On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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It is a Cinderella story -- and perhaps one more tale of how money talks. On Sunday afternoon, eight years after joining the New York City Opera as an unpaid intern, Atsushi Yamada, a one-time Sony salaryman without conservatory training or a single English-language review to his name, will conduct the company in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'' in Tokyo.
NOT long ago, I went to Washington for a dinner given by a friend. She wanted to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the end of the Microsoft antitrust trial, which she had covered for a news agency and I had covered for Fortune magazine. In all, about 10 of us made it to the dinner, and it wasn't long before we were regaling one another about the ''good old days'' of the trial -- laughing at the way Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson used to roll his eyes at Microsoft's witnesses, and recalling how the superlawyer David Boies, whose daily skewering of Microsoft gave the trial most of its entertainment value, would put straws in his jacket pocket when he went out drinking with us so he could keep track of how many drinks he had.
It was the Wednesday before the French Open and Roger Federer, the world's finest tennis player, was genially doing interviews and a photo shoot in a gilded hotel, with his girlfriend and his personal assistant by his side. They happen to be the same woman: Mirka Vavrinec, a former Swiss player he has been romantically involved with since the 2000 Summer Olympics.
The clock neared 6 p.m. and an aide to Representative Anthony D. Weiner swung open his Washington office door to deliver the bad news. ''There's a 7:15 p.m. to Newark getting in at 8:30 p.m.,'' said Michael Marcy, Mr. Weiner's executive assistant.
THE owner of Monetti's Shell station in Howard Beach is talking about neighborhood when the pay phone rings in his scuffed little office. A short man with a silvery cane appears from nowhere to answer it. ''Excuse me, Joe,'' he says to the owner. ''A Mrs. Goldstein on the line.''
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of May 18, 2005, covering May 21, 2005.
Nine Inch Nails
Mariah Carey
Rob Thomas
50 Cent
Bruce Springsteen
2005Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (born 1956)[†]
Deborah Berger was an American artist noted for her oeuvre of brightly colored textile works created in knitting and crochet. She is considered an outsider artist and a prodigy.
2005Stephen Elliott, American actor (born 1918)[†]
Elliott Pershing Stitzel, better known by his stage name Stephen Elliott, was an American actor. His best known roles were that of the prospective father-in-law, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur and as Chief Hubbard in the 1984 blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop.
2005Howard Morris, American actor and director (born 1919)[†]
Howard Jerome Morris was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in The Andy Griffith Show as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (1954). He did voices for television shows such as The Flintstones (1962–1965), The Jetsons (1962–1987), The Atom Ant Show (1965–1966), and Garfield and Friends (1988–1994).
2005The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.[†]
A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usually designed to produce a thrilling experience, though some roller coasters aim to provide a more gentle experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and the rides are often found in theme parks around the world. Roller coasters originate from "Russian Mountains" which first appeared in the 17th century. Invented and mostly found in Russia, these were slides made of ice that upper-class Russians would slide down. LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, based on the Switchback Railway which opened a year earlier at Coney Island.
In 2005, the world population was approximately 6,586,970,132 people[†]