Watch out dear readers, for today is the Ides of March. The term derives from the Roman calendar, but is most famous for being the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. But the phrase took on a foreboding meaning after a soothsayer warned of the day in Shakespeare’s 1599 tragedy “Julius Caesar,” his first work based on true events.

But March 15th isn’t just a death day, a lot of people were born today too. Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead was born on this date in 1940. So was Mike Love of the Beach Boys (1941), Sly Stone of Sly and Family Stone (1944) and Ry Cooder (1947). And try to imagine just how different the music of the ’80s and ’90s might have been without Dee Snider of Twisted Sister (1955), Bret Michaels of Poison (1963), Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray (1968) and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 (1972).

It is also the day Jimmy Swaggart was born (1935), the day Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton for the first time (1964), the day the first crummy meal was served at the first T.G.I. Friday’s (1965), and the first time we watched Jack, Janet and Chrissy misunderstand each other as “Three’s Company” premiered on ABC in 1977.

Here’s the front page of the New York Times from March 15, 1965.

And the day’s theme song:
Iron Maiden – “Ides of March”

Be careful out there today.

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