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 Buffalo in the American Living Room: Fritz Scholder and Contemporary Native Art will be at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota through January 13th.
Now at Fargo, North DakotaTHE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the 10th anniversary of the release of the YouTube video from a 1971 Lawrence Welk Show performance of the Brewer & Shipley song One Toke Over the Line— along with a reprise of the back-story behind the song …. and now, with a potentially interesting future revelation from one of the Welk singers …. about the question everyone asks.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Rosey the Cat - an English kitteh who was feared dead in the horrific Grenfell Tower fire in London this past June ... but was reunited due to her microchip.
Rosey the CatAFTER EXTENSIVE RENOVATIONS the Roman Colosseum now offers views from its upper floors (for the first time in fifty years) as well as a connecting hallway that was never open to the public before.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Tia the Police Cat— who does work for the Wellington, New Zealand police department (in addition to nap time).
Tia the Police CatHAIL and FAREWELL to the chess grandmaster William Lombardy— the first American to win the World Junior championship (in 1957) who for a time was also a priest … but best known as Bobby Fischer’s coach during his 1972 championship run — who has died at the age of 79.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — two Canadian mayors: Montreal, Québec’s mayor Denis Coderre and Calgary, Alberta’s mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Denis Coderre (of Montreal)
Naheed Nenshi (of Calgary)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… for a time, I thought that Jimi Hendrix had the most new recordings released after his death (rather than in life) in the past fifty years (and he may still be). But someone who has also had far more recordings released in death than in life is Eva Cassidy - whom I first learned of via a front-page story on the Wall Street Journal, recounting her following in Europe. And if her name is not familiar to you .... well, let's remedy the situation.
The Maryland native was born in 1963, the daughter of an American schoolteacher who met his horticulturalist wife Barbara Krätzer in her native Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Eva took to music at an early age (idolizing Buffy St. Marie) and played in a family band as well as various groups across the Washington, D.C. metro area. She studied art for a time after high school, but worked at a nursery while she sang back-up for various friends' groups in the area.
It was as a twenty-three year-old in 1986 that she first began recording back-up tracks for a friend's band, and her talent was immediately recognized by producer Chris Biondo - who became her boyfriend for a time, and her biggest booster always. He eventually convinced her to join a band and perform in the region, while he worked to secure her a recording contract.
Although most people recognized the qualities of her voice, Eva Cassidy had two quirks that worked against her becoming a star: (a) she was painfully shy, not only in-person but also on-stage (which greatly affected her ability to find steady work), and (b) her material covered such a wide-range of sound (i.e., blues, soul, jazz, rock, pop, R&B), etc.) that record companies of the day shied away from someone they would have to work hard at marketing.
In 1992, producer Biondo finally found the perfect match for Eva Cassidy - a "go-go" soul/funk performer in the D.C. area who had wanted to branch out into more sophisticated jazz and blues. Chuck Brown was a showman who offered Eva Cassidy a chance to avoid the limelight with ease, and who played the sorts of R&B she wanted to add to her repertoire. The two released the album The Other Side in which, uncharacteristically, they sang mostly ballads and standards. In 1993 a malignant mole (resulting from melanoma) was removed from Eva Cassidy's back, yet she did not follow-up on the doctor's recommendations.
The famed Blue Note jazz label was headed then by the former Columbia president Bruce Lundvall - who in 1994 offered Eva the chance to record with the jazz-pop band Pieces of a Dream - which was not a satisfying experience. Lundvall, though, was an astute judge of talent and was willing to offer Cassidy a solo contract - which she balked at when it was clear Lundvall wanted a jazz album, for which she was unwilling to restrict her material to.
All that was left was for Biondo and Cassidy to make their own album - which they did at the famed Washington club Blues Alley in January, 1996. But it was the only solo album to be released in her lifetime: as she developed a pain in her hips which - by the time it was discovered to be the melanoma returning with a vengeance - was too late to treat.
Eva Cassidy gave a stirring farewell performance - concluding with What a Wonderful World - before she died in November of 1996 at only age thirty-three. In 1998, the family allowed a release of the album Songbird - a compilation of the various recordings she had made in the preceding years, all of which garnered much praise ...... locally ..... yet she died in relative obscurity.
Her rise to fame came two years later in the year 2000 – when the late BBC Radio 2 popular morning disk jockey Terry Wogan played her version of Over the Rainbow - truly her most famous performance. The response was immediate: with Britain’s "Top of the Pops" show airing that amateur video (of Cassidy singing at Blues Alley) which became their most-requested video ever.
In May, 2001, ABC's "Nightline" had this extended profile (narrated by Dave Marash below) which summarizes Eva Cassidy's career quite nicely - along with a remorseful Bruce Lundvall on not signing her. (Although in fairness, many other record company people didn't even give her a chance the way he did … and the late Bruce Lundvall had quite a successful career).
x xYouTube VideoAnd since then, the legend of Eva Cassidy has only grown, with several posthumous releases - including 2011's Simply Eva and a 2015 double live album Night Bird— that are beginning to rival that of Jimi Hendrix.
Her songs have been used on TV and film ("Judging Amy", "Love, Actually", "Smallville" and "Maid in Manhattan"), used by several figure skaters during their routines (Michelle Kwan, Kristie Yamaguchi and others), she has been mentioned by name in songs (by Chris de Burgh and Mary Chapin Carpenter) and her former bandmate Chuck Brown dedicated an album to her.
The British-Georgian singer Katie Melua - citing Cassidy as one of her idols - arranged to record a duet with Eva Cassidy’s previous recording on "What a Wonderful World", with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.
A book entitled Songbird was published in 2003, and a long-rumored biopic - to be produced by Robert Redford's daughter Amy - is still a possibility. Either way: we may not have heard the very last song from Eva Cassidy.
Eva Cassidy (1963 — 1996)One thing I admired about Eva Cassidy was her willingness to take on songs that moved her, even when they were so identified with another singer they were risky to perform. That was obviously the case with Judy Garland and "Over the Rainbow", plus Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" & Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman".
Here, she does considerable justice to the Fairport Convention song Who Knows Where the Time Goes— written by the English folksinger Sandy Denny - who also died young (at only age thirty-one, albeit from much different circumstances). And while Sandy Denny was known to the general public during her lifetime, she did not achieve legendary status until a few years later .... much as Eva Cassidy did.
Across the evening sky all the birds are leaving But then you know it was time for them to go By the winter fire I will still be dreaming I do not count the time
Sad deserted shore your fickle friends are leaving But then you know it was time for them to go But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes? Who knows where the time goes?
x YouTube Video