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 Navigating Narratives: The Corps of Discovery in Titonwan Territory— covering interactions between the boatmen of the Corps of Discovery Expedition and the Titonwanian people through first-person accounts from September 1804 — is at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings to September 1st.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this fabulous essay in The American Prospect by Harold Meyerson with the self-explanatory title, There Are Some Damned Good Reasons Why Joe Biden Moved to the Left.
THURSDAY's CHILD is a kitteh who boarded a bus to Bristol, England on International Cat Day ... and despite a microchip, her family has not yet been able to be reached (though the public has offered food and shelter).
WITH THE DEATH of the sixteen-year host of the Hollywood Squares, Peter Marshall (at age ninety-eight) — he is just about the end-of-an-era for myself. Coming-of-age in the early 70's: I was unaware of his prior career (as a singer, comic and Broadway actor) when he took the Squares job at age forty. Instead, he was part of a generation of people my parents knew as screen/stage actors, singers/dancers and comics ... that I only knew as game show hosts/contestants.
FRIDAY's CHILD is a kitteh (also on International Cat Day) held by Sir Anthony Hopkins - promoting the adoption of rescue cats from a Moroccan shelter.
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 the Justice Department filing a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Railway — as they (along with other major freight railroads) often defy federal law requiring priority to passenger rail (a requirement given as a result of their being relieved of passenger rail obligations in 1971).
SEPARATED at BIRTH— two rock guitarists/bandleaders: Delaney Bramlett (Delaney & Bonnie) and Lowell George (Little Feat).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… another hectic week, and so time only for a quick look at a 64 year-old song ... that still sounds fresh.
If you’ve ever listened to the 1970 album by The Who, Live at Leeds— you no doubt recall their rendition of the song Shakin’ All Over. The original was recorded ten years earlier by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates— a band that The Who toured with in their early days. Johnny (real name Frederick Heath) and his band adopted a pirate theme, and the All Music Guide’s Bruce Eder declared it to be the first original rock song in Britain (#1 there) to achieve international success. Other noted cover versions included The Guess Who and rockabilly star Wanda Jackson.
Eder went on to say that their record company EMI (famously lampooned by the Sex Pistols in 1977) did not know how to handle their success … having them record some lightweight pop that didn’t fit with their stage act. This led to numerous personnel changes (the best was the addition of guitarist Mick Green) and even Kidd left the band in the mid-60’s (before his death in a 1966 car crash).
That version split in 1967, yet nine years later Mick Green led a new lineup (known simply as The Pirates) who performed regularly for seven years, then on-and-off until the 2010 death of Mick Green.
Here are links to cover versions by The Who, The Guess Who, Led Zeppelin, Wanda Jackson, even Randy Bachman… yet here is the original that started it all.