| 
 |
Monday, May 18, 2009
(1961) |
Headlines---
Archive---Apirl 18, 2004
$77.5 Million Gym Ponzi Scheme
Classified Ads---Syndicator
FBI Calls HL Leasing a "Ponzi Scam"
Top 25 Most Influential Leasing People
Leasing News Top Stories--May 11--15
Classified ads---Help Wanted
Certified Leasing Professional Survey
Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
Purchase Options
Bank Beat---Pugent Sound area, Washington
You May have Missed---
California Nuts Brief---
Sports Briefs---
Gimme that Wine"
Today's Top Event in History
This Day in American History
Baseball Poem
SuDoku
Daily Puzzle
GasBuddy
Weather, USA or specific area
Traffic Live----
######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release”
 |
--------------------------------------------------------------
Archive April 18, 2004
$77.5 Million Gym Ponzi Scheme
Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch has accused Cameron J. Lewis of operating a pyramid scheme by using money from newly enlisted schools - not grants or donations - to make token reimbursements to schools that signed up early to buy or lease fitness equipment. Many of the schools were left unable to pay off bank loans or satisfy leasing terms.
600 schools in 20 states reportedly bought $77.5 million worth of weight machines, treadmills and other equipment with much of it leased from various leasing companies.
Cameron set up a foundation with the promise that private donations or government grants would cover the cost of the equipment or the lease payments.
Chris Essman, treasurer for Bexley City Schools in Ohio says the school district has received $70,000 in reimbursements. It still owes over $140,000 in lease payments on the equipment.
An investigation by The Associated Press reveals Lewis has had a string of failed businesses, a history of personal bankruptcy and used his nonprofit foundation to give himself a $317,358 salary.
According to AP, Lewis makes for an unlikely philanthropist; he claims to have poured $1.6 million of his own money into the foundation. But when filing for bankruptcy in 1996, he listed $6,840 in assets, including a six-year-old Isuzi truck and an electric guitar, with nearly $20,000 in liabilities.
Tax returns for the National School Fitness Foundation reportedly show Lewis was collecting a $317,358 salary, but he claims that salary covered the foundation's first two years. He said his present income from the foundation is $185,000 per year plus expenses.
Francine Giani, director of Utah's Consumer Protection Division, is Utah schools have filed no complaints, ``which makes our job a little more tasking,'' she added.
Lewis, meanwhile, told the Associated Press he was committed to improving the lives of overweight school kids by providing exercise machines and a training regimen.
The sad thing is that many kids are obese and the likelihood they can get past that in adolescence is slim to none. It's a sad, sad fact,'' he told AP. ``Here we've got a program that really works.''
Archive Story:
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202004/5-18-04.htm#gym
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Classified Ads---Syndicator
Syndicator
|
Chicago, IL
Overland Park, KS Westchester County, NY |
For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm
To place a free “job wanted” Leasing News ad:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted-post.htm
ELFA Career Center: Job Seekers ( free ):
http://careers.elfaonline.org/search.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Calls it a "Ponzi Scam"
Fresno Bee Newspaper (Fresno, California)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Top 25 Most Influential Leasing People
Looking for nominations for the Top 25 most influential people in the leasing business who are still alive. They may be retired or still active. This is not a popularity contest or who was the most beneficial, but most influential. Would like a nomination and one or two sentences as the reasons you consider this person one of the top 25.
"Influential" as "a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence the course of events" {Online Dictionary}.
When the list exceeds 25, there will be a point when the top 25 on the list will be finalized. Nominations will appear in two parts: New Nominations/The Top List to Date (alphabetical) Again, this is not a popularity contest and those making the nomination will not be named. Internet Netiquette to be followed.
To give an example, here are obvious people to start the list:
Thomas Depping, founder of Sierra Cities and Main Street Bank; organized a large company by combining many smaller successful operations into one; major influence in securitization and how business is conducted, perhaps revolutionized the way business is done today in the private label program.
John Kruse, System 1/Capital Stream, instrumental in the first low cost software for brokers and small lessors to keep track of leases, contact management, as well as automatically type contracts of many leasing companies, unheard of in its day and quite inexpensive. Developed private label programs for the one person office to compete with much larger operations. The program grew for use with medium sized lessors and new owners wanted it to reach a more lucrative client usage.
Jim Merrilees, now with QuikTrak, first to develop a "wide area network" BLISS before the days of the internet. Steered the Pegasus dealer program, and under his watch a computer credit scoring profile for both vendor and broker business in a highly quick process; later expanded this using the internet.
David Murray, co-founder Direct Capital/Preferred Lease, founded the first telemarketing company based on computer program information, copied by many today, hiring college students and young people to follow a script, then selling the leases off in groups to funders.
Paul Weiss, best known buyers of capital equipment portfolios beginning in the 1980s, working on innovative financing structures and finding new ways to structure transactions that had considerable residual value upside. In partnership with Beau Clarke, Weiss acquired ICON Capital in 1996 and introduced the first sizable portfolio acquisition strategy to a public fundraising vehicle. ICON became one of the largest independently owned leasing company; the largest public leasing program sponsor in that industry's history, changing the way that industry operating and causing many imitators who were unable to match ICON's dramatic success.
To nominate: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org
Subject Line: Top 25
Comments or corrections in descriptions are also welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Leasing News Top Stories--May 11--15
Here are the top ten stories opened by readers:
(1) Clarification---"Bank of the West/Bremerton bank fails"
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-13-09.htm#bow
(2) Bank Beat-Bank of the West/Bremerton bank fails
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-11-09.htm#beat
(3) Mike Rizzo let go at US Bank Manifest
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-13-09.htm#mike
(4) Readers saddened by the passing of John Otto
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-13-09.htm#sad
(5) HL Leasing $132 Million Fraud? What's Next?
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-15-09.htm#hll
(6) Major Bank CEO: "Run this by me again"
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-15-09.htm#major
(7) Medical/Dental Sales Group Looking for a "Home"
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-13-09.htm#mdd
(8) Heritage Pacific Leasing, Fresno, California by Christopher Menkin
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-11-09.htm#hpl
(9) Investors suspect Heritage Leasing $132 Million Fraud by Christopher Menkin
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/May%202009/05-13-09.htm#fraud
(10) Chrysler to cut 800 dealers on Thursday
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHRYSLER_DEALERS?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=
HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
----------------------------------------------------------------
Classified ads---Help Wanted
Sales
 |
The iFinancial Group is looking for highly motivated individuals with experience originating equipment lease transactions . We offer a relaxed work environment, provide leads and offer above industry standard commission. Call Todd Clark 888-852-5155 x223 Ten years providing financing nationwide |
 |
Like selling vendor programs and large transactions? CLICK HERE to find out how to have fun again. |
----------------------------------------------------------------
Certified Leasing Professional Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------
Leasing 102
by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
Purchase Options
From the view point of the rule makers any time you have a purchase option they question if the Lessor is trying to pass title, at lease termination, and therefore it is the "intent" of both parties to create a disguised conditional sales contract or a lease intended as a security. Many times we offer a purchase option irrespective of the lessee's interest under the assumption they want one. If a "lease" has been discussed perhaps they actually want to only use it for their term of use. I would not assume they want a purchase option until they ask for one. Most lessees do not know the impact for tax or accounting so they need some direction.
Anything can be sold or bargained for at lease termination or even during the term without an option being stated in the lease. I usually suggest telling the lessee that you are open to any offers but do not place an option in your lease to maintain the integrity of the lease. Remember to sell a lease on its virtues and not as a fancy form of financing.
You can provide a purchase option that is fixed that will pass muster for operating leases (accounting), true leases (income tax), and Article 2A (legal), providing that the amount of the option is equal to or exceeds the "reasonably predictable" future value. This must be backed up by research and attested to by some industry expert such as a vendor of that kind of equipment or a recognized industry guide book.
It is still not safe if you create burdens that force the lessee to purchase the equipment because it is cheaper than complying with the lease requirements.
A true Fair Market Purchase Option (FMV) would appear to be acceptable, but on occasion to strong return conditions that include heavy transportation responsibilities that make the FMV option cheaper than complying with the return conditions make the FMV option a bargain and you will lose your lease status.
A purchase option is always an option so remember that your lessee looks at it as an amount they do not have to pay more than and will probably offer you less. Therefore it is wise to remember the tax requirement that if your residual and the purchase option are one and the same you will fail the income tax test and only your lessee can have capital recovery benefits. Most Lessors' restrict the residual to 80% of the purchase option to leave a little negotiating room and to comply with tax law. Without an equipment profit at lease termination your lease will have the same economics as a loan and with fail the tax test under a tax audit.
Purchase options are the result of not selling a lease but just reacting to the lessees request for financing. I know it seems acceptable to provide a proposal using the lessee's guidelines but if you probe the actual term of use and accounting treatment you may find that putting a plan b into the proposal that matches the actual need will win you more business and create a relationship instead of a transaction.
Mr. Terry Winders, CLP, has been a teacher, consultant, expert witness for the leasing industry for thirty years and can be reached at leaseconsulting@msn.com or 502-327-8666.
He invites your questions and queries.
Previous #102 Columns:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Leasing_102/Index.htm
Bank Beat---Pugent Sound area, Washington
http://www.kitsapsun.com (LARRY STEAGALL | KITSAP SUN)
All the attention in last week's column seemed to miss another community bank failure, the 33rd. This one seems to be one of the successful decisions that seem to have worked out for all concerns, except for the investors in the bank, who perhaps may be entitled to a tax benefit. One would guess they would rather have the cash than the write-off.
The FDIC told the Kipsap Sun it does not see the Puget Sound area as having bank difficulties. It is ironic that First Sound Bank is involved in disputes regarding the acquisition of Pugent Sound Leasing. First Sound Bank is reportedly in a sound condition. The closure of Westsound and take over by Kitsap Bank was necessary as Westsound reportedly had the third-most non-performing loans in the country. The bank was heavily into construction loans.
It was the commercial real estate and construction loans that were in default. Creditors could not make the payments. Kitsap also worked a Countrywide Real Estate program for high-end residential homes that reportedly left them high and dry on loans. The interim loans defaulted as take-outs became dry and not obtainable.
The Kipsap Sun described it:
"Kitsap Bank leaders and regulators, meeting at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Bremerton, sealed the deal only last Thursday afternoon. Washington State only approved the deal Friday morning, the same day regulators seized Westsound Bank.
"Those hours Friday were choreographed like a ballet. The press and public were not informed until 6 p.m., simultaneously by regulators and Kitsap Bank, to avoid panic.
"Around then, (Kitsap Bank President Jim) Carmichael and three others from Kitsap Bank filed somberly into Westsound's headquarters, and the transition work that would last all weekend began.
"'It was pretty subdued,' Carmichael said of Friday night. Employees were told what happened, and most of the former Westsound workers now are receiving their paychecks from the FDIC during the time of transition."
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/may/11/re-opening-former-westsound-bank-branches-goes-smo/
There are nine branches with Kitsap employees involved, but there will not be any changing over to Kitsap for 90 days, as the bank has this time period to decide which branches it wants to keep open. Most Westsound employee will be asked to stay, although there will be changes, it was reported.
The purchase brought Kitsap's bank assets up to a billion dollars, making it the largest bank on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, bringing the bank into the top ten percent of nation's banks when measured in assets, according to the Kitsap Sun.
In the purchase, they took on the deposits, assuming $49 million in cash and securities and another $210 million in deposits, for a transaction of around $260 million. The FDIC holds the loans. They state the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund will be $108 million.
Next week, an example of an Idaho bank that claims it was not necessary for the FDIC close their bank down. The chairman of the bank describes the FDIC as being a "Gestapo" in their takeover.
Bank failure created a need for about $700 million in agricultural loans
http://www.forbes.com:80/feeds/ap/2009/05/16/ap6431377.html
List of Bank Failures:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
You May have Missed---
S.F.Bay to Breakers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2009/05/17/bay_to_breakers.DTL&o=0&type=gallery
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Briefs----
Magic beat Celtics to advance to East finals
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2009-05-17-magic-celtics-game-7_N.htm
Rockets fall sort of upsetting Lakers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/17/sports/s152914D37.DTL
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. Honored (It's about time!!!)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ninerinsider/index?
----------------------------------------------------------------
California Nuts Briefs---
Measure to freeze California legislators' pay sends a message
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1868292.html
Schwarzenegger's vaunted salesmanship tested
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/17/MNR817L937.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1
----------------------------------------------------------------
“Gimme that Wine”
"Two Buck Chuck" founder defends cheap wine
http://www.examiner.com/x-6887-Northern-California-Wine-Examiner~y2009m5d14-Two-Buck-Chuck-founder-defends-cheap-wine
Wines a Billionaire Drinks
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/14/billionaire-wine-picks-lifestyle-wine-billionaire-picks.html
Bordeaux wine harvest decimated by severe hail storms
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bordeaux-wine-harvest-decimated-by-severe-hail-storms-1685218.html
Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/
Never Buy a Bad Bottle of Wine Again
http://www.slate.com/id/2217806/
Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/
US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/
Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas/\
Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm
The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) is an electronic exchange for fine wine.
http://www.liv-ex.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Top Event in History
1965 -- Outer Space: Gene Roddenberry suggests 16 names -- including Kirk -- for Star Trek Captain. It will never fly say some. And small hand held devices that you can talk as if you are on a telephone anywhere, who would believe it. In the Next Generation they were on the shirt that you could turn on with a touch or vocal command or attach to your ear. Unheard of.
[headlines]
----------------------------------------------------------------
This Day in American History
1631 -The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that 'no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits' of the colony. (Separation of church and state was an unthinkable concept in early American colonialism. In contrast to what is taught in schools, most were not escaping for religious freedoms, but were missionaries with strong prejudices against other religious groups except for their own.)
1652- Rhode Island enacted a slavery emancipation law: “No blacken mankind or white... (maybe) forced by covenant bond or otherwise to serve any man or his assignees longer than ten years, or until they come to be 24 years of age, if they be taken in under 15, from the time of their coming within the Liberties of the Colonies, and at the end of termed of ten years... (are to be set) free, as is the manner with the English servants. And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them elsewhere, to that end that they may be enslaved to others for a long time, he or they shall forfeit to the Colonie forty pounds.”
1766- The Church of the United Brethren in Christ was organized in Lancaster, PA, under the leadership of Martin Boehm, 41, and Philip William Otterbein, 39. (It became a branch of the Evangelical United Brethren in 1946.)
1798 - The first Secretary of the U.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.
http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/stoddert.htm
http://www.mariner.org/usnavy/05/05d.htm
1827 -- Josiah Warren opens his first Time Store in Cincinnati, Ohio — the first commercial cooperative. Warren, Josiah, 1798–1874, American reformer & anarchist, b. Boston. An early follower of Robert Owen, he soon rejected Owen's political socialism, advocating instead anarchy based on “the sovereignty of the individual.” Warren founded several “equity” or "time" stores, with the idea of exchanging goods for an equivalent amount of labor & on the principle that cost should be the limit of price. He also established three utopian colonies; the most successful was Modern Times (1851–c.1860), Long Island, N.Y. (now Brentwood). The most important of his publications was True Civilization (1863, 5th ed. 1875).
http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/warren.html
See "The Lemonade Ocean & Modern Times" by Hakim Bey,
http://www.evolutionzone.com/kulturezone/bey/lemonade.ocean.and.modern.times.html
http://www.blancmange.net/tmh/articles/manifesto.shtml
http://www.blackcrayon.com/people/warren/
1836-- Cynthia Ann Parker, a blue-eyed blonde Caucasian woman, was captured by the Comanche at age nine. When U.S. soldiers found her four years later in a Comanche camp where she was living under the name "Prelock," she refused to return. She said she was happy living as a Comanche. ///In 1860 she and her infant daughter were captured in a U.S. army raid and were forcibly detained. She was sent to Parker's father. The infant died soon after capture and Prelock died in 1864, according to legend, by starving herself to death longing to go back to the Comanche way of life. ///Her eldest son Quanah became chief of the Kwahadi tribe which held out against the white man. Some called him the most ferocious Indian who ever lived. In 1875 he suddenly brought his people in and settled near the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma and saw to it that Comanche children went to school and were educated.
1849-Sailing ship "Grey Eagle" arrived in San Francisco with 34 passengers from the East in 113 days, a record at that time.
1852- Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school
1860 --Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president.
06 November 1860, Lincoln defeated his opponents with only 40% of the popular vote, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. The announcement of his victory signaled the secession of the Southern states, which since the beginning of the year had been publicly threatening secession if the Republicans gained the White House. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration on 04 March 1861, seven states had seceded and the Confederate States of America had been formally established with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began when Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
1863- A new sport became available to Americans with the introduction of roller skating by James L. Plimpton. Plimpton invented the four-wheel skate, which worked on rubber pads, thus permitting skaters to change direction by shifting their weight to one side or the other without lift the wheels of the skate off the ground. Roller skating became fashionable in New York City and soon spread to other cities. In Newport, R.I., the Roller Skating Association leased the Atlantic House and turned its dinning room and plaza into a skating rink. In Chicago, the Casino could accommodate 3000 spectators and 1000 skaters. In San Francisco, a rink advertised 5000 pairs of skates available for rent.
1863- Union General Ulysses S. Grant surrounds Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, in one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war. On May 16, Grant fought the Confederates under John C. Pemberton at Champion's Hill and defeated them decisively. He then attacked again at the Big Black River the next day, and Pemberton fled into Vicksburg with Grant following close behind. The trap was now complete and Pemberton was stuck in Vicksburg, although his forces would hold out until July 4. In the three weeks since Grant crossed the Mississippi in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, Grant's men marched 180 miles and won five battles. They took nearly 100 Confederate artillery pieces and nearly 6,000 prisoners, all with relatively light losses.
1864--The fighting at Spotsylvania in Virginia, reaches its peak at the Bloody Angle.
1867--*GRANDSTAFF, BRUCE ALAN Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Platoon Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry. Place and date: Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1967. Entered service at: Spokane, Wash. Born: 2 June 1934, Spokane, Wash. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. P/Sgt. Grandstaff distinguished himself while leading the Weapons Platoon, Company B, on a reconnaissance mission near the Cambodian border. His platoon was advancing through intermittent enemy contact when it was struck by heavy small arms and automatic weapons fire from 3 sides. As he established a defensive perimeter, P/Sgt. Grandstaff noted that several of his men had been struck down. He raced 30 meters through the intense fire to aid them but could only save 1. Denied freedom to maneuver his unit by the intensity of the enemy onslaught, he adjusted artillery to within 45 meters of his position. When helicopter gunships arrived, he crawled outside the defensive position to mark the location with smoke grenades. Realizing his first marker was probably ineffective, he crawled to another location and threw his last smoke grenade but the smoke did not penetrate the jungle foliage. Seriously wounded in the leg during this effort he returned to his radio and, refusing medical aid, adjusted the artillery even closer as the enemy advanced on his position. Recognizing the need for additional firepower, he again braved the enemy fusillade, crawled to the edge of his position and fired several magazines of tracer ammunition through the jungle canopy. He succeeded in designating the location to the gunships but this action again drew the enemy fire and he was wounded in the other leg. Now enduring intense pain and bleeding profusely, he crawled to within 10 meters of an enemy machine gun which had caused many casualties among his men. He destroyed the position with hand grenades but received additional wounds. Rallying his remaining men to withstand the enemy assaults, he realized his position was being overrun and asked for artillery directly on his location. He fought until mortally wounded by an enemy rocket. Although every man in the platoon was a casualty, survivors attest to the indomitable spirit and exceptional courage of this outstanding combat leader who inspired his men to fight courageously against overwhelming odds and cost the enemy heavy casualties. P/Sgt. Grandstaff's selfless gallantry, above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
1872 -- Bertrand Russell born (1872-1970), Trelleck, Wales. Philosopher, mathematician & social critic, one of the most widely read philosophers of this century. Awarded Nobel for Literature, 1950. Outspoken pacifist, imprisoned during WWI. Abandoned pacifism during WWII, but was a leading figure in the antinuclear movement. Imprisoned in 1961 for taking part in a demonstration in Whitehall. A pioneer of logical positivism. I took a course from him at UCLA and have read most of his books.
http://www.mcmaster.ca/russdocs/russell.htm
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/brussell.htm
http://www.sci.fi/~phinnweb/links/philosophy.html
1883 - An F4 tornado tracked 20 miles through Kenosha and Racine Counties in Wisconsin. 8 people were killed and 85 were injured. The tornado made a spectacular exit as a multiple vortex waterspout over Lake Michigan and was described as: "whirling columns of air seemed like great wreaths of smoke, bearing with them spiral columns of water...a half dozen could be seen at a time, then all would disappear and new ones would reform".
1896- Plessy v. Ferguson: the Supreme Court ruled separate-but-equal facilities constitutional on intrastate railroads. For fifty years, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld the principle of racial segregation. Across the country, laws mandated separate accommodations on buses and trains, and in hotels, theaters, and schools. The premise was separate, but “equal.” When I first went to New Orleans in 1958, the facilities were not equal, but certainly separate. As I traveled in other parts of the South, Blacks would walk on one side of the main street, and whites on the other. Restaurants were “white only.” Rest rooms were “white only.” Even the French Quarter was quite segregated with “white only” jazz clubs, and further down you would find “black” or “Cajun,” which was even “rougher.” Drinks were much cheaper, the food simple, but delicious. We were musicians, so we never experienced any difficulty as often the two of use would be the only whites in the club. We had our own mouthpieces, as it was the tradition then, as I believe now, if you play someone else’s instrument, you used your own mouthpiece. I had both a clarinet and alto sax; Warren had his trumpet mouthpiece, which he carries still today when we have gone to places where he would be invited to play.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may18.html
1900--Birthday of author Laura Z. Hobson. She wrote revolutionary novels about social injustices. "Gentleman's Agreement" dealt with anti-Semitism, "Tenth Month," on unwed motherhood, "Consenting Adult," on homosexuality.
1901-Birthday of Jeanette Macdonald, very popular U.S. singer-actor best known today for her singing over the ruins of San Francisco (1936) and duets with Canadian Mounties although she was an accomplished Broadway actor and a fine comedic player. She was one of the top money grossers of her era.
1902 - An f4 tornado struck the town of Goliad, Texas, killing 114 people. No U.S. tornado disaster of similar magnitude has ever occurred further south than this event.
1902 --Birthday of Meredith Wilson, composer and lyricist (The Music Man).
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist/willson.html
1911-Blues Shouter Joseph Vernon “Big Joe” Turner born Kansas, City, Mo-- one of the forefathers of rock 'n' roll. His 1950's recordings of such songs as "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Honey Hush" and "Flip, Flop and Fly" are rock 'n' roll classics. But Turner had been singing for more than 20 years when these songs were recorded. In the 1930's, he teamed with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson. Their appearance at John Hammond's famed "Spirituals to Swing" concert in 1938 helped spark the boogie-woogie craze of the time. In 1951, Turner began recording rhythm-and-blues for Atlantic Records. Many of his songs were rock 'n roll hits when recorded by white artists. Bill Haley turned "Shake, Rattle and Roll" into a million-seller in 1954 and Pat Boone had a pop hit with Turner's "Chains of Love" in 1956. In the '60s, Big Joe Turner turned to jazz singing, continuing to perform and record until his death on November 24th, 1985.
1912—Perry Como birthday, born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. A self-described admirer of Bing Crosby, Como copied Crosby's singing style and relaxed approach. He was a barber whose first record, "Goodbye Sue," was a hit in 1943. And so was "And I Love You So," recorded more than 30 years later. His other successes have included "Till the End of Time," "Temptation" and "It's Impossible." On television, Perry Como was the host of "The Chesterfield Supper Club," "The Perry Como Show" and "The Kraft Music Hall." He was perhaps the most popular singer on television in the 1950's.
1912-Birthday of Sylvia Porter, financial writer who first wrote under her initials because men would not pay attention to a woman financial writer. She was long been recognized as one of the finest authorities in the field.
1922-Trombonist Kai Winding born Aarhus, Denmark
1927 - Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard was opened, the first of the Fox chain of movie theaters. The lavish 2,200 seat theater cost $1 million to build. Its first film was shown on this date, Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings, at the high price of $2.00 per seat. It was later renamed Mann's Chinese Theater.
1927 -- Bath, Michigan School Disaster. Andrew Kehoe, seeking revenge against the community for taxes imposed on his farm to pay for a new school, set off a TNT bomb in the school, killing 43 people, including 39 grade-school children. After the explosion, Kehoe killed his wife, then drove his truck back, loaded with dynamite & nails, to the school, & set it off, killing himself & the school superintendent.
1931-Bix Biederbecke joins Casa Loma Band for a date at Metropolitan Hotel, Boston.
1933--- President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
1942--Birthday of Rodney Dillard, of the electric bluegrass group, the Dillards, born in Salem, Missouri. Formed in 1962, the Dillards left their home state that year for Hollywood where they played a hillbilly band on TV's "Andy Griffith Show." Their albums contained songs by folk and rock composers such as Bob Dylan, and their use of electric instruments helped pave the way for such country-rock groups as the Byrds and the Eagles.
1942--STEWART, JIMMY G. Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1966. Entered service at: Ashland, Ky. Born: 25 December 1942, West Columbia, W. Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Early in the morning a reinforced North Vietnamese company attacked Company B, which was manning a defensive perimeter in Vietnam. The surprise onslaught wounded 5 members of a 6-man squad caught in the direct path of the enemy's thrust. S/Sgt. Stewart became a lone defender of vital terrain--virtually 1 man against a hostile platoon. Refusing to take advantage of a lull in the firing which would have permitted him to withdraw, S/Sgt. Stewart elected to hold his ground to protect his fallen comrades and prevent an enemy penetration of the company perimeter. As the full force of the platoon-sized man attack struck his lone position, he fought like a man possessed; emptying magazine after magazine at the determined, on-charging enemy. The enemy drove almost to his position and hurled grenades, but S/Sgt. Stewart decimated them by retrieving and throwing the grenades back. Exhausting his ammunition, he crawled under intense fire to his wounded team members and collected ammunition that they were unable to use. Far past the normal point of exhaustion, he held his position for 4 harrowing hours and through 3 assaults, annihilating the enemy as they approached and before they could get a foothold. As a result of his defense, the company position held until the arrival of a reinforcing platoon which counterattacked the enemy, now occupying foxholes to the left of S/Sgt. Stewart's position. After the counterattack, his body was found in a shallow enemy hole where he had advanced in order to add his fire to that of the counterattacking platoon. Eight enemy dead were found around his immediate position, with evidence that 15 others had been dragged away. The wounded whom he gave his life to protect, were recovered and evacuated. S/Sgt. Stewart's indomitable courage, in the face of overwhelming odds, stands as a tribute to himself and an inspiration to all men of his unit. His actions were in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and the Armed Forces of his country.
1944- The Allies Captured Monte Cassino (you may remember the movie). There had been five Allied attempts to take the German position at The Benedictine abbey at Monte Cassino. Although the abbey had been reduced to rubble, it served as a bunker for the Germans and they could relay all activity in the area to airplanes and giant cannot attacks. In the spring of 1944 Marshal Alphonese Pierre Juin devised an operation that crossed the mountainous regions behind the fortress like structure, using Moroccan troops of the French Expeditionary Force. Specially trained for mountain operations, they climbed 4,850 feet to locate a pass. On May 15, 1944, they attached the Germans from behind. On May 18, Polish troops attached to this force took Monte Cassino.
1945 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time," Les Brown Orchestra/Doris Day.
1946---Top Hits
All Through the Day - Perry Como
The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
Shoo Fly Pie - The Stan Kenton Orchestra (vocal: June Christy)
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1952 -- US / Canada: Which Side Are You on? Paul Robeson, in dramatic defiance of government’s ban on his leaving US soil, standing on a flatbed truck parked one foot inside the US border at the Peace Arch, in Blaine, Washington, speaks and sings to a crowd of 40,000 Canadians & Americans gathered on both sides of the border.
(My father Lawrence Menkin was a recipient of the Paul Robeson Award for producing and writing “Harlem Detective” in the early 1950’s for WOR-TV)
http://www.bayarearobeson.org/Chronology_7.htm
1952--country singer George Strait was born in Pearsall, Texas. Strait's traditional country sound, influenced by Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Hank Williams, began to find favor at the beginning of the 1980's. His rise to popularity was due at least in part to a reaction against the slicker "urban cowboy" sound. Strait is now one of the biggest country stars, with such number-one hits as "Love without End, Amen," "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," "All My Ex's Live in Texas" and "I've Come to Expect It from You." His 1985 "Greatest Hits" album spent more than five years on the charts.
1953 - The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per- hour.
1953-- Robbie Bachman, drummer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive, was born in Winnipeg. The Canadian rock band, which also included Robbie's brothers Randy and Tim on guitars, was internationally popular in the 1970's with such hits as "Blue Collar," "Let It Ride," "Takin' Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," a 1974 million-seller. At its peak, BTO won many polls and honors in the US, as well as seven Juno Awards.
1954---Top Hits
Wanted - Perry Como
Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
If You Love Me (Really Love Me) - Kay Starr
I Really Don’t Want to Know - Eddy Arnold
1955 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White," Perez Prado.
1957-The Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles played a 1-1 tie, a game called precisely at 10:20pm so that the White Sox could catch a train out of Baltimore. The Orioles’ Dick Williams hit a home run on the game’s last pitch to tie the game and avoid defeat. The game was replayed from the beginning at a later date, and Baltimore won.
1959--Wilbert Harrison's recording of Leiber and Stoller's "Kansas City" rose to the top of the Billboard singles chart. Cover versions by Hank Ballard and The Midnighters, Rocky Olson, Rockin' Ronald & The Rebels, and Little Richard all appeared in March of 1959, but the Harrison version was by far the most popular. Further success for Harrison would have to wait until 1970 when "Let's Work Together" made it to number 32 in the US.
1960 - Salt Lake City, Utah received an inch of snow. It marked their latest measurable snowfall of record.
1960 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "Cathy's Clown," The Everly Brothers.
1962---Top Hits
Soldier Boy - The Shirelles
Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
She Cried - Jay & The Americans
She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones
1965 -- Outer Space: Gene Roddenberry suggests 16 names -- including Kirk -- for Star Trek Captain. It will never fly say some. And small hand held devices that you can talk as if you are on a telephone anywhere, who would believe it. In the Next Generation they were on the shirt that you could turn on with a touch or vocal command or attach to your ear. Unheard of at the time; common today..
1966 -PH Phactor Jug Band opened at 40 Cedar Alley near Polk and Geary in San Francisco. Does anyone else remember Cedar Alley?
1968 - A tornado outbreak occurred across Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Arkansas. Charles City, Iowa was devastated by a tornado rated f5 on the Fujita Scale with 13 people killed and 30 million dollars damage done. An f4 tornado tracked through Jackson, Craighead, and Mississippi Counties in Arkansas, killing 35 people and injuring 361. 164 homes in Jonesboro were destroyed.
1968-Electric Flag played the Late Show at the famed San Francisco Carousel Ballroom (To listen) http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/electric-flag-concert/49934-2140.html
1969- Apollo 10 began their orbit to circle the moon ten times.
1969 -- The Klamath tribe wins $4.1 million for loss of Oregon lands during fraudulent government surveys in 1880s.
1969-Birthday of 1969, pop singer Martika, whose real name is Marta Marrera. Her "Toy Soldiers" was a number-one record in 1989.
1969 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "Get Back," The Beatles.
1970---Top Hits
American Woman/No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who
Vehicle - The Ides of March
Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel
My Love - Sonny James
1974 - "The Streak" started a 3-week run at number one on the "Billboard" pop music chart. The novelty tune by Ray Stevens was about people running nekkid where they shouldn’t be nekkid, like, in public. It was the second number one hit for the comedian who made numerous appearances on Andy Williams’ TV show in the late 1960s, as well as his own show in the summer of 1970. His first number one hit, just prior to "The Streak", was "Everything is Beautiful". Both songs won gold records, as did his comedic "Gitarzan", a top ten hit in 1969. Stevens has been the top novelty recording artist of the past three decades.
1974--Ray Stevens had the whole country saying "Don't look Ethel", the hook line from his second straight Billboard chart topper, "The Streak".
1978---Top Hits
If I Can’t Have You - Yvonne Elliman
The Closer I Get to You - Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway
With a Little Luck - Wings
It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right - Dolly Parton
1978- The Buddy Holly Story, a film starring Gary Busey as Holly, has its world premiere in Dallas. The movie will be a critical and commercial success.
1980 - 9,677-foot Mt. St. Helens, quiet for 93 years, blew its top. The volcanic blast was five hundred times more powerful than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Steam and ash erupted more than eleven miles into the sky and darkened skies in a 160-mile radius. Forest fires erupted around the volcano and burned out of control. The eruption, and those that followed, left some sixty dead and caused damage amounting to nearly three billion dollars.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/Pictograms/may18_sequence.gif
1982 Unification Church founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon convicted of tax evasion.
1983--- Dr. Sally Ride, 32-year-old with a Ph.D. in physics and pilot's license becomes the first U.S. woman astronaut in space as a mission specialist aboard space shuttle Challenger, 20 years and two days after the first Russian woman went into space. It would be another 15 years before an American woman became a co-pilot of a U.S. space vessel. It took until 1995 - 32 years later - for American Lt. Col. Eileen Collins to touch the controls of an American spacecraft as co-pilot on a space mission. In 1998, she was named a space mission pilot and is scheduled to lift off her spacecraft in late 1999.
1985-- Patricia Kimbrell, the first woman admitted to the ranks of the United States Jaycees, was installed as president of the Dallas chapter of that civic organization.
1985--The Scottish Rock band Simple Minds make their breakthrough in North America when "Don't You (Forget About Me") tops the Billboard singles chart. The song was written specifically for the film The Breakfast Club and was only the second tune recorded by the group that they did not write.
1986--A remake of "Stagecoach," starring Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and John Schneider aired on network television. The production apparently was far from smooth, with Nelson walking off the set at one point. The stars all criticised the movie in a "TV Guide" article, with one aide to Cash describing it as being filmed with "a Concorde cast and a cropduster crew."
1986---Top Hits
Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Why Can’t This Be Love - Van Halen
What Have You Done for Me Lateley - Janet Jackson
Ain’t Misbehavin’ - Hank Williams, Jr.
1987 - Thunderstorms in Kansas, developing along a cold front, spawned tornadoes at Emporia and Toledo, produced wind gusts to 65 mph at Fort Scott, and produced golf ball size hail in the Kansas City area. Unseasonably hot weather prevailed ahead of the cold front. Pomona NJ reported a record high of 93 degrees, and Altus, OK, hit 100 degrees.
1988- A's Dave Stewart breaks a major league record committing his twelfth balk of the season.
1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the central U.S. spawning sixteen tornadoes, including a dozen in Nebraska. Thunderstorms also produced hail four inches in diameter at Perryton TX, wind gusts to 84 mph at Ellis KS, and high winds which caused nearly two million dollars damage at Sutherland NE. Thunderstorms deluged Sioux City IA with up to eight inches of rain, resulting in a record flood crest on Perry Creek and at least 4.5 million dollars damage.
1991-Gertrude Belle Ellon, co-recipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine, became the first woman inducted as a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Elion’s researched to the development of leukemia-fighting drugs and immunosuppressant Imuran, which is used in kidney transplants.
1994-- Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in a private ceremony at a judge's home in the Dominican Republic. First word of the marriage came two months later from the judge himself in an interview published in a Dominican newspaper. The Jackson camp denied the story for several weeks. The marriage came after Jackson reached an out-of-court settlement with a teenager who accused the singer of seducing him. Jackson denied the allegations. Presley filed for divorce in January 1996.
1995- Severe thunderstorms spawned 86 tornadoes over the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, resulting in 4 deaths and 161 injuries. 5 of the tornadoes were rated f4 on the fujita scale.
1997-- Tiger Woods wins Byron Nelson Golf Classic
1998 - The CBS season finale of TV sitcom Murphy Brown aired, with the title character, played by Emmy-winner Candice Bergen, giving birth to an illegitimate son. Vice President Dan Quayle publicly lambasted the comedy, saying that the program "glorified" single-parenthood, and that it made a mockery of families with fathers. He went on to comment that "Murphy Brown" lacked the judgment to be a proper role model for young women, and that her actions were immoral. Despite the national unpopularity of his criticisms, Quayle did not back down from his stand against the popular show, providing fodder for many stand-up comics.
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,3019,00.html
1999 - The Backstreet Boys release their highly anticipated third album, "Millennium." The album goes on to become the best-selling album of the year.
2000- Mark McGwire passes Mickey Mantle into eighth place on the all-time home run career list with 539. 'Big Mac' goes deep three times as the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 7-2.
2004--- At the age of 40, southpaw Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game as the Diamondbacks beat the Braves, 2-0. The ‘Big Unit’ joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only hurlers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and creates the longest time span between no-no’s having first accomplishing the feat against the Tigers in June of 1990.
Stanley Cup Champions This Date
1971---Montreal Canadiens
--------------------------------------------------------------
Baseball Poem
| Stop Action
|
--------------------------------------------------------------
SuDoku
The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler?
http://leasingnews.org/Soduku/soduko-main.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------
Daily Puzzle
How to play:
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm
Refresh for current date:
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.gasbuddy.com/
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Map_Gas_Prices.aspx
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Mobile_Instructions.aspx
--------------------------------------------------------------
Weather
See USA map, click to specific area, no commercials
--------------------------------------------------------------
Traffic Live---
Real Time Traffic Information
 |
You can save up to 20 different routes and check them out with one click,
or type in a new route to learn the traffic live
--------------------------------
Ask Andrew
Bank Beat
Cartoons
Complaints
Computer Tips
Fernando's Review
Leasing 102
Online Newspapers
Placards
Sales Make it Happen
To Tell the Truth
View from the Top
