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.
CHEERS to an excellent northern New England meet-up yesterday in Kittery, Maine hosted by BiPM and Michael. A visitor from the Midwest was in Boston for a conference this week, and was able to take Greyhound up to Portsmouth, NH (just across the river from Maine). As we had time, myself along with freedapeople decided to stop-in for coffee …. and who should we meet there, but …..
Yours truly w/Governor Maggie Hassan (D-NH)With any luck: in two weeks, our governor will be handing Sen. Kelly Ayotte her walking papers. Wotta omen before a meet-up hosted by BiPM and Michael, huh? — h/t to 1864 House (for taking the photo) and freedapeople (on right in the photo).
SORRY, FOLKS — this happened several months ago and has occurred again: I have been unable to save a poll on this diary. I have tried re-drafting it (from scratch) on Firefox, Google Chrome and Explorer both yesterday and this morning … to no avail. Hopefully, it will work next week.
ART NOTES — an exhibition of prints/photographs entitled Vision and Justice: The Art of Citizenship is at the Harvard University Teaching Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts through January 8th.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts to January 8thHAIL and FAREWELL to the co-founder of the legendary Chicago blues record label, Phil Chess— who has died at the age of 95.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Hüsnü the Cat— who wandered onto the desk of a morning TV show in Turkey, whom the host declared a “surprise guest” — then had to call for help from production assistants to remove the cat from the studio …. after it curled-up on his laptop. (The kitteh was later adopted by a staff member).
“Good Morning, Denizli”MUSIC NOTES #1 — the English pioneering jazz/rock guitarist John McLaughlin has announced his final US tour (ending in December, 2017) ... with a set each night devoted to music from his Mahavishnu Orchestra days in the 1970’s.
MUSIC NOTES #2 — a museum dedicated to the late reggae star Peter Tosh opens this week in his native Jamaica.
NOT EVERYONE RECALLS that there was a fifth Marx Brother (as he never made it past the vaudeville stage). L-R below, in a 1957 photo: Harpo (Arthur, 1888-1964), Zeppo (Herbert, 1901-1979), Chico (Leonard, 1887-1961), Groucho (Julius, 1890-1977) … and fifth brother Gummo (Milton, 1892-1977) who became an entertainment agent after WW-II.
The five Marx Brothers (February, 1957)IN AN EFFORT to link the two cities more closely, the state of Washington and the province of British Columbia have announced a Cascadia Innovation Corridor— in technology, education and better transportation — to benefit the cities of Vancouver and Seattle.
GRIPPING READ for your weekend: a National Review writer who considered an independent conservative bid for president (and decided not to pursue it) wrote an essay entitled The Price I’ve Paid for Opposing Donald Trump— and when he writes, “My youngest daughter is African American, adopted from Ethiopia, and in alt-right circles that’s an unforgivable sin. It’s called “race-cucking” or “raising the enemy.” ……. you’ll understand just how high that price is.
FRIDAY's CHILDREN are named Romeo the Cat and Juliet the Dog— brought in as strays to a California shelter, whose staff learned the pair are inseparable — and thus, will only permit adoptions as a bonded pair.
21st Century Romeo & JulietBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC …. as well as a secondary quiz on unusual friendships.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the teen-aged author who made it big, S.E. Hinton— on the eve of the 50th anniversary of her book The Outsiders.
BACK in 2012 the GOP’s famous “autopsy” report famously noted difficulties with Latino and other non-white voters — less noted was a section on the gender gap. In the sure-to-follow 2016 autopsy report, the gender gap looms even larger— with GOP women worrying about the future.
GRANDFATHER-GRANDSON? — Academy Award winner Clark Gable and British rock musician Bobby Valentino (Fabulous Poodles, Mark Knopfler).
Clark Gable (1901-1960) Bobby Valentino (born 1954)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… there are three blues guitarists named King who have influenced a generation of rock and soul musicians. B.B. King needs no introduction, and Freddie King became known especially for his Texas instrumentals. But the third member is Albert King– known for his Memphis-based soul sound. He became an influence to future stars (both black and white) and - while he adopted the name King from B.B. (as his given last name was Nelson) - the All-Music Guide essayist Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that while many modern electric blues gutarists "seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliché" ... Albert King never did.
He was born in the same town as B.B. King (Indianola, Mississippi) but came of age in Forrest City, Arkansas. He played in Gospel groups in his youth, then (briefly) played drums for Jimmy Reed’s band in Gary, Indiana. At that time, he adopted the last name King when B.B. King’s version of the Lowell Fulson song Three O’Clock Blues became popular, then made his way to St. Louis. He worked in construction as a day job, earning the nickname The Velvet Bulldozer – in part due to the machinery he operated, in part because he stood 6’4”, 250 lbs.
It was at this time that he began playing an iconic Gibson electric guitar, the Flying V– which was discontinued only a year after its introduction in 1958. However, its popularity never waned, and when Jimi Hendrix added it to his performance guitars, Gibson re-introduced it in 1967 – becoming part of many rock performer’s collections – yet it is Albert King who truly popularized the model. And like Jimi Hendrix, Albert King was left-handed … and like him, simply turned a right-handed guitar upside down to perform (easier on a symmetrical Flying V than on other models, to be sure).
Beginning in the mid-1950’s, Albert King recorded for a number of labels in the St. Louis area, gaining an audience at his concerts. His first single to chart came in 1959, recording Little Milton’s "I’m a Lonely Man". It was not until his 1961 recording "Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" that had a hit, reaching #14 in the R&B charts. Later he recorded for the Midwestern label Coun-Tree, becoming a major star in the region … so much that label president Leo Gooden became jealous enough to drop him from the label.
Finally in 1966 he signed with the Memphis soul label Stax– and with backing from the Bar-Kays as well as the MG’s, he achieved fame within soul as well as the emerging blues-rock community. His first hit was "Laundromat Blues" from that same year, then a 1967 hit with Crosscut Saw– which dates back to a 1941 song by Tommy McClennan – both of which made it high on the RB charts. He also had a minor hit with Oh, Pretty Woman– not the Roy Orbison tune, but one written by Memphis disk jockey A.C. Williams (which John Mayall helped to popularize).
And being on the Stax label ensured that King would be noticed nationwide, his first opportunity to do so. Albert King was an influence not only on white rock stars (such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Joe Walsh) but on African-American guitarists as well (veterans Otis Rush and Albert Collins as well as younger performers such as Robert Cray). Eric Clapton has all-but-admitted that the riff to "Layla" came from Albert King's "As the Years Go Passing By".
His fame grew amongst white audiences by being in the right place at the right time. He performed at several of Bill Graham’s Fillmore venues: the first night (February 1, 1968) at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium (along with John Mayall and Jimi Hendrix), as well as the first and last shows at New York’s Fillmore East - March 8, 1968 (with Tim Buckley as well as Big Brother) and at the gala closing night (June 27, 1971). It was at the Fillmore Auditorium that he recorded a definitive live album that featured "Blues Power" – telling the audience, 'some people call them the reds, some the pinks' – and even makes a funky song out of "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock.
He widened his appeal in the next few years by recording albums with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – calling it an '87-piece blues band' – plus a 1969 Elvis Presley tribute album that included an instrumental version of "One Night" by Smiley Lewis. But he remained a bluesman, as seen by 1972's engagingly-named I’ll Play the Blues for You - another critically-acclaimed live album.
His career as a major star began to ebb with the decline of soul/blues in the mid-70’s – along with Stax Records itself (and he left the label in 1974). After some label-hopping in the 1970’s (with some half-hearted efforts at soul-disco albums) he eventually returned to a more pure soul/blues direction.
He not only began performing at the burgeoning blues festival circuit, he befriended many young rock musicians, performing on their albums and in duet concerts. All this while travelling with his band on a customized bus with the inscription "I’ll Play the Blues for You" on the side (such a deal!) despite health problems that increased during the 80’s, yet every ‘retirement’ he attempted was short-lived.
In 1992 he was still active, recording an album entitled Red House– after the Jimi Hendrix classic – that is obscure today, due to some poor production work. He performed in Los Angeles on December 19th, then returned home to Memphis for the holidays and to rest up for a European tour in the new year.
But Albert King died on December 21, 1992 of a heart attack (just four months shy of his 70th birthday). His funeral was attended by many people (with Joe Walsh performing a slide guitar version of ‘Amazing Grace’) and a funeral procession went down Beale Street in true New Orleans style, before his burial in Edmonson, Arkansas (not far from where he grew up).
Nearly twenty-four years later, his legacy is still intact. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983, in 2013 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was ranked by Rolling Stone as #13 in its 100 Greatest Guitarists list. In 2011 Guitar Player magazine featured an article (not online) with the title "Ten things you gotta do to play like Albert King".
Finally, as B.B. King stated in his autobiography - "He wasn't my brother in blood ...… but he sure was my brother in Blues".
Albert King (1923-1992)Just a year after signing with Stax in 1966, the label compiled some of the singles he recorded for them into a 1967 album which the All-Music Guide considers "One of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time" — and ranked by Rolling Stone as #491 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
In addition to the songs mentioned previously, the album’s title track is Born Under a Bad Sign– not written by Albert King himself, but by Booker T. Jones (the leader of the MG’s) with lyrics by William Bell. With its iconic riff it became Albert King’s signature tune, and has been performed by the likes of Paul Butterfield, Rita Coolidge, Melissa Etheridge and Jimi Hendrix. Two notable versions you can listen to are by Cream as well as …… errr ….. umm …. Homer Simpson (hey …. it’s not all that bad).
But below you can listen to Albert King’s original.
Hard luck and trouble is my only friend ... I've been on my own ever since I was ten
I can't read, haven't learned how to write … My whole life has been one big fight
Wine and women is all I crave … A big-legged woman is gonna carry me to my grave
Born under a bad sign — I've been down since I began to crawl ... If it wasn't for bad luck — I wouldn't have no luck … And if it wasn't for real bad luck — I wouldn't have no luck at all
x YouTube Video