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 Up All Night: The Art of the Dark will be at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Museum of Art through January 5th.
PROGRAMMING NOTE #1 — I will be riding-the-rails in a few days for the Yuletide holidays: thus, there will be neither a Friday C&J post, nor a normal Sunday Odds & Ends (though I will have a “Who Lost the Year?!?” poll, see #2 below). If you celebrate either: Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah. And I’ll see you all on the New Year’s first week.
IN REGARDS to the light sentence given to Rick Gates— of course, 45 days is chicken-feed compared to what people convicted of drug possession or other crimes have received. If he had received 45 years in prison, that imbalance, sadly, would remain. It’s the over-sentencing of ordinary people that is the crime.
Yet … the prosecution has described Gates’ cooperation as “extraordinary", with trial testimony that helped convict Paul Manafort (as the star witness) and Roger Stone (second only to Randy Credico as the star witness). Rachel Maddow has noted that prosecutors would have been OK with no jail time at all, having postponed his sentencing numerous times the past several months when a new matter came up. They have also said they will call on him (if needed) in the future.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston noted that Gates also rejected an offer from Manafort to provide a defense fund if he did not plead guilty and testify against Manafort. All of this was noted by judge Amy Berman-Jackson in her sentencing.
I am glad that he did receive some jail time, for the record — yet will lose no sleep over the short length, compared to the phony “cooperation” federal prosecutors received from Michael Flynn, George Papadopoluos and Paul Manafort.
YUK for TODAY — the sportswriter John Feinstein wrote (in the midst of an excellent essay on three college basketball coaches he admired (two of whom have died) an essay on “Why does a cynical, wise-cracking Jew from New York love Christmas music, Christmas movies and everything Christmas?” He says it is all about hope without a “but” line; reasons to smile and not feel guilty about it. And while listing many of his favorite Christmas songs and films, he draws-a-line:
I can live without the Hallmark Christmas movies, which are all the same: skeptical woman is taught the true meaning of Christmas by a wonderful man and an adorable child.
Or, skeptical man is taught the true meaning of Christmas by a wonderful woman and an adorable child. Everyone in these movies is very pretty and almost always white.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Spanky the Cat— an Oregon kitteh who went missing three years ago …. when a teenage girl volunteered at a shelter and recognized Spanky there.
YOUR WEEKEND READS are two stories from former Fox hosts about Roger Ailes and the new movie about him: one is from Gretchen Carlson, seeking an end to the non-disclosure agreement she had to sign (as NBC recently did after Rachel Maddow called for that network to end the practice). The other is someone I wasn’t aware had worked for Ailes, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota— whose story is gripping.
LAST WEEKEND I visited Boston to do some specialty shopping, and while passing through the Copley Place boutique shopping emporium: I saw a menswear store that had some nice suits in the window …. alas, when I saw the store was a retail location of Ermenegildo Zegna….. I swear I thought I saw Wayne LaPierre at the door … (but it wasn’t him!)
PROGRAMMING NOTE #2 — while I will not be posting a normal Odds & Ends next Sunday (as noted above) — I will have a (very) simple "Who Lost the Year?!?" poll for those who seek to vote against the Trumpster. This week, he loses by acclamation — and the balloting will be for who came in second? The next week: you can cast a direct ballot for him.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Lindy the Cat— a Florida kitteh who escaped from a family’s vehicle while Christmas tree shopping in North Carolina … but whose microchip soon led to a reunion.
BRAIN TEASER - as it nears year-end: here is Quiz #1 of the Year's News (January-to-March) from the BBC …. thirteen questions for the first quarter.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with the back-story of the televised Yule Log programs: complete with a mayor’s residence rug burning, missing tape canisters in warehouses, 9/11 and stereo simulcasts. And yet with enduring music, that made the Nat King Cole album the Christmas album that all others have to measure-up to, in my opinion.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — Academy Award-winner James Cagney and the novelty-song bandleader Spike Jones (of “Der Fuehrer’s Face” fame).
And finally, for a song of the week ...........................… my annual tribute to a performer that one reviewer declared to be "the most listened-to jazz pianist of all time" and with the Christmas season upon us: if true it should be noted that Vince Guaraldi achieved that status - in a quiet way - due to a certain comic strip of note.
His breakthrough hit (in more ways than one) was the 1963 Grammy-winning tune Cast Your Fate to the Wind - a gorgeous melody that eight years later the guitarist Joe Walsh - later to join The Eagles - worked into a medley (most improbably) with a hard rock song with the James Gang entitled The Bomber in 1971.
In the early 1960's, Vince Guaraldi was successful in the jazz world, yet comparatively unknown to the American public. But that changed - dramatically - with a 1965 cab ride that TV producer Lee Mendelson took across the Golden Gate Bridge. He had already contacted Dave Brubeck and also vibraphone player Cal Tjader about composing for his project (and turned down by both for lack of time).
Just as The Sopranos producer David Chase decided upon his show's theme song - by hearing the UK band "Alabama 3" perform it on the radio - Lee Mendelson heard "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio in that fateful cab ride.
He asked for help from the noted San Francisco music writer Ralph Gleason (who helped co-found Rolling Stone magazine later that decade) - and was thus able to contact Guaraldi about composing for the upcoming Charlie Brown Christmas special. Last year, the Jersey City Ballet Theater did a dance version of the special.
Sixteen TV shows (and one feature film) later, the music of Vince Guaraldi is an integral part of the Peanuts experience - with the theme song Linus and Lucy plus the irresistible song Skating among his best-loved Peanuts music. One reviewer noted that Linus and Lucy borrows its syncopation and A-flat key from “Cast Your Fate”. And Guaraldi was a later influence for Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.
As a child, my mother bought the Vince Guaraldi album for me … mistakenly believing it was the soundtrack of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (and apologizing to me for it) — but I was delighted to be introduced to his music, and it was a stepping-stone (among other recordings) to becoming a jazz lover. When people say there is no Thanksgiving music to speak of — while instrumental (and quite short), Guaraldi wrote Thanksgiving Theme to offer a possible gift to us.
Vince Guaraldi died in 1976 (at only age 47) in-between sets of a gig in Menlo Park California. The musician David Benoit cites Guaraldi as an inspiration, and it's difficult to imagine Peanuts with any other music backing it. If you are a fan of George Winston: he had a meeting with Guaraldi in 1971, saying "He was very gracious and encouraging when I occasionally had the opportunity to play intermission piano between his sets” (a common practice at jazz clubs then).
Some long-lost film archives of Guaraldi were discovered in Ralph Gleason’s attic, and his son has helped restore them for a new documentary The Anatomy Of Vince Guaraldi— seeking to bring it to home video soon.
For the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis,"Peanuts" was the only chance to hear jazz on television in his youth. Wynton was also excited that his pianist father Ellis— the (now 85 year-old) patriarch of the Marsalis musical family — knew Vince Guaraldi. "Our father knew somebody who was connected to television!", he exclaimed.
While most of Vince Guaraldi's work is instrumental: appropriately for the season, the song Christmas Time Is Here had lyrics written by the show's producer Lee Mendelson — who is still alive (at age 86) — for kids to sing. A nice grown-up version was recorded a few years ago by Diane Reeves - the featured nightclub singer in the film "Good Night and Good Luck". And below you can hear Vince Guaraldi's original version.
x YouTube VideoChristmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that children call Their favorite time of year
Snowflakes in the air Carols everywhere Olden times and ancient rhymes Of love and dreams to share
Sleigh bells in the air Beauty everywhere Yuletide by the fireside And joyful memories there
Christmas time is here We'll be drawing near Oh, that we could always see Such spirit through the year