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.
SORRY, FOLKS — that there is not a “Who Lost the Week?!?!?” poll. Most weeks, I enter my choices, click “Save” and the system responds, “You have successfully saved this poll”. And then there are some weeks …. where I do not get that message …. all in the DK5 era. Tried using different computers, different browsers, on different days, et al … and no luck. Darn, I had some good choices this week …. hopefully, this will correct by next week.
ART NOTES — more than 200 works in an exhibition entitled Cross Country: The Power of Place in American Art (1915-1950) are at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia through May 7th.
In Atlanta through May 7thCHEERS to a pair of NY Times reporters, Emily Steel & Michael Schmidt— who used some innovative investigation of the Bill O’Reilly situation, as noted by attorney Lisa Bloom, the other night on Chris Hayes’ show:
Intrepid New York Times reporters apparently went through old tapes of Fox News shows. They looked for women who used to be on, who are not on any more. And then simply cold-called them (asking whether they experienced any sexual harassment at Fox).
RIGHT-WING DICTATORS usually are careful to spare wealthy businessmen from their wrath … but apparently not Turkey’s president Erdogan— with that nation’s GDP, unemployment and currency all sinking following his continuing putsch.
THURSDAY's CHILDREN are named Gertrude the Cat and Clementine the Puppy— while Gertrude was convalescing in a Mexican shelter (after a dogpack severely injured her and ended her pregnancy) … Clementine was dumped at the shelter, and was “adopted” by Gertrude. Now the two are inseparable, are in foster care and hope to be adopted as a bonded pair.
Clementine and GertrudeTHIS WEEK’S EDITION of The Economist magazine (which has inveighed against The Donald from the beginning) had a cover story on their sense of relief that — so far — the system of checks-and-balances has been able to restrain you-know-who. And I love the first three paragraphs:
THE morning after Donald Trump was elected president, Eric Schneiderman, the Democratic attorney-general of New York, summoned his raddled senior lawyers to a war council. Seated in his unfussy 25th-floor office in lower Manhattan, Mr Schneiderman told them to assume Mr Trump’s brutish campaign pledges were in earnest, and to clear their desks for action.
While the president-elect was digesting his victory in Trump Tower, five miles up the road, Mr Schneiderman put scores of the 650 lawyers at his disposal on Trump watch. They started trawling through his campaign statements and preparing legal defences against the assaults he had promised on immigration, consumer protection and climate-change policy. With the Republicans who control Congress apparently unwilling to hold Mr Trump to account, Mr Schneiderman feared that Democratic attorneys-general might have to act as a thin blue line of resistance to an authoritarian president.
Mr Schneiderman, a small man who speaks fast and wastes few words, already understood Mr Trump’s capacity for rule-breaking. In 2013 he sued Mr Trump over the fleecing of students at Trump University, a bogus training scheme for would-be property moguls. In response, the tycoon alleged malicious prosecution and sued him for millions of dollars. In 2014 the New York Observer, a newspaper owned by Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, ran a lengthy hatchet job on him. “I did not realise it at the time,” he says, “but I was getting a preview of the scorched earth approach he takes to opposition.”
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Oreo the Cat… an Ohio kitteh who wandered into a nursing home a few years back … and has become the official greeter, popular with both residents and visitors.
Oreo the CatLAST NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the late pioneering guitarist Larry Coryell— who helped launch the jazz-rock era, performed with everyone from Jimi Hendrix to flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia, performed classical works and even wrote operatic scores. Not many jazz musicians merit a Rolling Stone obituary …. but the “Godfather of Fusion” did.
AMONG THE REMEMBRANCES at the death of Don Rickles— ten years ago, he gave his answers to Esquire magazine’s regular feature What I’ve Learned… and my earliest memory was him appearing on a variety show (circa late 1967-early 1968) and addressing that show’s special guest — the captain of the surprise Boston Red Sox team that made it to the World Series — as Carl “Ya-yatski”.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
Reader suggested SEPARATED at BIRTH — for the life of me, I forget who suggested this pairing … Rep. Joseph Kennedy III and Scottish TV star Sam Heughan (who plays Jamie Fraser in “Outlander”) … whaddya think?
Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA) “Outlander” Sam Heughan...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… although this band was in existence for only two years: they were near the top of everyone’s “Band I’d most like to see re-unite” list … why, one of its members even wrote a song in 2000 about it ….. then, there was a one-off benefit concert performance in2010 … and in 2011 there was a short reunion tour of the Buffalo Springfield– a band whose legacy is difficult to overstate with three notable stars (Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay) in its line-up. More about that reunion tour in a bit … but first, it might do well to see why the All-Music Guide’s Richie Unterberger said that “Apart from The Byrds, no other American band had as great an impact on folk-rock and California rock (Eagles, Jackson Browne) than Buffalo Springfield”.
The origins of the band go back to 1964, when itinerant folksingers Stills and Furay were recruited to join a troupe called the Au Go Go Singers – organized by the owner of the Café Au Go Go in New York as a “rival” to the Bitter End Singers, who worked across Bleecker Street at The Bitter End Café (which is still in operation after 55 years). They even recorded one album of lightweight versions of folk and blues of the day ... and unsurprisingly, were not offered a second record deal.
Stephen Stills went on to join a band called "The Company" and on a 1965 tour that performed in Ontario, Canada: he met Neil Young - performing with his band "The Squires". The two hit it off, and agreed that (someday) they ought to work together. Stills saw his band split after that tour, and became a successful session musician, even auditioning for The Monkees– unsuccessfully, due to both his already-thinning hair and an unwillingness to sign-away publishing rights – and there have been essays written about how history would have been changed if he’d been hired (although the producers took his suggestion and hired his friend Peter Tork, instead). When noted record producer Barry Friedman suggested Stills form a band, he called his old bandmate Richie Furay to join him in Los Angeles ... which he did in late 1965.
Meanwhile, in Toronto: Neil Young made the acquaintance of fellow Canadian Bruce Palmer - who was the bassist for an R&B band that had a roster of future music stars .. yet the Mynah Birds were fated never to release an album. An early version of the band featured organist Goldy McJohn and bassist Nick St. Nicholas ..... who became members of Steppenwolf later on. Young joined the band for a few months, and they were offered a contract by Motown Records ... only to have their American singer Ricky James Matthews arrested for having gone AWOL from the Naval Reserve. (Matthews later became famous as Rick James - yes, the late SuperFreak, whose rock influences one could hear mixed into his soul-funk blend). The band’s deal voided, Young and Palmer set-out for Los Angeles: hoping to meet-up with Stephen Stills as Young had wanted.
After a week of searching in vain, they were about to drive to San Francisco instead ….. when one of those “truth is stranger than fiction” stories took place. Stills and Furay were driving on Sunset Boulevard when one of them spotted a black 1953 Pontiac hearse with Ontario license plates … and after Furay made an illegal U-turn and much hand-waving: they met-up and decided it was an omen to form a band.
Their line-up was completed with the addition of a third Canadian musician, drummer Dewey Martin– but who was not known to Young and Palmer previously. Instead, he had made his way first to Nashville (touring with Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and the Everly Brothers) before moving to LA, whereupon the Byrds manager Jim Dickson recommended him to the others. (L-to-R: Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Dewey Martin, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer).
Buffalo Springfield classic line-upOriginally naming themselves The Herd, they changed it after seeing a steamroller (parked on a residential street) made by the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company. They made their debut opening for The Byrds in April 1966 and over the next few weeks developed enough of a buzz to receive a recording offer from Atlantic. But one move that had some future repercussions was their manager hiring Sonny & Cher record producers Charlie Green and Brian Stone. Still, their eponymous debut album (with songs written by Stills and Young) was released to great critical acclaim in December, 1966.
And it contained their signature tune, For What It’s Worth– which Stills wrote after watching the police disperse a crowd protesting the closing of a nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Other popular tunes were Stills’ "Go and Say Goodbye" and Young’s Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing– one example of the songs on the album he wrote but which Furay sang for him, as Green & Stone deemed Young’s voice ….. "too weird". They recorded musicians separately, and thus their mixes were always mistrusted by the band.
In January 1967 Palmer was arrested for marijuana possession and – always a danger for a non-US citizen – deported to Canada. Using substitutes such as Jim Fielder– the original Blood, Sweat & Tears bassist – they soldiered on, but saw increasing battles between Stills and Young (with Furay often caught in the middle). Palmer returned in time for the Monterey Pop Festival, but by which time Young had left for awhile (who was substituted for at that show by one David Crosby ……... which you can connect the dots for in the future).
Finally, Atlantic CEO Ahmet Ertegun convinced Green & Stone to leave and the band completed its second album Buffalo Springfield Again– and while it had no hit single, it did contain well-received tunes such as Stills’ "Rock & Roll Woman", Young’s Mr. Soul– and a song by the emerging songwriter Furay, "A Child’s Claim to Fame" — which he performed more famously in his later career.
But in January 1968, Palmer’s second deportation for drug possession began to further unravel the band. He was substituted ably for by the band’s studio engineer Jim Messina– but with his old friend Palmer gone, Young began not showing at concerts, and the band played its final show in Long Beach, California in May, 1968 – a little over two years after their first. Their final album was more of a collection of miscellaneous takes, but it still contained tunes such as Stills’ "Four Days Gone"”, Young’s "I am a Child" and Furay’s Kind Woman— dedicated to his wife, Nancy - which is on the possible "first country-rock song" list. But all too little, too late.
Afterwards, the rhythm section of Palmer and Martin performed in a 1980’s lineup called “Buffalo Springfield Revisited” but otherwise had minor post-Springfield careers. Stills and Young joined with Graham Nash and David Crosby in a band you (may) have heard of ... and Furay and Messina founded the band Poco– which included future Eagles bassist Tim Schmit and, allowing for break-ups and personnel changes, exists to this day. Messina later left Poco to found Loggins & Messina— and Furay left Poco to found the Souther-Hillman-Furay band. Richie Furay eventually became a Christian minister in Colorado, but after years away from the music business: he has performed with his own band and joined-up with Poco for reunion concert tours. The above paragraph alone is quite a legacy from a band that lasted only two years.
Rolling Stone named "For What It’s Worth” as #63 in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, named Stephen Stills as #47 in its 100 Greatest Guitarists list, and Neil Young as #17 in the 100 Greatest Guitarists list, as well as #34 in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. And in 1997 they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - although Young declined to attend, missing that night’s reunion performance.
That’s the way it was over the past few decades, with the band’s three stars too busy to arrange a reunion. But even Neil Young thought about it: with a 2000 song named after the band’s second album, wistfully saying he’d like to "play for the fun we had". However, with the deaths of Bruce Palmer in October 2004 and Dewey Martin in January 2009, a full-fledged reunion was no longer possible .... and it appeared even a smaller one never would materialize, either.
That is, until Furay received a text message in late August of 2010 saying, "Call me”. What Neil Young had in mind was a benefit concert at his Bridge School - where Stills, Young and Furay (L-to-R, photo below) performed two shows together for the first time in forty-two years. And this led to their brief reunion tour in June, 2011 – with six shows in California, culminating with an appearance at the 2011 Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee.
There were plans to hold a more extensive tour in 2012 when Neil Young … abruptly walked away from it, leaving Stephen Stills as well as Richie Furay to have to change plans. All three have said they would not rule out anything further …. but it remains to be seen whether the final chapter has been written.
Buffalo Springfield reunion concertAlthough For What It’s Worth is the band’s classic tune, many people who saw the band live cite Stephen Stills’ Bluebird– from the second album – as their favorite …. as in concert they tended to stretch-out from the (relatively) short studio version. Years later, Stills reprised the tune into "Bluebird Revisited" on his second solo album. And below you can listen to the original Buffalo Springfield recording.
Listen to my bluebird laugh She can't tell you why Deep within her heart, you see She knows only cryingThere she sits, aloft a perch Strangest color blue Flying is forgotten now Thinks only of you
Soon she's going to fly away Sadness is her own Give herself a bath of tears And go home and go home
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