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 Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a Century Apart— and as its name implies, has both contemporary artists as well as medieval ceramics (discovered in early 20th-century Raqqa by Circassian refugees, a Muslim group that fled Russia to escape Tsarist forces that scorched their homelands and threatened to convert them to the Orthodox Church) — will be at the Brooklyn, New York Museum through January 13th.
Modern refugees from Syria on displayMEMORY LANE — in March of 2016, one of the GOP candidates had this to say about the frontrunner …. take-it-away, Marco Rubio:
I would point out there isn’t violence at my events, there isn’t violence at Ted’s events, there isn’t violence at a Kasich event, there isn’t violence at a Sanders event, there isn’t violence at a Clinton event,” he told reporters.
“There’s only one presidential candidate who has violence at their events.”
HAIL and FAREWELL to the San Francisco Giants baseball Hall of Fame first baseman, Willie McCovey— as a young Mets fan in the mid-to-late 1960’s, I seem to recall them leading the Giants going into the ninth inning … before Willie Mays would beat-out an infield single, then McCovey would hit the game-winner into San Francisco Bay.
THURSDAY's CHILD is a kitteh who walked down the (cough) catwalk (cough) at an Istanbul fashion show runway … who both strutted (as well as licked herself).
Turkey’s next supermodel?TOURISM is something that most countries in the world seek (especially poorer ones) and the rise of the Internet was thought to help encourage it by highlighting forgotten, less expensive sites. But the rise of discount airlines, Airbnb and “bucket lists” all seem to be leading to overtourism— people visiting the same sites (Venice, Amsterdam and Easter Island (all in the same seasons) so that local communities are seeking curbs (or trying to encourage off-season travel).
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Remy the Cat— a Massachusetts kitteh who wanders around the Harvard University campus, seemingly favoring the humanities area.
Remy the Cambridge CatYOUR WEEKEND READ is this analysis of Scott Walker’s boondoggle corporate welfare scheme for Foxconn— which seems to cost more in taxpayer subsidies and less in promised investment ….. to the point that Walker talks about it much less than his Democratic opponent (and even John Kasich roundly criticized the deal at the time Walker struck it).
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — a man in Blackpool, England who was caught on a security camera walking out of a store with a case of beer, which local police posted, seeking help … and because the thief bore a resemblance to the actor David Schwimmer, he eventually posted his own video, claiming to be in NYC.
Blackpool thief on left, Ross from “Friends” on the rightThe Blackpool police now say they have a positive ID, while having some fun confirming that Schwimmer was not their man (and using Friends references).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… the four performers with the highest number of charted hits in the USA during the 1960’s were Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Ray Charles and …. Brenda Lee, a 4’9” teen singer who was nicknamed Little Miss Dynamite. She has sold over 100 million records around the world, and while her heyday passed over fifty years ago: she has achieved lasting fame.
Born as Brenda Mae Tarpley in the charity ward of an Atlanta hospital in December, 1944, she grew-up in a poor family (without running water). She was a child prodigy who won a singing contest at age five, yet her alcoholic father died in a construction accident when she was only nine. She came to realize that (in much the same way as Little Richard) that music would be her only path out of poverty.
At age twelve, she was hired (by country musician Red Foley) for his Ozark Jubilee TV show, which garnered her interest from record companies. A local DJ named Peanuts Fairclough shortened her name to Brenda Lee and she had minor hits with Hank Williams’s Jambalaya and with the song Dynamite — which spawned her nickname. In 1957, she had her first hit with One Step at a Time and in 1958 cast her lot with Owen Bradley’s Nashville recording studios, where most of her hits were to be recorded.
She had managers who helped her choose a singular sound. While based in rockabilly and pop, she also had influences in Judy Garland, Edith Piaf and Frank Sinatra. She impressed listeners with her ability to convey raw emotion only in her teens: which she attributed to her childhood poverty and the loss of her father.
In an era where male stars dominated the pop market, teen girls flocked to Lee. Not only was she their age, but she also appeared as one of their own, a girl-next-door who eschewed glitz and overt sexuality. “My biggest gift was I wasn’t a threat to the girls, or to their boyfriends,” says Lee. “They could come and cry on my shoulder, and I’d cry on theirs.”
While it did not sell well at the time: perhaps her most cyclical song is her 1958 Yuletide tune Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (which you will undoubtedly hear next month). In 1959, she reached the top of the charts with Sweet Nothings — although due to the Jackie Coogan Law: most of her earnings had to be held in trust until she reached age 21 in 1965.
Her breakthrough period coincided with (what I refer to as) the Musical Interregnum: from 1959 (after the Day the Music Died) to the arrival of the Beatles. Her best-selling song was 1960’s I’m Sorry (which won a Grammy nomination). Since her stepfather had abandoned the family, Brenda Lee petitioned a court (successfully) to help get her family out of poverty. She also had hits during the 1960-1964 period with Speak to Me Pretty, Losing You and The Waiting Game.
She appeared on stages with Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline, and was also put on European tours along with Gene Vincent and Duane Eddy. In 1962, she appeared at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, with her opening act being …. the Beatles. She was impressed by the songs they had newly-written and says this:
“I hung out with John,” she says. “He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”
John Lennon has reportedly said she had “the greatest rock-n-roll voice of them all” and later she became good friends with Elton John:
“When I saw her perform, I was just stunned. I don’t think I had ever heard anything like it: Brenda Lee is in the top three female rock & roll singers of all time: her, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.”
Like many other musicians, her career was sidelined by ….. well, the advent of the British Invasion, as well as suffering health problems in the late 60’s and into the 1970’s. She transitioned into country and Gospel by the early 1970’s and by her own admission: has become an ‘autograph hound’ — (noting that she obtained Fats Domino’s autograph shortly before his death).
Her autobiography was released in 2002, she has a well-reviewed compilation album and has influenced such performers as Alison Krauss, Taylor Swift and … would you believe Kanye West sampled her for his 2013 song “Bound 2”? She has won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and is the only female performer to be inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame (in 1997) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (in 2002).
Brenda Lee will turn age seventy-four in December and while no longer a regular touring performer (having to overcome a broken left foot this past winter) last month she helped to induct her late friend Dottie West into the Country Music Hall’s Veteran Era honor.
Brenda Lee in the 1960’s …. ……... and earlier this yearMy favorite song was one that she travelled to London to record in 1964. Is It True features a young studio guitarist you came to know five years later, Jimmy Page — with the veteran Mickie Most producing it — and the song reached #17 in both the US and Britain. And below you can hear it.
Listen to the talk that's going around town Everywhere you go they're spreading it around Saying that you've gone and found another one Is it true, my love?What about the ring you gave me yesterday? Is it there for me to throw it all away? As you said goodbye, if you have no lie Is it true my love?
Coming down the street the story looks the same Everyone I meet is whispering your name Saying that you've gone and found another one Is it true, my love?
x xYouTube VideoPROGRAMMING NOTE #1 — I am posting this poll covering only up to mid-Friday afternoon (as I am travelling). If there are any late losers, just make a write-in.
PROGRAMMING NOTE #2 — I will be travelling next weekend as well — and am unsure if there will be an Odds & Ends … if there is, it may be a quick one.