Roger O Green

Part 2 of the pop hits from 1975

John Denver

Part 2 of the pop hits from 1975 contains more songs that reached the Billboard charts. If a song reaches the pinnacle of another Billboard chart, it will be designated as such. I own all of these songs in some form, except Falling In Love.

Lady Marmalade – LaBelle (Epic), gold record. The song also went to #1 in 2001 as performed by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, and Pink. In my opinion, the original is way better than the Moulin Rouge take.

Pick Up The Pieces – AWB (Atlantic), gold record. The group is also known as Average White Band. Instrumental

The Hustle – Van McCoy (Avco), gold record. Instrumental. “The original LP track of this international disco hit ran just over 4 minutes, and a 6:25 remix version was issued in 1979 following McCoy’s death at age 39.”

Black Water – The Doobie Brothers (Warner), gold record. I have a particular recollection of this song at my college, New Paltz.

Let’s Do It Again – The Staple Singers (Curtom), gold record #1 RB

Have You Never Been Mellow – Olivia Newton-John (MCA), gold record, #1 AC

Beatles-adjacent

Listen To What The Man Said – Wings (Capitol), gold record

Best Of My Love – The Eagles (Asylum), #1 AC

Falling In Love – Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds (Playboy), gold record, #1AC

Thank God I’m A Country Boy – John Denver (RCA Victor), gold record

Shining Star – Earth, Wind, and Fire (Columbia), gold record, #1 RB. This was their first big hit, and I loved it.

Please Mr. Postman – Carpenters (A&M), gold record. #1 AC

Mandy – Barry Manilow (Bell), gold record

You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt (Capitol). From one of the greatest “contractual obligation” albums of all time, Heart Like a Wheel.

I’m Sorry – John Denver (RCA Victor), gold record, #1 AC

Fire – Ohio Players (Mercury), gold record, #1 RB

Sister Golden Hair – America (Warner)

Get Down Tonight – KC and the Sunshine Band (TK), #1 RB

Movie review: F1

racecars

To my mild surprise, my wife wanted to see the movie F1. I said OK, though it wasn’t high on my list of must-see films. In my time, I’ve avoided many summer blockbusters. We went to the Spectrim 8 Theatre in Albany on a Tuesday afternoon in early July.

F1 did what it set out to do: make you feel like you are riding with these drivers. Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) will drive almost anything, and his old friend Ruben (Javier Bardem) recruits him for his Formula 1 team.

You get sucked into feeling like part of the management and pit crew, trying to ensure that the two team drivers, Sonny and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), succeed or at least don’t crash and burn. Kate (Kerry Conlon) is central to the team and wants to be taken seriously as the technical director; I liked Conlon in The Banshees of Inisherin.

Critic Michael Cook wrote: “This is a classic ‘summer and popcorn’ movie. Some beats may feel familiar, but it’s done so well that you overlook some of its problems. It’s a movie worth seeing at the theater to get the full experience.” I agree with that, and the fact that the actors practiced actual driving for several months gave those scenes a feeling of verisimilitude. True Formula 1 fans will grimace at some inconsistencies, but most of the general public may not notice or care.

Pop

Frankly, I enjoyed it on the level that my grandfather McKinley Green and I used to watch Indy car racing on TV when I was growing up. But F1 doesn’t seem like a movie you want to see on television.

When Formula One came to Las Vegas in the story, I was fascinated because I was in that city in 2024 shortly before it was altered to create the track. Businesses near the course, such as restaurants and bars, which could benefit from more people coming in, were thrilled. Ordinary Las Vegans with no monetary benefit tended to be irritable about the inconvenience.

Rotten Tomatoes critics gave the film 83% positive reviews, but it was 97% positive with audiences.

Sunday Stealing – Let’s Blog about Blogging

alternative facts

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week’s meme is swiped from If By Yes, a Canadian blogger who describes herself as a “left-wing left-hander with two left feet.” It’s a shame she doesn’t update her blog anymore. Anyway, she participated in a meme that she tells us was popular way back when.

About Blogging

1. When are you at your blogging best – a.m. or p.m.?

Absolutely in the morning. At some level, if I have an idea about a post, I sleep on it, and often I have at least an approach mapped out in the morning. The only time I work on the blog after about noon is doing something mechanical, such as adding links to articles and music posts.

2. How many blogs do you have? Please include the links in your answer.

This is it, at least publicly. The rogerogreen.com blog content morphed from the rogerowengreen.blogspot.com on May 2, 2010. The old content from those first five years is here, but not all comments have been moved, so there’s that. My old work is defunct, as are a bunch of others I’ve participated in. I had a blog on the Albany Times Union from 2008 to 2021, but that ended; the content is uploaded here.

The rest is silence

3. Do you prefer silence when you compose your posts and write your comments?

Absolutely not. I write to music, and it doesn’t matter if it has words or not. I am listening to Rossiniana by Ottorino Respighi, which Kelly posted. But usually, I listen to compact discs of artists whose birthdays are in the current month, such as John Hiatt, Joe Strummer (The Clash), and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). Indeed, I can’t do very much without music. I use it when I’m cleaning or filing.

Conversely, I can’t listen to talk, such as the NPR news shows my wife likes to listen to. Sidebar: I’m very sad/angry about the death of the CPB— the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

4. What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever spilled on your keyboard?

Probably Diet Coke.

What’s the use of getting sober…

5. Ever posted while intoxicated?

I don’t generally write on Facebook immediately. I might write a blog post and then post that, but that requires time, thought, and a cooling-down period. The only immediate things I have posted on FB and BlueSky lately are public service announcements about accidents and severe weather.

I don’t even post immediately when ticked off, but let the thoughts simmer. These recent examples bother me as a librarian because they are not fact-based decisions. The FBI redacted djt’s name from several references in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein files. The Smithsonian said it restored a display to an earlier version, which notes that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal.” djt accused the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, of faking jobs numbers, directing his team to fire the former President Biden appointee. These are, to quote a former White House staffer, “alternative facts,” which are bad for democracy.

But see how c-c-c-alm-m-m-m I am? And sober.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

1975 #1 pop hits, part 1

He Will Break Your Heart

Here’s 1975 #1 pop hits, part 1 because the full list is too damn long, on which the majority of the #1s reigning for a single week. And it’s not just true for the pop list, but soul, country, and adult contemporary. Some songs crossed over to different charts, and I’ve noted the ones that hit #1 elsewhere.

Love Will Keep Us Together – The Captain & Tennille (A&M), four weeks at #1, gold record. AC #1

Fly, Robin, Fly – Silver Convention (Midland International), three weeks at #1, gold record. RB #1

Island Girl – Elton John (MCA), three weeks at #1, diamond record

He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You) – Tony Orlando & Dawn (Elektra), three weeks at #1, gold record. AC #1. A remake of He Will Break Your Heart (1960), the #1 RB, #7 pop song by Jerry Butler, written by Butler, Curtis Mayfield, and Calvin Carter.

Bad Blood – Neil Sedaka (Rocket), three weeks at #1, gold record. Rocket Records was a label founded by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and others, but Elton was not yet on the label.

Rhinestone Cowboy – Glen Campbell (Capitol), two weeks at #1, gold record. AC #1

Philadelphia Freedom – the Elton John Band (MCA), two weeks of #1, diamond record. Meaning Behind The Song

That’s The Way (I Like It) – KC and the Sunshine Band (TK Records), two weeks at #1

Jive Talkin’ – Bee Gees (RSO), two weeks at #1 gold record. My favorite Bee Gees song.

Fame – David Bowie (RCA Victor), two weeks at #1, gold record. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar, and John Lennon. John plays and sings on the track.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – Elton John (MCA), two weeks at #1. Lennon plays and sings on this Beatles cover.

The rest of the songs were all number one for a single week

One Of These Nights – Eagles (Asylum)

Before The Next Teardrop Falls – Freddy Fender (ABC/Dot), gold record

My Eyes Adored You – Frankie Valli (Private Stock), gold record

Lovin’ You – Minnie Riperton (Epic), gold record

Laughter In The Rain – Neil Sedaka (Rocket)

(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song Song – B.J. Thomas (ABC), gold record. AC #1

CDTA #10 bus won’t go into Stuyvesant Plaza

Western Avenue and Fuller Road

CDTA I looked at the new Capital District Transportation Authority bus schedule, announced on July 24. The most absurd change is that the CDTA Western Avenue #10 bus won’t go into Stuyvesant Plaza as of August 24.

Stuyvesant Plaza is “home to more than 60 shops and restaurants,” a post office, and other amenities. Currently, coming either from the east (downtown Albany) or the west (Crossgates Mall), the bus would travel Western Avenue, turn onto Fuller Road, turn left into Executive Park, enter Stuyvesant Plaza near the post office, where it would stop, then leave the plaza for downtown or Crossgates.

The new decision is for riders to be left on the corner of Fuller and Western. They will have to cross a not-pedestrian-friendly Fuller Road westbound or a not-pedestrian-friendly Western Ave eastbound, then walk into the plaza.

I see this as an accessibility issue. The cars entering/exiting the mall on the Fuller Road side are not pedestrian-friendly either.

I called CDTA yesterday to ask if this was CDTA’s decision or the Plaza’s, but I haven’t heard back. When I called Stuyvesant, the person I spoke to didn’t know about the change until a couple of days ago. If it were the plaza’s plan, it would be a gross disservice to its merchants.

One can take the #114 from near my house and get off at Executive Park, which is somewhat better, but it now runs sporadically, and like the #10, its current frequency will be reduced.

Once upon a time

In 2011, the CDTA radically realigned its bus schedule. I attended so many public meetings that people knew me by name. In response to an email of mine, a CDTA rep wrote, “We also enjoyed our chats at the public meetings and appreciate you taking the time to keep up the dialogue.”

Most of the changes were great. For instance, it added lines to the South End of Albany that had been woefully underserved.

However, they made several tentative plans, including moving the Allen Street bus to Main, which didn’t make sense. Because people, including me, complained, they rejiggered the plan.

I also noted that there was a late (8:10) bus coming out of Corporate (frickin’) Woods. The tentative schedule would have stranded the cleaning crews from the various buildings. They looked at the data and kept the late bus, which about two dozen people rode daily.

So I don’t think this is a hopeless situation, at least not yet. Local people: if you have ideas on how to rectify this, please let me know.

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