June 20th

Happy Father’s Day.

Today is the birthday

… of Olympia Dukakis. She’s 79. Miss Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress for Moonstruck.

… of Martin Landau. He’s 79. Mr. Landau has been nominated for three best supporting actor Oscars, winning of course for Ed Wood.

… of Danny Aiello. He’s 77. Mr. Aiello was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for Do The Right Thing.

… of John Mahoney. This retired Seattle cop, the father of two psychiatrists, is 70. You know, Frasier’s dad, Martin Crane.

… of Brian Wilson; he’s 68. Perhaps the greatest American composer of popular music of the past 40+ years,

One of the undisputed geniuses in popular music, Brian demonstrated an uncanny gift for harmonic invention and complex vocal and instrumental arrangements. Initially, the magnitude of that genius was overlooked owing to the subject matter of the band’s early hits: i.e., surfing, hot rods and teen romance. But today even the lyrics to those songs – generally written by Mike Love or such outside collaborators as deejay Roger Christian and producer Gary Usher – are celebrated for their deft use of technical lingo and youthful joie de vivre. “A lot of love went into our singing, our harmonies, the making of those records,” Brian Wilson said in 2003.

Music had always been a family affair in the Wilson household, as father Murry was himself an aspiring musician and songwriter. The Beach Boys’ odyssey began in 1951, when young Brian sang a song (“The Old Soldier”) written by his ten-year-old cousin Mike at a family gathering. By 1961, a teenaged Brian – joined by Mike, brothers Carl and Dennis, and friend Al Jardine – were reguarly harmonizing around the family piano. When their parents left town on a weekend vacation, the Wilson brothers used the emergency money they’d been given to rent musical instruments. They worked up an arrangement for their first original song, “Surfin’.” Dennis Wilson, the only member who actually surfed, suggested the subject matter, while Brian and Mike wrote the song.

The Beach Boys Biography | The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

… of Anne Murray, 65.

… of Bob Vila. He’s 64, so it’s not just “This Old House” that’s old anymore.

… of Lionel Richie, 61. Richie, alone or in groups, has sold more than 100 million records.

… of John Goodman. He’s 58. Goodman has been nominated for eight Emmys without a victory. He did win a Golden Globe for playing Roseanne’s husband Dan. Goodman has lost an incredible amount of weight recently — he admits to topping out at near 400 pounds.

… of Nicole Kidman. She’s 43. Nominated for best actress twice, Miss Kidman won the Oscar for The Hours.

Chet Atkins was born on June 20th in 1924. He died of lung cancer in 2001.

Few guitarists have had more influence on the instrument than Chet Atkins. In Atkins’ case, his influence extends from the country-music realm into rock and roll, as well. As a studio musician, he appeared on records by Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and countless country musicians. Atkins’ thumb-and-fingerpicking style influenced George Harrison, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, Eddie Cochran, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, as well as innumerable country pickers. Even the likes of Ted Nugent has credited Atkins with inspiring him to take up the instrument. ”I think he influenced everybody who picked up a guitar,” said Duane Eddy.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Errol Flynn was born on June 20th in 1909. Flynn was from Tasmania, Australia — his mother was descended from one of the Bounty mutineers. The role that made him a sensation was Captain Blood in 1935. Most of his movie portrayals were of the swashbuckle type. Drugs and alcohol took their toll, and Flynn died at age 50.

Flynn’s yacht registration was among the records NewMexiKen once managed. The purpose for the vessel he wrote on the government form was: “Pleasure! Pleasure! Pleasure!”

Lillian Hellman was born on June 20th in 1905.

Her first big success was The Children’s Hour — which premiered on Broadway in 1934 — about a pompous boarding school child who damaged the reputations of the two school directors by accusing them of being lesbians. The play was banned in many places, including Boston and Chicago. Hellman later adapted the play for film, changing the scandalous relationship into a love triangle, and it came out as These Three in 1936.

She wrote several volumes of memoirs, including An Unfinished Woman (1969), about her New Orleans childhood; Pentimento (1973), which inspired a film; and Scoundrel Time (1976), which included an account of her testimony before the Un-American Activities House Committee.

Hellman said, “People change and forget to tell each other.”

The Writer’s Almanac (2008)