Eric Hanson's Blog, page 18

Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine

on July 10, 1873 Arthur Rimbaud was shot in the wrist by his friend Paul Verlaine. Verlaine received two years imprisonment. Inspired by all the hoo-hah, the 18 year-old Rimbaud wrote his domestic farce "A Season In Hell", a pioneering work in the Symbolist movement. A century after his death, his poetry would inspire some of the more louche poets of Rock 'n' Roll, notably Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison and Patti Smith. Soon after the Verlaine break-up, Rimbaud gave up poetry altogether

O. J.

Today is O. J. Simpson's 62nd birthday. Few people appear in so many categories of the popular imagination: star athlete, film actor, pleasant TV pitchman, celebrity, criminal defendant, armed robber, con (in both senses of the word.) Juice appears three times in A Book of Ages: winning the Heisman Trophy at age 21, running through airports for Hertz Rent-a-Car at 29, becoming a widower at 47. I doubt we'll ever drink another glass of orange juice without seeing his smiling face.

Che Meets Fidel

On July 8, 1955, Che Guevara met Fidel Castro. The two talked the entire night and by morning Che had decided to join the "26th of July Movement" which hoped to overthrow the Batista government of Cuba. At first Che planned to be the group's medical officer, but he soon discovered that he had a gift for warfare. Che appears five times in A Book of Ages, Castro twice.

Uncle Duke

Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson reached another level of immortality as Uncle Duke in Doonesbury. Thompson was 36. The character made his first appearance in Garry Trudeau's comic strip on this day in 1974. Thompson appears seven times in A Book of Ages.

Running with the Bulls at Pamplona

On July 6th, 1923, Ernest Hemingway ran with the bulls for the first time at the Feast of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. He was 23. Hemingway appears 16 times in A Book of Ages.

John Meets Paul

On July 6th, 1957, John Lennon met Paul McCartney for the first time. John's skiffle band, the Quarry Men, was playing at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool. Admission: thruppence. John was 16, Paul 15. A recording of two songs from the program still exists. John's instrument at the time was a Gallotone Champion guitar he'd purchased for ten quid. Lennon and McCartney each appear seven times in A Book of Ages.

Elvis Presley

On July 5th, 1954, Elvis Presley made his first recording for Sun Records. On the one side an up-tempo version of That's All Right; on the reverse, Blue Moon of Kentucky. He was 19. On October 2nd, he made his first and only appearance at The Grand Ole Opry. One of the Opry's people recommended that Elvis go back to driving a truck. Elvis appears nine times in A Book of Ages.

Novelist and Car Thief

On July 4th, 1919, John O'Hara, the fourteen year-old future novelist and writer of New Yorker short stories, stole his father's Buick.

O'Hara was a complex mixture of conventionality and rebellion. A sensitive soul, but an irascible drunk and a nourisher of grudges. He never got the Ivy League education he'd craved (it was withdrawn after a drunken episode on the eve of his prep school valedictory). It was a loss for which the Rolls Royces he drove, the impeccable tweeds and the address and the

Walden Pond

On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a cabin on Walden Pond. He was twenty seven. Thoreau appears three times in A Book of Ages.

Fourth of July

On July 4th, 1825, the five year-old Walt Whitman was embraced by the Marquis de Lafayette who was visiting Brooklyn. The poet Whitman appears three times in A Book of Ages, Lafayette once.

A year later, on the half-centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the document, and John Adams, a signer, both died, Jefferson at home in Virginia, Adams in Massachusetts. In 1826 Adams was 91, Jefferson 83.

The two men had become bitter political rivals in