Dinosaur Dreams

Letters From The Editor

Do you ever suddenly come to the realization that you’ve had a reoccurring dream in the past? A word or scenario might trigger me to think, ‘Whoa, I’ve had multiple dreams of this.” The more obvious ones are not remembering my locker combination in school or not returning a movie while the late fees pile up. I sometimes have this one where I’m in a house I spent a lot of time in as a kid and there are multiple secret passages like an old haunted house. A stairway hidden under another stairway. A closet within a closet. Even an entire house attached to a house.

I’ve always believed that there are dreams that have meaning, those that are working out subconsciously what we cannot in our waking moments and then there are dreams that have no meaning, that are just our brain entertaining itself. To the dreams that do have meaning I believe we are the best interpreters of our own dreams. No one knows us better than ourselves.

Follow your dreams. Even the weird ones.

Trivia Time!

Which song did Michael Jackson admit to ‘stealing’ from for his hit Billie Jean?
(See below for answer) 

The Warrior - Poetry and Art

Both Silent and Bold
The Warrior Moves in Stealth
With spirit and strength.

Living By the Code
A Warrior’s Discipline
With honor and grace.

Dinosaur History

Dave Deinocheirus was one of the great prog rock drummers of the Late Cretaceous music scene. Laying down the foundation for the band Triassic Thunder, he employed poly rhythms on hits such as the anthemic ‘The Dino Stomp’ and the love ballad ‘Jurassic Heart’. Triassic Thunder’s third album, ‘Rock Fossil’ saw them fuse progressive rock, jazz and folk that kickstarted what would be known as the Pro-Jolk movement. Dave was a living legend of his time, adored by fans all over the world.

During the recording of their fourth album, the studio was attacked by a rival band of Alioramuses. Dave was the only survivor of the band but he did lose his left arm that was half chewed off before the Tyrannosaurid Alioramuses decided to leave after stealing Triassic Thunder’s gear and driving away in their van.

Dave would spend 3 years in rehabilitation before returning to the stage with other bands, but he never quite got over the trauma of seeing his bandmates eaten. He toured around small venues for a while but decided to retire from the rock n roll lifestyle to his hometown where he taught drum lessons to local dinosaur hatchlings.

Hits of the Last Century

In this series, I explore the Billboard hit songs from 1964, 1974, 1984 and 1994. In 1994, I feature the Modern Rock Charts. Also discussing album releases and other music bits from past decades.

Last week in the first installment, I touched briefly on each and took a bit of a dive into early 1964. This week I’ll talk a bit more about early 1964 about albums and beyond the number 1 hits. I’ll discuss the early 1974 and how all over the place the chart was during the early part of the year.

1964 - My Guy, Mary Wells
1974- The Streak, Ray Stevens
1984 - Hello, Lionel Richie
1994 - Selling The Drama, Live (Modern Rock Chart)

1964 Mary Wells’ hit song My Guy was discussed in the last newsletter. It remained at the number 1 spot for another week. Ten artists held the number one spot for two weeks or more during the year. The Beatles and The Supremes being the top two. This time in 1964 has a ton of history, from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones arriving within the US, Keith Moon joining The Who and Pete Townshend first accidently breaking his guitar on stage. All while Elvis is shouting Viva Las Vegas. One album released within May was ‘The Dave Clark Five Returns!’. This title of an album is quite strange considering they had just released an album two months prior. Had they even really left? You can't return if you have never left, Dave. Two months later they would release 'American Tour', a STUDIO album. Even worse, the Canada release was 'On Stage With....". Clearly Dave's not home... The Dave Clark Five would release five albums in the US in 1964 after releasing the hit ‘Glad All Over’.

1974 It must have been a year of footwork, going from doing the Loco-motion to running naked in the supermarket. The beginning of three weeks at the top of the Billboard charts, Ray Charles first thought of the song on an airplane later rushing to the studio when seeing how popular it had become having seen several news reports of streakers. There were near 40 songs about streaking that came out around the time.

No song spent more than three weeks at number 1 in 1974. Up until May there had been several, Time In a Bottle by Jim Croce, The Joker by The Steve Miller Band, Show and Tell by Al Wilson. Ringo’s weird cover of ‘Your Sixteen’ caps off the hits of January. Barbara Streisand owned February for three weeks interrupted shortly by Love’s Theme by Love Unlimited Orchestra. LUO(?) was Barry White’s orchestra backing band and this was one of few instrumentals he wrote. One of a handful of pure orchestral songs to achieve number 1 status. It’s unlikely you haven’t heard it somewhere before.

March would bring in Terry Jacks with Seasons In the Sun, Dark Lady by Cher, Sunshine on My Shoulders by John Denver. Perhaps being surrounded by the suns gave Cher a tanning. Hooked On A Feeling by Blue Suede, B-B-B-Benny and the Jets by Sir Elton and The Sound of Philadelphia by MFSB and The Three Degrees show just want an exhaustingly varied year of shuffling sounds atop the Billboard in 1974. Acoustic, rock, dance, orchestral, funk, disco, contemporary and comedy, all sat on top before Summer even arrived.

1984 Hello sat on top of the chart for two weeks. It seems longer given how long it has played in our heads but 1984 was filled with great hits.

1994 On the Modern Rock charts, Morrissey’s 7 week run gave way to Live’s ‘Selling The Drama’. An interesting note about this single is that the B-side in the US was ‘Lightning Crashes’, which was never released in the States as a single yet received way more airplay over the years than the A-side. Lightning Crashes reached number 12 on the charts in 1995.

Game Show Time Capsules

One of the fascinating things about YouTube is the ability to see so many game shows of the past. It’s hard to imagine a better time capsule of popular culture of our society at the time.

From how questions are framed to the multiple choices they present.  
The banter between host and contestants. 
The everyday fashion of the contestants and the color and set design. 
The prizes shown and the prices announced. 
Mechanics and technology of the games themselves. 
And bonus if you can watch them with the commercials of the time.

One of the more interesting shows is Tattletales from 1974-84. In this particular gameshow celebrity couples would answer rounds of questions similar to that of The Newlywed Game. The same guests would be on for an entire week making for very interesting conversations. Betty White and Allen Ludden, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara among other fun witty guests. They’d trade places and be broadcast on mini tv screens wearing headphones for ‘sound proof’ when needed. It reminds me of floating heads kept in a box like you’d see at a magic show. I’m sure it was the very pinnacle of game show technology.

Hosted by legendary host Bert Convy, the show was very goofy and extremely candid just as you’d expect a 70’s show to be. Plenty of episodes exist on YouTube including this one seen below.

The People’s Quote

“One, two, one two three four.”
- B. Joel

“For me, the most relaxing thing is gardening.” 
-Vincent Price (Batman v Gilligan)

“Can’t find the buttered bread.”
-E. Vader, Pear Jam

This Week in Births

1820: Florence Nightingale would have been 204 this year if she had taken Flintstones Vitamins. Florence championed spreading the knowledge of medicine and the use of pie charts. Both are still widely used today.

1986: Megan Fox told FHM Magazine that her friends would complain to her, “Megan, you totally pinched a loaf in my toilet and didn’t flush.” Now that’s ‘More Than Meets the Eye’!

2024: Ron Carlton was born this past week to loving new parents Patty and Merle Carlton of Brisbaw, Ohio. Born a distinct yellow color, Ron began life not with a cry but with a giggle. Merle has high hopes of Ron following in his footsteps in wall carpet interior design. Little Ron already has his first swatch kit.

Short Bits

• You can’t spell ‘broccoli’ without ‘bro’.

• The Dead Kennedys songs are so catchy, one might call them ‘brain worms’.

• I use 'mumble' for dating but I always get mixed messages on there. 

• Can people with Prosopagnosia remember any songs by Faces? 

• Ed Begley Jr. has lived a crazy life including smoking pot with Charles Manson.

Creative Opportunities

Music Compilation:

Winstrumental
I would like to work on a compilation album of Winter Instrumentals of various artists to distribute and spread awareness of great instrumental music. I have published physical CDs in the past and would like to do so again. If you are interested in this project, visit the project page. Note, this does require purchase of some CDs to help the project.
Quarterly Music Compilation | Canvas, Chords, Comedy

Limited Edition Art Cards by DB Gatchell

Pre-order The Gatch Pack vol. 1 before they begin shipping in June.

Each pack will contain 3 prints of limited original artwork featuring Centipede, Dog Day Afternoon, Duality of Sun.

Each card: 
- Original Art Print on front gloss side 
- Information and a poem on back side
- 4x6” and printed on 14pt card stock. 
- Only 250 of each will be printed.  

$15 – pack containing all three card prints. 
$30 – all three card prints + an original 4x6” artwork 
(shipping $3 US / $5 World) 
 
You can find more information at:
Art Cards - Gatch Pack 01 - May 2024 – Gatchman's Gallery

Trivia Answer: 

According to Daryl Hall, Michael Jackson admitted during the We Are The World sessions that he had stolen the bassline from I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) for his song Billie Jean. Daryl says he told Michael he himself had stolen it from another song.

Here’s a fantastic version of I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) by The Bird and the Bee. The bird and the bee is a two piece band featuring Grammy winner Greg Kurstin and Inara George, daughter of Lowell George of Little Feat and the original Frank Zappa’s Mothers.
The Bird and the Bee - I Can't Go For That (Album vers., HQ) (youtube.com)

Thank you

If you enjoyed this newsletter, feel free to drop a comment on the site or respond with feedback. Have a great week!

Rock on!

DB ‘Gatch’ Gatchell

contact at canvaschordscomedy dot com