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 Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche — the enslaved Aztec woman who served as an interpreter for Hernán Cortés and who is central to the mestizo identity of many Mexicans — will be at the Denver, Colorado Art Museum to May 8th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich — begging the current secretary (Marty Walsh) not to try and mediate the current major league baseball lockout …. with a gripping story of how he was caught-up in a 1995 lockout w/Bill Clinton … and which became a no-win situation.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named George the Cat — an English kitteh that was suspected of having been kidnapped — when this gent used drones, thermal cameras, humane traps, even camping out in his car until he located George.
CHEERS to the legacy of Elena Piscopia — the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in 1678 — and now will be the first woman to have a statue placed in the main square of the Italian city of Padua (whose university was her alma mater).
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Mr. Grumpuss the Cat — a kitteh rescued by a seventeen-year US Navy service member (during a deployment in Bahrain) and seeking funds to repatriate him, due to logistical complications regarding pets.
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
FATHER-SON? — Film star Matthew Broderick and Super Bowl champion quarterback Matthew Stafford.
REGARDING MATTHEW STAFFORD — for a dozen years, he was quarterback for the underachieving Detroit Lions … often losing 2x/year to Green Bay’s famous quarterback. Now?
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… a Scottish group from the mid-60’s to mid-70’s who had an innovative sound and instrumentation were the Incredible String Band (ISB). Described as ‘psychedelic folk” and a precursor to World music, they mixed traditional Celtic melodies (with dash of Americana), sometimes played on Middle Eastern as well as Asian instruments. Their eclectic sound suited them well for years, until both changing tastes as well as personnel changes and creative differences ended their run … yet have been re-discovered. And they had one member who fell into the mysterious disappearance category.
Initially they were based around three founding members: multi-instrumentalists Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer, and rhythm guitarist Mike Heron. In 1965, they were heard at a club in Edinburgh by Joe Boyd, then a talent scout for Elektra Records. They gave him a demo tape with American bluegrass tunes, plus some originals — and the latter is what impressed Boyd. When he returned a few months later — this time, to begin Elektra’s UK office — he signed them, with their self-titled debut album released in May, 1966.
The album won critical praise (winning UK polls for Folk Album of the Year, and Bob Dylan praising their tune October Song). Then Palmer left the group, and as he was the link between Williamson and Heron — it left the two remaining members at odds periodically. Yet they began touring and performed at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival (along with Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen).
Their second album released in 1967 saw them play sitars as well as the Middle Eastern oud, with modest UK single hits in No Sleep Blues and Painted Box. 1968’s Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter was their most successful album (#5 UK, even getting a splash in the US) with tunes such as The Minotaur’s Song and their most successful single A Very Cellular Song. Late in 1968, two new members were the girlfriends of Mike Heron and Robin Williamson: respectively, Rose Simpson and Christine “Licorice” McKechnie (more on her later) on keyboards and vocals .. with a more electrified sound.
The band went on a US tour in 1969 and were invited to play at Woodstock, where their fortunes may have changed. They were slated to perform on the Friday night (dedicated to folk music) after Joan Baez … yet decided not to perform in a driving rainstorm. They were replaced by Melanie, whose career was energized by her performance. The ISB were slotted (somewhat awkwardly) the next day in between the Keef Hartley Band and Canned Heat — both blues-rock bands — thus, receiving lukewarm applause and not appearing in the concert film.
Their style caught the eyes and ears of The Beatles, Bob Dylan (as noted) and especially Led Zeppelin (as Robert Plant acknowledged). Then, as the 1970’s dawned, a revolving door of musicians — which definitely added to their repertoire — upset their fan base (with Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie leaving in 1971 when both broke-up with Heron and Williamson).
Their increasingly quirky styles (including poets and dancers) were less salient in the early 70’s. More important: tensions between Williamson and Heron eventually led the group to disband in 1974. The two had various solo careers, until organizing a 1999 reunion tour, now including founding member Clive Palmer (who died in 2014). Their last concert was in 2006.
A few weeks back I noted the disappearance of singer-songwriter Connie Converse — for the ISB, it was singer Licorice McKechnie, who left the band along with Rose Simpson in 1971. In 1963, she was engaged to the English folk musician Bert Jansch, yet the wedding never came off. She became Robin Williamson’s girlfriend and later moved to California in 1974. Like Connie Converse, she was on a trek (this time, through Arizona in 1987) … and has never been seen since.
The band has been re-discovered by a new generation of folk and roots music musicians, there is both a 2012 boxed set of their music, a 2009 collection of unreleased/newly-discovered tracks and a biography (named after one of their songs) entitled You Know What You Could Be issued in 2017.
My favorite song of theirs is Everything’s Fine Right Now — and this version is a reminder of how lucky the rock world was to have the German TV show Beat-Club in existence between those fateful years of 1965-1972. It featured live performances (not lip-synched) of great musicians and the film footage survives.