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— a career retrospective on the short life of the Italian Renaissance painter Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino — better known as Raphael— will be at the National Gallery in London, England through July 31st.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay in The American Prospect on the plight of colleges and universities who overspend on administrative, dining and building costs (rather than teacher retention) with Mills College in Oakland as an example.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Persik the Cat— a Ukrainian kitteh of a woman who was visiting family in Arkansas before the war started … then her relatives fled to Poland .. and now Persik has reunited, with a flight to Arkansas.
RANDOM THOUGHTS #1— I graduated from college (in 1978) with only $2,500 in debt … ... and it'd be very easy for me to tell the Kidz Today to "pony-up, you slackers!" ……………………. I'll pass.
RANDOM THOUGHTS #2— in the thoroughly depressing front-page story about an essay in Politico on how covering the White House briefings has become quite boring to reporters (anonymously quoted) …. the only chuckle I had was:
“The work is a lot less rewarding, because you’re no longer saving democracy from … Sean Spicer and his Men’s Warehouse suit”.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Thanos the Cat— an Oregon kitteh residing at a shelter trying to implement the practice (developed by celebrity cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy) of teaching them to high-five people … as a way of making somewhat unsocial cats more desirable to families seeking to adopt.
IN LEARNING of the (near) altercation between Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene— a tad surprised to learn this, yet looks can always be deceiving. Paraphrasing how William F. Buckley described two male political figures (more than half-a-century ago) ... "A debate between the two of them would be like … watching the Smith Brothers debate cough drops".
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— TV/film stars (and self-described BFF’s) Sarah Paulson and Amanda Peet.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… among those musicians who have spurned mass popularity in favor of a more personal road is Rickie Lee Jones - which may reflect growing up in an itinerant family as a child. A fierce sense-of-self (along with a delicate voice) is how I've thought of her over the years, and while she turned away from early success: it probably couldn't be any other way for her.
Born in Chicago in 1954, her family moved to California, Arizona and Olympia, Washington by the time she reached high school (her father lost his mother at age 4, lived in a boarding home and Boys Town in his youth, rarely staying long in any one place). Along with a free-spirited friend, she was expelled from high school and began life on the road. She eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in the mid-70's, waitressing and singing freelance.
Several breaks came to her at this time: (a) having a romance with fellow bohemian Tom Waits - and thus gaining some important contacts, (b) offered a job singing lead for the band Easy Money - a 9-piece country band, (c) leading to jobs singing jazz standards and a wide array of music, and (d) having a song of hers called Easy Money sung for Lowell George of Little Feat on the phone - which he recorded for the final album before his death.
Record producer Tommy LiPuma sent Dr. John to scout her for Warner Brothers, which landed her a recording contract in late 1978. And talk about an early success: the announcement of the death of Lowell George coincided with her appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone and on Saturday Night Live in April, 1979.
Based upon a real-life songwriting character in her Los Angeles bohemian circles - named Chuck E. Weiss - Rickie Lee Jones had a break-out #4 hit with Chuck E.'s In Love that same year, and her self-titled debut album reached #3. All of which led to her receiving the Best New Artist at the 1980 Grammy Awards.
Two years later, her second album Pirates overcame the sophomore jinx syndrome, using longer song structures and several jazz stars (Randy Brecker and Steve Gadd) and had a critical success with We Belong Together and my favorite song of hers (reaching #64 on the charts), A Lucky Guy which - when people at party ask for a favorite lovemaking song - always gets some "awwwws" when I answer with that.
After a change-of-pace with her 1983 live album - featuring some Great American Songbook tunes - she had a poor-selling 1984 album The Magazine - and then disappeared for several years due to the birth of a child and alcohol problems, eventually settling in France for a time.
After a guest spot on an album by (seemingly) everyone's favorite itinerant double bassist Rob Wasserman - she rebounded nicely with 1989's Flying Cowboys that recaptured her old sound, particularly Satellites which she sang on Saturday Night Live just over ten years after her debut there. She also had a hit duet with old friend Dr. John on Making Whoopee - earning her a second Grammy.
Two years later she offered another diversion: Pop Pop - an album of pop/Great American Songbook classics. Rickie Lee Jones always bristles at being compared to Joni Mitchell, but she does share one trait: recording with many jazz performers. And here, Joe Henderson, Robben Ford and Charlie Haden help her navigate I'll Be Seeing You to My One and Only Love - and then shift to Jimi Hendrix's Up from the Skies and one of my favorite ballads of all: Comin' Back To Me by Marty Balin.
After another hiatus for the first half of the 1990's: the past fifteen years she has had a lower profile but with some notable works. Naked Songs features her solo on either guitar or piano, her 2000 album It's Like This again visits both standards and rock classics, and her 2003 The Evening Of My Best Day features the song Ugly Man - a most unsubtle look at our former president.
2007 saw the release of a religious/spiritual themed album The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard - based upon the book The Words by Lee Cantelon. Next came her 2009 album Balm in Gilead which continued a spiritual theme, with the late Vic Chesnutt contributing on vocals. And it includes a re-make of "The Moon is Made of Gold" - which her father Richard Jones wrote for her in the year of her birth, 1954.
Among more recent recordings: 2012's The Devil You Know - with covers of classic tunes from the Rolling Stones, Donovan, Neil Young, The Band, Van Morrison and Tim Hardin's Reason to Believe - in what she calls her "most carefully crafted album ever". 2015 saw her own crowd-funded album The Other Side of Desire— for which a documentary film (on its making) was released. Her most recent effort is 2019’s Kicks— with covers of songs ranging from Mack the Knife to the theme song for the band Bad Company.
Rickie Lee Jones has an excellent 2005 career retrospective album in Duchess of Coolsville - which is what Jay Cocks of Time Magazine dubbed her in 1979 - has seven Grammy nominations (including the two awards already mentioned) was named by VH-1 as #30 in its list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll in 1999 .... and released her memoirs entitled Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour just last year. At age 67, she has several tour dates this year and will undoubtedly have more surprises before her career ends.
One of the other songs on her 2003 "Evening of my Best Day" recording was Tell Somebody (Repeal the Patriot Act Now) - another critical tune about ... well, you don’t need two guesses.
Not long ago it was alright There were no bad dreams that kept me up at night It was not brother-against-brother mother-against-motherNow they want us to just get in line behind a president When you know they spent millions of dollars Condemning and accusing the last one from the other side
So tell somebody You've got to tell somebody Tell somebody what happened in the USA