july

Hans 2021 Song Draft: Round One-Pick Three-There Goes My Baby-Drifters (1959)

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The Drifters Image One
Photo Credit: poprockdoowopp.com

Hanspostcard has a song draft challenge. This is my Round One pick. I will be posting these per decade.

Having grown up on the East Coast/Mid-Atlantic, one thing my state is known for is shagging (for the Brits, no, that is not what it means). While my grandparents did the Jitterbug as youths, my parents shagged (a descendant of the Jitterbug), as did my classmates and I. This song, in particular, was my favorite to shag to, though I enjoyed many beach music songs. ~Vic

Released either in May (per Rolling Stone Magazine) or April 24, 1959 (per Wikipedia), it was written by Benjamin Nelson (Ben E. King), Lover Patterson and George Treadwell. Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B chart (July) and, #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (August).

This is the second version of The Drifters under Treadwell’s management, crafted from the Five Crowns: Ben E. King, Charlie Thomas, Doc Green and Elsbeary Hobbs with James “Poppa” Clark being rejected for alcohol issues. With this line-up, There Goes My Baby was their first single and King’s debut as lead singer. It was unusual for its time, being the first commercial R&B/Soul recording with strings, arranged by Stan Applebaum, and a Brazilian Baiãon groove. Phil Spector studied the production style under Leiber & Stoller.

The song is ranked at #196 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Donna Summer did a version that was released in July 1984 and peaked at #21 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Additional:
Ben E. King and The Drifters (The Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation/Inducted 2000)
John Gilliland’s Pop Chronicles (The Drifters & Ritchie Valens/Track 2/University of North Texas Digital Library)
There Goes My Baby (The Art of Rock Music Listening Guide/University of Albany/PDF)
Things You Didn’t Know About The Drifters (Pop, Rock & Doo Wopp/Joe Mirrione/April 10, 2020)

Lyrics

Scoop Saturday: Iowa Man Receives 33 Year Old Postcard

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Elizabeth Kay Postal Box Unsplash Image One
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Kay on Unsplash

An Iowa man, who received a postcard from his sister, said he was surprised to note the card had been mailed in 1987. Paul Willis, a hog farmer in Thornton, said a postcard appeared in his mailbox, recently, from his sister, Annie Lovell […]. [H]e soon noticed the card bore a picture of Lovell on a Grand Canyon hike in 1987 and a San Francisco postmark from December of that same year.

Willis said the postcard bore a second postmark from April 29 of this year in Des Moines so, he called the post office to see if they had any explanation for the postcard’s tardiness. [An] employee said the postcard may have been discovered while furniture and machines were being moved for cleaning. “She said, ‘Well, the post offices are all going through deep cleaning because of COVID-19…'” Willis [recounted to] the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

An Illinois woman experienced a similar incident in July 2019, when a postcard showed up at her home that had been mailed 26 years earlier. Kim Draper said the card was addressed to the previous residents of her Springfield home and, [it] recounted the residents’ father’s travels in Hong Kong.

Ben Hooper
United Press International
May 7, 2020
No Video Clip

Short Piece on Kim Draper

Chris Thomas: The OPPT, The UCC & The HGF

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A Blog Post From: The Chris Thomas Files

OPPT Image One
Photo Credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash

In recent weeks, the Internet and some media has been inundated with claims made by an organisation that calls itself The One Peoples Public Trust or OPPT. The OPPT claim that they have established a Trust bonded to the original American Constitution of 1776. They further bonded every single person on the planet into this trust and claim to act in the interests of every single person on the planet. The OPPT claim to have filed legal documents with the UCC that make claims: “Understanding that corporations, governments and banks are one and the same, an “Order of Finding and Action” was filed against the “the debtor”, a legal entity created via the UCC process which encompasses all corporate entities. The filings claim that the Debtor “knowingly, willingly and intentionally committed treason” by “owning, operating, aiding and abetting private money systems” and “operating Slavery Systems used against…citizens without their knowing, willing and intentional consent”.

In other words, all of the Earth’s resources are owned by people and not corporations or governments. This is a right given to us because of our connections to the “Creator” and cannot be contested.

The OPPT further claim that as they filed these documents with the UCC under a “non-rebuttal” clause and as the “debtor” has not rebutted these claims, the documents filed by the OPPT now become law. The OPPT further claim that: “Lawfully, nobody can stand as a superior authority between you and your relationship with the Creator. Having removed the control-mechanisms of economy and government, the One People’s Public Trust leaves individuals in full liability, being personally responsible for themselves and for ensuring the free-will rights of others. There is no longer a structural chain of command. No rules. No corporations to hide behind. You are – as the Creator intended – a Being and a guardian of our planet and its inhabitants.”

Having read these documents and claims, my first question was: The American Constitution was not written in 1776 so what do they mean? First of all, the only event of note that happened in 1776 was the establishment of the Bavarian Illuminati. Then, in July 1782, the Illuminati incorporated the Order of Freemasons at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad. The American Constitution was not written until 1787 and was not ratified until the 21st of June 1788 – note: of the 55 signatories to the American Constitution, 50 were known Freemasons. So, what American Constitution has the OPPT bonded themselves to and, by extension, bonded every single person on the planet? Certainly it is not the American Constitution as everybody knows it as it was not written in 1776. Does this mean that the OPPT have bonded everyone to the Illuminati and the Freemasons? Given that every school child in America is well schooled in the history of the American Constitution, the OPPT stating that it was signed in 1776 is, obviously, a deliberate mistake. If it isn’t a deliberate mistake, the error would negate their claim to passing a law.

My second question was: Who are the UCC?

The UCC

In several OPPT documents and emails, they refer to the UCC as “Universal Commercial Code”. If you Google this name, you receive no hits – the Universal Commercial Code does not exist. But, Google does come up with a number of hits for UCC and the organisation that exactly matches the OPPT’s description of the organisation with which their documents are filed is an American organisation whose full name is “Uniform Commercial Code”.
To quote from the UCC’s website:

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC or the Code), first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.

OPPT Image Two
Photo Credit: Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

In other words, the UCC is, effectively, an NGO which does not have any legal powers or even the power to police the policy documents it writes. All it can do is to recommend policy to individual State Legislators and it is, then, up to the particular State to adopt these recommendations or not. If the individual States then decide to adopt the UCC’s recommendations, it passes laws to adopt them. The UCC does not pass laws. The UCC has no legal standing and no legal powers, even within the USA, let alone anywhere else in the world. The UCC does have a legal department who check and advise on State law but, their website does not make any reference to the OPPT filings (their website, when I visited it, was updated on the 28th of February 2013).

Other Problems

The OPPT claim that they filed papers with the UCC under what the OPPT claim is a system of “rebuttal”. What this means is that if the person or organisation the actions are filed against does not “rebut” the allegations within a certain time frame, the filed actions automatically become law. There is a process, in some legal situations, whereby, if an accusation or claim is made against a defendant, and the defendant does not present a defence, the court finds in favour of the claimant, automatically. This only applies if the claimant files their complaint in a recognised court of law. However, the UCC is not a court of law, it has no legal standing anywhere in the world and it cannot make judgements or rulings on any document that is filed with it.

Think of it this way:
You are a car salesman who believes that people throughout the world should only buy American-built automobiles. So, you join together with other car salesmen who have the same thoughts and form a trust. As a trust, you then write a document containing all sorts of impenetrable legal-sounding language stating that the citizens of the world can only buy American-built automobiles, lodge these papers with the UCC claiming that unless this new “law” is rebutted within 6 months, the trust’s idea becomes law throughout the world.

If the form of legal processes the OPPT claim to have worked in their favour was true, think how many other law suites [sic] would be brought about through the UCC and throughout the world for all sorts of bizarre rules that favour one group against another. It would be legal chaos. This is why the use of a rebuttal clause can only be decided in a court of law.

Additionally, the OPPT claim to have access to a “higher source of information” that they call the “Eternal Records”. I have encountered this phrase “Eternal Records” only once before and that was about 10 years ago. This was when someone set up a website claiming to be in “direct communication” with some Galactic Council or Galactic Federation or other, that they could, through the Velon, access these Eternal Records and, that, only the Velon had access to these records. Nobody else in the Universe did. By claiming they have access to the Eternal records, the OPPT are linking themselves in with the Velon and, the Velon controlled Illuminati (by the way, the “Eternal Records” do not exist except in Velon fantasy). Apart from the documents the OPPT have been putting out on their website, and the Internet in general, there have been a number of articles written about them in alternative magazines and newspapers. There has also been a series of four articles written about them and published in The Guardian newspaper on-line edition. The Guardian Express articles were written by Andy Whiteley, who is a publicist for the OPPT. Presumably, other articles have been published in other “mainstream” newspapers but, I have not had access to them.

To continue reading (it’s 5 pages), download the PDF version HERE.

[Note: The original post was published with his permission on the One-Vibration Forum Blog on March 5, 2013.]

Tune Tuesday: Lloyd Price 1959

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Lloyd Price Image One
Photo Credit: youtube.com

Sixty years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts was Stagger Lee. The song references a murder that took place on December 27, 1895 (though some accounts say Christmas night). “Stag” Lee Shelton, born in Texas on March 16, 1865 (the same year John B. Stetson started his famous cowboy hat company), owner of the Modern Horseshoe Club, shot William “Billy” Lyons at the Bill Curtis Saloon after an argument.

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat December 28, 1895:

William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o’clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon [sic], a carriage driver. Lyons and Sheldon [sic] were friends and were talking together. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon’s [sic] hat from his head. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon [sic] withdrew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon [sic] took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away. He was subsequently arrested and locked up at the Chestnut Street Station. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. Lee Sheldon [sic] is also known as ‘Stag’ Lee.

Quote from Cecil Brown (author of Stagolee Shot Billy):

“Lee Shelton belonged to a group of pimps known in St. Louis as the ‘Macks’. The Macks were not just ‘urban strollers’. They presented themselves as objects to be observed.”

Lloyd Price Image Two
Image Credit: amazon.com

Shelton’s first trial in July, 1896, ended in a hung jury. The second trial in October 1897 returned a guilty verdict and a sentence of 25 years in prison at Jefferson Penitentiary. Shelton was pardoned and released from prison by Governor Folk on Thanksgiving in 1909. He returned to prison in May of 1911 for robbery & assault. He was granted an additional parole by Governor Hadley on February 8, 1912 but, died in the prison hospital of tuberculosis in March as Missouri’s Attorney General, Elliot Major, objected.

The original version of this song was the Stack O’ Lee Blues from 1924. It has some shocking lyrics and has absolutely nothing to do with the Stagger Lee version penned by Price and Harold Logan.

This song has been covered by Pat Boone (can you imagine?), Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Doc Watson, The Youngbloods and, even, Huey Lewis and the News.

[I grew up dancing to this song. It was a shagging staple. Have you ever seen Shag: The Movie? ~Vic]

Analog Version

Shag: The Movie

Fellow blogger Badfinger always lists lyrics. I will take his lead.

Lyrics
The night was clear and the moon was yellow
And the leaves came tumblin’ down…

I was standin’ on the corner
When I heard my bull-dog bark.
He was barkin’ at the two men
Who were gamblin’ in the dark.

It was Stagger Lee and Billy,
Two men who gambled late.
Stagger Lee threw a seven,
Billy swore that he threw eight.

“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
“I can’t let you go with that.
You have won all my money,
And my brand-new Stetson hat.”

Stagger Lee went home
And he got his. 44.
He said, “I’m goin’ to the ballroom
Just to pay that debt I owe.”

Go, Stagger Lee

Stagger Lee went to the ballroom
And he strolled across the ballroom floor.
He said “You did me wrong, Billy.”
And he pulled his. 44.

“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
“Oh, please don’t take my life!
I’ve got three hungry children,
And a very sickly wife.”

Stagger Lee shot Billy
Oh, he shot that poor boy so hard
That a bullet went through Billy
And broke the bartender’s bar.

Go, Stagger Lee, go, Stagger Lee!
Go, Stagger Lee, go, Stagger Lee!