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 Frida: Beyond the Myth— a career retrospective of Frida Kahlo via sixty works (paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs) — is at the Dallas Museum of Art through November 17th.
CHEERS to a great extended Labor Day weekend, visiting family and friends.
PROGRAMMING NOTE— No rest for the weary: as I’ll be away next weekend (and thus will not have a Cheers & Jeers posting).
Next weekend is my 50th high school reunion. I know for many of you, high school was a bad time. I can relate … just that it was junior high that was a bad time for a scrawny kid (for whom the locker room was a most unpleasant place). Going to a different high school ... gave me a new-lease-on-life (for which I am most grateful for) and so this is an event I look forward to.
THURSDAY's CHILDREN are named Pesto & Parmesan the Cats - part of the annual Cat Tour in Minneapolis ... where people tour down the streets, waving at cats in people's windows, with some walkers holding signs that read, "Show Us Your Cats".
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this Thread Reader by Jessica Valenti— on how anti-abortionists do not use the word “ban” but instead: a series of euphemisms.
HAIL AND FAREWELL to the Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes (long-time bandleader of Brazil ‘66) who has died at the age of 83. Here is a photo of him (and countryman Antonio Carlos Jobim) visiting NYC in 1962… when they helped launch the Bossa Nova craze in America.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this lengthy yet praiseworthy essay by the economist Noah Smith on the concrete steps the Biden administration has taken to address U.S. industrial weakness vis-a-vis China.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Stevie the Cat - a rescue kitteh born without eyes who paws at Mom for attention ... when she senses Mom is near.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
LAST NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with an Open Thread .… which quickly morphed-into a song-fest.
MOTHER-DAUGHTER?— Academy Award-winner Dame Helen Mirren and artist and illustrator Alexandra Grant (a tabloid fixture as the beau of Keanu Reeves).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… just enough time this week for a look at a traditional 19th Century song, with little certainty as to its origin. The music is believed to have originated long before the lyrics were added.
The lyrics of The Lakes of Ponchartrain are believed to date from the Civil War era, telling a story of unrequited love: as a man is given shelter by a Louisiana Creole woman, whom he asks to marry … but she declines, as she is pledged to a sailor out at sea.
One theory holds that the lyrics came from poor Irish immigrants: who helped build the six mile-long New Basin Canal from Lake Pontchartrain to where the present-day downtown Amtrak terminal stands. Their work (from 1832-1838) was done in squalid conditions (12-15 hour workdays, with malaria, yellow fever and cholera afflicting the mosquito-infested swampland). Last year, a memorial was dedicated to the thousands who perished during this period.
Whether or not the lyrics came from that period: the song has become quite popular among Irish musicians, with early versions by Christy Moore, the Chieftains (with guest Mark Knopfler) and the group Planxty.
Other renditions (on albums and live shows) include those by Harvey Reid, Tangerine Dream, Jane Siberry, Warren Zevon and a concert staple for Bob Dylan.
The Northern Irish musician whose late-1970’s version (seems) to be the template for the later incarnations is a onetime member of Planxty, Paul Brady. And while no two singers use identical lyrics, his seems to be as representative as can be.
It was on one bright March morning I bid New Orleans adieu And I took the road to Jackson town My fortune to renew I cursed all foreign money No credit could I gain Which filled my heart with longing For the lakes of Pontchartrain
I stepped on board of a railroad car Beneath the morning sun I rode the rods till evening And I laid me down again All strangers there, no friends to me Till a dark girl towards me came And I fell in love with a Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain
I said my pretty Creole girl My money here’s no good And if it weren’t for the alligators I’d sleep out in the wood “You’re welcome here kind stranger Our house is very plain But we never turned a stranger out On the banks of Pontchartrain”
She took me into her mammy’s house And she treated me right well The hair upon her shoulders In jet black ringlets fell To try to paint her beauty I’m sure ‘t would be in vain So handsome was my Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain
I asked her if she’d marry me She said that this could never be For she had got a lover And he was far at sea She said that she would wait for him And true she would remain Till he’d return to his Creole girl By the Lakes of Pontchartrain
So fare thee well, my bonny own girl I never may see you more But I’ll ne’er forget your kindness In the cottage by the shore And at each social gathering A flowing glass I’ll drain And I’ll drink a health to my Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain