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 Monet: Framing Life will be at the Detroit Institute of Art through March 4th.
Now in Detroit: to Mar 2018PROGRAMMING NOTE — as I will be travelling for the Christmas holidays, there will not be a Friday night post in Cheers & Jeers, nor a weekend Odds & Ends wrap-up diary. If you celebrate either: Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas. I will return the following week (as we approach New Year’s).
HAIL and FAREWELL to the guitarist/vocalist of the power-pop band The Smithereens, Pat DiNizio — who joined a band started by three classmates at a different high school, and whose brooding lyrics helped make this my favorite New Jersey rock band — who has died at the age of sixty-two. Here is my favorite song of his, the title track from the band’s Especially for You album.
FOR THOSE OF YOU who ate “of a certain age” ….. in reading about the seven banned words from the Trumpster’s Centers for Disease Control … surely you must have thought, “Where is (the late) George Carlin when you need him?”
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Merf the Cat— one of five Australian kittehs who ride on top of a woman’s car to go shopping … all without incident.
Merf the Australian kittehSINCE 2012 public officials in Germany have attempted to open the new Berlin International Airport in the capital city … to no avail (and to much ridicule, both domestically and abroad). Now there are plans to open a “lite” version (excluding the much-maligned main terminal) ... possibly in 2020.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary, with a look at the legacy of the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde— including its awkward original title, unusual location of its first theatrical performance, the changes made for theater and film versions and the fact that no adult hearing the phrase Jekyll and Hyde … needs an explanation.
YUK for today — from a 1963 Flintstones episode of an elderly bank robber:
She carried sticks of TNTTwo policemen are sitting in their squad car when the voice of the dispatcher comes on the radio:
“Calling all cars — be on the lookout for Grandma Dynamite ... who has robbed the First, Second and Third National Banks.”
Policeman to his partner: “Wonder where she’ll strike next, Joe?”
Dispatcher (overhearing): “The Fourth National Bank …... where else?!?”
FRIDAY's CHILD was photographed in Queens, New York … as part of a Nativity scene.
Nativity kittehBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
xMy kind of socialism: Local chapters of. Democratic Socialists of America have been offering free brake light replacements in various cities around the country — largely to prevent traffic stops, fines and even arrests, especially of POC.
— Barbara Ehrenreich (@B_Ehrenreich) December 16, 2017OLDER-YONGER BROTHERS? — Bay area graphic design artist (and college dean) Michael Vanderbyl and the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
M. Vanderbyl (born 1947) P.S. Hoffman (1967-2014)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… my annual tribute to a performer that one reviewer declared to be "the most listened-to jazz pianist of all time" and with the Christmas season upon us: it might well be true that Vince Guaraldi achieved that status - in a quiet way - due to a certain comic strip of note.
His breakthrough hit (in more ways than one) was the 1963 Grammy-winning tune Cast Your Fate to the Wind - a gorgeous melody that eight years later the James Gang's guitarist Joe Walsh - later to join The Eagles - worked into a medley (most improbably) with a hard rock song entitled The Bomber in 1971.
In the early 1960's, Vince Guaraldi was successful in the jazz world, yet comparatively unknown to the American public. But that changed - dramatically - with a 1965 cab ride that TV producer Lee Mendelson took across the Golden Gate Bridge. He had already contacted Dave Brubeck and vibraphone player Cal Tjader about composing for his project (and turned down by both for lack of time).
Just as The Sopranos producer David Chase decided upon his show's theme song - by hearing the UK band "Alabama 3" perform it on the radio - Lee Mendelson heard "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio in that fateful cab ride.
He asked for help from the noted music writer Ralph Gleason (who helped co-found Rolling Stone magazine later that decade) - and was thus able to contact Guaraldi about composing for the upcoming Charlie Brown Christmas special.
Sixteen TV shows (and one feature film) later, the music of Vince Guaraldi is an integral part of the Peanuts experience - with the theme song Linus and Lucy plus the irresistible song Skating among his best-loved Peanuts music. One reviewer noted that Linus and Lucy borrows its syncopation and A-flat key from “Cast Your Fate”. And Guaraldi was a later influence for Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.
As a child, my mother bought the Vince Guaraldi album for me … mistakenly believing it was the soundtrack of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (and apologizing to me for it) — but I was delighted to be introduced to his music, and it was a stepping-stone (among other recordings) to becoming a jazz lover.
Vince Guaraldi died in 1976 (at only age 47) in-between sets of a gig in Menlo Park California. The musician David Benoit cites Guaraldi as an inspiration, and it's difficult to imagine Peanuts with any other music backing it. If you are a fan of George Winston: he had a meeting with Guaraldi in 1971, saying "He was very gracious and encouraging when I occasionally had the opportunity to play intermission piano between his sets” (a common practice at jazz clubs then).
Some long-lost film archives of Guaraldi were discovered in Ralph Gleason’s attic, and his son has helped restore them for a new documentary The Anatomy Of Vince Guaraldi— with a crowd-sourcing site to bring it to home video.
For the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis "Peanuts" was the only chance to hear jazz on TV in his youth. Wynton was also excited that his pianist father Ellis - the (now 83 year-old) patriarch of the talented Marsalis musical family - knew Vince Guaraldi. "Our father knew somebody who was connected to television!", he exclaimed.
Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976)While most of Vince Guaraldi's work is instrumental: appropriately for the season, the song Christmas Time Is Here had lyrics written by the show's producer Lee Mendelson for kids to sing. A nice grown-up version was recorded a few years ago by Diane Reeves - the featured nightclub singer in the film "Good Night and Good Luck". And below you can hear Vince Guaraldi's original version.
Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that children call Their favorite time of year
Snowflakes in the air Carols everywhere Olden times and ancient rhymes Of love and dreams to share
Sleigh bells in the air Beauty everywhere Yuletide by the fireside And joyful memories there
Christmas time is here We'll be drawing near Oh, that we could always see Such spirit through the year
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