AUGUST 11 – 1973 DJ Kool Herc plays breakbeat; 1874Parmalee invents auto sprinkler system; 1984 Reagan makes joke on NPR; 1896 Hebbull invents pull chain for lights; 1919 Happy Birthday Green Bay Packers
AUGUST 11
1973 – DJ Kool Herc plays a breakbeat
…at his sister’s party, and hip hop as we know it today is born. While everyone else was listening to disco, Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc was on the turntables at parties spinning records from James BrownMandrill, and Jimmy Castor Bunch. Herc noticed that people were dancing the most to the funkiest parts of the songs that happened at drum breaks, and Herc used two turntables to play a copy of the same song and segue between them, extending the beat of the song.
He called this the Merry Go Round, but these days it’s called the break beat. These parties attracted young dancers, called b-boys, who began the dancing style that would evolve to breakdancing in the 1980s. Grandmaster Flash took this model of hip hop and perfect the method, but Herc is the one who is credited for creating it, on August 11, 1973, at his biggest party yet, using the most powerful sound system yet and the party began a grassroots musical revolution.
1874 – Henry Parmelee patents the sprinkler head. Why? Because he needed to protect his piano factory, Because this is how great Americans like Parmelee thinks. Now there were other sprinkler heads before this time, but he is credited for patenting the first Automated sprinkler system.
1984 – We will begin booming in five minutes. President Ronald Reagan was testing his microphone before delivering his weekly Saturday radio address on NPR radio when he joked: “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” It’s not like the microphone was on at the time, and Reagan was known for joking before speeches. But somehow the phrase got leaked out and became a threat to his campaign when the Democratic party exploited and put presidential hopeful Walter Mondale ahead in the polls for awhile. The Russians also didn’t think it was very funny by saying The USSR condemns the unprecedented and hostile attack, blah blah blah. Whatever It was a joke, son. Get over it.
1896 – From Connecticut, Harvey Hubbell patented his electric light bulb socket featuring a pull chain. Hubbell had a total of forty five patents, mostly for this invention.
1919 – The Green Bay Packers are born. Founded by George Calhoun and Curly Lambeau, former high school football rivals, named this football team after their sponsor the Indian Packing Company, from where they got their uniforms. Playing longer in their original city than any team in the NFL, the Packers had some great seasons, including the Lambeau era, Don Hutson era, the late 1940 and early 50s Wilderness Area, Lombardi era and the glory years of the 60s, and the Brett Favre era from 1992 -2007. The Packers have won four Super Bowl championships, while their bitter rival, the Chicago Bears have only had one. The great rivalry between the two teams has been going on since 1921.