Author Archives: dcaligari

August 4, 1958 –The Billboard Hot 100 was published for the first time on this date. The first number-one song of the Hot 100 was Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson. The song was written by 17-year-old Sharon Sheeley when she was still attending high school in Newport Beach, California. Female songwriters were rare atContinue reading “The first Billboard Hot 100”

August 4, 1972 –The blaxploitation classic Super Fly, directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O’Neal, premiered in the US on this date. The soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield became a soul music landmark. All the music in the movie was done by Curtis Mayfield. This is one of only a few films where theContinue reading “Super Fly premiered”

August 3, 1979 –The Talking Heads release their third album, Fear of Music, on this date. The album, produced by Brian Eno, was recorded in Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth’s New York City loft where the band often rehearsed. They parked a mobile recording unit outside to record the tracks as they played from theContinue reading “Fear of Music released”

August 3, 1977 –Tandy Corporation announced the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers. The basic model originally shipped with 4 KB of RAM.

August 3, 1492 –File this under: more lies my teacher told me. Christopher Columbus famously sailed from the port of Palos de la Frontera, in southern Spain across the ocean blue in a fleet of three ships: one ship was owned by Juan Niño, and was named the Santa Clara, but became known by itsContinue reading “The ocean isn’t even really blue”

August 3, 1929 –Four famous vaudevillian performers took a chance on the new medium of ‘talking pictures‘ with the general release of the film, The Cocoanuts, starring the Four Marx Brothers — Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo, on this date. Filmed on a stage in New York City. Sound films were still so new thatContinue reading “Cocoanuts premiered”

August 3, 1926 –I have a simple life. I mean, you just give me a drum roll, they announce my name, and I come out and sing. In my job I have a contract that says I’m a singer. So I sing. Anthony Dominick Benedetto, last of the great saloon singers was born on thisContinue reading “Tony Bennett”

It’s National Ice Cream Sandwich Day today, a day to enjoy an ice cream sandwich. The best way to celebrate is to make your own! Demand Euphoria!

August 2, 1968 –The Doors single, Hello, I Love You, from their album Waiting for the Sun, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. The music is similar to The Kinks’ song All Day And All Of The Night. So similar, that it has been rumored that The Doors paid royalties fromContinue reading “Hello, I Love You topped the charts”

August 2, 1923 –President Warren G. Harding died suddenly at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on this date. His wife Florence forbids an autopsy, and the President’s body is embalmed shortly after death. It is speculated by many that the cause of death, initially reported as “a stroke of apoplexy,” was in fact poisonContinue reading “The Death (or murder) of Warren G. Harding”