Wednesday, December 12, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Bob Barker (former The Price Is Right game show host) (89)
• Jennifer Connelly (actress, won an Oscar for her role in A Beautiful Mind, The Rocketeer, Requiem For A Dream, Pollock, Hulk, House Of Sand And Fog, The Day The Earth Stood Still) (42)
• Connie Francis (1950s and '60s pop singer) (74)
• Tom Wilkinson (Emmy winning actor, Oscar nominee, John Adams, Michael Clayton, Recount, Batman Begins) (64)
• Ed Koch (the colorful ex-mayor ofNew York City) (88)
• Cathy Rigby (Olympic gymnast-turned-actress) (60)
• Dionne Warwick (singer and former Psychic Network pitchwoman) (72)
• Honor Blackman (actress, Goldfinger's Pussy Galore) (87)
• Sheila E. (drummer and percussionist, former protegee of Prince) (55)
• Tim Hauser (member of Manhattan Transfer) (71)
• Hank Williams III (country singer) (40)
• Bruce Kulick (former lead guitarist, Kiss; currently with Grand Funk Railroad) (59)
• Dan Baird (singer-guitarist, the Georgia Satellites) (59)
• Dickey Betts (former singer-guitarist, the Allman Brothers Band) (69)
• Clive Bunker (former drummer, Jethro Tull) (66)
• Eric Schenkman (guitarist, the Spin Doctors) (49)
• Bill Nighy (actor, Love Actually, the Underworld movies, Shaun of the Dead, Pirates of the Caribbean movies) (63)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1870, Joseph H. Rainey ofSouth Carolina became the first black congressman as he was sworn into the U.S. House Of Representatives.
• 1893 Actor Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar, Double Indemnity, Key Largo, The Ten Commandments, Soylent Green) is born. He dies in 1973.
• 1901, Guglielmo Marconi sent the first transatlantic radio signal fromCornwall,England, toNewfoundland,Canada.
• 1913, authorities inFlorence,Italy, announced that the Mona Lisa, which had been stolen from theLouvreMuseum inParis two years earlier, had been recovered.
• 1915, Singer-actor Frank Sinatra is born. He dies in 1998.
• 1917, Father Edward Flanagan foundedBoysTown outsideOmaha,Nebraska.
• 1925, the first motel, called the "Motel Inn," opened inSan Luis Obispo,California.
• 1941 The movie The Wolf Man, starring Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney, Jr., opens.
• 1943, saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. is born. He died December 17th, 1999, at the age of 56.
• 1944 MC5 lead singer Rob Tyner is born. He dies in 1991.
• 1946, a United Nations committee voted to accept a six-block site on the east side of Manhattan that was offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to be the site of U.N. headquarters.
• 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis set off a scandal that almost ended his career when he married his 13-year-old second cousin, Myra Gale Brown.
• 1964 "She's Not There" by the Zombies peaks at Number Two on the pop chart.
• 1964 12 x 5 by the Rolling Stones peaks at Number Three on the album chart, where it stays for four weeks.
• 1965 The last official U.K. concert by the Beatles takes place at the Capitol Theatre inCardiff,Wales.
• 1967 A London Appeals Court commutes Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones's nine-month prison sentence for possession of cannabis, after three psychiatrists testify that Jones is "an extremely frightened young man" who wouldn't survive jail.
• 1968 The Rolling Stones stage the second of two days at Wembley Studios in London that will be filmed and (eventually) released as The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus. Besides the Stones, performers include John Lennon & the Dirty Mac (featuring Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell), the Who, Jethro Tull (featuring Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi), Marianne Faithfull, and Taj Mahal.
• 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first black tennis player to be ranked Number One in the world.
• 1969 Live Peace In Toronto 1969 by John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band is released.
• 1970 "After Midnight" by Eric Clapton, a cover of the J.J. Cale song, peaks at Number 18 on the pop chart.
• 1974 Lead guitarist Mick Taylor quits the Rolling Stones.
• 1975 The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" is recorded atC.W.PostCollege inGreenvale,New York.
• 1985 David Crosby turns himself in to the FBI after spending 17 days on the run as a fugitive from justice.
• 1985 Ian Stewart, who's considered by many to be "the sixth Stone," dies at age 47 while waiting to see his doctor. He played keyboards for the Rolling Stones and was the group's road manager
• 1987 "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" by Aerosmith peaks at Number 14 on the pop chart.
• 1991, actor Richard Gere married supermodel Cindy Crawford. Their marriage ended a few years later.
• 1992, England's Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II's only daughter, married her second husband, naval commander Timothy Laurence.
• 1997 Home Alone 3 opens in theatres across the country.
• 1997 Scream 2 opens in theatres across the country.
  1997 AC/DC's Back In Black album is certified platinum sixteen times over.
• 1997 Third Eye Blind's self-titled debut album is certified platinum.
• 1998 Garage Inc. by Metallica enters the album chart at its peak position of Number Two.
• 2000 The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announces its latest class of inductees -- Aerosmith, Chris Blackwell, Solomon Burke, James Burton, the Flamingos, Michael Jackson, Johnnie Johnson, Queen, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, and Ritchie Valens.
• 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a late night, 5-4 split decision, to stop the presidential vote recounting in Florida, citing an equal protection argument. The decision handed the state and effectively appoints the presidential election to George W. Bush after a five-week, post-election day battle between the Republican Texas governor and Democratic Vice President Al Gore.
• 2001 Former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic file a counterclaim to Hole frontwoman Courtney Love's lawsuit -- which seeks to gain control of the Nirvana catalog -- claiming that Love is using the legal action to further her own "career goals," not to protect the legacy of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
• 2001, actress Winona Ryder was arrested at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills for shoplifting more than $5,000 worth of merchandise and possessing pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. The drug charges were dropped, but Ryder was convicted of the shoplifting charges and sentenced to three years probation, community service, and restitution to the store.
• 2002 After several shows are canceled, the entire Guns N' Roses "comeback" tour is officially shelved by the promoter.
• 2003 Mick Jagger receives a knighthood from Prince Charles atBuckinghamPalace inLondon.
• 2003 The Kiss pay-per-view Kiss Symphony: Alive IV In Concert From Melbourne, Australia debuts.
• 2004 Incubus is joined onstage at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles by Police guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland for versions of the Police hits "Roxanne" and "Message In A Bottle."
• 2005 Nine Inch Nails parts ways with drummer Alex Carapetis, who was briefly brought into the band to replace Jerome Dillon. Carapetis is replaced for touring purposes with journeyman drummer Josh Freese.
• 2007 Godsmack's new greatest hits collection, Good Times, Bad Times - 10 Years of Godsmack, debuts at Number 35 on the Billboard album chart, selling 40,000 copies in its first week of release.
• 2007 Velvet Revolver vocalist Scott Weiland is officially charged with driving under the influence of drugs with a prior conviction and refusing a chemical test required by law. The charges stem from an incident the previous November when he was pulled over on aLos Angeles highway.