Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for January 25th

Today we take a quick look at what money can do, plus props for a great female vocalist...

1/25/1984 (33 years ago today) - Yoko Ono donated $425,000 to Strawberry Fields, an old people's home in Liverpool, England. Don't you wish you could go around doing stuff like that... 

1/25/2004 (13 years ago today) - Bob Dylan was paid an undisclosed amount to fly to Venice, Italy, and film a TV commercial for Victoria's Secret. The spot takes place in an ancient palazzo and features a scantily dressed model, of course. Aside from the general weirdness of a once counter-cultural figure hawking undergarments, it was a move that troubled long-time die-hard Dylan fans, to say the least. "It is what it is": this is the kind of story that sentence was made for.

1/25/1938 - Born on this date, Jamesetta Hawkins, better known as the one and only Etta James. Her powerful, earthy (and, frankly, quite sexy) voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll -- Gained fame starting in the 1950's with hits like "Tell Mama", "Something's Got A Hold On  Me", and most notably, "I'd Rather Go Blind" and "At Last" -- Rock And Roll and Blues Hall Of Fame inductee, winner of multiple Grammy and Blues Awards, number 22 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time, number 62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists -- Survived heroin addiction, severe physical abuse and incarceration before her 1989 comeback album "Seven Year Itch" -- Etta passed away from complications from Alzheimer's and leukemia on January 20, 2012, just five days before her 74th birthday. One of the greatest, no doubt.

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"...here we are in heaven/For you are mine/At last...", xoxo!