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 first career retrospective in an exhibition entitled Jordan Casteel: Returning the Gaze is at the Denver, Colorado Museum of Art through August 18.
In Denver through mid-AugYOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay about the soccer team of Liverpool, England …. fighting to win the championship of England’s Premier League …. except that it quickly delves into the Hillsborough Disaster (of which I have profiled), how Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper (which blamed the disaster on Liverpudlians) can only be sold by asking for secret copies, then outlining the city’s decline, its leftist politics, distrust towards London and its enmity towards Margaret Thatcher.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Dwayne the Cat— a former rescue kitteh who can be seen on the subway system of Toronto, Ontario … wearing a harness.
Dwayne the CatIN AN ESSAY about a Gallup poll showing Americans are becoming ever less religious— noting that Democrats are now about as religious as Brits are — one reason is “the closer the embrace between church and the Republican Party, the less appealing faith becomes to those on the left”.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Diamond the Cat— who was reunited with her family after going missing 475 days ago during the catastrophic Montecito, California mudslides in 2018.
Diamond the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
FRIDAY was the 100th birthday anniversary of Pete Seeger— ‘nuff said.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — former WaPo reporter and spy business author Jefferson Morley— and Tom Werner, part of the Boston Red Sox ownership group.
Author - Jefferson Morley Team co-owner Tom Werner...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… though my favorite blues figure is the bassist/bandleader/composer extraordinaire Willie Dixon, it was through Muddy Waters that Dixon's work shone: as Muddy Waters became the face of the Chicago blues. Before founding Motown, Berry Gordy owned a Detroit jazz record store and says he told customers, "I don't want to sell you Muddy Waters" before realizing (too late to save his store) that he had misread his customers, who wanted blues and soul.
If you've ever seen a songwriter's credit for McKinley Morganfield - well, that's the man who was born in Mississippi in 1913 and whose childhood fondness for playing in the mud (gradually) morphed into his later nickname. Inspired by fellow Magnolia State guitarists Robert Johnson and Son House, Waters developed a sound that was discovered by the Library of Congress musicologist Alan Lomax who recorded him in 1941 on what later became "I Can't Be Satisfied". Hearing the copy that Lomax sent to him gave him the courage to make the move to Chicago to make his fortune.
He became a regular South Side performer, with Big Bill Broonzy asking him to be the opening act for him. Eventually he began recording for Chess Records and by 1950 had become a local favorite. Chess subsequently allowed him to choose his own musicians (rather than record with in-house ones) and he began to assemble some of the best over the next few years.
With Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Otis Spann on piano and Jimmie Rogers on guitar, Muddy Waters helped establish the Chicago sound in the public's eye (along with another Mississippi native, Howlin' Wolf) in the 1950's. And the two of them also sang many songs that Willie Dixon wrote (such as "Hoochie Coochie Man"). Have a listen at this link to another Dixon song that Muddy popularized, You Need Love - and you understand why subsequent re-releases of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" must now be half-credited to Willie Dixon.
Even excluding the Dixon-composed songs: if you are a rock fan, you've no doubt heard some of Muddy Waters' own tunes covered, which include: "Rolling & Tumbling" (Cream, Johnny Winter), "Trouble No More" (Allman Brothers), "I Can't Be Satisfied" (Rolling Stones), "Forty Days and Forty Nights" (Eric Burdon and the Animals), "Long Distance Call" (Butterfield Blues Band), "The Blues Had a Baby" (Johnny Winter) and a 1950 tune Rolling Stone— which inspired a band, as well as a Dylan song, as well as a magazine ... all of which you may have heard of.
Muddy Waters' time in the spotlight (like many other musicians) faded after the British Invasion; many UK visitors to Chicago were stunned to see him working odd jobs in the mid-1960's at Chess Records. Waters was later championed by rock'n'rollers, eventually reviving his career in the 1970's. He performed on The Last Waltz by The Band in 1976.
One 1968 album Electric Mud was a controversial album that attempted to blend traditional blues with the psychedelia of the day that was panned universally by critics as a sell-out. But decades later, Chuck D of Public Enemy stated that many hip-hop artists were inspired by the album (unlike hearing traditional blues albums) and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin has cited this recording as the inspiration behind the song Black Dog.
Muddy Waters died in April, 1983 at the age of 70. He was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright in the film Cadillac Records and his legacy is immense. Muddy Waters was inducted into the Halls of Fame for Blues (in 1980) as well as for Rock & Roll (in 1987) and earning six Grammy Awards (including Lifetime Achievement).
Rolling Stone listed him thrice in its honor lists: at #49 of its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, at #53 of its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time ... and for its ultimate 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list: Muddy Waters came in at #17.
Muddy as a younger man ... ……... and later on in lifeWhile he has written many blues classics, I have to choose one that he did not write ... but made into a classic. Got My Mojo Working was written by a little-known blues musician named Preston Foster, and was first released by the Gospel singer Ann Cole in 1956.
In 1973, Robert Klein had a comedy album which included the song Middle Class Educated Blues and ended with, "I got my mojo working ..... what is a mojo, anyway?" It turned out that it was a good-luck charm ... and this song expressed disappointment that .... well, it wasn't working.
The tune has subsequently been performed by a plethora of musicians, including Conway Twitty, Manfred Mann, The Zombies, Carla Thomas, Canned Heat, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins ...... but to me, Muddy Waters sang the definitive version. And below you can hear it.
Got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you I wanna love you so bad till I don't know what to do I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand I'm gonna have all you women right here at my command I got a gypsy woman giving me advice I got some red hot tips I got to keep on iceGot my mojo working Got my mojo working Got my mojo working But it ........ just won't work on you
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