The Daily Dose/August 31, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
THIS IS CASEY COUNTING THEM DOWN: Last week we dropped a new Billboard chart record on you without comment. An item in our popular On This Date segment on Stevie Wonder hitting #1 on Billboard’s soul chart noted that the song was one of Wonder’s 20 #1 soul hits, a Billboard soul chart record shared with Aretha Franklin and Drake.
Get Our Your History Books: Drake is the new entry. Regular and astute readers of this crap might have noticed but it probably went over the heads of those of you in the peanut gallery. Heck, it was news to us, too. We check this record every time we trot Wonder or Aretha out in On This Date, so we knew Drake was nearing the mark, but it was news that Drake had tied the record.
Get Out Your History Books: This is not breaking news, either. The song that did it, Toosie Side, spent a week at #1 in April on both the soul chart and the Hot 100.
Dry, Technical Matter: Drake is from Toronto, where he still lives, and his uncle is Larry Graham, formerly of Sly and the Family Stone who also had a #1 soul hit, One In A Million You, in 1980 while Drake’s first #1 soul hit was 2007’s Best I Ever Had. Regular readers of this crap know we do enjoy our research here, but looking into how many other uncle/nephew combinations have also had #1 soul songs was a bit much, even for us.
FunFact, Especially If You’re Drake: Drake could issue a track of him belching and it would chart. He also holds soul chart records for most chart singles (210), Most Top 40 hits (156) and most Top 10 hits (70). Longtime Billboard soul chart buffs – and who isn’t one, really? – will be pleased to note the Godfather of Soul James Brown still ranks highly on all four lists.
The Bottom Line: For those of you who caught Drake’s addition, bravo zulu as we used to say in the navy. For those of you that didn’t, that’s OK, too. Chart minutiae isn’t for everybody, though you better get used to it here.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: The cat won’t even eat Sparrow’s chili.
I did not get to sleep until late afternoon (see Sleep Log below), so I ate some of the chili I made last week…Or maybe it was the week before…I can never remember…I’ve only had two servings since making it and while it’s not too bad, it’s not particularly good, either…The cat, after some cursory, early interest, eventually decided she would be having nothing to do with it.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: Brandon gets his first hotel assignment.
He’s the first rookie to debut in the hotel in a while and privately X-Ray and I are wondering how he’ll do. He’s ex-Army and he’s back from Iraq, but can he handle the pressures of the hotel? And on a weekend, no less! I mean, sure, he’s seen the ravages of war, but how will he respond when the welfare checks start going down?
Free Stuff
The same trick the drug dealers use.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo
Clock in with the graveyard crew of the Monte Carlo Security Department on the glamorous Las Vegas Strip.
Click here for the first two months of the funniest Vegas memoir ever.
Criminals, Courtesans and Constables
Gaylon’s latest novel takes place everywhere from throne rooms to death row.
Click here to read the first four chapters with our compliments.
The Regular Guys
Coming soon! Meet Lenny and Larry, two comedians going nowhere on their own who team up and become the biggest act in show business.
Click on the button to get started to read The Diary of a Nobody, Backstairs at the Monte Carlo and Criminals, Courtesans and Constables for only $4.99, a steal.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul, are killed in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris. Their bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived, with serious injuries. Though initial speculation centered on the car being chased by members of the entertainment press corps, it was later revealed that Paul was both drunk and stoned at the time of the crash and that no one was wearing their seat belts.
In 1965 – Russ Nixon of the Boston Red Sox ties the major league record for most sacrifice flies in a game in an 8-5 win over the Washington Senators in the second game of a doubleheader. Nixon had three scoring fly balls, tying the mark established by Bob Meusel of the New York Yankees in 1926. The record still stands and has now been accomplished a total of eleven times, most recently by Jose Lopez of the Seattle Mariners in 2008.
In 1974 – George Jones is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week with The Grand Tour. It was the fifth of 13 #1 country songs for Jones and his first since 1967. The song also peaked at #2 on Canada’s country chart and in 1993 a version by Aaron Neville peaked at #38 on the country chart and at #90 on the Hot 100.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all times, or die by suicide. Abraham Lincoln, 1/27/1838
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Joe Louis defended his heavyweight title 25 times.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Russ Nixon later managed which major league baseball teams? – Answer next time!
