Hit Songs of 1975 – #14

Posted by on

Minnie Riperton only had one hit; “Lovin’ You.” It was a simple song written by Minnie and her husband, John Rudolph. Then the song was produced by Rudolph and Stevie Wonder. Stevie is playing a piano in the background. The song was on the top of the Cash Box chart for the week of March 23 – 29. Then the next week it was #1 on the Billboard chart.

Minnie was in the group, Rotary Connection, from 1965 to 1973. That group besides releasing their own albums, also served as a backup to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf on a couple of albums. She released a few more album that were critical successes but didn’t have and big hits.

In 1976 on The Tonight Show she revealed that she had undergone a mastectomy due to breast cancer. The cancer would spread and cause her death in 1979.

Minnie’s daughter is actress/comedian Maya Rudolph.

WXXI Monthly Guide

Posted by on

First, many of you probably didn’t receive the message of the post on Monday about the Heimskringla 1983. That was the yearbook for Pittsford Mendon High School. It took me a couple of days to figure out why I had many emails bounce. It turned out that the mailbox on my Internet Service Provider (ISP) was full. I cleaned out many old emails and that fixed it. I didn’t need to keep them on their website as I have messages going back 10 years on my desktop computer.

I scanned the issue of Channel 21 from April 1972. It was the monthly program guide for WXXI TV. In this issue is a preview of their annual auction.

I can’t remember what years it was but I answered phones during two auctions. We were on large bleachers and would write down bids from people. Then we handed off those bids to a runner who took them down to someone who would sort the bids. The winner bidder would get a phone call where they would take their credit card number. In those days you could get some real bargains. Not so much any more.

One of the big auction items in 1972 was a 1972 Chevy Vega. I bought one that year. It was my first new car. The Vega had an aluminum engine that by 30,000 miles would be drinking oil like crazy. I had to buy oil by the case  and keep it handy. Mine had a vinyl top. It came loose and I had to glue it down a couple of times. I was on a trip and the top got loose again and was beating on the roof. I stopped at a rest stop and pulled the vinyl top off. The final straw for the Vega was the rear shocks pushed up through the floor board. At 42,000 miles, I traded it in on a used car and I think they junked the Vega.

One year in the 70s Channel 21 had open auditions for on-air readers of auction items. They had a few scripts that you could pick from and all had some complicated phraseology. I thought I did pretty good as this was just a few years after my college radio days. Not sure what they were looking for but I didn’t get the (non-paying) job.

Another thing that is in this issue of the guide is a concert by Chuck Mangione with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. This was the second concert that Chuck did with the Orchestra. This was not on just WXXI but on all PBS stations around the country.

Heimskringla 1983

Posted by on

As I scan newer yearbooks they get larger. This one is 196 pages. Also having some color pages makes the end file larger so this yearbook ended up being a file that is almost 30 mb.

This is the Heimskringla 1983 from Pittsford Mendon High School that is in Pittsford but the school district also includes part of Mendon. According to Google Translate Heimskringla means “Homeschooling” in Norwegian. The school’s mascot is a viking. Maybe it was something else in old Norse.

In the back of this yearbook Chris wrote that he wasn’t in this school for this year. He was in Barker Road Middle School. So I am not exactly why he had this yearbook. His is the only writing in it.

For the senior pictures they cropped all of them to make them almost square. Just over 300 students graduated that year. Then there are group pictures of juniors and sophomores.

Nice to see almost as many sports teams for the girls as the boys.

There are a lot of casual photos even if some aren’t the best quality. The color photos look a lot better than the b&w.

Hit Songs of 1975 – #13

Posted by on

This week’s group started out as The Blue Belles in 1961. They had an early hit with”I Sold My Heart to the Junkman.” Shortly after that because there was a group with a similar name they became Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. The group was a quartet at that time. Then group member Cindy Birsdong left to become one of The Supremes. It was after that that the group shortened their name to LaBelle.

LaBelle had a monster hit in 1975 with “Lady Marmalade” that is famous for the French refrain of “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?,” which is a sexual proposition that translates into English as: “Do you want to sleep with me, tonight?.” The song was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan who also wrote last week’s song “My Eyes Adored You.”

The song was on the top of the Cash Box chart for the week of March 16 – 22. Then the  next week it was #1 on the Billboard chart. In 2021, the Library of Congress selected LaBelle’s version for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The group broke up in 1976 and each member pursued a solo career.