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 — works by eighteenth-century European artists in an exhibition entitled Casanova’s Europe— yes, that libertine author, whose disdain for religion landed him in jail — opens today at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts ….. running through October 8th.
Exhibition opening today in BostonTHIS COMING OCTOBER’S ELECTION in the African nation of Cameroon was to have again tested the delicate balance of the 20% of the Anglophone population — whose rights are protected under treaties dating from the 1960’s, yet not always observed. Perhaps one reason why … elections were postponed for a year.
xSomewhere right now Donald Trump is asking whether he can invade Croatia. #RUSCRO
— shauna (@goldengateblond) July 7, 2018WORLD CUP NOTES of 2018 — this coming Tuesday and Wednesday will be the two semi-final matches — and both will be on free broadcast TV (the Fox broadcast channel where you see the NFL and The Simpsons) — Tuesday will see France vs. Belgium (from St. Petersburg) and Wednesday will feature England vs. Croatia (from Moscow) … both starting at 2:00 PM Eastern (11:00 AM Pacific).
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Pus the Cat— a Norwegian kitteh who escaped one day, then hid inside a furniture container headed for Iceland … and when the box was opened two weeks later, Pus was emaciated and had lost a lot of hair... but was alive, and soon reunited with his family.
Pus the Norwegian CatAS YOU MAY KNOW …. each July 4th various correspondents of National Public Radio take turns reciting paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence (with stirring music in the background).
This past Wednesday, unlike in-the-past: the two morning hosts began with a description of the Declaration, before beginning their annual ritual. Why?
Well, maybe it’s because last year: a number of MAGA folks didn’t recognize the Declaration of Independence:
NPR faced accusations of political bias Tuesday for marking the Fourth of July by tweeting out the entire Declaration of Independence.
NPR has celebrated Independence Day for 29 years by having hosts, reporters and commentators read the Declaration of Independence on-air. But a number of Twitter users slammed NPR for tweeting it this year, interpreting the outlet's sharing of the founding U.S. document as a call "for revolution" and a way to "condone the violence."
Given the warning that Alex Jones gave about our impending Civil War #2 …. just consider several passages in the document:
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers (ICE) to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution (RUSSIA) and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.
In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
And the part in which the Declaration writes of appealing to “our British brethren” — substitute for that, our GOP congress:
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us ….. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
Despite advance warning on-air … some MAGA folks again did-it-again on the 4th.
GET WELL to the recuperating Elvis Costello— who had to cancel tour dates after surgery (which he hints is a male-centric form of cancer) — and who says a new album release will take place in October.
FRIDAY's CHILD is the late Simba the Cat— who was a fixture at a high school in Westbrook, Maine for several years, was once the subject of a school art show and always a furry friend to students in need, before returning home at night to his family — who has died at the age of twenty-one.
The late Simba the CatWORLD CUP NOTES from 1978 — in the World Cup of forty years ago, host nation Argentina defeated the Netherlands in overtime … and the Netherlands player who came in (as a substitute) to score the goal that sent the match to overtime with ten minutes left in regulation time — the late Dick Nanninga— returned to his (very Dutch) day job the day after the team returned … running a flower shop.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the subject of Music Torture— which I always considered a lighthearted subject (such as the dogs barking Jingle Bells, plus the tune Feelings) only to find that out that increasingly …. it is not so lighthearted.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio and Russian security guard Roman Burtsev — who gained a starring role in a reality TV show, plus some commercials as a result.
Leonardo DiCaprio (b 1974) Roman Burtsev (born 1983)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… many of the African-American blues veterans that inspired the British Invasion have sadly passed on, but one who is still alive and well is the vocalist/harmonica whiz Billy Boy Arnold who — unlike many of his peers — did not migrate from the Mississippi Delta but was actually born in Chicago. While he spent several years out of music (reflecting the ups-and-downs of the business) he has all the work that he wants today.
William Arnold received a harmonica as a child and had the audacity to knock on the door of blues star Sonny Boy Williamson who graciously gave the 13 year-old a few lessons before his early death. (This was John Lee Williamson, not Rice Miller— who was given the monicker “Sonny Boy Williamson II” and achieved more fame than his earlier namesake).
As a 17 year-old, Arnold made a 78-rpm single "Hello Stranger" that went nowhere but whose label spawned his new nickname "Billy Boy Arnold". As a 20 year-old, he joined forces with Bo Diddley (then still known as a bluesman). Arnold played harp — the slang term for harmonica — on Bo Diddley's 1955 hit single I'm a Man.
Mistakenly believing that Chess Records founder Leonard Chess didn't like his sound, Arnold signed with Vee-Jay Records that year. He recorded his two most celebrated songs — I Wish You Would and "I Ain't Got You" — while at Vee-Jay. Both were later covered by English bands (The Yardbirds, David Bowie and The Animals) and Billy Boy had a few more hits before he was dropped by Vee-Jay.
After 1963's More Blues on the South Side he was among those negatively impacted by the British Invasion — he could only get tour dates in Europe - and this led to his leaving the business; first as a bus driver, then a parole officer.
It was the blues revival of the 1970's that rekindled his touring career (he did make records in France from time-to-time). But it took his being signed by hometown Alligator Records to release a "comeback" record at age 58 - and 1993's Back Where I Belong that received "Welcome back!" reviews. And a good deal of his new audience came from those who heard his songs performed by the British Invasion musicians .. and now wanted to hear it from the source.
He has followed up with highly-rated recordings such as Eldorado Cadillac from 1995, a live album from 2000, and 2008's Billy Boy Sings Sonny Boy - an ode to his old mentor, James Lee Williamson - and his most recent recording (also a tribute album) entitled Billy Boy Arnold Sings Big Bill Broonzy — composer of the blues classic “Key to the Highway”.
As he will turn age 83 in two months, he has slowed down but performed last night in Saturday in Austin, Texas - and seems to have caught-up in his later years with the success that eluded him in his youth. As the All-Music Guide's Scott Yanow described one of his albums: "A fun set of passionate Chicago blues".
A young Billy Boy Arnold ... … playing the harp recentlyThe Animals lead singer Eric Burdon described a large, multi-person jam session in the greater London town of Ealing in his autobiography I Used to Be an Animal, But I'm Alright Now that took place in the early 60's. "The faces I saw at Ealing that day were to change the world of music", he wrote, as many future British invasion stars (raised on the blues) were there. Burdon recalled asking a scrawny kid, "Do you know 'I Wish You Would?"' — to which Mick Jagger replied, "The Billy Boy Arnold tune? Of course I know it!!".
When Billy Boy Arnold recorded it in 1955, it was (reportedly) the first Chicago blues session featuring an electric bass. And below you can hear him sing it.
Early in the morning, about the break of day That's when my baby went away Crying and pleading won't do no good Come back baby, I wish you wouldI love you baby, I can't help myself I wouldn't mistreat you for no one else
Tell me now baby, what are you trying to do? Trying to love me and some other man, too
x xYouTube Video