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 Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now is at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe through September 17th.
Sen. McConnell in a prior life?MY FAVORITE TAKEAWAY from Netroots Nation for 2017: when asked about the withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreements, Al Gore replied that he had been concerned that other countries (as well as our cities and businesses) might see that a an opportunity to withdraw or weaken their commitments. Instead, he noted they are all resolutely carrying on ... and that the USA might meet the commitments made by President Obama, regardless of what the Trumpster does.
THIS PREVIOUSLY COMMON SIGN in Great Britain — letting motorists know that some feline-named reflective road studs were temporarily removed (in order to repave roads) — are now being replaced with “Caution: road studs removed” … for the benefit of distraught children … and (rather confused) foreign visitors.
Not what you think it is ….EACH MONTH thousands of girls in Kenya are forced to miss classes because they don't have money for sanitary napkins or tampons — but a Kenyan woman has come up with a clever (and inexpensive) solution to help keep them in school
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Genie the Cat— a kitteh who has just been named as Britain’s Outstanding Rescue Cat for 2017 as a result of the comfort she gives an 11 year-old schoolgirl who is battling bone cancer.
Genie: award-winning catHAIL and FAREWELL to the man who was injured trying (in vain) to save the life of the UK member of Parliament, Jo Cox — and the pity is that Bernard Kenny (who has died of unrelated causes at age 79) — had won a medal for bravery (trying to thwart her murderer) ….. yet he did not live to receive that medal.
FRIDAY's CHILD wandered onto the field at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game … who was then declared to be a Rally Cat… after the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina hit a grand slam (on the very next pitch) that proved to be the margin of victory.
St. Louis Cardinals Rally CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC. And to make it a daily double …... here is Last Week's Quiz as well.
THIS COMING THURSDAY in my occasional diaries for Top Comments — I will feature the town I live in, Keene, New Hampshire — back-in-the-spotlight again after the antics of Chris Cantwell — as a means of answering questions I’ve received (at Netroots Nation, on D/K and on Facebook) about the difference between the “Free Staters”, the “Free Keene” clowns and others … all to show that it (at heart) is a blue college town that has many longstanding residents of note (I’ve only been here the past four years).
GRANDFATHER-GRANDSON? — the late actor (“Magnificent Seven”, “Man from U.N.C.L.E.”) Robert Vaughn and the newly convicted Pharma-bro, Martin Shkreli.
Robert Vaughn (1932-2016) Martin Shkreli (born 1983)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… as a child in the late 60’s reading the liner notes on my rock and blues albums: the writer’s credits always listed the songwriter(s), their publishing house … and then an acronym (most often BMI). My father (the lead tenor in our church choir) did not know that acronym — for a generational reason, I believe — but did know the occasional acronym ASCAP. And he explained to me that they were the middlemen who delivered royalties earned from music performances (either recordings heard on the radio stations or TV or live shows) .. and allocated them to the song’s composers/lyricists.
Performance Rights Organizations (PRO’s) are most often in the general newspapers either for disputes over fees charged to small cafés (with limited resources vs. the amount of time they feature singers) or if they hold awards shows. This will not be a comprehensive look; surely there are performers out there with much more experience (good/bad) with their practices than I have.
But it might do well to look at the three major PRO’s in the US (one of which I had never heard of) — as their histories are noteworthy. (Great Britain has its own Performing Rights Society, or PRS).
Based in NYC, founded in 1914The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was the first such organization in America and whose early members included much of NYC’s Tin Pan Alley composers (such as Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Jerome Kern and John Philip Sousa) — one reason why my father was familiar with this society.
It was founded by Victor Herbert (best known by the general public as the composer of Babes in Toyland, later made into the Laurel & Hardy film “March of the Wooden Soldiers”) in 1914 and has reciprocal agreements with PRO’s around the world (including the aforementioned PRS in the UK). In the 1920’s, the advent of radio broadcasting recordings (instead of just live performances) boosted the society’s earnings, and it raised its rates by 400% over the course of the 1930’s (during the Depression). This led the Justice Department to seek a consent decree in 1941, after a boycott threatened the company’s standing and which led to the emergence of another competitor (more on that later).
ASCAP over time broadened its membership beyond that of mainstream pop and orchestral music. Today it has over 625k members, with 10 million registered works.
Nashville-based today, was founded 1930 in NYCThe Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) is a group I had not even heard of until now, is the smallest of the three groups noted here and as its name implies: was originally set-up in 1930 to support European artists with their US performance royalties. Founded in 1930 by the German immigrant Paul Heneke, unlike the other two groups: it isn’t a non-profit, membership is not open to all (artists must be approved) and has had different ownership over the years.
Their early years saw the European artists supplemented by Gospel recordings, and expanded to country and jazz performers in the 1950’s. Eventually, they were the first to delve into the Contemporary Christian field … leading to moving their headquarters to Nashville in 1985.
Their focus has shifted towards mainstream pop, and include among their members everyone from Bob Dylan to Adele.
BMI — founded 1939 in NYCWhen ASCAP came under Justice Department scrutiny in the late 1930’s, this left the door open for other challengers to enter the field … and Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) did.
Founded in NYC in 1939 by the National Association of Broadcasters, it offered a lower-cost alternative to ASCAP (although it too ran afoul of the Justice Department to a smaller degree). More importantly: it sought-out performers that ASCAP often overlooked, such as jazz and blues performers, and was quicker to embrace rock, Latin and other genres before the other societies did.
And given my musical tastes (then and now) this is why the records I owned at the end of the 60’s (and into the 1970’s) were more likely to have a BMI designation. Today it has over 700k members, with 10.5 million registered works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The three organizations today all compete in the wide-open marketplace, with little of the historical niches they had decades ago. Along with PRS in Great Britain, they are the major players in this field.
For US-based composers, these are the choicesWith all of this … what song to choose? In 1999, BMI released its Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century— its most played songs on American radio and television. And in the Top Ten list is one of my favorite Motown songs, and recorded by my favorite Motown ensemble in 1964.
Baby I Need Your Loving was written by the Songwriters Hall of Fame team inductees Holland-Dozier-Holland— and made famous by the Four Tops— who were a quartet for forty years without any personnel changes in the quartet … yet had performed for their first ten years under the radar.
They were playing a Detroit nightclub when they got a call from Brian Holland, saying he had a song ready for them. After their show ended, they arrived at “Hitsville” at 2 a.m. — to record the song that broke their careers wide-open.
This tune was ranked #400 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time— and below you can hear it (with the late Levi Stubbs on lead vocals).
Although you're never near Your voice I often hear Another day, another night I long to hold you tight 'Cause I'm so lonely Some say it's a sign of weakness For a man to beg Then weak I'd rather be If it means having you to keep 'Cause lately I've been losing sleep
Baby, I need your lovin' Got to have all your lovin' Baby I need your lovin' Got to have all you lovin'
x xYouTube Video