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, our Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled Corot, Daubigny, Millet: Visions of France will be at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Art Museum through November 27th.
Prints through November 27WHO WOULDA THUNK that the traditional style of chalet so beloved by tourists visiting this alpine country is not actually a Swiss chalet— but instead, the creation of foreign architects.
WHILE THERE WILL BE future performances by Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork as The Monkees … this past Friday evening featured the last appearance with them by Mike Nesmith— who is retiring from public performances.
WITH THE RELEASE on CD of a previously unreleased comedy routine that George Carlin recorded on the night before 9/11 — it might do well to recall his suggestion that watching old re-runs on TV … necessitated changing the titles to past tense, such as:
“Father Knew Best” ….. “Made Room for Daddy” …. and best of all: “Had Gun, Would Have Traveled”.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Ivy the Cat— a kitteh who lounged in the window of the Boston-area Ivy Insurance agency (and thus was quite familiar to passers-by) — who has died at the age of 15.
The late, great Ivy the CatFILM NOTES — a Chilean journalist jailed and tortured in the hours following the Sept. 11, 1973, coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power, opened up about his experience in a new documentary "Cuentas pendientes" (Unsettled Debts).
THIS COMING SUNDAY will be the final episode of my favorite TV program (CBS Sunday Morning) that the retiring Charles Osgood will host — and his replacement has not yet been named, and likely will be on that final show.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Jenny the Cat — entertaining the residents of the 3rd floor of a Bayside, New York nursing home: including my 91 year-old Aunt Agnes.
Jenny the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the Pulitzer and Tony winning playwright Edward Albee— whom the former UK government minister-turned theater critic Roy Hattersley (while interviewing Arthur Miller) thought, after Miller mentioned someone entering the room, "Of course, you know Ed Albee” , “ It took me some minutes to adjust to the thought that I was sitting between two of the great playwrights of the age” — who has died at the age of 88.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — film stars Mark Ruffalo (“Now You See Me”, “Spotlight”) and Chris Messina (“Argo”, “Julie & Julia”).
Mark Ruffalo (born 1967) Chris Messina (born 1974)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… if you are a Monty Python fan: besides the Goon Show, one of their forerunners was the Bonzo Dog Band— a mixture of British vaudeville humor and early Dixieland jazz in the early 1960’s, then morphing into more absurd comedy and rock music by the end of the decade. While they broke-up in 1970, there have been sporadic reunions that keep their memory alive.
The origins of the band go back to 1962, when two art students (Viv Stanshall and Rodney Slater) met and found their jazz stylings matched their sense of humor. Their name came from a 1920’s British cartoon named Bonzo the Dog — and the Dada art movement — to form the Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Over time, it became the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band (as they grew weary of explaining the Dada movement) and finally the simpler Bonzo Dog Band.
While the band’s line-up over the years fluctuated, here are the main members during the 1960’s: Viv Stanshall (trumpet, lead vocals), Rodney Slater (saxophone), Roger Ruskin Spear (saxophone), Larry ‘Legs’ Smith (drums), Neil Innes (piano, guitar, vocals), Dennis Cowan (bass) and Martin ‘Sam Spoons’ Ash (percussion).
They honed their act, playing in pubs and universities before finally getting steady work and a recording deal by the end of 1966. Their big break came after one of their fans (Paul McCartney) secured them a spot of the Magical Mystery Tour film in 1967 — singing Death Cab for Cutie at the tail end. In addition, they appeared on a British children’s comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set — which also featured some future members of Monty Python.
If you’re unfamiliar with their material, here are some of their best-known tunes (with the second link for each playing a video of the song):
I’m the Urban Spaceman— their biggest-charting hit in the UK (#5 in 1968) that was co-produced by Apollo C. Vermouth (Paul McCartney).
Cool Brittania— a 1967 Bonzo song… later appropriated by Tony Blair in the 90’s.
Trouser Press— a 1967 tune that spawned a U.S. magazine focused on UK pop.
Tent — a 1968 tune that was covered on the 1971 An American Family mini-series, with Grant Loud arriving at a show on a motorcycle to sing lead.
And one of their most popular tunes, Intro-Outro— a song with the music of Duke Ellington’s C-Jam Blues and announcing one-by-one “guest performers” — such as Charles de Gaulle (accordion), John Wayne (xylophone), Liberace (clarinet?), Adolf Hitler (vibes), prime minister Harold Wilson (violin) .. you get the picture.
They toured the US in 1969 as an opening act for both The Who and The Kinks but had at the height of their appeal decided to disband. This was partly due to exhaustion, partly to Stanshall’s growing stage fright and also distaste for their management (although their label forced them to record a final album in 1972 due to contractual arrangements). They also reformed in 1988 to record a single, No Matter Who You Vote For: the Government Always Gets In— a reggae-flavored ditty not released until 1992.
It was not until 2006 that there was a formal reunion of the band’s surviving members in London, with their first album release in thirty-five years coming out in 2007. Since then, there have been sporadic reunions with various members of the band. Two members in particular (the principal songwriters and vocalists) ought to be detailed more fully.
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If there could be said to be a comic linchpin in the Bonzos, it would have to be Viv Stanshall— who was born Vivian Stanshall, but christened by his father as Victor Stanshall Jr. Their relationship was tenuous, and Stanshall reverted back to Vivian upon adulthood. He was an art student with Ian Dury, before attending a different school along with Rodney Slater.
After the Bonzos, he was the MC on Mike Oldfield’s epic Tubular Bells, helped arrange a BBC Radio series about the British upper classes called Sir Henry at Rawlinson End and wrote material for 1985’s Stinkfoot: a Comic Opera— which is performed from time-to-time in the UK.
He died in 1995 at the age of 51 in an electrical fire at home. At the time, Pete Townshend of The Who noted that he would sometimes answer the door “without his trousers” and people always wondered about his stability. Yet he was married for the last fifteen years of his life and had two children (from two marriages). A biography of him was released in 2001 and this quip in an obituary spoke volumes:
"Seen by some as a wild eccentric, and a powerful personality who could be both charming and intimidating, Stanshall was perhaps too large a figure even for the music business to handle .... He needed a producer to channel his energies, but always wanted to remain his own boss, having suffered too many perceived indignities in his early experience of the music business."
Viv Stanshall (1943-1995)Then, if there could be said to be a musical linchpin to the band, it would have to be Neil Innes— who joined the party not long after Stanshall and Slater began it. He and Stanshall wrote the bulk of the troupe’s material and following the 1970 break-up, formed a band with bassist Dennis Cowan called The World — but their one album release did not pan out (and Dennis Cowan died of peritonitis in 1973).
So Innes turned to assisting Monty Python — writing songs for the show and even performing some (he appears on their 1982 Live at the Hollywood Bowl DVD). He wrote the music for the memorable Monty Python & the Holy Grail (even appearing as several odd characters). In 2008, he was the focus of the documentary The Seventh Python— which, in many ways, he came to be.
In the mid-70’s he helped create the “Pre-Fab Four”, better known as The Rutles— and he performed in their 1978 soundtrack film All You Need is Cash, writing most of their songs (including Get Up & Go— a spoof of Get Back) that featured guest spots by Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Paul Simon and several SNL figures.
In the 1980’s he branched into children’s television and since then has been a mainstay on UK television. At age 72, he and his wife recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
Neil Innes w/the Bonzos ... … and in more recent yearsDue to a falling out with Neil Innes in 2008, he is no longer associated with any of the sporadic gatherings by his other bandmates. Still, for Bonzo Dog Band devotees: there is an excellent compilation album of their work and just a few years ago the band’s memoirs entitled Jollity Farm was published, with recollections by Neil Innes, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear, Martin ‘Sam Spoons’ Ash, Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell, Bob Kerr and “Legs” Larry Smith. Also featured are extensive interviews given by the late Viv Stanshall.
The early Bonzo Dog Band Backstage at the 2006 reunionOf all of their songs, my favorite remains Mr. Apollo— a take-off on the Charles Atlas advertisements one saw in the back of magazines years ago.
He's the strongest man the world has ever seen …. And if you take his courses, he’ll make you big and rough
Follow Mr. Apollo …. Everybody knows he's the greatest benefactor of mankind …. Follow Mr. Apollo … Everybody knows that a healthy body makes a healthy mind
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