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Let’s start the historical tidbits with deaths on this day, and then we’ll move into folks we wish were dead (see O.J. below…): Janet Leigh died on this day in 2004 (at age 76), and she can take the knowledge to her grave that getting into a shower will never again be a relaxing experience. No worries, I’m a bath guy myself.

Folk singer Woodie Guthrie died today in 1967 at age 55. Woodie wrote songs for the disenfranchised, and, was way ahead of Al Gore on issues such as the environment and free speech. In addition to almost 3000 tunes about truth and justice, the Woodman crafted one of the greatest camp songs of all time: “This Land is Your Land”. Cartoonist William Steig also put his pencil down for the last time on October 3, 2003 – but he had a helluva run, making it to 95 years of age.

Births were plenty on this day, including glam-rocker Gwen Stefani (born in ’69), tatted Tommy Lee in ’62 (lucky bastard), Stevie Ray Vaughan (born in 1954 and taken WAY too soon in ‘90), twistin’ Chubby Checker (1941), Al “Photo Op” Sharpton (1954) and Chinese revolutionary Li Tzu-ch’eng (born in 1605) who dethroned the last Ming emperor, but, more importantly, I wanted to include in my blog so that we could have drugs, sex, rock n’ roll and ancient Chinese history - all in one entry. Gore Vidal (1925) was born today, too, and should be represented here by his own words: “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”