.  They were in a sunshine coma.

That is one big turtle...

This guy actually swam up to this log, climbed up, and just looked at us.  Meanwhile, another one jumped up and hit scrappy in the nose.

"If the NBA was on channel five and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel four, I'd watch the frogs – even if they were coming in fuzzy."- Bobby Knight.


Well, there you go.  Two pics of frogs mating, and they're fuzzy, too!  If you look close, you can see eggs in pic 2 between the little one's legs.