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 entitled When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art— with works from artists from Cuba, Iraq, Mexico, Colombia and other nations, noting how issues of displacement, migration, and immigration are global concerns — will be at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts through January 20th.
TV NOTES — a new series streaming on Netflix is Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs & Ham— written when Bennett Cerf (Dr. Seuss’s publisher) challenged the author to produce an engaging story in 1960 with a small vocabulary (only fifty words) — and which features the voices of Michael Douglas, Eddie Izzard and Diane Keaton.
CULINARY NOTES — while many anglophone countries feature spaghetti bolognese— such a dish does not exist in Italy, as using thin pasta leaves much of the sauce on your bowl (rather than the wider fettuccine or tagliatelle).
HAIL and FAREWELL to Werner Doehner, the last survivor of the 1937 crash in New Jersey (when he was eight years old) of the crash of the Hindenburg— “Oh, the humanity!” — who has died at the age of ninety.
THURSDAY's CHILD is the late Tucker the Cat— dubbed the Oak City Kitty of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina — who has died at the age of twenty-two.
HISTORY NOTES — a submarine sunk by Japan in 1944 — the U.S.S. Grayback— has been found, seventy-five years later … after a mistranslated 1949 Japanese war record had pointed previous searches in the wrong direction.
TRANSPORTATION NOTES — while most Asian cities have long ago abandoned the rickshaw as a mode of transit, the nation of Bangladesh— and especially its capital city of Dhaka — are filled with them, which the government is hoping to outlaw in the next two years, hoping that improved bus and trolley services will replace the slow-moving and often non-law abiding vehicles and their drivers.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Stitches the Cat— the first therapy cat at the Minneapolis—St. Paul airport, usually being wheeled around in a stroller with a sign that says “Pet Me!” on the top, and likes watching Law and Order: SVU.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
IF YOU USE TWITTER — this North Korean (parody) account always brings a smile to my face ….. kinda-sorta like another version of The Onion.
xTaylor Swift reminded: burgeoning Pyongyang hillbilly music scene is unburdened by copyright, US contracts generally unenforceable in DPRK courts.
— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) November 15, 2019
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at Don Fox— a rugby star in England who (late in his career) missed an important free kick that would have won a championship … yet (unlike Ralph Branca and Bill Buckner in baseball, who carried a burden of guilt and public blame for years to come) was still celebrated in his hometown right away.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — Eric Trump and Richard Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think tank.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… in examining the history of Motown: it might do well to look at the label's ace songwriting trio, who split from the label in 1968 in an acrimonious dispute over royalties. But not before the team of Holland, Dozier & Holland managed to write the bulk of their 70+ hits that reached the Top Ten ... and twenty songs that reached #1 on the mainstream pop charts (and even greater heights on the R&B charts). Among the names that could be said to have written the soundtrack of one's lives if you were of-age in the 60's and 70's .... these Detroit natives (H-D-H for short) definitely have a claim.
Brian Holland (born 1941) began as a singer with the Satintones although he never recorded with them .... since he had a day job working for Berry Gordy at Motown that kept him from rehearsals. Thus, it was easier for him to join-up with the Motown vocalist Barrett Strong - who would later also achieve songwriting fame as a co-composer of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and "Ball of Confusion" - on Strong's own hit single Money (That's What I Want) in 1960. Brian would be one of the two main music composers of the H-D-H trio and before they joined forces: Brian had already been a co-composer of Please, Mr. Postman for the Marvelettes, which reached #1 in 1961.
Brian's older brother Eddie Holland (born 1939) was a college student when he met Berry Gordy, and dropped out to go to work at the label. Like the others he would later join-up with, Eddie was a performer and had a minor hit with Leaving Here (in 1963) and a Top 30 hit with the song Jamie in 1962. He would become the principal lyricist of H-D-H.
The other music composer of the trio was Lamont Dozier (born 1941) who at age thirteen founded a band called The Romeos who received an Atco recording contract when he was sixteen. Lamont Dozier sang lead on a modest hit called Fine Fine Baby in 1957. When they split, Dozier joined the Voicemasters before signing-on in 1962 to work at Motown.
The three initially sought to create material for both themselves and other artists, but soon found they preferred being simply writer/producers to being performers (especially Eddie, who suffered from stage fright and retired from performing in 1964). The team made their debut with the hit song "Locking Up My Heart”, performed by the Marvelletes.
They had hit songs for many Motown artists, including the Four Tops, the Temptations, Mary Wells, Junior Parker and the Isley Brothers. But their work was perhaps known via Marvin Gaye ("How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" "Can I Get a Witness?" and "Little Darling"), Martha & the Vandellas ("Heat Wave," "Nowhere to Run" and "Jimmy Mack"), and The Supremes ("Where Did Our Love Go?," "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," and "Stop! In the Name of Love"). Other hits will be re-capped later.
Seeking better compensation - as Eddie was also head of Motown's A&R department, while Brian ran the label's quality control section - H-D-H stopped submitting songs for Motown artists to record in late 1967. (Indeed, they actually punched a time-clock there). When Berry Gordy balked at a new contract, the trio left the label, resulting in a breach-of-contract lawsuit from Motown (which was not settled for two years).
The trio launched their own record labels (Invictus and Hot Wax) and had some success in the early 1970's. These included Top Ten hits such as "Give Me Just a Little More Time" by the Chairmen of the Board, and "Want Ads," a number-one hit for Honey Cones in 1971. But (a) first without the backing of Motown, and later (b) the changing music industry - as a more harder-edged sound first (then the disco movement) eventually led to the downfall of Motown itself - their individual fortunes began to decline. Their labels folded by the late 1970's.
First, in 1972, Brian Holland even scored a minor solo hit with "Don't Leave Me Starvin' for Your Love". He remains a record producer and songwriter to this day.
After Lamont Dozier left the trio in 1972 (as will be noted shortly) Eddie Holland and his brother wrote some minor hits for Michael Jackson ("We're Almost There") and The Supremes ("High Energy"). Eddie Holland also became a record producer.
Of the three, Lamont Dozier had the most active post-Motown career, first as a performer with 1970's singles such as "Why Can’t We Be Lovers?” and "Trying To Hold On To My Woman". In 1980, he moved to England for several years and wrote for Alison Moyet ("Invisible") as well as Mick Hucknall of Simply Red ("You've Got It"). He had his greatest success with Phil Collins (who already had a Top Ten hit with "You Can't Hurry Love" by H-D-H). They co-wrote the song Two Hearts for the movie soundtrack for "Buster", winning a Grammy and an Oscar nomination. They also co-wrote Loco in Acapulco for the Four Tops.
Lamont Dozier recorded several albums over the years, with his 2004 album Reflections Of features him singing some of the songs he and the brothers Holland wrote. He spent some time as an artist-in-residence at the University Of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, which created a Lamont Dozier scholarship for their students.
It wasn't until 2009 that the trio held a reunion: to write the songs for the musical stage production of The First Wives Club - that had been a 1990's movie (with different composers).
Besides the songs listed (in various places) above, here are just a few of their other Top Ten hits: "I Can't Help Myself", "Reach Out (I'll Be There)", "Same Old Song" and "Bernadette" (for The Four Tops), "Baby, I Need Your Loving" (for Johnny Rivers), "Nowhere to Run" (for Martha & the Vandellas), and "You Keep Me Hanging On", "I Hear a Symphony" and "Back in My Arms Again" (for The Supremes). There is also an excellent compilation album of their work.
Small wonder that they have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, the three (individually) into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Soul Music Hall of Fame in 2009. In addition, in 2003 they were cited as Music Icons by the performing rights organization BMI. I’m sure I’ve missed some.
I had too much trouble choosing one of their Motown singles to focus on ... and instead will look at one of their hit songs following their departure from Motown. Writing under the pseudonym Edythe Wayne (while legal proceedings against Motown were underway) the three wrote a tune for the soul singer Freda Payne (at age seventy-seven and is active to this day). Rolling Stone named this as #391 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Band of Gold is about a failed first night of marriage for a woman. Payne was reluctant to record it, but after she did so, it launched her career. The subject matter of the lyrics are a matter of conjecture: a woman who is afraid of sex, a dysfunctional man, or even a gay man who married for appearance's sake ...... below you can hear and decide for yourself.
Now that you're gone, All that's left is a band of gold All that's left of the dreams I hold Is a band of gold And the memories of what love could be If you were still here with mex xYouTube VideoYou took me from the shelter of my mother I had never known or loved any other We kissed after taking vows But that night on our honeymoon, We stayed in separate rooms
I wait in the darkness of my lonely room Filled with sadness, filled with gloom Hoping soon that you'll walk back through that door And love me like you tried before