Happy Ingrid Bergman day. The fourth greatest actress of the last century came into this world on this day in 1915 and passed away from breast cancer on her 67th birthday. The Swedish actress skyrocketed to fame in the states in 1942, co-starring with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
Bergman went on to win three Academy Awards (although not for Casablanca).
The Beatles performed live for the last time for a paying audience on August 29, 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. More music was to come, but the live shows were over. George Harrison was heard to mumble, “well, I guess that’s it, I’m not a Beatle anymore” after walking off the stage. Might we hear the same type of sentiment later this week if the 49’ers say goodbye to Randy Moss?
The Kinks released “Lola” in 1970, but it only gets first runner up for tunes released on August 29. Prince released “Let’s Go Crazy” backed by a b-side of “Erotic City” in 1984. That’s how good Prince was on his prime– Erotic City was a b-side.
To those of you wondering what the hell a b-side is, some guy named Michael Jackson was born today in 1958. Michael turned 26 the day “Let’s Go Crazy” came out. He might have taken that song to heart.
19-year old Moses Malone became the first high-shooler to jump straight to the pros when he signed with the ABA’s Utah Stars in 1974.
It was eight years ago that Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei de Lima was shoved off the road by a fame seeking Irish nut job while leading the Olympic race by 30 seconds with just four miles to go. de Lima got back into the race, but was soon passed and ended up coming in third place. de Lima has pretty much as good an argument as anyone ever about getting screwed in sports. The 1972 U.S. basketball team thinks they got shafted? (They did, but still.)
de Lima was hosed, but at least he wasn’t gored to death like Manolete. Thought of as the greatest bullfighter in history, Manolete was gored in his upper thigh and bled to death at the age of 30.
Finally, it was August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina decimated the gulf coast, killing nearly 2,000 people and causing over $80 billion in damages. We wish everyone down there a safe couple of days ahead and we mourn for those lost.
– Bill Hubbell