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 entitled The Wyeths: Three Generations is at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina through August 13th.
Now seen in Charlotte, NCIF YOU NEED another incentive to attend Netroots Nation in two months — even if you can only attend on a day-pass or so — I offer this flashback to when it was held in Minneapolis (back in 2011).
On the Thursday of that event (the day after the fantabulous Cheers & Jeers dinner) I went to a baseball game at noon, which ended quickly (2:05 or so) and upon returning to the hotel (to find my room was being cleaned at the time) I went down to the hotel bar for a beer. I was the only one there at 3:00 PM, but the front of the bar was open, overlooking the hotel lobby. The woman working the hotel bar asked me if I was with “this group” and when I replied that I was, here is what she told me (as best as I can recall):
“Sir, we get a lot of conventions and groups that come in … but I can’t ever remember a group where so many people arrive with luggage to check-in …. but don’t reach the front desk, before someone calls out their name, then runs over to hug them”.
UNFORTUNATELY, EVERYONE — it seems every two months or so, I compile my “Who Lost the Week?!?!?” entries to append to my weekly wrap-up diary, then go to save …. and 9-out-of-ten times, the “You have successfully saved this poll” follows. This was the 10th time …. it would not save it, no matter what. I have tried to do this on a different browser, on a different computer, even saving just two choices …. to no avail.
Too bad, I had some good candidates for you. Hopefully, this will go away in time for next week.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Ringo the Cat— an English kitteh who went missing during the 2012 London Olympics, lived as a stray …. now returned to his family.
Ringo the CatAS WE AWAIT the re-trial in the Bill Cosby case: I was not a Cliff Huxtable watcher — instead, I go back to his comedy album days (I can still hear him intone, “Noah!”). He was an icon to me, and the fact that he was a jazz buff (even playing John Coltrane music on his TV shows) was even better.
My first inkling that he might not be all that he seemed to be … came with a nationally televised pre-inauguration ball— for Bill Clinton & Al Gore in January, 1993 (who were at the event wearing tuxedos) when ….
Cosby, wearing overalls and a flannel shirt, ambled over to Clinton and Gore in their front-row seats and told them, ''I'm confused - you've got people in black tie and tails, but you're from Arkansas. You're from Tennessee”.
You could see Clinton and Gore keep a straight face but were probably grinding-their-teeth. In fact, Rush Limbaugh even expressed sympathy for Bill Clinton, saying “Not funny, Mr. Cosby”.
I forgot about that at the time, yet looking back: it may have been an early indicator that Cosby’s public image may not have been entirely indicative.
FRIDAY's CHILD is a Utah kitteh who spent a year at a shelter… finally adopted after a Humane Society changed his name from Sprite to ...… Covfefe the Cat.
Covfefe: no-longer @ shelterHAIL and FAREWELL to the veteran Idaho-based folksinger Rosalie Sorrels— whose tune The Baby Tree was covered by Paul Kantner on the 1970 Jefferson Starship debut album — who has died just twelve days short of her 84th birthday.
Next, to the former chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl— whose handling of German reunification negotiations led the Western allies to formally give that nation back total sovereignty at that time — who has died at the age of 87.
And finally, to the actor Stephen Furst— who had TV roles in St. Elsewhere and Babylon 5, but is best known as Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in the movie Animal House — who has died at the age of 63.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC. (With a lotta guesses, that was my first perfect score, evah).
Reader suggested SEPARATED at BIRTH — two attorneys, courtesy of Mike The Liberal— former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste and the “Twin Peaks” TV character Leland Palmer (as portrayed by Ray Wise). Whaddya think?
Richard Ben-Veniste “Twin Peaks” Leland Palmer...... and finally, for a song of the week .........................… in this space, I previously noted an album that was many people’s gateway to country music, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 release Will the Circle be Unbroken— which paired them with much of Nashville’s old guard musicians, who felt a bit of a culture shock ... but were willing to give the project a chance (as the Nashville corporate culture was starting to lose interest in them). It resulted in a landmark album.
Nearly thirty years later, another album served as a gateway to bluegrass music (though it does have country, Gospel and blues, as well). This is the soundtrack album to the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?— written, produced, and directed by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, John Goodman and Holly Hunter. Admittedly, soundtrack albums are seldom influential, but this one made bluegrass music (in particular) relevant to a new generation that had not grown-up with it (as “Will the Circle” did for a previous generation for old school country music).
Set in Mississippi during the Depression of 1932, the Coen Brothers based their somewhat farcical story of three prisoners on-the-lam … in part on Homer’s epic The Odyssey as well as the Wizard of Oz (with the “no place like home” concept).
But they had in mind a serious musical offering, with the actors not breaking into song and dance. Interestingly, the soundtrack for the album was recorded first (not afterwards). And thus, an important hire as music director was T Bone Burnett— known to non-bluegrass fans as the producer for Elvis Costello, Counting Crows and the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant collaboration.
He chose a variety of music, with two vintage recordings for the film: a 1955 chain gang (recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax) singing Po Lazarus— as well as a 1928 recording of Big Rock Candy Mountain by Harry McClintock. The rest were new recordings of Americana: bluegrass-laden as noted, yet with a smattering of blues (such as Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues sung by Chris Thomas King) and given the film’s mood: there were only a few uplifting songs. Several were dirges (not uncommon in Depression-era Appalachia).
Even more impressive is the list of musicians who performed on the soundtrack: Norman Blake, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Maura O’Connell, Emmylou Harris, John Hartford, Gillian Welch, and Sam Bush — all mainstays of the Nashville music scene.
The accolades the soundtrack garnered were immense: by 2007 the album had been certified as having 8x platinum sales, and it won several Grammy Awards including: Album of the Year (2002), Best Country Collaboration w/Vocals (for “Man of Constant Sorrow”) and Best Male Country Vocal Performance (for the late Ralph Stanley’s a-capella O Death— a 1920’s folk song — and his first Grammy).
Further on, Country Music TV (CMT) named it as #38 in its 40 Greatest Country Music Albums of All-Time list and in 2010 NPR included it in its 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade list.
Released in December, 2000Of all of the songs on the album, I am partial to one sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch entitled I’ll Fly Away— one of the most recorded Gospel songs of all time (and which spawned a 1991-1993 television show). It was written by one of the most prolific songwriters of the genre (Albert Brumley) who said this 1929 song was inspired by a 1924 spiritual The Prisoner’s Song. Recorded versions of I’ll Fly Away number over 1,000 and performers include Alan Jackson, the Chambers Brothers, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Andy Griffith, Aretha Franklin, Brenda Lee, Kanye West and Randy Travis, to name but a few. And below you can hear the Alison Krauss/Gillian Welch version.
Some bright morning when this life is over I'll fly away To that home on God's celestial shore I'll fly away When the shadows of this life have gone I'll fly away Like a bird from these prison walls I'll fly I'll fly away I'll fly away, (oh glory) I'll fly away (in the morning) When I die, Hallelujah by and by I'll fly away x xYouTube Video