This is the week that was in matters musical …
1842, formed by a group of local musicians, the New York Philharmonic gives its first concert …
1957, Al Priddy, a disc jockey at station KEX in Portland, Oregon, is fired for playing Elvis Presley’s version of “White Christmas” … the station had instituted a ban of the song due to a behind-the-scenes deal with original song composer Irving Berlin, who detested The King’s version of his tune … KEX management released a statement which said the song was “not in the spirit we associate with Christmas” … whatever that means …
1961, The Beatles sign with manager Brian Epstein …
1964, original blue-eyed soul singers The Righteous Brothers release the Phil Spector-produced mega-hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” … besides being deliriously catchy with an instantly memorable melody, the song records several firsts … it is the first four-minute single to hit number one in the U.S. and the first tune produced by Spector to top the charts in England … Spector refused to cut the song to the under three-minute time required for radio … instead, the last two digits of the running time were reversed to appear as 3:05 … it took programming directors weeks to discover why shows were suddenly running long … the trick worked, though, as “Lovin’ Feelin'” was already a hit and in demand … John Coltrane records “A Love Supreme” with his quartet … Also this week, Sam Cooke is shot and beaten to death by a motel manager in Los Angeles … Cooke was apparently running amok wearing only a sport coat and shoes … he was chasing a young woman who had fled his room with his clothes after he had assaulted her … in pursuit Cooke broke open the door to the manager’s office, resulting in her shooting him three times and then beating the singer for good measure … he is dead when police arrive …
1967, Otis Redding is killed when his tour plane crashes into Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin … the “Love Man” is 26 … killed with Redding are the pilot and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays … the scheduled warmup band for Redding’s show that evening is a group called The Grim Reaper …
1968, The Rolling Stones film Rock & Roll Circus in front of a live audience in London … the circus performers include The Rolling Stones, The Who, Marianne Faithful, Jethro Tull, and temporary rock supergroup Dirty Mac, consisting of John Lennon, Mitch Mitchell, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards … Yoko Ono makes an appearance on one Dirty Mac tune … the rock-concert extravaganza was intended for broadcast as a television special, but never made it … the film would not see release until 1996 …
1969, Jimi Hendrix takes the stand in the Toronto Supreme Court at his trial for possession of hashish and heroin … Hendrix testifies that he has smoked pot four times and hashish five times, taken LSD five times, and sniffed cocaine twice but says he has “outgrown” drugs … the jury finds him not guilty after eight hours of deliberation …
1971, Frank Zappa is pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London … Zapp gets the shove from the jealous boyfriend of an ardent young fan … Frank suffers a broken leg, broken ankle, fractured skull, and crushed larynx, but it’s the damage to his spine which keeps him in a wheelchair for most of the year …
1980, John Lennon is shot to death in New York City on the street outside his apartment …
1982, actress-choreographer-one-hit-wonder Toni Basil hits number one on the BillBoard, pop chart with “Mickey” …
1984, various popular artists, who are part of Bob Geldof’s Band-Aid rock charity, release the well-intentioned, but campy, single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” …
1991, Rita Marley is finally awarded Bob Marley’s contested estate after years of legal wrangling … as a result of the verdict famous Marley son Ziggy names his daughter Justice …
1993, Guns N’ Roses announce they will keep the song “Look At Your Game, Girl” written by Charles Manson on their album The Spaghetti Incident? … the band decides to leave the song on the album when they learn the royalties will go to the son of one of Manson’s victims …
1998, Frank Sinatra’s FBI file is released to the public by the Bureau … it contains 2,403 pages documenting assorted sordid Sinatra facts like his close connections with organized crime and well-hidden arrest records … Cuban-born jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States after a six-year struggle with the Immigration and Naturalization Service … Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs is injured in a brawl outside the Liberty Lunch nightclub … the band has just finished a show inside the Austin, Texas, club when the singer gets into a fight with one of the club’s security guards … Dulli ends up in the hospital for a few days with a fractured skull …
1999, rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s second posthumous album, Born Again, sells nearly half a million copies in its first week … it bumps Celine Dion out of the top spot with national retailers …
2000, Metallica sues Neiman-Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Guerlain, Inc. for trademark infringement … the three companies are responsible for a perfume branded Metallica …
2003, Ozzy Osbourne is crushed under the all-terrain vehicle he is riding at his country estate in Buckinghamshire, England … the accident puts him in the hospital for nearly a month recovering from injuries that include a fractured left collarbone, eight fractured ribs, and crushed neck vertebrae … he awakes from a coma-like condition with no sense of smell or taste, convinced he has been in a bomb blast in Wales while touring with his band …
2004, Damageplan and ex-Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell is shot to death at a Columbus, Ohio, nightclub … Damageplan has just started their show when a crazed fan runs onstage and shoots Dimebag … the shooter then kills a band roadie and two fans … a hostage situation is ended when a local police officer enters the backstage area and shoots the assailant, killing him …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
December 6: Broadway lyricist Ira Gershwin (1896), Dave Brubeck (1920), Len Barry of The Dovells (1942), Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five (1943), Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown (1947), Joe X. Dube of Looking Glass (1950), Jam’s Rick Buckler (1955), Peter Buck of R.E.M. (1956), Randy Rhoads (1956), Dave Lovering of The Pixies (1961), Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl (1962), Ace of Base’s Ulf Ekberg (1970)
December 7: Harry Chapin (1942), Tom Waits (1949), Carlos Vega (1957), Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs (1958), Barbara Weathers of Atlantic Starr (1963), All Saints’ Nicole Appleton (1974), Aaron Carter (1987)
December 8: Jean Sibelius (1865), Sammy Davis Jr. (1925), master of the B3 Jimmy Smith (1925), Jerry Butler (1939), flutist James Galway (1939), The Hollies’ Bobby Elliot (1942), Jim Morrison (1943), Gregg Allman (1947), Warren Cuccurullo of Duran Duran (1956), Phil Collen of Def Leppard (1957), Paul Rutherford of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1959), Marty Friedman of Megadeth (1962), Sinead O’Connor (1966), Bushwick Bill of The Geto Boys (1966), Ryan Newell of Sister Hazel (1972)
December 9: Junior Wells (1934), Rick Danko of The Band (1943), Shirley Brickley of The Orlons (1944), Neil Innes of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (1944), The Commodores’ Walter Orange (1946), Candy Givens of Zephyr (1946), Joan Armatrading (1950), Randy Murray of BTO (1955), Donny Osmond (1957), Crowded House’s Nick Seymour (1958), Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan (1970), Geoff Barrow of Portishead (1971), Green Day’s Tre Cool (1972), Canibus (1974)
December 10: Jerry Blaine (1910), John Hammond (1910), Ivory Joe Hunter (1914), Guitar Slim born Eddie Jones (1926), Ralph Tavares of Tavares (1948), Timothy Christian Riley of Tony! Toni! Tone! (1966), Scot Alexander of Dishwalla (1971), Meg White of The White Stripes (1974)
December 11: Yodeling Slim Clark (1917), Big Mama Thornton aka Willie Mae Thornton (1926), Buddy Ace aka the Root Doctor (1936), David Gates of Bread (1940), Booker T. Jones of Booker T and The MGs (1944), Brenda Lee (1944), Jermaine Jackson (1954), Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens (1958), Nikki Sixx (1958), Justin Curie of Del Amitri (1964)
December 12: Frank Sinatra (1915), big-band singer Joe Williams (1918), Sun Records founder Sam Phillips (1923), jazz guitarist Jim Hall (1930), Connie Francis (1938), Dionne Warwick (1941), Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers (1943), Motor City 5 singer Rob Tyner (1944), Clive Bunker of Jethro Tull (1946), Martin Stone of Savoy Brown (1946), George Brown of Kool & The Gang (1949), Chris Stein of Blondie (1950), Don Baird of The Georgia Satellites (1953), Cy Curnin of The Fixx (1957), Sheila E. (1959), Eric Schenkman of Spin Doctors (1963), Grant Young of Soul Asylum (1964), Kate Schellenbach of Luscious Jackson (1965), Nick Dimichino of Nine Days (1967), Danny Boy of House Of Pain (1968), Marilyn Manson (1969), Dino Meneghin of The Calling (1977)
Departures:
December 6: Memphis bass man Busta Jones (1995), Roy Orbison (1988), Leadbelly (1949)
December 7: Cass County Boy Jerry Scoggins (2004), Kenny Baker (1999), composer John Addison (1998), Carol Joyner Gourley (1997), Dee Clark (1990), Richard Taylor (1987), Darby Crash (1980)
December 8: Dimebag Darrell Abbott (2004), Antonio Carlos Jobim (1994), jazz trumpeter Buck Clayton (1991), Herbert “Toubo” Rhoad (1988), Willie Williams (1988), Hollywood Fats (1986), Marty Robbins (1982), Walter “Shakey” Horton (1981), John Lennon (1980), Gary Thain of Uriah Heep (1975)
December 9: Mike Botts of Bread (2005), Mary Hansen of Stereolab (2002), Waitresses singer Patti Donahue (1996), Orioles vocalist Sonny Til (1981)
December 10: Rick Danko of The Band (1999), lyricist Buddy Feyne (1998), Jake Carey (1997), Faron Young (1996), rapper Darren Robinson of The Fat Boys (1995), Willie Harris of the Clovers (1988), Otis Redding (1967), Bar-Kays guitarist Jimmy King (1967), Bar-Kays sax player Phalin Jones (1967), Bar-Kays drummer Carl Cunningham (1967), Bar-Kays organ player Ronnie Caldwell (1967)
December 11: Snot member Lynn Strait (1998), Sam Cooke (1964)
December 12: Elvis impersonator Orion (1998), king of zydeco accordion Clifton Chenier (1987), session pianist and founding member of The Rolling Stones Ian Stewart (1985)