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As we pass through another summer without enough holidays I want to remind everyone of my proposal to make August 16th a day of celebration. This is the day both Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley died.
We need a day that celebrates our penchant for excess and what cultural icons embody it better? The Babe had a robust lifestyle that is well documented and the King himself expired on the throne. For some reason my letters to members of Congress proposing this holiday have never been answered but maybe I'm aiming too high and we should start with a local event. Babe Ruth once visited Artillery Park and a commemorative plaque is planned. It should be unveiled next August 16th with a festival in Kirby Park where people would play baseball while being serenaded by Elvis impersonators. I'm sure it would catch on nationally.
Why don't we have more summer holidays? Memorial Day starts the summer and Labor Day ends it. The only mid summer holiday is Independence Day. We have 6 holidays between November and February. Why couldn't Washington, Lincoln and MLK Jr been born in the summer? And they certainly could have called off World War I a few months earlier.
5 comments:
Gort:
Great post. Elvis and the Babe on the same day. Both had excesses but you know they were giants in their fields. And you remember their names, their first names in a non Cher or Oprah way. I think the holiday is a good thing, I'd be for it. I also thought that the Martin Luther King day should be MLK/Civil Rights Day too. There were many people who lost their lives in the civil rights struggle along with King. Medgar Evers, the freedom riders, the 4 little girls in the church the rednecks blew up, the housewife from Detroit, Viola Liuitzo (I may not be spelling that right) and others. As for the picture with Nixon, when that photo was taken Nixon opened a drawer where he had gifts for people who came in. Elvis was planning on staying a spell and Nixon opened the drawer to give him a commemoritive parting gift. Elvis thanked him and said, "My people have mommas and girlfriends too". Nixon wound up giving him half the contents of the drawer. Hey, even a President pays tribute to a King once in a while. Gort, favorite Elvis song?
My favorite Elvis song?
His cover of MY Way. Bill Clinton doing Heartbreak Hotel on the sax is a close second.
And "Suspicious Minds"
"Don't Be Cruel". That's mine. Second: "Can't Help Falling In Love". Hit that was on the charts when he died, "Way Down".
excellent idea, I also suggest getting rid of labor day and celebrating Constitution Day on 9/17 or the monday before. The 4th celebrates our independence, but the decleration gets to much attnetion, and people think it is more important than the Constitution. So the Founding Charter needs its own day, and they only way to let people know is to have a day off and a parade with Madison, James Wilson, Washington, and John Adams( i know he was not there, but his work on the defense of the State Constitutions influcned debate he strongly supported it(While
Also if we celebrate Babe Elvis Day on 16th it spreads out the days off and sets up a situation where we have one day off about every 40 days from Memmorial day until presidents day.
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