Thanks for taking the time to dig up the interesting tit bits to be found in your posts Chas!Just over a year, and no can't copy paste as its mostly different stuff
Re:Chas's Music Column - Bumber December Issue W/E 15th, 22nd & 29thr
-
neverfoundthetime
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
- Status: Offline
Chasplaya wrote:
neverfoundthetime wrote:
No worries Chris I enjoy doing this, some of the content is repeated but not all so I'll keep it going, I've recently discovered another site with Music Trivia news so I'm going to add these on a regular basis now also. I get so much stuff sent to me having joined so many guitar and music sites over the years this could become a full time occupation lol I don't think it would make me wealthy thoughChasplaya wrote:Thanks for taking the time to dig up the interesting tit bits to be found in your posts Chas!Just over a year, and no can't copy paste as its mostly different stuff
Week In Review
November 4, 2010
Kingsmen Dirty … Stones Gross … Pistols Indecent …
1958, Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke are both injured in an Arkansas auto wreck that kills their chauffeur …
1960, Greg Allman turns 13 and gets a guitar for his birthday …14-year-old brother Duane eclipses him quickly on that instrument while Greg excels at organ and vocals … they'll play together in the Kings, the Allman Joys, and Hourglass before they rule the southern rock universe with the Allman Brothers Band, which they'll form in 1969 …
1963, "Louie Louie" is released by the Kingsmen …one of the most covered songs of all time, it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene … the song is banned on some radio stations especially in Indiana where Governor Matthew Welch determines that the ditty is definitely dirty … even the FBI gets caught up in the controversy though the Bureau ultimately wraps up its 31-month investigation, including playing the record at various speeds, inconclusively stating that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record" … in 2003, 754 guitarists play a 10-minute rendition of the song at Tacoma, Washington's Cheney Stadium … the event is thought to be the world's largest jam session …in 2004, Rolling Stone would rank "Louie Louie" #55 in the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as voted on by musicians and critics …
1964, The Nashville Teens become One Hit Wonders in the U.S. by reaching #14 with "Tobacco Road" … the follow-up single "Google Eyes" by the same songwriter, John D. Loudermilk, goes nowhere …
1965, promoter Bill Graham rents the building destined to become Fillmore East for a lordly $60 … is first rock show bill features The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead … at the Longshoreman's Hall, the Family Dog present "A Tribute to Ming the Merciless" featuring The Mothers and The Charlatans …
1966, The Monkees first single "The Last Train To Clarksville" hits #1 on the U.S. charts replacing "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians … in London, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an art gallery previewing her "Unfinished Paintings and Objects" …
1967, the movie How I Won the War featuring John Lennon in an acting role, opens in the U.S… . it is the first film to feature a solo performance by a Beatle … Lennon in costume as a soldier from the movie is featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine that hits the newstands for the first time … Pink Floyd appear on The Pat Boone Show in the U.S… singer-guitarist and erstwhile band leader Syd Barrett refuses to answer interview questions from the host and does not even try to lip-synch to the pre-recorded track for the single "See Emily Play" … the following day, he repeats his non-performance in front of the cameras for Dick Clark's American Bandstand …
1968, Cream perform their last U.S. concert at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence …
1969, The Rolling Stones gross a record-breaking $260,000 for two shows for 36,000 fans at the L.A. Forum …
1970, Bob Dylan records "George Jackson" a tribute to the black militant leader killed in a California prison shootout …
1971, Led Zeppelin releases their fourth album that has no official name and is variously referred to as: the runes album, ZoSo and "Led Zeppelin IV" (a name actually used by Jimmy Page) …
1972, Johnny Paycheck starts pulling down a regular salary when he officially joins the cast of the Grand Ole Opry …
1977, Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz commemorating The Band's last concert opens to rave reviews in New York … the Winterland concert included guest performances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, and Van Morrison … The Jam release their second album in the U.K., This Is The Modern World … many record shops there pull from their front window the Sex Pistols album cover Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols claiming it is indecent because of the word "bollocks" … Virgin Records boss Richard Branson says his shops will continue to display the album in their windows …
1978, The Clash release their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope … Donna Summer's cover of "MacArthur Park" becomes the #1 Pop Hit … a decade earlier, actor Richard Harris had taken his bombastic reading of the Jimmy Webb tune noted for its incomprehensible lyrics to #2 … unlike "Louie Louie" with unintelligible lyrics, in 1996 readers of Dave Berry's syndicated newspaper column voted "MacArthur Park" the Worst Song of All Time … really, who left the cake out in the rain? …
1980, The Human League split up with synth players Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware leaving … vocalist Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright keep the name going … The B-52s new single "Strobe Light" is from their album Wild Planet …
1981, DePeche Mode releases their first album Speak and Spell containing the singles "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Dreaming Of Me" …
1985, the theme from the TV show Miami Vice composed and recorded by former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboard player Jan Hammer, rides the top of the Billboard Hot 100 … the soundtrack LP also goes to #1 in the album chart where it will reside for 11 weeks beating the former TV-theme record-holder, The Music from Peter Gunn …
1986, Willie Nelson plays a corrupt cop in a guest appearance on Miami Vice … no confirmation on rumors that, as a singing (and corrupt) cop, he performs a medley of "Louie Louie"/ "MacArthur Park" …
1991, blues, soul, rock, and country are all well represented when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Bobby "Blue" Bland, Booker T & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Yardbirds, and Sam and Dave … no confirmation on the rumors that the honorees at the induction ceremony perform a medley of "Louie Louie"/"MacArthur Park" …
1992, Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" reaches the end of the #1 road when it makes its 13th and final appearance in the Billboard Hot 100 chart's top slot … Axl Rose is convicted of property damage in the wake of a Guns N' Roses show in Missouri … he gets two years probation and is ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to community groups …
1995, Michael Jackson's ATV Music catalog and Sony Corp. merge to form the world's third biggest music publishing company worth an estimated $300 million … among the goodies Jackson brings to the table are a raft of classic Beatles tunes … The Wizard of Oz in Concert is performed at the Lincoln Center in New York … the cast includes Jewel as Dorothy, Jackson Browne as the Scarecrow, and Roger Daltrey as the Tin Man … no confirmation to the rumor that the cast had rehearsed a special number for the show that was later dropped, a medley of … wait for it … "Louie Louie"/"MacArthur Park"… as Dave Berry would promise at this point: this will be the last use of this lame joke in this column …
1996, Michael Jackson announces that he and friend Debbie Rowe are expecting a child …the King of Pop denies tabloid reports that the baby had been conceived using artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid to bear the child …
1998, Ahmet Ertegun and Bobby "Blue" Bland are honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Blues Foundation … Little Jimmy Dickens's appearance at the Grand Ole Opry marks his 50th year as a member of the cast … Dickens is best-remembered for his 1965 hit, "May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" … Rick James has a stroke when a blood vessel in his neck ruptures during a head-banging performance in Denver …
2005, Mike Love of the Beach Boys files suit against his cousin Brian Wilson claiming that a British promotion for Wilson's 2004 album Smile that gave away 2.6 million Beach Boys compilations discs cut into the band's sales …this marks the seventh time that Beach Boys have sued one another … despite all the litigation and unpleasantness, in July 2010 Al Jardine announces the surviving original members of the Beach Boys: Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson, Jardine, and early member David Marks will reunite for at least one reunion show in 2011 … Mike Love reacts by saying there were no specific plans but states "I've had a few conversations recently with my cousin Brian about doing some musical projects together … in the fall we'll get more focused on it" … Madonna notches her 36th Top Ten single with "Hung Up," tying her with Elvis Presley as the act with the most Top Ten hits … The Beatles have 34 … the song is also her 47th Top Forty single—at this point, the most for any female artist …
2006, former Orleans singer and guitarist John Hall is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 19th New York congressional district…at his celebration party he elects to skip playing his signature tune "Still the One" in favor of Steven Van Zandt's "I Am a Patriot" … Yoko Ono observes John Lennon's 66th birthday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where she dedicates the site of a planned Imagine Peace Tower, a beam of light 100 feet high that will shine around the clock …
2007, The Eagles' first studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden debuts at number one with sales of 710,000 copies, this despite its only being available at Wal-Mart stores and the band's website … no special medleys on this album—oops sorry, we promised … The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hosts a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis with Chrissie Hynde, Wanda Jackson. Kris Kristofferson, and others covering The Killer's songs … Lewis' cousin, the televangeslist Jimmy Swaggart turns in a bluesy rendition of the hymn "Precious Lord Take My Hand" after delivering an emotional speech about learning to play piano on the same instrument as his cousin … uncharacteristically Lewis plays a serious and haunting version of "Over the Rainbow" …
2008, Guitar Hero III does more than $115 million in sales its first week out … Van Morrison reprises his 1968 critically revered LP Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl supported by a full string section as well as performers on the original studio release, Richard Davis on bass and Jay Berliner on guitar …
2009, Apple Corps and EMI Music announced an upcoming release of the entire Beatles' catalog digitally in MP3 and FLAC formats … the tracks won't be available in iTunes, or any other online store in fact, but only on 30,000 limited-edition, apple-shaped USB sticks …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
November 4: Four Vagabonds singer John Jordan (1913), Delbert McClinton (1940), Squeeze singer-guitarist Chris Difford (1954),, James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders (1956), Sean John "Puff Daddy" Combs (1969)
November 5: Roy Rogers born Leonard Slye (1911), blues and R&B innovator Ike Turner (1931), Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946), Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits (1947), Don McDougall of Guess Who (1948), Mike Score of A Flock Of Seagulls (1957), Bryan Adams (1959), David Bryson of Counting Crows (1961), singer-actress Andrea McArdle (1963), Jon Greenwood of Radiohead (1971), Ryan Adams (1974)
November 6: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (1814), John Philip Sousa, inventor of the sousaphone (1854), composer-pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), musician, songwriter, lyricist Gus Kahn, born Gustav Gerson Kahn, who penned songs such as "It Had To Be You" and "Dream a Little Dream Of Me" (1886), musician-arranger Ray Conniff, who founded The Ray Conniff Singers (1927), Joseph Pope, lead singer of The Tams (1933), singer P.J. Proby (1938), Guy Clark (1941), Glenn Frey of The Eagles (1948), Corey Glover of Living Colour (1964)
November 7: New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt (1922), Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), soul singer Dee Clark, whose biggest single was "Raindrops" (1938), Johnny Rivers, rock-and-roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, born John Henry Ramistella (1942), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born Roberta Joan Anderson (1943), Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers (1964), Russell Barrett of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 8: Bert Burns, R&B producer of The Drifters and Van Morrison (1929), Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie (1944), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1945), Roy Wood of The Move and ELO (1946), Minnie Riperton, singer-songwriter noted for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range (1947), blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt (1949), Gerald Alston, lead singer of The Manhattans (1951), singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones (1954), singer-actor-teen idol Leif Garrett born Leif Per Nervik (1961), Stephen Patman of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 9: big band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905), bass singer Leroy Fann of Ruby & The Romantics (1936), Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1941), Phil May of The Pretty Things (1944), Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon (1948), Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult (1948), Tommy Caldwell, bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band (1949), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa born Sandra Denton (1961), Brad "Scarface" Jordan of the Geto Boys (1969), singer-songwriter Diana King (1970), Susan Tedeschi, blues and roots-music singer and guitarist married to Derek Trucks (1970), Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (1973), rock-country-rap musician Uncle Kracker born Matthew Shafer (1974), Sisqó, lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, born Mark Althavean Andrews (1978)
November 10: singer-songwriter-musician Dave Loggins, cousin of Kenny Loggins (1947), country singer-songwriter Donna Fargo born Yvonne Vaughan (1947), Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1948), Ronnie Hammond of The Atlanta Rhythm Section (1950), Mario Cipollina of Huey Lewis and The News (1954), Frank Maudsley of A Flock of Seagulls (1959), West Coast rapper Warren G, born Warren Griffin III (1970), Eve, rapper-singer-actress-musician (1978)
Departures:
November 4: Shonen Knife drummer Mana "China" Nishiura (2005), jazz drummer Vernel Fournier (2000), Hi-Lites singer Ronnie Goodson (1980)
November 5: Link Wray (2005), Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers (2003), saxophonist Eddie Harris (1996), jazz pianist Bobby Scott of The Coasters (1990), Barry Sadler (1989), Vladimir Horowitz (1989), Bobby Nunn (1986), Guy Lombardo (1977), Robert "Nighthawk" McCollum (1967), Johnny Horton (1960), piano magician Art Tatum (1956), Orioles singer Tommy Gaither (1950)
November 6: Hank Thompson, Texas honky-tonk and western swing pioneer (2007), George Osmond, patriarch of the singing Osmond Family (2007), jazz pianist Pete Jolly (2004), Don Julian, leader of The Meadowlarks (1998), novelty artist Dickie Goodman (1989), New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia (1972)
November 7: rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds (2008), Jimmy Jones, studio bassist who worked with Wilson Pickett (1995), Carter Cornelius, leader of The Cornelius Brothers with Sister Rose (1991)
November 8: trumpeter Lester Bowie (1999), Dr. Tommy Comeaux of Beausoleil, voted best Cajun guitarist (1997), Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers (1995), R&B pianist James Booker (1983), R&B singer Ivory Joe Hunter (1974), pioneering blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (1968)
November 9: English movie composer Stanley Myers (1993), Egon Wellesz, composer-teacher-musicologist and student of Arnold Schoenberg (1974), Swedish jazz composer Jan Johansson (1968), composer Frederick Preston Search (1957), Broadway and film composer Sigmund Romberg, best known for "Lover Come Back to Me" performed by Billie Holliday (1951), ragtime pianist and composer Ole Olsen born John Siguard Olsen, of the vaudeville act Olsen and Johnson, who hit the big time with the Broadway show and movie Hellzapoppin (1927), Mannheim composer Carl Philipp Stamitz, son of famous composer Johann Stamitz (1801)
November 10: Miriam Makeba (2008), Kanye West's mother and manager, Donde West (2007), R&B singer Gerald Levert (2006), pop and jazz session guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1997), jazz singer-pianist-composer-actress Carmen McRae (1994), blueswoman Ida Cox (1967)
November 4, 2010
Kingsmen Dirty … Stones Gross … Pistols Indecent …
1958, Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke are both injured in an Arkansas auto wreck that kills their chauffeur …
1960, Greg Allman turns 13 and gets a guitar for his birthday …14-year-old brother Duane eclipses him quickly on that instrument while Greg excels at organ and vocals … they'll play together in the Kings, the Allman Joys, and Hourglass before they rule the southern rock universe with the Allman Brothers Band, which they'll form in 1969 …
1963, "Louie Louie" is released by the Kingsmen …one of the most covered songs of all time, it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene … the song is banned on some radio stations especially in Indiana where Governor Matthew Welch determines that the ditty is definitely dirty … even the FBI gets caught up in the controversy though the Bureau ultimately wraps up its 31-month investigation, including playing the record at various speeds, inconclusively stating that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record" … in 2003, 754 guitarists play a 10-minute rendition of the song at Tacoma, Washington's Cheney Stadium … the event is thought to be the world's largest jam session …in 2004, Rolling Stone would rank "Louie Louie" #55 in the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as voted on by musicians and critics …
1964, The Nashville Teens become One Hit Wonders in the U.S. by reaching #14 with "Tobacco Road" … the follow-up single "Google Eyes" by the same songwriter, John D. Loudermilk, goes nowhere …
1965, promoter Bill Graham rents the building destined to become Fillmore East for a lordly $60 … is first rock show bill features The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead … at the Longshoreman's Hall, the Family Dog present "A Tribute to Ming the Merciless" featuring The Mothers and The Charlatans …
1966, The Monkees first single "The Last Train To Clarksville" hits #1 on the U.S. charts replacing "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians … in London, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an art gallery previewing her "Unfinished Paintings and Objects" …
1967, the movie How I Won the War featuring John Lennon in an acting role, opens in the U.S… . it is the first film to feature a solo performance by a Beatle … Lennon in costume as a soldier from the movie is featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine that hits the newstands for the first time … Pink Floyd appear on The Pat Boone Show in the U.S… singer-guitarist and erstwhile band leader Syd Barrett refuses to answer interview questions from the host and does not even try to lip-synch to the pre-recorded track for the single "See Emily Play" … the following day, he repeats his non-performance in front of the cameras for Dick Clark's American Bandstand …
1968, Cream perform their last U.S. concert at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence …
1969, The Rolling Stones gross a record-breaking $260,000 for two shows for 36,000 fans at the L.A. Forum …
1970, Bob Dylan records "George Jackson" a tribute to the black militant leader killed in a California prison shootout …
1971, Led Zeppelin releases their fourth album that has no official name and is variously referred to as: the runes album, ZoSo and "Led Zeppelin IV" (a name actually used by Jimmy Page) …
1972, Johnny Paycheck starts pulling down a regular salary when he officially joins the cast of the Grand Ole Opry …
1977, Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz commemorating The Band's last concert opens to rave reviews in New York … the Winterland concert included guest performances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, and Van Morrison … The Jam release their second album in the U.K., This Is The Modern World … many record shops there pull from their front window the Sex Pistols album cover Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols claiming it is indecent because of the word "bollocks" … Virgin Records boss Richard Branson says his shops will continue to display the album in their windows …
1978, The Clash release their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope … Donna Summer's cover of "MacArthur Park" becomes the #1 Pop Hit … a decade earlier, actor Richard Harris had taken his bombastic reading of the Jimmy Webb tune noted for its incomprehensible lyrics to #2 … unlike "Louie Louie" with unintelligible lyrics, in 1996 readers of Dave Berry's syndicated newspaper column voted "MacArthur Park" the Worst Song of All Time … really, who left the cake out in the rain? …
1980, The Human League split up with synth players Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware leaving … vocalist Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright keep the name going … The B-52s new single "Strobe Light" is from their album Wild Planet …
1981, DePeche Mode releases their first album Speak and Spell containing the singles "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Dreaming Of Me" …
1985, the theme from the TV show Miami Vice composed and recorded by former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboard player Jan Hammer, rides the top of the Billboard Hot 100 … the soundtrack LP also goes to #1 in the album chart where it will reside for 11 weeks beating the former TV-theme record-holder, The Music from Peter Gunn …
1986, Willie Nelson plays a corrupt cop in a guest appearance on Miami Vice … no confirmation on rumors that, as a singing (and corrupt) cop, he performs a medley of "Louie Louie"/ "MacArthur Park" …
1991, blues, soul, rock, and country are all well represented when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Bobby "Blue" Bland, Booker T & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Yardbirds, and Sam and Dave … no confirmation on the rumors that the honorees at the induction ceremony perform a medley of "Louie Louie"/"MacArthur Park" …
1992, Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" reaches the end of the #1 road when it makes its 13th and final appearance in the Billboard Hot 100 chart's top slot … Axl Rose is convicted of property damage in the wake of a Guns N' Roses show in Missouri … he gets two years probation and is ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to community groups …
1995, Michael Jackson's ATV Music catalog and Sony Corp. merge to form the world's third biggest music publishing company worth an estimated $300 million … among the goodies Jackson brings to the table are a raft of classic Beatles tunes … The Wizard of Oz in Concert is performed at the Lincoln Center in New York … the cast includes Jewel as Dorothy, Jackson Browne as the Scarecrow, and Roger Daltrey as the Tin Man … no confirmation to the rumor that the cast had rehearsed a special number for the show that was later dropped, a medley of … wait for it … "Louie Louie"/"MacArthur Park"… as Dave Berry would promise at this point: this will be the last use of this lame joke in this column …
1996, Michael Jackson announces that he and friend Debbie Rowe are expecting a child …the King of Pop denies tabloid reports that the baby had been conceived using artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid to bear the child …
1998, Ahmet Ertegun and Bobby "Blue" Bland are honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Blues Foundation … Little Jimmy Dickens's appearance at the Grand Ole Opry marks his 50th year as a member of the cast … Dickens is best-remembered for his 1965 hit, "May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" … Rick James has a stroke when a blood vessel in his neck ruptures during a head-banging performance in Denver …
2005, Mike Love of the Beach Boys files suit against his cousin Brian Wilson claiming that a British promotion for Wilson's 2004 album Smile that gave away 2.6 million Beach Boys compilations discs cut into the band's sales …this marks the seventh time that Beach Boys have sued one another … despite all the litigation and unpleasantness, in July 2010 Al Jardine announces the surviving original members of the Beach Boys: Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson, Jardine, and early member David Marks will reunite for at least one reunion show in 2011 … Mike Love reacts by saying there were no specific plans but states "I've had a few conversations recently with my cousin Brian about doing some musical projects together … in the fall we'll get more focused on it" … Madonna notches her 36th Top Ten single with "Hung Up," tying her with Elvis Presley as the act with the most Top Ten hits … The Beatles have 34 … the song is also her 47th Top Forty single—at this point, the most for any female artist …
2006, former Orleans singer and guitarist John Hall is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 19th New York congressional district…at his celebration party he elects to skip playing his signature tune "Still the One" in favor of Steven Van Zandt's "I Am a Patriot" … Yoko Ono observes John Lennon's 66th birthday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where she dedicates the site of a planned Imagine Peace Tower, a beam of light 100 feet high that will shine around the clock …
2007, The Eagles' first studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden debuts at number one with sales of 710,000 copies, this despite its only being available at Wal-Mart stores and the band's website … no special medleys on this album—oops sorry, we promised … The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hosts a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis with Chrissie Hynde, Wanda Jackson. Kris Kristofferson, and others covering The Killer's songs … Lewis' cousin, the televangeslist Jimmy Swaggart turns in a bluesy rendition of the hymn "Precious Lord Take My Hand" after delivering an emotional speech about learning to play piano on the same instrument as his cousin … uncharacteristically Lewis plays a serious and haunting version of "Over the Rainbow" …
2008, Guitar Hero III does more than $115 million in sales its first week out … Van Morrison reprises his 1968 critically revered LP Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl supported by a full string section as well as performers on the original studio release, Richard Davis on bass and Jay Berliner on guitar …
2009, Apple Corps and EMI Music announced an upcoming release of the entire Beatles' catalog digitally in MP3 and FLAC formats … the tracks won't be available in iTunes, or any other online store in fact, but only on 30,000 limited-edition, apple-shaped USB sticks …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
November 4: Four Vagabonds singer John Jordan (1913), Delbert McClinton (1940), Squeeze singer-guitarist Chris Difford (1954),, James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders (1956), Sean John "Puff Daddy" Combs (1969)
November 5: Roy Rogers born Leonard Slye (1911), blues and R&B innovator Ike Turner (1931), Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946), Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits (1947), Don McDougall of Guess Who (1948), Mike Score of A Flock Of Seagulls (1957), Bryan Adams (1959), David Bryson of Counting Crows (1961), singer-actress Andrea McArdle (1963), Jon Greenwood of Radiohead (1971), Ryan Adams (1974)
November 6: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (1814), John Philip Sousa, inventor of the sousaphone (1854), composer-pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), musician, songwriter, lyricist Gus Kahn, born Gustav Gerson Kahn, who penned songs such as "It Had To Be You" and "Dream a Little Dream Of Me" (1886), musician-arranger Ray Conniff, who founded The Ray Conniff Singers (1927), Joseph Pope, lead singer of The Tams (1933), singer P.J. Proby (1938), Guy Clark (1941), Glenn Frey of The Eagles (1948), Corey Glover of Living Colour (1964)
November 7: New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt (1922), Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), soul singer Dee Clark, whose biggest single was "Raindrops" (1938), Johnny Rivers, rock-and-roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, born John Henry Ramistella (1942), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born Roberta Joan Anderson (1943), Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers (1964), Russell Barrett of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 8: Bert Burns, R&B producer of The Drifters and Van Morrison (1929), Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie (1944), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1945), Roy Wood of The Move and ELO (1946), Minnie Riperton, singer-songwriter noted for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range (1947), blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt (1949), Gerald Alston, lead singer of The Manhattans (1951), singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones (1954), singer-actor-teen idol Leif Garrett born Leif Per Nervik (1961), Stephen Patman of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 9: big band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905), bass singer Leroy Fann of Ruby & The Romantics (1936), Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1941), Phil May of The Pretty Things (1944), Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon (1948), Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult (1948), Tommy Caldwell, bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band (1949), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa born Sandra Denton (1961), Brad "Scarface" Jordan of the Geto Boys (1969), singer-songwriter Diana King (1970), Susan Tedeschi, blues and roots-music singer and guitarist married to Derek Trucks (1970), Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (1973), rock-country-rap musician Uncle Kracker born Matthew Shafer (1974), Sisqó, lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, born Mark Althavean Andrews (1978)
November 10: singer-songwriter-musician Dave Loggins, cousin of Kenny Loggins (1947), country singer-songwriter Donna Fargo born Yvonne Vaughan (1947), Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1948), Ronnie Hammond of The Atlanta Rhythm Section (1950), Mario Cipollina of Huey Lewis and The News (1954), Frank Maudsley of A Flock of Seagulls (1959), West Coast rapper Warren G, born Warren Griffin III (1970), Eve, rapper-singer-actress-musician (1978)
Departures:
November 4: Shonen Knife drummer Mana "China" Nishiura (2005), jazz drummer Vernel Fournier (2000), Hi-Lites singer Ronnie Goodson (1980)
November 5: Link Wray (2005), Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers (2003), saxophonist Eddie Harris (1996), jazz pianist Bobby Scott of The Coasters (1990), Barry Sadler (1989), Vladimir Horowitz (1989), Bobby Nunn (1986), Guy Lombardo (1977), Robert "Nighthawk" McCollum (1967), Johnny Horton (1960), piano magician Art Tatum (1956), Orioles singer Tommy Gaither (1950)
November 6: Hank Thompson, Texas honky-tonk and western swing pioneer (2007), George Osmond, patriarch of the singing Osmond Family (2007), jazz pianist Pete Jolly (2004), Don Julian, leader of The Meadowlarks (1998), novelty artist Dickie Goodman (1989), New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia (1972)
November 7: rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds (2008), Jimmy Jones, studio bassist who worked with Wilson Pickett (1995), Carter Cornelius, leader of The Cornelius Brothers with Sister Rose (1991)
November 8: trumpeter Lester Bowie (1999), Dr. Tommy Comeaux of Beausoleil, voted best Cajun guitarist (1997), Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers (1995), R&B pianist James Booker (1983), R&B singer Ivory Joe Hunter (1974), pioneering blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (1968)
November 9: English movie composer Stanley Myers (1993), Egon Wellesz, composer-teacher-musicologist and student of Arnold Schoenberg (1974), Swedish jazz composer Jan Johansson (1968), composer Frederick Preston Search (1957), Broadway and film composer Sigmund Romberg, best known for "Lover Come Back to Me" performed by Billie Holliday (1951), ragtime pianist and composer Ole Olsen born John Siguard Olsen, of the vaudeville act Olsen and Johnson, who hit the big time with the Broadway show and movie Hellzapoppin (1927), Mannheim composer Carl Philipp Stamitz, son of famous composer Johann Stamitz (1801)
November 10: Miriam Makeba (2008), Kanye West's mother and manager, Donde West (2007), R&B singer Gerald Levert (2006), pop and jazz session guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1997), jazz singer-pianist-composer-actress Carmen McRae (1994), blueswoman Ida Cox (1967)
Week In Review
November 11, 2010
Gettin' Down Under … No Love Lost … Postal Service Goes Postal …
1877, Ernst Siemens patents the first loudspeaker … who knew … ?
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard's annual poll of disc jockeys … sadly, the relatively unknown country artist never quite lives up to their expectations …
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums …( Well theres a not well known fact!)
1966, a made-for-TV make-believe pop band hits #1 with their debut album, The Monkees … despite the fact that Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were talented musicians, the band never could shake the critics who complained that they were a Beatles knockoff, dubbing them the "Pre-Fab Four," a stigma that will haunt Nesmith throughout his musical career … in retrospect, not being tapped for the Monkees was probably the best career move, albeit inadvertently, that Steven Stills ever made … ( A truer word has never been spoken lol)
1969, Jim Morrison gets blotto on a plane trip from L.A. to Phoenix to see The Stones … he's such a royal pain that he's arrested on arrival and charged with interfering with the flight and public drunkenness, having harassed a stewardess who apparently didn't appreciate a drunk Morrison jumping in her game … the charges are eventually dropped … Janis Joplin is arrested in her dressing room at a concert in Tampa for cussing at the man … earlier, in the auditorium, a cop is screaming through a bullhorn at her fans to sit down and she tells him "Don't @#&* with these people. Hey mister what are you so uptight about? Did you buy a five-dollar ticket?" … she is similarly disrespectful addressing police backstage when they insist that SHE tell the audience to sit down … she gets out on a $50 bond and the charges of "vulgar and indecent language" are eventually dropped …(What was she thinking shameless hussy lol)
1970, Jim Morrison closes the door on his bandmates, playing his last concert with The Doors in New Orleans …
1972, featuring fiery guitarist Jan Akkerman, the albumMoving Wavesby Dutch prog-rock band Focus arrives on the LP chart in the U.K… . thanks to popular song "Hocus Pocus," Focus achieves notoriety in the U.S., but in a short while it's hocus pocus and Focus disappears … riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three block from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year … Oakley refuses treatment at the site and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital …
1978, Queen plays Madison Square Garden … during their hit number "Fat Bottomed Girls," they are accompanied by semi-nude women riding bicycles …
1981, The Police top the charts in the U.K. with "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" … the U.S. pop chart experiences an Aussie invasion when Olivia Newton-John, Little River Band, Air Supply, and Rick Springfield all register hit singles …
1984, Madonna's album Like a Virgin is released, leaving listeners wondering in what way she is … popular theories include the possibility that Madonna is encouraging people to like virgins … sort of like a "take a virgin to lunch" campaign … a bit redundant, but good-hearted nonetheless … however, some detractors claim that the material girl, who launched herself to stardom by wearing her underwear on the outside, is like a virgin in much the same way that balloons are like safety pins …
1987, "a day late and a dollar short" seems to typify the career of Sly Stone, who turns up an hour late for an L.A. comeback concert and is promptly arrested for failing to pay child support … what can you say; Bo Diddley's got the "Bo Diddley beat," Sly's got the deadbeat … lateness aside, in his self-shortened heyday, Stone quickly fell out of favor with promoters for consistently not showing up for concerts at all …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has ever matched this performance with a debut LP … Steve Love, former Beach Boys manager and brother of lead singer Mike Love, gets five years' probation for embezzling nearly a million bucks from the group …
1990, German producer Frank Farian reveals that Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, collectively known as Milli Vanilli, never sang on their debut record, "Girl You Know It's True" … the producer goes on to say the duo lip-synced during personal appearances … eventually Milli Vanilli will give back their Grammy and lapse into obscurity, followed by the accidental suicide of Pilatus … some secrets are best kept secret …
2000, Michael Abram, the man who a year earlier broke into George Harrison's home and stabbed Harrison before being subdued by the ex-Beatle and his wife, is found guilty by reason of insanity and ordered confined to a mental hospital for an indefinite stay …
2003, Kid Rock announces plans for a continuing creative collaboration with Sheryl Crow … the collaboration has thus far resulted in the hit duet "Picture," and they plan more writing and recording together in the future … looks like The Kid is growing up … perhaps a name-change to Man Rock is in order …
2004, going postal takes on new meaning when the group Postal Service settles with The United States Postal Service following more than a year of legal maneuvering over the band's name … in the creative compromise, the duo comprised of Death Cab for Cutie singer Ben Gibbard and electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello agree to let the Postal Service use their music to promote the use of snail mail and to refer to the USPS deal in Postal Service CDs … the musicians also agree to perform at the postmaster general's National Executive Conference in Washington … Apple introduces a special black U2 version of the iPod with the band members' names laser-etched on the case … the unit is launched with an ad that has the band performing its new single "Vertigo" … finally jumping on the bandwagon of mega-rockers who've cashed in on cross-promotion, it's the first time in the band's 25-year career that it's licensed music for commercial purposes … other than selling records, of course … The New York Post reports that former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth, 50, is training to become an emergency medical technician … the girls may not be swooning like they once did, but it never hurts to know a little CPR … according to his tutor, Linda Reissman, "His commitment is really touching. He wants to help people." … funny, we always knew that Diamond Dave's commitment was touching … only we thought it was California girls … Jamaican reggae star Sizzla is denied a British visa based on complaints by gay-rights groups that the lyrics in his songs "incite racist and homophobic violence" … something about Sizzla and flank steaks come to mind … perhaps he doth protest too much …
2005, Elton John and partner David Furnish set a date to wed … keyboard legend Bill Preston is hospitalized in Arizona for an inflammation of the heart … no, the two are not related …
2006, former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher appears in a British court to pursue a claim against former bandmate Gary Brooker, claiming that his distinctive organ work played an important role in the success of the smash hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and that he is due a payday … some critics claim that perhaps Fisher should pay royalties to J.S. Bach, whose melody he allegedly appropriated, but according to an in-depth musical analysis, while influenced by Bach, Fisher's creation is original … the judge awards Fisher a 40% share in the copyright and says he's entitled to royalties going back to 2005 when he filed suit …
2007, Donovan announces plans to open a Transcendental Meditation college in Scotland … it will be called the Invincible Donovan University … apparently a great deal of thought went into the name … rumors say that the order of the name, "Invincible Donovan University" was originally The Invincible University of Donovan, until deep meditation revealed to the former '60s flower child that its college sweatshirts would bear the initials, IUD … so much for free love …
2009, The Faces gear up for a reunion tour with or without original frontman Rod Stewart … keyboardist Ian McLagan intimates that the band has grown weary of waiting for Stewart to commit to a reunion … says McLagan, "If we don't do it very soon, one of us is gonna check out. I'm 64, for chrissakes!" … unfortunately, our Faces are red as Stewart opts out and is replaced by Simply Red's Mick Hucknall …
Arrivals:
November 11: jazz singer Ernestine Allen (1920), jazz pianist-singer Mose Allison (1927), R&B singer LaVern Baker (1929), David Lastle, New Orleans session sax man (1934), pop singer Brian Hyland of "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" fame (1943), The Youngbloods' Jesse Colin Young, born Perry Miller (1944), godfather of grunge Neil Young (1945), Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds (1945), Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge (1945), Andy Partridge of XTC (1953), singer-songwriter-guitarist Marshall Crenshaw (1953), Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17 (1956)
November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Arthur Tavares of disco singing group Tavares (1946), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult (1947), Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate (1948), Leslie McKeown of The Bay City Rollers (1955), David Ellefson of Megadeth (1964), R&B singer Tevin Campbell (1976)
November 13: R&B singer Justine "Baby" Washington (1940), Annette Kleinbard of The Teddy Bears (1940), R&B singer and producer Timmy Thomas (1944), Bill Gibson of Huey Lewis and the News (1951), Pogues drummer Andrew Ranken (1953), Walter Kibby of Fishbone (1964), The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture (1978)
November 14: composer Aaron Copland (1900), Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI Records (1904), Gene Krupa Band vocalist Johnny Desmond (1921), Chicago harp man Carey Bell (1936), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1938), Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers (1940), Memphis producer and musician Jim Dickinson (1941), accordionist-zydeco performer Buckwheat Zydeco (1947), James Young of Styx (1948), singer and guitarist Stephen Bishop (1951), Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot (1951), Alec John Such of Bon Jovi (1956), rapper Joe "Run" Simmons of Run-D.M.C. (1964), Brian Yale of matchbox twenty (1968), Travis Barker of blink-182 (1975), R&B singer Adina Howard (1974)
November 15: elevator-music maestro Mantovani (1905), Ike Turner's pianist Clayton Love (1927), R&B singer Clyde McPhatter (1932), pop singer Petula Clark (1932), vocalist Little Willie John born William J. Woods (1937), Frida of ABBA (1945), bassist Steve Fossen of Heart (1949), Michael Cooper of Con Funk Shun (1952), R&B singer Alexander O'Neal (1953), Tony Thompson of Chic (1954), Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks (1957), Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins (1957), Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (1968)
November 16: "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy (1873), Atlantic Records artist-producer-arranger Jesse Stone (1901), Atlantic Records cofounder and producer Herb Abramson (1916), Toni Brown of Joy of Cooking (1928), folksinger Bob Gibson (1931), long-time Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin (1931), R&B singer Garnett Mimms (1933), Nashville producer Felton Jarvis (1934), James Brown band guitarist Troy Seals (1938), John Ryanes of The Monotones (1940), Winfred "Blue" Lovett of The Manhattans (1943), acoustic guitarist-composer Will Ackerman (1949), Patti Santos of It's a Beautiful Day (1949), Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde (1958), Mani of The Stone Roses (1962), jazz singer Diana Krall (1964), Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd (1969), Trevor Penick of O-Town (1979)
November 17: folksinger Gordon Lightfoot (1938), novelty songster Jimmy Cross (1939), Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons (1942), Gene Clark of The Byrds (1944), Martin Barre of Jethro Tull (1946), Jim Babjak of The Smithereens (1957), drag performer-singer RuPaul (1960), singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeff Buckley (1966), Ben Wilson of Blues Traveler (1967), Ronnie DeVoe of Bell Biv DeVoe (1967), Isaac Hanson of Hanson (1980)
Departures:
November 11: Beau Brummels drummer John Peterson (2007), Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley (1972)
November 12: former Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (2008), drummer Tony Thompson of Chic (2003), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1998), slide guitar and dobro player Rainer Ptacek (1997) Cause and Effect keyboard player and vocalist Sean Rowley (1992)
November 13: Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (2004), Donald Mills of The Mills Brothers (1999), R.J. Vealey of the Atlanta Rhythm Section (1999), R&B pianist Bill Doggett (1996), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1992), drummer Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1973)
November 14: John Mellencamp keyboardist John Cascella (1992), singer Dallas Taylor of The Danderliers and The Dells (1986), dub pioneer Keith Hudson (1984), country bluesman Rube Lacy (1969)
November 15: composer-arranger Saul Chaplin (1997), disco producer Jacques Morali (1991)
November 16: British pop pianist Russ Conway (2000), Kid Rock sideman Joe C. AKA Joseph Calleja (2000), Gospel Music Hall of Fame member J.D. Sumner (1998), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1994), Francis Donia of Tavares (1984), raw-voiced soulman O.V. Wright (1980), music journalist Mike Leadbitter (1974)
November 17: R&B belter Ruth Brown (2006), Stax soul singer Arthur Conley (2003), blues scholar, producer, and label owner Pete Welding (1995), cofounder of RPM Records Jules Bihari (1984), bassist John Glascock of Jethro Tull (1979)
November 11, 2010
Gettin' Down Under … No Love Lost … Postal Service Goes Postal …
1877, Ernst Siemens patents the first loudspeaker … who knew … ?
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard's annual poll of disc jockeys … sadly, the relatively unknown country artist never quite lives up to their expectations …
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums …( Well theres a not well known fact!)
1966, a made-for-TV make-believe pop band hits #1 with their debut album, The Monkees … despite the fact that Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were talented musicians, the band never could shake the critics who complained that they were a Beatles knockoff, dubbing them the "Pre-Fab Four," a stigma that will haunt Nesmith throughout his musical career … in retrospect, not being tapped for the Monkees was probably the best career move, albeit inadvertently, that Steven Stills ever made … ( A truer word has never been spoken lol)
1969, Jim Morrison gets blotto on a plane trip from L.A. to Phoenix to see The Stones … he's such a royal pain that he's arrested on arrival and charged with interfering with the flight and public drunkenness, having harassed a stewardess who apparently didn't appreciate a drunk Morrison jumping in her game … the charges are eventually dropped … Janis Joplin is arrested in her dressing room at a concert in Tampa for cussing at the man … earlier, in the auditorium, a cop is screaming through a bullhorn at her fans to sit down and she tells him "Don't @#&* with these people. Hey mister what are you so uptight about? Did you buy a five-dollar ticket?" … she is similarly disrespectful addressing police backstage when they insist that SHE tell the audience to sit down … she gets out on a $50 bond and the charges of "vulgar and indecent language" are eventually dropped …(What was she thinking shameless hussy lol)
1970, Jim Morrison closes the door on his bandmates, playing his last concert with The Doors in New Orleans …
1972, featuring fiery guitarist Jan Akkerman, the albumMoving Wavesby Dutch prog-rock band Focus arrives on the LP chart in the U.K… . thanks to popular song "Hocus Pocus," Focus achieves notoriety in the U.S., but in a short while it's hocus pocus and Focus disappears … riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three block from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year … Oakley refuses treatment at the site and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital …
1978, Queen plays Madison Square Garden … during their hit number "Fat Bottomed Girls," they are accompanied by semi-nude women riding bicycles …
1981, The Police top the charts in the U.K. with "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" … the U.S. pop chart experiences an Aussie invasion when Olivia Newton-John, Little River Band, Air Supply, and Rick Springfield all register hit singles …
1984, Madonna's album Like a Virgin is released, leaving listeners wondering in what way she is … popular theories include the possibility that Madonna is encouraging people to like virgins … sort of like a "take a virgin to lunch" campaign … a bit redundant, but good-hearted nonetheless … however, some detractors claim that the material girl, who launched herself to stardom by wearing her underwear on the outside, is like a virgin in much the same way that balloons are like safety pins …
1987, "a day late and a dollar short" seems to typify the career of Sly Stone, who turns up an hour late for an L.A. comeback concert and is promptly arrested for failing to pay child support … what can you say; Bo Diddley's got the "Bo Diddley beat," Sly's got the deadbeat … lateness aside, in his self-shortened heyday, Stone quickly fell out of favor with promoters for consistently not showing up for concerts at all …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has ever matched this performance with a debut LP … Steve Love, former Beach Boys manager and brother of lead singer Mike Love, gets five years' probation for embezzling nearly a million bucks from the group …
1990, German producer Frank Farian reveals that Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, collectively known as Milli Vanilli, never sang on their debut record, "Girl You Know It's True" … the producer goes on to say the duo lip-synced during personal appearances … eventually Milli Vanilli will give back their Grammy and lapse into obscurity, followed by the accidental suicide of Pilatus … some secrets are best kept secret …
2000, Michael Abram, the man who a year earlier broke into George Harrison's home and stabbed Harrison before being subdued by the ex-Beatle and his wife, is found guilty by reason of insanity and ordered confined to a mental hospital for an indefinite stay …
2003, Kid Rock announces plans for a continuing creative collaboration with Sheryl Crow … the collaboration has thus far resulted in the hit duet "Picture," and they plan more writing and recording together in the future … looks like The Kid is growing up … perhaps a name-change to Man Rock is in order …
2004, going postal takes on new meaning when the group Postal Service settles with The United States Postal Service following more than a year of legal maneuvering over the band's name … in the creative compromise, the duo comprised of Death Cab for Cutie singer Ben Gibbard and electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello agree to let the Postal Service use their music to promote the use of snail mail and to refer to the USPS deal in Postal Service CDs … the musicians also agree to perform at the postmaster general's National Executive Conference in Washington … Apple introduces a special black U2 version of the iPod with the band members' names laser-etched on the case … the unit is launched with an ad that has the band performing its new single "Vertigo" … finally jumping on the bandwagon of mega-rockers who've cashed in on cross-promotion, it's the first time in the band's 25-year career that it's licensed music for commercial purposes … other than selling records, of course … The New York Post reports that former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth, 50, is training to become an emergency medical technician … the girls may not be swooning like they once did, but it never hurts to know a little CPR … according to his tutor, Linda Reissman, "His commitment is really touching. He wants to help people." … funny, we always knew that Diamond Dave's commitment was touching … only we thought it was California girls … Jamaican reggae star Sizzla is denied a British visa based on complaints by gay-rights groups that the lyrics in his songs "incite racist and homophobic violence" … something about Sizzla and flank steaks come to mind … perhaps he doth protest too much …
2005, Elton John and partner David Furnish set a date to wed … keyboard legend Bill Preston is hospitalized in Arizona for an inflammation of the heart … no, the two are not related …
2006, former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher appears in a British court to pursue a claim against former bandmate Gary Brooker, claiming that his distinctive organ work played an important role in the success of the smash hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and that he is due a payday … some critics claim that perhaps Fisher should pay royalties to J.S. Bach, whose melody he allegedly appropriated, but according to an in-depth musical analysis, while influenced by Bach, Fisher's creation is original … the judge awards Fisher a 40% share in the copyright and says he's entitled to royalties going back to 2005 when he filed suit …
2007, Donovan announces plans to open a Transcendental Meditation college in Scotland … it will be called the Invincible Donovan University … apparently a great deal of thought went into the name … rumors say that the order of the name, "Invincible Donovan University" was originally The Invincible University of Donovan, until deep meditation revealed to the former '60s flower child that its college sweatshirts would bear the initials, IUD … so much for free love …
2009, The Faces gear up for a reunion tour with or without original frontman Rod Stewart … keyboardist Ian McLagan intimates that the band has grown weary of waiting for Stewart to commit to a reunion … says McLagan, "If we don't do it very soon, one of us is gonna check out. I'm 64, for chrissakes!" … unfortunately, our Faces are red as Stewart opts out and is replaced by Simply Red's Mick Hucknall …
Arrivals:
November 11: jazz singer Ernestine Allen (1920), jazz pianist-singer Mose Allison (1927), R&B singer LaVern Baker (1929), David Lastle, New Orleans session sax man (1934), pop singer Brian Hyland of "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" fame (1943), The Youngbloods' Jesse Colin Young, born Perry Miller (1944), godfather of grunge Neil Young (1945), Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds (1945), Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge (1945), Andy Partridge of XTC (1953), singer-songwriter-guitarist Marshall Crenshaw (1953), Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17 (1956)
November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Arthur Tavares of disco singing group Tavares (1946), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult (1947), Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate (1948), Leslie McKeown of The Bay City Rollers (1955), David Ellefson of Megadeth (1964), R&B singer Tevin Campbell (1976)
November 13: R&B singer Justine "Baby" Washington (1940), Annette Kleinbard of The Teddy Bears (1940), R&B singer and producer Timmy Thomas (1944), Bill Gibson of Huey Lewis and the News (1951), Pogues drummer Andrew Ranken (1953), Walter Kibby of Fishbone (1964), The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture (1978)
November 14: composer Aaron Copland (1900), Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI Records (1904), Gene Krupa Band vocalist Johnny Desmond (1921), Chicago harp man Carey Bell (1936), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1938), Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers (1940), Memphis producer and musician Jim Dickinson (1941), accordionist-zydeco performer Buckwheat Zydeco (1947), James Young of Styx (1948), singer and guitarist Stephen Bishop (1951), Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot (1951), Alec John Such of Bon Jovi (1956), rapper Joe "Run" Simmons of Run-D.M.C. (1964), Brian Yale of matchbox twenty (1968), Travis Barker of blink-182 (1975), R&B singer Adina Howard (1974)
November 15: elevator-music maestro Mantovani (1905), Ike Turner's pianist Clayton Love (1927), R&B singer Clyde McPhatter (1932), pop singer Petula Clark (1932), vocalist Little Willie John born William J. Woods (1937), Frida of ABBA (1945), bassist Steve Fossen of Heart (1949), Michael Cooper of Con Funk Shun (1952), R&B singer Alexander O'Neal (1953), Tony Thompson of Chic (1954), Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks (1957), Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins (1957), Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (1968)
November 16: "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy (1873), Atlantic Records artist-producer-arranger Jesse Stone (1901), Atlantic Records cofounder and producer Herb Abramson (1916), Toni Brown of Joy of Cooking (1928), folksinger Bob Gibson (1931), long-time Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin (1931), R&B singer Garnett Mimms (1933), Nashville producer Felton Jarvis (1934), James Brown band guitarist Troy Seals (1938), John Ryanes of The Monotones (1940), Winfred "Blue" Lovett of The Manhattans (1943), acoustic guitarist-composer Will Ackerman (1949), Patti Santos of It's a Beautiful Day (1949), Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde (1958), Mani of The Stone Roses (1962), jazz singer Diana Krall (1964), Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd (1969), Trevor Penick of O-Town (1979)
November 17: folksinger Gordon Lightfoot (1938), novelty songster Jimmy Cross (1939), Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons (1942), Gene Clark of The Byrds (1944), Martin Barre of Jethro Tull (1946), Jim Babjak of The Smithereens (1957), drag performer-singer RuPaul (1960), singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeff Buckley (1966), Ben Wilson of Blues Traveler (1967), Ronnie DeVoe of Bell Biv DeVoe (1967), Isaac Hanson of Hanson (1980)
Departures:
November 11: Beau Brummels drummer John Peterson (2007), Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley (1972)
November 12: former Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (2008), drummer Tony Thompson of Chic (2003), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1998), slide guitar and dobro player Rainer Ptacek (1997) Cause and Effect keyboard player and vocalist Sean Rowley (1992)
November 13: Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (2004), Donald Mills of The Mills Brothers (1999), R.J. Vealey of the Atlanta Rhythm Section (1999), R&B pianist Bill Doggett (1996), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1992), drummer Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1973)
November 14: John Mellencamp keyboardist John Cascella (1992), singer Dallas Taylor of The Danderliers and The Dells (1986), dub pioneer Keith Hudson (1984), country bluesman Rube Lacy (1969)
November 15: composer-arranger Saul Chaplin (1997), disco producer Jacques Morali (1991)
November 16: British pop pianist Russ Conway (2000), Kid Rock sideman Joe C. AKA Joseph Calleja (2000), Gospel Music Hall of Fame member J.D. Sumner (1998), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1994), Francis Donia of Tavares (1984), raw-voiced soulman O.V. Wright (1980), music journalist Mike Leadbitter (1974)
November 17: R&B belter Ruth Brown (2006), Stax soul singer Arthur Conley (2003), blues scholar, producer, and label owner Pete Welding (1995), cofounder of RPM Records Jules Bihari (1984), bassist John Glascock of Jethro Tull (1979)
Apologies my normal provider is not compiling the info at present due to change in business practice. I am looking for an alternative unfortunately nothing as good as the one accustomed to. I can get Hatches and Despatches but not the good day by day trivia
Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible
I resisted temptation to repost last years weekly posts lol Almost got to 21k
Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible
I resisted temptation to repost last years weekly posts lol Almost got to 21k
Week In Review
January 13, 2011
The Cavern Club Opens For Business … The Beatles Cause A Blackout … Pink Floyd Heads To The Moon …
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1944, jazz comes to the Met for the first time when Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge, and Jack Teagarden take the stage and show 'em how it's done …
1957, this week marks the opening of the Cavern Club in an old wine cellar on Matthew Street in Liverpool … the club becomes world famous thanks to the happy choice of The Beatles as its house band in 1961 and '62 … it remains in business to this day … on this side of the pond, Johnny Cash hits network TV for the first time as a guest on the Jackie Gleason Show …
1958, The Five Royales' "Dedicated to the One I Love" is released … three years later the Shirelles will take it to #3 … in 1967 The Mamas & The Papas revive the tune one more time scoring a #2 hit …
1962, "The Twist" by Chubby Checker tops the charts … the song was written and first recorded by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters …
1963, drummer Charlie Watts debuts with The Rolling Stones at The Flamingo in Soho, London …
1964, The Beatles play the venerable Olympia Theater in Paris … the old venue's electrical system is not up the demands of rock 'n' roll and the show is marred by three power failures …
1965, recording sessions begin at Columbia studios in New York City for Bob Dylan's fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home … the album will feature one side of acoustic songs and one side with (yikes!) a band … the album includes Dylan's first charting single, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" …
1966, British popster David Jones becomes David Bowie in an effort to avoid confusion with The Monkees' Davy Jones … Brian Wilson begins recording Pet Sounds at Western Studios in Los Angeles while the rest of the Beach Boys are on tour in the Far East …
1967, the first Be–In takes place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park … the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Timothy Leary, and poet Allen Ginsberg entertain and inform … the gatherings of the incense–and–sandals set go on to become a Bay–Area fixture …
1970, in a bizarre latter–day bubble of Victorian flatulence, Scotland Yard confiscates eight prints from John Lennon's exhibit of erotic lithographs … an accountant who has strayed into the Bag One gallery complains to the police, "They were exaggerated distorted caricatures depicting intimate sexual relationships of a repulsive and disgusting nature" … the raiding policeman, Detective Inspector Frederick Luff, says, "Many toilet walls depict works of similar merit. It is perhaps charitable to suggest that they are the work of a sick mind … The only danger to a successful prosecution is the argument that they are so pathetic as to be incapable of influencing anyone" … the gallery is closed and its owners prosecuted for violating obscenity laws … a London magistrate finally dismisses the charges and returns the lithos to the gallery, where they had been on sale for $58 each …
1972, Memphis' Highway 51 South is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard … within a few years the street goes unmarked because the street signs are stolen as quickly as they can be replaced …
1973, Pink Floyd hits the studio to begin work on what will become one of the most successful albums ever, Dark Side of the Moon …
1974, in a move that jumps the gun on rapper antics by two decades, singer Dino Martin (son of Dean) of the pop trio Dino, Desi, and Billy is arrested on suspicion of possession and sale of two machine guns … Bob Dylan and The Band are the cause of a nine-mile-long traffic jam in the sunny state of Florida … the queue takes so long to clear up that many fans do not get into the Hollywood Sportatorium, located just between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, until the show is halfway over …
1978, The Sex Pistols play their swan–song show at San Francisco's Winterland …
1980, Paul McCartney goes down in Japan for a big bag of reefer … he spends 10 days in the slam then gets the ignominious boot … Macca later reports that he spent his time singing Beatles songs with fellow inmates … ruefully he recalls, "I knew I wouldn't be able to get anything to smoke over there. This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I'd take it with me." …
1981, Plasmatics singer and former erotic dancer/porn actress Wendy O. Williams is arrested in Milwaukee for becoming too intimate with a sledgehammer on stage … Ms. Williams, who typically performs adorned only in a G string and two tiny strips of electrician's tape, resists arrest valiantly and receives a 12–stitch head wound for her efforts …Rip off that tape quickly OUCH
1986, Harvard grads Henry Juszkiewicz, David Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski purchase Gibson Musical Instruments from Norlin for about $5 million …
1991, the crowd rushes the stage at an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City, crushing three people to death …
1993, the U.S. Supreme Court decides Tom Waits can keep the $2.6 million judgment awarded him in a lawsuit against Frito Lay … the snack food company had asked to use Waits' song "Step Right Up" in an advertisement, but he declined the offer … in a moment of overwhelming stupidity, Frito Lay hired a Tom Waits-soundalike to record a song strikingly similar to "Step Right Up" and used it in the commercial … ironically, Waits wrote and recorded the song as "an indictment of advertising" and it contains the lyric "What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away" …
1996, a milestone of sorts is achieved when Wayne Newton performs his 25,000th Las Vegas show …
1999, claiming that Victoria's Secret's Metallica lip pencils constitute trademark infringement, the band Metallica files suit against the lingerie company …'You mean Metallica don't use Lip Pencils!!!"
2001, bassist Jason Newsted splits with Metallica after 14 years with the band ( I bet because he wore Victorias Secrets Lip Pencil)… the split looms large in the 2003 documentary Some Kind of Monster that covers the recording of the album St. Anger …
2003, as part of a sting on users of an Internet child porn site, Pete Townshend is arrested at his home and his computer is seized … the irony is that Townshend is an activist against child pornography and foolishly used his credit card to access the site as part of his research for a book on child abuse … no child porn is found on Townshend's computer or in his house … he is given a reprimand and released … cops stage raids in England and the Netherlands to recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes recorded during the Let It Be sessions … the tapes had been the source of countless bootlegs over the years …
2005, indie band Camper Van Beethoven is robbed again … just three months after having their equipment stolen in Montreal, their gear disappears again, this time from a hotel parking lot in Dallas … the trailer was backed up against a parking deck wall so the doors would not open … the thieves cut through the side of the trailer and helped themselves … the band had even hired a security guard … a $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the recovery of the gear … in the good news category this week, a horde of comedy and musical heavyweights show up to help Tenacious D raise cash for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami … a benefit show is held at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles and features Will Ferrell, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Chris Rock, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme all performing with Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D …
2006, Eminem remarries his ex-wife Kim, who was previously the subject of the rapper's wrath in the 2000 song "Kim" … soulman Isaac Hayes is hospitalized in Memphis for exhaustion …
2007, System of a Down figures large in the debut of the documentary Screamers with concert footage, interviews, and archival film intermixed to tell the story of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century … Ted Nugent helps his buddy, Texas Governor Rick Perry, celebrate at his inaugural ball by appearing onstage with a cutoff tee, sporting the Confederate flag, and rambling on about people who don't speak English …
2008, Eddie Vedder nails a Golden Globe award for "Guaranteed," a song he wrote for Sean Penn's film Into the Wild … Twiggy Ramirez rejoins Marilyn Manson after quitting the band six years earlier … it's announced that Suze Rotolo, who was Bob Dylan's main squeeze circa 1961–1964, will publish a memoir titled A Freewheelin' Time in which she recounts her life with Bobby Z in Greenwich Village and the illegal abortion she underwent when she became pregnant by the singer–songwriter … after failing to show up for a court-ordered drug counseling session, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio is jailed … he is released two days later …
Arrivals:
January 13: singer-actress Sophie Tucker (1884), Modern Records founder Lester Sill (1918), British music publisher David Platz (1929), singer Bobby Lester of The Moonglows (1932), The Dells' original lead singer Johnny Funches (1935), Trevor Rabin of Yes (1954), Earth, Wind, and Fire drummer Fred White (1955), guitarist Tim Kelly of Slaughter (1963), Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine (1970)
January 14: big band vocalist Russ Columbo (1908), doo–wop/R&B record label owner Al Silver (1914), soul man Clarence Carter (1936), songwriter–producer Allen Toussaint (1938), Contours singer Hubert Johnson (1941), soul singer Linda Jones (1944), Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams (1949), Jim Croce guitarist Maury Muehleisen (1949), jazz guitarist-trumpeter Mark Egan (1951), Geoff Tate of Queensryche (1959), Chas Smash, born Cathal Joseph Patrick Smyth, of Madness (1959), Patricia Morrison of Sisters of Mercy (1962), LL Cool J, born James Todd Smith (1968), Dave Grohl (1969)
January 15: Gene Krupa (1909), folk music activist Alan Lomax (1915), Earl Hooker (1930), Jack Jones (1938), Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart (1941), Edward Bivins of The Manhattans (1942), Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1949), Martha Davis of the Motels (1951), ELO bassist Melvyn Gale (1952), Lisa Velez of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (1967)
January 16: Broadway diva Ethel Merman (1908), operatic diva Marilyn Horne (1934), Bob Bogle of The Ventures (1937), William Francis of Dr. Hook (1942), Raymond Philips of The Nashville Teens (1942), Ronnie Milsap (1943), Sade – born Helen Folasade Abu (1959), Paul Webb of Talk Talk (1962), Maxine Jones of En Vogue (1966), Aalliyah (1979)
January 17: Eartha Kitt (1927), blues singer Bobby Bland (1930), "British Elvis" Billy Fury (1941), Chris Montez (1943), Mick Taylor (1948), Steve Earle (1955), Paul Young (1956), Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles (1957), dancehall artist Shabba Ranks (1966), Robert James Ritchie AKA Kid Rock (1971)
January 18: producer Bobby Herne (1938), Bobby Goldsboro (1941), David Ruffin of The Temptations (1941), "Legs" Larry Smith of The Bonzo Dog Band (1944), Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins (1956), influential grunge rocker Andrew Wood (1966), DJ Quik (1970), Jonathan Davis of Korn (1971), Irish popette Samantha Mumba (1983)
January 19: Don Lang of The Frantic Five (1925), Australia's first rock star, Johnny O'Keefe (1935), Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers (1939), Janis Joplin (1943), Rod Evans of Deep Purple (1945), Dolly Parton (1946), eclectic Brit vocalist Robert Palmer (1949), Dewey Bunnell of America (1952), Caron Wheeler of Soul II Soul (1963)
Departures:
January 13: Teddy Pendergrass (2010), saxophonist Michael Brecker (2007), Brian Keenan, drummer with the Chambers Brothers Band (1985), soul singer–songwriter Donny Hathaway (1979), Stephen Foster, "Father of American Music" (1864)
January 14: New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan (1992), bluesman Rube Lacey (1969)
January 15: Junior Wells (1998), Grand Ole Opry performer Vic Willis (1995), Harry Nillsson (1994), Sammy Cahn (1993), Elton John drummer Dee Murray, born David Oates (1992)
January 16: country singer Carl Smith (2010), Pookie Hudson (2007), former Peter Frampton drummer John Siomos (2004), Will Jones of the Coasters (2000), Sollie McElroy, lead singer of the Flamingos (1995), Paul Beaver of Beaver and Krause (1975), Ross Bagdasarian AKA David Seville, creator of The Chipmunks (1972), Arturo Toscanini (1957)
January 17: multi–instrumentalist Norris Turney (2001), Texas blues guitarist T.D. Bell AKA Little T–Bone (1999), bluesman David "Junior" Kimbrough (1998), blues drummer Robert Covington (1996), Tony Duhig, leader of prog–rock band Jade Warrior (1991), commie rocker Dean Reed (1986), R&B singer Billy "Fat Boy" Stewart (1970), Norman P. Rich, William Cathey, and Rico Hightower of Stewart's band, The Soul Kings (1970)
January 18: Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle (2010), Brent Liles of Social Distortion (2007), producer–songwriter Keith Diamond (1997), singer Adriana Caselotti (1997), Mel(anie) Appleby of Mel & Kim (1990), Chicago soul–blues vocalist McKinley Mitchell (1986)
January 19: Belizean Punta musician Andy Palacio (2008), singer-songwriter John Stewart (2008), Denny Doherty of The Mamas and The Papas (2007), Wilson Pickett (2006), Josh Clayton–Felt of School of Fish (2000), rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins (1998), Joe Stubbs of The Falcons (1998), singer–guitarist Buster Benton (1996), leader and sax player for the Mar–Keys Packy Axton (1974)
January 13, 2011
The Cavern Club Opens For Business … The Beatles Cause A Blackout … Pink Floyd Heads To The Moon …
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1944, jazz comes to the Met for the first time when Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge, and Jack Teagarden take the stage and show 'em how it's done …
1957, this week marks the opening of the Cavern Club in an old wine cellar on Matthew Street in Liverpool … the club becomes world famous thanks to the happy choice of The Beatles as its house band in 1961 and '62 … it remains in business to this day … on this side of the pond, Johnny Cash hits network TV for the first time as a guest on the Jackie Gleason Show …
1958, The Five Royales' "Dedicated to the One I Love" is released … three years later the Shirelles will take it to #3 … in 1967 The Mamas & The Papas revive the tune one more time scoring a #2 hit …
1962, "The Twist" by Chubby Checker tops the charts … the song was written and first recorded by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters …
1963, drummer Charlie Watts debuts with The Rolling Stones at The Flamingo in Soho, London …
1964, The Beatles play the venerable Olympia Theater in Paris … the old venue's electrical system is not up the demands of rock 'n' roll and the show is marred by three power failures …
1965, recording sessions begin at Columbia studios in New York City for Bob Dylan's fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home … the album will feature one side of acoustic songs and one side with (yikes!) a band … the album includes Dylan's first charting single, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" …
1966, British popster David Jones becomes David Bowie in an effort to avoid confusion with The Monkees' Davy Jones … Brian Wilson begins recording Pet Sounds at Western Studios in Los Angeles while the rest of the Beach Boys are on tour in the Far East …
1967, the first Be–In takes place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park … the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Timothy Leary, and poet Allen Ginsberg entertain and inform … the gatherings of the incense–and–sandals set go on to become a Bay–Area fixture …
1970, in a bizarre latter–day bubble of Victorian flatulence, Scotland Yard confiscates eight prints from John Lennon's exhibit of erotic lithographs … an accountant who has strayed into the Bag One gallery complains to the police, "They were exaggerated distorted caricatures depicting intimate sexual relationships of a repulsive and disgusting nature" … the raiding policeman, Detective Inspector Frederick Luff, says, "Many toilet walls depict works of similar merit. It is perhaps charitable to suggest that they are the work of a sick mind … The only danger to a successful prosecution is the argument that they are so pathetic as to be incapable of influencing anyone" … the gallery is closed and its owners prosecuted for violating obscenity laws … a London magistrate finally dismisses the charges and returns the lithos to the gallery, where they had been on sale for $58 each …
1972, Memphis' Highway 51 South is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard … within a few years the street goes unmarked because the street signs are stolen as quickly as they can be replaced …
1973, Pink Floyd hits the studio to begin work on what will become one of the most successful albums ever, Dark Side of the Moon …
1974, in a move that jumps the gun on rapper antics by two decades, singer Dino Martin (son of Dean) of the pop trio Dino, Desi, and Billy is arrested on suspicion of possession and sale of two machine guns … Bob Dylan and The Band are the cause of a nine-mile-long traffic jam in the sunny state of Florida … the queue takes so long to clear up that many fans do not get into the Hollywood Sportatorium, located just between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, until the show is halfway over …
1978, The Sex Pistols play their swan–song show at San Francisco's Winterland …
1980, Paul McCartney goes down in Japan for a big bag of reefer … he spends 10 days in the slam then gets the ignominious boot … Macca later reports that he spent his time singing Beatles songs with fellow inmates … ruefully he recalls, "I knew I wouldn't be able to get anything to smoke over there. This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I'd take it with me." …
1981, Plasmatics singer and former erotic dancer/porn actress Wendy O. Williams is arrested in Milwaukee for becoming too intimate with a sledgehammer on stage … Ms. Williams, who typically performs adorned only in a G string and two tiny strips of electrician's tape, resists arrest valiantly and receives a 12–stitch head wound for her efforts …Rip off that tape quickly OUCH
1986, Harvard grads Henry Juszkiewicz, David Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski purchase Gibson Musical Instruments from Norlin for about $5 million …
1991, the crowd rushes the stage at an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City, crushing three people to death …
1993, the U.S. Supreme Court decides Tom Waits can keep the $2.6 million judgment awarded him in a lawsuit against Frito Lay … the snack food company had asked to use Waits' song "Step Right Up" in an advertisement, but he declined the offer … in a moment of overwhelming stupidity, Frito Lay hired a Tom Waits-soundalike to record a song strikingly similar to "Step Right Up" and used it in the commercial … ironically, Waits wrote and recorded the song as "an indictment of advertising" and it contains the lyric "What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away" …
1996, a milestone of sorts is achieved when Wayne Newton performs his 25,000th Las Vegas show …
1999, claiming that Victoria's Secret's Metallica lip pencils constitute trademark infringement, the band Metallica files suit against the lingerie company …'You mean Metallica don't use Lip Pencils!!!"
2001, bassist Jason Newsted splits with Metallica after 14 years with the band ( I bet because he wore Victorias Secrets Lip Pencil)… the split looms large in the 2003 documentary Some Kind of Monster that covers the recording of the album St. Anger …
2003, as part of a sting on users of an Internet child porn site, Pete Townshend is arrested at his home and his computer is seized … the irony is that Townshend is an activist against child pornography and foolishly used his credit card to access the site as part of his research for a book on child abuse … no child porn is found on Townshend's computer or in his house … he is given a reprimand and released … cops stage raids in England and the Netherlands to recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes recorded during the Let It Be sessions … the tapes had been the source of countless bootlegs over the years …
2005, indie band Camper Van Beethoven is robbed again … just three months after having their equipment stolen in Montreal, their gear disappears again, this time from a hotel parking lot in Dallas … the trailer was backed up against a parking deck wall so the doors would not open … the thieves cut through the side of the trailer and helped themselves … the band had even hired a security guard … a $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the recovery of the gear … in the good news category this week, a horde of comedy and musical heavyweights show up to help Tenacious D raise cash for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami … a benefit show is held at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles and features Will Ferrell, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Chris Rock, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme all performing with Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D …
2006, Eminem remarries his ex-wife Kim, who was previously the subject of the rapper's wrath in the 2000 song "Kim" … soulman Isaac Hayes is hospitalized in Memphis for exhaustion …
2007, System of a Down figures large in the debut of the documentary Screamers with concert footage, interviews, and archival film intermixed to tell the story of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century … Ted Nugent helps his buddy, Texas Governor Rick Perry, celebrate at his inaugural ball by appearing onstage with a cutoff tee, sporting the Confederate flag, and rambling on about people who don't speak English …
2008, Eddie Vedder nails a Golden Globe award for "Guaranteed," a song he wrote for Sean Penn's film Into the Wild … Twiggy Ramirez rejoins Marilyn Manson after quitting the band six years earlier … it's announced that Suze Rotolo, who was Bob Dylan's main squeeze circa 1961–1964, will publish a memoir titled A Freewheelin' Time in which she recounts her life with Bobby Z in Greenwich Village and the illegal abortion she underwent when she became pregnant by the singer–songwriter … after failing to show up for a court-ordered drug counseling session, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio is jailed … he is released two days later …
Arrivals:
January 13: singer-actress Sophie Tucker (1884), Modern Records founder Lester Sill (1918), British music publisher David Platz (1929), singer Bobby Lester of The Moonglows (1932), The Dells' original lead singer Johnny Funches (1935), Trevor Rabin of Yes (1954), Earth, Wind, and Fire drummer Fred White (1955), guitarist Tim Kelly of Slaughter (1963), Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine (1970)
January 14: big band vocalist Russ Columbo (1908), doo–wop/R&B record label owner Al Silver (1914), soul man Clarence Carter (1936), songwriter–producer Allen Toussaint (1938), Contours singer Hubert Johnson (1941), soul singer Linda Jones (1944), Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams (1949), Jim Croce guitarist Maury Muehleisen (1949), jazz guitarist-trumpeter Mark Egan (1951), Geoff Tate of Queensryche (1959), Chas Smash, born Cathal Joseph Patrick Smyth, of Madness (1959), Patricia Morrison of Sisters of Mercy (1962), LL Cool J, born James Todd Smith (1968), Dave Grohl (1969)
January 15: Gene Krupa (1909), folk music activist Alan Lomax (1915), Earl Hooker (1930), Jack Jones (1938), Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart (1941), Edward Bivins of The Manhattans (1942), Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1949), Martha Davis of the Motels (1951), ELO bassist Melvyn Gale (1952), Lisa Velez of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (1967)
January 16: Broadway diva Ethel Merman (1908), operatic diva Marilyn Horne (1934), Bob Bogle of The Ventures (1937), William Francis of Dr. Hook (1942), Raymond Philips of The Nashville Teens (1942), Ronnie Milsap (1943), Sade – born Helen Folasade Abu (1959), Paul Webb of Talk Talk (1962), Maxine Jones of En Vogue (1966), Aalliyah (1979)
January 17: Eartha Kitt (1927), blues singer Bobby Bland (1930), "British Elvis" Billy Fury (1941), Chris Montez (1943), Mick Taylor (1948), Steve Earle (1955), Paul Young (1956), Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles (1957), dancehall artist Shabba Ranks (1966), Robert James Ritchie AKA Kid Rock (1971)
January 18: producer Bobby Herne (1938), Bobby Goldsboro (1941), David Ruffin of The Temptations (1941), "Legs" Larry Smith of The Bonzo Dog Band (1944), Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins (1956), influential grunge rocker Andrew Wood (1966), DJ Quik (1970), Jonathan Davis of Korn (1971), Irish popette Samantha Mumba (1983)
January 19: Don Lang of The Frantic Five (1925), Australia's first rock star, Johnny O'Keefe (1935), Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers (1939), Janis Joplin (1943), Rod Evans of Deep Purple (1945), Dolly Parton (1946), eclectic Brit vocalist Robert Palmer (1949), Dewey Bunnell of America (1952), Caron Wheeler of Soul II Soul (1963)
Departures:
January 13: Teddy Pendergrass (2010), saxophonist Michael Brecker (2007), Brian Keenan, drummer with the Chambers Brothers Band (1985), soul singer–songwriter Donny Hathaway (1979), Stephen Foster, "Father of American Music" (1864)
January 14: New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan (1992), bluesman Rube Lacey (1969)
January 15: Junior Wells (1998), Grand Ole Opry performer Vic Willis (1995), Harry Nillsson (1994), Sammy Cahn (1993), Elton John drummer Dee Murray, born David Oates (1992)
January 16: country singer Carl Smith (2010), Pookie Hudson (2007), former Peter Frampton drummer John Siomos (2004), Will Jones of the Coasters (2000), Sollie McElroy, lead singer of the Flamingos (1995), Paul Beaver of Beaver and Krause (1975), Ross Bagdasarian AKA David Seville, creator of The Chipmunks (1972), Arturo Toscanini (1957)
January 17: multi–instrumentalist Norris Turney (2001), Texas blues guitarist T.D. Bell AKA Little T–Bone (1999), bluesman David "Junior" Kimbrough (1998), blues drummer Robert Covington (1996), Tony Duhig, leader of prog–rock band Jade Warrior (1991), commie rocker Dean Reed (1986), R&B singer Billy "Fat Boy" Stewart (1970), Norman P. Rich, William Cathey, and Rico Hightower of Stewart's band, The Soul Kings (1970)
January 18: Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle (2010), Brent Liles of Social Distortion (2007), producer–songwriter Keith Diamond (1997), singer Adriana Caselotti (1997), Mel(anie) Appleby of Mel & Kim (1990), Chicago soul–blues vocalist McKinley Mitchell (1986)
January 19: Belizean Punta musician Andy Palacio (2008), singer-songwriter John Stewart (2008), Denny Doherty of The Mamas and The Papas (2007), Wilson Pickett (2006), Josh Clayton–Felt of School of Fish (2000), rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins (1998), Joe Stubbs of The Falcons (1998), singer–guitarist Buster Benton (1996), leader and sax player for the Mar–Keys Packy Axton (1974)
Week In Review
January 27, 2011
Aretha Gets Soul'd … Emerson's Chops Burned … ABBA Gets Preserved …
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1945, The Andrews Sisters' "Rum & Coca Cola" is the #1 pop hit and will become the biggest seller of the year …
1956, The Coasters are signed to Atlantic records … the doo-wop act goes on to score 19 hits in the ensuing 15 years including such novelty smashes as "Charlie Brown" and "Poison Ivy" …
1958, The Champs release "Tequila" which will become one of the more successful one-word songs … two band members, Jim Seals and Dash Crofts will later form their own duo Seals & Crofts and score big hits in the '70s with "Hummingbird" and "Summer Breeze" … Little Richard announces that he is retiring from music at the peak of his popularity to become a minister … the pomaded rocker will flip-flop between his sacred and profane predilections in the coming years …
1960, Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show singing "Heartbreak Hotel" … Jimmie Jones' hit "Handy Man" enters the pop chart ultimately rising to the #3 slot … in 1977 James Taylor resuscitates the tune taking it to #4 …
1961, husband-and-wife writing team Carole King and Jerry Goffin score their first of many #1 hits with The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" … King plays drums on the hit … it's nearly 10 years later that she scores her own solo #1 hit with "It's Too Late" a single from her monster album Tapestry …
1965, Brit rocker P.J. Proby splits his pants his during a London show … the incident gets a big reaction from the crowd and Proby makes the ripping riff a permanent part of his act …
1967, Aretha Franklin lays down her first tracks for Atlantic at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama … she waxes the steaming ballad "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" … the Muscle Shoals sessions are the first to fully exploit Franklin's soulful vocal skills … at her former label, Columbia, she had been given syrupy, string-laden ballads to sing … Jimi Hendrix and The Who perform at London's Saville Theatre in London … while browsing in a London antique shop, John Lennon comes across a 19th century circus poster that incorporates most of what will become the lyrics of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" …
1969, The Beatles, with Billy Preston joining them on organ, perform in public as a group for the last time on the roof of the Apple Studios building … the performance is filmed for all to see later, but the famous roof-top jam ends after four songs when police show up to enforce a noise complaint from the neighbors …
1972, more than 40,000 file past Mahalia Jackson's coffin to pay final respects to the renowned gospel singer who died four days earlier … at her funeral the next day, Sammy Davis Jr. reads a letter from President Nixon and Aretha Franklin sings "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" …
1973, KISS performs their first show at the Coventry club in Queens … they have yet to develop their trademark look … Paul Stanley will later characterize the band's appearance as a New York Dolls look … keyboardist Keith Emerson's hands are injured when a piano that's been rigged with pyrotechnics explodes prematurely during an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert in San Francisco … NBC debuts TV's first rock concert series, Midnight Special … the show's announcer is gravel-throated DJ Wolfman Jack and each episode features a guest host … the show will air through 1981 …
1975, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green is dispatched to the funny farm following an incident in which he attacked an accountant attempting to deliver a royalty check for $30,00 … turns out Green didn't want the green …
1980, commemorating the first anniversary of Sid Vicious' death, 1,000 punks stage a march in London … the dead Sex Pistol's mother, Ann Beverly, had been slated to head the parade, but she's in hospital recovering from a drug overdose …
1985, the single "We Are The World" is recorded in L.A. by 46 rock/pop stars to raise money for charity …
1988, The Cars reach the end of the road … at least the original version … the group would reform as The New Cars with Todd Rundgren and without Ric Ocasek and the late Benjamin Orr …
1993, Willie Nelson reaches a settlement with the IRS in which the feds keep $3.6 million worth of previously seized assets and the singer agrees to kick in another $5.4 million … that will settle what the government reckons is a $13.1 million tax bill …
1994, former Supreme Mary Wilson flips her jeep on a freeway outside of Los Angeles … her 14-year old son dies in the accident and Wilson is injured …
1998, The Dixie Chicks release their breakthrough album Wide Open Spaces eventually selling 12 million copies worldwide … The Capeman, Paul Simon's Broadway musical about a 1950s Spanish Harlem murder, opens two weeks late and is universally loathed by the critics … though they like the musical's mélange of doo-wop- and Latino-tinged tunes, they hate the story and the show quickly folds …
1999, 16,000 attend a benefit concert held in East Rutherford, New Jersey for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted cop killer … Jamal's insistence on his innocence, as well as questions of fairness at his trial, have garnered him the support of numerous actors and musicians since he was convicted in 1982 of the death of police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death … Rage Against the Machine, the Beastie Boys, Chumbawamba, Public Enemy's Chuck D, and Bad Religion perform …
2002, Pat Boone announces the formation of his Gold Records label … he will only sign artists 45 and older …
2004, James Brown is arrested on charges of domestic violence … he pleads no contest in June …
2005, New York hip-hop station Hot 97 fires producer Rick Delgado for creating and airing a parody of the 1985 single "We Are the World" named "The Tsunami Song" … peppered with racially-charged lyrics and trivializing the Asian disaster, the song is aired by radio personality Todd Lynn who is also fired while host Miss Jones and two staff members are suspended for two weeks … the station's corporate parent company announces that it will donate $1 million to tsunami relief … An Emmy-winning makeup artist, Kylie Bell, files suit against Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and ABC-TV owner Walt Disney seeking $25 million in damages stemming from an alleged rape by the rapper and four members of his entourage following the taping of the talk show in 2003 … the case will later be settled "amicably" out of court …
2006, A letter written by Don Law, the producer of Robert Johnson's 1936 and 1937 San Antonio recording sessions is unearthed providing and confirming valuable details of the enigmatic blues pioneer's sessions … The management firm representing singer Avril Lavigne provides defense money for an Arlington, TX man who has been sued by the recording industry for sharing downloaded music … among the songs involved in what the industry considers illegal sharing is Lavigne's own "Sk8er Boi" …
2007, Reuters reports that the Church of England has begun staging "U2-charist" communion services in which traditional hymns are replaced with songs from the Irish supergroup … a live band plays U2 songs such as "Mysterious Ways" and "Beautiful Day" while lyrics are displayed on a giant screen so the congregation can sing along … seating is also rearranged to accommodate dancing and handwaving … there's no word on whether Bic-flicking will be part of the ceremony … church members wonder what might be next … a "Who-charist" featuring the music of Pete Townshend? …
2009, veteran Hollywood director John Landis sues Michael Jackson because he has not been paid for several years for his share of the profits from the Thriller video … Landis co-wrote and directed the 14-minute video in 1983 …
2010, the ABBA museum—ABBA World—opens in West London … 25 rooms contain costumes, photos, interactive displays, memorabilia, and computer recreations of the Swedish band on stage …
Arrivals:
January 27: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), composer Jerome Kern (1885), blues legend Elmore James (1918), Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., better known as David Seville, creator of The Chipmunks (1919), Nick Mason of Pink Floyd (1945), Seth Justman of The J. Geils Band (1951), Brian Downey of Thin Lizzy (1951), Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins (1961), New Order's Gillian Gilbert (1961), Faith No More's Mike Patton (1968)
January 28: piano virtuoso Arthur Rubenstein (1887), songwriter Irving Gordon (1915), British jazzman and club owner Ronnie Scott (1927), Mr. Acker Bilk (1929), bluesman David "Junior" Kimbrough (1930), dub producer King Tubby (1941), Brian Keenan of the Chambers Brothers (1944), Dick Taylor of The Pretty Things (1944), Nedra Talley of The Ronettes (1946), Rick Allen of The Box Tops (1946), Mountain's Corky Laing (1948), The Alarm's Dave Sharp (1959), Sarah McLachlan (1968), rapper Rakim (1968), Cypress Hill's Muggs (1968), Joey Fatone of *NSYNC (1977), Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys (1980)
January 29: Huddie Ledbetter AKA Lead Belly (1889), Chicago bluesman Eddie Taylor (1923), masterful Motown bassist James Jamerson (1936), jazz pianist Bobby Scott (1937), Peter Cowap of Herman's Hermits (1944), David Byron of Uriah Heep (1947), Tommy Ramone of the Ramones (1949), Louie Perez of Los Lobos (1953), rapper Mitch McDowell of General Kane (1954), Eddie Jackson of Queensryche (1961)
January 30: R&B singer Ruth Brown (1928), Mississippi bluesman Big Jack Johnson (1940), Joe Terry of Danny & the Juniors (1941), Marty Balin of The Jefferson Airplane (1942), Sandy Yaguda of Jay & the Americans (1943), Steve Marriott of Small Faces and Humble Pie (1947), William King of the Commodores (1949), Mary Ross of Quarterflash (1951), Steve Bartek of OingoBoingo (1952), Shalamar's Jody Watley (1959), Jonny Lang (1981)
January 31: Chuck Willis, R&B and rock singer-songwriter (1928), Paul deLay, Portland-based blues harp player and singer (1952), Slayer's Jeff Hanneman (1964), Al Jaworski of Jesus Jones (1966), Jason Cooper of The Cure (1967)
February 1: rock music critic Lillian Roxon (1932), Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio (1934), Don Everly of The Everly Brothers (1937), Dr. Hook's Ray Sawyer (1937), Jimmy Carl Black of The Mothers of Invention (1938), Rick James (1952), Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1954), Lisa Marie Presley (1968), Patrick Wilson of Weezer (1969), Outkast's Big Boi (1975)
February 2: bluesman Walter Vinson (1901), saxophonist Red Prysock (1926), Stan Getz (1927), Skip Battin of The Byrds (1934), Clarence Quick of the Dell Vikings (1937), Graham Nash (1942), Ronnie Goodson, who became lead singer of Ronnie and the Hi-Lites at age 12 (1945), Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers (1946), Peter Lucia of Tommy James and The Shondells (1947), Alan McKay of Earth, Wind & Fire (1948), Journey's Ross Valory (1949), jazz bassist Alphonso Johnson (1951), Jeff Healy Band drummer Tom Stephen (1955), Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots (1966), Ben Mize of Counting Crows (1971), Shakira (1977)
Departures:
January 27: Tin Pan Alley composer Gerald Marks (1997), vocalist Candy Givens of Zephyr (1984), gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1972)
January 28: Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi (2005), recording pioneer John Mosley (1996), D.O.A. drummer Ken Jensen (1995), Uriah Heep's David Byron (1985), "British Elvis" Billy Fury (1983)
January 29: founder of the Quarrymen Eric Griffiths (2005), David Lerchey of The Dell-Vikings (2005), seminal blues bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon (1992), Herman "Sunny" Chaney of The Jaguars (1989), Sir Edward Lewis (1980), one-man-band Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller (1976)
January 30: songwriter Julius Dixon (2004), jazz producer Bob Thiele (1996), bluesman Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins (1982), influential New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair, born Henry Roeland Byrd (1980), rockabilly singer Warren Smith (1980), songster Mance Lipscomb (1976)
January 31: Barbara Cowsill, mother of The Cowsills (1985), saxophonist Gregory Herbert, member of the 1978 incarnation of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1978), R&B singer-songwriter Buster Brown (1976), swamp bluesman Slim Harpo (1970)
February 1: songwriter John Jarrad (2001), Julius Wechter of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass and The Baja Marimba Band (1999), Delta slide-guitarist Johnny Littlejohn (1994), Paul Robi, baritone singer with The Platters (1989), Dick James, publisher of Lennon and McCartney and Elton John (1986), Ulysses "Ronnie" Hicks, member of The Five Keys (1955)
February 2: Billy Henderson of the Spinners (2007), Eric von Schmidt, blues and folk singer who influenced Bob Dylan (2007), Joe Hunter, pianist with The Funk Brothers, Motown's in-house studio band (2007), James Blackwood, known as the "Frank Sinatra of Gospel," released more than 200 albums and won nine Grammys (2002), songwriter Hal Blair (2001), David McComb of The Triffids (1999), jazz drummer and bandleader Mel Lewis (1990), Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion (1987), bluesman Sam Chatmon (1983), Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (1979)
January 27, 2011
Aretha Gets Soul'd … Emerson's Chops Burned … ABBA Gets Preserved …
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1945, The Andrews Sisters' "Rum & Coca Cola" is the #1 pop hit and will become the biggest seller of the year …
1956, The Coasters are signed to Atlantic records … the doo-wop act goes on to score 19 hits in the ensuing 15 years including such novelty smashes as "Charlie Brown" and "Poison Ivy" …
1958, The Champs release "Tequila" which will become one of the more successful one-word songs … two band members, Jim Seals and Dash Crofts will later form their own duo Seals & Crofts and score big hits in the '70s with "Hummingbird" and "Summer Breeze" … Little Richard announces that he is retiring from music at the peak of his popularity to become a minister … the pomaded rocker will flip-flop between his sacred and profane predilections in the coming years …
1960, Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show singing "Heartbreak Hotel" … Jimmie Jones' hit "Handy Man" enters the pop chart ultimately rising to the #3 slot … in 1977 James Taylor resuscitates the tune taking it to #4 …
1961, husband-and-wife writing team Carole King and Jerry Goffin score their first of many #1 hits with The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" … King plays drums on the hit … it's nearly 10 years later that she scores her own solo #1 hit with "It's Too Late" a single from her monster album Tapestry …
1965, Brit rocker P.J. Proby splits his pants his during a London show … the incident gets a big reaction from the crowd and Proby makes the ripping riff a permanent part of his act …
1967, Aretha Franklin lays down her first tracks for Atlantic at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama … she waxes the steaming ballad "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" … the Muscle Shoals sessions are the first to fully exploit Franklin's soulful vocal skills … at her former label, Columbia, she had been given syrupy, string-laden ballads to sing … Jimi Hendrix and The Who perform at London's Saville Theatre in London … while browsing in a London antique shop, John Lennon comes across a 19th century circus poster that incorporates most of what will become the lyrics of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" …
1969, The Beatles, with Billy Preston joining them on organ, perform in public as a group for the last time on the roof of the Apple Studios building … the performance is filmed for all to see later, but the famous roof-top jam ends after four songs when police show up to enforce a noise complaint from the neighbors …
1972, more than 40,000 file past Mahalia Jackson's coffin to pay final respects to the renowned gospel singer who died four days earlier … at her funeral the next day, Sammy Davis Jr. reads a letter from President Nixon and Aretha Franklin sings "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" …
1973, KISS performs their first show at the Coventry club in Queens … they have yet to develop their trademark look … Paul Stanley will later characterize the band's appearance as a New York Dolls look … keyboardist Keith Emerson's hands are injured when a piano that's been rigged with pyrotechnics explodes prematurely during an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert in San Francisco … NBC debuts TV's first rock concert series, Midnight Special … the show's announcer is gravel-throated DJ Wolfman Jack and each episode features a guest host … the show will air through 1981 …
1975, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green is dispatched to the funny farm following an incident in which he attacked an accountant attempting to deliver a royalty check for $30,00 … turns out Green didn't want the green …
1980, commemorating the first anniversary of Sid Vicious' death, 1,000 punks stage a march in London … the dead Sex Pistol's mother, Ann Beverly, had been slated to head the parade, but she's in hospital recovering from a drug overdose …
1985, the single "We Are The World" is recorded in L.A. by 46 rock/pop stars to raise money for charity …
1988, The Cars reach the end of the road … at least the original version … the group would reform as The New Cars with Todd Rundgren and without Ric Ocasek and the late Benjamin Orr …
1993, Willie Nelson reaches a settlement with the IRS in which the feds keep $3.6 million worth of previously seized assets and the singer agrees to kick in another $5.4 million … that will settle what the government reckons is a $13.1 million tax bill …
1994, former Supreme Mary Wilson flips her jeep on a freeway outside of Los Angeles … her 14-year old son dies in the accident and Wilson is injured …
1998, The Dixie Chicks release their breakthrough album Wide Open Spaces eventually selling 12 million copies worldwide … The Capeman, Paul Simon's Broadway musical about a 1950s Spanish Harlem murder, opens two weeks late and is universally loathed by the critics … though they like the musical's mélange of doo-wop- and Latino-tinged tunes, they hate the story and the show quickly folds …
1999, 16,000 attend a benefit concert held in East Rutherford, New Jersey for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted cop killer … Jamal's insistence on his innocence, as well as questions of fairness at his trial, have garnered him the support of numerous actors and musicians since he was convicted in 1982 of the death of police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death … Rage Against the Machine, the Beastie Boys, Chumbawamba, Public Enemy's Chuck D, and Bad Religion perform …
2002, Pat Boone announces the formation of his Gold Records label … he will only sign artists 45 and older …
2004, James Brown is arrested on charges of domestic violence … he pleads no contest in June …
2005, New York hip-hop station Hot 97 fires producer Rick Delgado for creating and airing a parody of the 1985 single "We Are the World" named "The Tsunami Song" … peppered with racially-charged lyrics and trivializing the Asian disaster, the song is aired by radio personality Todd Lynn who is also fired while host Miss Jones and two staff members are suspended for two weeks … the station's corporate parent company announces that it will donate $1 million to tsunami relief … An Emmy-winning makeup artist, Kylie Bell, files suit against Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and ABC-TV owner Walt Disney seeking $25 million in damages stemming from an alleged rape by the rapper and four members of his entourage following the taping of the talk show in 2003 … the case will later be settled "amicably" out of court …
2006, A letter written by Don Law, the producer of Robert Johnson's 1936 and 1937 San Antonio recording sessions is unearthed providing and confirming valuable details of the enigmatic blues pioneer's sessions … The management firm representing singer Avril Lavigne provides defense money for an Arlington, TX man who has been sued by the recording industry for sharing downloaded music … among the songs involved in what the industry considers illegal sharing is Lavigne's own "Sk8er Boi" …
2007, Reuters reports that the Church of England has begun staging "U2-charist" communion services in which traditional hymns are replaced with songs from the Irish supergroup … a live band plays U2 songs such as "Mysterious Ways" and "Beautiful Day" while lyrics are displayed on a giant screen so the congregation can sing along … seating is also rearranged to accommodate dancing and handwaving … there's no word on whether Bic-flicking will be part of the ceremony … church members wonder what might be next … a "Who-charist" featuring the music of Pete Townshend? …
2009, veteran Hollywood director John Landis sues Michael Jackson because he has not been paid for several years for his share of the profits from the Thriller video … Landis co-wrote and directed the 14-minute video in 1983 …
2010, the ABBA museum—ABBA World—opens in West London … 25 rooms contain costumes, photos, interactive displays, memorabilia, and computer recreations of the Swedish band on stage …
Arrivals:
January 27: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), composer Jerome Kern (1885), blues legend Elmore James (1918), Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., better known as David Seville, creator of The Chipmunks (1919), Nick Mason of Pink Floyd (1945), Seth Justman of The J. Geils Band (1951), Brian Downey of Thin Lizzy (1951), Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins (1961), New Order's Gillian Gilbert (1961), Faith No More's Mike Patton (1968)
January 28: piano virtuoso Arthur Rubenstein (1887), songwriter Irving Gordon (1915), British jazzman and club owner Ronnie Scott (1927), Mr. Acker Bilk (1929), bluesman David "Junior" Kimbrough (1930), dub producer King Tubby (1941), Brian Keenan of the Chambers Brothers (1944), Dick Taylor of The Pretty Things (1944), Nedra Talley of The Ronettes (1946), Rick Allen of The Box Tops (1946), Mountain's Corky Laing (1948), The Alarm's Dave Sharp (1959), Sarah McLachlan (1968), rapper Rakim (1968), Cypress Hill's Muggs (1968), Joey Fatone of *NSYNC (1977), Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys (1980)
January 29: Huddie Ledbetter AKA Lead Belly (1889), Chicago bluesman Eddie Taylor (1923), masterful Motown bassist James Jamerson (1936), jazz pianist Bobby Scott (1937), Peter Cowap of Herman's Hermits (1944), David Byron of Uriah Heep (1947), Tommy Ramone of the Ramones (1949), Louie Perez of Los Lobos (1953), rapper Mitch McDowell of General Kane (1954), Eddie Jackson of Queensryche (1961)
January 30: R&B singer Ruth Brown (1928), Mississippi bluesman Big Jack Johnson (1940), Joe Terry of Danny & the Juniors (1941), Marty Balin of The Jefferson Airplane (1942), Sandy Yaguda of Jay & the Americans (1943), Steve Marriott of Small Faces and Humble Pie (1947), William King of the Commodores (1949), Mary Ross of Quarterflash (1951), Steve Bartek of OingoBoingo (1952), Shalamar's Jody Watley (1959), Jonny Lang (1981)
January 31: Chuck Willis, R&B and rock singer-songwriter (1928), Paul deLay, Portland-based blues harp player and singer (1952), Slayer's Jeff Hanneman (1964), Al Jaworski of Jesus Jones (1966), Jason Cooper of The Cure (1967)
February 1: rock music critic Lillian Roxon (1932), Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio (1934), Don Everly of The Everly Brothers (1937), Dr. Hook's Ray Sawyer (1937), Jimmy Carl Black of The Mothers of Invention (1938), Rick James (1952), Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1954), Lisa Marie Presley (1968), Patrick Wilson of Weezer (1969), Outkast's Big Boi (1975)
February 2: bluesman Walter Vinson (1901), saxophonist Red Prysock (1926), Stan Getz (1927), Skip Battin of The Byrds (1934), Clarence Quick of the Dell Vikings (1937), Graham Nash (1942), Ronnie Goodson, who became lead singer of Ronnie and the Hi-Lites at age 12 (1945), Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers (1946), Peter Lucia of Tommy James and The Shondells (1947), Alan McKay of Earth, Wind & Fire (1948), Journey's Ross Valory (1949), jazz bassist Alphonso Johnson (1951), Jeff Healy Band drummer Tom Stephen (1955), Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots (1966), Ben Mize of Counting Crows (1971), Shakira (1977)
Departures:
January 27: Tin Pan Alley composer Gerald Marks (1997), vocalist Candy Givens of Zephyr (1984), gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1972)
January 28: Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi (2005), recording pioneer John Mosley (1996), D.O.A. drummer Ken Jensen (1995), Uriah Heep's David Byron (1985), "British Elvis" Billy Fury (1983)
January 29: founder of the Quarrymen Eric Griffiths (2005), David Lerchey of The Dell-Vikings (2005), seminal blues bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon (1992), Herman "Sunny" Chaney of The Jaguars (1989), Sir Edward Lewis (1980), one-man-band Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller (1976)
January 30: songwriter Julius Dixon (2004), jazz producer Bob Thiele (1996), bluesman Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins (1982), influential New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair, born Henry Roeland Byrd (1980), rockabilly singer Warren Smith (1980), songster Mance Lipscomb (1976)
January 31: Barbara Cowsill, mother of The Cowsills (1985), saxophonist Gregory Herbert, member of the 1978 incarnation of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1978), R&B singer-songwriter Buster Brown (1976), swamp bluesman Slim Harpo (1970)
February 1: songwriter John Jarrad (2001), Julius Wechter of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass and The Baja Marimba Band (1999), Delta slide-guitarist Johnny Littlejohn (1994), Paul Robi, baritone singer with The Platters (1989), Dick James, publisher of Lennon and McCartney and Elton John (1986), Ulysses "Ronnie" Hicks, member of The Five Keys (1955)
February 2: Billy Henderson of the Spinners (2007), Eric von Schmidt, blues and folk singer who influenced Bob Dylan (2007), Joe Hunter, pianist with The Funk Brothers, Motown's in-house studio band (2007), James Blackwood, known as the "Frank Sinatra of Gospel," released more than 200 albums and won nine Grammys (2002), songwriter Hal Blair (2001), David McComb of The Triffids (1999), jazz drummer and bandleader Mel Lewis (1990), Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion (1987), bluesman Sam Chatmon (1983), Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (1979)