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 Sam Falls: We are Dust and Shadow — who makes work about nature with nature, printed with plant stains and ghostly images of the landscape — opens on January 27th at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by Jonathan Chait, suggesting that:
Democrats accept the reality that their agenda is not going to move forward when the opposing party occupies the White House ……. Republican voters, by contrast, expect and demand that the conservative agenda be advanced even — perhaps especially — under Democratic presidents.
HAIL and FAREWELL to a Nevada railway shop kitteh recently profiled here (and was an attraction for tour visitors, plus a stress reliever for shop workers).
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Mr. Spooky the Cat— a Massachusetts kitteh denied the chance to file as a candidate in a mayoral special election (to replace the outgoing mayor, who was elected county sheriff) because … he was not a registered voter.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by David Dayen (Dday) in The American Prospect, arguing that credit needs to go to Gary Gensler at the Securities and Exchange Commission for helping to protect the financial system from the crypto collapse by warning banks away — with Atrios adding, “This is what SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) and all his bought politicians … were trying to change”.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Ash the Cat— a Texas kitteh stuck atop a telephone pole in Lubbock … but rescued by electric company employees.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a career retrospective of the late Jeff Beck— utilizing parts of a 2015 career retrospective that featured in this space.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS?— two individuals who both testified before the January 6th committee: Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger (R-GA) and former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… two songs reflecting the breadth of Jeff Beck’s career … in 1985, he teamed up with old bandmate Rod Stewart to sing the old Curtis Mayfield tune People Get Ready - the only Jeff Beck single ever to reach the US charts (at #48).
In his jazz/rock heyday of 1976, he recorded the song Blue Wind written by the former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboard player Jan Hammer - and the two worked together numerous times over the intervening years. When I had a chance to interview Jan over the phone in 2011 for a DK diary (at this link) he confirmed it was a good feeling to know Jeff often played a version of that song in his concerts.
In fact, the two performed it (forty years after the original recording in London) at the Hollywood Bowl in 2016.