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 Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — a photography retrospective entitled Ansel Adams in Our Time will be at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts through February 24th.
Exhibit debuts in Boston this weekALTHOUGH SHE PREVAILED in an internal Conservative Party vote-of-no-confidence (by a 200-117 margin), British prime minister Theresa May— who had to pledge not to remain as PM for the next recurring election set for 2022 — is still in difficult shape to keep her post, due to Tory wrangling over Brexit, despite her level-best efforts.
MUSEUM NOTES — a museum in his hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin has an oversize bronze bust of Senator Joseph McCarthy in a basement corridor next to …. an all-gender bathroom.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Chester the Cat— a Scottish kitteh (who had a taste for cheesecake) who lost 1/5 of his body weight in a pet-slimming charity contest.
Chester the CatHAIL and FAREWELL to the singer Nancy Wilson— with a long career (in the 1960’s alone, she released eight albums that reached the top 20 on Billboard’s pop charts), won three Grammy Awards and for years hosted a weekly syndicated (and informative) radio show “Jazz Profiles” — who has died at the age of eighty-one.
POLITICAL NOTES — as noted earlier, the UK government has its own hands full with bad actors … and The Economist had various awards to present, including:
(Deluded politician) David Davis … was a disaster as Brexit secretary, which he blames on the civil service … and everybody else blames on his laziness. He nonetheless swaggers around Parliament like a Roman general returning from conquering the Gauls, demanding a “clean Brexit” and waiting for the Tory faithful to put the garland of supreme power on his brow.
(Worst politician) In a big field, there was one outstanding candidate. He failed miserably as foreign secretary. He sniped at Mrs May while in Cabinet. He has agitated against her (Brexit) deal from the backbenches and in his lucrative newspaper column without presenting a real alternative. A demagogue not a statesman, he is the most irresponsible politician the country has seen for many years. Step forward, Boris Johnson!
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Wobbles the Cat— a Georgia stray kitteh who was befriended despite major wounds, and now recuperating, “purring all the time”.
Wobbles the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC. There is (at least) one gimmee …. anyone reporting a zero score should have their knuckles rapped by an organic carrot (as one clothing store many years ago warned anyone smoking in the dressing rooms would receive).
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the case of the 4’11” chemist who wanted to be a Superwoman … instead, Annie Dookhan became a convicted criminal, leading to the closing of a state crime lab … and this case is still having repercussions, six years later in 2018.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — a troika this week: Fox pundit Geraldo Rivera, Nat’l Enquirer publisher David Pecker & Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
Geraldo, David & Allen (born 1943, 1951 and 1947)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… they were a most unlikely couple: he from rural Georgia, she an Italian-American from Wisconsin - who eloped only two days after meeting - and who struggled financially in the early years of their marriage, living in a mobile home.
But while they may not be household names, Felice & Boudleaux Bryant became a songwriting duo for the ages: an institution in Nashville-and-beyond, whose work has been performed (by a wide range of artists) on over 300 million recordings. If you are a child of any age, you've heard someone perform their material.
He was born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant in 1920 in southwest Georgia. Boudleaux Bryant trained as a classical violinist, touring with the Atlanta Philharmonic as an eighteen year-old in 1938. When a friend needed another musician he joined a country band, eventually touring with Hank Penny's Radio Cowboys who were a leading Western Swing band of its era.
She was born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto in 1925 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Unlike Boudleaux, she wasn't a trained musician: but her entire family sang and played musical instruments by ear. She began to write English lyrics to traditional Italian tunes, and during WW-II both sang at (and directed) USO shows. Fate brought them together at a hotel in Milwaukee in 1945 while he was on tour (and she served as the hotel's elevator operator). He gave her the nickname Felice, which is what the world later came to know her as.
After deciding against resuming a performing career, they tried collaborating on songs - and then tried to interest country musicians/publishers in their work. Like many aspiring songwriters, they met with rejection-after-rejection ... until Fred Rose of the legendary Acuff-Rose publishing house in Nashville - took a flyer on "Country Boy".
This became a #7 country hit for Little Jimmy Dickens in 1948. Delighted with that success, Fred Rose began a nearly 20-year business arrangement with the Bryants, who moved to Nashville in 1950 to become full-time songwriters. They had another hit song in 1953 with Hey Joe (no, not the Billy Roberts tune that Jimi Hendrix would popularize years later) that became a country hit for Carl Smith and a pop hit for Frankie Laine in 1953.
But it's safe-to-say that it was their collaboration later that decade (with a pair of brothers from Kentucky) that saw their career skyrocket - The Everly Brothers were the perfect act to extend their reach into the burgeoning pop/rock era. And you know the songs: Wake Up, Little Susie as well as ..... All I Have to Do is Dream reached #1 on both the pop and country charts.
Add to that Bye Bye Love plus "Devoted to You" are just a few more songs that the Everlys made famous (and numerous others have covered). Others had original hits with their tunes: Buddy Holly ("Raining in my Heart") and in 1962 Leona Douglas became the first African-American to have a charted country hit with the Bryants' "Too Many Chicks".
They formed their own House of Bryant publishing company in 1967 and that same year wrote perhaps their most enduring composition: Rocky Top has become one of the state of Tennessee's official state songs and an unofficial theme for the state university's sports teams. It was named #7 on the 100 Songs of the South list compiled by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And uncommonly for non-performers: they were inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991.
Boudleaux Bryant died in June, 1987 at age 67. In 2012, Boudleaux Bryant's hometown in Georgia held a festival in his honor, and just last month the Bryant’s son Del asked people who knew his father (as a young man) for personal stories for a book to be published in 2020 (his 100th birthday anniversary).
Felice Bryant wrote music as a solo before passing away in April, 2003 at the age of 77. The Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Historical Society has an exhibit dedicated to their native daughter.
To illustrate how widespread their appeal was, just consider the range of performers who have covered some of their 3,000 songs: Tony Bennett, The Who, Sarah Vaughn, Charley Pride, the Grateful Dead, Dean Martin, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Jim Reeves, Count Basie - and I saw Simon & Garfunkel delight the crowd at their 1981 Central Park show when they played "Wake Up, Little Susie".
The couple in the 1950’s …. … and a few decades laterOf all of their material, my favorite is their song Love Hurts— that was first a hit for the Everly Brothers in 1960. And as previously noted, the range of performers with cover versions is amazing: Roy Orbison, Joan Jett, Keith Richards/Norah Jones, Rod Stewart, Pat Boone and Cher - with the highest-charting version by the Scottish rock band Nazareth reaching #8 in 1975.
Below is a special 1973 duet by Emmylou Harris and the late Gram Parsons - that truly captures the song's pathos.
I'm young, I know, but even so: I know a thing or two I learned from you I really learned a lot Love is like a flame it burns you when it's hot Love hurts......love hurts
Some fools think of happiness Blissfulness, togetherness Some fools fool themselves, I guess But they're not fooling me
I know it isn't true Love is just a lie made to make you blue Love hurts......love hurts
x xYouTube Video