Friday, October 12, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Susan Anton (actress) (62)
• Kirk Cameron (actor, one-time teen heartthrob from TV's Growing Pains) (42)
• Dick Gregory (comedian/activist) (80)
• Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks (musician) (43)
• Hugh Jackman (actor, X-Men's Wolverine, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Scoop, Australia, Real Steel, Les Miserables, Wolverine) (44)
• Adam Rich (child star, youngest son Nicholas on Eight Is Enough) (44)
• Chris Botti (jazz trumpeter, solo and with Sting) (50)
• Sam Moore (R&B star of Sam & Dave) (77)
• Bode Miller (champion skier) (35)
• Jeff Keith (lead singer, Tesla) (54)
• Rick Parfitt (singer-guitarist-keyboardist, Status Quo) (64)
• Josh Hutcherson (actor, The Hunger Games, Red Dawn, Bridge to Terabithia) (20)
• Pat DiNizio (singer-guitarist, the Smithereens) (57)
• Jordan Pundik (singer, New Found Glory) (33)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, landing in theBahamas.
• 1892, the original version of "The Pledge Of Allegiance" was first recited in public schools to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's landing in the New World.
• 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt renames theExecutiveMansion as the White House.
• 1950, George Burns and Gracie Allen's radio show, Burns & Allen, debuted on TV.
• 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe during a dispute.
• 1960, The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, Horst Buchfield, Robert Vaughn and Charles Bronson, premiered.
• 1966 Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding form the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
• 1971, Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway amid protests.
• 1973, Gerald Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon to become the first vice president appointed under the 25th Amendment, when Spiro Agnew resigned and accepted a sentence for tax evasion. Following Congressional approval, Ford was sworn in on December 6th.
• 1980, Seven people are stabbed at a Blood, Sweat, & Tears concert inLos Angeles.
• 1981, U2 releases October.
• 1982, The Clash opens for the Who at Shea Stadium inNew York City on the Who's (first) farewell tour.
• 1985, "Dancing In The Street" by Mick Jagger & David Bowie peaks at Number Seven on the pop chart.
• 1987 In Houston, Vice President George Bush formally launches his quest for the Republican presidential nomination.
• 1987, "Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison is released.
• 1989 Animator Jay Ward (Rocky & Bullwinkle, Boris & Natasha, George Of The Jungle, Dudley Do-Right, and others) dies at age 69.
• 1991 The Nirvana album Nevermind goes gold.
• 1994 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's MTV Unplugged special airs.
• 1997 Singer-actor John Denver dies at age 53.
• 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay University Of Wyoming student, died five days after being beaten and lashed to a fence and left for dead. Two men were charged with his murder.  Matthew was 21
• 1999 According to the United Nations, the world's population reaches 6 billion people.
• 1999 Jimmy Page & the Black Crowes play their firstU.S. show at the Roseland Ballroom inNew York City.
• 1999 NBA legend Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain dies at hisLos Angeles home at age 63.
• 2000 Green Day's Warning debuts at Number Four on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, their highest showing until 2004's American Idiot arrives at Number One.
• 2000, seventeen sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen by Al-Qaida, Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization.
• 2001 Guitarist Wes Borland leaves Limp Bizkit. He rejoins in 2004.
• 2001 NBC announces that an assistant to anchorman Tom Brokaw has contracted the skin form of anthrax after opening a "threatening" letter to her boss that contained a suspicious powder.
• 2001 Ozzy Osbourne performs on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
• 2001, the United Nations and its secretary-general, Kofi Annan, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 2002 Terrorists detonate bombs outside busy restaurants and crowded nightclubs inBali,Indonesia, killing about 200 people and injuring hundreds more. The Al-Qaeda terrorist organization claims responsibility.
• 2004 A "secret" Velvet Revolver performance planned for the top of the Hustler store inLos Angeles falls through when the band can't get the necessary permits in time.
• 2004 Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley has hip replacement surgery.
• 2005 Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee is burned when a pyrotechnic effect misfires during a concert inCasper,Wyoming. Lee is taken to a local hospital and treated for his injury.
• 2005 Nickelback lands the first Number One debut of its career on the Billboard 200 with its fifth album, All The Right Reasons. The disc debuts in the top spot with first-week sales of nearly 325,000 copies.
• 2007 System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian kicks off his first-ever solo tour inChicago.