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March 17, 1972 –Ringo Starr released the single Back off Boogaloo, in the UK, on this date. The song peaked at number 2 in Britain and Canada, and number 9 on the U.S.’ Billboard Hot 100 chart. It remains Starr’s highest-charting single in the United Kingdom. “Boogaloo” was Ringo’s nickname for Paul McCartney. The songContinue reading “Back off Boogaloo went on sale”

March 17, 1958 –The song Tequila by the Champs was number one on the music charts on this date. This was originally released as the B-side to a song by The Champs called Train to Nowhere in December 1957. Disc jockeys flipped the single and played Tequila instead, making the song one of the biggestContinue reading “A perfect drink for the day”

March 17, 1978 –Paramount Pictures releases the bio-pix about Alan Freed, American Hot Wax, starring Tim McIntire, Fran Drescher, Jay Leno, and Laraine Newman (and featuring performances by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Frankie Ford,) on this date. During a TV interview at the time just after this film was released,Continue reading “American Hot Wax dropped”

March 17, 1972 – John Waters presented Divine to an unsuspecting world: Pink Flamingos, opened in Baltimore on this date. (In 2021, this cult classic was inducted into the National Film Registery of important films that need to be preserved.) During filming, Divine was arrested for stealing; in her defense she said she was aContinue reading “Pink Flamingos premiered”

The Feast Day of St. Patrick is celebrated on March 17. St. Patrick is considered the father of Celtic Christianity. He founded more than three hundred churches, drove the snakes out of Ireland, invented green beer, and coined the popular slogan, Kiss me, I’m Irish (although, he himself was not.) This year, the Citizenry ofContinue reading “May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future”

March 16, 2019 –Lil Nas X’s song Old Town Road makes the Country chart, but is removed the following week when Billboard declares it ineligible for the tally. Like most unknown artists, Lil Nas X wasn’t signed to a label when he uploaded this song to YouTube and various streaming platforms. When it became aContinue reading “I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more”

March 16, 1934 – An (almost) all singing Popeye cartoon, The Man on the Flying Trapeze, premiered on this date. The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze is based on a real person: Jules Leotard. He was a former law student who ran away from home and joined a circus as an adolescent. YoungContinue reading “He flies through the air …”

March 16, 1960 –One of the iconic films of the French New Wave, À Bout de Souffle (Breathless), directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg opened in France on this date. Jean-Paul Belmondo was very surprised by the warm reception the film received. Immediately after production he was convinced it was soContinue reading “À Bout de Souffle premiered”

March 16, 1955 –Elia Kazan’s powerful family drama, East of Eden, opened in Los Angeles on this date (this is the only one of the “big three” James Dean films to be released before his death.) Elia Kazan has said that James Dean’s tension and shyness always manifested itself physically, so he allowed the actorContinue reading “East of Eden premiered”

March 16 – Today is the celebration of St. Urho’s Day, Patron saint of Finnish vineyard workers. Attributed to him is the miracle of banishing grasshoppers from Finland which he accomplished with a few choice Finnish phrases, thereby saving the season’s grape crop. But in reality a bunch of very drunk people made this upContinue reading “Happy St. Urho’s Day”