May 2020 - Page 4 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

May rambling: Put on your mask

Zero-sum politics don’t work in a pandemic

If you haven’t, PLEASE fill out your Census form.

Ida B. Wells receives Pulitzer Prize citation. Her long-overdue recognition was for her groundbreaking coverage on lynching in the 1890s.

Charges Filed After Armed All-White Mob Led By Off-Duty Deputy ‘Terrorized’ Black Family in North Carolina.

Adam Zyglis: Put on your mask.

Take Me Out of the Ballgame: the Decline in Participation and Identification of African-Americans in Baseball by Holly Prior.

Asking for a friend. DICKS: Do you need to be one to be a successful leader?

Last Week in Corruption and What’s Up With the Stock Market?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: United States Post Service.

The country is witnessing his steady, uninterrupted intellectual and psychological decomposition and Zero-sum politics don’t work in a pandemic.

The Worlds of Kickstarter Comics, featuring 12 Kickstarter-funded tales.

How to Draw Disney characters by Eric Goldberg.

Do Marvel Masterworks Contain Comic Stories Redrawn By Modern Artists?

The Oatmeal: Finishing a project and Positive vibes.

Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly’s birthday.

The New York Public Library is excited to announce the release of the new album, Missing Sounds of New York.

A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work.

Obits

Longtime comic book and TV writer Marty Pasko has died at the age of 65 and the coroner is saying “natural causes.”

Disco Percussion Pioneer Hamilton Bohannon Dead at 78, an influence on Talking Heads.

Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula dies at 90. 17-0 in 1972 (cf 18-1).

Betty Wright, US soul, funk and R&B singer, dies aged 66. She was the Cleanup Woman.

Now I Know

What’s the only US state with a four-syllable name that doesn’t border another US state with a four-syllable name? (Answer below)

Nebraska’s Fearless Maid and Shear Determination and The Belgian Grandmothers That Helped Win the War and The Illegal Onions That Go Great With Spaghetti and It’s Genuine, but is it Genuinely Good? and The Sandwich You Don’t Want to Eat.

Video: Why Does Pisa’s Tower Lean? (And How to Fix It)

MUSIC

Beautiful Song of the Week, going strong for 10 years!

Pandemic Saturday.

Longest Time – Quarantine Edition – Phoenix Chamber Choir.

What A Wonderful World – GECA & Aubrey Logan

You Can’t Do That – MonaLisa Twins

Stranded In The Jungle – starring Big Daddy.

Any Wednesday – the Royal Guardsmen.

In the South overture, subtitled “Alassio – Edward Elgar.

Sesame St parody of Glee.

Paradise Garage – Tim Curry.

Coverville: 1307: The 50th Anniversary of Let It Be and 1308: They Might Be Giants Cover Story II

K-Chuck Radio: The many hits of one-hit wonder Robin Ward.

Black folk musicians created the soundtrack for a movement—and helped Bob Dylan find his sound .

Answer: Indiana

Little Richard, Originator. Good Golly!

Richard Wayne Penniman

Curiously, just a couple weeks ago, before it was announced that Little Richard had died of bone cancer, I was communicating with a fellow blogger. My basic point was that I had a great disdain for Pat Boone. Specifically how Boone covered some of Richard’s hits in a most uninspired way. Little Richard spoke about this here.

Another blogger friend and I were discussing the value of the rhythm and blues charts. Certain music did not get as much play on the pop stations, which dominated the marketplace. This is why I usually designate both charts, and also the country charts when discussing music.

I checked out some JEOPARDY! clues over the years. Can you come up with the questions? Solutions below.
’50s FILM FACTS $400: Little Richard sang the title tune for this blonde bombshell’s 1956 comedy “The Girl Can’t Help It”
POP MUSIC $100: Little Richard has a street named for him in Macon in this state
COUNTRY SINGERS $300: When Mary Chapin Carpenter sang “Shut Up And” do this to “me” on 1994’s CMA Awards show, Little Richard complied
CELEBRITY ASTROLOGY $100: Little Richard & Rich Little were both born under this sign of the archer
WE BAND OF BROTHERS $800: Little Richard inducted this R&B vocal trio of brothers into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

J fame

Little Richard, who was in the inaugural class in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, taught later music legends everything from soul to sex.

He was the question to quite a few J answers:

PREACHERS $400: Taking Sputnik passing overhead as a sign from heaven to give up rock ‘n’ roll, he joined the ministry
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS $400: He left rock ‘n’ roll in 1957 to be ordained a Seventh-Day Adventist minister: “Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bomp-bomp! Tutti frutti, all rooty! Tutti frutti, all rooty!”

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY! $100: I’m the architect of rock & roll & the originator–Good golly, Miss Molly!
SELF-PROMOTION $800: This musician seen here calls himself “The Originator”
WAYNE MAN $600: Good golly, his real name is Richard Wayne Penniman
ROLLING STONE’S 50 GREATEST ARTISTS $400: Good golly! The only artist to write his own tribute was this one, No. 8, whose first hit came in 1956
POP QUIZ $1600: This “diminutive” musician has had Top 40 hits about girls named Lucille, Sally, Molly & Jenny

SINGERS NAME’S THE SAME $100: Early rockers Anthony, Richard & Eva
LET’S GET SMALL $400: Dorrit, Engine that Could, rock & roll’s Richard

And there were several clues that referenced one particular song, as we’ve already seen:
MUSICAL RHYME TIME $100: Completes the title of Little Richard’s 1958 song “Good Golly…”

Listen

Tutti-Fruitti – #2 for five weeks RB, #17 pop in 1956 (Boone got to #12)
Long Tall Sally -#1 for eight weeks RB, #6 pop in 1956 (Boone only got to #8). Covered by The Beatles.
Slippin’ and Slidin’ – #2 for two weeks RB, #33 pop in 1956
Rip It Up – #1 for two weeks RB, #17 pop in 1956/
Ready Teddy – #8 RB, #44 pop in 1956
Heeby-Jeebies – #7 RB in 1956/
She’s Got It – #9 RB in 1956

The Girl Can’t Help It – #7 RB, #49 pop in 1957
Lucille -#1 for two weeks RB, #21 pop in 1957/
Send Me Some Lovin’ – #3 for two weeks RB, #54 pop in 1957
Jenny Jenny – #2 for two weeks RB, #10 pop in 1957/
Miss Ann – #6 RB, #56 pop in 1957
Keep A Knockin’ – #2 RB, #8 pop in 1957
Good Golly, Miss Molly – #4 RB, #10 pop in 1958

Rock Island Line (with FISHBONE), 1988, from FOLKWAYS – A VISION SHARED, A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. A Leadbelly song.
I Feel Pretty, 1996, from The Songs of West Side Story

Little Richard tipped Ava DuVernay $100 a week when she was a waitress.

Questions: Jayne Mansfield; Georgia; Kiss Me; Sagittarius; the Isley Brothers

My wife: suddenly working from home

untenable

working from home

Many people are now also using a virtual office like this London one to show a different address on their web site and other locations as it just offers such good privacy and looks great too.

My wife is a teacher of English as a New Language. The word came down on Friday, March 13 that schools in New York State would not meet the following week. But a previously scheduled teacher conference would take place the following Monday. Then they spent Tuesday making packets for the students.

Thus it wasn’t until that Wednesday that she actually began working from home. Any thoughts that she would have a lesser workload were quickly dashed. Between the online meetings and the one-on-one phone calls to her students, she was giving even more effort than she was in person.

Initially, her “office” was at the end of our dining room table. That was only because that’s where a laptop happened to reside. Soon, however, this became untenable, at least to me. The dining room is connected to both the kitchen and the living room. So, pretty much every time I’d come downstairs, I felt as though I were invading her space. If I wanted to wash the dishes or get something to eat, I was in her “office.” Ditto, vacuuming the living room or watching television.

A new venue

I suggested that she set up a station in the spare bedroom, which she did. In my mind, she too immediately saw the wisdom of the move. Later, I was surprised to discover that it was only after a week or so in the new enclosed space she recognized the value of it for all of us.

Among other considerations, she was always complaining about the messiness of the house, which certainly included the dining room table/her workstation. Now she can leave her papers as needed. She could have private conversations without my daughter and me avoiding the entire first floor.

And she now appreciates looking out on the backyard, seeing the trees and grass. The view from the office, where I tend to blog from, is to the street. I can see a few branches among the utility lines.

I mention this for two reasons. One was that a friend of mine was telling me about a prominent local couple who are really getting on each other’s nerves. They have a house large enough to have their own working from home spaces. Yet they have not, to the detriment of their relationship.

The other is that today is the 21st anniversary of our wedding. A little bit of territorial boundary-setting is a good thing in a marriage, especially during a pandemic.

Uncommonly Blue Eyes: John Powell

John David Powell, May 14, 1960- February 12, 2002

Dan.Tracy.wedding.19960914 Before discussing the poem Uncommonly Blue Eyes, let me tell you about this picture. It’s from the wedding day of Dan, now my brother-in-law, and Tracy, in September 1996. I’m on the far right and Carol is second left. We had been going out for about a year and a half, but by the time of the wedding, we were not.

Carol’s older brother John, right next to Dan, was my biggest cheerleader for his sister and me getting back together. He was one of the groomsmen in our wedding in May of 1999.

I once made a list of Bruce Springsteen CDs I would like, so John could pick among theme, and he gave me all six or seven of them. I’d never owned The River or the twin 1992 albums, Lucky Town and Human Touch before. He was very generous.

His wedding to Cindy was postponed by a day due to a massive snowstorm. They were married 1/1/2001, and it became a very small wedding. My, they had far too little time together, having only met a couple of years earlier.

John David Powell would have been 60 today.

It was so unusual. Soon after my brother-in-law John Powell died in New Jersey in February 2002, my wife started busily scribbling… something. It turned out to be this poem.

Uncommonly Blue Eyes

In honor and memory of John David Powell – February 14, 2002

Uncommonly blue eyes
Arresting us with their clarity

Sky blue eyes
Piercing through clouds of darkness,
Demanding honesty,
Delivering truth.

Steely blue eyes
Shielding the sensitive idealist
Who saw the world in deeds and individuals
As the ought to be.

Bright blue eyes
At age four looking like a precocious professor in his bowtie;
Years later, respected like a professor
For his knowledge of all things technical.

Royal blue eyes
Earnestly seeking the heavenly kingdom of God,
Ready to serve as a child of God.

Light blue eyes
Twinkling in anticipation of his own light-hearted puns and punchlines,
Sparkling while watching for opportunities
To surprise us with spirited generosity.

Sapphire blue eyes
Searching for his beloved and discovering her;
With every tender gaze
Adoring his bride’s long, curly locks and radiant being.

Baby blue eyes
Reflecting the innocent perfection of his infant nieces,
Each one truly treasured by him.

Deep blue eyes
Viewing the sea change in his last year of earthly life,
Staring down profound pain with steadfast faith and stubborn resolve,
Embracing profound love with boundless joy.

Uncommonly blue eyes.
Soulfully blue eyes.
Joyfully blue eyes.
Uniquely John.

Pictures from May 15, 1999- John Powell (d. 2002), my college friend Mark, me, and Norm (d. 2016).

Musician Stevie Wonder is 70

Do you want some candy?

When you’ve written about Stevie Wonder at 60 and at 65, featuring songs he wrote for other people, then what?

I suppose I could note his Carpool Karaoke with James Corden from 2015. Or point out a YouTube page called RareWonderMusic. It features Stevie singing I Can See the Sun in Late December, a song he gave to Roberta Flack, plus I Think I’m On The Right Track, Spread The Love, and Good Light.

But I’ll just list 25 songs. I could have listed 25 other songs. The last two are my top two, but the rest of the list is fluid.

Do I Do. For a 1982 greatest hits double LP called Original Musiquarium I, he added four new songs. Dizzy Gillespie and a stoned ending. “Do you want some candy?”
Do Yourself a Favor – from the transitional Where I’m Coming From album
Another Star – first of the songs from Songs in the Key of Life
You Haven’t Done Nothin’ – from Fulfillingness’ First Finale. Features the Jackson Five.

He’s Misstra Know-It-All – from Innervisions
Blame It On the Sun – from Talking Book, the first of those great 1970s albums
You Are the Sunshine of My Life. I love the fact that Stevie’s vocal doesn’t appear until the verse after the chorus.
Nothing’s Too Good for My Baby

That was a hit?

Fingertips, Part 2, and for a bonus, Fingertips. An article from WNYC: That Was A Hit?!?: Little Stevie Wonder, ‘Fingertips’
Sir Duke. If you’re going to namecheck, this song is exemplary.
We Can Work It Out. One of my all-time favorite Beatles’ covers. A live version.
Living for the City – album version and single version. The former has the better storyline -“Skyscrapers and everything!” but the latter is more danceable.

Boogie on Reggae Woman
I Wish
Higher Ground
For Once In My Life – a ballad turned into an uptempo song

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours. “I’ve done a lot of foolish things..”
Pastime Paradise. My daughter discovered, in order, Amish Paradise by Weird Al, Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio, then the original
I Was Made To Love Her
Master Blaster (Jammin’)

Superstition
Love’s in Need of Love Today. After 9/11, he sang this song on a television benefit.
Uptight (Everything’s Alright). Sonically, for me, the demarcation from post-Little Stevie Wonder
As – until the day that 8 times 8 times 8 is 4