Author Archives: dcaligari

January 28, 1995 –TLC started a four week run at No.1 on Billboards singles chart with Creep, the group’s first US No.1 hit. The song made No.6 in the UK the following year. The trio had mixed feelings about the adulterous relationship portrayed in the lyrics. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins thought the subject was an importantContinue reading “The 22nd of loneliness …”

January 28, 1978 – Fantasy Island, starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize, debuted on ABC-TV on this date. The network wanted Orson Welles for Mr. Roarke, but Spelling rejected him, knowing of his irritable nature on sets. He also rejected the idea of a sexy female sidekick to join Roarke and Tattoo.

January 28, 1953 –J. Fred Muggs joined NBC’s Today Show on this date. Muggs was an instant sensation with children, and later their parents. As Dave Garroway’s “right-hand monkey,” he performed comedy routines, had a wardrobe of 450 outfits, and played the piano. Within weeks, the floundering show had a significant boost in its audienceContinue reading “No, I’m not a monkey’s uncle”

A special word for today Serendipity – the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. The word derives from an old Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, (Serendip is the Persian name for Sri Lanka,) and was coined by Horace Walpole on January 28, 1754Continue reading “I really like this word”

The United Nations General Assembly designated this date, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educationalContinue reading “It saddens me to have to say Never Again again”

It’s Punch the Clock day. I have no idea why anyone would want to celebrate the soul-numbing activity of having to punch into work. So instead, let’s listen to a deep cut from the Elvis Costello album Punch the Clock, Charm School.

January 27, 1984 –The Mike Nichols’ drama, Silkwood, starring Meryl Streep, Cher, and Kurt Russell, opened in the US on this date. Cher was nervous about meeting Meryl Streep for the first time. “I thought it was going to be like having an audience with the Pope,” she said. Streep, however, immediately put her atContinue reading “Silkwood premiered”

January 27, 1991 –The little remembered TV series,Davis Rules, starring Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters premiered on ABC TV on this date. (The series moved to CBS TV for its’ second and final season.) The show premiered right after the Super Bowl in 1991.

It located down at the end of Lonely StreetJanuary 27, 1956 –Elvis Presley released the first of his 14 records in a row that sold more than a million copies, Heartbreak Hotel, on this date. It climbed to the top of the pop chart reaching #1 in April and spending eight weeks at the top.Continue reading “It located down at the end of Lonely Street”