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 We Have a Vision: Nashville Women from the Centennial to Suffrage— with next month marking the 100th anniversary of the passage (in the Tennessee Legislature) of the final state needed to grant women the right to vote — will open next week at the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee (and run to next January 21st).
TRAVEL NOTES— the Colombian city of Cartgena missed out on tourism during the years of the drug wars, then the past few years brought many tourists to see its colonial center-of-town and Spanish limestone walls and forts … now locals are hoping that the pandemic provides a pause to prevent its over-commercialization.
ON ‘CBS SUNDAY MORNING’— there are always great human-interest stories by Steve Hartman — in the tradition of the show’s founder Charles Kuralt — this week, there is a story from Pennsylvania that is as timely as can be:
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this lament from a Never Trumper who quit the right-wing Manhattan Institute when first he strayed from orthodoxy (calling main funder Paul Singer a “vulture capitalist”) and then when any story (even about the coronavirus) was not to have even a critical mention of you-know-who.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Admiral Galacticat the Klepto Kitteh— a Louisiana cat burglar who has been stealing clothing off the neighbor’s clotheslines.
CHEERS to the election of a new president in the African nation of Malawi— a former theologian, after its Supreme Court invalidated a fraudulent 2019 election widely seen as rigged, and reflects a tide where thirty-two African nations have had a peaceful transition of power since 2015 (with nineteen incumbents leaving).
HAIL and FAREWELL to the English folksinger Judy Dyble— an original member of Fairport Convention and (later of) Trader Horne — who has died at the age of seventy-one.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Cornelius Cornbread the Cat— a Tennessee kitteh who appears to have eyebrows … because of a lack of fur in the area between his eyes and ears.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this in-depth look at police culture…. and how even idealists who join its ranks can be broken by it.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the easier, more USA-centered NY Times quiz.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS?— former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and stage/TV star Matthew Morrison (a high school teacher in Glee).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… got caught-up with an emergency work project this past week, so have to short-change this section … still, two mini-profiles on interstellar guitarists are worthwhile. They are different people in that one is age seventy-one (and took twenty years to became a named headliner) while the other is age thirty-six and took less than a decade to make a name. Yet they both began as blues guitarists that blended rock, Gospel, soul and jazz, were prolific performers at music festivals (before the pandemic) and have opened for the Rolling Stones. Their music is regularly heard on the Music Choice cable station under Blues … and deserve their time in the spotlight.
Joe Louis Walker was born on Christmas Day, 1949 in San Francisco and came-of-age in the 1960’s psychedelic scene with the Grateful Dead and others. He became the roommate of the Butterfield Blues Band guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who introduced him to Jimi Hendrix.
By 1975 he had grown bored and joined a Gospel group called the Spiritual Corinthians Gospel group (alas, every time I see the word Corinthian(s): I either think of Ricardo Montalban, or you-know-who). At that time, he also earned a degree in music and English from San Francisco State University.
After an appearance with the Quartet at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, he returned to his blues roots, yet with an even larger musical palate than before. His 1986 debut solo album Cold is the Night set the stage for the rest of his career — enough blues to merit that category, yet with so many other sounds that he can easily fit in all of the music festivals he appears in. In addition to his rocking tunes, an early ballad The Gift was a favorite of mine. And he has a tour that will begin later this month.
Last month he released Blues Comin’ On— with guests such as Jorma Kaukonen, Keb Mo’, David Bromberg, Dion DiMucci, John Sebastian and Mitch Ryder. And for his life’s work: he was inducted (in 2013) into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Here is his rendition of the traditional spiritual Wade in the Water.
Gary Clark Jr. is an Austin, Texas native and also began playing in local clubs at a relatively young age. He won the admiration of Clifford Antone, owner of Austin’s premier blues club, who featured him in his late teens. He also acted in the 2007 John Sayles film Honeydripper (as an aspiring guitarist).
His 2012 major-label debut album Blak & Blu won a Grammy award for his ballad Please Come Home— in the Traditional R&B category — and also received a Grammy nomination for Ain’t Messin’ ‘Round— in the Best Rock Song category. Yes, that did set a tone for his subsequent career.
He then became a staple on the music festival scene like Joe Louis Walker, and had his highest-charting single (a turbo-charged rendition of the Beatles’ Come Together, peaking at #15) for the 2017 film Justice League.
His most recent album is This Land— a three-time Grammy winner (Best Contemporary Blues album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance) and he is also on tour (currently in the West, coming East later on).
Usually I avoid the obvious song choice — but the title track to This Land is so timely: with a neighbor looking at his 50-acre home outside of Austin and insisting that it could not belong to him. Clark did say that the title was partly inspired by the Woody Guthrie classic. As for the music: one commenter noted, “This is blues, rock, reggae, and Hip-Hop all in one”. Throw-in a touch of folk at the end, too.
Paranoid and pissed-off Now that I got the money Fifty acres and a model-A Right in the middle of Trump country
I told you, "There goes a neighborhood" Now, Mister Williams ain't so funny I see you looking out your window Can’t wait to call the police on me
I know you think I'm up to something I’m just eating, now we're still hungry And this is mine now, legit I ain't leaving and you can't take it from me