Life is a safari and you better enjoy every single moment you have been given. Circumstances do the planning for all of us but there are those especially psychotic and cool events that change everything forever...

(1) Albert King resurrects his soulmate.

Much has been written about the observation of musicians exhibiting a spiritual/psychological connection with a favored instrument. There has never been a more fitting example of this type of emotional bond between a player and their favorite axe than when blues master Albert King salvaged his prized Gibson Flying V guitar from his flooded home in West Memphis, Arkansas. The instant that he was allowed to drive through the police barricade and into his house, King waded into his bedroom to rescue the guitar and immediately drove over the bridge to Pyramid Guitars in Memphis. He was soaking wet when he handed the instrument to luthier Rick Hancock (there was still a considerable amount of water leaking out of the unopened case) and asked him to “just fix it.” Apparently King was so reluctant to view the guitar in a damaged condition that he did not even attempt to open the guitar case before trusting it to Hancock and refused to return until the restoration was complete!

(2) Mick and Tina steal the show from Freddie.

Queen or not, millions in front of a television on July 13, 1985 witnessed what many have argued is the greatest performance in the history of rock and roll. Freddie Mercury was a man on a mission and for 20 minutes on that Saturday afternoon in England he was the center of the universe. The crowd in Wembley Stadium was in the palm of his hand because he was the master showman--where in the world did he learn all those ballet moves? Later in the evening Led Zeppelin reunited and Bob Dylan chilled onstage with Keith Richards and Ron Wood, but Freddie stole the show. It was grand and spectacular, but...the 1980's Daryl Hall and John Oates band (it included the finest blue-eyed soul musicians on the planet) backing Mick Jagger sounded better than anything the Rolling Stones have ever played. MTV showed Grace Slick in awe watching from the sidelines and the huge, deafening, prolonged roar of the crowd in JFK stadium when Tina Turner entered from stage left was perfectly fitting for a conquering hero.

(3) Rick Dees crank calls Elvis at Graceland.

Why did Rick Dees seem to have it in for Elvis Presley in 1976? If the "He Ate Too Many Jelly Doughnuts" parody was not enough, he made three unsuccessful on-air attempts to crank call the King at his bedroom phone. Ginger Alden answered the hotline all three times and refused to hand the phone to Elvis while interrogating Dees ("How did you get this number? We just changed it.") on how he had become privy to the most secretly guarded phone number in Memphis. Sources claim that Alecia Kerwin set him up for the ambush (she was in the works to be the next girlfriend and Alden was to be kicked to the curb) and leaked info about Elvis's private number during visits to Dees' house on Sardis Lake. She told Mr. Disco Duck that Elvis would return from pre-dawn racquetball sessions and listen to WHBQ-AM waiting for Dees to play either Stevie Wonder's current hit song "Isn't She Lovely" or "When I Need You" from Leo Sayer before he would fall asleep.

(4) Disco is pronounced dead on July 12, 1979.

It was the greatest Thursday evening in world history. Unemployed radio personality Steve Dahl organized the "Disco Demolition Night" event which was held after the first game of a Chicago White Sox doubleheader at Cominskey Park. Thousands of disco records were destroyed and the crowd rioted. American League president Lee McPhail is credited with the quote of the decade, "There was no question that beer played a part in the riot."

(5) Andy Kaufman breaks the fourth wall.

On February 20, 1981, Andy Kaufman was the guest host of ABC Television's "Friday's" late night comedy show. Without any question, it was the night of the greatest moment of true dada and surrealism in broadcast history.

Kaufman had a strong anti-drug stance in his personal life but was placed smack dab in the middle of an early 1980's drug-type comedy routine. During the broadcast of the skit he appeared to break out of character, forgetting his lines and wandering away from the other actors. In a moment of true comic genius Michael Richards walked off stage, grabbed the cue cards and slammed them on the table in front of Kaufman. Maryedith Burell appeared stunned as Kaufman threw a glass of water on Richards and started a mini-food fight with Melanie Chartoff. It was a beautiful illusion of chaos as Jack Burns ran onstage and called for the control room to go to a commercial break as a perceived shoving match broke out.

Everyone thought it was for real. The cast, audience and everyone watching on television thought they were witness to the worst train wreck ever broadcast on the airwaves. Only Kaufman, Burns and Richards were in on the joke that could have been remembered as the most amazing choreographed stunt in television.

When they returned from the commercial break Kaufman and Burns were still going at each another with crew members restraining them. You know, one of those fake fight deals that you see in professional wrestling or on the playground between two jug heads who do not really want to fight. In an instant, you could sense the whole thing had been staged.

(6) Bill E. Burk blackmails the Scorpions.

Memphis Press-Scimitar music columnist Bill E Burk championed the German heavy metal group Scorpions before their first Memphis visit in 1980 only to be snubbed for an interview at the start of their next tour in 1982. Burk retaliated by phoning a contact at the Leber-Krebs New York office with a false claim of owning "incriminating" and "homo-erotic" photos of a certain group member taken at the Hyatt Regency during their last stop in Elvis-town. Burk claimed they were "too graphic" for publication in the local newspaper and threatened to "give them to a friend at Stern magazine in Germany." Within minutes the band's publicist called to apologize followed with calls from three members of the band (calling in sequence from various locations on the globe) for phone interviews.

(7) Linda Blair grabs cold pizza for breakfast on the Highland strip.

Marge Thrasher was the host of a morning talk show on WHBQ-TV who could really get on the nerves of her guests. There was something about 'ol Margie that was reminiscent of a smart mouth high school teacher with a chip on her shoulder, she was well known for hurling insults (her on-air diss to Tav Falco is documented in the book It Came From Memphis) and posing questions using a condescending tone during interviews. Everyone's favorite head-turning guacamole girl Linda Blair was less than thrilled about hawking her appearance in the Hell Night movie at 7 a.m. on channel 13 and Thrasher's off the script grilling about her love life and drug use added insult to injury. After suffering through the interrogation, Blair escaped and attempted to find morning grub on the Highland strip. She didn't have luck in scoring traditional breakfast fare but she graciously accepted a gift of left-over homemade pizza from workers at the Donut Man shop at the corner of Southern and Highland, downing three slices dining with shop workers and customers while telling the neighborhood homeless guy the latest rumors about Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones rehearsing with Chris Squire and Alan White to form a new band named XYZ.

(8) Billy Jack schools a bully.

Almost every drive-in movie theater in America screened Billy Jack. Tom Laughlin's marketing micro management during the 1973 re-release of his film is why it hit the movie biz jackpot despite the snub from Hollywood. It was mandatory that audience members were not in line for popcorn or a Mr. Pibb at the concession stand during the scene where Billy Jack is stalked by the corrupt town bully and his gang of ass-kissers. Jack tells his abuser exactly what is in store before unloading on the clown with a martial art inspired kick to his head. After the bubba is spread out on the ground like Lindsey Lohan on any given Friday night, Billy Jack graciously pours a 55 gallon drum full of whup-ass all over the crew of redneck punks.

(9) Apollonia gets wet in Purple Rain.

It was 1984 and the famous "Take Me With U" scene had too damn many people trying to psychoanalyze the mental push and pull onscreen between Prince and Apollonia Kotero. This hispanic beauty was one burning hot enchilada and any red-blooded male had to respect the game plan. Get the exotic, beautiful girl on a motorcycle, drive her out in the woods and act as if you do this all the time. It was too cool to explain...

(10) Evel Knievel decides to break someone else's bones.

Who in their right mind would jump over stuff on a Harley Davidson motorcycle? When they write the book on the history of the world the chapter about crazy people should include a mention of Evel Knievel. Knievel was so annoyed at getting the Elvis: What Happened? treatment from Shelly Saltman that he used an aluminium baseball bat to break Saltman's arm and beat him unconscious. It ruined the daredevil's career but the publisher killed the book.

(11) Rick Neilson and Bun E. Carlos meet John and Yoko.

It was the summer of 1980 when the guitarist and drummer from Cheap Trick shared some smuggled cuban cigars with John Lennon and Yoko Ono before recording a couple of songs that did not make it to the final pressing of Double Fantasy. Wouldn't it have been amazing if Lennon had toured in 1981 with Neilson and Carlos in his band?

(12) We've got your monkey...right here.

Remember the opening scene from Esacape from the Planet of the Apes? The spaceship lands in the Pacific ocean and the military brass are shocked when the rescued astronauts that remove their helmets are apes. Whoever thought of that idea should have won an oscar.

(13) Joe Perry takes one giant leap for mankind.

Aerosmith were at the zenith of their popularity when they headlined the California Jam II concert in March of 1978. Joe Perry was feeling no pain as he warned a cameraman to move out of the way. In front of the crowd of 350,000 in the audience and millions on television he jumped about four feet down and six feet over to a lower platform before his "Toys In The Attic" guitar solo. It was wicked.

(14) Alvin Lee defines a generation.

It wasn't Jimi Hendrix but Ten Years After that brought Woodstock to a climax. Lee used all his heart and soul to throw the Carl Perkins rockabilly lines into the middle of "I'm Comin' Home" in front of 600,000 and spread it all over the stratosphere.

(15) I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore.

The notorious Howard Beal meltdown scene in 1976's Network is as relevent today as it was in 1976. There is a lot of anger out there about the economy and political corruption.

(16) Yoko Ono joins the circus.

Do yourself a favor and spend some time watching The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus from 1968. The highlight is "Whole Lotta Yoko" from the Dirty Mac. Eric Clapton, Keith Richards (on bass), John Lennon and Mitch Mitchell back Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis and Yoko Ono. Yoko steals the show! If you think about what she is doing, you can hear her mimic blues harmonica lines. Try to give it a listen on a cool autumn evening-it works. Mrs. Lennon should email Clapton, Richards and Gitlis and reform a version of the Dirty Mac for a song or two on her next album.