A Brief History On August 6, 1994, Italian singer, Domenico Modugno, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Americans remember his 1958 hit song, “Nel blu dipinto di blu,” better known in the US as “Volare.” Digging Deeper Covered by many artists, “Volare” was the first foreign language song to rank #1 on the US Billboard Chart. Modugno won Grammys for Best Song and Record of the Year, as the singer and composer of the hit. There have been many songs not in English in the US but only eight hit #1. A Japanese song, “Sukiyaki,” by…
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A Brief History On August 2, 2022, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas by Shea Ernshaw was published by Disney Press, a sort of sequel to the popular Tim Burton movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Digging Deeper The story is told from the perspective of Sally, a rag doll that marries Jack Skellington, aka The Pumpkin King, thus becoming the queen of Halloween Town, a title and job she is not too sure she either wants or can handle. The story takes Sally out of what she believes is her native Halloween Town to other…
A Brief History On July 30, 2025, Together was released in the United States by Neon, a nifty film in the genre we love best, horror! Digging Deeper Right off the bat Together throws a different wrinkle at the audience by starring a real life married couple, Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a not married pair of live in partners with a slightly troubled relationship. When the couple moves to an out of the way, remote small town, their troubles escalate and take a dark turn toward the secret of this particular burg. Written and directed by Michael Shanks, the…
A Brief History On July 30, 1969, President Richard Nixon went to South Vietnam to visit the South Vietnamese President and US military commanders. You may not know that this visit to Vietnam was Nixon’s 8th visit to that country, although the first as President. Digging Deeper Nixon was not the first US President to visit Vietnam, as Lyndon Johnson had also gone there in 1967. In fact, John F. Kennedy had also visited Vietnam in 1951, before JFK was President. Some misunderstandings about the Vietnam War include the number of American draftees involved. The actual portion of draftees was…
A Brief History On July 24, 1901, short story writer, William Sydney Porter, was released from prison in Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement. You know him better by his pen name, O. Henry. Digging Deeper Many famous writers have spent time in the slam, including: Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, jailed for sedition in 1703 and again another time for anti-establishment writing. The Marquis de Sade ran afoul of sodomy laws and found himself in and out of jail, finally ending up in an insane asylum in 1801, continuing to write while locked up. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the…