Motley Moose – Archive

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.

PROGRAMMING NOTE – I will be publishing “Odds & Ends” next Sunday, but as I will be going away for the weekend: it may be a bit truncated (and the poll may well be cut-off too early for some late entries).

ART NOTES – an exhibition entitled In Living Color: Andy Warhol and Contemporary Printmaking is at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska through January 11th.

IN AN ESSAY on the BBC website, Melanie Chisholm (“Sporty” of the Spice Girls) pays tribute to an all-female big band during the WW-II era led by Ivy Benson – who endured rampant sexism – and yet isn’t well-known in Britain today, unlike (her contemporary) singer Dame Vera Lynn.

YUK for today – one of those omnipresent Buzzfeed surveys lets you know if your first name tends to be populated by liberals or conservatives – and or which “Ed” was slightly more conservative than “Edward”, I was surprised to see – with this money quote:

The liberal names generally sound like a group of women in their late 20’s; the conservative names sound like the members of a large bluegrass band from the 1930’s.

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Flash the Cat – part of the ‘staff’ at London’s first cat café in Bethnal Green who was hit by a car  …. and while a donation campaign raised enough to pay for his surgery, it will leave him blind … and thus he will need a forever home.

DUE TO LAWS granting passports to those whose families were forced out of Germany, a number of Israelis have emigrated to cities such as Berlin (in part due to a lower cost of living) … and the trend is expected to grow if the Spanish Parliament grants nationality to Sephardi Jews (whose families were expelled from Spain in 1492).

HAIL and FAREWELL to a co-founder of the popular vocal group Manhattan Transfer, Tim Hauser – who has died at the age of 72.

FRIDAY’s CHILD is Garfi the Cat – a Turkish kitteh trying to horn-in on Grumpy Cat’s turf.

IN A STUDY by the National Bureau of Economic Research, those with more years of education are likely to be less religious – due to more rigorous math/science classes and increased exposure to analytical thinking – and less apt to use superstitious practices (such as horoscopes and good luck charms).

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

LAST NIGHT was the annual Keene PumpkinFest – a wonderful street fest here in New Hampshire with good weather and – in downtown – all was well. It did not set a record (which was last year’s total number of pumpkins) but was a festive atmosphere for all.

Except, alas, for some troublemakers at Keene State College – which is what you may (possibly) have seen on your television. Far from a majority of students and did not enter the downtown area …. but a troublesome situation that I hope doesn’t dash this event.

SEPARATED at BIRTH – publisher Steve Forbes and Senator Mitch McConnell.

   

…… and finally, for a song of the week ………………………… someone who began as a folksinger, dabbled in the blues and eventually became known as a country singer was Hoyt Axton – whose deep baritone/bass voice came to be heard on commercials, film and television. Yet his most enduring legacy was as a songwriter, whose works were covered by performers in a wide variety of genres. Record companies were unsure how to categorize his music. One catalog listed his music as unclassified – which his friends thought was an appropriate label.

The Oklahoma native was the son of a naval officer and an English teacher mother (who co-wrote the #1 hit Heartbreak Hotel for Elvis Presley). The family moved to Florida when Hoyt was age eleven where he studied music and began writing songs at age 15. He attended Oklahoma State briefly before dropping out to enlist in the Navy (as his father did) … which he realized was not his calling, saying “I was a terrible sailor, too. I couldn’t even tie a bow knot.”

After his discharge he moved to San Francisco and began playing at their coffeehouses in the folk revival of the early 1960’s, where early reviews described his style as being intense (compared to the clean-cut college kid performers he shared a bill with). He recorded a 1962 live album at The Troubadour (with the future Byrds star Roger McGuinn as a sideman) featuring such folk standards as “John Henry” and “500 Miles” … and also an original song Greenback Dollar – which the Kingston Trio soon had a hit with. Around the same time he made a guest appearance on the TV show Bonanza – beginning his career as a character actor.

In 1963 he released more recordings, then lost one of his best friends to a fatal drug overdose (and for which Hoyt had a battle with cocaine himself) … which led to his writing several songs about the subject that others have recorded, including “Snowblind Friend” (recorded by Steppenwolf) and also the No-No Song – a #3 US hit for Ringo Starr in 1974.

He continued with club appearances (including Hootenanny on television) through 1965, when he lost his recording contract for several years. He did receive a deal for a 1969 album on Columbia and became an opening act in the early 70’s for Three Dog Night, who heard him perform an original song he had written for a children’s television special (but was never used). Joy to the World became a #1 smash hit for Three Dog Night and helped revive his career. It is believed that he and his mother were the first mother/son combination to have each written songs that reached #1.

From the 1970’s until the early 1980’s he had a reasonably successful recording and touring career, with his most successful songs being “Boney Fingers”, When the Morning Comes (a duet with Linda Ronstadt) and his own highest-charting tune, 1979’s “Della and the Dealer” – yet another song about substance abuse.

His own music career began to fade in the early 80’s, and he became a more prolific actor – appearing in a number of good-old-boy guest roles on TV (such as Different Strokes, the Dukes of Hazard and WKRP in Cincinnati). Later he became in-demand for films, including 1979’s The Black Stallion and the father in the hit film Gremlins in 1984. One could hear him on television commercials, including Head for the Mountains for Busch beer and also for McDonald’s. And one saw him frequently on Johnny Carson (both as a singer as well as an actor).

He had one final comeback album in 1990 and then suffered a stroke in 1995, which he never recovered from enough to tour again. It surprised many (knowing of his anti-drug songs) to hear in 1997 that he and his wife were arrested at his Montana ranch for possession of about a pound of marijuana – both were given deferred sentences after his wife explained she bought it to help Hoyt relieve the pain and stress from his stroke (which eventually necessitated the use of a wheelchair).

Hoyt Axton died in late October of 1999 (nearly fifteen years ago) of a heart attack, and since he always maintained his ties to the Sooner State: was inducted (along with his mother) into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Yet his true legacy are the songs he wrote that others performed (and often made famous). Besides the songs previously noted, others include “Never Been To Spain” (covered by Three Dog Night, Waylon Jennings, and Elvis Presley), “Sweet Misery” (covered by John Denver), “Lightning Bar Blues” (covered by Brownsville Station and Arlo Guthrie) and others who have covered his songs include Joan Baez, Waylon Jennings and Anne Murray.

   

The first time I saw the name Hoyt Axton was on the writer’s credits of the first Steppenwolf album. The Pusher became a big hit for Steppenwolf and was featured in the classic film Easy Rider in 1969. The lyrics purport to distinguish between a ‘dealer’ (for drugs such as marijuana) who “will sell you lots of fine dreams” … and a ‘pusher’ of hard drugs (such as heroin). The use of the word ‘Goddamn’ in the refrain apparently gave Steppenwolf some trouble in certain cities of the Bible Belt.

Interestingly, although Axton wrote the song in the early 60’s (following the fatal overdose taken by his friend) and performed the song on-stage – which is how Steppenwolf’s lead singer John Kay came to hear it – Hoyt Axton never recorded the song until after it became a hit for Steppenwolf. You can hear the Steppenwolf version at this link – and below is how Hoyt Axton recorded it, in a rock-oriented sound (unlike the solo, acoustic guitar style as he originally performed it) … with an even more sinister singing of the refrain than John Kay. Intense, to be sure.