Happy Tom Cruise Day! This honor was awarded to the actor by the Japan Memorial Day Association for his "love" and "close association with" the nation of Japan. He is the first Hollywood star to receive such an honor. Hooray!
In 1957, President Eisenhower officially apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, finance minister of Ghana, after he was refused service at a Howard Johnson's in Dover, Delaware. It ended up being a good thing, as Howard Johnson's implemented a desegregation policy in all of its restaurants. This was also the first documented evidence of then V.P. Richard Nixon lying, as somehow he convinced Gbdemah that, "...that there are very few people in the U.S. who act that way."
London Bridge was falling down, falling down, falling down; so in 1971 they dismantled it and reinstalled it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona; which happens to be the state where John McCain is senator. I was trying to think of a "bridge to nowhere" connection, but all I could come up with was, "Did you know McCain was one of the original builders of the bridge in 1831?"
Happy 29th birthday to Pac-Man!! In celebration, here's Weird Al's Pacman (to the tune of the Beatle's Taxman), or you can just play the game yourself. Speaking of the Beatles, Eleanor Rigby, the woman whose name inspired the Beatles song of the same name, died on this day in 1939 at the age of 44, exactly one year to the day before Lennon was born.
Giuseppe Verdi was born on this day in 1813. He is known for his operas and his requiem. Here is the aria, Patria Mia from Aida and the Requiem Aeternam. 104 years later, Thelonius Monk was born. Here is his song Well, you Needn't.
John Prine is 62 today. Here is his song Paradise. On the other end of the musical spectrum, David Lee Roth is 53. Where John Prine sings protest songs of a moralistic nature, like You're Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore, Van Halen (at least during the Roth days) just went for total, unabashed debauchery, like this one.
Finally, today is the 34th birthday of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Normally, I wouldn't mention it, but this weekend (shudder) is race weekend. And because I live within listening distance of the racetrack, I felt it only right that I should immortalize it in a poem. This link has the same poem with all the oblique references decoded.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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