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 All Aboard: The Alaska Railroad Centennial— highlighting crucial moments, technological innovations, and human stories through archival images, objects, and ephemera — will be at the Anchorage, Alaska Museum through February 18th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by Maureen Tkacik in The American Prospect on the bankruptcy of Envision Healthcare— a private equity–owned emergency room doctor practice — known for its outlandish billing practices and dire working conditions.
THURSDAY's CHILD is the late Nutmeg the Cat— who patrolled Disneyland in California for years, “ensuring the only rodents guests see are Mickey and Minnie Mouse” and had a cocktail named after him — who has died, age unknown.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay by Eyal Press in The New Yorker— arguing that in the battle to make abortion rights a major election focus, many providers feel that Planned Parenthood is too cautious and too corporate, thus forcing independent clinics to take the biggest risks
ON HIS EUROPEAN TOUR last week: Bruce Springsteen met-up with the Hurdy-Gurdy Man, Donovan Leitch (who now lives in County Cork, Ireland).
CHEERS to learning that a generation of Asian-American women who have gone into journalism were named by their immigrant parents after … Connie Chung.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Lilo the Cat— a Connecticut kitteh rescued from a barrel (filled with water during a rainstorm) by a construction project manager and now gets along well with the family’s Saint Bernard.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
A NOTE on THIS WEEK’S POLL— while the NYC jury finding had me planning to have a Trump poll this week (and I was already writing entries) … the debacle this past Thursday night left me feeling … that Former Guy won the week. His challengers (other than, perhaps, Asa Hutchinson) seem like they know they’ve lost. Plus ... that the brave E. Jean was demeaned on national TV …. again.
Feel free to write-him-in … and rest assured: in two weeks I will have my monthly Trump poll, with the finding of assault as one choice. (And possibly, E. Jean will file additional charges). Just can’t do it this week … hope that you’ll understand.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS?— Irish songwriter-musician Phil Coulter and former Soviet world chess champion Anatoly Karpov.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… time has taken its toll on the bluesmen and women who inspired the rock & roll generation. Of the Chicago blues stars (born before WW-II) who achieved fame as a headline performer: few are still alive. One of them is the harmonica star Billy Boy Arnold, whose two hit songs (I Ain’t Got You and I Wish You Would) were first covered by the Yardbirds in the mid-60’s. Yet at age eighty-seven: it is unclear if he is an active performer.
The most famous of them (guitarist and club owner Buddy Guy) — who will turn age eighty-seven himself at the end of July — is in the midst of his Damn Right Farewell Tour (named after his hit song Damn Right I Got the Blues). He says he still hopes to do one-off shows; just has had his limit with touring.
The other name I’m familiar with — who will turn age ninety in November — is Bobby Rush, who is still quite active. This Bobby Rush is not the recently-retired US congressman from Chicago — the only one ever to defeat Barack Obama in an election (a 2000 Democratic primary). This is a singer/guitarist who made the traditional emigration to Chicago to pursue a musical career. His story is not as well known, and here’s a look at a two-time Grammy winner.
He was born as Emmit Ellis in Louisiana in 1933, and whose family later moved to Arkansas. He snuck into juke joints in his teens wearing a fake moustache, and adopted his stage name (so as not to upset his religious father). He befriended travelling blues stars such as Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf, and at age eighteen made the trek up the Mississippi River to Chicago (as many did) in 1951.
He paid his dues in the West Side clubs, first with a band featuring future star guitarist Freddie King (with Luther Allison replacing King after he left). He had limited success in the music singles department until 1967, when Sock Boo-Ga-Loo was picked-up by Chess Records, helping to establish himself.
His music began to grow past pure blues in this time: with a good of soul and funk — he often referred to it as folk-funk. In 2011, I heard a public radio interview with Preston Lauterbach on the release of his book The Chitlin’ Circuit (and the Road to Rock & Roll) with Bobby Rush as a guest, as he had been a mainstay of that touring circuit. I recall him saying that when the audience for blues began to change (in the mid-60’s) that he was concerned that he’d have to completely change his stage act. He was relieved that the new listeners liked his act just fine.
He finally made the big time in 1971 with the single Chicken Heads, followed byBow-Legged Woman. Yet he was dropped by one label after another, until finally releasing his first full-length album Rush Hour… for the Gamble & Huff Philadelphia International label in 1979. He later moved to Jackson, Mississippi.
In the 1980’s his music took a twist towards the comedic/bawdy, thus earning a steady stream of 200 shows/year on the club circuit. In 2001, his tour bus crashed on the way to a gig in Pensacola, Florida: killing one band member and Bobby Rush was sidelined for a time.
His fortunes climbed in 2003 after he was featured in Road to Memphis— part of the PBS series The Blues (curated by Martin Scorsese) and began compiling Grammy nominations. He began to gain new fans along the way, and in 2007 became the first blues musician to perform at the Great Wall of China.
The past five years have been his most critically successful, winning Grammy awards for 2017’s Porcupine Meat (with guest performances from Joe Bonamassa, Dave Alvin and Keb’ Mo) and also for his most recent album: 2020’s Rawer than Raw— where he chose a stripped-down recording of originals and re-workings of blues standards.
Those two Grammy awards were among four other nominations he has received in this century and in 2015 a box set of his prior fifty years of recordings was released. Two years ago he released his memoirs and will turn age ninety this November. Yet he has a tour underway and on June 18th: will have a guest appearance on Buddy Guy’s farewell tour at the Blue Note in New York.
Two songs to highlight: one is his 1971 breakout hit …..
And from his most recent album: showing that he still has the old Chicago blues vibe, his rendition of Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning.