Today is...

[IceWizard]

12 Aug 2017


National Vinyl Record Day



Vinyl Record Day is organised by (you guessed it) the Vinyl Record Day Company – a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to recognising the preserving vinyl music, its culture, art and sound. Whilst you could dust off some old vinyl records, you may be surprised to find many modern artists producing music in vinyl format to provide a richer, more immersive experience.


And




World Elephant Day



They’re intelligent. They’re family-oriented. They have great memories. They are capable of feeling a wide range of deep emotions, from intense grief to joy bordering on elation, as well as empathy and stunning self-awareness. They create complex, supportive societies much like our own. Taking into consideration all of that and much, much more, what’s not to love about elephants? Still, countless elephants are brutally killed every year for their ivory by greedy poachers who then leave their carcasses to rot in the sun. As Graydon Carter, Editor of Vanity Fair, put it:

We admire elephants in part because they demonstrate what we consider the finest human traits (…) but the way we treat them puts on display the very worst of human behavior.

World Elephant Day is the perfect time to find out more about these amazing animals and what we can do to preserve and protect them so they do not go the way of the mammoth.

The History of World Elephant Day

World Elephant Day was created in 2011 by two Canadian filmmaker Patricia Sims and Thailand’s Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and was first celebrated on August 12, 2012. The initiative was greatly supported by film star William Shatner who narrated the documentary Return to the Forest, a fascinating 30-minute film about the reintroduction of captive Asian elephants to the wild. Currently, the demand for ivory is the biggest in China, with the price of ivory often exceeding the price of gold, something that makes elephants bigger targets than ever. Habitation loss is also a danger to the world’s elephant population as it deprives elephants of the hundreds of pounds of food they need every day, making it more difficult for them to breed and making it easier for poachers to track them down. Circuses and tourism are also serious threats to the animals’ well-being. Luckily, an increasing number of both celebrities and politicians have become interested in the cause, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashley Judd and President Barack Obama.

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August 12 Birthdays




Sir Mix-a-Lot - 54




Wednesday 13 - 41




Mark Knopfler - 68









August 12th

1999: Alice Cooper’s music publisher reached an out of court settlement with Kiss’ music publisher over a claim that Kiss’ song “Dreamin’” sounded a little too close to Alice Cooper’s breakthrough hit “I’m Eighteen”.

1994: Woodstock ’94 kicked off in Saugerties, NY. The three day festival included performances by Aerosmith, the Allman Brothers Band, The Band, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Metallica, Todd Rundgren, Santana & Traffic.

1994: Heart began a five night stand at the Backstage Club in Seattle to record their acoustic album The Road Home which was released the following year.

1993: Neil Young kicked off the North American leg of his tour at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, SD. Young was backed by Booker T & the MG’s on this tour & the tour would feature opening acts such as Soundgarden & Pearl Jam.

1989: The two day Moscow Music Peace Festival kicked off at Lenin Stadium to promote fighting drug abuse in Russia & the U.S. Artists on the bill included Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, the Scorpions and Skid Row.

1989: Great White peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their cover of Ian Hunter’s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” which was their only top ten single in the U.S.

1972: Alice Cooper reached the top of the U.K. Singles Chart with “School’s Out” which spent three weeks on top of the chart. It was Cooper’s only number one single in the U.K.

1968: John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant met each other for the first time for a rehearsal. The first song they played was “Train Kept A-Rollin’”.

1967: Fleetwood Mac made their live debut at London’s National Jazz & Blues Festival. The festival’s headliners were Donavan and Pink Floyd.




Birthdays:

Mark Knopfler - Singer & guitarist for Dire Straits born in 1949

Pat Metheny born in 1954