Author Archives: dcaligari

July 10, 1976 –Starland Vocal Band’s song about afternoon nooky – Afternoon Delights went to No. 1 on the Billboard Pop charts on this date. Despite having only this one hit, the Starland Vocal Band were given their own summer replacement TV series on CBS called The Starland Vocal Band in 1977. An unknown comicContinue reading “Afternoon Delights topped the charts”

July 9, 1966 –The Beatles song Paperback Writer, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. The B-side to this single was John Lennon’s Rain. Paul and John would always compete for the A-side of The Beatles singles.

July 9, 1945 – … dirty money always brings sorrow and sadness and misery and disgrace. Said by a man who never took a bribe. During a newspaper strike, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia read the daily comic strips aloud on WNYC radio on this date. Co-incidentally or not, yesterday was the 99th anniversaryContinue reading “LaGuardia reads the Funnies”

July 9, 1995 –The Grateful Dead, who had been performing for 30 years, gave their last performance on this day, when they performed at Soldier Field in Chicago. During their 30 years, they performed more than 2,300 live concerts. The lead guitarist and backbone of the band, Jerry Garcia, died one month after the finalContinue reading “The last Grateful Dead show”

July 9, 2001- The mockumentary The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman first aired on BBC Two, on this date. The series started as a small, home-made video by Stephen Merchant when he was trying to get a job at the BBC. He came up withContinue reading “The British Office premiered”

July 7, 1989 –The second single from their album The Raw & the Cooked, Good Thing by the Fine Young Cannibals, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this date. Fine Young Cannibals rose from the ashes of the UK band The Beat. Sometimes called “The English Beat” to distinguish them from the US PaulContinue reading “Good Thing went to No. 1”

July 8, 1969 ->The U.S. Patent Office issued a patent for the game Twister. (Yes smartpants, the game came out in 1966 but the patent wasn’t issued until this date.) Remember kids, if you are going to play nude Crisco Twister – always use protection.

July 8, 1932 – W.C. Fields’ very funny political satire, Million Dollar Legs, opened on this date. Writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz was inspired to write this film by the wild events of the 1928 Olympic games held in Amsterdam, particularly by an Albanian pole-vaulter who took to the field wearing a pair of goatskin shorts.

July 8, 1932 – Tod Browning’s groundbreaking shockfest Freaks, featuring genuine carnival sideshow performers, opened at the Rialto theater in New York on this date. Cast member Olga Roderick, the bearded lady, later denounced the film and regretted her involvement in it. Although Roderick was the most vocal in her dislike of the movie, manyContinue reading “One of Us, One of Us”

It’s Father-Daughter take a walk together day, (Once again, two teams of high priced (non-ACME) lawyers have confirmed that – a.) I can refer to this as a ‘digital image‘,b.) I am in the digital image, andc.) I may or may not be related to two of the other people in this digital image. (Again,Continue reading “Parenthood remains the single greatest preserve of the amateur”