Tuesday, August 23, 2005

All things must pass...

The Beatles said goodbye to New York with their final appearance on this night in 1966. Shea Stadium was the site for a less than sold-out performance that would fall 11,000 short of a sell-out...

This would be the 7th performance in The Apple, most of any city the Beatles would play in during their 3 tours of America. If you're keeping score, there were 2 shows at Carnegie Hall, 2 appearances at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium and a date at the Paramount Theater, all in 1964. 1965 brought the Beatles to a sold-out Shea and their final performance back at the home of the Mets on this date in 1966...

The Beatles would gross an attendance of over 141,000 in New York City during their 7 shows. On August 23, 1966 they were 6 days shy of their final U.S. appearance...

More August 23 Memories...

1962) John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell in Liverpool...

1962) Little Eva tops the charts with "The Loco-Motion"...

1972) "Brandy" by Looking Glass is #1...

1974) John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in New York City (yeah but did the UFO see John ?)...

1979) Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects while the Bolshoi Ballet is on tour in New York City...

1982) Gaylord Perry is tossed from a game for throwing a "spitter"...

1993) The LAPD confirms that Michael Jackson is the subject of a criminal investigation...

2000) 51 million viewers tune in for the "Survivor" finale as Richard Hatch walks away with a cool million...

2001) California Congressman Gary Condit tells Connie Chung he had nothing to do with Chandra Levy's disappearance...

2002) New York publicist Lizzie Grubman pleads quilty to mowing down 16 people outside a Hamptons nightclub...

2003) Former Boston priest John Geoghan, convicted child molester is snuffed out by a fellow prisoner...

Happy Birthday to...

1930) Vera Miles...

1932) Satirist Mark Russell...

1934) Sonny Jurgensen...

1934) Barbara ("I Dream of Jeannie") Eden...

1938) Ronnie Cox...

1948) Baseball's first designated hitter, Ron Blomberg...

1949) Shelley Long...

1949) Rick Springfield...

1970) Comedian Jay Mohr...

1970) River Phoenix...

1978) Kobe Bryant...

Commentary...

As time goes by, the 3 pop icons who spanned generations, each with their own particular brand, personality, talent and charisma, that seem to surface are 1) Frank Sinatra, 2) Elvis Presley and 3) The Beatles...

If you talk to people who were lucky enough to have seen any one of those 3 acts they will tell you in no uncertain terms how special each were and how they tower over any other performers before or since...

Any other performer you might mention as being the best you've ever seen, wasn't unless their names were 1) Frank Sinatra, 2) Elvis Presley or 3) The Beatles...