A replacement for Senator Graham. We remember Disco Night 1979, another ICE incident in Maine, we remember Jack Kemp (1935-2009).
Monday, July 13, 2026
Saturation was Frankie Avalon singing 'Disco Venus'
It was quite a summer of disco saturation and "malaise," a word that defined everything.
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f you remember the summer of 1979, then you remember your father complaining that the car radio was saturated with disco. Disco here, disco there, disco everywhere. It was enough to drive a lot of people to go to a White Sox-Tigers doubleheader and burn their disco LP's and 45s between the games. Let's remember the night that it happened:
As the 1970s came to an end, the age of disco was also nearing its finale. But the public backlash to the genre reached its peak on July 12, 1979 with the infamous “Disco Demolition” night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. That incident, which led to at least nine injuries, 39 arrests and the cancellation and forfeit of a Major League Baseball game, is widely credited with signaling the end of disco's reign.
The event was the brainchild of Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, popular disc jockeys on Chicago’s WLUP “The Loop” FM. Dahl had only recently moved to WLUP from rival station WDAI when that station switched to an all-disco format -- a relatively common reformatting trend in American radio in 1979. But however many other rock DJs were displaced by disco, only Dahl was inspired to launch a semi-comic vendetta aimed at “the eradication and elimination of the dreaded musical disease.”
It was a night to remember, and I happened to be there, sort of. I was a young banker on a business trip with my senior partner. He knew that I was a baseball fan so he bought tickets to catch the game. We got to Comiskey as the first game was over and the "burning" began. As we walked to the stadium, a Chicago police officer told us to go back because the game was cancelled. Then we went back to the hotel and watched the darn thing on TV.
Everything went wrong that night:
The first mistake organizers made on Disco Demolition night was grossly underestimating the appeal of the 98-cent discount tickets offered to anyone who brought a disco record to the park to add to the explosive-rigged dumpster. WLUP and the White Sox expected perhaps 5,000 more fans than the average draw of 15,000 or so at Comiskey Park. What they got instead was a raucous sellout crowd of 40,000-plus and an even more raucous overflow crowd of as many as 40,000 more outside on Shields Avenue. The second mistake was failing to actually collect those disco records, which would become dangerous projectiles in the hands of a crowd that was already out of control by the time Dahl detonated his dumpster in center field during warm-ups for the evening’s second game.
What followed was utter chaos, as fans by the thousands stormed the field and began to wreak havoc, shimmying up the foul poles, tearing up the grass and lighting vinyl bonfires on the diamond while the stadium scoreboard implored them to return to their seats. Conditions were judged too dangerous for the scheduled game to begin, and the Detroit Tigers were awarded a win by forfeit.
A few weeks later, we got a check from the White Sox with an apology from Bill Veeck. The bad news is that I did not make a copy of the letter and check for our family history.
Disco saturation was inevitable that summer of '79. Even Frankie Avalon jumped on the disco scene and update his classic "Venus" for dancing. Radio stations were changing format from whatever to disco. You could find "disco" up and down the line.
It was crazy everywhere, and Iran had not entered our embassy yet. That happened a few months later. It was just a rough summer where it felt, fairly or unfairly, that President Carter had no backbone. Even a "wild rabbit" attacked the President when he was taking some time off at Camp David. Talk about a bad day and rough year for the man from Plains, GA.
It was quite a summer of disco saturation and "malaise," a word that defined everything.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Click to read:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/07/saturation-was-frankie-avalon-singing-disco-venus/
We remember Jack Kemp (1935-2009)
We remember Jack Kemp who was born in Los Angeles on this day in 1935. We got the news of his death in May 2009: Jack Kemp is dead of cancer.
From the 1970's until his untimely death, Jack Kemp was one of my favorite politicians. He was also a pretty AFL-NFL quarterback: 21,218 passing yards & 114 TD's.
P.S. You can listen to my show. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
July 13, 1994: The day that the Castro government murdered 37 Cubans
Another year and another anniversary. We can add this one to the shooting of 1996 when a civilian plane was shot down by the regime. As people march in Cuba, we remember the ones who were killed this week in 1994. This is one of the most outrageous crimes of this inhumane regime.
My friend Alberto de la Cruz, Managing Director of Babalu, reminded us of this massacre by posting the photos of the victims.
Over at PanAm Post, John Suarez related the events of that terrible day:
In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994, 37 men, women, and children were killed by government agents seven miles off the Cuban coast, as they sought to travel to freedom on board the “13 de Marzo” tugboat. Eleven of these Cubans were children, ranging in age from Helen Martínez Enríquez -- just five months old -- to Mayulis Méndez Tacaronte, aged 17.
It was not an accident, as Cuban official media said. It was a premeditated attack on Cubans trying to leave the island.
We remind you that the late Fidel, and not seen in public lately Raul Castro, are responsible for this massacre. In fact, the same Raul who sat down and watched a baseball game with President Obama in 2016. Yes, that one!
The museum for the victims of communism has a big Cuban wing, or the section with the names of these innocent people and the thousands of others. As my late parents used to say, there is no punishment harsh enough for these murderers and "comunistas" who destroyed Cuba.
"Against all hope" is available in Spanish and English. The author, Armando Valladares, spent years in a Cuban political prison.
1971 All Star Game: Reggie Jackson hit a mammoth shot at Tiger Stadium
By the way, the 1971 game was an amazing collection of future Hall of Famers: Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, Johnny Bench, Ron Santo, Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Steve Carlton, Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal, Tony Oliva and Tom Seaver.
Jackson's shot stole the headlines to say the least.
Sunday, July 12, 2026
A chat with George Rodriguez, South Texas.
A chat with George Rodriguez, South Texas. We will discuss the tragic news of Senator Lindsay Graham passing. The latest in Texas electoral politics and the Houston ICE shooting.
CANTO TALK podcasts from last week
Catch our shows from last week:
P.S. You can listen to my show. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Muslim families are having babies, and the Brits are not
This is not a conspiracy theory—it’s cold, hard data—and it points to a looming problem in the UK and Europe.
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ver in London, the locals got more confirmation that their country is changing, and we don’t mean the way things change over time. Yes, times bring change but this report our of the UK is quite significant. Let’s check it out:
A new report sparked backlash over the rapid growth of the United Kingdom’s Muslim population.
Muhammad was the top baby name in England and Wales in 2025, the Office for National Statistics posted Thursday. This marks the third year in a row that name topped the charts.
“‘Muhammad’ has comfortably topped the list for the most popular boy name for the third year running,” Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe posted. “You can call me Islamophobic, I really don’t care … This is awful and demonstrates the rapidly changing demographics of our country.”
There are around 4 million Muslims living the UK, representing 6% of the nation’s population, the Muslim Council of Britain reported March 2025. Muslims reportedly accounted for around 32% of the UK’s population growth between 2011-2021.
Changing demographics? That’s a fancy way to put it. A more blunt answer is that there is a perfect storm underway. On the one hand, there is the problem of unchecked immigration, especially from countries that have nothing in common with yours. On the other hand, the locals are not having babies to keep their populations going. The corollary is that the new arrivals are having babies and lots of them.
So what’s next? Scrooge was visited by the ghost of the future, who warned him but also gave him hope. The ghost spoke of events “yet to come.” The problem with the Europeans is that they did not hear the message in time, and now the future has come.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.
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Click to read:
July 12, 1979: Disco and everything went crazy at the old Comiskey Park
On this day in 1979, the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers were scheduled to play a doubleheader. The Chisox needed a promotion and they got one by joining forces with Chicago DJ Steve Dahl, one of many rock fans who resented how disco threatened rock ’n’ roll.
The promotion called for fans to blow up disco vinyl 45s and LPs between games.
What could possible go wrong? Everything did, as Joe LaPointe reminded us in his 2009 recalling the 30th anniversary of the event:
During the first game, the stands filled with Dahl’s listeners, who got in for 98 cents if they brought a record to be destroyed.By the way, I had tickets to the game. My senior partner took me along on a business trip to Chicago. He knew that I was a baseball fan and would enjoy the game.
Alan Trammell, then the Tigers’ shortstop, said, “I remember from the get-go, it wasn’t a normal crowd.” Trammell, now a Cubs coach, said umpires ordered the grounds crew to clear debris from the warning track between innings of the first game.
“The outfielders were definitely a little scared,” Trammell said. Ron LeFlore, a former convict, played center field for Detroit, “and Ronnie wasn’t usually afraid of anything.”
The Sox did not expect such a large crowd, which was officially announced as 47,795. Mike Veeck said that it was really closer to 60,000 and that he had hired security for 35,000. “That’s what we thought attendance would be,” Veeck said.
Staub said: “People brought ladders. They were climbing in from the outside. It was like a riot.”
Veeck ordered yellow-jacketed guards to go outside to stop fans from crashing the gates.
That allowed the spectators inside the ballpark to storm the field without much resistance. Jack Morris, a Tigers pitcher, recalled “whiskey bottles were flying over our dugout” after Detroit won the first game, 4-1.
Then Dahl blew up the records.
“And then all hell broke loose,” Morris said. “They charged the field and started tearing up the pitching rubber and the dirt. They took the bases. They started digging out home plate.”
We took a morning flight, landed at Midway, went to the hotel and headed for the park.
We never got in. We were greeted by police officers who were telling fans to go home because the game was cancelled.
We went back to the hotel and saw the chaos on TV.
A couple of months later, we got a letter from Mr. Veeck along with a refund check.
My guess is that the White Sox never had another promotion like that again.
P.S. You can listen to my show. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Saturday, July 11, 2026
NY City meeting with Iran. Houston and the ICE shooting. Democrats and the ghost of "no primaries" past. Babe Ruth 1914.
NY City meeting with Iran. Houston and the ICE shooting. Democrats and the ghost of "no primaries" past. Babe Ruth 1914.
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