Friday, March 31, 2006

Friday-Sunday, March 31-April 2, 2006

Baseball's Diversion...

It's called Opening Day or "night" to be more accurate. Bud Selig brings in George Mitchell to investigate the steroid scandal and as accusations, denials and record book asterisks all get dumped into this bottomless pit of a baseball stew resembling the remains of something rejected by the producers of "Fear Factor", we hear the plaintive cry of "Play Ball" and not a minute too soon...

From 1876 to 1989 the Cincinnati Reds had the exclusive privilege of playing the first game of the season. In 1990 the tradition was broken. This year's opener on Sunday night features the Chicago White Sox defending their championship at home against Cleveland (ESPN)...

With President George Bush scheduled to throw out the first ball you might be interested to know that the first president to do so was Howard Taft on April 14, 1910 in Washington, D.C. Eleven sitting presidents have done so but none more ambidextrously than Harry S. Truman who threw out the first ball with both the left and right arms (but not at the same time). Here are some Opening Day performance highlights:

  • Ted Williams was a .449 hitter in openers...
  • Bob Feller pitched a no-hitter in the 1940 opener (his opponent, Lefty Grove almost pitched one too, the first hit he gave up was a single after 7.1 innings)...
  • Hank Aaron hit his Babe Ruth record tying 714th home run in 1974...
  • In the 1907 opener at the Polo Grounds, Giant fans began throwing snowballs on the field with their team losing 3-0 and fans stormed the field. After homeplate umpire Bill Klem got hit by a snowball, he called the game a forfeit with the Phillies winning 9-0...
  • The record for most consecutive Opening Day wins by a team is 9, shared by the New York Mets, St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds...
  • Jimmy Key holds the record for Opening Day wins without a loss, with 7...
  • Frank Robinson holds the Opening Day career record for most home runs with 8...
  • Walter Johnson holds the Opening Day record for most shutouts with 9 (he had an overall 9-5 record)...

How important is winning on Opening Day ? It was the late Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn who summed it up best: "An opener is not like any other game. There's that little extra excitement, a faster beating of the heart. You have that anxiety to get off to a good start, for yourself and for the team. You know that when you win the first one, you can't lose 'em all"...

March 31 Memories...

1889] French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurls the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower to mark its completion...

1917] The U.S. takes possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark (what do the Danes know about sunbathed beaches, bikini-clad women and Club Med ???)...

1918] For the 1st time in U.S. history, Daylight Savings Time goes into effect (don't forget to turn your clocks one-hour ahead at 2 a.m. Sunday)...

1923] The 1st U.S. dance marathon is won by Alma Cummings who sets a new world record of 27 hours in New York City (Way to go Alma. Alma ? Alma ?)...

1931] 43-year old Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne and 7 others are killed in a plane crash in Kansas (Rockne was en route from Kansas City to L.A. where he was going to film a football movie)...

1933] Congress approves the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to put people back to work in the parks...

1940] La Guardia Airport officially opens...

1943] Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma" opens on Broadway...

1958] Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is released...

1975] Minnie Riperton is #1 with "Lovin' You" (the song is produced by Stevie Wonder. I never met a lovelier person than Minnie who at one time was one of Stevie's "Wonderlove" backup singers. Minnie and Dick Rudolph's daughter, Maya Rudolph is a cast member of "Saturday Night Live")...

1975] John Wooden coaches his last game, a 92-85 UCLA win over Kentucky which gives his Bruins their 10th national title under his leadership...

1976] The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator (Quinlan would remain comatose until 1985 when she died)...

1982] The Doobie Brothers break up...

1986] O'Kelly Isley of the Isley Brothers (who I had the pleasure of knowing) dies of a heart attack at 48...

1992] "Dateline NBC" premieres (and it's still running)...

1995] 23-year old Tejano singing idol Selena is shot to death by Yolanda Saldivar, the president of Selena's fan club outside a Corpus Christi motel room...

1998] Former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug dies at 77...

1998] On the same day that the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays play their inaugural games, the Milwaukee Brewers switch leagues from the American to the National but they lose their NL debut, 2-1 to the Braves...

1999] 4 New York City police officers are charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo (the officers were acquitted in 2000)...

2004] Air America debuts on 5 stations (is it up to 6 yet ?)...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1928] Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe...

1934] Richard Chamberlain...

1934] Shirley Jones...

1935] Herb Alpert...

1943] Christopher Walken...

1945] Gabe Kaplan...

1948] Al Gore...

1948] Rhea Perlman...

[Today is the 90th day of 2006 with 275 days remaining in the year. We're only 2 days away from opening day]

Saturday, April 1, 2006...

April Fool's Day Memories...

1778] Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans Businessman creates the $ symbol (Pollock dies a pauper. April Fool's)...

1864] The 1st travel accident policy is issued to James Batterson by the Travelers Insurance Company...

1876] The 1st official National League game is played (Boston beats Philadelphia 6-5)...

1930] Leo Harnett of the Cubs breaks the altitude record for a catch when he catches a baseball dropped from the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles (excavation of his body takes several days but he's still holding the ball)...

1938] The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, NY...

1946] Weight Watchers is formed (without Fergie ?)...

1960] The U.S. launches the 1st weather satellite, TIROS-1...

1963] The Typographers Union ends their strike that had closed 9 New York City newspapers for 114 days (the strike began on Dec. 8, 1962)...

1963] After a 16-year career with the Brooklyn, then-Los Angeles Dodgers, "The Dook of Flatbush" returns when Duke Snider is traded to the Mets (where he hits .243 with 45 RBIs in 129 games before being traded to San Francisco. Snider enters the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980)...

1963] "General Hospital" and "Doctors" premieres on TV...

1964] John Lennon is reunited with his father after 17 years...

1972] Major leaguers walk out at the end of spring training and begin the 1st general player's strike in sports history (they return on April 13)...

1976] Jimmy Buffett releases "Margaritaville"...

1984] Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in Los Angeles, one day before his 45th birthday...

1987] Mets pitcher Dwight ("Doc") Gooden tests positive for cocaine (he spends the 1st 2 months of the season in rehab and that my friends was the beginning of the end of what could have been a brilliant career)...

1991] After making the Final Four, 5 times under Coach Mike Krzyzewski since 1986, Duke finally wins its 1st NCAA championship with a 72-65 win over Kansas...

1996] Homeplate umpire John McSherry dies after collapsing during a game...

2003] American troops enter a hospital in Iraq and rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, held prisoner since her unit was ambushed 9 days earlier...

2004] President George W. Bush signs into law new protections for the unborn that made it a separate federal crime to harm a fetus during an assault on the mother...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1929] Jane Powell...

1932] Debbie Reynolds...

1938] Ali MacGraw...

1939] Rudolph Isley...

1947] David Eisenhower...

1948] Jimmy Cliff...

[Today is the 91st day of 2006 with 274 days remaining in the year and we're one day away from opening day]...

Sunday, April 2, 2006...

April 2 Memories...

1513] Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida (real estate prices go through the roof)...

1877] President Rutherford B. Hayes rolls out the 1st Easter egg as the annual Easter Egg Roll has begun on the White House lawn...

1889] Charles Hall patents aluminum (Reynolds would have had a better ring to it)...

1902] The 1st motion picture theater opens, the Electric Theatre in Los Angeles...

1932] A $50,000 ransom is paid for the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh (the child is not returned and will be found dead the following month)...

1956] "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns" debuts on CBS-TV...

1965] The Beach Boys record "I Get Around"...

1967] Steve Winwood leaves the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic...

1967] The Beatles finish recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"...

1972] Mets manager Gil Hodges who managed the Mets to their 1st world championship in 1969, dies of a heart attack on a golf course in West Palm Beach shortly before the team breaks camp to head north (Yogi Berra is named to replace Hodges as manager)...

1978] Stevie Wonder's tribute to Duke Ellington, "Sir Duke" is released...

1978] The 1st episode of "Dallas" airs on CBS-TV (the series will run for the last time on May 3, 1991)...

1982] Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands but the following June, Britain takes the islands back...

1986] The NCAA adopts the 3-point shot in men's basketball and decides to use instant replay to check scoring and timing errors...

1987] The speed limit on U.S. interstate highways is increased to 65 mph in limited areas...

1992] Mob boss John Gotti is convicted in New York of murder and racketeering (he's later sentenced to life in prison where he eventually dies)...

1998] Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli dies in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany...

2005] Pope John Paul II dies (Karol Jozef Wojtyla was 85. He is succeeded by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who becomes Pope Benedict XVI)...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the dateline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1917] Dabbs Greer...

1928] Rita Gam...

1942] Leon Russell...

1945] Linda Hunt...

1947] Emmylou Harris...

1961] "Law and Order's" Christopher Meloni...

[Today is the 92nd day of 2006 with 273 days remaining in the year and opening day is tonight]


Thursday, March 30, 2006

Thursday, March 30, 2006

"Honey, I forgot to duck" - President Ronald Wilson Reagan (3/30/81)...

This was the day we almost lost the 40th President of the United States. At first, Ronald Reagan didn't even realize that he was shot along with Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and D.C. policeman Thomas Delahaney. The .22 caliber bullet from the gun of John Hinckley Jr. pierced Reagan's lung but came frighteningly close to his heart. Before undergoing 2 hours of surgery at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan would say to his surgeons, "Please tell me you're Republicans"...

The most seriously wounded of the 4 men shot in the assassination attempt was James Brady who suffered permanent brain damage, both McCarthy and Delahaney would recover as well as our 70-year old President. It is said that privately Reagan would admit feeling the effects of being shot for years...

John Hinckley Jr., 25, who had a thing for actress Jodie Foster would be found not quilty of the attempted assassination by reason of insanity and was assigned to a mental institution. In 1999 he was allowed supervised day trips off the hospital grounds and later allowed to visit his parents once a week, unsupervised. The Secret Service monitors him closely during his visits. If his mental illness remains in remission, he may one day be released...

In 1993 Congress passed the "Brady Bill" which established a 5-day waiting period and background checks for prospective gun buyers. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law...

More March 30 Memories...

1867] The U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The deal will become known as "Seward's Folly" after Secretary of State William H. Seward who brokered the deal for the U.S...

1909] The Queensboro bridge aka the 59th Street bridge linking Manhattan and Queens opens to traffic and becomes the 1st double decker bridge (and we've been "feeling groovy" ever since)...

1966] Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale end a 32-day double holdout and sign with the L.A. Dodgers (each pitcher received an estimated $135,000 a year, "chump change" today)...

1967] The cover picture of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" LP is shot at Michael Cooper's studio in Chelsea, England...

1986] Legendary actor James Cagney dies at 86...

1987] Keith Smart pops a 17-foot jumper from the corner with 4 seconds left to give Indiana a 74-73 victory over Syracuse and the Hoosiers celebrate their 3rd NCAA title under coach Bobby Knight (Knight celebrates by hitting Smart over the head with a chair for taking the dumb shot but then realizing he won, gets Smart in a bear hug and breaks 3 ribs)...

1989] Gladys Knight performs solo for the 1st time since her grammar school days. She sings "Pip"-less during a Las Vegas date...

1992] WNSR (105.1) changes calll letters to WMXV in New York...

1993] Charlie Brown hits his 1st home run in the Peanuts comic strip...

1998] BMW buys Rolls-Royce for $570 million...

1999] A jury in Portland, Oregon orders Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for 4 decades...

2002] The Queen Mother Elizabeth of England dies at age 101...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]

Happy Birthday To...

1913] Frankie Laine...

1930] John (Gomez Addams) Astin...

1930] "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall...

1937] Warren Beatty...

1945] Eric Clapton...

1962] MC Hammer ("Can't touch This")...

1964] Tracy Chapman...

1968] Celine Dion...

1979] Norah Jones...

[Today is the 89th day of 2006 with 276 days remaining in the year and just 3 days until opening day]


Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Under cover of the night...

Like a common thief, Baltimore Colt owner Robert Irsay waited until the wee hours of the morning to load 12 Mayflower moving vans with everything from team uniforms to film projectors and stole an NFL franchise from the city of Baltimore...

Irsay had notified coaches, trainers and equipment men who were needed to accompany the team to gather at the Colts training facility in Owings Mill, Maryland at 10 p.m. on the night of March 28th and then waited until after midnight to take his last look at the city of Baltimore in the rearview mirror. Irsay became public enemy #1 in Baltimore but there was a city waiting with open arms for the Colts (oh yes, he took that name with him too), Indianapolis. In fact it was Mayor William Hudnut who provided moving expenses for the team his city would inherit...

If you're thinking Irsay had attendance problems at Colt games, think again. The Colts averaged 40,000 fans per game, including a club record crowd of 60,000 for one game in their final season in Baltimore. So a franchise that joined the NFL in 1950 but folded after one season only to have a second incarnation in 1953 and then a successful run with championship teams over the next 30 years, was done. The greatest of all Baltimore Colts, Johnny Unitas was so incensed, he would never acknowledge the franchise...

The city of Baltimore would eventually get a new team, the Ravens, and all was forgiven except for the name of Robert Irsay which is still mud in Baltimore...

More March 29 Memories...

1867] The British Parliament passes the North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada (congratulations, eh)...

1932] Jack Benny makes his radio debut...

1941] WPAT radio in New Jersey begins broadcasting (using a Country format)...

1943] WWII creates rationing of meat, butter and cheese in the U.S...

1951] Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage (they will be executed on June 19, 1953)...

1957] Buddy Knox is #1 with "Party Doll"...

1959] "Some Like it Hot" starring Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon premieres...

1962] Gene Chandler is awarded a gold record for "Duke of Earl"...

1971] Filming begins on "The Godfather"...

1971] Lt. William Calley Jr. is found quilty of premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians and is sentenced to life in prison (later commuted to life in prison)...

1971] A jury in L.A. recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and 3 female followers for the 1969 Tate-Lo Bianca murders (later commuted to life in prison)...

1973] 12 days after Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show hit, "The Cover of Rolling Stone" peaks at #6, the group literally winds up on the cover of Rolling Stone...

1973] The last U.S. troops leave South Vietnam...

1974] 8 Ohio National Guardsmen are indicted on charges stemming from the shooting death of 4 students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 (all the guardsmen are later acquitted)...

1976] Johnnie Taylor is #1 with "Disco Lady" (the 1st single certified "platinum" by the RIAA for sales of more than 2 million copies. The platinum standard is halved in 1989 to 1 million due to declining single sales)...

1980] Mantovani (Annunzio Paulo Mantovani) dies at 74...

1982] Mistaking North Carolina's James Worthy as a teammate, Georgetown's Fred Brown, passes Worthy the ball with 5 seconds left in the NCAA championship. Worthy passes the ball to Michael Jordan for the winning basket as Dean Smith gets his 1st national title at North Carolina with a 63-62 win over G'town (Brown still hasn't returned to Georgetown)...

1984] Robert Irsay moves the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the middle of the night (see feature story)...

1987] Starship aka Jefferson Airplane aka Jefferson Starship is #1 for the 3rd time, this time for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"...

1989] "Rainman", Dustin Hoffman and Jodie Foster win Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards...

1990] Record companies agree to put warning labels on music product that contain potentially offensive lyrics ( a campaign just about as effective as "Just say No" or "Don't ask, don't tell")...

1992] Democratic Presidential front-runner Bill Clinton says "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again" when asked about experimenting with marijuana (was this before or after "briefs or boxers" ?]...

1993] "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin" wins an Academy Award (Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle)...

1997] Harry ("L.A. Law") Hamlin and Lisa ("Dancing with the Stars") Rinna paso doble down the aisle...

1999] Singing great Joe Williams (Count Basie Band) collapses after walking 3 miles from a Las Vegas hospital after being treated for a respiratory ailment. Williams was 80...

2000] Major league baseball plays its 1st regular season game outside North America when the Cubs beat the Mets 5-3 at the Tokyo Dome...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1927] John McLaughlin ("The McLaughlin Group")...

1943] Eric Idle...

1943] Vangelis ("Chariots of Fire")...

1944] Terry Jacks...

1944] Former Knick great & Basketball Hall of Famer Walt ("Clyde") Frazier...

1964] Elle Macpherson...

1976] Jennifer Capriati...

(Today is the 88th day of 2006 with 277 days remaining in the year and just 4 days left until opening day]...


Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Life imitates Art but barely...

The movie came out just 12 days before the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry. "The China Syndrome", a movie about a nuclear meltdown was released March 16, 1979 and at 4 a.m. on March 28th, 1979, a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island failed to close, flooding cooling but quite contaminated water into adjoining buildings and the core began to dangerously overheat...

"The China Syndrome" starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and producer Michael Douglas, would be nominated for several Academy Awards. It was a well produced, well acted and critically acclaimed movie but it was a movie. Three Mile Island was real and on March 28th art and reality collided head-on...

The concern was great and prompted a visit by President Jimmy Carter on April 1st to inspect the plant. Within days of the incident more than 100,000 fled surrounding towns to escape danger. The reactor would eventually cool as hydrogen was bled from the system and with little or no likelihood of an explosion, life would return to normal. At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation but no one outside Three Mile Island had their health adversely affected...

Three Mile Island resumed operation in 1985 and cleanup continued until 1990 but the plant was too damaged to be usable again. In the almost 3 decades since Three Mile Island not a single new nuclear power plant has been ordered in the U.S...

More March 28 Memories...

1797] Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine...

1885] The Salvation Army is officially organized in the U.S...

1922] Bradley A. Fiske patents a microfilm reading device...

1941] Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf drowns herself near her home in England at the age of 59...

1958] Eddie Cochran records "Summertime Blues"...

1963] Sonny Werblin announces that the New York Titans were changing their name to the New York Jets...

1964] The Beatles break Elvis Presley's 7-year record for most hits on the Billboard charts at the same time. In 1956 Elvis had 9 songs on the Hot 100 but on March 28, 1964 the Beatles scored with 10 until April 11 when they would have 14 positions on the charts, an all-time record...

1966] Gary Lewis records "Green Grass"...

1967] Van Morrison records "Brown Eyed Girl" (which has been played 28,522,000,000 times this week)...

1967] Raymond Burr stars in the TV movie "Ironside" which will be turned into a series...

1968] "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" goes to #1 three months after Otis Redding's death...

1969] Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th President, dies in Washington, D.C. at 78...

1970] Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Woodstock" is released...

1971] The Temptations are #1 with "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"...

1974] A streaker runs onto the set of "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson" (but Ed McMahon is quickly subdued by an NBC page)...

1979] Eric Clapton marries George Harrison-ex Patti "Layla" Boyd as he starts the 1st leg of a tour in Tucson, Arizona...

1979] A meltdown starts at Three Mile Island (see feature story)...

1986] More than 6,000 radio stations play "We are the World" simultaneously (kinda) at 10:15 a.m...

1986] Falco is #1 with "Rock Me Amadeus" (if Edie Falco married Falco she would be Edie Falco Falco)...

1987] Maria von Trapp, whose life inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" dies in Morrisville, VT at the age of 82...

1992] Christian Laettner of Duke hits a 17-foot jumper just before the buzzer, giving the Blue Devils a dramatic 104-103 win over Kentucky to win the NCAA East Regional title. 9 days later Duke becomes the 1st team in 19 years to repeat as national champions with a victory over Michigan...

1995] The bubble bursts for Lyle Lovett as Lyle and Julia Roberts announce their separation (they had been married for 21 months but who's counting Lyle ? Lyle ?)...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1941] Charlie McCoy (see my commentary)...

1944] Ken ("White Shadow") Howard...

1944] Former Nets and NBA star Rick Barry...

1948] Dianne Wiest...

1955] Reba McEntire...

1970] Vince Vaughn...

Commentary...

One of my oldest friends in the radio and record business is Charlie McCoy who celebrates his 65th birthday today. Charlie and I go back to my early radio days in Florida. The friendship continued when I became morning man at WKDA in Nashville when Charlie made it a lot easier for this Brooklyn boy to feel comfortable in "good ole boy" Music City. Charlie was well on his way at the time to becoming one of Nashville's most valued and respected musicians. Charlie's harp playing is so legendary the harmonica he plays should say "McCoy" instead of Hohner. Charlie continues to be active, often performing abroad as he gets set for another tour this spring. To give you an idea of how successful his harmonica playing is, here is just a partial list of the hits he's played on: "The Boxer", "Candy Man", "Blue Bayou", "Take This Job and Shove It", "Delta Dawn", "The Streak". Charlie is also an artist who's had his own hits and has the awards to prove it ( a Grammy in 1973 for "The Real McCoy" LP, "Instrumentalist of the Year" CMA award, 1972-1973 and has won the Academy of Country Music "Instrumentalist of the Year", 1977, '78, '79, '80, '81, '83, '88)...

Charlie has an excellent website that is worth checking out: www.charliemccoy.com

Happy Birthday Charlie and keep that harp going...

(Today is the 87th day of 2006 with 278 days remaining in the year and we're just 5 days away from opening day)...


Monday, March 27, 2006

Monday, March 27, 2006

Make it 5 in a row...

Raise your hand if you picked even 1 of the NCAA Final Four teams. LIAR!!! Raise your hand if you knew that George Mason was a university in Fairfax, Virginia. LIAR!!! While picking an NCAA champion is getting as hard to predict as what team will win the world series, one of the Final Four teams has been there before, 15 times before. Its last visit dates back to 1995 when they won it all. That would be your UCLA Bruins and on this date 35 years ago today they knocked off Villanova 68-92 to give John Wooden his 5th consecutive NCAA championship...

UCLA was up 45-37 at the half after Steve Patterson stepped it up big time with Sidney Wicks nursing an injured foot, to score 20 points. In the second half Patterson added 9 more points to finish with 29 as the Bruins held on to beat the Wildcats 68-62. Henry Bibby finished with 17 and Curtis Rowe with 8. A hobbled Wicks could only muster 7 points. Howard Porter of Villanova was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player but the Wildcats were disqualified after the tournament for having an inelligible player and their 1st place finish in the east regional was relinquished to Penn with Fordham moving up to 2nd place...

Coach Wooden would have UCLA on top again in '72 and '73 for 7 consecutive national championships. He would wind up with 10 NCAA titles in all. It would take Norm Sloan's North Carolina State team to stop the string at 7 in 1974...

More March 27 Memories...

1513] Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sights Florida (puts some money down on a condo on Collins Avenue and vows, "I'll be back")...

1794] President George Washington and Congress authorize creation of the U.S. Navy...

1860] The corkscrew is patented by M. L. Byrn (who tests his product on every wine bottle in the pub to make sure it works)...

1884] The 1st long-distance telephone call is made from Boston to New York...

1893] The Stanley Cup, a silver bowl costing its owner 10 guineas ($50) is donated as an annual award for Canada's amateur hockey champions by Frederick Arthur Lord Stanley. The NHL takes possession of the Cup in 1910 as the symbol of hockey supremacy...

1932] The 1st NCAA championship game was played with Oregon beating Ohio State 46-33 (The NCAA will dominate the NIT in the mid-50s)...

1952] "Singin' in the Rain" starring Gene Kelly opens at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan...

1958] Soviet First Secretary Nikita Krushchev replaces Nicolay Bulganin as Soviet Premier...

1967] The Young Rascals record "Groovin'" (on a Sunday afternoon ?)...

1968] Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the 1st man to orbit Earth, dies in a plane crash...

1972] Elvis Presley records "Burning Love"...

1974] John Denver is #1 with "Sunshine on My Shoulders"...

1977] A KLM Boeing 747 attempting to take off, crashes into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife, killing 582...

1981] AC/DC release "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"...

1984] Cyndi Lauper releases "Time After Time"...

1984] Kenny Loggins is "Footloose" and #1...

1996] Cigar, the great American thoroughbred wins the 1st $4 million Dubai World Cup to collect racing's richest prize (it's the 14th straight victory by the 6-year old bay)...

1997] Dexter King, son of Martin Luther King Jr. meets with James Earl Ray in prison and believes his father's alleged assassin had nothing to do with the shooting...

1998] The Food and Drug Administration approves the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, to fight male impotence...

2002] Dudley Moore dies at his New Jersey home of pneumonia, a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy at 66...

2002] "Mr. Television", the legendary Milton Berle dies at 93...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, mulitple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1942] Michael York...

1952] Maria Schneider...

1955] Racing car driver Cale Yarborough...

1963] Quentin Tarantino...

1970] Mariah Carey...

Commentary...

Happy Trails to Buck Owens who died at his Bakersfield, California home over the weekend at 76. Owens recorded more than 20 #1 Country hits, most released from the mid-60s to mid-70s. Owens will mostly be remembered for "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" and "Act Naturally" and also for his TV work as part of the cast of "Hee Haw" for 17 years. I agree with David Hinckley who wrote an article about Buck and the need for a radio place to turn to when someone the stature of a Buck Owens suddenly dies. It's something that doesn't exist in New York but is sorely needed. You can read David's comments at: www.dailynews.com/entertainment/story/

As David pointed out, Buck started his career in radio with a live show in Arizona in 1945. He would eventually own a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix. Buck was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. At that time he described how he wanted to be remembered: "I'd like to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs and had a hell of a time"...We need more people like Buck Owens...

[Today is the 86th day of 2006 with 279 days remaining in the year and just 6 days until opening day]


Friday, March 24, 2006

Friday-Sunday, March 24-26, 2006

A deadly rubber match...

Both fighters had one win against his opponent coming into this welterweight championship fight that featured the current champ, Benny [Kid] Paret facing challenger Emile Griffith. The scene was Madison Square Garden. Griffith won the first fight and the championship in a 13-round knockout in April of 1960 only to lose the rematch and the crown on a split decision to Paret in September. This was it, the rubber match, for the championship...

Age was not a factor in this fight, both fighters were young. Paret was 25, Griffith 23. What was a factor was the bad blood between them. Paret questioned Griffith's masculinity. A flashy dresser, Griffith was known for his late night escapades, something that Paret exploited before the fight by taunting Griffith...

Griffith dominated the fight although going down for an 8-count in the 6th round. As round 12 opened, many in the crowd wondered how Paret had lasted this long, but the end was near. Griffith hit Paret with a furious barrage that included 10 consecutive right uppercuts to the chin. Griffith's fists were like a Con Edison jackhammer but Paret was still on his feet, his body sagging against the ropes. The crowd was now yelling and pleading for referee Ruby Goldstein to stop the fight but when he did it was too late...

Paret never regained conciousness, would slip into a coma and die from his injuries some 10 days later at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan at the age of 25. Griffith who said he was sorry it happened would continue to fight until 1977 but would never be the same fighter...

More March 24 Memories...

1765] Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the American colonies to house 10,000 British troops in public and private buildings...

1868] The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed...

1900] Mayor Van Wyck of New York breaks ground for the New York subway tunnel that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn...

1955] Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opens on Broadway...

1956] Senior Bill Russell leads the University of San Francisco to its 2nd straight NCAA title with an 83-71 win over Iowa as the Dons win their 55th straight game [a record at the time]...

1958] Elvis Presley is inducted into the Army [although he was drafted the previous December, the Army allowed him to finish filming "King Creole"]...

1964] The Kennedy half-dollar is issued...

1973] Lou Reed is bitten on his tookus by a male fan at a concert in Buffalo [both Reed and the fan get tetanus shots]...

1973] Pink Floyd releases their "Dark Side of the Moon" LP...

1975] LaBelle are #1 with "Lady Marmalade"...

1978] Paul McCartney & Wings release "With a Little Luck"...

1980] "Nightline" debuts with Ted Koppel [in 1979 the news show debuted with coverage of the Iran crisis. In November of 2005 Koppel left "Nightline" and was replaced by Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran]...

1985] Phil Collins is #1 with "One More Night"...

1986] Lionel Richie's "Say You Say Me", the theme from "White Nights", wins an Oscar for "Best Original Song"...

1989] The Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound after running aground...

1997] The big winners at the 69th Academy Awards were: "The English Patient" [Best Picture], Geoffrey Rush [Best Actor] and Frances McDormand [Best Actress]...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1911] Joseph Barbera [Hanna-Barbera]...

1940] Bob Mackie...

1953] Louie Anderson...

1954] Donna ["Saturday Night Fever"] Pescow...

1960] Kelly ["Woman in Red"] LeBrock...

1962] Star Jones Reynolds ["The View"]...

1964] Annabella ["Sopranos"] Sciorra...

1970] Lara Flynn Boyle...

Commentary...

There was a heartwarming meeting recently between the son of Benny [Kid] Paret and Emile Griffith who expressed his sorrow for the savage beating that caused his father's death. Paret's son forgave Griffith and the two have since become friends...

[Today is the 83rd day of 2006 with 282 days remaining in the year and only 8 days until opening day]...

Saturday, March 25, 2006...

March 25 Memories...

1901] The Mercedes is introduced by Daimler at the "Week of Nice" in Nice, France [how Nice]...

1911] 146 women are killed in the "Triangle Shirtwaist Company" in New York City. The owners of the company are charged with manslaughter because the employees factory doors were locked. In 1914 they were forced to pay damages to all the families involved...

1913] The Palace Theatre [the home of vaudeville] opens in New York City...

1957] Ricky Nelson records his 1st hits, "A Teenager's Romance" and "I'm Walkin'"...

1960] Roy Orbison records "Only the Lonely"...

1965] Martin Luther King Jr. leads a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, AL to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks...

1975] King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot to death by a deranged nephew who will be beheaded the following June [an "eye for an eye, a head for a head"]...

1988] Robert E. Chambers Jr. pleads quilty to 1st-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year old Jennifer Levin in New York City's so-called "preppie murder case"...

1990] Fire races through an illegal social club ["Happy Land"] in Manhattan killing 87, mostly Honduran and Dominican immigrants...

1995] Boxer Mike Tyson is released from jail after serving 3 years...

1996] The redesigned $100 bill goes into circulation [reality check: has anyone else gotten those colored $10 bills besides me ? It looks like play money but I kind of like them]...

1997] Former President George H.W. Bush parachutes from a plane over the Arizona desert [nothing wrong with the plane, he was just celebrating his 73rd birthday]...

2003] The former mayor of Waterbury, CT., Philip Giordano is convicted of violating the civil rights of 2 preteen girls by sexually abusing them...

[To ensure the accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1932] "Today Show" movie critic Gene Shalit...

1934] Gloria Steinem...

1940] Anita Bryant...

1942] Aretha Franklin...

1947] Elton John...

1965] Sarah Jessica Parker...

1966] The Mets' Tom Glavine...

[Today is the 84th day of 2006 with 281 days remaining in the year and just 7 days until opening day]

Sunday, March 26, 2006...

March 26 Memories...

1885] Eastman Kodak [Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co.] produces the 1st commercial motion picture film in Rochester, NY...

1937] Crystal City, Texas unveils America's 1st "Popeye" monument. The 6-foot-tall, brightly colored concrete statue of "Popeye" is unveiled in "Popeye Park" during the city's 2nd annual Spinach Festival...

1953] Dr, Jonas Salk announces that he has successfully tested a vaccine against polio...

1964] "Funny Girl" starring Barbra Streisand opens on Broadway...

1965] It's announced that Jeff Beck will replace Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds...

1969] John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their "bed-in" for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton...

1969] The TV movie "Marcus Welby" runs on ABC-TV and will later be turned into a weekly series...

1970] The classic documentary "Woodstock", the 1969 concert premieres [the film will win an Oscar for "Best Documentary"]...

1971] "Cannon" premieres as a movie on CBS-TV and will turn into a weekly series later in the year...

1979] Michigan State contains Larry Bird of Indiana State with Magic Johnson outscoring him 24 to 19 and the Spartans win their 1st National Collegiate title 75-64...

1982] Ground breaking ceremonies are held in Washington, D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial...

1997] The bodies of 39 members of the "Heaven's Gate" cult who'd committed suicide are found in Rancho Santa Fe, California...

1999] Dr. Jack Kevorkian is convicted of second-degree murder for giving a lethal injection to an ailing man whose death was shown on "60 Minutes"...

2000] Vladimir Putin is elected Russia's 2nd democratically chosen President...

2003] Former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan dies at 76...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]

Happy Birthday To...

1930] Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor...

1931] Leonard Nimoy...

1934] Alan Arkin...

1936] The Five Satins' Fred Paris...

1939] James Caan...

1944] Diana Ross...

1948] Steven Tyler...

1949] Vicki Lawrence...

1950] Teddy Pendergrass...

1950] Martin Short...

1954] Curtis Sliwa...

1957] Leeza Gibbons...

1966] Michael [Christopher on "Sopranos"] Imperioli...

1968] Kenny Chesney...

[Today is the 85th day of 2006 with 280 days remaining in the year and the opening day countdown is at 6 days and counting]


Thursday, March 23, 2006

Thursday, March 23, 2006

No iceberg needed...

Hold the iceberg, the weight of the 11 Oscars alone would have sunk the "Titanic". By winning 11 Oscars, the movie takes its place alongside "Ben-Hur" and "The Lord of the Rings [The Return of the King]", with 11 Academy Awards. The only awards that were nominated but didn't win were Kate Winslet for "Best Actress", Gloria Stuart for "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" and "Best Makeup" [I'd list the names but unless you're one of their parents, you wouldn't know them anyway]...

The 70th Academy Awards was hosted by the always funny Billy Crystal who parodied "Titanic" in the opening of the show. No surprises here about the movie winning multiple awards. The only surprise was in the number of awards...

The movie premiered on December 19, 1997 [see my December 19th blog in the archives for more on the film]. The Academy Awards were presented on this date in 1998...

More March 23 Memories...

1775] Patrick Henry calls for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention: "Give me liberty or give me death"...

1839] The 1st recorded use of "OK" is used in the Boston Morning Post...

1857] Elisha Otis installs the 1st modern passenger elevator in a public building at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway in Manhattan...

1858] Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia patents the cable streetcar [and is then promptly escorted out of his neighborhood for having the first name, "Eleazer"]

1901] Dame Nellie Melba reveals the secret of her now famous toast [and if you think we're going to share that secret, think again friend]...

1903] The Wright Brothers obtain an airplane patent...

1942] During WWII, the U.S. government begins evacuating Japanese-Americans from West Coast homes to detention centers...

1950] "Beat the Clock" premieres on CBS-TV, hosted by Bud Collyer [the original show will run through February 16, 1958 when the show switches to ABC-TV until January 11, 1961. A syndicated version hosted by Jack Narz and then Gene Wood will run from 1969 to 1975 and then Monty Hall revives the show for one season in September of 1979]...

1961] Elvis Presley records "Can't Help Falling in Love"...

1963] The Beach Boys release "Surfin' U.S.A."...

1970] Mafia Boss Carlo Gambino is arrested for plotting to steal $3 million...

1973] Yoko Ono is granted permission to live in the U.S. permanently [half of the tenants living in the Dakota ask to see their leases]...

1977] Hall & Oates are #1 with "Rich Girl"...

1981] Blondie, recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are #1 with "Rapture"...

1983] President Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative aka "Star Wars"...

1983] Dr. Barney Clark dies after living 112 days with a permanent artificial heart...

1983] The 1st song from "Thriller", "Billie Jean" is #1 for Michael Jackson...

1985] Billy Joel and his "Uptown Girl", Christie Brinkley exchange wedding vows...

1989] Joel Steinberg is sentenced to 25 years for killing his adopted daughter [he's been released and now lives in a halfway house in Manhattan, lucky us]...

1994] Wayne Gretzky breaks Gordie Howe's NHL career scoring record with his 802nd goal [hard to believe but it's true and if you don't believe me, you wanna bet ?]

1998] The movie "Titanic" ties a record with 11 Academy Awards [see feature story]...

2003] A U.S. Army maintenance convoy is abushed in Iraq, 11 soldiers are killed and 7, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch are captured...

[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...

Happy Birthday To...

1922] Wacky Marty ["Hello dere"] Allen [of "Rossi & Martin"]...

1949] Ric Ocasek of the Cars, or "Cahhhhhs" in New England...

1953] Chaka Khan ["Chaka Kahn...Chaka Kahn...Chaka Kahn"]

1954] Basketball Hall of Famer Moses Malone...

1973] New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd...

[Today is the 82nd day of 2006 with 283 days remaining in the year and just 9 days until opening day]


Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The greatest commissioner ever, steps down...

Surprising even his closest friends, how do you think the NFL team owners felt when Pete Rozelle announced his retirement on March 22, 1989 ? Deciding in October not to "become a lame-duck commissioner", Rozelle broke the bad news to the football world at a news conference conducted at a league owners meeting in Palm Desert, CA. He added that he will stay until a new commissioner is found..

Wanting "everything solved on a high note with no outstanding litigation" before resigning, Rozelle walks away with too many accomplishments to mention. Most will agree, if you had to pick just 3 though, they would be:

  • 1) The merger of the NFL and AFL...
  • 2) Creation of the Super Bowl (and)
  • 3) Pro football becoming the dominant spectator sport...

At the time of the announcement, Rozelle was in good health and had just turned 63 on March 1st. Asked for an explanation, Rozelle answered by saying, "I just think it is the overall period of time that has accumulated". Elected as commissioner of the NFL in January, 1960, Rozelle's 29-year watch elevated the NFL to the best organized and run professional sports league to this day. Pete Rozelle died of brain cancer at the age of 70 at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, CA in December of 1996...

The man who replaced Rozelle in 1989 has just announced his retirement. Paul Tagliabue who also did an outstanding job as NFL commisioner is stepping down in July. From 1960 to 2006, a 46-year span, there have been but 2 commissioners in the sport. No wonder the NFL is the best sports league of them all...

More March 22 Memories...

1630) The 1st legislation to prohibit gambling is enacted in Boston (of course)...

1733) Joseph Priestly invents seltzer (with a name like Priestly ?)...

1765) The Stamp Act is passed. It's the 1st direct British tax on the American colonists (it will be repealed March 17, 1766)...

1874) The Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) is organized in New York City (free seltzer for everyone)...

1882) Congress outlaws polygamy (tell that to the Mormons)...

1894) Hockey's 1st Stanley Cup championship game is played with Montreal beating Ottawa 3-1 in Montreal...

1895) Auguste and Louis Lumiere show the 1st movie to be projected on a screen to an invited audience in Paris...

1958) Movie producer and 3rd husband of Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd dies in a plane crash (the couple had only been married for one year and the name of the plane was "Lucky Liz")...

1960) A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes obtain a patent for the laser (the 1st such laser patent)...

1970) Simon & Garfunkel are #1 with "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (the album and single will win 6 Grammy's)...

1977) John Denver's TV special, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" is aired on ABC-TV...

1978) Karl Wallenda, 73-year old patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between 2 hotels in San Juan, PR...

1980) The Pink Floyd single, "Another Brick in the Wall" is #1 (the band's 1st and only #1 single in the U.S. Their LP "Dark Side of the Moon" stays on the album charts for a record breaking 741 weeks back in 1973 though)...

1990) Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood is found innocent of 3 major charges but is convicted of a minor charge (negligent discharge of oil) in the Alaska oil spill...

1991) Exeter, NH high school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband is convicted of murder-conspiracy (not too smart)...

1993) Cleveland Indian pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews are killed in a boating accident in Florida during a spring training off-day. Bob Ojeda was seriously injured but survives...

1995) Colin Ferguson is sentenced to life in prison for the LIRR massacre that killed 6 people in 1993...

1997) At 14 years, 10 months, Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest female world figure skating champion...

1999) Acting as his own lawyer, Dr. Jack (nick-named "Dr. Death") Kevorkian goes on trial for murder. He tells the jury he was carrying out the wishes of his patient in an assisted death shown on "60 Minutes"...

2002) A collection of letters and cards sent by Princess Diana of Wales fetches $33,000 (they were written and sent to a former housekeeper at Diana's teenage home)...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1912) Karl Malden...

1920) "Hogan's Heroes" Colonel Klink and musician Warner Klemperer...

1923) Marcel Marceau (who will celebrate by blowing out imaginary candles on an imaginary cake if he can ever get out of that damn cube he's been stuck in since 1923)...

1931) William Shatner...

1943) George Benson...

1948) Wolf Blitzer...

1952) Bob Costas...

1976) Academy Award winning actress Reese Witherspoon...

(Today is the 81st day of 2006 with 284 days remaining in the year and we're down to 10 days before opening day)


Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

"This is Alan Freed, the ole king of the moondoggers. Welcome to sold-out Cleveland Arena" - Alan Freed (3/21/52)...

You could just smell trouble, big trouble, when the oversold Cleveland Arena opened its doors or to be accurate, had it's doors broken down by the unruly crowd that came in record numbers to witness the "Moondog Coronation Ball" hosted by WJW disc jockey Alan Freed on a chilly March night in 1952. By some estimations more than 25,000 had flooded an arena that held 10,000. The show was promoted by record store owner Leo Mintz who provided the cash to pay for a lineup of mostly non-descript R&B acts. The only known act was Billy Ward and the Dominoes with a bunch of lesser knowns (Paul Williams & his Hucklebuckers, Tiny Grimes, Danny Cobb, Varetta Dillard and as the poster added, "many others", of which, one was Screamin' Jay Hawkins)...

The surging crowd started a riot that Cleveland's finest and bravest would be called in for and they promptly shut down the bar and had Freed make that unpopular announcement on stage. The show was then shut down and Freed wound up on his knees after his protest to keep the show going to the police was denied and a scuffle left the "King of the Moondoggers" gasping for breath. This could have signaled the end of Alan Freed's radio career but what happened the following night turned in the disc jockey's favor...

Freed started his WJW show asking his listeners to call the switchboard and tell the operator either "I'm with the Moondog" or "I'm not". He made a vow to his listeners that if most of the calls were against him he would leave the air. Of course phone calls were overwhelmingly in favor of Freed, he stayed in Cleveland before leaving for WINS in New York 2 years later, in 1954. Freed would add "Rock 'n' Roll" to our vocabulary, become the "King of Rock & Roll", expose the genre of music to untold millions and rule the airwaves until trouble showed up again with the arrival of the payola investigations a few years later...

More March 21 Memories...

1788) Nearly all of New Orleans is destroyed by fire (856 buildings and shops burn to the ground)...

1902) In New York City, 3 Park Avenue mansions are destroyed when a subway tunnel roof collapses...

1928) President Calvin Coolidge gives the Congressional Medal of Honor to Charles Lindbergh for his 1st trans-Atlantic flight...

1939) "God Bless America" is recorded by Kate Smith...

1946) The U.N. sets up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in Manhattan...

1946) One year before Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball, halfback Kenny Washington becomes the 1st black player in the NFL when he's signed by the Los Angeles Rams...

1952) What's is referred to as "the 1st Rock & Roll show" is (almost) held at Cleveland Arena (see feature story)...

1963) Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould walk down the aisle...

1963) Alcatraz Prison in the San Francisco Bay closes...

1964) The Beatles are #1 with "She Loves You"...

1964) Coach John Wooden wins the 1st of his 10 NCAA titles at UCLA with a 98-83 victory over Duke...

1964) Judy Collins makes her debut in Carnegie Hall...

1965) More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators are led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on a march from Selma to Montgomery, AL...

1970) Yugoslavian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj shows us "the agony of defeat" on ABC-TV's "Wide World of Sports"...

1970) "ABC" by the Jackson Five is released (and every New York station not having the "ABC" call letters ever uses the title of the song on air)...

1975) Frankie Valli is #1 with "My Eyes Adored You"...

1980) President Jimmy Carter announces to the world that the U.S. Olympic team will not participate in the Summer Games in Moscow in a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan...

1984) "Jump" puts Van Halen at the top of the singles chart...

1987) Dean Martin Jr. dies in a plane crash while in the Air National Guard...

1994) Bruce Springsteen wins a "Best Original Song" Oscar for "Streets of Philadelphia" from the movie "Philadelphia"...

2002) In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is charged with murder for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. 3 other Islamic militants in custody are also charged as accomplices...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, mulitple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1940) Solomon Burke...

1946) Timothy Dalton...

1951) Russell Thompkins Jr. (falsetto lead singer of the Stylistics)...

1962) Rosie O'Donnell...

1962) Matthew Broderick...

Commentary...

Some of the factors in the "Moondog Coronation Ball" riot:

  • Having a bar at the arena...
  • The show was scheduled for 10pm to 2am on a Friday night (hello !)...
  • The lure of a live radio show...

Interestingly enough the poster used to promote the show contained the following description, not once but twice: "The Most Terrible Ball of Them All". An apt description...

(Today is the 80th day of 2006 with 285 days remaining in the year and just 11 days until opening day)...


Monday, March 20, 2006

Monday, March 20, 2006

The real Hoosiers...

Gene Hackman gave an Academy Award nominating performance in the 1986 film, "Hoosiers", one of those classic rah-rah sports stories based on a real event that took place on this date in 1954...

The real game featured 2 Indiana high school teams playing for the state championship. It was the Milan Indians against the favored Muncie Central Bearcats despite Milan's 19-2 regular season record and 9 straight post-season wins. With the score tied at 30-all in the final quarter Milan's Bobby Plump held the ball at the top of the key for 4 minutes before missing a shot. The Indians kept Muncie Central from scoring on its next possession, giving Plump a shot at redemption. The senior guard promptly drained a shot at the top of the key with 18 ticks left on the clock and Milan held on for an exciting 32-30 win...

Bobby Plump became a legend with that shot and as president Roger Dickinson of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame explains , "he could've probably been governor of this state if he wanted to". In 1999 Sports Illustrated named Milan one of the top 20 teams of the century. The sports writers of Indiana named the "Milan Miracle" the #1 sports story in Indiana history...

That's the real story that "Hoosiers" was based on. The coach's name and both schools bore fictious names in the movie and when asked, the star of the game, Bobby Plump had this to add about the authenticity of the film, "the final 18 seconds were the only thing factual in the movie about the Milan-Central game. From the time the ball was in bounds after the final timeout, the movie was accurate"...

More March 20 Memories...

1760) Boston's "Great Fire of 1760" destroys 349 shops and homes along King and Congress Streets (as a result of this fire and several others, Boston would become the 1st town in the nation to have paid fire fighters)...

1852) Harriet Beecher Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (subtitled "Life Among the Lowly") is published...

1865) A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct President Abraham Lincoln is ruined when Lincoln changes his plans, deciding not to appear at the Soldier's Home near Washington, D.C. as scheduled...

1899) Martha M. Place of Brooklyn becomes the 1st woman to be executed in the electric chair. She's put to death at Sing Sing for the murder of her stepdaughter...

1954) Milan beats Muncie Central for the Indiana state high school title in the game that the movie "Hoosiers" was based on (see feature story)...

1959) Bobby Rydell makes his TV debut on "American Bandstand"...

1961) Rickey Nelson records "Hello Mary Lou"...

1967) Twiggy makes her U.S. debut and WRKO News Director Roger Allan is one of the 1st to interview her...

1967) The Supremes release "The Happening" (and appear at a WRKO show at the Boston Arena shortly after)...

1969) John Lennon and Yoko Ono rock down the aisle in Gibraltar (to commemorate what would have been their 30th anniversary in 1999 a set of postage stamps is issued in Gibraltar)...

1972) Ringo Starr releases "Back Off, Boogaloo"...

1972) America is #1 with "A Horse with No Name"...

1973) 11 weeks after he's killed on a mercy mission, Roberto Clemente is voted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in a special election (the Puerto Rican superstar made his last hit (#3,000), a double off the Mets John Matlack on September 30, 1972. Clemente was 38 at the time of his death)...

1976) Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup...

1981) Jean Harris is sentenced to 15-to-life for the murder of lover Dr. Herman Tarnower (Harris is released, her sentence commuted by NY Governor Mario Cuomo after 12 years in 1992)...

1982) Joan Jett is #1 with "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"...

1987) The Food and Drug Administration approves the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients...

1990) Gloria Estefan fractures a vertebra when a tractor trailor crashes into her tour bus (Estefan was flown by helicopter to New York City where surgeons implant 2 titanium rods to stabilize her spinal column. Gloria returns with the concept album, "Into The Light" and the hit single "Coming Out of the Dark" in 1991)...

1991) Michael Jackson announces a long-term agreement with SONY Music and Columbia Pictures to the tune of an estimated $1 billion...

1991) Eric Clapton's 4-year old son Conor dies when he falls out the window of a 53rd floor apartment in Manhattan (Clapton would win a Grammy for a song written for Conor, "Tears in Heaven")...

1995) 12 people are killed, more than 5,500 sickened when the nerve gas Sarin is released in the Tokyo subway system (terrorists belonging to a doomsday cult in Japan are responsible for the attack)...

1996) Erik and Lyle Menendez are found quilty of first-degree murder in the killing of their parents (both are serving a lifetime term in prison)...

1997) Liggett, maker of Chesterfields settles 22 state lawsuits by admitting the tobacco industry marketed cigarettes to teenagers and agreed to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive...

2000) Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin aka H. Rap Brown is captured following a shootout that leaves a sheriff's deputy dead...

2004) The U.S. military charges 6 soldiers with abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1920) Jazz pianist Marian McPartland...

1922) Carl Reiner...

1931) Hal Linden...

1937) Jerry ("When you're hot you're hot") Reed...

1948) Former Bruin and Hockey Hall of Fame great Bobby Orr (#4)...

1950) William Hurt...

1957) Spike Lee...

1958) Holly Hunter...

1963) Kathy Ireland...

Commentary...

Marty Ostrow comments on our weekend timeline memory that had him doing the charts for Spin Magazine: "1985 was the year I left Rolling Stone when my wife got sick. I had joined Rolling Stone in 1978 and helped develop a survey of record shops to determine best sellers in America and after months of testing the survey, the magazine ran the results and it became one of Rolling Stone's most read features". Thanks for straightening that out, Marty...

Rejoice everyone, at 1:26 this afternoon it is officially spring although you would never know it in New York where it's currently 33 degrees...

(Today is the 79th day of 2006 with 286 days remaining in the year, it's the 1st day of Spring and only 12 days until opening day)...


Friday, March 17, 2006

Friday-Sunday, March 17-19, 2006

The evolution of St. Patrick's Day...

We've gone from honoring, according to tradition, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who died on March 17, 461 to "Kiss me I'm Imus", Don Imus's annual radio/tv show from Boston which is on now as I write this. Since Boston hosted the first St. Patrick's Day celebration in the world, even before Ireland, in 1737, at least his show is coming from the right city...

In Ireland this day has historically been a religious holiday almost as big as Christmas but if you think St. Patrick's Day is only observed here and in Ireland, think again. There are 147 countries that celebrate including Sri Lanka, Japan and Indonesia...

And how many descendants of the Emerald Isle do we have in the United States ? There are 33.7 million residents of the U.S. that have Irish ancestry. But then again, we're all a bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day...

St. Patrick's Day Memories...

0461) St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland dies...

1756) New York City's 1st St. Patrick's Day celebration is held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern...

1776) British forces evacuate the city of Boston during the Revolutionary War...

1870) Wellesley College is incorporated by the Massachusetts legislature under it's 1st name, Wellesley Female Seminary...

1897) Bob Fitzsimmons, a 167-lb. middleweight KOs Gentleman Jim Corbett in the 14th round to claim the world title (after the fight, Fitzsimmons says of the 183-lb. Corbett, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"...

1905) Franklin D. Roosevelt marries his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt in New York City with President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's 5th cousin, giving his niece away (are you as freaked out as I am ? My question is this, how distant was this cousin ? Isn't it great that Eleanor didn't have to change her last name ? Creepy, very creepy)...

1910) The Camp Fire Girls Organization is founded by Luther and Charlotte Gulick (2 years later the Camp Fire Girls begin operation)...

1958) The Coasters record "Yakety Yak"...

1959) The Dalai Lama aka Lhama Dhondrub Tenzin Gyatso flees Tibet for India...

1962) Billboard reports that Ray Charles starts his own label, Tangerine...

1967) Bobby Vee records "Come Back When You Grow Up"...

1968) The Bee Gees make their U.S. television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" singing "To Love Somebody" and "Words"...

1969) Golda Meir is sworn in as the 4th premier of Israel...

1973) The Philadelphia 76ers set an NBA record for futility, losing their 68th game of the season (they finished the season 9-73 and remain the only team not to reach double figures in wins)...

1982) Samuel George Jr. of the Capitols ("Cool Jerk") is stabbed to death in a family argument. George was 39...

1993) Legendary actress Helen Hayes is dead at 92,,,

1999) Medical experts conclude that marijuana has medical benefits for cancer and AIDS patients...

1999) The International Olympic Committee expells 6 of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal...

2003) President George W. Bush gives Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq (he rejects the ultimatum)...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1941) Paul (Jefferson Airplane/Starship) Kantner...

1944) John (Lovin' Spoonful) Sebastian...

1951) Kurt Russell...

1955) Gary (CSI New York) Sinise...

1964) Rob Lowe...

1972) Mia (Mrs. "Nomah") Hamm...

1973) Caroline Corr of the Irish band The Corrs...

Commentary...

Mike McCann adds on Tammi Terrell that Tammi's collapse on stage occurred on October 14, 1967. Tammi died from a malignant brain tumor on March 16, 1970 and she was closer to 25 than 23 as she was a month and a half away from her 25th birthday on April 29, 1945. Good job Mike...

(Today is the 76th day of 2006 with 289 days remaining in the year, 3 days until spring and 15 until opening day)...

Saturday, March 18, 2006...

March 18 Memories...

1850) Henry Wells and William Fargo found Wells-Fargo...

1909) Einar Dessau of Denmark uses a shortwave transmitter to talk to a government radio post about 6 miles away (it is believed to be the 1st broadcast by a "ham" operator)...

1922) Mohandas K. Gandhi is sentenced to prison in India for civil disobedience (Ben Kings-uh, Gandhi will serve 2 years of a 6-year sentence)...

1931) Schick Inc. markets the 1st electric razor...

1953) The city of Boston loses a major league baseball team as National League President Warren Giles and all the NL team owners approve the Braves decision to move to Milwaukee (they will eventual leave Milwaukee for Atlanta)...

1961) The Poppin' Fresh "Pillsbury Dough Boy" is introduced (don't ya just wish you could poke him in that poppin' fresh tummy ?)...

1968) Mel Brooks' film "The Producers" premieres (it will win an Oscar for Best Screenplay). The movie stars Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel...

1982) Teddy Pendergrass (lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes) is severly injured in an auto crash in Philadelphia (Teddy is paralyzed from the waist down but remarkably will sing again)...

1986) Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson (most recently seen hawking Weight Watchers)...

1989) The largest art heist in history is pulled off at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The 12 paintings stolen were worth $100 million...

1990) Baseball owners and players agree to a new labor agreement, ending a 32-day pre-season strike...

1992) Leona ("Queen of mean") Helmsley is sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion...

1997) Joni Mitchell reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption many years earlier...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1926) Peter Graves...

1932) Author John Updike...

1938) Country singer Charlie Pride...

1963) Vanessa ("the undresser") Williams...

1964) Olympic gold medal speed skater Bonnie Blair...

1970) Queen Latifah...

(Today is the 77th day of 2006 with 288 days remaining in the year, 2 days until spring and 14 days until opening day)...

Sunday, March 19, 2006...

March 19 Memories...

1628) The Massachusetts colony is founded by Englishmen...

1822) The city of Boston is incorporated...

1831) The 1st bank robbery in America is reported. The City Bank of New York City loses $245,000 in a stick-up...

1918) Congress approves Daylight-Savings Time...

1931) Nevada legalizes gambling...

1945) About 800 lose their lives as Japanese kamikaze planes attack the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan...

1953) Bob Hope emcees the first televised Academy Awards show on the network. 174 stations give viewers a look at Gary Cooper winning for "Best Actor" in "High Noon" and Shirley Booth accepting the "Best Actress" Oscar for "Come Back Little Sheba". "The Greatest Show on Earth" is "Best Picture"...

1957) Elvis Presley buys the mansion he calls "Graceland"...

1962) Bob Dylan's self-titled album is released...

1966) #3 Texas Western upsets #1 Kentucky in the NCAA tournament's final game to win the championship of college basketball. The Miners, primarily a team composed of blacks beats the Wildcats 72-65 (hmmm could be a movie in the making here)...

1976) Buckingham Palace announces the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon after 16 years of marriage...

1984) "Kate & Allie" debuts on CBS-TV starring Susan Saint James (Kate) and Jane Curtin (Allie) (the popular show about 2 divorcees runs 5 years ending September 11, 1989)...

1985) Rolling Stone begins publishing "Spin Magazine". Cash Box chart maven Marty Ostrow is hired to do their charts and features...

1987) TV evangelist Jim Bakker resigns as chairman of his PTL ministry amid a sex-and-money scandal involving former church secretary Jessica Hahn...

1995) One day after returning from his 1st retirement, Michael Jordan (wearing #45 instead of his familiar #23) scores 19 points for the Bulls in an OT loss to the Indiana Pacers...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1928) Patrick ("Secret Agent", "The Prisoner") McGoohan...

1933) Former TV game show panelist Phyllis Newman...

1933) Renee Taylor...

1936) Former glam-girl Ursula Andress...

1937) Clarence "Frogman" Henry...

1946) Ruth Pointer...

1947) Glenn Close...

1955) Bruce Willis...

(Today is the 78th day of 2006 with 287 days remaining in the year, 1 day until spring and 13 days until opening day)...


Thursday, March 16, 2006

Thursday, March 16, 2006

A song about drugs ???

In the sixties McCarthyism swept into radio as we all started second-guessing lyrics, hoping to find sexual and/or drug content even if there wasn't any so that we could say "a-ha, did you get that line ? You know what they meant by that, don't you ?" and usually the answer was, "uh-yes, no, I'm not sure". I mean half of the lyrics were unintelligible anyway. Anyone understanding the lyrics to "Louie, Louie" should be institutionalized. The lyrics to the song released on this date in 1963 were clear as a bell yet termed by many to be related to drugs, specifically marijuana...

The lyrics were based on a 1959 poem by a 19-year old Cornell student who was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem. The author shared his poem with a fellow Cornell student who added a tune and additional lyrics to transform a poem into what would become a #1 hit. You be the judge:

"Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honnah Lee, Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. Oh Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honnah Lee. Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail, Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail, noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came, pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name. (repeat chorus). A dragon lives forever but not so little boys, painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more and Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain, Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane. Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave, so Puff that mighty dragon slipped sadly in his cave (repeat chrous)".

The 19-year Cornell student was Leonard Lipton and the fellow Cornell student writing the song ? Of course, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. When doing the song on stage they insist there wasn't any drug connotation in the tune and that "any song could be construed as a drug song if the listeners had a mind to make it that way, even The Star Spangled Banner". Hmmmm, I never thought about that before. Maybe "the dawn's early light" is a reference to....oh what am I saying ???

More March 16 Memories...

1802) Congress authorizes the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY...

1881) The Barnum and Bailey Circus debuts...

1912) Mrs. William Howard Taft plants the 1st cherry tree in Washington, D.C...

1915) The Federal Trade Commission begins operation...

1938) Promoter Ned Irish of Madison Square Garden organizes the 1st NIT tournament with Temple beating Colorado in the championship game (The NCAA tournament was organized in 1939 and has been recognized as "the" best college tournament for what seems like forever. Teams not qualifying for their tournament wind up in the NIT)...

1963) Although recorded in 1962 as an album cut, "Puff, the Magic Dragon" is released on this date in 1963 (see feature story)...

1964) The Beatles release "Can't Buy Me Love"...

1968) U.S. troops under the direction of Lt. William L. Calley Jr. destroy a Vietnam village consisting mostly of women and children, killing hundreds. The event is known as the "My-Lai Massacre"...

1970) Tammi Terrell dies of a brain tumor while performing on stage with Marvin Gaye. Tammi was just 23 (the pair had 10 hits together on the charts)...

1970) The NBA adds teams in Cleveland (Cavaliers), Buffalo (The Braves that will move to San Diego and then to LA as the Clippers), and Portland (Trail Blazers). The league also realigns into the Atlantic, Central, South and Pacific divisions...

1971) Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" LP and single wins 6 Grammy's...

1974) The new Opryland auditorium is dedicated and the Grand Ole Opry moves there from the Ryman Auditorium...

1978) Italian politician Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing guerrillas (Moro is later found murdered by the group)...

1984) CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley is kidnapped by gunmen and will die in captivity..

1985) AP newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut but is finally released on December 4, 1991...

1988) Former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, former White House aide Oliver L. North and 2 others are indicted on charges relating to the Iran-Contra affair (the convictions of Poindexter and North were thrown out)...

1991) 7 members of Reba McEntire's band and her road manager are killed when their private plane goes down near the California border with Mexico (Reba was on another plane)...

1994) Tonya Harding pleads quilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up the attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan and is fined $100,000...

2000) Independent counsel Robert Ray can find no credible evidence that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is involved in seeking FBI background files of Republicans...

2002) Liza Minelli makes her 4th trip down the aisle when she marries her producer boyfriend David Gest (and then the fun begins)...

2002) 13-year old hockey fan Brittanie Cecil is hit by a puck during an NHL game between her hometown Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames (2 days later she is dead from the injuries)...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1926) Jerry Lewis (the country of France started celebrating at midnight but the rest of us go, huh ?)...

1941) Chuck Woolery (game show host)...

1949) Erik Estrada ("CHIPS")...

1954) Heart's Nancy Wilson...

1967) Lauren Graham...

(Today is the 75th day of 2006 with 290 days remaining in the year, 1 day until St. Patrick's Day, only 4 days until spring and 16 till opening day)...


Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

The Ides of March...

If you thought we got the Ides of March from the group that recorded "Vehicle" then perhaps you need a history lesson. In the Roman calendar the Ides of March fell on the 15th day of the Roman month of Martius. The date would become famous when Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles (or hitmen if you prefer) that included Brutus and Cassius...

In Roman times the Ides of March was simply the normal way of saying March 15th. Following the death of Caesar on March 15, 44 BC, we started saying "Beware the Ides of March" with a sense of doom thanks to Brutus, Cassius and the boys...

It's interesting to note that Income Tax day was March 15th for many years before being moved to April. The IRS has a great sense of humor, don't they ?

More March 15 Memories...

44BC) Refer to feature story above...

1493) Christopher Columbus returns to Spain concluding his 1st voyage to the Western Hemisphere...

1869) The Cincinnati Red Stockings become the 1st professional baseball team (with each player receiving a salary). To celebrate they play Antioch College. Final score 41-7 with uh, Cincinnati winning...

1875) New York's Archbishop John McCloskey is named the 1st American cardinal by Pope Pius IX...

1892) New York State unveils the new automatic ballot voting machine (and we still use them on election day)...

1892) Jesse W. Reno of New York City patents the Reno Inclined Elevator, our 1st escalator...

1919) The American Legion is founded in Paris (huh ? Was the French Foreign Legion founded in America ?)...

1954) The record many believe was the 1st Rock and Roll record (or at least the 1st Doo Wop tune) "Sh-boom" is recorded by the Chords (that version will reach the Pop Top 10 but the cover by the Crew-cuts went to #1)...

1954) CBS-TV debuts it's "Morning Show" (over 50 years later no one has discovered it)...

1955) Fats Domino records "Ain't That A Shame"...

1956) Lerner & Loewe's "My Fair Lady" opens at the Mark Hellinger Theater on Broadway...

1956) Colonel Tom Parker becomes Elvis Presley's manager...

1964) Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor say "I do" (#5 for Liz)...

1965) T.G.I. Friday's 1st restaurant opens in New York City...

1966) Herb Alpert's "Taste of Honey" wins a "Record of the Year" Grammy. Frank Sinatra's LP "September of My Years" wins for "Album of the Year" and Tom Jones is "Best New Artist"...

1970) Bobby Orr of the Bruins becomes the NHL's 1st defenseman to score 100 points...

1972) "The Godfather" opens (the film will sweep the Academy Awards, winning "Best Picture", "Best Actor" (Brando) and "Best Screenplay" (Coppola and Puzo)...

1975) Aristotle Onasis, husband of former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, dies at 69...

1977) "Eight is Enough" debuts on ABC-TV (Tom & Joan Bradford & the entire Bradford clan entertain us until August 29, 1981)...

1978) "American Hot Wax" (a movie about Alan Freed) premieres...

1997) North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith passes the legendary Adolph Rupp of Kentucky as the winningest college coach in history with his 877th win (When he retired at the end of the season he would have 879 victories and along with UCLA's John Wooden is widely considered one of the top 2 coaches ever to coach a college basketball team)...

1998) Child care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock dies at 94...

1999) Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then lead a jam session on stage...

2002) Burger King adds a veggie burger to their menu...

2002) In Texas Andrea Yates receives a life sentence for drowning her 5 children on June 20, 2001...

2004) Martha Stewart resigns from the board of her own company, 10 days after being convicted in a stock scandal...

(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, muliple reference sources are used in the timeline)...

Happy Birthday To...

1935) Judd Hirsch...

1935) Jimmy Swaggart...

1941) Mike Love (Beach Boys)...

1944) Sly Stone...

1961) Fabio...

1962) Terence ("Wishing Well") Trent D'Arby...

1968) TV co-host & Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath...

1975) Eva Longoria...

Commentary...

Both Gordon Brown and Paul Power mentioned other songs that sold a million or more units before 1958 that should have or did receive gold status. Many songs received gold records prior to 1958 by their record companies or in some cases by music associations but not originally by the RIAA which was only formed in 1958. The RIAA became the offically sanctioned gold record association standard for record sales from 1958 on. Thanks for your feedback...

(Today is the 74th day of 2006 with 291 days remaining in the year, 5 days until spring and 17 and counting until opening day)...