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 long weekend .... and week ahead.
SPORTING NOTES— next Saturday will be the final match for the European Champions League professional team title — as Germany’s Borussia Dortmund takes on Spain’s Real Madrid from Wembley Stadium in London — and this will be on free broadcast TV (CBS) beginning at 3:00 PM Eastern, noon Pacific.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Out West: Gay and Lesbian Artists in the Southwest 1900–1969— a survey of the work of gay and lesbian artists in the American Southwest, working in areas that promised freedom and a sense of community denied to them elsewhere — will be at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe through September 2nd.
PROGRAMMING NOTE— due to travel plans, I will not be posting in Cheers & Jeers next Friday, nor have a (normal) Sunday wrap-up Odds & Ends diary.
I will have a Top Comments essay on Thursday, May 30th, and will post a "Who Lost the Month in MAGA World?!?!?" poll on Sunday, June 2nd. I think I speak for many in hoping … that it will be a landmark poll.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Max the Cat - who received an honorary degree as a "Doctor in Litter-ature" at a state college near Rutland, Vermont last weekend - for his emotional support services, in riding around on students’ backpacks and posing as a subject for a photography class.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this BBC essay on how this coming autumn’s trial of Gérard Depardieu (on sexual assault charges) is a reckoning with the #MeToo movement… that is reflected in the current Cannes Film Festival.
YUK for TODAY— with Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak calling for a general election (announced outside No 10 Downing Street in a driving rainstorm) on the 4th of July — six months before they’d be required to hold one — The Guardian has a wonderful recap of British newspaper headlines. These include: Drowning Street, Gone on the 4th of July and Things Can Only get Wetter (a take-off on the Labour Party’s campaign song of 1997, substituting for “Better”).
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Murphy the Cat - an elderly English kitteh brought to a shelter after the death of his owner, who cries when he is left alone - so playing classical music helps him relax. Good news: a charity is offering prospective owners the incentive of a so-called assisted adoption (where it will pay for his medical expenses for the remainder of his life).
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay by the nonpareil columnist for The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland — acknowledging that (while elections should be about the future) the upcoming UK general election should be not merely about accountability for the Tories, but rather a “punishment election”.
Reader Suggested SON-FATHER? (from Audri) — Harry Potter actor David Bradley and the original Doctor Who, William Hartnell. (Whaddya think?)
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… from the songwriting you-may-not-know-their-name (but-have-heard-their-work) file: is someone who decided to become a songwriter after listening intently outside the Motown studios in her native Detroit. It led to a career of songs selling over 60 million.
Born in 1947, (Alta) Allee Willis lost her mother in her teens and had a good relationship with her father … except on the subject of race, as he advised her (when attending the University of Wisconsin in the 60’s) to avoid Black culture. After graduation in 1969, she moved to NYC and worked at Columbia Records (as a copywriter and working on liner notes).
She released an album five years later in 1974 — yet Childstar did not sell (and she was uncomfortable performing live). Then the first big break came when Bonnie Raitt heard the album and asked her to write a song for her (even asking her to be a backup singer on tour). Relocating to Los Angeles in 1977, she worked as a songwriter at A&M Records — and also wrote liner notes, worked at a comedy club and hung posters, all helping to play a role in her future career.
This led to a meeting with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and two of the songs she co-wrote for them included Boogie Wonderland and In the Stone. Some other hit songs she helped write include Lead Me On (Maxine Nightingale), Neutron Dance (Pointer Sisters), and What Have I Done To Deserve This (Pet Shop Boys w/Dusty Springfield). One of her most famous song collaborations was in 1995, writing the theme song for the TV show Friends— she was a bit embarrassed at being nominated for an Emmy for I’ll Be There for You (by The Rembrandts) and was glad she had other hits to lean back on.
It was in the 1980’s that she also found calling in films: winning a Grammy for film soundtrack music for Beverly Hills Cop. She was also to find success on Broadway with The Color Purple: nominated for a Tony in 2006, and a Grammy nomination that same year. She won her second Grammy in 2016 for its soundtrack album. She said her last words to her father were … being hired for The Color Purple.
Her visual arts interest led her to found the Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch in West Hollywood in 2009 and in 2010 finally made a return to the performing stage.
Allee Willis died in December, 2019 at the age of seventy-two. The year before, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and she is the subject of a new documentary premiering this summer. Yet perhaps her enduring legacy is the disparate list of performers who covered her songs (or she worked with on art work/videos). Besides those already mentioned: add Herbie Hancock, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Patti LaBelle, Debby Boone, Rita Coolidge, Crystal Gayle, Sister Sledge, Taylor Dayne, Cindy Lauper and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Of all of her songs: my favorite is one that she wrote (with music by Maurice White/Al McKay from Earth, Wind & Fire). September was recorded in (what else) September of 1978, released in November, reached #8 in the US charts (#3 in Britain) and was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" in 2018.
She was initially hesitant at the nonsense lyrics in the chorus (“Ba-dee-ya”) wanting to change it to actual words. Hereon, she always cited Maurice White’s response: “Never let the lyrics ... get in the way of the groove”.