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 The Unrelenting Stream: Contemporary Society from All Directions - a career retrospective of modern works by Daryl Thetford — will be at the Holter Museum in Helena, Montana to June 23rd.
“What are we searching for?”
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay in the Philadelphia Inquirer by columnist Will Bunch — suggesting the high-tuition privatization of higher-ed by the right wing was the backlash to Vietnam protest … which peaked at Kent State in 1970.
AT THE CONCLUSION of his testimony in the Manhattan trial, I’ll confess to a sneaking tip-of-the-hat to David Pecker. For all of his flaws — and they are manifest — to have become a success in life bearing that name (and not winding up in jail, a hospital or an asylum) takes some intestinal fortitude.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Hercules the Cat - who escaped from a cat hoarding home to being rescued (despite injuries/maladies). Hercules’ photo now appears on cartons of Up&Up Fragrance-Free Clumping Cat Litter, sold at Target stores.
Hercules the Cat
HAIL and FAREWELL to my Long Island high school principal John Rowan, who has died at the age of eighty-eight. One of my teenage role models, this Jesuit priest was the focus of a 2012 Top Comments profile by yours truly (at this link). Lo and behold, his Newsday obituary quoted a paragraph of mine from that essay (and me by name). Dunno who sent this to the obit reporter, but hey.
While there were many attributes I cited twelve years ago, this obituary listed other charitable works of his I didn’t know (his younger brother said “Calling him progressive wouldn’t be progressive enough”), plus he would say Sunday Mass for the gay/lesbian communities on Fire Island. Was so hoping to see Father Rowan at my graduating class 50th reunion this autumn, but the memories will stay.
FRIDAY's CHILD was caught when the city of Dubai was hit with a year’s worth of rain in just 24 hours (with people abandoning their cars in the middle of the street). Hanging on for dear life, this kitteh was mercifully rescued.
Tuxedo cat rescued
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — (Phil Ochs born 1940, Dudley Moore in 1935)
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… this week saw the announcement of the 2024 inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with some familiar names (Dionne Warwick, Peter Frampton, Dave Matthews Band, Cher, Mary J. Blige, Jimmy Buffett among others).
Under the Musical Influence category, they inducted three blues musicians: Big Mama Thornton (whose most famous songs are Hound Dog and Ball & Chain) and John Mayall (still alive at age ninety) — a frequent name I’ve used in these pages as the UK’s ambassador of the blues, as many future rock stars apprenticed with him (such as members of Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Stones, etc.)
The other name is almost unknown outside Europe, but who served as an early mentor to John Mayall in Britain. And this was Alexis Korner, who preceded Mayall in leading the blues boom in the UK but for several reasons never found an audience outside Europe. His story needs to be told.
He was born in Paris in 1928 to an Austrian Jewish father and a mother of Austrian, Greek and Turkish ancestry, and the family moved to London in 1940 — just in time for the WW-II blitz. It was while listening (during a Nazi bombing raid) to a record by boogie-woogie pianist Jimmy Yancey that he decided upon a career in the blues.
After the war in 1949, he joined the traditional (“trad”) jazz group of trombonist Chris Barber (who shared Korner’s love of the blues, and helped financed the passage of US blues veterans to perform in the UK). That version of Barber’s band eventually merged into the big band of trumpeter Ken Colyer.
In late 1954, Korner met-up with harmonica ace Cyril Davies, and the two formed their own group dedicated to traditional blues. By the early 60’s, they had achieved a following (now under the name Blues Incorporated), yet could not find a regular London venue to call home (as the jazz clubs stuck to non-electrified trad jazz). So in 1962, they leased space that became known as the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club (and invited US blues veterans to perform there). Seeing their success, the (far better-known) Marquee Club booked them, and they became the UK’s premier blues band. It had a fluid line-up, with members including future Cream bassist Jack Bruce and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.
Alexis, Jack Bruce, Cyril — w/guest singer M. Jagger
Cyril Davies split from Blues Incorporated in late 1962 when Korner began hiring horn players (as Davies preferred a simple Chicago blues format). Davies went on to record a harmonica-laden instrumental Country Line Special three months later (praised by both Ritchie Blackmore and Ray Davies), but he died at only age thirty-two from a heart condition (exacerbated by heavy drinking).
Yet after the blues-rock explosion of 1964 in Britain, Alexis Korner’s days as a headliner faded. He was an older gent, didn’t have a good voice, was neither a guitar ace nor a major songwriter, and stayed a traditionalist after the blues-rock genre took over. His first tour of the US (his musical source) didn’t take place until 1971, long after John Mayall became the face of British blues world-wide.
He settled into a part-time role on Sir Lew Grade’s ITV network, musical host of a children’s program Five O’Clock Club (for several years) as he sought to educate kids about American music. He did have some notable moments — recording this song in 1968 with a young singer named ... Robert Plant ... which brought Plant to the attention of Jimmy Page. Two years later, Korner recorded (with the big band CCS) his only charted hit in Britain — aptly, this instrumental version of Whole Lotta Love. In time, he settled into an elder statesman role in Britain.
In the 70’s-80’s, he found somewhat larger audiences on continental Europe (helped by his fluency in both French and German). Some of his old musicians joined together in 1978 to celebrate his 50th birthday on a concert video. His last all-star band was in 1981, named Rocket 88 — featuring Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts and the Stones’ unseen pianist Ian Stewart.
A life-long chain smoker, Alexis Korner died on New Year’s Day, 1984 of lung cancer. Perhaps the best tribute are the musicians who either performed in his bands or cited him as an inspiration. Besides the names already mentioned: they include Ian Anderson, Long John Baldry, Ron Wood, Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Manfred Mann, Simon Kirke (of the bands Free and Bad Company) and Pentangle’s Dave Thompson.
1957: Korner, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott & Big Bill Broonzy
From July, 1962 (at the height of Blues Incorporated) — this version of the Chicago blues classic Hoochie Coochie Man — with Cyril Davies on vocals/harmonica, Jack Bruce on bass and Charlie Watts on drums.
