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 Spirit Lodge: Mississippian Art from Spiro— the first major exhibition dedicated to the art and culture of the indigenous Mississippian peoples who thrived in the Midwest and south-central US from the years 800-1600 — will be at the Dallas, Texas Museum of Art through August 7th.
ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES— the African nation of Zambia has long suffered from deforestation, with efforts now aimed at forest management that will enable sustainable and profitable agriculture — with one success being to stop making beehives from bark-stripping and instead using more efficient hives that are boosting yields many times over.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Nimbus the Cat— the official weather kitteh of the Mt. Washington Observatory in New Hampshire (the Northeast’s highest peak) who has just had his second birthday.
HOPES that a small-town mayor — whom all opposition parties have united behind, as a single candidate — can defeat Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán in elections this Sunday.
HAIL and FAREWELL to one of the baseball players whose tenure was recalled in the film A League of Their Own, Shirley Burkovich— a utility infielder who was one of the few former players who had a speaking part in the 1992 movie — who has died at the age of eighty-nine.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Zeke the Cat— a South Dakota kitteh who was banished from his job as a daycare center pet after biting a (new) child who pulled his tail hard … but adopted from a humane society and having a good life, with this book on his life story serving as a fundraiser for the shelter.
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— Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister and Chris Hayes, MSNBC host.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… during the Supreme Court nominee hearings in the Senate: reading this led to quite an earworm:
For days, I couldn’t get this band’s twenty-five year-old hit song outta my head. While I presumed they were a quick one-hit-wonder …. it turns out they had a thirty-year career in Britain, with a raucous, bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you attitude reminiscent of the Sex Pistols. And with a documentary at this year’s South-by-Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin … maybe they deserve a second look.
They began in 1982 in the northern English city of Burnley (near Manchester), with the classic lineup consisting of: lead singer Dunstan Bruce, vocalists Alice Nutter and Louise Watts, keyboardist Danbert Nobacon, bassist Paul Greco and drummer Harry Hamer. They quickly began participating in anarchist and anti-Thatcher rallies … even being the subject of police raids.
Their 1986 debut album was a spoof of LiveAid (believing many stars were insincere) and continued on the club circuit for several years. Their 1993 anti-fascism song Enough is Enough was their biggest hit in the UK, and continued to release singles lampooning poll taxes and corporations in general.
Then in 1996 they angered their fan base by signing with major label EMI … yet it led the following year to their major hit song Tubthumping (more on that later). Alice Nutter appeared on Bill Maher’s old show Politically Incorrect and — after advocating shoplifting their works from major record chains (if fans could not afford them) — some retailers dropped Chumbawumba. Not to be outdone: in 1998 at an awards show, the drummer threw a bucket of ice-water over deputy Labour prime minister John Prescott. In the year 2000, after more recordings trashing business and the media, EMI dropped the band.
They were the subject of a 2001 documentary Well Done, Now Sod Off!— then once again angered some fans by licensing a few songs to companies that met their political standards. They went on to more indie releases over the next five years … then, after continuing personnel changes over the years: in 2006, dropped the electronic club sound and became a folk music-based group. They disbanded in 2012 after thirty years with a final concert DVD (entitled Going, Going) .
As noted, a new documentary entitled I Get Knocked Down premiered at the SXSW festival this year, with Dunstan Bruce there as host. He explained that the signing to EMI changed their lives from touring punk rockers to stars, and now having world tours made it less fun. In all, he said they were a love ‘em/hate ‘em band … but at least they tried.
Now, to their major hit (#2 in Britain, #6 in the US) from 1997. Band members describe the song’s title Tubthumping as going out and having drinks after taking part in a protest, rally or march. The repetitive chorus cited a neighbor who patronized a pub in Leeds and would “come home drunk every weekend, try and get into his house, fall over and shout for his wife – it was a weekly ritual”.
Finally, at the 2:55 mark: one hears (faintly) on trumpet The Prince of Denmark's March, commonly called the Trumpet Voluntary, by Jeremiah Clarke, circa 1700 — which I had assumed was by George Frederick Handel. Just shows-to-go-you.