Pushinka & the "pupniks"

Later that year [1960] Sputnik 5 flew two dogs, Belka and Strelka, to space and, happily for them, returned them alive. After a period as a celebrity, Strelka retired from public life and had six puppies, one of them named Pushinka (Fluffy). Khrushchev remembered that during a conversation in 1961 with US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy she had asked after Strelka. Now developing a skill for gifting, he sent Pushinka to the White House, complete with Soviet passport. President John F. Kennedy wrote to thank him: 'Mrs Kennedy and I were particularly pleased to receive "Pushinka". Her flight from the Soviet Union to the United States was not as dramatic as the flight of her mother, nevertheless it was a long voyage and she stood it well. We both appreciate your remembering these matters in your busy life.' Pushinka and one of the Kennedy dogs, Charlie, then developed a shine for one another, resulting in four puppies referred to by JFK as 'pupniks'. Given the extreme tensions of the Cold War, these rare moments of cordiality were welcomed.

- Tim Marshall, The Future of Geography, London, 2023, p.36

See also:

Blog: Check ignition & may God's love be with you, 26 October 2009

Blog: The brave new world of 1984, 22 January 2009

Blog: Seattle Museum of Flight, 25 April 2013

We pinned our hopes on you Joe and they're ruining our show

Thursday music corner: London-born English singer and actor Murray Head (b.1946) is best-known for his 1970 song Superstar, from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and One Night In Bangkok, from the 1984 musical Chess, which topped the pop charts in Australia, West Germany and the Netherlands. His acting roles include the 1971 British drama Sunday Bloody Sunday and the 1987 Greta Scacchi-starring drama White Mischief.  He has released 12 studio albums since 1972, with the most recent being My Back Pages in 2012. He is the older brother of British actor Anthony Head, known for his TV roles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (121 episodes 1997-2003) and Merlin (2008-12, 30 episodes). 

Head's second album Say It Ain't So (1976) features the title track that criticises American voters that continued to support Richard Nixon despite the Watergate scandal. The song was later recorded by other artists including The Who's Roger Daltrey (1977) and the Hollies (1979). 

Murray Head - Say It Ain't So, Joe (1975)

See also:

Music: Murray Head & the Trinidad Singers - Superstar (1970)

Music: Murray Head - Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat (1975)

Music: Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok (1984)

Johnny says "Love's forever only 'cos it will die"

Thursday music corner: American singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick (b.1970, Massachusetts) first came to prominence in 1991 by being signed to fill in as support act for a Morrissey tour. This led to an Atlantic Records contract and two major-label album releases, Massive Blur in 1993 and Willing to Wait in 1995. Aside from regular performing, Ferrick is also a music professor at two Boston universities.

Blue Sky Night is a hard-driving pop-rock track from Ferrick's debut album, reviews for which noted similarities to the music of Melissa Etheridge. In 2022 she revisited the track on a 'play-along' video having clearly not been familiar with it for years (Ferrick: "Couldn't tell ya the last time I played or heard this song"). A pleasure to see someone rekindling their memories of almost-forgotten material from their youth.  

Melissa Ferrick - Blue Sky Night (1993)

See also:

Music: Melissa Ferrick - Honest Eyes (1993)

Music: Melissa Ferrick - Falling On Fists (1995)

Music: Ani DiFranco & Melissa Ferrick - Do Re Mi (Woody Guthrie cover, live, 2011)

Light Cycles

Photos from the Light Cycles multimedia installation in the Wellington Botanic Gardens last night. The ticketed event is on as part of the Arts Festival until 9 June.

We're not bad just because we want to have a little fun

Thursday music corner: Florida-born soul singer Della Humphrey (b.Miami, 1953) released at least five singles from 1966 to 1972. Her first single, 1966's So Close, was released on the Doctor Bird label with Jamaican singer Joe White, with a Baba Brooks Band number, Eighth Games, on the b-side. She followed this up with three solo singles on Arctic Records in 1968 and 1969. Her fifth and final single release was the reggae song Dream Land, on Dreamland Records in 1972; it was later recorded by the Wailers in 1974 and Bunny Wailer in 1976.

Humphrey's first Arctic release, and her best-known song, was the Clarence Reid (better known as the inimitable Blowfly) and Jackie Corbitt-penned number Don't Make The Good Girls Go Bad, in 1968.       

Della Humphreys - Don't Make The Good Girls Go Bad (1968)

See also:

Music: Della Humphrey & Joe White - So Close (1966)

Music: Della Humphrey - Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Shirelles cover, 1969)

Music: Della Humphrey - Dream Land (1972)

What to do when your Fairey Fulmar is caught short by the Germans

Perhaps the [Fairey] Fulmar's weakest point was its lack of rear-firing armament; in some cases the crew improvised with such weapons as the Thompson submachine gun or a Verey pistol, but it has been said that the most unusual weapon was a bundle of lavatory paper. Held together by an elastic band this, when thrown into the slipstream, scattered in all directions causing the pursuers to break away in confusion.

- David Mondey, British Aircraft of World War II, London, 1994, p.103, describing the Fleet Air Arm's two-seat carrier-based fighter, the Fairey Fulmar.

She got a thing about carving wood

Thursday music corner: The Rezillos are a punk / new wave combo formed around a nucleus of Edinburgh College of Arts students, and have been active since 1976. The band features a playful musical style influenced by 1950s and 1960s rock and 1970s glam. They released two studio albums in their late-1970s heyday, followed by a best-of compilation in 1993 and a comeback album, Zero, in 2015. Their one UK top 40 single was the 1978 release, the cannily-named Top of the Pops. Following the band's initial 1978 breakup, the band's vocalists formed their own alter ego offshoot called the Revillos, which released the 1980 album Rev Up and the successful single Motorbike Beat, which reached number 45 in the UK charts.

(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures was written by the band's guitarist Jo Callis (aka Luke Warm), and appeared on the Rezillos' first album Can't Stand the Rezillos. 

The Rezillos - (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures (live on the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1978)  

See also:

Music: The Rezillos - Top of the Pops (live, 1978, introduced by Peter Cook)

Music: The Rezillos - Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight (1978)

Music: The Revillos - Motorbike Beat (1980)