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 Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend.
ART NOTES - an exhibition entitled How Cats Took Over the Internet is at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens to January 31st.
SCIENCE and HUMOR NOTES - ten years ago, a Boston Globe reporter wrote a story about medical research into sexual orientation - and for years, it was among the newspaper's most read online articles. Recently, he attended a medical conference to do a follow-up, ten years on. To attend the conference, he needed to clear customs (before changing planes).
"Where you headed?" the Canadian customs agent at Calgary International Airport robotically asked me, barely looking up from his paperwork.
"Lethbridge," I replied.
He snapped his neck up and shot me a suspicious look. "Lethbridge? Why are you going there?"
THURSDAY's CHILD is named
Jenny the Cat - a 14 year-old California kitteh adopted by a 92 year-old woman, who says the two complement each other well.
HISTORY NOTES - seventy years ago, John Birch - the man whose name would later be used as the name of a right-wing organization - was one of the last to be killed during World War II.
Eighteen years later in 1963, a noted jazz trumpeter announced his bid for the 1964 presidential campaign. Twenty-five states launched chapters of the John Birks Society - after John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie - who announced a proposed cabinet that included Miles Davis as head of the CIA and Malcolm X ("one cat we definitely want to have on our side") as attorney general.
WHILE women have made great progress towards equality with men in South America - especially in schools, workplaces and politics - social attitudes often lag far behind.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Bubba the Cat - a California kitteh who likes attending a nearby high school so much: he has now been issued his own ID card.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the famed British-born neuroscientist and author Oliver Sacks - whose book Awakenings - his account of how he brought a group of patients "back to life" after they spent years in "frozen states" after an illness - was made into a film starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams and was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1991, including best picture ... who has died at the age of 82 ........ and to the civil rights pioneer Amelia Boynton Robinson - known as the matriarch of the Voting Rights Act, one of the organizers of the first march from Selma (who was portrayed by Lorraine Toussaint in the film "Selma") and lived to be in the 50th anniversary march (albeit in a wheelchair) - who has died at the age of 104.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - TV star Ian Somerhalder ("Lost", "The Vampire Diaries") and film star (and TV pitchman) Rob Lowe.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...................... previously, I have profiled the R&B singing star Bobby 'Blue' Bland who died two years ago. Since then, I have tried to find material to do an adequate profile of his bandleader Joe Scott - who was a prolific songwriter, trumpeter, arranger and A&R man. Alas, very little is to be found (even difficult to find a photo) ... and so this will be partly a re-hash about Bobby Bland and what little extra I could find on Joe Scott.
Bobby 'Blue' Bland came-of-age in Memphis, joining the Beale Streeters - with BB King and Junior Parker among its members – before its members went on to their own careers.
He was signed by Duke Records and recorded for a time before he was drafted into the Army in 1952. Upon his return in 1954 he found that Duke Records had been – fatefully – sold to the Houston businessman Don Robey - one of the first African-Americans to own a highly successful record label (predating Motown's Berry Gordy by more than a decade). Like many of his white counterparts, Robey was notoriously heavy-handed - with both performers and songwriters often cut out of their just rewards – and the name Deadric Malone (or just "D. Malone") as a songwriter credit was a pseudonym for Robey, yet he rarely contributed anything to a song.
One major asset that Don Robey had was Joe Scott - and when he introduced him to Bobby Bland, the two formed a working partnership.
As Bobby Bland was often heard to say, he had a gift in his voice yet was unskilled in using it. And this is where Joe Scott came in: telling Bland not to solely listen to the lead instrument but also to listen to the overall band.
"I’d say he was everything" was Bobby Bland’s assessment, and the two worked together for nearly a decade after Bobby Bland became a headliner, with Joe Scott as his bandleader. In time, the band had a sweet, urbane R&B sound ... close to the blues, yet with more of a deep soul tone.
Born in Texarkana in 1924, Joe Scott eventually came to Houston where he was hired by Don Robey in 1958. Originally, he was noted for being a first-rate trumpeter .... in time, his bandleading, composing and arranging skills came to the fore and he eventually was less of a performer. In many ways, his role resembled that of Willie Dixon at Chess Records in Chicago.
Among Joe Scott's songs that Bobby Bland sang were "Little Boy Blue", Blind Man (which was recorded by Steve Winwood and Traffic in 1969), "Queen for a Day", "I Can't Stop" and "Two Steps from the Blues" – which was also the title of a noted album of his from 1961, that Rolling Stone named as #217 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
By the end of the 1960's, though, Joe Scott began to tire of his role at Peacock Records. He began to tire of Don Robey's false promises of money, the constant touring and also Bobby Bland's drinking problem, which was starting to affect his voice. (Bland was able to clean-up by the early 1970's).
Joe Scott moved to California and quickly found work arranging horn sections and as a producer. He did the horn arrangements for the famed 1968 Super Session album (with Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills), some arranging for a 1970 Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons album, and also worked on several mid-70's Stephen Stills solo albums.
Joe Scott died in March, 1979 (of cirrhosis of the liver) at only age 55. Here is hoping that someone can shine a light on someone who added so much to the world of music.
Speaking of shining a light: easily my favorite Joe Scott-written tune is the 1961 hit (although that dreaded "D. Malone" co-credit still can be seen on it) entitled Turn on your Love Light – where it is the horn arrangements that put the song over the top (#2 in the R&B charts and #28 in the pop charts).
It has been recorded by performers such as Tom Jones, The Rascals, Grand Funk, Bob Seger, Jerry Lee Lewis, Edgar Winter and most notably by the Grateful Dead during the Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan era. And below you can hear Bobby 'Blue' Bland sing the original.
Without a warning you broke my heart
You took it darling and tore it apart
You left me sitting in the dark, crying
You said your love for me was dying
I'm begging you, baby,
I'm begging you, please,
Come on baby
and I'm on my knees
Turn on the light
let it shine on me
turn on your love light
let it shine on me
Let it shine, shine, shine, let it shine