A Brief History On February 5, 1933, the crew of the Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën mutinied while stationed off the coast of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. Fed up with harsh working conditions and an announced cut in pay, the crew consisting of both ethnically Dutch and Indonesian sailors seized control of the cruiser sized ship, not relinquishing control until the ship was bombed by Dutch warplanes 6 days later! Digging Deeper The 1930’s was a time of the Great Depression, and Europe was still recovering from the terrible effects of World War I. Austerity…
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A Brief History On February 4, 1992, Hugo Chavez, leader of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, headed an attempted coup against the lawful government of Venezuela. While the coup attempt failed, another attempt in November of 1992 was also staged, even though Chavez was in prison at the time. The second attempt also failed, but Chavez was later released from prison after only 2 years and was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, a post he held until his death in 2013. The Chavez years were no less tumultuous than the political chaos he and his cohorts replaced, and today the…
A Brief History On February 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane crashed in Clear Lake, Iowa, a crash that would become one of the most famous plane crashes in aviation and music history. When the light plane hit the ground in wintry weather, the lives of 3 early Rock and Roll stars were lost, an incident often referred to as “The Day the Music Died.” On that fateful day, music fans lost Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper (aka J.P. Richardson), and the young Ritchie Valens. Digging Deeper The airplane involved in the tragedy was a 1947 model of the Beechcraft…
A Brief History On February 2, 2004, Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer ascended to the #1 ranking in the World, a position he would hold for 237 consecutive weeks, an all-time record. He would go on to be the #1 male tennis pro for a total of 310 weeks, again, a number unmatched by any other male tennis star. The ranking of tennis professional players by the Association of Tennis Professionals’ (ATP) is but one measure of the greatness of Roger Federer. Perhaps his record number of 20 Grand Slam titles is an even better indication of his dominance over…
A Brief History On February 1, 1964, the British sensational band, The Beatles, hit the top of the American charts for the first time with their smash hit, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The iconic rock song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and would be the first of many such #1 hits by this song writing and singing pair. In fact, the Beatles would go on to post a record 20 #1 hits in the US. The Beatles would go on to probably the greatest career for any band in musical history, let alone Rock and…