Tag: music

February rambling: obituary pirates

strong men always fall

Posted by Jessica Wilson to Star Trek Wholesome Posting

He Died in a Tragic Accident. Why Did the Internet Say He Was Murdered? Within a day of the death of Matthew Sachman, 19, on New York City subway tracks, so-called obituary pirates had flooded search results with false information.

Judge clears names of 2 men convicted in Times Square murder after they spent years in prison and The Juror Who Found Herself Guilty. I’m always pained by these stories of innocent people being in jail for decades before being exonerated.

Gazan Lives Matter

Cory Doctorow: How I Got Scammed

Sam Waterston to Leave ‘Law and Order’ After 20 Seasons

50 Best ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Guest Stars, Ranked

Anti-Racism Resources

I gave blood at the Albany High School on January 31. It was my 178th time. My time: 5 minutes, 17 seconds. Booyah!

Kelly goes marbles

Mel-O-Toons: Cheap cartoons for weekday enjoyment

Now I Know: When New York Choked the Artichoke Trade and When Milwaukee Went to War Over Bridges and Math and the Missing Planet and Why Did This Rabbit Drive a Car?

NOT ME: A SCOTTISH commercial cleaning firm has announced its acquisition of an English rival, adding a further 100 staff to its growing UK team. Founded in 1988 by its Chairman Roger Green, Spotless now operates over 1,700 contracts across the UK, providing a full range of cleaning services for blue chip companies, retail outlets, industrial leaders, and premier commercial premises.

Health

Chuck Miller: The surgeries aren’t done yet; Panic at the hospital; Waiting on an NPO; This blog post was almost written from beyond the grave. Get better, Chuck!

About Biden’s Age and Memory

King Charles Diagnosed With Cancer, Buckingham Palace Say. The Royal Line of British Succession

Seiji Ozawa, Captivating Conductor, Is Dead at 88. He led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 years, toured widely, and helped dispel prejudices about East Asian classical musicians. I saw him on television several times, at least once in person, probably at Tanglewood. 

Chita Rivera, revered and pioneering Tony-winning dancer and singer, dies at 91

Carl Weathers, Apollo Creed in “Rocky,” dies at 76

Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane was possibly spotted in the Pacific by an exploration team

The retribution presidency

2024: What Kind of Society Will America Be?

***

djt Calls for ‘All Willing States’ to Deploy National Guard Troops to Texas. Kareem: “This is not a drill: Donald Trump has become the most destructive force to American democracy. To support him after all that’s happened, after all he’s said and done, is to denounce America and everything it stands for. That’s not hyperbole or liberal posturing. It’s merely acknowledging the facts.”

***

From Maggie Haberman, New York Times: “A vindictive Trump second term is now a frequent point of discussion. But [John] Bolton already got a close-up look at Trump’s nature — and how his anger can boil over. He spent 17 months in the administration and left in 2019.

“The new edition of Bolton’s book focuses on several examples, especially the case of Ellen Knight, a National Security Council official who cleared Bolton’s original edition for publication and was then dismissed from the [National Security Council].

“Knight told a federal judge that senior White House lawyers pressured her to falsely claim that Bolton’s book contained classified information. She was reinstated under President Biden.”

***

djt says he’d let Russia do ‘whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that don’t pay enough. Republicans say it was just fine.

 

Heather Cox Richardson: “What I’m saying is… if former president Donald Trump or a Trump-like figure… is elected president or takes the presidency in 2024, we will lose American democracy for our lifetimes. Not forever, because strong men always fall. It’s the nature of authoritarian movements.”[She’s more optimistic than I.]

***

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Claim of Absolute Immunity. The ruling answered a question that an appeals court had never addressed: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?

MUSIC

Where has Tracy Chapman been? Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

The Genius Of Stevie Wonder

The War and Treaty: Lover’s Game

1712 Overture – PDQ Bach

Karma Chameleon – Culture Club

Victoria Monét: On My Mama

Coverville 1475: The Harry Styles Cover Story

Jelly Roll: Son Of A Sinner

J. Eric Smith’s Favorite Songs by Favorite Artists: Buggy Jive and D.O.A. 

Laufey – From The Start

Gracie Abrams: Difficult

 

WTIT: Sunday Stealing

Sabor a Campo

Sunday Stealing is per WTIT again.

1. What is a big dream you have for the future?

To go to several Major League Baseball stadiums in the same season. I know some people have gone to ALL the stadiums in one season, but I’ve given up on that. Maybe one year, I will do the Northeast (Toronto, Boston, New York (2), Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Then, another year, tackle the Midwest et al, preferably by train.

2. What are your favorite hobbies?

Genealogy. Do I HAVE other hobbies?

3. If you could change the world, what would you do?

Have news, especially quasi-news, Twitteresque “information” poured through a truth filter.

4. What places have you traveled to?  What was your favorite?

Thirty-two states in the US, Mexico, Canada, France and Barbados. The latter was my favorite, partly because I didn’t have to pay for it; I won it on JEOPARDY!

5. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I don’t eat weird things. Well, not by my definition. My daughter thinks eating cottage cheese and maple syrup together is weird. Nah.

6. What are your favorite places to eat?

The truth is that several eateries have come and gone. It’s challenging to narrow down places. The last place my wife and I ate was Sabor a Campo, 485 Delaware Avenue, Albany, NY, in a half-filled strip mall at Whitehall Road. The name, “which translates to ‘Taste of Country,’ is an eat-in buffet, carry-out style restaurant, specializing in value-driven multicultural foods, and set in a relaxed, homey, and familial environment.” A couple at church recommended it, and the food was excellent.

A friend calls me “Mister Music” – seriously.

7. What kind of music do you like?  Talk about a favorite artist or songs.

I can’t do that. Too many choices. Pop music from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. A bunch of classical music. Jazz. Search the blog; I write about music almost weekly. 

Meanwhile, listen to the William Tell Overture by Rossini. Here are people who have birthdays in February, so I’ve listened to them all recently:  Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter – Nina Simone. I Don’t Remember – Peter Gabriel. Shut Up and Kiss Me – Mary Chapin Carpenter. The Mercy Seat – Johnny Cash. Lay Down (Candles In the Rain) – Melanie (with the Edwin Hawkins Singers).

8. What was the last book you read?

Prequel by Rachel Maddow

9. If you could meet a character from a book, who would it be?

Bartholomew Cubbins, who spoke truth to power in Bartholemew and the Oobleck

10. Do you prefer books or movies?  Why?

Movies because I can commit to them more easily. I started reading many books, both paper and audiobooks, but I didn’t finish them. I also like to GO to the movies because watching at home tends to be too hard to focus on.

Fear, and lack of the same

11. What is something you used to be scared of but aren’t anymore?

Embarrassing myself publicly. I may still do it, but it doesn’t fuel anxiety as it used to.

12. What is something you were never afraid of but are now?

The end of democracy is not just in the United States but in several other countries. Global warming.

13. What item is your most cherished possession?  Why?

I have a metal box with all my important papers, including genealogy notes. If there were a fire, it’d be the single thing I would grab.

14. What awards or contests have you won?

I won a racquetball tournament in 1989, I think.

15. Do you like working jigsaw puzzles?

Not really. I have no patience for them. And I don’t “see” the connecting parts well.

The Beatles in ’64

4 Apr was record-breaking

In honor of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show 60 years ago, here are some links to The Beatles in ’64. Particularly in the first half of the year, they dominated the charts like no artist had before. The dates below reflect the top ten of the Billboard charts. All of the songs were on Capitol Records unless otherwise indicated.

25 Jan: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #3, up from #45 the previous week

1 Feb:  I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1: it would top the Billboard (BB) charts for 7 weeks, Cash Box (CB: 1950-1996) for 8 weeks, and Music Vendor (MV: 1954-1964) for 9 weeks. The book The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson reads: “It is the most significant single in the rock era.” The group wouldn’t perform in America until they appeared at the top of the US charts.

8 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, on the Swan label,  #7, up from #21.

15 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #3.

22 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2.

29 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2. Please Please Me, #6, up from #29, on the Vee-Jay label.

The week I turned 11

7 Mar: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2. Please Please Me #4.

14 Mar: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You #2. Please Please Me #3, where it peaked on the CB and MV charts as well.

21 Mar: She Loves You, #1. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #2.  Please Please Me #3. Twist And Shout, #7, up from #55, on the Tollie label affiliated with Vee-Jay. This week was the first time an artist had consective chart toppers since Elvis in 1956.  The song was #1 on CB for two weeks and MV for 1.

28 Mar:  She Loves You, #1. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #2. Twist and Shout, #3. Please Please Me, #4.

The top five

4 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1, from #27, at the time, the biggest leap to the top of the charts in Billboard history. Besides being #1 for five weeks on BB, it was #1 on CB for five weeks and #1 on MV for four weeks. Twist and Shout, #2, where it peaked on BB, but it got to #1 on both CB and MV. She Loves You, #3. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #4. Please Please Me #5.

11 Apr:  Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2. She Loves You, #4. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #7.  Please Please Me #9.  The Beatles had 14 songs on the BB Top 100. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #14. I Saw Her Standing There, #38. You Can’t Do That, #48. All My Loving, #50. From Me To You, #52. Thank You Girl, #61. There’s A Place, #74. Roll Over Beethoven, #78. Love Me Do, #81.

18 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2, Do You Want To Know A Secret, #5 on Vee-Jay. She Loves You, #8.

25 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #3.

2 May: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1,  Do You Want To Know A Secret, #3, Twist and Shout, #7

9 May: Do You Want To Know A Secret, #2, also went #3 on BB and MV for three and two weeks, respectively. Can’t Buy Me Love, #5. The Beatles were finally supplanted from the #1 slot by Hello, Dolly by Louis Armstrong.

16 May: Love Me Do, #3 from #12 on Tollie. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #5

Jane Asher’s brother

23 May: Love Me Do, #2. Also, A World Without Love by Peter and Gordon, #10, up from #30, a song attributed to Lennon/McCartney.

30 May: Love Me Do, #1, also #1 on CB and MW,  A World Without Love, #7.

6 June:  Love Me Do, #2,  A World Without Love, #6.

13 June: A World Without Love, #2 Love Me Do, #4.

20 June: A World Without Love, #2 Love Me Do, #7.

27 June: A World Without Love, #1, also #1 on CB, and #2 for two weeks on RW. Bad To Me by Billy J. Kramer with the  Dakotas, #9 from #16, also #10 on CB. Brian Epstein managed Kramer, and the song was attributed to Lennon/McCartney.

4 July 4:    A World Without Love, #6.  Bad To Me, #9.

11 July:    A World Without Love, #8.

18 July: nothing in the Top 10

25 July: A Hard Day’s Night, #2, up from #21

1 Aug: A Hard Day’s Night, #1. It was also #1 for three weeks on both CB and RW.

 8, 15, 22, 29 of Aug; 5, 12 of Sept, A Hard Day’s Night, #1, #3, #3, #4, #8, #8.

Inside the violent threat against the Beatles’ only Colorado concert:  Beatlemania took over Red Rocks on Aug. 26, 1964, during the band’s first North American tour

12 Dec: I Feel Fine, #5, up from #22.

19 Dec: I Feel Fine, #2

26 Dec: I Feel Fine #1; also #1 for four weeks CB, #1 for three weeks RW. In Jan 1965 (2, 9, 16, 23), it went #1, #1, #2. #4 before it fell out of the Top Ten.

The #1 hits of 1914

By The Beautiful Sea

Sheet music. It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary. 1982.0736.05.

Here are the #1 hits of 1914. Joel Whitburn’s A Century of Pop Music notes: “Ballroom dancing…became a nationwide phenomenon, with 1913 as its peak year.” 

Also, “six new companies became talking-machine competitors to the Big Three [Edison, Columbia, and Victor] in 1914.” Of course, World War I began that year, though the US didn’t enter the fray until three years later.

I tried to find the best recording. The first one is subpar. In general, the ones from the78prof are quite good.

The Song That Stole My Heart Away – Henry Burr (Columbia), seven weeks at #1

It’s A Long Way To Tipperary – American Quartet (Victor), seven weeks at #1. In 1915, this became a big hit for John McCormack (#1) and the Prince’s Orchestra (#2). This is a very familiar song, and I’m not even 110.

Rebecca of Sunny-brook Farm – American Quartet (Victor),  six weeks at #1

I’m On My Way To Mandalay – Henry Burr, Albert Campbell, and Will Oakland (Victor) , six weeks at #1. Written by Al Bryan and Fred Fisher, the writers of Peg O’ My Heart, which I know well.

By The Beautiful Sea – Heidelberg Quintet (Victor), six weeks at #1. Or Quintette, per the label.  I know this song, at least the chorus. 

Comedy is so subjective

Cohen On The Telephone – Joe Hayman (Columbia), five weeks at #1, a gold record of spoken-word comedy

Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s An Irish Lullabye) – Chauncey Olcott (Columbia), four weelks at #1. I knew it was familiar! Bing Crosby covered it and it went to #4 in 1944.

Ballin’ The Jack – Prince’s Orchestra (Columbia), three weeks at #1. An instrumental. 

I Love The Ladies– Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (Columbia), three weeks at #1. A comedy record.

The Aba Daba Honeymoon – Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (Victor), two weeks at #1, listed as a comedy record. This was a gold record for Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter as it went to #3  in 1951. This has nothing to do with Fred Flintstone.

By The Beautiful Sea– Ada Jones and Billy Watkins

Jan. rambling: worse than you’d think

P.D.Q. Bach

What’s Indoor Air Quality Like in Long-Term Care Facilities During Wildfires? Worse Than You’d Think

The Media Is Melting Down, and Neither Billionaires Nor Journalists Can Seem to Stop It. Across the industry, contraction, layoffs, sales, and labor unrest remind us of 2008 — but insiders are less optimistic this time.

Politicians Must Stop Playing Doctor — Personal ideology should not guide medical care, even for abortion.

Frank S. Robinson’s Book Review of “The Democrat Party Hates America”

The Green Island Power Authority responded to Chuck Miller’s questions. All of them.

2030 Census Planning in 2024

NY County data on detailed race by sex and age

What Happens When a Baby Is Born on a Plane? The unique reality of being—and having—a ‘skyborn’? at 39,000 feet

Pam Grier Set for Career Tribute at Toronto Black Film Festival

Complexly Signs Major Tetris Athlete

“God told me to run a bitcoin swindle on my parishioners.”

The last Salem “witch”

The Bookshop Sketch

9 Issues You Absolutely Need to Fix Before Selling Your Home

How to properly use a semicolon?

Now I Know: The Pregnant Platypus With a Secret and The Jail With a Built-in Breakout Plan (one of my sisters used to live in El Cajon)

Obits and a birthday

The Unthinkable Mental Health Crisis That Shook a New England College (WPI)

Colon cancer is killing more younger men and women than ever.

Norman Jewison, Director of In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, Fiddler on the Roof, The Hurricane, and many others, dies at 91

Charles Osgood, the host of CBS News Sunday Morning from 1994 to 2016, died at 91. I watched religiously. Thank you, VCR and DVR.

Joyce Randolph, Trixie on ‘The Honeymooners,’ Dies at 99

Bill Mumy, who I remember from Lost in Space and episodes of The Twilight Zone, turns 70 on February 1. 

SCOTUS on tape

The Supreme Court – now with sound! The Moving Image and Sound Branch of the National Archives is also home to over 300,000 sound recordings.   The recordings are organized chronologically.  Since cases are often argued over multiple days, cases can be split up between different recordings.

Time, Inc. v. Hill in 1966.  The Hill family case was argued by former vice president and future president Richard Nixon.  You can hear Nixon argue at about 51:30 in this recording.

  • Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 required states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  The recordings are divided into three parts: question one, question two, and the opinion.
  • Engel v. Vitale in 1962 decided that school-initiated prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment.
  • Gideon v. Wainwright from 1963 declared that indigent defendants must be provided legal representation without charge.
  • Roe v. Wade was argued over two dates: December 1971 and  October 1972.  The court declared abortion to be a constitutional right.
  • Loving et ux. v. Virginia struck down state laws that banned interracial marriage in 1967.

 

MUSIC
The American Dream Is Killing Me – Green Day [graphic]
Otis Redding: “(Sittin’ on) The Dock Of The Bay”, the first posthumous #1 pop song

Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88. P.D.Q. Bach – Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Sportscast

Singer Melanie, Who Performed at Woodstock,” Dies at 76. Listen to Lay Down with the Edwin Hawkins Singers; Ruby Tuesday.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera film (2004)
Peter Sprague Plays The Wind Cries Mary featuring Lisa Hightower
John Lennon featuring the Plastic Ono Band: Jealous Guy
Coverville 1473: The Footloose 40th Anniversary Album Cover and 1474: Cover Stories for Roxette, Aaliyah and The Ventures
Symphonic Poem on Three Notes by Tan Dun.
Billy Joel: The Stranger
K-Chuck Radio: The Frank Farian Catalogue
Peter Sprague Plays Ocean Song, Earth Song
2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Class: Timbaland, R.E.M., Steely Dan, Hillary Lindsey, Dean Pitchford

Ramones Biopic Caught In Crossfire of Heirs’ Clash In Court

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