Welcome Back

Sorry NYC kids, but its the first day of school

If you can hang on, you only have 177 more instructional days to go until next summer's break.


September 9, 1967 -
The animated sci-fi series Birdman and the Galaxy Trio produced by Hanna-Barbera debuts on NBC on this date. (An easy bar bet to win: Birdman and the Galaxy Trio never appeared together in any of the episodes.)



In 2000, the Carton Network premiered a series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, a parody of the Birdman series, featuring cameos by many Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, usually appearing as parody versions of "themselves". For example, one episode featured The Flintstones mixed with elements of The Sopranos.


September 9, 1971 -
Imagine, John Lennon's second solo album and most popular of his solo works, was released on this date.



Basic tracks for the album were recorded in his home studio in Tittenhurst Park in England with strings overdubs added in New York.


September 9, 1972 -
The animated-series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, hosted by Bill Cosby, debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



The characters are based on Bill Cosby and his childhood friends when grew up in North Philadelphia. Cosby talked about his childhood experiences in his stand-up comedy albums.


September 9, 1975 -
The sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, starring Gabe Kaplan, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The show was originally banned in Boston. The Boston ABC affiliate did not want to air the show at first because they thought it was about busing, a very heated topic at the time. They eventually ran the show with no problems.


September 9, 1978 -
A Taste of Honey song Boogie Oogie Oogie topped the charts on this date.



Janice Marie Johnson came up with the famous bass intro when she was warming up before the recording session, unaware that she was being recorded.


September 9, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Beast of Burden on this date.



This song could be allegorical - it was written by Keith as a kind of homage to Mick for having to carry the band while Keith was strung out on heroin: "All your sickness I can suck it up, throw it all at me, I can shrug it off."


Today in History:
September 9, 1087 -
William the Conqueror died of internal injuries, sustained six weeks prior in a horse riding accident at Mantes-la-Jolie.

The king's funeral did not go well - according to some sources, a fire broke out during the funeral; the original owner of the land on which the church was built claimed he had not been paid yet, demanding 60 shillings, which William's son Henry had to pay on the spot. When the corpulent king was later laid to rest in the foundations of a church, his corpse would not fit in the stone sarcophagus. William's "swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd."



Don't you just wish they had television back then.


September 9, 1890 -
125 years ago today a little boy named Harland was born in Kentucky.



When Harland was six, his father died and his mother was forced to go to work. Little Harland did most of the cooking for his younger siblings. By the age of seven he was a master of the local cuisine.

There was no stopping the ambitious Harland, who had his own highway service station in Corbin, Kentucky, by the time he was forty.

He began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station. He didn't own a restaurant, so he served them at his own dining table. Word of his excellent cooking spread (secret combination of eleven herbs and spices) and soon he moved across the street to a restaurant that seated 142 people.

His cooking soon became so well known that his state's governor, Ruby Laffoon, made him a colonel.



In an independent 1976 survey, Colonel Harland Sanders was ranked as the world's second most recognizable figure.


September 9, 1956 -
Elvis Presley made his first-ever appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing four songs for guest host Charles Laughton on this date.



Ed himself had vowed never to have Presley on his show, but Sullivan was at home this evening, recuperating from a severe head injury, from a drunken fall.


September 9, 1971 -
1,300 inmates riot inside the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York state, commandeering the prison and taking 40 guards hostage on this date.



The national guard staged an assault five days later, killing 42 people in the process (10 of them being captives).


September 9, 1976 -
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.
Mao Tse-tung, Chinese Communist party chairman (1949-76) died in Beijing, on this date.



In 1965, he launched the controversial Cultural Revolution, an often-brutal campaign to reform Chinese society. He was later held responsible for over 70 million deaths. Mao Tse-tung’s death triggered a two-year power struggle. The Cultural Revolution's chief architects, Mao’s widow (Jiang Qing) and three others, the so-called Gang of Four, were jailed. Deng Xiaoping returned from disgrace and eventually seized power.


September 9, 2003 -
Edward Teller, the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb" and purported model for Dr. Strangelove (or Dr. Kissinger, take your pick), died at the age of 95 at his home on the Stanford University campus.



His role in the destruction of colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer's career during the McCarthy era resulted in his own ostracism by many of his peers.

And no, he didn't utter, Mein Fuhrer, I can walk just before his death.



And so it goes