Tuesday-Sunday, November 21-26, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving...

As you ponder your Thanksgiving Day meal with your family and friends, here's a brief history of why we stuff our faces each year on the 4th Thursday of November...

The very first Thanksgiving dates back to 1621 when the Pilgrims and their American Indian pals celebrated their second year of existence together in October with a traditional English feast that lasted 3 days. There was plenty of corn liquor to go around but no one is sure if turkey was on the table. There was venison, wild ducks and geese and lots of veggies to choose from though. By the way, the Pilgrims used the term "turkey" to mean any sort of wild fowl (you jive wild fowl you?)...

Thanksgiving became a tradition when George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln made it the last Thursday of November but it wasn't until 1941 that Congress sanctioned the day as a legal holiday. The traditional sparing of the White House turkey's life started under the Truman administration in 1947. In keeping with the independent spirit and liberal nature of New Englanders, Native Americans have held a National Day of Mourning to protest Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock. That movement started in 1970...

Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and since I'm totally opposed to mourning a joyous occasion to gather together with family and friends and give thanks for what a wonderful world we're lucky enough to live in, my video link features the "WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop": Gobble Gobble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZByndN_ffyw Happy Thanksgiving everyone...

Tuesday, Nov. 21 Timeline Memories...

1. [1620] The Mayflower reaches Provincetown (MA) (after having a gay old time, the Pilgrims settle in Plymouth on December 26th)...
2. [1877] Thomas A. Edison announces the invention of the phonograph or as he calls it, his "talking machine"...
3. [1964] The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge opens to traffic at 3pm after a brief statement by Mayor Robert Wagner. The first passenger is 22-year old George Scarpelli, a Parks Department employee who pays the 50 cent toll on the span that links the boroughs of Richmond (Staten Island) and Brooklyn...

"Can you hear me now": 1973] Nixon attorney, J. Fred (not Muggs) Buzhardt announces an 18 1/2 minute gap in one of the White House tapes relating to Watergate...

Released on this date: 1968] "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" - Supremes and Temptations...1995] "The Beatles Anthology I" (which sets a first-day sales record of 450,000 units. It contains a new song, "Free As A Bird")...

Premiered on this date: 1995] "Toy Story" starring Tom Hanks...

"Guilty as charged": 2003] Phil Spector is charged with the murder of Lana Clarkson at his home the previous February. Spector pleads innocent (the latest on this case is that the trial is supposed to start in January, 2007 but I wouldn't bet on it)...\

Wedding Bells: 1982] Joni Mitchell marries her bass player Larry Klein (Joni paves paradise on the honeymoon. The marriage dissolves in 1994)...1983] New York Ranger Ron Greschner checks model Carol Alt into the boards of matrimony (Greschner goes to the penalty box in 1996)...1987] Demi Moore and Bruce Willis rock down the aisle (but they are divorced in 2000 and Demi robs the cradle with Ashton Kutcher whom she marries in 2005)...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

Giants' defensive lineman Michael Strahan (35), Nicollette Sheridan (43), Lorna Luft (54), Livingston Taylor (56), Goldie Hawn (61), Earl Monroe (62), Tweety Bird (64), Dr. John (66), Marlo Thomas (69) and Stan Musial (86)...

Wednesday, November 22, 2006...

Timeline Memories...

1. [1906] The "S-O-S" distress signal is adopted at the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin...
2. [1917] The NHL is formed with 5 Canadian teams eh ?...
3. [1955] RCA pays $25,000 to Sam Phillips for the rights to the music of a truck driver from Tupelo (Miss) by the name of Elvis Presley. Colonel Tom Parker tosses in a $5,000 bonus which Elvis spends on a pink Cadillac for his mother ("such a good son")...
4. [1963] JFK is assassinated (a day that every American alive remembers what he was doing when the president was shot)...
5. [1986] Mike Tyson becomes the youngest world heavyweight champion by KOing Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas (Tyson is 20 years, 4 months old which is his biological age, not his mental age)...
6. [1998] "60 Minutes" airs videotape of Dr. Jack Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a terminally ill patient who dies on camera...

"Happy Trails": 1980] Aging blond bombshell Mae West suffers a fatal stroke at 87...1997] INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, 37, is found hanging in his hotel suite in Sydney, Australia...

#1 on this date: 1964] "Leader of the Pack" - Shangri-Las... 1971] "Theme from 'Shaft" - Isaac Hayes...1980] "Human" - Human League...

Released on this date: 1968] The Beatles White Album...

On "American Bandstand": 1957] Tom & Jerry a.k.a. Simon & Garfunkel...

MVP: 1961] Frank Robinson (the first player to win MVP awards in both leagues with Cincinnati and Baltimore)...

In the Hockey Hall of Fame: 1999] Wayne Gretzky ("The Great One" who retired with 61 NHL records)...

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

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

Scarlett Johansson (22), Boris Becker (39), Mariel Hemingway (45), Jamie Lee Curtis (48), Steve Van Zandt (56), Billie Jean King (63) and Robert Vaughn (74)...

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23, 2006...

Timeline Memories...

1. [1887] Michigan beats Notre Dame 8-0 in the 1st meeting of their rivalry...
2. [1889] The first jukebox goes into service at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco. Owned by developer Louis T. Glass, the jukebox contains an Edison tinfoil phonograph with 4 listening tubes. A nickel bought a few minutes of music. The jukebox took in $1,000 in 6 months...
3. [1958] Ronald and Nancy Reagan appear together in the GE production of "A Turkey for the President"...
4. [1968] Harvard scores 2 touchdowns in 42 seconds to make up a 16-point deficit and ties Yale in "The Game" 29-29. The Harvard Gazette headline: "HARVARD WINS 29-29" (the 123rd edition of "The Game" was won by Yale this year after Harvard had won 5 years in a row)...
5. [1976] Jerry Lee Lewis is arrested outside Graceland after waving a gun and demanding to see "The King", Elvis Presley (and that folks is why they call him "The Killer")...
6. [1980] A series of earthquakes devastate southern Italy killing some 4,800 (the land where my late father's family once lived was totally destroyed and the area around San Fele, Basilicata in Potenza has just lately started to rebuild)...

#1 on this date: 1960] "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Elvis Presley...1974] "I Can Help" - Billy Swan...

Released on this date: 1964] "I Feel Fine"/"She's a Woman" - Beatles...

"Happy Trails": 1992] Legendary Country singer Roy Acuff dies of heart failure at 89...

"Sayonara Kenneth": 2004] Dan Rather announces that he will step down as anchorman of CBS News in March, 2005. Katie Couric is now the permanent replacement...

Debuted on this date: 1903] Enrico Caruso makes his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, appearing in "Rigoletto"...1936] Life Magazine, created by Henry R. Luce is published...

"Hail Mary": 1984] Doug Flutie connects with roomie Gerard Phelan and Boston College beats Miami 47-45 in one of the greatest college games of all-time (Bernie Kosar was the Miami QB)...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

GMA's Robin Roberts (46), Bruce Hornsby (51), Chuck Schumer (56), Luis Tiant (66 maybe), Jack McKeon (76)...

Friday, November 24, 2006...

Timeline Memories...

1. [1859] British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species" which explains his theory of evolution...
2. [1871] The National Rifle Association is incorporated and its first president is Charlt-oops, sorry. His name is Major General Ambrose E. Burnside...
3. [1953] New Brooklyn Dodger manager Walter Alston signs the 1st of 23-one year contracts...
4. [1963] Jack Ruby shoots and mortally wounds Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy (this happened live on television - still hard to believe)...
5. [1963] The NBA, NHL and AFL cancel their scheduled games, the NFL does not (Pete Rozelle considered this his worst decision as NFL commissioner)...
6. [1971] Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes from a Northwest flight over Washington State with $200,000 in ransom. His fate is still unknown although if you watch "Prison Break", he died attempting to break out of prison...

Recorded on this date: 1966] The Beatles begin recording "Sgt. Pepper"...

"Happy Trails": 1985] Big Joe Turner dies of a heart attack at 74...1991] Freddie Mercury of Queen dies of AIDS at 45...

Wedding Bells: 1998] AOL confirms that its buying Netscape for $10 billion...

"Guilty as charged": 1969: Lt. William Calley is charged with the massacre of over 100 civilians in My Lai, Vietnam in March, 1968...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

"Gray's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl (28), Stanley (Chip) Livingston (56), Donald "Duck" Dunn (65), Pete Best (65), Paul Tagliabue (66) and William F. Buckley (81)...

Saturday, November 25, 2006...

Timeline Memories...

1. [1783] The British evacuate New York, their last military position in the U.S. during the Revolutionary War ("the British are going...the British are going")...
2. [1947] Movie studio executives meeting in New York agree to blacklist the "Hollywood 10" who were cited a day earlier and jailed for contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee...
3. [1980] Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Roberto Duran for the welterweight crown after Duran pleads "no mas, no mas" in the 8th round, ending the fight...
4. [1986] The Iran-Contra affair erupts as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese reveal that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels...
5. [1999] 6-year old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez is rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida (the saga of Elian begins)...
6. [2002] President Bush signs legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and appoints Tom Ridge to be its head...

"Happy Trails": 1944] Baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Montain Landis dies of natural causes at 78...1974] Former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant dies from lung cancer at 65...1987] Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington dies of a heart attack at 65...

Laid to rest: 1963] The body of President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery... Recorded on this date: 1986] 36 British and American stars (including Phil Collins, Boy George, Sting, U2, Duran Duran, George Michael & James Taylor) get together as Band-Aid to record "Do They Know It's Christmas" with proceeds going to Ethiopian famine relief, conceived by Bob Geldof)... Debuted on this date: 1940] Woody Woodpecker in "Knock Knock"...1949] "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" is played on the radio for the first time...1966] The Jimi Hendrix Experience make their London performance debut at the Bag O' Nails Club... "Happy Birthday...happy birthday": Barbara and Jenna Bush (25), Christina Applegate (35), Jill Hennessy (37), Amy Grant (46), John Larroquette (59), Ben Stein (62), Percy Sledge (66) and Ricardo Montalban (86)... Sunday, November 26, 2006... Timeline Memories... [1789] A day of Thanksgiving is set aside by President George Washington to observe the adoption of the U.S. Constitution... [1825] The first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, is formed at Union College in Schenectady (NY)... [1832] Public streetcar service begins in New York City... [1973] President Richard Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, tells a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18 1/2 minute gap in a key Watergate tape... [2000] Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certifies George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state's presidential balloting by 537 votes... "Finito": 1968] Cream does its last concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London (the show is recorded and released as "Goodbye Cream" on February 20, 1969)... Premiered on this date: 1942] "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman at the Hollywood Theater in Manhattan... "Guilty as charged": 1975] A federal grand jury in Sacramento (CA) finds Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, guilty of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford... MVP and "Rookie of the Year": 1975] Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn... Wedding Bells: 1982] Miles Davis and Cecily Tyson tie the knot (this will become a "love/hate" marriage for what seems like forever until Davis died)...1993] James Carville and Mary Matalin walk down the aisle with Republicans on the right and Democrats on the left... "Happy Birthday...happy birthday": John McVie (61), Rich Little (68), Tina Turner (68) and Robert Goulet (73)... Timeline Countdown: 19 days until Chanukah, 29 days until Christmas, 35 days until 2007, 42 days until the NFL playoffs and 70 days until Super Bowl XLI in Miami... ...