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.
ART NOTES — a joint exhibition of works by the mother-daughter tandem of Janet and Kathy Ruttenberg will be at the Dubuque, Iowa Museum of Art through March 20th.
On view thru March 20thHAIL and FAREWELL to the Republic of Georgia-born music impresario Giorgio Gomelsky— best known as the first Rolling Stones manager, although he was even more important to the future of The Yardbirds — who has died at the age of 82 …… and the Hall of Fame NBC and ESPN broadcaster Jim Simpson— who was a standout in the days when a play-by-play announcer covered numerous sports (whichever the network told you to cover) as contrasted to the specialization of today — who has died at the age of 88. Speaking of Jim Simpson …..
THIS WEEKEND the NFL cable network is broadcasting — for the first time, ever — the original Super Bowl (which was not yet called "Super Bowl" that first year), 49 years to the date it was played. Both CBS and NBC destroyed the original tapes, but the NFL pieced-together its own films, and added the original NBC Radio broadcast (the tape of which was not erased) …. and you can hear Jim Simpson call the play-by-play.
THURSDAY's CHILD wound up on the field at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England — where the goalkeeper for the home team (Everton) tried to make the save during England’s annual FA Cup soccer tournament.
Tuxedo cat actionNEARLY EIGHTEEN YEARS after his death in an automobile crash, rock drummer Cozy Powell — who came to prominence with bands such as Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and The Jeff Beck Group — was remembered with a plaque in his hometown in the Cotswolds region of England.
A MAJOR STEP towards building a more stable parliament was taken by Italian premier Matteo Renzi this week — as this legislative tote board can attest:
Your Italian lesson for the weekCHEERS to Bill & Michael in PWM, our Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers & Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Olly the Cat— who has commandeered a Sainsbury’s supermarket in south London, England (when he is not home at a nearby house).
Olly the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
QUOTE of the WEEK — the Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall on the junior senator from Texas:
To find out that a man who has repeatedly claimed to be at least 200 percent American may in fact fall short of the mark is a shattering revelation. It's like having an investigator uncover evidence that Joe McCarthy held a secret membership in The Weavers Fan Club. Nothing is really as we thought.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — retired NBA basketball coach Rick Adelman and Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz.
Former coach Rick Adelman lead actor Christoph Waltz...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… besides Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, there are only four people shown on the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album who are still alive as we begin the year 2016. They include Bob Dylan, the singer Bobby Breen, the artist Larry Bell …. and Dion DiMucci … who was in a quiet period of his life then, after several years in the limelight — first as part of Dion & the Belmonts, then in a solo career.
Interestingly, it was the rise of the British Invasion — coupled with Dion’s heroin addiction — that laid his career low in the second half of the 1960’s. Yet many people (including myself) are surprised to learn that he moved away from doo-wop and other teen pop songs upon his return to the music world, and has released a series of blues(!) albums in this new century. It’s time to take a fresh look at his post-pop career.
Born in the Little Italy section of The Bronx (south of Fordham University), much has been written of his doo-wop career with The Belmonts (they were part of the fateful 1959 tour that had the famous plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa) and subsequent early 60’s pop career, and will not be part of this profile. Suffice it to say that by the end of 1963, he was a veritable star.
He seemed to have an inconsistent recording career for the next few years: whether it was just his changing musical tastes — he noted that Columbia executive John Hammond played him some Robert Johnson material in the early 60’s (at the height of his stardom) — his unwillingness to leave behind the Belmonts completely (as they did some recordings that flopped) or having an image unlike the British Invasion … his heroin habit began to increase at the same time, and he dropped out-of-sight for a time.
Getting clean, he re-emerged with a more folk-music approach that led to a 1968 hit single (which will be highlighted later). He was championed by such musicians as Dave Edmunds and Lou Reed (who introduced him in his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony years later) and enough time had passed for a highly successful reunion concert with The Belmonts at Madison Square Garden in 1973. His recordings included covers of songs by Tom Paxton and Woody Guthrie, and he settled into a widely diverse performing schedule. He had a 1975 album produced by Phil Spector that was cited by The Who’s Pete Townshend as a masterpiece … yet Dion’s battle with Spector led to its only being released in the UK for many years.
Then in the late 1970’s, his career took another turn. He became an evangelical Protestant and for nearly ten years he devoted himself to Christian recordings.
He re-emerged as a mainstream musician (leaving behind his born-again days) in the late 1980’s, and he had a major 1987 performance at Radio City Music Hall, with guest appearances from Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. The following year his autobiography was published, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. He also released his first secular album in years, to some favorable reviews.
By the late 90’s, he had returned to his Catholicism and today works in prison ministry - especially for those with substance abuse problems. In the year 2000, he released Déja Nu— again, to favorable reviews as being his best rock album in a long time.
Then in 2005, he began his path towards the blues, surprising many who were unaware of some of his earlier recordings (not always promoted, or even always released). Bronx in Blue features cover versions of songs by Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf and Willie McTell among others, and received a Grammy nomination. In 2007, he released Son of Skip James - with songs by Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and the aforementioned Nehemiah ‘Skip’ James . Although Dion recorded “Devil Got My Woman” , Skip James’ best-known song is I’m So Glad that Cream had a hit song with (the royalties from which helped pay the medical bills of Skip James in his final years).
In 2011, he released a book of musical memories and his most recent album is 2012’s Tank Full of Blues - that completes a trilogy of blues albums, with this one featuring mostly his own writing. At these links, you can both hear his tribute to Robert Johnson, Ride’s Blues and also the title track— which you would might not imagine coming from the singer of “Runaround Sue” .
His most recent single is one that he recorded with old friend Paul Simon on New York is My Home — which at age 76 is true (along with Boca Raton, Florida). The song is expected to be on a new Dion album to be released later this year. He performs sporadically this year, but does have some shows upcoming (including one w/Ronnie Spector in Brooklyn) … and may have yet more career path turns.
Dion DiMucci, circa 1969 … and much more recentlyThat 1968 song that brought him into the Top Ten for the first time in several years (and for the last time in his career) was one that was written by the songwriter Dick Holler following the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Abraham, Martin and John— mourning the killings of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy — reached #4 on the charts in late 1968.
The song also has two other distinctions: first, it is the only song to reach the Top Ten in either the US or the UK by five different performers. The others were Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Moms Mabley, Marvin Gaye (only in the UK) and also by a disk jockey named Tom Clay (who interspersed it with a version of Jackie DeShannon's What The World Needs Now Is Love).
The other distinction is that Moms Mabley recorded her version at age 75 — and she remains the oldest performer to reach the Top Ten to this day.
It has also been performed by Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Emmylou Harris, Mahalia Jackson, Jerry Vale, Kenny Rogers, Tori Amos, Whitney Houston, Cliff Richard, Harry Belafonte, Andy Williams and Leonard Nimoy. If there is a pattern there, I fail to discern it.
Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham? Can you tell me where he's gone? He freed a lot of people but it seems the good they die young You know, I just looked around and he's gone Anybody here seen my old friend John? (repeat other verses) Anybody here seen my old friend Martin? (repeat other verses) Didn't you love the things that they stood for? Didn't they try to find some good for you and me? And we'll be free Some day soon, it's gonna be one day Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby? Can you tell me where he's gone? I thought I saw him walking up over the hill With Abraham, Martin, and John
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