Monday, August 13, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Danny Bonaduce (actor and radio DJ, The Partridge Family's Danny Partridge) (53)
• Fidel Castro (First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, former Cuban president and dictator) (86)
• Dr. Jocelyn Elders (former U.S. Surgeon General, who was fired after saying schoolchildren should be taught about masturbation) (79)
• Pat Harrington, Jr. (actor, One Day At A Time's superintendent Schneider) (83)
• Sebastian Stan (actor, Gossip Girl, Kings, Captain America: The First Avenger, Black Swan) (29)
• Sam Endicott (lead singer, the Bravery) (38)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1521 Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-dayMexico City from the Aztec Indians.
• 1860 Wild West heroine Annie Oakley is born. She dies in 1926.
• 1895 Actor Bert Lahr (The Wizard Of Oz's Cowardly Lion) is born. He dies in 1967.
• 1899 Director Alfred Hitchcock (Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds) is born. He dies in 1980.
• 1913 Stainless steel is invented.
• 1934 Cartoonist Al Capp debuted his comic strip Li'l Abner.
• 1942 The animated Walt Disney movie Bambi premiered inNew York City.
• 1946 Author H.G. Wells (The Island Of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, War Of The Worlds) dies at age 79.
• 1953 Paul McCartney & Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch is born. He dies in 1979.
• 1961 The East German government closed the border between the east and the west sections ofBerlin with barbed wire fencing to keep refugees from fleeing to the west. Two days later, work began on the Berlin Wall.
• 1965 The Jefferson Airplane makes their live debut at the Matrix Club inSan Francisco,California.
• 1966 "Mother's Little Helper" by the Rolling Stones peaks at Number Eight on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks. That same day, "Lady Jane" -- which is the B-side of "Mother's Little Helper" -- peaks at Number 24 on the pop chart. Also that day, Aftermath peaks at Number Two on the album chart, where it stays for two weeks.
• 1966 "Summer In The City" by the Lovin' Spoonful hits Number One on the pop chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1976 The Clash gives their first official public performance, in a rehearsal hall inLondon,England.
• 1977 "You And Me" by Alice Cooper peaks at Number Nine on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks.
• 1977 CSN by Crosby, Stills & Nash peaks at Number Two on the album chart, where it stays for four weeks. The album is also certified platinum that day.
• 1977 Going For The One by Yes peaks at Number Eight on theU.S. album chart, the same day it hits Number One in theU.K.
• 1980 Four masked men break into Todd Rundgren's home inWoodstock,New York. The thieves bind and gag Rundgren, his girlfriend, and three guests, then rob the house.
• 1983 "Radio Free Europe" by R.E.M. peaks at Number 78 on the pop chart, the group's debut showing.
• 1985 The engagement of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger is announced.
• 1990 R&B legend Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed after a lighting rack falls on him before a concert inBrooklyn,New York.
• 1994 The second day of the Woodstock '94 festival takes place in Saugerties, New York. North Stage performers include Blind Melon, Cypress Hill, the Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, and Aerosmith, while the Cranberries, Primus, and Salt N' Pepa play the South Stage.
• 1994 Trent Reznor has a close call at Woodstock '94 when a live power line breaks loose and falls on the Nine Inch Nails tour bus.
• 1995 Hall Of Fame baseball player Mickey Mantle dies at age 63.
• 1995 R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe has surgery for a hernia, the day after the group finishes a European tour.
• 1999 Mick Jagger's marriage to Jerry Hall in a Hindu ceremony inBali is ruled null and void by a British high court.
• 1999 Steffi Graf announced her retirement from tennis.
• 1999 Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland is sent to jail for again violating his probation by continuing his illegal drug use. Weiland had been receiving outpatient treatment for drug addiction but is sentenced after it is discovered that he was treated in July for a heroin overdose.
• 2001 The U.K. version of the Beastie Boys' Tibetan Freedom Concert, scheduled for September 15th, is postponed due to "unexpected scheduling complications and logistical issues."
• 2003 Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde appears at Daddy's Junky Music in Warwick, Rhode Island, to help raise money for the survivors of the fire at The Station nightclub which killed 100 people at a Great White concert in February.
• 2004 Chef, cookbook author, and TV personality Julia Child dies at age 91.
• 2004 Guitarist Wes Borland rejoins Limp Bizkit after a three-year absence.
• 2007 Van Halen announces its long-awaited reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth at a press conference in Los Angeles. The tour is the first in 22 years to feature Roth behind the mic, and includes guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 16-year-old son Wolfgang replacing founding member Michael Anthony on bass.
• 2008, Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for winning the most gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history.