Hello again retro music fans. Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).
It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday February 22ND 1998:
Amber … What a great singer with some great dance songs back in the day. She’s from the Netherlands, but she achieved her greatest success on the pop and dance charts here stateside. “One More Night” was 1 of 7 hit singles for Amber on my chart from 1996 to 2002, and it was from her debut album “This Is Your Night”. It was the Hani Radio Edit of “One More Night” that went straight-in to my Top 30 chart at # 1 and stayed there for 5 weeks.
Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of February 1988. It’s when Eric Carmen was in my Top 5 with a “Dirty Dancing” track.
It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !
All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
This week it’s on to Day 5 – and the 3RD and final port-of-call in Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas U.S.V.I.
But First: It was another day of full-use of my cell phone (iPhone) without any extra International “roaming” charges, so I got all caught-up (again) on the Interwebs. (I rarely use my iPhone as a phone. I use it mostly as a little computer that fits in the palm of my hand.)
Before the cruise when I was researching and purchasing shore excursions to do on the islands – I didn’t really see anything that I was interested in on St. Thomas. I could go back to the top of the mountain (1,500 feet above sea level) to that big gift shop / liquor store (Mountain Top), and take-in the views from up there. But every good cruise has a fun and relaxing day on the ship when there’s not that many other people around, and I decided that St. Thomas Day would be my personal “Fun Day On Ship”.
Well – a lot of people on the ship had the same idea as me. Of the approximate 6,000 passengers – perhaps 2 out of 3 went ashore (just a rough estimate). That means 1 out of 3 stayed onboard – or 2,000 out of 6,000. The Carnival Celebration – after all – is a very nice and beautiful and modern and huge cruise ship – the biggest and brightest that Carnival has to offer.
I actually did get off the ship for about 90 minutes of walking around the strip shopping center that sits adjacent to the port. I wasn’t planning on buying anything – just browsing – and getting some exercise in.
That was the first part of my Breakfast – courtesy of Emeril Lagasse. (He has a bistro on the ship.) The second part consisted of a half-dozen powdered beignets with strawberry sauce and chocolate sauce. (That’s why I needed those 90 minutes of walking off the ship.)
After that it was back on the ship to resume my “Fun Day On Ship” and explore portions of the ship that I had not previously seen. Oh – and it was time to eat again.
Next #TravelThursday I’ll wrap-up my cruise review of the Carnival Celebration with some final thoughts, and then I’ll reveal my plans for my next (25TH) cruise. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday February 12TH 2023 – the 313TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:
MATTHEW WEST – The man who I call “my favorite singer” scores his 6TH # 1 smash over the past 6 years – more than any other artist (surpassing MercyMe). “My Story Your Glory” ascends to the top in its 9TH week on my chart. It’s Matthew’s 22ND week at # 1, and 152ND week on my chart since this current era began exactly 6 years ago next weekend. This past Friday night TBN aired a portion of Matthew’s Sunday August 21ST 2022 concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Tennessee. The 90-minute special kicked-off with “My Story Your Glory”, and it sounded great. It was also awesome to see him perform “The God Who Stays” – which was my # 1 smash exactly 3 years ago. He told a funny story about how he and his Uber driver sang the song together one night as it played on the radio. (The Uber driver had no idea it was him.) Over the past 5 editions of #SundayScripture I’ve been featuring my sermon that was based on that song.
COCHREN & CO. – Michael Cochren and his band are not on my chart this week, but they are getting ready to return next weekend. His rockin’ new single “Running Home” is sitting just outside of my Top 10 this week. It sounded spectacular LIVE at the TobyMac concert earlier this month. It’s got that mid-1980s big American anthemic rock sound to it. I have a feeling that it will be a long-running track on the radio and on my chart into this Summer. Oh – and no wonder I love this new song. Matthew West cowrote it.
This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.
Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.
Be blessed my friends ! May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 12TH 2023, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.
Today is Super Bowl Sunday all across the U.S.A. – an unofficial national holiday. Actually – there are some lawmakers who would like to get rid of Columbus Day in October, and replace it with Super Bowl Monday – a new Federal holiday. That would give us 2 Federal holidays on consecutive Mondays in February in most years. (The exception being when Presidents’ Day falls on Monday February 15TH – the same day as the day after the Super Bowl.)
As soon as I return home from church service and fellowship today – I’ll turn on my TV to FOX (airing the Super Bowl), and I won’t touch the dial (remote) again until I turn it off after the big game.
I now continue presenting my New Year’s Day sermon in its original written form. It’s based on the Matthew West song of late-2019 / early-2020 – “The God Who Stays”. Here’s Part 5 (the conclusion):
‘Cause you’re the God who stays You’re the God who stays You’re the One who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away
You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done Can separate my heart From the God who stays
You’re the God who stays You’re the One who runs in my direction When the whole world walks away
You’re the God who stands With wide open arms And You tell me nothing I have ever done Can separate my heart From the God who stays
BEHIND THE SERMON – So that part up there in dark green – I actually sang that to my church family a cappella. Up until that point in my sermon – I merely read the lyrics of Matthew West’s song. You know I used to sing more often while preaching. I kind of got away from doing that over the past few years (since COVID). I’m going to try to get back to singing small portions of my sermons in the future. Our God loves to hear us sing to Him. Every voice is beautiful to Him.
Right after I sang – I explained to my church family how it would’ve been great to actually watch Matthew West’s official music video for his song “The God Who Stays”. But what worked fine in my PowerPoint Presentation at home did not work at all in that same PowerPoint Presentation on the church’s laptop. (It was a video compression issue.) So our Praise & Worship Pastor (who was sitting in our sound room) did some quick work, found the music video on YouTube, and he played it for us.
What a beautiful song that is. What a powerful song that is. Matthew West is not singing to us. He’s singing to the God who stays.
You know when that song played on the radio every few hours every day during the COVID lockdowns – I thought to myself – that song – that song plays out like a sermon. I could write a sermon based on that powerful song – that hymn to our God. And so I did – almost 3 years later.
If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !
Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:
The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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