Rock On

I've just submitted my May music order. I'm still working on Billboard's Number One Hits and this order pretty much covers most of the early 70's. The Beatles still dominated but separately. George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr all had number one hits after the break up. On many of their albums they still tended to work together although it was Paul that had the most consistent career after the break up. As always there were a lot of one hit wonders but I generally don't buy a whole CD just for a single song. At some point I may just hold my nose and buy some 'Golden Hits of the ...' to fill in. I did buy Carly Simon's No Secrets CD just for 'You're so Vain' and I bought two of James Taylor's CD's just so people would know who she was singing about. (She says she didn't have anybody particular in mind when she wrote that song but they were married.) Of course the Bee Gees and Elton John dominated the mid to late 70's as far as the number of #1 hits. There were also a number of artist that long careers before they topped the charts, Rod Stewart and David Bowie for example. I still tried to get original CD's when possible. In the 70's and 80's many albums were complete works of art. Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and King Crimson were especially concept oriented in producing albums, but that was a big part of Progressive Rock. Hope you enjoy.

May Order:
All Things Must Pass George Harrison
Living in the Material World George Harrison
Imagine John Lennon
Ram Paul McCartney
Band on the Run Paul McCartney
Venus & Mars Paul McCartney & Wings
At the Speed of Sound Paul McCartney
Sweet Baby James James Taylor
Mud Slide Slim & the New Horizon James Taylor
No Secrets Carly Simon
Number Ones Bee Gees
Every Picture Tells a Story Rod Stewart
America
Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust David Bowie
Space Oddity David Bowie
Young Americans David Bowie
Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy Elton John
Honky Chateau Elton John
They only Come at Night Edgar Winter
Ringo Ringo Starr
Fly Like an Eagle Steve Miller Band
Classic Hits of Jim Croce
Greatest Hits Grand Funk Railroad.

King Kong

Saturday May 12 at noon is our next installment of the Saturday Matinee. King Kong is the main feature, How to Sleep is the b-feature, Flash Gordon is the serial and the New Car by Ub Iwarks is the cartoon. King Kong is the Classic from the 30's with Fay Wray as the original Scream Queen. I think everyone's seen it and if you haven't you should. It's still far better than any of the remakes. There are two curiosities in this month's Matinee. How to Sleep and the New Car. How to Sleep won an academy award for best live action short for 1935, and Ub Iwerks was the animator for Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie. After leaving Disney, Iwerks had his own studio but since his cartoons were for adults as well as kids, like Betty Boop his work seldom made it to a Baby-boomer's Saturday morning fun fest. Betty Boop has a cult type following but Ub Iwerks is now almost forgotten

Our Matinees have not been a success. Attendance is not worth the effort. I'm disappointed but not surprised. To me movies, cartoons, two-reeler shorts, and television are a big part of American cultural literacy. John Wayne, Sam Spade, Archie Bunker, and Marilyn are woven through the fabric of who we are as Americans. I think we take their impact for granted and I'm not the only one that thinks so. The Library of Congress is trying desperately to save this piece of American heritage before it is lost. Already many of the movies from the silent era are gone. Lost forever. Even now parts of movie history are being spliced out of history in the name of political correctness. Step-and-fetchit has almost completely disappeared while Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto have been shoved under the carpet.

This is sad. I think about the movie Moby Dick. It's based on the novel by Herman Melville with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury. It was directed by John Huston and stars Gregory Peck, Orson Wells, and Richard Basehart. It's not on most "Best" lists and rarely gets anything better than a so-so review. The critics didn't like it and still don't but its a fabulous movie based on a tremendous book. The detail, the writing, the acting, everything about the movie is first rate. I'll watch it every time it's on. I sometimes wonder if this isn't a candidate for the chopping block because it's about 'whaling'. Are the PC police lurking around the corner? Catch them while their hot at the Rogers Public Library Saturday Matinee