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 American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection will be at the Grand Rapids Art Museum through August 28th.
Now in Grand Rapids, Michigan to August 28th
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay in the American Prospect by Randall Kennedy, predicting that Stephen Breyer will in fact retire and his replacement will be Ketanji Brown Jackson — recently confirmed by the Senate to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and was a district court judge since 2013.
THURSDAY's CHILD dashed in front of a police cruiser in South Bend, Indiana …. fortunately the frightened kitten was eventually coaxed out of hiding.
South Bend saved kitten
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay in The Atlantic by Adam Serwer about police union bosses — who believe (in apocalyptic terms) that "victims of police misconduct are criminals who had it coming, and anyone who objects to such misconduct is probably also a criminal."
FRIDAY's CHILD is one of fifteen kittehs at the Bag of Nails Pub in Bristol, England — whose proprietor says is a “pub with cats, not a cat pub” and by not serving food, there aren’t health department issues — who also has signs reading “Racists, etc. can just sod-off!” and “If you don’t like Johnny Cash, shut up or go away.”
Gin & tonic or Cat & tonic box
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz (no common questions).
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at a fifty-three year-old song, Hooked on a Feeling — that has found several new leases-on-life … not only via cover versions: but also by its use in television and film.
FIRST COUSINS? — Robert Chambers (convicted of manslaughter in 1988 as the NYC “preppy murderer”) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) … with an uncertain future.
Robert Chambers (b. 1966) and Matt Gaetz (born 1982)
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone wrote a D/K diary on this a few months back (cannot locate it) but for those who haven’t heard this: a quick look at a song about our addiction to reality TV and its aftermath.
Todd Snider has been described as alt-country, folk, a troubadour …. and said he was inspired by the late Jerry Jeff Walker (releasing a 2013 tribute album to him). He spent time in jail for marijuana possession, having been in-and-out of rehab three times. When he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he said it finally explained his depression: "I don't know why a person with a job as good as mine, with as much freedom as me, would get as depressed as I can get".
He was mentored by the likes of a member of Jimmy Buffet’s band and also by John Prine and released his debut album in 1994 (with "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" among its songs). In 2000, he signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy label.
In addition to his solo albums, he also worked with a band from 2014-2016 called Hard Working Americans (including the bassist from Widespread Panic) that released several albums.
Todd Snider turns age fifty-five this October and released his nineteenth album earlier this year, entitled The First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder and begins touring again, from July through early December.
Todd Snider (born 1966)
Although you may well remember him from songs like “What’s New, Pussycat” and “Delilah” or his TV variety show … over the past decades the Welsh-born singer Tom Jones has remade himself into a blues singer: appearing on the 2003 Martin Scorsese film series The Blues. In the film Red, White and Blues (about British blues, directed by Mike Figgis of “Leaving Las Vegas” fame) you can hear Tom sing old blues tunes Love Letters and Goin’ Down Slow (both with guitarist Jeff Beck).
This year, he released a new album Surrounded by Time — his forty-first album — and turned age eighty-one earlier this month.
Tom Jones (born 1940)
One of the songs he performed on his new album — recited, not sang, to be clear — was Todd Snider’s Talking Reality Television Blues. With a musical arrangement reminiscent of the band Radiohead, it details the history of television and the last set of verses references FormerGuy.
And in the video itself: the final image is of Tom Jones, circa 1970.
Well come gather around, and I'll sing you a song
About a crazy old world that's coming along
'Til one day some fool made the decision
To turn on the television
Of course, radio reported we'd all ignore it
The papers said we'd have no time for it!
But before you knew it, you knew Milton Berle
And we all had a new escape from the world
All tuned in, before too soon
We were watching a man walk on the moon
He made it look as easy as driving a car
Video killed the radio star
I got the talking blues
Talking blues is easy to do
All you gotta do is rhyme a line or two
Rhyme a line or two and then
You don't even have to rhyme again
See? I can say anything I want to now
Well, you know ... within reason
Say sitcom, catchphrase, game show nation
Television soon defied explanation
As the situation took to such a degree
That eventually we all heard about cable TV
Of course, free TV news swore we'd ignore it
The average family could never afford it!
But again they were wrong, eventually
Everybody wanted their MTV
We were all tuned in, but now the shock
Watching a kid do a thing called the "moonwalk"
Sliding backwards really was eventually too far
Reality killed that video star
I got the talking blues
So simple at first, it was hard to foresee
The impending collision with reality
But it soon seemed TV turned on itself
When "The Real World" came on like it was something else
Of course, actors all acted like they weren't floored
Hoping eventually that we'd all get bored
But one after another we pretended not to act
As we hurdled ever forward towards alternative facts
Then a show called "The Apprentice" came on and pretty soon
An old man with a comb-over had sold us the moon
We stayed tuned in, now here we are
Reality killed by a reality star
I got the talking blues
Hills, that is
Poll
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Show Results
Who Lost the Week ?!?!?
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Vote Now!
Who Lost the Week ?!?!?
The NCAA, losing a Supreme Court case that its schools/conferences violate the Sherman Antitrust Act by agreeing to limit how much each can compensate athletes for academic-related costs
Dr. George Zuzukin, forced to resign his post as a Texas county official after a racial Facebook post lambasting the Black community, local city officials, Joe Biden and Pope Francis
Film star Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four, Creed), forced to rename his line of rum J'Ouvert, after being accused of cultural appropriation of Trinidad culture, including by Nicki Minaj
Rudy Giuliani, suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York over his false statements regarding the 2020 election
Peloton, whose Tread+ (selling for $3,000) now requires a monthly $40 subscription simply to use the 'Just Run' feature on its high-end treadmill product line, angering many customers
Nagayama Osamu, forced out as chairman of Toshiba by shareholders, incensed by that the government had colluded with the board to affect the outcome of their last meeting, in a landmark for Japanese commerce
Derek Chauvin, sentenced to 22+ years in prison for the murder of George Floyd (more than the 12 ½ years suggested by state guidelines, though less than the 30 years prosecutors sought)
Goth singer Marilyn Manson, indicted for assaulting a videographer at a concert in 2019, spitting at the videographer's camera several times
Brazil’s environment minister Ricardo Salles, resigning amid a police investigation into an illegal wood-smuggling ring and under whose watch the rate of deforestation in the Amazon soared by over 40%
Rodney Scott, fired as chief of the Border Patrol for supporting FormerGuy’s immigration policies and constructing the Wall, and refusing to stop referring to undocumented immigrants as "illegal aliens"
The Georgia state government, facing a lawsuit by the Justice department, alleging that new voting laws discriminate against Blacks and criminalizes handing out refreshments to people waiting to vote
Matt Hancock, health secretary of Britain, already under fire for his handling of the pandemic, now resigning after breaching social distancing rules with an aide he hired and with whom he was having an affair
Stefan Lofven, the first Swedish prime minister to lose a vote of no confidence (due to his opposition to end rent controls for new apartments) and now facing either resignation or having to call a snap election
A convoy of Trump supporters that swarmed a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a Texas highway last October, now facing two lawsuits for violating the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which prohibits violent election intimidation
Multiple names listed ..... or a write-in ..... either way, please elaborate in a comment
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