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 — a photography exhibit entitled The Eye of Senator Patrick Leahy - Photographs of a Witness to History — from the recently retired senator’s portfolio of politicians, human rights leaders, artists and everyday people — is on display at the Vermont Supreme Court’s gallery in Montpelier to March 29th.
Bill Clinton inaugural
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay by the nonpareil Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland on 33 Pictures that Defined British Politics — along with the photos themselves.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Truffles the Cat — hired by a winery on the Texas/New Mexico border to be solely for rodent control ... but who has now blossomed into a greeter for the winery's guests.
Truffles the Cat
HAIL and FAREWELL to the long-time conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa who has died at the age of eighty-eight.
A NOTE on TODAY’s POLL — after the circuit court ruling against presidential immunity, I was all set to host a Trump poll this week. Alas, after the disastrous Supreme Court hearing on Colorado (and the dirty pool special counsel report) it seems he may have come out ahead this week.
But since the Supreme Court is likely to either reject (or have a quick hearing on) his appeal of complete immunity: I promise there will be a Trump poll next week.
FRIDAY's CHILD was rescued from atop a telephone pole in Milwaukee ... and with the owner unable to care for him any longer, the plan is for adoption after a clean bill of health.
Wisconsin kitteh
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at a 20+ year-old idea created by a married interracial couple (working at the Wall Street Journal at the time) — Open that Bottle Night, on the last Saturday night of February. Rather than save an old bottle for a “special occasion” … that never seems “special enough” to happen — open it for a special dinner with friends.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS? — two sporting tycoons: Nike founder Phil Knight and multiple sports team owner Stan Kroenke.
Phil Knight b. 1938
Stan Kroenke b. 1947
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone else who died this week — albeit at the other end of the musical spectrum from Seiji Ozawa — was someone whom I profiled back in 2010 (and here is part of it).
Mojo Nixon combined rockabilly, punk and manic satire with - as the All-Music Guide puts it, "all the subtlety of a sledgehammer" and is certifiable enough to merit inclusion in a Dr. Demento compilation .... which has gotta count for something.
Born Neill McMillan in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he earned a political science degree from Miami of Ohio and went to England in 1979, hoping to break into the punk movement as a guitarist there. Unsuccessful, he relocated to Denver the following year and after joining a punk band named Zebra 123 laid down his first marker of outrage: promoting a gig called the Assassination Ball with posters depicting the exploding heads of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter (garnering some Secret Service attention). He later moved to San Diego and met future partner Daniel McLain (a/k/a Country Dick Montana) and developed his stage name as a combination of “voodoo and bad politics".
He began performing with harmonica/percussion player Richard Banke (who took the name "Skid Roper") and eventually won a deal from Enigma Records in 1985. Their debut album became a college radio station hit due to "Jesus at McDonald's". Their next disc made them even more popular, containing such eminently dignified tunes as "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin" - an ode to Martha Quinn who was one of the original MTV veejays - plus "I Hate Banks" as well as "I Ain't Gonna Piss in No Jar" (dang, how timely are they?) and a subsequent single Burn Down the Malls which garnered the duo their first MTV airplay. Mojo Nixon also appeared in the 1990 biopic Great Balls of Fire as the drummer of Jerry Lee Lewis.
The duo went on to record a few more albums, with their only two charting hits: Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child and 1990's Don Henley Must Die - which had an interesting coda. Two years later, Don Henley (reported to be upset at first with the song) - jumped up on-stage at an Austin, Texas gig to sing it along with Mojo and Roper.
Around this time, Skid Roper left to pursue a studio career, and Mojo Nixon became a 'solo artist' (of sorts). But he first had to endure the bankruptcy of his record company, which left him rudderless for a bit (not for nothing did his song "Destroy All Lawyers" come about). In the Nineties, he appeared in two films, Super Mario Brothers and Car 54, Where Are You? - both of which were major flops.
He re-emerged with recordings with Jello Biafra (Prairie Home Invasion in 1994) as well as Dave Alvin of the Blasters, and on Mojo Nixon's 1995 album sang with Country Dick Montana in what proved to be the last recording before Montana's death. However, the company would not release his song "Bring Me the Head of David Geffen" (although it came out later on a compilation album).
As you can see, Mojo Nixon never played it safe - and was even named honorary captain of the US luge team at the 1998 Winter Olympics. He took a job as an afternoon talk show host in Cincinnati but was shifted to a morning slot when his political views (libertarian-left) grated on nerves in the area. In fact, Mojo Nixon once debated Pat Buchanan on CNN(!) over the emerging record label censorship in the 1990's.
He (largely) left music with a final 2004 performance in Austin, and settled into satellite radio (with his Loon in the Afternoon show) on Sirius.
Mojo Nixon died at age sixty-six following a cardiac event on the Outlaw Country Cruise, where he was working as a performer and host. The cruise was named for the Sirius channel on which Nixon also served as a host.
Mojo in the 80’s
… and later on
His most famous recording - and which encapsulates his .... well, mojo - is his 1987 song simply titled Elvis Is Everywhere.
When I look out into your eyes out there
When I look out into your faces
You know what I see?
I see a little bit of Elvis
In each and every one of you out there
Lemme tell ya…
Weeeeeeeeeellllllll...
Elvis is everywhere
Elvis is everything
Elvis is everybody
Elvis is still the king
He's in everybody
He's in the young, the old
the fat, the skinny
the white the black
the brown and the blue people got Elvis in 'em, too
Who built the pyramids?
ELVIS!
Who built Stonehenge?
ELVIS!
Elvis is everywhere
Elvis is everything
Elvis is everybody
Elvis is still the king
