JonMichael is Neither Jon nor Michael

Bye Bye Love by The Everly Brothers (#2 in 1957)

Were the Everly Brothers rock or country? It’s hard to tell from their first masterwork, “Bye Bye Love.” This track is so good that only Elvis and Pat Boone (the late 50's two biggest artists) could keep it from the top. Don and Phil on Cadence were like Elvis; they were singing in Tennessee, and they sound like both country superstars and plaintive rock and rollers. You already know what this one’s about: more lost love. But these brothers truly believe that their “gonna du-eye.” And what is more distinctive than that classic Everly guitar?

Atlantic Puzzler Reviews 1994

Dec 1994 -- Snow Job* A
Nov 1994 -- Seasonality A
Oct 1994 -- Changing Times** A-
Sep 1994 -- The Best Policy* A
Aug 1994 -- Wrong Number A
Jul 1994 -- Marginal Thinking* A-
Jun 1994 -- Shakedown* A
May 1994 -- Garden Plot* A-
Apr 1994 -- Secret Message A-
Mar 1994 -- Crazy Eights* A
Feb 1994 -- Comings And Goings A-
Jan 1994 -- Theme And Variations B+

*Available in "The Random House Guide to Cryptic Crosswords" 2nd Ed.
**Available in "The Atlantic Monthly Cryptic Crosswords"

A Teenager's Romance by Ricky Nelson (#2 in 1957)

More from 1957’s “Nobody Gets Our Young Love” school. Ricky Nelson’ s B-Side cum A-side was more dreck but dreck that launched one of the most important pre-Beatles careers. It also started rock’s long engagment with TV stars using their shows as springboards for their new singles. Of course, these days the shows don’t have plots they just have the singing. Ricky Nelson, unlike most manufactured pop, went through the metamorphosis the other way and came out at the end as a serious musician instead of a washed up nobody. This is only the beginning.

Dark Moon by Bonnie Guitar (#10 in 1957)

Bonnie Guitar’s one-hit wonder “Dark Moon” is very close to Gale Storm’s except she doesn’t chew over word 23 times like Gale does.   That’s it, really. Since this is my last opportunity to discuss competing versions, what would they be like today?  Imagine all of the rap posturing songs about being the best (which are at least interchangeable) and then just have 50 Cent and Ja Rule singing the same rap songs and having to compete for number one.  It is an interesting concept but one that has disappeared with the rise of writing your own lyrics. 

Atlantic Puzzler Reviews 1993

Dec 1993 -- Puzzler's Gift A-
Nov 1993 -- Fast Thinking* A
Oct 1993 -- Haunted House* A-
Sep 1993 -- Crossword School* A-
Aug 1993 -- Celestial Navigation* A
Jul 1993 -- Robin Hood** B+
Jun 1993 -- Chain Reaction* A-
May 1993 -- Connect The Dots B+
Apr 1993 -- Guessing Game* B
Mar 1993 -- Shooting Hoops* A
Feb 1993 -- Cryptic Valentine* A
Jan 1993 -- Something Different B

*Available in "The Random House Guide to Cryptic Crosswords" 2nd Ed.
**Available in "The Atlantic Monthly Cryptic Crosswords"

Bloglines: Top Ranked RSS feeds

I think that Bloglines top ranked RSS feeds list is fascinating. I'm going to try to put monthly updates of this list in an effort to keep track of changes in the popularity of blogs and news sites.

Top 50 RSS feeds of those over 5,000 subscribers on Bloglines
September 2004
1. Slashdot
2. Wired News
3. Boing Boing
4. Dilbert
5. Gizmodo
6. Google's Blog
7. The New York Times (Main Page)
8. The Register
9. CNet
10. Quote of the Day
11. Scientific American
12. Salon
13. Joel on Software
14. BBC News (Technology)
15. Kuro5hin
16. A List Apart

Proof that blog aggregators are favored by early adopters: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15 & 16.

That's over half the list! It remains to be seen if as the expansion of the internet increase and therefore blog aggregator use increases, what kinds of changes will happen to this list. Well, that's my sworn mission, until I get bored with it. (Also, do techies think Dilbert is that funny? I mean, it's good, but #4?)

Start Movin' (In My Direction) by Sal Mineo (#9 in 1957)

Come on down to Budget Elvis Days here at the Late 50’s Records Shop.  Why not try out this fake Elvis, Sal Mineo?  He’ll get you to “Start Movin’” with this modest hit.  No money down and no payments ‘til 1959.  We’ll give you someone with a vague country accent singing about love.  Hurry, hurry.  Deals like these won’t last forever.  And if you come on down today, we’ll throw in strange backing vocalists and an insubstantial rock instrumentation. So hurry down to Late 50’s Records Shop, where we have today’s best music without the Elvis.

Dark Moon by Gale Storm (#6 in 1957)

Gale Storm had already proved that she could render R&B inert and now in one of the final multiple chart version battles, she squeezes out another win and for no good reason. Her “Dark Moon” is the least listenable track in many an age. She sounds like a Mae West 78 played at 33⅓ with a backing chorus that decided its first appearance on record should be backing Gale Storm. Yet for all of this, it still gets in my head and stays there. “Oh tell me why, oh tell me why, oh tell me why.”

Love Letters In The Sand by Pat Boone (#1 in 1957)

Consider “Love Letters in the Sand”. Pat Boone’s vocals are adequate and the instrumentation is a little less claustrophobic (maybe something he picked up from the competition). But the real story here is the lyrics (and this was a very popular song, 5 weeks at #1 AND 7 weeks at #2) which are about a guy writing love letters into the beach. Then he gets upset when they are washed away and his girl laughs at him and then, at some point, breaks up with him. Hey, Pat… try ink and then she’d have to use the shredder. Kinda pointless.

A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) by Marty Robbins (#2 in 1957)

Marty Robbins straddles the line in this early rock classic.  He clearly wants to sing country but he also wants a teen hit.  So, he bellows his way through a song of young love gone awry.  There he’s standing with his pink carnation thinking about the girl who ditched him.  The guitar (steel or acoustic?) mournfully sets the tempo behind him.  And the play between Marty and his back-up singers is even better than most Elvis tracks. A good song marred by trying to be both country and rock.  Marty later improved the formula with “El Paso”.