Roger O Green

Musical throwback: the Kingston Trio

Worried Man was a song in the repertoire of the late Les Green, and the Green Family Singers

Dustbury reported: “There’s a dispute now over which of two competing musical groups is the actual Kingston Trio.” This is not that unusual for a group of its vintage.

The group was formed in San Francisco in the late 1950s with Dave Guard (d. 1991), Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds (d. 2008). Guard left in 1961, and was replaced by John Stewart (d. 2008). They disbanded in 1968, but Shane started a New Kingston Trio, and after that it gets murky to me.

I had forgotten how massively successful the Kingston Trio was, especially early on. They had only #1 single, but six of their first seven albums went to #1, and the other went to #2.

The eponymous first album (1958), which contained the big hit Tom Dooley, as #1 for only a week. But it was in the Top 40 for 114 weeks, and the Top 200 for 195 weeks.

From the hungry i (1959) , which is a nightclub in San Francisco, “only” went to #2, but was Top 40 for 47 weeks, and Top 200 for 178 weeks

The Kingston Trio at Large (1959) was #1 for an amazing 15 weeks, in the Top 40 for 43 weeks, and in the Top 200 for 118 weeks. It won the Grammy for best folk album.

Here We Go Again (1959) was #1 for eight weeks, spent 40 weeks in the Top 40, and 126 weeks in the Top 200.

Sold Out (1960) hit #1 for 12 weeks, residing in the Top 40 for 42 weeks and in the Top 200 for 73 weeks.

String Along (1960) was their last #1 album, hanging there for 10 weeks, 27 weeks in the Top 40 and 60 weeks in the Top 200.

After two albums that reached the lower half of Top 20, the Kingston Trio had one album, Make Way! (1961) hit #2, three albums hit #3, one hit #4, and three albums, including The Best of the Kingston Trio (1962), hit #7 in the period 1961 to 1963.

The first six albums and the Best of all sold over a half million copies each.

Listen to:

Tom Dooley, #1 in 1958 HERE or HERE
The Tijuana Jail, #12 in 1959 HERE or HERE
M.T.A., #15 in 1959 HERE or HERE
Worried Man*, #20 in 1959 HERE or HERE

*This was a song in the repertoire of the late Les Green, and the Green Family Singers

Expressing “Not my thing” on Facebook

You might have heard about this eclipse in the United States recently. And frankly, it wasn’t that impressive in my area, which was overcast and was going to be only 67% complete. Maybe some lunatic would drive 875 miles just to get a few pictures but for the rest of us, it was only so-so.

But my, I really enjoyed watching OTHER people, in Oregon and Tennessee and South Carolina, revel in the moment. Tears of joy, and shouts of exhilaration. I never got the protective glasses for the 2017 event, and if I had, I’m not sure they’d be OK for 2024, when the next eclipse will be much closer to me.

I don’t get this need to rain on others’ parades. An actress who, for some reason, I follow on Facebook, wrote, right after singer/guitarist Glen Campbell died, “I was not a fan.” And then when some folks complained that she was being insensitive, she gave them the dictionary definition of a fanatic. What she probably SHOULD have said was… nothing.
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About a month ago, there was this story about a couple caught having sex in water park parking lot. Now, I didn’t much care until people started making assumptions about the couple.

First, I had to find the original articles; you’d be amazed how many hits water park sex gets. I took the name of the guy in the narrative, and on the first page of Google, I found nine stories about the couple. Six featured HER picture, while none showed his. Maybe it was because she resisted arrest, or that she was smiling in her mug shot.

People’s opinions often suggested “she’s a slut” and/or “she’s on drugs” because of the picture. One guy boldly declared that they probably hadn’t met before that day.

This assertion suddenly made me really curious. The 10th page I found on Google for the guys name was his Facebook page, and as of a week after the incident, it hadn’t been updated. But I discovered the couple had gone out foe a time four years ago, they broke up as she moved away, and they were a couple again as of mid-July.

I don’t need to make excuses for the couple to note that a lot of opinions spewed about them was bogus.

The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales

I play it nearly every year around this time.

I didn’t have a huge interest in the British royals, though I’ve seen two movies featuring George VI (The King’s Speech and Hyde Park on the Hudson). His successor, his elder daughter Queen Elizabeth II, has been monarch for my entire life. The late Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the royal photographer, and QEII’s former brother-in-law (her sister Margaret’s ex), had his birthday on 7 March, as do I.

But it was impossible not to be aware of the wedding on 29 July 1981 between Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. As I noted back on 2013-07-27, about a half a year after the event, my friend Jessica developed a parody skit of that event, a narrative accompanied by a slide show. The presentation was the Eighth Step Coffee House when it was still located at First Presbyterian Church, and it was hilariously irreverent. I played the Archbishop of Canterbury.

When Diana died on 31 August 1997, I thought it was most unfortunate. But like QEII, as portrayed in the movie The Queen, I did not realize what an outpouring of grief would transpire.

I know my ex-girlfriend (now my wife) was more affected as well. They were about the same age, among other things. I don’t know if she knew that the Spencers were related to her family, the Olins, at that time, though it’s been much codified since, so they are actually distant cousins.

Still, in my possession is a CD of the BBC Recording of the Funeral Service of 6 September, released on 30 September. I may have purchased it for someone else. I play it nearly every year around this time, and I find it quite moving. The tolling of the bells, the various hymns and readings, her brother Earl Spencer’s loving but bitter tribute, and of course, Elton John’s reworking of his song Candle In The Wind [listen]. Rerecorded shortly thereafter, it became one of the biggest singles of all time.

August rambling #3: struck by a cow

’twas but a glancing blow

Professor Jonathan Frink Sr, voiced by Jerry Lewis

U.S. Productivity: What Is It, How to Calculate It

Workers, the labor movement and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Play The Bail Trap Game!

Hitting the pavement instead of the sheetcake

Vice News/HBO Documentary on Charlottesville

Vloggger brothers: Race is uncomfortable for me to talk about

Kim Kingsley: My Life Lessons in Rust Belt Racism

Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago

Kickstarter: Mine! : a comics collection to benefit Planned Parenthood

8 years of suffering under Barack Obama

Religion for the Nonreligious

Alaska’s permafrost is no longer permanent. It is starting to thaw

The yard of campaign yard signs

Forgotten Technology: Man Lifts 20 Ton Block By Hand

Warren Roberts: Reflecting on my blogs at the Times Union

REVIEW: “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Mac-Haydn – the Wife and I saw this show. It was great, but we were so near the stage we feared that we’d have our feet being stepped on. And I was struck by a cow – seriously. A stuffed cow that was launched from the French castle; ’twas but a glancing blow

Jay Thomas on Letterman.- The ‘Lone Ranger’ Story (2014)

Which Gaming Console Was the Most Popular?

Tony Isabella: To Black Lightning, with love

Now I Know: The Political Race Which Was, Literally, a Race and Drinking and Drive-Overs

Give the back of your hand to opisthenar

THAT GUY AND HIS FAMILY

Friedrich wrote letter begging not to be deported

The White nationalist House

The Message in Joe Arpaio’s Pardon and Fascism as a Unifying Principle

The Constitutional Crisis Has Begun

DJT’s list of false and misleading claims tops 1,000

How He Uses Deceit And Propaganda To Shape Perceptions

The Village Voice did a profile back in 1979—nothing’s changed, he’s always lied

How the Secret Service Treats Protestors

How he Ruined My Relationship With My White Mother

Chelsea Clinton comes to Barron’s defense after conservative criticism

MUSIC

Housequake -Prince, live (1987)

Waiting For The Waiter – MonaLisa Twins ft. John Sebastian

Coverville 1182: August birthday cavalcade

It’s Good News Week – Hedgehoppers Anonymous

K-Chuck Radio: I want a Beach Boys a cappella album right now!!

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Barbershop Harmony Society

Gated reverb: The sound of the ’80s

Gordon Lightfoot’s 10 Best Songs

Gene Kelly would have been 105 this month

The Good Old Days, and Two Lost Souls – Jerry Lewis in Damn Yankees

Rent Party Rag – Spider John Koerner

Sesame Street: ’80s Music Mashup Parody and El Patito, featuring Ernie and Rosita

Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away, by Percy Grainger

Hello Goodbye – the Beatles

H is for the Alexander Hamilton effect

Eliphalet Nott delivered a “powerful sermon condemning the practice of dueling.”

As a result of the tremendous success of the musical about the United States’ first Treasury Secretary, there have several articles referring to “the Hamilton effect.” This 2016 article in Playbill describes saving the $10 bill, popularizing Hamilton as a first name, and increasing an interest in late 18th century American history. See also here and here, for instance.

In the Albany, NY area, the Hamilton effect is strong. The historic Schuyler Mansion celebrates 100 years as state-run site. It’s a bigger deal than it might be because Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler “in the mansion’s parlor on Dec. 14, 1780. The couple lived in Albany for nearly two years after their marriage and they brought their children on summer vacations to the 32 Catherine St. house. Scholars believe Hamilton wrote three of the 85 articles known as the Federalist Papers in the house.”

My wife finished Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography, all 832 pages of it, this summer. The daughter insists that we listen to the music every time we are in the car. This is actually less than last year when the playing was nonstop.

“Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical altered the lives of countless unsuspecting fans with a powerful history lesson embedded in hypnotic, rhyming lyrics and a hip-hop beat.” It won 11 of 16 Tony awards for which it was nominated.

Long before the phenomenon, we were positively disposed toward Hamilton. A. Ham’s wife was a member of First Presbyterian Church, my current church, albeit in a different location.

Upon the death of Alexander Hamilton in 1804, highly-regarded First Presbyterian minister Eliphalet Nott delivered a “powerful sermon condemning the practice of dueling. It had a profound influence in curtailing the custom and has been recognized to this day as a work of great oratory.” I heard the sermon delivered at First Pres in 2004.

The three of us are hoping to finally see Hamilton in the next couple years.

The soundtrack
The soundtrack
The Hamilton Mixtape: Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)
Hamilton’s “rap” still rings true today