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July 4, 1966 –The Lovin’ Spoonful release their song Summer in the City on this date. The band was rather particular about the traffic sounds. Instead of just using what was available on the sound effects records in the studio, they found an old-school radio engineer – a guy who used to create the soundscapesContinue reading “A Hot time in the city”

July 4, 1966 –The Beatles played two shows at Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, Manila, in the Philippines to over 80,000 fans, on this date. The Beatles did not appear at a palace reception hosted by President Marcos‘ family, who were not informed that the Beatles had previously declined their invitation. The Philippine media misrepresent thisContinue reading “A good time was not had in Manila”

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 fromContinue reading “The end of the Ziggy Stardust tour”

July 3, 1951 –An under-appreciated Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train, starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker and Patricia Hitchcock was released on this date. In the scene where Ruth Roman and Patricia Hitchcock are watching the tennis match, Ruth gives Patricia a real U.S. ten dollar bill. Showing real U.S. money in moviesContinue reading “Strangers on a Train premiered”

July 3, 1985 –Universal released Robert Zemeckis’ sci-fi comedy Back To The Future, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover on this date. When this movie was previewed for a test audience, Industrial Light and Magic had not completed the final DeLorean-in-flight shot, and the last several minutes of the movieContinue reading “Lesson learned: Dating your mom is a bad thing”

July 3, 1986 –President Ronald Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty. The restoration efforts, led under the direction of Lee Iacocca, cost $87 million dollars.

It’s National Fried Clam Day today. Unlike most of these so called ‘holidays‘, this one is actually based on an event. The story goes that Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman of Essex, Massachusetts was the first person to make deep fried clams, in 1916. As one if Woodman’s specialties was making potato chips, he already had theContinue reading “Warning: May cause extreme happiness.”

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. Sinatra knocked The Beatles down a peg when this song hit #1 in theContinue 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 “We are all interested in the future …”

July 2, 1955 –the average American got down and got funky when the first Lawrence Welk Show premiered nationally on ABC TV on this date From its move to network television in 1955 until the very early 1960s, the show’s primary sponsor was Dodge. The Dodge name would be part of the set and duringContinue reading “Wonderful, wonderful ….”