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 feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
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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 — nocturnes by European and American artists in an exhibition entitled Nightfall: Prints of the Dark Hours are at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond through February 22nd.
NocturnesHAPPY TRAILS to the pioneering TV journalist Linda Ellerbee — the co-host of one of my favorite TV shows (ABC’s Our World from the late 80’s) and one of few women who found a way to continue her journalism career past her 60's — who is retiring later this month at the age of 71.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the doo-wop era singer Ronnie Bright— member of The Valentines, The Cadillacs, The Coasters and was the bass singer on the 1963 novelty song Mr. Bass Man — who has died at the age of 77 ….. to the TV host Ray Gandolf— who, co-hosted the aforementioned “Our World” with Linda Ellerbee — who has died at the age of 85 …. to the renowned (and flamboyant) Dartmouth College foreign language professor, John Rassias — whose ten-day intensive “boot camp” language immersion class I had the pleasure of taking in 2001 — who has died at the age of 90 …. and to the founder of the Williams-Sonoma cooking store chain, Chuck Williams— one of a handful of people who changed cooking in the USA — who has died at the age of 100.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Cecil the Cat— a Virginia kitteh who was rescued from a 64-foot well.
Cecil the CatWHILE former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg was stymied from enacting legislation there, several academic studies reveal that soft drink sugar taxes seem to be working well where they have been implemented.
AFTER MAJOR TUITION HIKES in recent years, many British students are now enrolling at universities in The Netherlands— with much lower tuition rates, and with universities there now offering entire undergraduate degree programs taught in English.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Nalle the Cat— who was recently named cat hero of the year by Sweden's public broadcaster SVT, after preventing a fire by awakening a woman whose mobile phone charger had overheated.
Nalle the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at who author Jonathan Eig considers the four individuals most responsible for the creation of the birth control pill — which The Economist magazine considers the most important invention of the 20th Century — from his 2014 book (which was recently released in paperback).
By Request SEPARATED at BIRTH from birdbrain64 — Captain Jack Sparrow (as portrayed by Johnny Depp) and Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler. Whaddya think?
Captain Jack Sparrow Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… there are so many greats among the soul singers who came-of-age in the 50's and 60's (Don Covay, Otis Redding, Patti LaBelle, Solomon Burke, Donny Hathaway, Tammi Terrell, etc.) — yet my favorite one, Wilson Pickett had a more raw sound than most of his contemporaries and a run from 1965-1972 of numerous hit singles. Nearly ten years after his death, it’s time for a fresh look.
He was born in Prattville, Alabama in 1941 and grew up (as did many of his peers) singing in the church choir. He had an uneasy relationship with his mother, and at age 14 went to join his father in Detroit. He performed in a touring Gospel group that accompanied such groups as the Soul Stirrers before leaving sacred music for secular music in the late 1950's. He began with The Falcons - an R&B group that included Joe Stubbs (brother of the Four Tops' Levi Stubbs) and Eddie Floyd (who later went on to record the hit single Knock on Wood at Stax Records). Pickett co-wrote and sang lead on their 1962 song I Found a Love - reaching #6 on the R&B charts and #75 on the pop charts.
He began his solo career at Double L Records with a collaboration with the aforementioned Don Covay, and then recorded a demo tape which he sent to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records. Pickett had written If You Need Me and did have a modest hit with it, but Atlantic had Solomon Burke record it which was an even bigger hit (and the Rolling Stones also had a cover version). After Pickett had a 1964 #7 R&B hit with "It's Too Late", Wexler bought-out Pickett's contract and brought him to Atlantic ... and stardom.
And one reason why … was the decision to have him record at different studios with all-star musicians: first at Stax Records in Memphis - with Booker T. and the MG's plus the Memphis Horns and Isaac Hayes at times - which gave him a distinctive sound. It didn't take long before Pickett wrote, along with the MG's guitarist Steve Cropper, In the Midnight Hour - his most enduring song (and #134 on the 500 Greatest Songs list from Rolling Stone) that has been covered by numerous performers in different musical genres. That same year he co-wrote songs such as "Don't Fight It" and had a #13 hit with 634-5789 that Steve Cropper and his old bandmate Eddie Floyd wrote. After the Stax Records president Jim Stewart forbade any outside productions at his studios later that year, Pickett headed down to another R&B incubator - the Fame Studios (in his native Alabama) at Muscle Shoals. He went on to record two more hits there: covers of the Dyke & the Blazer tune Funky Broadway (#8 in the charts) plus the Mack Rice tune Mustang Sally - another enduring song (#434 on the 500 Greatest Songs list) which you can hear bands perform at a nightclub near you.
Then back in Memphis (at American Studios) he recorded with guitarist Bobby Womack - including "I'm a Midnight Mover" (which he co-wrote along with Womack). And while Solomon Burke's original version of Everybody Needs Somebody To Love is great, it's hard to listen to this version by Wilson Pickett and not hold your breath. By 1968-69, many of his peers in soul music had less success due to the rise of rock music, but Pickett's success continued - in part, by co-opting it. He had minor hits with songs such as "Hey Joe" and the Beatles' Hey Jude— with a then-unknown Duane Allman on guitar. And at Criteria Studios in Miami, he recorded covers of The Archies(!) song "Sugar, Sugar" that reached #25 as well as his own "She Said Yes". He then recorded the 1970 album Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia - with the emerging star producers Gamble & Huff - that had a hit with “Engine #9" that reached #14. In the next few years, he had more success with covers of Fire & Water (by Free) and Randy Newman's Mama Told Me Not to Come in 1972.
The All-Music Guide's Richie Unterberger has a theory of 1960's soul stars on Motown or Atlantic— that their chart success went away after they left the label. And Pickett was no exception; having poor sales after leaving Atlantic in 1972, going from label-to-label. He was still quite popular in the touring circuit, though, and continued to draw audiences through the year 2004.
Back in 1966, one of the Atlantic Records secretaries saw him pinch another and observed how 'wicked' he was. "Wicked Pickett" became his nickname and he tried hard to live up to the label in his personal life. In his youth it was via fights and a preoccupation with guns, but after his heyday it became much more serious. He had fines and probation for illegal weapons possession, yelling death threats while driving over the front lawn of his New Jersey town's mayor, cocaine possession and spent time in jail in 1994 for striking an 86 year-old pedestrian while DUI - where he received a serious eye injury fighting a fellow inmate.
After time off to get his life back together, Wilson Pickett relocated to Virginia and recorded a 1999 album It's Harder Now - which received a Grammy nomination and also won the Comeback Blues Album award that year from the Blues Foundation in Memphis. Pickett suffered from health problems beginning in 1994 and a planned return to Gospel (with a new album) never came to fruition, as Wilson Pickett died of a heart attack in January, 2006.
His legacy is quite secure, though. Rhino has a definitive compilation album of his best work, he was named by Rolling Stone as #68 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, and as an R&B Pioneer by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in 1993. Two years earlier in 1991 there were two events that brought his name to the forefront once again: he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and later that year was featured in a wonderful film about Irish youngsters forming a soul band. And at the premiere of The Commitments at a theater in New York - Wilson Pickett performed live. Fifteen years later, The Commitments performed at a NYC tribute concert to Pickett at B.B. King’s (two months after his death).
Today, his daughter Veda Pickett-Neal performs: primarily as a Gospel singer, but with some of her father’s tunes as well.
In the 1960’s …………… … and later in his career.For all of the great songs he wrote, it's one that he didn't write that gets my adrenaline pumping (and a lot of people on the dance floor, too). Land of a Thousand Dances was written and first performed by the New Orleans R&B singer Chris Kenner in 1962. Kenner did not include the ubiquitous chorus "Na, na-na-na-na" which was added by the band Cannibal & the Headhunters in their version of the song in 1965 - when singer Frankie Garcia forgot some of the lyrics.
Wilson Pickett's 1966 version became the highest-charting version (at #6) of his career, and it became the definitive version of the song. The lyrics - as such - vary from singer to singer; mentioning the names of popular dances of the era. These are some of the ones Wilson Pickett used - and below you can hear him sing it.
Got to know how to pony — Like Bony Maronie — Mashed potato — do the alligator Put your hand on your hips — Let your backbone slip
Playing, it is a habit — With long tall Sally — Twistin' with Lucy — Doin' the Watusi Roll over on your back — I like it like that
Na, na-na-na-na ...
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