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 and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love— an immersive exhibit with bold colors, three-dimensional forms and mirror-generated optical illusions — is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to September 7th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this lengthy essay by Rick Perlstein in The American Prospect entitled You Are Entering the Infernal Triangle— which he says hamstrings US political discourse.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Ovie the Cat— who was set to be euthanized after being smuggled onto a cruise ship sailing into Australia and New Zealand — but crew members rallied, and adopted by a Miami-based company employee.
HAIL and FAREWELL to Françoise Bornet, kissing her then-boyfriend (in an iconic posed photo) in Paris, who has died at the age of ninety-three …..
… and to the pianist Les McCann (whom I saw with saxophonist Eddie Harris many years ago), having a chance to tell him how I enjoyed his classic tune Compared to What— just didn’t expect so much humor during the show (at no additional charge) … who has died at the age of eighty-eight.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Tyler the Cat— an Illinois kitteh riding with a truck driver, then reported lost in Nevada — now being reunited after being located ... in Wyoming.
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— Film director Martin Scorsese and an anti-Netanyahu protestor in Israel (from Noga Tarnopolsky’s feed).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… rushed for time this week, but did want to take brief notice of a singer-songwriter who (at only age thirty-two) has won four Grammy Awards, with Sarah Jarosz branching out from her bluegrass roots to producing music that incorporates many styles. In the past, one heard her on A Prairie Home Companion (and its short-lived successor program, Live from Here).
Born in Austin, Texas, she was performing on-stage with musicians such as David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs in her teens; signing her first record deal at age sixteen and releasing Song Up in Her Head at only age eighteen. She graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with a degree in voice improvisation and as a side project (which endures to this day) she also records with Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan in a trio named I’m with Her.
She has released six albums already, with two earning Grammy Awards: 2017’s Undercurrent (for Best Folk Album) and 2021’s World on the Ground (Best Americana Album). One song from Undercurrent (House of Mercy) won Best American Roots Performance, and a 2019 song she performed with I’m With Her (Call My Name) won Best American Roots song.
Her most recent release was 2022’s Blue Heron Suite (visiting Texas coastal towns from her youth) and she is scheduled to release Polaroid Lovers at the end of this month.
One of my favorite songs of hers (which hearkens back to her bluegrass roots) is Annabelle Lee— which she wrote music to accompany some (slightly amended) parts of the last poem ever published by Edgar Allan Poe.
I’ll also confess part of the appeal is that Annabelle Lee was the name of a standout pitcher (hurling a perfect game) in the WW-II professional baseball league for women dramatized in 1992’s A League of Their Own— and her nephew also became a noted pitcher: Bill “Spaceman” Lee.
Many a year ago In a kingdom by the sea There lived a maiden you may know By the name of Annabelle Lee No other thought did trouble her mind But to love and be loved by me
We were children both In this kingdom by the sea But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabelle Lee With a love that the winged angels high Coveted her and me
This was the reason long ago In this kingdom by the sea A wind blew from a stormy cloud That took my Annabelle Lee Then her wicked brothers came To steal her away from me
They shut her up in a tomb below This kingdom by the sea But no maiden's grave could sever my soul From the love she bore for me For the moon don't beam without a dream Of my darling Annabelle Lee