Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sometimes, we all miss out on great opportunities

This would have been a great commercial to run during the Halloween season:



But I guess my loss is your gain.


For no reason in particular, this song has been rumbling around in my head for the past couple of weeks - Cassandra Wilson singing Corcovado -




November 10, 1956 -
Billie Holiday returned to the New York City stage at Carnegie Hall after a three-year absence on this date.



The concert was called by some a high point in jazz history .


November 10, 1967 -
The Moody Blues released their hit, Nights in White Satin, on this date. This was written by Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets - yes, sometimes, it's just that inane.



The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder.


November 10, 1969 -
Come and play. Even at 41, everything's A-OK.



Sesame Street premiered on PBS TV on this date.



(I think Elmo should get his own talk show.)


Today in History: November 10, 4004 BC -
Adam and Eve are driven from Paradise.

So if you feel some free-floating uneasy shame about your genitals today, you know why.


November 10, 1871 -
New York Newspaperman Henry M. Stanley finally found Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika (helpfully identified by some sources as being "near Unyanyembe"), and remarked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?", on this date.



This was extremely witty and therefore historical.




November 10, 1928 -
Playing against Army at Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne gives what is considered the greatest locker room speeches of all time by saying "Win one for the Gipper."



The Fighting Irish would win the game 12-6.


November 10, 1928 -
Michinomiya Hirohito is crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Showa.

Sometimes, it's not so good to be the king.


November 10, 1940 -
Walt Disney begins serving as a secret informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, to report back information on Hollywood subversives. He was made a "Full Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954.

We should note that Disney was also atheist, Neo-Nazi, racist and possible child pornography collector, thus subversive in his own little way.


November 10, 1975 -
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board



and unfortunately is the subject of Gordon Lightfoot's annoying hit song, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.



And so it goes.

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