Saturday Flashback: Hit ME!

Ian Dury and the Blockheads recorded "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" in late '78, but it hit the top of the pops in the UK and was released here in early '79.  Dury was steeped in the British Music Hall tradition and put out a string of hits, the best remembered being "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll".  He also did some acting, and an excellent biopic of him was put out a few years ago starring Andy Serkis.  Here's Dury and the Blockheads doing "Hit Me" at the Concerts for Kampuchea later in 1979.  Enjoy!

Conspiracy

On March 29, 1979, the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations released their report on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  While the committee still backed the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three times at Kennedy, killing him with the third shot, it also found, based on acoustic analysis, that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy".

The committee also found credible testimony that was used by Jim Garrison ten years earlier in the trial against Clay Shaw, to this day the only person who has been tried in court as having anything to do with Kennedy's murder.  That trial was the basis for Oliver Stone's movie JFK.  Conspiracy theories about Kennedy's assassination had been around since November 23, 1963.  But this was the first time any government agency acknowledged the probability of a conspiracy.  This report and Stone's film locked in the notion of a conspiracy that still remains.

The committee also held that while James Earl Ray was the shooter who killed Dr. King, there was also the "likelihood" there was a conspiracy involved.  Coincidentally, this was also the week in 1979 that a joint session of Congress would convene that resulted in the first proposed legislation for MLK Day.  That measure would go down to defeat, but the day honoring Dr. King would be declared in 1983.  The day remains controversial, and speculation about King's murder continues to this day...

Hello/Goodbye: March

Born, March 1979
Mar 4th - Jon Fratelli, Scottish singer (The Fratellis)
Mar 6th - Erik Bedard, Canadian baseball player
Mar 8th - Tom Chaplin, English singer (Keane)
Mar 8th - Andy Ross, American guitarist (OK Go)
Mar 9th - Chingy, American rapper
Mar 11th - Benji & Joel Madden, American musicians (Good Charlotte)
Mar 11th - Elton Brand, American basketball player
Mar 12th - Pete Doherty, English musician
Mar 13th - Johan Santana, Venezuelan baseball player
Mar 14th - Chris Klein, American actor
Mar 15th - Kevin Youkilis, American baseball player
Mar 16th - Rashad Moore, National Football League player
Mar 17th - Andrew Ference, Canadian hockey player
Mar 18th - Adam Levine, American singer (Maroon 5)
Mar 18th - Danneel Harris, American actress
Mar 19th - Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkish basketball player
Mar 20th - Freema Agyeman, British actress (Doctor Who)
Mar 20th - Bianca Lawson, American actress
Mar 22nd - Juan Uribe, Dominican baseball player
Mar 23rd - Mark Buehrle, American baseball player
Mar 24th - Lake Bell, American actress
Mar 25th - Lee Pace, American actor
Mar 27th - Michael Cuddyer, American baseball player
Mar 30th - Norah Jones, American singer and pianist

Died, March 1979
Mar 1st - Dolores Costello, actress ("The Goddess of the Silent Screen" and Drew Barrymore’s grandmother), dies at 73
Mar 2nd - Mollah Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish leader, dies at 75
Mar 2nd - Richard Sykes, British ambassador, assassinated in Holland
Mar 11th - Victor Kilian, actor, dies at 88
Mar 16th - Jean Monnet, French economist/advocate of European unity dies at 90
Mar 19th - Al Hodge, actor (Capt Video), dies at 65
Mar 19th - Richard Beckinsale, actor and Kate’s father, dies at 31
Mar 22nd - Ben Lyon, actor (I Cover the Waterfront, Indiscreet), dies at 78
Mar 28th - Emmett Kelly, circus clown (Weary Willy), dies at 80
Mar 30th - Airey Neave, British MP (Conservatives), killed by terrorist bomb

Meltdown

The worst commercial nuclear accident in the US took place on March 28th, 1979 at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  The station was comprised of two units, TMI-1 and TMI-2, owned and operated by Metropolitan Edison and General Public Utilities Corporation.  Both units were designed by Babcock and Wilcox, a US company that had been in the business of power generation for a century.  Construction for TMI-1 began in 1968 and was completed in 1970.  It went online in 1974.  TMI-2, however, had a more troubled existence.  Construction started in 1969 but was not completed until 1978, with Number 2 going online in December of that year.  It was only in operation for 90 days before the accident.

A malfunction of the cooling system of TMI-2 caused a partial meltdown of the reactor core.  This resulted in what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission called a "significant release of radiation" the following day.  By March 30, the governor and the head of the NRC advised pregnant women and small children in the area to evacuate.  Jimmy Carter famously visited the facility on April 1.

In the end, while the amount of radiation was indeed significant, the government estimated the average amount of radiation received by area residents was equivalent to a "chest x-ray".  Others have indicated it was equivalent to receiving half a year's normal "background radiation" in one shot.  Although there were no specific fatalities, there were reports of increased infant death downwind from TMI, as well as reduced fertility in animals.  The BBC reported in 2002 that there was no exceptional rise in cancer deaths in the area in the intervening years.

TMI-2 was brought under control within 10 days, after which it was permanently closed.  The cleanup, at a cost of a billion dollars, wasn't completed until 1993.  Fun fact: TMI-2 is currently owned and maintained by First Energy of Akron.  TMI-1 came back online in 1985.  Except for a quickly contained leak in November 2009 which kept it offline for two months, it has been in operation ever since.  In fact, its license was renewed in September of 2009, keeping it active until 2034.

It's often thought Three Mile Island was the death knell of the nuclear power industry.  It certainly had an impact on public perception.  According to the NY Times, support for nuclear power was at an all time high in 1977 at 69%, but fell to 46% after the accident.   In reality, for a number of reasons development for future plants was already going down.  No new plants had been approved since the accident, although some were built that were already scheduled for construction.  That said, the first new plant plant to be designed since the accident was recently approved for construction.

Coincidentally, the accident took place two weeks after the release of The China Syndrome, the story of a news crew at a nuclear plant during a meltdown.  All of this produced one of SNL's finest moments, "The Pepsi Syndrome", broadcast just 10 days after the accident on April 7th. It's also one of the longest, at 14 minutes, but do yourself a favor and check it out.  Stay tuned for a special guest as well as a future senator.


Pepsi Syndrome from Lou Jacob on Vimeo.

Peace

On March 26th, 1979, history was truly made with the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. The negotiations for the treaty were accomplished the previous fall when Menachem Begin of Israel, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Accords.  Begin and Sadat would share the Nobel Peace Prize of 1978 for their efforts.

The first steps to Camp David and the treaty would be the so-called Sinai I and II treaties, both the work of Henry Kissinger in an effort to reduce Soviet influence in the Middle East by bringing Egypt into closer US orbit.  After Egypt and the rest of the Arab states were defeated in the Six Day War of 1967, it became important to Sadat to reclaim the Sinai Peninsula lost in the conflict.  He tried war, attacking Israel in the Sinai in 1973, and then peace, boldly visiting Israel in 1977 and delivering a speech to the Knesset.

Begin, a long time hardliner, formed the Likud Party in 1973 as a "consolidation" of right wing parties in Israel.  He led them to power in a landslide in May of 1977.  Many perceived Begin as having the upper hand at Camp David.  He had little to lose if nothing were accomplished.  Sadat, on the other hand, needed to re-secure the Sinai for economic and historic reasons.

Carter ably pushed and prodded the two to agreement at Camp David.  (Some thought the Nobel should have gone to him.)  The treaty signed in March of '79 reflected the two main frameworks of the Accords.  The first focused on Israel and Egypt, calling for a phased withdrawal of Israel from the Sinai and the normalization of relations between the two countries.  The second, larger in scope, was to provide for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace settlement based on UN Resolution 242.  Adopted by the UN Security Council in the aftermath of the The Six Day War, 242 is essentially a land for peace swap with Israel relinquishing the territories won in that conflict.

The  Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was the first peace agreement between Israel and any of its neighbors. Despite events in the intervening years, it still holds today, although recent events in Egypt may change that.  It has also served as a template for future accords, the best example of which was Clinton's efforts at Camp David in 2000.

But it has also had unintended, and perhaps not too unintended consequences.  Prior to 1979, Egypt was largely seen as the leader of the Arab world, especially as concerned Israel.  After the treaty was signed and Egypt essentially gave up that role, the region has gone through upheaval that continues to this day.  Iran was about to become a theocracy and Saddam Hussein was months away from power in Iraq.  The moderation that Egypt had historically supplied to the area was no longer a factor.  There is some thought that Begin accepted the terms of Camp David so Israel could claim compliance with UN 242 and the reticence of Israel in terms of giving up any more land bears that out.  Indeed, settlements in those territories have continued to grow.

A major issue is that the two frameworks were not linked, the success of one was independent of the other.  Sadat in particular was vilified by many in the region as having abandoned the Palestinians.  When he signed the treaty, he also signed his death warrant.  He was assassinated in October of 1981 by Egyptian Islamic Jihad.  The fatwa was issued by the "blind sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman and one of the leaders was Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became bin Laden's number two man.

This was an historic peace agreement.  The peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted, and the legacy of this treaty, good and bad, lives on.

March Madness

On this day in 1979, the most-watched NCAA Men's Basketball Championship was played between Magic Johnson's Michigan State University and Larry Bird's Indiana State.  They met for the first time the previous summer during the 1978 World Invitational Tournament for Team USA, throwing no look passes at each other.  So while they were certainly aware of each other, this was the first time they'd face each other as opponents.  Magic had a great season, landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and leading the Spartans to a 26-6 record.  Bird had an even better year, taking the Sycamores to their first ever NCAA tournament sporting a perfect 33-0 record.  This was before the days of ESPN (although they would go live later in the year), accordingly not many fans had seen Indiana State, who lived in the shadow of Indiana and Purdue.  So few people had seen Bird play prior to the championship that some were surprised he was white.  It's difficult to imagine today that a team would get that far in the season with so little known about them.

The game itself wasn't the best ever.  MSU focused their defense on Bird, holding him to a meager 7-21 from the floor, and won 75-64.  Magic may have won the title, but Bird won the awards, snagging both the Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year trophies.  But this was the start of something big.  College hoops would never be the same.  Consider the explosive revenue growth alone:  in '79, NBC paid $5.2 million for the broadcast rights to the game;  by 1982, CBS outbid them and paid $48MM and by 1985, it would go up to $96MM.  Interestingly, though, this game remains the gold standard for viewership.  More than 35 percent of all TV sets were tuned into Magic and Bird.  That record still stands.

This game began a classic rivalry of truly fierce competitors who ultimately became the closest of friends.  (When Magic announced he had AIDS in 1991, the first call he took was from Larry Bird.)  Many sports pundits credit their play for reviving the NBA in the 80s and making the month of March as mad as it is.  These two men are rightly recognized as pillars of the game and are still celebrated today...  on Broadway, even

The Final Frontier?

The first functional space shuttle, Columbia, was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center on this date in 1979.  Not even 10 years after the moon landing, and just a few years after the end of the Apollo Program, the new shuttle program was to represent America's future in space.  The Columbia had its first "maiden flight" earlier in the month perched atop a larger aircraft to test aerodynamic principles.  One of the results of that first flight was the loss of thousands of temporary and permanent thermal tiles.  The first official launch was actually scheduled for November of 1979, but was delayed because of continued problems with the tiles.  The Columbia, of course, was the shuttle that disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003 because of thermal tile malfunction.  That said, the vehicle was spaceworthy enough to complete 27 missions before its final, fatal mission.

The Shuttle program was indeed the future of the space program for over 30 years, from its maiden voyage (Columbia) on April 12, 1981 until the final flight of the Atlantis which landed safely on July 21, 2011.  With funding cuts in the last several years the future of the space program and particularly manned space flight is in jeopardy, with the most promising options being commercial, as opposed to government, ventures.  Overall, despite the tragedies of the Columbia and Challenger missions, the program was a success, with 134 successful launches and 133 safe returns out of a total of 135 missions.  Where we go next is up in the air...

Moods For Moderns

This was the week in 1979 that, after hearing NewWave and Punk records for over a year, I finally saw live what all the fuss was about.  On Tuesday March 20th, I saw Elvis Costello at the Cleveland Agora.  (To date, I've now seen him twelve times.)  His Armed Forces LP had just come out, and we'd already devoured his previous two records.  I was on spring break (my last as an undergrad) and went with some friends up to the Cleve.  Amazing show.  Unlike a lot of new bands, Elvis and his always top-notch backing band The Attractions could actually play their instruments.  And people danced! It should be noted that this was just 5 days after the infamous incident that took place in Columbus OH with Elvis getting into a nasty drunken argument with Bonnie Bramlett and Steven Stills.  Here's Elvis and the boys later in the year with "Oliver's Army"

Two nights later, I had my first opportunity to dig into the Kent-Akron music scene.  The first wave was already over, with Devo and others breaking out.  Version 2.0 was even better with dozens of great young bands. On March 22nd, I went to see the then kings of the scene, Hammer Damage.  Made up of Donny Damage on vox and rhythm guitar, Mike Hammer on drums, both from the Rubber City Rebels (part of the first bunch out of Akron along with Devo) with Scott Winkler on bass and George Cabaniss on lead, they played LOUD, tight songs with blistering guitar breaks and hilariously juvenile lyrics. How loud were they?  After spending the night parked in front of George's Marshall stack, the pressure on my head was so great all the fluid drained from my sinuses.  My ears rang for three days.  It was the first time I'd ever danced, in the sense that I just got up and started jumping around.

Damage would own Kent and Akron that year, culminating with a sweet gig opening for the B-52s at the Agora that fall.  By the end of the year, George would leave to play with The Dead Boys. The others picked up some other players and stuck it out for a few years. But they were just one of many great bands in the area:  The Action, Trudee and the Trendsetters, Unit 5, The Nelsons, Wild Giraffes (from Mentor), Human Switchboard, The Adults, and on and on.  It was an amazing scene that's still celebrated today with various bands reuniting periodically.  I'll have more on Kent-Akron happenings later in the year, but for now here's Hammer Damage with one of their best: "Laugh".  Enjoy!

And We're Live in 3 ... 2 ... 1979: C-SPAN

Brian Lamb, CEO and Founder of C-SPAN stepped down today, the 33rd anniversary of its first broadcast of US House proceedings on March 19th, 1979, a speech By Al Gore, then a representative from Tennessee.  Lamb had first conceived of the concept in 1975, envisioning a non-profit outlet for live telecasts of Congressional sessions as well as other activities.  C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) began to televise the Senate starting in 1986.  In time, the network would also broadcast sessions of the Canadian and British Parliaments, as well as other events, although numerous requests to televise the US Supreme have not been granted.  Today, there are three C-SPAN channels as well as C-SPAN radio, carried on XM Radio.  This was the first outlet for sustained live coverage of government proceedings and it has done much to promote not for profit, non partisan transparency in government.  Cheers, Brian!

All About the Currencies

The direct step toward a European currency was taken on March 13, 1979 when the European Economic Community created the ECU, or European Currency Unit, to be the "unit of account" for the European Monetary System (EMS). Described as a "currency basket", it was essentially pooling of member currencies to prevent fluctuations in value.  

In addition to the ECU, the EMS also featured an exchange rate mechanism where each currency had an exchange rate linked to the ECU.  There was also a credit mechanism with each country transferring 20% of its currency and gold reserves to a joint fund. The ECU would survive until the reunification of Germany as well as financial panics in 1992 led to calls for a more unified currency.

The ECU was the direct predecessor of the current Euro.  Three months after its creation, the first direct elections to the European Parliament would take place.  The political and financial framework of modern Europe was now in place.

Saturday Flashback: Graham Parker

Graham Parker was lumped in with Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello in the all-important "Angry Young Man" category but wasn't as big, at least in the states.  With his crack band, The Rumour, he released what many regard as his finest record in March 1979, Squeezing Out Sparks, which made a lot of "Best Of" lists back then.  Here he is with "Protection".  Enjoy!

Push Play 1: the CD

As we've seen, this was still the era of the LP record.  The beginning of the end of that dominance took place on March 8th, 1979 when Phillips first demonstrated the compact disc player.  The format for the actual disc had not been finalized, but that would start to take shape later in the month when Phillips would partner with Sony to develop a standard format.  (Fun fact: they had to change the size of the disc when Sony insisted it must be large enough to contain all of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which was 74 minutes.)

It would take a few more years for this technology to hit commercial, but when it did, the CD would revolutionize they way we listen to music.  And now it's the CD's turn to fend off new technologies. We'll hear about that soon...

Saturday Flashback: Guilty Pleasures

While the musical focus here has been and will remain New Wave, I do have some rather suspect favorites that were radio hits in 1979.  This is surely the nostalgia talking, but I still like these cuts anyway. YMMV.  Enjoy!  (Or not...)

Hey...  at least this guy used to play with Nick Lowe!

The models he would have "playing" behind him in the 80s looked better than these dudes...

OK ... there's no excuse for this one.  Whatever.

Auld Lang Sign of Things To Come

The movement for Scottish independence has been in the news lately.  Scotland had been a sovereign nation until 1707 when they were brought into the Kingdom of Great Britain. The desire for independence had been around in varying degrees for many years, but the first legislative action in this regard didn't come about until the UK Parliament passed the Scotland Act of 1978 which was intended to establish a devolved Scottish legislature. (The District of Columbia here in the States is an example of devolution.)

The Act called for a referendum on the matter that took place on March 1, 1979.  The Act stipulated that, rather than the vote being decided by a simple majority, 40% of registered voters would have to approve the measure for it to pass.  While the Act did get a majority yes vote (roughly 52%-48%), the 1.2 million Scots who voted for the measure only constituted about 33% of the voters, and the Act failed.  The Labour government of James Callaghan decided not to pursue it any further and the Scotland Act was repealed later in March.  Two months later, Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives came to power and led the UK for nearly two decades.  In 1997, Tony Blair and the "New" Labour Party took over and the issue came up again, this time successfully.  A new Scotland Act was passed the next year, elections were held in 1999 and the Scottish Parliament came into being in July of that year.

While this was still a devolved legislature, the movement for outright independence has grown and came to a head in 2011 with the elevation of the Scottis Naitional Pairtie to the majority in the Parliament.  The SNP have called for a referendum on full independence, which could take place in the fall of 2014.