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 photography exhibit entitled Ansel Adams in Our Time— featuring not only his own works of nature, but also ones by living photographers who were inspired by him — was to have closed at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, California on Sunday, July 23rd (now, has been extended to August 6th).
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this much talked-about (and deservedly so) essay by the Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins on the enduring relationship between two tennis stars who each won 18 Grand Slam tennis titles: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Only some sport: much more about cancer treatments, friendship, rivalry and similarities one might not suspect at a glance … but which you’ll come to understand by the end.
Rather than a link: try using Twitter/social media and type in Sally Jenkins plus “gift article” … there should be several choices (in order to avoid a paywall).
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Cecily the Cat— a disabled kitteh living at a Texas shelter, who has a large social media following about her fashion choices (which began as a way to cover the diapers she must wear daily).
PROGRAMMING NOTE — next weekend, there will neither be a Friday posting in Cheers & Jeers, nor an Odd & Ends wrap-up diary, as I will be attending Netroots Nation in Chicago. If you are also attending the conference (or just going to the public events), I hope we have a chance to meet.
I will post a MAGA World poll for Sunday the 15th (though it’ll be rather early) — indeed, already have some choices — and will return the following week.
MUSIC NOTES— for the first time ever on the country music charts, a #1 song was (solely) written by a Black woman — as Luke Combs has a cover version of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit Fast Car.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is from essayist Drew Lawrence— a Black man who writes for several publications (here, The Guardian) normally on sports — describing taking his family to Meatball Ron’s Florida. He recounts the history of places where they drove through (and some pleasant experiences along-the-way).
FRIDAY's CHILD is the aptly-named Lucky the Cat— a Connecticut kitteh who went missing after a propane explosion … then found days later with only singed whiskers.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #3 is from Cameron Hewitt, one of Rick Steves’ travel writers …. worried that in Britain and Ireland, the classic bed and breakfast seems to be a disappearing species … as self-check-ins and no breakfast are the result of retirements, Airbnb and Covid.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz (one common subject).
GRANDFATHER-GRANDSON— Preminger (1905-1986), Prigozhin (born 1961)
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… taking a page from the JCBlues file — so little time, just some random videos.
One is a familiar tune (the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby) — that was sung by my musical hero Jack Bruce in October, 2014 (just before his death from liver disease).
For something completely different: I am not a doo-wop fan, but this is my favorite rendition of it. Looking for an Echo (written by Richard Reicheg) is performed by singer Kenny Vance in 1975 (with an a capella version by the R&B group The Persuasions two years later). The nostalgia for one’s youth … is presented so well: (We were singing oldies … but they were newies, then… and then, later in the tune: We’ve turned into oldies ... but we were newies, then).
Finally, I’ve always loved Loudon Wainwright III’s song Hard Day on the Planet from 1986 … listing all of the scary and fearful headlines from that era, then taking stock (that he and his family are all well). He concludes one set of verses with this reference to an English poet’s work from the 1600’s:
So how come I feel bad so much of the time?!? A man ain't an island ... John Donne .... wasn't lying!