Showing posts with label delaware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delaware. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2023

Boogie-Blues Musician George Thorogood on This Day in History


George Thorogood was born on this day in 1950. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Alone". He has also helped to popularize older songs by American icons, such as "Move It on Over", "Who Do You Love?", and "House Rent Blues/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".

With his band, the Delaware Destroyers, Thorogood has released over 20 albums, two of which have been certified Platinum and six have been certified Gold. He has sold 15 million records worldwide. Thorogood and his band continue to tour extensively and in 2014 the band celebrated their 40th anniversary of performing.


His song Bad to the Bone had its own life in movies and TV. It was used in the opening of the movie Christine, where the song is played as the red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury rolls down the production line and injures an inspector, and again in the ending shot when a piece of Christine's grille moves. The song was used in the bar scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day where the Terminator first is shown in his full leather outfit. It can also be heard in the card game scene from the remake of The Parent Trap. The song was used in the 1988 drama film Talk Radio in the scenes where radio talk show host Barry Champlain's radio show, used as the opening and closing theme of his radio show. It was also used in the 2010 computer-animated superhero movie, Megamind. It was the title theme to Problem Child and its sequel, and Major Payne. It is also included in the South Park episode "You're Not Yelping" while Cartman walks down a hallway. It is also played during Shaun the Sheep Movie after Shaun is caught by Animal Containment.

The song was played in the episode of Who's the Boss?, "The Two Tonys", when Tony Micelli was playing pool against another guy named Tony Petardi (husband of Darlene, Tony Micelli's ex-girlfriend) and tries to beat him.

The song was used many times in Married... with Children, when Al Bundy does something fun, usually followed by the line "Let's Rock." For example, in "Hot off the Grill", "A Man's Castle", "Heels on Wheels" episodes.

The song was referenced in the episode of Family Matters, "Crash Course", by Steve Urkel when Eddie Winslow crashed the family station wagon in the living room without a driver's license. Urkel stated that he is bad to the bone and that bad is his middle name.

The song was referenced and background music was playing in the episode of Step By Step, "Something Wild" when Mark Foster dressed up for their Halloween party as a rebel to impress the prettiest girl in his school he invited to the part.

The song was played in the episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, "I Bowl Buster", when Will Smith and Carlton Banks go bowling to celebrate Carlton's acceptance to Princeton University and is played through the times Carlton struggles to bowl and causes multiple mishaps and injuries for him and Will.

Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for the episode "Alvin's Oldest Fan" from their TV series. It was also featured in the episode "Endless Summer" of the series Renegade. Almost the entire record can be heard at the beginning of the episode "Nobody Lives Forever" on the TV series Miami Vice. An episode of Disney's TV show 101 Dalmatians: The Series has an episode named after the song.

Rudy Giuliani performed the song in Season 7, Episode 7 of The Masked Singer. His performance led judge Ken Jeong to walk off set.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

The Last Execution by Hanging on This Day in History


This Day in History: Convicted Murderer Billy Bailey was executed on this day in 1996. He became the third person to be hanged in the United States since 1965 (the previous two were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd, both in Washington), and the first person hanged in Delaware in 50 years. As of 2023, he remains the last person to be executed by hanging in the United States.

"For execution by this method, the inmate may be weighed the day before the execution, and a rehearsal is done using a sandbag of the same weight as the prisoner. This is to determine the length of 'drop' necessary to ensure a quick death. If the rope is too long, the inmate could be decapitated, and if it is too short, the strangulation could take as long as 45 minutes. The rope, which should be 3/4-inch to 1 1/4-inch in diameter, must be boiled and stretched to eliminate spring or coiling. The knot should be lubricated with wax or soap "to ensure a smooth sliding action," according to the 1969 U.S. Army manual. (The Corrections Professional, 1996 and Hillman, 1992)" Source

There are countries that still practice hanging as a form of capital punishment.  In Pakistan, hanging is the most common form of execution. In Singapore, long-drop hanging is currently used as a mandatory punishment for crimes such as drug trafficking, murder and some types of kidnapping. It has also been used for punishing those convicted of unauthorized discharging of firearms.