Motley Moose – Archive

The Super Bowl is famous for the innovative and creative ads run during the game. There is one such innovative and creative ad that did not run.

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 –  90 photographs by the New York Photo League, in an exhibition entitled Bearing Witness are at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina through June 29th.

CHEERS to see that in Britain, many more women are becoming professional beer brewers – apparently coming full-circle (as Jane Austen brewed for her family in the 18th Century).

HAIL and FAREWELL to the Academy Award-winning actor Maximilian Schell – whose family fled from his native Austria to Switzerland when the Nazis annexed Austria when he was seven years old – who has died in Innsbruck at age 83.

FRIDAY’s CHILD is Depot the Cat – who has lived at a Home Depot store in South Carolina the past thirteen years … and after the store was looking to remove the cat (after some alarms were tripped) an organized effort has led the store to decide that “she can remain in her home as long as she likes”.

SIXTY YEARS AGO to commemorate the death of his fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas, Richard Burton starred in what many think is the best radio play ever written, Under Milk Wood – which was not made into a film until 1972.

LAST DECADE a former German leftist from the 60’s/70’s named Joschka Fischer became head of the Green Party and – for a time – Germany’s foreign minister. As an older man, he resembled more a professor of chemistry.

   

But then photos surfaced of him battling policemen in the street – and so this satire magazine imagined him as, perhaps, the new James Bond. This caption reads, (I believe?) “‘Jockel’ Fischer fights all-comers”.

Today, he’s a senior adviser at a consulting firm led by Madeleine Albright – the former Secretary of State.

CHEERS to the new cabinet of the Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet – which includes record numbers of both women and political independents – as she regains the office she once held.

ALSO LAST DECADE on a “Judge-Judy”-like show in Germany, a woman named Regina Zindler had a complaint about a neighbor’s bush damaging her mesh wire fence (Maschendrahtzaun). It became famous due to her rural accent that – to many Germans – sounds very annoying. A TV satirist named Stefan Raab used it on his show … and then went a step further.

He put together a country music song – with nearly all lyrics in English – named “Mesh Wire Fence” … but instead of using that in English, he sampled the woman’s voice saying Maschendrahtzaun as a lampoon. And the song hit #1 in Germany (with Ms. Zindler getting some royalties out of it).

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

IF YOU ARE NOT A FOOTBALL FAN …. you can still partake of some Super Bowl action today. Animal Planet will be showing Puppy Bowl X beginning at 3 PM Eastern. And not to be outdone, the Hallmark Channel will feature the first-ever Kitten Bowl beginning at 12 noon Eastern.

SEPARATED at BIRTH – British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor as well as Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie.

   

……and finally, for a song of the week …………… someone whose name you may not recognize …. but whose tunes you will … is the songwriter Doc Pomus – who went from being a blues singer in the 1940’s – on crutches – to a Brill Building legend, with so many classic tunes (several written for Elvis Presley) that Rolling Stone wrote after his death in 1991, “As one of music’s most gifted and prolific songwriters, Doc Pomus helped invent rock ‘n’ roll”. Some of his 1,000 songs have been performed by a wide range of musicians, and it’s no wonder his influence is present today.

Born in 1925 (as Jerome Felder) in Brooklyn, he contracted polio at age six. At age fifteen, he heard a Big Joe Turner record … and became a blues, R&B fan for life. At age eighteen, he made his singing debut in a Greenwich Village club and for the next ten years made a career out of it. He adapted the name Doc Pomus in part to shield his nighttime activities from his parents (“Doc” was a nod to blues singer Doctor Clayton, while “Pomus” simply seemed to roll nicely off the tongue) and partly since he felt a blues singer with the name Jerry Felder … well, just didn’t make it. But it mattered little to top-flight musicians such as guitarist Mickey Baker and saxophonist King Curtis.

He eventually recorded a single called Heartlessly that the DJ of note Alan Freed played … but the record company discovered that the singer was not black but instead, “a 30-something, disabled Jewish guy on crutches” and did not release the record. That (along with starting a family) convinced Doc that he needed to earn a living another way.

His first break from songwriting came from teaming up with the legendary Lieber/Stoller team to write the Coasters song Young Blood – and that first $1,500 royalty check set him on a new career path. Atlantic Records hired Pomus as a staff lyricist, and he quickly wrote the single Lonely Avenue that became a hit for Ray Charles.

In the early 50’s, a sixteen-year old pianist named Mort Shuman began dating Doc Pomus’ younger cousin, and the two fell into a friendship (despite a fifteen year age difference). Six years later, they formed a partnership that lasted for the next seven years … with songs that will be recounted a bit later. One reason they clicked was that Pomus was from an older, R&B generation … while Shuman was more of the emerging rock and roll generation … which they blended seamlessly into a contemporary sound.

They hit the big time with Elvis Presley, although he passed on their first composition for him (Turn Me Loose, which became the first hit for the teen idol Fabian). Elvis did record over a dozen of their songs, including “Suspicion”, “Little Sister” and Viva Las Vegas – which especially loomed large in his later career.

During the 60’s, Doc Pomus became a friend both to those breaking into the music business (as he was grateful for the help he had received) and to aging veterans. Among those was his first hero Big Joe Turner, plus Dr. John, as well as helping a young Lou Reed in the early 1960’s (who memorialized Pomus on his Magic & Loss album). In addition, the diminutive jazz singer Little Jimmy Scott – with a contralto voice one might mistake for a female’s – was one of Doc’s favorites, whom he pitched to several record companies … and it was Scott who sang at Doc Pomus’ funeral. One legacy of Doc is the Doc Pomus and Founders Fund Financial Assistance Grant Program – offering emergency assistance to any Rhythm & Blues artist who charted between 1940 and 1979.

In the mid-60’s, Mort Shuman left for Paris, where he delved into other aspects of the entertainment world. For a few years, Doc Pomus laid low – especially after a bad fall left him (largely) wheelchair-bound – but emerging from time-to-time … as the musical director for Bette Midler, writing for films and helping the Blues Brothers get started.  

From the mid-70’s on, Doc Pomus spent the last fifteen years of his life at a frenetic songwriting pace, as he became confined to a wheelchair (at first) and later as his health declined (in a hospital bed). He began writing songs with Dr. John, Ken Hirsch and Willie DeVille, for as he put it, “people stumbling around in the night out there, uncertain or not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed”. He also wrote for films such as “Dick Tracy” and John Waters’ “Cry Baby”.

Doc Pomus died in March, 1991 from lung cancer at the age of sixty-five (interestingly, his old composer partner Mort Shuman died later that year). He went down swinging – writing material in his hospital bed saying, “I was never one of those happy cripples who stumbled around smiling and shiny-eyed, trying to get the world to cluck its tongue and shake its head sadly in my direction. They’d never look at me and say, ‘What a wonderful, courageous fellow.'”

Tributes poured in; from Mike Stoller who called him “The archangel of rhythm and blues” to Atlantic co-founder Jerry Wexler who said, “If the music industry had a heart … it would be Doc Pomus.”

And those songs … in addition to those already mentioned, he wrote the lyrics for The Drifters/Jay and the Americans (“This Magic Moment“), Andy Williams (“Can’t Get Used to Losing You“), Dion and the Belmonts (“Teenager in Love“), Bobby Darin (“Plain Jane“), Ben E. King (“Ecstasy, “Youngboy Blues“) … and his songs have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Irma Thomas, John Hiatt, Shawn Covin, Aaron Neville, The Band and Los Lobos. Possibly his most personal tune was one that The Drifters had a #1 hit with in 1960 …. as Save the Last Dance for Me allowed that Doc was fine with his wife dancing with others at a function (due to his infirmity) but that she …… well, as the song title says.

Doc Pomus was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame (along with Mort Shuman) and was the first white person to be given the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award – and the only one since.

There is a 2007 biography of him, a 2007 tribute album of note, and the character that John Goodman plays in the current film Inside Llewyn Davis is believed to be partly based upon the life of Doc Pomus.

Finally, there is a 2012 documentary entitled AKA Doc Pomus that tells his story. And since his songs he wrote the lyrics to have reached the Top Forty in every decade since the 1950’s … wotta story it is.

What song to choose? One of my favorite songs by Doc Pomus was one he co-wrote with Dr. John entitled There Must Be a Better World Somewhere – although it was B.B. King who popularized the tune on his 1981 Grammy-winning album of the same name. Accordingly ….. why not feature a version of this song performed by both those two musical giants? And below you can hear it.

This diary is about my fundraising effort for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, but if you know me, you know that I usually use music in these diaries, so:

So, U2 is out with a new song & if you download it during the “Big Game” & 24 hours after, it is free & a donation goes to Red, which goes to fighting AIDS in Africa.

(RED) ‏@RED 32m

You’ve got until Feb 3 11:59pm EST to download #NewU2Song free & $1 goes to fight AIDS w/ @RED http://smarturl.it/Connect4Red  pic.twitter.com/9wzlLGzunB

and now on to me talking about the Ride, and enjoying some music – although if you want to skip the diary & just donate to help people with HIV & AIDS in Austin, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

I’ve only had the song for a few minutes as I write this, but it is a great addition to my training-inspiration music. The Hill Country Ride for AIDS raises money for local organizations that serve people with HIV & AIDS. I’ve done it every year it has existed. The cause is, of course, a fantastic one; but the Ride itself is wonderful & beautiful – it is one day of the way we wish the world was.

And my beautiful boys, without knowing anything of the Ride, have captured it perfectly:

there is no them, there’s only us

We’re not separate from each other — the people who these agencies serve, they’re us. And there is no “them” to do the helping, there’s only us. Please donate at my Hill Country Ride page, and let’s do some helping

my Hill Country Ride page

At the beginning of February, when the earth appears frozen and lifeless, there are stirrings below the surface and above us in the sky. The light is returning; today there is nearly an hour more daylight than there was on the Winter Solstice.

Mid-January through mid-February is when the Great Horned Owls start breeding and nesting. While the rest of us look out at the wintry landscape here in North Central Blogistan and wait for spring, the owls are already beginning their nesting year.

(Don’t forget to hover …)

The mother Great Horned Owl will sit on her eggs for about a month. The newly born owlets will stay in the nest for about 6 weeks (until around the Spring Equinox), then move to nearby branches where they start the serious business of learning how to fly. By Summer Solstice, they will be competent flyers and will learn to hunt and fend for themselves although they often stay with their parents until fall.

The pagan holiday of Imbolc is celebrated between January 30th and February 2nd. This cross-quarter marks the mid-point between Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox and with it comes the promise of the light and more: the stirrings of life that remind us of the cycle of the earth.

We should start preparing ourselves for spring physically and mentally. Life will get busier and this may be one of our last chances to contemplate what we want for the new cycle. Goals for personal growth, new beginnings, dreams for the future and connections to one another.

To all my pagan friends, Blessed Imbolc! And to everyone, may the light find you and bring you the warmth of the early spring and the promise of new beginnings.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

~

Let the greetings begin!

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From the White House – Weekly Address

In his weekly address, President Obama discussed the goals he laid out in the State of the Union address to expand opportunity for all so that every American can get ahead and have a shot at creating a better life for their kids.

Transcript: Restoring Opportunity for All

Hi, everybody.

This week, I delivered my State of the Union Address. Today, here’s the three-minute version.

After four years of economic growth with eight million new private sector jobs, our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in more than five years.  And with the economy speeding up, companies say they intend to hire more people this year.

But while those at the top are doing better than ever, average wages have barely budged.  Inequality has deepened.  Too many Americans are working harder and harder just to get by.  And too many still aren’t working at all.

Our job is to reverse those trends.  It’s time to restore opportunity for all people – the idea that no matter who you are, if you work hard and live up to your responsibilities, you can make it if you try.

The opportunity agenda I laid out on Tuesday has four parts. This week, I took them on the road.

Job one is more new jobs: jobs in construction and manufacturing, jobs in innovation and energy.

In Wisconsin, I talked with plant workers at GE about part two: training more Americans with the skills to fill those new jobs.

In Tennessee, I talked with students about part three: guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education, from early childhood, through college, and right into a career.

And with steelworkers in Pittsburgh, and retail workers in Maryland, I laid out part four: making sure hard work pays off for men and women, with wages you can live on, savings you can retire on, and health insurance that’s there for you when you need it.

These ideas will strengthen the middle class and help more people work their way into the middle class.  Some of them will require Congress.  But wherever I can take steps to expand opportunity for more families on my own, I will.  I’m going to ask business leaders, education leaders, and philanthropic leaders to partner with us to advance these goals.

And every single day, I’m going to fight for these priorities – to shift the odds back in favor of more working and middle-class Americans, and to keep America a place where you can always make it if you try.

Thanks.  Have a great weekend.  And enjoy the Super Bowl.

Bolding added.

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Bonus Video: President Obama Welcomes the Lunar New Year and Discusses Immigration Reform

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Editor’s Note: The President’s Weekly Address diary is also the weekend open news thread. Feel free to leave links to other news items in the comment threads.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

~

Let the greetings begin!

~

Letter Says Governor Christie Knew About Lane Closings

Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some.

HA HA HA HA HA HA

HA HA HA HA HA HA

HA HA HA HA HA HA

HA HA HA HA HA HA

HA HA HA HA HA HA

What prompted this change of heart by Chris “scut farcus” Christie’s own little toadie David “grover dill” Wildstein?  Take a wild guess….

The statements  were made in a letter sent by Zegas to the Port Authority asking it to reconsider its decision earlier this month not to pay Wildstein’s legal bills.

Geez, you’d think Christie would know that silence, being golden, requires actual gold.  Only one thing to say.

Jubilation!! The War on Women is Over!!! Woo hoo!!!! Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the muu-sic!!!!!

Fresh from the shores of Nonsensia:

– “Debunking the “War on Women” – Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post

– “If There Was A War on Women, I Think They Won” – Rand Paul, Meet the Press

– “Women don’t want equal pay, they already get ‘exactly what they’re worth'” – Martha MacCallum, Fox News

– “Women are better off barefoot and pregnant” – Mike Huckabee, Anywhere That Would Have Him

– “I support pay equity except the part about ‘voting for it'” – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, SOTU Rebuttal

Wait a minute. :::consults notes:::

Much like how the White Privileged Males on the Supreme Court declared that there is no longer a need for that pesky Voting Rights Act because there is no racism in America, the right-wing pundits and politicians have declared that there is no longer a War on Women. So don’t worry your pretty little heads … just become a Stepford Woman vote for Republicans who only have our best interests at heart.

Meanwhile, in The Real World:

Gender Wage Gap Remained At 77 Percent In 2012

On Tuesday, the Census Bureau released new numbers showing that the gender wage gap was 77 percent in 2012, meaning women make just 77 cents for each dollar a man makes. Median earnings for men working full-time were $49,400 while women’s were just $37,800. These numbers didn’t show any significant change from 2011 and there hasn’t been an increase since 2007.

While many factors go into the disparity between what men and women make, even accounting for factors such as job tenure, whether someone goes part-time, industry, occupation, race, and marital status can’t explain the gap. Women make less than men no matter what job they take, what industry they enter, or how much education they attain. They are paid less beginning with their first jobs out of college right up until they reach the highest ranks of their companies.

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Women Led Just 3 Percent Of Companies That Went Public Over The Last 17 Years

Only 3 percent of the companies that went public in the U.S. between 1996 and 2013 were run by female CEOs, according to research highlighted by the Wall Street Journal.

Part of the problem, the researchers posit, could be that few women run venture capital-backed companies, which often end up going public. Women-led companies also get a very small share of venture capital funding, netting 13 percent last year, which was actually a record high and an increase from just 4 percent in 2004.

But bias against women executives from potential IPO investors may also be part of the problem. The Journal notes a forthcoming research paper that found business school students who reviewed public offering prospectuses of the same company but with different genders for the CEO were four times more likely to recommend investing in a male-led company.

These Five States Have Spent More Than $3 Million Defending Anti-Abortion Laws

Five states – Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas – have spent a combined $3,228,000 defending strict anti-abortion laws over the past several years. But it’s not like that money has no better purpose.

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If you sense desperation, it is because Republicans realize that their full-throated war on women is losing them the votes of one of the most reliable voting blocs in the country.

h/t Floja Roja

It's a continuing mystery why sluts, illegals, Urbans, Sinners & parasites have turned their back on the GOP.

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) January 30, 2014

@Yardarm756DD @Reince Every time a #ConservativeIdiotMale speaks about ANATOMY HE DOESN'T POSSESS, 1,000 women register as DEMOCRATS.

— Tally (@bardgal) January 30, 2014