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 — an exhibition of landscapes entitled Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment will be at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts through May 5th.
American landscapes through May 5thIT IS NOT ONLY the British province of Northern Ireland worried about a “hard Brexit”- over ½ the businesses in the Republic of Ireland (which will remain in the EU) say they are experiencing a negative impact as a result of the possibility of Brexit taking place, while 53% of small firms that had planned to invest in their business said they are now reviewing, postponing or cancelling their plans.
AFTER FIVE MONTHS on the job as the first female chief justice of Ethiopia's Supreme Court, Meaza Ashenafi has organized a town hall meeting to improve communications with the public, and submitted the court’s budget request to parliament, not through the president as had previously been the practice.
DEBAUCHERY CENTRAL — I wanted to stay-away from this … but with both the sharp-tongued Rick Wilson and Charlie Pierce noting it on Twitter …. there is a hospital in China which is offering a mechanized alternative to sperm sample collecting … …. which might be simply an bizarro news item … except that someone ‘won the Internet’ — (as for me, having to replace the coffee I spat out by) — by merely stating the famous line from “Field of Dreams”.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Stowaway the Cat— a six year-old tabby located in a shipping container that had come from China to British Columbia … yet is recuperating from a nearly month-long voyage alone.
Stowaway the CatMUSIC HISTORY NOTES — the building in Macon, Georgia that was the home of Capricorn Recording Studios— where beginning in the 1960’s performers such as the Allman Brothers, Wet Willie, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Dixie Dregs and many others recorded — will be re-opened by Mercer University later this year with a fully restored historic recording studio, as well as a larger studio that can be utilized for orchestral recordings, film scorings and live performances.
ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES — the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in southeastern Peru has long had waste issues due to the level of tourism there and — due to the possibility that UNESCO might remove Machu Picchu’s status as a World Heritage Site — now has several facilities built to handle trash, oil and plastics to become the first Latin American community to recycle 100% of its solid waste.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Fergie the Cat— a Texas kitteh who went missing ten years ago … then due to her microchip was reunited and has “gone right back to being the princess cat she was before she left”.
Fergie the CatYOUR WEEKEND READ is this New York magazine essay on those who have lost family members to the Fox channel… not only politically, but also for the direct mail scamming (by its charlatan advertisers) their relatives have succumbed to.
Update: there’s a recounting of the author’s findings in The Guardian newspaper.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at a glimmer of hope in an increasingly xenophobic eastern Europe — the election of a new president in Slovakia, who supports the EU, NATO, climate policies, gay rights.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — Ty Jones, a Manchester, England employee at a bingo parlor often asked to pose for photos w/customers due to his celebrity resemblance— who actually got to meet his doppelganger, singer Ed Sheeran.
Ty Jones and Ed Sheeran....... and finally, for a song of the week ..................................few people might guess that the longest-performing comedy duo in history was …... the Smothers Brothers– in large measure because they combined music, social commentary and TV hosting as well as their jokes. But it seems their greatest gift to the entertainment world may well be: the people they hired/gave their first break to on their 1967-69 TV show, as well as the musical acts of the day that they gave a platform to.
They were born on Governor’s Island off lower Manhattan which – until last decade - served as an Army or Coast Guard base. Their father (Major Thomas Smothers) died during WW-II, after which their mother relocated them to Southern California. They joined a folk band called the Casual Quintet, and to pad their limited repertoire: Tom’s biting, (seemingly) dull-witted sarcasm bounced off Dick’s straight man lines, and the two set out on their own in 1958, at the precipice of the burgeoning folk music boom.
At first, music was their prime vehicle: singing traditional folk tunes (Tom on guitar, Dick on double bass) such as "Tom Dooley", "They Call the Wind Maria" from the play 'Paint Your Wagon' and tunes by The Weavers. Their comedy was mainly in their introductions, often ending with Tom’s famous "Mom always liked you best!" Gradually their topical humor in the changing 60’s became their calling, especially after their 1961 debut at San Francisco’s Purple Onion - where their first album was (only partly) recorded.
They also became involved with television: first as regulars on the Steve Allen show (with material written by Pat Paulsen for them) and had a short-lived 1965 sitcom "The Smothers Brothers Show". In the meantime, their recordings more properly belong in the “comedy” section and they gained a larger audience – leading to CBS offering them their own variety show in 1966 as a mid-season replacement.
And why not? They were merely the latest sacrificial lamb to be thrown against NBC’s top-rated "Bonanza", they had that youthful appeal (but conservative look) the network was looking for and had the redoubtable Nelson Riddle as musical director when the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (SBCH) premiered in February of 1967.
As Glen Campbell recounted years later on a "700 Club" interview: the brothers assembled an all-star lineup on and off-stage. Jennifer Warnes, John Hartford (of Gentle on my Mind fame) and Mason Williams (soon to record Classical Gas that won several Grammys) were some of their music writers/performers. Mason Williams hired (out of his own pocket at first) a then dark-haired Steve Martin as a staff writer, but he had company: Rob Reiner, Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks spent time there. Some other writers (such as Stan Burns and Carl Gottlieb) are not household names, but went on to write for the Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Carol Burnett Show, Bob Newhart and other notable TV series. And, of course, Pat Paulsen's presidential campaign.
And their work paid off: the SBCH’s perfectly-timed satire, irreverence and amazing guests was a ratings hit, with over 70 episodes to follow. But it wasn’t until the E! Network re-ran many of these shows in 1993 (with Tom and Dick hosting and commenting on the series) that I recalled some guests: Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, Donovan, The Doors, Steppenwolf, Cass Elliott and Pete Seeger. The Who, whose drummer Keith Moon famously had his bass drum explode on-stage – symbolized the “expect the unexpected” attitude of the show (of which The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey later admitted could have gotten the brothers fired over).
Yet the SBCH also had the appearance of a standard variety show (with traditional guest such as George Burns, Elaine May, Vikki Carr and Moms Mabley). And Glen Campbell’s appearances led to his being offered a summer replacement show (remember those?) that jump-started his career.
They were very tough on President Johnson, especially the Vietnam war. Yet after seeing his speech that he would not seek another term as president, they wrote him a letter, saying that they didn’t want to denigrate his work on civil rights … and wondered if perhaps they went-too-far?
They promised to support VP Hubert HumphreyLBJ’s reply is so eloquent, I can only weep considering the current WH occupant. It begins, “To be genuinely funny at a time when the world is in crisis is a task that would tax the talents of a genius; to be consistently fair when standards of fair play are constantly questioned demands the wisdom of a saint”. It continues:
Omitted last line: “If ever an Emmy is awarded for graciousness …. I will cast-my-vote for you”.Alas, they ran into the network’s desire to avoid controversy: rumor had it that in 1969 Richard Nixon pressured CBS to cancel 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'. Whether he did or not: the network had already cut out satires on religion, Vietnam and racism and ultimately CBS head Bill Paley axed the show in April of 1970 (the brothers were able to sue successfully for breach-of-contract, yet were off-the-air).
Smothers Brothers during the show’s reignThe controversies had their effect on their careers. Although the Smothers Brothers had two short-lived TV shows - a 1975 variety show for NBC (which introduced Don “Father Guido Sarducci” Novello) as well as a 20-year reunion show in 1988 for CBS – they were never able to re-capture their magic, the brothers have not made a new recording since the 1960’s and it took a 1998 re-issue to be able to listen to many of their old recordings (long out-of-print).
Yet they have never disappeared: besides hosting retrospectives, the brothers have been involved in acting (Dick was a Nevada state senator in Martin Scorsese’s film Casino from 1993), they retired from touring in 2010 (after 51 years) just after the release of author David Bianculli's biography of the brothers, Tom’s wife Marcy has been a radio and podcast host of cooking shows and in 2008, Tom was awarded a belated 1968 Emmy Award for writing for the SBCH (he had left his name off as a way to avoid controversy while the sow’s status was uncertain).
Tom and Dick (at age 82 and 79, respectively) today run Remick Ridge Vineyards (their mother’s family name is Remick) in Sonoma County, California.
Tom and Dick in much more recent timesThat they have no new music recordings since the 1960’s leaves not much to review, but one tune that characterizes their pre-SBCH days is 1963's You Go Thisaway that is credited to: blues singer Leadbelly (as well as John and Alan Lomax, the Library of Congress employees who helped establish him) plus folksingers Bob Gibson and Shel Silverstein. That’s some provenance - and below you can listen to it.
When I was a baby on my momma's knee My momma told me The old lady told me Women gonna bring you miserySo I will hug and kiss you Baby I'll sing you lotsa pretty songs And just about the time You think you got me: You'll turn around and I'll be gone
You go thisaway I go thataway You go thisaway And then, oh then: You go thisaway I go thataway See you sometime But I don't know when
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