Today’s highlights: Happy Birthday, “Today”, the debut of Led Zeppelin’s first LP, a look back on the Consumer Electronics Show and how it’s impacting the Detroit Auto Show. We meet the woman who programmed the Apollo software, and hear how Curious George escaped the Nazis.
Led Zeppelin’s debut album was released in United States 50 years ago today. The group, born out of the remnants of the Yardbirds , took 36 hours and spent less than £2,000 to complete the LP. Eva Von Zeppelin, a relative of the creator of the famed dirigible, did not like the album art. It featured the Hindenburg crashing in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey. She threatened legal action.
In the wake of a very mobile focused Consumer Electronics Show, the last Winter Detroit Auto Show opens today in the Motor City. It will feature lots of heavy trucks, SUVs and sports cars as the sedan continues to recede from popularity. Next year, it will happen in the summertime.
BTW: Axios says that the predicted smaller tax refunds this year may negatively impact auto sales. How do you typically invest yours?
Speaking of CES: What was the coolest gadget there? According to radio programming guru, Fred Jacobs, “I’ve learned that these past few years at CES, it’s been less about that one breakthrough innovation, and more about the confluence of all this technology, and what it means to our lives and the workplace.”
Fun Factoids from the Web:
Meet Margaret Hamilton (No not the wicked witch Margaret Hamilton) the working mom and unsung MIT math wizard who literally wrote the code for the Apollo Missions and won a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Bet you didn’t know: Margaret and H.A. Rey, authors of the beloved children books featuring Curious George, escaped the Nazis and the Holocaust by bicycle. They rode 439 miles from Paris to the Spain border with little else besides their unpublished manuscript.
What’s the current all-time most popular image on Instagram? The one at left. Currently, it has over 257 million likes. The photo finally answers, once and for all, the perennial question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Today in History:
Today in 1952, The Today Show, starring Dave Garroway, debuts on NBC TV. The program is WAY different today than it was then. (Video)
In 1972 “Sanford & Son” premieres. Redd Fox becomes a household name. (Vide0)
On this date in 1981 Radio begins its downhill slide as the FCC frees stations to air as many commercials an hour as they wish. Naturally broadcasters overdo it.
Happy Birthday to: Clarence Carter (Patches, Strokin), 1936; Allen Toussaint (Producer), 1938 (d. 2015); Faye Dunaway, 1941; Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), 1948; LL Cool J, 1968; Dave Grohl, 1969
Much More Music:
Today in 1970, was Diana Ross’ last appearance with The Supremes at The Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas.She introduced Jean Terrell, who would sing lead on 7 more hits for Motown, including ‘Up The Ladder To The Roof‘. (Video)
On this date in 1973 Elvis Presley’s “Aloha from Hawaii – Via Satellite” becomes the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer. Here’s “Suspicious Minds” from that show. (Video)
Birthday Boy Clarence Carter turns 82 today. Here he is, singing his first hit, “Patches“. The tune was originally recorded by The Chairmen of the Board and written by the band’s lead singer, General Johnson with his songwriting partner Ronald Dunbar. The tune about a sharecroppers son in Alabama became Clarences biggest hit. (Video)
Today’s Quote Worth Re-quoting: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” ~ JK Rowling
We leave you with the Number One song from this date in 1966. It was written and recorded by Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco, better known to his fans as Lou Christie . His record label, MGM reportedly disliked the tune that Christy and his long time writing partner, Twyla Herbert penned, but radio airplay in California launched the record on its way to the stratosphere.
