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 — a photography exhibit entitled A Better Life for Their Children — highlighting the building of nearly 5,000 public “Rosenwald Schools” (with the assistance of Booker T. Washington) is at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville through May 21st.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by the intrepid Digby — on how the right-wing media rivals to Fox are not trying to exploit the Dominion lawsuit.
BOOK NOTES — being published this week is a music biography Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History — whose career was revived in 2010 almost single-handedly by Elton John, resulting in his induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a sideman. Later this year will be an autobiography with the self-explanatory title of Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond …. and published around the same time: the memoirs of Barbra Streisand.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Rocket the Cat — a kitteh left behind by a family fleeing the invasion of Ukraine (even losing a leg) but who was adopted by a British volunteer, naming him Rocket after he was unfazed by hearing missiles … and is now a regular at a pub in suburban Birmingham, England.
ATTENTION CHOCOLATE LOVERS — the image of the Matterhorn will be removed from Toblerone chocolate bars when some production moves from Switzerland to Slovakia — as Swiss law forbids the use of national symbols to promote milk-based products not made exclusively in the country — to be replaced by a generic image of a summit.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this in-depth look at the trolling now taking place at Twitter, written by a reporter listed with the intriguing job title of ... BBC Disinformation and social media correspondent.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Tom the Cat — a New Mexico kitteh who was shot (and lost a leg) but has recovered … and was running in third place (as of last Sunday) in the America’s Favorite Pet 2023 cat category.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the lives of some of the few surviving Watergate figures from a famous poster I bought at Spencer Gifts … and how some are truly contrite, while others ….
HAIL and FAREWELL to a Philadelphia talent agency head named Jerry Samuels — who achieved fame in 1966 in the guise of Napoleon XIV with a novelty #3 single, They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-ha ….
… (which Weird Al and especially Dr. Demento ensured would be an evergreen cult classic) — who has died at the age of eighty-four.
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
OLDER-YOUNGER SISTERS? — the Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin and the Portuguese TV star Alba Baptista (“Warrior Nun” on Netflix).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… truly no time for any sort of profile …. two quick songs.
The Donnas were a punk band (from 1993-2012) who had (among their influences) the Ramones and the riot grrrl movement. This song reminds me of Debbie Harry’s song Rip Her to Shreds …. except the (imagined) bodily harm towards a girlfriend standing in their way …. well, sugar-and-spice this ain’t.
The other is a video that has been making-the-rounds the past few months, and if (just by chance) it’s never been covered in C&J … time to remedy the situation.
This is a Norwegian TV video of various celebrities singing the Beatles’ “Let it Be” circa the year 2010. Some of the celebrities may be past their sell-by-date now … but perhaps not back then.