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Month: January 2012
On This Day: January 21
Updated January 20, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Jan. 21, 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54.
On Jan. 21, 1905, Christian Dior , French fashion designer and creator of the ”New Look” in 1947, was born. Following his death on Oct. 24, 1957, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1861 Five Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate, including Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, the future president of the Confederacy. 1915 The first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit. 1924 Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died of a stroke at age 53. 1950 A federal jury in New York City found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury. 1954 The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn. 1976 The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France. 1977 President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders. 1994 A jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband, John, whom she’d accused of sexually assaulting her. 1997 Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct. 1998 Pope John Paul II began his first visit to Cuba. 2003 The Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America’s largest minority group. 2004 The recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet. 2010 A bitterly divided Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions to influence government decisions by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress. 2010 Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted fathering a child during an affair before his second White House bid. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Attorney General Eric Holder turns 61 years old today.
AP Photo/Ed Andrieski
Opera singer Placido Domingo turns 71 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1940 Jack Nicklaus, Golfer, turns 72 1941 Richie Havens, Folk singer, musician, turns 71 1942 Mac Davis, Singer, turns 70 1947 Jill Eikenberry, Actress (“L.A. Law”), turns 65 1950 Billy Ocean, R&B singer, turns 62 1950 Gary Locke, Secretary of commerce, turns 62 1956 Robby Benson, Actor, director, turns 56 1956 Geena Davis, Actress, turns 56 1963 Hakeem Olajuwon, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 49 1976 Emma Bunton, Singer (Spice Girls), turns 36
Historic Birthdays
Christian Dior 1/21/1905 – 10/24/1957 French fashion designer.Go to obituary »
35 George Gillespie 1/21/1613 – 12/17/1648
Scottish minister/polemical writer51 Ethan Allen 1/21/1738 – 2/12/1789
American soldier – frontiersman55 John Fitch 1/21/1743 – 7/2/1798
American steamboat builder77 John Fremont 1/21/1813 – 7/13/1890
Americium mapmaker/explorer39 Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson 1/21/1824 – 5/10/1863
American Civil War general71 Sophia Jex-Blake 1/21/1840 – 1/7/1912
English physician71 John Browning 1/21/1855 – 11/26/1926
American weapons designer98 Maxime Weygand 1/21/1867 – 1/28/1965
Belgian-bn.French army officer77 Cristobal Balenciaga 1/21/1895 – 3/23/1972
Spanish dress designer88 Sir Charles Moses 1/21/1900 – 2/9/1988
English-bn. Australian broadcaster
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Etta James, R.I.P, Thank You for the Music: The New Yorker
Cover of Etta James
Nice obituary from the New Yorker, but the absence of the one number that she’s most well-known for is glaringly conspicuous. It is called At Last, and here’s a not-so-great YT video of it:January 20, 2012Etta James, R.I.P.
The death of Etta James on Friday, at the age of seventy-three, came as no surprise. She had been suffering from dementia and leukemia for the past two years, had not performed in public for longer, and had, upon the release of “The Dreamer” last November, announced that it would be her final album.
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a mother who was rarely around and a father she never knew—later in life, she speculated that it might have been the pool player Minnesota Fats—James had a Dickensian childhood, shuttled from caregiver to caregiver, treated rough, forced to grow up fast. As a teen-ager, she began to sing doo-wop, and was soon discovered by the bandleader Johnny Otis (who died, in sad coincidence, just three days before James). Her first hit, “Dance With Me, Henry”—previously known as “Roll With Me, Henry” (too risqué) and later known as “The Wallflower” (after a hit version by George Gibbs)— was an answer song to Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me, Annie,” and found James already in possession of a cannon of an instrument. To say she belted it out was an understatement.
In 1960, at the still tender age of twenty-two, James moved from Modern Records to Chess, got involved with the songwriter and singer Harvey Fuqua, and launched the second phase of her career. There were ballads (“All I Could Do Was Cry”), duets (“If I Can’t Have You”), guest appearances (she sings backup on Chuck Berry’s “Almost Grown” and “Back in the USA”), but her most successful early moment was the title track of her début album: “At Last,” which was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren and recorded by Glenn Miller, among others. James’s shimmering, torchy version made the song a modern standard, not to mention a staple in commercials.
James recorded for many years, in many styles, some more successful than others. For most of that time, her power as a vocalist was never in question; rather, it was how that power was deployed. Her Muscle Shoals recordings from the late sixties (“Tell Mama,” “I’d Rather Go Blind”) show her at her best, as does “Deep in the Night,” a 1978 album produced by Jerry Wexler that included covers of rock songs like the Eagles’ “Take it to the Limit” and Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed.” There were highlights of almost inexpressible power, like her 1964 live album “Etta James Rocks the House,” perhaps the rawest album ever recorded by a female R. & B. singer, and her barn-burning duet with Sugar Pie DeSanto, “In the Basement.” But many albums were uneven, in part because of poor choice of material, in part because of James’s ongoing struggles with drug addiction. In the mid-nineties, she revived herself as a Billie Holiday interpreter with “Mystery Lady,” and, while she didn’t have Holiday’s otherworldly ability to communicate pain, she sang beautifully, and set herself back on course. James became the rarest of things, a hard-working icon, reliably supplying album after album of well-sung R. & B., most with predictably left-field interpretations of rock songs—”The Dreamer,” from last year, includes a cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.”
It’s difficult to sum up James’s career, which was too sprawling, too erratic, too much. “Heart and Soul,” a four-disc box from last October, just scratched the surface. But here are five highlights.
“Seven Days Fool,” from “Etta James Rocks the House” (1964)
“In the Basement,” duet with Sugar Pie DeSanto (1966)
“I’d Rather Go Blind,” from “Tell Mama” (1968)
“Take It To The Limit,” live on the Tom Snyder Show (1980)
“Body and Soul,” from “Mystery Lady” (1994)
via newyorker.com
On This Day: January 20
Updated January 19, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
On Jan. 20 , 1920, Federico Fellini, the Italian film director, was born. Following his death on Oct. 31, 1993, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1801 John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States. 1841 Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. 1896 Comedian George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City. 1936 Britain’s King George V died. 1961 John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. 1981 Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. 1981 Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days. 1986 The United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. 1987 Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappeared in Beirut, Lebanon, while attempting to negotiate the release of Western hostages. 2001 Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people in one of his final acts as president. The list included fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose wife was a major Democratic donor. 2001 George W. Bush took the oath of office as the 43rd president of the United States. 2001 Hundreds of thousands of protesting Filipinos forced President Joseph Estrada to step down; Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as the new president. 2009 Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley turns 40 years old today.
AP Photo/Alice Keeney
Comedian-talk show host Bill Maher turns 56 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1924 Slim Whitman, Country singer, turns 88 1929 Arte Johnson, Comedian (“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”), turns 83 1930 Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Astronaut, turns 82 1946 David Lynch, Director, turns 66 1952 Paul Stanley, Rock musician (Kiss), turns 60 1958 Lorenzo Lamas, Actor, turns 54 1963 James Denton, Actor (“Desperate Housewives”), turns 49 1965 John Michael Montgomery, Country singer, turns 47 1966 Rainn Wilson, Actor (“The Office”), turns 46 1967 Stacey Dash, Actress, turns 45 1968 Melissa Rivers, TV personality, turns 44
Historic Birthdays
Federico Fellini 1/20/1920 – 10/31/1993 Italian film director.Go to obituary »
44 Johannes Schein 1/20/1586 – 11/19/1630
German composer46 Henry Cromwell 1/20/1628 – 3/23/1674
English, brief ruler of Ireland62 Richard Henry Lee 1/20/1732 – 6/19/1794
American statesman/orator72 Anne J. Clough 1/20/1820 – 2/27/1892
English educator/feminist77 Johannes Jenson 1/20/1873 – 11/25/1950
Danish novelist/essayist91 Ruth St. Denis 1/20/1877 – 7/21/1968
American dancer & choreographer82 Walter Piston 1/20/1894 – 11/12/1976
American composer/teacher74 Harold Gray 1/20/1894 – 5/9/1968
American “Orphan Annie” cartoonist69 Joy Adamson 1/20/1910 – 1/3/1980
Australian conservationist/writer
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Chai & Popcorn: It Must Be Tea-Time
On This Day: January 19
Updated January 18, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
On Jan. 19, 1807, Robert E. Lee, Confederate general during the American Civil War , was born. Following his death on Oct. 12, 1870, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1736 James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland. 1807 Robert E. Lee, the commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, was born in Stratford, Va. 1809 Author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. 1861 Georgia seceded from the Union. 1943 Rock singer Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas. 1944 The federal government relinquished control of the nation’s railroads after settling a wage dispute. 1955 A presidential news conference was filmed for TV for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. 1979 Former Attorney General John Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months in federal prison for Watergate-related crimes. 1981 The United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months. 2001 In a deal sparing himself possible indictment, President Bill Clinton acknowledged for the first time making false statements under oath about Monica Lewinsky; he also surrendered his law license for five years. 2006 An unmanned NASA spacecraft blasted off on a 3 billion-mile journey to Pluto. 2010 In a major upset, Republican Scott Brown captured the U.S. Senate seat held by liberal champion Edward Kennedy for nearly half a century as he defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Country singer-actress Dolly Parton turns 66 years old today.
AP Photo/Charles Sykes
Actress Katey Sagal turns 58 years old today.
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
1923 Jean Stapleton, Actress (“All in the Family”), turns 89 1926 Fritz Weaver, Actor, turns 86 1930 Tippi Hedren, Actress (“The Birds”), turns 82 1931 Robert MacNeil, Journalist, turns 81 1939 Phil Everly, Singer (The Everly Brothers), turns 73 1942 Michael Crawford, Actor, singer, turns 70 1944 Dan Reeves, Football coach, turns 68 1947 Ann Compton, Broadcast journalist, turns 65 1947 Paula Deen, TV chef, turns 65 1953 Desi Arnaz Jr., Actor, turns 59 1955 Paul Rodriguez, Comedian, turns 57 1966 Stefan Edberg, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 46 1969 Trey Lorenz, R&B singer, turns 43 1972 Drea de Matteo, Actress (“The Sopranos”), turns 40 1974 Frank Caliendo, Comedian, impressionist, turns 38 1982 Jodie Sweetin, Actress (“Full House”), turns 30 1992 Shawn Johnson, Gymnast, turns 20
Historic Birthdays
Robert E. Lee 1/19/1807 – 10/12/1870 American Civil War general.Go to obituary »
53 Tai Chen 1/19/1724 – 7/1/1777
Chinese philosopher83 James Watt 1/19/1736 – 8/25/1819
Scottish steam engine inventor82 Isaiah Thomas 1/19/1749 – 4/4/1831
American anti-British journalist67 Auguste Comte 1/19/1790 – 9/5/1857
French philosopher40 Edgar Allan Poe 1/19/1809 – 10/7/1849
American writer/poet95 William Keen 1/19/1837 – 6/7/1932
American-1st Am. Brain surgeon67 Paul Cezanne 1/19/1839 – 10/22/1906
French Post-Impressionist painter79 George Trumbull Ladd 1/19/1842 – 8/8/1921
American philosopher/psychologist56 Alexander Woollcott 1/19/1887 – 1/23/1943
American author/critic72 Olafur Thors 1/19/1892 – 12/31/1964
Icelandic Prime Minister90 Oveta Culp Hobby 1/19/1905 – 8/16/1995
American publisher and first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953-55)
