Motley Moose – Archive

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.

ART NOTES – an exhibition entitled Southwest Anthems: Landscapes of a Region is at the Tucson, Arizona Museum of Art thru February 8th.

WOTTA SURPRISE that researchers from Cambridge University found that firms hiring compensation consultants paid their CEOs 7.5% more than those that did not …. regardless of shareholder returns.

MUSIC NOTES – fifty years after singing the famous 1964 James Bond film’s theme song, Shirley Bassey has re-recorded Goldfinger to correct what (she insists) were two wrong notes: as part of a new album that includes covers of “MacArthur Park”, “Fever” and “It Was a Very Good Year“.

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Mee Moowe the Cat – whose family was moving from Virginia to Hawaii when she found her way into a moving box … and was taped-in (with no food or water) for more than a month. Mercifully, she survived and is recuperating (while in a required quarantine for not having undergone a required vaccination process).

A FOLLOW-UP – this past summer, I wrote a Top Comments diary on attending my 40th high school reunion in July. A wonderful time, renewing old acquaintances that included our principal. Plus, a chance to visit a classmate (whom I admittedly did not know well) who is in a nursing home, who suffers from both a neurological disease and a stroke.

But there was one piece of unfinished business … and this past Thanksgiving weekend I took care of it, by finally having a chance to visit with the Jesuit chaplain (James Boesel) of the school I attended. He is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s (must be in his 80’s, I imagine) and lives in retirement at a church rectory, where he receives medical care, physical therapy and the like.

He was alert, could only speak in 2-3 word bursts, but did seem to recognize names I mentioned, and how rewarding I felt our reunion was. And he smiled when I showed him this photo from my senior yearbook – a purely posed photo, neither of us are named (and may be surprising to those who know me only as a bald man) ….. but to me, it is priceless.

And he also smiled when I told him the reason why I first came to see him in 1973 was not any need for counseling (spiritual or otherwise) … but that I was simply bored stiff one day (with two of my classes cancelled). After that first meeting, I would drop in his office just to chat from time-to-time during my junior and senior years … and when I asked if he was busy, he always pushed aside any paperwork and said to sit down. We just talked about current events (such as Watergate, Vietnam, the 1973 NY Mets pennant race) and my plans after graduation. He and our principal were learned, very worldly Jesuits, which was reflected in our education  …. and represented a time that (I hope) has not passed.

I limited this visit to 15 minutes, which turned out to be a good call – that is all I needed (as I did 99% of the talking). And when I mentioned this on our Class of 1974 dedicated Facebook page … wow, did I get some responses. In this year of our 40th reunion gathering … I think a circle was finally completed, visiting him.

LITERARY NOTES – this year’s winner of the annual award for Bad Sex in Fiction went to the Nigerian author Ben Okri, for ….. well, you’ll just have to click the link to read it.

HAIL and FAREWELL to the veteran sportswriter Bryan Burwell – also a frequent guest on ESPN’s “Sports Reporters” – who has died at the age of 59.

FRIDAY’s CHILD is White Sox the Cat – being held by J.T. Granato (a highly-recruited high school quarterback) who chose Rice University in Houston this past spring after an assistant coach hand-wrote a letter to “Kitty Granato” that read as follows: “As you know we’re trying to convince J.T. (that) Rice is the place for him. I know you’d like to keep him close so he can feed you and change the litter box. Please help us to get him to choose us. Paw me if you have any questions.”

TO THE DISMAY of gold-bugs such as Ron Paul – voters rejected a referendum in Switzerland (by a 3-1 margin) that would have required the central bank to keep at least 20% of its monetary reserves in gold – and never sell any bullion, ever.

BRAIN TEASER – try this Quiz of the Week’s News from the BBC.

By Request MOTHER-SON? from the Snokat – Beverly Hillbillies star Nancy Kulp and Scottish actor Peter Capaldi – the current “Doctor Who” star. Whaddya think?

   

…… and finally, for a song of the week …………………… a guitarist who has kept something of a low profile yet has enjoyed critical acclaim throughout his career is Leo Kottke – who combines folk, country, blues, classical and jazz in a seamless way. He is more of an instrumentalist: while his baritone voice is actually better than his own evaluation of being ‘geese farts on a muggy day’, one attends his shows to hear his 6 and 12-string guitar work. When you consider that he has long had hearing problems and had to change his playing style to avoid a debilitating case of carpal tunnel syndrome … it’s a wonder he is still performing.

Born in Athens, Georgia in 1945, he moved to several different states as his father was a high-ranking official with the Veterans Administration. He began playing guitar at age eleven, yet suffered some hearing damage in his left ear as the result of a mishap with a firecracker. He later joined the Naval Reserve where – this time – he suffered some hearing damage in his right ear as the result of loud noise during firing practice. This led to a medical discharge after which he attended college briefly before settling-in to a life on the road.

He settled in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota (where he lives to this day) and became a proponent of the folk-blues stylings of Mississippi John Hurt and others. He released a small-label debut album in 1969, and later sent tapes to one of his musical role models on guitar, John Fahey – who had Kottke signed to his label. Subsequent album releases included cover versions of J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and “Bourrée”, plus traditional songs such as “Cripple Creek” and “Stealing”.

A Leo Kottke concert traditionally combines several instrumentals, plus some vocal songs … and stretches of story-telling and jokes. On albums, he has been torn by record companies to be more of a singer-songwriter (than an instrumentalist) which he seems over the years to have developed somewhat of a balance in.

His first album to reach the Top 50 in the US was 1975’s Chewing Pine – which has covers of songs by Marty Robbins as well as Procol Harum’s Power Failure – again, a sign of how wide his influences are.      

He has sustained his career by frequent touring (as well as appearing at numerous folk festivals world-wide) along with critical praise for his frequent album releases. All of this – combined with his aggressive playing style – by the early 1980’s caused him to suffer tendon damage – that threatened to end his career. He reduced his busy schedule and was able to adopt a gentler technique (closer to classical guitar performance). He has continued in this vein ever since (appearing on such radio shows as “A Prairie Home Companion”) and has featured recordings such as 1991’s Great Big Boy with guest performers Lyle Lovett and Margo Timmons of the Cowboy Junkies.

This past decade he has recorded two duet albums with the Phish bassist Mike Gordon – most recently 2005’s Sixty-six Steps featuring covers of songs by Peter Green (from the original blues-based Fleetwood Mac), Pete Seeger and Aerosmith (how’s that for variety)? One interesting duet featured the late comic Jonathan Winters reading children’s stories set to the music of Leo Kottke.

He has a 1995 live album of note, along with a compilation album of much of his best material. He sponsors an annual Leo Kottke’s Dunk Tank – a multi-day set of performances, Q&A sessions and workshops – for aspiring musicians and fans.

Leo Kottke turned age sixty-nine this past September and had a concert in Santa Fe, New Mexico the other night. In 2015, he begins a new tour in late January, and will probably stay on-the-road as long as audiences want him to.  

   

I could not choose between my two favorite works of his (one a serious guitar-oriented tune, the other showcasing his sense of humor) … so I will include both. One of the seminal tunes that The Byrds recorded was Eight Miles High – which Leo Kottke’s 1971 version is the best low-volume cover version I’ve ever heard.