Ramblin' with Roger

“The “authentic home-grown folk singer”

Les Green, my dad

Here’s an article about my father, Les Green. It’s a column by Tom Cawley, a longtime staffer at the (Binghamton, NY) Evening Press from Friday, 2 June, 1967.

There were quite a few articles about Dad in the Binghamton papers between about 1959 until he, my mother, and my baby sister moved to Charlotte, NC, in 1974. Several of the narratives were about his civil rights activities, a bunch were about his musicality, and a few were about his other volunteer efforts.

This one is curious for a few reasons. Cawley is relying on the reporting of another person. I found Jerry Handte’s commentary somewhat limiting. That said, Les Green being “the authentic home-grown folk singer of the town he was born” with great stage presence, et al., is right on target.

Incidentally, by 1968, my father QUIT working at IBM, because the job was mind-numbing. My homeroom/biology teacher at Daniel Dickinson, Mr. Joseph, told me that my father was crazy. I happened to believe that driving materials around on forklifts was making him pretty miserable. My mother and sisters didn’t see him much during the week for that five or six years.

He ended up working for Opportunities for Broome, and Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) more in line with his passions

But I read that he WROTE a canal song? And he was going to perform it? This is something I seem to have totally forgotten.

That he was going to perform it at the American Civil Association is not a surprise, since he volunteered there frequently. (My 16th birthday party in March 1969 was held there.)

My father died August 10, 2000, in Charlotte, NC, ostensibly from prostate cancer, at the age of 73. Hmm, I’M 73.

Les Green

Sunday Stealing Asks, “Why Not Just Meme?”

BCHS

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 inspired by Bragger, a blogger who enjoyed memes “so I don’t have to think” about a topic for her posts. She stole this one from Tense Teacher, sadly, who took her blog down.

When You Can’t Think of Anything to Blog About … “Why Not Just Meme?”

1) Describe your typical weekend, and tell us how this weekend has been different.

My typical weekend involves creating answers to this quiz, catching up on reading the newspapers, cleaning, attending church, and doing ZOOM with my two sisters. The thing is, there is ALWAYS “stuff” that pops up, whether it’s someone’s crisis, an unexpected phone call, or something that goes wrong and needs to get fixed in the house. I’d like to go to the movies, if it fits in the schedule.

2) What food hits your bliss spot?

The combo of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas. I was on a train with my wife, and I said, “THAT’S what I’d like to have.” Maybe today?

The timeshare

3) Where did you stay on your last vacation (hotel, Airbnb/Vrbo, friends/family)?

That would be this past Wednesday-Friday. The long boring story would be that my wife has been spending months and mucho dollars trying to convert my MIL’s timeshare package to my wife’s name. It FINALLY took place, so my wife and I decided to go to New York City with no particular plan in mind, if only to burn some points before September 30. My wife and daughter will do likewise in a few weeks.

4) If you had a personality eraser, what part of yours would you erase?

Easy peasy – melancholy.

5) Think of your friends. Tell us about the first one who popped into your head.

KD. We’re planning to go to our high school reunion in September. Understand that we went K-12 together, starting in Daniel Dickinson in Binghamton for K-9, before we graduated from Binghamton Central High School! They texted me to see if I could find another one of our K-12 pals. I had an email from 2023 that still worked, and that friend, along with one or two others, is also attending.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Hot Country Singles of 1976

Tina Turner was an inspiration

These are the hot country singles of 1976, or at least the first half of them or so. There are a total of 40 of them on the Billboard charts, a function in part of the labels’ and maybe even disc jockeys’ desire to create more and more number one hits. No song hit the top of the charts for more than three weeks.

Good Hearted Woman – Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, 3 weeks at #1. “In 1969, while staying at the Fort Worth Motel in Fort Worth, Texas, Jennings was inspired to start writing the song when he saw advertising in a newspaper promoting Tina Turner as a ‘good-hearted woman loving a two-timing man’, a reference to Ike Turner.” Per here.

Teddy Bear – Red Sovine, 3 weeks at #1

One Piece at a Time – Johnny Cash, two weeks at #1. I own this silly song on two different CDs, a greatest hits compilation and a disc considered a comedy collection

El Paso City` – Marty Robbins. I found a Robbins greatest hits CD in my late FIL’s collection and kept it. This song refers to Robbins’ big hit El Paso.

(I’m a) Stand by My Woman Man – Ronnie Milsap, two weeks at #1

I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You – Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius, two weeks at #1

You and Me – Tammy Wynette, two weeks at #1

Someone Somewhere (Don’t Know What He’s Missin’ Tonight) – Loretta Lynn, two weeks at #1. I remember this song well, though I never owned it

Good Woman Blues – Mel Tillis, two weeks at #1

Thinking of a Rendezvous – Johnny Duncan, two weeks at #1

Sweet Dreams – Emmylou Harris, two weeks at #1. I had several Harris albums in the 1970s but not this song.

One week

All of the other songs are one week at number one. In chronological order:

This Time I’ve Hurt Her More Than She Loves Me – Conway Twitty

Sometimes – Bill Anderson and Mary Lou Turner

The White Knight – Cletus Maggard. A trucking song I had NOT known.

The Roots of My Raising – Merle Haggard

Faster Horses (The Cowboy and The Poet) – Tom T. Hall

Till The Rivers All Run Dry – Don Williams

That’s enough for now. More in a few days.

Alison Krauss and Union Station, ALB

featuring Jerry Douglas

Every 23 years or so, my wife and I go to the Palace Theatre in Albany to see Alison Krauss and Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, perform. We last saw them in 2003; Alison is one of my wife’s “K girls,” along with Diana Krall.

Since my wife’s birthday is in July – she really is difficult to buy for – the concert, on July 22, a day before Alison’s 55th birthday, was the obvious choice. The show was called Arcadia, in honor of the 2025 album that the band talked about here; it had been 14 years since the band had put out a music collection.

The opening act was Theo Lawrence, a young country singer, mostly alone with his acoustic guitar, who performed tunes from his most recent albums Chérie and Pickin’ & Singin’, which he was later selling vinyl copies of. He had an authentic country timbre for a dude who had been, according to a review, born in France. They were solid songs that could have come out six or seven decades earlier. Lawrence was joined for a couple of solid songs by Phil Hollie, a friend who has joined him on tour.

Main event

Alison Krauss and Union Station performed a bunch of songs I presume were from the Arcadia album – guess what my wife is getting for Christmas. The group played more melancholy songs and less bluegrass than I remembered from last time.

Texas-born singer Russell Moore was great. She still had her longtime banjo/guitar picker, Ron Block, and bassist Barry Bayles. The new kid on the block was the mandolinist Jacob Burleson, a solid, confident player.

Of course, dobroist Jerry Douglas was Jerry Douglas. A concert highlight was his unaccompanied solo spot on a medley of “American Tune” (Paul Simon) segueing into “Spain” (Chick Corea). But my favorite part of the show was the encore, where the band members sounded like they were standing around backstage warming up; it reminded me of the Million Dollar Quartet standing around.

At various points, the house lights would come up, and Alison would share stories about the various band members, which was highly entertaining.

One criticism of the show was that it was a bit warm, okay, hot in the Palace with what appeared to be a packed house.

Here’s Maggie Aulman review on the Metroland site. Oh, and in honor of Alison’s 55th natal day, here’s Coverville 1587: The Alison Krauss Cover Story.

More 1976 pop #1s

TV and movie themes, dance, and a rue story

Here are more 1976 pop #1s. The first group includes songs that reached #1 on the Billboard charts but spent 7 weeks or fewer in the top 10.

Boogie Fever – Sylvers (Capitol), gold record

Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To – Diana Ross (Motown)

You Should Be Dancing – Bee Gees (RSO), gold record

Let Your Love Flow – Bellamy Brothers (Warner Curb)

Convoy – C.W. McCall (MGM), gold record, novelty; also #1 CB and RW for three weeks each

Welcome Back – John Sebastian (Reprise), gold record. Theme from Welcome Back, Kotter TV show

Love Machine (Part 1) – The Miracles (Tamla). Post Smokey

Theme from S.W.A.T. – Rhythm Heritage (ABC), gold record, instrumental;

Saturday Night – Bay City Rollers (Arista), gold record

Rock’n Me – Steve Miller (Capitol)

#1, non-BB

The next grouping contains the songs that reached #1 on the pop charts in Record World (RW) and/or Cash Box (CB) but NOT on Billboard.

All By Myself – Eric Carmen (Arista), #1 on CB and RW, #2 for three weeks on BB, gold record

Dream Weaver – Gary Wright (Warner), #1 on CB and RW, #2 for three weeks on BB, gold record

Right Back Where We Started From – Maxine Nightingale (United Artists), #1 on CB and RW, #2 for two weeks on BB, gold record

The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot (Reprise), #1 on CB, #2 for two weeks on BB. “The true story of an ore vessel, named after a Milwaukee civic leader, that sank in Lake Superior on 11/10/1975.”

Get Up and Boogie (That’s Right) – Silver Convention, #1 on CB and RW, #2 on BB, gold record

Lonely Night (Angel Face) – Captain and Tennille (A&M), #1 on CB and RW, #3 for three weeks on BB, gold record

Love To Love You Baby – Donna Summer (Oasis), #1 on RW; #2 for two weeks on BB, gold record

Lowdown – Boz Scaggs (Columbia), #1 on CB, #3 for two weeks on BB, gold record

Let ‘Em In – Wings (Capitol), #1 on CB, #3 on BB, gold record. “Phil and Don.”

More, More, More – Andrea True Connection (Buddah) – #1 on RW, #4 on BB, gold record