Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll)

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 — some thirty-five years after the French government first proposed a steel arc to be constructed in Burgundy, the artist Bernar Venet has finally seen his 60-meter tall semi-circle of steel arc called L’Arc Majeur— one of the world’s tallest public artworks — set to surprise drivers in Lavaux-Sainte-Anne in southern Belgium, taking a scenic tour to France or Luxembourg.

On the E411 highway, at 200 tons, costing $2.8m

FOR YEARS after his death in 1953, the Soviet Union tried to erase all traces of Joseph Stalin— now, he’s on the comeback trail for several reasons, as the authorities gloss-over his atrocities ….. and Stalinists often do not like Putin.

HAIL and FAREWELL to Peter Fonda— part of a legendary acting family who became a star fifty years ago when he co-wrote, produced and starred in the seminal 1969 road movie Easy Rider — who has died of lung cancer at age seventy-nine. His co-star from a previous film (The Wild Angels)  posted:

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Godspeed, Heavenly Blues. You will carry my heart with you wherever you may ride. pic.twitter.com/ilhj0QOXoF

— Nancy Sinatra (@NancySinatra) August 16, 2019

FOR THE SECOND YEAR in a row, there will be a previously unreleased album from the saxophone colossus John Coltrane— more than fifty years after his death — with songs he recorded for a 1964 Québec film, Le chat dans le sac  (“The Cat in the Bag”).

THURSDAY's CHILDREN are just two of the kittehs in Maçka Park, Istanbul— a city known for its cat population, as you can see on the Instagram #catsofistanbul.

The city is home to thousands of (well-fed) street cats

ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES — the largest navigable high-altitude lake on Earth, Lake Titicaca— shared between Bolivia and Peru — is threatened due to an overabundance of algae and black sludge forming on the lake-bed, as well as man-made pollution.

FRIDAY's CHILD is named Shortcake the Cat— an English kitteh whom a couple credit with their winning a £1m lottery prize, as the husband drove to their local filling station to buy Shortcake some cat food … and also bought a winning lottery scratch-off ticket.

         Shortcake the Cat

FOR THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR with the sisters on this site who produce not only community quilts (for Kossacks who are suffering) but also Pootie Pads— they need funding to rescue their home from foreclosure due to some staggering medical bills. If you are in-a-position to donate to them, do so at this link. (They are 82% of the way towards the goal they need to meet in the next six weeks).

BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.

Reader Suggested OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — from the spouse of guest blogger Undercover Blue at Digby’s blog: retired entertainer Tom Smothers and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), among those running for president — whaddya think? 

 Tom Smothers (born 1937)

 Gov. Jay Inslee (born 1951)

...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… in 2012, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame appointed a special committee to look at inducting back-up bands to famous bandleaders (who had been previously inducted just under their own names). This came after Elvis Presley had been inducted at the beginning of the Hall, but his original band members later in the Sidemen category (guitarist Scotty Moore in 2002 and the rhythm section of bassist Bill Black and drummer D.J. Fontana in 2012) … and the founders felt it was time to include the musicmakers who backed them. 

Among the American bands so honored in that year of 2012, years after their bandleaders were inducted: The Comets (Bill Haley), The Midnighters (Hank Ballard), The Crickets (Buddy Holly), The Famous Flames (James Brown), The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) …. and also a rockabilly band better known in England than in their native USA.

Fourteen years after their lead singer Gene Vincent was inducted, The Blue Caps were enshrined — as they were an inspiration to Lennon & McCartney, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and many others in the UK.  For that reason, they deserve some note. Yet first, you need to be aware of their bandleader.

Born Vincent Eugene Craddock in Norfolk, Virginia in 1935, Gene Vincent dropped-out of high school to join the Navy, where he entertained servicemen with his guitar during the Korean War. On leave after his first tour, he used his re-enlistment bonus to buy a motorcycle … then in 1955 his leg was shattered in a vehicular accident. It left him with a permanent limp and pain for the rest of his life.

Turning to music, he adopted a rockabilly style and cut a demo tape for a local radio station. Being able to cover Elvis Presley songs well was an advantage in those days, with record labels looking for a ‘second coming’ of Elvis.

Yet it was a 1956 original song that Vincent wrote on a train while reading a Little Lulu comic book — or bought from a songwriter, depending upon whom you believe — that changed his life. Be-Bop-a-Lula reached #5 on the singles charts and years later was ranked as #103 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time listing. It turned out to be his one major hit.

While carrying on in the rockabilly style of Elvis, Gene Vincent stylistically had differences. He was less melodramatic in his singing, was hampered physically (as noted before) and might dress in full black leather, never seeking mainstream media approval.  

He had some other songs that charted, including “Race With the Devil”, “Bluejean Bop”  and “Dance to the Bop” yet increasingly his rockabilly style fell out of mass appeal (with the new teen idols emerging) as well as his changing band members (as will be noted later). 

By 1959 his back-up band had split (partly over financial disputes, which caught the eye of the Musicians Union) and he left for England, seeing the reception that Bill Haley had received two years earlier. He and his band had been tremendously popular in the UK before: and now Gene Vincent appearing on TV in December, 1959 (wearing black leather) made him personally a hero to many aspiring rock musicians.

Yet once again a vehicular accident afflicted him. In April, 1960 he was among those in the accident (just outside London) that killed fellow rockabilly star Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent suffered a broken collarbone, ribs and further aggravated his leg injury, which sidelined him for several months.

His career never recovered artistically, although he was in demand in the UK and Europe for concerts. He recorded from time-to-time, with his best success coming in 1970 with the album I’m Back and I’m Proud— produced by the legendary UK disk jockey John Peel (and featuring Linda Ronstadt, Skip Battin of The Byrds and drummer Jim Gordon). Yet years of physical pain led to marital problems and heavy drinking. He died after after a fall in October 1971 that ruptured a stomach ulcer at only age thirty-six.

Gene Vincent was the first person inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1997 and a year later into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Six years after his death, the English singer Ian Dury recorded a tribute song, Sweet Gene Vincent. 

Gene Vincent (in the 1960’s)

Yet Gene Vincent was ably helped by his band, The Blue Caps— with some first-rate performers in their three-year history. They took their name from the ubiquitous blue cap that then—President Eisenhower wore on the golf course.

The initial band in 1956 featured lead guitarist Cliff Gallup (1930-1988), rhythm guitarist Willie Williams (1935-1999), bassist Jack Neal (1930-2011) and drummer Dickie Harrell (who will turn age seventy-nine later this month).

This was the most famous version of the lineup, as Cliff Gallup’s playing was an inspiration to many young guitarists. The Blue Caps appeared alongside Gene Vincent in one of the earliest films to feature rock music (in a positive way) — the 1956 release The Girl Can’t Help It starring Jayne Mansfield. Many critics consider this Blue Caps line-up to be the best.

The Blue Caps might be more famous today … had they not fallen into a revolving door personnel situation. By the end of 1957, only drummer Harrell remained: as the others left and were replaced (one-by-one) with lead guitarist Johnny Meeks (1937-2015), singer Tommy Facenda (who turns age eighty later this year), rhythm guitarist Paul Peek (1937-2001) and bassist Bobby Jones (age eighty-five). Then in 1958, lead guitarist Johnny Meeks left, replaced by Jerry Merritt (1934-2001) and two others joined before the band ended at the beginning of 1959 (although Merritt did work with Gene Vincent individually later on). None later went on to individual stardom, though they never lacked for work if they stayed in the music business (and not all of them did).

Still, they had made their mark: and especially in England, where (as noted) their popularity on the radio lasted longer than in the changing US market, plus Gene Vincent’s relocation to the UK in 1960 (even without his old bandmates). John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Jimmy Page cite the lead guitarists Cliff Gallup, Johnny Meeks & Jerry Merritt as inspirations. John Lennon was quoted as saying, "When Paul saw me for the first time, I was playing ‘Be Bop A Lula’ with the Quarrymen”.

None like them moreso than Jeff Beck— who recorded a 1993 tribute album Crazy Legs to Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps — and told Guitar Player magazine:

"When I was learning guitar, Cliff Gallup was the biggest influence on my playing. It was just so radical...If you were back in June '56 and turned the record right up...boy! The term ‘rock 'n' roll’ had hardly been bandied about and all the other 'rock' records of the time were very polished and audibly nice and round. Then you put on Gene Vincent and had this guy screaming and these raucous guitar solos. It was unheard of and no one has done anything like it since.” 

The Blue Caps (surrounding Gene)

Of all of the band’s work, my favorite is this 1958 song written by Gene Vincent and bassist Bobby Jones, Baby Blue — not to be confused with the much later Bob Dylan song — which exemplifies the Blue Caps sound (advanced for 1958).

I've got a brand new lover I love her, yes I do She's my one and only And her name is Baby Blue

Now when I met my baby I said, "How do you do?" She looked into my eyes and said "My name is Baby Blue"

I know my baby loves me I know that she'll be true I'm sure of this each time I look Into her eyes of blue

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