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August 25, 1975 –Bruce Springsteen’s third album Born to Run was released on this date. The stunning success of Born To Run was tempered by the fine print on Springsteen’s contract with his manager, Mike Appel, which gave Appel a degree of control over who Bruce worked with. They sued each other in 1976, andContinue reading “The Born to Run album was dropped”

It’s the birthday of Declan Patrick MacManus, one of the most prolific musicians of the late 20th Century. In addition to recordings as “Elvis Costello” (often backed by The Attractions), he has recorded music as “Declan MacManus“, “Napoleon Dynamite and The Royal Guard“, “The Coward Brothers” (with T-Bone Burnett), “Nick Lowe and His Sound“, “TheContinue reading “Declan Patrick MacManus”

Today is National Banana Split Day, observed annually on this date A 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel’s Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania created the first banana split in 1904. David Evans Strickler enjoyed inventing sundaes at the store’s soda fountain. His first “banana-based triple ice cream sundae” sold for 10 cents, double the cost of allContinue reading “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy dessert”

August 25, 1994 – ABC TV introduced everyone to Angela Chase and the students at Liberty High School when My So-Called Life starring, Claire Danes, Jared Leto and Wilson Cruz, premiered on this date. Before Claire Danes auditioned for the role of Angela Chase, a then-unknown Alicia Silverstone was the favorite for the role. CastingContinue reading “My So-Called Life premiered”

August 24, 1994 –Singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley’s sole album Grace was released on this date. The song Grace was the album’s first single, and it was also released as a video. Buckley performed the song for a long time before he recorded it, and an early demo appears on an album he made with Gary LucasContinue reading “Grace released”

August 24, 1989 –Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for life for gambling on this date. Unfortunately, Pete may never get into the Hall of Fame but the Cincinnati Reds did put up a statue of him outside the stadium a couple of years ago. Demand Euphoria!

August 24, 2006 –The planet Pluto was reclassified as a “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on this date. Pluto’s status was changed due to the IAU’s new rules for an object qualifying as a planet. The other planets have been picking on Pluto ever since. (Damn you, Neil deGrasse Tyson!) Demand Euphoria!

August 24, 1853 –It is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by chef George Crum, at Moon’s Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on this date. He was fed up with a customer (the popular myth wrongly identifies him as Cornelius Vanderbilt) who continued to send his fried potatoes back, claimingContinue reading “Betcha can’t eat just one!”

August 24, 1814 –The White House and other public buildings in the District of Columbia were torched by the invading British army on this date. The President’s wife, Dolley Madison and Paul Jennings, her husband’s enslaved manservant, are torn away from Mrs. Madison’s ice cream and candy making duties to save a couple of chairs,Continue reading “The burning of Washington D.C.”

August 24, 1979 –NBC-TV introduced the girls of Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York, to audiences when The Facts of Life premiered on this date. The pilot Rough Housing may have been the very first children’s program on network television to discuss gender confusion and sexual identity crises among youth; asContinue reading “The Facts of Life premiered”