A Whole New World

Ugg Boot

1956, the Platters become the first black group to have a number one pop hit when "My Prayer" reaches the top spot on the Billboard chart...

1957, Jerry Lee Lewis hits the TV screen for the first time on the Steve Allen Show ... Allen is so taken with The Killer that he books Lewis for two more appearances...

1959, the Isley Brothers record "Shout" ... the song only reaches No. 47 on the pop charts ... a Joey Dee & the Starliters cover will later climb to No. 6 . . . but the Isley's version has legs and will become recognized as one of the all-time great songs of rock-and-roll...

1966, "Wild Thing" by The Troggs hits the top of the chart ... due to a legal snarl, it is a simultaneous release from two different labels, a distinction no other number one hit can claim ... this same week, Bob Dylan is cruising on his Triumph 500 motorcycle near Woodstock, NY, when he takes a dive that nearly kills him, breaking his neck, giving him a concussion, and lacerating his face and scalp ... after a week he begins to rally but still suffers paralysis, amnesia, and internal injuries for a month...

1968, The Beatles record "Hey Jude" ... it will top the singles chart for nine weeks and become the band's biggest-selling single...

1969, Elvis Presley performs his opening night show at the International Hotel in Las Vegas backed up by The Sweet Inspirations ... Elvis is hot and by the time his set is over, Colonel Parker has negotiated a new deal written out on a restaurant tablecloth ... Elvis will receive a million dollars a year for five years performing eight weeks each year...

1976, John Lennon finally gets his green card from U.S. Immigration ... it has been held up because of a drug conviction and comes three years and four months after Lennon was ordered to leave the country ... if only he had...

1980, David Bowie opens in the title role of Elephant Man in Denver ... he receives rave reviews for his performance...

1984, The film Purple Rain premieres ... Prince is writer, director, and star of the film, a vaguely biographical tale of a young musician finding his way in the world ... the movie is largely panned by the critics but has it moments for music lovers and Prince fans...

1991, superfreaker Rick James, the King of Funk, finds himself in deep trouble ... he is arrested for the sexual torture of a 24-year-old woman ... he will be convicted for this and an earlier cocaine-fueled assault on a woman and will spend two years in Folsum for his misbehavior...

1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce to the world that they are a married couple ... the secret wedding took place several months earlier ... the marriage is largely perceived by the public as an attempt to convince the world that Jackson is a normal, two-fisted, manly guy ... the union will last 20 months . . .

2000, Beastie Boy Mike D. is injured in a biking accident causing postponement of The Rhyme & Reason Tour that The Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine are about to embark on...

Part 3

Ugg Boot

1. Men are like .........Laxatives ...... They irritate the shit out of you.
2. Men are like .......Bananas ...... The older they get, the less firm they are.
3. Men are like ........Weather ..... Nothing can be done to change them.
4. Men are like .Blenders ...... You need One, but you're not quite sure why.
5. Men are like .Chocolate Bars .... Sweet, smooth, &they usually head right for your hips.
6. Men are like .Commercials ...... You can't believe a word they say.
7. Men are like Department Stores ..... Their clothes are always 1/2 off.
8. Men are like ........Government Bonds ....... They take soooooooo long to mature.
9. Men are like ........Mascara ...... They usually run at the first sign of emotion.
10. Men are like .....Popcorn ..... They satisfy you, but only for a little while.
11. Men are like ... Snowstorms ...... You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get or how long it will last.
12. Men are like ........Lava Lamps .... Fun to look at, but not very bright.
13. Men are like .Parking Spots ........ All the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

Women, Can't live with 'em.....can't shoot 'em. And now to the important stuff.

LONDON - Scientists have found high levels of arsenic in the hair of King George III and say the deadly poison may be to blame for the bouts of apparent madness he suffered. "What surprised us was there were very high levels of arsenic. Arsenic is also known to push porphyric patients into a worse state," Warren said. The semi-metallic element was found to be at 17 parts per million in the hair. Levels are normally found at less than one part per million.

Today in History

260 St Dionysius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1298 English defeat Scots at Battle of Falkirk
1587 2nd English colony established on Roanoke Island off NC
1686 City of Albany, NY chartered
1775 George Washington takes command of the troops
1796 Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Gen Moses Cleaveland
1812 Duke of Wellington defeats French at Battle of Salamanca, Spain
1854 J R Hind discovers asteroid #30 Urania
1864 Battle of Atlanta-Hood attacks Sherman & suffers terrible losses
1898 Belgica crew see 1st sunrise in 1600 hrs-1st to endure Antarct winter
1905 Phila Athletic's Weldon Henley no-hits St Louis Browns, 6-0
1908 W Lorenz discovers asteroid #665 Sabine
1912 5th Olympic games in Stockholm closes
1916 A bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in SF killing 10
1917 Alexander Kerensky becomes Russian PM
1917 M Wolf discovers asteroids #879 Ricarda, #880 Herba & #881 Athene
1918 Lightning kills 504 sheep in Utah's Wasatch National Park
1923 Walter Johnson becomes the 1st to strikeout 3,000
1925 Yankees purchase infielder Leo Durocher
1926 105ø F (41ø C), Waterbury, Connecticut (state record)
1926 108ø F (42ø C), Troy, New York (state record)
1926 Cin Red Curt Walker ties record of 2 triples in an inning
1930 G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1306 Scythia
1930 H Van Gent discovers asteroids #1666 van Gent, #1752 van Herk &
#1945 Wesselink
1933 Caterina Jarboro sings "Aida," NYC-1st negro prima donna in US
1933 Wiley Post completes 1st round-the-world solo flight
1935 C Jackson discovers asteroids #1359 Prieska & #1360 Tarka
1935 Lester Walton appointed minister to Liberia
1936 Phillies John Moore hits 3 consecutive HRs
1937 Senate rejects FDR proposal to enlarge Supreme Court
1939 1st black woman judge (Jane Matilda Bolin-NYC)
1942 Gasoline rationing begins in US during WW II
1943 Allied forces captured Palermo, Sicily
1944 Soviets set up Polish Committee of National Liberation
1946 Estelle Bennett, rocker (The Ronettes)
1947 -8ø F (-13ø C), Charlotte Pass, NSW (Australian record)
1950 King Leopold, after 6 years in exile, returns to Belgium
1952 Polish constitution adopted (National Day)
1955 1st VP to preside over cabinet meeting-R Nixon
1955 Phillies longest win streak since 1892 hits 11
1962 1st US Venus probe, Mariner 1, fails at lift-off
1962 Chic White Sox Floyd Robinson goes 6 for 6 (all singles)
1963 Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson to retain heavywieght championship
1963 The Beatles release "Introducing the Beatles"
1964 Steve Ballesteros wins the Britsh Golf Open
1967 Atlanta Braves use a record 5 pitchers in the 9th inning
1967 Jimi Hendrix quits as openoing act of the Monkees' tour
1969 Aretha Franklin arrested for disturbing the peace in Detroit
1969 USSR launches Sputnik 50 & Molniya 1-12 communications satellite
1972 27.53 cm (10.84") of rainfall, Fort Ripley, Mn (state 24-hr record)
1972 Venera 8 makes soft landing on Venus
1973 Sue Berning wins her 3rd US Golf Open championship
1975 House of Reps votes to restore citizenship to Gen Robert E Lee
1981 Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca sentenced in a Rome to life
1982 Academic Text Processing Service established in Seattle
1983 -128ø F (-89ø C) recorded, Vostok, Antarctica (world record)
1983 Dick Smith makes 1st solo helicopter flight around the world
1983 Poland's PM Januzelski lifts martial law
1984 Kathy Whitworth wins a record 85th pro golf tournament
1986 House of Reps impeaches Judge Harry E Claiborne on tax evasion
1987 Said Aouita of Morroco sets the 5k record (12:58.39) in Rome
1987 Soyuz TM-3 launched with 3 cosmonauts (1 Syrian)
1987 US began escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in Persian Gulf
1988 500 US scientists pledge to boycott Pentagon germ-warfare research
1990 Greg Lemond of US wins bicycling's 3rd tour de France
1990 Nick Faldo of England wins the British Open Golf championship
1991 Jeffrey Dahmer confesses to killing 17 males in 1978

AND IN MUSIC

1965, Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is released ... it turns out to be his biggest hit ever, climbing to number two on the U.S. pop chart...

1968, the album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida from Iron Butterfly debuts on the U.S. charts ... the title track, clocking in at a whopping 17 minutes, features one of the longest drum solos in rock history ... the psychedelic, proto-metal song experiences a slight title change before release: from "In The Garden of Eden" to "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" ... the switch was made to match vocalist/keyboardist Doug Ingle's slurred phrasing and because an Atco record exec thought it sounded and looked more Eastern, a trend spurred by the Beatles' and Rolling Stones' flirtations with Eastern spirituality...

1974, Joey Ramone slides out from behind the drum kit and steps up to the mic to assume vocal duties for The Ramones...

1977, Judas Priest begins its first U.S. tour in Oakland, CA, as the opening act for Led Zeppelin...

1980, Back In Black, the new album from AC/DC is released ... it is the band's first album with new singer Brian Johnson ... Johnson joined the band after the untimely, alcohol-driven death of singer Bon Scott, and the album is a Scott tribute of sorts ... released just five months after Scott's death the disc explodes up the charts ... by 1997 it has sold 16 million copies in the U.S. alone...

1986, the film Sid and Nancy premieres at the Limelight Club in London ... the film relates the mostly true biographical tale of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen ... the raw, dark film culminates in the stabbing death of Nancy, Sid's arrest on suspicion of murder, and his heroin OD shortly thereafter...

1987, Guns 'N Roses debut album, Appetite For Destruction, is released ... while it is known as a landmark album now, it won't start moving significant units or receiving much airplay until MTV puts the video for "Sweet Child o' Mine" into heavy rotation nearly a year later ... after the ballad shoots to the top of the charts, the original lead single from the album, "Welcome to the Jungle," is re-released and hits the Top 10 ... the Top 10 hit "Paradise City" soon follows, as do sold-out arena tours, classic rock star excess, and truckloads of intra-band conflict...

1992, Bruce Springsteen opens his first U.S. tour since 1988 in New Jersey (natch) at The Meadowlands entertainment complex ... he and the E-Street boys will play 11 sold-out shows in the 21,000-seat Brendan Byrne arena, with some of the shows going until one in the morning ... it's good to be the Boss...

1996, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is arrested for assault and released the same day in North Carolina ... the band had just wrapped up their day as main-stage headliners on the Lollapalooza festival stop at Rockingham Dragway ... from his own mouth: "It wasn't even a fan and it wasn't even at our show. It was in the lobby of our hotel in North Carolina. These people heard that we were staying in the hotel so they're sneaking out to look and they had been drinking so they were a little bit verbally abusive. I told one of them to go away with a twist of the wrist and that was it, just once. It wouldn't have been a big deal had I not been who I am--a guy in a rock band." ... thanks for the clarification, Kim...

2003, Chino Moreno of The Deftones badly pulls his groin muscle during a particularly energetic set at the Hawthorne Racetrack in Chicago on the Summer Sanitarium tour ... after consulting a doctor, the band announces they will miss the Sanitarium stop in Minnesota and two club dates in South Dakota and Montana ... the hope is that a few days' rest will allow the singer to perform at the next Sanitarium stop in Denver later that week...

Part 2

Ugg Boot

LOS ANGELES — James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and motion pictures died early Wednesday. He was 85.


230 St Pontianus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1588 English fleet defeats Spanish armada
1831 Belgium gains independence from Netherland, Leopold I made king
1836 1st Canadian RR opens, between Laprairie & St John, Qu‚bec
1846 Mormons found 1st English settlement in Calif (San Joaquin Valley)
1861 1st major battle of Civil War ends (Bull Run), Va-South wins
1867 City Gardens on Folsom opens
1873 Jesse James, 1st train robbery
1880 Compressed air accident kills 20 workers on Hudson River tunnel, NY
1896 National Federation of Afro-American Women & Colored Women's
League merge to form National Association of Colored Woman
1898 Spain cedes Guam to US
1900 Pope Leo XIII encyclical to the Greek-Melkite rite
1904 Camille Jenatzy sets world auto speed record at 65.79 MPH
1919 Dirigible crashes through bank skylight killing 13 (Chicago, Ill)
1921 Indians (9) & Yankees (7) hit a record 16 doubles
1923 Phillies score 12 in 6th & beat Cubs 17-4
1928 H E Wood discovers asteroid #1096 Reunerta
1930 US Veterans Administration established
1931 Reno race track, becomes 1st in US to use daily double wagering
1934 113ø F (45ø C), near Gallipolis, Ohio (state record)
1935 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1358 Gaika
1940 Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
1942 8 die as coal waste heap slides in river valley near Oakwood, Va
1944 US forces free Guam of Japanese invaders
1945 Detroit Tigers & Phila A's play 24 inning 1-1 tie
1946 J‚sus T Pi¤erol becomes 1st native born Puerto Rican governor
1949 Senate ratifies North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 82-13
1954 At Geneva, France agrees to independence of North & South Vietnam
1955 1st sub powered by liquid metal cooled reactor launched-Seawolf
1956 Cin Red pitcher Brooks Lawrence loses after 13 straight wins
1957 1st black to win a major US tennis tournament (Althea Gibson)
1959 1st atomic powered merchant ship, Savannah, christened, Camden NJ
1960 The country of Katanga forms in Africa
1961 Launch of Mercury 4 (Liberty Bell) with Grissom
1962 160 civil right activists jailed after demonstration in Albany Ga
1965 Pakistan, Iran & Turkey sign Regional Co-Operation pact
1966 Gemini X returns to Earth
1969 Neil Armstrong steps on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT)
1969 Russia's Luna 15 impacts moon after 52 lunar orbits
1972 2 passenger trains collide head-on killing 76 (Seville, Spain)
1972 In New York, 57 murders occur in 24 hours
1973 Hank Aaron becomes 2nd major leaguer to hit 700 HRs
1973 USSR launches Mars 4 for fly-by (2600 km) of the red planet
1975 Billy Martin fired as Texas Rangers manager
1975 NY Met Felix Milan hits 4 singles; erased by Joe Torres 4 double plays
1976 1st outbreak of "Legionnaire's Disease" kills 29 in Phila
1978 US Postal Service & unions agree on a contract averting mail strike
1978 World's strongest dog, 80-kg St Bernard, pulls 2909-kg load 27 m
1979 N Chernykh discovers asteroids #2585 Irpedina & #3298
1979 National Women's Hall of Fame (Seneca Falls, NY) dedicated
1980 Jean-Claude Droyer climbs the Eiffel Tower in 2 hrs 18 mins
1983 Polish govt ends 19 months of martial law
1983 Storm cuts short Diana Ross' free concert in NY's Central Park
1983 US announces Lebanon freed American hostage David Dodge
1984 1st documented case of a robot killing a human in US
1984 Marita Koch of E Germany sets world women's mark for 200m, 21.71s
1986 Pleasure Island plans unveiled
1988 ESA's Ariane-3 launches 2 communications satellites (1 Indian)
1989 Eastern Airlines submits a reorganization plan to creditors
1989 Greg LeMond (US) wins Tour de France in fastest time
1989 Mike Tyson TKOs Carl "the Truth" Williams in 1:33 of 1st round
1990 Goodwill Games opens in Seattle Wash
1990 Pink Floyds' "The Wall" is performed where the Berlin Wall once stood

Religious History

1773 Clement XIV issued the brief, 'Dominus ac redemptor noster,' officially dissolvingthe Society of Jesus (Jesuits). This politically-based suppression afterward leftconspicuous gaps in Catholic education and foreign missions.
1829 Birth of public school teacher Priscilla Jane Owens. A Methodist who remained inBaltimore all her life, she left behind two enduring hymns: 'We Have an Anchor' and 'JesusSaves.'
1886 The cardinal's hat was conferred upon Elzear Alexandre Taschereau, 66, archbishopof Quebec. He was the first Canadian to be made a cardinal in the Catholic Church.
1925 Following a sensational 12-day trial, high school biology teacher John T. Scopeswas found guilty of teaching evolution in his Dayton, TN classroom and was fined $100.
1958 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'What the devil loves is thatvague cloud of unspecified guilt or unspecified virtue, by which he lures us into despairor presumption.'

Happy Birthday
1816 Paul Julius Baron von Reuter founded Reuters news service
1899 Ernest Hemmingway Oak Park, for whom the bell tolled... (Nobel 1954)
1924 Don Knotts Morgantown WV, actor (Amdy Griffth Show, 3's Company)
1943 Edward Herrmann Wash DC, actor (Day of the Dolphin, Reds)
1947 Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam, rocker (Peace Train, Father & Son)
1952 Robin Williams Chicago Ill, comedian (Mork & Mindy, Awakenings)
1957 Jon Lovitz Tarzana Calif, comedian (SNL)

History of the World as it Happens

Ugg Boot

KAMPALA (Reuters) - A Ugandan member of parliament has pledged to reward girls for their chastity by paying their university fees if they are virgins when they leave school, a local newspaper said Wednesday. This only applies to girls? and exactly how can they tell if a girl is a virgin? By taking her virginity. And that's why I've joined the Ugandan parliament.

LONDON (Reuters) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed. .....and here we are, stranded on this little rock we call Earth, sugar coating everything to make our offspring super sensitive.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police let a nearly naked shopper go home after she told them she was getting groceries in the nude because she lost a spin the bottle contest, a police spokesman in Cologne said Wednesday. When I played spin the bottle, I mean, when I read about it, you kissed whoever the bottle stopped at, not got naked. I missed that rule entirly. How stupid of me.

LONDON (Reuters) - Motorists who enjoy a sing-along while driving tend to concentrate more and fall asleep less than their silent counterparts, new research showed Tuesday. "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones. They're a page right out of history..."

MINNEAPOLIS - R.I.P., Arnold the Crime-Fighting Pig. A south Minneapolis neighborhood is mourning the loss of Arnold, a 450-pound porker who once foiled a burglary. The beast died last month from apparent heart failure. He was 6. Must read this one. And why isn't there a cartoon about this?

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Carmaker Volvo has asked for special exemption from Sweden's tough drink-driving laws so its test drivers can have a glass too many to test new safety systems that warn if a driver is not reacting to danger.

DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - Bald men in Germany have no entitlement to state support for toupees, a court ruled on Wednesday. I guess my plan to move to Germany when I go bald wasn't such a good idea after all.

CHICAGO - A man who called a radio station to brag about his role in a bank robbery may be regretting picking up his phone. "I heard my mama cry. I heard her pray the night Chicago died....." What an idiot.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 76-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly selling crack cocaine by putting the drugs in her purse and lowering them by rope from her second-floor window. Dope on a rope.

MARYVILLE, Tenn. - A would-be racer took an illegal turn around Smoky Mountain Speedway and crashed her pickup truck, while her companion made a low-speed getaway on a farm tractor. Yes, I said a farm tractor.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Both the U.S. marriage and divorce rates are dropping while the number of unwed couples living together is rising, according to an annual study of marriage released Monday. Strange.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The life of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. is getting the big-screen treatment. This will be Notoriously B.A.D. I wonder if the life of slain rapper Tupak will get the same treatment? Yo, check it D. Don't nobody wanna see no B.I.G. show. You down? Yo.

I might be crazy, but I ain't dumb. Ben "Cooter" Jones has a message for fans eager to check out the soon-to-be released Dukes of Hazzard movie: Stay home, y'all.

Today in history:
514 St Hormisdas begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1773 Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada)
1810 Colombia declared independence from Spain
1858 Fee 1st charged to see a baseball game (50) (NY beats Bkln 22-18)
1861 Confederate state's congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Va
1864 Battle of Peachtree Creek-Atlanta Campaign
1868 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
1871 British Columbia becomes 6th Canadian province
1872 Mahlon Loomis receives patent for wireless ... the radio is born
1876 1st US intercollegiate track meet held, Saratoga, NY; Princeton wins
1878 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii
1881 Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, surrenders to federal troops
1890 Snow & hail in Calais, ME
1894 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike
1903 Giuseppe Sarto elected Pope Pius X
1906 Bkln Dodger Mal Eason no-hits St Louis Cards, 2-0
1911 Boston Red Sox Smokey Joe Wood no-hits St Louis Browns, 5-0
1912 Phillies Sherry Magee steals home twice in 1 game
1917 WW I draft lottery held; #258 is 1st drawn
1922 Togo made a mandate of the League of Nations
1923 Yanks hit into a triple-play but beat A's 9-2
1930 106ø F (41ø C), Washington, DC (district record)
1934 118ø F (48ø C), Keokuk, Iowa (state record)
1938 Finland awarded 1940 Olympic games after Japan withdraws
1940 Singles record charts 1st published by Billboard-Tommy Dorsey #1
1941 Yanks beat Tigers 12-6 in 17
1942 Legion of Merit Medal authorized by congress
1942 Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began basic training at Fort Des Moines
1944 Pres FDR nominated for an unprecedented 4th term at Dem convention
1944 US invades Japanese-occupied Guam in WW II
1944 Von Stauffenberg fails on an attempt on Hitler's life
1949 Israel's 19 month war of independence ends
1950 "Arthur Murray Party" premiers on ABC TV (later DuMont, CBS, NBC)
1954 Tennis Champ Maureen Connolly's right leg is crushed in an accident
1956 France recognizes Tunisia's independence
1956 Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford ties AL record of 6 straight strike-outs
1960 1st submerged submarine to fire Polaris missile (George Washington)
1960 USSR recovered 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space
1964 1st surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City"
1965 46.18 cm (18.18") of rainfall, Edgarton, Missouri (state 24-hr record)
1967 Race riots in Memphis Tenn
1968 Jane Asher breaks her engagement with Paul McCartney on live TV
Iron Butterfly's "In-a-gadda-da-vida" becomes the 1st heavy metal
song to hit the charts, it comes in at #117
1969 1st men on Moon, Neil Armstrong & Edwin Aldrin, Apollo 11
1970 1st baby born on Alcatraz Island
1970 LA Angel Bill Singer no-hits Phillies, 5-0
1974 Turkey invades Cyprus
1976 US Viking 1 lands on Mars at Chryse Planitia, 1st Martian landing
1977 Flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa, kills 80 & causing $350 mil damage
1979 44-kg Newfoundland dog pulls 2293-kg load, Bothell, Wash
1982 Bombs planted by Irish Republican Army explode in 2 London parks
1984 Uwe Hohn of East Germany throws javelin a record 104.8 m
1985 Divers find wreck of Spanish galleon Atocha
1987 Don Mattingly ties 1st base majors fielding record with 22 put-outs
1988 Michael Dukakis selected Democratic presidential nominee
1989 93ø F, highest overnight low ever recorded in Phoenix Arizona
1990 Justice William Brennan resigns from the Supreme Court after 36 years
1991 Kirk Cameron marries Growing Pains co-star Chelsea Noble in upstate NY
1991 Mike Tyson is accused of raping a Miss Black America contestant
1996 26th Olympic Summer games opens in Atlanta, Georgia

Elvis and stuff

Ugg Boot

1939, "Cherokee" is recorded for the first time by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra ... the tune will be recorded by scores of jazz greats and often played at a breakneck pace to humble neophytes...

1953, a young sideburned truck driver--last name of Presley--drops in at the Memphis Recording Service studio, plunks down his four bucks, and records "My Happiness" on an acetate disc as a gift for his mother...

1954, Elvis is back in Sun Studios (formerly the Memphis Recording Service) to record the first commercially - available Elvis single, "That's Alright Mama" ... the song, with a hopped-up beat, is a cover of a tune originally cut by bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup ... that same week, Presley turns up at the grand opening of a Memphis drugstore where he performs on the back of a flatbed truck...

1964, The Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" makes it to number 48 on the chart ... it is the first in their long line of hits...

1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker get together to form one of rock's most celebrated trios, Cream...

1966, 50-year-old crooner Frank Sinatra marries 20-year-old Mia Farrow...

1968, Steppenwolf releases the ultimate biker anthem "Born To Be Wild"...

1968, the Beatles' full-length animated film Yellow Submarine debuts at the Pavilion Theatre in London with John, Paul, and George in attendance...

1972, a bomb explodes near a Rolling Stones equipment truck in Montreal ... the bomb was placed under a ramp and blows the cones out of a lot of PA cabs ... nobody is hurt, it's never determined who placed the bomb, and the show goes on as planned...

1972, Boston mayor Kevin White helps get Mick Jagger and Keith Richards out of jail in Warwick, R.I., following their arrest for roughing up a photographer ... hizzoner wants to ensure the Stones make their gig at the Boston Garden...

1973, The Everly Brothers arrive at an ignominious career low when the sweet-harmonizing siblings' set at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, is stopped by the theme park's entertainment director who feels Don is doing a poor job ... brother Phil sees red, smashes his guitar, and stalks offstage ... Don performs the third set as a solo and announces that the Everly Brothers are history...

1973, singer and guitarist for the Byrds, Clarence White is run down and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment after a gig in Palmdale, California...

1974, John Lennon is given two months to leave the United States by the INS, who have denied him an extension on his visa, supposedly because he pled guilty to a pot charge in England in 1968 ... it will be revealed later that he is under surveillance by the FBI...

1978, as Bob Dylan leaves England after completion of his U.K. tour, over 200,000 gather at Blackbush Airport to see him off...

1982, Moon Unit Zappa, still a young teenager, makes her debut with dad, Frank, recording "Valley Girl," which becomes FZ's highest-charting single at #32 and wins Grammy nominations for father and daughter alike...

1986, after 28 years of collaboration, Columbia Records drops Johnny Cash, who then signs with Mercury...

1988, a California appeals court puts the quash on the old "let's-blame-our-child's-suicide-on-a-rock-band" game when it upholds a lower court's decision dismissing a suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS ... the suit held Ozzy and CBS responsible for the death of a teen who committed suicide after listening to Osbourne's "Suicide Solution"...

1989, Venice, Italy, is overrun by 200,000 loonies who show up in town for a free Pink Floyd concert and annoy the locals with noise, littering, and drug use...

1991, former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler files suit against the band, claiming they peer-pressured him into heroin addiction, then ousted him from the band when he entered a rehab program ... eventually, Adler will accept an out-of-court settlement to the tune of 2.5 million bucks...

1995, a bear-bone flute is found in an archaeological dig in the Indrijca River Valley in Slovenia ... at an estimated 45,000 years old, it is the oldest musical instrument ever found...

1996, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin loses his gig with the Smashing Pumpkins after he ODs on smack with touring percussionist-keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in a New York hotel room ... Melvoin dies and Chamberlin is told to take a hike ... he will not rejoin the band until 1999 ... Chamberlin has already been booted for a short time on this tour after having overdosed in Thailand and again in Portugal...

2000, the Aiken County, South Carolina, sheriff's office finally catches up with James Brown, who's been overseas at a gig ... utility worker Russell Eubanks has filed a complaint that Brown threatened him while brandishing a steak knife when Eubanks came to Brown's home to respond to a power-outage report ... after two hours of questioning, the sheriff's office reports that Brown was "very cooperative" and was not arrested ... police records will reveal that Brown apparently thought Eubanks was an intruder and that racial slurs were exchanged...

2002, Bob Seger wins the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat Race, his second sailing title in two years...

2004, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Linda Ronstadt inspires the ire of Bush supporters in the audience by lauding Michael Moore's new movie Fahrenheit 9/11 onstage ... the incensed audience members boo and some of them leave in a huff, tearing down Linda Ronstadt posters on their way out ... Aladdin president Bill Timmins responds by refusing to let Ronstadt return to her suite and having her escorted off the property ... Michael Moore calls Timmins' actions "simply stupid and un-American"...

Oh My Goodness

Ugg Boot

Usher Raymond, the 26-year-old R&B star, dropped by for the first day of Camp New Look, an Atlanta program he recently started for minority youth in his home city. 150 campers aged 8 to 18 hole up at Clark Atlanta University for two weeks, honoring their specialties — either singing, dancing, or basketball — and learning about the respective industries. Did you notice that it's for minority youth? That's okay usher (notice I didn't capitalize his name), white people don't like singing, dancing, and basketball. We like to spend our summer putting down minority groups in our white power gangs. Now, take away all of that money that honkys have spent on his records. How rich are you now? Dumbass!!!!

In a bid to attract black female moviegoers, Lions Gate Films has signed a multipicture deal with rapper/actor LL Cool J, whose first project will be an urban version of "Fatal Attraction." I thought us honkys were racial.
Two high-profile U.S. senators, Joseph Lieberman and Hillary Clinton, are incensed over pornographic content "hidden" in the popular video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," and are demanding action from either the government or the game's maker. Here's a thought, Get Laid, Get Over It, better yet, lay each other.

Motor City's Kid Rock has a new home in the Music City. The Detroit rock-rapper, whose real name is Bob Ritchie, bought a three-story condo in Nashville's upscale West End area for more than $800,000, real estate records show. When asked "Why Nashville?" Kid Rock replied "Because I wanna be a cowboy baby".

Transformers, the long-planned, live-action movie based on the robot-morphing cartoon, comic and toy franchise, will roll into theaters July 4, 2007, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures announced Wednesday.

A woman has been arrested on child neglect charges after giving birth while drunk, police said. Melissa Irene Tanner, 37, is accused of having a blood alcohol content close to three times the legal limit when she gave birth to a baby girl on June 30. It was the first time she woke up and wondered what came out of her vagina rather than what went in.

A tourist from Connecticut reported he was mugged twice within five minutes while walking Alii Drive. That's just one of those days when you know it would've been better to stay in bed. Maybe with the woman in the story above. hahahaha.

...and the Pope disapproves of Harry Potter books. That settles it. If the pope doesn't approve, I don't approve either. Yeah, right. You have a brain so make your own decision based on your own opinions, not the popes.

Thin Sandar, a chicken seller in Myanmar, had always dreamed of being a man. When she inexplicably grew a penis last month, the 21-year-old treated it as an awe-inspiring omen -- as have the thousands of stunned villagers who have traveled to a pagoda to see him. Do they get to look at this mysterious penis? I wonder what that baby would bring on ebay....

It's So Hot!!!

Ugg Boot

The Watermelon festival was fun this year. Paul was able to get off at the last minute so he could be home for it and I was so glad. I put my car in the parade and won first place. Mama always said parades were like a box of choc-lates. They're filled with nuts. Was that dumb or what?

How cool is that??? And I had someone offer me 2/3 more for my car than I paid for it. I can't sell my car. It's too much fun.


This is the longest front end of a car that I've ever seen. It's awesome to drive. I love my roadster.

Two weeks ago, postal workers in Bluffton, S.C., heard a strange buzzing sound after tossing a package into a sorting bin. The building was evacuated, the block cordoned off. Within minutes, a state bomb squad helicoptered in from the state capital. The crack team secreted off the suspicious package and gingerly dismantled ... a vibrator.

I LOVE THE FISHES CAUSE THEY'RE SO DELICIOUS

Ugg Boot


Gold Fish Guitar

Pignose was commissioned to build some guitars for Pepperidge Farms to commemerate their popular snack cracker "Goldfish." While I know that you might kill to own a guitar like this, you need to let it go, it was a one shot deal and this one is not for sale. You could always keep an eye on eBay... Clickhere to check out other cool custom guitars. Thanks Jane

1954, Elvis Presley officially ends his career as a truck driver when he signs his first record contract with Sun Records...

1955, "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets becomes the first rock-and-roll record to hit #1 on the national pop charts...

1956, Johnny Cash appears for the first time on the Grand Ole Opry

1957, setting off a chain of events that will change the face of modern music, John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time ... the encounter takes place at the Woolton Parish Church Garden show at Liverpool's St. Peter's Church... recalling the meeting years later, McCartney says Lennon was drunk...

1962, the Rolling Stones play out for the first time at the Marquee Club in London ... Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Avery, and Dick Taylor constitute the lineup...

1967, in one of the strangest rock and roll pairings ever, the Jimi Hendrix Experience joins The Monkees' North American tour in Jacksonville, FL. ... the teenybopper crowds don't know what to make of Hendrix's wild performances, resulting in the Experience leaving the tour after only a few dates...

1968, following a concert in New York, the Yardbirds break up ... it won't be long until Jimmy Page forms The New Yardbirds, which after fulfilling the final Yardbirds tour dates will change its name to Led Zeppelin...

1969, Eric Clapton's new band Blind Faith makes their American concert debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City...

1976, pioneering punk outfit The Damned make their live debut at London's 100 Club...

1979, Chuck Berry is sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service after pleading guilty to tax evasion ... Berry will perform benefit concerts as part of his community service...

1980, Led Zeppelin plays the last show of its European tour at the Eissporthalle in West Berlin ... the show turns out to be the band's swan song when a couple of months later John Bonham will be found dead ... the band had planned to tour North America next...

1995, Jerry Garcia plays his final show with The Grateful Dead ... the guitarist, vocalist, and founder of the band will die of a heart attack a month later while in a California rehab center...

1998, a Los Angeles judge issues a bench warrant for Scott Weiland when the Stone Temple Pilots singer fails to appear in court for a second time on drug possession charges ... in what's becoming a bad week for Weiland, he's sentenced to three years probation and a stint in rehab in 2004 for a DUI arrest the previous October...

1999, Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst is arrested in St. Paul, MN, for suspicion of aggravated assault following the band's show at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium ... during the performance, Durst's bodyguard was attempting to remove a fan who had jumped onstage ... venue security mistook the bodyguard for an unruly fan and attempted to remove him from the stage ... at this point Durst allegedly kicked one of the guards in the head...

2002, the surviving members of The Doors announce that they will be joined by The Cult singer Ian Astbury at an upcoming concert at the California Motor Speedway...

2003, Jack White of the White Stripes breaks his finger in a car wreck in his hometown of Detroit ... as a result of the injury, the band must cancel two European performances and reschedule their North American tour ... White spends his recuperation time producing an album for country star Loretta Lynn, and posts a video clip of his finger surgery on the band's website to prove the injury's not a publicity stunt...

2004, excerpts from a forthcoming Record Collector magazine interview with Dave Mustaine reveal his anger over his appearance in the Metallica docu-drama Some Kind of Monster ... the scene is a confrontation between Mustaine and his former Metallica bandmate, drummer Lars Ulrich ... Mustaine maintains that the band agreed to keep the scene out of the final cut of the film, and calls its inclusion a "final betrayal" by his former band...

2004, in an interview with MTV.com, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor explained his penchant for incorporating big words into his lyrics ... "I'm sorry, but there aren't a lot of smart people out there ... I try to throw in as many polysyllabic words as possible ... it's very cool to be able to do that and pass down the knowledge" ... Slipknot fans run to the nearest dictionary to look up "polysyllabic"...

23rd Annual Saline Watermelon Festival

Ugg Boot

COME ONE, COME ALL

The 23rd Annual Saline Watermelon Festival is upon us. It should be good, hot, fun. There will be a ton of cool booths, a rock climbing wall, and a bungie trampoline thingy. I have no idea what it's called but we saw it at the Peach Festival in Ruston and it was sooooooooooo cool. So anyway, here's the schedule of events:

Wednesday, July 6th
7:00 pm Area Wide Church Service

Thursday, July 7th
7:00 pm Little Master, Teeny Miss, Tiny Miss, and Little Miss Pageants (info:576-9967)

Friday, July 8th 7:00 pm
Deb Miss, Junior Miss, Teen Miss, and Queen Pageants (info: 576-9967)

8:00 pm
LRCA Rodeo, Busy Bee Arena

Saturday, July 9th 7:00 am
5k Run Registration

8:00 am
5k Run Begins (info: 576-3352)

9:00 am
Booths Open (info: 576-9089), Parade Lineup at Gym, Watermelon Judging (stage)

10.00 am
Parade (info: 576-3352)

11:00 am
Downtown Program Begins, Auction of Prize Melons, Auction of COA Quilt, COA Quilt Raffle, Winners of Parade entries, Fun Contests, Live Music

7:00 pm
Street Dance featuring LA9

8:00 pm
LRCA Rodeo, Busy Bee Arena

This is Soooo Cool

Ugg Boot

You have to check this out. Thanks Jane!!!

Happy 4th of July

Ugg Boot

This guy comes in from work, slams the door, throws all his stuff down, and falls into his chair. He yells for his wife and she comes runing to see what's wrong.

Staring straight ahead, he says "go get me a beer before it starts."

"Okay?" so, she runs to the kitchen and gets him a beer.

After finishing that one, he says again "go and get me a beer before it starts"

She raises an eyebrow but again she goes and gets him another beer.

After drinking that one, he yet again says, "go and get me another beer before it starts."

By this time, she'd had enough. "before what starts?? I realize you've been working all day but I've been here all day mopping the floors, washing the dishes, doing the laundry… "

He sighs… "ah, hell, nevermind, its already started…"

And in the news:

Thai Fishermen Net 646-Pound Catfish. Click here to see the picture.

London: The government launched a series of tough anti-cigarette adverts on Friday with the message that smoking is bad for your sex life because it makes men impotent and women ugly.

One ad uses a burning cigarette end between two "fingerlegs" as a metaphor for a penis with the strapline "Does smoking make you hard? Not if it means you can't get it up."

Another targets women saying cigarettes lead to premature skin aging and warns that smoking causes "cat's bum mouth."

June 29, 2005

Heartbroken Rockers ... The Beatles Flee ... Elvis Serenades

This is the week that was in matters musical...

1915, seminal blues bassist, songwriter, and producer Willie Dixon is born in Vicksburg, Mississippi ... during his six-decade career he will play on and produce records for all the baddest blues dudes including Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson II ... his songs, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Evil," become staples of the blues repertoire, and late in life he will successfully sue Led Zeppelin twice for copyright infringement...

1956, Elvis Presley appears on The Steve Allen Show wearing a tux loaned to him by the host ... he performs his torchy "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" backed by the smooth-singing Jordanaires and then tears into a rocking version of "Hound Dog" which he sings to a basset hound that's propped up on a pedestal...

1957, Ray Charles' eponymously-titled first Atlantic album is released...

1966, two Philippines army battalions in full combat regalia meet The Beatles when they touch down in Manila during their Asian tour ... the soldiers hustle the lads past 50,000 screaming fans before they're safely ensconced at a naval base ... the next day they play two shows to overflow crowds and blow off lunch with dictator Ferdinand Marcos's wife Imelda resulting in their security being withdrawn ... the lads are obliged to fight their way onto their plane and George Harrison ruefully reflects, "The only way I'd return to the Philippines would be to drop an atom bomb on it"...

1968, promoter Bill Graham opens The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco ... The Jefferson Airplane top the bill ... the venue becomes a Mecca for psychedelic bands and their adoring, patchouli-scented fans...

1969, the naughtiest Rolling Stone, Brian Jones, is found dead in his swimming pool ... the coroner's ruling is "misadventure" -- his drowning is attributed to that classic killer combo, alcohol and barbiturates ... three days later the Stones put on a free concert before 250,000 in London's Hyde Park to ostensibly introduce their new guitarist Mick Taylor ... meanwhile at the Newport Jazz Festival rock acts including Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, and Jethro Tull appear for the first and last time...

1971, this week looms large in affairs of the heart where rockers are concerned ... in 1971 Jim Morrison is found in his Parisian bathtub dead of a heart attack ... Rolling Stone's cover story proclaims, "He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead" ... Morrison is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, the final resting place of Chopin and Oscar Wilde ... his grave becomes a hot tourist destination second only to the Eiffel Tower ... in 1975, folk-rocker Tim Buckley (father of Jeff) dies of a drug-induced heart attack ... exactly four years later in 1979, much-admired Little Feat slide guitarist and founder Lowell George suffers the same fate ... in 1999 Elton John is fitted with a pacemaker after being found to have an irregular heartbeat ... that very same day, Morphine frontman Mark Sandman drops dead onstage from a heart attack during an Italian concert while in LA, portly Blues Traveler harp player-singer John Popper receives an angioplasty in response to complaints of chest pain...

1972, Willie Nelson throws the first of his annual Independence Day picnics in Dripping Springs, TX...

1973, the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar closes its Broadway run after 720 performances...

1974, Greg Allman ties the knot with pop diva Cher just four days after her divorce from Sonny Bono is final ... the new union lasts only nine days before the pair separates...

1978, Peter Frampton suffers a broken arm and cracked ribs in a Bahamian auto wreck...

1982, Ozzy Osbourne marries his manager Sharon Arden laying the groundwork for MTV's future entry into the sitcom market...

1983, following a 10-year estrangement, the Everly Brothers reunite...

1984, Epic sets a record by shipping two million copies of The Jacksons album Victory to record stores ... the release is the group's only album to feature all six Jackson brothers and is the last to feature Michael whose solo career is burning brightly...

1990, 2 Live Crew releases the single "Banned in the U.S.A." in response to bluenoses who have targeted the rap group's albums ... "Born in the U.S.A." composer Bruce Springsteen gives his blessings to the parody ... Vatican representatives announce their attempt to block Madonna's upcoming Rome concerts due to her inappropriate use of religious symbols including crucifixes ... they prevail and the shows are canceled...

1991, over 60 audience members are injured during a Guns N' Roses show in Maryland Heights, MO ... singer Axl Rose is charged with property damage and third-degree assault for jumping off the stage and attacking a videotaping fan ... a year later he surrenders to authorities...

1995, Courtney Love is charged with assault after she belts Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna at a Lollapalooza show in George, Washington ... the tempestuous singer is given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to take anger-management classes...

1996, Neil Young's new album Broken Arrow gets its debut via the Internet...

1997, DJ Wolfman Jack drops dead of a heart attack in his driveway after giving his wife a goodbye hug ... born Robert Smith, the gravel-voiced radio personality endeared himself to millions of listeners across the U.S. by blasting a torrid mix of soul, blues, and R&B from a 250,000-watt Mexican station operating just over the Texas border ... Brooklyn born, many of his fans presumed Smith was black until he made a cameo appearance in American Graffiti playing himself...

1998, in a successful effort to prevent reporters from eavesdropping on their wedding ceremony, Barbra Streisand and James Brolin arrange to have the White Zombie album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One blasted from a van parked outside their Malibu villa at an earsplitting volume...

2000, in a phenomenally belated ruling, a San Francisco court rules that the Rolling Stones should have given proper credit for the songs "Stop Breakin' Down" and "Love in Vain," both of which were written by Robert Johnson ... the Stones' former record label had presumed incorrectly that the songs were in the public domain ... nine people die and 24 are injured when the crowd surges toward the stage at Denmark's Roskilde Festival because the PA isn't getting enough sound to the back ... Pearl Jam is the band playing at the time of the incident...

2001, New Orleans R&B singer Ernie K-Doe dies ... he had scored a big hit in 1961 with the song "Mother-in-Law" ... ironically, he's laid to rest in a family plot right next to -- you guessed it -- his mother-in-law...