On the Charts, March 1973

Continuing the review of songs that were on the Top 40 (US) charts 50 years ago (1973).  We're on to March, and 25% through the year!  

All of the 1972 music posts can be seen HERE, btw.

Following the format from last year, here's the Top 10 songs for March 1973, based on the average chart position (US charts) over the 5 weeks in the month:

• Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack - 1.2
• Love Train - The O'Jays - 4
• Last Song - Edward Bear - 4.6
• Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) - Deodato - 4.6
• Dueling Banjos - Deliverance/Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell - 5
• The Cover Of "Rolling Stone" - Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show - 9
• Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) - Gladys Knight And The Pips - 10.2
• Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners - 10.6
• Danny's Song - Anne Murray - 12
• Break Up To Make Up - The Stylistics - 13.2

Aretha Franklin's Killing Me Softly started the month at #1, continuing from February.  The O'Jays' Love Train took the top spot in the 4th week, but Killing Ne Softly rebounded to #1 for the last week of the month.

There were 65 individual songs on the Top 40 over the course of the 5 weeks, wich tracks pretty closely with the 4 weeks of January and February..

Not the greatest month for me, as far as top 10, I only own 7 of the 10 songs, but only one I didn't remember (Last Song).   On the other hand, there were song great songs making their Top 40 debuts:

• Break Up To Make Up - The Stylistics - 22
• The Cisco Kid - War - 26
• Call Me (Come Back Home) - Al Green - 28
• Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree - Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando - 29
• The Twelfth Of Never - Donny Osmond - 29
• You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder - 29
• The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia - Vicki Lawrence - 30
• Sing - Carpenters - 31
• Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed - 31
• Masterpiece - The Temptations - 34
• Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel - 34
• Stir It Up - Johnny Nash - 36
• Little Willy - The Sweet - 36
• Drift Away - Dobie Gray - 36
• Kissing My Love - Bill Withers - 38
• Hello Hurray - Alice Cooper - 38
• Master Of Eyes (The Deepness Of Your Eyes) - Aretha Franklin - 39
• Good Morning Heartache - Diana Ross - 39
• One Less Set Of Footsteps - Jim Croce - 39
• A Letter To Myself - The Chi-lites - 39
• Wildflower - Skylark - 39
• Peaceful - Helen Reddy - 40
• Cook With Honey - Judy Collins - 40
• Soul Song - Joe Stampley - 40
• Daisy A Day - Jud Strunk - 40

Take off for Blue Vervain

 I recently took a photo of some prairie grass while visiting Ballard Nature Center in Altamont, IL.  After posting it to Instagram, I noticed that (from a thumbnail perspective) it looks a lot like another recent photo, of starlings leaving a tree.  What do you think?

Blue Vervain

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Taking Off

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I dunno, maybe I'm crazy?

  

Both photos taken w/ Fujifilm X-T3, taken 2/15 and 3/4.

Top 10 - Gary Rossington (Pre-Crash Lynyrd Skynyrd)

 After the recent (3/5) passing of Gary Rossington, I made a playlist of songs that he co-wrote through his career.  I've been listening to that list for the past few days.  Meanwhile I'm seeing a lot of "Top 10 Gary Rossington Songs" posts on social media.  So here's my version:  These are my 0 most played Gary Rossington songs.  For this list, I'm just looking at the pre-crash Lynyrd Skynyrd; the first 5 studio albums.  These are rated based on the number of plays as recorded in my iTunes.  And it's a pretty impressive selection of songs:

1.  Roll Gypsie Roll - Gimme Back My Bullets
2. Sweet Home Alabama - Second Helping
3. Cry For The Bad Man - Gimme Back My Bullets
4. Am I Losin' - Nuthin' Fancy
5. Simple Man - Pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd
6. I Ain't The One - Pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd
7. What's Your Name? - Street Survivors
8. Gimme Back My Bullets - Gimme Back My Bullets
9. Trust - Gimme Back My Bullets
10. Things Going On - Pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd

There you have it, my most popular Gary Rossington songs (pre-crash Lynyrd Skynyrd)...  I'll probably follow up with a similar Top 10 from Gary R's post crash career.

What're your favorite Gary Rossington songs?

Broken Revolving Door

 So, about a week ago, my brother text:

"In your cast array of photos do you have a revolving door picture I could license?"

Not surprisingly, the answer was No.  But an assignment!  In discussing w/ my wife we were pretty sure where I could find a door. So last weekend, I ran up into town, confirmed the door, and it was even broken!  I took a few photos.  

I sent my brother 5 shots from my phone, while taking more with my Fujifim.  I sent a selection of photos from my phone from the field, to see if he had feedback on specific wants/needs as far as composition. 

Here's the 5 phone photos, straight from the (phone) camera:

I did drive around to look for other doors, but didn't see anything.  Well, anything door-wise.  I did manage a few other photos I liked (but that is a different story).

Anyway, before I had a chance to look though the photos from my Fujifilm, he indicated that those would be fine.

Why did he want a photo of a broken rotating door?  Well, he's just posted an album over on Soundcloud, under his Savory Flakes brand.  Check it out for something more than the "machine" stuff on the radio!  Here's what he used:

It was a fun undertaking, and I get a kick out of having my image used, and was glad I could come up with something for him.

And, if you care, here's one from the Fujifilm:

R.I.P. Gary Rossington

 If you are any sort of fan of "Classic Rock", you've already heard the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington passed away last Sunday (385/2023), at the age of 71.  I'm especially sad about this one, as Lynyrd Skynyrd was my favorite band during the second half of the 70's and they were the definitive act in the soundtrack of my high school years.

Most of the reports have mentioned that Rossington was the "last original member" of Skynyrd, which is accurate, if you consider "original" to mean the band as it was for their first two albums:  Worth noting that Rickey Medlocke could be considered an original member, and appears on their "First and Last" album of early and unreleased music.  He (Medlocke) left to form Blackfoot before Skynyrd broke big, but eventually rejoined the Post-crash version of the band (and is still a member).  Medlocke is still alive.  And Artimus Pyle was the drummer for the last 4 of the 6 albums by the "pre-Crash" Lynyrd Skynyrd, and he is still alive.  None of which diminishes the loss of Gary Rossington.

Some personal memories of Lynyrd Skynyrd:

I discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd through the song "Sweet Home Alabama", when it was on the charts (late 1974).  That was back in the days when we would record songs off the radio onto our (mono) cassette players, by propping the microphone in front of the speakers and pressing record when our favorite songs came on.  I had a tape that included "Sweet Home..." and would listen to it (through those mono ear plugs) on road trips from Pittsburgh to North Carolina.

My first Lynyrd Skynyrd Album was "Pronounced...", which I picked up not too much later (1974 or early 1975).  I had evolved to FM radio, and discovered "Free Bird", which impressed me enough to buy the album.  Suffice to say, I was sold, and they were well on the way to be my favorite band.

When their 4th album was released (February 1976), the local radio station did a midnight playthrough.  I stayed up late, and set the speakers from my all-in-one stereo on the floor and laid down between them so I could listen to the new album without waking my parents.  Gimme Back My Bullets wasn't all that well received, but it was my favorite Skynyrd album at the time.

Just a few months later, April of 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd was my first rock concert, playing Pittsburgh's Civic Arena with The Outlaws and Steve Marriot's All Star Band.  A remarkable experience for a 15 year old kid, and still one of the best shows I've seen.  This was after Ed King left, and before Steve Gains joined, and just a couple of months before they recorded their live album.  I saw them again that December, but that first time was special.

When the Street Survivors album was released, I bought it at the first opportunity I had.  Just a day or so later, I was hanging out at a friend's place when the news came on the radio that their plane had crashed.  We stayed up late into the night waiting for news, wondering who was OK, and who wasn't....  

When Rossington Collins Band came out in mid 1980, I had the opportunity to see them at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh.  An emotional show, especially when they played "Free Bird" as an instrumental at the end...

Anyway, sorry for the length, but I felt like reminiscing....  

Hiker's 365 Challenge - February update

 February is finished, and I'm feeling good about my 365 Challenge!  I was well above pace for the month, at 47.9 miles, and 80.1 miles year-to-date.  Over the 2 months, I've done hikes in 5 different states (IL, MO, OH, PA, VA); it will be interesting to see how that goes as the year progresses.  

I'm still managing more, shorter walks, with 24 hikes over 28 days, and an average distance of 1.8 miles per hike.  Both improvements from January.  There's a long way to go, but so far so good! 

Just a few of my "badge" shots... Plus a water bottle!

Patriot’s Park, Greenville, IL.

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Ron Foster Heritage Trail, Glen Carbon, IL

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KNob Hill trail, Cranberry, PA

Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park, Garrettsville, OH

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1973 In Music - February's Almost Made the Charts.

 So, with my ongoing series of posts on music from 50 years go, and what we were listening to, I've thought a lot about adding a list of great songs that made the Hot 100, but didn't make the Top 40.  As I've started a new year (and a new spreadsheet) I figured I'd give it a shot.

SO, starting last month, I'm looking at songs that dropped off the charts during the month, but never made the Top 40.  And for the February, I counted 22.  Here they are, with peak position noted:

• I Can't Stand To See You Cry - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - 45
• You've Got To Take It (If You Want It) - The Main Ingredient - 46
• Lucky Man - Emerson, Lake and Palmer - 51
• Daytime Night-Time - Keith Hampshire - 51
• Don't Leave Me Starvin' For Your Love (Part 1) - Holland-Dozier - 52
• What My Baby Needs Now Is A Little More Lovin' - James Brown-Lyn Collins - 56
• Songman - Cashman and West - 59
• Tweedlee Dee - Little Jimmy Osmond - 59
• I Never Said Goodbye - Engelbert Humperdinck - 61
• Silly Wasn't I - Valerie Simpson - 63
• Boogie Woogie Man - Paul Davis - 68
• Hot Wire - Al Green - 71
• Fever - Rita Coolidge - 76
• Slow Motion (Part 1) - Johnny Williams - 78
• But I Do - Bobby Vinton - 82
• Blind Eye - Uriah Heep - 91
• Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead - 91
• We're Gonna Have A Good Time - Rare Earth - 93
• Somebody Loves You - The Whispers - 94
• Come Softly To Me - The New Seekers - 95
• If It's All Right With You - Dottie West - 97
• Tossin' And Turnin' - Bunny Sigler - 97

And yes, I have playlists of great songs that "made the Hot 100 but not the Top 40".  But the 1973 list only has 23 songs.  Maybe I'll update it as we go through the year month by month!

Color or Black-And-White: Wetlands, Bremer Wildlife

Another simple phone photo.  Taken on my iPhone, and processed using the default photo program on my newish computer.  (Still needing to get "real" software on the new computer).  Taken on a recent hike at Bremer Wildlife Sanctuary, Hillsboro, IL, USA.  Which do you prefer?

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I think I need to take the original file over to my old computer and see what I can do with my normal software!

I shot this w/ black-and-white in mind, but it seems pretty flat based on this processing.

On the Charts, February 1973

 Well, we're into a new year, and I've decided to keep up my postings of the songs that were on the Top 40 (US) charts 50 years ago (1973).  Ah, 1973!  Nixon was inaugurated for his 2nd term as president, but the Watergate hearings kicked off.  The Billie Jean King / Bobby Riggs "Battle of the Sexes" took place.  The most popular TV shows were All in the Family and The Waltons, and the movies The Sting and The Exorcist debuted.  And most importantly to me, my 13th birthday (midyear).  Crazy times!

All of the 1972 music posts can be seen HERE, btw.

Following the format from last year, here's the Top 10 songs for February 1973, based on the average chart position (US charts) over the 4 weeks:

• Crocodile Rock - Elton John - 1.5
• You're So Vain - Carly Simon - 2.5
• Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? - Hurricane Smith - 6
• Do It Again - Steely Dan - 6.75
• Why Can't We Live Together - Timmy Thomas - 7.5
• Dueling Banjos - Deliverance/Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell - 8.75
• Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners - 8.75
• Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend - Lobo - 9.25
• Superstition - Stevie Wonder - 9.25
• Rocky Mountain High - John Denver - 11.5 (Tie)
• The World Is A Ghetto - War - 11.5 (Tie)

Elton John's Crocodile Rock topped the charts for the first 3 weeks of February, and Aretha Franklin's Killing Me Softly rocketed up the charts to finish the month at #1, despite not (quite) making the Top 10 average for the month.

There were 55 individual songs on the Top 40 over the course of the 4 weeks, only one less that January.

Pretty great month, frankly.  I own 9 of the 11 songs, there's only one I didn't remember (Timmy Thomas).  

Here's the list of songs that made their Top 40 debuts during the month.  A rather impressive list!

• Dueling Banjos - Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell - 18
• Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) - Deodato - 25
• I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) - The Moody Blues - 28
• Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack - 34
• Living Together, Growing Together - The 5th Dimension - 34
• Give Me Your Love - Barbara Mason - 34
• The Cover Of "Rolling Stone" - Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show - 36
•  Got Ants In My Pants (and i want to dance) (Part 1) - James Brown - 36
• Space Oddity - David Bowie - 36
• Aubrey - Bread - 36
• Jesus Is Just Alright - The Doobie Brothers - 37
• Don't Cross The River - America - 37
• Peaceful Easy Feeling - Eagles - 38
• Big City Miss Ruth Ann - Gallery - 38
• Hummingbird - Seals and Crofts - 38
• Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) - Four Tops - 39
• Danny's Song - Anne Murray - 40
• I'm Never Gonna Be Alone Anymore - Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose - 40
• Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) - Gladys Knight And The Pips - 40
• Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III - 40

So welcome to 1973.  Let me know if there's something you'd like me to add, I'll think about it!

Where Eagles Dare

 February is Eagle month in SW Illinois, and we usually go on at least one eagle-watching excursion every year.  Here's s a couple of shots of the same eagle, seen from one of the overlooks at Pere Marquette State Park

You can barely make out another one; the bright spot along the eater's edge over the front 1/3 of the barge below:

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Color or Black-And-White: Abandoned Railroad Bridge

 A simple phone photo, taken on a recent hike along Nickel Plate Trail in Glen Carbon, IL.  Both versions processed using Snapseed edit, on my iPad.  Which do you prefer?

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Hiker's 365 Challenge

 So... I'm trying something new this year:  Hiker's 365 Challenge.  It's a simple program, actually.  Get out and hike.  Minimum hike is 1.0 miles, and you have 365 days.  Total goal is 356 miles.  Now there's a lot of details, and some varied opinions, but the point is to get outside, to walk at least 1 mile, and to make 365 miles in a year's time.  They even have a facebook group where folks can post about thier progress.

I've been having fun with it, and not quite 6 weeks in, I'm above pace.  Almost 40% of my walks have been in and around my neighborhood, which isn't as "nature" as I'd prefer.  But you take what you can get when it's winter and the days are short.

They ask people to take a photo on the trail with the patch they sent.  I've been pretty spotty about it, but here's a few of them, just for giggles:

Overextended?

Looking back at my 2022 photo output, I realized that I’m spread over a bunch of places, and probably not serving any of them well.  These include:

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Lsquared Imaging:  My “primary” blog.  If you’re reading this post, you know this one.  I’m pretty sure I started L^2 in the fall of has been around since at least August of 2004, and was a continuation from a personal page at AOL (remember AOL?).  Only 76 posts in 2022, and many of them were not photo related.  But hey, almost 19 years!

Happenstance Photography:  My “other” blog.  Around since at least July of 2000.  IIRC, I originally started this to focus on my microstock experience, but in late 2012 it had evolved into just photos, and just B&W photos.  Only 34 posts in 2022, down from 78 in 2021.

Instagram – lsqrd42:  I actually started this account in spring of 2014, but it languished for a long time.  These days it is probably where I am most active.  Once they updated so you could update from a PC, my activity picked up.  I like the immediacy of IG, and frequently post phone-photos that don’t end up elsewhere.  I had 407 posts to lasqd42 in 2022, some of which included more than one photo.  But only 210 followers at the end of the year.

365project – Larry L:  I started this site as a “photo-a-day project in January 2015.  It’s just another place I post photos for the past several years.  But I like the community and the challenges.  I posted 228 photos here in 2022

Betterphoto – Larry Lawhead:  I was pretty active here back in the 2003 – 2009 time frame, but quit for a while.  I rejoined in December 2021, though.  This site is good for it’s contests, which provide nice recognition.  Thy also host my website.  I posted 158 photos to BP last year.

Lawheadphoto.com:  Started in December 2021, this is my photo website.  It’s hosted through Betterphoto.  I’m sad to say that it has been rather stagnant, I don’t think I’ve updated it in 5+ months.  I’ve never gotten any meaningful feedback through the site, don’t have any indication how much traffic it gets, and haven’t been thrilled with the template I’m using.  One of my goals for 2023 is to resurrect this effort.

Facebook Groups – I do post photos all along to my Facebook page, but nothing concerted.  I do belong to a couple of photo groups, but I’ve not successfully “clicked” with any of them. That was part of a goal to find a local community.  I need to decide on one (maybe 2) and put more effort into it.  These include:  Midwest Photographic Society, Riverbend Photography Group, St Louis Photography Group and Alton Area Photography Group. 

Then there’s Quilt Shops and Photo Ops, a little something my wife and I started ~3 years ago.  There’s a web page, an Instagram and a Facebook page.  But those have been quite stagnant over the past 2 years, and I’m not sure what we want to do with thise.  So I won’t include links.

Some other past or stagnant things include:

The World In Black And White:  This was a blog I was invited to join, with a limited group of people (25 I think) posting photos.  It pretty much died after the moderator left, the last post was fall of 2019.  I had quit participating well before that, and deleted all my photos from there.  The blog still exists, though.

Microstock:  I participated in several microstock sites in the between 2004 and 2009.  I think I was in 6 sites at one point, through the years, that’s evolved to just 2 (Getty and Adobe).  Even though I haven’t posted anything to them in 14 years, I still get a rare (small) check.  I should probably close them, the income aren’t worth the trouble (1099’s).  And while microstock was an interesting experience, I have no interest in plunging back in.

The Original Wally's Fast Food

Last weekend we went out for an explore, passing through Breese, Illinois on our way to a hike at Eldon Hazlet State Park (Carlyle, IL).  My wife's hairdresser had recommended Wally's, so we decided to give it a shot.

Nothin' Fancy about Wally's. Simple burger, fries and a (diet) Ski.  Simple and great.  Perfect fuel before a nice hike!  As you can see from the photo, it was a pretty popular place on this chilly Saturday afternoon!

 

February!

 First photos from February.  Simple phone photos taken during my late afternoon walk around the neighborhood.  Happy the days are getting a little longer!