Author Archives: dcaligari

If you missed seeing Manhattanhenge last night, you could try again tonight at 8:27 pm ET. Those Illuminati are generous, aren’t they?

July 12, 1986 –The band, Simply Red’s hit Holding Back the Years wen to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. Simply Red is singer Mick Hucknall (“Red” was his nickname because of his red hair). He originally recorded this in 1979 with his band The Frantic Elevators.

July 12, 1990 – Viewers first met Dr. Joel Fleischman and the folks in Cicely, Alaska when Northern Exposure premiered on CBS TV on this date. The mural for Roslyn’s Café in the opening credits is an actual café. The apostrophe and an S was added in since the show is supposed to take placeContinue reading “The second TV series featuring a moose”

July 12, 1997 – The joys of angry prison sex were explored far more than you wanted them to be when Oz, starring Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, J. K. Simmons, and B.D. Wong premiered on HBO, on this date Some cast members that played prisoners have noted that, throughout the series, if you showed upContinue reading “HBO’s obsession with prisons began”

July 12, 1807 (there is some confusion about the exact date, but since it’s my birthday, I get to choose.) –The famous world conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked and defeated by … bunnies. The emperor had requested that a rabbit hunt be arranged for himself and his men. His chief of staff Alexandre Berthier setContinue reading “Napoleon’s untold defeat”

It was great foresight on the part of our beloved city forefathers to lay out the city in such a way that this happens every year just around my birthday. Once again, the sun will be perfectly lined up with the east-west streets of New York. So get outside to catch the ‘Full Sun onContinue reading “My birthday gift to you”

July 11, 1970 –Three Dog Night started a two-week run at No.1 in the US with their version of the Randy Newman song Mama Told Me Not To Come, which was also a No.3 hit in the UK. Randy Newman explained in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone: “It’s a guy going to a party,Continue reading “Mama Told Me Not To Come topped the charts”

July 11, 1942 – A classic 40s Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid was released on this date. The part where Bugs and Killer are temporarily fooled into thinking that the bones are theirs is a reference to a Harold Lloyd film, The Freshman.

July 11, 1990 –For some reason 20th Century Fox released The Adventures of Ford Fairlane directed by Renny Harlin and starring Andrew Dice Clay, on this date. The film was both a commercial and critical failure. Billy Idol was cast as Smiley, but had to pull out of the role after a nearly-fatal motorcycle accident.Continue reading “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane premiered”

July 11, 1997 –The under-rated Robert Zemeckis Sci-Fi film (based on a Carl Sagan novel,) Contact, starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, and David Morse, opened on this date. The remark made throughout the movie by different characters, that if humans were the only life inContinue reading “Contact premiered”