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 Picasso and Paper— a career retrospective with nearly 300 works including collages of cut-and-pasted papers, sculptures from pieces of torn and burnt paper, manipulated photographs, drawings in virtually all available media, and prints in an array of techniques — opens this Sunday at the Cleveland, Ohio Museum of Art through March 25th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by Rick Perlstein in The American Prospect asking the pertinent question, Why does conservatism so often clothe itself in the language of liberalism?
THURSDAY's CHILD is the late Cilla the Cat - an English kitteh with 26k followers on social media, and a calming influence on students at the Outwoods Primary School (her full name was Priscilla Outwoods) who has died at the age of twelve.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this (gift) essay in The Atlantic by David Frum entitled The Sound of Fear on Air— on how he was asked to leave the Morning Joe set after he spoke about Pete Hegseth .. and having Mika apologize on-air for Frum saying, “If you’re too drunk for Fox News ... you’re very, very drunk indeed.”
PROGRAMMING NOTE— I am posting this diary early, as I will be out-and-about most of the day on Sunday. I’ve had trouble in the past with the poll when I advance post — hoping you’ll see it normally. (And obviously, if there is an overnight miscreant, please write-in).
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Thomas the Ramsey Town Cat— an Isle of Man kitteh who is so popular (visiting shops and greeting customers as they come and go) has been given an honorary title in appreciation by the town of Ramsey.
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 #3 is this Substack essay by law professor (and MSNBC contributor) Harry Litman, explaining (in some detail) his resignation as an LA Times essayist, believing its owner went far past Jeff Bezos into appeasement.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a mini-travelogue for Thanksgiving… and an Open Thread.
FATHER-SON— the late actor Joss Ackland (portraying “minister” Arjen Rudd of the Lethal Weapon series) … and incoming deportation czar Tom Homan.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… although it was written by Joni Mitchell: each year at this time, I feature the man who popularized it and — according to Rolling Stone— ushered in the singer/songwriter era.“I wasn’t sure if they were crediting me … or accusing me,” he remarked.
Say what you will, Tom Rush gets around. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, came-of-age in Massachusetts, made his mark at the Boston/Cambridge coffeehouses of the early 1960's, is part of the Class of 1963 at Harvard, has lived in the Rockies and the West Coast, then Vermont, now back in Massachusetts and who-knows-where tomorrow (as he counts having moved twenty-six times).
As Steve Leggett of the All-Music Guide puts it, “Rush's warm and slightly world-weary baritone” has a way of growing on you, and he was one of the first performers to feature works by Jackson Browne and others when they were just beginning. Garth Brooks has cited him as an influence, with James Taylor going so far as to say, "I took as much from Tom Rush as possible and unwittingly modeled myself on him. Like a lot of people who do what I do, I owe my career to him".
For a few years, Tom Rush has had an album of humorous tunes Trolling for Owls - which he notes is "not available in stores!" And one of them - The Remember Song - has received in excess of 7.3 million hits on YouTube. After being told it had gone viral he wrote, "I thought I was being accused of being a musical equivalent of Ebola ......... but my children explained to me ... that this was a good thing".
And for several years, The Very Best of Tom Rush has provided listeners with his classic songs (as well as a 2013 documentary film). But it wasn't until 2009 that he released What I Know— which was his first new studio recording in 35 years — because as he explained, "I don't like to rush headlong into these things".
In 2018, he released the album Voices— with some traditional tunes as well as several new songs — of which he says, “There are very few labels that are just content to put out good music and make a reasonable profit at it. Appleseed Recordings, the label I’m on, is one of them, and I’m very thankful to be working with them.”
This marks the 63rd anniversary of the career of Tom Rush and — at age 83 — is still quite active. In 2012 he recorded What's Wrong with America?— a spoof of Mitt Romney's notorious “47%” comments. He performs in a lot of college towns and — without mentioning you-know-who by name — said a few years ago:
In terms of the politics, I try to create kind of a little oasis from the problems of the world. So I don’t tend to get political, because I really don’t want to remind people of how much things suck. I’d rather give them a little holiday from all the turmoil.
On the other hand, there are times when I just can’t help myself and have to comment on something. I’ve been saying lately there are aspects of the recent election cycle that make you realize we really have to spend more on education. You can make of that what you will.
Some updates:
Earlier this year, he released his latest album Gardens Old, Flowers New— with keyboardist Matt Nakoa (who produced the album) and harmony vocals by Abbie Gardner and Monica Rizzio.
This past May, he gave a brief commencement address to graduates at Franklin Pierce University here in New Hampshire (before singing his Child’s Song).
“If you find something you love to do, it’s so much easier to get good at it. So, look for something that you love to do and go for it. And also, I’ve realized that in terms of performing … [the audience doesn’t] want perfection; they want connection. And I think that’s true in all of our relationships.”
For many years he performed an annual show in Boston's Symphony Hall in December. This year, he has some shows in New England over the next few weeks — with one in Memphis, Tennessee on December 15th.
That Joni Mitchell song that Tom Rush helped to popularize: is her 1966 tune Urge for Going - about the oncoming Canadian winter (which she did not release on an album until 1972). Below you can hear Tom Rush sing it (with the accent guitar of the late Bruce Langhorne— who accompanied Bob Dylan frequently — that, to me: truly makes this version special).
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town It hovered in a frozen sky then it gobbled summer down When the sun turns traitor cold and all the trees are shivering in a naked row I get the urge for going ... but I never seem to goNow the warriors of winter give a cold triumphant shout And all that stays is dying and all that lives is getting out See the geese in chevron flight flapping and racing on before the snow They got the urge for going and they've got the wings to go
And they get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown Summertime is falling down Winter's closing in