What do Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain have in common?
Each was an influential rock musician who had a meteoric rise to fame cut short by a drug-related death at age 27.
Also dead at 27: Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Peter Ham of Badfinger, “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead, Gary Thain of Uriah Heep, Alan Wilson of Canned Heat, Jeremy Ward of The Mars Volta, Dave Alexander of the Stooges … and Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, for whatever that’s worth.
Adam Cheng isn’t very popular among stockbrokers. That’s because every time the Hong Kong actor stars in a new television show, there’s a sharp drop in global stock markets.
No one can explain it, but it’s happened eight times since 1993, when Cheng first starred as Ding Hai in the dramatic series Greed of Man. Only once, in 2004, has a new Cheng series not been accompanied by a drop in the stock market.
The world’s largest food fight takes place each year on the last Wednesday in August, when the town of Buñol, Spain, holds its annual tomato festival. Local trucks dump more than 100 metric tons of overripe tomatoes into the streets, and there’s a general free-for-all among up to 25,000 people.
Reportedly, when it’s over, rivers of tomato juice up to 12 inches deep run through the town, and area fire engines hose down the streets.
This has been going on since 1944, and apparently it has no political or religious significance — they do it just for fun.
Famous people born on Friday the 13th:
The fear of this date is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.
C-3PO and R2-D2 are the only characters that survive all six Star Wars movies.
This will be an eventful century, if our science fiction writers are right. Here’s what to expect:
Oh, and in the late 21st century Superman leaves Earth. Better hurry and get that autograph.
Sean Connery wore a toupee in all the James Bond movies. He started losing his hair at 21.
Snuffleupagus’ grandmother lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Long song titles:
The first KISS concert drew an audience of three (at the Popcorn Club in Queens, January 1973).
