It happened this week

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1944, a plane carrying bandleader Glen Miller vanishes over the English Channel … the fate of the aircraft and its passengers remains a mystery …

1952, "Stormy Weather" by The Five Sharps is issued this week … it has become known as the rarest of all R&B records and only three 78rpm copies are known to exist … at auction the record is worth an estimated $20,000 … no 45rpm copies are known to exist…

1957, Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra Gale Brown…she is his third wife, his third cousin, and 13 years old … this same week, 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 states the song is "not in the spirit we associate with Christmas" whatever that means …

1960, German authorities deport 17–year–old George Harrison as he’s too young to perform with the Beatles in the raucous Hamburg nightclubs that hosted the band in its early days …

1961, The Beatles sign with manager Brian Epstein …

1964, 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 … 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 refuses to cut the song to the under the time required for radio … instead, the last two digits of the running time are reversed to appear as 3:05 … it takes programming directors weeks to discover why shows are suddenly running long … the trick works, though, as "Lovin’ Feelin’" was already a hit and in demand …

1965, Bill Graham promotes his first concert at the Fillmore Auditorium as a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe … Graham rents the venue from leaseholder Charles Sullivan, an African–American man who, during the 1950s and 1960s, is the largest promoter of black music west of the Mississippi … Graham will later take over all shows at the venue and the Fillmore will become a Mecca for psychedelic bands and their patchouli–scented fans …

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 warm–up band for Redding’s show that evening is a group called The Grim Reaper …

…The Beach Boys are given transcendental meditation instruction by the guru to the Beatles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi …

1968, The Rolling Stones film Rock & Roll Circus is shot 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 makes it … the film will not see release until 1996 …

1971, Frank Zappa is pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London … he 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 wheel chair for most of the year …

1977, The Sex Pistols are denied U.S. visas two days before the band is to appear on Saturday Night Live

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?" …

1988, James Brown draws a prison sentence of six years for fleeing cops during an interstate car chase … he is paroled in February 1991 …

1998, 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 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 … in announcing that he’ll run for mayor of London, former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren enumerates the novel planks of his political platform: legalize boozing in public libraries, legalize pot, legalize all–night pubs, and last but not least, install brothels outside the houses of Parliament … he drops out of the race a couple of months later …

2004, James Brown announces that he will be operated on for prostate cancer …

2005, singer Nellie McKay is dropped by Columbia Records following a protracted squabble over her sophomore release…she wants to release a 23–track version of the album while the label wants to pare it down to 16 … referring to her breakup with the label she invokes fellow Columbia artist Bob Dylan’s lyric: "I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more" …

2006, daredevil Evel Knievel files suit against Kanye West charging trademark infringement over the rapper’s "Touch the Sky" video in which West, using the alter–ego "Evel Kanyevel" attempts to jump a canyon on a motorcycle … apparently not a West fan, Knievel terms the video, "… the most worthless piece of crap I’ve ever seen in my life."…

2007, Led Zep reunites for a one–off show at London’s O2 arena as a part of a tribute to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who died a year earlier … the two–hour set included many of the band’s biggest hits and represented Zep’s first full–length show since drummer John Bonham died in 1980 … filling in on drums is John’s son, Jason who acquitts himself well … rumors swirl about a reunion tour … also this week, a half dozen tracks posted online by garage rockers Foxboro Hot Tubs get heightened attention when word leaks that the songs are actually the work of pop punksters Green Day … a full–length album, Stop Drop and Roll, containing the singles will be released the following April …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

December 10: jazz bandleader Jerry Blaine (1910), Guitar Slim, born Eddie Jones (1926), Ralph Tavares of Tavares (1948), J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., born Joseph Donald Mascis (1965), 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)

December 13: Wayne “Duster” Bennett (1932), Robert Covington (1941), Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (1948), Ted Nugent (1948), Randy Owen of Alabama (1949), Television’s Tom Verlaine (1949), country star John Anderson (1954), Berton Averre of The Knack (1954), Tom DeLonge of blink–182 (1975)

December 14: Spike Jones (1911), country star Charlie Rich (1932), Warren Ryanes of The Monotones (1937), Don Addrisi (1938), surf music producer Gary Usher (1938), Joyce Vincent Wilson of Dawn (1946), Patty Duke (1946), Cliff Williams of AC/DC (1949), singer Tamara Daanz (1952), The Waterboys’ Mike Scott (1958), Peter Stacy of The Pogues (1958), Brian Dalyrimple of Soul for Real (1975)

December 15: guitarist Oscar Moore of the Nat “King” Cole Trio (1912), Max Yasgur whose dairy farm was the site of Woodstock (1919), DJ Alan Freed (1922), country singer–songwriter Ernie Ashworth (1928), R&B balladeer Jesse Belvin (1933), Johnny Moore of The Drifters (1934), Cindy Birdsong of The Supremes (1939), Dave Clark of the Dave Clark 5 (1942), Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge (1946), Harry Ray of The Moments (1946), Paul Simonon of The Clash (1955)

December 16: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770), Ernie Freeman (1922), New Orleans saxman Clarence Ford (1922), Tony Hicks of The Hollies (1943), John Abercrombie (1944), Benny Andersson of ABBA (1946), Harry Ray of Ray, Goodman, & Brown (1946), ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons (1950), guitarist Robben Ford (1951), Steve Lundy of Force M.D.’s (1965), Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon (1968), Michael McCary of Boyz II Men (1971)

Departures:

December 10: fingerpickin’ Delta blues legend Jerry Ricks (2007), Rick Danko of The Band (1999), lyricist Buddy Feyne (1998), Jake Carey, bass singer with The Flamingos (1997), country singer 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 ( all 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)

December 13: slide guitarist “Homesick” James Williamson (2006), children’s composer Larry Troxel (1998)

December 14: legendary record label honcho Ahmet Ertegun (2006), Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin’ Spoonful (2002), jazz trumpeter Conte Condoli (2001), Kurt Winter of The Guess Who? (1997), Pattie Santos of It’s A Beautiful Day (1989), Dinah Washington (1963)

December 15: Rufus “Walkin’ The Dog” Thomas (2001), Bianca Halstead of Betty Blowtorch (2001), music industry executive Nat Tarnopol (1987), Will Shatter of Flipper (1983), R&B shouter Jackie Brenston (1979), Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain (1975), Glenn Miller (1944), Fats Waller (1943)

December 16: country singer Gary Stewart (2003), Stuart Adamson of Big Country (2001), Nicolette Larson (1997), androgynous disco star Sylvester James (1988)

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