The birthday month of the United States of America and 40 years later, these were the headlines. Do any of these rekindle memories?On July 2nd, Chilean president Augusto Pinochet is faces a strike against him by the Chilean residents.(Photo Courtesy: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/galleries/photographs-liberty-weekend-july-1986#94568)The Statue of Liberty is reopened on July 5th with the U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan cutting the red, white, and blue ribbon. Lady Liberty had been under refurbishment prior to the reopening.While in his retirement, Soviet General and spy for the U.S. Dmitri Polyakov is arrested in Russia on July 7th.(Photo Courtesy: https://www.economist.com/news/2004/03/12/who-bombed-the-trains)On July 14th, an ETA-bomb attack occurred in Madrid injuring 60 and killing 10 people.(Photo Courtesy: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/1157430021/titanic-wreck-new-footage-1986)The video tapes of The Titanic's sunken remains are released on July 18th.

“The major rager on the four-string motherfucker.” – Dave Mustaine describing Metallica bassist Cliff Burton   Metallica (founding bassist Cliff Burton on far right) during their 1986 Damage Tour The appearance of Metallica in the 1980s felt as momentous to metal fans as the breakout of Nirvana for punk fans a decade later. They were harder, louder, leaner, and meaner than anyone else on the scene, and they created a new template for angry guitar rock. Like Nirvana, their no-frills approach derived from a love of punk rock and hardcore, an anti-establishment pose, and a commitment to outré topics like mental health care, and the lack thereof. Of course, Metallica would embrace fame and fortune in a way Nirvana never could, but they may have gone in a different direction at one time. One does not need to spell out the differences between the sounds of these two bands and their genres, whatever we call them. Take a listen, for example, to this concert at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on December 9, 1986, maybe the fastest show Metallica ever played. ‘If you watch closely,’ Greg Kennelty writes at Metal Injection, ‘you can even see [James] Hetfield’s right hand smoking as it reaches terminal velocity!’ What came to be called Grunge generally sounds slow and murky, like certain late Metallica songs. The metal sub-genre of thrash, for which bands like Anthrax and Metallica get founding credit, is nothing without speed and mind-blowing precision. There’s another reason to highlight the December ’86 concert. It took place ‘about three months after the death of [bassist] Cliff Burton,’ Kennelty notes, and is ‘one of Metallica’s first shows with [new bassist] Jason Newsted. So mentally I’m sure this was a rough one for the group.’ Surely an understatement. It’s a testament to how Metallica shredded even harder into success after losing a important member at the midpoint of their breakout 1986 Damage, Inc. tour.   Cliff Burton’s Last Show with Metallica, Stockholm, 1986     Named for the last song on their third album, Master of Puppets, the Damage, Inc. tour had already seen plenty of personal drama in a band that had weathered more than its share, since drummer Lars Ulrich put an ad in the paper for metal musicians in 1981. That included the firing of lead guitarist Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth fame), just before the recording of their debut album Kill ‘Em All (originally titled Metal Up Your Ass). Hetfield, who hit terminal velocity in December, can be all the more admired for the achievement since he’d broken his wrist skateboarding the previous summer and had to give his guitar parts to the his tech for several tour dates. Moreover, band members Hetfield, Burton, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett had been in talks about firing Ulrich, the band’s first original member, replacing him just as Hammett had replaced Mustaine.     Of course, every metal band worth the name has a soap opera story, with tragic deaths a sadly common motif. In 1982, Ozzy Osbourne, whom Metallica supported on their first leg of the Damage, Inc. tour, lost his star guitarist Randy Rhoads in a plane crash. In September of 1986, while Hetfield’s wrist healed and the band thought of firing their drummer, their tour bus flipped during the drive through Stockholm, Sweden, pinning Burton underneath and killing him. Metallica cancelled their remaining European tour, began auditioning replacement bassists, including Les Claypool, later of Primus, and chose Newsted in November, resuming shows at home in California that month, then internationally in Tokyo.   The post Metallica Embarks on Their 1986 Damage Tour, Their Last with Founding Bassist Cliff Burton appeared first on Flashbak.

“Welcome back, your dreams are your ticket out!” Bet you can hear that soothing theme song right now. It’s a personal favorite, written and performed by The Lovin’ Spoonful founder, John Sebastian. And it meant Welcome Back, Kotter, led by an outstanding cast of talented stars. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, it was centered around the incredible Gabe Kaplan and the difficulties of teaching a diverse group of students called the ‘Sweathogs.’ We met a variety of different folks at Buchanan High, and many of their characters, and quotes, have become part of pop culture history. Today we’re going back to school to check out what our Sweathogs got into after graduation… Uh oh, gotta run, that’s the bell! Is Marcia Strassman still alive? Everett Collection / ImageCollect Julie Kotter is Gabe’s loving wife, who by later seasons had also become faculty at Buchanan High and taken greater importance in the show. Marcia Strassman got her start in the business in 1964 with a few one-offs on The Patty Duke Show. Then she became a recording artist for Uni Records and her debut single, “The Flower Children,” was a top-40 hit in many West Coast markets. But after a few unsuccessful releases, she turned her attention back to acting. Good move, as she snatched up a role on M*A*S*H as Nurse Cutler. Then it was time for Kotter, but she nearly missed out on the role when producers were considering Farrah Fawcett. They didn’t think Gabe and Farrah looked like a legit couple, which Marcia actually took offense to. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, Marcia Strassman, 1975-79. Farrah would book Charlie’s Angels the following year. In 1989, Marcia reached a whole new generation, playing the mom in Honey I Shrunk the Kids! She reprised that role for the 1991 sequel and she really was terrific in those family films. One of her last notable roles was in the TV spin-off series Tremors, in 2003.  In 2007, Marcia was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, which she fought for seven years until she passed away at 66 years old, marking the death of a member of the Welcome Back, Kotter cast. Is Robert Hegyes still alive? Everett Collection / ImageCollect Juan Epstein is a fiercely proud, and usually hot-headed Puerto Rican. He’s also one of the toughest kids at Buchanan High despite being pretty short. The man who brought him to life, Robert Hegyes, would also become one of the show’s directors at just 25 years old. A decade after Kotter, Hegyes was living in LA and finally booked another series regular gig as undercover detective “Manny Esposito” in Cagney & Lacey. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, Robert Hegyes, 1975-79 By the 2000s, he was back living in his home state of New Jersey and teaching at his alma mater, Rowan University. Fun fact, Hegyes was cousins with famous rock star Jon Bon Jovi. Sadly at just 60 years old, he died from a sudden heart attack, but the world will forever remember the guy with excuse notes for every situation.  5. John Sylvester White (Michael Woodman) YouTube Screenshot / Everett Collection Mr. Michael Woodman is the vice-principal and later principal, often making his disdain for the Sweathogs very known. And that disdain for them only intensified his disbelief that the once marked for failure Kotter is now a colleague. Woodman was an admirable adversary for Kotter. John Sylvester White got his start in acting in 1951 with 39 episodes on one of the longest-running soaps in history, Search for Tomorrow. Then he didn’t get another role for nearly 20 years until an episode on Medical Center. As it turned out, 1975’s Welcome Back, Kotter was the mainstream role that White deserved. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, John Sylvester White, 1975-79 His last role was In 1983 as Mr. Vogelman, the proprietor of the Raytown Travel Agency, in Season 1 of Mama’s Family. White passed away in September 1988 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 68.  Is Ron Palillo still alive? Everett Collection / ImageCollect Arnold Horshack, the class clown, with one of the most interesting and contagious laughs, was the smartest of the bunch, yet naive, and he was incredibly endearing to us. And his wheezing laugh and charisma made him stand out from the show. A backdoor pilot following Arnold was created in the final season, but the spin-off was not developed further. His squealy voice was so iconic that his next gig was voicing the character Sgt. Squealy in Laverne & Shirley in the Army, a bizarre early ’80s cartoon. If you love obscure cartoons, we have an entire video dedicated to our favorite wacky ones from the ’70s. WELCOME BACK KOTTER, Ron Palillo, 1975-79 He continued to act throughout the ’80s and ’90s in many B-movies and cameos, like the ‘96 TV show Ellen, when he played himself. In 1989 he had one of his big final roles starring in the horror flick, Hellgate. Palillo and his partner of 41 years, Joseph Gramm, lived in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida when one day in 2012, he was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. He died at just 63 years old, just seven months after his co-star Robert Hegyes also died from heart failure.  What a fun show! These underachieving high school students ended up achieving a lot, one of the funniest sitcoms of the ’70s. Did you have a favorite member of the Sweathogs? Who wished they’d had Mr. Kotter as a teacher? I sure did. Definitely my favorite TV Teacher with Saved By The Bell’s Miss Bliss a close second. If you can think of another one, mention it in the comments below, we read them all. Is John Travolta still alive? Everett Collection / ImageCollect Vinnie Barbarino with his feathered hair was one of the biggest heartthrobs of the ‘70s. Cocky, funny, with loads of insults up his sleeve, Vinnie was the leader of the Sweathogs, who coined a legendary catchphrase, “Up your nose with a rubber hose!”  Mama Travolta didn’t want him to take the role, fearing a career typecast at so young. Travolta stated, “She was saving my reputation because she didn’t think I’d ever become famous playing a dumb New York character!” During his Kotter tenure, I think a role people often forget is his part in the ultimate chaos that unravels in 1976’s Carrie. A year later he became world-famous, strutting his stuff in Saturday Night Fever. Then it was time to enter legendary status as bad-boy T-Bird Danny Zuko, in Grease.  Travolta did all this while still on Kotter. This of course prompted his early exit for much of Season 4. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, from left: Gabe Kaplan, John Travolta, Marcia Strassman, 1975-79. He truly was a movie star. A personal favorite is 1994’s Pulp Fiction, where he and Sam Jackson were the best duo of the 90s. Name a better one in the comments if you got it. In 2019 he played a wacky role, written and directed by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, titled The Fanatic, about an autistic man obsessed with meeting his favorite actor. That same year he appeared in Trading Paint and The Poison Rose. Sadly, 2020 brought tragedy for John, as his wife actress Kelly Preston lost her fight to breast cancer. We saw him in 2022’s Paradise City most recently. This was another painful death as he lost his son, Jett, back in 2009 after suffering a fatal seizure. Travolta turned 72 in February 2026 and we wish nothing but the best for John and his family—hope to see him acting again soon. Is Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs still alive? Everett Collection / YouTube Screenshot Freddie ‘Boom Boom’ Washington is the ultra-cool and basketball proficient one, with his trademark, “Hi there,” and of course his “Boom Boom Boom.” Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs got his start in the 1975 Blaxploitation movie Cooley High before becoming one of the Sweathogs. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, 1975-1979 Then during Kotter’s run, he starred in the mini-series Roots. His next series regular gig was in 1989 on the show Alien Nation. He even portrayed Joe Jackson, in the mini-series The Jacksons: An American Dream in 1992. Then he decided to stick his toe in the music industry, singing on Rick James’ 1981 album Street Songs. He’s acted a lot since then, and he’s currently back as a series regular on the Urban Movie Channel’s A House Divided. He’s 72 years old, and beyond the cast of Welcome Back, Kotter, he’s also got more movies and television productions in the works. Boom Boom is far from done. Is Gabe Kaplan still alive? Everett Collection / YouTube Screenshot Mr. Gabe Kotter was unconventional but well-intentioned, returning to his alma mater to teach these misfits. Played by Gabe Kaplan, who also co-created the show, he delicately balanced the line of beautiful comedy while tackling current topics such as drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and gang violence. Kaplan had aspirations of becoming a professional Baseball Player, but after becoming a bellhop instead, he started perfecting a stand-up act. He was quite good, too, and touring led to five appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show! He then recorded his comedy album Holes and Mello-Rolls, which included long routines about his high school days, those same ideas directly influencing the creation of Kotter. LEWIS & CLARK, (aka LEWIS AND CLARK), Gabe Kaplan, (1981), 1981-82. © Carson Prod. / Courtesy: Everett Collection His career is essentially Kotter; a series intended to piggyback off Kaplan’s success is1981’s Lewis & Clark, which was canceled by NBC after just eight episodes. He did get to play Groucho Marx in a 1982 TV movie thanks to his known great impression, and Groucho himself was in line to make a cameo on Kotter in Season 2, but after arriving on set he was deemed too weak to perform. In the mid-80s Kaplan took a break from acting and started high-stakes poker. He would even become a commentator for poker tournaments and the series High Stakes Poker on GSN. Today at 81 years old, Kaplan has continued to expand his horizons after saying goodbye to the cast of Welcome Back, Kotter. He is a champion poker player, stand-up comedian, and author, including a 2007 book about absurd email claims by Kaplan, among them one stating that he’s slept with more women than Wilt Chamberlain. Jury’s still out on that one.  How many of the Sweathogs are still alive from the cast of ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’? There are only two Sweathogs left that are still alive from the major cast of Welcome Back, Kotter. These two include Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, who played Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington, and John Travolta, who portrayed Vinnie Barbarino. WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, from left: Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Robert Hegyes, Ron Palillo, John Travolta, Gabe Kaplan, (ca. 1977), 1975-79. photo: Frank Teti/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection Next up: Kate Middleton’s New Rare Family Photos Show Just How Much Prince George Has Grown The post The Only ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’ Stars Are Still Alive Today appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Dana Daly

Bob Newhart made millions of people laugh during a career that spanned more than six decades, but the legendary comedian often said his proudest role wasn’t performing on stage or starring in hit television shows. Instead, he believed his greatest accomplishment was being a husband, father, and grandfather. According to People, following his passing at the age of 94, fans have been reflecting not only on his remarkable career but also on the close-knit family that remained at the center of his life. Throughout the years, Newhart frequently spoke about how much joy his four children brought him and why they always came before fame. Family was always a top priority for Bob Newhart, especially his children GEORGE & LEO, Bob Newhart, 1997-98. ph: James Minchin / TV Guide / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection Many fans searching for Bob Newhart children discover that the comedian and his wife, Virginia “Ginnie” Newhart, raised four children together: Robert, Timothy, Jennifer, and Courtney. The couple married in 1963 after being introduced on a blind date by comedian Buddy Hackett, who jokingly predicted they would marry and even name one of their children after him. The Newharts kept that promise by giving one of their daughters the nickname “Buddy.” As Bob’s career continued to flourish, he made a conscious effort to spend more time at home. Although he loved performing stand-up comedy, he later explained that life on the road was difficult for a husband and father. Accepting a starring role in the sitcom Newhart gave him a more predictable schedule and allowed him to be present for his growing family, something he always considered one of the best decisions he ever made. His children built lives of their own Bob Newhart and his wife, Ginny Newhart, with three of their four children, Tim Newhart, Jennifer Newhart, and Robert Newhart, 1972 (photo by Ivan Nagy) Several of Newhart’s children briefly explored careers in entertainment. Robert portrayed a younger version of his father in the 1993 film Heart and Souls, while Timothy worked behind the scenes on several television productions before becoming a respected history and social studies teacher in Los Angeles. Jennifer chose a different path, helping manage her father’s public presence before later opening a bakery with her business partner. Courtney has largely remained out of the public spotlight, preferring a private life. For Bob, success was never measured by awards or television ratings. He once said that if someone did not have a happy family life, no amount of professional achievement could replace it. Looking back, Bob Newhart’s children represented exactly what he treasured most. Even after becoming one of America’s most beloved comedians, he remained devoted to his wife, children, and grandchildren, leaving behind not only an extraordinary entertainment legacy but also a family that brought him his greatest happiness. Next up: Patrick Swayze’s Net Worth Drove A Wedge Through His Family The post Bob Newhart Always Said His Four Children Were His Greatest Achievement appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Ruth A