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The Temptations sing, It was the 3rd of September, that day I’ll always remember in their song Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone. This was written by the Motown songwriters Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Whitfield. It was first recorded by The Undisputed Truth, but Whitfield also had The Temptations record it, withContinue reading “… all he left us was alone”

September 3, 1939 –Germany continued its invasion of Poland even though Britain had asked it very nicely to stop. This upset the British sensibility. They declared war on Germany. France followed suit six hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, making this the official launch of World War II inContinue reading “England declares war”

September 3, 1976 –The unmanned spacecraft Viking 2, the second mission to Mars, landed at Utopia Planitia on the planet and begins transmitting pictures and soil analyses, on this date. The lander houses instruments to examine the physical and magnetic properties of the soil, analyze the atmosphere and weather patterns of Mars, and to seekContinue reading “Viking 2 lands on Mars”

September 3, 1928 –In San Francisco, Philo Farnsworth demonstrates a television system featuring his Image Dissector camera tube to the press for the first time. The system delivered 20 pictures per second, enough to convince the eye it was looking at motion rather than a series of stills. The San Francisco Chronicle lauded the achievementContinue reading “One of the first TV systems demonstrated”

September 3, 1983 –One of the songs that defined MTV in the 80s, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics, gave them their only US chart topper. In 1978, Squeeze had a UK hit with Take Me I’m Yours, which features the line “Dreams are made of this” in the chorus. Marilyn MansonContinue reading “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) hit No. 1”

Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani was born on this date in 1838. Upon the death of her brother in 1891, she became sovereign Queen of Hawaii. This was considered posing by the American colonials of Hawaii, who reminded her that monarchy was unconstitutional in the United States. She reminded them that Hawaii was not part of theContinue reading “Liliuokalani, Queen of the Hawaiian Islands”

September 2, 1666 –Thomas Farrinor forgot to put out his oven at the end of his shift, on this date. Unfortunately, the resulting fire cost him his job as official baker to King Charles II of England and started the Great Fire of London. (Quite surprisingly, only six people ‘officially‘ were declared dead because ofContinue reading “The Great Fire of London”

September 2, 2005 –If you ever need the definition of ‘deer in the headlights‘ moment, just watch Mike Meyers in this clip. On NBC’s Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye West stated that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. The comment went out live on the US east coast, but was cut from a tapedContinue reading “Oh, that Wacky Kanye”

September 2, 1950 –And the gentleman wins the Rock of Gibraltar! And that’s not all. The gentleman also wins six hundred gallons of genuine Niagara Falls. … Here is one of my favorite non Bug Bunny Looney Tunes; the classic Daffy/ Porky outing, The Ducksters, was released on this date. On the game show PorkyContinue reading “The Ducksters premiered”

September 1, 1939 –Mary Jean Tomlin, Academy Award nominated, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning actress, comedian, writer and producer was born on this date. One of her first “professional” gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson’s on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery’s microphone attractedContinue reading “Lily Tomlin”