Wednesday, December 5, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Jose Carreras (Spanish opera singer, one of the "Three Tenors," alongside Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo) (66)
• Margaret Cho (Comedienne and actress) (44)
• Little Richard (Rock 'n' roll pioneer) (80)
• Frankie Muniz (actor, My Dog Skip, Malcolm In The Middle's Malcolm, Big Fat Liar, Agent Cody Banks) (27)
• Johnny Rzeznik (singer/guitarist, the Goo Goo Dolls, judge on Next Great American Band) (47)
• J.J. Cale (singer-songwriter, wrote "After Midnight" and "Cocaine") (74)
• Jack Russell (lead singer, Great White) (52)
• Gary Allan (country singer) (45)
• Ty England (country singer) (49)
• Jim Messina (singer-songwriter and guitarist, Buffalo Springfield, Loggins & Messina) (65)
• Nick Stahl (actor, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Carnivale, In The Bedroom, Sin City) (33)
• Shalom Harlow (actress/model, In & Out, Head Over Heels, Vanilla Sky, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Melinda and Melinda, Alvin and the Chipmunks) (39)
• Glen Graham (drummer, Blind Melon) (43)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered Hispaniola, now known asHaiti.
• 1776, the first honorary scholastic fraternity inAmerica, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at theCollege OfWilliam And Mary inVirginia.
• 1792, George Washington was re-electedU.S. president.
• 1848, President James Polk triggered the Gold Rush Of 1849 by confirming that gold had been discovered inCalifornia.
• 1901 Animation and theme-park pioneer Walt Disney is born. He dies in 1966.
• 1933, liquor started legally flowing again in theU.S., whenUtah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition.
• 1952, The Abbott And Costello Show premiered on TV.
• 1955, the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott began after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1st when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott lasted until the following December, when the public transportation system was integrated after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
• 1973, Serpico opened in movie theaters, starring Al Pacino as real-life New York City cop Frank Serpico, who took on the system to fight police corruption.
• 1974, the British comedy TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus was last shown on the BBC.
• 1994, Newt Gingrich was chosen to be the first Republican Speaker Of The House Of Representatives in four decades. He resigns in disgrace four years later.
• 2000 Rage Against The Machine releases its final studio album, a collection of cover tunes called Renegades.
• 2001 After nearly six months inside, Metallica singer-guitarist James Hetfield leaves an alcohol dependency treatment center. In a statement, he says, "My rough road has become smoother reading the show of support from the friends I've met through Metallica. Thank you. They move me deeply."
• 2002 Guns N' Roses playsMadisonSquareGarden inNew York City, in what turns out to be the last show of the year, as its tour collapses shortly thereafter.
• 2003 Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted leaves Ozzy Osbourne's band after less than a year. His replacement is ex-Rob Zombie bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson.
• 2005 Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and his wife Vicky welcome their second child together, a son named Christopher Nicholas Cornell, into the world.
• 2006 Metallica releases its first-ever collection of all its music videos, called The Videos 1989 - 2004. The DVD contains all 21 of the band's videos, from 1989's "One" to 2003's "Some Kind of Monster."
• 2006 Slipknot releases a two-DVD set called Voliminal: Inside The Nine. Directed by Slipknot percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan, it presents an "unflinching" look at Slipknot's 10-year history.
• 2011 Metallica kicks off a week-long celebration of the band's 30th anniversary at the Fillmore inSan Francisco, welcoming former bassist Jason Newsted and many other metal stars to the stage.