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 Ethiopia at the Crossroads— with more than 220 objects (spanning 1,750 years) including early coins to paintings to contemporary art — will be at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland through March 3rd.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this rather lengthy yet gripping Texas Tribune and ProPublica investigation into the 2022 school shootings in Uvalde, Texas noting, “Across the country, states require more training to prepare students and teachers for mass shootings ... than for those expected to protect them”.
YOUR WEEKEND VIEWING is this twelve-minute segment from today’s CBS Sunday Morning (reported by Ted Koppel) on how coal mining has seen younger-and-younger miners suffering from disease: as miners are forced to dig further into rock formations (releasing silica dust) with no help from coal companies.
HOLIDAY SHOPPING SUGGESTION— as is my wont: each year I recommend the upcoming year’s Great American Conservative Women Calendar (from the Clare Boothe Luce Institute). Even better— at only $5 for 1 and $11 for 3 … it meets the old MAD Magazine cover price admonition ... CHEAP.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Newt the Cat— an Illinois kitteh who has become famous locally for greeting bicyclists and walkers on a recreation trail.
MUSIC NOTES— two days ago saw the release of a tribute album to the singer Marianne Faithfull— suffering terribly from long Covid — and a song that she covered on her landmark 1979 Broken English album (John Lennon’s Working Class Hero) is performed by a rather eclectic duo of ... Cat Power and Iggy Pop.
I Love Then-and-Now photos —
BOOK NOTES— my Top Comments colleague Tara the Antisocial Worker has just finished her second novel. And at 178 pages, I suspect that a California book club would find it an easier read than James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake— which they took twenty-eight years to read/discuss.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Spirit the Cat— a stray found in a parking lot at Pittsburgh Int’l Airport badly malnourished ... but she is adapting nicely after being adopted by a law enforcement officer and his family.
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— MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin and frequent MSNBC guest (and NY Times reporter) Nicholas Confessore.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone who just celebrated her 44th birthday the other day yet has already achieved a lifetime of accolades is the singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles— with nine Grammy nominations (two victories) plus two Tony and Primetime Emmy nominations. She describes her musical style as “piano-based pop soul” (with others likening her to Regina Spektor and Fiona Apple) and no one seems to work harder than she does.
Born in Eureka, California in 1979, she attended UCLA (and was friends with the band members of Maroon 5 then) before treading the open-mike circuit. She produced and promoted her own debut demo (Careful Confessions) before being signed to Epic Records in 2005. Her first major label release (Little Voice in 2007) resulted in the hit single Love Song reaching #4 (in both Britain and the US) with her 2010 album Kaleidoscope Heart debuting at #1 in the album charts.
The following year began her entrance into other parts of the entertainment field: named as a judge on the NBC talent show The Sing-Off for one season. In 2013 she released The Blessed Unrest, with the single Brave reaching #23 in the charts — both of which garnered Grammy nominations. She later said that Brave was inspired by a friend’s struggle with coming out as gay.
In 2015 she not only wrote a memoir entitled Sounds Like Me (at only age thirty-five) but was also recruited to write for a Broadway musical based upon the 2007 film Waitress. Two years later, she made a ten-week run in that play starring as the lead character. In 2018 she appeared (as Mary Magdalene) along with John Legend on a live NBC adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar.
I mentioned her other (non-solo concert) performances: she appeared with Michelle Obama in 2009 at the G-20 Summit in 2009, plus at a Barack Obama rally for the 2010 mid-term elections. She has sang for the “In Memoriam” segments of both the 2014 Prime Time Emmys (singing Nat King Cole’s version of the 1936 Charlie Chaplin song “Smile”) as well as the 2017 Oscars (Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now”).
Her most recent album is 2019’s Amidst the Chaos and in 2022 she starred in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods— and as part of the cast recording, shared an Oscar for Best Musical Theater Album. The Songwriters Hall of Fame named her as a 2018 recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award— named after Burt Bacharach’s lyricist — given to a “songwriter at the apex of their career whose original songs are making a significant impact”. Small wonder that as far back as 2012, VH-1 named her as #80 in its Top 100 Greatest Women in Music.
To show her versatility: here she participates in the wonderful Playing for Change videos: with the impossible task of singing part of Marvin Gaye’s immortal What’s Going On— joining at the 2:08 mark — and handling it in stride.
Of her own songs: my favorite is one I first heard her sing on Saturday Night Live in 2019, Saint Honesty— which was her first Grammy Award victory (for Best American Roots performance).
We're leaving all the windows open We don't even mind the rain Or where we let the floors get wet So what if the hardwood stains? We're collecting evidence Of one remarkable storm How wild it was to find it, finally feel the climate Instead of only staying dry and warm
So we won't sleep tonight While we brace against the wind These hearts, they're weather-makers We'll go where they take us Until we find ourselves shelter again
We won't settle for the silence We won't drown in the tears We'll say every single word even if we think they'll hurt Let the rain wash away these tears
Oh, we won't let go, we'll be soaked to the bone Baptized by truth, we will reap what we sow Build our own higher ground when the rain's coming down This is worth it to me, Saint Honesty
Rain on us, Saint Honesty Salvation is coming in the morning, but now what we need Is a little rain on our face from you, sweet Saint Honesty