Retiring Guy's Digest

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Disappearing cities and villages of the Buckeye State: East Cleveland, Ohio

It all started here.

Scene & Heard, 5/10/2018

Source: Wikipedia

East Cleveland's population peaked at 40,047 in 1950. Its 2017 estimated population is 17,187 -- a drop of 22,860 (57%).

Cleveland's first suburb, incorporated in 1895, East Cleveland ("Focused on Revitalization") is bounded by its much larger neighbor to the west and north. It is located in Cuyahoga County.

Other disappearing cities of the Buckeye State:
Akron. (2/28/2019)
Cambridge. (2/27/2019)
Canton. (3/1/2019)
Cleveland. (1/2/2019)
East Liverpool. (2/18/2019)
Gallipolis. (2/23/2019)
Ironton. (2/24/2019)
Martins Ferry. (2/21/2019)
Pomeroy. (2/22/2019)
Portsmouth. (2/25/2019)
Steubenville. (2/20/2019)
Warren. (1/18/2019)
Youngstown. (1/9/2019)
Zanesville. (2/26/2019)

Disappearing cities and boroughs of the Keystone State

Aliquippa. (1/12/2019)
Ambridge. (1/17/2019)
Arnold. (1/18/2019)
Braddock. (1/19/2019)
Bradford, (1/20/2019)
Carbondale. (1/21/2019)
Charleroi. (1/22/2019)
Chester. (1/23/2019)
Clairton. (1/24/2019)
Coraopolis. (1/25/2019)
Dickson City. (1/26/2019)
Donora. (1/27/2019)
Duquesne. (1/28/2019)
Farrell. (1/29/2019)
Harrisburg. (2/12/2019)
Homestead. (1/30/2019)
Johnstown. (1/6/2019)
McKees Rocks. (1/31/2019)
McKeesport. (2/1/2019)
Monessen. (2/2/2019)
Nanticoke. (2/3/2019)
New Castle. (2/4/2019)
New Kensington. (2/5/2019)
Oil City. (2/6/2019)
Pittsburgh. (1/13/2019)
Pittston. (2/7/2019)
Scranton. (1/14/2019)
Shamokin. (2/8/2019)
Sharon. (2/9/2019)
Steelton. (2/11/2019)
Swissvale. (2/13/2019)
Titusville. (2/10/2019)
Uniontown. (2/14/2019)
Washington. (2/15/2019)
Willkes-Barre. (2/16/2019)
Wiklinsburg. (2/17/2018)

Other U.S. disappearing cities

Baltimore, Maryland. (12/31/2018)
Benton Harbor, Michigan. (1/15/2019)
Buffalo, New York, (1/8/2019)
Cairo, Illinois. (1/5/2019)
Detroit, Michigan. (1/1/2019)
East St. Louis, Illinois. (1/11/2019)
Flint, Michigan. (1/7/2019)
Gary, Indiana. (1/4/2019)
St. Louis, Missouri. (1/2/2019)
Wheeling, West Virginia. (1/16/2019)

Friday, March 1, 2019

"Only the Strong Survive" by Jerry Butler debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 1, 1969

"Only the Strong Survive" is Jerry Butler's best performer of his 39 singles, released from 1958 to 1977, that reached the Billboard Hot 100. Despite his smooth delivery on any number of great songs, he reached the top 10 just twice: "He Will Brek Your Heart" (1960) and "Let It Be Me" (a duet with Betty Everett in 1964).

In other chart action

Blood, Sweat & Tears made its first appearance on the Hot 100 with the first of 3 consecutive top 10 singles, all of which reach #2, all of which spent 13 weeks on the chart. Talk about consistency!

Steppenwolf's "Rock Me" became their third top 10 hit in a row. With their remaining 10 singles, they cracked the top 30 just once.

Glen Campbell had his second straight top 10 hit with "Galveston", and one-hit wonder and bubblegum studio group Crazy Elephant polluted the AM airwaves during their blessedly short incarnation.

Billboard Hot 100

Related articles:
Jerry Butler: Soul Survivor. (Chicago Reader, 4/7/2011)

There was a time, back in the late 60s, when Butler was one of the biggest stars in soul music, a creative collaborator to icons including Curtis Mayfield and Otis Redding in an era that also found Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the Temptations at or near the peak of their careers. Yet today Butler is more of a connoisseur's choice, not heard on the radio, even on oldies and dusties stations, as often as those other artists. The man fellow Cook County commissioner Larry Suffredin calls "one of the most modest people you'll ever see in public life" is more likely to deflect inquiries about his career in show business with his self-deprecating sense of humor.

Soul Singer Jerry Butler, Still Strong, Still Surviving. (KPBS, 8/18/2011)

Butler grew up on the North side of Chicago in the 1950s. He and Curtis Mayfield started singing together in church. Butler says a lot of soul and R&B musicians come up that way. He explains with a chuckle, "The first place you can go and perform is in a church and someone’s gonna say 'Amen' whether you’re good or bad."

Butler and Mayfield formed the doo-wop group The Impressions and they made a splash with a song Butler wrote as a poem at the age of 16. "For Your Precious Love" was a surprise hit in 1958. "In the days of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll, everything was pretty much juked up so the kids could dance and all," says Butler.

'Twitter is the crystat meth of newsrooms" (Exhibit B)

Washington Post, 1/25/2019

But in the coolness of the press section of what was then known as the Tampa Bay Times Forum, I observed something I’d never seen in seven prior conventions. The seats were filled, but hardly anyone glanced at the stage or the delegates. My colleagues had their laptops opened to their TweetDecks. Side by side in the dim glow of their screens, they monitored each bon mot and burp of Twitter’s commentary on events.

Now, obviously: old fogey alert. Apply your geezer filter as you see fit.

Exhibit B.

Madison.com, 2/28/2019

63-word intro. Subject headings added to 19 tweets. That's all he wrote!

Exhibit A. February 22, 2019. "Slow news day in the sports section of the Green Bay Press-Gazette."

Exhibit for your consideration

Green Bay Press-Gazette, 2/21/2019