Here are the #1 hits of 1924 for all you centenarians out there.
From A Century of Pop Music by Joel Whitburn: “The record industry was on a roller coaster throughout the decade. Sales were booming in 1920-21 with postwar enthusiasm, but by 1924 had plunged alarmingly. Consumers were buying radios – offering far better sound quality than any acoustic phonograph – instead of phonographs and records… The roaring national good times at mid-decade reversed the downturn…”
It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ – Wendell Hall (Victor), six weeks at #1, gold record. “Comedian with ukulele.”
California, Here I Come – Al Jolson (Brunswick), the gold record was six weeks at #1. I know that song! At least one video features Jolson in blackface, which I declined to use.
Memory Lane -Fred Waring featuring Tom Waring (Victor), five weeks at #1. Fred Waring arranged a lot of the music I sang as part of the Glee club in high school.
Somebody Stole My Gal – Ted Weems (Victor), five weeks at #1, gold record. Instrumental, including banjo. Leo Wood wrote it.
It Had To Be You – Isham Jones (Brunswick), five weeks at #1. Instrumental. It’s a well-known tune written by Jones. The lyrics, which do not appear in this version, were by Gus Kahn.
Born Israel Beilin
What I’ll Do – Paul Whiteman (Victor), five weeks at #1. The instrumental is a familiar waltz written by Irving Berlin.
Spain – Isham Jones (Brunswick), two weeks at #1. Instrumental.
Charleston – Arthur Gibbs (Victor), one week at #1. Instrumental. From the musical Running Wild. Do you have your dancing shoes on?
Incidentally, Columbia, which had only five of the top 40 singles that year, “went into receivership before reorganization in 1924” because it was “burdened by a large inventory of unsold phonographs.” However, it “re-established itself as second only to mighty Victor among the major labels.”
Alabama hospital puts a pause on IVF in the wake of ruling saying frozen embryos are children. Conservative groups have long revered Chief Justice Tom Parker as an architect for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “The majority, in its opinion, cited an 1872 statute that allows parents to sue over the wrongful death of a child and found that ‘unborn children,’ including ‘extrauterine children,’ were included in that.” SMH at the faux Christian “logic.”
‘Unconscionable’ criminal justice bills could fuel soaring incarceration in Louisiana. Reform advocates condemn raft of measures expected to pass under the new far-right governor, Jeff Landry.
Capital One to Acquire Discover, Creating a Consumer Lending Colossus. “The all-stock deal, valued at $35.3 billion, will combine two of the largest credit card companies in the United States.” As a long-time satisfied Discover cardholder, I am extremely wary.
Ecological Overreach: Ignorance, Hubris, and Stupidity
To purchase The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier by Amy Godine at Cornell Press, input discount promo code 09FLYER at check out for 30% off the list price.
A Big Week in the Trump Trials; HeSays Indictments and His Mug Shot Are Helping Him With Black Voters
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The Ghost That Was Too Quiet and The Rules of the Roadkill, Smart Phone-Version and The Problem With Dark Blue and Yellow License Plates, and The Lion King and the Secret (But Not Actually R-Rated) Message
The Russians Are Coming
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Tuesdays at 2 pm at 161 Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Avenue
March 5 | Book Review | The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story by Sam Wasson. Reviewer: John McGuire, PhD, attorney.
March 12 | Author Talk | Author, Spiritual Director, and Book Coach Diane Cameron will discuss her book, Looking for Signs, and talk about writing memoirs.
March 19 | Book Review | The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike. Reviewer: Elaine Garrett, BFA, MA, STEM Outreach and Workforce Development, SUNY Research Foundation at NY Creates and the NYS Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology, UAlbany.
March 26 | Author Interview | Ian Ross Singleton, MFA, of the Writing & Critical Inquiry Program, U at Albany, SUNY, is interviewed by Geri Walsh, MS (special education), employment specialist, about his novel The Two Differences.
Music
Gotta Have You – Peter Sprague, featuring Leonard Patton and Rebecca Jade
I thought of this song because of an article about fads. 45 Men A Telephone Booth by The Four Tophatters was a single my father owned. I bought a compilation CD largely because of this song.
11. From your early years of childhood
Bird Dog by the Everly Brothers, which my father also owned.
It’s time for Mixed CD – Heart, it being Valentine’s Day. Some are happy love spongs, some not so much. And since I love music, I’m noting if I saw the artist perform.
You Really Got Me – the Kinks. I didn’t pay that much attention to the group until a few years after they broke through.
Caught Up In The Rapture – Anita Baker. My friend KD recently reminded me that when we saw her at the Palace Theatre in Albany on March 25, 1986, I met her, and she got us backstage where we saw Jack Nicholson, in town to film the movie Ironweed, and boxer Mike Tyson, who trained around the area.
Passionate Kisses – Mary Chapin Carpenter. I have several of her albums. This is a Lucinda Williams song; her I saw at the Newport Folk Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, NY, on Aug 9, 1998, and at least once in Washington Park in Albany in the mid-1990s.
Stepping Out With My Baby – Tony Bennett. I saw him at Tanglewood on September 5, 1998, with Diana Krall opening. A great show.
I Do It For Your Love – Paul Simon. I saw him perform in Albany at the Knick Arena in March 1991.
My favorite song from Tapestry
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow – Carole King. With James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.The only time I ever saw JT was at the anti-nuke demonstration on June 12, 1982. Joni I saw on August 22, 1974 at SPAC, then in Philadelphia in 1981.
I Love Everybody – Lyle Lovett. He was the headline artist at the Newport Folk Festival at SPAC in 1998.
Can’t Nothing Be Love But Love – the Temptations. This was from the Norman Whitfield wah-wah era. I saw the Temptations twice, once during the Reunion tour at the Colonie Colesium in 1982, and a couple of years later at Heritage Park in Colonie near Albany.
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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.
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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!
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Chita Rivera, revered and pioneering Tony-winning dancer and singer, dies at 91
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.”
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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].
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.]
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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
Elton John – (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again (Live From The 92nd Annual Academy Awards), February 10, 2020, just before the pandemic. Rebecca Jade is left, middle.