It's 13 years past 64

June 18, 1969 -
Sam Peckinpah's violent western elegy, The Wild Bunch, premiered on this date.



Robert Ryan's incessant complaints about not receiving top billing so annoyed director Sam Peckinpah that he decided to "punish" Ryan. In the opening credits, after freezing the screen on closeups of William Holden's and Ernest Borgnine's faces while listing them, Peckinpah froze the scene on several horses' rear ends as Ryan was listed.


June 18, 1977 -
Fleetwood Mac second single from their smash hit album Rumours, Dreams reached the number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this date.



During the sessions for Rumours, everyone in the band was going through a breakup (Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham with each other, John and Christine McVie with each other, Mick Fleetwood with his wife Jenny Boyd) and doing a lot of drugs. They were able to work together, but most of the songwriting was on an individual basis.


June 18, 1980 -
... Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers HAS been approved.

The Blues Brothers Movie, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi premiered on this date. Ounce for ounce (other than Walt Disney's animated classic The Jungle Book,) the most amount of dope was smoked in film history during the production of a major Hollywood film.



John Belushi disappeared while filming one of the night scenes. Dan Aykroyd looked around and saw a single house with its lights on. He went to the house and was prepared to identify himself, the movie, and that they were looking for Belushi. Before he could, the homeowner looked at him, smiled and said, "You're here for John Belushi, aren't you?" The homeowner told them Belushi had entered their house, asked if he could have a glass of milk and a sandwich, and then crashed on their couch. Situations like that prompted Aykroyd to affectionately dub Belushi "America's Guest".


June 18, 2010 -
Pixar's very successful second sequel (and surprisingly, deeply moving children's film,) Toy Story 3 premiered on this date.



Tom Hanks and Tim Allen insisted that they record their lines together, which they had previously done for one day during the making of the original Toy Story, but which is rarely done with animated films. They loved the chemistry their characters shared on-screen.          


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
June 18, 1155 -
Pope Adrian IV crowned Frederick I (AKA Fred Barbarossa) Holy Roman Emperor at St Peter's Basilica in Rome on this date, to the acclamation of his German army.

The Romans populace not so much; finding Frederick neither Holy nor Roman (he was German after all) began to riot, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Romans and many more thousands injured. Years later, Adrian IV unfortunately died, choking on a fly in his wine. Frederick has a heart attack and died after falling into only hip deep water of a very cold lake. But what the hell do you care.


European history would have been dramatically different if only for a higher fiber diet.

One of the most decisive battles in the history of Europe was fought in Belgium on June 18, 1815, as a resurgent Napoleon Bonaparte launched his last military offensive against the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Marshal Blücher. Nearly 50,000 men were killed in the battle. Napoleon lost in part due to a case of inflamed hemorrhoids.



The battle was commemorated by Swedish sensation Abba in their 1970s hit, Waterloo.



Abba's interpretation of Waterloo's significance has been controversial from the start, as it tended to focus less on the military and political implications of the battle than on the feelings of euphoria typically incited by hormonal rushes of erotic excitement.

On June 18, 1817, Waterloo Bridge was opened over the River Thames in London,

probably in anticipation of the great Abba hit.


June 18, 1900 -
The Empress Douairiere, Dowager of China orders all foreigners killed on this date. Among those meeting this fate are the foreign diplomats, their families, as well as hundreds of Christian missionaries and their Chinese converts.

She was apparently having a very bad day (perhaps she needed a high fiber diet as well.)


June 18, 1940 -
The "This was their finest hour" speech was delivered by Sir Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on this date.



It was given shortly after he took over as Prime Minister of Britain on May 10th, in the first year of World War II.


June 18, 1942 -
Sir James Paul McCartney, CH, MBE, singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, poet, painter, and animal rights activist, was born on this date.



McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history." And now it appears that he has been reduced to playing nostalgia tours around the world.


June 18, 1952 -
Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and Anna Magnani - women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn't submit to any standard of beauty - they defined it.



Isabella Rossellini, one of Hollywood's' most intelligent and beautiful actresses was born on this date.


June 18, 1959 -
Based on his erratic behavior, the Governor of Louisiana, Earl K. Long, was committed to a state mental hospital.



Long responds by arranging for the hospital's director to be fired, and the new director proclaims him perfectly sane. (It is no secret that the man was completely nuts.)


June 18, 1967 -
Famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix burnt his guitar on stage at the Monterey Pop Festival on this date.



There had to be a better way to toast marshmallows.


June 18, 1983 -
Almost 20 years to the day after the USSR sent Valentina Tereshkova into orbit, the United States sent its first woman astronaut into space. Sally Ride, an astrophysicist from Stanford University, and four other colleagues lifted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.



During the six-day mission, Ride operated the robot's arm, which she had helped design. Ms. Ride dedicated her life to be an inspiration for young women wanting to enter the field of science


And on a personal note:

Happy Birthday John!



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