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.
ART NOTES - murals depicting the multicultural history of railroads in Minnesota for the Union Depot railway station are at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul through December 7th.
RAIL NOTES #1 - visitors to Scotland can take a guided tour of the centrail rail station in Glasgow - taking in everything from the huge glass roof to derelict tunnels deep underground - through February.
RAIL NOTES #2 - competition from discount airlines and a lack of cooperation amongst different governments have made European night trains an endangered species.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the baseball pitcher Ray Sadecki - who appeared in the World Series of 1964 (with St. Louis) and in 1973 (with the NY Mets) - who has died at the age of 73.
THURSDAY's CHILD is Monty the Cat - born without a nasal bridge (nose bone) due to a chromosome abnormality: causing him to sneeze a lot, but is healthy and breathes normally.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
FASHION NOTES - forty years ago, the designer Diane von Fürstenberg brought to market her wrap dress - which my cousin Mary Ellen was an 'early adopter' of - that filled-in a gap in the women's market of the day (having sleeves, yet still being stylish) and which enjoyed a comeback in the late 90's from those discovering them in thrift stores.
ARCHEOLOGY NOTES - more dinosaur species have been found in China than anywhere else - due to the country's great expanses of rock from the Mesozoic era - and farmers often make more money selling fossils than crops.
FRIDAY's CHILD is Honey Bee the Cat - a blind kitteh rescued in Fiji by an animal shelter and adopted by a Seattle couple, who take her on hikes via a leash.
PROGRAMMING NOTE - I'll be away for Thanksgiving, so there will neither be a Friday Odds & Ends posting (nor a Sunday diary) this coming week. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. If you have relatives from Planet Starboard: hopefully, you'll survive. Speaking of which .....
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly was host of the Top Comments diary with a look at the Democratic Blue Wall - the eighteen states which have voted for the Democratic candidate in the last six presidential campaigns, totaling 242 electoral votes needed (out of 270). There are some GOP pundits who believe the Wall is even higher now. Not something to start a conversation with your relatives over, I don't advise .... (but a push-back for you, if need be).
By Request FATHER-SON? from Elwood Dowd - musician David Bromberg and NFL quarterback Andrew Luck. Whaddya think?
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...................... when Tim Meadows was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, I always got a chuckle out of his recurring skit as a DJ on a show called The Quiet Storm - who would then press a 'thunder' sound effects button - all the while, unaware it was a trademarked radio format featuring mellow, late-night R&B. Had I known, I would have immediately associated this with the sound of Anita Baker whose career has been on-again-off-again (often by choice due to family reasons) and in recent years has had some turmoil. Still, she practically defines the genre and whose voice still enchants whenever I hear it.
The native of Toledo, Ohio came of age in Detroit and listened to jazz singers such as Sarah Vaughn and Nancy Wilson.In her teens she sang in a Gospel choir and local bands before winning an audition to join the Detroit band Chapter 8 at age seventeen. They released an album in 1979 but when their label was acquired by Arista Records they were dropped.
She worked as a legal secretary before being contacted by a Chapter 8 manager about joining his new label. After the debacle with Arista she was hesitant to give up a steady job but relented. The result was The Songstress which - while not a hit - got enough airplay and word-of-mouth to interest Elektra into signing her in 1985.
With producer Michael Powell (an old Chapter 8 bandmate) she released the 1986 Grammy-winning album Rapture with hits such as the title track and the song she co-wrote Sweet Love reaching #8 on the US charts (and #13 in Britain). I recall seeing her perform on "Saturday Night Live" and it launched a world-wide tour (with a DVD release) leading to another Grammy the following year for her back-up singing on "Ain't Got No Need to Worry" by The Winans. This was such a great start, her minor-label debut album was subsequently acquired (and re-released) by Elektra.
She broke the sophomore jinx by following-up in 1988 with the album Giving You the Best That I Got - with tunes like "Just Because" and the title track (her highest-charting hit reaching #3) leading to two more Grammys. While she had a hand in writing some of her songs up to this point, she pursued this even more in 1990 with the aptly-named Compositions that included singles such as "Talk to Me" and "Whatever it Takes". While not as big a seller, after awhile she had earned her seventh Grammy, performed to sold-out audiences near and wide and was on a fast highway.
And then, she took the off-ramp to start a family. She participated in Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets album, co-singing the standard Witchcraft - and after the birth of her first child self-produced her 1994 release Rhythm of Love (recorded at her home) and with hits such as "I Apologize" which earned her the eighth Grammy of her career.
But she then went on a extended hiatus, to raise her family and also to resolve disputes with Elektra. This led her to sign with Atlantic Records in 2000, but had to scrap a project due to defective recording equipment.
Finally in 2004 she sought out Bruce Lundvall, the new president of the venerable jazz label Blue Note - who was seeking to branch the label out into related fields. And for someone who obviously had jazz influences, this move seemed like a match-made-in-heaven. Thus in 2004 she released My Everything which featured "You're My Everything" and signified her return to the music scene. The next year she followed-up with Christmas Fantasy - a mix of traditional and non-traditional Yuletide songs.
The past few years, though, have been rather turbulent for her. She went through an acrimonious divorce in which she was threatened with jail time over the split of royalties, had to settle with the state of Michigan over tax disputes - and joined the club of singers having a rough go over singing the national anthem at the NBA Finals of 2010. And early next year, she will have to answer a lwsuit filed by her attorney for non-payment of bills.
This may be why her first album in years entitled Forever Love has been held-up from release for some time. But with eight Grammys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - even if her career ends today, she has still scaled some awesome heights.
Of all of her songs, it's a 1986 tune called Same Ole Love that is my favorite. And below you can listen to it.
Flashbacks of the times we’ve had
Some made us laugh, some made us sad
We used to break up to make up
All the fun that came from those love games
I think I need someone new
Oh, it just won’t do,
because I think about you baby
There’s a reason I feel this way
All the things you do
Well, it might be the things that you say
Your love never changes
It’s like a picture in a frame
and it remains the same
From beginning to end
365 days of the year
I want your same ole love
All I want to do
is keep on loving you
I want your same ole love