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 to commemorate FDR’s famous Four Freedoms— with works from various artists — is at the Montgomery, Alabama Museum of Fine Arts through November 18th.
In Montgomery, Alabama to Nov 18AS MY FAVORITE VEGETABLE it was noteworthy that a comprehensive report of fungi was released, with the market for (edible) varieties of these curious organisms worth an estimated $42bn per year. But now … the release of the new book Full Disclosure… will make racy mushroom jokes flourish, too.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Coco the Cat— an English kitteh who was adopted from a shelter by a family who wanted a black cat — normally more difficult for shelters to place — because the wife’s favorite TV show growing up was Sabrina the Teenage Witch ... whose wisecracking Salem the Cat was an inspiration.
Coco the CatUNSURE IF I NOTED THIS before in this space (or not). But if you recall the old Saturday Hate Mail-a-Palooza on this site: the true eccentric in that crowd was edscan — who was banned for reasons unrelated to his usual stuff. Well, someone dug-up his Twitter handle …. and he receives no recommends, nor re-tweets, nor any commentary. He claims to be 90 years old, and says some things you nod your head at, others leave you baffled. Anyway, here’s his Twitter handle.
MEANWHILE, on the campaign trail ….
xThe share of House Rs who are white men is 86% and rising. The share of House Dems who are white men is 41% and falling. #MA07
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) September 5, 2018FRIDAY's CHILD is named Tigger the Cat— an English kitteh who insists on ½ hour in a retiree’s lap each morning before he goes off to work … and if his brother Boots the Cat tries to get there first … Tigger just edges him away.
Tigger the CatI HAD ALWAYS WONDERED about this … and now, an essay reveals that in the 2000 presidential election, George W. won 42% of the Muslim-American vote…. until the GOP decided the next year that it was more profitable to flog them. And now this year, more Muslim-Americans are seeking office than ever before.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Orange is the New Black prison counselor Michael Harney.
Rex Tillerson (born 1952) Michael Harney (born 1956)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… two years ago, I noted a break-out country music song of 1967, Ode to Billy Joe (written and performed by Bobbie Gentry) — observing that it paved-the-way for another ground-breaking single a year later. As is my wont, I forgot to follow-up with that second tune — and now that it is the 50th anniversary of that second tune (as we were reminded by NPR this week) it seems appropriate to give Harper Valley P.T.A. its due. Like its sort-of predecessor: it has the type of interesting back-story I love.
The country music singer Margie Singleton asked the songwriter Tom T. Hall to write a song with as much impact as Billy Joe. And he dug back to a hometown memory from age nine, where a free-spirit single mother in Olive Hill, Kentucky had taken-on the local P.T.A. over their disapproval of her, challenging the small town’s social conventions. He met the woman and was inspired by her courage …. so that twenty-three years later he put it to music, saying “That song is my novel” — changing the names and location. Driving through a nearby town: he took note of the Harpeth Valley Elementary School, and adopted that for his “novel”. And being a fan of the novelist Sinclair Lewis: he wove the spirit of the hypocritical preacher Elmer Gantry into the song’s fabric.
Tom T. Hall is long retired at age eighty-two, and my favorite song of his … is one that the guitarist Leo Kottke features, Pamela Brown.
Tom T. Hall (circa 1967) ... … and now in this decadeThe song tells the story of a letter from the P.T.A. to a single mother … worse yet, it was given to her daughter to deliver to her. Written from the daughter’s perspective, it recounts how her mother took the hypocrites head-on, in person. The song featured some then-current themes: Peyton Place was name-checked (the 1956 novel had been running for four years on television) and the end of the song was even more current: using the “Sock it to me” tag-line of Laugh-In… which premiered earlier in 1968. All of which was the nucleus of a song made for the time, with the changing role of women in society …. that made the song a hit.
How the song made its debut varies depending on source: one has Tom T. Hall initially offering the song to Skeeter Davis (who declined). Then both Margie Singleton and Billie Jo Spears recorded the song for major labels, which were both set for a release date in the very near future.
Meanwhile, a secretary in Nashville (working for the songwriter Jerry Chesnut) heard a demo tape of the song, and was determined to record it herself. She went to producer Shelby Singleton, the owner of the small Plantation Records label (and, interestingly, the ex-husband of Margie Singleton). Being a small shop, they rush-released Jeannie C. Riley’s version of Harper Valley P.T.A. before the other two singles could be released. And it was her version that became the hit.
Her life changed overnight, as she was able to buy an new house and a Cadillac, toured with Johnny Cash and her idol Loretta Lynn. But she began to chafe at the demands her record company made: wanting her to look like the woman in the song and (like John Lennon in the break-out days of the Beatles) not mentioning that she was married. “I was being considered an image, not a person”.
She later became an evangelical Christian and focused more on Gospel songs— but has always performed this tune. Her 1980 autobiography is titled From Harper Valley to the Mountaintop and occasionally performs at age seventy-two. At the time of the song’s release, she received angry letters from people accusing her of trying to hurt the P.T.A. ….. it turned out she was a member herself.
Jeannie C. Riley - late 1960’s …. and during this decadeThe legacy of the song? Jeannie C. Riley won a Grammy for Best Country Female Vocal Performance and she was the first female to have a #1 hit in both the pop and country charts simultaneously — which was not repeated until Dolly Parton did so (with “9-5”) thirteen years later. Rolling Stone ranked it as #58 in its list of the 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time and it spawned both a 1978 film version, as well as a 1981-1982 television series … both starring Barbara Eden.
I wanna tell you all a story about a Harper Valley widowed wife Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High Her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play And she said, "Mom, I've got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA"
The note said, "Mrs. Johnson you're wearing your dresses way too high It's reported you've been drinking and running round with men and going wild And we don't believe you oughta be bringing up your little girl this way" And it was signed by the secretary, "Harper Valley PTA"
Well it happened that the PTA was going to meet that very afternoon And they were sure surprised when Mrs. Johnson wore her mini-skirt into the room And as she walked up to the blackboard I still recall the words she had to say: She said, "I'd like to address this meeting of the Harper Valley PTA"
"Well, there's Bobby Taylor sitting there and seven times he's asked me for a date And Mrs. Taylor seems to use a lotta ice whenever he's away And Mr. Baker, can you tell us why your secretary had to leave this town? And shouldn't widow Jones be told to keep her window shades pulled completely down?"
"Mr. Harper couldn't be here cause he stayed too long at Kelly's Bar again And if you smell Shirley Thompson's breath you'll find she's had a little nip of gin And then you have the nerve to tell me you think that (as a mother) I'm not fit? Well this is just a little Peyton Place and you're all Harper Valley hypocrites"
No, I wouldn't put-you-on because it really did happen just this way The day my momma socked-it-to the Harper Valley PTA
x xYouTube Video