Back In the Day-The Earth Was Celebrated

March 21st, the Hatfields and McCoys stopped feuding, Martin Luther King, Jr. Marched.  John and Yoko bedded down for peace, Central Park turned into Strawberry Fields and Jennifer Lopez graced the big screen as Selena.

1891 – The family feud between the HATFIELDS & MCCOYS ended with a marriage.  The feud started in 1862 over the attempted elopement of Johnse Hatfield and Rosanna McCoy or over Floyd Hatfield stealing a hog belonging to Randolph McCoy.

1965 – DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING led 3,000 Civil Rights demonstrators on a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand voting rights for blacks.  By the end of the march, 25,000 people had joined in.

1969 – One day after getting married, JOHN LENNON and YOKO ONO began their “BED-IN FOR PEACE” in an Amsterdam hotel room.

1970 – EARTH DAY took place for the first time in, you guessed it, San Francisco.

1970 - “ABC”, by TITO JACKSON & THE JACKSON 5 was released!  The song was Tito’s second hit and also his second hit to go to #1!

1980 - President JIMMY CARTER announced to the U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM that they would not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow, as a boycott against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1984 - A portion of CENTRAL PARK in New York was renamed STRAWBERRY FIELDS, in honor of JOHN LENNON.

1985 - LARRY FLYNT offered to sell his entire pornographic empire for $26 million  or just “Hustler” magazine alone for $18 million.

1989 – DICK CLARK announced that he was stepping down as host of “American Bandstand”, after 33 years.  (More than 10,000 musical guests had appeared on the “Bandstand”, and over 600,000 nubile teeny-boppers danced before the TV cameras during Dick Clark’s reign .)

1994 – MICHAEL JORDAN was cut from the CHICAGO WHITE SOX roster and sent to the minor leagues.

1994 - At the 66th Academy Awards, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN won the Best Song Oscar for “Streets Of Philadelphia”, from the movie “Philadelphia”.  The song was the first that Springsteen had ever written directly for a film.

(STEVEN SPIELBERG picked up his first Oscars  Best Picture and Best Director for “Schindler’s List”.  TOM HANKS won Best Actor for “Philadelphia” and HOLLY HUNTER took Best Actress for “The Piano”.)

1995 - “News Radio” (with ANDY DICK and the amazing PHIL HARTMAN) premiered on NBC.

1997 – “Selena” was released starring JENNIFER LOPEZ as the slain Tejano singer.

1989 – “Sports Illustrated” reported allegations that PETE ROSE bet on baseball.  He finally admitted he did just that in 2004.

1999 - At the 71st Academy Awards, “Shakespeare In Love” won seven Oscars, including Best Actress for GWYNETH PALTROW and Best Picture.

( ROBERTO BENIGNI won Best Actor for “Life Is Beautiful”;  and STEVEN SPIELBERG won Best Director for “Saving Private Ryan”.)