My first thought for a Friday WTF was to do something that related somehow to Phillip Jose Farmer, novelist and fictional biographer, who died earlier this week.
But I'm not really in the mood for that, so I'll do this instead.
Today is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. While my inner history nerd would love to write a long post about these great men and how they changed the world, I'm kind of in a hurry, so instead I'll just demonstrate my theory that there is a Simpsons quote for absolutely every occasion:
I would have preferred the scene of Lisa trying to talk to the Lincoln Memorial, but you really can't go wrong with Ralph. (Unless, of course, you vote for him.)
Today, according to my calendar, is Alliance Day. 231 years ago today, the United States was officially recognized by a foreign government for the very first time, as the U.S. and France formed an alliance against the British.
And now, for your Friday WTF, let's learn a little something about the great man who made that alliance possible.
And in the streets the children screamed the lovers cried and the poets dreamed, but not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken.
--Don McLean, American Pie
It's a good thing I mentioned the whole Fake Holidays thing in yesterday's post, because today is one of the most important. Today is The Day the Music Died. Fifty years ago today, a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
As the son of Buddy Holly's biggest fan, I've known his music and heard the stories about the plane crash my whole life. As a kid, I constantly made fun of Buddy Holly, mostly as an easy way to irritate my Dad, but my appreciation of his music (not to mention his influence on others' music) has steadily increased with age. He was 22 years old and at the very beginning of his career when he died, and could easily have been performing today.
Anyway, you can celebrate this fake holiday the way my Dad usually does: listen to the Oldies station all day, then call in the late afternoon and complain that they haven't mentioned Buddy Holly. Or, if you prefer something a little more low-key, try some of these:
Buddy Holly performing "Peggy Sue" live on TV, circa 1958. (If you only watch one thing in this post, I suggest it be the old lady who introduces Buddy as a "Rock and Roll specialist")
Ritchie Valens was even younger than Buddy (only 17!), but still had 3-4 decent sized hits. This is him performing "Ooh, My Head" in some terrible-looking 1950s movie. Plus a highly entertaining cameo by Chuck Berry!
Last but not least (well, OK, I guess he is sort of least), here's the Big Bopper on American Bandstand performing what just might be the worst lip-synch of all time:
Finally, because I can't think of a clever way to work it in elsewhere, here's one of my personal favorite tributes to Buddy Holly:
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Groundhog Day. May Punxsutawney Phil bring you much cheer (and, God willing, an early spring.)
As we celebrate this day, which has brought so much joy into the world through questionable methods of weather forecasting and one of Bill Murray's better movies, this seems like a good time to discuss something I've been thinking about lately...
I have been arguing for years that, simply put, the world needs more and better holidays. There are all manner of weird, interesting, funny, and/or stupid things out there that deserve more attention. To this end, about 10 years ago I created my own personal set of holidays, which is now updated and available on Google Calendar (available in HTML, RSS, or ICAL).
The holidays on my calendar basically fall into four categories:
anniversaries of under-appreciated events in history
birthdays of people I like, primarily blues or soul musicians I was obsessively listening to when I started this. (A few people, mostly due to scheduling conflicts, are celebrated on the anniversary of their death instead.)
certain Catholic saints' feast days (I probably should have written this post yesterday, when Super Bowl Sunday happened to fall on the feast of St. Brigid, patron saint of beer drinkers.)
a few fake holidays started by other people. (Festivus being by far the most famous)
Anyway, this calendar (much like this blog) is filled with dumb things that I celebrate strictly for my own amusement. Everyone else, if they are so inclined, are hereby invited to join or not join me for any that catch their interest.
