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Standing behind the GOP front-runner ... well, you might catch sight of ...
UNCLE-NEPHEW? - Singer Donny Osmond - the youngest of that clan .....
... and Craig Romney - come to think of it: the youngest of that clan, too.
Help keep this crazy train rolling by stopping 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 - an eight-painting exhibit of Monet's Water Lilies ends at the Saint Louis, Missouri Art Museum this coming Sunday, January 22nd.
FILM NOTES - the director of the Golden Globe-winning film "The Artist" defended using music from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo - saying they were 'inspired by the work of Hitchcock and other directors' - after the 78 year-old "Vertigo" star Kim Novak took out a full-page ad in "Variety" to complain - and for which she herself has now been criticized (for using the word 'rape') by domestic violence groups.
MONDAY's CHILD is Salt the Cat - just one of the kittehs that John Lennon had over the years ... and for the record: he named a white cat .... Pepper.
SPORTING NOTES - the powerful sports agent Leigh Steinberg - who was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in the film "Jerry Maguire" - has filed for bankruptcy, stemming in large part from alcoholism.
FOR YEARS there has been a debate about having a referendum in Scotland seeking independence from Britain - and now, negotiations are to be held with Alex Salmond (the leader of the Scottish National Party) by prime minister David Cameron about holding such a vote in 2014: but with Cameron seeking a simple yes/no referendum question before agreeing to legislation enabling such a vote.
MUSIC NOTES - a two-minute piano piece by Johannes Brahms that remained undiscovered since it was written in 1853 - but was located in the library at Princeton by the conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood - will receive its debut on BBC radio this month.
STRANGE as it SEEMS with 2012 being the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens - the central London museum situated in Charles Dickens' former home will close for an overhaul this April.
TUESDAY's CHILD is Love and Peace the Cat - or 'LP' for short - an Oregon kitteh who recovered from a broken back, and has now been adopted.
JUSTICE NOTES - first, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology in 2008 for the government's historical treatment of its indigenous Aboriginal citizens - now, current prime minister Julia Gillard seeks a referendum to complete the overhaul of Australia's constitution (removing discriminatory clauses regarding Aborigines) that was partially achieved in 1967.
ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES - increasing contamination by waste from cities in Bolivia and Peru is making Lake Titicaca - the highest elevation navigable lake in the world - fit neither for drinking nor for fishing.
FATHER-SON? - guitarist Kirk Hammett (of Metallica) and Skyler 'Sky Blu' Gordy of the hip-hop duo LMFAO (in reality, a grandson of Motown founder Berry Gordy).
HAIL and FAREWELL to the funk musician Jimmy Castor who has died at the age of 71. The saxophonist, singer and band leader began his career as a doo-wop singer in the fifties, replacing Frankie Lymon in The Teenagers in 1957. Hits in the 60's included his own 1966 "Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You" and Dave "Baby" Cortez's "Rinky Dink" on which he played sax. But he was best known for his 1972 million-selling hit single "Troglodyte (Cave Man)". I recall this being sampled on one of David Frye's Nixon comedy albums, with an ode to "Bertha Butt" (one of the Butt Sisters).
ART NOTES - a ten-year survey of paintings and drawings by Dana Schutz is at the Miami, Florida Art Museum through February 26th.
LITERARY NOTES - the 86-year-old daughter of the noted American poet Ezra Pound - who endorsed Mussolini's brand of fascism and made anti-semitic radio broadcasts during WW II - has long sought to separate her father's works from his wartime actions. That isn't easy, especially now that an Italian neofascist group is using her father's name in its violent anti-immigrant campaign.
WEDNESDAY's CHILD is the late Jimmy the Cat - a diabetic Minnesota kitteh who was euthanized (after the death of an elderly woman) by her daughter's instructions .... but was the subject of a public hearing because the dead woman specifically left her daughter out of her will and requested the cat go elsewhere.
MUSIC NOTES - the Welsh-born singer Dame Shirley Bassey is winding down her career at 75, now preferring to perform at big gala shows rather than touring.
IN a SHORT PROFILE of the English comic/actor Eddie Izzard he notes that "Last year I did 71 stand-up gigs in French; next I'm going to do Russian, Arabic and Spanish".
GRANDFATHER-GRANDSON? Dr. Jonas Salk and the neurotic Byron 'Buster' Bluth (as portrayed by Tony Hale on the TV series "Arrested Development").
LEGAL NOTES - the nation of Switzerland said it had finally finished the process of rehabilitating more than a hundred people punished during WW-II for having helped Jews escape Nazi persecution - but only one of the 137 people vindicated by the report actually lived to see their name cleared.
ART NOTES - works by the early-20th Century women's rights advocate and newspaper illustrator Djuna Barnes opens this Friday at the Brooklyn Museum (through October 28th).
ALTHOUGH experts were already aware of its existence: a letter written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1823 has historic value, even though much of the document concerns his music ...... illness and a lack of money.
WOTTA SURPRISE to learn that not all olive oil labelled extra virgin is ..... well, "immaculately conceived".
THURSDAY's CHILD is Bagera the Cat - one of two kittehs rescued from a Tulsa, Oklahoma building fire.
FILM NOTES - the 68-year-old film star Catherine Deneuve will be honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with the prestigious Chaplin Award in April.
MY FAVORITE film star is Glenn Close - and in this photo essay, she looks at ten of the major roles in her career.
SEPARATED at BIRTH - author and journalist Bill Moyers .....
... and RUMSFELD! .. actually, this is one of those unknown unknowns ...
SIGN of the APOCALYPSE - the mayor of the French town of Montereau (near Paris) plans to build a theme park - with the usual hotels, shops, restaurants and rides - to re-enact the life and times of .... Napoleon Bonaparte.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the singer, songwriter, drummer, bandleader and disc jockey Johnny Otis who has died at the age of 90. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 but he charted just one crossover hit in his career: 1958's "Willie and the Hand Jive," a salty R&B novelty later covered by Eric Clapton and others.
......and for a a song of the week ......................................................... with artists believed to be One-Hit Wonders - although that definition is rather loose (most say one needs a single Top 40 hit) - from the early 1970's Norman Greenbaum may be the prototype, although he did more than just one song.
The Malden, Massachusetts native grew up in a traditional Jewish home (attending Hebrew school) and was influenced by the acoustic folk and blues of the late 50's - early 60's. He played in local coffeehouses and studied music at Boston University for two years before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles in 1965.
He became the leader of Dr. West's Medicine and Junk Show that called itself a "psychedelic jug band" - with jug instruments, a washboard bass plus ...... a light show. The band would go through medicine show routines between songs, a shtick which even drew the praise of Frank Zappa.
They had only one album, The Eggplant that Ate Chicago - and the title track (which at this link you can hear) actually reached #50 in the pop charts in 1967 - nor will it surprise anyone to learn that it later became popular on the Dr. Demento show. Towards the end of their time they updated their music to be more rock-flavored with a touch of psychedelia, but the band broke-up in 1968 and Greenbaum began a solo career.
Then Greenbaum hit the big time: Spirit In The Sky reached #3 on the charts in 1969 (and #1 in Britain). As a kid it wasn't my favorite: but with its super-fuzzy guitar licks and hand-clapping backbeat, neither was I surprised at its success. And with its overt references to Jesus (quite unusual for the time in pop music) many thought that Norman Greenbaum was a born-again convert from Judaism.
It turns out he wasn't: he simply watched the late country singer Porter Wagoner sing a song on TV about about forgiveness and redemption and thought that writing a religious song was the way to go. He felt intuitively that a song mentioning Jesus would be more advantageous than one with a Hebrew name, and the song had a touch of satire about the "Jesus People" of the day. His parents were surprised to hear the song's Christian references but - when it climbed up the charts - they asked him .... "Got any more?"
Well, his song Canned Ham tried, reaching #46 in 1970 but his career went into a tailspin: and by 1980 he went to work as a cook. He used to tend a farm in Petaluma, California and promoted various concerts in the region.
But then "Spirit" had a re-birth in the 1980's; it has been licensed in several movies ("Apollo 13" and "Wayne's World"), on the game "Rock Band 2", by TV advertisers (American Express and HBO) as well as in TV programs themselves ("House" as well as "Law & Order") and Greenbaum says that he makes a modest retirement living from it alone.
Norman Greenbaum turns age 70 this coming November and has been asked to tour several times, but says (a) his voice isn't quite up to it and (b) he wants people to remember him simply as they did years ago. He says he often receives e-mail from people saying how "Spirit" helped them after losing a loved one.
Spirit in the Sky was ranked as #341 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list and has been covered by a variety of performers - The Blind Boys of Alabama, Elton John, The Kentucky Headhunters and was again a #1 hit in Britain in 2003 for the UK Comic Relief charity sung by Gareth Gates along with the British-Indian family The Kumars.
