"I Walk The Line" by Johnny Cash

Not only did Johnny Cash walk the line he talked the talk and walked the walk... His death, in September 2003, wasn't the end of his career by a long-shot; this day in 2010 marked the release of American VI: Ain't No Grave on what would have been his 78th birthday.*

Cash released I Walk the Line in May 1956, and it would be one of the songs** most closely associated with him; he's seen here performing it on Ranch Party (which was co-hosted by Tex Ritter) in 1958, aged just 23. The song would also lend its title to a pair of movies associated with Cash's life and career - the first, in 1970, starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld, was not about Cash in any way but its soundtrack was exclusively Cash's work; the second, a 2005 biopic entitled Walk the Line, starred Joaquin Phoenix as Cash, Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, and was directed by James Mangold.

*Making this his would-be 79th birthday, natch...
**The other being 1963's Ring of Fire which, unlike I Walk the Line, was co-written with his wife, June Carter, and Merle Kilgore.
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The History Of Sex: The Visconti Triplets

Inasmuch as 'progress' can be said to occur in porn, the amount of progress in gay porn easily, uh, outstrips that of straight porn; to whit, the Visconti triplets, the identical Hungarian trio depicted above, who are doing their utmost to cast aside the only remaining taboo in porn - namely that of incest. So while like their predecessors in brotherly love, the super-hot Odyssey Twins (Gabriel and Oscar), they don't actually do anything with each other - yet... - the fact that they are identically hot and identically inclined gives their group scenes a certain quality missing from others which are similar - at least for a Grade-A perv like me.

Jason, Jimmy, and Joey initially felt they'd be reluctant to appear in scenes together; having done their first few, though, they now claim to feel more comfortable in scenes together than apart. The Pop Culture Institute is grateful for this new development, and can only hope their growing comfort in front of the camera ensures them a long, productive career. Given that today marks their 21st birthday, that seems like a very likely thing indeed...
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"Ain't That A Shame" by Fats Domino

One thing I know isn't a shame is that today is Fats Domino's birthday!

Ain't That a Shame marked his crossover into the mainstream when it first debuted in 1955; although it wasn't as big a hit at the time as Pat Boone's milquetoast version the same year, it's the one which has had the greater longevity. It was also the first of an amazing 37 Top 40 hits Fats Domino would eventually release.
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POPnews - February 26th

[The current incarnation of Christiansborg Palace is actually an amalgam of three... The oldest (and, sadly, least) parts date from 1733, when King Christian VI commissioned Elias David Häusser to create for him a Baroque splendour, only to have all but its showgrounds succumb to a major fire on this day in 1794. It was rebuilt by Christian Frederik Hansen in the French Empire style between 1803 and 1828, but King Frederik VI turned up his nose and decided he didn't want to live there, preferring to use it for entertaining only. The palace burnt again in 1884 and Thorvald Jørgensen's contest-winning Neo-Baroque design to replace it would rise between 1903 and 1928, exposing the ruins of the site's former occupants - Absalon's Castle and Copenhagen Castle, dating back to 1167 - in the process. The current design incorporates the north facade of its predecessor, facing Prins Jørgens Gård.]

364 CE - Valentinian I was proclaimed Roman Emperor following the death of his predecessor, Jovian.

1266 - At the Battle of Benevento an army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeated a combined German and Sicilian force led by Sicily's King Manfred, who was killed in the battle, following which Pope Clement IV invested Charles as King of Sicily and Naples.

1577 - Sweden's King Eric XIV died while imprisoned at Örbyhus Castle (legend has it from eating a bowl of poisoned pea soup) having already been dethroned in September 1568 after killing several of his rivals in the Sture family as a result of what is now thought to have been a schizophrenic incident and succeeded by his half-brother, who reigned as John III.

1794 - Copenhagen's Christiansborg Castle burnt to the ground, the first of two major fires to damage the home of executive, legislative, and judicial authority in Denmark.

1815 - Napoleon escaped from Elba.

1914 - HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, was launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

1917 - The first jazz record - (Livery Stable Blues and Dixie Jass Band One Step) - was made by The Original Dixieland Jass Band for the Victor label.

1919 - Most of the Grand Canyon was included in the creation of Grand Canyon National Park.

1929 - Grand Teton National Park was created.

1935 - Germany's Luftwaffe - initially organized during the First World War as the Luftstreitkräfte - was re-formed.

1936 - In the February 26 Incident, young military officers with the ultranationalist Kōdō-ha faction of the Imperial Japanese Army attempted to stage a coup against the government of Prime Minister Keisuke Okada, going so far as to storm his official residence, the Kantei, in order to assassinate him.

1961 - Morocco's King Mohammed V died; he was succeeded by his son Hassan II.

1972 - The Buffalo Creek Flood, caused by a burst coal slurry impoundment dam, killed 125 in West Virginia - four days after it had received a passing grade from a federal mines inspector.

1986 - Robert Penn Warren was named US Poet Laureate.

1991 - Tim Berners-Lee introduced the first Internet browser - the World Wide Web.

1993 - A truck bomb rocked the foundations of the World Trade Center beneath its North Tower; six people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the blast.

1995 - The UK's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank, collapsed after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, lost $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts. As greedy douchebags go, he was truly a trailblazer...

2001 - Two giant Buddha statues were destroyed on orders of the Taliban at Bamyam, Afghanistan; they should be rebuilt by 2012.

2004 - Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski was killed in a plane crash near Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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