Quantcast
Channel: Sun Records – Toxic Web
Viewing all 20 articles
Browse latest View live

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1948, 33-1/3 rpm records are introduced by Columbia …

1955, Sun Records releases Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry” … it is the first in a line of well over 100 hit singles by Cash to appear on the country, rock, and pop charts …

1956, Paul McCartney receives a trumpet for his birthday … when he realizes he can’t sing and play the horn at the same time, he promptly trades it in on a Zenith acoustic guitar …

1962, Hank Ballard and The Midnighters who wrote and first recorded “The Twist” are scheduled to perform the song for American Bandstand but have to cancel the date … Chubby Checker is hired as a replacement to perform his version of “The Twist,” which will climb higher on the pop chart than Ballard’s original, twice … it will hit number one, and then do it again a year later …

1963, 13-year-old Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt. 2″ becomes his first of 61 singles to chart …

1965, The Byrds’ folk-rock version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” spends a week at the top of the charts …

1967, what’s now considered the launch of the Summer of Love occurs when hippies gather in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to celebrate the summer solstice … as an ominous harbinger of more troubling times, dozens are carted off to psycho wards after ingesting STP, a newly-developed psychedelic that produces scary three-day trips …

1969, Jimi Hendrix earns what is in its day the largest paycheck ever paid to a performer for a single show: $125,000 for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival … the three-day music fest gathers 150,000 people in Northridge, California, to hear and see Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, CCR, Ike and Tina Turner, and more …

1970, the cops in Niagara Falls discover Chubby Checker packing pot and some other illegal substances … “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young goes gold …

1973, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens for the first time in London … two years later Tim Curry will reprise his role for the movie version …

1980, Led Zeppelin begins a three-week tour with a concert in Dortmund, Germany … held at the Westfalenhalle, it is their first concert on the European continent since 1973 … due to John Bonham’s death the following September, it will be the group’s last European tour … they open the show with “Train Kept A Rollin’,” a song they haven’t played since 1969 and which Page also performed with the original Yardbirds …

The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi, premieres in New York City … the movie’s rife with musician cameo appearances that include James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Murphy “Murph” Dunne, Aretha Franklin, Willie “Too Big” Hall, John Lee Hooker, Chaka Khan, Tom Malone, “Blue” Lou Marini, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Pinetop Perkins, and Joe Walsh … the film also boasts the biggest car-crash sequence ever shot …

1987, Mötley Crüe is sued by a Florida real estate agent who claims she lost her hearing while sitting in the front row at a Crüe concert … the band’s insurance company eventually pays her $30,000 …

1990, Little Richard receives his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame …

1996, the Furthur Festival kicks off in Atlanta … the surviving members of The Grateful Dead perform together for the first time since the death of Jerry Garcia the previous August …

1997, Brooks & Dunn perform a special show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for their fan club members … the country duo stick around after the show to sign autographs for all 2,000 fans … the signing session starts at 9 p.m. and doesn’t end until the last fan is obliged at 5 a.m. the following morning …

1999, Pantera ride a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas … the honor is bestowed upon the band because Pantera, in addition to being huge Stars fans, wrote the team’s theme song which is played multiple times at every home game … Paul McCartney personally selects and arranges the flowers—45,000 of them—at Manhattan Riverside Church where friends and family gather to say farewell to his wife Linda …

2004, faced with anemic ticket sales, the promoters of the Lollapalooza Festival pull the plug on the tour … organizers say they will lose millions if the tour goes ahead as scheduled … according to promoters the festival’s problem lies with the death of the alternative music market …

2006, when singer Jonathan Davis comes down with a blood disorder, Korn is obliged to pull the plug on its European tour … Davis posts a note on the band’s website saying that headbanging with his condition could lead to instant death by brain hemorrhage … in an ironic twist, the New Cars’ “Road Rage” tour comes to an abrupt halt when the band’s tour bus suddenly swerves to avoid a head-on … guitarist Elliot Easton breaks a clavicle in the incident … while traveling in the Middle East with his Dark Side of the Moon world tour, Roger Waters visits a concrete wall built by the Israeli government in the East Bank to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers … Waters scribbles sentiments on the structure such as “Tear Down the Wall!” … the next day the Pink Floyd founder decides to play in a community called Neveh Shalom where Israelis and Arabs peacefully live together instead of in Tel Aviv as originally planned … it’s reported that those opposed to the barrier have adopted Waters’ song “Another Brick in the Wall” as a rallying cry …

2007, after months of speculation, New Order finally confirms that they have split …

2008, presidential contender Barack Obama continues to rack up support in the rock community with Michael Stipe, Pete Wentz, Billy Joe Armstrong, Bob Weir, Dave Matthews, Jeff Tweedy, and Conor Oberst all signing on to give his campaign support … commenting on the candidate, the Dead’s Weir says, “The contagion of hope is real” … bucking slumping CD sales, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III moves over a million shiny discs in its first week of release … Celine Dion’s rendition of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me” is given the dubious distinction of being the “Worst Ever Cover Song” in a Total Guitar magazine survey … editor Steven Lawson decries Dion’s version as “sacrilege” … the Canadian singer’s never released the song as a single, but performed it as a duet with Anastacia during the Live Divas Las Vegas concert six years ago … runner-up in the worst-cover category is Sugababes and the Bees’ version of “Walk This Way” … among the best covers named are the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and The Beatle’s rendition of “Twist and Shout” …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

June 17: Igor Stravinsky (1882), guitarist Cliff Gallup of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps (1930), Norman Kuhlke of The Swinging Blue Jeans (1942), Chris Spedding (1944), Barry Manilow born Barry Alan Pinkus (1946), Paul Young (1956), Kevin Thornton of Color Me Badd (1969)

June 18: Jeanette MacDonald (1907), lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913), Paul McCartney (1942), bassist Carl Radle (1942), pop singer Sandy Posey (1944), Jerome Smith of KC and The Sunshine Band (1953), Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins (1957), West Arkeen (1960), Alison Moyet (1961), Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed (1963), Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men (1971)

June 19: bandleader Guy Lombardo (1902), Tommy Devito of The Four Seasons (1936), rockabilly bad boy Robert Gordon (1945), singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948), Ann Wilson of Heart (1950) Paula Abdul (1962), Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe (1964), Brian Welch of Korn (1969)

June 20: producer Mickie Most (1938), Brian Wilson (1942), singer Anne Murray (1945), Lionel Richie (1949), Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony (1955), John Taylor of Duran Duran (1960), Murphy Karges of Sugar Ray (1968), Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson (1972)

June 21: Ray Davies of The Kinks (1944), Joey Molland of Badfinger (1948), Joey Kramer of Aerosmith (1950), Nils Lofgren (1951), Mark Brzezicki of Big Country (1957), country singer-songwriter Kathy Mattea (1959), Marcella Detroit of Shakespears Sister (1959), British singer and DJ Sonique, born Sonia Clarke (1968), Mike Einziger of Incubus (1976)

June 22: jazz guitarist Johnny Smith (1922), Kris Kristofferson (1936), Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon (1944), singer Howard Kaylan of The Turtles (1947), Todd Rundgren (1948), Alan Osmond of The Osmonds (1949), Cyndi Lauper (1953), Derek Forbes, bassist with Simple Minds (1956), bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS (1957), Cowboy Junkies’ bassist Alan Anton (1959), singer Jimmy Somerville of Bronski Beat and The Communards (1961), Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones (1964), Tom Cunningham of Wet Wet Wet (1965), singer-guitarist-songwriter Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies (1970)

June 23: saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax (1846), June Carter, singer-songwriter, actor, comedienne, and wife of Johnny Cash (1929), Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (1938), British singer and actor, Adam Faith (1940), Paul Goddard of Atlanta Rhythm Section (1945), Richard Coles of The Communards (1962), Steve Shelley, drummer with Sonic Youth (1962)

Departures:

June 17: Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum (2005), jazz singer Jackie Paris (2004), songwriter Mark Cherron (1994)

June 18: sarod master Ali Akbar Khan (2009), Luther Tucker (1993), “Rock Around The Clock” guitar soloist Danny Cedrone (1954)

June 19: mariachi singer-actor Antonio Aguilar (2007), Bobby Helms of “Jingle Bell Rock” fame (1997), composer Vivian Ellis (1996), R&B artist Walter Jackson (1983)

June 20: British bassist-vocalist Tony Dangerfield (2007), Kool & The Gang co-founder and guitarist, Claydes Charles Smith (2006), Canadian one-hit-wonder, Bobby Gimby (1998), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1997), Jim Ellison, lead singer and guitarist with Material Issue (1996)

June 21: Mississippi bluesman John Lee Hooker (2001), jazz and R&B crooner Arthur Prysock (1997), gospel singer Thomas Whitfield (1992), bandleader Bert Kaempfert (1980)

June 22: Kripp Johnson, born Corinthian Johnson, lead singer for The Del Vikings (1990), Jesse “Ed” Davis, session guitarist with Taj Mahal (1988), singer-radio personality Dennis Day (1988), Fred Astaire (1987), Warren Corbin, bass vocalist with the Cleftones (1978), Pere Ubu guitarist Peter Laughner (1977), composer Darius Milhaud (1974)

June 23: John Novarese, owner of Hi Records (1996), Tony Romeo, producer of the Cowsills and Partridge Family (1995), country yodeler Elton Britt (1972)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →


It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1956, in the wake of Johnnie Ray’s success with “Just Walking in the Rain,” Sun Records releases a cover by The Prisonaires, a smooth-singing doo-wop group composed of Tennessee State Penitentiary inmates …

1962, The Beatles hit Abbey Road recording studio for the first time, recording “Love Me Do” in about 16 takes with drummer Andy White …

1965, an ad in Variety announces auditions for the new TV show The Monkees … would-be Monkees who fail to make the cut include Stephen Stills; Danny Hutton, later of Three Dog Night; songwriter Paul Williams; and Charles Manson …

1968, because of fears of street violence during the National Democratic Convention, The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” is banned from airplay in Chicago …

1978, Who drummer Keith Moon succumbs to an overdose of the drug Heminevrin prescribed to combat his alcoholism … an autopsy reveals that he’d washed down 32 of the pills with champagne … his death occurs in the same apartment in which Mama Cass of The Mamas & The Papas met her demise in 1974 …

… at a Teddy Pendergrass show in New York called “For Women Only,” female concertgoers receive white chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear…

1990, Tom Fogerty, an original member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and brother of John, dies of tuberculosis this week at age 48 … he had parted from the band at the height of its success in 1971, a casualty of sibling rivalry … and although he recorded a number of albums on his own, he never scored a hit after his CCR days …

… across the pond, The Cure launches a pirate radio station beamed at London to publicize the release of the remix album Mixed Up… but the station will soon go off the air beset by technical difficulties and use of the powerful BBC signal to cover up its broadcasts …

1991, country music star Dottie West dies from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in the parking lot of The Grand Ole Opry… the crash occurred a few days earlier when an elderly neighbor, who was giving West a ride to work, lost control of the car …

1997, Pat Smear announces he will no longer be a Foo Fighter and that Franz Stahl will take his place …

1999, record mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs is ordered to attend an anger management class after being convicted of attacking the president of Interscope Records, Steve Stoute … lucky for Stoute the Puff man doesn’t shop at Wal-Mart …

2000, Rage Against the Machine bassist Timothy Commerford pleads guilty to charges of assault and disorderly conduct at the MTV Video Music Awards … while raging against Limp Bizkit’s acceptance of the award for Best Rock Video–which was coincidentally up against Rage’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”–Commerford climbed a 15-foot arch that was part of the stage set … stagehands and security swarmed the stage to extricate Tim, who would “sleep now in the slammer” …

2004, the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati rules that artists should pay for every sample they use … previously courts had held that as long as short samples could not be identified, licensing was unnecessary … in this new decision, the court, acknowledging other cases involving digital piracy says, “If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative.” … ironically, a two-second sample of a Funkadelic record in NWA’s 100 Miles and Runnin is at the heart of the ruling … Funkadelic and Parliament leader and founder George Clinton has historically been supportive of sampling, having produced two albums titled Sample Some of Dis and Sample Some of Dat that permit remixers to use his music without legal considerations …

2006, in a Rolling Stone interview, Elton John reveals that he’s thinking about putting out a hip-hop album … “I want to work with Eminem, Pharrell, Kanye, and Snoop. We’ll see what happens. It could be a disaster.” … Rapper Master P debuts his new musical Uncle Willy’s Family, in Meridian, Mississippi … the show is semiautobiographical, focusing on a family that has to abandon its home in the face of Hurricane Katrina … to no one’s particular surprise, it’s revealed that Whitney Houston has separated from her husband of 14 years, Bobby Brown … the marriage was punctuated by drugs and domestic disturbances … on a more positive note, Lou Reed joins Jack White and his Raconteurs at the VMA Awards show in New York, pitching in on the vocals of “White Light/White Heat” …

2007, with just 7.4 million in album sales this week, Nielsen SoundScan reports the lowest numbers in the chart service’s history … only the High School Musical 2 soundtrack manages to move more than 50,000 units … just eight years earlier 27 albums moved that many … Lucinda Williams kicks off a novel tour in which she will play five nights each in New York and L.A. … each show will be devoted to one of her five studio albums in its entirety: her 1988 self-titled disc, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence, and World Without Tears

2008, Oasis is mid-way through its headline set at the V Festival when a man runs from backstage and knocks Noel Gallagher to the ground … Security guards wrestle the attacker to the floor and drag him away with brother Liam in pursuit … after a 15-minute break, the band resumes its set to cheers from a 25,000-strong audience …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 2: Hugo Montenegro (1925), Sam Gooden (1939), Bobby Purify (1939), Rosalind Ashworth of Martha and The Vandellas (1943), Joe Simon (1943), Mik Kaminski of E.L.O. (1951), Simply Red’s Fritz McIntyre (1956), Steve Porcaro of Toto (1957) Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs (1958), Jonathan Segal of Camper Van Beethoven (1963), K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci (1969)

September 3: bluesman Memphis Slim born Peter Chatman (1915), Hank Thompson (1925), Freddie King (1934), Kenny Pickett (1942), Al Jardine of The Beach Boys (1943), Walter Scott (1943), Greg Leads (1944), George Biondi of Steppenwolf (1945), Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell (1947), Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad (1948), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols (1955), Jennifer Paige (1973)

September 4: “Lightning Bug” Rhodes, guitarist for Otis Redding and B.B. King (1939), lead singer George Lanuis of The Crescendos (1939), Merald Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1942), fret wizard Danny Gatton (1945), Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946), Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan (1946), Ronald LaPread of The Commodores (1950), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins (1951), Martin Chambers of the Pretenders (1952), Kim Thayil of Soundgarden (1960), Dan Miller of O-Town (1980), Beyoncé Knowles (1981)

September 5: Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1907), doo-wopper Jimmy Springs of The Red Caps (1911), guitarist Willie Woods of Junior Walker & The Allstars (1936), singer-songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart (1939), Al “Year of the Cat” Stewart (1945), Freddie Mercury of Queen (1946), Buddy Miles (1946), guitarist Clarence White born Cecil Ingram Connor (1946), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainright III (1947), David “Clem” Clempson of Humble Pie/Colosseum (1949), Terry Ellis of En Vogue (1966), Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (1968), Dweezil Zappa (1969)

September 6: bluesman Jimmy Reed (1925), blues drummer Fred Below (1926), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (1943), Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1942), androgynous disco star Silvester aka Silvester James (1947), Perry Bamonte of The Cure (1960), Pal Waaktar of A-Ha (1961), CeCe Peniston (1969), Dolores O’Riordon of The Cranberries (1971), Nina Persson of The Cardigans (1974), Foxy Brown (1979)

September 7: Hank Williams (1923), tenor sax giant Sonny Rollins (1930), bluesman Little Milton (Campbell) (1934), Buddy Holly born Charles Hardin Holley (1936), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1940), Continental Drift bassist Jim Gault (1943), Alfa Anderson of Chic (1946), disco diva Gloria Gaynor (1949), Chrissie Hynde (1951), session guitarist Chuck Beattie (1954), Brad Houser of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (1960), Chris Acland of Lush (1966), Chad Sexton of 311 (1970), Eazy-E of N.W.A. (1973)

September 8: composer Antonin Dvorak (1841), “The Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers (1897), Western swing pioneer Milton Brown (1903), Modern Records co-founder Jules Bihari (1913), Patsy Cline born Virginia Patterson Hensley (1932), soul sermonizer Joe Tex (1933), Dante Drowty of Dante & The Evergreens (1941), Brian Cole of The Association (1944), Cathy Jean (1945), Kelly Groucutt of E.L.O. (1945), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of The Grateful Dead (1945), Atlanta Rhythm Section’s Dean Daughtry (1946), David Steele of Fine Young Cannibals (1960)

Departures:

September 2: New York Metropolitan Opera impressario Sir Rudolf Bing (1997), composer Otto Luening (1996), violinist Cyril Reuben (1996), Ljuba Welitsch (1996)

September 3: Major Lance (1994), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (1970)

September 4: jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet (1991), country singer Dottie West (1991)

September 5: swamp-boogie queen Katie Webster (1999), R&B pianist Sonny Knight (1998), conductor Georg Solti (1997), Charlie Charles, drummer for Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1990), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1978), blues guitarist Joe Hill Louis (1957)

September 6: co-founder of Atari Teenage Riot, Carl Crack (2001), stand-up country bassist Roy Husky Jr. (1997), Tom Fogerty of CCR (1990), Josh White (1964)

September 7: Erma Franklin, sister of Aretha (2002), composer Niccolo Castiglioni (1996), Keith Moon (1978)

September 8: songwriter Dick Heard (1998), Beatle publicist Derek Taylor (1997), Jack Vigliatura and Bill White of For Squirrels (1996), rapper Cowboy AKA Keith Wiggins of The Furious Five (1989)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1949, RCA introduces the first 45-rpm record …

1952, Sun Records, future home of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, releases its first record: an instrumental recording by saxman Johnny London … it flops …

1955, Bo Diddley cuts his first records for Chess including “I’m a Man,” a tune that will influence generations of rockers to follow …

1956, Bill Haley & His Comets receive an unprecedented $250,000 guarantee for 21 shows …

1957, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers receive the princely sum of $7,500 to play a carnival in Panama … the fee is considered huge for a one-nighter … Chess records releases singles of Muddy Waters’ “I Got My Mojo Working” and Chuck Berry’s “School Days” …

1959, recording begins in New York City for the Miles Davis classic Kind of Blue—a record so popular that people who normally don’t buy jazz albums buy this one …

1963, it is an unlikely gathering for “The Limbo Party” at San Francisco’s Cow Palace … Chubby Checker is host … performers include Marvin Gaye, The Crystals, Lou Christie, The Four Seasons, Dick & Dee Dee, Paul & Paula, and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass …

1967, Paul McCartney reads a newspaper account of a missing teenage girl, triggering his song “She’s Leaving Home” …

1968, Johnny Cash and June Carter marry at the First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky … a motorcade of Cadillacs carry Johnny, June, and the families to the small, private ceremony … Johnny’s best man is Merle Kilgore, who shares co-writing credits with June on “Ring of Fire” the tune generally credited as a musical documentation of Johnny and June’s love affair …

1977, Keith Richards is arrested in Toronto after his hotel room is raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who discover both heroin and cocaine … he is charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell plus possession of cocaine and is released on $25,000 bail … Stones fans everywhere wonder if the cops were on horseback when they broke into Keef’s room … Bob Dylan’s wife, Sara, files for divorce in Santa Monica, California …the couple has been married for 11 years and has five children … in the settlement she is given possession of their home and custody of the kids … Sara is said to be the inspiration behind classic tunes such as “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” “Lay Lady Lay,” and “Sara” …

1983, Michael Jackson’s Thriller album reaches #1 and stays there 37 weeks, selling over 40 million copies … it is the number one album in all Western nations … Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles, where Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Buffalo Springfield, Herb Alpert, The Monkees, The Ramones, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon laid down landmark tracks, is demolished to make way for a mini-mall that features a Del Taco stand …

1992, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love wed in Waikiki, Hawaii …

1995, Lyle Lovett breaks his collarbone while motorcycling in Mexico … as a result, he is unable to attend the Grammys to accept the two awards he wins … Bill Berry of R.E.M. begins suffering from a massive migraine about 90 minutes into the band’s set in Lausanne, Switzerland … he collapses and is rushed off stage, but does not see a doctor until the next day when it is discovered he has an aneurysm on the right side of his brain … the aneurysm is clipped and Berry makes a full recovery …

1998, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe is arrested and charged with domestic abuse for hitting his wife Pamela Anderson Lee … Virgin Records files suit against the Smashing Pumpkins for alleged breach of contract and non-delivery of albums … the suit claims the band notified Virgin that instead of delivering seven albums, per its contract, the band was delivering just three and walking … the band cites a California labor law which limits personal service contracts to seven years as its justification, a law originally used by movie stars to break free from the once-dominant studio system … the band eventually wins and gets more money with its royalty rate bumped up to 20 percent … some feel the band’s subsequent albums decrease in quality an equal percentage …

1999, Dusty Springfield dies … born Mary Elizabeth Catherine Bernadette O’Brien, the highly regarded British singer enjoyed a series of soul-inflected pop hits including the blockbuster “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” … she dies of breast cancer on the day she is scheduled to receive her OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth … she is 59 …

2000, it is announced that pop princess Britney Spears will be releasing her own brand of bubble gum creatively named, “Britney Spears CD Bubble Gum” … the product is a promotion for her upcoming tour … the manufacturer, Famous Fixins, will give part of the proceeds to The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit that encourages celebrities to raise money for charities …

2005, legendary Muscle Shoals studio closes in Muscle Shoals, Alabama … artists such as The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bob Seger recorded some of their biggest hits at the facility … the studio, owned since 1985 by indie blues label Malaco Records, is a victim of the computer recording boom …

… Queen’s Brian May, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck are all guests at a Buckingham Palace party to honor the British music industry … Queen Elizabeth II asks them: “And what do you do?” … “It’s great to meet her and it doesn’t matter at all that she did not know who we are or what we do,” Clapton said … “I wouldn’t expect her to” … Ozzy Osbourne astonishingly grabs his daughter Kelly’s left breast while being snapped in Australia … the wild rocker is in Sydney with his daughter and wife Sharon to promote the Australian MTV Awards when he bizarrely reaches out and cups Kelly’s left boob for the cameras, leaving onlookers stunned … musician Martin Denny, the father of the influential genre of pop called “exotica,” dies at his home in Hawai’i Kai … he is 93 … Denny created a hypnotic international sound that blended exotic elements—bird calls, croaking frogs, jazz rhythms, chimes, and gongs … he once described it as a fusion of Asian, South Pacific, American jazz, Latin American, and classical styles … his albums will become collectible for the covers that featured model Sandy Warner in a variety of tasteful, yet alluring settings …

2006, after being found asleep at the steering wheel of his car in London, George Michael is taken in by the bobbies on charges of possessing pot and painkillers …

2007, in its ongoing campaign against piracy, the Recording Industry Association of America sends 400 letters to universities across the U.S. warning them that their students may be sued for copyright infringement if they don’t settle up … the RIAA directs students to a website where they can settle their cases online by coughing up some bucks … Big Champagne, a web tracking service, estimates that one billion songs are swapped online every month on sites such as LimeWire … Bono is given the NAACP’s Chairmen’s Award as acknowledgment of his involvement in the AIDS prevention effort …

2008, Larry Norman dies in Salem, Oregon, from heart failure at age 60 … he was a member of one hit wonders, People, from San Jose, who went to #7 with a remake of The Zombies “I Love You” … Norman’s first solo record—the 1969 release “Upon This Rock”—is considered the first Christian rock album … he later started his own independent label, recording additional solo albums while discovering other Christian artists … leading to him being dubbed the “father of Christian rock” … John Mellencamp was apparently a fan of Norman’s at one time … in 1974, while studying broadcasting at Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, Mellencamp closed his radio show by pre-empting the national anthem with a Larry Norman song …

2009, The East Room of the White House is temporarily converted into a nightclub as Stevie Wonder is presented the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize by President Obama … Wonder serenades the first couple, kicking things off with a version of “Sir Duke” and later Wonder classics like “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Superstition” … Tony Bennett, Paul Simon, Will.i.am and Martina McBride all present their own rendition of Wonder’s hits …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

February 24: Italian tenor and pioneer of recorded music, Enrico Caruso (1873), singer-songwriter Wandra Merrell (1925), singer Paul Jones of Manfred Mann (1942), The Beatles’ George Harrison (1944), keyboard session man Nicky Hopkins (1944), Butch McDade, drummer with The Amazing Rhythm Aces (1946), bassist Lonnie Turner of the Steve Miller Band (1947), Rupert Holmes, composer, singer-songwriter, musician, and musical playwright (1947), singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked (1962)

February 25: blueswoman Ida Cox (1896), record store founder Sam Goody, born Samuel Gutowitz (1904), country singer Faron Young (1932), Barry Kramer, founder of Creem magazine (1943), guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro of Crazy Horse (1949), bassist and songwriter Stuart “Woody” Wood of the Bay City Rollers (1957), drummer Dennis Diken of The Smithereens (1957), singer Mike Peters of The Alarm (1959)

February 26: Fats Domino (1928), Norman P. Rich of Billy Stewart’s band (1930), Johnny Cash (1932), Paul Cotton of Poco (1943), Bob “The Bear” Hite of Canned Heat (1943), Mitch Ryder (1945), Jonathan Cain of Journey (1950), Michael Bolton (1953), Bronski Beat’s John Jon (1961), Erykah Badu (1971)

February 27: Eddie Gray of Tommy James & The Shondells (1948), Neil Schon of Journey (1954), Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (1957), Chili of TLC (1971), Jeremy Dean of Nine Days (1972), singer-songwriter Josh Groban (1981)

February 28: guitarist John Fahey (1939), singer-songwriter Joe South (1940), Marty Sanders of Jay and the Americans (1941), R&B singer Barbara Acklin (1943), Brian Jones (1952), Ronald Rosman of Tommy James & The Shondells (1945), Cindy Wilson of The B-52’s (1957), Ian Stanley of Tears For Fears (1957), Phillip Gould of Level 42 (1957), Pat Monahan of Train (1969)

March 1: bandleader Glenn Miller (1904), barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis (1912), Harry Belafonte (1927), Roger Daltrey (1942), Jerry Fisher of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1943), Mike D’Abo of Manfred Mann (1944), synth pop singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw (1958)

March 2: Desi Arnaz (1917), Doc Watson (1923), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1938), Lou Reed born Louis Firbank (1942), George Benson (1943), Eddie Money (1949), blues/rock guitarist Rory Gallagher (1949), Karen Carpenter (1950), Jay Osmond of The Osmonds (1955), Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons (1955), Mark Evans of AC/DC (1956), Jon Bon Jovi born John Bongiovi (1962), rapper and DJ Scott LaRock (1962), Coldplay’s Chris Martin (1977)

Departures:

February 24: Larry Norman, “father of Christian rock” (2008), ’50s pop crooner Johnnie Ray (1990), blues pianist Memphis Slim aka John Len “Peter” Chatman (1988), Detroit soul singer Ty Hunter (1981)

February 25: Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley (2009), ’60s folk singer Mark Spoelstra (2007), Thomas Koppel, co-founder of Danish prog-rock band Savage Rose (2006), blues saxophonist A.C. Reed (2004), co-founder of Stax Records, Estelle Axton (2004), William “Hoss” Allen, white DJ who promoted R&B in Nashville (1997), Toy Caldwell, guitarist and songwriter for the Marshall Tucker Band (1993)

February 26: ELO bassist Kelly Groucutt (2009), drummer-vocalist Buddy Miles (2008), fife player Othar Turner (2003), lyricist Ben Raleigh (1997), Frank O’Keefe of The Outlaws (1995), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1990), bluesman Bukka White (1977), Sherman Garnes of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1977)

February 27: drummer Bobby Rosengarden (2007), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1993)

February 28: Mike Smith, lead singer-organist for The Dave Clark Five (2008), saxophonist Walter Kimble (1988), DJ Eddie Madison (1987), David Byron of Uriah Heep (1985), Duprees lead vocalist Joey Vann (1984), Bobby Bloom (1974), Frankie Lymon (1968), Fats Domino’s guitarist Walter “Papoose” Nelson (1962)

March 1: Jackson 5 drummer Johnny Jackson (2006), Dennis Danell of Social Distortion (2000), Air Supply’s Frank Esler-Smith (1991)

March 2: country singer-songwriter Ernie Ashworth (2009), blues guitarist Jeff Healey (2008), pop composer Martin Denny (2005), Hank Ballard (2003), Dusty Springfield (1999), singer-songwriter David Ackles (1999), French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg (1991), rockabilly pianist Roy Hall (1984), Charlie Christian (1942)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1951, produced by the legendary Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm record “Rocket 88″ is released … considered groundbreaking for its use of the distorted electric guitar of Willie Kizart, it’s credited by many rock historians for being the first rock ‘n’ roll record … unfortunately for Turner, the bandleader and piano player, he is not the star on the record label—it is credited to saxophonist Jackie Brenston who handles lead vocals …

1954, Elvis Presley auditions for The Songfellows, a country vocal group … they pass on the future king saying he can’t sing harmony …

1955, Elvis Presley appears for the first time on television on a regional show called Louisiana Hayride

1963, influential country singer Pasty Cline dies in a private plane crash at the height of her career … with her on the ill-fated flight are Grand Ole Opry members Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins … Clines becomes the first female solo artist inducted to The Country Music Hall of Fame …

1966, a pre-Cream, pre-Blind Faith, all-star, one-time-only group called Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse is created to record a few tunes for an Elektra Records compilation … in addition to featuring Clapton on guitar, Steve Winwood sings and Jack Bruce plays bass … the ad hoc group records three tunes, of which “Crossroads,” will become a legendary live recording by Cream … John Lennon puts the “fun” back into fundamentalism when he remarks that the Beatles “are probably bigger than Jesus right now” … Beatles paraphernalia meets pyrotechnics as albums, books, and posters are burned in protest throughout the heartland … Phil Spector produces the monumental Ike & Tina Turner track “River Deep, Mountain High” … it’s rumored that he spent more than $22,000 creating the orchestral backing track—an unprecedented sum in its day … word has it that Spector also paid Ike Turner, Tina’s spouse and Svengali, 20 grand to stay the hell out of the studio … the single goes to #3 in England but apparently, sales found rivers too deep and mountains too high in the USA, thus preventing the record from making it to the cash register …

1967, Steve and Muff Winwood announce plans to quit the Spencer Davis Group … the brothers have been with the band four years … Steve goes on to form Traffic … Muff’s career is … well, muffled …

1969, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show is canceled by CBS … during its run the show had featured many rock acts including The Beatles, The Doors, and The Who … the cancellation is seen as the result of the brothers refusing to censor comments made by guest Joan Baez about her husband David Harris who was facing prison as a war resister …

1970, Janis Joplin is fined $200 for onstage swearing in Tampa, Florida …

1971, Radio Hanoi opens its first broadcast of American rock music with Jimi Hendrix’s version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” … the program is heard by U.S. soldiers throughout Vietnam … the tape was sent to the North Vietnamese station by anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman …

1973, Paul McCartney pleads guilty to charges of growing marijuana at his Scottish farm … he claims that a fan had given him the seeds and that he did not know what they would grow … to discourage any further attempts to solve the botanical mysteries of the universe, he’s fined $240 …

1976, flamboyant pop star Elton John becomes flammable after being rendered in wax … his image is put on display at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum … years later, in an odd twist of art imitating life imitating art, Elton will release the song “Candle In The Wind” … okay, for you literal-minded folk, his wax image is not outside in the wind … alright, it doesn’t actually have a wick, but it could have … fine, so Elton’s really not writing about being made into a candle … just drop it, okay? …

1980, the number-one song on the pop chart this week is “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen …

1993, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana washes down a handful of Valiums with champagne and winds up in a coma in a Rome hospital … he revives after about 20 hours … though officially labeled accidental, the overdose was secretly thought to be a suicide attempt by those close to Cobain, while conspiracy theorists suggest that Courtney Love may have slipped him the dose without his knowledge … right, ’cause it’s real easy to drop a handful of pills in someone’s mouth while they’re otherwise occupied … we would have liked to hear that one go down (so to speak), “Courtney, I think I somehow have gotten something stuck in my throat … actually, it feels like 40 somethings.” … “How odd, Kurt honey … here, wash down those 40-somethings that accidentally got stuck in your throat with this champagne, which I always keep handy for these kinds of emergencies.” … conspiracy or innocent mishap … you decide …

1995, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry undergoes successful brain surgery for an aneurysm after collapsing during a concert in Switzerland … whose brain did they use? … Abby someone … Abby who? … Abby Normal …

1998, Alan Reed, an American dancer, sues Japanese pop star Seiko Matsuda for 48 million yen (approximately $12.97) charging that she pressured Reed, a member of her stage show, into having sex with her … like Reed, his case is a loser … okay, it’s really $320,000 …

1999, Cher’s long-time manager Bill Sammeth files suit against his former client alleging that he had a deal to receive 15% of profits from her comeback hit album Believe, its singles, and a planned world tour … along with masterminding her comeback, Sammeth claims he was a close friend of the star for 22 years before being “unceremoniously dumped” … Cher has no comments regarding the alleged dumping …

2004, Jack White of the White Stripes pleads guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery on singer Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies … the charges stem from a bar fight between the two Detroit musicians that occurred the previous December at the CD release party for Blanche, another Detroit area band … White is fined $750 …

2005, CBGB, the birthplace of punk, faces closure in a dispute over unpaid rent due the charity for the homeless that owns the building … club owner Hilly Kristal says the dispute dated from 2001, when the landlord presented a $300,000 bill for unpaid rent … that’s 24,885,000 yen in case you were wondering … no, the number is right, the yen is stronger against the dollar now … XL Recordings’ Dizzee Rascal is arrested in East London after he is found carrying pepper spray (considered a firearm) … his companion is charged with possession of drugs (marijuana) and offensive weapons (a baton and more pepper spray) …

2006, new age meets chauvinism when musician Yanni (“Yawn-i” to his detractors) is arrested in Florida on charges of domestic battery against his girlfriend … by way of advice (and we in the music retail biz face this regularly), it’s important to state clearly up front in any transaction: “battery’s not included” … a British court rules that Apple Computer did not violate Apple Corps’ trademark when it launched iTunes … the case hinged on a 1991 agreement that forbade Apple Computer from distributing music on physical media … at that time the computer maker paid Apple Corps $27 million and agreed to not enter into music distribution under the Apple Computer name … the English judge finds that because iTunes is not the original source of the content it offers, the no-distribution provision doesn’t apply … The Beatles’ company threatens to appeal the verdict … in a convoluted deal reached the following year, Apple Computer (which has by then removed “Computer” from its name) acquires rights to all Apple logos used by both companies and will license the green apple logo of Apple Corps back to the company founded by The Beatles … no financial details are revealed in press accounts … it’s like the old saying goes: “If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.” … for honoring the unsung heroes of the personal pleasure industry, shedding light on the plight of the noble, downtrodden pimp, Three 6 Mafia becomes the first African-American hip-hop act to win a Best Song Oscar … the tune is “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” featured on the Hustle & Flow soundtrack …

2008, MTV pulls Gnarls Barkley’s video Run for having the potential to induce seizures … before the song reaches its conclusion the retro dancers are surrounded by strobing, crisscrossing, and interweaving black-and-white patterns … enough to cause the video to fail the Harding Test—software designed to protect sufferers of photosensitive epilepsy from having seizures … the rock music blogosphere is buzzing with the news that Robert Plant has reportedly turned down the notion of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, preferring to focus his attention on a newfound musical partnership with Alison Krauss … speculation that the pair would tour as Led Mandolin has proven false …

2009, Liverpool Hope University rolls out a new master’s program, “The Beatles, Popular Music and Society,” to give students the opportunity to analyze music and culture through the band’s work … Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university in the band’s hometown in northwestern England, says, “If popular music is about anything, it’s about people. If we look at popular culture, it simply provides us with a very complex mirror of ourselves.” … and no, you can’t major in Paul with a minor in Ringo … for those who think British education may be significantly lowering the bar, a California university that shall remain nameless offers a course in Keanu Reeves … excellent! (play air guitar here) … The Allman Brothers kick off their 40th anniversary year with a three-week residency at New York’s Beacon Theater—an annual tradition for the Southern rockers … the shows feature a star-studded lineup of friends sitting in with the band that inludes Eric Clapton, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Sheryl Crow, Billy Gibbons, Taj Mahal, Levon Helm, Buddy Guy, Boz Scaggs, and Stanley Clarke …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

March 3: jazz bassist Pierre Michelot (1928), Mike Pender of The Searchers (1942), Jance Garfat of Dr. Hook (1944), singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes (1947), guitarist-singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (1953), rapper Tone L̄c (1966), John Bigham of Fishbone (1969), Ronan Keating of Boyzone (1977)

March 4: Miriam Makeba (1932), Bobby Womack (1944), singer-songwriter Shakin’ Stevens (1948), Billy Gibbons (1948), Chris Squire of Yes (1948), Emilio Estefan of Miami Sound Machine (1953), Jason Newsted of Metallica (1963), Patrick Hannan of The Sundays (1966), Fergal Lawler of The Cranberries (1971)

March 5: blues great J.B. Lenoir (1929), R&B star Tommy “High Heel Sneakers” Tucker (1933), Electric Prune James Lowe (1945), “Electric Avenue” Eddy Grant (1948), Alan Clark of Dire Straits (1952), singer-songwriter-producer Teena Marie (1956), Bobby DeBarge (1956), Mark Smith of The Fall (1957), Andy Gibb (1958), Craig Reid and Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers (1962), John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1971)

March 6: bluesman Furry Lewis (1893), western swing pioneer Bob Wills (1905), Bernie Wayne, pop composer who wrote “Blue Velvet” (1919), jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery (1923), Sylvia Robinson of Mickey and Sylvia (1936), bluegrass banjo legend Doug Dillard of The Dillards (1937), Mary Wilson of the Supremes (1944), Hugh Grundy of The Zombies (1945), Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour (1947), singer Kiki Dee (1947), Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick (1970)

March 7: Maurice Ravel, composer of “Bolero” (1875), producer and ex-Zombie Chris White (1943), singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt (1944), J. Geils Band vocalist Peter Wolf (1946), Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher (1946), Taylor Dayne, born Leslie Wonderman (1962)

March 8: Micky Dolenz of The Monkees (1945), Eagles bassist Randy Meisner (1946), Three Dog Night’s Michael Allsup (1947), Mel Galley of Whitesnake (1948), Little Peggy March of “I Will Follow Him” fame (1948), singer and synth pop pioneer Gary Numan (1958), Peter “Pedro” Gill of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1960), Julian Lennon (1963), Cheryl James of Salt-N-Pepa (1964), singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins (1968), Kameelah Williams of 702 (1978)

March 9: composer Samuel Barber (1910), Motown songwriter Clarence Paul (1928), R&B stalwart Lloyd Price (1933), John Thomas “Scooter” Steele, bass singer with The (Five) Willows (1934), country singer Mickey Gilley (1936), Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders (1942), John Cale of The Velvet Underground (1942), guitarist Robin Trower (1945), Ron Wilson of The Surfaris (1945), Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1948), R&B singer Jeffrey Osborne (1948), The Move’s Trevor Burton (1949), Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five (1968), rapper Lil’ Bow Wow (1987)

Departures:

March 3: surrealist poet-songwriter and Beatles influence, Ivor Cutler (2006)

March 4: Piedmont blues guitarist John Cephas (2009), Beatles’ engineer and Pink Floyd producer Norman Smith (2008), songwriter-pianist Marvin Jenkins (2005), guitarist John McGeoch (2004), country artist Eddie Dean of “I Dreamed Of a Hillbilly Heaven” fame (1999), Grand Olde Opry cast member Minnie Pearl (1996), songwriter Eden Ahbez (1995), jazz guitarist Mary Osborne (1992), founder of the doo-wop Herald and Ember labels Al Silver (1992), bebop guitarist Tiny Grimes (1989), Richard Manuel of The Band (1986), R&B bandleader Red Saunders (1981), Brit rocker Mike Patto (1979), Raymond Edwards of The Silhouettes (1977)

March 5: Bob Timmins, an addiction specialist who worked with Kurt Cobain and Slash (2008), Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Band (1995), blues brother John Belushi (1982), country singer Patsy Cline (1963), country singer and Grand Ole Opry member Cowboy Copas (1963), country singer and Grand Ole Opry member Hawkshaw Hawkins, born Harold Franklin Hawkins (1963)

March 6: David Williams, rhythm guitarist on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” (2009), Sir Joseph Lockwood, head of Britain’s EMI records (1991)

March 7: Jimmy “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” Boyd (2009), Portland-based blues harp player and singer Paul deLay (2007), Malian blues singer and guitarist Ali Farka Toure (2006), Jesse Taylor, former guitarist with the Joe Ely Band (2006), country bandleader-songwriter Pee Wee King (2000), producer Dave Jordan (1995), Texas blues singer-guitarist George “Little Hat” Jones (1981)

March 8: Grand Ole Opry star Hank Locklin (2009), Adam Faith, British pop singer and actor (2003), session drummer Bobby Chouinard (1997), novelty songwriter-performer and DJ, Vic Venus (1994), jazz singer and bandleader Billy Eckstine (1993), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead (1973), country singer Jack Anglin (1963)

March 9: country singer Chris LeDoux (2005), George Scott, founding member of the gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama (2005), Rust Epique, guitarist for pre)Thing (2004), rapper Notorious B.I.G. (1997), Mercury Wilson, lead rapper-singer for The Force M.D.’s (1995), R&B songwriter and producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell (1985), Harry Womack, bassist, member of the Valentinos, and brother of Bobby Womack (1974)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

R.I.P. "Pinetop" Perkins…

0
0

…another blues legend gone.

There are so few left and with the death of legendary piano player Joseph “Pinetop” Perkins at the age of 97 it’s one less.

Though in his late nineties, Perkins was not content to join the ranks of his peers at their nightly bingo games, but until his death he usually performed a couple of nights a week at jazz bar, Nuno’s, in his hometown of Austin, TX. In 2005, Perkins received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Famous for his cover of Clarence “Pinetop” Smith’s “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” recorded at Sun Records in 1953. He would replace Otis Spann in Muddy Waters band in 1969, which meant he played on the great late 70s early 80s albums Muddy recorded for the “Blue Sky Records” label that were produced by Johnny Winter.

The three studio recordings – “Hard Again” (1977), “I’m Ready” (1978), “King Bee” (1981) – along with 1979’s live recording “Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live” are must own blues albums.

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1952, Sun Records, the revered label that will be the first to give Elvis a shot and go on to cut dozens of great rockabilly and blues sides, issues its first single, “Selling My Whisky” by Jackie Boy and Little Walter …

1955, Georgia Gibbs’ “Dance With Me Henry” is released … it’s a cleaned-up version of the more licentiously titled “Roll With Me Henry” by Etta James that in turn was re-titled “The Wallflower” to keep censors at bay …

… Coral Records hires original rock DJ Alan Freed as their A&R man …

1958, Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army as Private Presley, serial number U-S-53310761 …

1962, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first perform together as Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys …

1963, teen idol Dion finally takes his “Runaround Sue” out of the marketplace when he marries Sue Butterfield …

1964, everyone’s favorite high-strung diva, Barbara “Babs” Streisand, opens on Broadway in Funny Girl … she wins a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the movie version …

1967, Peter Bergman of Firesign Theatre coins the term Love-In and throws the first such event in Los Angeles’ Elysian Park, attracting 65,000 people and blocking freeways for miles … Columbia Records producer Gary Usher is so impressed, he offers Firesign Theatre their first record contract … the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album is staged and photographed at Chelsea Manor Studios in London using collage and wax figures from Madame Tussaud’s famous wax museum … among the likenesses featured on the cover are Mae West, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Tony Curtis, Marlon Brando, Oscar Wilde, Marlene Dietrich, and W.C. Fields … album artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth will be awarded a Grammy for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts in 1968 …

1973, just 12 days after their single “Cover of the Rolling Stone” peaks at #6 on the pop chart, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show appear on the cover of the magazine … wonder what Sylvia’s mother has to say about The Hook now … Lou Reed is bitten at a concert in Buffalo, New York … the “rabid” fan, unable to contain his affection, leaps onstage and bites Reed on the bum as he is about to perform “Waitin’ for the Man” … screaming “leather,” the fan gets past security as he assaults Reed … the fan is ejected and Reed later comments that the U.S. “seems to breed real animals” …

1974, The Ramones play their first live show at the Performance Studio in New York … they will go on to play many more shows there and eat lots of pizza …

1975, Barry Manilow makes his first appearance on American Bandstand … No. 1 on the Billboard charts is Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti … No. 3 is Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks … No. 2 is Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow … go figure …

1978, the Police sign with A&M records …

1985, Prince wins an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Purple Rain … rumor has it that the movie’s title song actually was written by Prince’s backup musicians, Wendy and Lisa … the movie seems to acknowledge this, however the credits don’t … they are credited as co-writers of “Computer Blue,” a song Wendy and Lisa claim in an interview that they had nothing to do with …

1991, New Kid Donnie Wahlberg narrowly escapes becoming a new kid on the cell block when he is arrested and charged with first degree arson … he apparently was trying to set the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, KY, on fire with a Molotov cocktail … the charges are later reduced and then dropped in exchange for public service commercials …

1995, while in jail, Tupac’s Me Against the World hits number one … he becomes the first rapper to top the charts and get married while incarcerated for sexual assault against a female fan … an opera based on the life of tennis ace Martina Navratilova premieres at New York’s Carnegie Hall … apparently, it took a lot of balls to pull this one off … Duran Duran release Thank You, a collection of cover versions generally considered to be one of the worst albums ever recorded …

1998, Chuck Negron files suit against his former Three Dog Night bandmates … Negron alleges that a breach of a 1990 settlement put a crimp in the crooner’s career … years later in an odd twist, Negron’s management licenses the rights to use the name of the ’60s horn band Blood, Sweat & Tears from BS&T drummer Bobby Colomby … Negron now appears as Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring Chuck Negron … nothing to say about stopping David Clayton Thomas’ career … nothing? … anything? … nothing …

1999, rap mogul Master P donates $500,000 to keep his old grammar school from closing …

Adriana Lima

2004, Bob Dylan starts hawking lady’s underwear in a television ad for Victoria’s Secret which also features the song “Love Sick” from Dylan’s 1997 album Time Out of Mind … the commercial features Dylan and model Adriana Lima, who is barely clothed while Dylan, thankfully, is fully dressed … music critics, columnists, and Dylan fans immediately erupt on the internet after the first spot airs, all asking “Why?” … well, the answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind … but we suspect that same wind has been blowing up ladies’ skirts in Bob’s imagination since 1965, when he was asked what might tempt him to sell out … his reply: “Ladies’ undergarments.” … as far as we’re concerned, Dylan didn’t sell out, he bought in … and now when people ask about Dylan’s career whereabouts, our response is, “He’s in ladies’ underwear …”

2005, The Decemberists opt to release their new music video, Sixteen Military Wives, via BitTorrent, an easy way to give the video exposure without fronting a lot of money for bandwidth … Dawn Barger, manager for The Decemberists, says: “For the most part, MTV and VH1 won’t touch video unless bands have sold a huge number of records. It’s impossible to get rotation” … the experimental release is a success, seeing almost 2,000 downloads its first weekend … The White Stripes finish recording their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, in just under two weeks, averaging about a song a day … apparently, like Robert Johnson, they had hellhounds on their tail … perhaps it’s a better idea to get Satan in front of you, where you can keep an eye on him … American Idol is forced to have a re-vote after they display incorrect phone numbers for each of the 11 contestants during the voting stage of the Fox TV talent show …

2006, in the midst of a European tour Snoop Dogg and Sean “Diddy” Combs are obliged to cancel plans for the British leg of the tour when Snoop is denied a visa by English authorities … the refusal stems from an April 2006 scuffle between the rapper and five members of his entourage with British cops at Heathrow airport after the posse is refused entrance to a British Airways first-class lounge … seven bobbies were injured in the fracas … if we’re not mistaken, one Diddy equals ten bobbies … Apple releases a free software patch for download that permits iPod owners to set a maximum volume level … the action is seemingly in response to articles critical of the device’s potential for hearing damage and a pending class-action lawsuit … so much for self-determination … as Rene Descartes might have said, “iPod therefore I am” …

2007, Sony BMG announces that henceforth it will no longer accept CDs or tapes from bands hoping to land a contract with the company’s labels … instead, would-be recording acts are directed to post their demos on sites set up for the purpose by Sony’s subsidiaries as well as on blogs … it’s not really as cutting-edge an approach as it sounds … in the old days it was known as, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” …

… and that was the week that was in matters musical.

Arrivals:

March 24: Ollie McLaughlin, producer with Del Shannon (1925), George Lee, singer with Ruby and the Romantics (1936), soul singer Billy “Fat Boy” Stewart (1937), songwriter Peggy Sue, sister of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle (1947)

March 25: Vivian Carter, the “Vee” in Vee-Jay Records (1921), Tom Wilson, producer for Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and John Coltrane (1931), Johnny Burnette (1934), Jose L. Rodriguez, engineer for Culture Club, Mary J. Blige, and Gloria Gaynor (1944), Nick Lowe (1949)

March 26: Rufus Thomas, best known for “Walkin’ The Dog” (1917), Diana Ross (1944), Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (1948), Teddy Pendergrass (1950), Bill Lyall, keyboardist for Pilot and Bay City Rollers (1953), Eddie Van Halen (1955)

March 27: Leroy Carr, influential blues pianist (1905), blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr., who learned from the legendary Robert Johnson (1915), jazz singer Sarah Vaughan (1924), Reprise Records’ mogul Mo Ostin, who signed Jimi Hendrix (1927), Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, Houston blues guitarist (1937), Brenda Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips (1948), Tony Banks of Genesis (1951), Mariah Carey (1970)

March 28: Aaron “T-Bone” Walker, legendary electric blues guitarist (1910), Milan Williams of The Commodores (1948), Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1974)

March 29: Donny Conn of The Playmates (1930), Terry Jacks, singer-songwriter of “Seasons in the Sun” fame (1944)

March 30: Delta-style harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson, born John Lee Williamson (1914), Willie Nelson (1933), Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues (1942), Eric Clapton of Eric Clapton fame (1945), Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Procol Harum’s Dave Ball (1950), rapper Stanley “M.C. Hammer” Burell (1963), songstress Celine Dion (1968), singer-pianist Norah Jones, born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar (1979)

Departures:

March 24: Foghat’s founding guitarist Rod Price (2005), Harold Melvin, leader of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1997)

March 25: country legend Buck Owens (2006), Kenny Moore, keyboardist for Tina Turner (1997), folksinger-songwriter Tom Jans (1984)

March 26: Nikki Sudden of Swell Map (2006), Paul Hester, drummer for Crowded House (2005), Jan Berry of Jan and Dean (2004), rapper Eazy-E aka Eric Wright (1996), Duster Bennett, member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1976), songwriter-playwright Noel Coward (1973), Harold McNair, flutist and saxophonist with Donovan and Ginger Baker (1971)

March 27: Clifford Jordan, jazz saxophonist (1993), Paul Gayten, R&B singer and Chess Records talent scout (1991)

March 28: Don Alias, jazz percussionist (2006), actor-jazz pianist Dudley Moore (2002), Freaky Tah, born Raymond Rodgers, of The Lost Boyz (1999), Buddy Red Bow, Lakota country and western singer (1993), father of the blues, songwriter W.C. Handy (1958)

March 29: blues, jazz, big band singer Joe Williams, born Joseph Goreed (1999), Howard Wyeth, drummer Dylan, Roger McGuinn, and Don McLean (1996), music biographer Albert Goldman (1994)

March 30: Elektra Records producer Paul Rothchild (1995)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1939, “Cherokee” is recorded for the first time by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra … the tune will be recorded by scores of jazz greats and often played at a breakneck pace to humble neophytes …

1953, a young sideburned truck driver—last name of Presley—drops in at the Memphis Recording Service studio, plunks down his four bucks, and records “My Happiness” as a gift for his mother …

1954, Elvis is back in Sun Studios to record the first commercially available Elvis single, “That’s Alright Mama” … that same week, Presley turns up at the grand opening of a Memphis drugstore where he performs on the back of a flatbed truck …

1958, following a backstage fight between a member of The Drifters and the manager of New York’s Apollo Theater, the group’s manager, George Treadwell, fires the entire lineup, then recruits the members of the opening act, The Five Crowns, to become a new incarnation of The Drifters with Ben E. King handling lead vocals … this is one more chapter in a bewildering history during which rival groups billed as The Drifters will tour simultaneously and band rosters will change dozens of times …

1960, Duane Eddy appears on Dick Clark’s prime time show and performs “Ramrod,” a work in progress … the appearance spurs orders for 150,000 copies, but there’s no way to fill them since the record hasn’t been finished … producer Lee Hazelwood hits the studio and adds sax and vocal overdubs so the single can be rushed to the pressing plant … it later turns out that the remix probably doesn’t include Eddy on guitar … the twangalicious work having been done by studio vet Al Casey …

1963, The Essex score a #1 R&B hit with “Easier Said Than Done” … it’ll later clinch the top spot on the pop chart too … all the members of the group are active Marines and they have to get the Corps’ approval to tour behind their hit …

1964, The Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” makes it to #48 on the chart … it is the first in their long line of hits …

1965, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released … it turns out to be his biggest hit ever, climbing to #2 on the U.S. pop chart …

1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker get together to form one of rock’s most celebrated trios, Cream … 50-year-old crooner Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, 30 years his junior …

1968, Jane Asher calls it quits with Paul McCartney … the announcement that they are no longer engaged is made on the British television show Dee Time while McCartney, who hasn’t been told yet, is watching … Asher came home unexpectedly one night to find Paul with another woman … Asher left the home soon after … despite this occurrence, Asher and McCartney are seen together in public appearances … however, the relationship is acknowledged over when McCartney shows up alone at the Yellow Submarine premiere later in the week … the album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida from Iron Butterfly debuts on the U.S. charts … the title track, clocking in at a whopping 17 minutes, features one of the longest drum solos in rock history … according to producer Jim Hilton, the song’s title results from singer Doug Ingle’s slurred pronunciation of “In Our Garden of Eden” when he was asked for the name of a new song the band was rehearsing … the producer jotted the title down phonetically … Hilton recollects, “I felt it was more interesting and a lot more mystical than the straight title … the band thought I had lost my mind, but it was too late to change it, I had already given my OK on the cover for printing” …

1970, British pop star Arthur Brown is held overnight in a Sicilian jail and faces a prison sentence of up to five years after being charged with committing obscene acts in a public place … Brown was performing at the Palermo Pop Festival when he inexplicably stripped naked on stage in front of 15,000 people … the crowd throws things at him and he is arrested and put in solitary confinement for four days … while in solitary, he receives a petition signed by 200 locals requesting that he leave Italy and never return …

1972, a bomb explodes near a Rolling Stones equipment truck in Montreal … the bomb was placed under a ramp and blows the cones out of a lot of PA cabs … nobody is hurt, it’s never determined who placed the bomb … the show goes on as planned …

1973, The Everly Brothers arrive at an ignominious career low when the sweet-harmonizing siblings’ set at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, is stopped by the theme park’s entertainment director who feels Don is doing a poor job … brother Phil sees red, smashes his guitar, and stalks offstage … ironically, Don performs the third set as a solo and announces that the Everly Brothers are history … Clarence White, singer and guitarist for the Byrds, is run down and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment after a gig in Palmdale, California …

1974, John Lennon is given two months to leave the United States by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who have denied him an extension on his visa, supposedly because he pled guilty to a pot charge in England in 1968 … it will be revealed later that he is under surveillance by the FBI … Joey Ramone slides out from behind the drum kit and steps up to the mic to assume vocal duties for The Ramones …

1978, as Bob Dylan leaves England after completion of his U.K. tour, over 200,000 gather at Blackbushe Airport to see him off …

1982, Moon Unit Zappa, still a young teenager, makes her debut with dad, Frank, recording “Valley Girl,” which becomes FZ’s highest-charting single at #32 and wins Grammy nominations for father and daughter alike …

1986, after 28 years of collaboration, Columbia Records drops Johnny Cash, who then signs with Mercury … the film Sid and Nancy premieres at the Limelight Club in London … the film relates the mostly true biographical tale of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen … the raw, dark film culminates in the stabbing death of Nancy, Sid’s arrest for suspicion of murder, and his heroin OD shortly thereafter …

1988, a California appeals court puts the quash on the old “let’s-blame-our-child’s-suicide-on-a-rock-band” game when it upholds a lower court’s decision dismissing a suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS … the suit held Ozzy and CBS responsible for the death of a teen who committed suicide after listening to Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” …

1989, Venice, Italy, is overrun by 200,000 loonies who show up in town for a free Pink Floyd concert and annoy the locals with noise, littering, and drug use …

1991, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler files suit against the band, claiming they peer-pressured him into heroin addiction, then ousted him from the band when he entered a rehab program … eventually, Adler will accept an out-of-court settlement to the tune of 2.5 million bucks …

1995, a bear-bone flute is found in an archaeological dig in the Indrijca River Valley in Slovenia … at an estimated 45,000 years old, it is the oldest musical instrument ever found …

1996, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is arrested for assault and released the same day in North Carolina … the band had just wrapped up their day as main-stage headliners on the Lollapalooza festival stop at Rockingham Dragway … from his own mouth: “It wasn’t even a fan and it wasn’t even at our show. It was in the lobby of our hotel in North Carolina. These people heard that we were staying in the hotel so they’re sneaking out to look and they had been drinking so they were a little bit verbally abusive. I told one of them to go away with a twist of the wrist and that was it, just once. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had I not been who I am—a guy in a rock band.” … thanks for the clarification, Kim …

2002, Bob Seger wins the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat Race, his second sailing title in two years …

2004, singer Linda Ronstadt not only gets booed, she gets the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas …

2006, the Boston jam band Dispatch sells out three 20,000-seat shows at Madison Square Garden with proceeds going to poverty-stricken and AIDS-infested Zimbabwe … near uninterrupted touring builds huge buzz for the band and MySpace proves to be a major force in helping to sell the tickets … Rolling Stone Keith Richards receives a pardon from the state of Arkansas over a 31-year-old conviction for reckless driving … The Vatican, upset by aspects of Madonna’s Confessions Tour stage show, calls for the singer’s excommunication …

2007, Prince angers the music industry and stirs up trouble among British retailers by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper for a weekend …

2008, pre-grunge superstar band Green River reunites to play at record label Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary party … though the band never saw much success outside of the ’80s Seattle scene, members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament went on to great success with Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam, while Mark Arm and Steve Turner became grunge legends themselves with Mudhoney …

2009, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch announces that he has a “very treatable” tumor in his salivary gland … the B-Boys cancel their planned tour so MCA can focus on his treatment …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 14: American folk legend Woody Guthrie (1912), influential Atlanta DJ Zenas “Daddy” Sears (1913), Cliff Trenier of ’50s doo-wop group The Treniers (1919), Lowman Pauling of The “5” Royales (1926), Bob Scholl, member of The Mello-Kings (1938), expatriate British rocker Vince Taylor, role model for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust (1939), Detroit soul singer Ty Hunter (1940), Trevor Horn of Buggles and Yes (1949), singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (1952), singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tanya Donelly of Belly (1966), keyboardist-vocalist Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies (1966), singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Cottle of Xscape (1975), rapper Taboo of Black Eyed Peas, born Jaime Luis Gómez (1975)

July 15: Cowboy Copas, country singing star who died in the same plane as Patsy Cline (1913), Motown house drummer William “Benny” Benjamin (1925), singer-actress Nina, Baroness van Pallandt (1932), soul star Millie Jackson (1944), guitarist (and son of actress Loretta Young) Peter Lewis of Moby Grape (1945), singer-songwriter-producer Linda Ronstadt (1946), flamboyant New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale Jr. (1952), guitarist for .38 Special Jeff Carlisi (1952), Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis (1956), instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani (1956)

July 16: Sollie McElroy of The Flamingos (1934), soul songstress Denise LaSalle (1939), Ruben Blades (1948), Stewart Copeland (1952), Ed Kowalczyk of Live (1971)

July 17: Texas R&B singer Peppermint Harris (1925), Spencer Davis (1941), The Sweet’s Mick Tucker (1948), Black Sabbath’s Terry “Geezer” Butler (1949), Nicolette Larson (1952), Doobie Brother Chet McCracken (1952), Phoebe Snow (1952), JC of PM Dawn (1973)

July 18: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1929), Papa Dee Allen of War (1931), Dion DiMucci (1937), Rolling Stones pianist-road manager Ian Stewart (1938), Brian Auger (1939), Martha Reeves (1941), Tim Lynch of The Flamin’ Groovies (1946), Golden Earring’s Caesar Zuiderwijk (1950), Ricky Skaggs (1954), drummer Terry Chambers of XTC (1955), Pearl Jam’s Jack Irons (1962), Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (1962)

July 19: ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (1902), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (1932), Bo Diddley’s fellow guitarist-vocalist Lady Bo born Peggy Jones (1940), pop singer Vikki Carr (1941), Clarence White of The Byrds (1944), Average White Band’s Alan Gorrie (1946), Bobby Neal of the Stone Canyon Band (1947), Brian May (1947), The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon (1947), Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux (1948), Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1952), Kevin Haskins of Love & Rockets (1960)

July 20: Buddy Knox (1933), Kim Carnes (1945), The Moody Blues’ John Lodge (1945), Carlos Santana (1947), Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French (1954), Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols (1956), Simple Minds’ Mick McNeil (1958), Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave (1964), Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam (1966), Vitamin C (1972)

Departures:

July 14: Beryl Bryden, dubbed the “British Queen of the Blues” (1998), Phillippe Wynne of the Spinners (1984), Malcolm Owen of the Rutts (1980), progressive country guitarist Clarence White of The Byrds (1973)

July 15: country songwriter Hank Cochran (2010), rapper Too Poetic, born Anthony Berkeley (2001), Bizarros drummer Rick Garberson (1979)

July 16: singer and radio star Jo Stafford (2008), agent-manager Don Arden (2007), salsa singer Celia Cruz (2003), Styx drummer John Panozzo (1996), Sun Records’ Bill Justis (1982), Harry Chapin (1981), Peter Cowap of Herman’s Hermits (1977)

July 17: Gordon Waller of ’60s duo Peter & Gordon (2009), opera singer Teresa Stich-Randell (2007), Paul Young of Mike and the Mechanics (2000), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1998), Hendrix manager Chas Chandler (1996), blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes (1983), sax giant John Coltrane (1967), “Lady Day” Billie Holiday (1959), harpin’ bluesman Henry Strong (1954)

July 18: tenor Jerry Hadley (2007), Haroon Shamsher of Joi (1999), Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, born Christa Päffgen (1988), bandleader Jimmy Liggins (1983), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1970), Bobby Fuller (1966)

July 19: Big Star bassist Andy Hummel (2010), highlife bandleader Emmanuel Tettey “E.T.” Mensah (1996), R&B sax man Red Prysock (1993)

July 20: guitarist-producer-songwriter Artie Traum (2008), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (2007), musician-music executive-manager Jim Tyrrell (1998), recording engineer Gary Kellgren (1977), Roy Hamilton (1969)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

Last of the Tennessee Two…

0
0

…R.I.P. Marshall Grant.

Of the original Tennessee Three – Johnny Cash, Luther Perkins & Marshall Grant – which became Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two that pioneered the “boom-chicka-boom” / “freight train” rhythm sound, bass player Marshall Grant was, after Perkins’ death in 1968 and Cash’s in 2003, the last surviving member.

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →


It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1955, Elvis buys his mama a pink Cadillac …

1956, in the wake of Johnny Ray’s success with “Just Walking in the Rain,” Sun Records releases a cover by The Prisonaires, a smooth-singing doo-wop group composed of Tennessee State Penitentiary inmates …

…Elvis begins recording his second album in Los Angeles … it is to include covers of Little Richard hits “Rip It Up,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Ready Teddy” … Elvis even plays piano on some of the tracks …

1962, The Beatles hit Abbey Road recording studio for the first time, recording “Love Me Do” in about 16 takes with drummer Andy White …

1968, because of fears of street violence during the National Democratic Convention, The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” is banned from airplay in Chicago … Ray Charles’ backup singers quit en masse over a wage dispute and band rules they consider unfair …

1978, Who drummer Keith Moon succumbs to an overdose of the drug Heminevrin prescribed to combat his alcoholism … an autopsy reveals that he’d washed down 32 of the pills with champagne … his death occurs in the same apartment in which Mama Cass of The Mamas & The Papas met her demise in 1974 … at a Teddy Pendergrass show in New York called “For Women Only,” female concertgoers receive white chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear …

1990, Tom Fogerty, an original member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and brother of John, dies of tuberculosis this week at age 48 … he had parted from the band at the height of its success in 1971, a casualty of sibling rivalry … and although he recorded a number of albums on his own, he never scored a hit after his CCR days … across the pond, The Cure launches a pirate radio station beamed at London to publicize the release of the remix album Mixed Up … but the station will soon go off the air beset by technical difficulties and use of the powerful BBC signal to cover up its broadcasts …

1991, country music star Dottie West dies from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in the parking lot of The Grand Ole Opry … the crash occurred a few days earlier when an elderly neighbor, who was giving West a ride to work, lost control of the car …

1997, Pat Smear announces he will no longer be a Foo Fighter and that Franz Stahl will take his place …

1999, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is arrested at a show in Raleigh, N.C., charged with felony rioting and three counts of misdemeanor inciting to riot, assault, and disorderly conduct … the charges stem from bad behavior at a Greensboro concert in 1997 … Sixx allegedly assaulted a security guard and encouraged a melee among fans …

2000, Rage Against the Machine bassist Timothy Commerford pleads guilty to charges of assault and disorderly conduct at the MTV Video Music Awards … while raging against Limp Bizkit’s acceptance of the award for Best Rock Video–which was coincidentally up against Rage’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”–Commerford climbed a 15-foot arch that was part of the stage set … stagehands and security swarmed the stage to extricate Tim, who would “sleep now in the slammer” … The Doobie Brothers offer 15 new tracks for free download to launch the promotion of their latest album, Sibling Rivalry

2004, the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati rules that artists should pay for every sample they use … previously courts had held that as long as short samples could not be identified, licensing was unnecessary … in this new decision, the court, acknowledging other cases involving digital piracy says, If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative. … ironically, a two-second sample of a Funkadelic record in NWA’s “100 Miles and Runnin” is at the heart of the ruling … Funkadelic and Parliament leader and founder George Clinton had historically been supportive of sampling, having produced two albums titled Sample Some of Dis and Sample Some of Dat that permit remixers to use his music without legal considerations …

2006, in a Rolling Stone interview, Elton John reveals that he’s thinking about putting out a hip-hop album … I want to work with Eminem, Pharrell, Kanye, and Snoop. We’ll see what happens. It could be a disaster. … Rapper Master P debuts his new musical Uncle Willy’s Family, in Meridian, Mississippi … the show is semiautobiographical, focusing on a family that has to abandon its home in the face of Hurricane Katrina … to no one’s particular surprise, it’s revealed that Whitney Houston has separated from her husband of 14 years, Bobby Brown … the marriage was punctuated by drugs and domestic disturbances … on a more positive note, Lou Reed joins Jack White and his Raconteurs at the VMA Awards show in New York, pitching in on the vocals of “White Light/White Heat” …

2007, with just 7.4 million in album sales this week, Nielsen SoundScan reports the lowest numbers in the chart service’s history … only the High School Musical 2 soundtrack manages to move more than 50,000 units … just eight years earlier 27 albums moved that many … Lucinda Williams kicks off a novel tour in which she will play five nights each in New York and L.A. … each show will be devoted to one of her five studio albums in its entirety: her 1988 self-titled disc, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence, and World Without Tears

2008, Oasis is mid-way through its headline set at the V Festival when a man runs from backstage and knocks Noel Gallagher to the ground … security guards wrestle the attacker to the floor and drag him away with brother Liam in pursuit … after a 15-minute break, the band resumes its set to cheers from a 25,000-strong audience …

2009, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, more than 2 months after his controversial death …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 1: Boxcar Willie (1931), Conway Twitty (1933), Tommy Evans of The Drifters (1934), Archie Bell of The Drells (1944), Barry Gibb (1946), Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone (1948), The Jam’s Bruce Foxton (1955), Gloria Estefan (1957), Joe Williams of Toto (1960), DJ Sprigg Nice of Lost Boyz (1970), J.D. Fortune, replacement singer for INXS (1973), Sean Stewart, son of Ron (1980), Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohan (1984)

September 2: Hugo Montenegro (1925), Sam Gooden (1939), Bobby Purify (1939), Rosalind Ashworth of Martha and The Vandellas (1943), Joe Simon (1943), Billy Preston (1946), Richard Coughlan of Caravan (1947), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (1947), Micahel Rother, guitarist and keyboardist for Kraftwerk, Neu! (1950), Mik Kaminski of E.L.O. (1951), Simply Red’s Fritz McIntyre (1956), Steve Porcaro of Toto (1957), Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs (1958), Dino Cazeres, guitarist for Fear Factory (1966), K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci (1969), Phil Lipscomb, Taproot bassist (1976)

September 3: bluesman Memphis Slim born Peter Chatman (1915), Hank Thompson (1925), Tompall Glaser (1933), Freddie King (1934), Kenny Pickett (1942), Al Jardine of The Beach Boys (1942), Walter Scott of the Whispers (1943), George Biondi of Steppenwolf (1945), Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell (1947), Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad (1948), Doug Pinnik of King’s X (1950), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols (1955), Perry Bamonte of The Cure (1960), Jonathan Segal of Camper Van Beethoven (1963), Jennifer Paige (1973), Tomo Miličević of 30 Seconds to Mars (1979), Jason McCaslin of Sum 41 (1980)

September 4: “Lightning Bug” Rhodes, guitarist for Otis Redding and B.B. King (1939), lead singer George Lanuis of The Crescendos (1939), Merald Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1942), fret wizard Danny Gatton (1945), Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946), Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan (1946), Ronald LaPread of The Commodores (1950), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins (1951), Martin Chambers of the Pretenders (1952), Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. (1956), George Hurley of Minutemen (1958), Kim Thayil of Soundgarden (1960), Sam Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks (1963), Igor Cavalera, Sepultura drummer (1970), Carmit Bachar of Pussycat Dolls (1974), Dan Miller of O-Town (1980), Beyoncé Knowles (1981), Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm (1981)

September 5: Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1907), doo-wopper Jimmy Springs of The Red Caps (1911), guitarist Willie Woods of Junior Walker & The Allstars (1936), singer-songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart (1939), Al “Year of the Cat” Stewart (1945), Freddie Mercury of Queen (1946), Buddy Miles (1946), guitarist Clarence White born Cecil Ingram Connor (1946), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainright III (1946), Buddy Miles of Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys (1947), David “Clem” Clempson of Humble Pie/Colosseum (1949), Juan Aldrete of Racer X (1963), Terry Ellis of En Vogue (1966), Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (1968), Dweezil Zappa (1969)

September 6: bluesman Jimmy Reed (1925), David Allan Coe (1939), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (1943), Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1942), androgynous disco star Silvester aka Silvester James (1947), Claydes Charles Smith, lead guitarist and founder of Kool & the Gang (1948), Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners (1958), Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis (1961), Pal Waaktar of A-Ha (1961), William DuVall of Alice in Chains (1967), CeCe Peniston (1969), Dolores O’Riordon of The Cranberries (1971), Nina Persson of The Cardigans (1974), rapper N.O.R.E. (1976), Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack (1978), Foxy Brown (1978)

September 7: tenor sax giant Sonny Rollins (1930), bluesman Little Milton (Campbell) (1934), Buddy Holly born Charles Hardin Holley (1936), Continental Drift bassist Jim Gault (1943), Alfa Anderson of Chic (1946), disco diva Gloria Gaynor (1949), Chrissie Hynde (1951), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1953), Benmont Tench, keyboardist and founding member of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1953), session guitarist Chuck Beattie (1954), Michael Feinstein (1956), R&B singer Jermaine Stewart (1957), Brad Houser of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (1960), LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band (1961), Eazy-E of N.W.A. (1963), Brent Liles of Social Distortion (1963), Chris Acland of Lush (1966), Chad Sexton of 311 (1970), Atmosphere Slug rapper (1972)

Departures:

September 1: keyboardist-producer Wycliffe Johnson (2009), Jerry Reed (2008), blues musician R.L. Burnside (2005), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (2001), composer Vagn Holmboe (1996), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1985)

September 2: New York Metropolitan Opera impressario Sir Rudolf Bing (1997), composer Otto Luening (1996), violinist Cyril Reuben (1996), Ljuba Welitsch (1996)

September 3: Free jazz alto saxophonist Noah Howard (2010), Carter Albrecht, keyboardist and guitarist Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians (2007), Major Lance (1994), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (1970)

September 4: Chuck Greenberg of Shadowfax (1995), country singer Dottie West (1991), jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet (1991)

September 5: Norwegian alt-country musician Thomas Hansen (2007), swamp-boogie queen Katie Webster (1999), R&B pianist Sonny Knight (1998), conductor Georg Solti (1997), Charlie Charles, drummer for Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1990), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1978)

September 6: Luciano Pavarotti (2007), co-founder of Atari Teenage Riot, Carl Crack (2001), stand-up country bassist Roy Husky Jr. (1997), Tom Fogerty of CCR (1990), Josh White (1964)

September 7: Warren Zevon (2003), Erma Franklin, sister of Aretha (2002), composer Niccolo Castiglioni (1996), Keith Moon (1978)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1953, in what will later be considered the golden age of vocal groups, seven of the R&B chart’s Top 10 positions are occupied by doo-wop acts including The Orioles, The Clovers, The Five Royales, The Royals, The Spaniels, The Dominoes, and The Coronets …

1954, Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips secures his place in rock ‘n’ roll history when he spins a test pressing of Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right” on radio station WHBQ … it’s the first time an Elvis record hits the airwaves …

1956, Elvis Presley’s much-anticipated single “Love Me Tender” notches a music biz first when advance orders for the record top one million …

1958, while crossing the Atlantic on his way to a couple of years of army service in Germany, Elvis is asked to put together a talent show and ends up playing piano in the impromptu band he organizes …

1962, The Springfields are the first British vocal act to score a U.S. Top 20 hit with their single “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”… their lead singer is Mary O’Brien who will later sustain a major solo career using the stage name Dusty Springfield …

1963, “She Loves You” is played on the radio by influential DJ Murray “The K” Kaufman on WINS in New York … it is the first time a Beatles song is played on U.S. airwaves … Murray later becomes a staunch Beatles advocate and supporter, helping them to break into New York and America …

1966, The Yardbirds, with lead guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, embark upon a British tour with The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner … Blues Breakers John Mayall with Eric Clapton peaks at Number Six in the British LP charts … it is bested by other LPs that will go on to achieve classic status: Revolver, Pet Sounds, and Blonde on Blonde

1975, soul man Jackie Wilson suffers a heart attack in mid-performance at the Latin Casino in Camden, N.J. … the singer, dubbed “Mr. Excitement,” falls off the stage and strikes his head on the concrete floor, causing permanent brain damage … he lapses into a coma and spends the rest of his life hospitalized until death overtakes him in 1984 … the soul group The Spinners donate $60,000 for his medical care but much of that money is consumed in lawyer’s fees due to relatives tussling over control of Wilson’s estate … the singer will be laid to rest in an unmarked grave … the Wilson family is haunted by tragedy … son Jackie Jr. was killed in 1970 during a burglary, daughter Sandra will die of a heart attack in 1977, and daughter Jacqueline will be shot to death in a 1987 drive-by shooting …

1976, British bobbies take The Runaways into custody following the disappearance of a hair dryer from a hotel room …

1980, David Bowie makes his Broadway debut playing the title character in The Elephant Man

1982, the first compact discs and players hit the market in Japan … a joint venture between Sony and Philips, the CD will become a dominant musical format within five years …

1988, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” becomes the first a capella song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 … the single will also land George Bush the elder in hot water when he uses it in his presidential campaign without permission … in 2008, Billboard listed the tune in its top ten One Hit Wonders from the last 50 years … McFerrin, a classically trained musician and conductor, later expresses reservations about the single, saying “It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.” …

1991, Garth Brooks’ album Ropin’ the Wind debuts at number one on the Billboard Pop chart … it is the first country album to do so …

1993, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler settles his lawsuit with his former band and its managers for $2.5 million just before the case goes to the jury, this despite having signed an agreement in 1990 giving up his partnership interest in the band … during the trial guitarist Slash had testified that Adler had signed the agreement while he was “strung out” … Adler had been booted from the band when he couldn’t kick his heroin habit … five years to the day later, Adler is back in court, this time for sentencing on charges of having beaten two women he dated as well as violating probation on an earlier domestic case … he gets 150 days jail time …

1996, Smashing Pumpkins get off to a delayed tour start … the band needed extra time to integrate former Filter drummer Matt Walker and former Frogs’ keyboardist Dennis Flemion … the pair replace former keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin who died three months earlier from a heroin OD and drummer Jimmie Chamberlin who was canned following a drug possession bust … leader Billie Corgan will later acknowledge the replacements were a bad idea that hurt the band’s music and reputation … in 1999 a rehabilitated Chamberlin will rejoin the Pumpkins …

1997, wearing a white cowboy hat, Bob Dylan performs his “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in Bologna, Italy, with an apparently bored John Paul II looking on … the Audio Engineering Society unveils the new DVD Audio format in New York …

1999, Diana Ross is taken into custody at London’s Heathrow airport after a tussle with a female security officer … she is later cautioned and released …

2002, Mike Batt of The Planets settles a lawsuit filed by the John Cage Trust for “an undisclosed six-figure sum” … at issue is one minute of silence on the band’s latest CD Classical Graffitti … the avant-garde composer’s estate had claimed Batt plagiarized Cage’s 1952 composition “4’33″—which was completely silent—when he credited his piece “A One Minute Silence” to “Batt/Cage” …

2004, Cat Stevens is kicked out of the United States after a jet bound for Washington from London is diverted to unload him … the former pop singer now known as Yusuf Islam, born Stephen Georgiou, enjoyed a string of hits in the 1960s and 70s, including “Wild World” and “Morning Has Broken” … he released two songs, including a rerecording of “Peace Train,” to express his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq … officials say he was refused entry under the Immigration and Naturalization Act “based on national security grounds”…

2006, U2 and Green Day join forces by performing at New Orleans’ Superdome at the Saints’ first game in the arena since Hurricane Katrina shredded the venue more than a year earlier … broadcast on ESPN, the game draws 15 million viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a cable broadcast …

2007, Van Halen kicks off its first reunion tour since 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with David Lee Roth aboard … the band rips through a best-of set list with Eddie Van Halen and Roth bouncing off each other without a hint of the bad blood that has existed between the pair for decades … amazon.com launches its MP3 music download site … it’s expected that Amazon’s variable pricing scheme will put pressure on iTunes to adopt a similar strategy … it’s reported that director Martin Scorsese is working on a documentary about George Harrison amd will have the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late Beatle’s widow, Olivia … in September of 2011, it is announced the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World would be broadcast on the BBC later in the year …

2008, in a real turnabout Metallica fans ask the veteran heavy metalists to turn it down … in recording the band’s latest album, Death Magnetic, the sound was cranked and compressed so severely that the CD is riddled with distortion … 11,000 fans sign an online petition asking the band to remix and reissue the album … Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks implores Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder to write a song in support of the team’s World Series aspirations … Vedder’s “All The Way” is the result, but the Cubbies still fail to make the Series … London’s Victoria and Albert Museum spends £51,000 at auction to acquire the original artwork for the Stones’ tongue logo … artist John Pasche received £50 for creating the logo in 1970 …

… and that was the week that was in matters musical.

Arrivals:

September 22: Mike Patto, leader and vocalist for ’70s Brit rock band Patto (1942)

September 23: R&B and jazz bandleader Tiny Bradshaw (1905), Marion Keisker, assistant to Sun Records’ Sam Phillips who urged him to record Elvis (1917), blues guitarist-harpist Joe Hill Louis (1921), jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane (1926), jazz bassist Jimmy Woode (1928), Wally Whyton, leader of the British skiffle band The Vipers (1929), musical genius Ray Charles (1930), blues guitarist Fenton Robinson (1935), blues, rock, and jazz guitarist Roy Buchanan (1939), singer-songwriter Charlie Fox (1939), folk rocker Tim Rose (1940), British one-man blues band Duster Bennett (1943), songwriter-producer-session pianist Don Grolnick (1947), Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf (1947), John Baker Saunders, bassist for Seattle band Mad Season (1954)

September 24: gospel, blues, and doo-wop singer Allen Bunn (1924), Carl Feaster of The Chords (1930), actor and singer-songwriter Anthony Newley (1931), Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1933), James “Shep” Sheppard of Shep & The Limelites (1935), session reed player Steve Douglas (1938), Barbara Allbut of The Angels (1940), Phyllis Allbut of The Angels (1942), Linda McCartney (1942), Gerry Marsden of Gerry And The Pacemakers (1942), Cedric Dent of Take 6 (1962), Marty Cintron of No Mercy (1971)

September 25: Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906), Erik Darling of The Rooftop Singers (1933), bluesman Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes (1936), Ian Tyson of folk duo Ian and Sylvia (1933), Joseph Russell of The Persuasions (1939), Wade Flemons of Earth, Wind and Fire (1940), co-founder of Love, Bryan MacLean (1946), Italian rocker Zucchero (1955), actor and hip-hop artist Will Smith (1968), Diana Ortiz of Dream (1985)

September 26: George Gershwin (1898), New Orleans guitarist Rene Hall (1912), country singer Marty Robbins (1925), George Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1931), Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music (1945), country singer Lynn Anderson (1947), Olivia Newton-John (1948), Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos (1954), Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship (1954), country vocalist Carlene Carter (1955), Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl (1962), Cindy Herron of En Vogue (1965), Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon (1967), Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men (1972), pop and R&B singer Christina Milian (1981)

September 27: bluesman “Mighty” Joe Young (1927), producer Don Nix (1941), Randy Bachman of BTO (1943), Meat Loaf aka Marvin Lee Aday (1947), Greg Ham of Men At Work (1953), reggae bassist Robbie Shakespeare (1953), teen throb Shaun Cassidy (1958), Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind (1964), Mark Calderon of Color Me Badd (1970), Avril Lavigne (1984)

September 28: Ed Sullivan (1902), bluesman Houston Stackhouse (1910), country singer Tommy Collins (1930), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1931), Chicago blues songstress Koko Taylor (1935), soul singer and former Drifter Ben E. King (1938), bassist Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf (1943), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1955), George Lynch of Dokken (1955), Alannah Currie of The Thompson Twins (1959), pop singer Jennifer Rush (1960), teen popster Hilary Duff (1987)

Departures:

September 22: big band singer Connie Haines (2008)

September 23: blues harmonica player-vocalist-songwriter Gary Primich (2007), Etta Baker, Piedmont blues guitarist prominent in the folk revival of the 1960s (2006), Mississippi blues singer-guitarist Houston Stackhouse (1980), Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh (1974)

September 24: folk rocker Tim Rose (2002)

September 25: Jamie Lyons of The Music Explosion (2006), British folk singer-songwriter Matthew Jay (2003), Steve Canaday of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (1999), Led Zeppelin’s hard-hitting drummer John Bonham (1980)

September 26: virtuoso guitarist Shawn Lane (2003), eclectic British vocalist Robert Palmer (2003), songwriter Carl Sigman (2000), jazz diva Betty Carter (1998), pianist and writer Arnold Shaw (1989), blues guitarist Auburn “Pat” Hare (1980), “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith (1937)

September 27: rockabilly guitarist Paul Burlison (2003), D.O.A. drummer Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery (1994), Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1979)

September 28: DJ Scott Muni (2004), country star Bob Gibson (1996), Marcels baritone singer Allen Johnson (1995), jazz titan Miles Davis (1991), Rory Storm born Alan Caldwell (1972), DJ Dewey Phillips (1968), bandleader Lucky Millinder (1966)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1948, 33-1/3 rpm records are introduced by Columbia …

1955, Sun Records releases Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry” … it is the first in a line of well over 100 hit singles by Cash to appear on the country, rock, and pop charts …

1956, Paul McCartney receives a trumpet for his birthday … when he realizes he can’t sing and play the horn at the same time, he promptly trades it in on a Zenith acoustic guitar …

1962, Hank Ballard and The Midnighters who wrote and first recorded “The Twist” are scheduled to perform the song for American Bandstand but have to cancel the date … Chubby Checker is hired as a replacement to perform his version of “The Twist,” which will climb higher on the pop chart than Ballard’s original, twice … it will hit number one, and then do it again a year later …

1963, 13-year-old Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt. 2” becomes his first of 61 singles to chart …

1965, The Byrds’ folk-rock version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” spends a week at the top of the charts …

1967, what’s now considered the launch of the Summer of Love occurs when hippies gather in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to celebrate the summer solstice … as an ominous harbinger of more troubling times, dozens are carted off to psycho wards after ingesting STP, a newly-developed psychedelic that produces scary three-day trips …

1969, Jimi Hendrix earns what is in its day the largest paycheck ever paid to a performer for a single show: $125,000 for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival … the three-day music fest gathers 150,000 people in Northridge, California, to hear and see Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, CCR, Ike and Tina Turner, and more …

1970, the cops in Niagara Falls discover Chubby Checker packing pot and some other illegal substances … “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young goes gold …

1973, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens for the first time in London … two years later Tim Curry will reprise his role for the movie version …

1980, Led Zeppelin begins a three-week tour with a concert in Dortmund, Germany … held at the Westfalenhalle, it is their first concert on the European continent since 1973 … due to John Bonham’s death the following September, it will be the group’s last European tour … they open the show with “Train Kept A Rollin’,” a song they haven’t played since 1969 and which Page also performed with the original Yardbirds …

The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi, premieres in New York City … the movie’s rife with musician cameo appearances that include James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Murphy “Murph” Dunne, Aretha Franklin, Willie “Too Big” Hall, John Lee Hooker, Chaka Khan, Tom Malone, “Blue” Lou Marini, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Pinetop Perkins, and Joe Walsh … the film also boasts the biggest car-crash sequence ever shot …

1987, Mötley Crüe is sued by a Florida real estate agent who claims she lost her hearing while sitting in the front row at a Crüe concert … the band’s insurance company eventually pays her $30,000 …

1990, Little Richard receives his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame …

1996, the Furthur Festival kicks off in Atlanta … the surviving members of The Grateful Dead perform together for the first time since the death of Jerry Garcia the previous August …

1997, Brooks & Dunn perform a special show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for their fan club members … the country duo stick around after the show to sign autographs for all 2,000 fans … the signing session starts at 9 p.m. and doesn’t end until the last fan is obliged at 5 a.m. the following morning …

1999, Pantera ride a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas … the honor is bestowed upon the band because Pantera, in addition to being huge Stars fans, wrote the team’s theme song which is played multiple times at every home game … Paul McCartney personally selects and arranges the flowers—45,000 of them—at Manhattan Riverside Church where friends and family gather to say farewell to his wife Linda …

2004, faced with anemic ticket sales, the promoters of the Lollapalooza Festival pull the plug on the tour … organizers say they will lose millions if the tour goes ahead as scheduled … according to promoters the festival’s problem lies with the death of the alternative music market …

2006, when singer Jonathan Davis comes down with a blood disorder, Korn is obliged to pull the plug on its European tour … Davis posts a note on the band’s website saying that headbanging with his condition could lead to instant death by brain hemorrhage … in an ironic twist, the New Cars’ “Road Rage” tour comes to an abrupt halt when the band’s tour bus suddenly swerves to avoid a head-on … guitarist Elliot Easton breaks a clavicle in the incident … while traveling in the Middle East with his Dark Side of the Moon world tour, Roger Waters visits a concrete wall built by the Israeli government in the East Bank to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers … Waters scribbles sentiments on the structure such as “Tear Down the Wall!” … the next day the Pink Floyd founder decides to play in a community called Neveh Shalom where Israelis and Arabs peacefully live together instead of in Tel Aviv as originally planned … it’s reported that those opposed to the barrier have adopted Waters’ song “Another Brick in the Wall” as a rallying cry …

2007, after months of speculation, New Order finally confirms that they have split …

2008, presidential contender Barack Obama continues to rack up support in the rock community with Michael Stipe, Pete Wentz, Billy Joe Armstrong, Bob Weir, Dave Matthews, Jeff Tweedy, and Conor Oberst all signing on to give his campaign support … commenting on the candidate, the Dead’s Weir says, “The contagion of hope is real” … bucking slumping CD sales, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III moves over a million shiny discs in its first week of release … Celine Dion’s rendition of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me” is given the dubious distinction of being the “Worst Ever Cover Song” in a Total Guitar magazine survey … editor Steven Lawson decries Dion’s version as “sacrilege” … the Canadian singer’s never released the song as a single, but performed it as a duet with Anastacia during the Live Divas Las Vegas concert six years ago … runner-up in the worst-cover category is Sugababes and the Bees’ version of “Walk This Way” … among the best covers named are the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and The Beatle’s rendition of “Twist and Shout” …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

June 17: Igor Stravinsky (1882), guitarist Cliff Gallup of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps (1930), Norman Kuhlke of The Swinging Blue Jeans (1942), Chris Spedding (1944), Barry Manilow born Barry Alan Pinkus (1946), Paul Young (1956), Kevin Thornton of Color Me Badd (1969)

June 18: Jeanette MacDonald (1907), lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913), Paul McCartney (1942), bassist Carl Radle (1942), pop singer Sandy Posey (1944), Jerome Smith of KC and The Sunshine Band (1953), Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins (1957), West Arkeen (1960), Alison Moyet (1961), Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed (1963), Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men (1971)

June 19: bandleader Guy Lombardo (1902), Tommy Devito of The Four Seasons (1936), rockabilly bad boy Robert Gordon (1945), singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948), Ann Wilson of Heart (1950) Paula Abdul (1962), Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe (1964), Brian Welch of Korn (1969)

June 20: producer Mickie Most (1938), Brian Wilson (1942), singer Anne Murray (1945), Lionel Richie (1949), Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony (1955), John Taylor of Duran Duran (1960), Murphy Karges of Sugar Ray (1968), Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson (1972)

June 21: Ray Davies of The Kinks (1944), Joey Molland of Badfinger (1948), Joey Kramer of Aerosmith (1950), Nils Lofgren (1951), Mark Brzezicki of Big Country (1957), country singer-songwriter Kathy Mattea (1959), Marcella Detroit of Shakespears Sister (1959), British singer and DJ Sonique, born Sonia Clarke (1968), Mike Einziger of Incubus (1976)

June 22: jazz guitarist Johnny Smith (1922), Kris Kristofferson (1936), Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon (1944), singer Howard Kaylan of The Turtles (1947), Todd Rundgren (1948), Alan Osmond of The Osmonds (1949), Cyndi Lauper (1953), Derek Forbes, bassist with Simple Minds (1956), bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS (1957), Cowboy Junkies’ bassist Alan Anton (1959), singer Jimmy Somerville of Bronski Beat and The Communards (1961), Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones (1964), Tom Cunningham of Wet Wet Wet (1965), singer-guitarist-songwriter Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies (1970)

June 23: saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax (1846), June Carter, singer-songwriter, actor, comedienne, and wife of Johnny Cash (1929), Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (1938), British singer and actor, Adam Faith (1940), Paul Goddard of Atlanta Rhythm Section (1945), Richard Coles of The Communards (1962), Steve Shelley, drummer with Sonic Youth (1962)

Departures:

June 17: Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum (2005), jazz singer Jackie Paris (2004), songwriter Mark Cherron (1994)

June 18: sarod master Ali Akbar Khan (2009), Luther Tucker (1993), “Rock Around The Clock” guitar soloist Danny Cedrone (1954)

June 19: mariachi singer-actor Antonio Aguilar (2007), Bobby Helms of “Jingle Bell Rock” fame (1997), composer Vivian Ellis (1996), R&B artist Walter Jackson (1983)

June 20: British bassist-vocalist Tony Dangerfield (2007), Kool & The Gang co-founder and guitarist, Claydes Charles Smith (2006), Canadian one-hit-wonder, Bobby Gimby (1998), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1997), Jim Ellison, lead singer and guitarist with Material Issue (1996)

June 21: Mississippi bluesman John Lee Hooker (2001), jazz and R&B crooner Arthur Prysock (1997), gospel singer Thomas Whitfield (1992), bandleader Bert Kaempfert (1980)

June 22: Kripp Johnson, born Corinthian Johnson, lead singer for The Del Vikings (1990), Jesse “Ed” Davis, session guitarist with Taj Mahal (1988), singer-radio personality Dennis Day (1988), Fred Astaire (1987), Warren Corbin, bass vocalist with the Cleftones (1978), Pere Ubu guitarist Peter Laughner (1977), composer Darius Milhaud (1974)

June 23: John Novarese, owner of Hi Records (1996), Tony Romeo, producer of the Cowsills and Partridge Family (1995), country yodeler Elton Britt (1972)

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1956, in the wake of Johnnie Ray’s success with “Just Walking in the Rain,” Sun Records releases a cover by The Prisonaires, a smooth-singing doo-wop group composed of Tennessee State Penitentiary inmates …

1962, The Beatles hit Abbey Road recording studio for the first time, recording “Love Me Do” in about 16 takes with drummer Andy White …

1965, an ad in Variety announces auditions for the new TV show The Monkees … would-be Monkees who fail to make the cut include Stephen Stills; Danny Hutton, later of Three Dog Night; songwriter Paul Williams; and Charles Manson …

1968, because of fears of street violence during the National Democratic Convention, The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” is banned from airplay in Chicago …

1978, Who drummer Keith Moon succumbs to an overdose of the drug Heminevrin prescribed to combat his alcoholism … an autopsy reveals that he’d washed down 32 of the pills with champagne … his death occurs in the same apartment in which Mama Cass of The Mamas & The Papas met her demise in 1974 …

… at a Teddy Pendergrass show in New York called “For Women Only,” female concertgoers receive white chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear…

1990, Tom Fogerty, an original member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and brother of John, dies of tuberculosis this week at age 48 … he had parted from the band at the height of its success in 1971, a casualty of sibling rivalry … and although he recorded a number of albums on his own, he never scored a hit after his CCR days …

… across the pond, The Cure launches a pirate radio station beamed at London to publicize the release of the remix album Mixed Up… but the station will soon go off the air beset by technical difficulties and use of the powerful BBC signal to cover up its broadcasts …

1991, country music star Dottie West dies from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in the parking lot of The Grand Ole Opry… the crash occurred a few days earlier when an elderly neighbor, who was giving West a ride to work, lost control of the car …

1997, Pat Smear announces he will no longer be a Foo Fighter and that Franz Stahl will take his place …

1999, record mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs is ordered to attend an anger management class after being convicted of attacking the president of Interscope Records, Steve Stoute … lucky for Stoute the Puff man doesn’t shop at Wal-Mart …

2000, Rage Against the Machine bassist Timothy Commerford pleads guilty to charges of assault and disorderly conduct at the MTV Video Music Awards … while raging against Limp Bizkit’s acceptance of the award for Best Rock Video–which was coincidentally up against Rage’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”–Commerford climbed a 15-foot arch that was part of the stage set … stagehands and security swarmed the stage to extricate Tim, who would “sleep now in the slammer” …

2004, the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati rules that artists should pay for every sample they use … previously courts had held that as long as short samples could not be identified, licensing was unnecessary … in this new decision, the court, acknowledging other cases involving digital piracy says, “If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative.” … ironically, a two-second sample of a Funkadelic record in NWA’s 100 Miles and Runnin is at the heart of the ruling … Funkadelic and Parliament leader and founder George Clinton has historically been supportive of sampling, having produced two albums titled Sample Some of Dis and Sample Some of Dat that permit remixers to use his music without legal considerations …

2006, in a Rolling Stone interview, Elton John reveals that he’s thinking about putting out a hip-hop album … “I want to work with Eminem, Pharrell, Kanye, and Snoop. We’ll see what happens. It could be a disaster.” … Rapper Master P debuts his new musical Uncle Willy’s Family, in Meridian, Mississippi … the show is semiautobiographical, focusing on a family that has to abandon its home in the face of Hurricane Katrina … to no one’s particular surprise, it’s revealed that Whitney Houston has separated from her husband of 14 years, Bobby Brown … the marriage was punctuated by drugs and domestic disturbances … on a more positive note, Lou Reed joins Jack White and his Raconteurs at the VMA Awards show in New York, pitching in on the vocals of “White Light/White Heat” …

2007, with just 7.4 million in album sales this week, Nielsen SoundScan reports the lowest numbers in the chart service’s history … only the High School Musical 2 soundtrack manages to move more than 50,000 units … just eight years earlier 27 albums moved that many … Lucinda Williams kicks off a novel tour in which she will play five nights each in New York and L.A. … each show will be devoted to one of her five studio albums in its entirety: her 1988 self-titled disc, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence, and World Without Tears

2008, Oasis is mid-way through its headline set at the V Festival when a man runs from backstage and knocks Noel Gallagher to the ground … Security guards wrestle the attacker to the floor and drag him away with brother Liam in pursuit … after a 15-minute break, the band resumes its set to cheers from a 25,000-strong audience …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 2: Hugo Montenegro (1925), Sam Gooden (1939), Bobby Purify (1939), Rosalind Ashworth of Martha and The Vandellas (1943), Joe Simon (1943), Mik Kaminski of E.L.O. (1951), Simply Red’s Fritz McIntyre (1956), Steve Porcaro of Toto (1957) Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs (1958), Jonathan Segal of Camper Van Beethoven (1963), K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci (1969)

September 3: bluesman Memphis Slim born Peter Chatman (1915), Hank Thompson (1925), Freddie King (1934), Kenny Pickett (1942), Al Jardine of The Beach Boys (1943), Walter Scott (1943), Greg Leads (1944), George Biondi of Steppenwolf (1945), Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell (1947), Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad (1948), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols (1955), Jennifer Paige (1973)

September 4: “Lightning Bug” Rhodes, guitarist for Otis Redding and B.B. King (1939), lead singer George Lanuis of The Crescendos (1939), Merald Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1942), fret wizard Danny Gatton (1945), Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946), Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan (1946), Ronald LaPread of The Commodores (1950), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins (1951), Martin Chambers of the Pretenders (1952), Kim Thayil of Soundgarden (1960), Dan Miller of O-Town (1980), Beyoncé Knowles (1981)

September 5: Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1907), doo-wopper Jimmy Springs of The Red Caps (1911), guitarist Willie Woods of Junior Walker & The Allstars (1936), singer-songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart (1939), Al “Year of the Cat” Stewart (1945), Freddie Mercury of Queen (1946), Buddy Miles (1946), guitarist Clarence White born Cecil Ingram Connor (1946), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainright III (1947), David “Clem” Clempson of Humble Pie/Colosseum (1949), Terry Ellis of En Vogue (1966), Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (1968), Dweezil Zappa (1969)

September 6: bluesman Jimmy Reed (1925), blues drummer Fred Below (1926), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (1943), Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1942), androgynous disco star Silvester aka Silvester James (1947), Perry Bamonte of The Cure (1960), Pal Waaktar of A-Ha (1961), CeCe Peniston (1969), Dolores O’Riordon of The Cranberries (1971), Nina Persson of The Cardigans (1974), Foxy Brown (1979)

September 7: Hank Williams (1923), tenor sax giant Sonny Rollins (1930), bluesman Little Milton (Campbell) (1934), Buddy Holly born Charles Hardin Holley (1936), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1940), Continental Drift bassist Jim Gault (1943), Alfa Anderson of Chic (1946), disco diva Gloria Gaynor (1949), Chrissie Hynde (1951), session guitarist Chuck Beattie (1954), Brad Houser of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (1960), Chris Acland of Lush (1966), Chad Sexton of 311 (1970), Eazy-E of N.W.A. (1973)

September 8: composer Antonin Dvorak (1841), “The Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers (1897), Western swing pioneer Milton Brown (1903), Modern Records co-founder Jules Bihari (1913), Patsy Cline born Virginia Patterson Hensley (1932), soul sermonizer Joe Tex (1933), Dante Drowty of Dante & The Evergreens (1941), Brian Cole of The Association (1944), Cathy Jean (1945), Kelly Groucutt of E.L.O. (1945), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of The Grateful Dead (1945), Atlanta Rhythm Section’s Dean Daughtry (1946), David Steele of Fine Young Cannibals (1960)

Departures:

September 2: New York Metropolitan Opera impressario Sir Rudolf Bing (1997), composer Otto Luening (1996), violinist Cyril Reuben (1996), Ljuba Welitsch (1996)

September 3: Major Lance (1994), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (1970)

September 4: jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet (1991), country singer Dottie West (1991)

September 5: swamp-boogie queen Katie Webster (1999), R&B pianist Sonny Knight (1998), conductor Georg Solti (1997), Charlie Charles, drummer for Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1990), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1978), blues guitarist Joe Hill Louis (1957)

September 6: co-founder of Atari Teenage Riot, Carl Crack (2001), stand-up country bassist Roy Husky Jr. (1997), Tom Fogerty of CCR (1990), Josh White (1964)

September 7: Erma Franklin, sister of Aretha (2002), composer Niccolo Castiglioni (1996), Keith Moon (1978)

September 8: songwriter Dick Heard (1998), Beatle publicist Derek Taylor (1997), Jack Vigliatura and Bill White of For Squirrels (1996), rapper Cowboy AKA Keith Wiggins of The Furious Five (1989)

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1949, RCA introduces the first 45-rpm record …

1952, Sun Records, future home of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, releases its first record: an instrumental recording by saxman Johnny London … it flops …

1955, Bo Diddley cuts his first records for Chess including “I’m a Man,” a tune that will influence generations of rockers to follow …

1956, Bill Haley & His Comets receive an unprecedented $250,000 guarantee for 21 shows …

1957, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers receive the princely sum of $7,500 to play a carnival in Panama … the fee is considered huge for a one-nighter … Chess records releases singles of Muddy Waters’ “I Got My Mojo Working” and Chuck Berry’s “School Days” …

1959, recording begins in New York City for the Miles Davis classic Kind of Blue—a record so popular that people who normally don’t buy jazz albums buy this one …

1963, it is an unlikely gathering for “The Limbo Party” at San Francisco’s Cow Palace … Chubby Checker is host … performers include Marvin Gaye, The Crystals, Lou Christie, The Four Seasons, Dick & Dee Dee, Paul & Paula, and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass …

1967, Paul McCartney reads a newspaper account of a missing teenage girl, triggering his song “She’s Leaving Home” …

1968, Johnny Cash and June Carter marry at the First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky … a motorcade of Cadillacs carry Johnny, June, and the families to the small, private ceremony … Johnny’s best man is Merle Kilgore, who shares co-writing credits with June on “Ring of Fire” the tune generally credited as a musical documentation of Johnny and June’s love affair …

1977, Keith Richards is arrested in Toronto after his hotel room is raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who discover both heroin and cocaine … he is charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell plus possession of cocaine and is released on $25,000 bail … Stones fans everywhere wonder if the cops were on horseback when they broke into Keef’s room … Bob Dylan’s wife, Sara, files for divorce in Santa Monica, California …the couple has been married for 11 years and has five children … in the settlement she is given possession of their home and custody of the kids … Sara is said to be the inspiration behind classic tunes such as “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” “Lay Lady Lay,” and “Sara” …

1983, Michael Jackson’s Thriller album reaches #1 and stays there 37 weeks, selling over 40 million copies … it is the number one album in all Western nations … Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles, where Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Buffalo Springfield, Herb Alpert, The Monkees, The Ramones, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon laid down landmark tracks, is demolished to make way for a mini-mall that features a Del Taco stand …

1992, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love wed in Waikiki, Hawaii …

1995, Lyle Lovett breaks his collarbone while motorcycling in Mexico … as a result, he is unable to attend the Grammys to accept the two awards he wins … Bill Berry of R.E.M. begins suffering from a massive migraine about 90 minutes into the band’s set in Lausanne, Switzerland … he collapses and is rushed off stage, but does not see a doctor until the next day when it is discovered he has an aneurysm on the right side of his brain … the aneurysm is clipped and Berry makes a full recovery …

1998, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe is arrested and charged with domestic abuse for hitting his wife Pamela Anderson Lee … Virgin Records files suit against the Smashing Pumpkins for alleged breach of contract and non-delivery of albums … the suit claims the band notified Virgin that instead of delivering seven albums, per its contract, the band was delivering just three and walking … the band cites a California labor law which limits personal service contracts to seven years as its justification, a law originally used by movie stars to break free from the once-dominant studio system … the band eventually wins and gets more money with its royalty rate bumped up to 20 percent … some feel the band’s subsequent albums decrease in quality an equal percentage …

1999, Dusty Springfield dies … born Mary Elizabeth Catherine Bernadette O’Brien, the highly regarded British singer enjoyed a series of soul-inflected pop hits including the blockbuster “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” … she dies of breast cancer on the day she is scheduled to receive her OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth … she is 59 …

2000, it is announced that pop princess Britney Spears will be releasing her own brand of bubble gum creatively named, “Britney Spears CD Bubble Gum” … the product is a promotion for her upcoming tour … the manufacturer, Famous Fixins, will give part of the proceeds to The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit that encourages celebrities to raise money for charities …

2005, legendary Muscle Shoals studio closes in Muscle Shoals, Alabama … artists such as The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bob Seger recorded some of their biggest hits at the facility … the studio, owned since 1985 by indie blues label Malaco Records, is a victim of the computer recording boom …

… Queen’s Brian May, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck are all guests at a Buckingham Palace party to honor the British music industry … Queen Elizabeth II asks them: “And what do you do?” … “It’s great to meet her and it doesn’t matter at all that she did not know who we are or what we do,” Clapton said … “I wouldn’t expect her to” … Ozzy Osbourne astonishingly grabs his daughter Kelly’s left breast while being snapped in Australia … the wild rocker is in Sydney with his daughter and wife Sharon to promote the Australian MTV Awards when he bizarrely reaches out and cups Kelly’s left boob for the cameras, leaving onlookers stunned … musician Martin Denny, the father of the influential genre of pop called “exotica,” dies at his home in Hawai’i Kai … he is 93 … Denny created a hypnotic international sound that blended exotic elements—bird calls, croaking frogs, jazz rhythms, chimes, and gongs … he once described it as a fusion of Asian, South Pacific, American jazz, Latin American, and classical styles … his albums will become collectible for the covers that featured model Sandy Warner in a variety of tasteful, yet alluring settings …

2006, after being found asleep at the steering wheel of his car in London, George Michael is taken in by the bobbies on charges of possessing pot and painkillers …

2007, in its ongoing campaign against piracy, the Recording Industry Association of America sends 400 letters to universities across the U.S. warning them that their students may be sued for copyright infringement if they don’t settle up … the RIAA directs students to a website where they can settle their cases online by coughing up some bucks … Big Champagne, a web tracking service, estimates that one billion songs are swapped online every month on sites such as LimeWire … Bono is given the NAACP’s Chairmen’s Award as acknowledgment of his involvement in the AIDS prevention effort …

2008, Larry Norman dies in Salem, Oregon, from heart failure at age 60 … he was a member of one hit wonders, People, from San Jose, who went to #7 with a remake of The Zombies “I Love You” … Norman’s first solo record—the 1969 release “Upon This Rock”—is considered the first Christian rock album … he later started his own independent label, recording additional solo albums while discovering other Christian artists … leading to him being dubbed the “father of Christian rock” … John Mellencamp was apparently a fan of Norman’s at one time … in 1974, while studying broadcasting at Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, Mellencamp closed his radio show by pre-empting the national anthem with a Larry Norman song …

2009, The East Room of the White House is temporarily converted into a nightclub as Stevie Wonder is presented the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize by President Obama … Wonder serenades the first couple, kicking things off with a version of “Sir Duke” and later Wonder classics like “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Superstition” … Tony Bennett, Paul Simon, Will.i.am and Martina McBride all present their own rendition of Wonder’s hits …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

February 24: Italian tenor and pioneer of recorded music, Enrico Caruso (1873), singer-songwriter Wandra Merrell (1925), singer Paul Jones of Manfred Mann (1942), The Beatles’ George Harrison (1944), keyboard session man Nicky Hopkins (1944), Butch McDade, drummer with The Amazing Rhythm Aces (1946), bassist Lonnie Turner of the Steve Miller Band (1947), Rupert Holmes, composer, singer-songwriter, musician, and musical playwright (1947), singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked (1962)

February 25: blueswoman Ida Cox (1896), record store founder Sam Goody, born Samuel Gutowitz (1904), country singer Faron Young (1932), Barry Kramer, founder of Creem magazine (1943), guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro of Crazy Horse (1949), bassist and songwriter Stuart “Woody” Wood of the Bay City Rollers (1957), drummer Dennis Diken of The Smithereens (1957), singer Mike Peters of The Alarm (1959)

February 26: Fats Domino (1928), Norman P. Rich of Billy Stewart’s band (1930), Johnny Cash (1932), Paul Cotton of Poco (1943), Bob “The Bear” Hite of Canned Heat (1943), Mitch Ryder (1945), Jonathan Cain of Journey (1950), Michael Bolton (1953), Bronski Beat’s John Jon (1961), Erykah Badu (1971)

February 27: Eddie Gray of Tommy James & The Shondells (1948), Neil Schon of Journey (1954), Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (1957), Chili of TLC (1971), Jeremy Dean of Nine Days (1972), singer-songwriter Josh Groban (1981)

February 28: guitarist John Fahey (1939), singer-songwriter Joe South (1940), Marty Sanders of Jay and the Americans (1941), R&B singer Barbara Acklin (1943), Brian Jones (1952), Ronald Rosman of Tommy James & The Shondells (1945), Cindy Wilson of The B-52’s (1957), Ian Stanley of Tears For Fears (1957), Phillip Gould of Level 42 (1957), Pat Monahan of Train (1969)

March 1: bandleader Glenn Miller (1904), barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis (1912), Harry Belafonte (1927), Roger Daltrey (1942), Jerry Fisher of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1943), Mike D’Abo of Manfred Mann (1944), synth pop singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw (1958)

March 2: Desi Arnaz (1917), Doc Watson (1923), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1938), Lou Reed born Louis Firbank (1942), George Benson (1943), Eddie Money (1949), blues/rock guitarist Rory Gallagher (1949), Karen Carpenter (1950), Jay Osmond of The Osmonds (1955), Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons (1955), Mark Evans of AC/DC (1956), Jon Bon Jovi born John Bongiovi (1962), rapper and DJ Scott LaRock (1962), Coldplay’s Chris Martin (1977)

Departures:

February 24: Larry Norman, “father of Christian rock” (2008), ’50s pop crooner Johnnie Ray (1990), blues pianist Memphis Slim aka John Len “Peter” Chatman (1988), Detroit soul singer Ty Hunter (1981)

February 25: Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley (2009), ’60s folk singer Mark Spoelstra (2007), Thomas Koppel, co-founder of Danish prog-rock band Savage Rose (2006), blues saxophonist A.C. Reed (2004), co-founder of Stax Records, Estelle Axton (2004), William “Hoss” Allen, white DJ who promoted R&B in Nashville (1997), Toy Caldwell, guitarist and songwriter for the Marshall Tucker Band (1993)

February 26: ELO bassist Kelly Groucutt (2009), drummer-vocalist Buddy Miles (2008), fife player Othar Turner (2003), lyricist Ben Raleigh (1997), Frank O’Keefe of The Outlaws (1995), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1990), bluesman Bukka White (1977), Sherman Garnes of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1977)

February 27: drummer Bobby Rosengarden (2007), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1993)

February 28: Mike Smith, lead singer-organist for The Dave Clark Five (2008), saxophonist Walter Kimble (1988), DJ Eddie Madison (1987), David Byron of Uriah Heep (1985), Duprees lead vocalist Joey Vann (1984), Bobby Bloom (1974), Frankie Lymon (1968), Fats Domino’s guitarist Walter “Papoose” Nelson (1962)

March 1: Jackson 5 drummer Johnny Jackson (2006), Dennis Danell of Social Distortion (2000), Air Supply’s Frank Esler-Smith (1991)

March 2: country singer-songwriter Ernie Ashworth (2009), blues guitarist Jeff Healey (2008), pop composer Martin Denny (2005), Hank Ballard (2003), Dusty Springfield (1999), singer-songwriter David Ackles (1999), French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg (1991), rockabilly pianist Roy Hall (1984), Charlie Christian (1942)

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1951, produced by the legendary Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm record “Rocket 88” is released … considered groundbreaking for its use of the distorted electric guitar of Willie Kizart, it’s credited by many rock historians for being the first rock ‘n’ roll record … unfortunately for Turner, the bandleader and piano player, he is not the star on the record label—it is credited to saxophonist Jackie Brenston who handles lead vocals …

1954, Elvis Presley auditions for The Songfellows, a country vocal group … they pass on the future king saying he can’t sing harmony …

1955, Elvis Presley appears for the first time on television on a regional show called Louisiana Hayride

1963, influential country singer Pasty Cline dies in a private plane crash at the height of her career … with her on the ill-fated flight are Grand Ole Opry members Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins … Clines becomes the first female solo artist inducted to The Country Music Hall of Fame …

1966, a pre-Cream, pre-Blind Faith, all-star, one-time-only group called Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse is created to record a few tunes for an Elektra Records compilation … in addition to featuring Clapton on guitar, Steve Winwood sings and Jack Bruce plays bass … the ad hoc group records three tunes, of which “Crossroads,” will become a legendary live recording by Cream … John Lennon puts the “fun” back into fundamentalism when he remarks that the Beatles “are probably bigger than Jesus right now” … Beatles paraphernalia meets pyrotechnics as albums, books, and posters are burned in protest throughout the heartland … Phil Spector produces the monumental Ike & Tina Turner track “River Deep, Mountain High” … it’s rumored that he spent more than $22,000 creating the orchestral backing track—an unprecedented sum in its day … word has it that Spector also paid Ike Turner, Tina’s spouse and Svengali, 20 grand to stay the hell out of the studio … the single goes to #3 in England but apparently, sales found rivers too deep and mountains too high in the USA, thus preventing the record from making it to the cash register …

1967, Steve and Muff Winwood announce plans to quit the Spencer Davis Group … the brothers have been with the band four years … Steve goes on to form Traffic … Muff’s career is … well, muffled …

1969, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show is canceled by CBS … during its run the show had featured many rock acts including The Beatles, The Doors, and The Who … the cancellation is seen as the result of the brothers refusing to censor comments made by guest Joan Baez about her husband David Harris who was facing prison as a war resister …

1970, Janis Joplin is fined $200 for onstage swearing in Tampa, Florida …

1971, Radio Hanoi opens its first broadcast of American rock music with Jimi Hendrix’s version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” … the program is heard by U.S. soldiers throughout Vietnam … the tape was sent to the North Vietnamese station by anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman …

1973, Paul McCartney pleads guilty to charges of growing marijuana at his Scottish farm … he claims that a fan had given him the seeds and that he did not know what they would grow … to discourage any further attempts to solve the botanical mysteries of the universe, he’s fined $240 …

1976, flamboyant pop star Elton John becomes flammable after being rendered in wax … his image is put on display at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum … years later, in an odd twist of art imitating life imitating art, Elton will release the song “Candle In The Wind” … okay, for you literal-minded folk, his wax image is not outside in the wind … alright, it doesn’t actually have a wick, but it could have … fine, so Elton’s really not writing about being made into a candle … just drop it, okay? …

1980, the number-one song on the pop chart this week is “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen …

1993, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana washes down a handful of Valiums with champagne and winds up in a coma in a Rome hospital … he revives after about 20 hours … though officially labeled accidental, the overdose was secretly thought to be a suicide attempt by those close to Cobain, while conspiracy theorists suggest that Courtney Love may have slipped him the dose without his knowledge … right, ’cause it’s real easy to drop a handful of pills in someone’s mouth while they’re otherwise occupied … we would have liked to hear that one go down (so to speak), “Courtney, I think I somehow have gotten something stuck in my throat … actually, it feels like 40 somethings.” … “How odd, Kurt honey … here, wash down those 40-somethings that accidentally got stuck in your throat with this champagne, which I always keep handy for these kinds of emergencies.” … conspiracy or innocent mishap … you decide …

1995, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry undergoes successful brain surgery for an aneurysm after collapsing during a concert in Switzerland … whose brain did they use? … Abby someone … Abby who? … Abby Normal …

1998, Alan Reed, an American dancer, sues Japanese pop star Seiko Matsuda for 48 million yen (approximately $12.97) charging that she pressured Reed, a member of her stage show, into having sex with her … like Reed, his case is a loser … okay, it’s really $320,000 …

1999, Cher’s long-time manager Bill Sammeth files suit against his former client alleging that he had a deal to receive 15% of profits from her comeback hit album Believe, its singles, and a planned world tour … along with masterminding her comeback, Sammeth claims he was a close friend of the star for 22 years before being “unceremoniously dumped” … Cher has no comments regarding the alleged dumping …

2004, Jack White of the White Stripes pleads guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery on singer Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies … the charges stem from a bar fight between the two Detroit musicians that occurred the previous December at the CD release party for Blanche, another Detroit area band … White is fined $750 …

2005, CBGB, the birthplace of punk, faces closure in a dispute over unpaid rent due the charity for the homeless that owns the building … club owner Hilly Kristal says the dispute dated from 2001, when the landlord presented a $300,000 bill for unpaid rent … that’s 24,885,000 yen in case you were wondering … no, the number is right, the yen is stronger against the dollar now … XL Recordings’ Dizzee Rascal is arrested in East London after he is found carrying pepper spray (considered a firearm) … his companion is charged with possession of drugs (marijuana) and offensive weapons (a baton and more pepper spray) …

2006, new age meets chauvinism when musician Yanni (“Yawn-i” to his detractors) is arrested in Florida on charges of domestic battery against his girlfriend … by way of advice (and we in the music retail biz face this regularly), it’s important to state clearly up front in any transaction: “battery’s not included” … a British court rules that Apple Computer did not violate Apple Corps’ trademark when it launched iTunes … the case hinged on a 1991 agreement that forbade Apple Computer from distributing music on physical media … at that time the computer maker paid Apple Corps $27 million and agreed to not enter into music distribution under the Apple Computer name … the English judge finds that because iTunes is not the original source of the content it offers, the no-distribution provision doesn’t apply … The Beatles’ company threatens to appeal the verdict … in a convoluted deal reached the following year, Apple Computer (which has by then removed “Computer” from its name) acquires rights to all Apple logos used by both companies and will license the green apple logo of Apple Corps back to the company founded by The Beatles … no financial details are revealed in press accounts … it’s like the old saying goes: “If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.” … for honoring the unsung heroes of the personal pleasure industry, shedding light on the plight of the noble, downtrodden pimp, Three 6 Mafia becomes the first African-American hip-hop act to win a Best Song Oscar … the tune is “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” featured on the Hustle & Flow soundtrack …

2008, MTV pulls Gnarls Barkley’s video Run for having the potential to induce seizures … before the song reaches its conclusion the retro dancers are surrounded by strobing, crisscrossing, and interweaving black-and-white patterns … enough to cause the video to fail the Harding Test—software designed to protect sufferers of photosensitive epilepsy from having seizures … the rock music blogosphere is buzzing with the news that Robert Plant has reportedly turned down the notion of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, preferring to focus his attention on a newfound musical partnership with Alison Krauss … speculation that the pair would tour as Led Mandolin has proven false …

2009, Liverpool Hope University rolls out a new master’s program, “The Beatles, Popular Music and Society,” to give students the opportunity to analyze music and culture through the band’s work … Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university in the band’s hometown in northwestern England, says, “If popular music is about anything, it’s about people. If we look at popular culture, it simply provides us with a very complex mirror of ourselves.” … and no, you can’t major in Paul with a minor in Ringo … for those who think British education may be significantly lowering the bar, a California university that shall remain nameless offers a course in Keanu Reeves … excellent! (play air guitar here) … The Allman Brothers kick off their 40th anniversary year with a three-week residency at New York’s Beacon Theater—an annual tradition for the Southern rockers … the shows feature a star-studded lineup of friends sitting in with the band that inludes Eric Clapton, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Sheryl Crow, Billy Gibbons, Taj Mahal, Levon Helm, Buddy Guy, Boz Scaggs, and Stanley Clarke …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

March 3: jazz bassist Pierre Michelot (1928), Mike Pender of The Searchers (1942), Jance Garfat of Dr. Hook (1944), singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes (1947), guitarist-singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (1953), rapper Tone L̄c (1966), John Bigham of Fishbone (1969), Ronan Keating of Boyzone (1977)

March 4: Miriam Makeba (1932), Bobby Womack (1944), singer-songwriter Shakin’ Stevens (1948), Billy Gibbons (1948), Chris Squire of Yes (1948), Emilio Estefan of Miami Sound Machine (1953), Jason Newsted of Metallica (1963), Patrick Hannan of The Sundays (1966), Fergal Lawler of The Cranberries (1971)

March 5: blues great J.B. Lenoir (1929), R&B star Tommy “High Heel Sneakers” Tucker (1933), Electric Prune James Lowe (1945), “Electric Avenue” Eddy Grant (1948), Alan Clark of Dire Straits (1952), singer-songwriter-producer Teena Marie (1956), Bobby DeBarge (1956), Mark Smith of The Fall (1957), Andy Gibb (1958), Craig Reid and Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers (1962), John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1971)

March 6: bluesman Furry Lewis (1893), western swing pioneer Bob Wills (1905), Bernie Wayne, pop composer who wrote “Blue Velvet” (1919), jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery (1923), Sylvia Robinson of Mickey and Sylvia (1936), bluegrass banjo legend Doug Dillard of The Dillards (1937), Mary Wilson of the Supremes (1944), Hugh Grundy of The Zombies (1945), Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour (1947), singer Kiki Dee (1947), Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick (1970)

March 7: Maurice Ravel, composer of “Bolero” (1875), producer and ex-Zombie Chris White (1943), singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt (1944), J. Geils Band vocalist Peter Wolf (1946), Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher (1946), Taylor Dayne, born Leslie Wonderman (1962)

March 8: Micky Dolenz of The Monkees (1945), Eagles bassist Randy Meisner (1946), Three Dog Night’s Michael Allsup (1947), Mel Galley of Whitesnake (1948), Little Peggy March of “I Will Follow Him” fame (1948), singer and synth pop pioneer Gary Numan (1958), Peter “Pedro” Gill of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1960), Julian Lennon (1963), Cheryl James of Salt-N-Pepa (1964), singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins (1968), Kameelah Williams of 702 (1978)

March 9: composer Samuel Barber (1910), Motown songwriter Clarence Paul (1928), R&B stalwart Lloyd Price (1933), John Thomas “Scooter” Steele, bass singer with The (Five) Willows (1934), country singer Mickey Gilley (1936), Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders (1942), John Cale of The Velvet Underground (1942), guitarist Robin Trower (1945), Ron Wilson of The Surfaris (1945), Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1948), R&B singer Jeffrey Osborne (1948), The Move’s Trevor Burton (1949), Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five (1968), rapper Lil’ Bow Wow (1987)

Departures:

March 3: surrealist poet-songwriter and Beatles influence, Ivor Cutler (2006)

March 4: Piedmont blues guitarist John Cephas (2009), Beatles’ engineer and Pink Floyd producer Norman Smith (2008), songwriter-pianist Marvin Jenkins (2005), guitarist John McGeoch (2004), country artist Eddie Dean of “I Dreamed Of a Hillbilly Heaven” fame (1999), Grand Olde Opry cast member Minnie Pearl (1996), songwriter Eden Ahbez (1995), jazz guitarist Mary Osborne (1992), founder of the doo-wop Herald and Ember labels Al Silver (1992), bebop guitarist Tiny Grimes (1989), Richard Manuel of The Band (1986), R&B bandleader Red Saunders (1981), Brit rocker Mike Patto (1979), Raymond Edwards of The Silhouettes (1977)

March 5: Bob Timmins, an addiction specialist who worked with Kurt Cobain and Slash (2008), Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Band (1995), blues brother John Belushi (1982), country singer Patsy Cline (1963), country singer and Grand Ole Opry member Cowboy Copas (1963), country singer and Grand Ole Opry member Hawkshaw Hawkins, born Harold Franklin Hawkins (1963)

March 6: David Williams, rhythm guitarist on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” (2009), Sir Joseph Lockwood, head of Britain’s EMI records (1991)

March 7: Jimmy “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” Boyd (2009), Portland-based blues harp player and singer Paul deLay (2007), Malian blues singer and guitarist Ali Farka Toure (2006), Jesse Taylor, former guitarist with the Joe Ely Band (2006), country bandleader-songwriter Pee Wee King (2000), producer Dave Jordan (1995), Texas blues singer-guitarist George “Little Hat” Jones (1981)

March 8: Grand Ole Opry star Hank Locklin (2009), Adam Faith, British pop singer and actor (2003), session drummer Bobby Chouinard (1997), novelty songwriter-performer and DJ, Vic Venus (1994), jazz singer and bandleader Billy Eckstine (1993), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead (1973), country singer Jack Anglin (1963)

March 9: country singer Chris LeDoux (2005), George Scott, founding member of the gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama (2005), Rust Epique, guitarist for pre)Thing (2004), rapper Notorious B.I.G. (1997), Mercury Wilson, lead rapper-singer for The Force M.D.’s (1995), R&B songwriter and producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell (1985), Harry Womack, bassist, member of the Valentinos, and brother of Bobby Womack (1974)

R.I.P. “Pinetop” Perkins

0
0

another blues legend gone.

There are so few left and with the death of legendary piano player Joseph “Pinetop” Perkins at the age of 97 it’s one less.

Though in his late nineties, Perkins was not content to join the ranks of his peers at their nightly bingo games, but until his death he usually performed a couple of nights a week at jazz bar, Nuno’s, in his hometown of Austin, TX. In 2005, Perkins received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Famous for his cover of Clarence “Pinetop” Smith’s “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” recorded at Sun Records in 1953. He would replace Otis Spann in Muddy Waters band in 1969, which meant he played on the great late 70s early 80s albums Muddy recorded for the “Blue Sky Records” label that were produced by Johnny Winter.

The three studio recordings – “Hard Again” (1977), “I’m Ready” (1978), “King Bee” (1981) – along with 1979’s live recording “Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live” are must own blues albums.


It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1952, Sun Records, the revered label that will be the first to give Elvis a shot and go on to cut dozens of great rockabilly and blues sides, issues its first single, “Selling My Whisky” by Jackie Boy and Little Walter …

1955, Georgia Gibbs’ “Dance With Me Henry” is released … it’s a cleaned-up version of the more licentiously titled “Roll With Me Henry” by Etta James that in turn was re-titled “The Wallflower” to keep censors at bay …

… Coral Records hires original rock DJ Alan Freed as their A&R man …

1958, Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army as Private Presley, serial number U-S-53310761 …

1962, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first perform together as Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys …

1963, teen idol Dion finally takes his “Runaround Sue” out of the marketplace when he marries Sue Butterfield …

1964, everyone’s favorite high-strung diva, Barbara “Babs” Streisand, opens on Broadway in Funny Girl … she wins a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the movie version …

1967, Peter Bergman of Firesign Theatre coins the term Love-In and throws the first such event in Los Angeles’ Elysian Park, attracting 65,000 people and blocking freeways for miles … Columbia Records producer Gary Usher is so impressed, he offers Firesign Theatre their first record contract … the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album is staged and photographed at Chelsea Manor Studios in London using collage and wax figures from Madame Tussaud’s famous wax museum … among the likenesses featured on the cover are Mae West, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Tony Curtis, Marlon Brando, Oscar Wilde, Marlene Dietrich, and W.C. Fields … album artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth will be awarded a Grammy for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts in 1968 …

1973, just 12 days after their single “Cover of the Rolling Stone” peaks at #6 on the pop chart, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show appear on the cover of the magazine … wonder what Sylvia’s mother has to say about The Hook now … Lou Reed is bitten at a concert in Buffalo, New York … the “rabid” fan, unable to contain his affection, leaps onstage and bites Reed on the bum as he is about to perform “Waitin’ for the Man” … screaming “leather,” the fan gets past security as he assaults Reed … the fan is ejected and Reed later comments that the U.S. “seems to breed real animals” …

1974, The Ramones play their first live show at the Performance Studio in New York … they will go on to play many more shows there and eat lots of pizza …

1975, Barry Manilow makes his first appearance on American Bandstand … No. 1 on the Billboard charts is Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti … No. 3 is Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks … No. 2 is Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow … go figure …

1978, the Police sign with A&M records …

1985, Prince wins an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Purple Rain … rumor has it that the movie’s title song actually was written by Prince’s backup musicians, Wendy and Lisa … the movie seems to acknowledge this, however the credits don’t … they are credited as co-writers of “Computer Blue,” a song Wendy and Lisa claim in an interview that they had nothing to do with …

1991, New Kid Donnie Wahlberg narrowly escapes becoming a new kid on the cell block when he is arrested and charged with first degree arson … he apparently was trying to set the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, KY, on fire with a Molotov cocktail … the charges are later reduced and then dropped in exchange for public service commercials …

1995, while in jail, Tupac’s Me Against the World hits number one … he becomes the first rapper to top the charts and get married while incarcerated for sexual assault against a female fan … an opera based on the life of tennis ace Martina Navratilova premieres at New York’s Carnegie Hall … apparently, it took a lot of balls to pull this one off … Duran Duran release Thank You, a collection of cover versions generally considered to be one of the worst albums ever recorded …

1998, Chuck Negron files suit against his former Three Dog Night bandmates … Negron alleges that a breach of a 1990 settlement put a crimp in the crooner’s career … years later in an odd twist, Negron’s management licenses the rights to use the name of the ’60s horn band Blood, Sweat & Tears from BS&T drummer Bobby Colomby … Negron now appears as Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring Chuck Negron … nothing to say about stopping David Clayton Thomas’ career … nothing? … anything? … nothing …

1999, rap mogul Master P donates $500,000 to keep his old grammar school from closing …

2004, Bob Dylan starts hawking lady’s underwear in a television ad for Victoria’s Secret which also features the song “Love Sick” from Dylan’s 1997 album Time Out of Mind … the commercial features Dylan and model Adriana Lima, who is barely clothed while Dylan, thankfully, is fully dressed … music critics, columnists, and Dylan fans immediately erupt on the internet after the first spot airs, all asking “Why?” … well, the answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind … but we suspect that same wind has been blowing up ladies’ skirts in Bob’s imagination since 1965, when he was asked what might tempt him to sell out … his reply: “Ladies’ undergarments.” … as far as we’re concerned, Dylan didn’t sell out, he bought in … and now when people ask about Dylan’s career whereabouts, our response is, “He’s in ladies’ underwear …”

2005, The Decemberists opt to release their new music video, Sixteen Military Wives, via BitTorrent, an easy way to give the video exposure without fronting a lot of money for bandwidth … Dawn Barger, manager for The Decemberists, says: “For the most part, MTV and VH1 won’t touch video unless bands have sold a huge number of records. It’s impossible to get rotation” … the experimental release is a success, seeing almost 2,000 downloads its first weekend … The White Stripes finish recording their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, in just under two weeks, averaging about a song a day … apparently, like Robert Johnson, they had hellhounds on their tail … perhaps it’s a better idea to get Satan in front of you, where you can keep an eye on him … American Idol is forced to have a re-vote after they display incorrect phone numbers for each of the 11 contestants during the voting stage of the Fox TV talent show …

2006, in the midst of a European tour Snoop Dogg and Sean “Diddy” Combs are obliged to cancel plans for the British leg of the tour when Snoop is denied a visa by English authorities … the refusal stems from an April 2006 scuffle between the rapper and five members of his entourage with British cops at Heathrow airport after the posse is refused entrance to a British Airways first-class lounge … seven bobbies were injured in the fracas … if we’re not mistaken, one Diddy equals ten bobbies … Apple releases a free software patch for download that permits iPod owners to set a maximum volume level … the action is seemingly in response to articles critical of the device’s potential for hearing damage and a pending class-action lawsuit … so much for self-determination … as Rene Descartes might have said, “iPod therefore I am” …

2007, Sony BMG announces that henceforth it will no longer accept CDs or tapes from bands hoping to land a contract with the company’s labels … instead, would-be recording acts are directed to post their demos on sites set up for the purpose by Sony’s subsidiaries as well as on blogs … it’s not really as cutting-edge an approach as it sounds … in the old days it was known as, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” …

… and that was the week that was in matters musical.

Arrivals:

March 24: Ollie McLaughlin, producer with Del Shannon (1925), George Lee, singer with Ruby and the Romantics (1936), soul singer Billy “Fat Boy” Stewart (1937), songwriter Peggy Sue, sister of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle (1947)

March 25: Vivian Carter, the “Vee” in Vee-Jay Records (1921), Tom Wilson, producer for Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and John Coltrane (1931), Johnny Burnette (1934), Jose L. Rodriguez, engineer for Culture Club, Mary J. Blige, and Gloria Gaynor (1944), Nick Lowe (1949)

March 26: Rufus Thomas, best known for “Walkin’ The Dog” (1917), Diana Ross (1944), Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (1948), Teddy Pendergrass (1950), Bill Lyall, keyboardist for Pilot and Bay City Rollers (1953), Eddie Van Halen (1955)

March 27: Leroy Carr, influential blues pianist (1905), blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr., who learned from the legendary Robert Johnson (1915), jazz singer Sarah Vaughan (1924), Reprise Records’ mogul Mo Ostin, who signed Jimi Hendrix (1927), Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, Houston blues guitarist (1937), Brenda Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips (1948), Tony Banks of Genesis (1951), Mariah Carey (1970)

March 28: Aaron “T-Bone” Walker, legendary electric blues guitarist (1910), Milan Williams of The Commodores (1948), Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1974)

March 29: Donny Conn of The Playmates (1930), Terry Jacks, singer-songwriter of “Seasons in the Sun” fame (1944)

March 30: Delta-style harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson, born John Lee Williamson (1914), Willie Nelson (1933), Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues (1942), Eric Clapton of Eric Clapton fame (1945), Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Procol Harum’s Dave Ball (1950), rapper Stanley “M.C. Hammer” Burell (1963), songstress Celine Dion (1968), singer-pianist Norah Jones, born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar (1979)

Departures:

March 24: Foghat’s founding guitarist Rod Price (2005), Harold Melvin, leader of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1997)

March 25: country legend Buck Owens (2006), Kenny Moore, keyboardist for Tina Turner (1997), folksinger-songwriter Tom Jans (1984)

March 26: Nikki Sudden of Swell Map (2006), Paul Hester, drummer for Crowded House (2005), Jan Berry of Jan and Dean (2004), rapper Eazy-E aka Eric Wright (1996), Duster Bennett, member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1976), songwriter-playwright Noel Coward (1973), Harold McNair, flutist and saxophonist with Donovan and Ginger Baker (1971)

March 27: Clifford Jordan, jazz saxophonist (1993), Paul Gayten, R&B singer and Chess Records talent scout (1991)

March 28: Don Alias, jazz percussionist (2006), actor-jazz pianist Dudley Moore (2002), Freaky Tah, born Raymond Rodgers, of The Lost Boyz (1999), Buddy Red Bow, Lakota country and western singer (1993), father of the blues, songwriter W.C. Handy (1958)

March 29: blues, jazz, big band singer Joe Williams, born Joseph Goreed (1999), Howard Wyeth, drummer Dylan, Roger McGuinn, and Don McLean (1996), music biographer Albert Goldman (1994)

March 30: Elektra Records producer Paul Rothchild (1995)

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1939, “Cherokee” is recorded for the first time by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra … the tune will be recorded by scores of jazz greats and often played at a breakneck pace to humble neophytes …

1953, a young sideburned truck driver—last name of Presley—drops in at the Memphis Recording Service studio, plunks down his four bucks, and records “My Happiness” as a gift for his mother …

1954, Elvis is back in Sun Studios to record the first commercially available Elvis single, “That’s Alright Mama” … that same week, Presley turns up at the grand opening of a Memphis drugstore where he performs on the back of a flatbed truck …

1958, following a backstage fight between a member of The Drifters and the manager of New York’s Apollo Theater, the group’s manager, George Treadwell, fires the entire lineup, then recruits the members of the opening act, The Five Crowns, to become a new incarnation of The Drifters with Ben E. King handling lead vocals … this is one more chapter in a bewildering history during which rival groups billed as The Drifters will tour simultaneously and band rosters will change dozens of times …

1960, Duane Eddy appears on Dick Clark’s prime time show and performs “Ramrod,” a work in progress … the appearance spurs orders for 150,000 copies, but there’s no way to fill them since the record hasn’t been finished … producer Lee Hazelwood hits the studio and adds sax and vocal overdubs so the single can be rushed to the pressing plant … it later turns out that the remix probably doesn’t include Eddy on guitar … the twangalicious work having been done by studio vet Al Casey …

1963, The Essex score a #1 R&B hit with “Easier Said Than Done” … it’ll later clinch the top spot on the pop chart too … all the members of the group are active Marines and they have to get the Corps’ approval to tour behind their hit …

1964, The Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” makes it to #48 on the chart … it is the first in their long line of hits …

1965, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released … it turns out to be his biggest hit ever, climbing to #2 on the U.S. pop chart …

1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker get together to form one of rock’s most celebrated trios, Cream … 50-year-old crooner Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, 30 years his junior …

1968, Jane Asher calls it quits with Paul McCartney … the announcement that they are no longer engaged is made on the British television show Dee Time while McCartney, who hasn’t been told yet, is watching … Asher came home unexpectedly one night to find Paul with another woman … Asher left the home soon after … despite this occurrence, Asher and McCartney are seen together in public appearances … however, the relationship is acknowledged over when McCartney shows up alone at the Yellow Submarine premiere later in the week … the album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida from Iron Butterfly debuts on the U.S. charts … the title track, clocking in at a whopping 17 minutes, features one of the longest drum solos in rock history … according to producer Jim Hilton, the song’s title results from singer Doug Ingle’s slurred pronunciation of “In Our Garden of Eden” when he was asked for the name of a new song the band was rehearsing … the producer jotted the title down phonetically … Hilton recollects, “I felt it was more interesting and a lot more mystical than the straight title … the band thought I had lost my mind, but it was too late to change it, I had already given my OK on the cover for printing” …

1970, British pop star Arthur Brown is held overnight in a Sicilian jail and faces a prison sentence of up to five years after being charged with committing obscene acts in a public place … Brown was performing at the Palermo Pop Festival when he inexplicably stripped naked on stage in front of 15,000 people … the crowd throws things at him and he is arrested and put in solitary confinement for four days … while in solitary, he receives a petition signed by 200 locals requesting that he leave Italy and never return …

1972, a bomb explodes near a Rolling Stones equipment truck in Montreal … the bomb was placed under a ramp and blows the cones out of a lot of PA cabs … nobody is hurt, it’s never determined who placed the bomb … the show goes on as planned …

1973, The Everly Brothers arrive at an ignominious career low when the sweet-harmonizing siblings’ set at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, is stopped by the theme park’s entertainment director who feels Don is doing a poor job … brother Phil sees red, smashes his guitar, and stalks offstage … ironically, Don performs the third set as a solo and announces that the Everly Brothers are history … Clarence White, singer and guitarist for the Byrds, is run down and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment after a gig in Palmdale, California …

1974, John Lennon is given two months to leave the United States by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who have denied him an extension on his visa, supposedly because he pled guilty to a pot charge in England in 1968 … it will be revealed later that he is under surveillance by the FBI … Joey Ramone slides out from behind the drum kit and steps up to the mic to assume vocal duties for The Ramones …

1978, as Bob Dylan leaves England after completion of his U.K. tour, over 200,000 gather at Blackbushe Airport to see him off …

1982, Moon Unit Zappa, still a young teenager, makes her debut with dad, Frank, recording “Valley Girl,” which becomes FZ’s highest-charting single at #32 and wins Grammy nominations for father and daughter alike …

1986, after 28 years of collaboration, Columbia Records drops Johnny Cash, who then signs with Mercury … the film Sid and Nancy premieres at the Limelight Club in London … the film relates the mostly true biographical tale of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen … the raw, dark film culminates in the stabbing death of Nancy, Sid’s arrest for suspicion of murder, and his heroin OD shortly thereafter …

1988, a California appeals court puts the quash on the old “let’s-blame-our-child’s-suicide-on-a-rock-band” game when it upholds a lower court’s decision dismissing a suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS … the suit held Ozzy and CBS responsible for the death of a teen who committed suicide after listening to Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” …

1989, Venice, Italy, is overrun by 200,000 loonies who show up in town for a free Pink Floyd concert and annoy the locals with noise, littering, and drug use …

1991, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler files suit against the band, claiming they peer-pressured him into heroin addiction, then ousted him from the band when he entered a rehab program … eventually, Adler will accept an out-of-court settlement to the tune of 2.5 million bucks …

1995, a bear-bone flute is found in an archaeological dig in the Indrijca River Valley in Slovenia … at an estimated 45,000 years old, it is the oldest musical instrument ever found …

1996, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is arrested for assault and released the same day in North Carolina … the band had just wrapped up their day as main-stage headliners on the Lollapalooza festival stop at Rockingham Dragway … from his own mouth: “It wasn’t even a fan and it wasn’t even at our show. It was in the lobby of our hotel in North Carolina. These people heard that we were staying in the hotel so they’re sneaking out to look and they had been drinking so they were a little bit verbally abusive. I told one of them to go away with a twist of the wrist and that was it, just once. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had I not been who I am—a guy in a rock band.” … thanks for the clarification, Kim …

2002, Bob Seger wins the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat Race, his second sailing title in two years …

2004, singer Linda Ronstadt not only gets booed, she gets the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas …

2006, the Boston jam band Dispatch sells out three 20,000-seat shows at Madison Square Garden with proceeds going to poverty-stricken and AIDS-infested Zimbabwe … near uninterrupted touring builds huge buzz for the band and MySpace proves to be a major force in helping to sell the tickets … Rolling Stone Keith Richards receives a pardon from the state of Arkansas over a 31-year-old conviction for reckless driving … The Vatican, upset by aspects of Madonna’s Confessions Tour stage show, calls for the singer’s excommunication …

2007, Prince angers the music industry and stirs up trouble among British retailers by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper for a weekend …

2008, pre-grunge superstar band Green River reunites to play at record label Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary party … though the band never saw much success outside of the ’80s Seattle scene, members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament went on to great success with Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam, while Mark Arm and Steve Turner became grunge legends themselves with Mudhoney …

2009, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch announces that he has a “very treatable” tumor in his salivary gland … the B-Boys cancel their planned tour so MCA can focus on his treatment …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 14: American folk legend Woody Guthrie (1912), influential Atlanta DJ Zenas “Daddy” Sears (1913), Cliff Trenier of ’50s doo-wop group The Treniers (1919), Lowman Pauling of The “5” Royales (1926), Bob Scholl, member of The Mello-Kings (1938), expatriate British rocker Vince Taylor, role model for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust (1939), Detroit soul singer Ty Hunter (1940), Trevor Horn of Buggles and Yes (1949), singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (1952), singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tanya Donelly of Belly (1966), keyboardist-vocalist Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies (1966), singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Cottle of Xscape (1975), rapper Taboo of Black Eyed Peas, born Jaime Luis Gómez (1975)

July 15: Cowboy Copas, country singing star who died in the same plane as Patsy Cline (1913), Motown house drummer William “Benny” Benjamin (1925), singer-actress Nina, Baroness van Pallandt (1932), soul star Millie Jackson (1944), guitarist (and son of actress Loretta Young) Peter Lewis of Moby Grape (1945), singer-songwriter-producer Linda Ronstadt (1946), flamboyant New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale Jr. (1952), guitarist for .38 Special Jeff Carlisi (1952), Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis (1956), instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani (1956)

July 16: Sollie McElroy of The Flamingos (1934), soul songstress Denise LaSalle (1939), Ruben Blades (1948), Stewart Copeland (1952), Ed Kowalczyk of Live (1971)

July 17: Texas R&B singer Peppermint Harris (1925), Spencer Davis (1941), The Sweet’s Mick Tucker (1948), Black Sabbath’s Terry “Geezer” Butler (1949), Nicolette Larson (1952), Doobie Brother Chet McCracken (1952), Phoebe Snow (1952), JC of PM Dawn (1973)

July 18: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1929), Papa Dee Allen of War (1931), Dion DiMucci (1937), Rolling Stones pianist-road manager Ian Stewart (1938), Brian Auger (1939), Martha Reeves (1941), Tim Lynch of The Flamin’ Groovies (1946), Golden Earring’s Caesar Zuiderwijk (1950), Ricky Skaggs (1954), drummer Terry Chambers of XTC (1955), Pearl Jam’s Jack Irons (1962), Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (1962)

July 19: ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (1902), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (1932), Bo Diddley’s fellow guitarist-vocalist Lady Bo born Peggy Jones (1940), pop singer Vikki Carr (1941), Clarence White of The Byrds (1944), Average White Band’s Alan Gorrie (1946), Bobby Neal of the Stone Canyon Band (1947), Brian May (1947), The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon (1947), Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux (1948), Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1952), Kevin Haskins of Love & Rockets (1960)

July 20: Buddy Knox (1933), Kim Carnes (1945), The Moody Blues’ John Lodge (1945), Carlos Santana (1947), Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French (1954), Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols (1956), Simple Minds’ Mick McNeil (1958), Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave (1964), Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam (1966), Vitamin C (1972)

Departures:

July 14: Beryl Bryden, dubbed the “British Queen of the Blues” (1998), Phillippe Wynne of the Spinners (1984), Malcolm Owen of the Rutts (1980), progressive country guitarist Clarence White of The Byrds (1973)

July 15: country songwriter Hank Cochran (2010), rapper Too Poetic, born Anthony Berkeley (2001), Bizarros drummer Rick Garberson (1979)

July 16: singer and radio star Jo Stafford (2008), agent-manager Don Arden (2007), salsa singer Celia Cruz (2003), Styx drummer John Panozzo (1996), Sun Records’ Bill Justis (1982), Harry Chapin (1981), Peter Cowap of Herman’s Hermits (1977)

July 17: Gordon Waller of ’60s duo Peter & Gordon (2009), opera singer Teresa Stich-Randell (2007), Paul Young of Mike and the Mechanics (2000), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1998), Hendrix manager Chas Chandler (1996), blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes (1983), sax giant John Coltrane (1967), “Lady Day” Billie Holiday (1959), harpin’ bluesman Henry Strong (1954)

July 18: tenor Jerry Hadley (2007), Haroon Shamsher of Joi (1999), Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, born Christa Päffgen (1988), bandleader Jimmy Liggins (1983), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1970), Bobby Fuller (1966)

July 19: Big Star bassist Andy Hummel (2010), highlife bandleader Emmanuel Tettey “E.T.” Mensah (1996), R&B sax man Red Prysock (1993)

July 20: guitarist-producer-songwriter Artie Traum (2008), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (2007), musician-music executive-manager Jim Tyrrell (1998), recording engineer Gary Kellgren (1977), Roy Hamilton (1969)

Last of the Tennessee Two

0
0

R.I.P. Marshall Grant.

Of the original Tennessee Three – Johnny Cash, Luther Perkins & Marshall Grant – which became Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two that pioneered the “boom-chicka-boom” / “freight train” rhythm sound, bass player Marshall Grant was, after Perkins’ death in 1968 and Cash’s in 2003, the last surviving member.

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1955, Elvis buys his mama a pink Cadillac …

1956, in the wake of Johnny Ray’s success with “Just Walking in the Rain,” Sun Records releases a cover by The Prisonaires, a smooth-singing doo-wop group composed of Tennessee State Penitentiary inmates …

…Elvis begins recording his second album in Los Angeles … it is to include covers of Little Richard hits “Rip It Up,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Ready Teddy” … Elvis even plays piano on some of the tracks …

1962, The Beatles hit Abbey Road recording studio for the first time, recording “Love Me Do” in about 16 takes with drummer Andy White …

1968, because of fears of street violence during the National Democratic Convention, The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” is banned from airplay in Chicago … Ray Charles’ backup singers quit en masse over a wage dispute and band rules they consider unfair …

1978, Who drummer Keith Moon succumbs to an overdose of the drug Heminevrin prescribed to combat his alcoholism … an autopsy reveals that he’d washed down 32 of the pills with champagne … his death occurs in the same apartment in which Mama Cass of The Mamas & The Papas met her demise in 1974 … at a Teddy Pendergrass show in New York called “For Women Only,” female concertgoers receive white chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear …

1990, Tom Fogerty, an original member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and brother of John, dies of tuberculosis this week at age 48 … he had parted from the band at the height of its success in 1971, a casualty of sibling rivalry … and although he recorded a number of albums on his own, he never scored a hit after his CCR days … across the pond, The Cure launches a pirate radio station beamed at London to publicize the release of the remix album Mixed Up … but the station will soon go off the air beset by technical difficulties and use of the powerful BBC signal to cover up its broadcasts …

1991, country music star Dottie West dies from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in the parking lot of The Grand Ole Opry … the crash occurred a few days earlier when an elderly neighbor, who was giving West a ride to work, lost control of the car …

1997, Pat Smear announces he will no longer be a Foo Fighter and that Franz Stahl will take his place …

1999, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is arrested at a show in Raleigh, N.C., charged with felony rioting and three counts of misdemeanor inciting to riot, assault, and disorderly conduct … the charges stem from bad behavior at a Greensboro concert in 1997 … Sixx allegedly assaulted a security guard and encouraged a melee among fans …

2000, Rage Against the Machine bassist Timothy Commerford pleads guilty to charges of assault and disorderly conduct at the MTV Video Music Awards … while raging against Limp Bizkit’s acceptance of the award for Best Rock Video–which was coincidentally up against Rage’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”–Commerford climbed a 15-foot arch that was part of the stage set … stagehands and security swarmed the stage to extricate Tim, who would “sleep now in the slammer” … The Doobie Brothers offer 15 new tracks for free download to launch the promotion of their latest album, Sibling Rivalry

2004, the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati rules that artists should pay for every sample they use … previously courts had held that as long as short samples could not be identified, licensing was unnecessary … in this new decision, the court, acknowledging other cases involving digital piracy says, If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative. … ironically, a two-second sample of a Funkadelic record in NWA’s “100 Miles and Runnin” is at the heart of the ruling … Funkadelic and Parliament leader and founder George Clinton had historically been supportive of sampling, having produced two albums titled Sample Some of Dis and Sample Some of Dat that permit remixers to use his music without legal considerations …

2006, in a Rolling Stone interview, Elton John reveals that he’s thinking about putting out a hip-hop album … I want to work with Eminem, Pharrell, Kanye, and Snoop. We’ll see what happens. It could be a disaster. … Rapper Master P debuts his new musical Uncle Willy’s Family, in Meridian, Mississippi … the show is semiautobiographical, focusing on a family that has to abandon its home in the face of Hurricane Katrina … to no one’s particular surprise, it’s revealed that Whitney Houston has separated from her husband of 14 years, Bobby Brown … the marriage was punctuated by drugs and domestic disturbances … on a more positive note, Lou Reed joins Jack White and his Raconteurs at the VMA Awards show in New York, pitching in on the vocals of “White Light/White Heat” …

2007, with just 7.4 million in album sales this week, Nielsen SoundScan reports the lowest numbers in the chart service’s history … only the High School Musical 2 soundtrack manages to move more than 50,000 units … just eight years earlier 27 albums moved that many … Lucinda Williams kicks off a novel tour in which she will play five nights each in New York and L.A. … each show will be devoted to one of her five studio albums in its entirety: her 1988 self-titled disc, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence, and World Without Tears

2008, Oasis is mid-way through its headline set at the V Festival when a man runs from backstage and knocks Noel Gallagher to the ground … security guards wrestle the attacker to the floor and drag him away with brother Liam in pursuit … after a 15-minute break, the band resumes its set to cheers from a 25,000-strong audience …

2009, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, more than 2 months after his controversial death …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 1: Boxcar Willie (1931), Conway Twitty (1933), Tommy Evans of The Drifters (1934), Archie Bell of The Drells (1944), Barry Gibb (1946), Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone (1948), The Jam’s Bruce Foxton (1955), Gloria Estefan (1957), Joe Williams of Toto (1960), DJ Sprigg Nice of Lost Boyz (1970), J.D. Fortune, replacement singer for INXS (1973), Sean Stewart, son of Ron (1980), Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohan (1984)

September 2: Hugo Montenegro (1925), Sam Gooden (1939), Bobby Purify (1939), Rosalind Ashworth of Martha and The Vandellas (1943), Joe Simon (1943), Billy Preston (1946), Richard Coughlan of Caravan (1947), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (1947), Micahel Rother, guitarist and keyboardist for Kraftwerk, Neu! (1950), Mik Kaminski of E.L.O. (1951), Simply Red’s Fritz McIntyre (1956), Steve Porcaro of Toto (1957), Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs (1958), Dino Cazeres, guitarist for Fear Factory (1966), K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci (1969), Phil Lipscomb, Taproot bassist (1976)

September 3: bluesman Memphis Slim born Peter Chatman (1915), Hank Thompson (1925), Tompall Glaser (1933), Freddie King (1934), Kenny Pickett (1942), Al Jardine of The Beach Boys (1942), Walter Scott of the Whispers (1943), George Biondi of Steppenwolf (1945), Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell (1947), Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad (1948), Doug Pinnik of King’s X (1950), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols (1955), Perry Bamonte of The Cure (1960), Jonathan Segal of Camper Van Beethoven (1963), Jennifer Paige (1973), Tomo Miličević of 30 Seconds to Mars (1979), Jason McCaslin of Sum 41 (1980)

September 4: “Lightning Bug” Rhodes, guitarist for Otis Redding and B.B. King (1939), lead singer George Lanuis of The Crescendos (1939), Merald Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1942), fret wizard Danny Gatton (1945), Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946), Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan (1946), Ronald LaPread of The Commodores (1950), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins (1951), Martin Chambers of the Pretenders (1952), Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. (1956), George Hurley of Minutemen (1958), Kim Thayil of Soundgarden (1960), Sam Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks (1963), Igor Cavalera, Sepultura drummer (1970), Carmit Bachar of Pussycat Dolls (1974), Dan Miller of O-Town (1980), Beyoncé Knowles (1981), Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm (1981)

September 5: Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1907), doo-wopper Jimmy Springs of The Red Caps (1911), guitarist Willie Woods of Junior Walker & The Allstars (1936), singer-songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart (1939), Al “Year of the Cat” Stewart (1945), Freddie Mercury of Queen (1946), Buddy Miles (1946), guitarist Clarence White born Cecil Ingram Connor (1946), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainright III (1946), Buddy Miles of Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys (1947), David “Clem” Clempson of Humble Pie/Colosseum (1949), Juan Aldrete of Racer X (1963), Terry Ellis of En Vogue (1966), Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (1968), Dweezil Zappa (1969)

September 6: bluesman Jimmy Reed (1925), David Allan Coe (1939), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (1943), Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1942), androgynous disco star Silvester aka Silvester James (1947), Claydes Charles Smith, lead guitarist and founder of Kool & the Gang (1948), Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners (1958), Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis (1961), Pal Waaktar of A-Ha (1961), William DuVall of Alice in Chains (1967), CeCe Peniston (1969), Dolores O’Riordon of The Cranberries (1971), Nina Persson of The Cardigans (1974), rapper N.O.R.E. (1976), Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack (1978), Foxy Brown (1978)

September 7: tenor sax giant Sonny Rollins (1930), bluesman Little Milton (Campbell) (1934), Buddy Holly born Charles Hardin Holley (1936), Continental Drift bassist Jim Gault (1943), Alfa Anderson of Chic (1946), disco diva Gloria Gaynor (1949), Chrissie Hynde (1951), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1953), Benmont Tench, keyboardist and founding member of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1953), session guitarist Chuck Beattie (1954), Michael Feinstein (1956), R&B singer Jermaine Stewart (1957), Brad Houser of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (1960), LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band (1961), Eazy-E of N.W.A. (1963), Brent Liles of Social Distortion (1963), Chris Acland of Lush (1966), Chad Sexton of 311 (1970), Atmosphere Slug rapper (1972)

Departures:

September 1: keyboardist-producer Wycliffe Johnson (2009), Jerry Reed (2008), blues musician R.L. Burnside (2005), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (2001), composer Vagn Holmboe (1996), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1985)

September 2: New York Metropolitan Opera impressario Sir Rudolf Bing (1997), composer Otto Luening (1996), violinist Cyril Reuben (1996), Ljuba Welitsch (1996)

September 3: Free jazz alto saxophonist Noah Howard (2010), Carter Albrecht, keyboardist and guitarist Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians (2007), Major Lance (1994), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (1970)

September 4: Chuck Greenberg of Shadowfax (1995), country singer Dottie West (1991), jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet (1991)

September 5: Norwegian alt-country musician Thomas Hansen (2007), swamp-boogie queen Katie Webster (1999), R&B pianist Sonny Knight (1998), conductor Georg Solti (1997), Charlie Charles, drummer for Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1990), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1978)

September 6: Luciano Pavarotti (2007), co-founder of Atari Teenage Riot, Carl Crack (2001), stand-up country bassist Roy Husky Jr. (1997), Tom Fogerty of CCR (1990), Josh White (1964)

September 7: Warren Zevon (2003), Erma Franklin, sister of Aretha (2002), composer Niccolo Castiglioni (1996), Keith Moon (1978)

It happened this week

0
0

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1953, in what will later be considered the golden age of vocal groups, seven of the R&B chart’s Top 10 positions are occupied by doo-wop acts including The Orioles, The Clovers, The Five Royales, The Royals, The Spaniels, The Dominoes, and The Coronets …

1954, Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips secures his place in rock ‘n’ roll history when he spins a test pressing of Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right” on radio station WHBQ … it’s the first time an Elvis record hits the airwaves …

1956, Elvis Presley’s much-anticipated single “Love Me Tender” notches a music biz first when advance orders for the record top one million …

1958, while crossing the Atlantic on his way to a couple of years of army service in Germany, Elvis is asked to put together a talent show and ends up playing piano in the impromptu band he organizes …

1962, The Springfields are the first British vocal act to score a U.S. Top 20 hit with their single “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”… their lead singer is Mary O’Brien who will later sustain a major solo career using the stage name Dusty Springfield …

1963, “She Loves You” is played on the radio by influential DJ Murray “The K” Kaufman on WINS in New York … it is the first time a Beatles song is played on U.S. airwaves … Murray later becomes a staunch Beatles advocate and supporter, helping them to break into New York and America …

1966, The Yardbirds, with lead guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, embark upon a British tour with The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner … Blues Breakers John Mayall with Eric Clapton peaks at Number Six in the British LP charts … it is bested by other LPs that will go on to achieve classic status: Revolver, Pet Sounds, and Blonde on Blonde

1975, soul man Jackie Wilson suffers a heart attack in mid-performance at the Latin Casino in Camden, N.J. … the singer, dubbed “Mr. Excitement,” falls off the stage and strikes his head on the concrete floor, causing permanent brain damage … he lapses into a coma and spends the rest of his life hospitalized until death overtakes him in 1984 … the soul group The Spinners donate $60,000 for his medical care but much of that money is consumed in lawyer’s fees due to relatives tussling over control of Wilson’s estate … the singer will be laid to rest in an unmarked grave … the Wilson family is haunted by tragedy … son Jackie Jr. was killed in 1970 during a burglary, daughter Sandra will die of a heart attack in 1977, and daughter Jacqueline will be shot to death in a 1987 drive-by shooting …

1976, British bobbies take The Runaways into custody following the disappearance of a hair dryer from a hotel room …

1980, David Bowie makes his Broadway debut playing the title character in The Elephant Man

1982, the first compact discs and players hit the market in Japan … a joint venture between Sony and Philips, the CD will become a dominant musical format within five years …

1988, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” becomes the first a capella song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 … the single will also land George Bush the elder in hot water when he uses it in his presidential campaign without permission … in 2008, Billboard listed the tune in its top ten One Hit Wonders from the last 50 years … McFerrin, a classically trained musician and conductor, later expresses reservations about the single, saying “It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.” …

1991, Garth Brooks’ album Ropin’ the Wind debuts at number one on the Billboard Pop chart … it is the first country album to do so …

1993, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler settles his lawsuit with his former band and its managers for $2.5 million just before the case goes to the jury, this despite having signed an agreement in 1990 giving up his partnership interest in the band … during the trial guitarist Slash had testified that Adler had signed the agreement while he was “strung out” … Adler had been booted from the band when he couldn’t kick his heroin habit … five years to the day later, Adler is back in court, this time for sentencing on charges of having beaten two women he dated as well as violating probation on an earlier domestic case … he gets 150 days jail time …

1996, Smashing Pumpkins get off to a delayed tour start … the band needed extra time to integrate former Filter drummer Matt Walker and former Frogs’ keyboardist Dennis Flemion … the pair replace former keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin who died three months earlier from a heroin OD and drummer Jimmie Chamberlin who was canned following a drug possession bust … leader Billie Corgan will later acknowledge the replacements were a bad idea that hurt the band’s music and reputation … in 1999 a rehabilitated Chamberlin will rejoin the Pumpkins …

1997, wearing a white cowboy hat, Bob Dylan performs his “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in Bologna, Italy, with an apparently bored John Paul II looking on … the Audio Engineering Society unveils the new DVD Audio format in New York …

1999, Diana Ross is taken into custody at London’s Heathrow airport after a tussle with a female security officer … she is later cautioned and released …

2002, Mike Batt of The Planets settles a lawsuit filed by the John Cage Trust for “an undisclosed six-figure sum” … at issue is one minute of silence on the band’s latest CD Classical Graffitti … the avant-garde composer’s estate had claimed Batt plagiarized Cage’s 1952 composition “4’33″—which was completely silent—when he credited his piece “A One Minute Silence” to “Batt/Cage” …

2004, Cat Stevens is kicked out of the United States after a jet bound for Washington from London is diverted to unload him … the former pop singer now known as Yusuf Islam, born Stephen Georgiou, enjoyed a string of hits in the 1960s and 70s, including “Wild World” and “Morning Has Broken” … he released two songs, including a rerecording of “Peace Train,” to express his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq … officials say he was refused entry under the Immigration and Naturalization Act “based on national security grounds”…

2006, U2 and Green Day join forces by performing at New Orleans’ Superdome at the Saints’ first game in the arena since Hurricane Katrina shredded the venue more than a year earlier … broadcast on ESPN, the game draws 15 million viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a cable broadcast …

2007, Van Halen kicks off its first reunion tour since 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with David Lee Roth aboard … the band rips through a best-of set list with Eddie Van Halen and Roth bouncing off each other without a hint of the bad blood that has existed between the pair for decades … amazon.com launches its MP3 music download site … it’s expected that Amazon’s variable pricing scheme will put pressure on iTunes to adopt a similar strategy … it’s reported that director Martin Scorsese is working on a documentary about George Harrison amd will have the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late Beatle’s widow, Olivia … in September of 2011, it is announced the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World would be broadcast on the BBC later in the year …

2008, in a real turnabout Metallica fans ask the veteran heavy metalists to turn it down … in recording the band’s latest album, Death Magnetic, the sound was cranked and compressed so severely that the CD is riddled with distortion … 11,000 fans sign an online petition asking the band to remix and reissue the album … Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks implores Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder to write a song in support of the team’s World Series aspirations … Vedder’s “All The Way” is the result, but the Cubbies still fail to make the Series … London’s Victoria and Albert Museum spends £51,000 at auction to acquire the original artwork for the Stones’ tongue logo … artist John Pasche received £50 for creating the logo in 1970 …

… and that was the week that was in matters musical.

Arrivals:

September 22: Mike Patto, leader and vocalist for ’70s Brit rock band Patto (1942)

September 23: R&B and jazz bandleader Tiny Bradshaw (1905), Marion Keisker, assistant to Sun Records’ Sam Phillips who urged him to record Elvis (1917), blues guitarist-harpist Joe Hill Louis (1921), jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane (1926), jazz bassist Jimmy Woode (1928), Wally Whyton, leader of the British skiffle band The Vipers (1929), musical genius Ray Charles (1930), blues guitarist Fenton Robinson (1935), blues, rock, and jazz guitarist Roy Buchanan (1939), singer-songwriter Charlie Fox (1939), folk rocker Tim Rose (1940), British one-man blues band Duster Bennett (1943), songwriter-producer-session pianist Don Grolnick (1947), Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf (1947), John Baker Saunders, bassist for Seattle band Mad Season (1954)

September 24: gospel, blues, and doo-wop singer Allen Bunn (1924), Carl Feaster of The Chords (1930), actor and singer-songwriter Anthony Newley (1931), Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1933), James “Shep” Sheppard of Shep & The Limelites (1935), session reed player Steve Douglas (1938), Barbara Allbut of The Angels (1940), Phyllis Allbut of The Angels (1942), Linda McCartney (1942), Gerry Marsden of Gerry And The Pacemakers (1942), Cedric Dent of Take 6 (1962), Marty Cintron of No Mercy (1971)

September 25: Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906), Erik Darling of The Rooftop Singers (1933), bluesman Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes (1936), Ian Tyson of folk duo Ian and Sylvia (1933), Joseph Russell of The Persuasions (1939), Wade Flemons of Earth, Wind and Fire (1940), co-founder of Love, Bryan MacLean (1946), Italian rocker Zucchero (1955), actor and hip-hop artist Will Smith (1968), Diana Ortiz of Dream (1985)

September 26: George Gershwin (1898), New Orleans guitarist Rene Hall (1912), country singer Marty Robbins (1925), George Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1931), Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music (1945), country singer Lynn Anderson (1947), Olivia Newton-John (1948), Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos (1954), Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship (1954), country vocalist Carlene Carter (1955), Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl (1962), Cindy Herron of En Vogue (1965), Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon (1967), Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men (1972), pop and R&B singer Christina Milian (1981)

September 27: bluesman “Mighty” Joe Young (1927), producer Don Nix (1941), Randy Bachman of BTO (1943), Meat Loaf aka Marvin Lee Aday (1947), Greg Ham of Men At Work (1953), reggae bassist Robbie Shakespeare (1953), teen throb Shaun Cassidy (1958), Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind (1964), Mark Calderon of Color Me Badd (1970), Avril Lavigne (1984)

September 28: Ed Sullivan (1902), bluesman Houston Stackhouse (1910), country singer Tommy Collins (1930), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1931), Chicago blues songstress Koko Taylor (1935), soul singer and former Drifter Ben E. King (1938), bassist Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf (1943), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1955), George Lynch of Dokken (1955), Alannah Currie of The Thompson Twins (1959), pop singer Jennifer Rush (1960), teen popster Hilary Duff (1987)

Departures:

September 22: big band singer Connie Haines (2008)

September 23: blues harmonica player-vocalist-songwriter Gary Primich (2007), Etta Baker, Piedmont blues guitarist prominent in the folk revival of the 1960s (2006), Mississippi blues singer-guitarist Houston Stackhouse (1980), Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh (1974)

September 24: folk rocker Tim Rose (2002)

September 25: Jamie Lyons of The Music Explosion (2006), British folk singer-songwriter Matthew Jay (2003), Steve Canaday of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (1999), Led Zeppelin’s hard-hitting drummer John Bonham (1980)

September 26: virtuoso guitarist Shawn Lane (2003), eclectic British vocalist Robert Palmer (2003), songwriter Carl Sigman (2000), jazz diva Betty Carter (1998), pianist and writer Arnold Shaw (1989), blues guitarist Auburn “Pat” Hare (1980), “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith (1937)

September 27: rockabilly guitarist Paul Burlison (2003), D.O.A. drummer Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery (1994), Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1979)

September 28: DJ Scott Muni (2004), country star Bob Gibson (1996), Marcels baritone singer Allen Johnson (1995), jazz titan Miles Davis (1991), Rory Storm born Alan Caldwell (1972), DJ Dewey Phillips (1968), bandleader Lucky Millinder (1966)

Viewing all 20 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images