Where were you when the lights went out ???
A lightning strike brought darkness to the 5 boroughs of New York City and Westchester County at 9:34pm on this date in 1977. If you survived that blackout, you will always remember where you were when it happened. My memories are contained in my commentary at the close of this blog...
Flashlights became fashionable long into the night as thousands were stranded on the subways and in apartment building elevators. The Mets-Cubs game came to a halt in the 6th inning at Shea Stadium and Boz Scaggs cut short his concert. The group NRBQ was more inventive, taping flighlights to their microphone stands and playing an accoustic set...
To hear actual radio coverage of the blackout, click: http://airchexx.com. For New York Times coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/.
More July 13 Memories...
1959) The Shirelles release "Dedicated To The One I Love"...
1964) "Rag Doll" by the 4 Seasons is #1...
1966) Jim Brown quits football for the movies...
1968) #1: "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf...
1972) The owners of the Baltimore Colts and LA Rams swap teams...
1974) Eric Clapton releases "I Shot The Sheriff"...
1975) Paul McCartney & Wings top the charts with "Listen To What The Man Said"...
1985) "Live Aid" is viewed by 1.5 billion, raising $70 million for famine relief in Africa...
1985) Duran Duran are #1 with "A View To A Kill"...
1985) The Yankees retire uniform #9 (Roger Maris) & #32 (Elston Howard)...
1990) "Ghost" premieres...
1994) Tonya Harding's ex, Jeff Gillooly sentenced to 2 years in prison for his role in attack on Nancy Kerrigan...
1998) A jury rules Reverend Al Sharpton defamed a former prosecutor in Tawana Brawley case...
Happy Birthday to...
1935) Former football player/congressman Jack Kemp...
1942) Harrison Ford...
1942) The Byrds' Roger McGuinn...
1946) Actor/comedian Cheech Marin...
1951) Didi ("Grease") Conn...
Commentary...
What I remember most about the blackout in 1977 was how helpful people were. We were in the middle of a typical July heatwave when the lights went out, making sleep difficult, if not impossible. Little rays of light were visible throughout the night in every neighborhood as flashlights moved traffic through better than traffic lights ever could and with much less beeping.
I remember walking up 16 flights of stairs, a little winded but not minding it at all. It was quiet that night and when the New York Times put their July 14th issue to bed at 1am, only 309 arrests were reported, almost all for looting. The city, once again survived with no panic. There was never any panic...
The blackout lasted 25 hours and those of us who survived it were all the better for it because New York City gave us the best it has to offer...
