Author Archives: dcaligari

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. In 2002, as part of New York City’s National Poetry Month celebration, the Office of the Mayor, in partnership with the New York City Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education, initiated Poem in Your Pocket Day, a time for New York City residents to select a poem, carryContinue reading “The best words in the best order”

It’s the fourth anniversary of Mrs. Dr. Caligari rushing me to the hospital for emergency surgery. It’s been a long strange trip and hopefully all my surgeries are behind me. All in all, it’s pretty nice to be here, for another year at least.

Today is International Dance Day. The date was chosen in commemoration of the death of the greatly influential dancer, choreographer and innovator Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810). The goals of Dance Day are to increase the awareness of the importance of dance among the general public, as well as to persuade governments all over the world toContinue reading “The hidden language of the soul”

Today is also the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, the co-patron saint of Italy. The Renaissance was tough on women, Catherine’s older sister and younger sisters died in 1463 (she had 22 other siblings, although, at that point, who could tell who was alive or died or the neighbor’s cat.) Catherine’s father did whatContinue reading “Love transforms one into what one loves”

April 29, 1983 –Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s horror film The Hunger, directed by Tony Scott and starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, opened in the US on this date. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this film was originally given an “X” rating by the MPAA. This delayed the release for nearly three months while several cutsContinue reading “The Hunger premiered”

April 29, 2005 –Buena Vista releases a somewhat confusing (for the uninformed) but amusing version of Douglas Adams classic sci-fi classic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, starring Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and the voices of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman on this date. The producers have stated that this movieContinue reading “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy opened”

April 29, 1967 –Aretha Franklin’s classic version of Otis Redding’s Respect was released on this date. Franklin’s version is so definitive that most people assume she was the first to record the song. It was Aretha’s idea to cover this song. She came up with the arrangement, added the “sock it to me” lines, andContinue reading “Hey, what you want …”

April 28, 1975 –Former Beatle Ringo Starr appeared NBC-TV’s The Smothers Brothers Show performing his No No Song with hosts Tom and Dick Smothers, on this date. Later that evening, an interviewTom Snyder conducted with ex-Beatle John Lennon was on The Tomorrow Show was broadcast on this date. At the time, no one knew thenContinue reading “The Beatles were all over the TV that night”

April 28, 1985 –The first single from Bryan Ferry’s album Boys and Girls, Slave To Love, was released on this date. The album, Boys and Girls, featured many brilliant guitarists, including Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bryan Adams‘ guitarist Keith Scott.

Today is International Workers’ Memorial Day. The day is a day set aside to remember all of those people who have been injured or killed on the job. Each year, more than two million women and men die as a result of work-related accidents and diseases. So remember, there was a good chance; an accidentContinue reading “Work smart, work safe, go home.”