Speaker 1: Hi, this is David Means and you're listening to the
Shirley You Can't Be Serious Podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome
back to the Shirley you Can't Be Serious Podcast, Special
Edition five Minutes of Fire. We are here talking about
the lyrics of We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
We're covering only five minutes at a time, which is
about to link with the song, so it works out
kind of nicely. So please join us as we dive
into some new lyrics today.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, so here are the topics that we're
going to be covering today. Mafia, hula hoops, castro.
Speaker 1: Okay, Jason, what is the mafia?
Speaker 2: Okay? So this has to be the story surrounding the
nineteen fifty nine LaCOSA Nostra mob boss Vito Gena vs.
This guy was convicted of conspiracy to violate narcotics law
and sendenced to fifteen years in prison nineteen fifty nine.
GENOVC was one of these guys that would continue to
operate his organized crime group from prison. Genovs rose to
power during prohibition as an enforcer. Genovs and his associate
Lucky Luciano took part in the Castillo Marisi War, which
was the war for the control of New York and
it helped shape the rise of the mafia and organized
crime in the United States. He also helped expand the
heroin trade internationally. This is a tale of blood murder, cash, drugs,
mob hits. The works got of a heart attack, Springfield,
Missouri Prison, nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1: You what can you tell me about hula hoops? Okay, Jason? So,
as it turns out, hoops have been used by children
as toys for hundreds of years, dating back to five
hundred BC in Greece. Wow. But something happened in the
fifties that brought them to a new light. It turns
out that there were a couple of Americans driving through Australia.
They happened to see these children laying with hoops, Except
they weren't rolling on on the ground, which was the
normal use for the hoops. They were spinning them around
their waist. There was an Australian teacher who had given
the kids a game to try to keep the hoops
from falling to the ground as a way of exercise. Eventually,
this idea got to Wammo, the toy company and of
course they weren't the only ones who were trying to
develop the hoop, but the bamboo hoops were selling out
in Australia, so they realized, hey, we should try to
make these out of plastic. It's more readily available. They
did that. Several other game companies tried to do the
same thing, but it really came down to who had
the best name as to which of these hoops took off.
And because it looked like the children were doing the hula,
the Hawaiian dance whenever they would spend these hoops, they
gave it the name Hula hoop, and Whammo won that contest.
They became a huge fad in nineteen fifty nine, continued
to be a fad on through the seventies, kind of
died out by nineteen eighty. But there's I have hula
hoops at my house that my kids use. Hi.
Speaker 2: We had huloops for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, tell me about Castro.
Speaker 2: Okay. Feedale Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who
was the leader of Cuba from nineteen fifty nine to
two thousand and eight. That takes us from the Eisenhower
administration through GW. Bush pretty incredible, served as Prime Minister
of Cuba from nineteen fifty nine to nineteen seventy six,
sort of self appointed him President of Cuba from nineteen
seventy six to two thousand and eight. Known for his
famous beard, his cigar, and his baseball pitches.
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say his army uniform.
I did not know that he was famous for his
baseball pitch.
Speaker 2: He was almost drafted as a Major League baseball pitcher.
How the world would have changed if that would have happened.
Originally seen as a hero for overthrowing the dictator Battista,
he was actually interviewed by Ed Sullivan. Few people have
been as idolized or as hated as Fidel Castro. In
October nineteen sixty two, Soviet missiles were brought to Cuba,
creating the Cuban Missile Crisis, which put US close to
World War three. The US put an economic embargo on him,
but Castro did manage to provide health care and education
to his entire country. His opponents saw that though as
Cuba sort of being an island prison, the economy is terrible.
He left office in two thousand and eight, and he
died in twenty sixteen at the age of ninety.
Speaker 1: I'm just glad we've got Pin cigars again. Okay, guys,
that does it for today's episode. Join us next time
for five minutes of fire.