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 Laramie, 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 Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism will be at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Museum to May 2nd.
In Albuquerque to May 2nd
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay by the estimable columnist for The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland — that those in the UK who want to see an elected head-of-state (rather than a hereditary one) have some newfound cause for hope, yet the pull for a monarchy will still remain, even when the present monarch dies.
WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION SUGGESTION #1 (via email) is the return of a long-discontinued weekly compendium of news, music and culture entitled Altercation — from author/professor Eric Alterman — arriving each Friday morning. It’s easy to over-subscribe to these (some seem to arrive each day) yet this is a favorite.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Luther the Brewpub Cat — an Indiana kitteh hired initially for its brewing operations (as a mouser protecting grains) yet now largely serves as entertainment for the pub itself, with craft beers named after him and who attracts non-beer drinkers to the pub.
Luther the Brewpub Cat
WHILE IN MOST COUNTRIES young people are far more tolerant of gays, the continent of Africa — with notable exceptions such as Botswana and neighboring South Africa — the young seem to be nearly as intolerant as their grandparents.
WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION SUGGESTION #2 (via YouTube) is a short, 2-minute music video (from an English couple soon celebrating their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary) called Toyah & Robert's Sunday Lockdown Lunch. This involves singer Toyah Willcox (who regularly made the UK pop charts beginning at the end of the 70’s) and guitarist Robert Fripp (the founder of King Crimson).
Robert & Toyah’s Sunday Lunch
They perform a short rendition of rock classics (such as “Purple Haze”, “I Love Rock & Roll”, “Black Dog”, “You Really Got Me” and “Enter Sandman”) and it’s quite humorous due to her vivaciousness …. and his phlegmatic expression.
FRIDAY's CHILD is an English kitteh who was stuck in a tree for more than forty-eight hours … and when the London Fire Brigade responded and set-up a ladder … proceeded to walk down the ladder on its own, then ran-off … with the station commander saying, “I’ve been in [The Fire Service] more than 25 years … and I’ve never seen a cat do that before”.
“Thanks …. I got this”
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 by VIDEO — impersonator Miles Fisher and a “deepfake” of actor Tom Cruise — generated by the Belgian visual effects artist Christopher Ume.
Miles Fisher/kinda-sorta “Tom Cruise”
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… while he has one lasting composition that was performed as a big band stand-alone song, covered by others and (forty-five years later) used as a TV theme song: you probably know the works of composer Earle Hagen mostly from TV themes. Lots of them.
Born in Chicago in 1919, his family relocated to California and he attended Hollywood High. His trombone playing was proficient enough that he left school at age sixteen to work with the touring bands of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, then as a featured soloist with the bandleader Ray Noble in 1939. During his off-time he taught trombone for extra money, then added side work with the CBS radio network in Los Angeles. When WW-II broke-out, he enlisted and played in the U.S. Army Air Force band.
Upon his return he was hired as an orchestrator/arranger for 20th Century Fox, working on such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Call Me Madame and Carousel among others for the rest of the decade. Yet by 1952, he sensed that the golden age of movie musicals was beginning to fade, and decided to make the jump to the newly emerging world of television.
In 1953, for the new Make Room for Daddy show: he used a big-band re-working of the traditional tune Danny Boy (for its star Danny Thomas). This brought him to the attention of the show’s producer Sheldon Leonard — who gave him work on his subsequent shows, beginning with The Dick Van Dyke Show. Leonard later formed a publishing house with him, earning considerable royalties.
Perhaps his most memorable TV theme is The Fishin’ Hole — the whistling theme to The Andy Griffith Show — with him doing the whistling. His most ambitious was for the Robert Culp/Bill Cosby show I Spy — where Sheldon Leonard wanted original music for each episode. Earle Hagen travelled around the world with the film crew, using “world music” to suit the location on all eighty-two episodes, winning an Emmy in the process.
He continued into the late 60’s to mid-80’s, with the theme songs for Rango, Gomer Pyle, That Girl and The Mod Squad, plus contributing pieces to the “Dukes of Hazzard”, “Dobie Gillis” and “Eight is Enough”. In his later years, he wrote two books on arranging/scoring music and for private lessons: would sometimes only ask for boxes of golf balls, to fuel his passion. In the year 2002, his autobiography was titled Memoirs of a Famous Composer … Nobody Ever Heard Of.
Earle Hagen died in 2008 at the age of eighty-eight and in 2011 was posthumously inducted into both the Television Academy Hall of Fame as well as the Emmy Hall of Fame.
With Tommy Dorsey in 1938
Earle Hagen (1919-2008)
That song I alluded to in the intro is one that Earle Hagen wrote as a twenty-year old in Ray Noble’s band, intended as a tribute to Duke Ellington (in general) and to his alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (in particular). Indeed, the first time that I heard Harlem Nocturne: I’d have supposed it was written by the Duke himself.
Recently I mentioned it was utilized in 1984 as the theme song for the Mike Hammer television show (performed by Bud Shank on alto sax) and thus quite apropos considering Earle Hagen’s career path. Yet its endurance is marked by those who have recorded the song — most as instrumentals, and others with different sets of lyrics (the first by Hagen’s bandmate w/Ray Noble, Dick Rogers). For starters: Mink DeVille, Mantovani, Elvis Presley’s guitarist Bill Black, Woody Herman, the Ventures, Ernestine Anderson, Martin Denny, Edgar Winter and (fittingly) — Duke Ellington.
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Who Lost the Week ?!?!?
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Who Lost the Week ?!?!?
Winston Marshall, the banjoist of Mumford & Sons, "taking time away" from it after criticism for supporting a book written by right-wing writer Andy Ngo about Antifa’s ‘plot to destroy democracy’
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), speaking approvingly about independent restaurant operators winning $28.6b worth of targeted relief in the American Recovery Plan … which he voted against
Iowa county attorney John Sarcone, filing the only 2020 prosecution of a reporter covering BLM (a non-white woman from the Des Moines Register), losing in only two hours … then doubling-down afterwards
Creighton University men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott, placed on a week’s suspension after it was revealed he told his players to “stay on the plantation” during a locker room speech
Georgetown Law adjunct professor Sandra Sellers, fired after a Zoom conversation she had with a colleague (about her low appraisal of African-American students) was made public
Wells Fargo & Chase banks, under fire for saying the ARP $1,400 direct deposits (which in many smaller institutions were credited yesterday) will not appear in customer’s accounts until Wednesday
Oklahoma high school basketball announcer Matt Rowan, forced to apologize for calling a girls’ team (who were kneeling for the anthem) a racial slur … then blaming the outburst on his diabetes
19-year-old Michael Kauffman (and a 15-year-old juvenile), arrested for burning a 100 year-old Pennsylvania barn painted in support of Biden/Harris and used as a meet-up venue during the campaign
Lara Trump, as a dog rescue associated with her has spent $1.9 mill on fundraising expenses at Mar-a-Lago and the Trump golf course over the past seven years
Piers Morgan, resigning as TV co-host of ‘Good Morning Britain’ after his long disdain of Meghan Markle led to his doubting she had suicidal thoughts, resulting in thousands of complaints about his behavior
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), as numerous colleagues are calling on him to resign, and facing impeachment by the NYS Legislature with many Democrats inclined to remove him from office
Missouri pastor Stewart-Allen Clark, placed on leave after having delivered a sermon that advised women to lose weight and aspire to resemble former first lady Melania Trump
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), under fire for telling a talk show host he wasn’t afraid during the insurrection because the rioters 'love this country,' but would have felt unsafe were it Black Lives Matter protesters instead
The Metropolitan Police of London, breaking-up a night vigil for a woman abducted/murdered (by a London police officer) in a ham-handed way blamed on Covid, while allowing male sports celebrations undisturbed
Multiple names listed ..... or a write-in ..... either way, please elaborate in a comment
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