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— career retrospectives of the work of the ninety year-old Jasper Johns will be celebrated both at the Whitney Museum in NYC as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art beginning in late September.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay from the BBC how it is possible in Norway to rent the summer cabin that belonged to Vidkun Quisling— who embraced the Nazis in 1940, was installed as Norway’s puppet leader yet was hanged at the war’s end (with his last name now serving as a synonym for traitor) — as many Norwegians see it as a simple summer cottage, not worthy of destruction.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Forbes the Cat— a Scottish kitteh who has been reunited with his family after going missing ten years ago: found (less than two miles away) via his microchip.
SCIENCE NOTES— German researchers have found a way to toilet-train cows — in the hope of reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the double bassist George Mraz— who worked with such giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Carmen McRae and many others — who has died at the age of seventy-seven. He started playing jazz in high school after hearing recordings of Louis Armstrong at the age of twelve. Mraz said once in an interview about his upbringing in (what is now) the Czech Republic:
’They had an hour of his music on one Sunday in between all these light operettas and stuff they played on the radio. Then the strange voice of Satchmo singing was quite a shock. ”How can he get away with a voice like that?” I thought. But by the time the hour was over I decided I liked it better than anything I heard that day, so I started looking into jazz.’
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Mei the Cat— a Malaysian kitteh that a woman found as a stray and who appears to love the water: joining her in the bathroom when she showers and after bringing him to the beach: found he likes swimming, too.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at some recent deaths from the world of entertainment (that did not garner much public attention). One is an English harpist with a long career of symphonic work as well as session work: but known best for being the first female performer on a Beatles song. Next, a music impresario who is truly the godfather of popular music festivals (jazz, folk and heritage) … and lastly a basketball player who played on a 1963 university championship team … pivotal in the field of civil rights.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
SEPARATED at BIRTH— Australian film star Samantha Weaving (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Ready or Not) and English/French Netflix star Emma Mackey (Sex Education).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone who flew-under-radar for much of his career was the soul singer Don Covay— whose songs are better known when performed by others and who (as the All-Music Guide's Jason Ankeny noted) had a scope and diversity (from rock to deep soul) which no doubt prevented him from having consistent commercial success in his own right. But he had an especially major influence on one English singer ......... and so for a multitude of reasons: it's time to re-tell his story.
Born Donald Randolph in South Carolina in 1936, his Baptist minister father died when Don was only eight years old. Afterwards, the family relocated to Washington, D.C. where at age fifteen he joined a doo-wop group called The Rainbows - although he was there only two years and never performed with a sometime-guest singer named Marvin Gaye (contrary to some reports).
He obtained work as a chauffeur to Little Richard and often worked as his opening act. From 1957-1961 he released several R&B singles (such as "If You See Mary Lee" and "Standing in the Doorway") that garnered only modest success. He began to concentrate on songwriting, and his composition "Pony Time" went on to be a #1 hit for Chubby Checker.
This gained him recognition from the executives at the legendary Brill Building and he wrote material for their songwriting factory. Beneficiaries included Solomon Burke ("I'm Hanging Up My Heart for You"), Gladys Knight and the Pips ("Letter Full of Tears"), Wilson Pickett ("I'm Gonna Cry") and old friend Little Richard ("I Don't Know What You've Got but It's Got Me").
His breakthrough single came with 1964's Mercy, Mercy - with a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix on guitar. A year later, the Rolling Stones recorded the tune .... but just listen to Don Covay's original recording at this link - and you will quickly learn who one of Michael Philip Jagger's main influences as a young singer was.
Covay signed with Atlantic Records in 1965 and his time spent with Booker T and the MG's proved to be his first successful period (and where he found a sometime songwriting partner in MG's guitarist Steve Cropper). "Please Do Something" gained some airplay and his follow-up See-Saw became his highest-charting song of the 1960's (reaching #5 on the R&B charts and #44 on the pop charts).
Alas, he could not sustain the momentum: and returned to songwriting for others on the side. In 1967, Aretha Franklin scored a #2 hit with Don Covay's Chain of Fools - that Covay had actually written a dozen years earlier (and whose own recording of had flopped, miserably). Covay also wrote hits for Etta James ("Watch Dog") and Otis Redding ("Think About It" and "Demonstration").
In 1968, he formed a supergroup The Soul Clan with four other soul music stars: Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Ben E. King and Arthur Conley. Wow. Hard to believe, but only one of their songs (Soul Meeting) could even reach the R&B Top 40. After the band disintegrated, Covay formed a band with former Shirelles guitarist Joe Richardson and folksinger John Paul Hammond called Jefferson Lemon Blues Band - an unsuccessful attempt to join the burgeoning blues-rock music trend, though they did release two albums before ending in 1970.
In 1972, Don Covay became an executive at Mercury Records, and while there recorded the album Super Dude - a more mature sound that enjoyed some success, with singles "I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In" and "Somebody's Been Enjoying My Home" and a 1975 release that featured a Gospel-inspired "It's Better to Have (And Don't Need)" along with "Rumble in the Jungle" ... yes, based upon the Ali-Foreman heavyweight title bout. But the rest of the decade he floundered (even with production help from Gamble & Huff) and was inactive in the music business for several years.
In 1986, the Rolling Stones asked Don Covay to sing harmony on their 1986 recording Dirty Work and as a result Don Covay was able to perform on the oldies circuit until suffering a stroke in 1992 at the age of 56 (although he never completely stopped writing songs). The next year, a tribute album - featuring musicians such as Robert Cray, Ron Wood, Iggy Pop, Todd Rundgren, Gary 'U.S.' Bonds and Ben E. King — won wide praise for bringing Covay's music catalog to a wider audience.
The following year (1994) he was awarded a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation - but was unable to receive it in person due to his stroke. His health gradually improved and he was finally able to receive his prize in the year 2000: arriving at the Philadelphia banquet in a wheelchair-accessible van ... given to him by the Rolling Stones.
That same year, he was able to record his final album Ad Lib - mainly new material, along with some reworkings of "Mercy, Mercy" and his own definitive version of "Chain of Fools" - with guest musicians such as jazzman Lee Konitz, Huey Lewis, Ann Peebles, Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company), Wilson Pickett and Savoy Brown guitarist Kim Simmonds. After a twenty-five year hiatus, it was a good valedictory effort. There is also a 1994 career retrospective album containing his major works.
Don Covay died in Long Island, New York in January 31, 2015 at the age of seventy-eight. He has been nominated for induction for the Songwriters Hall of Fame and if he ever does make it: it will be due to the success of the songs others made famous. Besides the cover versions already mentioned: others who recorded his material include "You Can Run But You Can’t Hide" (Jerry Butler), "The Usual Place" (J. Geils Band), "Take This Hurt Off Me" (Small Faces), "Mr. Twister" (Connie Francis) and was name-checked by Bobby Womack (on I Was Checking Out).
I first saw the name Don Covay on the writer's credit for a song on the first Steppenwolf album (released in January, 1968) called Sookie Sookie - which was co-written with Covay by Steve Cropper. It was not a hit for Don Covay, but often served as an opening concert song for Steppenwolf. You can listen to the Steppenwolf version at this link and even a funky, extended instrumental version by jazz guitarist Grant Green at this link ... below is how Don Covay sang it in 1966, fifty-five years ago.
You really got it bad, child drink a bottle of turpentine When you wake up in the morning you'll be feeling kinda fineYou better watch your step girl, don't step on that banana peel If your foot should ever hit it, you'll go up to the ceiling
Let it hang out baby, do the Baltimore jig Let it hang out baby, boomerang with me Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue