Today, we enter April 19th of 1965- the day that "Moore's Law" was coined. Actually, what was coined was an observation by Gordon Moore, who pointed out as a prophecy- the amount of things on an integrated circuit would double every year "for the foreseeable future". The "foreseeable future" lasted 10 years, when he updated the prediction to every 2 years. And now? Well, the every 2 was eerily accurate until about 2012; Intel now tells us that it's slowed to "closer to 2 1/2 years."
Gordon Moore, enjoying the retired life in 2004
Welcome to Time Machine, which uses the advanced technology of... well, Windows 7 Home Premium... to bring you the best in the past! I have only one thing I'm going to tease you with... this week, the NEW Beatles!!! This one is bound to be a classic!
Two songs debut in the M10 this week- and the first at #10 was Laurie's choice for one of last week's slots! With what WAS their actual first single from the lp Run It Again, here's Criminal Hygiene...
I think I've had that cereal...
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Back in the 90s, Marvel needed a gimmick while the FF was busy on some big crossover, so they assembled their most popular characters of the time- Spider Man, the Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine- under the title "NEW Fantastic Four". And it got me thinking. With the (with good reason) reluctance of the Beatles to appear after their last time here, I thought, why not have a NEW Beatles along these same lines! So here to do the Panel Picks:
Playing Paul's part of "the cute one", we have...
...Davy Jones of the Monkees!!!
D: I am cute, aren't I!
Filling out the part of the "Oriental mystic" a la George, I give you...
Cat Stevens! He even kinda favors him!
C: Well, I'm actually thinking of changing my name to better reflect my faith. You can call m...
That's great, Cat! For the Ringo role of the "fun drummer everyone loves", I give you...
...Peter Criss of KISS!!!!
P: WOO-OOO-OOO-WOOO!!!!
And, filling John's part of the "Arrogant pseudo-intellectual with the Messiah complex", here's....
...Todd Rundgren!!!
T: What, wait! "Arrogant pseudo-intellectual with..."
Well, you know, you're the one who thought it appropriate to alienate half your fan base on political grounds... Besides, I've always kind of agreed with that reviewer from the old Hit Parader Magazine who commented on Oops, Wrong Planet: "Who the hell cares about gangrene and Mr Exxon? When are you going to get back to writing a (expletive) love song?"
T: Why, you... you must be a fascist Trump supporter!
MAGA, MAGA, MAGA....
T: AIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!! (Slams door, continues screaming into the time vortex)
Well, as much fun as that was, I've rather made a hash of... Yes, Nardole?
N: Sir, this man demands an audience with you right n... L: Excuse me, Mr Martin, I am Horace Bellbottom, and I represent the legal firm which, er, represents Apple Records... I have here a cease and desist from misrepresenting my clients with these ...poseurs... P: Poseurs? Listen stuffed shirt, this group put together has 37 top forties and THREE number ones! L: My clients have 48 top 40s and TWENTY #1s. Your point?
Uh, listen guys, maybe you better do as the man says and take off... I guess I'll do the Panel myself this week...
L: And don't think that this absolves you of possible libel charges... "Messiah complex," indeed.
Yeah, John's quoted as saying they were bigger than Jesus, so I'm not scared there, Higgenbotham...
L: That's Bellbottom. Horace Bell... N: Very good, sir. This way, if you all please... D: I take it we don't want to use the door the other bloke did.. N: Not a good idea, young man... C: Allahu Akbar, my friends!
Yabba Dabba Doo to you, too, Cat...
D: Say, I like that makeup... P: Yeah man, the kids eat it up! You guys oughtta try it... D: No... our lawyers would probably put us in complete suits, and it's hard to look cute with a long brown tail always underfoot...
Geez, another disaster on Beatles week. Anyway, let me get to the Panel this week- 56 stations, 17 contestants.
The one vote wonders kick off with The Moody Blues with Go Now, at #10 on Cashbox.
Sounds Orchestral's version of Cast Your Fate To The Wind is at #23...
A neat little tune was the Australian duo of Bobby Bright and Laura Allen with I Belong With You.
The Stones had a two sided hit in the mix. Getting one vote was the b-side, Play With Fire, which peaked at #99.
Gary Lewis and the Playboys were at #20 with Count Me In.
Marvin Gaye's I'll Be Doggone is at #19.
The Beatles themselves pick up a pair of votes- one for Ticket To Ride which was at #76, and one for Rock And Roll Music, which was charting in Australia.
Another band with 2 sides charting- if not well- were Van Morrison's Them, who got one vote for Baby Please Don't Go at #98.
Finally, Martha and the Vandellas were at #11 with Nowhere To Run.
That leaves us 4 "also receiving votes" and three finalists. The also-rans included the other side of Playing With Fire, The Last Time (#14) and the other half of Them's single, Gloria, at #106, getting two votes each.
And with three votes, we had the Supremes and Stop In The Name Of Love at #3 and the goofy Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders with Game Of Love at #2.
Which leads to the top trio! Choose from:
Herman's Hermits and Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter at 31 and DEBUTING...
Freddie and the Dreamers with I'm Telling You Now, the #1 song;
And Petula Clark at #5 I Know A Place. Have fun on this one!
So with the rise of Idlewild and Maybird as modern Psychedelic acts on the M10, Laurie and I had a discussion about what is a psychedelic tune. And without a definite dividing line, there are lists out there that range from softer pop like Penny Lane to rockers like hard alt band Tool. And you know what they say about opinions, thus my research led me to nothing I could even jam together to get a consensus. So after exhausting research (which led to the discovery of 2 songs that will likely debut on NEXT week's M10), I decided to just give you my top psychedelic tunes! I had sixteen that really stood out for me (and feel free to add yer own in the comments).
16- I Am The Walrus, Beatles
15- I'd Love To Change The World, Ten Years After
14- All Along The Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix Experience
13- White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane
12- Time Has Come Today, Chambers Brothers
11- Crimson And Clover, Tommy James and the Shondells
10- White Room, Cream
9- Sunshine Of Your Love, also Cream
8- A Day In The Life, Beatles
7- Shape Of Things To Come, Max Frost and the Troopers
6- Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procul Harum
5- Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Donovan
4- Strawberry Fields Forever, Beatles
3- Good Vibrations, Beach Boys
2- Time Of The Season, Zombies
And at #1...
... Strawberry Alarm Clock and Incense And Peppermints!!!!
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The high debut on the M10 comes in at #7- the title cut for The Dig...
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This week, we kick off a (not on-the-fly for a change) 6D with Sammy Davis Jr!
"And I promise I won't sue you, baby!"
And I appreciate that! His signature song, I've Got To Be Me, was the b-side of one of Laurie's favorites- but not by the guy she knows it by. The song in question was Brook Benton's version of Don't It Make You Want To Go Home, a #45 for Mr Benton, and a little bit higher- #41- by the original, Joe South. Joe comes into the flow for having written the song Hush for Billy Joe Royal (who hit #52), but was much bigger off the debut lp by Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple.
Now, I just read that Ritchie and the guys had originally wanted their band to be a "clone of Vanilla Fudge", the band that gave the psychedelic spin to so many familiar hits. And one of those VF psyched-out renditions was, surprisingly, the song at #4 without a Panel vote- Jr Walker and the All-Stars' Shotgun.
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Ye Olde Stat Pack:
Big mover was the Temptations' It's Growing, growing 25 spots from 64 to 39.
Freddie and the Dreamers started the Freddie dance craze with Do The Freddie; this week Chubby Checker took the song, with the word "Let's" added at the beginning, into the #65 in '65 position. Interesting note: Robert Englund added Freddy Kruger vocals to a 1987 cover of this same song, off an lp called Freddy's Greatest Hits. It was done by the "Elm Street Band", and contained covers of In The Midnight Hour, Wooly Bully, and All I Have To Do Is Dream.
The UK #1 was- what a surprise- Cliff Richard with a nice tune called The Minute You're Gone. I knew 20 of the UK 50, and 38 of the Cashbox 100.
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The remaining M10:
The 2 songs in week #7 both drop- You Seemed So Happy by The Japanese House from 4 to 9; Anna Burch says her Irish Goodbye going from 5 to 8 with St Adalbert.
The three debuts from last week flip their positions: Alkonost's Tanets Tsveten'ya from 8 to 6; Maybird's Don't Keep Me Around from 9 to 5; and Mara Connor's No Fun from 10 to 4.
J Mascis holds at 3 with See You At The Movies; last week's top dog, Idlewild's Dream Variations slips to 2 after a couple of weeks at #1.
Which means the NEW #1...
...Indy's Lily and Madeline with Can't Help The Way I Feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the Panel winner? in a rout, with 42.85% of the vote...
....Herman's Hermits with Mrs Brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I read the story of Gideon, starting in Judges 6, I found I had a lot of unanswered questions.
First, 6:8- "The Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel..." So, who was it? The only one brave enough to answer was a Rabbi who cited a source claiming it was Aaron's grandson Phinehas. Which would have made him a couple of hundred years old at the time. So the answer: It doesn't matter, because the PEOPLE DIDN'T LISTEN. How do I know this? Here's what God said to the people through the Prophet:
Jdg 6:8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. Jdg 6:9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Jdg 6:10 And I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice."
Just a little bit later, the Angel Of The Lord (AKA Christ pre-incarnate, visits our hero Gideon.
Jdg 6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor."
Jdg 6:13 And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian."
So either Gideon joined everyone else in not listening, or he's a bit slow on the uptake. I lean a bit toward the former, because evidently he's STILL not listening:
...the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you..."
...why then has all this happened to us?...
The Angel didn't say He's with all y'all, rockhead, he said he's with YOU.
My next question was, "So is Gideon just being really humble in asking God whether he's REALLY the one being called or not, or is he just a scaredy-cat?" First I tackled this in light of what happened with Moses at the burning bush. Gideon's questioning of God starts out a lot like Moses's replies to God at the bush:
Jdg 6:15 And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."
Jdg 6:16 And the LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man."
Now I had often thought that Moses was trying to 'get out of the job' at the bush with all his excuses, but today I thought about that. Moses thought as a young man he would deliver his people; all he got for his attempts was a murder charge and removal from a nice cushy life in Egypt. He had 40 years hard labor to think about what he did wrong in his own power. Moses was definitely humble.
Gideon? Well, the commentators will disagree with me on what I'm about to theorize, but the commentators didn't have God speaking to them as He has to to me to get me to pay attention. And ofttimes that involves a bit of snark. And I think that God twice- at the beginning, and right before the battle- gets in a couple of Martin-style digs at Gideon's lack of bravery:
Jdg 6:14 And the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"
So, I'm thinking, "What might?" And the commentators are unanimous in opining that he was strong to start with, and God was giving him more strength for the task. Me, I think it was God's way of saying, "Get up, sissy-boy; I'm about to prove yet again I can save Israel with ANYONE."
Second spot?
Jdg 7:9 That same night the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
Jdg 7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.
Jdg 7:11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp."
And so, they went down, since he was afraid (apparently), and he heard the most preposterous thing he could possibly hear:
Jdg 7:13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat."
Jdg 7:14 And his comrade answered, "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp."
"The sword of Gideon", last seen threshing wheat in a wine press to hide from the very soldiers so scared of him. If you never believed God has a sense of humor, you HAVE to read this story closer. "Since you're such a chickenheart, I'll show you something so ABSURD- not just miraculous like the fleece and the dew, but flat cross-your-eyes crazy- that you'll have to believe you're going to win through Me."
So my answer- why can't he be both? God doesn't expect us not to be afraid. Just to trust Him.
Next question comes with the story about his father's idols.
Jdg 6:25 That night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
Jdg 6:26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down."
Jdg 6:27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
So here we learn a bit about dear old dad. He was a leader of the people; we can infer that both because the man had (at least) ten servants willing to sneak behind his back to help Gideon, and from the fact, coming up in a bit, that a bunch of people came over to do the Baal thing at his place. Dad was also at least partly a Baal worshiper, because in addition to Midianites, butterflies, and loud noises, Gideon was afraid of his family. Of course, that God came in the night and told him to do it gave him the perfect excuse for doing it when he did; curiously, though, the inspired writer doesn't let him off the hook. But my question comes with, what happened next:
Jdg 6:28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
Jdg 6:29 And they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And after they had searched and inquired, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."
Jdg 6:30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it."
Jdg 6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down."
Jdg 6:32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, "Let Baal contend against him," because he broke down his altar.
So Joash pulls an Elijah on them; if Baal is so high and mighty, let HIM stop my son. Thus Gideon gets saddled with the nickname Jerubbaal, which basically means, "Baal's gonna get you". So my question is- was Joash a Baal worshiper trying to find a way to save his son? Or a closet Yahweh worshiper, afraid (like everyone else in the story) to let on to his townsfolk "peers"? Or was he a skeptic of the whole thing, and willing to run an experiment with his son as the catalyst?
Answer: who knows? God's business to judge him, and not ours.
So with this whole plethora of unanswerable questions, I could have looked at all of them and more, and REALLY lengthened this post, Instead, I went to God in prayer- and asked, to my amazement:
"Lord, what question do YOU ask?"
And He asked, "Why did they so soon turn away?
You see, this might have been the least-sticking of all their repentances:
Jdg 8:33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.
As soon as... and worse than that. Let me show you the difference between Gideon and the rest of Israel. Let's go back to the Midianite camp and the "I had a dream" incident...
Jdg 7:15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand."
Gideon: "as soon as... he worshiped."
Israel: "as soon as... (they) turned again..."
In fact, while he gave the glory to God, they tried to give it to HIM...
Jdg 8:22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian."
Jdg 8:23 Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you."
(Note: they would soon repent of this request as well- killing his 70 sons save the youngest, who hit them with a curse that destroyed a lot of evil people.)
But it was even worse than this:
Jdg 8:24 And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
Jdg 8:25 And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil.
Jdg 8:26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
Jdg 8:27 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah.
Gideon made an ephod- to give the glory to God. And Israel?
And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
Have you ever noticed the wide variety of things that Israel worshiped INSTEAD of God? The calf that "just came out" of Aaron's fire; the two of 'em that Jeroboam set up at each end of Ephraim to set up his own private religion a la Henry VIII; The idols that the Danites set up in the city they conquered up north.
Or how about the Bronze Serpent that Moses was commanded to make? The one that, if you were bit by the fiery serpents and then looked on it, you would live?
Numbers 21: 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous[c] serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
And by the days of Hoshea, King of Judah?
2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
And the real joke? Nehushtan means "a chunk of brass."
God's heart is broken over this. They take the basest of material, the junk of the desert and pray to it. And why? Because they look at the other nations, the ones who take turns at oppressing them, and say, "Their gods help them be something we are not." And instead of noticing that the ONLY time they succeed is when they are worshiping Yahweh, they try to be "more like them." "If we only do it like THEY do..."
And I am not Gideon. I am Israel. I am more afraid of THEM. I want to be like THEM, and wonder why I can't.
A while back, I asked if Gideon was afraid. If he was, I want to be afraid like him...
Jdg 6:20 And the angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so.
Jdg 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
Jdg 6:22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face."
Jdg 6:23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die."
This week, I hit an article by Rick Warren- the "Purpose-Driven Life" pastor- on avoiding pastoral discouragement. And though not a pastor myself, it really hit home with me. Especially the first point- which is why I want to share them with you, in reverse order.
6- Stay focused on the big picture “The reality is, every time you get tired, you lose your perspective. You don’t think about Heaven when you’re tired. You think about what you’re feeling right now. When you’re tired, you don’t have a good perspective,” he said. “We need you to last. We need you to not flame out or to burn out or to rust out.”
So often, I get discouraged at the news; the evil, the murder, the justifications. Watching Congressmen lie without flinching and women defending abortion as something to celebrate. The devil knows it's a real prime time to hit me up. And yes, you need to pray, you need to make a stand where you are called. But some nights, when it's all on your mind's shoulders, you have to give it to God and just sleep. When you wake up, it is easier to see God, because you can stand upright again instead of bowing under the load.
5- No pain, no gain ... the pastor encouraged those gathered to remember that God never wastes pain: “Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain if you’ll be honest with God, honest with yourself and honest with others,” he offered.
And those aren't throwaway "ifs", either. So many times, we come to God with a list of "why did You let"s. Ask yourself two things: Why did it pain me? What am I to learn from it? One exposes your core motivations; the other opens you to God's. Your honest answers will lead you to the next item:
4- Know your weaknesses Warren exhorted those in ministry to remember that God’s power is often manifested in weakness: “When I first started off in ministry, I didn’t even know I had any weaknesses,” Warren said. “Then I discovered them, and I denied them. Then I went from denial to hiding them. Then I went from hiding them to rationalizing them. Then finally I went to accepting them, and today, like Paul, I glory in my weaknesses because when I am weak, He is strong.”
Level one- weakness, what weakness?
Level two- no, that's not me...
Level three- I can't let anyone know about this...
Level four- No, I have a reason for this. You see, Lord...
Level five- I have a weakness. But God is stronger.
I don't know about you, but I spend too much time stuck between three and four...
3- Don't be self-focused “Every time you forget about this principle and you forget that it’s not about you, you’re either going to get fearful or you’re going to get prideful or you’re going to get bitter in ministry,” Warren said. “Everybody in this room has a unique life message that God wants to share with the world, but your life message is not about you. It’s about Him. It’s about our Savior Jesus Christ." God is more interested in “why you do what you do than He is what you do.”
“A lot of people start off as servants and end up as celebrities. They forget why they do what they do, and all of a sudden it is all about them,” he said.
I wonder if this is what brought down James McDonald. I know it is my tendency. My knowledge, my opinion, my learning. I hope I bring out in these posts not, "Hey look what God showed me"- though He has shown me a lot- but more, "This is the next step in the long line of 'I need to learn' that God is taking me through, to cover the distance between now and what I SHOULD be. "
2- Be you ...he encouraged pastors to avoid the temptation to “fake it,” adding: “If you’re going to be used by God, if you’re going to be effective for God, if you’re going to last in ministry, you’ve got to be authentic, you’ve got to be genuine, you’ve got to be yourself. You’ve got to keep it real.” God, the pastor contended, “did not create you to be somebody else” — and those who focus on pleasing everyone end up experiencing ministry burnout.
“When you get to Heaven, God isn’t going to say, ‘Why weren’t you more like Billy Graham?’ The reason we try to fake it is because we try to please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. Even God can’t please everybody.”
Now I do want to say, Rick might have phrased one thing differently- the part about 'even God can't please everybody.' He could, do not doubt that, but not as we are. Sinful, setting ourselves up as our own 'god'. That might be better phrased as God WON'T please everybody.
But the point is valid. The only one we are striving to be more like is Jesus. Name another character in the Bible to be like. Moses? Okay, go kill someone and run away. Abraham? Fine, tell the neighbors your wife is really your sister so they won't beat you up. David? Paul? The list goes on.
But the part that hit me, at the time I read it, is this:
1- Your first purpose in life “I’m interested in finishing well, and I want you to finish well. Your ministry matters to God. It matters to the Kingdom. We need you to stay in the race. We need you to not get tired. We need you to not quit. We need you to not give up. We need you to finish your race." With church attendance plateaued or declining nationwide, Warren outlined several ways church and ministry leaders can fight discouragement, beginning with, “Never forget how much God loves me.”
“You’ve got to keep that constantly in focus,” he reminded attendees. “Everything in your ministry flows out of God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s grace. The problem is we can get so busy working for God, we forget how much God loves us. Your first purpose in life is not to love God. Your first purpose in life is to let God love you. The Bible says you were created as an object of God’s love.”
Stay in the race. You sin, you get up. It's not about winning the race (though you run so as to win), but that GOD LET YOU RUN.
This episode of Time Machine will be a bit different, with two more serious spots amidst the usual chicanery. That first one is when we reach our target date, April 12th, 1964. Today Malcolm X gave a speech known as "The Ballot Or The Bullet." And I was quite frankly taken aback by some of the amazingly clear headed, and so pertinent to today, things he said. I would like to share a handful of them.
Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe; just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe. And this is best this way. Were we to come out here discussing religion, we’d have too many differences from the outstart and we could never get together... This government has failed us; the government itself has failed us, and the white liberals who have been posing as our friends have failed us. And once we see that all these other sources to which we’ve turned have failed, we stop turning to them and turn to ourselves. We need a self-help program, a do-it-yourself philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, a it’s-already-too-late philosophy. This is what you and I need to get with, and the only way we are going to solve our problem is with a self-help program. Before we can get a self-help program started we have to have a self-help philosophy... Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behaviour pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you got a sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action.... You’re the one who sent Kennedy to Washington. You’re the one who put the present Democratic Administration in Washington DC. The whites were evenly divided. It was the fact that you threw 80% of your votes behind the Democrats that put the Democrats in the White House. When you see this, you can see that the Negro vote is the key factor. And despite the fact that you are in a position to be the determining factor, what do you get out of it? The Democrats have been in Washington DC only because of the Negro vote. They’ve been down there four years, and all other legislation they wanted to bring up they brought it up and gotten it out of the way, and now they bring up you. And now, they bring up you. You put them first, and they put you last, 'cause you’re a chump; a political chump.
Very powerful stuff. And I selected just parts of it, the parts that apply to us still today. I apologize if anyone thinks I'm cropping his message to make a point. But there is a point, and it's this- He'd be saying the same things now, and nothing's changed.
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Anyway, this isn't a political post (usually), but there's going to be a bit more to things this time, so let's buckle up and get to our trip down musical memory lane- and into the teeth of the storm known as the Beatles. And the first thing- sigh- is let's do another LIVE 6D! To give you the impact of this deal this week, let me start by saying this- eight of our 16 Panel contestants are Beatles hits, and our 6D victim is one of THREE Beatles songs IN THE TOP TEN that the Panel IGNORED!
Now, this particular Beatles song was one of many early hits that they add in the falsetto "woooo" that they admit to cribbing from the Isley Brothers' original Twist And Shout. That song was co-written by Phil Medley (no relation to the Righteous Bros' Bill) and 'Bert Russell', whose name is actually Bert Berns. By his real name, he was also a co-write on hits like Hang On Sloopy and Piece Of My Heart, famously done by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
But that song was originally recorded by Aretha Franklin's big sister Erma, who hit top ten R&B. Erma's next best claim to fame is backing vocals on little sister's big hit Respect- which itself was a cover of an Otis Redding original. And just to loop us back, Otis charted in the UK with a cover of the Fab Four's Day Tripper. And Day Tripper was 13 top tens in the future from the 6D victim that started this- She Loves You, #3 this week without a Panel vote.
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Okay, I'm going to insert the other serious thing here. I- with some help from Laurie, that I finally ignored, shame on me- had a real decision with the song that finally was chosen to debut at #10 on the M10 this week. It makes the list because it's a GOOD song. Nothing wrong with it. The video, though, I had a problem with. Not the whole thing. The singer- a young lady from LA named Mara Connor- did nothing wrong in the video. 95% of the video was fine, and the end was really clever. BUT... the 5% that sunk it was the placement in the obvious not-so-background of same-sex couples in situations that perhaps the director thought "subtle" but were anything but.
IDK about the singer's orientation- the only one she apparently looked at herself in the video was a guy- it's just that the two incidents were IMHO over the top and were artificial to the flow of the song (and the rest of the video). Also in my opinion, you can do something tastefully and project your true self- for example, Vanessa Carlton on the Lonely Girls video. And quite frankly, even if the singer lets some of that out in the song, I don't usually mind (witness the Pom Poms hitting #1 with Betty, or even The Japanese House). I thought this was needless, in-your-face propaganda, presumably by the director. Thus, you can go look up the official video if you choose. I will leave the crap out and just give you the audio of a great song by Mara Connor, at #10 this week.
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Okay, serious stuff done, let's bring in the Chiffons' Judy Craig!
That's me- second from left!
And a pleasure to have you here! Are you okay with a Panel list that's half-Beatles?
Oh, yes. We went on tour with them, kind of, back in the beginning... We opened for them for the show they did at the Washington Coliseum , but we did not get to meet them that night. It was so chaotic that night. Everyone would do their show and then get out.
We didn't get to meet them until London (in 1965). We got to meet them and the Rolling Stones and the different groups that were in England at the time.* * This was cut from an interview with Mark Voger of NJ.com in 2015.
All right, then, here's the one vote wonder list:
Betty Everett got just the one vote for The Shoop Shoop Song, which was at #9... And here's the Beatles with I Saw Her Standing There.... what's this about here?
Oh, just the curious note that, while Cashbox only charted this one for one week at #100, Billboard had it climb to #14.
Ah, okay. Then you have... oh, this is a funny one, too. Wanna do it?
You got it, girl!
All right, well, it seems Ray Peterson got a vote for Goodnight My Love... a song he peaked at #64 with almost 4 1/2 years ago, in December of 1959! How does that happen?
Beats me. We just call them 'didn't get the memo' votes.
Ha ha! Also with just one vote is the Dave Clark Five with Bits And Pieces at #27... Diane Renay's Navy Blue at #45 and climbing... and a vote for a song the Beatles never even released called I Call Your Name.
Okay, here are the 'also receiving votes' group...
All but one of them got 2 votes... the Dave Clark Five again with Glad All Over, which was #8... Mary Wells and My Guy, at #40 after just 2 weeks... The Serendipity Singers with Don't Let The Rain Come Down (The Crooked Little Man) at #10... Louis Armstrong with Helloooo, Dolly! at #5... and two more Beatles, Roll Over Beethoven at #30, and PS I Love You, which won't even debut for another couple of weeks... another memo?
Lots of 'em.
And the one with 3 votes is... Terry Stafford and Suspicion, at #6.
And that brings us to the four finalists- and another not-even-close race. Three of your choices got 6 votes each... the other one got 22!
Wow! So the audience gets to choose from four Beatles songs- will it be All My Loving at #44, Can't Buy Me Love at #1, Do You Want To Know A Secret at #16, or Twist And Shout at #2?
Thanks, Judy! While you decide, here's the second of three debuts- and the one Laurie would have booted. But you know me and psychedelic, so here is the NY state band Maybird at #9...
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The Boys were in the top 100 12 times this week! In addition to the Panelists and the 6D victim, they were also charting with I Want To Hold Your Hand (4), Please Please Me (7), From Me To You (49), Love Me Do (69), Thank You Girl (78) and You Can't Do That (84). In other stat-packy news, the Impressions got the big mover with I'm So Proud (28 spots to #52); the Four Seasons, who were second to the Beatles with three charting hits, debuted this week right on the #64 in '64 with Ronnie; the Ray Charles Singers held down the #101 slot with Love Me With All Your Heart- it would eventually get to #2. Finally, the US and the UK shared the same #1- Can't Buy Me Love- and I knew 36 of ours and 11 of theirs.
Oh, and I just saw the note I made- the Beatles accounted for 75.4 % of the Panel votes...
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And our high debut at #8 is a great but somewhat unusual thing. Alkonost's latest lp Octogram was released in its entirety in both vocal and instrumental versions. And here they are with another instrumental- this one translating out to Dance Of The Flowering...
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The M10- with a little added bonus- for this week also includes:
#7 is a 3 notch climb for Telekinesis with Suburban Streetlight Drunk.
Weezer peaked at 3 last week, and falls to earth at #6 this time with High As A Kite.
The former #1 holds at 5 again- Anna Burch's St Adelbert.
The Japanese House, having spent 3 weeks at #2, falls to #4 with You Seemed So Happy. And that got me curious about #2s that never got higher on the M10.
First, there were 40 of them.
Next, the most time at #2 (without hitting the top) is 3 weeks. The Pom Poms' 1-2-3, Beach House's Chariot, Dent May's Picture On A Screen, Moon Taxi's Two High, the aforementioned Lonely Girls, and Eleanor Friedburger's Make Me A Song all did it... Two Door Cinema Club's Lavender is the only one to spend all 3 weeks blocked by the same #1 (Radiation City and Come And Go); Foster The People's Sit Next To Me is the only #1 to BLOCK 3 different songs (Cotton Mather's Girl With The Blue Guitar, Public Access TV's Monaco, and Quiet Hollers' Funny Ways). But the winner, with 3 #2 weeks out of four, goes to Keane's Somewhere Only We Know.
Third, the 3-weekers did not dominate the top point-getter list! The top five: Agnes Obel's Golden Green, Funny Ways, Shilpa Ray's Shoot This Dying Horse, Nada Surf's Believe You're Mine, and Brooke Annibaele's Remind Me.
Okay, so back to the M10, where we see J Mascis pull in at #3 with See You At The Movies, Lily And Madeline pull into the runner up spot with Can't Help The Way I Feel in a tight battle- and another week at the top for-
Idlewild and Dream Variations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And who was it got all those votes for the Panel? Well, duh, the Beatles, but did you choose the right song? Of course you did...
...Can't Buy Me Love- first on CB, first in the UK, and first on the Panel! And that may well be a first...
Whew, great show, everybody! Come back next time for 1965- and whichever Beatle we can beg to show up here after the Great Bolgona Casserole Disaster of 2018!
As you might expect from someone too lazy to pilfer an updated lead-in, I'm back with the lazy man's A to Z event, where I do just two posts of mini lists instead of posting a letter a day through April. This year, I have decided to go on the theme of the 2020 Democrat Presidential candidates. Amazingly, with a little help from Rolling Stone and Quartz, I have 26 people in various stages of running against Donald J Trump- however, the listings had to be adjusted a bit. I started down the Rolling Stone list, using first letter last name. If that spot was filled, then it was first name. If that still didn't help, I looked through their bios for something, anything, to give them a letter- no stretch too small. And the last guy got X because, well, he was the last guy. So let's hit A to L this time, and M to Z next time (and when those will be, I don't know, b/c I have no idea when I am scheduling them, except not on Wednesday or Friday. Likely not Sunday, either. Maybe I'll put 'em up on Thursdays, since I never post on Thursday due to working on Time Machine. Yeah, that works. So I'll post this one on the 11th, and the other on the 25th. Now that THAT'S settled...
A is for Stacy Abrams. Stacy is a part time romance novelist, whose grasp of fantasy makes her a great choice for a Democratic candidate. She celebrated a 1992 run for Georgia governor by burning the state flag on the statehouse steps, which is always a good sign. Quartz thinks it's important to list their social media following: I don't really, so I'll combine her FB, Twitter, and Instagram and come up with a total of 1.011 million.
B is for Joe Biden.
'Nuff said.
C is for Cory Booker (first name). Spartacus is yet another member of the "ethnically confused" brigade of Dem candidates. Why do I say that? Read this bit from the RS article:
Signature Apology: Booker’s crackdown on crime in his early days as Newark mayor conflicts with his more progressive approach to policing today. In his book United, Booker credits his then-chief of staff for delivering a wake-up call: “He told me that if I had so quickly forgotten my own life experiences, I had my head up my large black posterior region.”
"Black posterior"? Now, I wonder whether I should question his racial confusion or which posterior his head was up.
D is for John Delaney. John is the veteran of the campaign, having started a mere 5 months after Trump's inauguration. A multi-millionaire successful businessman (which is strike one for the current Dem Party), his quotable quote is, " The primary is going to be a choice between socialism and a more just form of capitalism. I believe in capitalism, the free markets and the private economy.” That would be strike two. And Quartz, doing a "who will like/hate this candidate" in their article, says: Who will hate this candidate: Democrats who don’t think that reaching out to Donald Trump voters is the way to win in 2020. And that will be strike three.
E is for Eric Swallwell (First name). And ten points to me for not inserting an "ow" in the middle of his last name! So far his only notable thing was "kinda" threatening to nuke gun owners who choose to defy gun control laws.
F is for John Hickenlooper (B/c he is part owner of Wynkoop Brewing Company out of Denver, which brews a concoction called "FOAB Arms Race Russian Imperial Stout). A RUSSIAN stout? This could be possible COLLUSION... BTW, did you hear about the new drink called a "Russian Collusion"? Order it and the bartender hands you an empty glass.
G is for Kirsten Gillibrand. To me, anyone who basically announces their candidacy on the Colbert show is questionable insofar as propriety. For Dems, she includes in her past working for the tobacco companies in the era of suing them to ruination, voted against a "state-level" motor-voter law for illegals, and called out not only Al Franken but Saint Bill Clinton as the "#MeToo candidate". She is going to be slaughtered in the debates, as Dems are good at eating their young in such situations.
H is for Kamala Harris. Four words: "Related to Jussi Smollett". Four more: "Preferred by Barack Obama." That second set will likely make her the nominee. It got Smollett back on his show, didn't it?
I is for Jay Inslee. A climate change Chicken Little and Green New Dealer who is "supported by Bill Nye the Science Guy." There's credibility for you!
J is for Julien Castro. A legit Latino, he was Obama's HUD Secretary. He says he's not going to take any PAC money to run. In fact, he formed a PAC just to not take any money from other PACs. He may well have been Hillary's running mate, but had to admit to making statements against candidate Trump while still HUD Sec, violating the Hatch Act.
K is for Amy Klobuchar. Her big thing is, she's a bully. Even the left leaning news sites have run with the stories of what a fun boss she is to work for:
[T]he Minnesota Democrat ran a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame, according to interviews with eight former staffers, one that many employees found intolerably cruel. She demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office, according to interviews and dozens of emails reviewed by BuzzFeed News. She yelled, threw papers, and sometimes even hurled objects; one aide was accidentally hit with a flying binder, according to someone who saw it happen, though the staffer said the senator did not intend to hit anyone with the binder when she threw it. “I cried. I cried, like, all the time,” said one former staffer. (Buzzfeed through National Review)
Of course, this could make things really interesting. Instead of going to the Electoral College this time, we could put her and Trump in the Octagon.
L is for Terry McAuliffe (Mom's maiden name is Lonergan. Told you there'd be some stretches...). Former Hillary campaign head and the Clinton Wing candidate. As such, he and Hillary's brother Andy invented an "electric car company to manufacture cars for export to China" called GreenTech. They collected money from Virginia (who had sniffed out a rat and was about to pounce when they moved the op to), Mississippi (who fell for it, never got a working factory out of it, and were POed when it went belly-up), and China (where 32 investors launched a $17 million lawsuit against the pair which, not surprisingly, I can't find anything new about. You don't think Google is left leaning? Try hunting up stuff on Dem candidates...).
All of which leads to this tag line from the Capital research Center in a May 2018 article:
Nobody honest chooses to get involved with Terry McAuliffe.
Okay, that's half the candidate list! Tune in on the date posted above (I'm too lazy to scroll up) and read part two then!
The path of Acts 22-25- between the Jerusalem arrest of Paul and the decision to send him to Rome- is full of interesting characters who come together in some odd ways, including three guys whose names start with F. Now there are only three people in the entire Bible whose names start with F, and 2 of them are in this story! So that means I'm going to throw in at least one extra-Biblical character as well. So hang on!
We start with one Claudius Lysias, who had the misfortune of being the Tribune (think chief Roman Army officer) in Jerusalem at the time when, as Paul defended his faith before the Jews of the city, other Jews from Asia came in and accused him of being an apostate. So Lysias did what any good Tribune would do- he arrested Paul and decided to beat the truth from him. But then, he finds out he is about to commit the big boo-boo of the age- beat a Roman with citizenship. Then he compounded it, thinking he was going to compare how much HE paid for citizenship to what Paul, a Jew, paid for his. But Paul was born in Tarsus- a Roman city- and thus was born a Roman, and Lysias made a fool of himself a second time. When he got word from Paul's family that the Jews intended to force the jail and kill him, he decided third time a fool might just be it for him; thus he sent him on to the Roman ruler of the area.
In the interrogation by Lysias, we learn a little about the next guy on the list. According to Josephus, there was a Jew who came out of Egypt just before this- no one knew his name, thus Lysias calls him "the Egyptian". He was a false prophet who thought to take advantage of future prophecy, assemble a rebel army on the Mount of Olives and force the Romans out, but the Procurator- Antonius Felix, our next contestant and first F- hit them first, killed "about 400" of them, and the Egyptian fled down a rabbit hole into obscurity, until Lysias asked if he and Paul were the same.
Felix was at the same moment fascinating and disgusting. His basic means of keeping the Zealots (Jewish rebels) in hand was by playing an even more radical group, the Sicarii (who may or may not have been the Iscarii of Judas Iscariot fame) against them. He used a court magician named Simon or Atomus to persuade Drusilla, the beautiful Jewish wife of another king, to leave him and marry Felix (said magician possibly but not probably being identified with the Simon Magus who tried to "buy" the Holy Spirit from Peter earlier in Acts). Drusilla was a study in herself: Her great great grandfather killed the babies of Bethlehem; her great uncle beheaded John the Baptist; her father killed James the brother of John. No doubt, she figured to witness the next in a long line of Satan's attacks against God's plan. Felix himself, was vain, greedy, and corrupt; he sat on Paul's case for two years figuring SOMEONE would pay him to let him out. In the meantime, he talked with Paul, and Paul explained his faith in Christ. Felix's reaction was much like the reactions of the demons that led him:
Act 24:24 Then after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Act 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and the Judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, Go for this time, but taking time later, I will call for you.
" The devils also know... and tremble."
So Paul sits for the two years, probably AD 59-60, and Felix never does get his bribe. However, he does get in trouble, and heads back to Rome. Drusilla? She and her son get buried a few years on in Pompeii when Vesuvius blows.
That brings us to our second F, Felix's replacement, Porcius Festus. Felix had left Paul in jail, because he was in trouble for the way he treated the Jews and thought that might be some help to him. Festus, however, was a just man. He heard the whole case, including Paul's side of the story. Festus thought perhaps he could be fair to everyone by having the case heard in Jerusalem- which was when words that would shake the world were next spoken:
Act 25:10 But Paul said, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know.
Act 25:11 For if I am an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is nothing of which these accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.
Act 25:12 Then conferring with the sanhedrin, Festus answered, You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go.
Realizing he had no clue to the intricacies of Jewish law, Festus soon availed himself of the visiting Herod Agrippa II current king in Judea, along with his sister Berenice. Now Berenice was the older sister of Drusilla, and according to more than one source, was in an incestuous relationship with HA2. Let me step away from her for just a moment and back to our story. Herod and Berenice got to listen to Paul- his story and his evangelism- and it got to a point that Herod makes the stunning admission:
Act 26:24 And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."
Act 26:25 But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.
Act 26:26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
Act 26:27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe."
Act 26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?"
Act 26:29 And Paul said, "Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am--except for these chains."
So while the logical and rational Festus thought Paul had slipped a cog, HA2 knew of what Paul was saying- and even felt the tug of his words. But in our story, where similarities between the characters and other NT characters- Lysias like Simon Magus supposing money makes the man; Felix trembling like demons at the name of the Lord; Drusilla and Berenice quietly complicit in evil like their kinswoman Herodias (and Berenice sleeping with her brother like Herodias)- we now have Festus playing the stoic Roman like Pilate, and HA2 playing the part of the rich young ruler who was almost persuaded by Christ- until he would have to give something up.
Despite thinking Paul was nuts, Festus remained just- telling HA2 that he could have released Paul without charges, had he not appealed to Rome. Possibly as a result of that mercy, he was spared the crapstorm approaching by dying just years later. And in his place comes our last, and extra-Biblical, F, one Gessius Florus, who would come into the picture in the year AD 64. He did everything he could to promote Greeks over Jews in Judea, despite Berenice's attempts to get him to lay off. She may have been a tad immoral, and had a lot of pull (she ends up marrying the future emperor Titus), but she did love her people. Perhaps if her brother had chipped in a little more, but he was a hellenophile like Florus. Florus wasn't a partial fool like Lysias, he went full bore- arresting a group of Jewish leaders who came to plead their case, having them whipped and crucified DESPITE their Roman citizenship. (How does such an idiot get put in charge? Apparently, the old old story- his wife was buddies with Nero's wife, believe it or not!) And both got run out of town by the Great Jewish Revolt that started in AD 66.
I imagine our takeaway here is the characters of the people involved, and the consequences of that character. As well as, to you Bible-doubters, that Paul was well known to several historical characters, who heard his message- though none got anything out of it. But Paul was not discouraged, because their lack of listening led to the listening and saving of many alive in Rome and on the way there. It reminds me of a story I just read, about a guy who made the USC football team a long time back. He considered his team a mission field. He held Bible studies that no one signed up for. He organized prayer meetings that no one came to. And the day after he gifted his teammates each a Bible, he found ripped up Bibles strewn across the locker room. He was crushed.
But four years later, he was contacted by someone who knew one of those players- and that player kept his Bible and was saved through it. Why did this guy go on? The same reason Paul did, and why I do these posts- in hopes for that one guy.
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.
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