Trivia Thread!

[Olorgando]

Hans Küng (1928-2021), Swiss Catholic theologian, and Joseph Ratzinger (1927-2022), Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), had biographical parallels in the 1960's.
Both were periti (singular peritus, theological consultant) to the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), and were considered part of the reform-minded faction.
And they were colleagues as chairholders of Catholic theology at the University of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, from 1966 to 1969. In fact Küng, who held a chair at Tübingen since 1960, was instrumental in bringing Ratzinger to Tübingen.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Pink Floyd recorded their first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in Abbey Road Studios, right next to The Beatles who were recording Sgt. Pepper's at the same time.

A few years later, Paul McCartney and a few members of Wings (and crew) were recorded for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The only Wings member that ended up on the album was, Henry McCullough who contributed the line "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time".

 

[Olorgando]

The Rolling Stones' second UK single, in 1963, was a Lennon-McCartney tune, "I Wanna Be Your Man". The Beatles also recorded it for their second UK album, "With the Beatles", also in 1963.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Bob Dylan thought The Beatles were singing "I get high" in "I Want to Hold Your Hand" so he brought a bunch of weed when he met them.

Via his road manager Victor Maymudes, Dylan produced a sizeable bag of weed and asked the Fab Four whether they wanted to get stoned with him. After sitting down with the bag, he was a touch startled to learn that the band had never previously never smoked the stuff. His consternation is expected least of all because Dylan thought The Beatles were singing “I get high” in the chorus of their 1964 hit ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’. John Lennon was quick to explain that the often misheard lyric was actually, “I can’t hide”.

As most Beatles aficionados will tell you, the band had, in fact, smoked weed during their time in Hamburg, but they remained sturdy in their stance that it had had no effect on them at the time. Dylan, likely seeing this as a challenge of sorts, passed the bag to Maymudes and asked the road manager to start rolling. Maymudes, a seasoned smoker, rolled a joint quickly and passed it to Lennon, who, in turn, swerved the advance and passed it quickly aside to Ringo Starr, allegedly saying, with classic caustic wit, the drummer was his “royal taster”.

 

[Ent]

A Concert Fit For An Ent​

World’s longest concert will last 639 years​

The concert began in 2001 at the former St. Burchard church in Halberstadt, Germany, and is scheduled to conclude in 2640, for a duration of 639 years. Though Cage did not specify a duration for his piece, the length was chosen because the start date for the performance is 639 years after Nicolaus Faber built the first church organ. Other performances of the piece have lasted between 29 and 70 minutes.

The Halberstadt performance, by an automated organ, progresses so slowly that visitors have to wait months for a chord change (for one note change, in 2008, more than 1,000 visitors came to listen). They occur on the fifth of the month, but the next one isn't scheduled until July 2012. The organ emits a low meditative hum at all times. You can hear it on the ASLSP Web site.
The performance is so slow that the organ it is being played on was not even complete before the music began. Pipes were added to the organ, which keeps the music steady thanks to a machine called a blower that provides a constant stream of air, in 2008.

Supporters can sponsor a note for a year with a donation of 1000 € or more. Those who donate can choose any year through 2640, and will receive a metal plaque with their name and year in the church.
Fans of Cage, such as board chairman of the town’s John Cage Organ Foundation, Rainer Neugebauer, say that the performance is a rebuke of hectic modern life.
“Everything does not need to happen so fast. If something needs a bit longer then it can give us an inner calm that is rare in normal life.”

Update, Nov. 28: There is competition for the world's longest concert. On Twitter, Mark Polishook alerts Arts Post to Longplayer, a 1,000-year-long musical score that is being played by computers.

 

[Berzelmayr]

Artist Albrecht Dürer was born as the third of 18 children of his parents, most of them died young.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Woodstock:

NY Governor NelsonRockefeller was considering dispersing the event by calling in the New York State National Guard. At the height of the festival Bethel, NY was the second-most populous city in New York State.

Most people attending didn’t get to see Jimi Hendrix play, as his contract stipulated he closed every show he played and the delays associated with the event made the weekend festival run into Monday morning.

Freedom by Richie Havens was completely improvised as a way to stall the concert while they got other performers ready. John Sebastian wasn’t supposed to play at all, and they encouraged him to play when they found him there.

 

[Olorgando]

Woodstock:

That was in 1969.
The 1973 concert "Summer Jam" at the Watkins Glen racetrack in New York State "only" featured three acts, but these were The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and The Band, quite the royalty of US Rock bands of the time.
It was attended by 600,000 fans to Woodstock's 460,000, who probably had better access to the venue, it being a Formula 1 (et. al.) racetrack. * Advance ticket sales had "only" been 150,000, but when four times as many people showed up they were all allowed in.
I have a very tenuous "connection" to that festival as somebody I worked with during my summer job after high school graduation 1973 attended it ... 🙄

*EDIT: apparently the traffic situation was just as chaotic as in Woodstock; oh, well ...

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Matt Bellamy of Muse was apparently challenged to learn and play Moonlight Sonata in his lunch hour. Not only did he learn it but played it backwards.

 

[Ent]

Inspired by a post elsewhere by @Halasían: origin of the term smack-dab

Origin
How the phrase ‘smack dab’ came into use as a phrase or the actual origin of the phrase is unknown. But, its first usage is recorded around the late nineteenth century – 1892 to be precise. It was found in an early American publication which was named Dialect Notes around that time. It’s possibly more of an American phrase. The phrase ‘smack dab’ is rarely used in European countries.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Most bird species have around 1,500-25,000 feathers. However, hummingbirds have less than 1,000 feathers. They are known as “the flying jewels” because they can change their feather colors in flight.

 

[Deimos]

Absolutely unique among the "Red-shirts"

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Chickens have prehistoric roots and are the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

[Vorondil]

Chickens have prehistoric roots

So does @Ent!

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

So many people died during the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763 AD) that it reduced the entire earth's human population by an estimated 10-15 percent.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

The "Kingdom" Kdrama took its inspiration from royal chronicles that talked about a "mysterious plague" in which many thousands died.

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Chickens have prehistoric roots and are the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

[Firiel23]

Denethor is only one year older than Aragorn. Boromir is 41. Frodo is 51, Sam is 39, and Merry is 37. Hobbits come of age at 33, so Pippin, at 29, is technically a teenager. Gimli is 140. Eomer and Eowyn are 28 and 24 respectively

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Phil Lesh, bassist of the Grateful Dead, pioneered early work on desigining speakers/monitors specifically for bass guitar in live performances. He also helped to develop the first well-designed and widely used five and six-string bass guitars.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]