Pop Culture Heroes Memorial Day - August 16

Several years ago, I designated August 16 as Pop Culture Heroes Memorial Day. Why August 16? One reason is that it is the middle day in a month that doesn't have any holidays. But the main reason is that it is the anniversary of the deaths of both Babe Ruth (died in 1948) and Elvis Presley (died in 1977). This year, I am adding a third important person who died on August 16, Aretha Franklin (2018), to the list of the major pop culture heroes who died on this date. Black and female lives matter! Another white male pop culture hero who died on August 16 quite recently is Peter Fonda (2019).

But I have set up Pop Culture Heroes Memorial Day to honor everyone who achieved fame in various popular culture fields and has since died, no matter what date. Yes, I know that it may be seen as a slap in the face to military and law enforcement heroes, and this year to heroes in the fields of medicine and education. But we have the opportunity to enjoy various forms of popular culture because the military defended our right to do so, law enforcement officers gave us a fairly safe environment in which to enjoy it (most of the time), medical professionals made sure we were healthy enough to appreciate it, and teachers gave us an educational foundation to understand it.

(Except that sometimes when I was in high school in the late 1960s, I surreptitiously had the earphone of my transistor radio attached to my ear, tuning out the teacher while Aretha sang "Think", Elvis sang "Suspicious Minds", or some other favorite song or artist played. Or maybe earlier in the 1960s, one of my classmates had the same setup to listen to the Yankees, now more than 25 years removed from The Babe's playing days, facing the National League champion in the World Series. Any teacher who put up with this was a hero of a special kind.)

Other major league baseball players who died on August 16 include Bobby Thomson (2010), who hit the pennant-winning home run for the New York Giants in 1951; John Roseboro (2002), a long-time catcher with the Dodgers (starting with their last year in Brooklyn) who caught two of Sandy Koufax' no-hitters); and Earl Averill (1983), a Hall of Famer who spent most of his career with Cleveland and had a son named Earl Jr. who also played in the majors. Averill and Ruth both wore #3.

For those of you who do want to observe a military achievement, August 16 is National Airborne Day, which honors the airborne forces of the United States Armed Forces. The first official Army parachute jump was on August 16, 1940.

Entertainers born on August 16 include Madonna, Eydie Gorme, Fess Parker, and both Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford (who was also a Hall of Fame NFL player). Baseball players born on August 16 include Mike Jorgensen (whose claim to fame was often that he was born on the day that Babe Ruth died), Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones (a 1950 Phillies Whiz Kid), and Yu Darvish.

"Think" by Aretha Franklin:

"Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley:

Peter Fonda scenes from "Easy Rider":

Bobby Thomson's famous home run - "The shot heard 'round the world:

Most of the YouTube videos about John Roseboro focus on the time an opposing pitcher, who was batting, attacked him on the head with a baseball bat. Here's a funny one featuring several Dodgers. Roseboro is the catcher. Sandy Koufax is the pitcher.

Here is Babe Ruth supposedly calling his shot - a World Series home run:

What If Elvis Presley Hadn't Died Until Today, March 24, 2020?

What if Elvis Presley had lived until today? What would he have done with the rest of his career, and how would his death today have affected people?

The first thing I want to explain is why I picked March 24, 2020, as the date for Elvis to die after living a good, long life to the age of 85. I could have gone with his 100th birthday, January 8, 2035, or the date in the year in which he would have turned 100 that was the same one on which he died, August 16, 2035.

Here's why. There were 15,561 days between the day on which Elvis was born, January 8, 1935, and the day on which he died, August 16, 1977. And there were 15,561 days between August 16, 1977, and today, March 24, 2020. Since all of these dates were Tuesdays, the weeks between them don't include fractions: 2,223 weeks.

Enough of the math stuff. Let's speculate what Elvis would have continued to do.

Elvis would have continued making records for a very long time, maybe even up to the present time. Maybe he had a new album ready to go that would have been even more anticipated because it was now going to be his last one. At some point, his contract with RCA would have been up. Even if his sales had been in decline, he'd still likely have attracted a decent contract with a label, either RCA or another one.

He would have also continued his live performances on tours and in places like Las Vegas for a few more decades. Maybe at some point in the 2000s, an Elvis Farewell Tour would have drawn fans eager to see him one last time, as well as some first timers who wanted the chance to say that they had seen Elvis Presley perform live. Even after this tour, he may have taken up residence in Las Vegas, Branson, or some other entertainment hotspot and just done shows there.

Elvis hadn't made a movie for eight years at the time of his death. His movies were often done quickly, with thin plots. In the case of It Happened at the World's Fair, for example, what sane parent would trust their young child with a complete stranger (played by Elvis) these days? But some of his best-known hit songs came from his movies, including "Love Me Tender", "Jailhouse Rock", and "Can't Help Falling In Love". That said, it wouldn't have surprised me to have seen Elvis get back into movies with the proper but solid plot and some great songs. One person who may have made a great costar with Elvis is Dolly Parton. Dolly's own film career didn't take off until about three years after Elvis died. Her new cinematic star power may have boosted Elvis' reborn one and vice versa.

Elvis did not perform duets with other singers, unless you count his backup group the Jordanaires. Within a couple of years after his death, duets of singers who didn't normally sing together became an "in" thing. And one of the first singers to be involved in such a recording was the man sometimes called "The Jewish Elvis", Neil Diamond, when he sang "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with Barbra Streisand, which went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Streisand continued in this vein with hit duets with artists like Donna Summer and Barry Gibb (of the BeeGees) and eventually released an album of duets. Frank Sinatra, who was as big an artist in his day as Elvis was in his, did two albums of duets in his later years. Elton John, who also is as big an artist in his day as Elvis (early birthday greetings Elton!), has done one. And Kenny Rogers, who really did die in the past week at the age of 81, had duet hits with at least four other artists, including Dolly Parton, and probably more, since I stopped following the hits of the day after around 1988. With Elvis actively recording during those years, I'm sure there would have been many artists, male and female, young and old, who would have loved to have done one or more with Elvis. Elvis duets albums, especially one of love songs or rock and roll hits, would not have been inconceivable.

In fact, some posthumous duets involving dubbing have been made, both officially and unofficially. I remember hearing a version of Linda Ronstadt and Elvis performing "Love Me Tender" on the radio not long after he died. An album of Christmas duets was released in 2008.

Elvis' late 1960s comeback started with a television special aired in November 1968. Elvis would have continued to use TV and videos to keep his career going. While he would probably not have been in regular rotation on MTV or even VH1, he would have had periodic specials, perhaps at Christmas, and direct-to-consumer releases (first on VHS, then on DVD/Blu-Ray, and finally on streaming sources).

The industry that grew up around Elvis after his death would not have happened like it did, at least not in such a large-scale manner. Graceland would still be his home, so it would not have been the tourist attraction that it is today. Sun Studios, where Elvis recorded his early hits, is also a tourist attraction in Memphis. In fact, when I was in Memphis when I should have been home watching the start of the 2008 World Series, I toured Sun Studios but not Graceland. Since it had not been in use for a long time, and it is also famous for early recording sessions by singers such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison, this would have still been a tourist stop in Memphis even with Elvis still alive and living there.

There would still be Elvis imitators and tribute acts. You only have to look as far to see that Neil Diamond, who is still alive and was performing live as recently as 2017, who has spawned a good number of such acts through the past 25 or 30 years. Elvis would have done the same.

I don't want to speculate on Elvis' personal life. At the time of his death, his girlfriend was Ginger Alden. Maybe they eventually married, maybe they didn't, and if they did, were they still together? I don't think he would have been too happy when his daughter Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson and would have been relieved when they split.

As for cause of death, I'm going to say that it was not that thing that's going around. He would have likely been reclusive at the end and would not have been exposed to it. More likely, the cause would have been a longer term illness or medical condition, such as dementia, cancer, or heart disease. Because of that thing going around, he would have had a quiet burial at Graceland next to both of his parents, with fan gatherings happening later.

Happy Birthday, Mark Lindsay!

Mark Lindsay was the lead singer of the rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had a lot of hit records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their music often featured a hard rocking beat, but sometimes they sang softer songs.

The Raiders are a group that needs to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they're not. Like the Monkees, they may have been denied this honor because, in their prime, they appealed to an early and pre-teen audience. Mark in particular appealed to girls. I've felt for several years that there is some sexism involved with Rock Hall of Fame selection, not so much the artists (although I think there is some there, too) but with artists that primarily appealed to female fans being ignored in the voting.

The Raiders' earliest hits were usually covers or remakes of other artists' songs or ones written by notable songwriters of the time such as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Mann and Weil wrote one of their best-known hits, "Kicks":

Another song they did around this time was one written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart that was also recorded by the Monkees, "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone":

Later, Mark Lindsay and group leader and keyboard player Paul Revere began writing most of their songs. Sometimes record producer Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son) collaborated in the songwriting. Here is one of the Lindsay-Melcher songs, "Him or Me - What's It Gonna Be":

Starting in 1969, Mark Lindsay made some solo recordings while remaining a member of the Raiders. The biggest hit among these was "Arizona":

A lesser-known one was "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind", a song that Elvis Presley also recorded, as well as the guy who wrote it, Neil Diamond:

Finally, in 1971, the Raiders had their biggest hit record, "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)". It was their only single to go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. By the 1970s, the Raiders were doing a lot of songs by outside songwriters again. This one was written by John D. Loudermilk. I will probably do a blog post about his songs one of these days because I think he was underappreciated.