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. And please stay safe, all of you in the path of Irma.
ART NOTES — an exhibit of over 100 photographs and numerous artifacts in an exhibition entitled Titanic in Photographs is at the Queen Mary (permanently docked in Long Beach, California) through December 31st.
Photo from the RMS TitanicIF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY seen the essay on Chaldean Christians in Michigan … do so. They are yet another group of voters who voted for the Trumpster — in their case, believing that he would protect Middle Eastern Christians — only to see them being deported back to Iraq (as part of the deal where Iraq was removed from the original travel ban restriction).
WEDNESDAY’s CHILD was found wandering in the Interstate 90 tunnel under Boston Harbor… and thanks to help from the police and the local Animal Rescue chapter, this kitten will soon be up for adoption.
Ted Williams tunnel kittenPROGRAMMING NOTE — there will not be an Odds & Ends next weekend (nor a Friday appearance in Cheers & Jeers) as I will be attending our biennial family reunion (which is a delight, as we all get along well). See you the following week.
HAIL and FAREWELL to two country music stars …...first, Don Williams— who counted Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend among his fans — who has died at the age of 78 … and to the guitarist Troy Gentry— of the band Montgomery Gentry, who were scheduled to perform tonight in New Jersey — who has died at the age of 50 in a helicopter crash.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Palmerston the Cat — who is compiling a better record of catching mice (at the UK’s ministry of foreign affairs) than #10 Downing Street’s Larry the Cat (and the two had quite a scrap last year).
Palmerston the CatAN INTERESTING ESSAY on the American spirit was written by a correspondent for Der Spiegel after a two-year sojourn in Bethesda, Maryland.
ABOUT TODAY’S POLL — I had intended to include former Fox host Eric Bolling— previously suspended for texting photos of male genitalia to three female colleagues in the past – and now fired, with his show ‘The Specialists’ cancelled.
But yesterday, his nineteen year-old son died (with some reports listing it as a suicide) …. and thus his name has been removed.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Kyle the Cat— surely the hardest-working kitteh in Scotland: safeguarding a Glasgow rail station in the morning, later reporting for duty at a local hospital … and who then goes to a private home at night.
Kyle the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at multi-modal transit centers— where passenger rail, local and intercity buses, rental car agencies, parking garages, bike share/rental sites and taxi stands are combined onto one property, rather than separate facilities …. facilitating inter-connectivity.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — the Rev. George Mason, pastor of a Baptist church in Dallas, Texas that accepts LGBTQ members ….. and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Pastor George Mason (TX) Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… while white singers during the Big Band era could sing anything, African-American singers were limited to either blues or novelty tunes until Billy Eckstine made his mark in the 1940's. "Mr. B" began as a trumpeter, became a noted bandleader and was also noted for his elegant style of dress. Yet it was his smooth baritone voice that he is best known for today, and he was an influence on singers from Sam Cooke to even Prince.
Born in 1914, the Pittsburgh native came-of-age in Washington, D.C. and had hoped for a football career - yet a broken collarbone forced him to concentrate on music. He attended Howard University briefly, but left in 1933 after winning first place in an amateur talent contest. He joined the Earl (Fatha) Hines Orchestra in 1939, and sang "Stormy Monday" as well as his own song "Jelly, Jelly". In addition to dealing with prejudice against African-Americans, he changed the spelling of his last name from "Eckstein" to "Eckstine," ... when a club owner said it looked too Jewish.
Starting his own band in 1944, he attracted the services of many young musicians later to become famous in their own right: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon to name just a few. They had hits with "A Cottage for Sale" and his signature tune "Prisoner of Love". When his band toured the South in 1944, several promoters dropped the prevalent requirement that the audience be segregated - and when that tour grossed over $100,000 in ten weeks, the entire music industry took notice. In his autobiography Dizzy Gillespie summed up his time performing with Mr. B this way: "There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine's".
But as with many bandleaders: the post-war economics made carrying a big band infeasible for all except the Ellington/Basie big-name bands, so he moved into a full-time singing role (with a small backing group) by the late 1940's. He was popular into the 1950's with songs such as the 1949 Victor Young/Ned Washington classic My Foolish Heart and "I Apologize".
Yet unlike Nat King Cole, Eckstine's vibrato-laden baritone began to sound dated by the late 1950's, and he faded to a smaller role in the music world (helped by his son Ed, then president of Mercury Records). Eckstine even recorded briefly for Motown in the late 1960's, yet was never able to recapture a large audience.
His last album was made in 1983: a Grammy-nominated record with Benny Carter - but by this point the 68 year-old Eckstine's voice had lost quite a bit, and he played more trumpet on some of his later works. He also performed on many TV shows ("Sanford & Son" as well as on all the prime-time and late-night talk shows).
Billy Eckstine died of a heart attack in March, 1993 at the age of 78. His three children all went on to musical careers: son Ed (former Mercury Records president), son Guy, who was a Columbia and Verve Records A&R executive and record producer, and singer Gina Eckstine.
Billy Eckstine in his youth .. …. and later-on in life ….Of all of his songs, my favorite is one of his own compositions I Want To Talk About You - which I first became aware of as an instrumental by John Coltrane, who featured it often in his performances. And below you can hear Billy Eckstine sing it with his orchestra.
Don't tell me about a night in June Or a shady lane beneath the velvet moon Don't tell me: because I want to talk about you
The moon and the stars; the objects on Mars Are things that we've talked of before But your love for me was the question: Your answer threw back heaven's door
So tell me your love will be sincere Then, my darling, you needn't ever fear Because I love you: and I want to talk about you
x xYouTube Video