Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Did you catch it last night?

I convinced my dinner guests to leave the air conditioned comfort of the hovel I call my home and venture out into the sweltering evening to watch the sunset last night.

My friends are either crazy or must love me a lot (you have another chance tonight to see Manhattanhenge.)


Dedicated to the One I Love, by The Shirelles, was released on this date in 1959.



This was originally recorded by The 5 Royales in 1958. The Shirelles' version first peaked at #83 in 1959, but when it was re-released in 1961 it went to #3. Normally, Shirley Owens Alston was the Shirelles' lead singer. However, on this song, Doris Coley Kenner sang lead.


July 13, 1985 -
26 years ago, we strung longest amount of coaxial cable I could 'get' from work, from the living room of my father-in-law house to his back yard. We then brought out the 'big TV' and joined the other 1.5 billion people who tuned into Live Aid.




(the greatest recorded live rock & roll performance.)



I had only recently patented the long birthday weekend.


July 13, 1793 (Décade III, Quintidi de Messidor de l'Année 213 de la Révolution) -


French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat is stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, as she gives him a list of names to be guillotined. The assassination inspired the famous painting by Jacques Louis David; Corday was executed four days after slaying Marat.


After the heavy blade fell, an executioner's assistant named Francois le Gros (Fat Frank) picked up the severed head by the hair and brimming with Revolutionary fervor slapped Corday's cheek. Several eyewitnesses saw her face flush red with anger, not just one cheek but both cheeks. Some though they perceived disgust curl her lips.


July 13, 1946 -
Horace Greeley advises his readers to 'Go west young man' .



I'm not sure but I don't think this is what Mr. Greeley had in mind.


July 13, 1946 -
It's Richard Anthony Marin's birthday today.



Smoke 'em if you got 'em.


July 13, 1955 -
Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson) was last English woman executed by hanging on this date.



Ten days before she had shot her lover, race car driver David Blakely (Rupert Everett), Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach.

She was having a bad day.


July 13, 1977 -
Starting at about 9 pm, four lightning strikes on high-voltage transmission lines within the course of about half-an-hour knocked out electricity and plunged millions of residents of New York City into a 25 hour black-out .



The 1977 blackout, unlike the 1965 and 2003 blackouts, resulted in city-wide looting and other disorder, including arson. About 4,500 people were arrested during the riots, which resulted in damage estimated at $61 million.

( I miss Scott.)


July 13, 1985 -
President Ronald Reagan has a polyp removed from his colon.

The polyp, named Larry, is living comfortable at the Reagan ranch keeping Nancy company. George H.W. Bush got a free taste of the Presidency for a day and got hooked.


July 13, 1994 -
Jeff Gillooly (with his fabulous 70's porn 'stache,) Tonya Harding's ex-husband, is sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.


He serves six months.


On July 13, 1994, Germany's Constitutional Court ended the ban on German troops fighting outside the country.


(On July 14, 1994, France's Constitutional Court ended their ban on running like hell.)



And so it goes.

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