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 aptly named Mark Rothko: Retrospective— featuring 115 works by the American painter on four separate floors (with some works by the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti) — will be at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France through April 2nd, 2024.
CHEERS to a great holiday weekend visiting friends in Albany, New York … with one aspect the subject of last night’s Top Comments diary.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this BBC essay about the US men’s World Cup team of 1990— the first US team to qualify for the final tournament in forty years — and the initial derision they received that changed to respect: as it made the decision to award hosting duties for the 1994 Cup seem worthy.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Luna the Cat— a Florida kitteh who escaped (when her family was on an extended camping trip back in September here in New Hampshire) and was able to be trapped by someone living near the campsite - when the family sent a voice recording of them calling for Luna.
A MYSTERY SOLVED— a university researcher in England has discovered (by accident) the original photo of the thatcher (“The man with the sticks”) on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album (containing Stairway to Heaven) — and was able to determine not only the man’s name (Lot Long, who died in 1893) but also the photographer (Ernest Farmer, who died in 1944).
SIGN of the APOCALYPSE—
YUK for TODAY— while the recent obituary of Frank Borman aptly focused on his career as an astronaut — I recall him from his tenure as the head of Eastern Airlines from the mid-70’s to mid-80’s, appearing on numerous commercials that ended with, “We have to earn our wings every day”. Rival airline People Express lampooned him with this radio ad:
"I'm president of an important airline …... every day …... I want you to fly with us …... every day …... so I'll keep reminding you …... every day".
FRIDAY's CHILDREN are named Daisy the Dog and Mowgli the Cat— after Mowgli fell 100ft down a mineshaft in Cornwall, England - Daisy was able to alert the family and the SPCA were able to rescue Mowgli.
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 look at a last-of-its-kind Navy ship still afloat: the USS Slater, a destroyer escort vessel designed to protect cargo ships crossing the Atlantic (from German U-boats) and in the Pacific from Japanese Kamikaze attacks …. harbored along the Hudson River in Albany, New York.
PROGRAMMING NOTE — next week I will (yet again) be travelling for the holidays: extensive enough this time so there will neither be a Friday Cheers & Jeers (nor any weekend posting). If you celebrate it: Happy Thanksgiving.
CROSS-POSTED by the stand-up comic Elayne Boosler:
LITERARY NOTES— before publishing “Little Women” in 1869, Louisa May Alcott used pseudonyms to experiment with different literary styles (such as A.M. Barnard for thrillers, Flora Fairfield for poetry and Tribulation Periwinkle for letters). Now, a researcher at Northeastern University in Boston believes he has found yet more aliases.
Reader suggested DAUGHTER-MOTHER (from Audri) — English film star Elizabeth Berrington and American film star Shelley Duvall. Whaddya think?
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… although it was written by Joni Mitchell: each year at this time, I feature the man who popularized it and — according to Rolling Stone— ushered in the singer/songwriter era.“I wasn’t sure if they were crediting me or accusing me,” he remarked.
Say what you will, Tom Rush gets around. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, came-of-age in Massachusetts, made his mark at the Boston/Cambridge coffeehouses of the early 1960's, has lived in the Rockies and the West Coast, then Vermont, now back in Massachusetts and who-knows-where tomorrow (as he counts having moved twenty-six times).
As Steve Leggett of the All-Music Guide puts it, “Rush's warm and slightly world-weary baritone” has a way of growing on you, and he was one of the first performers to feature works by Jackson Browne and others when they were just beginning. Garth Brooks has cited him as an influence, with James Taylor going so far as to say, "I took as much from Tom Rush as possible and unwittingly modeled myself on him. Like a lot of people who do what I do, I owe my career to him".
For a few years, Tom Rush has had an album of humorous tunes Trolling for Owls - which he notes is "not available in stores!" And one of them - The Remember Song - has received in excess of 7.3 million hits on YouTube. After being told it had gone viral he wrote, "I thought I was being accused of being a musical equivalent of Ebola ......... but my children explained to me ... that this was a good thing".
And for several years, The Very Best of Tom Rush has provided listeners with his classic songs (as well as a 2013 documentary film). But it wasn't until 2009 that he released What I Know— which was his first new studio recording in 35 years — because as he explained, "I don't like to rush headlong into these things".
In 2018, he released the album Voices— with some traditional tunes as well as several new songs — of which he says, “There are very few labels that are just content to put out good music and make a reasonable profit at it. Appleseed Recordings, the label I’m on, is one of them, and I’m very thankful to be working with them.”
This marks the 61st anniversary of the career of Tom Rush and — at age 82 — is still quite active. In 2012 he recorded What's Wrong with America? — a spoof of Mitt Romney's notorious “47%” comments. He performs in a lot of college towns and — without mentioning you-know-who by name — said a few years ago:
In terms of the politics, I try to create kind of a little oasis from the problems of the world. So I don’t tend to get political, because I really don’t want to remind people of how much things suck. I’d rather give them a little holiday from all the turmoil.
On the other hand, there are times when I just can’t help myself and have to comment on something. I’ve been saying lately there are aspects of the recent election cycle that make you realize we really have to spend more on education. You can make of that what you will.
For many years he performed an annual show in Boston's Symphony Hall in December. This year, he has some shows in New England over the next few months (and then the mid-Atlantic): most accompanied on piano by Matt Nakoa, and two with folksinger Cheryl Wheeler.
That Joni Mitchell song that Tom Rush helped to popularize: is her 1966 tune Urge for Going - about the oncoming Canadian winter (which she did not release on an album until 1972). Below you can hear Tom Rush sing it (with the accent guitar of the late Bruce Langhorne that, to me: truly makes this version special).
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town It hovered in a frozen sky then it gobbled summer down When the sun turns traitor cold and all the trees are shivering in a naked row I get the urge for going ... but I never seem to goNow the warriors of winter give a cold triumphant shout And all that stays is dying and all that lives is getting out See the geese in chevron flight flapping and racing on before the snow They got the urge for going and they've got the wings to go
And they get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown Summertime is falling down Winter's closing in