Tuesday, October 16, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• John Mayer (singer and songwriter) (35)
• Jon Heder (actor, Napoleon Dynamite) (35)
• Angela Lansbury (actress, starred as the crime-solving Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote, National Velvet) (87)
• Tim Robbins (actor-director-writer-producer, Bull Durham, Jacob's Ladder, The Shawshank Redemption, Mystic River, War of the Worlds; former partner of Susan Sarandon) (54)
• Suzanne Somers (actress, American Graffiti, Three's Company, Thighmaster commercials) (66)
• Kellie Martin (actress, Life Goes On, ER) (37)
• Flea (Michael Peter Balzary, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist ) (50)
• Bob Weir (singer-guitarist, the Grateful Dead, Bobby & the Midnights, Kingfish, Ratdog, the Other Ones, the Dead) (65)
• C.F. "Fred" Turner (bassist-singer, Bachman Turner Overdrive) (69)
• Barry Corbin (actor, WarGames, Northern Exposure, One Tree Hill, The Dukes Of Hazzard) (72)
• Wendy Wilson (singer, Wilson Phillips; daughter of Brian Wilson; sister of Carnie Wilson; niece of Carl and Dennis Wilson) (43)
• Flea (real name Michael Balzary; bassist, Red Hot Chili Peppers) (50)
• Chad Gray (singer, Mudvayne, Hellyeah) (41)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1846, dentist William T. Morton demonstrated the effectiveness of ether as an anesthetic.
• 1923, Walter E. Disney and Roy O. Disney founded Disney Brothers Studio.
• 1946, Ten Nazi leaders who had been sentenced to death at theNuremberg war crimes trials were hanged.
• 1951 Little Richard makes his first-ever recordings, at radio station WGST inAtlanta.
• 1954 Elvis Presley first appears on the radio show The Louisiana Hayride. He sings "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," and he's asked to appear again the following week.
• 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed by his aides that reconnaissance photographs had shown the presence of missile bases inCuba, marking the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1964,China became the world's fifth nuclear power after detonating its first atomic bomb.
• 1968 The New Yardbirds play their first concert at a club in London. The band -- consisting of Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, Robert Plant on vocals, and John Bonham on drums -- later changes its name to Led Zeppelin.
• 1969, the New York Mets won their first World Series in their eighth year as a baseball franchise. The "Miracle Mets" were 100-to-1 long shots at the start of the season to take the championship.
• 1970, Anwar Sadat was elected president of Egypt, succeeding the late Gamal Abdel Nasser.
• 1978 Virgin Records in the U.K. wires Malcolm McLaren $50,000 to bail Sid Vicious out of jail in New York City, where he is being held for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
• 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was chosen as the new pope. He took the name John Paul II.
• 1982, "Eye In The Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project peaks at Number Three on the pop chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1982, "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne peaks at Number Seven on the pop chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1982, "You Can Do Magic" by America peaks at Number Eight on the pop chart, where it stays for five weeks.
• 1985, Artists United Against Apartheid records "Sun City." Besides organizer Little Steven, the track features vocals from performers including Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Pat Benatar, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, and Bono.
• 1986, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Robert Cray, Julian Lennon, Linda Ronstadt, Etta James, and Chuck Berry play the Fox Theater in St. Louis. The show is filmed, and portions are used in the movie Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll.
• 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure was rescued 58 hours after she fell into aTexas well.
• 1988 U2, Keith Richards, Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers, and others take part in SmileJamaica, a benefit concert to helpJamaica recover from the effects of Hurricane Gilbert, at the Dominion Theatre inLondon. Richard and U2 team up on "When Love Comes To Town" and "Love Rescue Me."
• 1995, African-American men gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March, which was organized by Nation Of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
• 1996 White Zombie's Supersexy Swingin' Sounds is certified gold by the RIAA.
• 1997 Actress Audra Lindley (Three's Company and The Ropers' Helen Roper) dies at age 79.
• 1997 Author James Michener (Centennial, Hawaii, Tales Of The South Pacific) dies at age 90.
• 2001 Down To Earth by Ozzy Osbourne is released.
• 2002, President Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war againstIraq.
• 2003 Former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick is shot while walking on the Sunset Boulevard outside the Key Club inWest Hollywood,California.
• 2003 Marilyn Manson is the target of a protest by dozens of bible-waving evangelical Christians inMonterrey,Mexico.
• 2005 The Strokes shoot a racy video for their single "Juicebox" in their hometown ofNew York City. A casting call for the clip asks for people who are "comfortable with exhibitionistic displays of love, tenderness, and affection."
• 2007 Jimmy Eat World releases its sixth studio album, titled Chase This Light.