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.
ART NOTES - a retrospective of Dutch painting in the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer entitled Class Distinctions will be at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts to January 18th.
POLITICAL NOTES - the voters of Guatemala have elected as their new president a TV comedian, Jimmy Morales - who advocated tracking teachers with GPS (to ensure they go to work) as well as opposing same-sex marriage and having ties to the military (which committed atrocities twenty years ago).
I'M BACK from being away last weekend; a nice time visiting old chums in Albany, New York ... with some good weather, food, beer, hiking and some old stories .... OK, a lotta old stories.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Phoenix the Cat - an English kitteh who went missing for eighteen months, then when his family went to a shelter to bring home a new kitteh they had adopted .... they saw Phoenix in the very next cage. (They will still adopt the other kitteh, as a companion).
HAIL and FAREWELL to the automobile designer George Barris - who created the Batmobile in 1966 - who has died at the age of 89. Speaking of the Caped Crusader ....
YUK for today - in an old Batman television episode - that first aired 49 years ago this week - The Penguin runs for mayor of Gotham City. And due to fears he might win, Batman is drafted to run against him.
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As a ten year-old, this clip was the first time I ever recall having a cynical laugh about politics, as Batman assures Robin that the good citizens of Gotham City will decide .... (yuk) ... "strictly on the issues". At the end of this short clip, he accurately describes the Trump campaign of today.
RELIGION NOTES - with Japanese citizens becoming less religious, Buddhist temples are forced to run cafés or bars, lest they be forced to close (as many do each year).
FRIDAY's CHILD was hanging around a New Zealand veterinary clinic, seeking to enter a room with some kittens (abandoned in a box at their door) ... when the staff realized she was a nursing mama cat who had been separated from her brood.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
By Request OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? from Audri - the Scottish-born TV/film star Tony Curran ("Defiance", "Pearl Harbor") and Canadian-born TV star Joshua Close ("12 Monkeys", "Fargo"). So ..… whaddya think?
...... and finally, for a song of the week .............................. among those who are considered the forefathers of rock music - R&B entertainers whose music led to what-was-to-follow: besides Big Joe Turner and Louis Jordan, another name in that category was Wynonie Harris - a talented dancer and drummer who became a premier blues singer in the 40's and 50's. Unlike other performers whose career was diminished following the British Invasion of the mid-60's, his was derailed after the first wave of rock music came following 1952. Yet he does have a legacy as a singer of party songs and earned his nickname of "Mr. Blues".
Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1915, he dropped-out of school at age sixteen and performed in a dance troupe with Velda Shannon before turning his attention to singing. His idols were Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing, and he performed in clubs in Chicago and Kansas City before relocating to Los Angeles in 1940.
After establishing himself in that city's Central Avenue jazz clubs, his big break came when he was noticed by the jump blues bandleader Lucky Millinder in 1944. This gave him much more prominent exposure, staying for over a year. Before he left, he sang Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well? - which became a big hit for Millinder, reaching #1 on the R&B charts and even reaching #7 in the pop charts (garnering an unusual early white audience for R&B).
Going out as a solo performer after the war, he had some early hits such as "Wynonie's Blues", and even recorded some sides with pianist Herman "Sonny" Blount (who later earned fame as the eclectic jazz bandleader Sun Ra).
Then after signing with the Cincinnati-based King Records in 1947 his career took off, with several hits through 1952. He featured a band with a swinging horn section, with songs about partying with quite ribald lyrics. Among his hits on the R&B charts were were All She Wants to Do Is Rock plus "Grandma Plays the Numbers", a cover of the country tune "Bloodshot Eyes" and also "Sittin' On It All the Time".
His most noteworthy recording was one that he originally passed-up: Good Rocking Tonight was offered to him by its composer Roy Brown - and only after Brown's own recording took-off did Wynonie Harris record it himself in 1948 (and reach #1 on the R&B charts). Six years later, Elvis Presley did a cover version (early in his recording career), with others following suit such as Montrose, Buddy Holly, James Brown and Bruce Springsteen.
Yet his career suffered after the advent of rock and roll, and from 1952 only recorded a few records achieving any success. Wynonie Harris died of throat cancer in 1969, at only age 53.
Yet twenty-five years after his death, his work was recognized in several ways. He was the subject of a biography plus a Rhino compilation album and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis.
Of all of his work, my favorite is his 1950 song (reaching #6 on the R&B charts) entitled Good Morning Judge - which was covered thirty-seven years later on the debut album of Buster Poindexter (David Johansen) in 1987.
You can hear the 1987 Buster Poindexter version at this link - and below is the 1950 original by Wynonie Harris.
The other night I took a ride with little old Lucy Brown We went to all the honky-tonks, we really got around She's five foot two, with eyes of blue and pretty as a queen I didn't know her pop was a city cop - and she was just fifteen!Good morning Judge, why do you look so mean? Sorry Mr. Judge, what can the charges be? If there's been trouble, I will plead not guilty It must be someone else - you know it can't be me!
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