Sunday Message- Before November Comes

We live in a nation where one side says it's okay to protest authority- and so what if someone else's property gets damaged in the process;  the other side says it's all right to degrade our leaders for the poor job they do.  One side thinks nothing of stretching the truth for a sound bite; the other side wants to build walls.  One side says we must bend over backwards for the poor; the other says the poor are poor of their own device.  Both sides say things that serve their purpose.  What is God's side of the matter?


Exodus 23 (and the preceding chapter, quite frankly)  is a particularly scathing indictment of this current society, given to Moses while on the Mount of Revelation.  As I read it, I couldn't help but think of when King Josiah re-discovered the Books and read them to the people, and they cried.  I wonder if we would cry now...


Let us take a look at part of this chapter.


Exo 23:1  You shall not raise a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 

Not to get too political, but CNN's broadcast of the false story about the Secret Service speaking to Trump about the "2nd Amendment comment" is just the most currently glaring of the examples available.  The news media, which we falsely believed was once honest and impartial, now has become so partisan on both sides it is barely worth listening to, and has gained a worse reputation than the politicians they shill for.

Not that the media and the pols have the market cornered, though.  Apply and read on...


Exo 23:2  You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shall you speak in a cause in order to follow many in order to wrest judgment. 

First thing I thought of was Ferguson.  Out of every 100 protesters that have even a clue of what they are protesting, how many just go to parrot what they've been told without looking into it?  How many just take advantage to wreak havok?  And beyond that- if we accuse the political parties of dishonesty and trustworthiness, and then VOTE for them, how are we not indicted?  Moving along...

Exo 23:3  And you should not favor a poor man in his cause. 

Exo 23:6  You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his cause. 

Two separate verses, one overriding thing- wealth or lack thereof should NOT affect judgment.  And yet, rich criminals have a lot more access to judgment than poor innocents.  And rich innocents get accused of using money to escape judgment BECAUSE they are rich.

We had a conversation at work the other day, when a vendor gave us all company-labeled boat key-ring floaties.  One person said, not like those of us that make OUR wages can afford a boat, to which I responded tongue in cheek, "Those are for CUSTOMERS!"  A joke yes, but also a divide.  And we judge on divides in this world:  black/white, rich/poor, man/woman.  How do you judge?  How do I judge?

Exo 23:4  If you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 

Exo 23:5  If you see the ass of him who hates you lying under his burden, and would hold back from helping him, you shall surely help him. 

I thought about the pictures I have seen on Facebook of the Israeli athlete holding out his hand to the Egyptian athlete he had just defeated, and the Egyptian refusing it.  But wait, had it been the Egyptian offering and the Israeli refusing, would the picture have been posted?  I was angered by yet another story from India last night where a man walking was struck by a truck and seriously injured; the truck driver got out, looked him over, and drove away.  The next guy that came along stopped long enough to steal the dying man's phone.  One of many stories that I have shared about the septic tank India is becoming; but would I have blinked if it happened in New York, or Fort Wayne?  It's all about examining the MOTIVE for your actions...

Exo 23:7  Keep far from a false matter, and do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 

Exo 23:8  And you shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 

The heat on the "Clinton mafia" is rising; every day you see a new story about some low level DNC staffer meeting an "unfortunate accident" after harming Hillary's campaign in some way.  True?  Who knows.  Now it's the "pay for play" DOJ that Hillary ran.  But before we jump on the bandwagon against her, stop and think:  What has the other guy done?  Are we calling attention to one's evil to justify the actions of the other?  Again, as the prosecutor would say, "goes to motive..."

Exo 23:9  Also you shall not oppress a stranger. For you know the heart of a stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

And if you think I am hitting one side too hard, how much of the other campaign has been built directly contrary to this principle?  I have long been opposed to illegals getting amnesty, and for the same reason I oppose free trade- I have no desire for an "even tide for everybody" lowering our nation to the world's level of mediocrity.  But how do I- how do we- square that with this?

I don't have the answers on this one.  All I have is a realization that in following our "political leanings" and looking at things on a MACRO level, we may be bringing ourselves into judgment- not by the world, not by the atheists and LGBTs, not by the Muslims and the Europeans- but by God's Word.  Can we vote with our noses held, for "the greater good", realizing that it is in the end a "secular government"- and then go forth and live our lives in the micro?  Can I "vote against" and still love?  Can I "vote for" and not hate?  I don't know about you, but I have a lot of thinking- and praying- to do before November comes.

Time Machine week 85

Today was a busy day, August 12th, 1970:  Willi Brandt and Alexei Kosygin signed the Treaty of Moscow, which pledged both sides to non-violence in dealings with each other (of course, the Cold War and all those nukes kinda made that redundant); Elvis gave his "best performance ever" in Las Vegas at his midnight show; Curt Flood lost his lawsuit trying to overturn baseball's reserve clause; and Janis Joplin was at Harvard, giving her last live performance before her death just over 50 days later.

I figured you all would prefer this pic to the one of Willi and Alexi signing the treaty, with Brezhnev glowering over them...

And so we welcome you to this week's Time Machine, as we close in on the M10's final week of year one.  And this week:  the return of Mistra Know-It-All; a big turnout for this week's low charter story; the UK top 10 manages a week with only ONE song that never charted here (though a couple of 'em cut it close); and (not really) in honor of the Olympics, a truly international M10, with 6 nations represented!  You don't have to run around with a torch- or watch any sports, Jo-Anne- just hop in and let's go!


_____________________________________


Our wonderful Panel this week includes WFUN Miami, KPUA Hilo, HI, WFAA Dallas, CKLW Detroit, KIOA Des Moines, IA, WSGN Birmingham, KIKX Tucson, WHBQ Memphis, WNHC New Haven, KMBY Monterey, KTLK Denver, and KISN Vancouver WA.  They totalled 25 different songs, which included #1s for Edwin Starr's War (Memphis) and, a bit surprisingly, Dave Mason's Only You Know And I Know (Denver).   Before I go any farther, I better fess up that at the time of researching this post, Cashbox had not gotten the archive back up yet (they have since done so), so all chart positions will be Billboard.

And I had BB working OT on the list of low charters.  Hilo was a particular help on this, as two of their top five never charted.  One was, again surprisingly, Dennis Yost and the Classics IV with an apparent dud ( I have not listened yet, fans take no offense) called God Knows I Loved Her.  The other, which I did listen to, was a dud (IMHO) by a band called Feather.  Their song was called Friends, and for me the only noteworthy thing about it was one member of that band was John Townsend, who would be part of the title pair from the Sanford-Townsend Band when they went on to do Smoke From A Distant Fire.

Also among the "where did they find this" crowd this week was the Monster Mash, which charted on Monterey's list in anticipation of re-entering the charts in August for one of its many re-releases.  And finally, singer/actor/talk show host John Davidson charted in Tucson with about as obscure a song as I have yet encountered.  It was called I Got Love, and apparently was never on any of his lps.  It was, however, the B-side to a song called Politician ( which I learned by stumbling to 45cat, Shady), which was likewise unknown to the world at large.  The low charter that actually charted was Al Delory's peppy instrumental version of the M*A*S*H theme, which sat at #71 this week.

And the Panel Four this week?

At #4 is the national #4 as well, with 3 #1s (Miami, Des Moines, and New Haven) but only 2 other points for a total of 17- Eric Burdon and War with Spill The Wine.

At #3 is the national #5, with 22 points and the #1s of Hilo and Detroit, Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime.

At #2, the national top dog, with 28 points and a single #1 vote (Tucson), the Carpenters and Close To You.

And at #1, the national #2, with 37 points and 4 #1s.... stay tuned.

___________________________________

As I mentioned, we have a real international flair to the M10 this week, with acts from the UK, Australia, Norway, Denmark, of course the US of A, and this week Canada joins the fun!  But they don't join quite yet- instead it is a New York State duo calling themselves Phantogram which debuts at #10 with this great tune, one Sarah Barthel on lead: (Note- this one COULD deserve one of those seizure warnings at times...)





Also wanna note here:  Both of these debuts this week are songs where Spotify played me their latest, and latest didn't quite trip ye olde trigger, but showed potential- so I went through their back catalogue.  This tune was from the 2014 lp Voices.

_____________________________________

Just 13 short weeks ago we did a UK top ten that featured at #10 a Stevie Wonder tune called He's Mistra Know-It-All.  If you recall (and even if you don't), that song was the flip side to the #1 Sir Duke. Among the players on that song- and the lp, Songs In The Key Of Life- was a lead guitarist named Michael Sembello.  Of course, he became an "overnight sensation" when his song Maniac from the Flashdance soundtrack hit the top years later.  Another song on that lp was Lady Lady Lady, sung by Joe "Bean" Esposito.  Now him you might be more familiar with as the lead singer of a band called Brooklyn Dreams- the same BD that played with Donna Summer on Heaven Knows- and yes, that was Joe doing the singing.  BD's keyboard player would go on to marry Donna- that was Bruce Sudano.  And the first place you prolly heard Bruce Sudano was as the keyboardist for the band Alive And Kicking, whose Tommy James-penned hit Tighter Tighter (which Tommy gave them after he decided Crystal Blue Persuasion was too good to give up) is at #9 this week- but got no Panel Love.

_________________________________________________

That other debut goes even farther back in this band's catalogue.  The Canadian rockers Billy Talent had released this as a single ahead of their upcoming third lp in 2008, and it charted at #23 in Canada (and somehow in the 50's in Austria, of all places).  On the M10, it drops in at #9...






_______________________________________________


The last of Bobby G's great men of English music is one Ralph Vaughn Williams, a composer who actually did his work mostly in the last century.  While he had many good, and inspirational, quotes to his name, the one I chose has a special meaning for me:

I have always found it difficult to study. I have learnt almost entirely what I have learnt by trying it out on the dog.


And that would describe most of the M10's history, lol!  Anyway, it's time to...

10- Ten Years After, known for I'd Love To Change the World, sit here with a song that hit our charts in May ( and bounced off, reaching #98), Love Like a Man.

9- Another great lost hit for Jimmy Ruffin, this one called I'll Say Forever, My Love.  It is a late bloomer in the UK, having hit the US charts at #77 in April of '68.

8- The Panel's #3, Mungo Jerry and In The Summertime.

7- Marmalade, best known here for Reflections Of My Life, is on the chart with a song that is sitting at #75 this week back home, Rainbow. Deserved better than it's #51 showing here.

6- A band called Fairweather has the only non-charter in the US this week- a tune called Natural Sinner.  Vocals are similar (in style, not tune) to Mountain on Mississippi Queen.

5- You all should know Free's big hit All Right Now.  It would peak at #4 in October in the States.

4- Shirley Bassey of Goldfinger fame would peak in November (#55) here with Something, a Beatles cover.  Speaking of covers, Easy To Be Hard was the B-side.

3- The Kinks.  Lola.  Debuts here in two weeks.

2- Hotlegs, which as I understand was basically proto-10cc, with Neanderthal Man.  It debuts next week here, on its way to #22.

And Top Of The Pops this week?

... Elvis with  The Wonder Of You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That song had peaked at #9 on Billboard in June, but at 10 on Cashbox... a fact that will play heavily into my special for the M10 birthday celebration in a couple of weeks....


____________________________


And now, the rest of the M10:

Castlecomer drops a pair to #8- the Aussie representative with The Noise.

Plume Of Feathers float down 3 to #7 with the British representative, First Date, in its 7th week.

Anna Fox Rochinsky and Quilt go up 3 with Roller.

Screaming up 5 spots to #5 is Norway's Acres Wild and Pastel Waves.

The Danish contestant, Agnes Obel, drops from the top spot to #4 with Familiar.

Back at the end of May the Strawberry Runners meandered their way to #1 with When We Were Good in its seventh week.  Do we have a chance to top that coming on?  The Monkees rise to a new high water mark of #3, up 2, in their 8th week with You Bring The Summer.

The Pom Poms hold at #2 with 1-2-3.  And at the top?  well, the Panel says...

....Bread with Make It With You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And at the top of the M10?

(Photo credit Matthew Carter)

....The Explorer's Club with California's Callin' Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Because maybe it's just me, but a top ten with the Monkees and the (almost) Beach Boys is what summer is all about.

1972 next week, kids!  See you then!

Tuesday this and that- or yes, I'm still alive

What, no silly news post on Monday?  Well, I have a good reason- I've been streaming Olympic women's Rugby from Saturday through Monday.  Why rugby?  I got addicted to rugby 7s a few years back.  Until Saturday, I'd not seen the ladies play- and they rocked!  Why streaming?  Because NBC's TV born choices on events absolutely blow, and by streaming I get to choose what I wanna watch.  And the only problem I had was somehow or another, they had their streams mixed up Sunday afternoon, and I found myself accidentally with a choice I bet they never intended- either watch the games with commentators on a 20 minute delay, or live with NO announcer- and believe me, I took my sweet time on the silent side making up my mind, lol!  Another advantage to the stream was having a New Zealander announcer with rapier sarcasm versus TV's American announcers who were just as busy trying to figure out the game as they were letting you know you DIDN'T know anything about it.

USA's Jessica Javelet, who may just be the fastest human I'VE ever watched.

(Which is kinda the way I feel about the announcers on Laurie's current addiction- little league world series.  I've known how the ten-run rule works for about 40 years now, I don't need you to refresh my memory every time a team goes 5 runs up.)

Which puts me in mind- which is worse:  a reporter tweeting a story he got "from some guy who just walked up" about an Olympic kayaker who capsized after hitting a discarded sofa in the bay- or that the venue is so polluted most of the world BELIEVED it?

I had to laugh that NBC has convinced the world that their acronym stands for Nothing But Commercials with their non- stop ads* and all of their "personal interest" stories rather than showing the damn events.  But that last part is the fault of you women out there.  Who says?  Not me...


As frustrated fan Emily Donahue tweeted on Monday night, "is there a way to tell when gymnastics will actually be aired on TV? I've been waiting for almost three hours."

But John Miller, NBC Olympics chief marketing officer, claimed (a month before the Olympics) that the female demographic drove the pre-tape decision.

Miller said, "The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the [Olympic] games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one."

A user with the Twitter handle Teresa fumed, "Saying women want the olympics to be a reality show is one of the most sexist things I have ever heard."


I think I can leave that one on the table as she sits.

*The most obnoxious on streaming is the one with Amy Schumer for Old Navy- which, annoying as it is, is STILL prolly the least annoying ad ever done by Old Navy.
________________________________


To those of you who may have heard, my son KC recently was a weekend resident of Parkview North Hospital.  Long story short, he was treated for colitis and examined thoroughly for evidence of Crohn's (which as of yet has not shown up).  He is home as of this afternoon, and finally able to eat solid (if low-fiber) food for the first time since last Monday.


_____________________________________________


So I did scout the webs with an eye to perhaps a Newspage Go! post, but the world's newsmakers were pretty quiet.  I did find an odd story on the correlation between pet names and vet bills on The Mirror.  It seems, in the UK anyway, the pet name that racks up the most in vet expenses is Charlie for dogs, and Oscar for cats.  True story:  ages ago I had a dog named Charlie; and a little more recently but still long ago, Laurie had a cat named Oscar.

__________________________________________


The other eyebrow raising story I found involved a man named Chen in (where else) China who submitted to a background check in order to get a new job- only to be rejected because, according to the PD, he had been convicted of kidnapping- and EXECUTED- in 2006!  In a huge "you think you have stolen ID problems" moment, China is just coming off a huge campaign to eliminate the issuing of the same ID cards to different people.  When you consider China has approximately 93 million Wangs, 91 million Lis, 87 million Zhangs, 65 million Lius- and 57 million Chens- I guess this can be a problem if one isn't careful.  Anyway, the Ministry of Public Security has whittled the problem down from over 10 million "repeat identities" in 2009 to just TEN as of June.  Unfortunately, Mr. Chen # 56,640,000 was one of those ten, it would seem.

The real Chen #56,640,000- or IS it?

Sunday Message- Glen Beck, Ray Combs, and me

A few days ago at work, a co-worker had his radio set on Glen Beck, and I wandered over to listen for a bit.  He was asking, "If you could capture the essence of God in one word, what would it be?"  His cohort answered, "Love", which was what Glen was looking for as he was trying to look at why Christians are not perceived as very Christian anymore, they don't show love.  Now, I am not here to dispute that.  But an informal survey of the concordance shows us that God is not described thus until 1 John 4:8- some 97% of the way through the Bible!  And, at the time, I said to myself, "Giving 'love' as the answer does no good when someone is asking things like, 'Why did God allow that terrible disaster?' or 'Why did he let my spouse get that fatal disease?' "  There is a better answer to Glen's question than love.

This morning, I heard Robert Jeffers tell a story about the late game show host Ray Combs that I cannot confirm in its entirety, but I find was told in the book The Anchor Course by Tom Goodman.  Apparently towards the end of his run as host of Family Feud, one night as he introed the contestants, he noticed one wearing a lapel button that had on it 2 question marks- an evangelical group's ice breaker.  He asked what it meant, and the contestant said that they represented the two most important questions anyone could ever ask.  Ray took the bait.  "The first one", he was told, "is, if you died today, would you have assurance of getting into heaven?"  Combs replied he wasn't going to answer that on national TV, but his curiosity got the best of him and he asked about the second question.  He was told, "The second question is, "Suppose you were to die today and you stood before the Lord and He asked, why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say?"

Ray answered, "Because I'm host of Family Feud, and everybody loves me!"  The crowd laughed, and the show began.  But not long after, he was fired- a job he reportedly found demeaning in the first place- and shortly thereafter hung himself in a hospital closet.

So, is Love enough?


Certainly it is a big part of what God has done- John 3:16, y'all- but God has a lot of other essential qualities.  Several of them came up over and over again in my search through the concordance.  One was that He is a jealous God.  He was first; He is greatest; there are none before Him.  Even the devil apparently dares not dispute that, not yet anyway;  I have read in the Apocrypha where Satan once claimed that the main difference between himself and God is that God arose first from the primordial energy ooze and thus got to set the rules.  Another that gets mentioned a lot is His role as our refuge and our strength- seemingly always paired together, both a shelter when the storm is to much and the strength to brave it anyway.  Another area often mentioned is His just Judgment, that He is "no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34)" is "not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent (Numbers 23:1)", and "is angry at the wicked every day (Psalms 7:11)".

And also, His mercy comes up a lot, and His salvation.  But you know what I would have answered Glen?  I would have answered him the answer that would answer all the "but why did He..." questions, better than love, better than just, better than mercy.

 Lev 19:2  Say to all the people of Israel, You are to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. 


Holy tells us God is pure, unchanging in all things, and righteous in a blow.  This is what John means in 1 Jn 1:5-

1Jn 1:5  And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 

I rather like they way I was taught this verse back in the day- "In Him there is no shadow of turning."  He doesn't change.  He is HOLY.

I can see where, without God, I'd have been the same as Ray Combs- though I would have prolly been more of a "head in the oven" kinda guy.  But God loved me enough that, even at lowest ebb and my most ignoring of Him, He fit me with one thing that would keep me going when all else failed- a little voice that said, "But what if tomorrow is better?"  Doesn't sound much like love as WE understand it.  And it can't be explained by love as we conceive it.  But when we put God as sovereign, when we allow Him to be not just loving, but HOLY- it makes perfect sense.  Because HOLY is something beyond what we are, beyond what we are capable of on our own.  And until we set aside all the pride, all the science, all the human experience, and see God AS beyond us and holy, we have no clue.

I may have done this before... having studied runes in the past, I realize they were conceived with balances in between all the pairs of signs- except one set:

The first is Algiz:

It is the symbol of man trying to reach up to God- but never quite touching.

The other is Sowilo, God reaching to touch man:

"Hey, that's a lightning bolt."  Yep.  Get the picture?  God is above us, infinitely more powerful than us, can bring ultimate justice, or mercy.  And HE can touch US.

So yeah, Glen, love is the glue with which God holds us together.  We can do all things with love.  But we cannot touch God just with love.  We cannot enter heaven just with love.  If we could, we'd never need Christ.  But need Him we do, because we have to bring more than love to the table to get in the door.  We have to be HOLY, as God is holy.  And that's where Jesus comes in.

Time Machine week 84

Today we find ourselves in sunny August 5th, 1966 (actually, there was a little fog in the morning, I'm told), and among the things that happened today:

-groundbreaking began on the World Trade Center;

- Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas openned;

- And the Beatles released Revolver to the UK audience.  In addition to charting hits Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine (the movie came later), and Got To Get You Into My Life, the radio played Taxman, Good Day Sunshine, and And Your Bird Can Sing (the US version skipped that as it was on the US release Yesterday And Today).


__________________________________

And that's a really good lead in for this week's Time Machine, which features: the first white act to play the Apollo; a three-way at the bottom of the Panel Four (which makes it a Five); a bit about the labels that record the music of the M10; and Valerie Harper as Rhoda (huh?).  Also, here's your guessing game (that I would never really expect anyone to play)- see if you can guess the Panel picks with this clue:  four out of five songs start with an "s"- and two of them have two "s" words in the title!  So I don't have a yellow sub, but I do have a rainbow tardis.  Hop in and let's go!


______________________________________

I just helped Laurie out with another clue for you cryptographers- three of the four start with an "su", and of the two with two "s" words, one of  them has both words start with "su", and the other both start with "se"!

Yeah, I know... anyway, the Panel consists of  KDKA Pittsburgh, WROV Roanoke VA, KBLA Burbank, WNWC Arlington Heights IL (hey, I'll bet the call letters stand for North West Chicago, eh?), WICE Providence, KOL Seattle, WXYZ Detroit, WDRC Hartford, WING Dayton, KFWB Los Angeles, WCOL Columbus OH, and WQXI Atlanta.  They teamed up for 24 different songs, the low charter this week belonging to cult favorite Love with 7 And 7 Is, which sat at #79 this week.  And there were three #1 votes that couldn't make even the expanded countdown, including Roanoke's one vote for Percy Sledge's Warm And Tender Love; The Troggs' Wild Thing, who- with the help of Dayton's #1- just missed the five by a single point; and Sandy Posey's Born A Woman in Atlanta, possibly Caitlyn Jenner's favorite song (!).  (There you have it- the first ever mention of CJ on this blog, and likely the last...)

Once again this week, the national top ten (note here: this week I am using Billboard as Cashbox is down for maintenance again) didn't do so well with the Panel.  Wild Thing was the national top dog; #2- Sam The Sham's Lil' Red Riding Hood- and #9- The Stones' Mother's Little Helper- made unsuccessful runs at the Panel List, but numbers 4, 6, 7, and 8 only totalled 7 votes- and #10 is the six degrees victim!  So now that you know you're going to get some wide variations here, it's time for the Panel Five:

Tied for fourth with no #1s and 13 points, you have Napoleon XIV and They're Coming To Take Me Away (Ha Ha!), the national #5; and the double "su", Donovan's Sunshine Superman- which was just starting its climb at #61.

At number three, with also 13 points but the #1s of Providence and Detroit, the double "se", the Happenings with See You In September, the national #15.

At #2, the national #11 with 22 points and #1s from Pittsburgh, Seattle, Hartford, and Los Angeles, Bobby Hebb and Sunny.

At on top, with the other three #1 votes and 33 points, the national # 3- stay tuned...

___________________________________________

The M10 is two weeks away from finishing year number one!  That means, you can count on a party with cake and ice cream in three weeks here on Time Machine!*

*Only if you are in the actual Tardis at the time.  Your cake and ice cream may vary.


But this week, we have two debuts, and the first one at #10 comes to us all the vay, er, way, from Norway!  They are called Acres Wild ( a name they took from an old Jethro Tull tune), from the lp Ignore The Flags On The Beaches...




This is recorded on their own label, which they named Minitravolta...



_________________________

Which brings up our next topic.  On my big hardcopy notebook for the M10, I always record the act's label.  Not all of them have labels- Castlecomer still doesn't to my knowledge- and some of them record on their own dime, like Tangerine (Tangerine LLC).  But I thought it might be interesting (to me, anyway) to see how many each label had.  Surprisingly in the age of indy music, the big boppers still did okay.

Columbia (with country division Columbia Nashville) logged 12 singles.
Warner Brothers (with their Warner Nashville label) picked up 8.
Then came RCA and Sub Pop (SP Being mainly but not only Beach House tunes) each gathered five.

After that was a septet of three each, including the label that put in a cameo appearance in the Explorers Club video last week, Capitol.  As well as the two bands that have three singles off their latest lps on the M10, the Jayhawks (Universal New Zealand) and the Monkees (Rhino).  And now you know.

________________________________________

So I am on the penultimate of the "English Composers" list that Bobby G. gave me, and that name is one Henry Purcell.  One of the greatest, his time period was mid-to-late 17th century- a time where the future UK was not a name in music.  And Purcell knew it, but had hope for the future...


Poetry and painting have arrived to their perfection in our own country; music is yet but in its nonage [immaturity], a forward Child, which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the masters of it shall find more Encouragement.


Not sure why they felt the need to insert "immaturity" in there; c'mon, we all knew what "nonage" meant, right?  Anyway, this means it's time to

10- This was a Goffin/King tune that Dusty Springfield recorded over there, called Going Back.  The Byrds would cover it next year- though they only got to 89.

9- The Kinks with another "su" song, Sunny Afternoon, which would be top 15 here in October.

8- Petula Clark is at #16 here with I Couldn't Live Without Your Love.

7- Dave Berry, a teen idol with the unfortunate habit of hiding his face with whatever prop was available, was at this spot with a UK only called Mama.

6- Elvis is at #21 back home with Love Letters.

5- Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, who hit big in the US with The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, would hit the top with this tune called Get Away- and became the only act to hit #1 in the UK with their only three times in the top ten.  This would peak at #70 here.

4- Back in June, Chris Montez peaked at #16 here with The More I See You.

3- Another tune that would peak in October in the States- this time at the top- is Los Bravos and Black Is Black.

2- Out Of Time by Chris Farlowe- a bottom scraper here (peak #122), had an interesting story when re-released in 1975.  It was a tune that Jagger/Richards composed, and at the same time in '75 THEY put out a version (which was Mick's vocals over the same music), and Nazareth frontman Dan McCaffery also tried it.  With all of them on the charts at the same time, the results were not pretty: McCaffery got to #41, Farlowe to #44, and Mick to #45.

And tops of the pops?

...The Troggs, with this week's #75 in the US of A, With A Girl Like You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

____________________________________________

Where our first debut harkens back to 60's psychedelic, the one at #9 evokes the heart of the best of 90's alternative.  This band comes to us from Boston, they are called Quilt, and they are led by the pretty Miss Anna Fox Rochinsky...





_______________________________________

Okay, so Valerie Harper as Rhoda doesn't quite factor into the 6D, but she does factor in in her first screen roll- in a 1956 movie called Rock Rock Rock with included pioneer dj Alan Freed as himself.  This movie also had a couple other items.  First, it heavily featured a band called Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers, who would go on to become the first white act to play the Apollo Theatre.  Second, it starred Tuesday Weld as the daughter of a single Dad trying to raise a teenager.  Her singing parts, unlike everyone else in the movie, were not her- she was dubbed by Connie Francis.  Francis was just breaking in herself, and a handful of failed singles had preceded this adventure.  But our interest in Connie comes several years later, during a streak that saw all of her US singles chart between 91 and 134.  In that timeframe Dr Zhivago came out, and Connie asked her record company to make words for the instrumental Lara's Theme.  Once she got them, she thought them "too corny" and rejected them.  Later, she went ahead and recorded them (in several languages) and had a big hit in every language but English.  By that time, the ball had been picked up by easy listening giant Ray Conniff, who would take Somewhere My Love to #10 on Billboard this week- where from the panel would completely ignore him.


_________________________________


And now, the rest of the M10...


The Monkees and Our Own World moves up a pair to #8.

The Pom Poms fall this week from 2 to 7 with Betty.

Then we hit the Sargasso Sea of the M10, where things don't move:  Castlecomer holds at 6 with The Noise; the Monkees hold at 5 with You Bring The Summer in its 7th week.

And Plume Of Feathers slip back a notch to 4 with First Date.

If you've been doing the math, you know we have two big movers coming next, and each one covers 6 spots in a single bound.  The Explorers Club to #3 with California's Callin' Ya; the Pom Poms to #2 with 1-2-3.

And at #1?  M10 says...

... a second week for Agnes Obel and Familiar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Panel?  They say....

...the Lovin' Spoonful with Summer In The City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, forward again to 1970!    See you then!

Miscellaneous life

I was going to post a little something yesterday, but got distracted by the three hours that went into the season finale of Deadliest Catch.   I was going to casually comment on some news stories that might have rated a "Newspage Go" had they come on the right day, perhaps mention the stress that I put myself through at work for what has since become no reason (not all but seemingly mostly my own fault), but as it has lifted somewhat, why dredge it up?


I do have a story about the upcoming model Martin...

Mother and Isaiah, age 27 weeks

KC loves to give us the business about my "teaching" Jessica the fine art of smart-assery (which she was pretty good at heretofore IMHO), and how he shouldn't allow her to come over.  Another great example came up when the following (if not exact words) conversation occurred:

KC:  Did you hear me?
Me: Hmm...?
KC: I'm going to build the crib.
Me: You mean, once you get it out of the box...
KC: No, I'm actually going to build it. I found instructions on how to build the one I want online... (Searches on phone)
Me:  (Pauses for a moment) Hope the kid's got a rubber ass...
Jessica: (Laughing) THAT'S IT! (High five)
KC: THAT'S WHY SHE CAN'T COME OVER!!!!

______________________________________________


Sunday morning was a nice time for a walk- not by much, as the sun broke from the fog as we neared the door....

Bunny let us get within 15 feet or so... never did run off.

Did you say drought?  South canal bone dry...

Swamp's down at least a third, as well...

Goldfinch just above the stick

Just a tetch of fog left...

First thought it was a ground hog a ways off... just a cat searching brunch.  And where was Scrappy at the time, pray tell?

Way down in that crap somewhere.

_____________________________________________________



A story I just saw:  One, according to a Bloomberg article, is that bottled water will outsell soda for the first time.  Per capita estimates have us guzzling bottled water at a rate of 27.4 gallons/person, as opposed to 26.2 for soda.  Flint, Michigan, Aquafina thanks you.

Playing Newspage go vol 3

(Really just wanted to try out the spiffy new logo from Bobby G.!)


STOP #1: World's most unnecessary advice?


How about this for a no, crap, Sherlock  headline:

 Expert to Rio athletes: 'Don't put your head under water'

You just have to love the concept of the upcoming (or upchucking) games in Rio.  Despite having an enormous lead in time to get things in some semblance of readiness... well, hear it from Fox News:

The most contaminated points are the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where Olympic rowing will take place, and the Gloria Marina, the starting point for the sailing races. In March, 2015, sampling at the Lagoon revealed an astounding 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter; this June, adenovirus readings were lower but still hair-raising at 248 million adenoviruses per liter. By comparison, in California, viral readings in the thousands per liter are enough to set off alarm bells.

Despite a project aimed at preventing raw sewage from flowing directly into the Gloria Marina through storm drains, the waters remain just as contaminated. The first sampling there, in March, 2015, showed over 26 million adenoviruses per liter; this June, over 37 million adenoviruses per liter were detected.

The phrase "Up shit creek" has never been so placed as a description of a nation that is apparently a 3.3 million square mile septic tank.  Even the tourist beaches- like Ipanema- are a source of concern.  The local guidelines allow 6 times the fecal coliform rate that California does, and they have even been consistently blowing that.  However...

While local authorities including Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes have acknowledged the failure of the city's water cleanup efforts, calling it a "lost chance" and a "shame," Olympic officials continue to insist Rio's waterways will be safe for athletes and visitors.


Keep in mind the IOC's executive committee voted 66-32 to take Rio over Madrid.  You can find their names at "Don'tBuyACarFromThese66Dealers.com".

STOP # 2:  I know they say watch out for "People of Wal-Mart", but...

Our next headline:

Dog crashes car into Walmart

A witness tells WSAZ she was standing in front of the store (in Wayne, WV)when she noticed a car started moving from its parking space at the front of the lot in her direction.

The woman says the car slowly moved straight toward her, and she at first guessed the driver was someone she knew who was messing with her.

That is until she noticed the face of the driver was a dog's.

And that pooch continued through her and into the building itself.  Apparently an elderly lady had left the car running so the dogs (yes, plural) could enjoy the AC, but pooch #1 decided to put it into drive, while the shotgun canine managed to get his window to roll down so he could watch the impending catastrophe in style.  Both the dogs and the car are in reasonable health, and Fox mentions that the pooches' driving privileges have been suspended.

STOP # 3:  Hey, I saw that episode...

That would be the 1992 episode titled "The Contest."  What am I talking about?  The next headline...

Daily habit that made Seinfeld a millionaire

Okay, so it wasn't THAT habit.  But tell me you wouldn't have thought the same thing?   Actually, the habit was to "write something every day."  Or at least until you need glasses, amIright?

Alright, pizza is here so that concludes today's match!  I'm out!