When recalling August 27ths gone by, it would be silly to start anywhere but 1883, when the volcanic islands of Krakotoa exploded. The eruption is considered to be the loudest sound in modern history, with reports of it being heard as many as 3,000 miles away. (I’m calling BS, but I heard once you can’t argue with history.) The explosion of the island killed over 36,000 people and was the equivalent of 200 megatons of TNT, or 13,000 times the nuclear yield put off by the bombing of Hiroshima. The eruption sent debris 50 miles into the air.
Thought to be not quite as seminal as Krakotoa, and of course not nearly as important because nobody died and Krakotoa’s lead singer was a heroin addict, Pearl Jam released their debut album “10” on this day in 1991. The name of the album was taken from the number worn by former NBAer Mookie Blaylock, which was the name of the band when they started to record the album. After taking nearly a year to sell any copies at all, “10” has now sold over 13 million and led Pearl Jam to being the most popular U.S. band of the 1990s. Once, Even Flow, Alive, Why Go, Black and Jeremy…. there’s not a lot of debut albums that had a first half hour any better than that.
On this day in 1953, the world was introduced to a young actress by the name of Audrey Hepburn, with the release of “Roman Holiday”. The role of the royal princess who sets out to see Rome on her own was originally written for Elizabeth Taylor, but given to the unknown Hepburn after she screen tested out of the park. Hepburn was to receive lower billing than co-star Gregory Peck, but Peck demanded she be given equal billing after working with her. Hepburn won the Academy Award for best actress.
What was to be an event on the scale of Krakotoa took place in Beverly Hills on this day in 1965. The Beatles met Elvis Presley for the first time at his mansion. The meeting was less than cataclysmic as the boys were stoned and Elvis was strumming a bass guitar in the dark. Both sides seemed to be a bit intimidated by the other and nothing much happened. Elvis intimidated? John Lennon intimidated?
Part of the charm and poetry of baseball lies in its numbers and statistical anomalies. You can go huge, like Rickey Henderson did on this day in 1982, stealing his 119th base of the season, breaking Lou Brock’s record, or you can go weird. 35 years ago today, Bump Wills and Toby Harrah hit inside the park home runs for the Texas Rangers on back to back pitches, the only time that’s happened in MLB’s 143 years.
A Vice Presidential day it is, as birthday’s are celebrated by three US Veeps, Hannibal Hamlin, Charles G. Dawes and Lyndon Johnson. They served under Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy. You think Sarah Palin wasn’t vetted properly? Lincoln never met his running mate Hamlin until after the election. Hamlin comes in as runner up for coolest name for August 27th birthdays, losing out to Daryl Dragon, who turns 70 today. No, he wasn’t the star of a precursor to Magic Mike, he just goes by another moniker. He’s the one wearing the hat, not the mom jeans.
And, YO, we’d be remiss if we didn’t throw a shout out to Aaron Paul, who turns 33 today.
33 is the same age we lost two geniuses in 1980 and then 1981. Douglas Kenney created the National Lampoon just after graduating from Harvard and co-wrote both Animal House and Caddyshack. That was it for his movie career, I’d call that batting a thousand. Kenney fell off a cliff in Hawaii, while trying to get his mind straight after Caddyshack was killed by critics. The Lampoon paid tribute with a cartoon of the edge of a cliff and the inscription, “Doug Kenney Slipped Here.” A car crash took Soviet hockey star Valeri Kharlamov in 1981. Kharlamov was one of the fastest skaters ever and the best player on the ice when Russia took on Canada in the famed 1972 Summit Series. Canada was stunned by the Soviets at the start of the series, which changed when Broad Street Bully Bobby Clarke took things into his own hands, breaking Kharlamov’s ankle.
And lastly, speaking of genius, Stevie Ray Vaughn died at just 35 years old, in a helicopter crash in 1990.
– Bill Hubbell