If Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler moves to give jurors the option of finding Phil Spector guilty on a lesser charge than second degree murder, he might jeopardize the entire case. Legal scholars believe a conviction on a lesser charge will be vulnerable to appeal. Fidler could do this in order to get the jury unlocked in their 7-5 quandary, something brought to the judge yesterday by the jury foreman who sees little hope of resolving the deadlock...
The lesser charge would be "involuntary manslaughter". This would come after Fidler made it clear to the jury that "the only verdict form you will get is second-degree murder." What the judge is trying to avoid is a hung jury after a longer than expected five-month trial that just feels like five-years...
While Spector waits for a verdict, the case against O.J. Simpson for that Las Vegas break-in to steal back his own memorabilia looks like it might be over before the Spector trial is...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1876] Just a bissell: Melville R. Bissell patents the carpet sweeper. 'Bissell' in Yiddish means 'little' or 'small amount'. Financially it means 'cha-ching'...
- 1881] "Happy Trails": Our 20th president, James A. Garfield dies of wounds received 11 weeks earlier at the hands of assassin, Charles Julius Guiteau. Garfield is succeeded by Chester A. Arthur...1973] Gram Parsons of the Byrds dies of a drug overdose at 26...
- 1934] Gotcha: Bruno Hauptman is arrested in New York and charged with the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh...
- 1958] Y'all come back, ya hear?: Elvis Presley leaves the Brooklyn Navy Yard for Germany to join his Army unit...
- 1970] Premiered on this date: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" which airs for seven seasons...
- 1981] Reunion in the park: The infamous 'Simon & Garfunkel Central Park Reunion' draws half-a-million. I call this "the best concert I ever heard" because the closest I got was Cleopatra's Needle and not close enough to even see the stage. Here's a clip from that reunion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuTBEnm9V9k ...
- 1982] Emmy Gold: "Hill Street Blues" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb2V9OAhM40), "Barney Miller", Alan Alda and Carol Kane are the winners at the 34th Emmy Awards Show (this years' Emmy show rated lower than last years'. Who will host next years' show?)...1993] "Seinfeld", "Picket Fences" and Ted Danson are the big winners...
- 1995] Una-boring: The 'Unabomber's Manifesto', a rambling 44-page doctrine about the 'Industrial Revolution', is published in the New York Times and Washington Post. I couldn't get a translation so I quit reading after the first paragraph...
- 2002] Fans attack: Kansas City first-base coach, Tom Gamboa is attacked during a game by a wacked-out father & son at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Was it the way Gamboa kept yelling "back" to the runner at first-base that did it???
- 2003] Get the AOL out of here: AOL Time Warner drops the 'AOL' from its name. The merged company becomes 'Times Warner Inc.' The company had changed the name in January of 2000...
Music Memories:
- 1968] Gold Standard: "Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf (watch Steppenwolf do a medley of "Wild" and "Magic Carpet" on this Ed Sullivan Show appearance and notice how Sullivan botches the name of a band members favorite group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od93fFqGEok)... 1974] "Bad Company" LP...1975] "I Shot The Sheriff" - Eric Clapton...
- 1978] Released on this date: "Living in The U.S.A." - Linda Ronstadt...
Commentary...
Paul Power tips us to the recent article on Ruth Meyer, program director of WMCA from 1958 to 1968 during the golden era of Top 40 radio in New York. The article was written by Scott Benjamin: http://www.musicradio77.com/ . Thanks Paul. Ruth was injured in the crash that took the life of former WMCA morning jock Joe O'Brien a few years back...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Jimmy Fallon (33), CNN's Soledad O'Brien (41), Trisha Yearwood (43), Joan Lunden (57), Jeremy Irons (59), Twiggy (Lawson) (58), Freda Payne (62), Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan (64), Bill Medley (67), David McCallum (74), Adam ("Batman") West (79), Baseball Hall of Famer Duke Snider (81) and James Lipton (81)...
Timeline Countdown: 4 days until autumn in New York, 14 days until the MLB playoffs begin and 35 days until the World Series begins...
