And This Day

It's May 13th On this day in 1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey. In 1968 - Frank Zappa releases "Lumpy Gravy" Capitol Records A&R representative Nick Venet commissioned an album of orchestral music composed by the Mothers of Invention's leader, Frank Zappa, a self-taught composer. Venet spent $40,000 on the album. Because Zappa's contract with Verve and MGM Records did not allow for him to perform on albums recorded for any other label, he could not play any instrument on the proposed album, and instead served as the conductor of an orchestra consisting of session musicians hired for the recording. Zappa stated that "my contract [with MGM] did not preclude me from doing that. I wasn't signed as a conductor." In 1985 - New Order releases "Low...

It's May 12th It's International Nurses Day Czech Nursing students Glass Candy - Nite Nurses (Demo Version) On this day in 1846 – The Donner Party departs Independence, Missouri for California. In 1971 - Weather Report releases their self titled debut album Eurydice In 1972 - Rolling Stones releases "Exile on Main St." Birthdays: Rami Malek as Pharoah Ahkmenrah in "Night at the Museum" Rhea Seehorn as Nordheim in "Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss" Samantha Mathis as Nora Diniro in "Pump Up The Volume" Kim Fields Tony Hawk Stephen Baldwin as Sal in "Last Exit to Brooklyn" Brett Gurewitz Emilio Estavez as Otto Maddox in "Repo Man" as Andrew Clark in "The Breakfast Club Steve Winwood Ving Rhames as George in "Jacob's Ladder" Billy Squier Ian McLagan Ian Dury George Carlin Tom Snyder Frank Stella "Harran II" Jesús Franco on Tubi Burt Bacharach Tony Hancock as The D...

It's May 11th 234 days remain until the end of the year In 1981 - Kraftwerk releases "Computer World" In 1997 – "Deep Blue", a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format. In 2009 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Birthdays: Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley in "Gothic" Tim Blake Nelson Butch Trucks Bernard Fox as Justin in "The Private Eyes" Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Catherine Bauer Wurster "Modern Housing" "Houser: The Life and Work of Catherine Bauer" by Peter H. Oberlander Salvador Dalí "It's Really Surreal How Salvador Dalí Was a Fascist Who Hit Women" by Lauren Oyler "Galatea of the Spheres" Gladys Rockmore Davis "Woman in a Red Dress...

It's May 10th On this day in 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. The earliest record of sunspots is found in the Chinese I Ching , completed before 800 BC. The text describes that a dou and mei were observed in the sun, where both words refer to a small obscuration. In 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk. In 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder. In 1980 - Al Di Meola releases "Splendido Hotel" In 1982 - Duran Duran releases "Rio" - Thomas Dolby releases "The Golden Age of Wireless" In 1988 - Prince releases "Lovesexy" In 1994 - Weezer releases their debut album, commonly referred to as "The Blue Album" – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. In 2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Birthdays: Kenan T...