Month: June 2024

The dawn breaks and with it FRIDAY!

Today is King Charles’ Birthday. Now those of you who pay attention will know that King Charles was actually born on 14 November, 1948. However, now that he has taken the throne he receives the privilege of celebrating his birthday not once, but twice every year.

It was the same with Queen Elizabeth. Queen’s Birthday was celebrated in June each year, even though the Queen’s birthday was on April 21st.

The idea behind the double birthday is that having a summer birthday means a higher chance of good weather during the Trooping the Color parade, which marks the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday in the UK. Trooping the Color is held outside Buckingham Palace on a Saturday in early June and has marked the celebration for over 270 years.

The King is the monarch of 15 countries, the United Kingdom and 14 commonwealth realms.



OOPS!!


Today is the birthday, in 1961, of George O’Dowd, (Boy George), English singer, songwriter, DJ, fashion designer and photographer. As lead singer of the Grammy and Brit Award winning Culture Club, he scored the 1983 UK No.1 & 1984 US No.1 single ‘Karma Chameleon’ and global hits ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’, and ‘Time’ (Clock of the Heart). As a solo artists George had the 1987 UK No.1 single ‘Everything I Own’. He became a coach on The Voice UK in 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw

Posted by Tom in eighties music, Humor, Music

THURSDAY is a nice day

Today is the Feast of St. Anthony, a holiday in his hometown of Lisbon. It commemorates his death in 1231.

St. Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal to a wealthy family; his father was a captain in the Royal army. He was ordained as a priest and became inspired after meeting five Franciscan friars who were on their way to Muslim Morocco to preach the Gospel. A few months later he discovered that the monks were martyred and he joined the Franciscan order to follow in their path, adopting the name of Anthony, after Anthony the Great, who was one of the first monks and noted for his travels in desert lands.

Anthony’s life was changed when he was almost accidentally forced into giving a sermon. This uncovered his great gift for making speeches which led to Saint Francis asking him to travel around Italy preaching the Gospel which he did. He converted many people and became famed for his sermons.

In his hometown of Lisbon, festivities in his honor start on the evening of June 12th with a display of walking groups of singers and musicians, who parade along the Avenida da Liberdade. The celebration continues the next day with more processions and traditional dancing.


SIGNZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Marv Tarplin, American guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s who co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including the 1965 Grammy Hall Of Fame inducted ‘The Tracks of My Tears’. He died aged 70 on 30 Sep 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCwkZrj2VT4

Posted by Tom in doo-wop, Humor, Music, sixties and seventies

In the middle is WEDNESDAY

Today is Philippine Independence Day. Known in the Philippines as ‘Araw ng Kasarinlan’, or ‘Day of Freedom’, this day commemorates the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain on June 12th 1898.

Since the middle of the sixteenth century, the Philippines had been part of the Spanish Empire. A secret group called ”Katipunan’ consisting Philippine activists who wanted independence had been uncovered in 1896. This led to the beginning of the struggle for independence.

By 1897, a truce had been signed between the revolutionaries and the Spanish with the leaders of the revolution accepting to be exiled outside the Philippines. In 1898, after attacks on Americans interests in the region by the Spanish during the Spanish-American War, the US gave support to the independence movement, bringing back the rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo from exile, who rallied local Filipino support.

United against the Spanish with the American forces, over 300 hundred years of Spanish rule was brought to an end when Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in Kawit, Cavite, on June 12th 1898.

Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain agreed to cede the Philippines to the United States for a payment of twenty million dollars. A year later, some Filipino’s started to feel that all that had happened is that Spanish rule had been replaced by American rule, leading to the Philippine–American War. The result of that was the suppression of Filipino insurrection and ongoing American occupation with limited self-rule.

It wasn’t until July 4th 1946 that the islands gained their full independence.



I couldn’t find any good videos of musicians with birthdays today, so here is the Spanglish version of the Ketchup Song. Go dance!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMT698ArSfQ

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, World

Shiny TUESDAY

Today is King Kamehameha I Day, a public holiday in the State of Hawaii. It honors Kamehameha the Great, who unified the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Kamehameha is noted for uniting the Hawaiian Islands in 1810 and becoming Hawaii’s first king. He ruled until his death in 1819.

Kamehameha Day was established in 1872 by King Kamehameha V, the great-grandchild of Kamehameha, as a national holiday to honor the memory of Kamehameha.

All state and county offices throughout the state will be closed on June 11th in observance of the holiday on Kamehameha Day. Public transport may run on a modified schedule.

Since 1901, it has been a tradition to drape leis (Hawaiian floral garlands) from the statues of the King on the islands.


BADA Bing!!!!

I have reached an age where my mind says, “I can do that,” but my body says, “Try it and you’ll be sorry.”

My wife spent an hour at the salon, and when she came home, she got mad because I didn’t notice she had gotten her hair cut. But my spouse would have been REALLY MAD if she’d known I didn’t even notice she had left the house.

It only took 24 hours for your grandpa and crazy Uncle Jethro to spin it into “Jesus was convicted too.”

How difficult is it to get any 12 people to agree on any 1 thing? Now, multiply that by 34.

Stormy Daniels has set a new world record for pleasuring the most people in a single day.

Dear life, when I said “Can my day get any worse” it was a rhetorical question, not a challenge.

Whoever put the S in fastfood is a marketing genius.

At my age, I don’t often roll a joint, but when I do, it’s my ankle.

Does anyone know where I can get fresh ice cubes? I don’t want any of those frozen ones.

I completely misunderstood Pride Month. Who wants to buy 15 lions?

In honor of Pride Month, I’m using napkins from Chick-fil-A to clog the toilets at Hobby Lobby.

When a man says he will do anything for a woman he means fighting bad guys and killing dragons, not vacuuming or doing dishes.

If someone asks indignantly, “Do you know who my father is?” Answer, “Didn’t your mother tell you?”

Whoever named it “Parmesan Cheese” and not “Spaghetti Confetti” missed a great opportunity.

My half-brother and I are not allowed to play with chainsaws anymore.

A good Smart TV would increase the volume when you start eating something.

I find that the first 5 days after the weekend are always the hardest. (Well, for some people.)

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.


Domesticity…

Today is the birthday, in 1864, of Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdziw4tI9o

Posted by Tom in classical, Humor, Music

eyes open…monday? MONDAY!!!

Today is the day of the Dragon Boat Festival in many places. The Tuen Ng Festival, otherwise known as the Duanwu or Dragon Boat Festival, has been celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar for millennia. During this festival, people across Asia, and especially Central and Southern China, gather to watch dragon-shaped boats race along river banks and lakes. 

Legend has it that the holiday honours the tragic death of Chu Yuan, who died in 288 BC. At the time of Warring States, Chu Yuan was a poet and the minister of the state. The King was captured during fighting and in honour and remembrance of the old King, Chu Yuan wrote a poem called “Li Soa.” This angered the new King, who ordered Chu Yuan into exile. Instead of leaving his beloved country, Chu Yuan threw himself into the Mi-Lo River.

The legend proclaims that the people tried to rescue their honored statesmen by chasing him down the river, beating drums to scare away the fish and throwing dumplings into the river so that the fish would not eat his body. Today’s celebrations symbolize the vain attempts of the friends and citizens who raced down the river to save Chu Yuan.

Despite the legend, the festival’s origin is much, much older and is actually connected with very ancient beliefs in the power of the spirits that animated the world and the need to propitiate them. The wish to appease the Water Dragons, who were the spirits of the rivers, will have started on the banks of the great rivers with China’s first agriculturalists.

A dragon boat is a huge war canoe traditionally made from teak that has a dragon’s head carved into the bow and a dragon’s tail carved at the stern. The boats can range up to 100 feet in length and seat anywhere from 20 to 80 paddlers, varying in size. A sacred ritual is held before the race when the eyes are painted on, which is said to “bring the boat to life.” A drummer who sits mid-boat and keeps the time of the oar strokes on a huge drum accompanies all boats.

A gunshot sets the boats off and the beating drums and cymbals from the crowded shores fill the harbors with noise. The races last all day; on the shores of Hong Kong people celebrate with lively song and dance, rooting on their team.


Modern toys…


Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Shirley Owens, singer with American girl group The Shirelles, notable for their popularity in the early 1960s. They were the first all-female black group to have a No.1 hit record with ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ in 1961. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnPlJxet_ac

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies