Happy birthday to William FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel. No word if it's also the birthday of Alan FitzWilliam. Ha Ha! That's such a great old joke! But I assume he was married, so maybe it's not correct. But I'm not gonna bother looking it up.
It's a big day for the Rutledge Family of South Carolina- especially Edward, who was born on this date in 1749. This relatively late birth makes him elegible to be the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, and he seizes the opportunity. After almost derailing the whole thing, with his impassioned performance of "Molasses to Rum" in 1776. That's the play/movie, by the way. Which you should go see. As soon as you're done here. However, there's a minor little quibble with the whole thing. Apparently, he never did it- not just the song, but the whole "opposing the Declaration on the grounds of protecting slavery" routine. And his instructions from the South Carolina government were to vote "aye", which he did. He was by the way, only 26 when he signed it. Which should humiliate all those punks who take 7 years to get their 4 year college degree, if you ask me. Oh, but lest you think he was a great progressive, he did apparently oppose allowing Blacks to serve in the Contintental Army. But I guess nobody is perfect.
Happy birthday to Billy Bonney, aka "Mr. The Kid", for fans of Bill and Ted. If you read up on him, he was not the ice-cold murderer that he was portrayed as. Yeah, he did kill some, but there is some evidence that he was defending himself and his friends against a corrupt territorial government and its cronies. He was also promised a pardon, which he never received. Oh, and it's entirely possible that he wasn't killed by Pat Garrett, but rather lived to a ripe old age under the name Brushy Bill Roberts. I can't verify it, of course. My very first history class in college included a talk about the need for "a healthy skepticism". All that being said, I'm sorta slightly on Team Brushy. There are some interesting details which I encourage you to look up. Enough to prove it? Dunno.
Do you feel spooky? If so, it's probably because Boris Karloff is lurking around someplace, being all scary and stuff. He was good at that, you know.
On the other hand, Harpo Marx, born on this date a mere year later, was not scary. Maybe "creepy" with the horn and all that, but not scary.
An American blues musician, R.L. Burnside, was born on this date in 1923. Never heard of him until a few years ago, when my friend Ed gave me some of Burny's stuff. It's not great, but it's pretty solid blues. Like so many in Mississippi, he was inspired to play guitar by John Lee Hooker. And he was related by marriage to Muddy Waters too. If you listen to "R.L.'s story" on his album "Wish I was in heaven sitting down", he refers to the fact that in Chicago in the 1940s, his father, uncle, and two brothers were all murdered. In less than a year. That'll make a bluesman out of anyone. Of course, some years later, after he moved back down home, he also turned out to be a murderer, for which he spent a whole six months in prison! Poor guy! I wouldn't be surprised to learn his cellmate was Lindsey Lohan, with that kind of sentence. Anyhow, he did most of his recording later. Check it out.
The really cool Luis Tiant was also born on this date. He was a pretty darn good pitcher, even though he never played for Detroit. He could apparently throw about 6 pitches for strikes, and could also throw them overhand, three-quarters, and sidearm, which made it almost 18 pitches. Not bad. Toss in a really weird throwing motion, and you had somebody who could drive batters crazy. Alas, he was not as effective as would seem possible. At least for his career as a whole. So maybe he should have played in Detroit- he might have made the Hall of Fame!
And Kelly Brook was also born on this date. She's a model and an "actress"- which translates as "looks great on screen, but will never win an Oscar, unless it's in the category of 'best breasts'". But she's pretty darn hot, which is always a plus!
Here's a great one, especially in the context of my last paragraph: It's also the birthday of Miley Cyrus, who shows up on my phone as "American 'actress'". No lie. Guess whoever put this particular app together wasn't a Hannah Montana fan. So we can infer that he/they are not 15 year old girls. Thank God.
And on that note, we're done for another day.
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