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— a photography exhibition entitled Homeward to the Prairie, I Come: Gordon Parks— highlighting his documentary work for LIFE magazine, alongside more experimental images — will be in his home state at the Wichita, Kansas Art Museum to July 27th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by Amanda Marcotte in Salon, writing that WH press secretary Karoline Leavitt's“official job is to speak for the president. Her actual job, however, is to keep the mostly male MAGA base invigorated”.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Rose the Cat - who loves being the center-of-attention at the Book Bin in Salem, Oregon.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay by a clean energy think tank, suggesting that there are two key races in the energy transition: the renewables race to generate electricity, and the electrification race to supply final energy.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Dusty the Stowaway Cat - a regular visitor to a hospital close to her home (on the UK's Isle of Man) who hopped onto a van bringing her 400 miles away in the south of England ... now located, and returning home.
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 the Good Riddance (Anthony Weiner), Hail and Farewell (Bobby Sherman and Lalo Schifrin) and Milestone Birthdays (June Lockhart) edition ... at this link.
OLDER-YOUNGER SISTERS? — TV stars Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper in Mad Men) and McKenna Grace (Esther Keyes in The Handmaid's Tale).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… just time for a short profile of the English guitarist Mick Ralphs, who has died at the age of eighty-one. He had the distinction of being a member of two famous UK bands: Mott the Hoople (MTH) as well as Bad Company (Bad Co.) Interestingly, he claimed that his guitar inspiration was Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MG’s.
The genesis of MTH began in 1966, then the formal name was adopted in 1969. Mick Ralphs stayed with them through 1974, after they had their breakthrough 1972 hit (written by David Bowie) All the Young Dudes, as well as 1973’s All the Way from Memphis— as Mick had his guitar stolen before a concert there.
Mick was growing restless, unhappy with both the material the band was evolving into as well as the glam-rock image that management wanted and that neither his own voice (nor Ian Hunter’s) was suited to the types of songs that Ralphs was composing. He wound up leaving to join other musicians also in a bind.
Bad Co. was a supergroup, made up of musicians with a name in Britain (if not yet in the USA). Vocalist/guitarist Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke came from the band Free. Their big hit was 1972’s All Right Now (#4 in the US) which they felt became an albatross, as their record company wanted follow-ups, leading (along with ego clashes) to the band’s demise. On bass was Raymond “Boz” Burrell, who had come from the progressive rock band King Crimson yet left when creative differences with band leader Robert Fripp led to a break.
Their first hit single was the Mick Ralphs written Can’t Get Enough (#5 in 1974) — one that he had written in MTH yet the others had rejected. In 1975 a song that Paul Rodgers had been toying with for years … had a chorus added by Mick Ralphs that made Feel Like Making Love reach #10 in the US charts.
By 1982, after years of enormous success the band disintegrated: declining record sales (as their hit single output decreased), their record company went bankrupt, grinding tours, substance abuse, Paul Rodgers wanting to spend time with his new family (the only band member with kids at the time) and a fistfight between him and Boz Burrell took its toll.
Years later Simon Kirke led several different incarnations of Bad Co. and the original quartet did stage reunion tours over the years (with Boz Burrell’s death from a heart attack in 1996 at the age of sixty).
Mick Ralphs formed his own Mick Ralphs Band and released three solo albums (in 1984, 2001 and 2003).
Although proud to learn of it: had he lived, he wouldn’t have been able to attend Bad Company’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this autumn. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 2016 (just days after his final show with the band in London) which left him bedridden until his death. He is at last free of pain.
My favorite song he wrote is one that he performed with Mott the Hoople and brought with him to Bad Company. Ready for Love is one he sang on the MTH version (but was unhappy with it). MTH lead singer Ian Hunter didn’t think he was the right voice for it, either. When Mick came across Paul Rodgers on the UK circuit, he assured Mick that he could do it. To me, it’s Mick’s signature tune.