John Denver played two sold-out shows at Expo ’74 at the Coliseum—one of which started at midnight!—and a Spokesman-Review critic commented, “Perhaps John Denver should be the official symbol of Expo ’74.”
On the one hand, his songs were about “clean air, fresh water and high mountains,” fitting the environmental theme of the fair.
On the other hand, Denver and his music represent “what is right in America.”
The Chronicle critic agreed, calling Denver “a spokesman for his time.”
“He first described the cavernous Colosseum as a ‘small airplane depot,’ but then masterfully filled the place with beautiful sights and sounds,” the Chronicle said.
From 100 years ago: A game of tennis northwest of Grand Forks, just across the border in British Columbia, led to a lucrative find.
Two men were playing tennis on their makeshift tennis court when they noticed “a small boulder” marring the surface.
They knocked it off with a hammer and revealed “a metal body that gleamed like a tin can in the sunlight.”
A subsequent excavation uncovered a rich silver vein that is still worth $13,000 today.
Also on this day
(From onthisday.com)
1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act, banning the Communist Party at the height of the McCarthy era.
1989: Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for life for gambling.
1991: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as chairman of the Communist Party of the USSR.
