Carlos Irwin Estévez, actor, recovering substance abuser and noted panderer is another year older today.
Say what you want about Charlie; he seems to know how to live on his own terms and makes it work.
September 3, 1964 -
The Animals charted No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their hit The House Of The Rising Sun, on this date.
The melody is a traditional English ballad, but the song became popular as an African-American folk song. It was recorded by Texas Alexander in the 1920s, then by a number of other artists including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and later Nina Simone. It was her version The Animals first heard. No one can claim rights to the song, meaning it can be recorded and sold royalty-free. This was the first song since 1962 by a British band to hit #1 in America that was not written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
September 3, 1973 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Angie, on this date.
Keith Richards wrote this song in Switzerland after the Exile on Main St. album had been approved by the record company, but before it was released. "Angie" was one of the first songs The Stones recorded for Goat's Head Soup, which they first attempted in Jamaica at the Dynamic Sounds studio in Kingston. They got very little done at these sessions, arriving nightly with armed escort and locking the doors until they were done for the day. Much of the album was done at sessions in Los Angeles and London under more hospitable conditions.
September 3, 1982 -
Cameron Crowe's coming of age teen comedy (directed by Amy Heckerling), Fast Times at Ridgemont High, went into general release on this date.
First-time director Amy Heckerling said she was seeking to make a comedy that was less structured than conventional ones, and more like American Graffiti so that "if you woke up and found yourself living in the movie, you'd be happy. I wanted that kind of feel."
September 3, 1983 -
One of the songs that defined MTV in the 80s, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics, gave them their only US chart topper.
In 1978, Squeeze had a UK hit with Take Me I'm Yours, which features the line "Dreams are made of this" in the chorus.
Marilyn Manson recorded the song in 1995, giving a much darker tone to the song.
(In Manson's auto-biography, he related to this song by mentioning that he met people who wanted to be abused by him; and who wanted to use him as well.)
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
On September 3, 301, during an epic game of hide-and-seek, St. Marinus the Stonemason ran up Mount Titano in Italy to hide from the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
He started his own country to pass the time and Most Serene Republic of San Marino survives to this day.
On September 3, 1189, Richard Lionheart, an enthusiastic french speaking sodomite (which was technical illegal in England,) was crowned King of England on this date.
When Richard finally returned to English soil he discovered there had been Intrigues, some of which involved his brothers. He therefore crossed the Channel and defeated France before dying from an arrow wound to the neck inflicted by an 11 year old boy.
He had only produced one son, and the most crushing defeat of Richard's tragic life was his discovery that the child was a little bastard.
September 3, 1838 -
Frederick Douglass escaped slavery disguised as a sailor on this date. Later he wrote about his experiences in a book called The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, the title of which may have diminished the effectiveness of his disguise.
September 3, 1935 -
Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive a car more than 300 miles per hour on this date.
Campbell achieved a speed of 301.337 miles per hour at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. It was also the first time traffic cop adds "Wow!" to the usual "Do you know how fast you were going?"
September 3, 1939 -
Germany continued its invasion of Poland even though Britain had asked it very nicely to stop.
This upset the British sensibility. They declared war on Germany. France followed suit six hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, making this the official launch of World War II in Europe on this date.
September 3, 1976 -The unmanned spacecraft Viking 2, the second mission to Mars, landed at Utopia Planitia on the planet and begins transmitting pictures and soil analyses, on this date.
The lander houses instruments to examine the physical and magnetic properties of the soil, analyze the atmosphere and weather patterns of Mars, and to seek out evidence of the presence of life, be it past or present. It took 16,000 pictures in 1,281 days before its batteries died.
September 3, 2004 -
A siege on a Russian school ended with more than 300 people dead, many of them children. The school had been taken hostage by Chechen terrorists on September 1st.
To bring an end to the hostage situation, the Russian military (purportedly under direct order from President Vladimir Putin, who was able to use the crisis to consolidate more power for the Russian Presidency) stormed the school with explosives. 334 hostages died and several hundred others were injured or missing.
And so it goes
505
The song House of the Rising Sun appears on a 2011 CD called "A Nod to Bob 2," which is a compilation of Bob Dylan covers. The liner notes acknowledge that he didn't write the song but allege that the The Animals learned it from Dylan, who learned from Dave Van Ronk. It's a dubious claim, but the version by Guy Davis is very good.
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