(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-05 What's for dessert, then? 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. CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead. ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art — covering the period (roughly) between 1880-1914 — will run from March 25th through August 13th at the National Gallery in London, England. Georges Seurat (circa 1883) YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay by David Atkins arguing that — while intra-party comity is needed, and it's nice not to see Dems in Disarray relentlessly — that internal disagreement need not be toxic (and is actually a sign of strength). THURSDAY's CHILD is the White House’s own Willow the Cat …. who Joe Biden (at a press conference) said sometimes late at night ... rests on top of his head. Willow the White House Cat TRANSPORTATION NOTES — the state of Maine is seeking to expand rail service beyond Brunswick … to Augusta, Waterville and Bangor as a long-term goal. HAIL and FAREWELL to the last Boeing 747 to be delivered (albeit as a cargo freighter) symbolizing the end-of-an-era in air travel. FRIDAY's CHILD is named Bruno the Cat — a New Jersey kitteh first sent to a shelter after a family’s child became allergic to him … then adopted by a first-time pet owning family … yet had to return him for being too affectionate (head-butts, et al) which led to a bout of sadness. Bruno the Cat The good news: his story brought forth numerous adoption requests, and he has been re-homed anew. The even-better news: the publicity helped the shelter to place nearly all of their cats. BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz. DIRECT DESCENDANTS? — the 19th U.S. president in his youth and a retired Super Bowl champion quarterback? x Young Rutherford Hayes and Drew Brees were clearly separated at birth: pic.twitter.com/hy8e0TKmsE — Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 14, 2022 ...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… often I read about songwriters who have written hits for popular singers: and even if I don’t care for the genre they write for, I’m always impressed when their clientele covers a wide spectrum. One example is Holly Knight: who did some of her own recordings yet wrote hits for many pop bands in the 1980’s and whose reach has extended into other fields. Never having seen her name in print before, it’s clear it ought to be. Growing up in the NYC metro area (and the granddaughter of those who escaped the Holocaust) she attended the Mannes School of Music, becoming a keyboard player and in the late 70’s formed a band named Spider (with future David Letterman band drummer Anton Fig). They released two records with some minor chart success, before their Australian-born record label president Mike Chapman recommended that Holly focus on her songwriting. (Chapman achieved fame along with songwriting partner Nicky Chinn, with their efforts often referred to as ChinniChap). In a right-place-at-the-right-time situation: she felt that the advent of MTV when she was age twenty-five was just right for her. The first hit she wrote was Change for John Waite in 1982, which led to her breakthrough: writing for Pat Benatar. 1983’s Love is a Battlefield reached #5, then two years later reached #10 with Invincible. In 1984, the band Scandal (with lead singer Patty Smyth) reached #7 with The Warrior and the duo Animotion brought Obsession to #6 that same year. Holly Knight still had the urge (as many songwriters do) to perform … and in 1985, she co-founded the band Device. They had one minor hit (Hanging on a Heart Attack) that reached #35 in 1986, yet struggled to find success and split after one album. One song that never clicked for this band (yet did for the band Heart) was Never which reached #4. Undaunted, Holly Knight released a 1988 self-titled solo album with her own recording of Love is a Battlefield as well as Heart Don’t Fail Me Now with back-up singing by Daryl Hall. Still, her dream of onstage success never quite worked out. That same year, she was asked to fix a song by Aerosmith … and though her changes were comparatively small: reaching #17 in the charts was credited in no small part to her changing the title to ... Rag Doll. The performer who recorded more of her work than anyone else was Tina Turner: dating back to 1984’s Better Be Good to Me (reaching #5) — a song by Holly’s band Spider .. which Tina felt had almost been written for her. In 1989, she heard a Holly Knight song recorded by Bonnie Tyler … and asked Holly Knight to make some changes … which brought (Simply) The Best up to #15 in the US (and which was played at the close of Joe Biden’s victory speech in November, 2020. Her string of hits was less from the 1990’s on … in part as she began writing for other forums. For TV : American Idol, 30 Rock, Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Voice and the Oprah Winfrey Show. In film : Thelma and Louise, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and The Secret of My Success. She also had success as a producer, ranging from Tony Bennett’s jazz singing daughter Antonia … to the punk band The Donnas. And three of her songs were included in the stage production of the Tina Turner Musical. She released her memoirs this past November (with Tina Turner writing a foreword for it), saw three of her songs win Grammy Awards, plus thirteen ASCAP songwriter awards and inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013. In her time she freely admits to being a partier: “The Eighties was one of the last decades of excess before consequences. I wasn’t just a groupie putting another notch on my belt, I was living, and you’re supposed to do crazy things when you’re young. I don’t feel embarrassed, I own it. It was fun. All of my close girlfriends love hearing about this stuff and said they would have done the same.” Yet perhaps her greatest claim-to-fame is the breadth of musicians who have recorded her songs. Besides those already mentioned: add Aaron Neville, Ozzy Osbourne, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, Kim Wilde, Bon Jovi, Shawn Colvin, Kiss, Lita Ford, Cheap Trick, Elvira, Lisa Hartman, Chaka Khan, Meat Loaf and the Divinyls. Holly Knight (in the 1980’s) … and much more recently Her style often is not mine … yet I like this tune performed by Suzi Quatro. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/5/2149882/-Odds-amp-Ends-News-Humor-with-a-Who-Lost-the-Week-poll Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/