JULIUS CAESAR IS BORN – JULY 13, 100 BC

 

Image via The Mad Monarchist
 

Gaius Julius Caesar (13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. In 60 BC, Caesar entered into a political alliance with Crassus and Pompey that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed within the Roman Senate by the conservative elite, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero.

Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome’s territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse Pompey’s standing. The balance of power was further upset by the death of Crassus in 53 BC.

Political realignments in Rome finally led to a standoff between Caesar and Pompey, the latter having taken up the cause of the Senate. Ordered by the senate to stand trial in Rome for various charges, Caesar marched from Gaul to Italy with his legions, crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC. This sparked a civil war from which he emerged as the unrivaled leader of the Roman world.

After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed “dictator in perpetuity”. A group of senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated the dictator on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, hoping to restore the constitutional government of the Republic. However, the result was a series of civil wars, which ultimately led to the establishment of the permanent Roman Empire by Caesar’s adopted heir Octavius (later known as Augustus).

Much of Caesar’s life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Artwork by Karl Theodor Von Piloty

 

THE DEADLY NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS BEGIN – JULY 13, 1863

 

 

The New York City draft riots (July 13 to July 16, 1863; known at the time as Draft Week) were violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The riots were the largest civil insurrection in American history apart from the Civil War itself.

President Abraham Lincoln sent several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to control the city. The rioters were overwhelmingly working class men, resentful, among other reasons, because the draft unfairly affected them while sparing wealthier men, who could afford to pay a $300 commutation fee to exclude themselves from its reach.

Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests turned ugly and degraded into “a virtual racial pogrom, with uncounted numbers of blacks murdered on the streets”. The military suppressed the mob using artillery and fixed bayonets, but not before numerous buildings were ransacked or destroyed, including many homes and an orphanage for black children.

The exact death toll during the New York Draft Riots is unknown, but according to historian James M. McPherson (2001), at least 120 civilians were killed and at least eleven black men were lynched. The most reliable estimates also indicate that at least 2,000 people were injured. Herbert Asbury, the author of the 1928 book Gangs of New York, upon which the 2002 film was based, puts the figure much higher, at 2,000 killed and 8,000 wounded.

Total property damage was about $1–5 million. The city treasury later indemnified one-quarter of the amount. Fifty buildings, including two Protestant churches, burned to the ground. On August 19, the draft was resumed. It was completed within 10 days without further incident, although far fewer men were actually drafted than had been feared: of the 750,000 selected for conscription nationwide, only about 45,000 actually went into service. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

HOLLYWOOD SIGN OFFICIALLY DEDICATED – JULY 13, 1923

 

Photograph by Jelson25
 

The Hollywood Sign is a famous landmark in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee, Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The iconic sign spells out the name of the area in 45-foot-tall (14 m) and 350-foot-long (110 m) white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after the sign was left up. The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism but has since undergone restoration, including a security system to deter vandalism.

The sign was first erected in 1923 and originally read “HOLLYWOODLAND”. Its purpose was to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.

Alterations

It is illegal to make unauthorized physical alterations to the sign. Although the city has occasionally allowed it in the past for commercial purposes, current policy does not permit changes to be made. However, the sign has been unofficially altered a number of times, often eliciting a great deal of attention. Among the more famous modifications:

HOLLYWEED – January 1976, following the passage of a state law decriminalizing marijuana
HOLYWOOD – April 1977, for Easter sunrise service, viewable from the Hollywood Bowl
HOL YWOOD – 1978 the second L was covered for Pope John Paul II when he visited
“GO NAVY” December 1983, when a group of Midshipmen, with permission, covered the sign for the ARMY-NAVY football game’s first and only West Coast appearance (D. Weiss, USNA’85/instigator & PM)
FOX – April 1987, for the promotion of the network
CALTECH – May 1987, on Hollywood’s centennial (of its incorporation as a municipality), also one of Caltech’s many senior pranks
OLLYWOOD – July 1987, during the Iran-Contra hearings.
April 1991 in celebration of the end of the Gulf War a Yellow Ribbon was tied around the sign. This act was also a supporting player to the Hollywood Salutes Gulf Veterans Celebrations (D. Weiss, USNA’85/instigator & PM)
As part of a promotion for the 1992 film Cool World, a 75-foot (23 m)-tall cutout of Holli Would was installed, appearing to sit on the sign. The alteration angered local residents, who picketed the unveiling of the altered sign
OIL WAR – 1991, for the Gulf War.
PEROTWOOD – 1992, to support Ross Perot and his presidential campaign.
GO UCLA – 1993, for the annual UCLA-USC football game. Twenty members of UCLA’s Theta Chi fraternity achieved the prank, and were subsequently charged with trespassing. This incident prompted the 1994 installation of a $100,000 security system featuring video surveillance and motion detection.
SAVE THE PEAK – February 11, 2010, the original letters were covered with a large banner reading “SAVE THE PEAK”, part of a campaign by The Trust for Public Land to protect the land around the Hollywood Sign from real estate development. As setup progressed, other variations such as “SALLYWOOD” and “SAVETHEPOOD” gained some notoriety.
JOLLYGOOD – for an airline
RAFFEYSOD – for an obscure rock band – 1990 and 2000. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

 

LIVE AID CONCERT – JULY 13, 1985

 

 

Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the “global jukebox”, the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (attended by about 100,000 people).

On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in other countries, such as Australia and Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast.

The concert grew in scope, as more acts were added on both sides of the Atlantic. As a charity fundraiser, the concert far exceeded its goals: on a television programme in 2001, one of the organisers stated that while initially it had been hoped that Live Aid would raise £1 million with the help of Wembley tickets costing £25.00 each, the final figure was £150 million (approx. $283.6 million). Partly in recognition of the Live Aid effort, Geldof received an honorary knighthood.

 

 

London Wembley Stadium Performances
Coldstream Guards – “Royal Salute”, “God Save The Queen” (W 12:00);
Status Quo – “Rockin’ All Over the World”, “Caroline”, “Don’t Waste My Time” (W 12:02);
The Style Council – “You’re the Best Thing”, “Big Boss Groove”, “Internationalists”, “Walls Come Tumbling Down” (W 12:19);
The Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”, “Drag Me Down”, “Rat Trap”, “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” (sung by the audience) (W 12:44);
Adam Ant – “Vive Le Rock” (W 13:00);
Ultravox – “Reap The Wild Wind”, “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”, “One Small Day”, “Vienna” (W 13:16);
Spandau Ballet – “Only When You Leave”, “Virgin”, “True” (W 13:47);
Elvis Costello – “All You Need Is Love” (W 14:07);
Nik Kershaw – “Wide Boy”, “Don Quixote”, “The Riddle”, “Wouldn’t It Be Good” (W 14:22);
Sade – “Why Can’t We Live Together”, “Your Love Is King”, “Is It A Crime” (W 14:55);
Sting and Phil Collins (with Branford Marsalis) – “Roxanne”, “Driven To Tears”, “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”, “Message In A Bottle”, “In the Air Tonight”, “Long Long Way To Go”, “Every Breath You Take” (W 15:18);
Howard Jones – “Hide And Seek” (W 15:50)
Bryan Ferry (with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on guitar) – “Sensation”, “Boys And Girls”, “Slave To Love”, “Jealous Guy” (W 16:07);
Paul Young – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (intro), “Come Back and Stay”, “That’s The Way Love Is” (with Alison Moyet), “Every Time You Go Away” (W 16:38);
U2 – “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Bad” (with snippets of “Satellite Of Love”, “Ruby Tuesday”, “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Walk On The Wild Side”) (W 17:20);
Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing” (with Sting), “Sultans Of Swing” (W 18:00);
Queen (introduced by comedians Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones) – “Bohemian Rhapsody”/”Radio Ga-Ga”, “Hammer to Fall”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions” (W 18:44);
David Bowie (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) – “TVC 15”, “Rebel Rebel”, “Modern Love”, “Heroes” (W 19:22);
The Who (introduced by Jack Nicholson) – “My Generation”/”Pinball Wizard”, “Love, Reign O’er Me”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (W 20:00);
Elton John (introduced by Billy Connolly) – “I’m Still Standing”, “Bennie and the Jets”, “Rocket Man”, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (with Kiki Dee), “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (with George Michael and backing vocals by Andrew Ridgeley), “Can I Get a Witness” (W 20:50);
Finale at Wembley Stadium:
a) Freddie Mercury and Brian May (Queen) – “Is This The World We Created?” (W 21:48),
b) Paul McCartney – “Let It Be” (W 21:51),
c) Band Aid (led by Bob Geldof) – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (W 21:54);

 

 

JFK Stadium Performances
Bernard Watson – “All I Really Want to Do”, “Interview” (JFK 13:51);
Joan Baez (introduced by Jack Nicholson) – “Amazing Grace”/”We Are the World” (JFK 14:02);
The Hooters – “And We Danced”, “All You Zombies” (JFK 14:12);
The Four Tops – “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”, “Bernadette”, “It’s The Same Old Song”, “Reach Out I’ll Be There”, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” (JFK 14:33);
Billy Ocean – “Caribbean Queen”, “Loverboy” (JFK 14:45);
Black Sabbath (introduced by Chevy Chase) – “Children of the Grave”, “Iron Man”, “Paranoid” (JFK 14:52);
Run-D.M.C. – “Jam Master Jay”, “King Of Rock” (JFK 15:12);
Rick Springfield – “Love Somebody”, “State of the Heart”, “Human Touch” (JFK 15:30);
REO Speedwagon – “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, “Roll With The Changes” (JFK 15:47);
Crosby, Stills and Nash – “Southern Cross”, “Teach Your Children”, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (JFK 16:15);
Judas Priest – “Living After Midnight”, “The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” (JFK 16:26);
Bryan Adams (introduced by Jack Nicholson) – “Kids Wanna Rock”, “Summer Of ’69”, “Tears Are Not Enough”, “Cuts Like a Knife” (JFK 17:02);
The Beach Boys (introduced by Marilyn McCoo) – “California Girls”, “Help Me, Rhonda”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “Good Vibrations”, “Surfin’ USA” (JFK 17:40);
George Thorogood and the Destroyers – “Who Do You Love” (with Bo Diddley), “The Sky Is Crying”, “Madison Blues” (with Albert Collins) (JFK 18:26);
Simple Minds – “Ghost Dancing”, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, “Promised You A Miracle” (JFK 19:07);
The Pretenders – “Time The Avenger”, “Message Of Love”, “Stop Your Sobbing”, “Back On The Chain Gang”, “Middle of the Road” (JFK 19:41);
Santana and Pat Metheny – “Brotherhood”, “Primera Invasion”, “Open Invitation”, “By The Pool”/”Right Now” (JFK 20:21);
Ashford & Simpson – “Solid”, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” (with Teddy Pendergrass) (JFK 20:57);
Madonna (introduced by Bette Midler) – “Holiday”, “Into The Groove”, “Love Makes The World Go Round” (JFK 21:27);
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (introduced by Don Johnson) – “American Girl”, “The Waiting”, “Rebels”, “Refugee” (JFK 22:14);
Kenny Loggins – “Footloose” (JFK 22:30);
The Cars – “You Might Think”, “Drive”, “Just What I Needed”, “Heartbeat City” (JFK 22:49);
Neil Young – “Sugar Mountain”, “The Needle and the Damage Done”, “Helpless”, “Nothing Is Perfect”, “Powderfinger” (JFK 23:07);
Power Station – “Murderess”, “Get It On” (JFK 23:43);
Thompson Twins – “Hold Me Now”, “Revolution” (with Madonna, Steve Stevens and Nile Rodgers) (JFK 00:21);
Eric Clapton (with Phil Collins) – “White Room”, “She’s Waiting”, “Layla” (JFK 00:39);
Phil Collins (having flown Concorde from UK to USA) – “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”, “In The Air Tonight” (JFK 01:04);
Led Zeppelin Reunion – (with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Tony Thompson, Paul Martinez, and Phil Collins) – “Rock and Roll”, “Whole Lotta Love”, “Stairway To Heaven” (JFK 01:10);
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”, “Daylight Again”/”Find The Cost of Freedom” (JFK 01:40);
Duran Duran – “A View to a Kill”, “Union Of The Snake”, “Save A Prayer”, “The Reflex” (JFK 01:45);
Patti LaBelle – “New Attitude”, “Imagine”, “Forever Young”, “Stir It Up”, “Over The Rainbow”, “Why Can’t I Get It Over” (JFK 02:20);
Hall & Oates – “Out Of Touch”, “Maneater”, “Get Ready” (with Eddie Kendricks), “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (with David Ruffin), “The Way You Do The Things You Do”, “My Girl” (with Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin) (JFK 02:50);
Mick Jagger (with Hall & Oates / Eddie Kendricks / David Ruffin) – “Lonely At The Top”, “Just Another Night”, “Miss You”, “State Of Shock”/”It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” (with Tina Turner) (JFK 03:15);
Finale at JFK Stadium:
a) Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood – “Ballad of Hollis Brown”, “When the Ship Comes In”, Blowin’ In The Wind” (JFK 03:39),
b) USA for Africa (led by Lionel Richie) – “We Are the World” (JFK 3:55)

 

 

 

GEORGE STEINBRENNER DIES – JULY 13, 2010

 

Photograph by AP/Harris

 

George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930 – July 13, 2010) was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner’s 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned 7 World Series titles and 11 pennants. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries made him one of the sport’s most controversial figures. Steinbrenner was also involved in the Great Lakes shipping industry.

Known as a hands-on baseball executive, he earned the nickname “The Boss.” He had a tendency to meddle in daily on-field decisions, and to hire and fire (and sometimes re-hire) managers. Former Yankees manager Dallas Green gave him the derisive nickname “Manager George.” He died after suffering a heart attack in his Tampa home on the morning of July 13, 2010, the day of the 81st All-Star Game. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Photograph via PI Sports Talk

 

 

 

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