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.
ART NOTES — a career retrospective of the works of Frida Kahlo— including an outdoor garden display reminiscent of her home in Mexico — will be at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida through April 17th.
Frida in FloridaHAIL and FAREWELL to the English progressive rock bassist/vocalist John Wetton— a member of King Crimson, Roxy Music, Renaissance, Uriah Heep, and most successfully Asia (singing their 1982 hit “Heat of the Moment”) although my favorite band of his was the late 70’s supergroup UK— who has died at the age of 67 …. and to the sculptor Gwen Gillen— who cast the bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore that appears on the streets of Minneapolis — who has died at the age of 76, just two days after Mary Tyler Moore.
YUK for TODAY — apparently, Sean Hannity went to a commercial break early this week with the teaser line, "Who is financing the airport protests nationwide?" This prompted a reply from the "Shark Tank" cable TV show cast member (and wealthy Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner) who — I believe(?) — concludes with a reference to Trump acolyte Stewart Rahr (a/k/a ‘Stewie Rah Rah’).
xIt's me Sean. I had the TriLateral commission pitch in, then i went to the Illuminati. They were really cheap, so Stewie covered the rest https://t.co/Eg4Ra36K2K
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 31, 2017YOUR WEEKEND READ — if you haven’t already seen it — the Canadian-born “Never-Trump” conservative writer David Frum has a lengthy yet gripping story about our autocrat-in-charge. Last week on NPR, Frum suggested that Trump opponents not focus on things that a Jeb Bush or a Marco Rubio would have also done … but things that no one else would have done.
THURSDAY's CHILD is an example of a munchkin, or sausage cat— a kitteh with a genetic disorder (meaning it has unusually short legs) which are now popular, with Paris Hilton sharing photos of her “Shorty” — which has led to a push-back by veterinarians, believing it cruel to breed cats that could not run or jump properly.
A munchkin (or sausage) catYUK for today - over 30 years ago, dorm residents at the University of Notre Dame were upset that the dining hall often ran out of a favorite breakfast cereal … and thus held a sit-down strike until officials promised to keep Cap’n Crunch cereal in-stock. At that time a spokesperson for Quaker Oats was quoted as saying, “We’re glad they like our cereal …... nobody ever went on strike for it before”.
POLITICAL NOTES — the world of dating has become more complicated, as a report from Match.com notes that people who bring up political leanings (and agree on them) during a first date …. have a 91% chance of getting to a second.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Félicette la Chatte — a French kitteh who was pressed into service as the world’s first cat in space when the intended pioneer (Félix le Chat) … somehow went missing on the morning of the 1963 flight.
Félicette la ChatteCHEERS to the English WW-II era singer, Dame Vera Lynn— who sang memorable versions of “We’ll Meet Again” and “White Cliffs of Dover” — and is now set to release a new album in March, just before her 100th birthday.
FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY a variety show premiered on CBS, and entertainment critic David Bianculli has a nice OpEd piece on how the Smothers Brothers Show changed America. He might have added that the show also launched the career of Glen Campbell, that two of its music writers (Mason Williams and John Hartford) became stars in their own right, that two of its staff writers were Rob Reiner and Steve Martin, and that others on its staff went on to write for other comedy shows.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — a National Parks Service spokesman (Jon Jarvis) who has notably taken-on the new Administration ….. and my own cousin Paul Durso.
National Parks Serviceman My cousin (Paul Durso)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… early February has some important dates in rock & roll history: February 7, 1964 (the day the Beatles arrived in the USA) and February 3, 1959 (the plane crash of Buddy Holly and others, ending the first phase of rock history).
Before either of those events was February 5, 1957 — and today marks the 60th anniversary of the arrival of Bill Haley & the Comets in Britain … the first U.S. rock band to perform in the UK.
For a few years (1953-1955), Bill Haley & the Comets had become the first recognized major rock & roll band, and had hits with See You Later Alligator, Shake, Rattle & Roll and of course Rock Around the Clock— made famous by not only one film (of the same name) but also the more widely-known film Blackboard Jungle (starring Glenn Ford and a young Sidney Poitier).
But by the dawn of 1957, Bill Haley & the Comets had passed their sell-by date in North America. New stars had emerged since their beginning, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and, especially, Elvis Presley: who changed the game not only via sound, but looks. Bill Haley was a 30 year-old married, paunchy guy in a dinner jacket with a hair curl designed to mask his blind left eye — the result of a botched childhood operation (which always troubled Haley) — and thus, not in the same league as Elvis. Plus, the Comets were not then (nor later on) prone to innovation or modernizing their act. Yet there was an overseas market ready for them.
Bill & Elvis (circa 1955)On Jan 2, 1957, Bill Haley & the Comets had a month-long tour of Australia (with star R&B performers LaVern Baker and Big Joe Turner) with shows in Newcastle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, before an aggregate 300k fans. In fact, Frank Sinatra was scheduled to perform next , but had to cancel — and the tour promoter then offered $100,000 to Haley if he would extend his tour — which Haley declined, anxious to return home and rest before their next tour.
This took place in February and — as Haley did not want to fly overseas — their ship arrived in Southampton, where a crowd was eagerly awaiting them. They boarded a train for London, arriving at Waterloo Station where another crowd greeted them as well (with the tabloid press overwrought over ‘hooliganism’).
x YouTube VideoHaving seen the films “Rock Around the Clock”, “Blackboard Jungle” and “Don’t Knock the Rock”, British youth (still recuperating from post WW-II deprivations) were waiting for the fuse to be lit … and the Comets did so. (Elvis Presley never performed in Europe, perhaps due to the fact that his Dutch-born manager did not have a passport, not having emigrated legally to the U.S.).
Some of the young people who saw shows on this tour went on to become stars in their own right …. whose names you might recognize:
“The birth of rock ‘n’ roll for me?” said Pete Townshend several decades later. “Seeing Bill Haley and The Comets…. God, that band swung!”
“The first time I really ever felt a tingle up my spine was when I saw Bill Haley and The Comets on the telly,” said Paul McCartney. “Then I went to see them live. The ticket was 24 shillings, and I was the only one of my mates who could go, as no one else had been able to save up that amount. But I was single-minded about it …. I knew there was something going on here.”
“I’ve still got the ticket stub in my wallet from when I went to see Bill Haley and the Comets play in Manchester in February 1957 — my first-ever concert” said Graham Nash. “Over the years I’ve lost houses …. I’ve lost wives …. but I’ve not lost that ticket stub. It’s that important to me.”
“We are receiving ovations and publicity like royalty here,” Haley would note in his diary of the February 7th, 1957 London show date. And on February 9th, he wrote: “…Shows all sold out. Best publicity we ever had.”
Haley would subsequently tour England eight more times between 1964 and 1979 – but perhaps no more memorably than that first 1957 visit. He also had subsequent European tours (including raucous visits to Italy and Germany) the following year of 1958.
Yet his career was on its downward arc, and the Comets broke-up for the first time in 1962. The British Invasion of 1964 helped finish his time in the spotlight (though his band reunited on-and-off for years). Bill Haley was beset by several problems: the aforementioned inability to update his act in a changing musical world (years before the “oldies” circuit came into being), as well as bad managers, lavish spending (and subsequent tax problems) and a terrible alcohol affliction.
Bill Haley died on February 9, 1981 in Harlingen, Texas of a heart attack at only age 55, with his alcoholism a contributing factor (along with possibly having a latent brain tumor). When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inaugurated its first class in 1986, he was not among the ten performers chosen — inducted only in the following year (an indication of how far his star had fallen). Still, (as one writer noted), “There’s a before Rock Around the Clock — and an after Rock Around the Clock. The ‘before’ is Glenn Miller, Perry Como, and Bing Crosby. The ‘after’ is Elvis, the Beatles, and Lady Gaga”.
In later years (1925-1981)With all of his famous famous tunes, I’m partial to his 1954 recording of Dim Dim the Lights— written by the songwriting duo of Julius Dixson and Beverly Ross, a rare musical pairing of an African-American male and a white female in the 1950s. In addition to reaching #11 on the pop charts …. this was the first R&B song recorded by a white artist to cross over to the R&B charts (reaching #10). And below you can listen to it.
Oh, what a crazy party all the gang's here, too …. The beat is really jumping like a kangaroo …. I'm full of cherry soda and potato chips …. But now I want to get a taste of your sweet lips
The furniture is bouncing round the room with glee …. And rocking like a boat upon a stormy sea …. Dig the crazy pockets on the pile tonight …. But still I haven't had a chance to hold you tight
Dim, dim the lights !! Dim, dim the lights !! Turn down the lights, I want some atmosphere !!
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