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 All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840-1955— with works by Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence and Kay Sage — is at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska through May 4th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this print synopsis (of a three-part podcast) on NPR by Zach Mack — about the rift with his father over right-wing conspiracy theories, though his father had not heretofore been a center-left person (unlike other previous accounts published).
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay in Salon by Amanda Marcotte, with the self-explanatory title From "Mar-a-Lago face" to uncanny A.I. art: MAGA loves ugly in submission to Trump.
THURSDAY's CHILD is one of two shelter cats adopted by King’s Books in Tacoma, Washington… with name suggestions being sought for them.
PROGRAMMING NOTE— next week, there will neither be a Friday Cheers & Jeers posting, nor a Who Lost the Week? poll, as I will be away at a extended family event. Will be returning the following week.
HAPPY TRAILS to the singer Johnny Mathis, who has announced that — after a nearly seventy-year career — his final concert (at the age of eighty-nine) will take place in May.
FRIDAY's CHILD hopped-on a commuter train bound for Melbourne, Australia earlier this week … with passengers looking after him until staff took him to a shelter upon reaching downtown … hoping he has a family to claim him.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #3 is this essay in The Bulwark by JV Last (whose work is normally behind a paywall, though not today) on How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement— an 8-point battle plan of action, with notes such as: AOC may/may not be the leader necessary (he suggests Mark Cuban) but says she is truly showing the way forward, then keep ActBlue away from the project and blame every case of measles or failed veterans care on you-know-who.
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 Black Cats and Hooters…. as the animated film Flow may have raised interest level in adopting black cats, and a recent NY Times OpEd recounts fathers bringing their gay (or non-masculine) sons to Hooters, with the servers (secretly) reassuring the boys that there is nothing wrong with them.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS?— TV/film star James Garner and the novelist-travel writer Paul Theroux.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… years ago, I kept seeing his name on songwriting credits … and learned that the name Henry Glover represented not just a songwriter …. but a producer and record company A&R man who helped bridge the gap between R&B, jazz, rock and even country. In the music industry of the 40’s-50’s, he was one of the first successful Black executives.
Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1921, he became proficient on the trumpet, eventually finding his way at age twenty-four into Lucky Millender’s Orchestra in 1945. It was at that time that he met the owner of the Cincinnati-based King Records, Syd Nathan. Nathan was impressed by his ability and keen knowledge of the music industry, hiring him as an A&R (talent scout) and producer for the label.
Having listened to country music in Arkansas, Glover helped King develop its country stars (including future Hee-Haw star Grandpa Jones) becoming likely the first Black producer of country music. He also signed R&B and Gospel acts for King’s subsidiary label Queen.
Syd Nathan was delighted with the growth that Glover helped bring to the company and merged the two labels in 1947. Glover even arranged separate recordings of the same song for both Black and white pop audiences, earning even more revenue for the company.
Among the musicians that he signed/recorded/produced include Bill Doggett, Hank Ballard, Wynonie Harris, James Brown and Little Willie John (convincing him to record the Otis Blackwell-written “Fever” that Peggy Lee later made famous).
In 1958, Henry Glover left King Records for the Roulette label — known as a jazz and rock label, but lacking in R&B. He did work with its jazz stars (Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington) but also had a hit in 1962 producing a #1 song he co-wrote for Joey Dee and the Starlighters (Peppermint Twist) as well as a song he wrote for a New Orleans singer (that fizzled) yet in 1964 became a #5 hit for The Rivieras (California Sun) that was covered later by the punk bands the Ramones and Dictators. He also produced the rock singer Ronnie Hawkins, whose musicians eventually morphed into The Band.
Unhappy with some of the figures behind Roulette, Henry Glover returned to King Records and (upon the death of Syd Nathan) became its president in 1968. In his later career, he worked with Levon Helm of The Band, produced Muddy Waters’ final album for Chess Records (a Grammy winner) and in 1976 produced a solo album for Paul Butterfield.
Henry Glover died of a heart attack in April, 1991 (six weeks shy of his seventieth birthday). He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986, the Country Music Hall of Fame (in 1990) and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.
Besides those already named: others who recorded his songs include Merle Haggard, Harry James, k.d. lang, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Maria Muldaur, Marianne Faithfull, Sam & Dave, Aretha Franklin, Jeff Healey and Nick Lowe.
Among his most famous songs is Drown in My Own Tears— (the title varies on different versions) — which was made famous by Ray Charles in 1956. It was a song that I first heard (as a teen) performed by Johnny Winter on his 1969 second album. It was noteworthy in that Johnny’s guitar does not dominate the song … rather, it is the horn section that drives the production.