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 Sargent & Paris— showcasing the early career of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) from his arrival in Paris in 1874 as an 18-year-old art student through the mid-1880s — is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC through August 3rd.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this Substack essay by Mary Geddry with the self-explanatory title, Out of Service: How Wall Street Turned Fire Trucks, Fabric Stores, and Public Safety into Collateral.
Modern-day BURIED TREASURE as two hikers in the Czech Republic discovered two containers containing gold coins, valued at nearly $340,000.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Mirage the Cat— who survived a nearly 400-foot fall off a Bryce Canyon, Utah cliff (in a carrier) that left her owners dead. Mirage was matted and sore but alert, friendly, and able to eat/drink on her own and though suffering fractured ribs and broken teeth, blood work came back normal.
NO CARNIVAL for YOU as an eight year-old boy in Kentucky wanted prizes for a carnival and used his mother’s phone to order 70,000 Dum-Dum lollipops: with 22 of the 30 cases arriving at their home before his mother was able to return them.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this short Substack essay by former GOP activist Ally Sammarco, explaining how her abandoning MAGA to be a Democratic activist began with ... 45’s response to Covid.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Artemis the Cat - who was stolen from his South Philadelphia home a week ago ... almost recovered via his AirTag (which was then discarded) ... now reunited after being turned in to a shelter.
MUSIC NOTES— from mid-August to late September, The Who will be on their farewell North American tour, with sixteen dates at this link.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #3 is this Substack essay by the NPR entertainment critic Eric Deggans, chastising mainstream media (over the Trump Film Tariff trial balloon) whom he advised to wait (until-and-unless an actual policy proposal emerged) … which “didn’t seem to satisfy many interviewers, who pushed for sky-is-falling pronouncements to fit the hysteria of the moment”.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
FATHER-SON?— actor David “Joe Isuzu” Leisure & Def. Secretary Pete Hegseth.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone who is far better known today for his songwriting than singing was Titus Turner— who had a few years in the R&B music limelight from the late 50’s to early 60’s before fading into obscurity. Little is written about his live performances (which may explain a lot) yet his songs — in the hands of others — deserve mention.
Born in Atlanta in 1933, he began recording for Okeh Records as an eighteen year-old without much success. The website Spontaneous Lunacy felt his talents as a singer were limited, yet had a knack for not only writing but also responding to songs that were popular with “answer records” (needing only minor adaptations).
1955 saw his first success as Little Willie John (the composer of the song Fever that Peggy Lee helped popularize) had a hit with the Titus Turner-written All Around the World (with the blues singer Little Milton having a hit fourteen years later, re-titling it Grits Ain’t Groceries). Little Willie John then co-wrote with Turner the song Leave My Kitten Alone— with cover versions by The Beatles and Elvis Costello.
Recording for King Records in 1959, Titus Turner capitalized on his voice having some similarity with Lloyd Price by recording two answer records: following Price’s Stagger Lee (with the Return of Stag-O-Lee) and then Price’s I’m Gonna Get Married (with We Told You Not to Marry).
Titus Turner’s highest chart success came in 1961 with a cover of a 1951 hit for Vaughn Monroe, Sound Off— an Army marching drill chant. That proved to be his last hit, releasing a series of singles throughout the decade to little acclaim, with his final recording being 1969’s His Funeral, My Trial— which I wonder was sort of an answer record to the bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson’s Your Funeral, My Trial?
Titus Turner died in his native Atlanta at the age of only fifty-one in 1984. Besides those mentioned elsewhere: his work has been performed by acts as diverse as Gale Storm, Edwin Starr, Savoy Brown, J Geils, Julie London, B.J. Thomas, Lou Rawls and Elvis Presley.
His recordings that are available on YouTube are sporadic — Hungry Man is a song (representative of his style) that I like.
My favorite song of his is one I can’t locate a recording of him singing it. As was his wont, it was Ray Charles who recorded the classic version of Sticks and Stones. It was also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, The Zombies, Wanda Jackson, The Righteous Brothers and Elvis Costello. Yet the first time I heard it (and possibly for some of you) was on Joe Cocker’s landmark 1970 live album Mad Dogs and Englishmen.