That's cool. Which would make sense for a half-remembered poem from his youth, since it was about twenty-five years old at that time. Because an arsonist is bad, but a yeller belly is worse. Including the townspeople trying to band together against the bad hombres. Good old Wrongway. Which kind of predicts the plot of the first reunion movie. And he was never seen nor heard from again. Actually, I didn't even know about the dream. I was referring to the Virgin Mary versus Mary Jane interpretations. The "war machine" and "ghetto scene" lines seem awkwardly tacked on, like a Millennial* trying to sound woke by tossing around buzz words he doesn't understand. Without those, I'd interpret it as the band being put off by assertive or liberated women. I can see writing a song about liking girls from home, but even if that was the inspiration they're still writing about disliking girls who are not from home-- which, come to think of it, also predicts the current Zeitgeist. I can't come up with any positive interpretation of the lyrics. * This is definitely true. I wonder if people enjoy this song in the same way that they enjoy "Cocaine." They just hear "American Woman" and everything else is just "blah blah blah," like in that Gary Larson cartoon. I think I've always heard the album version, or at least mostly. My favorite is "Share The Land," anyway.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1) _______ Mission: Impossible "The Crane" Originally aired March 8, 1970 Jim could use some earbuds, or some honkin' big-ass headphones if that's what's available. He's listening to his secret instructions right on the other side of a curtain from a shop full of customers. There's a male guest agent named Clay (Ralph Ventura), who's not given an onscreen credit when his picture is shown during the portfoilo scene; Jim also pulls out a flyer for the Globe Repertory Company. General Kozani is saved from Constantine Supporter Jim by Uniformed Willy and his TV Fu Knockout Chop; but not before Jim puts the idea in the general and Strobo's heads of Constantine potentially making a deal to join the junta. Meanwhile, Barney and Paris work on a road crew--which presumably otherwise consists of repertory company performers--setting stuff up...including a fake attack on the armored car carrying Constantine. Paris uses a suction cup gun demonstrated in the briefing to gas the inside of the car and blow his way in. The IMF has to hide Constantine in a sealed-off area of a city (reminding me very much of the premise of "Submarine"), so Constantine gets knocked out real good by an additional drug and raised in a bucket suspended from a crane. The local police pursue Paris and Barney through some underground tunnels, apparently as a diversion; eventually P & B resurface, hop in Clay's car, and redress themselves as military officers. In his warehouse digs and using the ubiquitous IMF phone suitcase, Willy intercepts a call from the general and eventually puts him through to Paris impersonating Strabo; Fake Strabo wants to arrange a meeting between the general and Constantine, whom he says has been in contact with him. A lower-ranking underling of the general goes to the address where the meeting is supposed to take place, snoops around, avoids getting blown up by a rigged door, then descends through the doorway to the basement to find a printing press with a plate for a propaganda poster proclaiming Strabo and Constantine as allies in overthrowing Kozani. While the search continues, Real Strabo notices and starts to take an interest in the crane bucket when he gets a call from Paris impersonating Constantine, attempting to negotiate a deal for his being let go, which involves a meeting in a public square. Elsewhere, Kozani tries to persuade Guerrilla Jim to tell him where Constantine is, and agrees to being taken to a meeting with him. Back at the square, Paris disguised as a go-between who's pretending to be blind makes contact with Strabo, who has the square surrounded with extremely obvious snipers. Making it known that he has a gun in his pocket, Paris makes Strabo drive with him to a manhole cover away from the square where Strabo climbs down, is knocked out by Willie via a drugged needle, and is taken into Constantine's fake office, where Paris disguises him as Constantine. When Strabo awakens, he's shown that Clay is holding a shotgun on him from behind a panel in the wall that Paris then conceals with a two-way mirror, as a means of persuading Strabo to play along and remain silent. Jim brings in Kozani, who proceeds to talk smack about Strabo to the person whom he thinks is Constantine. Before leaving the two of them alone together, Jim presses a button that opens a drawer of the desk that Not Constantine is sitting at, revealing a pistol. They fooled me with what happened next--Strabo turned and fired into the mirror, though Clay was no longer on the other side; but then, after unmasking himself and getting in some words of his own, Strabo does exactly what we've come to expect. Blam, blam, Mission: Accomplished. _______ Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Season 3, episode 25 Originally aired March 9, 1970 The cocktail party, with Milton Berle: Dan and Dick are throwing Tyrone a bachelor party...and Milton Berle is the emcee: General Bull Wright gets the Tasteful Lady's Seal of Approval: Ernestine calls an obscene phone caller: The news song is valkyrie themed. Officer Berle and the Farkels. New talent Jimmy Caesar sings "By the Time I Get to Phoenix". He also does "My Way" in another segment. The Joke Wall, with Milton Berle: There was a bit at the end with Berle in a German uniform in Wolfgang's bush, but I couldn't find it. _______ "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?" Originally aired March 12, 1970 After seeing a low-budget film that's made $10 million, Ann, Donald, and Jerry decide to try making one themselves. Bernie Kopell's sporting a mustache and big sideburns now; Donald references having been in college five years ago; and Ann's wearing past-the-knee boots. Meanwhile Ann starts to get indications that Ruth's engaging in suspicious activity that she's keeping from Jerry. Jerry's projector is like the type we used to use at school. When Donald plays some footage of Ann that he shot of her washing the windows, Ann spots Ruthie in a window of the next building kissing another man. Of course, Ann gets all worked up about it and wants to get involved, while Donald is hesitant to. We learn the truth in a cut to the Baumans' apartment...Ruth's pregnant. Cut then to Ann and Donald getting the news. It turns out that Ruth was looking at an apartment in the next building and the hug and kiss were just her reaction to getting it. "Oh, Donald" count: 12 "Oh, Jerry" count: 2 "Oh, Ruthie" count: 2 _______ I've read that Connors and Crawford remained lifelong friends after The Rifleman. He played it like he was quoting it precisely, though. And could be seen as an implicit theme of the series. But was referenced in one of those reunion movies, as I recall. Never heard of that one. Paul rarely has such a detailed explanation of how a song came to him. When he does have one, that's the only explanation that counts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_(Beatles_song)#Origins Though I guess he's giving everyone an out there. First and foremost, I'd keep in mind that the song was written as an improvisation during a live show, so the lyrics probably don't bear a lot of scrutiny. But keeping in mind that it's a non-(US) American perspective, there is room to go with an interpretation of the titular "American woman" representing America in general...something that maybe seems sexy and alluring at a glance, but has a nasty side that includes carpet-bombing Vietnam and racial violence within its own borders. Whether or not such an interpretation was intended, I'd say that's a valid criticism of the US in that period. The amount of attention I pay to lyrics is dependent on how easy they are to understand in the first place. I can't recall if "New Mother Nature" was included in the version I'd typically heard on oldies radio or not.
The entire art shop self destructs after he leaves. There can be no witnesses! What the hell good is that? Where's Lee Meriwether? Too bad Jim wasn't with them, then they could be PB & J. Haha. I'm here all week. Suicide Bullet should get onscreen credit during the portfolio scene. That sounds interesting. The title is a reference to the film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. But the father is not Jerry, it's the landlord-- who is a space alien in the process of impregnating all the women in the building with human-alien hybrids which will aid his planet in the conquest of the Earth. When they turn 18, so plenty of time to deal with that. Good for them. It's nice to hear about a child star who didn't go to ruin. Weird. It's not like copyright was an issue. Indeed! Cool. I don't remember that. That's interesting, and there's certainly no reason to doubt him. When I was a kid, the conventional wisdom was that The Beatles were trying to sound nice and religious, but "everybody knows" what the song is really about. A very good point. Certainly, and the topic of a lot of music. But here they seem to be blaming the very type of person who would be protesting all that. Definitely does not stand up to scrutiny. Well, you know me.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2) _______ Ironside "Little Jerry Jessup" Originally aired March 12, 1970 Last week DeForest Kelley got second guest billing. This week top billing goes to... Guest Star WILLIAM SHATNER The Shat's playing Marty Jessup, the father of the title character (Mitch Vogel, who'll go on in the fall to play the regular role of Jamie Cartwright on Bonanza). 13-year-old Jerry was an earwitness to his mother's murder, which sent the boy into shock...and Marty is in prison. Ironside is the one who talked him into giving himself up. Some say impersonations of Shatner's acting mannerisms have been exaggerated; but once again, as on 12OCH, here he really stands out from the usual guest stars for his extreme overacting, right from his first scene. I was actually getting vibes that he was complicit in the murder from how much he was overdoing the grief at learning that his wife had been killed, but that was just Shat trying to do sincere. When Jerry's well enough, the Chief arranges for him to stay at the Ironsidecave, though Jerry is resentful of the Chief for his role in sending his father to prison. Ironside determines that it was a burglary and something was taken that had been hidden under floorboards in the bedroom closet, but that Mrs. Jessup talked to the intruder prior to being killed. Meanwhile, Mark tries to bond with Jerry over basketball and not actually being a cop. The Chief also arranges for Marty to get out on furlough so he can spend some time with Jerry. With Marty's help, the Chief zeroes in on one of his former confederates, Al Carter, as a likely suspect who had once hid out for a bit in the Jessups' apartment. Marty also convinces his son to describe what he heard, and Ironside deduces that Carter retrieved both his gun and the loot; and that something that Fran Jessup said, followed by her reaching for the phone, is what caused Carter to shoot her. Ironside and Marty visit Lydia Zorin (second-billed Special Guest Star Nancy Malone), an old ladyfriend of Carter's, who claims not to have seen him, but we learn that she's not only hiding him out, but drove the car the night of the murder; that Carter (Michael Bell) shot Fran because it looked like she was planning to turn him him in; and that he believes that Marty will do anything to get back at him now. Marty uses an opportunity to make a phone call to his son to instead call the ladyfriend or wife of another former confederate to get her to leave him a car to use. The Chief lets Marty take Jerry for a little playground time (which is where he arranged for the car to be left) and ice cream with only Mark to watch them, against police/penal regulations. On the playground's basketball court, Mark intuits that Marty's planning to take off, takes him aside, and tries to talk him out of it, emphasizing that he's only got a year left to serve. Meanwhile, the Chief has had men keeping eyes on Lydia and her car. They finally see Carter leaving her place and, when he finds that he's surrounded, he makes a run for it; when he fires some shots at his pursuers, Ed takes him down. There's an artful juxtaposition of scenes that has this happening simultaneously with Jerry--echoing something that Mark told him earlier--talking his father out of running. Mark promises to say nothing to the Chief and the trio leave the playground for that ice cream. In the final scene, Marty and Jerry discover that Jerry's foster parents will be the Jessups' neighbors, the Mendareses (who earlier had been witnesses of some details of the murder, including identifying the getaway car); Marty says his goodbyes and leaves to return to prison; and the Chief asks Mark how he talked Marty out of running--confirming my suspicion that he knew what Marty was up to all along. It turns out that he had a couple more sets of eyes on the trio at the playground. _______ The Brady Bunch "The Grass Is Always Greener" Originally aired March 13, 1970 They're actually switching who spends time helping which set of kids, as Carol thought Mike had it easy getting to play baseball with the boys. Both do some book-reading about their new duties, then the rest of the first half is dedicated to Carol's hard day on the Bradys' backyard baseball diamond, which seems much smaller than regulation. The second half focuses on Mike's mishaps in the kitchen, as the other girls and Alice watch. After it's all over, the sore and exhausted parents admit to one another that the other's job wasn't as easy as it looked...punctuated by the way-too-obvious cliche... In the coda, the entire family enjoys the dinner that Marcia made in spite of the circumstances. The episode ends with a gag of Alice saying goodnight to Mike and Carol each time she goes back to the dining room to grab another plate, as the couple are taking that long to make their way upstairs. _______ Hogan's Heroes "The Merry Widow" Originally aired March 13, 1970 The prisoners have intel about a new type of land mine that's been slowing the Allied advance, but are having a temporary issue with the usual tunnel (think it was flooded), so they have to build a new one. Schultz falls through the ground into the new tunnel and catches LeBeau in it, while Klink is watching. Klink, of course, thinks that it's just a futile escape attempt. They arrange with the underground for a very attractive agent (Dusay) to meet with Klink, who'll unwittingly take the intel to her. They feed some info about her role, Countess Marlene, to Schultz so he can support the ruse with Klink. The Countess's M.O. includes sending Klink flowers and a message as an overture. A tailoring job by LeBeau to prep Klink for his rendezvous gets the intel in Klink's jacket. During the date, the Countess spills something on Klink's jacket so she has an opportunity to take the info out while cleaning it. But back at the camp, a newly captured prisoner brings Hogan new intel indicating that the microfilm in the jacket shows an out-of-date version of the mine, which will be a danger to troops trying to deactivate them. Now they have to try to stop the bad intel from being handed off and get the Allies a scale model of the mine. Hogan gets a call out to Marlene via Kinch's switchboard, so she has to kick Klink out abruptly to make room for the new plan...which is to send Schultz over with the model hidden in a potted plant of Klink's. But Klink returns to her place, sees the plant, discovers Schultz there, and takes his plant back to the stalag before Marlene has a chance to retrieve the model. So Hogan has to have her come to the stalag, and persuades Klink to see her again by suggesting that he use it as an opportunity to make her sorry. Klink just falls for her again, and matters are complicated by Schultz coming by and spotting her in Klink's window, but she manages to escape out the window with the plant to be driven away. In the coda, Klink is still looking for where his "Püppchen" is hiding, but when Hogan comes by, pretends like he got his revenge on her. Disss-missed! _______ Adam-12 "Log 104: The Bomb" Originally aired March 14, 1970 The episode opens with Reed and Malloy responding to a report of a theft at Amalgamated Products. Plant supervisor Phil Watters (Frank Maxwell) thinks he has the culprit, shipping clerk Elmo Constant (Roy Engel), in his office. Security guard Ed Bowler (Barry Cahill) comes in and declares that Pete got him kicked out of the police department--they seem to be hitting the "old grudges against Malloy" theme pretty heavily lately. The officers dismiss the charge against Constant for lack of evidence. Outside, Constant tries to warn Reed that Malloy won't have his back. Back on patrol, Malloy explains that Constant was discharged for use of excessive force. The officers spot a man (Lewis Charles) carrying two grocery bags full of items. He claims to be moving, but upon further questioning his story doesn't hold up. Another man, Blanch (Guy Wilkerson), runs up in an undershirt, pajama bottoms, and bare feet claiming that Herring stole the items from him, and is wearing his shoes. Then a woman runs up from a taco stand across the street and accuses Blanch of having stolen money from her, which was supposedly while Herring was robbing him (though that doesn't explain how Herring got Blanch's shoes). On patrol again, the officers hear the noise of revving engines, make a call, and get a response from another unit in the vicinity who also hear them. They spot the hot rodders who are responsible for the noise getting ready to take off while an elderly woman who's hard of hearing is backing out of a driveway in front of them. The officers swoop in with siren blaring to stop the elderly woman, but one of the hot rods flips over while skidding to a stop. Its driver is killed, and the surviving driver angrily blames the old woman. The station gets a call from Bowler about an suspected bomb having been found in the plant, which Reed and Malloy are sent to investigate. Malloy seems skeptical that the suspicious package he points them to is actually a bomb, but he advises Watters to clear the plant as a precaution and calls in the bomb squad. Once on the scene, one of the two-man squad unit uses a listening device to determine that there's no timing mechanism. He then pokes a hole in the box through which they inspect the contents with a pen light, seeing several sticks of dynamite but no chemical detonator. They send Reed and Malloy to look for a potential remote triggering device while they roll in a gadget that serves as shield with a couple of rods sticking out of it via which they move the package a bit to determine that won't detonate it, then carefully carry it out into the parking lot and cut a larger hole through which they clip its wires. While Reed and Malloy are searching for the detonator, Bowler points them to Constant's locker, which has a lunch pail with a TV remote in it. The bomb squad officers use an electronic meter to determine that it is the triggering mechanism. Constant says that he was paid to place the package by an employee named Baker, whom Bowler says left feeling ill that afternoon. The officers go to Baker's home and talk to his sister, who indicates that he's a widower and quit his job that afternoon, disgruntled about having worked too many years without a promotion. She directs them to the garage, which they find closed but with the noise of an engine running inside. Breaking in through a window, they find Baker unconscious in a car from a suicide attempt. In the coda, we learn that Constant was deemed innocent but quit his job, and that Baker will live. I was surprised that the Bowler angle didn't really go anywhere. The way he was acting, I was sure he'd turn out to be behind the bomb threat. _______ That, or he just leaves guns out for everybody... Crawford was recently leading a dance orchestra and a few years back had been doing spots for The Rifleman on MeTV: Looking at his Wiki page, he's more recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When I was searching for the video above, one of the results was for a gofundme campaign for him. I think it was the one where they discovered a military plane on the island...wanna say that was the second one. They were wondering who it belonged to and one of them--think it was Howell--said that he didn't care if it was Wrongway Feldman! Not necessarily. They weren't all hippie chicks. Speaking of hippie chicks...coming back to this bit of business from January... Found it!
Strong coda to the pilot, and it shows just how far the members of the Squad have come since those head-butting days, and how they are a family. By this time in the series, the showrunners and cast had successfully built and sold the family connection--just how close they were to each other. Its rare for series of this period to get that emotional beat just right, and believable, as other series might say characters are close, but its not really felt.. In a period (early 1970s) overloaded with legendary albums, it says much about how overwhelmingly successful this one had been, leaving much of the "competition" in the dust. To do that on a final album made it a powerful punctuation mark of the acts who survived the 1960s. Arguably Canada's greatest rock/pop music export, The Guess Who made an unforgettable mark on early 70s music, with such a unique sound. Although immensely popular with young people, their sound was richer and more mature than some of their contemporaries, almost their own sub-genre sound.
With any luck, we'll get Nichelle Nichols next. I think Captain Kirk kind of went to his head. Nothing gets by the Chief. Yes, both genders have their role to play in the family and society. Thanks, Brady Bunch. Newkirk was unavailable? He's made a lot of enemies in his tireless fight against crime. He's been watching too much Shatner. Oh, yeah, I remember that. He also made personal appearances. I know someone who met him in an Old West town or something one time. Yikes. I'll have to look into that. How sad that he is hard up for money in his old age after all he's done. I've seen them all, but I realize I don't remember much except for the first one. I think I probably only have the first one on DVD. I'll have to check. I suppose. They really should have been more clear. Heh. Tony Curtis gave his real name.
50th Anniversary Album Spotlight Morrison Hotel The Doors Released February 9, 1970 Chart debut: March 7, 1970 Chart peak: #4, March 21, 1970 This has long been my favorite post-1967 Doors album. To my ear, it moves their sound forward in a much better way for the band than the creative misstep that was The Soft Parade. Some background on where things were at with the Doors when they recorded the album... UnlikeThe Soft Parade, all of the songwriting credits on this album are either Morrison; Morrison, Krieger; or Jim Morrison, music by the Doors; there don't seem to be any Robby Krieger solo compositions. The first side of the album, "Hard Rock Cafe," opens with the raunchy, rockin' "Roadhouse Blues," which couldn't be a more powerful declaration of the band's turn away from the approach taken on the preceding album: The song didn't do too well as a single in its day (charts Apr. 11, 1970, as double A-side w/ "You Make Me Real"; #50 US), but has become a well-known classic rocker. "Waiting for the Sun" is one of two songs that was recorded substantially earlier than the rest of the album...in this case, in 1968 during the sessions for the album of the same name: I particularly enjoy this one, it's got a great, trippy but hard-driving Doors vibe to it. "You Make Me Real," which was an early Morrison composition dating back to 1966, is enjoyable but perhaps too-conventional single material (charts Apr. 11, 1970, as double A-side w/ "Roadhouse Blues"; #50 US): "Peace Frog," OTOH, is pure, classic Morrison. Note the references to "blood in the streets, the town of Chicago," and to Jim's childhood trauma at seeing badly injured Native Americans on the side of the road after an accident: This segues direction into the gentler, more ethereal "Blue Sunday". The first side closes with the upbeat but doomsaying "Ship of Fools," which features a particularly sign-o-the-timesy couplet: "People walkin' on the Moon / Smog gonna get you pretty soon". Side two, "Morrison Hotel," may not be as strong as "Hard Rock Cafe," but it's still quite enjoyable. It opens with "Land Ho!," a likeably upbeat number that I wanted to say was inspired by Jim's actual grandfather, but looking in a couple of likely places, I couldn't find anything to that effect. Things get a little smoother and trippier with the next song, "The Spy". That and the following rocker of a story song, "Queen of the Highway," are said to have been inspired by Jim's relationship with Pamela Courson. The penultimate song on the album is the ethereal "Indian Summer"...it's not very long, but you can start to get lost in what's there: This is the other one that was recorded on a substantially earlier date...in this case, way back in 1966, during the sessions for their first album. The albums closes with "Maggie M'Gill," which was based on an improvisational jam that Jim and Ray Manzarek did in a live show that had gone so wrong that Robby and John Densmore had left the stage in frustration. When they were looking for one more track for the album, John asked if they remembered it, and... _______ Perhaps they had, but if so, they needn't have beat us over the head with it so much in the clip show. Less is more. Looks like she did precious little in the way of TV/movies between TOS and the TOS films, other than voicing TAS. No Ironside. I think he was already like that...and born to play Kirk. That, and you could tell he was feigning his lack of concern about letting regulations go and not openly having somebody tail them (when Ed offered to do it). "No, let them go, they'll be fine" = The Chief is up to something. POLICE BAFFLED BY MASS SUICIDE AT ART SHOP You're barking up the wrong tree looking for supernatural angles on That Girl... The Harlem Globetrotters playing against robots must ring a bell.
The Soft Parade was no creative misstep, since its jewel in the crown "Touch Me" was and has always been considered one of their greatest songs and illustrated how much they progressed as a group with such an arrangement. A standout of that decade. Its easy to see why it was not a big winner in its day, as it was not only a long / well used style in its black American origins, but so many UK groups peppered their records with songs that took the same insprirational path, so to ears used to that kind of song, it may have been seen as average or more of the same. The next episode of Picard?
At last! Granted, there are good reasons to love Jim Morrison. Yes, this is certainly a comfortable radio staple. I once had a "Peace Frog" tee shirt. Guess who gave it to me? Now that's something I'd like to see. Practically nothing. I once bought a VHS tape of a really bad Blaxploitation movie because she was in it. It was not a good experience. Now there's musical inspiration: "Born to play Kii-iii-ii-irk!" Maybe I should expand my efforts. There's really nothing that couldn't be improved by a little supernatural or sci-fi. Globetrotters, yes-- robots, no. I'll have to check into DVDs. I've got the complete series, so I should have all the movies, too. Meadowlark Lemon meets Beautiful Flower?
He lies! He is not of the Body! From what I've read and heard, the live shows could get pretty awful when Jim was out of it. Me want one! And that's actually a good transition into something I'd meant to include. The cover photo for the album was taken at an actual hotel with that name, including the signage in the window shown in the album shot. The band couldn't get permission from the owner to shoot the cover there, so they did it on the sly...as you can tell, the photographer was out in the street. Decades later on a vacation, the ex and I came across an art shop in La Jolla, CA, called Morrison Hotel, which used the same signage as its logo. It seems that the original Morrison Hotel was no longer in business and didn't have a copyright on it. Looking up their site, it seems that there's more than one gallery, and it was founded by the album cover's photographer. Anyway, I bought a black T-shirt there with just the logo/signage on it, which was a favorite for years. I still have it, but it's seen better days.
I hope you don't mean the 1974 Isaac Hayes film, Truck Turner, which co-starred Yaphet Kotto? Not only was that one of the more solidly plotted of the "Blaxploitation" sub-genre (at times, playing like a darker version of 1970s detective TV shows), and for Nichelle Nichols, it was her greatest / most memorable performance outside of TOS. She had to have some ability to break away from the image of Uhura to portray the incredibly foul-mouthed, violent madam Dorinda. The film had a number of well-known character actors, including Alan Weeks, who had a minor role in The French Connection (the suspect chased through the alleys by Hackman and Scheider's characters) and a prominent role in the too-comedic-to-work Jim Kelly vehicle, Black Belt Jones (1974).
Yeah, but he inspired a "March For Decency," so it's worth it. It was pretty nice. She was trying to get me to like The Doors by exploiting my love of peace and frogs. I'm sure there must be some out there still. My Peace Frog shirt is long gone by now. Currently I'm wearing my Walking Dead "We Are All Infected" tee shirt, because I like whistling past graveyards. That's the one. I really don't remember a thing about it at this point, except that I was disappointed. Perhaps I'd feel differently forty years later if it's as good as you say.
55 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "The Boy from New York City," The Ad Libs (10 weeks) "I Go to Pieces," Peter & Gordon (11 weeks) "Laugh, Laugh," The Beau Brummels (12 weeks) "Shake," Sam Cooke (11 weeks) "Tell Her No," The Zombies (11 weeks) Recent and new on the chart: "Goldfinger," John Barry & His Orchestra (Mar. 13; #72 US; #15 AC) "I Can't Explain," The Who (#93 US; #8 UK; #371 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) "Ooo Baby Baby," Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (#16 US; #4 R&B; #262 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) "The Last Time," The Rolling Stones (#9 US; #1 UK) "I'll Never Find Another You," The Seekers (#4 US; #2 AC; #1 UK) And new on the boob tube: The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 17, episode 25, featuring Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Connie Francis, Claus Becker, Woody Herman & His Orchestra, Tony Bennett, and Jean Carroll Branded, "The Mission" (part two) 12 O'Clock High, "Mutiny at Ten Thousand Feet" Gilligan's Island, "Music Hath Charm" _______ One of us! One of us! I got a chuckle when Chris Carter played this on Beakfast with the Beatles today, as a follow-up to commenting on the virus. (Coming our way in 50th Anniversaryland late this year.)
Billy was one of my favorite singers from the 60’s. He had that distinctive stuttering singing style that he brought to any song he did whether it was pop, r&b, or show tunes. Great song that holds up quite well today. Great video as well. It looks like a modern retro. Was the band ever really this young? If there ever is a Mt. Rushmore of begging songs, Ohh Baby Baby would be on it. From what I’v read, the song started out as a vamp the group would do in their live shows. But it was so popular, Smokey fleshed it out into complete song Great early tune by Mick and Keith. I used to really like this silly song. Nice melody and harmony.
I see Shirley Bassey's name, but.... Classic Who. Classic Smokey. Classic Stones. I love the effortless, conversational lyrics. This is a really nice one. There are worse things than isolation, that's for sure.
50 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Arizona," Mark Lindsay (16 weeks) "I Want You Back," The Jackson 5 (19 weeks) "Never Had a Dream Come True," Stevie Wonder (7 weeks) "No Time," The Guess Who (14 weeks) New on the chart: "Everybody's Out of Town," B. J. Thomas (#26 US; #3 AC) "Woodstock," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (#11 US) "Which Way You Goin' Billy?," The Poppy Family (feat. Susan Jacks) (#2 US; #6 AC; #7 UK) "Vehicle," The Ides of March (#2 US; #31 UK) And new on the boob tube: The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 22, episode 25, featuring Liberace, Liza Minnelli, Rudy Schweitzer, and Rod McKuen Mission: Impossible, "The Choice" That Girl, "All's Well That Ends" (season finale) Ironside, "Good Will Tour" Hogan's Heroes, "Klink's Escape" (season finale) Adam-12, "Log 114: The Hero" _______ I see that we've lost Kenny Rogers. I'd been saving that one to post later, but as we have room here... "I Do Love You," Billy Stewart (charted Mar. 27, 1965; #26 US; #6 R&B) Yeah, right there under John Barry's... It does look like a mash-up of different footage. The Who are now in the house, though they won't really break out in the States for a couple of years. This is one of those cases where it's surprising to find that the song didn't even make it into the Top 10 of the Hot 100 in the day...it's such an all-time classic. This may be the last time that the Stones put out a single before the one that finally gives us...that certain something that's been lacking... A nice piece of folk pop...one might even classify it as early sunshine pop. And tomorrow marks the debut of folk rock in 55th Anniversaryland, as Mr. Zimmerman releases his first partly electric album, Bringing It All Back Home (coming soonish to an album spotlight near us). I was self-isolating and social distancing before it was trendy...
I'm not sure if I've heard this one before or not. Oh, how I love this song. This is pleasant enough. Note the featured singer-- she is married to Terry Jacks. Oh, yeah! Yeah, it's sad, even though he was not my favorite singer. I always feel especially bad for people who die during a crisis or disaster. What a way to leave the world. Sweet. Who? Yeah, some songs need time to grow. I wonder if that can still happen, the way that music is delivered to people now. Satiation? Indeed. Brace yourself.... Somebody asked me how I was handling self quarantine. I said I've been getting out a little bit more than usual.
_______ 55th Anniversary Viewing _______ The Ed Sullivan Show Season 17, episode 24 Originally aired March 14, 1965 As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show I'd neglected to include this in the list of shows for this week when I first posted it, though I've since added it. The Best of edit starts with Petula performing her recent breakout chart-topper, "Downtown": This Best of installment from mixed dates closes with Petula plugging her fresh new single, "I Know a Place". Her stage business in this performance seems a little less forced and awkward than in "Downtown" (which wasn't shown in full in the clip above). Also in the original episode according to tv.com: _______ Branded "The Mission" (part one) Originally aired March 14, 1965 This three-parter was shot in color, and uses the Season 2 opening titles with the snazzier logo: Old flame Laurette Lansing (Kamala Devi) is checking into a hotel when she finds Jason beating up a man and tossing him down the stairs for calling him a coward. We learn that she believes in Jason's innocence, and that he'd be willing to marry her if not for his situation, which he feels that he can't share with her. She's come specifically to bring him back to Washington, where she says that her father, a senator, needs Jason to advise some of his colleagues. Back East at Stately Lansing Manor, Senator Lansing (Macdonald Carey) is also happy to see Jason, and also favors him one day marrying his daughter. He wants Jason to attend a social gathering of influential types that he's hosting. It occurred to me that maybe Jason might more easily lose himself and get away from his reputation in a more urban locale, but the episode covers that when Jason sees a newspaper headline that reads "Coward of Bitter Creek Sneaks Home". Jason pays a visit to an old general played by John Carradine, with whom he is clearly very familiar. The general presses Jason for more details about Bitter Creek, and Jason pretty much lays it out for him and the audience, while giving us one additional detail that made Jason look guilty: although he doesn't remember it, the farmer who was tending to Jason after the incident, miles away, testified that Jason walked to his farm and seemed perfectly rational at the time. The old general is also a longtime colleague of General Reed, and knows that he was losing his faculties toward the end. The old general's identity isn't specified here, but the credits on IMDb say that his surname is McCord. At the party, the old general brings over a Colonel Snow (Jon Lormer), who's said to be the only officer at Jason's court martial who voted for his innocence. In a back room, Senator Lansing and a couple of colleagues discuss with Jason the possibility of "renegotiating" General Reed's treaty with the Apaches to allow for white settlement of Apache territory, which Jason doesn't favor. They also know that Reed was senile, and threaten to subpoena Jason to get the truth about Bitter Creek from him under oath, but he stands firm on his position and walks out. Outside the house, Jason is attacked by three men who are better dressed than Jason's usual assailants, but a coach drives up and two men jump out to lend him a hand. They turn out to be Secret Service, and take Jason to a certain office on Pennsylvania Avenue, where Colonel Snow introduces Jason to President Grant (William Bryant). It seems that Snow has some sort of plan that Grant has reluctantly agreed to, for which Snow thinks Jason is the right man. The episode ends with the president posing an intriguing question to Jason: "You've already been marked as a coward...how would you like to be branded a traitor as well?" _______ 12 O'Clock High "The Threat" Originally aired March 19, 1965 https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-classic-retro-pop-culture-thread.278375/page-68#post-12235185 To clarify, as I recall, Axis Sally's ominous warning about something happening to Savage involved the significance of the number 13, so everyone was assuming that something was planned to happen on Friday the 13th. _______ Gilligan's Island "The Matchmaker" Originally aired March 20, 1965 Mrs. Howell is fretting over missing out on the social season when she sees Gilligan carrying Mary Ann outside because of an injury and decides to hook them up. After working on each of them some, the Howells have the two of them over for dinner. But when the Howells remember details of the night that Thurston proposed to Lovey differently, it escalates into a marital fight. The next thing you know, they're moving into the huts of the other castaways--which makes clear that they're grouped into at least three huts at this point. Their fighting proves contagious as the other castaways take sides in their arguments. To restore peace to the island, the Skipper hatches a plan to recreate the night of the proposal for the Howells, which includes the Professor as maître d', Mary Ann as a cocktail waitress, the Skipper as the chef, Ginger as a torch singer, and Gilligan as their serving waiter...which of course results in some klutzery. But the plan is a success, with the Howells back together in the coda and Lovey setting her eyes on hooking up the Professor and Ginger. Now Mr. Howell has a solid gold camera and camera stand, which he brought with him on the cruise...in addition to the more ordinary-looking camera that we just saw. Other than being the only members of "The Rest," you mean? _______ So what did you think? I think...it's a pretty damn lame follow-up to "Raindrops". I got it only out of consistency. It's hard to tell when you're being sincere so soon after the Doors. This groovy-ass song, written by Joni Mitchell, heralds the release of the film on March 26. As anticipated, I can't see covering that again since I basically did it in commemoration of the festival itself. And stuff like this and Let It Be and the Beatles' break-up is what makes 1970 feel like the de facto last year of the '60s. Yep, he was in the band and wrote this song. This was a borderline purchase for me because it's such lightweight fluff. Guess now I've more or less committed myself to getting "Seasons in the Sun" when it comes up... He's said to have died of natural causes, so I assume it wasn't because of the virus. Just a coincidence. Sounds decent, hasn't really grown on me yet. He's only like the John Williams of the Bond films. I never went as far as getting the film soundtracks, but used its low charting as an excuse to buy this track as I thought it was a pretty cool instrumental piece. Or to age, like fine wine. An apt metaphor for this piece of smooth, Smokey goodness. Let's all be quiet now, because Keith needs his beauty sleep if he's ever gonna come up with that riff... Me, I'm freakin' loving working from home! My main issue now is being paranoid about having to go out to get groceries.