What’s Happening – Via JJ Duling

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Amazon’s long awaited drone delivery service: After years of setbacks, Amazon is finally launching its drone delivery service later this year. The tech giant announced that it would be piloting this service in Lockeford, California following approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local officials. Once onboarded, Lockeford residents will be able to place an order for eligible products like normal and then wait as a futuristic device descends from the sky into their backyard. (Mashable)

Meijer’s Unintentional Weekend Double Dip: Customers who shopped at a Meijer store over the weekend may have been double charged. The popular Michigan chain reported issues with payment processing where a few shoppers were charged double for purchases. The company urges customers to check bank statements and contact the store if there are inconsistencies. (DetNews)

Was a Beach Boy Classic an Ode to JFK? Brian Wilson told the Goldmine website that a fan favorite from the Surfin’ USA LP, “The Warmth of the Sun” was written as an ode to JFK in the wake of his assassination. Mike Love, in conversation with Rock Cellar Magazine, remembers it differently. The tune “..was written the preceding day, words and music, and we got up to the news that President Kennedy had been taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and that he was dead,” Love said. (Showbiz Cheatsheet) ScottO’s Postscript: I always thought that Love’s lyrics for the Bobby Troup melody in “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring“, recorded by the Beach Boys as  “A Young Man’s Gone,” on the 32 Little Deuce Coupe LP, was more of a tribute tune. Love confirms he wrote the words about the death of James Dean.]

Today’s Rock and Roll Birthdays (Via DrRock.com)

Is Google’s Artificial Intelligence Engine a “Sentient Being?” Google software engineer Blake Lemoine was had been working on the new Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) system in 2021, specifically testing if the AI was using hate speech. He said the AI has been “incredibly consistent” in its speech and what it believes its rights are “as a person.” More specifically, he claims the AI wants consent before running more experiments on it. Google recently suspended Limione from his position after his Medium posts about sentient AI generated controversy. (Gizmodo)

Want help naming your kid? Ikea has an answer:  A new Covid rlated baby boom in Norway gave Ikea’s  branch in that company an idea. It has created “a name bank” with more than 800 listings available on its website. The list parallels names Ikea has given to its furniture instead of product numbers since 1948. The Scandinavian country registered the births of 56,060 babies last year, or 3,081 more than in 2020. The increase creates “a challenge in finding unique names,” Ikea Norway said. (AP)

Want to break a Guinness world record? Try balancing a chainsaw on your head: On yesterday’s morning show, we mentioned a man who broke the Guinness world record for “Tortilla Tossing.” Now we learn that Idaho resident, David Rush reclaimed a Guinness World Records title by balancing a chainsaw on his forehead for 31 minutes and 25 seconds. Rush who has broken nearly 250 Guinness World Records to promote STEM education. After learning someone had bested his time with a 6-minute, 48-second attempt the creative philanthropist decided to up his game besting the current record by a factor of four.

1909 Burl Ives, Grammy-winning, grandfatherly folk singer, “A Little Bitty Tear” (#9, 1962), stage and screen actor, writer, radio personality, died from mouth cancer on 4/14/1995, age 85
1929 Cy Coleman / (Seymour Kaufman) ? Child-prodigy classical pianist turned jazz-pop artist and Tony Award-winning composer for Broadway and films, wrote music for multiple stage hits, including “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “Big Spender” for Sweet Charity (1966), and the latter for Shirley Bassey (UK #21, 1967), scored music for the films Father Goose (1964), Power (1986) and others, periodically recorded solo albums and charted a lone hit, “Chloe” (Disco #8, 1975), died from a heart attack on 11/18/2004, age 75
1931 Junior Walker / (Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr.) ? Saxophonist and founder/frontman for R&/pop-soul Jr. Walker & The All Stars, “Shotgun” (#4, 1965), solo and sessions, died of cancer on 11/23/1995, age 64.
1936 Obie Benson / (Renaldo Benson) ? Original member and vocals for 50s high school R&B/soul vocal quartet that became hugely successful The Four Tops, “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” (#1, 1966), co-wrote the anti-war Marvin Gaye hit “What’s Goin’ On” (#2, 1971), died of lung cancer on 7/1/2005, age 69.
1937 Chuck Berghofer / (Charles Curtis Berghofer) ? Jazz and pop bassist, as a member of several 60s jazz ensembles played with Jack Shelton, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other luminaries, member of the acclaimed Wrecking Crew group of L.A. studio musicians, played the bass solo on Nancy Sinatra‘s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” (#1, 1966), appeared on numerous film soundtracks, recently worked with Christine Aguilera, Michael Feinstein and others
1938 Julie Felix / (Julie Ann Felix) ? American-born folk singer who relocated to London and became, for a time, “Britain’s first lady of folk,” a successful performer, TV personality, fixture on the London hippie/folk scene and the first solo folk artist signed to a major British record label (Decca, 1964), issued 22 solo albums and several charting singles (“If I Could (El Cóndor Pasa),” UK #19, 1970), appeared regularly on BBC television with the satirist David Frost before hosting her own show, Once More with Felix, on BBC Two from 1967 to 1970, performed at the first Isle Of Wight Festival (1969), released her final album in 2018 and performed at festivals until just prior to her death following a brief illness on 3/22/2020, age 81.
1943 Spooner Oldham / (Dewey Lindon Oldham) ? Keyboardist, songwriter and session musician, worked at FAME and Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama and appears on hundreds of songs and albums, including hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge and countless others, co-wrote “Cry Like A Baby” for The Box Tops (#2, 1968), moved to Los Angeles in the 80s and continues to record and tour with artists including Neil Young and Drive-By Truckers
1945 Rod Argent, Founding member, songwriter and keyboardist for underappreciated art-pop rock The Zombies, “Time Of The Season” (#3, 1969), frontman for hard/art rock Argent, “Hold Your Head Up” (#5, 1972), now a TV and film composer
1947 The Fish / (Barry Melton) ? Co-founder and original guitarist for psych-country-protest-rock Country Joe & The Fish, “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” (1967), later co-founded San Francisco neo-psych-rock supergroup The Dinosaurs, retired public defender in California
1949 Alan White, Drummer for Plastic Ono Band and John Lennon, “Instant Karma!” (#3, 1970), played with George Harrison and joined Ginger Baker’s Air Force, replaced Bill Bruford in 1972 in archetypal, pioneer progressive rock band Yes, “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” (#1, 1983) and has played on every Yes album since
1961 Boy George / (George O’Dowd) ? Androgynous frontman and lead singer for New Wave pop-rock Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon” (#1, 1984), solo, “The Crying Game” (#15, 1993)

Keener Number Ones for this week in:

(1964) Memphis, Johnny Rivers
(1965) Mr Tambourine Man, Byrds
(1966) Little Girl, Syndicate of Sound
(1967) Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli
(1968) This Guy’s In Love With You, Herb Alpert
(1969) Spinning Wheel, Blood Sweat & Tears
(1970) Ooh Child, Five Stairsteps
(1971) It’s Too Late, Carole King