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August 19, 1969 –David Crosby, Steven Stills, Joni Mitchell, and the Jefferson Airplane appeared on the Dick Cavett Show, giving a first-hand account of the Woodstock festival that took place over the weekend. Jefferson Airplane’s performance of We Can Be Together marked the first time the word “fuck” was uttered on live US television.

August 18, 1868 –French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovers Helium, while analyzing the chromosphere of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India, on this date. Because helium was found in the Sun before it was found on Earth, its name comes from the Greek word for Sun, helios. It marks theContinue reading “Helium discovered”

August 18, 1999 –A giant black rainbow encircled the Earth, sucking all oxygen from the atmosphere. The air returns shortly thereafter, but only after millions die from asphyxiation. On the bright side, the survivors go on to build a Utopian civilization. It all happens precisely as predicted in the 1950s by Criswell, the TV psychicContinue reading “Perhaps you remember?”

August 18, 1956 –Elvis’ double A side single Don’t Be Cruel/ Hound Dog, both hit no. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date. Don’t Be Cruel was written by Otis Blackwell, a songwriter who came up with a lot of hits for Elvis. On Christmas Eve 1955, Otis Blackwell found himself on the streetsContinue reading “Big day for Elvis”

Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria, in the Battle of Marj Rahit, on this date in 684 – but what the hell do you care. Today is National Bad Poetry Day in the United States. There’s a very fun website will generate on command a great dealContinue reading “Poetry is like fish: if it’s fresh, it’s good; if it’s stale, it’s bad”

August 18, 1969 –Playing on the unscheduled fourth day, Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock was considered by some, at the time, to be controversial and disrespectful. Of about 500,000 people who were there over the weekend, only about 30,000 were left, and many of them remember waking up to this song.Continue reading “An unexpected moment from Woodstock”

Today is National Thrift Store Day – the day was created to promote shopping at secondhand stores in their home towns today, (keeping social distance in mind of course.) DonateNYC, is promoting National Thrift Store Day by encouraging everyone to shop secondhand in New York today. Hey, it’s not always the highest quality, but theContinue reading “I’ma take your grandpa’s style”

August 17, 2008 –American swimmer Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games on this date. Phelps win of the eight gold medals surpassed Mark Spitz for the most golds by an athlete at a single Games. And so it goes

August 17, 1968 –The Doors third studio album, Waiting for The Sun reached No. 1 on the Billboard Album Charts on this date. Although the album was commercially success, some critics found it pretentious and over-arranged.

August 17, 1986 –Pixar Animation Studios released its first film, Luxo Jr., directed by John Lasseter. John Lasseter’s aim was to have this computer animated short finished in time for SIGGRAPH, an annual computer technology exhibition attended by thousands of industry professionals. To do so warranted working around the clock, to the extent that LasseterContinue reading “Luxo Jr premiered”