Joan seemed so curiously affected when you killed the cat

May 19, 1934 -
The very truly perverse pre-code horror film from Universal, The Black Cat, opened in NYC on this date.



This film was made just before the Hays code went into effect. It is chockablock filled with Satanism, black mass orgies, necrophilia, pedophilia, sadistic revenge, murder and incest.

Oh, I forgot to mention Bela Lugosi slices off Boris Karloff's face.


May 19, 1934 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Goin' to Heaven on a Mule , directed by Friz Freleng, debuted on this date. This cartoon no longer appears on American television because of racial stereotyping of African-Americans



Nickelodeon had the cartoon in its library back when it had the rights to air Looney Tunes cartoons as part of their Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon block, but it was never shown, due to Standards and Practices objecting to it.


The May 19, 1945 -
The Looney Tunes short, Ain't That Ducky, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



When the angry duckling calls Daffy "Mister Anthony," he's referring to John J. Anthony, who hosted the radio show Good Will Hour for 20 years and gave relationship advice.


May 19, 1951 -
The first in the series of the transvestite Bugs Bunny, the ever clueless Daffy Duck and bestiality minded Elmer Fudd's "Hunting Trilogy", Rabbit Fire was released on this date.



Hank Azaria has cited the scene where Bugs and Daffy imitate each other as Mel Blanc's greatest achievement in voice acting.


May 19, 1956 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Tree Cornered Tweety, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Sylvester and Tweety, debuted on this date.



This is one of the few Sylvester and Tweety shorts where Tweety does not directly influence the outcome.



May 19, 1958 -
The iconic B movie classic, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, broke out on this date.



Both of the film's leading ladies met with unfortunate ends. Allison Hayes died at the age of 46 due to lead poisoning from calcium pills she had been taking, while Yvette Vickers' mummified body was discovered in her home in 2011. Although she was 82, the evidence suggested that she had died of natural causes and the body lay undiscovered for over a year.


May 19, 1977 -
Hal Needham's directorial debut, the sleeper hit comedy, Smokey and the Bandit, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry, premiered in NYC, on this date.



A majority of the lines and quotes spoken by Jackie Gleason character, Sheriff Buford T. Justice were improvised.


May 19, 1978 -
The disco film Thank God It's Friday, starring Donna Summer, and The Commodores, (Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger, somehow appear in this as well,) premiered in New York City on this date



The movie was released about six months after Saturday Night Fever. The picture is considered as being a studio programmer cashing in on the success of that movie as the film's title featured the other big day of the week-end (Friday rather than Saturday) in which people go out at night.


May 19, 1986 -
Peter Gabriel's fifth solo album So was released, on this date. Many of its songs reflect conventional pop-writing style and became Gabriel's first radio hits, including Sledgehammer, In Your Eyes, and Big Time.



So was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 but lost to Paul Simon's Graceland.


May 19, 1994 -
The last episode of In Living Color, aired on Fox TV, on this date.



Keenen Ivory Wayans left the show in the middle of the fourth season over disputes with Fox about censoring the show's content and rerunning early episodes without his consultation. At the end of the season, Kim Wayans and Shawn Wayans followed their brother in leaving the show. Damon Wayans had already left the show at the end of the third season to pursue his film career, and Marlon Wayans left the show after the 12th episode of the fourth season.


May 19, 1994 -
After eight seasons, the final episode of LA Law aired on NBC-TV on this date.



The series ended their last day of shooting their final episode the morning of May 10, 1994. Actor Corbin Bernsen called into the Howard Stern Show about a half hour before they wrapped for the last time.


May 19, 1999 -
The much-anticipated movie prequel, Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace opened on this date.



During filming, Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he dueled. George Lucas explained many times that the sound effects would be added in by the special effects people later on. Ewan said "I kept getting carried away."


May 19, 2005 -
Mr. Lucas needed more money to electronically remake the previous five Star Wars movies, so he released Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith on this date.



Chancellor Palpatine's strategy for maintaining power is known to political scientists, and is called Perpetual War. He comes to power through conflict with the Trade Federation, gains greater privileges through the Clone War, and solidifies his position through war on the Jedi.


May 19, 2009
Theater club kids around the world rejoiced - the pilot episode of Glee premiered on Fox on this date.



Darren Criss got the part of Blaine after a nationwide open audition, in which anyone could upload a video onto Glee's Myspace page singing one of two songs they allowed. He originally auditioned for the role of Finn.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
May 19, 1296 -
Pietro di Murrone, former Pope Celestine V, died in the castle of Fumone, on this date.



Celestine V was the first pope to resign from the job. He had been a guest (imprisoned) there by his successor, Boniface VIII.

But what the help do you care about any of this, you quisling.


May 19, 1536 -
In the first public execution of an English queen, Anne Boleyn was beheaded on this date. In her speech, Boleyn has nothing but good things to say about her husband, Henry VIII: "I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord."



Except of course for this whole beheading thing.


May 19, 1885 -
“Professor" Robert Emmet Odlum of Washington, D.C., a well known swimming instructor and author of pamphlets on diving, jumped from Brooklyn Bridge, on this date.



He entered the water feet first (as was the accepted diving position at the time) and shattered every bone in his frame from heel to skull. He was pulled from the river unconscious and died a half hour later. Mr. Odlum was the first person to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, and was the first to died doing so.


May 19, 1890 -
Nguyen Tat Thanh was born in central Vietnam on this date. After World War I he devotes his life to the Communist cause, adopting a series of pseudonyms along the way. Finally he settles on "The Enlightener," that being the English translation of Ho Chi Minh.



As a birthday present, the US decides to bomb Hanoi in 1967 on this date. (There is the tiniest cognitive dissonance in the fact that we have been supporting Viet Nam in their argument with China over islands in the South China Seas.)


May 19, 1897 -
Oscar Wilde was finally released from jail, literally a broken man. Wilde had been jailed when he lost his libel case against the Marquis of Queensberry and was charged with "gross indecency" (homosexuality.) His health deteriorated while in jail; he had become emotionally exhausted and was flat broke.



When he was released, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. A recurrent ear infection, caused by a fall in jail, became serious several years later, meningitis set in, and Oscar Wilde died on November 30, 1900.


May 19, 1935 -
Thomas Edward Lawrence died after an motorcycle accident on this date. Lawrence was a British officer who rose to prominence during the Arabian campaigns of the First World War. Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London.

Alas he was mistaken.



He can also be seen in The Lion in Winter, Becket, What New, Pussycat and My Favorite Year.



One of the doctors attending Lawrence in hospital was the neurosurgeon, Hugh Cairns. As a result of Lawrence's death, Cairns began a long study of what he saw as the unnecessary loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries and his research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.


May 19, 1945 -
Peter Townshend, Rock Singer/guitarist/vocalist/composer, was born on this date.



After he was rated as the 50th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone, Mr. Townshend fell into a deep depression and was reduced to appearing with another old time rocker, Roger Daltrey at benefit concerts.

How sad.


May 19, 1951 –
When I was a kid growing up in the '60s, music was an outlet for enlightenment, frustration, rebellion. It was more about individualism. Today it's just like a big business.



Joey Ramone, (Jeffrey Ross Hyman) punk rocker, songwriter and countercultural icon was born on this date.


May 19, 1952 (or 1948 - it's not for us to question a woman about her real age) -
Hiding, secrets, and not being able to be yourself is one of the worst things ever for a person. It gives you low self-esteem. You never get to reach that peak in your life. You should always be able to be yourself and be proud of yourself.





Grace Jones, singer, model, and actress was born on this date. Try to rent the documentary about Grace, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami.


May 19, 1962 -
Democrats staged a fund-raiser in New York's Madison Square Garden that was billed as a birthday salute to President John F. Kennedy on this date.



JFK thanked Marilyn, saying, “I can now retire from politics after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.” It takes a certain kind of balls, and a major addition to pain killers, to have your mistress, Marilyn Monroe, performed a sultry rendition of Happy Birthday to You in front of your wife and the nation.


May 19, 1996 -
It makes me feel wonderful that people still care for me... that I have so many fans among young people, who write to me and tell me I have been an inspiration.

Kermit the Frog gave the commencement address at Southampton College's graduation ceremony after being awarded an honorary doctorate in Amphibious Letters for his contributions to environmental awareness and education.

If a piece of felt can earn a degree; you may someday get a diploma.


May 19, 1994 -
Even though people may be well known, they hold in their hearts the emotions of a simple person for the moments that are the most important of those we know on earth: birth, marriage and death.



In one of life's most bitter ironies, former first lady Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer in New York City on this date.


May 19, 2010 -
The Opportunity Rover broke the record for the longest Mars surface mission of 2307 days (formerly held by Viking 1) on this date. Opportunity was the second of the two rovers launched in 2003 to land on Mars and begin traversing the Red Planet in search of signs of past life.



Designed to last just 90 Martian days and to travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters), Opportunity vastly surpassed all expectations in its endurance, scientific value and longevity. In addition to exceeding its life expectancy by 60 times, the rover had traveled over 28 miles (45 kilometers) by the time it reached its most appropriate final resting spot on Mars -- Perseverance Valley.


May 19, 2018 -
The press began to report Prince Harry's relationship with actress Meghan Markle in October 2016 and their engagement was announced on November 27, 2017. Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex's marriage ceremony took place on this date, at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Since the usual gift for the eighth wedding anniversary is bronze, which symbolizes strength and durability.

I hope this year, Harry can reconcile with his family soon.



And so it goes.

Let 'em soak

Today is No Dirty Dishes Day again. Some feel this day was established to have a day free of dirty dishes.

There are two options for this day: You can eat all meals out (which given the current situation, is probably not an option,) or, you can use disposable paper plates, cups and silverware. In other words, you should have gotten all the dishes done last night so that you can relax today.


May 18, 1896 -
Bram Stoker’s novel, retitled just before its release on this date, as Dracula, tells the story of the Count’s attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and his subsequent battle with a group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.



Over 200 films have featured Dracula in a major role, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes. Arguably the classic portrayal remains the one by Bela Lugosi in 1931.


May 15, 1940 -
The May 15, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, You Ought to Be in Pictures, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



Friz Freleng's first cartoon featuring Daffy Duck. It was a milestone in the character's development, introducing him as a vain, devious rival of the lead character (Porky Pig).


May 18, 1955 -
The classic film noir that introduced Mike Hammer to cinema, Kiss Me Deadly, opened in Los Angeles on this date.



Although Victor Saville is credited as Executive Producer and Director Robert Aldrich is credited only as Producer, in reality, Aldrich had it written into his contract that he had complete control over the picture, and it would be made the way he wanted it, specifically stipulating that his decisions could not be overruled by any studio representative.


May 18, 1968 -
Archie Bell & the Drells' single, Tighten Up hit No. #1 on the Billboard charts, on this date. It is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.



Archie Bell & The Drells were a soul group signed to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's record label. Gamble and Huff were prolific songwriters, but this song was written by Bell and the group's guitarist, Billy Butler.


May 18, 1975 -
Tammy Wynette's single Stand By Your Man, hits No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



Tammy Wynette wrote this with Billy Sherrill, a producer, songwriter and record executive who signed Wynette to Epic Records after other labels rejected her.


May 18, 1976 -
Warren Zevon releases his self-titled album, produced by Jackson Browne, on this date.



Warren Zevon's eponymous second album came out six years after his first. In the years between, he took musical odd jobs like writing jingles, but he also performed and caught the attention of Jackson Browne, who helped him land a record deal. There are a lot of big names on the album; Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Lindsey Buckingham, Don Henley and Glenn Frey all participated.


May 18, 1978 -
The biopix about the life of Buddy Holly, The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey premiered in Lubbock Texas on this date.



According to Little Richard, the Apollo theater performance by Buddy Holly and The Crickets in front of an all black audience is pretty accurate. Buddy Holly and his band were booked into the all black hall "sight unseen" because the owner thought they were black and the audience was shocked to see white performers on stage. But as in the movie, the audience embraced Buddy Holly and his band.


May 18, 1985 -
Simple Minds song Don't You Forget About Me went to No.1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff wrote this song specifically for The Breakfast Club. Forsey, who also co-wrote Shakedown for Beverly Hills Cop II and the title song to Flashdance... What a Feeling, was in charge of the music on The Breakfast Club. Schiff had been a guitarist in Nina Hagen's band and co-wrote one of her biggest songs, New York / N.Y.


May 18, 1990 -
For a reason few people really understand, CBS TV aired the TV film, Return to Green Acres, on this date.



It was reported that Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were extremely close friends during the run of the show and the chemistry between them often showed in scenes where they were in close proximity, as one is often always touching the other. Their friendship was said to be very similar to how they played as husband and wife, and when Gabor died in 1995, Albert was extremely devastated and deeply heartbroken. After he died, he was buried only a few yards away from Gabor's resting place in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.


May 18, 1991 -
R.E.M. go to #1 in America with their seventh album, Out of Time, which features the tracks Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People.



The positive critical reviews of the album quickly translated to sales, with Out Of Time rapidly outstripping expectations. Selling around 4.5 million copies in the US alone, the album topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and just kept right on selling. A fixture on the US Billboard 200 for a whopping 109 weeks, it also enjoyed multi-platinum success in countries such as Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, and eventually went on to shift upwards of 18 million copies worldwide.


May 18, 1998 -
The final episode (or so we thought) of Murphy Brown, Never Can Say Goodbye, aired on CBS-TV on this date. (The re-boot of the series ran for about a year.)



One of the running series jokes was Murphy Brown's inability to get a good secretary or one that could work with her. During the show's 10-year run, Murphy had a total of 93 secretaries. (During my run as an executive at a multinational entertainment corporation that I am legally barred from mentioning it, I had a total of 17 secretaries, including one who brought her puppy to the office and hid it in her desk drawer. She kept telling me that I imagined hearing barking. When I finally found the dog while she was on her lunch break, I brought the dog to HR and had her pick it and her severance check up there.)


May 18, 2001 -
DreamWorks released the animated comedy Shrek, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, in the US on this date.



The principal actors never met each other. They all read their parts separately, with a reader feeding them the lines. John Lithgow later admitted that, while he enjoyed playing Lord Farquaad, he was a little disappointed that he never actually worked directly with Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, or Eddie Murphy.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
On May 18, 1843, Joseph Smith made a specific prophecy -

"I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left."

Ominously, Smith's prophesy was proven true. By the Great Depression of 1888, most potsherds are only found in museums and the value of broken pottery plummets to near worthlessness.


Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again, Mr. Smith: His Big Hands and His Even Bigger Feet, The Koch Brothers present Mr. Smith and the Tea Party, Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits and Mr. Smith Drops Dead in A Senate Cloakroom (astride a male intern.)



The duo also gave us It's a Wonderful Life with its own magnificent sequels: It's a Really Wonderful Life, It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life and Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind.


May 18, 1926 -
Aimee Semple McPherson, possibly the most famous woman in America at the time, went for a swim in the Pacific Ocean at Venice Beach and disappeared. McPherson was a hugely popular evangelist; she had a radio following of over a million, so when she disappeared, police pulled out all stops to try to find her.



She reappeared a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped, but it quickly became apparent that she had stepped out with a married engineer from her radio station, Kenneth Ormiston. The scandal rocked her ministry, and she faded out of the public eye, until she apparently 'accidentally overdosed' on Seconals in 1944.


May 18, 1927 -
Sid Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opens on Hollywood Boulevard, on this date. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities will set their signatures and handprints int he blocks of the theater’s forecourt for decades to come.



Thousands of people lined Hollywood Boulevard and a riot broke out as fans tried to catch a glimpse of the movie stars and other celebrities as they arrived for the opening. The film being premiered that night was Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings, which was preceded by Glories of the Scriptures, a live prologue devised by master showman Sid Grauman.


May 18, 1936 -
Tokyo gangster Kichizo Ishida was accidentally strangled by his mistress during a session of rough sex. Ishida had been a "gasper," someone who enjoys the sexual effects of asphyxiation. The woman, Sada Abe, indulged him by wrapping her pink kimono belt around his neck. After her lover's death, Abe cuts off Ishida's penis and scrotum with a meat cleaver and carries them around until she was finally arrested, three days later.



40 years later, a taboo breaking film, In the Realm of the Senses, was released, retelling the events of this sordid tale. (Kids, make sure your mother knows you're watching this.)

Makes a great first date movie.


May 18, 1953 -
Jackie Cochran, long-time aviation fan and a close friend of pilot Chuck Yeager, became the first woman to break the sound barrier on this date.



She was also the first woman to fly a bomber plane across the Atlantic, and the first pilot in general to make a blind landing, one which relies only on instruments. Years later, on June 3, 1964, Cochran piloted an F-104G Starfighter at twice the speed of sound, establishing a woman's world speed record of 1,429 miles per hour.


May 18, 1955 -
Working in front of the camera keeps me alive. I couldn't care less about actors' trailers and food on sets and stuff like that - I just want to act.







The superstar Asian actor, Chow Yun-Fat, was born on this date.


May 18, 1969 -
NASA launched the fourth crewed mission of the Apollo, Apollo 10 spacecraft on this date.



The mission was a complete test run of the Apollo 11 mission without an actual lunar landing. The mission was also the second manned mission to orbit the Moon and the first to travel to the Moon bearing the complete Apollo configuration.


May 18, 1974 -
India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb when they conducted their first nuclear test (project Smiling Buddha) in Pokhran, India on this date.



Though the yield of the device detonated at Pokhran is debated, it is believed that the actual yield was around 8-12 Kilotons of TNT. The highlight of the test was that India had managed to avoid detection by the United States and other intelligence agencies.


May 18, 1980 -
The body of Ian Curtis, lead singer of dirge band Joy Division, was discovered hanging in the kitchen by his wife on this date. Curtis killed himself on the eve of Joy Division's U.S. tour.



His surviving band mates go on to form New Order.


May 18, 1980 -
After a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Washington state, 57 people were killed in an avalanche of volcanic mud in the eruption of Mount St. Helens.



The volcano spews out 200 million cubic yards of of pumice, ash, and debris which covers 24 square miles of the valley below.

Kids, how many time do I have to remind you - Virgins, sacrifice virgins - not any old skank.


May 18, 2011 -
Don Gorske from Wisconsin, ate his record-breaking 25,000th Big Mac on this date. The retired prison guard had been keeping track of his consumption of the McDonald's burger for thirty-nine years and keeps close track of his overall consumption. (Not to put too fine a point on this fact, he still ate almost 3 Big Macs ever day last year.)



Despite doctors not recommending this diet, Gorske maintained a healthy weight and low cholesterol, (Mr Goeske ate his 30,000th burger in 2018.) At this point, when Mr Goeske meets his maker, he will just need to be rolled next to an open flame - no burial necessary, he will go poof in the blink on an eye.


May 18, 2017 -
American musician, singer and songwriter Chris Cornell (Christopher John Boyle) died suddenly in Detroit after performing at a show with Soundgarden, on this date.





Cornell was known for his role as one of the architects of the 1990s grunge movement, and for his near four octave vocal range as well as his powerful vocal belting technique. He released four solo studio albums as well as working with Audioslave and Temple of the Dog.



And so it goes.

Today is Rubber Band Day.

The day honors Inventor Stephen Perry's receiving a patent for the rubber band on this date in 1845 (We've also seen it listed as March 17th but we can be sure, no one from ACME was there at the time.)



(The ACME Corporation is in no way endorsing the sort of behavior depicted below. But what these people do in the privacy of their own homes is their own constitutionally protected business.)



The U.S. Post Office is the largest consumer of rubber bands in the world – they order millions of pounds per year.



Here's another reason to legalize marijuana, stay with me - think of the savings if USPS switched to hemp rope (and the number of very mellow postal employees - Please hold your e-mails, I know you can't get high from smoking hemp.)


May 17, 1899 -
Thomas Alva Edison copyrighted the first western film, The Cripple Creek Bar Room, which he had shot at his Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey, on this date.



Although there was little, if any, plot to this short film (please note, the role of a barmaid was played by a man,) it was the first with a setting in the west.


May 17, 1940 -
Garson Kanin's screwball comedy, My Favorite Wife, opened on this date.



Leo McCarey was supposed to direct the film, but shortly before the filming began, he was injured in an automobile accident and had to hand over the direction to Garson Kanin. Gail Patrick has stated that the severity of McCarey's injuries had an effect on the film's cast, and they found it very difficult to enter into the spirit of the comedy with the serious hospital bulletins they were hearing.

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, who play rivals in this film, lived together for twelve years from 1932 to 1944 (The ACME Corporation has no comment on this sort of behavior. But what these two young men did in the privacy of their own home, beach house, or bath house was their own constitutionally protected business.)


May 17, 1950 -
Nicholas Ray's excellent film noir, In a Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame premiered on this date.



Gloria Grahame and husband and Director Nicholas Ray quietly separated during filming, keeping it a secret for fear that one of them would be replaced. Ray slept on the studio set, saying that he needed to work late on preparation for the remainder of the film. It worked, and nobody suspected that their marriage was on the rocks.


May 17, 1955 -
Paramount Pictures put into general release, The Country Girl, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden, based on the Clifford Odets play, on this date.



During filming, Grace Kelly managed to have affairs with Bing Crosby, Clark Gable and William Holden, simultaneously (but we assume not on the same date.) The ACME Corporation has been legally barred from commenting on this sort of behavior. But what the future Princess of Monaco did concurrently with three other dead Hollywood stars in the privacy of their own home or hotel room was their own constitutionally protected business.


May 17, 1969 -
The fourth studio album by The Who, Tommy, a double album, is released in the US on this date.



The song, Pinball Wizard, was the last one written for the album. Pete Townshend wrote it, in part, to impress a rock critic named Nik Cohn who was a pinball fanatic. The ploy worked: Cohn gave it a glowing review.


May 17, 1980 -
Call Me by Blondie reached No. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Call Me was the most successful of all Blondie singles in the USA, where it was the best-selling single of 1980.


Another album from the discount bin The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
May 17, 1444 -
Sandro Botticelli, renown Renaissance painter, best known for works such as The Birth Of Venus, was born on this date. (He didn't paint The Birth of Venus on this date, smarty pant.)



He died on this date except it was 66 years later.


May 17, 1673 -
Louis Joliet, who unwittingly loaned his name to a prison, and Jacques Marquette, who loaned his name to an excellent BBQ joint in Minneapolis, first set out to explore the source of the Mississippi, which they believed would lead them to paradise on this date. (Again, according to a very devoted reader, the headwaters of Minneapolis are as close to paradise as you could hope to be.)

Unfortunately it only took them to New Orleans, and they were out of beads.


May 17, 1792 -
24 drunken stock brokers got together outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street which earlier was the site of a stockade fence and signed an agreement with two provisions:

1) the brokers were to deal only with each other. Thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and
2) the commissions were to be .25%.



Thus the New York Stock Exchange was born (and none of it involved a trade war with China.)


May 17, 1866 -
Erik Alfred Leslie Satie, French composer, was born.



Satie’s music represents the first definite break with 19th-century French Romanticism; it also stands in opposition to the works of composer Claude Debussy. Feel free to drop that tidbit at your next cocktail party.


May 17, 1954 -
The U.S. Supreme Court on this date, in an unanimous decision ruled for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka.



The Brown v. Board of Education decision serves to greatly motivate the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and ultimately led to the abolishment of racial segregation in all public facilities and accommodations.


May 17, 1973 -
The US Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal and the role of President Richard Nixon played in it, on this date.



The Watergate affair was a disaster for Pres. Nixon and captivated the nation for over a year, until Nixon finally resigned to avoid being impeached.


May 17, 1974 -
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army on this date, the LAPD fired tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignited a fire which soon consumed the house.



Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watched the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.



Proving once again, it is the happiest place on earth.


May 17, 1992 -
The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on this date.



You go over there and play the accordion. I'll stay here and beat off the band.



The same day, bandleader, accordion player, and soap bubble junkie Lawrence Welk died of pneumonia in his beachfront condo in Santa Monica, California (not that there's any connection between the two events.)


May 17, 2004 -
Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey were married at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts on this day as the first legally married same-sex couple in the US.

Over 70 other same-sex couples were married on this day as well, sparking a few protests but many more celebrations.



And so it goes.