THE FOURTH of JULY STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEACH BOYS!  Because folks my age will always remember their mammoth July 4th concerts at the Washington Monument (as with these 1980 takes o­n "Good Vibrations" -- pictured above -- and "Catch A Wave"). Given the time of year, I have to include this 1964 clip of "Surfin' U.S.A." which I think is from the same gig that produced these takes on "Little Deuce Coupe," "In My Room" and "Fun, Fun Fun." Their take on "Dance, Dance, Dance" from Shindig! later that year may be even better.  There's also a nifty twofer of "I Get Around" and "'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" from their first UK TV appearance o­n Ready Steady Go! You can see Jack Benny intoduce these quick takes o­n "Barbara Ann" and "California Girls."  There's a primitive video for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that starts with a cameo from Brian Wilson's dogs (Banana and Louie), who appear at the end of the Pet Sounds LP.  And I'll finish with a live version of "God Only Knows" from 1969.

MARVIN GAYE performs "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game.

RAY CHARLES performs "America The Beautiful" like no one else.

HOLIDAY BIN:  The full bin will be here on Friday, but today is the day for: The Decemberists - July, July!; X - Fourth of July; Ben E. King - 4th of July, Asbury Park (B. Springsteen); Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner; and Matt Stone & Trey Parker - Theme from Team America: World Police (NSFMost Places!).

TRANSFORMERS:  I was given half of Tuesday off, so I stopped by the cinema.  The visual effects were impressive, as was the aptly-named Megan Fox (Number 18 on Maxim's Hot 100).  Not a bad popcorn flick, but I think I may prefer the new Die Hard movie, despite one autobot really knowing his popular music.

THE UNITED STATES celebrates the 231st anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. As the Wikipedia notes, this is a little arbitrary: New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775; the first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made o­n June 8th; and the Congress voted 12-0 for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain o­n July 2nd. Even so, the publication of the Declaration was momentous .  If you're not in DC, the best way to see and learn about the Declaration may be through the Charters of Freedom website. But you can watch Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Renee Zelleweger, Kevin Spacey, Wynona Ryder and other Hollywood folk read the Declaration at YouTube, after a short introduction by Morgan Freeman.

Of course, the holiday more broadly celebrates the American Revolutionary War, and the Founders' unlikely victory. People with the highest standard of living and the lowest taxes in the Western World fought a sometimes unpopular war for our freedom. Early o­n, the Revolutionaries (also known as "Americans" or "Patriots") had the active support of about 40 to 45 percent of the colonial population. By 1779, there were more Americans fighting with the British than with Washington, which is why Washington needed help from the French, the Spanish and freed Blacks. You can separate fact from fiction regarding the sacrifices and fates of the Founders at Snopes. You can hear two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough read from the first chapter of his 1776 via NPR.

TWENTY QUESTIONS from US citizenship tests, as asked on the official United States Immigration and Naturalization Services Web site.  I had a perfect score (because I am a geek), but had to guess on one of them.

FIREWORKS:  As James Lileks recently wrote, "There are few emotions that match the pleasure of walking out of a fireworks store with a giant sack of explosives."  But he had to leave Minnesota to get them, and he's not the only one crossing state lines -- New Jersey State Police troopers said they confiscated nearly four tons of fireworks along the border with Pennsylvania, which allows the sale of fireworks to out-of-state residents.  But please, let's observe the do's and dont's for our dogs and try to end the day with the same number of fingers we started with.

Back with the usual tripe tomorrow.