I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead. I know that will not be easy … but if it’s at all possible: we’re just the ones to do it. And yesterday gave us the inspiration we need.
ART NOTES — a career retrospective of the works of Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through May 7th.
Spanish & Mexican mastersHAIL and FAREWELL to the former U.S. Attorney from Maryland, George Beall who — despite being from a prominent Republican family — investigated Spiro Agnew for bribery (even as Beall was getting calls from Nixon's White House to end it) which led to Agnew’s resignation … who has died at the age of 79 …. and to the eldest of a family singing trio, Maggie Roche— with the genesis of The Roches beginning with their roles on a 1973 Paul Simon album — who has died at the age of 65.
NOTE to BiPM — I located another 1975 television commercial (for a now-defunct New York money-center bank) by your home-town hero Paul Lynde — the original commercial ended with him storming off-set, and Rod Serling doing an on-camera closing … but Serling was edited-out following his death later that year. It is at this link— enjoy.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Peaches the Cat— who lives on a Duke University quadrangle, and has a crowd-sourcing page after she went missing during a storm (but returned later).
Peaches the Campus CatACCORDING to the BBC — by virtue of the vagaries of the calendar, Bill Clinton was (going into Friday) the second longest-serving US president (after FDR).
YUK for today — if you're of-a-certain-age, you may recall that shopping malls all seemed to have certain common denominators (such as Chess King):
Back in the day, every mall seemed to have at least a few of the same stores in it. They may have been stores you never actually saw anyone buying anything in …. or they may have been wildly popular ... but nowadays some have either disappeared from the mall landscape or have become increasingly hard to find.
(One that hasn’t disappeared) is Spencer's Gifts .. the store that triggered this list. Want to get a certain something? — you’d find it at Spencer's Gifts. You couldn't open a mall without a Spencer's Gifts (it was in all the building codes).
FRIDAY's CHILD is a Turkish kitteh who is a resident at a cat village set-up by a couple moving from Istanbul to the southern province of Antalya.
Cat village in rural TurkeyBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at Facing the Future… which began Friday. Still hard to believe …. but perhaps yesterday (in hindsight) be the day we got off the mat. I cited the last page of the book “Fear Strikes Out” as our possible line-of-reason for hope.
CHEERS also to everyone who marched yesterday: whether in-person or in-spirit. My youngest sister went to our nation’s capital to march. She had confided this to me, quite nervous about other family members who are Trump supporters (one very vehement, the other two less-so). But she was so happy, she did post several photos on Facebook (and we’ll speak on the phone today about it). Good for her!
SEPARATED at BIRTH — musician Sheryl Crow and TV star Dana Delany.
Sheryl Crow (born 1962) Dana Delany (born 1956)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… the saxophonist and bandleader Oliver Nelson recorded a landmark 1961 album The Blues and the Abstract Truth— which contained his most famous song. Yet I knew little of him until reading that (1) he spent several years as an arranger and producer, (2) he spent many of his final years in the movie and TV business, and (3) he died a young man. So a look back at his career seems overdue.
Born in St. Louis in 1932, he played the alto, tenor and soprano saxophones in regional bands (including a stint with Louis Jordan) before playing in an orchestra while serving in the Marines in Japan and Korea. Hearing the Tokyo Philharmonic, he found his calling: hearing more modern classical music, he saw himself as a composer, and being able to attend the type of concert halls unavailable to blacks back in the US of the early 1950’s.
He studied both at Washington as well as Lincoln Universities in Missouri (earning a master’s degree) and joined the New York jazz scene. He found work as an arranger (which he became quiet adept at) in the Apollo Theater in Harlem, briefly played with Count Basie, Quincy Jones and Duke Ellington and eventually led his own bands from the late 50’s through the mid-60’s.
In the mid-60’s, he became quite well-known as a producer and arranger (and at times, a sideman). Some were, of course, for jazz musicians: Jimmy Smith, Billy Taylor and Wes Montgomery. But he did so also for the Temptations, James Brown, Diana Ross and Ringo Starr.
In 1967 he relocated to Los Angeles and made quite a reputation as an arranger of television and film scores. Even if you are unfamiliar with his own music: if you are of-a-certain-age, you are familiar with the various movie/TV shows he either wrote the music for, or arranged:
TV shows: Ironside, Night Gallery, Columbo, The Six Million Dollar Man, Banacek, It Takes a Thief and the Bionic Woman.
Films: (all as arranger): Alfie (for Sonny Rollins), Lady Sings the Blues (for Michel Legrand) and Last Tango in Paris (for Gato Barbieri).
Oliver Nelson died in October, 1975 at only age 43 (which some have attributed to overworking himself) and an excellent compilation album dates from 2006. Another part of his legacy was his devotion to music education, and his 1966 music instruction book Patterns of Improvisation is still in-print … and used today by aspiring musicians.
Oliver Nelson (1932-1975)This landmark album of his from 1961 (with several stalwart sidemen, including drummer Roy Haynes— the only surviving performer, still performing at age 91) was recorded at the famous studio of recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder (who died just last August at age 91).
Released in August, 1961Stolen Moments is the opening track and the one Oliver Nelson is best-known for. Featuring a sixteen-bar augmented scale, it is among the most elegant songs of modern jazz, with a deep blues feel. Many jazz performers have recorded it (with some improvising vocals) and it was even recorded in 1988 by Frank Zappa (with Sting assisting) on a medley with a Police song at a concert.
And below you can Oliver Nelson’s classic version.
x YouTube Video