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Leave it to J. Edgar Hoover's men ... to muddy the waters ...
SEPARATED at BIRTH - Gaspar Llamazares, a member of the Spanish Parliament and a digitally age-progressed mockup of what Osama bin Laden might have looked like - which was based on a campaign photo of Llamazares (that used by an FBI forensic artist). Now Llamazares is suing the FBI because he was unhappy with the apology he received at the time.
Good luck pal. For the rest of us: why not stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....
ART NOTES - a career retrospective of the French impressionist painter Adolphe Valette - who settled in and painted industrial Manchester, England - is at the Lowry Museum in Salford, England through January 29th.
SIGN of the TIMES - the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough recently visited the Augustus Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site here in New Hampshire - in part because McCullough's most recent book featured Saint-Gaudens and his wife Augusta prominently. Tellingly, he said "How wonderful that we have a park service that cares about this" ... then paused. "So far."
MONDAY's CHILD is Andrea the Cat - a Utah kitteh taken to an animal shelter and was euthanized twice ... except she didn't die the first time, was thought to have died the second time, placed in a freezer to await disposal ... and survived 45 minutes there, too. Now she is up for adoption via an animal welfare agency.
TRAVEL NOTES - a glass floor will be the main feature of a €25 million facelift of the Eiffel Tower - to open up access, make the Paris landmark more eco-friendly and up-to-date, and make the first floor as much a destination as the top level.
ART NOTES - a retrospective of the black art scene in Southern California from 1960-1980 is at UCLA's Hammer Museum in Los Angeles through January 8th.
ART NOTES #2 - according to the authors of a new biography of Vincent Van Gogh - the famous artist did not kill himself, but more likely was accidentally shot by two boys he knew who had "a malfunctioning gun".
SPORTING NOTES - this coming Sunday will see host nation New Zealand take on France in the Rugby World Cup - and NBC will broadcast it (on tape-delay) at 3:00 PM Eastern.
TUESDAY's CHILD is an Ohio kitteh that had been hit by a car and became stuck behind the car's dashboard when the driver tried to take it to an animal shelter ... but was freed after a three-hour rescue mission.
CONGRATULATIONS to the Italian conductor Riccardo Muti - the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - who has been awarded the $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize, classical music's most prestigious award.
SIGN of the APOCALYPSE - a historic disabled people's conference planned for December turned into embarrassment for the German parliament when it was forced to cancel the event because 100 wheelchair users registered ...when fire safety regulations/technical restrictions only allowed room for 30.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - two foreign-born media personalities working in the USA: South African-born CBS correspondent Lara Logan and NBC pundit Imogen Lloyd Webber (daughter of the English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber).
WOTTA SURPRISE that when the head of France's far-right National Front party (Marine Le Pen) visits Washington in early November, she sought a meeting with congressman Ron Paul - and his communications director has agreed to meet 'if he is in town and, as of today, it looks like he will be'.
ART NOTES - An exhibition entitled Edgar Degas and the Nude is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts through February 5th.
FILM NOTES - the English film-maker Michael Winterbottom will direct The Longest Cocktail Party - a film about the Beatles' label Apple, during the period between 1968 and The Beatles' break-up in 1970.
SHOPPING NOTES - people outside of Sweden who crave Swedish-brand eats have made a habit of frequenting Ikea stores around the world in order to find specialty chocolates, herring and caviar spread. But now the chain will soon rid their food shelves of anything not bearing its brand name.
WEDNESDAY's CHILD is Sar Chai the Cat - who went missing six years ago but was found .... when his family searched an animal shelter's website for a new pet.
POLITICAL NOTES - the president of Chile has proposed ending the binomial electoral system put in place during the Pinochet regime - which requires an individual candidate to run in partnership with another candidate of the same political party (designed to promote negotiation, political stability and large coalitions). Now with two coalitions (the Concertación and Alianza) holding nearly all of the seats in parliament: the proposed system would allow citizens to vote directly for individual candidates, with those getting most votes winning.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - the Canadian children's singer Raffi and American stand-up comedian (and Comedy Central host) Dave Attel.
OPERA NOTES - the Argentinian-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim was named musical director of Milan's iconic opera house La Scala - a post vacant since 2005.
SPORTING NOTES - from the "hell-freezes-over" category: former NHL coach and now Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry - a flamboyant, smashmouth right-winger not known for regretting anything - actually apologized to three former NHL 'enforcers' for using inflammatory terms (in criticizing their beliefs that fighting should now be banned by the NHL).
ART NOTES - more than 100 lesser-known drawings, watercolors and pastels by French Impressionists in the exhibit Masterworks on Paper are at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Art Museum through January 12th.
CONGRATULATIONS to the former president of Cape Verde, Pedro Pires - who has won the $5m prize for "Achievement in African leadership" created by the Sudanese telecom businessman Mo Ibrahim. Unlike politicians who become rich because they stole from their citizens or took kickbacks from foreign corporations: this prize rewards democratically elected African leaders who practice good governance ... and then peacefully step aside.
THURSDAY's CHILDREN are Cleo and Alice the Cats - who oversee operations at bookstores in Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas respectively.
SPORTING NOTES - earlier this month, the Baseball World Cup featured - for the first time in the 73-year history of the tournament - a continental European team in the final match, despite the fact that The Netherlands has long been a baseball-playing nation. (Admittedly, the bulk of their players come from their Caribbean possessions, but I have seen baseball diamonds in Holland itself from train-side). Well, they went on to win the title with a 2-1 victory over Cuba.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - Australian champion jockey Glenn Boss and American TV/film star Steve Carrell.
RECREATION NOTES - in 1978, a young newspaper reporter in northernmost New Hampshire wrote an editorial calling for the creation of a grand hiking trail spanning 162 miles from the White Mountains (in the south) to the Canadian border (linking to a Québec trail). Thirty-three years after that essay elicited absolutely no response, Kim Nilsen saw the last mile completed - and clearing the actual trail turned out to be the easy part.
FRIDAY's CHILD is BullsEye the Cat - a North Carolina kitteh who was shot by a cross-bow arrow ... but amazingly survived surgery well enough to rub up against people ... and is now pending adoption at a dog shelter which considered him an 'honorary dog'.
WITH THE NEWS that our-man-in-Libya is out-of-commission (whether dead or alive) ... I am fondly recalling this old "Saturday Night Live" gag-commercial for Jordache jeans (remember them?) ... except they re-made it into a Gaddafi parody ....
"He's a liberated Libyan with an independent mind.
He's a dominating leader who is working overtime.
He's got the look the Third World is after.
He wants to be the OPEC master.
Working (woo-ooo) ... Killing (woo-ooo)
Invadin' Chad, Khaddaffi has the look that's bad!
The Khaddaffi look, the Khaddaffi look."
Announcer: Whether you're extending your territorial waters or just chopping off a criminal's hand, do it in clothes by Colonel Muammar Khaddaffi.
The Khaddaffi look, the Khaddaffi look..."
......and finally, for a song of the week ............... there are three blues guitarists named King who have influenced a generation of rock and soul musicians. B.B. King needs no introduction, and Freddie King became known especially for his Texas instrumentals. But the third member is Albert King - known for his Memphis-based soul sound. He became an influence to future stars (both black and white) and - while he adopted the name King from B.B. (as his given last name was Nelson) - the All-Music Guide essayist Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that while many modern electric blues gutarists "seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliché" ... Albert King never did.
He was born in the same town as B.B. King (Indianola, Mississippi) but came of age in Forrest City, Arkansas. He played in Gospel groups in his youth, then (briefly) played drums for Jimmy Reed's band in Gary, Indiana. At that time, he adopted the last name King when B.B. King's version of the Lowell Fulson song Three O'Clock Blues became popular, then made his way to St. Louis. He worked in construction as a day job, earning the nickname The Velvet Bulldozer - in part due to the machinery he operated, in part because he stood 6'4", 250 lbs.
It was at this time that he began playing an iconic Gibson electric guitar, the Flying V - which was discontinued only a year after its introduction in 1958. However, its popularity never waned, and when Jimi Hendrix added it to his performance guitars, Gibson re-introduced it in 1967 - becoming part of many rock performer's collections - yet it is Albert King who truly popularized the model. And like Jimi Hendrix, Albert King was left-handed ... yet simply turned a right-handed guitar upside down to perform (easier on a symmetrical Flying V than on other models, to be sure).
Beginning in the mid-1950's, Albert King recorded for a number of labels in the St. Louis area, gaining an audience at his concerts. His first single to chart came in 1959, recording Little Milton's "I'm a Lonely Man". It was not until his 1961 recording "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" that had a hit, reaching #14 in the R&B charts. Later he recorded for the Midwestern label Coun-Tree, becoming a major star in the region ... so much that label president Leo Gooden became jealous enough to drop him from the label.
Finally in 1966 he signed with the Memphis soul label Stax - and with backing from the Bar-Kays as well as the MG's, he achieved fame within soul as well as the emerging blues-rock community. His first hit was "Laundromat Blues" from that same year, then a 1967 hit with Crosscut Saw - which dates back to a 1941 song by Tommy McClennan - both of which made it high on the RB charts. He also had a minor hit with Oh, Pretty Woman - not the Roy Orbison tune, but one written by Memphis disk jockey A.C. Williams (which John Mayall helped to popularize).
And being on the Stax label ensured that King would be noticed nationwide, his first opportunity to do so. Albert King was an influence not only on white rock stars (such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Joe Walsh) but on African-American guitarists as well (veterans Otis Rush and Albert Collins as well as younger performers such as Robert Cray). Eric Clapton has all-but-admitted that the riff to "Layla" came from Albert King's "As the Years Go Passing By".
His fame grew amongst white audiences by being in the right place at the right time. He performed at several of Bill Graham's Fillmore venues: the first night (February 1, 1968) at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (along with John Mayall and Jimi Hendrix), as well as the first and last shows at New York's Fillmore East - March 8, 1968 (with Tim Buckley as well as Big Brother) and at the gala closing night (June 27, 1971). It was at the Fillmore Auditorium that he recorded a definitive live album that featured "Blues Power" - telling the audience, 'some people call them the reds, some the pinks' - and even makes a funky song out of "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock.
He widened his appeal in the next few years by recording albums with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra - calling it an '87-piece blues band' - plus a 1969 Elvis Presley tribute album that included an instrumental version of "One Night" by Smiley Lewis. But he remained a bluesman, as seen by 1972's engagingly-named I'll Play the Blues for You - another critically-acclaimed live album.
His career as a major star began to ebb with the decline of soul/blues in the mid-70's - along with Stax Records itself (and he left the label in 1974). After some label-hopping in the 1970's (with some half-hearted efforts at soul-disco albums) he eventually returned to a more pure soul/blues direction. He not only began performing at the burgeoning blues festival circuit, he befriended many rock musicians, performing on their albums and in duet concerts. All this while travelling with his band on a customized bus with the inscription "I'll Play the Blues for You" on the side (such a deal!) despite health problems that increased during the 80's, yet every 'retirement' he attempted was short-lived.
In 1992 he was still active, recording an album entitled Red House - after the Jimi Hendrix classic - that is obscure today, due to some poor production work. He performed in Los Angeles on December 19th, then returned home to Memphis for the holidays and to rest up for a European tour in the new year.
But Albert King died on December 21, 1992 of a heart attack (just four months shy of his 70th birthday). His funeral was attended by many people (with Joe Walsh performing a slide guitar version of 'Amazing Grace') and a funeral procession went down Beale Street in true New Orleans style, before his burial in Edmonson, Arkansas (not far from where he grew up).
Nearly twenty years later, his legacy is still intact. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983, and just earlier this year Guitar Player magazine featured an article (not online) with the title "Ten things you gotta do to play like Albert King". Finally, as B.B. King stated in his autobiography - "He wasn't my brother in blood ... but he sure was my brother in Blues".
Just a year after signing with Stax in 1966, the label compiled some of the singles he recorded for them into a 1967 album which the All-Music Guide considers "One of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time" and was ranked by Rolling Stone as #499 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
In addition to the songs mentioned previously, the album's title track is Born Under a Bad Sign - not written by Albert King himself, but by Booker T. Jones (the leader of the MG's) with lyrics by William Bell. With its iconic riff, it became Albert King's signature tune, and has been performed by the likes of Paul Butterfield, Rita Coolidge and Jimi Hendrix. Two notable versions you can listen to are by Cream as well as ...... umm .... Homer Simpson(hey, it's not all that bad).
But at this link you can listen to Albert King's original.
Hard luck and trouble is my only friend
I've been on my own ever since I was ten
I can't read, haven't learned how to write
My whole life has been one big fight
Wine and women is all I crave
A big-legged woman is
gonna carry me to my grave
Born under a bad sign
I've been down since I began to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck
I wouldn't have no luck
And if it wasn't for real bad luck:
I wouldn't have no luck at all
