Author Archives: dcaligari

July 3, 1973 –At the Hammersmith Odeon in London, after 182 Ziggy Stardust concert performances, David Bowie appears as Ziggy Stardust for the last time, explaining: “Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.” Many take this to mean Bowie was retiring from musicContinue reading “The end of the Ziggy Stardust tour”

July 2, 1966 –The title track of Frank Sinatra’s comeback album, Strangers in the Night reached the number one spot (on this date) on the Billboard charts and marked his return to the top of the pop charts in the mid-‘60s. Glen Campbell, who was then a session musician for hire, played rhythm guitar onContinue reading “Strangers in the Night topped the charts”

July 2, 1959 –Ed Wood’s greatest opus (not counting Glen or Glenda), Plan 9 from Outer Space, opened on this date. One of the legends about the production of this film was that Edward D. Wood Jr. used everything from automobile hubcaps to pizza pans to pie tins and even paper plates as flying saucers.Continue reading “Plan 9 from Outer Space premiered”

July 2, 1971Gordon Parks’ classic crime-drama Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree, opened on this date. One of only three films MGM released in 1971 that made a profit, and it helped save the studio from bankruptcy.

Basically, everything you learned was a lie; today is actually Independence Day – The US Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain on this day (in 1776); the formal Declaration of Independence was approved two days later on July 4.

July 1, 1968 –The Band released their debut album, Music from Big Pink, on this date. The album title came from the big pink house in upstate New York they rented and used as a recording studio. The Band was Bob Dylan’s backup band, and they moved there to be near Dylan while he wasContinue reading “Music from Big Pink went on sale”

As always, your friends from the ACME Corp would like to salute our friends in Canada on Canada Day. Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. It is not part of the United States – (it’s the U.S.‘ nicer sister, not dissing Mexico, the U.S.’ feistier sister.) A little jewel sitting at the topContinue reading “Our salute to our neighbors to the north”

According to the Gregorian calendar, July is the seventh month. On the Roman calendar, it was the fifth month and it was called ‘Quintilis‘, meaning ‘fifth‘. Julius Caesar gave the month 31 days in 46 B.C. Being a dictator he could. Luckily for us he didn’t authorize the constant changing of underpants or most ofContinue reading “July is hot afternoons and sultry nights”

July 1, 1965 –Paramount Pictures released the film The Sons of Katie Elder, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin on this date. The gun battle was loosely based on the real-life story of the five Marlow brothers. These were five brothers whose parents had established a homestead in Oklahoma territory, The father was a doctorContinue reading “The Sons of Katie Elder premiered”

July 1, 1956 –TV critic John Crosby panned the following performer’s performance, calling it an ‘unspeakable, untalented and vulgar young entertainer.’ Elvis Presley appeared on NBC- TV’s The Steve Allen Show and performed Hound Dog, to a live Hound Dog.