If only that happened the weekend before last, when I was actually up at Gore, skiing. Yes, we had winter weather (zero in fact), but the only natural snow we had was due to a little snow squall that came in on my way up there. I'm sure more of the mountain is open now after this big dump.
Here, the snow we got was followed by a few days of cold weather: Wednesday, the day after the storm, it barely climbed above 20 degrees. Today, it reached a balmy 37 with bright sunshine, but a far cry from a few weeks ago when it was in the seventies.
Between here this week, and all the years I was a member of a ski house (near Hunter Mountain, then Mt. Snow and Stratton, between 1986 and 2004), I yearned for March and early April. That's because, although there was sufficient snow on the ground (especially in Vermont), and perhaps on the chilly side, the March sun, much higher in the sky (and the 21st would mark its half-way point to its most northern track), would make you feel like, perhaps you were down the shore....sure, with maybe your winter coat still on, but a good feeling nonetheless. You would have to put on sun block, because the warm sun would reflect off the snow much like it does off a sandy beach or the ocean. It was like a beach party out on the slopes; the best part was after you skied; you'd hang outside on the deck, watching the action and basking in the sunshine.
During that era, I also did summer houses, in Manasquan, Sea Girt and Belmar, and of course those times were magical as well. And perhaps that had a lot to do with the tolerance of the cold weather we've been having. Being out there in mid March or even early April means that just over two months from now, you'd be in T-shirts and bathing trunks; and at night, the club life would required wearing you best button down shirt. And it's the thought of that, which gets you through these days.
And while fall was always the best season I enjoy much of my life, I have an appreciation for late winter and early spring. December snow is magical because of the holiday season. March and April is because of the thoughts of what's to come. January and February? You endure.
You might be asking "what's this got to do with music?". Well, on Wednesday morning, leaving my overnight hotel job, it was 12 degrees, with the freshly fallen snow. The song I had on my iPod? "Who Do You Love" by The Sapphires, a pop/R&B trio from Philadelphia. The song, released in the midst of Beatlemania, reached #25 this time of year in 1964. The tone of the song, gave me a cool late winter, anticipation of summer vibe to it. It was perfect: thoughts of summer as I was driving in 10-degree weather with a foot of snow on the ground. I think you had to be there to appreciate it. Another song which gave me a similar vibe was Santana's 1972 "No One To Depend On", which was popular also this time of year.
There are other songs, of course, and bluesy jam songs, seem to fit the bill. For me, they fit, from mid March all the way into June (where you can still get a chilly night or two, that would harken you back to late winter).
SPRIT OF 76: This week on my Facebook page, I am flashing back to March of 1976 and as such, been posting music that was on Billboard's Hot 100 chart from around that time. As was the case with much of that decade, there was a wide range in music, from what is now classic rock, to pure pop, to R&B and disco crossovers and the occasional country tune. My favorite from that period was right there at #1: "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)", by the Four Seasons, the Jersey group's fifth and final number one song. What's unusual about the song is that Frankie Valli, the lead singer of the group since its inception, does not sing lead. In the 1970's, he was back by new musicians, who actually played instruments (as opposed to the vocal aspect of the original hit making group). The drummer, Gerry Polci took the lead vocals on the verses, while Valli did handle a portion of it as well A third member, Don Ciccone, also contributed vocals in portions of the song "I felt the run like a rolling bolt of thunder....". Ciccone, ten years earlier was a member of The Critters, a pop group based in my home county of Union, New Jersey, and had some hits, most notably "Mr. Dieingly Sad", which he wrote. Sadly, we lost Don Ciccone last November at the age of 70.
At #2 was Eric Carmen's "All By Myself". I love Carmen's work with The Raspberries, a power pop group in the vein of bands like Badfinger, and echoed after The Beatles. They had a few hits, most notably "Go All the Way", but I thought they should have been much bigger than that. A personal favorite was the ballad "Let's Pretend", released in 1973. Carmen's solo efforts were more of the easy listening variety, but one favorite of mine he did was in 1977, "She Did It", with Beach Boy-like harmonies. He did have varied success into the late 1980's with "Hungry Eyes" from Dirty Dancing, and "Make Me Lose Control". "Love Machine" by the post Smokey Robinson Miracles, "Take It To the Limit" by The Eagles, and "Dream Weaver" by Jerseyan Gary Wright rounded out the top five.
March was an interesting month for me as I was in the second semester of my sophomore year at Montclair State University, it was probably my favorite year of the four I went there. Hanging out in friends' dorms as well as the campus pub, The Rathskeller, were good times. I often drank a bit too much, but I'd crash in a friend's room. And the following month, it was down to Daytona Beach, Florida for Spring Break, an experience all my own. At time point, I'll blog about that week, but it was one of the best experiences in my life.
TO THE HERE AND NOW: Rihanna's "Love on the Brain" continues at the top for a fourth week on the SNS 100, but another pop star of the day, Ed Sheeran, with "Shape of You", jumps to #2. With the latter still atop the Hot 100, and Rihanna inching up to #5 there, we have two current pop stars in my top two. Sheeran has his third top 3 SNS hit, following "Thinking Out Loud" and "Photograph". Capital Cities, Phoebe Ryan and Foxygen round out the top five, with a big mover, Cage the Elephant with its garage-rock throwback, "Cold Cold Cold" jumping from 18 to 6.
The top debut is by Fleet Foxes, one of my early blog favorites, with the eight plus-minute "Third of May/Odargahara", from a forthcoming set. It's great to see the Fleets back together again. "Mykonos" from their Sun Giant EP, was my #3 song on my pre-blog year-end top 100 of 2009. Their 2011 set Helplessness Blues yielded the big SNS song "Grown Ocean".
The band disbanded in 2013, with members doing solo projects, but got back together last year. Their new album, Crack Up, will be released in June. Glad to have them back, and this song shows why I loved them in the first place, with their dreamy texture and harmonizing.
Cold War Kids had a #1 SNS several years ago, and recently topped the alternative charts with "First" in late 2015/early 2016; but the song was a disappointment with me, only reaching #48, but the new one, "Love is Mystical", from their new L.A. Devine set, is a return to form for me.
Also debuting is Day Wave, an indie band from Oakland; Future Islands, a band from Baltimore, The Interrupters, an LA ska/punk hybrid, K.Flay, aka Kristine Meredith Flaherty, a hip-hop alternative hybrid. I also add Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" which is a more accessible song than the recently-added "Noise Pollution". Marian Hill is a synth-pop artist from Philly.
And, finally, as the video was featured on Jersey radio station NJ 101.5, as well as on a blog and posted by a couple of my friends, Paul Czekaj's "That Old New Jersey" re-enters at #98. The video is over 400,000 views now.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
March 12, 2017
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE: 
"Love On the
Brain"
Album: Anti
(4 weeks at #1)
|
9 |
| 2 | 4 | Ed Sheeran - Shape of You | 6 |
| 3 | 3 | Capital Cities - Vowels | 14 |
| 4 | 2 | Phoebe Ryan - Boyz n Poizn | 12 |
| 5 | 6 | Foxygen - Follow the Leader | 6 |
| 6 | 18 | Cage the Elephant - Cold Cold Cold | 4 |
| 7 | 5 | Wild Belle - Our Love Will Survive | 16 |
| 8 | 8 | The Knocks and Matthew Koma - I Wish (My Taylor Swift) | 13 |
| 9 | 11 | The Palms - Push Off | 5 |
| 10 | 12 | Christina Taylor - Don't Look Good in Your T-Shire Anymore | 5 |
| 11 | 19 | Billy Spanton Band - Faith (Hands on Me) | 6 |
| 12 | 9 | Michael Kiwanuka - One More Night● | 22 |
| 13 | 14 | Saint Motel - Move | 7 |
| 14 | 17 | The Hounds of Winter - Lesson Learned | 5 |
| 15 | 7 | Jake Owen - If He Ain't Gonna Love You | 18 |
| 16 | 24 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"I Don't Wanna Dance"
(Single Only)
|
4 |
| 17 | 16 | Rachel Allyn - No Second Chances (Tennessee) | 9 |
| 18 | 29 | Lolo - Not Gonna Let You Walk Away | 4 |
| 19 | 15 | The XX - On Hold | 10 |
| 20 | 10 | Jim James- Same Old Lie | 11 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod. 
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