Author Archives: dcaligari

April 26, 1933 –I’m glad I was born when I was. My time was the golden age of variety. If I were starting out again now, maybe things would happen for me, but it certainly would not be on a variety show with 28 musicians, 12 dancers, two major guest stars, 50 costumes a weekContinue reading “Carol Burnett”

April 25, 1955 –Captiol Records released the ninth studio album by American vocalist Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours, on this date. The album is a collection of melancholy ballads, with arrangements by Nelson Riddle, was an early example of a concept album and helped popularize the 12-inch format for non-classical recordings.

April 25, 1974 –Steely Dan’s most successful single, (it charted at #4,) Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, was released on this date. The Rikki of the title is Rikki Ducornet, a New York writer and artist. Steely Dan co-front Donald Fagen met her while both were attending Bard College, a small liberal arts school locatedContinue reading “What was that number again?”

April 25, 1992 – The final episodes of Who’s the Boss, aired on this date on ABC-TV. The original ending for the series, as proposed by the writers, was for Angela and Tony to get married. ABC executives, however, balked at this ending and were supported by Tony Danza, who was against having Tony andContinue reading “Tony and Angela were together one last time”

April 25, 1978 –We all got to hang out on the strip with Dan Tanna, when the pilot of Vega$, starring Robert Urich, aired on ABC TV on this date. Robert Urich was 31 when the series premiered, but since he looked a decade younger than he was, they wanted to make the character ofContinue reading “Vega$ premiered”

Today is Malaria Awareness Day. Malaria Awareness Day was designated on this date by President George W. Bush in 2007, to remind people that Malaria kills 3,000 children a day. He asked the world to join the fight to wipe out malaria on the African continent. So I encourage all Americans to begin heavily drinkingContinue reading “Baseball and malaria keep coming back.”

April 24, 1974 –David Bowie released his iconic album, Diamond Dogs, on this date. This song introduces us to Bowie’s post-Ziggy Stardust persona, Halloween Jack: “The Halloween Jack is a real cool cat and he lives on top of Manhattan Chase.” It has also been suggested this song was influenced by Dhalgren, a science fictionContinue reading “As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent …”

April 24, 1976 –With rumors of a Beatles reunion swirling, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels goes on camera to offer the guys $3,000 (union scale) to reunite on the show, on this date. Paul and Linda McCartney were spending the evening with John Lennon at his New York Dakota apartment and watched SaturdayContinue reading “The ‘almost’ Beatles Reunion”

April 24, 2000 –In support of their first studio album after twenty years, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen appeared on an episode of The VH-1 series Storytellers, and spend an hour on the show, playing their songs, take requests from the audience, and in their typically cryptic fashion divulge some of the concepts behind theirContinue reading “The elusive Steely Dan back on TV”

April 24, 2000 – The TV biopic The Three Stooges, starring Michael Chiklis, Paul Ben-Victor, John Kassir, Jim Lemley, and Evan Handler, premiered on ABC TV, on this date. The movie made use of a Sydney landmark in an innovative way. New York’s Coney Island amusement park used to have an attraction within its groundsContinue reading “A not so good bio-pix about The Three Stoogies”