Motley Moose – Archive

  Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely.

The check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?

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”. For example …..

SEPARATED at BIRTH – film stars Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine) and Adelaide Clemens (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Great Gatsby).

   

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

ART NOTES – works by wildlife artist Bob Kuhn in an exhibition entitled Drawing on Instinct are at the Tucson, Arizona Museum of art through February 16th.

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

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the record-setting run on the quiz show Jeopardy! by a then 30 year-old Ken Jennings – which happened nearly ten years ago(!) – and what he is up to now.

WEDNESDAY’s CHILD is Trigger the Cat – a hero kitteh who saved the life of a 75 year-old Missouri woman (who was having a stroke and unable to speak) by meowing loud enough to awaken the woman’s sleeping daughter.

CHEERS to seeing that African women are making great strides in politics and business, in a part of the world where old men still rule most of its governments.

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Chequers the Cat – an English hero kitteh who started following (and meowing loudly) … a neighbor who wondered why … and then went into cardiac arrest .. and credits the cat for alerting him to impending danger.

THERE WERE MANY PRIOR references to the Boys from Brazil – but this story chronicles a major farm in that country which (during the 1930’s) was owned by a family in league with Fascists …. and thus were sympathetic to the Nazis.

FRIDAY’s CHILD is Taffy the Cat – a Welsh hero kitteh who awakened a woman whose smoke detector went off (and ignored it, believing it to be the alarm clock) by biting her hand … until she awoke and called firefighters (and there is now a suspect in custody … for suspected arson).

IN THE RUN-UP to the 100th anniversary this summer of the beginning of World War I …. the BBC has a series of profiles on major European capitals as they were (w/photos) in 1914 …… and this profile is of Vienna – where (just a year earlier), its residents included Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Carl Jung, (Marshal) Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin.

Surprising, later-in-life SEPARATED at BIRTH? – TV journalist and host Jane Pauley as well as Hillary Clinton the former Senator and Secretary of State.

   

……and finally, for a song of the week …………… one of the 1960’s sunshine pop groups that went through an interesting ebb-and-flow not only in popularity – but also in their music – was Spanky and Our Gang – whose sound went from vocal-jazz to folk/rock to pop … and back again to blues and jazz. The All-Music Guide’s Bruce Eder notes that they aren’t as well-remembered as icons like the Mamas & Papas due to a more obscure public persona (and lesser songwriting ability) – but they had just as rich harmonies and as much influence on the sound of the mid-to-late 60’s as anyone else.

Their story begins with the Peoria, Illinois native Elaine McFarlane joining the jazz-blues Jamie Lyn Trio in 1962. But this style was in a down-phase at that time, and so she joined the Chicago-based New Wine Singers (with trombonist Malcolm Hale) whose mix of folk/protest-songs and … Dixieland jazz might seem comical today but it was definitely contemporary .. (well, for awhile).

By 1965 McFarlane had left for a Florida vacation where she met guitarist Nigel Pickering and bassist Paul “Oz” Bach at a hurricane party (waiting one out). Their jug band sound was appealing to McFarlane enough that she invited them to join her at Chicago’s Mother Blues club where she was a singing waitress.

Later that year, the club’s owner Curly Tait needed an opening act for out-of-town bands. Pickering and Bach did join her but – with a lack of material – they added comedy sketches to their folk songs, a common practice of the day. McFarlane’s old band mate Malcolm Hale joined (this time on guitar) but what about a band name? Elaine McFarlane had been nicknamed “Spanky” as it was said she resembled (and had a similar last name as) George “Spanky” McFarland of the “Our Gang” comedy shorts … and that was the name that stuck. With club owner Curly Tait as their manager, the group eventually got work at larger clubs and caught the crest-of-a-wave that was the 1965-1966 folk rock movement (as exemplified by The Byrds).

Eventually they caught the eye of Chicago-based Mercury Records, who signed the band in late 1966 and assigned them the talented producer Jerry Ross. Adding drummer John Seiter, they went straight into the charts as a result of their first recording session: with a song that had been rejected by both the Mamas and Papas as well as the Left Banke (of “Walk Away, Renée” fame). Sunday Will Never Be the Same was co-written by Terry Cashman (of “Talking Baseball” fame) as a ballad – but Malcolm Hale revamped the song and its intro, and it wound up at #9 on the charts during the Summer of Love.

Two other songs charted from their self-titled debut album: “Making Every Minute Count” and also Lazy Day – which seems to re-emerge each summer on the radio, doesn’t it?. Their harmonies clicked, and producer Jerry Ross pulled out all of the stops in harnessing their sound.

In early 1968 bassist Oz Bach left the group, replaced by Kenny Hodges (who brought along guitarist Lefty Baker). The band also decided to replace producer Jerry Ross, desiring a more sophisticated sound. They settled upon songwriter/producers (for the Chad Mitchell Trio) Stuart Scharf and especially Bob Dorough (much more famous as a jazz pianist/vocalist).

Their next album Like to Get to Know You was released in the summer of 1968. The change in producers had an effect; there were elements of blues and jazz – including a version of “Stardust” that is said to have been an inspiration for the soon-to-be-formed Manhattan Transfer. But there was the same result in hit songs: “Sunday Morning” reaching #30 and the title track reaching #17.

And there was also a cover of the Fred Neil song Everybody’s Talkin’ – soon to be the title song of the film Midnight Cowboy and a major hit for Harry Nilsson the following year. This sounds like a “Behind the Music” plot twist: but it proved to be the band’s high-water mark.

In late 1968, they gathered to record their third album. Scharf and Dorough had written some sophisticated tunes and complex arrangements – but which necessitated using session musicians for much of the album. And while critically acclaimed, the album lacked an obvious hit single (except for one which had a drawback, as will be noted later) and thus suffered from poor sales. McFarlane was pregnant and considering leaving the band, and drummer John Seiter had been offered the drummer’s chair in The Turtles. Finally, guitarist Malcolm Hale died in October of carbon monoxide poisoning (due to a faulty space heater).

Shaken, the band reassessed its future and decided not to continue – and thus they completed the album Without Rhyme or Reason and fulfilled their concert obligations by early 1969. Two years later, everyone was surprised to learn of the release of the album Spanky & Our Gang Live which dated back in 1967, in an early incarnation of the band.

Spanky and Our Gang briefly reunited in 1975 for a country-tinged album Change before calling it a day and some (and McFarlane especially) embarking on solo careers.

In 1999, a reunion concert was held in Florida, with Spanky McFarlane accompanied by Nigel Pickering and Kenny Hodges. Not able to participate was Oz Bach – who died of cancer a year earlier – and guitarist Lefty Baker (who died back in 1971).

The band’s 1999 Greatest Hits compilation offers a good overview of the band’s career.

In 2009, Spanky McFarlane and Nigel Pickering released the first Spanky and Our Gang album in thirty-four years, Back Home Americana, Vol. 1 before the death of Nigel Pickering in 2011 (at age 81) … and Kenny Hodges last year (at age 76) … with drummer John Seiter now the last of Spanky McFarlane’s surviving bandmates from the ’60’s.

Spanky McFarlane turns age 72 this coming June, and performed a show as “Spanky & Our Gang as recently as two years ago – albeit with no members from the original band. So there may be more from the band of this name, yet.

As mentioned earlier, what might have been a hit single from (what proved to be) the original band’s last album …. was one written by their producers Dorough & Scharf – Give A Damn – had trouble getting airplay for two reasons: in the summer of 1968 the word “damn” caused the song to be banned in parts of the country, and (b) its commentary of racial equality made it unpalatable in certain areas, too.

The band performed it on the Smothers Brothers show, and among the complaints that CBS received – according to Tom Smothers – one came from Richard Nixon. Interestingly, in 1969 John Lindsay used the song as part of his (successful) re-election campaign as New York City’s mayor.

And at this link you can listen to it.

  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.

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Let the greetings begin!

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A look at a game-show contestant (with an interesting background) who became a cultural phenomenon ten years ago …..

Ten years ago this coming autumn, reports began to speak of someone in the news, who was … a quiz show contestant. That isn’t unprecedented, as the story of Charles Van Doren – who broke a nearly 50-year silence a few years back in an essay in the New Yorker – was big news in the 1950’s, as told in the film Quiz Show in 1994. More recently (in 1999), the first contestant to win the grand prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire went through his fifteen questions without using any lifelines … until the final question, when he phoned his father … merely to tell him he actually didn’t need his help, but wanted him to know he was about to win a million … which was replayed on news shows, too.

But the story of Ken Jennings may be the most compelling: for his unusual background, that someone you’d expect to be a Republican isn’t, and his likeable, boy-next-door disarming manner. Before looking at his rise to stardom, a look at what got him there.

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Ken Jennings was born in May, 1974 in Edmonds, Washington (and after years living elsewhere, he lives in the greater Seattle region today). As his father worked for international firms, Ken spent several of his early years living in South Korea and Singapore. (Crucially, he watched Jeopardy! on the Armed Forces television network). A member of the Mormon Church, he graduated from Brigham Young and was a software engineer for a Utah firm as he turned age thirty in the spring of 2004.

Jeopardy! was the brainchild of television host Merv Griffin, whose other business holdings (real estate, syndication, hotels, etc.) made him far wealthier than any of his TV shows ever did. In my youth it ran during the daytime, hosted by the unflappable Art Fleming – who bantered with his guests while offering clues worth ….. $10 and up ($20 and up in Double Jeopardy!) in those 1960’s days – when prize money was small as a result of the 1950’s quiz show scandals (especially those offering huge prizes for the era). The stand-up comic Robert Klein appeared on one of the celebrity shows and got off to a bad start. How bad? At the first commercial break, he joked that Art Fleming recounted the scores, saying something like “Phyllis Newman, $450, So-and-So, $120, Robert Klein: just watching”. (He did say he got back into the game and had a wonderful time).

After a five-year hiatus (1979-1984) off-the-air, Merv Griffin brought the syndicated show back … this time to the early evening slot after the TV network news, yet before prime time began. It is often preceded by (or followed by) Wheel of Fortune – and I recall a stand-up comic saying networks should show Wheel first (before Jeopardy!. Imagine, he said, watching people on Jeopardy! fighting to respond to Norse mythology … then watching someone on Wheel saying “Stitch in time saves …… gee, I don’t know … beef? Can I buy a vowel?” (Point taken).

But one rule of the show from its inception until the beginning of the 2003-2004 season (from September to June) was: contestants who won that day’s match and thus came back (to face two new challengers) were limited to five appearances. If they achieved that pinnacle: they retired as an undefeated champion (although they would later return to participate in periodic Tournaments of Champions).

But at the beginning of the 2003-2004 season, the five-time rule was eliminated: whoever wins that day’s match, you keep coming back until someone beats you. In the several months before Jennings arrived on the show in June, 2004, no one had won more than eight matches. And in fact, Ken Jennings almost did not win Match #1. His Final Jeopardy question Who is Jones? – referring to the athlete Marion Jones – could have been disallowed for ambiguity. But the favorable ruling  on his response was a reflection on the lack of news reporting on female athletes … that who else could it be? And so he was champion when the season ended later that June, and picked-up at the beginning of the new season in September.

And how. Ken Jennings kept on winning, winning and winning. And that’s when he became a celebrity, mentioned not only on shows like Entertainment Tonight, but also the evening news. I recall one clip of Jay Leno making a joke about George W. Bush needing to replace an adviser who had left the Administration … and the audience responding when he suggested Ken Jennings for the job. The producers of Jeopardy were happy, as their ratings were up 22% from the previous year.

There were some lighter moments along the way, as for example this clip where he gave a racy response to one clue (earning a smiling rejoinder from host Alex Trebek). The other contestant who (eventually) gave the correct answer …. had the same thought, too.

Still, I rarely tuned-in to the show (even though I watched it in my youth and did so from time-to-time in recent years) as I am often not home when it’s on and just couldn’t bring myself to record it. And so I waited for news of the end of his reign … as his combined winnings now exceeded $2-1/2 million.

And finally that autumn, it did happen (which rumors spread that “tonight would be the night”). Ken Jennings had a streak of 74 wins in a row, with all but nine of them being clinched even before Final Jeopardy. I watched Match #75, and he missed both Daily Doubles. Still, he had a lead going into Final Jeopardy (14,400 vs. 10,000) of his only eligible challenger, Nancy Zerg. (The other contestant had a negative score and was eliminated from the match).

And here is the 2-minute clip of the end of his 74-game winning streak in Final Jeopardy.

Nancy Zerg, as it turned out, lost her next match … but had that one shining moment. H&R Block not only didn’t mind Jennings not guessing them …. they capitalized on their new-found notoriety by offering Ken Jennings free services for the rest of his life. Among the many celebrity appearances he made was on ABC’s Live with Regis and Kelly ….. and telling Regis Philbin that – when Regis was the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – he, Ken Jennings …….. had failed to qualify for that show.

The producers of Jeopardy, though, were concerned about the fairness of having Ken Jennings be the show’s all-time leader … when so many prior champions were limited to five appearances. And so later that year, they scheduled a 75-match Ultimate Tournament of Champions – with 145 players from the past twenty years, competing for a $2 million first prize. And Ken Jennings finished second to a prior champ Brad Rutter – who became the show’s new all-time earnings leader. Both appeared against the IBM Watson computer six years later (and lost). With winnings from appearances on other quiz shows, Ken Jennings is the all-time money-winner (over $3 million) in cumulative quiz show appearances.

He is the author of four books (including Brainiac which is partly his life story and partly a look at trivia in general). He has been a guest host/producer of other trivia shows, won a “top rookie” in the one crossword puzzle competition he competed in, and says that when he is introduced to new people: is wary that they will try to stump him.

When you know of his Mormon background and clean-cut appearance, many people assume that he is a Republican – but is in fact a Democrat. He laughed that when he was recruited (by both Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer) to be a Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat held by Orrin Hatch … he knew 2004 would be a bad year for the Democratic Party.

One place that you can run into him is in the Sunday newspaper magazine Parade – where he has a Kennections weekly feature. This asks five questions about general news/culture ….. and the five answers together help you ask “What is the Kennection?” (amongst the five responses). In addition, he runs an interactive news quiz on Slate each week.

Ken Jennings turns age 40 later this year, and just came out with a series of children’s quiz books ….. and one suspects there’ll be more where that came from.

   

From the White House – Weekly Address

In his weekly address, President Obama said that the Administration has taken another important step to protect women at college by establishing the White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. An estimated 1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted at college, and the President said that we will keep taking actions like strengthening the criminal justice system, reaching out to survivors, and changing social norms so that all Americans can feel safe and protected as they pursue their own piece of the American dream.

Transcript: Taking Action to End Sexual Assault

Hi, everybody.  This week, I called members of my Cabinet to the White House to deal with a challenge that affects so many families and communities – the crime, the outrage, of sexual violence.

Sexual assault is an affront to our basic decency and humanity.  And it’s about all of us – the safety of those we love most: our moms, our wives, our daughters and our sons.

Because when a child starts to question their self-worth after being abused, and maybe starts withdrawing… or a young woman drops out of school after being attacked… or a mother struggles to hold down a job and support her kids after an assault… it’s not just these individuals and their families who suffer.  Our communities – our whole country – is held back.

Over the past five years, we’ve stepped up our efforts stop these crimes.  And this week, we took another important step to protect young women at college.  An estimated 1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted at college – and that’s totally unacceptable.  So I’ve created the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. We’re going to help schools do a better job of preventing and responding to sexual assault on their campuses.  Because college should be a place where our young people feel secure and confident, so they can go as far as their talents will take them.

And we’re going to keep working to stop sexual assaults wherever they occur.  We’ll keep strengthening our criminal justice system, so police and prosecutors have the tools and training to prevent these crimes and bring perpetrators to justice.  We’ll keep reaching out to survivors, to make sure they’re getting all the support they need to heal.  We’re going to keep combating sexual assault in our armed forces, because when a member of our military is attacked by the very people he or she trusts and serves with, that’s an injustice that no one who volunteers to protect our nation should ever endure.

Some of this is a job for government.  But really, it’s up to all of us.  We’ve got to teach young people – men and women – to be brave enough to stand up and help put an end to these crimes.  We’ve especially got to teach young men to show women the respect they deserve.  I want every young man in America to know that real men don’t hurt women.  And those of us who are fathers have a special obligation to make sure every young man out there understands that being a man means recognizing sexual violence and being outraged by it, and doing their part to stop it.

Perhaps most important, we need to keep saying to anyone out there who has ever been assaulted:  you are not alone.  We have your back.  I’ve got your back.

I’m going to keep pushing for others to step up – across my administration, in Congress, in state capitals, college campuses and military bases all across our country.  This is a priority for me, not only as President and Commander-in-Chief, but as a husband and a father of two extraordinary girls.  And I hope it’s a priority for you.  Because here in the United States of America, every man and woman, every girl and boy, has the right to be safe and protected and to pursue their own piece of the American dream.

Let’s all do our part to make it happen.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

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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.

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Let the greetings begin!

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