A Brief History On March 3, 1951, music history was made when the first song deemed to be “rock and roll” was recorded.  Called “Rocket 88,”  the lively song was recorded by Chess Records at Sam Phillip’s studio in Memphis and is credited to Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats who were actually Ike Turners’s band, the Kings of Rhythm.  In fact, the song was written by Brenston and Turner, though Turner was not originally credited.  Digging Deeper Based on the 1947 hit “Cadillac Boogie” and influenced by the instrumental hits “Rocket 88 Boogie” parts 1 and 2,” “Rocket 88” was also about the popular Oldsmobile model,  the…

A Brief History On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain, center for the Philadelphia Warriors, scored an National Basketball Association (NBA) single-game record of 100 points against the New York Knicks.  To put this in perspective, at that time, the only other player to have scored 70 or more points in a single game was Elgin Baylor with 71 points.  This performance put Chamberlain so far ahead of any other scoring flurry that he was truly in a class by himself.  In the 53 years since then, no other player has approached his record, with the closest effort being Kobe Bryant’s…

A Brief History On March 1, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, returned to France from exile on the island of Elba to reclaim his empire.  Of course, his great comeback only lasted about 100 days, but in that time he reshook Europe.  Other people, teams and companies have also made impressive comebacks from near defeat, death, ruin or other calamities.  Here we list 10 of those that rank among the greatest.   Digging Deeper 10. John Travolta, 1994. After becoming a teen idol on television and having experienced success with movies such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Urban…

A Brief History On February 28th, Black History Month draws to a close and as such we want to reflect on some notable figures in black history.  History is being made everyday, and recently in 2014 landmark cases involving police shootings of African-Americans has resulted in riots and protests, events that will become history once the journalistic cycle is over.  Today, History and Headlines takes a look at 10 icons of the civil rights movement, including 5 people held up as martyrs that are legitimate American heroes and 5 that are held up as martyrs, but actually may well have…

A Brief History On February 28, 1893, the United States Navy made an enormous step toward eventually ruling the seas by launching its first ever battleship commensurate with those of other great naval powers.  Though the USS Indiana BB-1 was launched on this date, she would not be commissioned until 2 years later. Digging Deeper Designed for coastal defense, the Indiana was not intended to throw her weight around the world as her decks were not designed to take heavy seas in the open ocean.  About 351 feet long and with a beam of 69 feet, she did not have the size or proportions of…