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Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll)

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 …. possibly a three-day weekend for some.

ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled American Masters: Watercolors will be at the Canton, Ohio Museum of Art to March 4th.

Now in Canton, Ohio to Mar 4th

YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 includes a a notorious photo of Paul Ryan’s interns, which is quite monochromatic. Yet an essayist indicates that photo is not purely a sign of political parties: as decisions made decades ago mean that most congressional interns— with exceptions ranging from Orrin Hatch to Bernie Sanders — are unpaid, which exacerbates the issue of diversity throughout the Congress … as many young people are unable to afford being an intern.

QUITE POSSIBLY when the Trumpster says he wants more Norwegians … he (and Stephen Miller) are thinking of the anti-immigration Anders Behring Breivik.

  Mass murderer of 77 people, now in prison

POLITICAL INTRIGUE — one of Robert Mugabe’s cabinet members (Education minister Jonathan Moyo) fled after Mugabe was deposed (where he was wanted for corruption charges) … and is criticizing the new Zimbabwean government via Twitter. He has been rumored to have fled to Kenya (as his wife was born there) but the Kenyan government has denied this … an still other reports suggest he is in Equatorial Guinea.

HAIL and FAREWELL to the veteran ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson— one of the last of his generation of sportscasters who did the play-by-play for nearly every major team sport, Olympic competition and the like (before specialization began to take hold) yet best known for college football — who has died at the age of 89.

THURSDAY's CHILD is named Winston the Cat— an English kitteh who went missing (and was reunited with his family) … after a fifteen-year absence.

         Winston the Cat

THE CHILEAN GOVERNMENT has declassified the last of their secret documents pertaining to the operations of Department 50— a police unit instrumental in dismantling Nazi spy cells operating in Latin America before and after World War II (from 1937 to 1947).

YOUR WEEKEND READ was highlighted by the nonpareil Heather ‘Digby’ Parton — an analysis by Brian Beutler of the testimony that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson (that Sen. Dianne Feinstein just released). Beutler, though, did not review it sequentially, as the transcript reads.

Rather, he divides the questioning into that conducted by (1) Sen. Feinstein’s staff, and that of (2) Sen. Grassley’s staff separately, concluding that (1) sought information as to what took place and (2), “The other half is a monument to Republican complicity in Trump’s jaw-dropping misconduct”.

FRIDAY's CHILD is named Cal the Male Calico— a Syracuse, NY kitteh who is a 1-in-3,000 case of a male calico …. as white fur is a naturally-occurring color in cats, however an X chromosome is needed for orange and another for black: Cal may be a (rare) XXY male calico.

     Cal … the Male Calico

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at a young woman born in Puerto Rico, then grew-up in foster care, before she became Miss Teen USA (wearing a $37 dress) representing Vermont ... and now Charlotte Ayanna has both an acting career as well as a speaking career about foster care (publishing a book on the subject).

BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.

SEPARATED at BIRTH — Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the late Laugh-In actor Henry Gibson (in his role as an Nazi in the “Blues Brothers” film).

  Jeff Sessions and the late Henry Gibson

...... and finally, for a song of the week ............................. if you asked a hip-hop fan, a jazz buff, a rocker and a classical music devotee to come up with a musician they all respected: one performer they could agree on is Herbie Hancock because he could fit so comfortably in those genres (and others). Still at heart a modern jazz pianist: now after fifty years in the music business, he probably has another trick or two awaiting for us all.

The Chicago native was a child prodigy, performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1951 at the age of eleven. He began his studies at Iowa's prestigious Grinnell College as a major in music ... actually as an electrical engineering major, before switching to music.

Early 60’s business card (pre-1963 city code)

He joined Donald Byrd's band in 1961 and was offered a solo contract by Blue Note Records. His first album in 1962 yielded the song Watermelon Man - which Mongo Santamaria covered and made into a classic. The next year, Miles Davis asked him to join his band, and Herbie remained with him for five years (in one of Miles Davis's "classic quintets").

All the while, Hancock continued recording solo albums; with songs such as Dolphin Dance and Cantaloupe Island - but with his 1965 album Maiden Voyage seen as his classic. Listening to the title track at this link is my favorite song for a rainy day - and it features the late Freddie Hubbard on trumpet.

Miles Davis encouraged him to try the Fender Rhodes electric piano, which spawned his subsequent interest in electronic keyboards (along with his engineering background). After venturing out on his own in 1968, Hancock furthered explored the emerging versions of electronics, along with composing for Bill Cosby's Fat Albert TV show (with the tune "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" becoming a hit for Quincy Jones).

It was his 1973 breakthrough album Head Hunters that made him well-known to the general public. Mixing the emerging funk/soul sound with jazz, it included the song Chameleon that had an additional rock/funk riff as its melody.

Miles Davis had issued his own album "On the Corner" album with the same musical blend, but later wrote in his autobiography that 'Head Hunters' was "the album I should have released". Indeed, I saw the two men's bands on a double-bill in 1975 at Hofstra University ... with Miles Davis opening for Hancock (and listed on the program as such) .... which (temporarily) strained their relationship, as Miles Davis related in his autobiography.

But to show that he hadn't forgotten his mainstream roots: Hancock formed an off-and-on band called VSOP - which reunited Hancock with his old Miles Davis Quintet bandmates (Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) and with Freddie Hubbard in the trumpet spot. Its classic modern acoustic jazz sound helped pave the way for traditionalists such as Wynton Marsalis, who were working their way into the limelight.

In 1983, Hancock scored a crossover hit on MTV with the funk song Rockit that introduced him to a younger generation. Since then, Hancock has been all around the field of music. His film scores include Norman Jewison's "A Soldier's Story", Richard Pryor's "JoJo Dancer", Eddie Murphy's "Harlem Nights" and also "Round Midnight" — in which he also acted, and won an Oscar for the score.

In 1998 he released the album Gershwin's World - on the 100th anniversary of his birth - in which he backed soprano Kathleen Battle on "Prelude in C# Minor".

He has also recorded with popular musicians too numerous to mention: in 2005, Herbie Hancock recorded an album entitled Possibilities with musicians including Sting, Annie Lennox, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and Paul Simon. In 2008, his tribute album to Joni Mitchell — entitled River: the Joni Letters — became only the second jazz album to win the Grammy Album of the Year award. Now ten years old, this has just been re-released with four bonus tracks.

And after Joni Mitchell’s long, mysterious hospital stay: it was heartwarming to see her attending this 2016 show in Los Angeles by Chick Corea (w/Herbie and Chick’s wife Gayle Moran in the background).

 At the Catalina Bar & Grill in Los Angeles

Herbie’s most recent album was 2010's Imagine Project - featuring not only that John Lennon song, but also the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a Changin'" and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come".

I had a chance to see him perform in 2010 (35 years after the last time) with his Imagine Project band - and he had a wide range of musical stylists featured on-stage (such as the African guitarist Lionel Loueke) that played all of Hancock's classics (albeit more funky) plus songs from this album - and Herbie seemed as energetic as ever, coming out with a keyboard around his neck to play "Chameleon" for an encore. The man is no nostalgia act, let me assure you.

Herbie Hancock has won a total of fourteen Grammy Awards, (including a Lifetime Achievement citation) was elected to the Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame in 2005, is active in Democratic politics and — since being named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2011 — has established International Jazz Day held on April 30 of every year. He published his long-awaited memoirs in 2014, in 2013 was presented with the Kennedy Center Award for his lifetime achievements and is one of the artists who appear in the new online Master Class instruction videos.

At the age of  77, he begins a West Coast tour later this month with dates listing “Band: TBA” … except that the first one is with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl — he never strays too far from his classical training. 

Herbie Hancock: early 60’s ..

… and much more recently

One song appearing on the "Imagine Project" album (and which he’s performed on tour, including the show I attended) was Space Captain - written by the singer Matthew Moore who was in the choir backing-up Joe Cocker when he sang this tune on his landmark 1970 Mad Dogs and Englishmen album.

On Herbie Hancock's version, the husband-and-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are among the featured performers - and below you can hear it.

Once I was traveling across the sky This lovely planet caught my eye And being curious: I flew close by Now I'm caught here until I die

I lost my memory of where I've been We all forgot that we could fly Someday we'll all change into peaceful men And we'll return into the sky

Until we die Learning to live together Learning to live together Learning to live together 'Till we die

x xYouTube Video


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