It's a sad day for the world today, except for people in one area. Father Marquette goes ashore on Lake Michigan, and founds a mission, so he and his successors can preach to the local Indians. Eventually, to the dismay of almost everyone, the mission grows into a city which takes the name "Chicago.". Blech.
1783 sees quite a touching scene in Fraunces Tavern in New York City, as Washington has a small affair in order to say goodbye to his officers, as he has resigned from his office as commander in chief of the Continental Army. It apparently was quite an emotional event- one attendee said later that he had never seen a man so hopelessly adrift as Washington. Happily, George makes it back to the public eye a few years later.
People in India are quite angry on this date in 1829. The British governor, William Bentinck, issues a rule outlawing suttee, or the burning of widows on the pyre of their husbands. This being a prominent feature of the local culture, people aren't too happy. In the end, I guess it's for the best. In the modern world of history, it's debatable whether this was A Good Thing, or whether it was denying the culture and traditions of the local people. Seriously, what is wrong with these morons? If you ask these jackasses, women are equal to men, which makes sense, but killing them because their husband dies is apparently also A Good Thing. And they don't seem to see the contradiction. And I think that's just asinine- human rights shouldn't be based upon cultural relativity, but upon objective evidence. Sigh.
A big date in music history today. It's 1971 in Montreux Switzerland, and there's a nice crowd at the Casino there. It seems tonight features a concert by Frank Zappa. I wouldn't be anywhere near it, but work with me here. And then, famously, some stupid with a flare gun burns the place to the ground. It's smoke on the water, and a fire in the sky, as members of Deep Purple escape from the blaze and find out that their Swiss time was running out, and it seemed that they would lose the race. But thankfully, they ended up at the Grand Hotel. Sure, it was empty, cold and bare, but with a few red lights and a few old beds, they made a place to sweat. And rock music is better for it.
Nine years later, a sad day for Rock Music. Led Zeppelin calls it quits, thanks to John Bonham puking himself to death. To my knowledge, the whole gang has never been together on stage since. Rather, the surviving gang, as I don't think John Paul Jones has been with the other guys ever since. Goes to show that even Keith Moon could be pretty right. Imagine if Page had tried to call the band "The New Yardbirds. It probably would have gone over like a lead you-know-what.
And that's the big news for December 4.
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