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. If you celebrate either: Happy Passover and Happy Easter.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Word Play— with more than forty works of art in a variety of mediums features images by artists who incorporate letters, words, and phrases into their visual creations — is at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, scheduled through September 13th.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the prolific cartoonist for MAD Magazine, Mort Drucker— whose caricatures became legendary, with celebrities realizing they had “made it” if Drucker drew them in the magazine — who has died at the age of ninety-one.
ALMOST ALONE in EUROPE, Sweden is only now considering instituting strong social distancing measures— as it has long had voluntary compliance with its mild governmental directives now and in the distant past — as infections and deaths are on the rise. A former prime minister added, “Swedes, especially of the older generation: have a genetic disposition to social distancing, anyway.”
THURSDAY's CHILD is the late Pirate Cat— an Indianapolis kitteh known for wandering trails on the city’s north side and having a devoted Facebook following despite … being arrested by the Indiana State Police "for simply making a couple’s dogs upset and having them bark at him"— who has died from kidney disease.
WHILE PREVIOUS strongman governments in Myanmar had banished them to the margins of society, about a decade ago Buddhists began to return to being openly practicing wizards— whom people often turn to (when ill) due to the country’s rickety health care system.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Diesel the Cat— an English kitteh feared lost when a stone birdbath fell on him, yet is in the midst of a surprise recovery.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
HISTORY NOTES — with news of the latest eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa— I am reminded that the title of this fifty-one year-old film is inaccurate:
The volcano is actually west of the island of Java— but (according to the most popular theory) the film’s producer thought using the word “West” would lead viewers to imagine it is in the Western world, and not the Eastern world.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with an updated look at my musical profile from last week, the Playing for Change series — and a new featured song, the late Bill Withers’ Lean on Me, which seems prophetic just now.
SEPARATED at BIRTH— missed this one from our very own Adam Bonin:
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… had a busy week at work (mostly remote, but also at night) so no time for a detailed individual profile. Hence, two songs from those recently afflicted with the coronavirus.
One for the recently deceased John Prine— the title speaks for itself.
While digesting Reader's Digest in the back of a dirty book store A plastic flag, with gum on the back, fell out on the floor Well, I picked it up and I ran outside, slapped it on my window shield And if I could see old Betsy Ross I'd tell her how good I feelBut your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore They're already overcrowded from your dirty little war Now Jesus don't like killin', no matter what the reason's for And your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore
The second is for the recently deceased music producer Hal Willner— best known for being the music producer at SNL — who died due to Covid-19 one day after his sixty-fourth birthday. Yet I will always treasure Hal Willner for his 1988-1990 Sunday night NBC music show Night Music— my favorite music show of all time, hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn. He put-on end-of-the-show collaborations that took my breath away (such as Conway Twitty with the experimental San Francisco band The Residents).
He also recorded famous musicians on two albums of sea shanties and other pirate songs last decade — and here is one featuring Marianne Faithfull (along with Kate & Anna McGarrigle) as Marianne is now trying to recover from a case of pneumonia from her exposure to Covid-19.
I went unto my love's chamber window Where I often had been before Just to let her know unto Flandyke Shore Never to return to England no more
I went unto my love's chamber door Where I never had been before There I saw a light springing from her clothes Just as the morning sun when first arose As I was walking on the Flandyke Shore
Her own dear father I did meet "My daughter she is dead," he cried "And she's broken her heart all for the love of thee" So I hove a bullet on to fair England's shore Just where I thought that my own true love did lay