Ramblin' with Roger

More Billboard Christmas Charts

Cheech & Chong

Here are more Billboard Christmas Charts, the songs that did very well in the limited seasonal charts. They were calculated from 1963 through 1972 and 1983 through 1985.

The majority of these songs I do not know; I’ll note the ones that I do.

Here are the songs that reached #2

Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown (1968). I know the song, but it is not from that time period.

Little Drummer Boy – Lou Rawls (1967). Another song I first heard much later.

Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy– Buck Owens (1965). Co-written by Owens.

If Every Day Was Like Christmas – Elvis Presley (1966). If every day WAS like Christmas, would it really be a wonderful world? (Asking for my id.)

Do You Hear What I See – Bing Crosby (1963). I have a whole album of Bing, plus some songs on an Andrews Sisters collection.

Little Becky’s Christmas Wish – Becky Lamb (1967). “Probably the most well-known (and most commercially successful) of the 60s child spoken-word records, the song (Warner Bros. Records # 7154) by the 6-year-old girl took the form of a letter to Santa Claus asking him to bring her big brother Tommy home for Christmas. However, he died in Vietnam.” I never even heard of this. Oh, my.

Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas – The Staple Singers (1973). This shows in a STAX/Volt box set. Besides the vocals, it’s a bit melancholy, which is why I like it.

We’re #3

These songs reached #3 on the Xmas charts

Santa Claus and His Old Lady – Cheech & Chong (1972). Stoned talk.

The Man With All The Toys – The Beach Boys (1964). This I have.

Silver Bells – Earl Grant (1969). This needs more airplay.

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys (1963). I also have this

You’re All I Want For Christmas – Brook Benton (1963)

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – The Temptations (1971). Several Motown artists released Christmas albums: Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, as well as the Tempts. They appeared on a couple of compilations, one of which I own on vinyl.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon (1971). Of COURSE, I have this song.

Woman in a wheelchair

uneven sidewalks

After my audiologist appointment on a Tuesday morning – I will need hearing aids one of these days – I trekked to downtown Albany. Near the corner of Washington and Lark, trying to figure out what I wanted to eat for lunch, a woman in a wheelchair approached me. She said, “Excuse me, could you…” I almost didn’t let her ask her question.

I had gone to a workshop a few days earlier about dealing with people looking for money. But that wasn’t what she was going to ask me. “Excuse me, could you push my wheelchair…” to a specific, unfamiliar place? I asked where it was, two or three blocks away. I had a window of time, so I said okay. She asked my name, and I asked hers. I’m going to call her Elizabeth.

Right away, Elizabeth was pleased that I waited for the light when we were trying to traverse Central Avenue. A few pedestrians had begun to cross, but I knew that sequence very well. Sure enough, they were in the middle of the street when traffic threatened them. She noted that her ex-boyfriend had helped her cross the street, and she ended up getting hit by a car.

Elizabeth had offered to hold my briefcase, where I was carrying my laptop. Initially, I said no, but as my right hand began cramping, I took her up on her offer. She said it made her feel like a professional. I told her when I needed to stop to put on my sunglasses and knit hat because I recognized she couldn’t see what I would do.

Why the wheelchair?

Elizabeth had lost a few toes due to an infection in March 2024; a lawsuit is in the works. She seems to know a few people who are on the street. When we crossed Henry Johnson Boulevard, she knew how difficult it was to get back on the sidewalk, so she asked me to walk in the street on Central Avenue. This was slightly terrifying, but I had my orange hat on, so no harm befell us. About halfway up the block, there was a cutout so we could get back onto the sidewalk.

You never really notice how uneven sidewalks can be unless you’re pushing a wheelchair, using a cart, or some other unusual circumstance. Half a block before we got to her destination, she asked if she could have some money. At this point, I felt like I had developed a relationship with this person. I was disinclined to direct her to some agency she could visit, so I gave her $20, which startled her. “Are you sure?” Yes.

We got to the corner near her destination. She crossed the street on her own. I stood waiting to make sure she got across. She had to go up the cutout backward because that was the only way she could maneuver it.

I can’t explain this exactly, but it felt like an honor to be able to do this for Elizabeth. Other people were around Washington and Lark, but she asked me to push her wheelchair a few blocks. I learned a lot from her in that 15 minutes or so.

Before we departed, Elizabeth said, “You’re a very nice man.” I said, “Yes, I am.” She laughed and said, “Boy, aren’t you full of yourself?” I replied, “Well, you brought it up.”

Joe pardoned Hunter and I don’t care

Kash Patel at the FBI?

Joe pardoned Hunter, and I don’t care.

Gavin Newsom: “With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter. But I took the president at his word. So, by definition, I’m disappointed and can’t support the decision.”

A Republican senator said that he understood why Joe executed the pardon and admitted that he would likely pardon his own child in similar circumstances but that the problem is that Joe lied.

The editorial in my local newspaper, the Albany Times Union, suggested that the pardon has ” provided a measure of bipartisan cover for [djt] to use his pardon power to exonerate anyone in his immediate sphere – family, friends, political donors, alleged co-conspirators – on the stated basis that their investigation or prosecution was ‘political persecution’ or the more current ‘lawfare,'” as though they hadn’t 45 hadn’t already done that. This is disingenuous.

On his way out of office in 2021, djt “displayed both nepotism and vengeance. Amid dozens of dubious (and worse) acts of clemency in those final days, he pardoned his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who had been convicted of 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. (Last week, Mr. Trump announced he plans to nominate Mr. Kushner as ambassador to France.)”

The other guy

Joe’s predecessor and successor posted on social media that the pardon was “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” He mentioned the rioters from Jan. 6, 2021, some of whom he has suggested could be pardoned when he takes office. This is what he had said long before Joe’s pardon of Hunter.

Cory Doctorow wrote, in a different context: “Remember the 2016 debate where [Hillary] Clinton accused Trump of cheating on his taxes, and he admitted to it, saying, ‘That makes me smart’? Trumpism is the movement of ‘that makes me smart’ life, where if you get scammed, that’s your own damned fault. Sorry, loser, you lost.”

The comparison between Joe’s “sin” and the wealth of distortions told by 45 is not even in the same ballpark. According to the Washington Post, during 45’s four-year term, his false or misleading claims totaled 30,573.

This time around, his insistence that he knew nothing about Project 2025 and then appointed people who wrote the document is classic. He… what is the word I’m looking for? Oh, yeah… lied. (And polling suggests that 1) his voters know he’s lying, but 2) they either don’t mind or actively appreciate it, which hurts my head.)

Retribution

But sometimes, he does tell the truth. His nominee to head the FBI, Kash Patel, is being very open about how he’ll persecute MAGA’s enemies. A shrewd observer of autocracy explains how far he’ll be able to get—and why there’s cause for serious worry.

From ABC News This Week for 1 Dec 2024:

KASH PATEL, DONALD TRUMP’S NOMINEE FOR FBI DIRECTOR: I am going to go on a government gangster’s manhunt in Washington, D.C., for our great president. Who’s coming with me?

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: The president-elect names Kash Patel to serve as FBI director. A loyalist who said Trump’s political opponents should be very afraid. And may be the toughest confirmation battle yet.

If there was any doubt that President-elect Donald Trump intends to follow through with his promises of radical change and retribution, both here at home and abroad, those doubts have been erased…

Unqualified

“Patel is so controversial that when President Trump talked about making him the deputy FBI director in 2020, then-Attorney General Bill Barr said it would happen, quote, ‘over my dead body,’ according to his memoir, adding, quote, ‘Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency. The very idea of moving Patel into a role like this showed a shocking detachment from reality.’”

[h/t Paul Rapp] “Ron Filipkowski of MeidasTouch notes that Biden’s pardon came after [djt’s announcement of Patel]… Filipkowski studies right-wing media and points out that Patel’s many appearances there suggest he is obsessed with Hunter Biden, especially the story of his laptop, which Patel insists shows that Hunter and Joe Biden engaged in crimes with Ukraine and China.

“As legal commentator Asha Rangappa noted: ‘People criticizing the Hunter Biden pardon need to recognize: For the 1st time, the FBI and Justice Department could literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to ‘find’ evidence of a ‘crime,’ with zero accountability. That’s why the pardon goes back to 2014.'”

Context

Having watched Joe Biden for half a century, I don’t think he intended to lie at all. When he made his initial comment that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter, it was with the thought that he would be President and wouldn’t take action to subvert his own Justice Department. Similarly, when Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic nominee, he didn’t worry about retribution from the Department of Justice.

But with Kash Patel potentially heading the FBI, all bets were off. Moreover, I think that Jill Biden had an outsized hand in this. When asked about how she felt about the pardon at a Christmas event, she said, “Of course, I wanted a pardon for my son.”

More pardons!

I’m sure there’ll be many more pardons in the coming weeks. One group he should pardon is most, if not all, of the folks on this list of Patel “enemies,” including Lloyd Austin, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Stephanie Grisham, Kamala Harris, Gina Haspel, Fiona Hill, Eric Holder, Cassidy Hutchinson, Lisa Monaco, Robert Mueller, Jake Sullivan, Alexander Vindman, Christopher Wray, and Sally Yates.

Do you know who else is on the list? Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. Can Joe Biden pardon himself? This is an interesting question. The former /next guy has indicated that he might pardon himself, so why the heck not?

Satirist Andy Borowitz notes that JRB would give “his dog Commander a sweeping pardon in exchange for biting South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.”

Senior Year in high school

blame ADD

I saw a quiz on Mark Evanier’s page. It’s one of those online questionnaires that make the rounds. This one’s about one’s Senior Year in high school… I was vaguely considering it. But then ADD wrote of Facebook, “Who will play along? Unlike Mark Evanier, I understand this question, and my money’s on Roger.” So there it is.

Class of:

1971

Did you know your current love?

No, we didn’t meet until the early ’90s.

Type of car?

Not only did I not have a car, I don’t even remember what car my parents were driving. As I’ve said before, I’m totally car blind.

What kind of work did you do?

From March to early September 1971, I worked at IBM, which I described here.

Where did you live?

The First Ward of Binghamton, NY

Were you popular?

I suppose so. I was elected student government president in my junior year of high school. Also, I was involved with the drama club, mostly on stage crew. There was one time I had more than one line in a play: The Bald Soprano by Eugenie Ionesco. I played the Fire Chief and had a very long recitation that I could not memorize, so somebody made a scroll, and I read the piece, and then I flung it across the stage. Additionally, I was president of the Red Cross club.

Of course, I was in the choir.

Were you in band or choir?

I was in choir all three years at Binghamton Central, and at least for two of them, I was in something called the Male Glee Club, which sang a lot of TTBB Barbershop-type harmony.

Ever get suspended?

No, although I thought there was a possibility. A friend of my then-high school girlfriend had forged the name of one of our teachers, Helen Foley, on a couple of passes. GF and I each had a study hall and wanted to hang out in the auditorium, but we got caught and had to talk to the principal. Then I talked to Helen Foley, which was much worse because I disappointed her.

If you could, would you go back?

Oh, goodness, no.

Still talk to the person that you went to prom with?

Yes, we’re good friends. I wished her a happy birthday a couple of months ago because I remember it.

Did you skip school?

I know I attended a rally when Julian Bond was in downtown Binghamton, but I don’t remember if that was during or after school. I did leave a walkout of our school once. The school had enforced draconian rules about walking on the grass, and people were getting suspended. So, as student government president, I convened a meeting on the sidewalk and voted to walk on the grass, which ticked off the principal, but he didn’t do anything about it.

Pigskin

Go to all the Football games?

It was probably half the home games the year I was student government president, but never the away games.

Favorite subject?

American history, although I did like algebra and trigonometry.

Do you still have your yearbook?

Yes, although I never got my class photo out of this sense of strange rebellion. My picture shows up about eight times in the book.

Did you follow your career path?

I don’t even know what my career path was. I was thinking about becoming a lawyer or going into politics, but I didn’t do that. Having been a page at the Binghamton Public Library, I should’ve known that it should have been my career path. It took me until I was in my late 30s to figure that out.

Do you still have your high school ring?

I never had a high school ring and never wanted one.

Who was your favorite teacher?

The aforementioned Helen Foley was the public speaking teacher and the drama club director. She wrote my too-long speech when I was supposed to introduce Rod Serling, the one he walked out during.

Gimme a head with hair

What was your hairstyle?

I could never pull off a really good Afro, and even then, my hairline was starting to recede.

Favorite shoes?

Red Chuck Taylors

Favorite food?

I don’t have a strong sense of this. It’s probably something my grandmother made: pork chops or chicken, maybe the spaghetti my father made.

Favorite band?

This was a transitional time, late 1970. The Beatles (Because) had just broken up. Simon and Garfunkel (Song For The Asking) seemed to be defunct. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (Carry On)? Santana (Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen)? Led Zeppelin (Immigrant Song)? The Band (The Shape I’m In)? Possibly Sly and The Family Stone (Thank You).

What cologne/perfume?

For a minute, I did have some eau de something, but I don’t remember the name.

How old were you when you graduated?

I was about six weeks shy of my 18th birthday. In Binghamton, in those years, you could start school in either September or February, and I was a February starter. So, we graduated in January 1971, which is weird. They don’t do that anymore.

Who will play along?

I don’t know. I recommended it to my baby sister because her experience differs somewhat from mine. She moved to Charlotte, NC, with our parents in the early 1970s, so she didn’t graduate from the same high school that our other sister and I graduated from. That’s kind of interesting to me.

What high school did you attend?

I went to ninth grade at Daniel S. Dickinson, where I attended K-9. I attended Binghamton (NY) Central for grades 10-12. BCHS merged with Binghamton North c. 1982, located at the site of BCHS.

Movie review: Anora

not Pretty Woman

I went to see the new movie Anora, largely because it had been so widely acclaimed. Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or, awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film at the Cannes Film Festival; he also wrote the story. The film was nominated for several other awards. I saw it at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany, one of only two people present on an early Wednesday matinee.

Fandango describes it as “an audacious, thrilling, and comedic variation on a modern-day Cinderella story.” Ani (Mikey Madison) is a young sex worker from Brooklyn who is good at her job. One of her clients is a young, brash, fairly obnoxious, but very rich young man of Russian heritage named Ivan or Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), who specifically asked for an escort who at least understood Russian. Anora’s grandmother had never learned how to speak English.

They are having a good time, in a wretched excess way, with him shelling out beaucoup bucks for her exclusive company, and in short order, they decide to get married. This is a problem for Vanya’s handlers when they find out. They worked for his parents and were supposed to keep him on a loose leash. Now, the marriage must annulled, which is complicated.

Evolution

The early part of the film was a bit boring to me. There’s a lot of sex, not just with Ani, and it’s very unsexy.

The film finally starts getting interesting when two of Vanya’s handlers rush to the lavish home where he and Ani are staying. These guys are intimidating but not lethally scary. Still, they and their immediate boss are determined to get their way and have the means to grease the legal machinery. At this point, I see Ani’s strength and vulnerability come through. And the film becomes a black comedy.

So I liked the latter half of it, although, as some critics pointed out, “Anora’s outbursts of fury, incessant trash talking, and relentless screaming can wear on the ear.” The Rotten Tomatoes reviews were 96% positive with the critics and 90% with the fans.

I’m reminded that when the movie Pretty Woman was being made, it started as a “gritty dark comedy about the dehumanizing nature of sex work,” much darker than the frothy tale that Garry Marshall engineered with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere’s characters. This is NOT Pretty Woman.