Ramblin' with Roger

#1 Hot Soul Singles of 1976

Philadelphia International

Here are the #1 Hot Soul Singles of 1976. Curiously, the name of this category changed several times over the years. Rhythm and blues was the dominant designation through mid-1969.

Several songs hit #1 on the pop charts, designated as (pop)

Disco Lady – Johnnie Taylor, six weeks at #1 (pop)

Something He Can Feel– Aretha Franklin, four weeks at #1. I heard the En Vogue take first, then the QoS version in her box set

Dazz– Brick, 4 weeks at #1; here’s the disco mix

(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty – KC and the Sunshine Band, four weeks at #1 (pop)

Wake Up Everybody (Part 1) -Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, two weeks at #1

Sweet Thing – Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, two weeks at #1

Livin’ for the Weekend – the O’Jays, two weeks at #1

You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine – Lou Rawls, two weeks at #1; also a #1 on the easy listening charts

Getaway – Earth, Wind & Fire, two weeks at #1. This is probably my favorite EW&F song. I especially love the triplets at the end. And for fun of it, the Funky Purrfection version

Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry, two weeks at #1 (pop)

Just To Be Close To You – Commodores, two weeks at #1; version

Love Ballad – L.T.D., two weeks at #1

Car Wash – Rose Royce, two weeks at #1 (pop)

Sing A Song – Earth, Wind & Fire, two weeks at #1

One week at #1

Walk Away From Love – David Ruffin. A former Temptation

Turning Point – Tyrone Davis

Inseparable – Natalie Cole

Boogie Fever – Sylvers (pop)

Movin’ – Brass Construction

Love Hangover – Diana Ross (pop)

Kiss and Say Goodbye – Manhattans (pop)

I Want You – Marvin Gaye

Young Hearts Run Free – Candi Station

I’ll Be Good To You -The Brothers Johnson, produced by Quincy Jones. When Q put out his Back On The Block album in 1989, he covered this song with Ray Charles and Chaka Khan.

Sophisticated Lady (She’s A Different Lady) – Natalie Cole

Who’d She Coo? – Ohio Players

The Rubberband Man – Spinners. I have the album version of this song by Linda Creed and Thom Bell, as one does.

Message in Our Music – The O’Jays by Gamble and Huff. Here’s the album version.

You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) – Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. (pop)

Hot Dog: The Second Serving

spectacle, patriotism, celebration, and power

My wife and I had a busy summer. So we decided to travel to New York City from August 5 to 7.

Part of the reason was that my mother-in-law has a timeshare, but since she isn’t traveling, my wife has been trying to transfer control to herself, since she has signatory power. My wife has also been paying the monthly fees. It took several months, but it is (mostly) rectified.

So we had many “points” that had to be used up by September 30. Yikes! Thus, the trip, with no hard plan; we took Amtrak both ways.

The problem is that it can be REALLY hot in Manhattan in the summer. Temps in the 90s, humidity in the oppressive range.

So we’re in Times Square, on Broadway between 46th & 47th Sts, and we see a giant frankfurter. What? Am I hallucinating? Hot Dog: The Second Serving? They’ve done this before.

Okay. From the Times Square official site:

“Two years after its initial staging, the world’s largest hot dog (sculpture) returns to Times Square on the occasion of the nation’s semiquincentennial to offer a renewed grandiose portrait of the United States at 250.”

Deux

“The 65-foot-long sculpture comes back, not as a replica of its former self, Hot Dog in the City (2024), but as an altered monument with surprise additions amid a time where the political and cultural climate is increasingly shaped by spectacle and violence.” The previous image is pretty straightforward, large but simply decorated.

“Bursting with American spectacle, patriotism, and national mythology, Hot Dog: The Second Serving (2026), by Brooklyn-based artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw, is on view from July 21–August 8, 2026, on Duffy Square at Broadway and 46th St.” Ah, we lucked into seeing this in person.

“’The hot dog returns in an altered form to reflect an altered nation. As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, we found ourselves returning to questions that animated the original project: spectacle, patriotism, celebration, and power. Symbols persist. Myths persist. Their meanings shift. Two years after its initial appearance, the sculpture returns to a country that is both familiar and changed, revealing new tensions within a symbol that once seemed self-evident,’ said Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw.

“Complete with an oversized bun, a classic frankfurter, and a sweeping ribbon of yellow mustard, the satirical monument asks for national reflection—on where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.”

And here I thought a hot dog was just a hot dog.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink

I don’t enjoy reviewing blockbuster films such as Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Moreover, I believe I’ve seen EVERY Spider-Man film this century, in no small part because the webslinger is my favorite character. I even edited an issue of a magazine about it, long, long ago.

Fortunately, I can lean into my wife’s opinion. She had not seen No Way Home or most of the previous films, though she did see, at our daughter’s insistence, the Miles Morales animated Into the Spider-Verse.

So she didn’t know much of the mythology around the character, including his origin. She had no idea who Aunt May was, who Bruce Banner’s alter ego is, or the significance of the name Jean Grey.

In other words, I believe she loved the movie for the same reason I’ve always loved Peter Parker: he’s out there trying to figure it out, do the right thing.

In this case, he’s trying to go on with his life, with his besties, his love MJ and the Spidey-obsessed Ned, unable to remember who the heck he is. He’s also trying to take down the bad guys, even when it’s not entirely clear who the villains are. What’s Peter’s relationship with his frenemy Frank Castle?

(Of course, explaining how the Marvel Cinematic Universe diverges from the comic books, and the comics change over time – well, never mind.)

MCU overload?

I read in Esquire, “As penned by Marvel Studios vets Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, Brand New Day comes loaded and feels burdened by an assumption you’ve been keeping up with Marvel still, that you’ve not only seen all the Spider-Mans but also, like, Thunderbolts. It’s a contradictory ask for audiences to see Spider-Man with fresh eyes but to keenly remember the trivial weaving of an overwritten saga. “

Well, maybe not. I’ve never seen Thunderbolts. My wife, as noted, has seen and read FAR less. Yet she could appreciate it for what was on the screen, even when she was surprised by a reveal. I think, reading further, “There aren’t headache-inducing multiverse plots here, thank God, just the basic concern for other people’s well-being at the expense of one’s own.” My wife appreciated that aspect of the storyline.

And Spider-Man fighting red-clad ninjas was cool, whether you’re a Marvel newbie or long-time fanboy. I didn’t know The Hand had been on Daredevil, and it didn’t matter.

Also, I’ve BEEN to those awkward parties where I can’t really connect with anyone.

Maybe this simplicity – well, relative simplicity – is why people have watched the film repeatedly. It’s 89% positive with critics/98% with fans on Rotten Tomatoes.

As usual, we saw the movie at the Spectrum 8 Theatre in Albany. Actually, there were TWO showings when we arrived, including a special viewing arranged by a not-for-profit for a multitude of teens and tweens usually dressed up in costume. Our theater had a more sedate constituency.

More 1976 Easy Listening #1 hits

Sister Suzy, brother John. Martin Luther, Phil & Don. Brother Michael, Auntie Jin

Here are more 1976 Easy Listening #1 hits. I split these in half because I don’t want to type 40 titles and find links. Also, I suspect that you won’t listen to 40 tracks.

These are chronological, based on when they reached #1 from May through December, all for a single week.

Tryin’ To Get The Feeling Again – Barry Manilow

Don’t Pull Your Love/Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye – Glen Campbell

*Silly Love Songs – Wings; also #1 for five weeks pop

Shop Around – The Captain & Tennille; yes, the old Miracles hit written by Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson

Save Your Kisses for Me – Brotherhood of Man

Never Gonna Fall In Love Again – Eric Carmen; written by Carmen

I Need To Be In Love – Carpenters

Movie song

I’m Easy – Keith Carridine; written by Carridine. Some time this century, I attempted to watch the acclaimed movie Nashville, directed and produced by Robert Altman, on television, from which this song was the hit. I could not. This is why I generally see films at the cinema.

You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine – Lou Rawls; written and produced by Gamble and Huff. I LOVE this golden voice.

Let ‘Em In – Wings; written by Paul and Linda. “

I’d Really Like To See You Tonight– England Dan and John Ford Coley. Dan Seals was the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts.

Shower The People – James Taylor; written by Taylor, harmony vocals include Carly Simon. I specifically love the harmonies at the end of this song, which I am compelled to sing along with.

Summer – War

*Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John & Kiki Dee; also #1 for four weeks pop

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Olivia Newton-John

*If You Leave Me Now – Chicago; also #1 for two weeks pop

I Can’t Hear You No More – Helen Reddy; a Gerry Goffin/Carole King composition

Like A Sad Song – John Denver; written by Denver

This One’s For You – Barry Manilow; co-written by Manilow

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – Elton John; written by EJ and Bernie Taupin

Broadway: Buena Vista Social Club

Tony winner Natalie Venetia Belcon

My wife and I were in Times Square on August 6 to see if we could get discounted tickets from TKTS. On Wednesdays, the entity opens at 11 a.m. But by the time we arrived at 10:40 a.m., there were at least 150 people in line. Alas. So we expected to be there for a while.

But then one of the employees told us to get out of line. What did we do wrong? Nothing, as it turned out. We were put at the BEGINNING of the line because my wife’s husband was using a cane! They officially promote folks in the military and folks who saw a Broadway show in the previous week.

However, no tickets were available for the Buena Vista Social Club matinee, so we spent the time on another task. (See a subsequent post.)

We got to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street at about 6:30 for the 7 pm show. I really wanted to see this show because I had seen a movie in 1999 or 2000. Wim Wenders directed the film about Cuban music, “featuring the musicians who recorded the 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club,” produced by Ry Cooder, which I subsequently acquired and loved.

“Buena Vista Social Club was a musical ensemble primarily made up of Cuban musicians, formed in 1996. They named the group after the members’ club of the same name in Havana’s Buenavista quarter, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for many years.”

The story of the musical picks up the thread of the above narrative, specifically how the 1959 revolution impacted the music scene and the musicians’ lives.

Force of nature

Natalie Venetia Belcon played Omara, who had stopped singing six years earlier. Would she be swayed by an enthusiastic young man, a record producer, to return to the recording studio with a bunch of her old musical colleagues? Or would her painful past sideline her?

“Hailed as a ‘jaw-dropping, soul-stirring must-see’ (The Washington Post), the Tony® and GRAMMY® Award-winning BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB is a journey through music and memory into the beating heart of Havana. A world-class company brings the story of the iconic album to thrilling life in this tale of big dreams, second chances, and music that needs no translation.”

The show won five Tonys, including for Ms. Belcon, and was nominated for six more. Following the narrative between 1959 and 1996 was surprisingly easy.

Honestly, the plot threads in the second act were resolved relatively quickly. But it mattered little, because the opening 20 minutes or so of that act became an extraordinary concert, featuring an unbelievable guitarist, David Oquendo.

My wife said it may have been the best show she had ever seen. She may be correct. A touring show will start on September 12 in Buffalo.

Check out the CBS Sunday Morning story from 2025. Oh, it was announced that no photography was allowed DURING the show; this was taken just BEFORE the show. I understand the set was a great replica of the Havana Club.