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 High Visibility: On Location — with works from rural America and Native Nations where rural location is sincerely central to the artist’s creative practice — will be at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota through May 30th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by John Feinstein about this yesterday’s Army-Navy game… yet almost nothing about the actual game. Instead, it is a mini-history about the logistics issues, both historical — such as usually playing in Philadelphia (sorta halfway-in-between in order to accommodate both fans and the schools’ bands/student corps) and where it was played during WW-II years … and also current: playing before a limited crowd at Army’s home field, as it is “located on an Army post and, as a result: is a U.S. government installation, not subject to local protocols” yet upper-level restrooms closed due to winterizing.
THE PASSING yesterday of Charley Pride had me recall this story my brother told me after attending a NY Mets baseball game in 1972 or 73. In those days one could get close enough to the players’ parking lot for him to see the pink Chrysler Imperial of (the soon-to-retire) Willie Mays — and peering into the front seat, Pat said that he could see a …….…. Charley Pride eight-track.
THURSDAY's CHILD is a New Mexico kitteh who was trapped atop a utility pole for three days … until a fire crew was able to rescue her. She is well and if unclaimed will be up for adoption.
AFTER THE REPEAL of a law in 1997 that sought to bar women from working in the country’s copper mines— which represent more than 10% of its total GDP — the % of women in Chile now working there is 8.4% with hopes that it will increase as their tasks become more automated and rely less on strength.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this lengthy essay on Waldemar Haffkine (1860-1930) who was a Russian Jew the BBC dubbed, “The vaccine pioneer the world forgot”.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Spencer the Cat— an English kitteh who went missing four years ago at Christmastime, then was found seven miles away at a factory and was finally checked for a microchip.
FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY your faithful correspondent was attending a concert by the former Cream bassist Jack Bruce (along with David Sancious and Billy Cobham) at the old Academy of Music on 14th Street in Manhattan (since demolished). In the midst of an extended low-volume jam (on the song “Post War”?) twice Jack hit a treble boost and played a few bars of the melody to a different song.
The first was "Deck the Halls" .... very apropos for the upcoming Yuletide. Two minutes later, my breath stopped ... when he played a few bars of the melody to "Norwegian Wood"… with John Lennon having been slain just five days earlier. We all (in unison) softly clapped in solidarity. I recall this more than the news story.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz (no common questions).
FATHER-SON? — deceased film critic, and civil servant w/right-wing death threats.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… this month marks forty-three years since his death, but the songwriter/producer Bert Berns left his mark on the music field … and just this past decade has been the subject of a book, documentary and even musical theater. Having written (or co-written) several famous pop-soul hits, his name should not belong to the history books.
Born in the Bronx in 1929, this son of Russian Jewish immigrants suffered rheumatic fever as a child … which contributed to his early death. He was a Julliard student who also spent time dancing in Mambo clubs (even visiting Havana before the revolution) which later found its way into his music.
In 1960, he found work as a tunesmith in the Tin Pan Alley employ of the Ukranian-born songwriter Robert Mellin (the lyricist for “My One and Only Love”). The only song Bert Berns recorded himself that ever charted was 1961’s “You Better Come Home”, which reached #50 — and which was subsequently recorded by the Isley Brothers.
That paid off handsomely the next year when the Isleys recorded a song (that Bert Berns co-wrote) which you might have heard of …. Twist and Shout (the Beatles certainly did). Through 1963, Berns wrote “If I Didn’t Have a Dime (to Play the Jukebox)” recorded by Gene Pitney and Cry to Me, which the soul singer Solomon Burke recorded at Atlantic Records (later covered by the Rolling Stones).
This brought Berns to the attention of Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler, who brought him on board where he produced sessions by Solomon Burke (receiving a co-writer’s credit for Everybody Needs Somebody to Love though perhaps with no input). He also produced Ben E. King, Wilson Pickett, LaVern Baker and the Drifters (notably for Under the Boardwalk) and Garnet Mimms had a #3 hit with a Bert Berns-Jerry Ragovoy written Cry Baby— later recorded by everyone from Janis Joplin to Joss Stone.
When the British Invasion occurred in 1964, he went to England and produced both Lulu (who recorded a Bert Berns-written Here Comes the Night as well as Van Morrison’s band Them (who recorded that song as well as the traditional blues song “Baby Please Don’t Go”).
In 1965, he formed his own sub-label at Atlantic (dedicated to rock music) called BANG Records (from Bert Berns, Ahmet Ertegun, Neshui Ertegun and Gerald (Jerry Wexler). Berns produced the McCoys (featuring future star guitarist Rick Derringer) who had a #1 hit with a song Berns co-wrote, Hang on Sloopy. Berns also signed a young Neil Diamond, soon to have his breakout hit "Cherry Cherry” as well as Van Morrison (Berns producing his break-out hit “Brown-Eyed Girl”).
In 1966, he formed another sub-label Shout Records— this one dedicated to soul music. And along with Jerry Ragovoy, Berns wrote Piece of My Heart for Erma Franklin (Aretha’s sister) that reached #62 in the pop charts in 1967. When covered the following year by Big Brother & the Holding Company w/Janis Joplin: it reached #12 and named by Rolling Stone as #353 in its 500 Greatest Songs list.
Alas, that childhood case of rheumatic fever gave him cardiac trouble throughout his life and Bert Berns died of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve of 1967.
There is a 2002 compilation album of some of his most notable efforts, a 2014 biography by the San Francisco-based writer Joel Selvin, a 2014 off-Broadway musical entitled Piece of My Heart and a 2016 documentary entitled BANG! The Bert Berns Story. An outtake recorded by Led Zeppelin entitled Baby Come on Home (yet not released until 1993) was a tribute to Bert Berns, and in 2016 Bert Berns was inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. He did not leave this Earth without a trace.
One sweet pop song that he co-wrote with Jerry Wexler was I Don’t Want to Go On Without You— written for the Drifters in 1964 (and which Bert Berns produced).
It has been covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield, the Moody Blues, The Searchers, Patti LaBelle, Nazareth and Van Morrison. Below is the original Drifters version — and also a 1970 cover by Ginger Baker’s Air Force (the first time I ever heard the song).