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Play my compact discs

World Development Information Day

Way back in 2007, I posted how I play my compact discs. In general, they’re tied to an artist’s birthday, or in the case of classical albums, composer’s natal day.

By the way, when I am refiling my CDs, I don’t bother with details such as chronology. So next time I play my Beatles, it might be Sgt. Pepper, followed by Help, Abbey Road, and A Hard Day’s Night.

But what about those other albums, compilations, and the like? Some are by genre, others by record label. I have a system. But now, because I FORGET, I need to codify it.

JANUARY: Cadence Records because Julius LaRosa’s birthday was the 2nd, and Arthur Godfrey fired him for being not grateful enough

FEBRUARY: soul, rhythm and blues, rap for Black History Month, including the Atlantic R&B, but excluding Motown and Stax

Movie soundtracks if Oscars are in the month; otherwise, in March

Buddah Records, because the late Melanie Safka’s birthday was the 3rd, and I LOVE Lay Down

Louisiana/New Orleans music, two weeks before Ash Wednesday because of Mardi Gras

MARCH: Baseball, on Opening Day

APRIL -Jazz because it’s Jazz Appreciation Month. Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Ella, and the Duke were all born that month. I need to remember the Atlantic jazz albums

MAY: bluegrass for Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month.

JUNE: Original cast albums, Broadway, and others in honor of the Tony Awards. The original Jesus Christ Superstar album I play then

Blues, including Atlantic and Alligator, for African American Music Appreciation Month

Apple -Paul McCartney’s birthday is the 18th

The second half

JULY: Stax Records. Jim Stewart, born on the 29th, was the label’s co-founder. He’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but shamefully, his sister and co-founder, Estelle Axton, is not

SEPTEMBER: folk music in honor of my father, whose birthday was the 26th

OCTOBER: reggae in honor of Peter Tosh’s birthday, which was the 19th

World music for United Nations Day and World Development Information Day, both of which are on the 24th

NOVEMBER: Motown. Label founder Berry Gordy’s birthday is the 28th

DECEMBER: Christmas albums; I’m now willing to start on Thanksgiving, but NO EARLIER

Red, Hot, and Blue – the original album was released on December 1

If I’m going to own all of this physical music, I need a methodology for playing them.

Sunday Stealing: Inspires

death penalty

Here’s another Sunday Stealing from SwapBot. Happy Pentecost for those who observe. I have my red shirt.

1. What inspires you the most?

People who can embrace selfless joy. There was a recent news story about a kid giving his dollar to a person he perceived was needy. And he gave it away because it made him feel good inside. One tries to do this, but I’m a flawed being.

2. How do you think the world will change in 20 years?

I’m trying to figure out whether global warming or the loss of democratic values will do us in first.

3. Cats or dogs and why?

I’ve had many cats but only one dog. Dogs are more loyal in general, though my dog bit me. Cats don’t require being walked when the weather is bad.

4. What is the funniest memory from your childhood?

When I was in third grade, kids played Keep Away with my hat during recess. I got so angry that I left. What’s funny is that all of my friends tell me I hopped a Crowley’s milk truck and went home. I believe the going home part but I have no independent recollection of the milk truck.

5. Where do you not mind waiting?

If I have a book or magazine, waiting is not onerous.

Ma Bell

6. What was the best thing before sliced bread?

The telephone. Imagine talking to people from far away. Only vaguely related, I still remember most of the old area codes in the United States that have 0 or 1 as the middle digit, such as 201 (NJ), 202 (DC), 203 (CT), 212 (NY), 213 (CA) 301 (MD), et al. The newer ones I don’t really know at all except 432, which is Cleveland, TN.

7. What product would you stockpile if you found out they weren’t going to sell it anymore?

Those picker-upper devices that I use to pick up small things from the floor without bending my terrible knees.

8. What do you get every time you go grocery shopping?

Bananas and blueberries.

9. What do people do too much of today?

Kvetch too much about what somebody who is not setting policy – a social media influencer or a football player (Aaron Rodgers, Harrison Butker) is saying about whatever. I disagree with many of their views but don’t feel compelled to discuss them ad nauseum. (Compare this with people like Brett Favre enriching himself at the government trough.

10. Are you a GoodWill, or any second-hand store customer?

I have been a Second Hand Rose – my current office chair falls in that category. I did purchase three compact discs recently for two bucks. I am more likely to offer items for free cycling than acquiring them

Capital punishment

11. How do you feel about the death penalty?

I’m against it for several reasons. “The death penalty in America is a flawed, expensive policy, defined by bias and error.” “A 2014 study estimated that at least 4% of those sentenced to death are innocent… Since 1973, at least 190 people have been exonerated from death row in the U.S.” Income and ethnicity play an outsized role in who are falsely convicted for these crimes.

Beyond that, I wish Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was not executed in 2001. In part, it was because of the reasons noted.

12. Are there brands of certain items that you will ONLY buy that brand? Ie paper towels, ketchup, etc.

Cheerios. On two occasions, I bought the knockoffs, and they tasted like cardboard.

13. What are some things that you will buy the Store brand, and find the quality to be great?

Paper products: TP, paper towels, napkins

14. What is a Name-brand item that really disappointed you recently?

I purchased a BoiFun device to play compact discs and watch DVDs. But it then ceased to work. Moreover, I had bought one for my wife, which she didn’t use. When I tried, it didn’t work at all.

15. Do you wear glasses or contacts?

I’ve had glasses since I was five or six. But I’m not a contact lens kind of person.

Sister Marcia should do a movie blog

Ritz

It occurred to me that sister Marcia should do a movie blog. I love watching movies, but she devours them. And often the old ones, many of which I still haven’t seen, but she has viewed multiple times. And she’s very conversant about them.

We remember seeing West Side Story with our mom and sister Leslie. It must have been in a second-run theater because she’d have been too young to see the film in 1961. Still, I recall that the ticket taker was concerned that the violence would be too much for her. This was before the movie ratings were implemented in 1968. And maybe it was too “adult” for her, but she loved it.

As kids, we would occasionally get taken to the drive-in, often the one near the airport after the one on Upper Front Street closed in 1963. I don’t remember any of the films except The Dirty Dozen, and that is only because former NFL great Jim Brown was in it. Marcia likely remembers a lot more of them.

Trauma

She occasionally reminds me of when I was mean to her. I was supposed to take her to the Ritz Theater, a second-run cinema on Clinton Street. This was so traumatic that she remembers exactly where we were, in the shortcut from Gaines Street to Oak Street. Reportedly, I asked her what movie we going to see, and if she couldn’t identify it, I wouldn’t take her. She got very upset. Her memory is such that this story is probably true.

The Strand and the Riviera were theaters on Chenango Street in downtown Binghamton. Our mother used to work first at McLean’s Department Store, then at Columbia Gas, both of which were nearby. I imagine we saw a bunch of non-animated Disney fare or safe comedies such as With Six You Get Eggroll.

When I visited my family in Charlotte, NC in the 1970s and 1980s, I’d see movies with my mom Rocky, Star Trek IV, and Dreamgirls – it’s so weird that I remember these without prompts – and I imagine Marcia attended these as well.

But she has embraced Turner Classic Movies and various other platforms over the years. If I need a recommendation for a film in a particular genre, I know who to ask.

Happy birthday, sister Marcia.

Songs: All Night Long

or All Nite Long

In response to a query, I’ve checked Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles, 1955-2018, and discovered several songs entitled All Night Long, which are not covers but are said to be distinctly different. I found two more in Whitburn’s Pop Memories, 1890-1954.

I’ve never heard of most of them.

Ada Jones and Billy Murray, #7 in 1913

Faith Evans, #9 in 1999, was also #3 RB for two weeks. The track features Puff Daddy and samples “I Hear Music In The Streets” by Unlimited Touch.

Joe Walsh, #19 in 1980

Rusty Bryant, #25 in 1954; “This rockin’ ‘live’-sounding performance of the famous Jimmy Forrest tune by jazz saxman Bryant was first issued in 1953 on the Carolyn label under the title ‘Nite Train,’ but was later picked up by Dot and retitled ‘All Nite Long’ for their 1954 reissue.” This song is familiar.

Sandy Nelson, #75 in 1962. Also familiar.

Billy Squier, #75 in 1984. Co-produced by Jim Steinman

Jo Stafford, #99 in 1956

Mary Jane Girls, #101 in 1983

Rainbow, #110 in 1980

Demi Lovato, #124 in 2011

Jerry Lee Lewis, classic in 1957

Motown

The best-known version is more accurately called All Night Long (All Night)

Lionel Richie, #1 in 1983. It went from #14 to #7 on October 15, then to #5, #3, and #2. Then, it switched places with Islands In The Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton on November 12, staying at #1 until it was supplanted by Say Say Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. It remained in the Top 10 through the January 7, 1984 charts.

Arthur wrote about this song last year, from which I shall purloin the following:

“The official music video was produced by Mike Nesmith (formerly of The Monkees and an extensive solo career.) It was directed by American film director Bob Rafelson who was also a creator of The Monkees TV series….

“All Night Long (All Night)” reached Number One in Australia, Number One in Canada (Platinum), 4 in New Zealand, 2 in the UK (Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100” [for four weeks], “Hot Black Singles” [for seven weeks], and “Adult Contemporary” [for four weeks] charts, as well as Number One on Cash Box “Top 100”; it was certified Gold in the USA.

Then there is the spelling variation on the theme, All Nite Long, none of which received much chart action on the pop, country, RB, or AC charts.

Billy Vaughn, #102 in 1959. This IS the same tune as the Rusty Bryant song!

Robert Parker, #113 in 1959

A.L.T., #121 in 1994 – parental advisory

There are also at least four songs called All Night, an All Nite, and an All Nite (Don’t Stop).

Feed the cats

pâté

This is called Feed The Cats because, according to my wife, when I prepare meals for our felines, I sing those words to the tune of Edelweiss from The Sound Of Music. And I thought I always sang the chorus to Cat Food by King Crimson.

In any case, the feeding ritual had been the same for well over eight years. Give them each a quarter can of wet, shredded cat food and some dry food, his in a toy to slow him down. Then, I watch them as Midnight, after wolfing down his wet food, attempts to eat Stormy’s food. This was a process that took about ten minutes twice a day.

In the past few months, however, Midnight started to become thinner. From 13 or 14 pounds to around 10. He was drinking far more water, even going into the shower.

Meanwhile, Stormy, who had been 10 or 11 pounds, is now heavier than Midnight. The exact numbers are difficult to come by because one is weighing them while my wife is attempting to hold them. Nevertheless, even visually, one can see the difference.

So we started feeding him pâté, a somewhat drier wet food, a half can per meal. Putting out the dry food for him was pointless except to fatten Stormy.

They get fresh water at least twice daily because Midnight sticks his litter-box-laden front paw into each bowl.

More food

After my daughter looked up some remedies, we attempted to feed him a scrambled egg now and then. He eats it occasionally but ignores it other times. Ditto with an extra quarter can of pâté at lunchtime.

This begs the question: what is wrong with Midnight? If we could take him to the veterinarian, we would. But after the last visit, that’s a non-starter, as he could not be lured from the cage. His increased water consumption suggests diabetes, perhaps.

The upside is that he’s usually a bit more mellow. He is more affectionate. For a time, his meow was more like a mouse squeak, but it irritated him when I replicated his sound, which I was annoyingly good at. Now he’s back to his full-throated obnoxious-sounding self.

Cat lovers: if you have any insight, please share.