Author Archives: dcaligari

August 8, 1963 –John Sturges’ adventure film, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, opened on this date. In the film, several Americans were amongst the escapees. In real-life, American officers assisted with the construction of the escape tunnel, but weren’t amongst the escapees, because the Germans moved them to a remote compound just before theContinue reading “The Great Escape premiered”

August 8, 1980 –The fantasy musical Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, debuts to scathing reviews (“In a word, Xana-don’t.“) on this date, and inspires the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst films of the year. The film was meant to launch Olivia Newton-John’s career as a solo star. Due to its complete failureContinue reading “Xanadu unfortunately premiered”

August 8, 1987 –U2 scored their second US No.1 single from their Joshua Tree album with I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For on this date. This was influenced by gospel music. Bono wanted The Joshua Tree to explore various forms of American music they had encountered while touring there. The album’s co-producer DanielContinue reading “U2 unsuccessful search helped them top the charts”

August 7, 1971 –The Bee Gees early hit How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. It became their first US #1 hit. This was written during the same afternoon as The Bee Gees‘ previous American hit, Lonely Days in Barry Gibb’s basement flat atContinue reading “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart topped the charts”

August 7, 1948 – … Huh! I must be walking in my sleep. But how can I be walking in my sleep if I’m awake enough to know I’m walking in my sleep. The strange things people do in their sleep, especially if they’re awake. Chuck Jones guided Daffy Duck’s personality change from a “screwball”Continue reading “You Were Never Duckier premiered”

August 7, 1981 –The animated sci-fi film Heavy Metal went into general release in the US and Canada on this date. This movie was inspired by a long-running science fiction magazine of the same title, which began in Europe as Metal Hurlant. Most of the story segments are based on stories or characters featured inContinue reading “Heavy Metal opened”

August 7, 1953 –The best musical of the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals (unless you consider Singing in the Rain the best), The Band Wagon, opened on this date. Betty Comden and Adolph Green made the characters played by Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant a married couple because they felt that the audiences would notContinue reading “The Band Wagon premiered”

Avoid mosquitoes at all cost, they’re not good! Though not as front of mind and the FLiRT variant, West Nile Virus cases have been been once again on the rise in New York City, as it has been in the past. Beyond being itch-provoking summer pests, mosquitoes kill more that an an estimated million peopleContinue reading “Bunkies, it’s our annual Anti-malarial campaign –”

Let us celebrate National Sea Serpent Day: August 7 is recognized as one of the most famous sea serpent sighting. This sighting was made by the men and officers of HMS Daedalus in August 1848 during a voyage to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. The 60 foot long creature that they saw held aContinue reading “Celebrate as you see fit”

August 6, 1993 –Sheryl Crow releases her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club on this date. It takes about a year to catch on, but eventually sells over 7 million copies. Tuesday Night Music Club was Crow’s first album, released when she was 31. It took nearly a year for the album to catch onContinue reading “We got to go to The Tuesday Night Music Club for the first time”