I post a weekly diary of the historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I featured this past week in "Cheers & Jeers". For example .....
By Request FATHER-SON? from Maudlin - retired baseball manager Tom Lasorda ...
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/BillLasorda3.jpg)
... and former president Bill Clinton - well, whaddya think?
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
ART NOTES - an exhibition of the artistic representation of eroticism - and how society’s mores have shifted - is at Sweden’s National Museum to August 14th.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/Sweden.jpg)
WHERE'S ROD SERLING when you need him? - for a year, the nation of Belgium has been ruled by a caretaker government, with the French and Flemish parties unable to reach agreement on power sharing between the two communities. The Flemish newspaper De Standaard marked the anniversary in an editorial saying, "the belief that this political Twilight Zone can continue indefinitely is a dangerous illusion" - which a French newspaper quoted, although they wrote it as quatrième dimension - followed by .. (twilight zone).
HOW'S THIS for international intrigue: a pair of adventure hikers became lost in a storm on a mountain - a woman from Italy and a man from the Czech Republic - while at a national park in Chile - but were rescued when they alerted a rescue center ... in Texas.
MONDAY's CHILD is Larry the Cat - who was was hired after British TV cameras (twice) showed rodents scurrying at No 10 Downing Street ... and now, Larry has caught his first mouse.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/LarrytheCat.jpg)
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD of community-supported agriculture (CSA) - where people prepay a farmer in order to obtain a weekly allotment of food. Well, here in the Connecticut River Valley (of Vermont and New Hampshire) a man wants to forgo bank loans and open a community-supported brewpub - where people receive allotments of beer, instead.
ONE REASON why Canadians are hesitant to grant Stephen Harper's Conservative Party a majority government is fear of a culture war - which is why he avoids mention of social issues. Unfortunately for him: an audio recording was released of a Saskatchewan politician telling a pro-life group that Harper's government plans to terminate funding for the International Planned Parenthood Association.
ART NOTES - an exhibit on New Jersey's role in bird migration is at the Newark Museum through June 30th.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/NJBirds.jpg)
LANGUAGE NOTES - before each Canadian national election (coming next Monday) there are two party leader debates (one in English and one in French). The veteran Québec political analyst Lysiane Gagnon has a great essay on the high proficiency in French of the three Anglo party leaders (Conservative Stephen Harper, Liberal Michael Ignatieff and New Democrat Jack Layton), noting all three have different class-based accents, and each learned French in a different way.
TUESDAY'S CHILD is a kitteh who swam to Governor's Island - a former military installation (and now park) in New York Harbor, and which is the birthplace of the Smothers Brothers. Park officials are asking the public to vote on a name for the calico (which you can do on-line).
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/GovIslandCat.jpg)
NEXT MONTH during a 2-day visit to Ireland, President Obama is expected to visit the hometown of his great, great, great grandfather - and the citizens of Moneygall are quite busy preparing for the visit.
THEATER NOTES - being the junior partner in Britain's coalition government wouldn't suggest a stage production to most people - but Nick Clegg is the unlikely hero of "Nicked", a musical sympathetic to the Liberal Democrat leader.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - two entertainers: Comedy Central's Doug Benson and musician Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters).
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/BensonGrohl2.jpg)
POLITICAL NOTES - while political analysts had expected the party to gain seats in the recent national elections in Finland, few expected the xenophobic True Finns to grow its share of the national vote five-fold ... and even in a consensus-driven nation, other party leaders acknowledge that with the need for a coalition government: it'll be difficult to keep them out of it.
ART NOTES - an exhibit of Hungarian art from 1890-1956 is at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana through July 24th.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/MontHungary.jpg)
POLITICAL NOTES - Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's xenophobic National Front Party has expelled an elected official from Lyon from the party, after he was shown in a photo giving a Hitler salute in front of a Nazi flag. However, her father (and former party head) Jean Le Pen has suggested his daughter acted too hastily, suggesting the photo ... was a fake.
WEDNESDAY'S CHILD is Douglas the Cat - the mascot of a New Zealand shipping container firm (the only survivor of a litter found dumped in a plastic bag there) and often found overseeing production from the top of shipping containers. This time, though, he made his way into a shipping container: yet was located (unharmed) eighteen days later, packed with drilling equipment, in Australia.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/DouglasTheCat.jpg)
LITERARY NOTES - the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last years of his life on an island in Samoa - and specifically asked that a series of fantastic tales and fables he wrote (about his time there) be published as a set .... which his literary agent ignored (having them published piecemeal). Now, over 120 years later: Stevenson's request will finally be met.
MEDICAL NOTES - one of the 33 trapped Chilean miners who were dramatically rescued last year named Yonni Barrios - who became a staple of the tabloid press when his wife and his mistress encountered each other outside the mine - has been diagnosed with silicosis, a respiratory illness common among miners.
OLDER-YOUNGER SISTERS? - TV star Rachel Berry (as portrayed by Lea Michele in "Glee") and 14 year-old YouTube star Rebecca Black (with a song about a day of the week you ... may have heard).
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/RebeccaBerry2.jpg)
HAIL and FAREWELL to the British punk-era singer Marianne Elliott-Said - who was better known as Poly Styrene - who has died of breast cancer at age 53, just weeks after releasing Generation Indigo - her first new album in years.
ART NOTES - video and photographic works by the Italian artist Grazia Toderi - which she refers to as frescoes of light - are at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. through September 5th.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/RedOrbit.jpg)
AGRICULTURAL NOTES - according to research marking this week's World Malaria Day - plants that have long been relied on for the treatment of malaria in East Africa are at risk of extinction, due to deforestation.
ARCHITECTURE NOTES - residents of the Chilean town of Puente Alto have discovered a bridge built in the 18th century - designed by the man who also constructed Chile's presidential palace - but which is now half-buried and surrounded with piles of trash, located on an old road that connected the area (via a mountain pass) with Argentina.
THURSDAY's CHILD is George the Cat - who escaped from a home in Austin, Texas during recent wildfires .. and returned after going missing for three days.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/GeoTheCat.jpg)
POLITICAL NOTES - a short animated film produced by Argentina's state television - to educate youngsters about the evils of the privatization and austerity-driven economic policies associated with the IMF - uses Martians arriving in the 40th Century as its premise.
FASHION NOTES - while the TV host isn't known for her sense of fashion, the Guardian newspaper's (American-born) fashion critic Hadley Freeman not only talks about the style of Rachel Maddow - but a good deal else, as well.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - dancer and TV star Kristin Richardson and Canadian film star Rachel McAdams ("Mean Girls").
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/KristinMcAdams.jpg)
BRAIN TEASER - try this Weekly World News Quiz from the BBC.
FRIDAY's CHILD was rescued from a three-alarm fire in an apartment complex in Washington state, suffering from a singed tail, burns on his face and paw, and smoke inhalation. But the newly-named Toasty the Cat was released from an animal hospital, recuperating well and if still unclaimed: will be up for adoption.
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/WashKitteh.jpg)
ENERGY NOTES - with Germany's government seeking a new power grid to expand its use of renewable energies: one proposal is to modify the existing network of its national railway Deutsche Bahn - to enable it to simultaneously transport energy to the south and plug other holes in the grid.
GOOD LUCK TOMORROW in the Canadian elections to the surging New Democrats led by Jack Layton, who could come in first .......... well, that is ............
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/JackSherer-2.jpg)
.... if people don't look at him and instead see the infomercial Video Professor John Scherer, saying ......... "Try my product?"
......and finally, for a song of the week ............... sometimes a performer is so difficult to categorize, it may harm their overall popularity (though not necessarily their overall success) in the music business. One such performer is Jackie DeShannon – who was ahead of her time as a singer-songwriter, yet too sophisticated to be a teen idol – and so she is largely remembered as a performer for two songs from the 1960’s. But as a songwriter she has remained successful long after the spotlight left her.
She was born Sharon Meyers in western Kentucky, and began her music career early: singing country songs on the radio in 1950 (at age 6) and by 11 was hosting her own radio show. Her family moved to Chicagoland after that, and (still a teenager) began recording songs under such names as Sherry Lee or Jackie Dee. While they didn’t sell, some of her country songs caught the ear of guitarist Eddie Cochran – who introduced her to his songwriter girlfriend Sharon Sheeley – who (after the death of Cochran in a car crash in 1960) formed a writing partnership with the 16 year-old Meyers. They wrote hits such as "Dum Dum" for Brenda Lee and "I Love Anastasia" for the Fleetwoods - becoming the first commercially successful female songwriting team in popular music.
Still a 16 year-old, Liberty Records offered her a recording contract later that year, but were unenthusiastic about the name Sharon Meyers. In an interview with Terry Gross - she thought that with her low voice, the gender-neutral name Jackie would work well. But Jackie Dee was considered too close to Brenda Lee, so she adapted Jackie Dee Shannon (Shannon being the name of an ancestor). And when people heard it as Jackie DeShannon – a stage name was born.
She had middling success for a time as a performer, with her cover of the Sonny Bono tune Needles and Pins as well as When You Walk in the Room - her own composition. Both were much bigger hits for The Searchers in Britain, but Liberty stuck with her (in a way they may not have with others) for several reasons. She had the songwriting capability, was photogenic and - having dated Elvis Presley, as well as Love guitarist Bryan MacLean, became friends with Rick Nelson and the Everly Brothers and appeared on a teen movie with Bobby Vinton – all helped make her an important performer.
Her breakthrough came in 1964, when she was chosen to be an opening act for the first US tour of The Beatles – with her back-up band including a young Ry Cooder – and was told when she introduced herself to Paul McCartney - "I know who you are, we used to listen to all your records and demos". Her song "Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe" was covered by The Byrds for their debut album.
She moved to England for a time in 1965, and began writing songs with a then-unknown session guitarist, including "Dream Boy", "Don’t Turn Your Back on Me" and the song Come and Stay With Me for Marianne Faithfull – which was a Top Ten hit for her in the US & UK. It has been long speculated that her songwriting partner Jimmy Page wrote the Led Zeppelin song Tangerine about her.
She then moved to New York where she found another emerging songwriting partner in Randy Newman – and they composed "Did He Call Today Mama?", "Hold Your Head High" as well as "You Have No Choice" for a then-unknown (see a pattern here?) guitarist named Delaney Bramlett. Finally, Jackie DeShannon had her breakthrough own recording … but not with one of her own songs. Instead, it was the Burt Bacharach-Hal David tune What the World Needs Now is Love – which made her a household name, and the song a classic.
She continued as a performer (appearing in the 1967 film C’mon, Let’s Live a Little with Bobby Vee) but her career as a headliner was uneasy, as alluded to in the first paragraph. She was too sophisticated to be a pop singer, yet the age of the singer-songwriter was still a few years away, her material would not have fit in country music back then, and she was too young to be a Vegas act. It was not until 1969 that she sang her other mega-hit, Put a Little Love in Your Heart – which was her own composition – and "Love Will Find a Way", which was a minor hit.
While she never stopped recording and touring – with many critically-acclaimed recordings through the 70’s and guest appearances on albums by Van Morrison and others – it was her work as a songwriter that has kept her a vibrant presence in music. Jackie DeShannon (and her songwriting partner Donna Weiss) won the 1982 Song of the Year award at the Grammys for Bette Davis Eyes – the hit for Kim Carnes. In addition, Jackie’s song "Break-a-Way" (which was originally recorded by the New Orleans R&B singer Irma Thomas) was a major 1983 hit for Tracey Ullman. In an NBC period drama American Dreams, she was portrayed by the singer Liz Phair – someone who also didn’t fit into a standard niche.
Jackie DeShannon recorded a comeback album in 2000 called You Know Me – yet true to form, it garnered critical praise yet low sales. But her legacy at age 67 is secure, as she was inducted last year into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame plus the Hit Parade Hall of Fame as well. And lemme ask you - any songwriter whose work has been performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Steppenwolf, Mahalia Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, the Isley Brothers, Jim Croce, Al Green, the Carpenters …. has to be doing something right, huh?
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/Jackie2.jpg)
I've always thought she has a rather innovative version of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart - and below you can listen to it.
I have a friend I've never seen
He hides his head inside a dream
Someone should call him
and see if he can come out
Try to lose the down that he's found
But only love can break your heart
Try to be sure right from the start
Yes, only love can break your heart
What if your world should fall apart?