Author Archives: dcaligari

August 21, 1979 –Gary Numan released his hit Cars from his album The Pleasure Principle, on this date. This was Numan’s only hit in the US, but he has had many others in England, where he has a large cult following. Numan specializes in electronic music, and was an influence on artists like Marilyn MansonContinue reading “Here in my car …”

August 21, 1911 –Pablo Picasso was having a very bad day. His so-called friend, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire—who had once declared that the Louvre should be “burned down”—came under suspicion when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum on this day. He was arrested and jailed. True to form, Apollinaire implicated his friend PabloContinue reading “The Greatest Art Heist”

August 20, 1977 –The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the single Best Of My Love for the first of five weeks, on this date. (Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.) Songwriter Maurice White sued Mariah Carey and C+C Music Factory for plagiarizing this song forContinue reading “Best of My Love topped the charts”

August 20, 1972 – Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on this date. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known asContinue reading “WaxxStax concert occurred”

August 20, 1941 –William Wyler’s pitch-perfect adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis, opened on this date. Bette Davis had legendary make-up artist Perc Westmore devise a white mask-like effect for her face to emphasize Regina’s coldness. William Wyler hated it, likening it to a Kabuki mask.

August 20, 1920 –The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ (Newsradio 950) ). (8MK went on the air without a license on this date. I understand that KDKA went on the air in Pittsburgh as the world’s first commercially licensed station on November 2, 1920.) TheContinue reading “Still hasn’t annihilated every possibility of solitude and reflection.”

August 20, 1948 –… You have to ask these questions: who pays the piper, and what is valuable in this life? Robert Anthony Plant CBE, button phobia rock singer and songwriter, was born on this date.

August 19, 1977 –I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it. One of the world’s leading commentator on the human condition, Groucho gave up the ghost on this date.

August 19, 1964 –The Beatles first US tour began in San Francisco, California with their concert at the Cow Palace. They played ten songs to a crowd of over 17,000. The Beatles returned there for another concert in 1965.

August 19, 1969 –David Crosby, Steven Stills, Joni Mitchell, and the Jefferson Airplane appeared on the Dick Cavett Show, giving a first-hand account of the Woodstock festival that took place over the weekend. Jefferson Airplane’s performance of We Can Be Together marked the first time the word “fuck” was uttered on live US television.