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 exhibit of 80 works by the late jazz and rock photographer Jim Marshall — commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love — will be on display for free at City Hall in San Francisco, California thru June 17th.
Jimi Hendrix in SF, 1967HAIL and FAREWELL to Francine Wilson, whose acquittal of murder charges by reason of insanity led to the book The Burning Bed— and her portrayal on film by Farah Fawcett — who has died at the age of 69.
JUST IN TIME for NETROOTS NATION — unsure if it’s close to the official hotel, but the first cat café in the city of Atlanta has just opened.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named BooBoo the Cat — a California kitteh who went missing in 2013, and now will be reunited with her family (due to her microchip) after being located in ……………….. Guelph, Ontario.
Boo Boo the CatGOOD for WHAT AILS YOU — people patronize spas for various reasons … now, one in California is a cryogenic spa— meant to calm inflammation and soothe muscle soreness, but others swear by it to solve all sorts of ills, from tennis elbow to the urgent need to lose a bit of weight before a daughter’s wedding.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Ivy the Hero Cat — an Ontario, Canada kitteh who alerted her family to a neighbor crying for help after a garage accident.
Ivy the Hero CatCHEERS to the former FBI special agent (and now researcher) Clinton Watts— whose appearance before the Senate (and also on Rachel’s show) gives me hope that the truth will someday come out about Putin’s Puppet.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and veteran TV game show host Tom Bergeron.
Neil Gorsuch TV show host Tom Bergeron...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… forty-five years ago, he was atop the world of pop, with two Top 20 hits. Then, he decided not to try and follow-up in the same path … and since then, Todd Rundgren has faded from the limelight, yet ensured a durable career with not only his music, but as a pioneer in the worlds of electronica, video, Internet music … and producing landmark albums for other performers. His career is far too extensive to recount in full, so only some highlights will be recounted here — even though I am not a big fan, his story is that compelling.
The Philadelphia-area native played in local and regional bands before forming (at age nineteen) a Brit-rock appreciation band The Nazz — named after a noted Yardbirds song — who released three albums from 1968-1970. One early song he wrote was “Hello, It’s Me” — which did not garner much interest at that time. In due course, his writing was also influenced by another songwriter, Lauro Nyro— whose offer to make him her bandleader he had to turn down, due to contractual obligations.
In 1970, he found side employment at Bearsville Records— the recording studio and record label of former Bob Dylan manager Albert Grossman — which began his prodigious producing career. Along the way, he founded a band named Runt— with the rhythm section of Hunt and Tony Sales (the sons of Soupy Sales, and who for years performed with David Bowie) with a #20 hit single in We Gotta Get You a Woman in early 1971.
He released his magnum opus album (at least in terms of sales) called Something/Anything? in 1972 — named by Rolling Stone as #173 in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. This had a re-worked version of Hello, It’s Me that reached #5 in the charts, as well as a lesser-known single, Couldn’t I Just Tell You?— which became an influential power-pop song for many up-and-coming musicians.
And then … he walked away from that sound, henceforth releasing albums with more variety and less commercial appeal. His follow-up album A Wizard, A True Star saw him lose some pop fans, yet gain a cult audience with songs ranging from psychedelia to movie themes to vaudeville, and many solo albums followed in this free-form style.
He then formed Todd Rundgren’s Utopia — a band he has performed in on-and-off since 1973 — and this one is dedicated to progressive rock, with one Top 40 hit (1980’s “Set Me Free”) in its history. He also wore exotic outfits during this period, rivaling David Bowie and Elton John.
In his solo recordings: from the late 70’s through the 1980’s, he had a few somewhat commercially successful singles, including his lush 1978 ballad Can We Still be Friends? — that reached #29 on the pop charts … and a quirky tune Bang the Drum All Day from 1983, which gets airplay not only on radio stations, but also at sports arenas and was used in a Carnival Cruise Lines ad. His last charted single was 1989’s The Want of a Nail (featuring the late Bobby Womack on vocals).
From the 1980’s on (in addition to his studio work) he also wrote scores for TV, the stage and film: a 1989 Off-Broadway production of the Joe Orton play Up Against It — originally written for The Beatles in 1967 — plus soundtrack work on the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber, and in 1986 for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, just for starters. In 1981, he developed one of the first computer paint programs (Utopia Graphics System) and in the mid-1990’s developed PatroNet — offering fans online access to selected works for a subscription fee (cutting out record labels) …. and other computer works ahead-of-their-time.
In this century, he has never let-up: briefly joining a 2005 reunion of The Cars (substituting for Rick Ocasek, who did not want to participate), touring in 2012 with Utopia (after a long hiatus), teaching a course at Indiana University’s noted music school in 2010, touring with Ringo’s All-Starr Band from 2012-15, releasing an unusual tribute album to the Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson in 2011 and he is scheduled to release a new album entitled White Knight in May.
Apart from his own recordings: he produced numerous albums of note: “Stage Fright” (The Band), “Straight Up” (Badfinger), “We’re an American Band” (Grand Funk), “New York Dolls” (debut album), “War Babies” (Hall & Oates), “Bat Out of Hell” (Meat Loaf), “Wave” (Patti Smith), “Skylarking” (XTC) and Jesse Winchester’s debut album, among many, many others.
One truly interesting aspect of his life — completely apart from music — is the way he accepted (for several years) paternity of a child that he and its mother knew he was not the biological father of. For part of the 1970’s, he had a relationship with the model Beverle “Bebe” Buell— who was a November, 1974 Playboy centerfold (and much more recently a singer) who dated numerous rock stars. She became pregnant in 1976 and named her child Liv Rundgren…. because she was afraid to name the real father (Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler) due to his debilitating drug abuse at the time. And Rundgren went along with this: signing the birth certificate and paying for private schools, until the girl was made aware she was Steve Tyler’s daughter (after he cleaned-up) before age ten … and changed her name to Liv Tyler, now a famous model herself. But she took Rundgren as her middle name, and considers Todd a second father to this day.
Todd Rundgren turns age 69 this June, plans to release an autobiography at some time in the near future, has an in-depth compilation album of his hits, then beginning in late April will have a six-week tour (on his own) plus will tour with Ringo’s All-Starr Band this autumn. And in mid-May, he will deliver the commencement address at Boston’s noted Berklee College of Music.
Todd Rundgren (in 1973) More than 40 years laterI have posted videos from the show Daryl’s House (hosted by Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates). And that show featured a wonderful version of one of Rundgren’s 1972 hits from Something/Anything? — I Saw the Light, which reached #16 in the US charts — where you can hear a modern rendition that still sounds like the original. Many thought this song owed much to either Carole King or George Harrison (or both) … and below you can listen to it, to judge for yourself.
It was late last night I was feeling something wasn't right There was not another soul in sight Only you, only you
So we walked along, though I knew there was something wrong And the feeling hit me oh-so-strong about you Then you gazed up at me and the answer was plain to see 'Cause I saw the light in your eyes
Though we had our fling I just never would suspect a thing 'Til that little bell began to ring in my head In my head, in my head
But I tried to run, though I knew it wouldn't help me none 'Cause I couldn't ever love no one, or so I said But my feelings for you were just something I never knew 'Til I saw the light in your eyes
x xYouTube Video