ART NOTES #1 - a selection of cartoons from the New Yorker magazine is at New York's Morgan Library & Museum through May 24th.
TRULY INCENSED OVER a nationwide shortage of hot chicken wings for the Super Bowl: our pal Stephen Colbert asked a chicken industry representative, "What other country can we invade to fix this?"
ON the SITE of the former Marquee Club in London - where The Who made Tuesday nights famous in the 1960's ...
... their drummer Keith Moon will be memorialized with a plaque to be unveiled by his former bandmates, thirty years after his death.
THE NATION's FIRST bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian titles is scheduled to close due to lack of business - even with a below-market rent charged.
WEDNESDAY's CHILD is Simba The Cat - a New Hampshire shelter kitty described as a "gentleman cat who would like a quiet home".
A RECENT CARTOON by Tom Tomorrow looks at an alternative universe we (sadly) may only be able to dream of.
BUSINESS NOTES #1 - the Associated Press reporter Rachel Beck believes that public outcry is finally having some effect over executive pay.
A PROPERTY BOOM in the capital city of Cambodia has led to the draining of wetlands and ensuring that the poor pay by being displaced.
FILM NOTES #1 - Entertainment Weekly lists "29 Films You Saw Too Young".
FATHER-SON? - the late singer Tiny Tim and director Tim Burton.
 
TECHNOLOGY NOTES - the introduction of an R18+ (adults-only) rating for computer games in Australia continues to be delayed by South Australia's Attorney-General.
THE PROMISE by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to "get tough" on immigration and crime ... has run into some snags.
IN a PROFILE of the Spanish film star Penelope Cruz she is fiercely protective of her working relationship with Woody Allen.
BOOK NOTES - the closing of many bookshops on London's Charing Cross Road signals the end-of-an-era to some.
BUSINESS NOTES #2 - the Washington Post's Steve Pearlstein has a dim view of the pharmaceutical industry and its practices.
FILM NOTES #2 - the release of a film about the shootings of fourteen women (by a misogynist) at Montreal's École Polytechnique twenty years ago is stirring many raw memories in Québec's largest city.
ART NOTES #2 - selected works of John James Audubon are at the University of Illinois at Urbana through May 24th.
IT ALL SEEMED SO CRAZY months ago when former Sex Pistols lead singer John Lydon - aka Johnny Rotten starred in a British TV commercial for a brand of ..... butter. Yet the company said the adverts lifted sales of the brand by 85% in the most recent quarter.
NO TALKING, CHILDREN as we have the answers to the 2008-2009 King William's College quiz.
This prep school on Britain's Isle of Man offers up the world's most difficult quiz - if you haven't taken this year's edition, at this link you may do so now.
If you have: the answers are at this link - out of 180 questions, yours truly doubled my score from last year: 12 correct. But since the increase was entirely due to a section on U.S. Presidents .... maybe not much has changed, after all.
TRAFFIC NOTES - an investigation has revealed that Italian traffic lights were rigged as part of a surveillance camera scheme; designed to next extra fines for the personal use of some in law enforcement.
ART NOTES #3 - an exhibit entitled Achievements in Art 2009 is at Amarillo Museum of Art in Texas through April 19th.
WHILE IT MAY SEEM that yesterday's 50th anniversary of the Day The Music Died was overdone .....
.... the death of Buddy Holly and the others was surely "the end of the beginning" of rock music, as it was preceded by:
* Chuck Berry being in jail
* Little Richard leaving music for the ministry
* Elvis entering the U.S. Army
* Jerry Lee Lewis being blacklisted by his marriage to a very young relative
* Bo Diddley being thought of then as a bluesman (as his lyrics were not tailored to kids)
... and so with that crash: rock music went on a five-year hiatus until The Beatles came to the US. During that interval - other than, say, The Beach Boys - popular music was dominated by doo-wop, novelty songs, teen idols, R&B ... but not much you could refer to as rock music.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - a former presidential candidate and Doctor Evil.
 
....... and for a song of the day....................................................................... . someone who had a long musical career because he was (a) able to adapt to some fast-changing times and yet (b) managed to stay high-quality and true to himself was Lou Rawls who, as the All-Music Guide's Steve Huey noted, began as a baritone cross between Nat King Cole and his high school classmate Sam Cooke - and yet developed a signature style that even survived the disco era. Add to his 40+ year recording output much TV and charity work: and you had someone whose career had meaning.
Born in Chicago in 1933 he began singing in church, working with Sam Cooke in Gospel groups through his teens. He joined the US Army's Screaming Eagle Paratroopers (which Jimi Hendrix would serve in a few years later). Afterwards he resumed his Gospel career but was involved in a car crash that left him in a coma for several days. Recovering slowly, he embarked upon a secular music career.
Working in the jazz clubs around LA in the early 1960's, he was signed by Capitol Records.
His 1962 debut album Stormy Monday saw him singing ballads, blues and jazz.
He was backed up by the Les McCann Trio (who scored a hit with "Compared to What?" in 1969).
Rawls' "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" was his most popular song in his early years before releasing Souling in 1966.
This had a cover version of It Was a Very Good Year that Sinatra had a hit with a few years earlier. But it also marked Rawls' gateway into soul music (while never abandoning his early work entirely).
In that same year, he opened for The Beatles in Cincinnati and had a hit in "Love is a Hurtin' Thing".
By now, Rawls had a successful career in concert, albums and in Las Vegas. But other than the 1971 hit "A Natural Man", the time from 1968-1975 was lean in terms of record sales; he jumped from one label to another in search of challenging material.
This he found by joining the Kenny Gamble/Leon Huff Philadelphia International label, where he was on top for the remainder of the decade.
His best-selling song ever, You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine ...
... sold quite during the disco era to some surprise. After "Lady Love" his days at the top of the charts faded .. but his career had long since been expanding in other areas, as well.
He had appeared off-and-on in TV: first as a guest star in the western Big Valley then as a 1969 summer replacement co-host for the Dean Martin Show. Later he had roles in shows such as "Baywatch Nights" as well as voice-over roles on the Garfield cartoons and the Muppet Show.
And in 1980 he began his "Parade of Stars" telethon for the United Negro College Fund that ran for twenty-six years.
His baritone voice often sang the national anthem at sporting events; including the 2005 World Series in his native South Side of Chicago for the White Sox. In later years, he appeared in films ("Leaving Las Vegas", Blues Brothers 2000") and returned more to his Gospel roots ....
... and his jazz roots.
He boldly recorded a tribute album to Frank Sinatra in 2003 at age 70 - yet his voice could still carry those tunes well.
Lou Rawls died in January 2006 at the age of 72.
His recordings/charity work survive him, and was one of the vocalists noted in Arthur Conley's 1967 Sweet Soul Music that referenced his 1966 hit: "Spotlight on Lou Rawls ... singin' loves a Hurtin' Thing".
  
But my favorite of his was one that he was part of an ensemble performance: 1977's Let's Clean Up the Ghetto (fair-use extract below) that began as a song Lou wanted to address a NYC garbage strike with. But Gamble & Huff expanded it into a larger theme (referencing Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs) and Lou Rawls was joined by labelmates Teddy Pendergrass, Archie Bell, The O'Jays and Billy Paul.
And at this link you can hear Lou's opening explanatory monologue before the others come in.
Let's paint a sign everybody can read
Let's get rid of everything we don't need
The pushers, the dealers
The pot, crooks, snatchers and thieves
Let's make the streets safe for women to walk
Let's get rid of all the foul talk
We gotta do it and all of us shall survive
All of you brothers that live on the Main Line
You lived in the ghetto once-upon-a-time
We need everybody to lend a hand
You've helped everybody else
Now's the time for you to help yourself
We can't depend on the people downtown
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