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 — an exhibition A Life of Seduction: Venice in the 1700’s is at the New Orleans, Louisiana Museum of Art through May 21st.
Down in New Orleans …HAIL and FAREWELL #1 and 2 — to the singer Bobby Freeman— who had a #5 hit in 1958 with a song he wrote called Do You Want to Dance (later covered by the Beach Boys and Bette Midler) — who has died at the age of 76 …… . and to the veteran Broadway and cabaret pianist and singer Barbara Carroll— a fixture of Manhattan nightlife for decades — who has died at the age of 92.
HAIL and FAREWELL #3 and 4 — are two professional wrestling stars who entertained me in my mis-spent youth (as I always rooted for the villain wrestlers). One was George ‘the Animal’ Steele— a truly entertaining figure, who began his career as a masked wrestler named “The Student”(!) but later acted in the ring as a bald Cro-Magnon … yet was a high school teacher (with a master’s degree from Central Michigan) named Jim Myers in his day job (and also portrayed Tor Johnson in the film “Ed Wood”) — who has died at the age of 79 (and Rachel Maddow led-off her Friday show with him!)
The other was the wrestler born in Montreal, Québec as Oreal Parras ... then began as a wrestler named "Red McNulty" (supposedly from Dublin, Ireland) ... before he found his identity as the “Russian Bear” named Ivan Koloff— who actually held the heavyweight title for 3 weeks — who has died at the age of 74.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Valentino the Cat— a California kitteh that had a bad case of both mange and dehydration, but whom a woman saw needed human contact … and he is now on the road to recovery.
Valentino the CatYUK for today — speculating as to who next the Administration chooses as a “fall guy” for its stumbles … I recall this comedy album from my mis-spent youth:
Two Second City alumni, Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber, released an album called The Watergate Comedy Hour — with a blueprint of the infamous building on the back cover. One sketch has Nixon and John Mitchell in secret conversation in a telephone booth.
Nixon: "I knew nothing about (Watergate), and last year you told me you knew nothing about the entire incident. Now, one of us is full of the old crapola. Which one of us do you think it is, John?"
Mitchell: "U-h-h-h . . . me?"
Nixon: "Attaboy, John".
SIGN of the TIMES — in the next edition of the venerable board game Monopoly— the thimble (one of the original 1935 player’s tokens) will no longer be included, as the result of a public vote.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named George the Cat— a kitteh who has set-up-camp at a hardware/housewares chain store in Bristol, England … and who is now a favorite of both the staff and the public.
George the Store CatTHIS COMING WEEK will see Mardi Gras, and in Brazil’s version known as Carnaval— there is now some push-back over street songs that have some anti-black and anti-gay themes.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and TV/film actor Lucas Black (“NCIS: New Orleans”).
NFL’s Matt Ryan (born 1985) Lucas Black (born 1982)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… a songwriter who helped define the sound of the 1950’s was Otis Blackwell— another entry from the “You may not know their name ... but you know their work” file. Estimated to have written over 1,000 songs, his work helped a just-established Elvis Presley reach the sky, and his songs are believed to have sold in excess of 185 million records. With this week marking the 85th anniversary of his birth (and nearing fifteen years after his death) … the time is right for a career retrospective.
Born in Brooklyn on February 16, 1932, he grew-up liking not only R&B/Gospel, but also country music from the films he saw (with Tex Ritter as his favorite performer). As a twenty year-old, he was able to parlay an Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater victory into a recording deal with record producer Joe Davis (for his Jay-Dee label). The one R&B charted hit he had as a performer was 1953’s “Daddy Rolling Stone” — which The Who recorded on their My Generation album a dozen years later.
He did this while having a day job at a tailor shop to make ends meet, and decided in the mid-decade to focus on songwriting. His first tune to achieve fame was Fever— first recorded in 1956 by soul singer Little Willie John and covered two years later by Peggy Lee. He also had another hit with “Hey Little Girl” (recorded by Dee Clark).
But his breakthrough came when (while in financial straits) he managed to find work in 1955 at the legendary Brill Building on Broadway in Manhattan — and was noticed by Aaron “Goldie” Goldmark, who was well-connected to the burgeoning Elvis Presley team. Don’t Be Cruel was released as the “B” side of the 45 featuring Hound Dog — but wound-up being played by disk jockeys in 1956 so much that it spent more time at #1 than the “A” side. Later that year Presley had another #1 hit that came as a result of Blackwell’s confidence he could write a song on any subject:
In the autumn of 1956, one Blackwell's bosses at his publishing offices dropped an unopened bottle of Pepsi on the ground. When he removed the cap, the soda exploded all over his white shirt. In frustration, Blackwell's boss slammed the half-emptied Pepsi bottle on Blackwell's desk. "There," he said, tersely. "Write a song about that."
Blackwell studied the bottle closely for about a couple of seconds before finally shaking it again. Legend (corroborated by Blackwell, one assumes) says he wrote the lyrics to All Shook Up before the bubbles had completely settled back into the beverage.
Other songs he wrote for Elvis Presley include “One Broken Heart for Sale” and Return to Sender— interestingly, Otis Blackwell never met Presley, believing that things were working fine as they were.
Another early rock star who benefited from the works of Otis Blackwell was Jerry Lee Lewis — who had major hits with Breathless and also Great Balls of Fire— which became his signature tune.
In addition to his songwriting, he also became a music producer … with such varied performers as Connie Francis, Mahalia Jackson and Sal Mineo in the studio.
Like many of his generation, the arrival of the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion ended his time in the limelight in the mid-60’s, and he was out of the music business for a decade (although continuing to earn notable royalties).
He made a recording comeback in 1976, with Atlantic Records co-founder Herb Abramson producing an album entitled These are My Songs— with Otis Blackwell singing a dozen of his best-known tunes. In 1987, Vernon Reid from the band Living Color held a tribute concert for Otis in Prospect Park in his native Brooklyn, with Otis singing alongside many African-American rock music stars.
Otis Blackwell suffered a stroke in 1991, which left him paralyzed, ending his career. Three years later, a diverse group of musicians came together to release a tribute album of his songs called Brace Yourself! — including Debbie Harry, Kris Kristofferson, Chrissie Hynde, Graham Parker, Ronnie Spector and bluesman Joe Louis Walker.
Otis Blackwell died in 2002 (of a heart attack) at the age of seventy. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 2010. Among the performers who have recorded his songs: besides the ones listed above, add Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Otis Redding, Dolly Parton, James Brown, Conway Twitty, Bobby Darin, Ben E. King and many others.
A young Otis Blackwell ... … and later on in lifeOf all of his songs, my favorite is Handy Man— recorded by several performers, but with two noteworthy renditions. The original recording was a 1960 version by the soul singer Jimmy Jones— who co-wrote the tune, done at a brisk pace. The second was a much slower/mellower version by James Taylor— which reached #4 in the charts in 1977 and won a Grammy for Vocal Performance.
But below is the version that Otis Blackwell himself recorded on that 1976 comeback album — which deserves to be heard anew.
Hey girls, gather round Listen to what I'm putting down Hey babe, I'm your handy man I'm not the kind to use a pencil or rule I'm handy with my love and I'm no fool I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can If your broken heart should need repair Then I'm the man to see I whisper sweet things, you go tell your friends They'll come running to me Here is the main thing I want to say I'm busy twenty-four hours a day I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can x YouTube Video