December 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall Opens

December 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens, at 1260 Sixth Avenue (renamed "Avenue of the Americas" in 1945, but everybody still calls it "6th Avenue") and West 49th Street in Midtown Manhattan, at the northern end of "The Theater District."

It was built as part of the Rockefeller Center complex -- which, at the time, because it housed the headquarters of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), was nicknamed "Radio City." For most of the Music Hall's history, the Radio City name has applied to it, alone. This should not be confused with "Radio Row," the series of appliance stores on the Lower West Side of Manhattan that were among the buildings demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for the original World Trade Center.

At 5,960 seats, it was the largest movie theater in the world. While it is still in operation, it rarely shows films anymore, sticking to stage shows, like the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Most of its shows feature its famous high-kicking lady dancers, the Rockettes.

It has hosted the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs); and, in sports, the NFL Draft and, with a temporary court put on its stage, 6 home games of the WNBA's New York Liberty, a setup done so that the 2004 Republican National Convention could be held at Madison Square Garden.

Notable rock concerts at Radio City include Pink Floyd in 1973, The Grateful Dead in 1980, Devo in 1981, A-ha in 1986, the WCBS-FM 15th Anniversary Concert headlined by Dion in 1987, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett in 2015, Adele in 2015, Britney Spears in 2018, Christina Aguilera in 2018, and Mariah Carey in 2019.

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December 27, 1932 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. Professional basketball was strictly minor-league at this point. There were 4 games played in the NHL that night:

* The New York Americans lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at what would come to be called "the old Madison Square Garden." The New York Rangers were not scheduled for the day. The Americans went out of business in 1942.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 at the Boston Garden.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Maroons, 3-0 at the Ottawa Auditorium. The Senators went out of business in 1934, the Maroons in 1938.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

September 14, 1984: Here Comes the Bride: Madonna

September 14, 1984: The first annual MTV Video Music Awards are held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Herbie Hancock wins the most awards with five, and The Cars take the highest prize of Video Of The Year for "You Might Think."

But the most-remembered performance is by Madonna, of her hit single "Like a Virgin." She wore a wedding dress, with a belt buckle reading, "BOY TOY." She certainly didn't act like a virgin, or a bride. It was her first notable act of iconoclasm and apparent sacrilege. It would not be her last.

Lots of people, mostly Catholic, hate her for her many apparent "blasphemies," including her stage name. Well, it's her real name: She was born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958. Nobody's ever called her a "Bay City Roller." Although, as someone who doesn't like her music, I find it somewhat appropriate that Elvis Presley died on her birthday.

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September 14, 1984 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-1 at Yankee Stadium. Joe Cowley outpitched Bruce Hurst. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a groundout.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 7-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Rick Sutcliffe outpitched Ron Darling.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 9-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt hit 2 home runs.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Jeff Robinson pitched 7 innings of shutout ball, but the game was still scoreless. The Giants scored all 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning, and Greg Minton became the winning pitcher, completing the 7-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 2-for-4.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Moltior did not play. Eddie Murray went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Johnny Ray led off the top of the 12th inning with a home run.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with a walk.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Geoff Zahn pitched a 6-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson hit a 3-run home run. Rod Carew did not play.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. George Brett did not play.

March 1, 1994: Billy Joel Stands Up for Frank Sinatra

March 1, 1994: The Grammy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, are held at Radio City Music Hall in New York, broadcast on CBS. Whitney Houston opens the show with Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which she sang in the film The Bodyguard. It wins Record of the Year.

Frank Sinatra, 78 years old, is presented with a Grammy Legend Award. He had previously won 11 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Peabody Award. (He would win 2 more regular Grammys. He was nominated for 4 Emmy Awards, but didn't win any.)

The award was presented to him by Bono, lead singer of U2, who recently recorded with him on his Duets album. His acceptance speech suggests that he's not exactly with it anymore. He drifted around, and said some things that suggested that some racial, ethnic and religious terms that were once considered okay were no longer so.

The "Your time is up" music was played. It was a tough decision: Is it showing Sinatra more respect by letting him finish, or by stopping him from embarrassing himself?

Billy Joel, himself the winner of 5 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Legend award, was nominated for 4 awards: Album of the Year for River of Dreams; and, for the title track, Record of the Year (for the performer), Song of the Year (for the writer), and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. (He didn't win any of them.)

As a Song of the Year nominee, he was obligated to sing his nominated song. He was just about to start his 4th and final verse, when he stopped. That wasn't surprising: On the original recording, there's a three-second gap there.

This time, though, he stood at his piano, and looked at his watch, and said, "Valuable advertising time going by." The crowd at Radio City got it immediately, laughed, and cheered. He said it again: "Valuable advertising time going by. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars." After 23 seconds, he returned to the song, and finished it.

Frank was the biggest music star of the immediate pre-rock and roll era. But, occasionally, rock stars have shown his influence on them, and their respect for him. Billy was sending a message: "I don't care if you are CBS, or the Recording Academy: Nobody, but nobody, shows disrespect to Frank Sinatra." Especially in what amounted to both men's hometown: Hicksville, Long Island stood up for Hoboken, New Jersey that night.

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March 1, 1994 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Sacramento Kings, 100-88 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-98 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-103 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-94 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-102 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic, 97-85 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 114-109 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 112-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.