Toxic Web » Deaths

Kick out the jams mother…

Toxic Web — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:47:13 +0000

…fuckers.

MC5 bass player Michael Davis died last Friday, February 17th, of liver disease at the age of 68. Which means with the deaths of Rob Tyner and Fred “Sonic” Smith, in the 90s, that 3/5ths of the MC5 along with 3/4s of the Ramones are dead while Simon Cowell still lives.

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:00:22 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

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1962, Ringo Starr joins the Beatles after former drummer Pete Best is let go … Ringo’s performing debut is at the Horticultural Society Dance in Birkenhead … The personnel change is not popular with many … When the remodeled Beatles appear at the Cavern, irate fans of Pete Best attack the band, giving George Harrison a nasty black eye that barely goes away in time for the band’s first photo shoot …

1967, The Doors begin laying tracks for their second album at Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, California.

1968, down and out in Chicago, a broke and destitute Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company reconsider an earlier offer they had initially passed on, signing on with Bob Shad’s Mainstream Records. Shad refuses to let the band in the studio during their album’s final mix … The record is not released until the band’s successful performance at the Montery Pop Festival the following year …

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1969, The Woodstock Music and Art Festival is held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York … nearly half a million gather to celebrate “3 Days of Peace and Music” (and mud, lots of mud) and enjoy performances by a Who’s Who of rock-and-roll, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ten Years After, and Jefferson Airplane … Joni Mitchell misses Woodstock when her manager books her on Dick Cavett’s TV show … The Canadian-born singer goes on to pen the seminal song about the festival, “Woodstock” … Mick Jagger is accidentally shot in the hand during the filming of Ned Kelly in Australia … his wound is not serious … Miles Davis goes into the studio in New York for the first sessions of the landmark album, Bitches Brew with Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Benny Maupin, John McLaughlin, Larry Young, Harvey Brooks, Lenny White, Don Alias, and Jumma Santos …

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1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival starts a nine-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with their fifth studio release Cosmo’s Factory. The name of the album stems from the warehouse in Berkeley where the band practiced. Bandleader John Fogerty’s insistence on constant rehearsals leads drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford to start referring to the place as “the factory.”

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1970, Derek and the Dominoes perform at the Van Dike in Plymouth, England …

1972, Chicago starts a nine-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album charts with Chicago V … David Bowie plays the first of two nights at the Rainbow Theatre in England on his current 182-date Ziggy Stardust world tour …

1974, Led Zeppelin begin a 2-night stand at Pirates World in Dania, Florida. Also on the bill are The Royal Ascots, Brimstone and The Echo …

1980, Queen appears at The Spectrum in Philly …

1988, “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, and Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” are announced as the most played jukebox songs of the first hundred years. The jukebox has been around since 1906, but earlier models had been first seen in 1889 … “Crazy” is recorded during this week in 1961 by Cline, who tracked the Willie Nelson gem while on crutches due to injuries from a car crash in which she was thrown through the window …

1990, Garth Brook’s “Friends in Low Places” soars toward the #1 spot on the charts … the song will eventually receive the Country Music Association (CMA) Single of the Year Award

1997, U2 plays the first of two sold-out nights at Wembley Stadium, London, England, on their Pop Mart tour …

2003, Norwegian Elvis Presley impersonator Kjell Henning Bjoernestad sets a world record by singing the King’s hits nonstop for over 26 hours. The previous mark was set by British Elvis fan Gary Jay who sang for 25 hours 33 minutes and 30 seconds.

2006, a man in America looking at a webcam located in England foils three men who are breaking into a shop in Liverpool. The man is logged onto a site streaming live footage of Mathew Street, the site of an upcoming Beatles festival, when he sees the men smashing a shop window and climbing inside. He phones the Merseyside police who arrest the men.

2011, hot summer concert tickets include Lady Gaga, Kid Rock, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry, and Jimmy Buffet …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

August 18: lyricist Otto Harbach (1873), folk singer Cisco Houston (1918), pop singer Johnny Preston (1939), Dennis Elliot of Foreigner (1950), Ron Stryker of Men at Work (1957), rapper-singer-songwriter Everlast, born Erik Schrody (1969)

August 19: jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles (1918), Cream drummer Ginger Baker (1939), singer Johnny Nash of “I Can See Clearly Now” fame (1940), vocalist Billy J. Kramer of the Dakotas (1943), Ian Gillan of Deep Purple (1945), Queen’s John Deacon (1951), country singer-songwriter Lee Ann Womack (1966)

August 20: jazz trombonist-vocalist Jack Teagarden (1905), country singer Jim Reeves (1924), jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney (1927), Paul Robi of The Platters (1931), bluesman J.J. Malone (1935), country singer-songwriter Justin Tubb (1935), Isaac Hayes (1942), John Povey of The Pretty Things (1942), James Pankow of Chicago (1947), Robert Plant (1948), Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy (1951), Rudy Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers (1952), Doug Fieger of The Knack (1952), singer-songwriter John Hiatt (1952), Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit (1970)

August 21: William “Count” Basie (1904), big-band singer Savannah Churchill (1920), gospel singer Clara Ward (1924), songwriter Carolyn Leigh (1926), Kenny Rogers (1938), country picker James Burton (1939), Tom Coster of Santana (1941), Harold W. Reid of The Statler Brothers (1939), Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple (1952), Steve Smith of Journey (1954), Joe Strummer of The Clash (1955), Budgie—born Pete Clark—of Siouxsie and the Banshees (1957), Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge (1958), Liam Howlett of Prodigy (1971)

August 22: Claude Debussy (1862), classic blues singer Addie “Sweet Peas” Spivey (1910), pianist and bandleader Sonny Thompson (1916), John Lee Hooker (1917), Carolina Slim, born Edward P. Harris (1923), Bob Flanigan of The Four Freshmen (1926), producer Jerry Capehart (1928), Freddie Milano of The Belmonts (1939), Jackie De Shannon (1944), Donna Godchaux of The Grateful Dead (1947), Teresa Davis of The Emotions (1950), country chirper and writer Holly Dunn (1957), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (1958), Debbi Peterson of The Bangles (1961), Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears (1961), Tori Amos (1963), James DeBarge of DeBarge (1963), Layne Staley of Alice in Chains (1967), Matchbox 20′s Paul Douchette (1972), Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys (1973)

August 23: dancer Gene Kelly (1912), country star Tex Williams (1917), The Drifters’ Rudy Lewis (1936), Jamaican producer Bunny Lee (1941), Ramon Phillips of The Nashville Teens (1941), Keith Moon (1947), Rick Springfield (1949), Shadows of Knight’s Jim Sohns (1949), Jim Jamison of Survivor (1951), Steve Clark of Def Leppard (1960), Dean DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots (1961), Colin Angus of The Shamen (1961), The Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder (1962)

August 24: bluesman and Elvis influence Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1905), jump-blues shouter Wynonie Harris (1915), country songwriter Fred Rose (1917), William Winfield of The Harptones (1929), David Frieberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1938), Mason “Classical Gas” Williams (1938), Ernest Wright of Little Anthony and the Imperials (1939), Procol Harum manager and pirate radio operator Tony Secunda (1940), Joe Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1942), soul singer Fontella Bass (1942), Jimmy Soul, born James McCleese (1942), John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1943), Jim Capaldi of Traffic (1944), Malcolm Duncan of Average White Band (1945), Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep (1945), Heart’s Mike DeRosier (1951), Juan Nelson (1958), Mark Bedford of Madness (1961), Pebbles, born Perri McKissack (1964)

Departures:

August 18: Pervis Jackson, founding member of the Spinners (2008), film composer Elmer Bernstein (2004), founder of the Country Gentlemen, bluegrass picker Charlie Waller (2004), Leonard “Chick” Carbo, lead singer of The Spiders (1998), Belgian impresario and concert promoter Freddy Cousaert (1998), highly regarded R&B and funk session pianist Richard Tee, born Richjard Ten Ryk (1993), psychedelic concert poster artist Rick Griffin (1991)

August 19: LeRoi Moore, saxophonist with The Dave Matthews Band (2008), Joseph Hill, lead singer and founder of reggae band Culture (2006), Dorsey Burnette, bass player of rockabilly institution The Rock and Roll Trio (1979), 12-string guitarist Blind Willie McTell, composer of “Statesboro Blues” (1959)

August 20: Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan (1999), singer Rio Reiser (1996), masterful steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys (1988), jazz trumpeter Thad Jones (1986)

August 21: producer Jerry Finn (2008), Nashville session drummer Buddy Harman (2008), Robert Moog (2005), Tarheel Slim, born Alden Bunn (1977), country guitarist Sam McGee (1975)

August 22: singer Ralph Young (2008), honky-tonk legend Floyd Tillman (2003), blues pianist Leonard “Baby Doo” Caston (1987), bluesman John Lee Granderson (1979)

August 23: high-note jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson (2006), Eleanor O. Guest, one of Gladys Knight’s Pips (1997), Skinny Puppy drummer Dwayne Goettel (1995), Broadway songwriter-director Oscar Hammerstein II (1960)

August 24: producer-arranger Gene Page (1998), Doug Stegmeyer, bassist for Billy Joel (1995), Jesse Bolian of The Artistics (1994), Gene Knight of The Showmen (1992), Motown drummer Larrie Londin (1992), bluesman L.C. Greene (1985), trumpeter-pop singer Louis Prima (1978)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:00:37 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1927, bluesman Texas Alexander records “Range In My Kitchen Blues” for Paramount Records in New York City …

1939, pioneering electric guitarist Charlie Christian sits in with Benny Goodman’s group at a club in Beverly Hills … Goodman isn’t interested in hearing an electric guitar, but Charlies’ manager John Hammond sneaks him onstage while Goodman is on a break … he proceeds to wow audiences and musicians alike with his seemingly endless single-string virtuosity …

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1962, “Your Heart Belongs to Me” by the Supremes debuts on the Hot 100 chart … it is the first of their eventual 47 hits … Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as The Beatles’ drummer … rumor has it Lennon and McCartney are frustrated by Best’s good looks, which attract the most groupies … fact is, Best isn’t cutting it as a drummer whereas Ringo is the missing piece of the puzzle …

1965, The Jefferson Airplane play their first live show at the Matrix Club in San Francisco … the band will ink a deal with RCA before the year’s end, one of the first rock bands on the Bay Area scene to do so …

1966, John Lennon generates more controversy after his recent Jesus comments by publicly expressing his admiration for American draft dodgers while the band is in Toronto …

1967, recording sessions resume for the classic Love album Forever Changes … sessions that began in June were marked with bickering and personnel changes that resulted in the producer bringing in members of L.A.’s famed session stars “The Wrecking Crew” to record backing tracks for three tunes prompting group members to get their recording chops together … Fleetwood Mac plays their first gig at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival a month before bassist John McVie joins the band even though the band’s name is derived from drummer Mick Fleetwood’s and McVie’s last names … the rhythm section these two form will be the only constant throughout the entire history of the band …

1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience performs their instrumental version of the “Star Spangled Banner” for the first time in concert … a full month before Jose Feliciano sings his controversial version at Game 5 of the World Series in Detroit … a year later Hendrix will perform it at Woodstock, this time it is filmed and thereby influences countless other desecrations of our sacred national anthem …

1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Festival is held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York … anywhere from 300,000 to nearly half a million (depending on whose estimate you believe) will gather to celebrate what is billed as “3 Days of Peace and Music” and enjoy performances by a who’s who of rock, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ten Years After, Joe Cocker, Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and Jefferson Airplane …

1970, Jim Morrison’s trial for allegedly exposing himself during a 1969 concert begins in Miami … Morrison will be found guilty on one count of profanity and one count of indecent exposure but will appeal the convictions …

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1977, The Police play their first gig as a threesome after guitar man Henri Padovani leaves the band … Peter Frampton comes alive in three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden …

1985, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon nearly drowns after his yacht capsizes during a race off the coast of England …

1988, Michelle Shocked’s album Short Sharp Shocked is released with an authentic cover shot of the artist being carted off by a pair of L.A. cops … her label, Cooking Vinyl, overprints sunglasses on a policeman’s face and obscures a badge number to protect the innocent …

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1990, in a tragic freak accident, part of a lighting rig falls on Curtis Mayfield during a performance in Brooklyn, New York … the incident leaves Mayfield paralyzed from the neck down …

1995, Courtney Love blows her cork when the audience at a Hole concert doesn’t get ecstatic over her performance on the last night of the Lollapalooza tour in Mountain View, California … security guards carry her off the stage when she begins to physically fight with audience members …

1998, Pete Townshend plays to an SRO crowd at Chicago’s House of Blues and raises $300,000 for Maryille Academy, a home for abused and neglected children …

1999, The Backstreet Boys break box office records by selling all 765,000 tickets for their North American tour in just one day, taking in a cool $30 million, most of it within just a single hour …

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2003, during a radio interview, Ted Nugent says that the people of Illinois are “spineless, apathetic, embarrassing wimps” for their lack of involvement in their state government … Nugent’s comments result from his displeasure over the state’s gun laws … despite his scorn, Nugent will play the Illinois State Fair later in the day … fortunately for the Motor City Madman, the audience is apparently a bunch of embarrassing wimps who are too spineless and apathetic to demand refunds …

2005, a reworked version of the musical Lennon opens on Broadway following a debut in San Francisco that met with hostile reviews … the storyline of the rejiggered show has been revamped into a more linear flow when critics and audiences alike were mystified by the original libretto … Eminem cancels a European tour and checks into rehab … a representative says the sojourn is for a “dependancy on sleep medication” … the 11-date tour cancellation costs the rapper about $18 million in ticket sales … Madonna breaks her collarbone, hand, and three ribs when she’s tossed from a horse in England … the ride was in celebration of her 47th birthday …

2006, My Chemical ~~Romance~~ Toilet is obliged to cancel a San Diego festival date when singer Gerard Way and drummer Bob Bryar injure themselves while shooting a video …

2008, the format of Rolling Stone magazine is being downsized from large-format pages to traditional magazine size to spur lagging sales … The Allman Brothers sue Universal Music Group for more than $10 million charging that they are owed royalties on downloads and CD sales of material they cut on the Capricorn label between 1969 and 1980 …

2009, Eddie Van Halen is reported to be mending from surgery intended to deal with severe pain in his left hand … it is estimated that healing will be a four- to six-month process …

2010, after a ten-year absence, the first Lilith Fair completes its tour in Dallas … performers in this celebration of women in music included The Bangles, Brandi Carlisle, Colbie Caillat, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, The Go-Go’s, Indigo Girls, Kelly Clarkson, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Norah Jones, Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, Suzanne Vega, and of course, the originator of Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan who told Chris Harris of Rolling Stone magazine it was wonderful to see established and new artists alike have the opportunity to play in front of much larger or more diverse audiences than usual …

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

Arrivals:

August 11: Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann (1942), David Box—a Buddy Holly soundalike who ironically also died in a plane crash (1943), Jim Kale of Guess Who (1943), Eric Carmen (1949), Joe Jackson (1955), Bragi Olafsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), guitarist Charlie Sexton (1968), Ali of A Tribe Called Quest (1970), Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly of Kriss Kross (1978), J-Boog of B2K (1985)

August 12: R&B singer-songwriter Percy Mayfield (1920), singer-songwriter Joe Jones (1926), Porter Wagoner (1927), Buck Owens, creator of “The Bakersfield Sound” (1929), pop songstress Jennifer Warren (1941), Mark Knopfler (1949), August Darnell of Kid Creole and the Coconuts (1950), jazz guitarist Pat Metheny (1954), Suzanne Vega (1959), Roy Hay of Culture Club (1961)

August 13: jazz pianist George Shearing (1919), “Baby Boy” Robert Warren (1919), Don Ho (1930), Dave “Baby” Cortez (1938), Son Seals (1942), Dan Fogelberg (1951), Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1953), Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones (1958)

August 14: swing and jazz violinist Stuff Smith (1909), R&B singer Jackie Brenston (1927), songwriter Carol Joyner Gourley (1938), Dash Crofts of Seals and Crofts (1940), David Crosby (1941), Tim Bogart of Vanilla Fudge (1944), inventor of the slap bass, Larry Graham (1946), Slim Dunlap of The Replacements (1951), Sharon Bryant of Atlantic Star (1956), Kevin Cadogan of Third Eye Blind (1970)

August 15: blues harp player Buster Brown, born Waymon Glasco (1911), Oscar Peterson (1925), bluegrass-country singer Rose Maddox (1925), Bill Pinkney of The Drifters (1925), R&B singer Bobby Byrd (1934), singer Bobby Helms (1936), Peter York of the Spencer Davis Group (1942), songwriter Jimmy Webb (1946), Tom Johnston of The Doobie Brothers (1948), Tommy Aldridge of Black Oak Arkansas (1950), MCA of The Beastie Boys (1967)

August 16: baritone jazz crooner Al Hibbler (1915), jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans (1929), English country and pop singer Karl Denver (1931), chanteuse Eydie Gormé (1931), lead singer of The Dubs, Richard Blandon (1934), New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell (1935), R&B singer-songwriter Barbara George (1942), songwriter and touring musician Kin Vassy (1943), Barry Hay of Golden Earring (1948), J.T. Taylor of Kool & The Gang (1953), Tim Farriss of INXS (1957), Madonna (born Louise Ciccone) (1958), Chris Pederson of Camper Van Beethoven (1960), Emily Erwin of Dixie Chicks (1972), singer-songwriter-pianist Vanessa Carlton (1980)

August 17: ’50s pop singer Georgia Gibbs (1919), Sam Butera, tenor sax player with Louis Prima (1927), Mark Dinning of “Teen Angel” fame (1933), bluesman Luther Allison (1939), Sib Hashian of Boston (1949), guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson (1954), XTC’s Colin Moulding (1955), Gilby Clark of Guns N’ Roses (1962), singer-songwriter Maria McKee (1964), Steve Gorman of Black Crowes (1965), Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson (1966), Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block (1969), Posdnuos of De La Soul (1969)

Departures:

August 11: pedal steel player Don Helms (2008), singer-talk show host Mike Douglas (2006), conductor Rafael Kubelick (1996), The Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1996), bandleader-pianist Sonny Thompson (1989), Percy Mayfield—one day short of his 64th birthday (1984)

August 12: free jazz drummer Rashied Ali (2009), singer-talk show host Merv Griffin (2007), Luther Allison (1997), John Cage (1992), Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto (1985), Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty (1984)

August 13: Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward (2010), guitar legend Les Paul (2009), John Loder, founder of the punk label Southern Records (2005), composer David Tudor (1996), blues drummer Fred Below (1988), soul singer Joe Tex, born Joseph Arrington Jr. (1982), soulful sax man King Curtis (1971), R&B star Joe Hinton (1968)

August 14: Johnny Duncan (2006), Esther Wong, owner of the L.A. punk venue Madame Wong’s (2005), Tony Williams, lead vocalist of The Platters (1992), Hawkwind vocalist Robert Calvert (1989), guitarist Roy Buchanan (1988)

August 15: record producer-pianist Jim Dickinson (2009), William Herbert “Lum” York, bass player for Hank Williams (2004), singer-songwriter Joe Seneca (1996), Jamaican singer-songwriter Jackie Edwards (1996), Thomas Wayne (1971), Stick Mcghee, born Granville McGhee, most associated with his song, “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” (1961), influential bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (1958)

August 16: jazz drummer Max Roach (2007), percussionist Ray Romero (2006), country fiddler Vassar Clements (2005), Bobby DeBarge, member of R&B groups Switch and DeBarge (1995), Christian rock songwriter Mark Heard (1992), Stacy Sutherland, guitarist for The 13th Floor Elevators (1978), The King, Elvis Presley (1977), legendary bluesman Robert Johnson (1938)

August 17: Skatalite trumpeter, Dizzy Moore (2008), Bernard Odum, bassist with James Brown (2004), guitar-maker to the stars, Tony Zemaitis (2002), Chicago soul singer Johnny Sayles (1993), Phil Seymour, drummer and singer with The Dwight Twilley Band (1993), singer-actress Pearl Bailey (1990), soul singer Lorraine Ellison (1985), Paul Williams, singer and guitarist for The Temptations (1973)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:00:15 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

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1937, George Beauchamp is granted patent #2,089,171 by the U.S. Patent Office for an “Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument” … the original “frying pan” electric guitar … George was a Hawaiian musician living in Los Angeles … Bunny Berigan and his orchestra record the jazz standard “I Can’t Get Started” … the chord changes from this oft-covered tune become a staple for bebop musicians a decade later …

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1949, Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five record “Saturday Night Fish Fry,” an influential proto-rock song …

1957, John Lennon and his band The Quarry Men play their debut date at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, a venue devoted to jazz and skiffle … after the band performs “Come Go With Me,” “Hound Dog,” and “Blue Suede Shoes,” irate club owner Alan Sytner sends a note up to the stage reading, “Cut out the bloody rock!” … so it was back to standard skiffle fare such as “Rock Island Line” and “Midnight Special” …

1960, 25,000 copies of the death-rock single “Tell Laura I Love Her” by Ray Peterson are destroyed by Decca Records after a critic deems the song “too tasteless and vulgar for English sensibility” … it is interesting to speculate what that critic may have made of Ozzy Osbourne or the Sex Pistols a little later on …

1964, Rod Stewart makes his television debut singing with the Hootchie Coochie Men on the British show The Beat Room … The Rolling Stones know they have arrived when they get the chance to hang out with two of their idols, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon, while recording at Chicago’s Chess studios … the band’s name resulted from a tune by Muddy …

1965, singer-organist Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five suffers two fractured ribs when he’s pulled off the stage by an enthusiastic fan …

1967, Beatle George Harrison hangs out at a love-in in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park … he’s less than enchanted recalling It was full of hideous, spotty little teenagers. It turned me off to the whole thing … a fan stows away on The Monkees’ tour plane … the girl’s father vows to have charges brought against the band for transporting a minor across state lines …

1968, performing at England’s National Jazz and Blues Festival, Jerry Lee Lewis whips the crowd into a frenzy that begins to turn violent … three rockers leave with bleeding mouths, a stage assistant loses four teeth, and thanks to a six-inch scaffold coupling pin being thrown through the bass drum of Andrew Steele, his band The Herd, doesn’t get heard … fearing a full-scale riot, officials ask Lewis to leave the stage … I don’t care about you all dancing on the stage, Lewis tells his fans, but some of these people do. … interestingly, The Herd’s lead guitarist is none other than a young Peter Frampton, who later splits from the band after a long hitless spell to form Humble Pie with Steve Marriott …

1969, photographer Ian Macmillan gets on a stepladder in the middle of London’s Abbey Road to snap The Beatles as they stride across the zebra crossing … several crossings and six pictures later, the session is over … Paul picks the best one, which ends up as the cover for Abbey Road … because The Fabs (as George called them) are so famous, no other graphics are used …

1970, Janis Joplin springs for a headstone to mark Bessie Smith’s grave … the blues singer was one of her idols … four days later she makes her last concert performance at Harvard Stadium …

1972, Paul and Linda McCartney are busted for pot possession following a Wings show in Gothenburg, Sweden … the couple is fined and released

1973, Stevie Wonder is seriously injured in North Carolina when the auto in which he’s riding is hit by logs rolling off a truck … he emerges from a coma after four days sans his sense of smell …

1975, Hank Williams Jr. tumbles 500 feet down a Montana mountain … after two year’s worth of surgeries he will resume his career … Robert Plant and his family are injured in an auto wreck on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes …

1978, Muddy Waters plays for President Jimmy Carter at the White House …

1984, David Crosby gets a wakeup-call when he is sentenced to five years in prison on cocaine and firearms charges … he had dozed through much of the trial … “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. is the Billboard #1 pop hit … Parker is later sued by Huey Lewis who claims the tune is a ripoff of his “I Want a New Drug”… the case is settled out of court with the proviso neither party talks about the deal … in 2001, during an episode of VH1′s Behind the Music, Lewis reveals that Parker paid up to settle the case … Parker then sues Lewis for violating the settlement terms …

1985, introduced to the benefits of owning publishing rights by friend Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson purchases the ATV music catalog that includes 251 Lennon/McCartney songs at auction for $47.5 million … McCartney and Yoko Ono had attempted to purchase the songs only to be outbid by Jackson … McCartney and Jackson’s friendship ends promptly as a result …

1986, David Crosby is released from prison after doing time on drug and weapon charges …

1990, during a New Kids on the Block concert in Montreal, armed robbers make off with souvenir stand proceeds totaling $260,000 …

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1992, citing a sore throat, Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses cuts short the band’s set in Montreal … many of the 55,000 fans in attendance riot … this is a fitting end to a concert in which Metallica also cuts their set short after singer James Hetfield suffers third-degree burns from a pyro effect … Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro dies from cardiac arrest triggered by an allergic reaction to an insecticide he is spraying in his garden

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1996, Oasis roadie James Hunter is crushed to death when he’s caught between a forklift and truck … former Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil runs into trouble at an Indiana club date … after starting the show four hours late, Neil pulls the plug after just three songs saying he is feeling ill and suggesting that the audience of “rednecks” doesn’t appreciate his talent … a riot by 500 surly ticket holders is narrowly averted by the prompt arrival of the cops … After touring as part of the sixth annual Lollapalooza festival, the Ramones perform their 2,263rd and final show in Los Angeles …

1999, after running into legal roadblocks, the leading record labels drop their suit against Diamond Multimedia, makers of the Rio MP3 music player … they had charged that the device would encourage online piracy …

2000, the Jimi Hendrix estate successfully evicts the holder of the web domain jimihendrix.com …

2004, The Dave Matthews Band is sued for dumping waste from its tour bus into the Chicago River and onto a sightseeing boat … a number of passengers report seeing a long, black tour bus on the bridge when the waste drenched them, according to news reports … that waste splashes onto approximately 109 tour boat passengers, including disabled people, senior citizens, a pregnant woman, a small child, and an infant, the suit states … bus driver Stefan Wohl pleads guilty to dumping the waste, and is sentenced to 18 months probation and 150 hours of community service …

2005, Leonard Cohen files a suit against his former business manager charging that Kelley Lynch ripped him off for $5 million from 1994 through 1999 while Cohen was chilling in a Buddhist center … FCC chairman Kevin Martin announces that his agency is investigating payola by record labels in the wake of Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s settlement of $10 million with New York over charges that the company plied key radio stations with lavish gifts and money to get its releases played … the list of artists who benefitted from Sony’s generosity include Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5, Franz Ferdinand, Good Charlotte, Gretchen Wilson, Audioslave, and Celine Dion … Marc Cohn, the singer-songwriter who struck gold in 1991 with his hit “Walking in Memphis” is shot in the head during a carjacking in Denver … amazingly he survives the injury and is expected to make a full recovery …

2007, during Pearl Jam’s set at Lollapalooza Eddie Vedder sings, George Bush, leave this world alone to rousing cheers from the crowd … however the audience viewing at home on AT&T’s Blue Room website are treated to 16 seconds of silence when the company providing AT&T’s feed pulls the plug on the audio stream … later AT&T is apologetic … commenting on the censorship, guitarist Mike McReady writes, When one person or company decides what others can hear, that is totalitarian thinking… DNA testing on a dozen people who claim they were fathered by the late James Brown reveals two who are legitimate offspring …

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2008, singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who has a long history of supporting liberal causes, files suit against presidential candidate John McCain and the Ohio Republican Party for using his 1977 hit “Running on Empty” without permission … The Police cap their 150-show world tour with a two-hour tour de force at Madison Square Garden … the first Police tour in 20 years, it started shakily and gained momentum as it went along … reflecting on the early shows, drummer Stewart Copeland is brutally frank, At the beginning, we were crap. Each one of us had our own opinion of what was wrong … which could be summed up as ‘the other two guys’ …

2009, rock legend Steven Tyler of Aerosmith falls onto a couple of fans in the crowd of thousands from the stage at a South Dakota concert … security rushes to help him and the crowd cheers when Tyler gets back up and is taken backstage, where a physician attends to him … Tyler suffers head, neck, and shoulder injuries in the tumble but jokes about the fall as he is loaded into the helicopter to be taken to a hospital …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

August 4: Louis Armstrong (1901), Frankie Ford (1939), David Carr of The Fortunes (1940), Timi Yuro (1940), Klaus Schultze of Tangerine Dream (1947), Paul Layton of The New Seekers (1947), Clannad’s Máire Ní Bhraonáin (1952), Paul Reynolds of A Flock of Seagulls (1962), Jody Turner of Rock Goddess (1963), Immature’s Marques Houston (1981)

August 5: jazz singer Jeri Southern (1926), Vern Gosdin (1934), R&B vocalist Damita Jo (1940), guitarist Lenny Breau (1941), percussionist Airto Moreira (1941), sax player Rick Huxley of The Dave Clark Five (1942), country star Sammi Smith (1943), Rick Derringer of The McCoys (1947), Gregory Leskew of Guess Who (1947), Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister (1955), Pat Smear of Foo Fighters (1959), Pete Burns of Dead Or Alive (1959), Mark O’Connor (1961), Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys (1964)

August 6: Delta bluesman Willie Brown (1900), The Ravens’ Jimmy Ricks (1924), jazz bassist Charlie Haden (1937), Isaac Hayes (1938), Judy Craig of The Chiffons (1946), guitarist Allan Holdsworth (1946), Pat McDonald of Timbuk 3 (1951), Randy DeBarge (1958), singer-songwriter Elliot Smith (1969), Geri Halliwell a.k.a. Ginger Spice of the Spice Girls (1972)

August 7: multi-instrumentalist jazz bandleader Benny Carter (1907), swing bandleader Freddie Slack (1910), pianist Mose Vinson (1917), lyricist Felice Bryant (1925), The Platters’ Herb Reed (1931), multi-instrumentalist jazz titan Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936), Magic Slim—born Morris Holt (1937), pop vocalist Ron Holden (1939), B.J. Thomas (1942), Rodney Crowell (1950), Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden—not THE Bruce Dickinson (1958), Jacqui O’Sullivan of Bananarama (1960), Ian Dench of EMF (1964), Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses (1966), Toxic (19??)

August 8: bandleader Lucky Millinder (1900), honky-tonk vocalist Webb Pierce (1921), blues and jazz singer Jimmy Witherspoon (1923), Sonny Til of The Orioles (1925), Mel Tillis (1932), Joe Tex (1933), pop singer Connie Stevens (1938), Philip E. Balsley of the Statler Brothers (1939), John “Jay” David of Dr. Hook (1942), English guitar virtuoso John Renbourn (1944), Airrion Love of The Stylistics (1949), Stax-Volt drummer Willie Hall (1950), Madness guitarist Chris Foreman (1955), Ali Score of Flock of Seagulls (1956), Dennis Drew of 10,000 Maniacs (1957), Ricki Rockett of Poison (1959), U2′s The Edge a.k.a. David Evans (1961), Kool Moe Dee (1962), Aaron Abeyta of NOFX (1965), Creed singer Scott Stapp (1973), JC Chasez of *NSYNC (1976), Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees (1976)

August 9: barrelhouse pianist Robert Shaw (1908), string band musician Odell Thompson (1911), Bill Henderson of The Spinners (1939), jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette (1942), Rinus Gerritsen of Golden Earring (1946), Barbara Mason (1947), Cars bassist Benjamin Orr (1955), rapper Kurtis Blow (1959), Whitney Houston (1963), Arion Salazar of Third Eye Blind (1970)

August 10: Leo Fender (1909), country singer-sausage king Jimmy Dean (1928), bluegrass ace Jimmy Martin (1927), country-pop entertainer Larry Finnegan (1938), Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield (1940), Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes (1943), Ian Anderson (1947), Patti Austin (1950), INXS drummer Jon Farriss (1961), singer Neneh Cherry (1964), Todd Nichols of Toad The Wet Sprocket (1967), Michael Bivins of New Edition (1968), Aaron Kamin of The Calling (1977)

Departures:

August 4: Lee Hazlewood (2007), classical and rock violinist Monroe Clark (2006), R&B/blues singer-guitarist “Little” Milton Campbell (2005), jazz singer Jeri Southern (1991), pop impresario Larry Parnes (1989)

August 5: Robert Hazard, singer-songwriter who wrote Cyndi Lauper’s smash “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (2008), bassist Randy Hobbs of The McCoys and Johnny Winter (1993), drummer Jeff Porcaro of Toto (1992), N’awlins bluesman Isidore “Tuts” Washington (1984), avant-garde bassist George Scott (1980), country guitarist Luther Perkins (1968), one-man blues band Joe Hill Louis (1957)

August 6: Bootsy’s brother Phelps ‘Catfish’ Collins (2010), Willy DeVille, founder of Mink DeVille (2009), Italian opera legend Luciano Pavarotti (2007), jazz bassist Keter Betts (2005), legendary Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer (2005), Rick James (2004), guitarist Tommy Mottola (2004), the U.K.’s answer to Louis Armstrong, Nat Gonella (1998), new wave singer Klaus Nomi (1983), blueswoman Memphis Minnie (1973), trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke (1931)

August 7: folk musician/folklorist Mike Seeger (2009), country guitarist William “Billy” Byrd (2001), harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler (2001), record store mogul Sam Goody (1991), R&B chanteuse Esther Phillips (1984), Homer a.k.a. Henry Haynes of Homer & Jethro (1971)

August 8: pianist Irving Sidney “Duke” Jordan (2006), alto sax man Julian “Cannonball” Adderley (1975)

August 9: composer David Raskin (2004), producer Bob Herbert (1999), Jerry Garcia (1995), New Orleans session sax man Clarence Ford (1994), Brandon Mitchell, rapper with Wreckx-N-Effects (1990), trumpet player Bill Chase (1974), Joe Gilbert of Joe and Eddie (1966)

August 10: singer-songwriter-soul man Isaac Hayes (2008), Widespread Panic guitarist Mikey Houser (2002), Bill Baker of The Five Satins (1994), New Orleans sax man Clarence Ford (1994), Ed Roberts of Ruby And The Romantics (1993), jazz singer Ernestine Allen (1992), Lillian Roxon, one of rock’s first music critics (1973), swing bandleader Freddie Slack (1965), blues diva Lucille Bogan of “Shave ‘em Dry” infamy (1948)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:00:20 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1955, Ted McCarty of Gibson is given patent #2,714,326 by the U.S. Patent Office for his design for “Stringed Musical Instrument Of The Guitar Type And Combined Bridge And Tailpiece Therefor,” the one-piece adjustable bridge/tailpiece for the Gibson Les Paul solidbody guitar …

1956, the Platters become the first black group to have a number-one pop hit when “My Prayer” reaches the top spot on the Billboard chart …

1958, The Teddy Bears’ aching teen ballad “To Know Him is To Love Him” is released … a singer in the group, Phil Spector produces the session … the song title is reportedly taken from his late father’s headstone … Billboard publishes its first Hot 100 chart …

1959, Seth Lover, working for Gibson guitars, is granted patent #2,896,491 by the U.S. Patent Office for his “magnetic pickup for stringed musical instrument,” better known as the humbucker pickup … the patent was applied for on June 22, 1955 … Gibson added the new pickups to its electric solidbody and archtop guitars in 1957, including the Les Paul … during late 1957, a small black decal with gold lettering was added to the underside of the pickup that read “Patent Applied For” … (today, PAF pickups are the most collectible and desirable pickups, fetching upwards of $1,000 each among vintage guitar collectors) … by mid-to-late 1962, Gibson changed the pickup decal to read “Patent No. 2,737,842″ … interestingly enough, the patent number listed on the decal was not for Seth’s pickup design but was for Les Paul’s trapeze tailpiece … not one to raise a legal fuss, apparently Seth really is a Lover, not a fighter …

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1960, when the scheduled vocalist fails to show for a recording session, producer Ike Turner presses his wife Tina into service on the track, “A Fool in Love” … much sampled by modern hip-hop and R&B acts, the single will be the first of 20 Hot 100 hits produced by the contentious couple … this same day future soul star Aretha Franklin cuts her first secular sides …

1965, The Beatles’ second feature film, Help, debuts in London with that pretty nice girl Queen Elizabeth in attendance …

1966, Bob Dylan suffers major injuries when the brakes on his Triumph motorcycle lock up near his home in Woodstock, New York … though the exact nature of his injuries are never disclosed, it is clear that he suffered a broken neck and used his lengthy convalescence to marshal his artistic resources … reflecting on the wreck later, Dylan says, When I had that motorcycle accident … I woke up and caught my senses, I realized that I was just workin’ for all these leeches. And I really didn’t want to do that. …

1967, Pandora’s Box, the hippie nightspot on the Sunset Strip, feels the wrath of the wrecking ball in the wake of teenage riots the previous year … local politicos say the club played a big role in turning West Hollywood into a teenage wasteland …

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1968, The Beatles enter the studio to cut “Hey Jude” … the song will top the Hot 100 Chart for nine weeks and become The Beatles’ biggest hit …

1969, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys is indicted for draft dodging after he fails to show up for work as a hospital orderly in lieu of military service …

1971, George Harrison organizes the Concert for Bangladesh to help war victims of the South Asian country … the stellar lineup includes Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, and members of Badfinger …

1980, the FBI arrests John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas on cocaine charges … he is later sentenced to five years hard time but dodges prison by delivering 250 hours of anti-drug lectures as an alternative sentence …

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1981, MTV bursts onto the airwaves by broadcasting The Buggles’ somewhat prophetic “Video Killed the Radio Star” … of course, that job was later completed by file sharing …

1992, in Warwick, Rhode Island, Patti Labelle abruptly pulls the plug on her concert there after complaining that the food backstage isn’t up to snuff … after all, it’s common knowledge that you can’t sing unless the stomach is full …

1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce they were secretly married in the Dominican Republic 11 weeks earlier … the union will last for 21 months …

1996, Aerosmith cans their manager Tim Collins saying they’re tired of constant pressure to get involved in social causes he’s committed to … like the “Let’s Buy Tim Collins a Ferrari” fund perhaps? …

1998, in San Fernando, California, Grammy-winning gospel singer Sandra Crouch is ordained as a minister of the Christ Memorial Church … ordained by her twin brother Andrae, also a gospel star, the pair defy Church of God in Christ rules that forbid female ministers … after 12 years and six albums, Toad The Wet Sprocket finally croaks …

2001, rap group D12 executes a brutal attack on Detroit rap rivals Esham and T.N.T. during a Warped Tour stop in Camden, New Jersey … T.N.T. is bruised and cut while Esham suffers a broken nose, ruptured eyeball, concussion, and hearing damage … D12 is promptly kicked off the tour … that same day in L.A., 300 fortunate Foo Fighters fans are treated to a rare club gig when the band plays the legendary Troubador … attendees are chosen from entries emailed to the Fighters’ website …

2004, Simon and Garfunkel play a free concert in Rome for 600,000 lucky Italians …

2005, newly-unearthed documents relating to Mick Jagger’s drug bust in 1969 reveal that the Stones singer had alleged he was framed and that a cop planted heroin in his home offering to quash the charges if Jagger paid £1,000 … at the time his allegations were swept aside and he was ultimately fined £200 for pot possession … an unnamed bidder coughs up $1.1 million for a scrap of paper on which John Lennon had scrawled the lyrics for “All You Need is Love” in preparation of the Beatles’ 1966 BBC satellite broadcast … the paper, tossed by Lennon after the show, was retrieved by a BBC employee … during the same auction a pair of Lennon’s specs go for $98,000 …

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2006, a court awards Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister control of the late great guitarist’s estate, cutting out his brother Leon … this comes after years of legal wrangling between the family members … Bono, along with five partners, buys a 40-percent stake in Forbes magazine for a reported $250-300 million … A 30-year-old man is beaten to death at the Atlanta stop of the ironically titled Family Values tour led by Korn … the victim was attempting to protect a pregnant friend from two unruly fans … a suspect is arrested a week later … in England the long-running Brit TV pop music show Top of the Pops breathes its last gasp … the show had aired on the BBC continuously since 1964 … on the domestic dissolution front, Travis Barker files a divorce suit against Shanna Moakler, his wife of two years and former Miss USA … and keeping up with the Barkers, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes and his missus, actress Kate Hudson, file for divorce … Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen fire off a letter to actor Luke Wilson charging that his brother, director Owen Wilson has misappropriated the name of a character from their song “Cousin Dupree” for the movie You, Me, and Dupree, in which Luke Wilson’s Dupree character is a couch-hopping loser … the letter, posted on the Steely Dan website warns Wilson that, There are some pretty heavy people who are upset about this whole thing and we can’t guarantee what kind of heat little Owen may be bringing down on himself … the letter goes on to suggest that Wilson should make an appearance at a Dan concert and apologize to their fans … the tongue-in-cheek feud continues when Wilson fires back, Cousin Dupree and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, HEY 19. …

2007, when a ballsy female concertgoer reaches out and grabs Tim McGraw’s nether regions at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, his missus, Faith Hill, tells the errant fan in no uncertain terms that that sort of behavior is frowned upon in them there parts … well, depending on who’s doing the grabbing … Berlin names Street 13 in former communist East Germany Frank-Zappa-Strasse or Frank Zappa Street to honor Frank Zappa … in a letter of thanks, Zappa’s brother Bobby says the Grammy-winning rocker, who died in 1993, would have been pleased …

2008, a funeral is held in the Midtown offices of Hachette, the book publisher, to mourn the passing of what it called a dear friend, the cassette tape … long abandoned by the music industry, cassettes lived on in audio books … R.I.P. cassettes …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 28: singer, actor, bandleader Rudy Vallée (1901), flamenco and Andalusian copla singer Dolores Jiménez Alcántara (1909), Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough (1930), George Cummings of Dr. Hook (1938), Michael Bloomfield, guitarist with Al Kooper and Electric Flag (1943), keyboardist Richard “Rick” Wright of Pink Floyd (1943), singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards (1946), guitarist Steve Morse of Dixie Dregs and Deep Purple (1954)

July 29: revolutionary jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (1916), guitar amp maker Jim Marshall (1923), Neal Doughty of REO Speedwagon (1946), Geddy Lee (1953), Patti Scialfa of the E Street Band (1953), John Sykes of Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy (1959), country singer Martina McBride (1966), Chris Gorman of Belly (1967), Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men (1973)

July 30: blues guitarist Buddy Guy (1936), Paul Anka (1941), saxophonist David Sanborn (1945), Jethro Tull bassist Jeffrey Hammond (1946), guitarist Hughie Nicholson of Blue (1949), Rat Scabies of The Damned, born Chris Miller (1957), singer-songwriter Kate Bush (1958), Craig Gannon, guitarist with The Smiths (1966), Manic Street Preachers drummer Sean Moore (1968), Brad Hargraves of Third Eye Blind (1971)

July 31: R&B singer-drummer-bandleader Roy Milton (1907), producer and founder of Atlantic records Ahmet Ertegun (1923), singer and son of Jerry, Gary Lewis (1946), Karl Green of Herman’s Hermits (1947), ELO’s Hugh MacDowell (1953), Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets (1957), Bill Berry of R.E.M. (1958), Norman Quentin Cook, aka Fatboy Slim of The Housemartins (1963), John 5, born John William Lowery, guitarist with Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie (1971), Coldplay’s Will Champion (1978)

August 1: Francis Scott Key (1779), Piano Slim, born Robert T. Smith (1928), folk singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, born Elliott Charles Adnopoz (1931), Jerry Garcia (1942), Geoff Britton of Wings (1943), Boz Burrell of Bad Company (1946), Rick Coonce of The Grass Roots (1946), Rick Anderson of The Tubes (1947), Tommy Bolin, guitarist with Zephyr, The James Gang, and Deep Purple (1951), BTO’s Tim Bachman (1951), bluesman Robert Cray (1953), Joe Elliott of Def Leppard (1959), Public Enemy’s Chuck D, born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (1960), rapper Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. (1963), Adam Duritz of Counting Crows (1964), Ashley Angel of O-Town (1981)

August 2: big band singer Helen Morgan (1900), blues singer-pianist “Big” Walter Price, born Walter Travis Price (1914), country singer Hank Walters (1933), country star Hank Cochran (1935), Garth Hudson of The Band (1937), Doris Coley Kenner of The Shirelles (1941), steel guitarist-songwriter Hank DeVito (1948), guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low (1948), funk bandleader “Fat” Larry James (1949), Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash (1950), singer-songwriter Andrew Gold (1951), Clive Wright of Cock Robin (1953), singer-actress Apollonia Kotero, born Patricia Kotero (1959), Pete De Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen (1961), Zelma Davis of C+C Music Factory (1970)

August 3: Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence (1910), Tony Bennett (1926), blues harp player Alex Randall (1934), Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires (1935), Roscoe Mitchell of The Art Ensemble of Chicago (1940), Beverly Lee of The Shirelles (1941), B. B. Dickerson of War (1949), John Graham of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951) guitarist Steve Hillage (1951), Andrew Gold (1951), James Hetfield of Metallica (1963), Ed Roland of Collective Soul (1963), Shirley Manson of Garbage (1966)

Departures:

July 28: cassette tapes (2008) Marguerite “Marge” Ganser of The Shangri-Las (1996), Muscle Shoals guitarist Eddie Hinton (1995), Johann Sebastian Bach (1750)

July 29: jazz bassist Art Davis (2007), Al McKibbon, jazz bassist with Dizzy Gillespie (2005), Anita Carter of the Carter Sisters (1999), Rare Earth percussionist Eddie Guzman (1993), pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake (1988), Gordon Mills, manager and songwriter for Tom Jones (1986), singer Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas (1974), guitarist and vocalist Glenn Goins (1978)

July 30: swing & bebop saxophonist Eli “Lucky” Thompson (2005), Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips (2003), sax man Donald Myrick (1993)

July 31: Rob Jones of Wonder Stuff (1993), blues singer-saxophonist Benjamin Clarence “Bull Moose” Jackson (1989), Bob Horn, original host of TV’s Bandstand (1966), country singer-songwriter Jim Reeves (1964), Jim Reeves’ pianist-manager Dean Manuel (1964)

August 1: Irish singer Tommy Makem of The Clancy Brothers (2007), pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1997)

August 2: Ron Towson of The 5th Dimension (2001), Afrobeat star Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1997), Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs bassist David Martin (1987), Motown bassist James Jamerson (1983), former Pink Floyd road manager Peter “Puddy” Watts (1976), Brian Cole of The Association (1972)

August 3: Arthur Lee (2006), reedman Bob Tate (1993), Don Lang of The Frantic Five (1992), Richard Nickens of The Eldorados (1991)

Read the rest of this crap at Toxic Web →

It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:00:01 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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1927, bluesman Crying Sam Collins records “Jail House Blues” for Paramount Records in Richmond, Indiana …

1934, Laurens Hammond patents the pipeless organ … he uses a piano keyboard to activate the electronic circuits of devices called tone wheels … by the 1950s, a descendent of Hammond’s invention, the famous B-3 organ, weighing about 400 pounds, ensures that Hammond’s name is cursed by musicians forced to lug the heavy piece of furniture up staircases to gigs … by then, Hammond, who is tone deaf, has grown to hate the sound of Leslie speakers so much he refuses service to any B-3 owner’s organ …

1956, Elvis Presley’s first gig in Las Vegas is a bust … the young rock ‘n’ roller is sent packing after the first week of what was to have been a two-week engagement …

1957, RCA Records signs Harry Belafonte for the unprecedented sum of $1 million … although dubbed the “King of Calypso,” the singer is from The Bronx …

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1959, the second of two recording sessions for Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue takes place at Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York City … the group, which includes Cannonball Adderly on alto sax, John Coltrane on tenor, and pianist Bill Evans, records “Flamenco Sketches” and “All Blues” … the album goes on to become a classic, the one jazz album bought by people who normally aren’t jazz fans …

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1961, Bob Dylan earns $50 playing harmonica for a Harry Belafonte recording session …

1966, British proto-punks The Troggs release “Wild Thing” … the song is later covered to spectacular effect by Jimi Hendrix … and to less-than-spectacular effect by comedian Sam Kinison …

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1967, Janis Ian’s single “Society’s Child” languishes because of its controversial lyrics about an interracial relationship … that changes when conductor Leonard Bernstein features the song on his CBS-TV special about pop music … the record then climbs to #14 on the pop chart …

1969, John Winston Lennon changes his middle name to Ono … a fire claims the ironically named Ash Grove, a Los Angeles folk-blues club … such performers as Ry Cooder, Canned Heat, the Chambers Brothers, and Taj Mahal played their first gigs there … a who’s who of blues performers also were regulars … the Melrose Avenue club re-opens after a series of benefits …

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1970, Fleetwood Mac’s founder and leader Peter Green makes his last concert appearance as a member of the group in London … the singer-guitarist will embark on a low-key solo endeavor before being sidelined for a number of years with mental health problems …

1972, Elvis Presley’s LP He Touched Me is released … it reaches #79 on the Top 100 album chart … no small feat for a gospel record …

1974, Jim Morrison’s widow Pam succumbs to a heroin overdose …

1975, leader and chief songwriter of Badfinger, Pete Ham, who had just quit the band a week earlier and is despondent over his career, hangs himself in the garage/recording studio of his London home three days before his 28th birthday …

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1976, it’s been more than ten years since Roy Orbison has had a hit when he plays before a crowd of less than 100 at the Van-a-Rama auto show in Cincinnati, Ohio … adding to his misery, it’s his birthday … his glory days with the Traveling Wilburys lie far ahead … The Ramones release their first album …

… while Paul McCartney and John Lennon watch in John’s Manhattan apartment, SNL creator Lorne Michaels offers The Beatles $3,000 to perform a couple of songs on the show … the two almost hop in a cab to take up the offer but call it off because it’s late and they’re too tired … customs officers at the Polish-Russian border confiscate a collection of Nazi memorabilia from David Bowie …

1978, Sid Vicious records his rendition of the crooners’ staple “My Way” for the Sex Pistols’ movie The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle … there is no word from composer Paul Anka on the brutal treatment given his song …

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1981, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis play a show in West Germany that’s later released on the LP The Survivors …

1982, The Clash cancel a tour when guitarist Joe Strummer goes missing … he is eventually tracked down in Paris by a private detective, saying he “wanted a break” … Rod Stewart is robbed on Hollywood Boulevard standing next to his Porsche … Sony and Phillips unveil their compact disc to recording industry executives in Athens, Greece … they are surprised at the overwhelming negative, even vehement, reaction to the CD which is seen as providing a better master tape for pirates …

1984, Jerry Lee Lewis gets hitched for the sixth time to 22-year-old Kerrie McCarver … the marriage will end in 2003 …

1990, Roger Waters’ road crew discovers an unexploded WWII-era bomb while erecting the set for his Berlin “The Wall” concert …

1993, Prince announces that he will no longer make records … six weeks later he will change his name to an unpronounceable glyph that turns out to be a modified version of the ancient symbol for soapstone used in alchemy …

1994, former Jefferson Airplane/Starship singer Grace Slick enters a guilty plea to the charge of menacing police officers with a shotgun … the singer explains that she was under stress due to the recent loss of her Mill Valley, California, home in a fire, along with memorabilia that she alleges was stolen by Corte Madera firefighters …

1995, The Beatles score their 70th chart hit on the U.S. Top 100 with “Baby It’s You” … the song was recorded 26 years earlier for a live BBC program called Pop Goes The Beatles …

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1998, Faith No More announces that it is no more …

1999, Irish singer and hell-raiser Sinead O’Connor becomes the first female priest in the Latin Tridentine Church, a breakaway segment of the Roman Catholic church … her priestly name will be Mother Bernadette Mary … in a murder-suicide, Larry Troutman shoots his brother Roger to death in the alley behind their family-owned Dayton, Ohio, studio and then turns the gun on himself … the two musicians along with brothers Lester and Terry had founded a funk band in the mid-1970s that evolved into Zapp … the band scored a series of 1980s dance hits … with their salad days far behind them, the brothers had argued about the direction of the family’s struggling business affairs leading up to the shootings …

2000, Eric Clapton reunites with keyboard player Bobby Whitlock of Derek and the Dominos for a BBC appearance … it’s the first time the two have worked together in 29 years …

2001, Peter Buck runs amuck on a Seattle-to-London flight … after quaffing 14 glasses of wine, the R.E.M guitarist overturns a food cart, mistakes a stranger for his wife, smashes crockery, and tussles with crew members … in the ensuing British trial, Buck testifies that he has no memory of the events saying, “All I know is, I woke up and I am covered in cream.” …

2004, “finding a crash pad” takes on new meaning when Billy Joel plows into a Long Island house while on a pizza run … this is the third wreck in three years for the embarrassed piano man who sends the homeowner a note of apology and flowers … diva Deborah Voigt, who was previously canned by the Royal Opera House for being too fat for a role, makes her recital debut at Carnegie Hall to a rapturous response …

2005, Elton John announces he will marry partner David Furnish … the U.K. legalized civil partnerships the previous December …

2006, CNN.com publishes the results of a reader’s poll naming the worst songs of all time … counting down from five to one, they are: 5. “Seasons in the Sun” (Terry Jacks), 4. “I’ve Never Been to Me” (Charlene), 3. “You Light Up My Life” (Debby Boone), 2. “Muskrat Love” (The Captain and Tennille), and the No. 1 worst song of all time as voted on by CNN.com users is “(You’re) Having My Baby” by Paul Anka … The Dave Matthews Band pledges a $1.5 million challenge grant to help build the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, a part of the Gulf Coast’s recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina … record labels pressure Apple’s iTunes to adopt a variable-pricing scheme for single downloads … the labels are frustrated by their original deal with Apple calling for a flat 99-cents charge per song … they want to charge more for current hits and less for back-catalog tunes … Apple resists the pressure … Jersey Boys, a Broadway musical that’s based on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is doing great business … other recent rock and pop-based shows about John Lennon, The Beach Boys, and Elvis have not been nearly as well received, closing shop after short runs in the face of a lot of empty seats … in a feverish two-week creative process, Neil Young creates the album Living with War then initially posts it as a free stream online … the album includes the bluntly titled anti-Bush song, “Let’s Impeach the President” … rapper Snoop Dogg and his entourage land in the doghouse after a scuffle with British cops at London’s Heathrow Airport … the melee occurs when Snoop and his pals are told to vacate a business-class lounge and put up a fight … seven cops are injured in the tussle and Snoop is locked up in a West London jail …

2007, pop singer Avril Lavigne scores her first No. 1 single on the U.S. charts a day after her latest album debuts in the top spot … “Girlfriend” moves up two places to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, fueled by 156,000 digital downloads … her prior best showing was with “Complicated,” which peaked at No. 2 in 2002 … her album, The Best Damn Thing, opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 286,000 units in the week ending April 22 … also this week, John Mellencamp plays a one-hour show at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. … the performer, who has been a critic of the Iraq war in the past, keeps his appearance non-political saying, “I kept my opinions to myself tonight. This was for the people who were there” … Joan Baez, also scheduled to perform, is reportedly banned—no surprise given her long-standing pacifist convictions and repeated refusal to pay that portion of her taxes that goes to the military … as a sign of New Orleans’ recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is held over two successive weekends in late April and May and draws 375,000, nearly 50,000 more than in 2006 …

2008, Roger Waters’ closing set at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival climaxes when the two-story inflatable pig sent aloft during the song “Pigs on the Wing” breaks free of its tethers and floats away … the floating pig broke free once before in 1977 at London’s Battersea Power Station during a cover shoot for the Pink Floyd album Animals … Coachella organizers offer a $10,000 reward for the missing pig … two days later, pieces of the white spray-painted vinyl pig are found draped over two homes in a gated community in nearby La Quinta … two families split the reward and receive lifetime tickets to Coachella …

2009, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is mugged in the parking lot of an Atlanta studio where the band is cutting a record … Ament attempts to flee and is chased by three masked assailants wielding knives who knock him to the ground causing head lacerations … the crooks trash Ament’s rented Jeep and make off with over $7,000 in cash and goods …

2010, in spite of an Icelandic volcano that’s been spewing ash and wreaking havoc for travelers across Europe, Metallica continues its European tour by bus and boat and doesn’t miss a single show … guitarist Kirk Hammett notes that the band had not toured by bus since bassist Cliff Burton was killed when the band’s bus crashed during their 1986 European tour … “When we boarded the bus again this week and had to travel overnight, I realized that those bad memories are still here. I still haven’t overcome the fear of buses,” Hammett said. “But the show must go on.” …

… and that was the week that was …

Arrivals:

April 21: Eric Maresca, writer of Dion’s hit “The Wanderer” (1939), punk rocker Iggy Pop, born James Jewel Osterburg (1947), guitarist Alan Warner of The Foundations (1947), guitarist John Weider of Family (1947), Robert Smith of The Cure (1959), Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies (1959), guitarist-songwriter Johnny McElhone of the band Texas (1963)

April 22: violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916), R&B saxman Bull Moose Jackson (1919), jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus (1922), Glen Campbell (1936), producer-songwriter Jack Nitzche (1937), session drummer Howard Wyeth (1944), Frankie Garcia of Cannibal and the Headhunters (1946), Peter Frampton (1950), Paul Carrack of Squeeze (1951), bassist Craig Logan of Bros (1969), Silverchair’s Daniel Johns (1979)

April 23: composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873), singer-songwriter Roy Orbison (1936), pop singer Ray Peterson (1939), King Crimson violinist David Cross (1949), fusion drummer Narada Michael Walden (1952), Ray Burns, better known as singer-guitarist Captain Sensible of The Damned (1955), Steve Clark of Def Leppard (1960), Stan Frazier of Sugar Ray (1969), rapper Lil Eazy-E (1984)

April 24: Ed Roberts of Ruby and the Romantics (1936), tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson (1937), Barbra Streisand (1942), Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys (1943), Doug Clifford (1945), Jethro Tull bassist Glen Cornick (1947), Preston Ritter of The Electric Prunes (1949), David J. Haskins of Love and Rockets (1957), Boris Williams of The Cure (1958), Billy Gould of Faith No More (1963), Hole’s Patty Schemel (1967), Aaron Comess of Spin Doctors (1968), first American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson (1982), Tyson Ritter, lead singer-bassist with All-American Rejects (1984)

April 25: radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi (1874), R&B sax honker Earl Bostic (1913), Ella Fitzgerald (1918), Chess records session drummer Earl Phillips (1920), electric blues guitar great Albert King (1923), fiddler Vassar Clements (1928), jazz saxophonist Willis “Gator” Jackson (1932), songwriter Jerry Leiber (1933), CCR’s Stu Cook (1945), Björn Ulveas of ABBA (1945), Gary “Dream Weaver” Wright (1945), drummer Steve Ferrone of Average White Band (1950), Roger Taylor of Duran Duran (1960), Chris Mars of The Replacements (1961), Erasure’s Andy Bell (1964), Eric Avery of Jane’s Addiction (1965), T-Boz of TLC (1970), Jose Pasillas of Incubus (1976), Jacob Underwood of O-Town (1980)

April 26: Ma Rainey, “The Mother of the Blues,” born Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett (1886), blues guitarist Johnny Shines who worked with Robert Johnson (1915), guitarist Duane Eddy (1938), Maurice Williams of the Zodiacs (1938), record producer Giorgio Moroder (1940), pop singer Bobby Rydell, born Robert Ridarelli (1942), Troggs bassist Tony Murray (1945), Eddie Jobson of Curved Air, Roxy Music, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull (1955), Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison (1975)

April 27: countdown DJ Casey Kasem (1932), Main Ingredient’s Cuba Gooding Sr. (1944), Badfinger’s Pete Ham (1947), soul songstress Ann Peebles (1947), Kate Pierson of The B-52′s (1947), Gordon Haskell of King Crimson (1947), Herb Murrell of The Stylistics (1949), KISS guitarist Ace Frehley (1951), pop songstress Sheena Easton (1959), Marco Pirroni of Siouxsie and the Banshees (1959)

Departures:

April 21: soul singer-songwriter Al Wilson (2008), singer-songwriter-pianist-arranger Nina Simone (2003), George Lanuis, lead singer of The Crescendos (1996), singer-songwriter Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention (1978), ska trombonist Don Drummond (1971), Chicago slide guitarist Earl Hooker (1970)

April 22: soft rock singer Paul Davis (2008), songwriter Felice Bryant (2003), pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines (1983), bluesman Walter Vinson (1975)

April 23: gospel singer Rev. Timothy Wright (2009), Capricorn Records co-founder Phil Walden (2006), jazz bassist Jimmy Woode (2005), New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, born John Genzale, Jr. (1991), flamboyant R&B pianist Esquerita (1986), pianist Red Garland (1984), Pete Ham of Badfinger (1975), Motown drummer William “Benny” Benjamin (1969)

April 24: Swedish rock and jazz organist-guitarist Bo Hansson (2010), singer Al Hibbler (2001)

April 25: Bobby “Boris” Pickett of “Monster Mash” fame (2007), rockabilly pioneer Hasil Adkins (2005), Roger Troutman and Larry Troutman (1999), R&B singer Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (2002), Brian McLeod of Chilliwack (1992), saxophonist Dexter Gordon (1990), gospel singer Carolyn Franklin, sister of Aretha (1988), masterful blues pianist Otis Spann (1970)

April 26: avante-garde composer Henry Brant (2008), Daniel McKenna, former guitarist in Toby Beau (2006), Ernest “Snuffy” Stewart of KC and the Sunshine Band (1997)

April 27: master cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (2007), hit-making trumpeter Al Hirt (1999), soul singer Z.Z. Hill, born Arzel Hill (1984), Phil King of Blue öyster Cult (1972)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 12:53:17 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1939, Kathryn “Kate” Smith records a revised version of a composition Irving Berlin had originally written in 1918, titled “God Bless America” … the 5’10″, 235-pound entertainer becomes famous for singing the song before Philadelphia Flyers hockey games, at which it was said “It ain’t begun ’til the fat lady sings!” …

1948, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra are featured in the first televised symphonic concert …

1952, Cleveland DJ Alan Freed mounts his first rock ‘n’ roll show dubbed The Moondog Coronation Ball … the venue holds 10,000 but 30,000 rock-hungry teens turn up causing the cops to call off the show … the resulting riot is a precursor to the coming age of rock …

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1956, Carl Perkins receives severe injuries in a Delaware auto accident … he was on his way to the Big Apple to perform on Perry Como’s TV variety show … the El Capris enjoy a minor hit with the tune “(Shimmy Shimmy) Ko Ko Wop” … the song will resurface as a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1960 … in an early instance of political correctness, it’s retitled “Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop” …

1957, Elvis Presley buys Graceland Farms, a house and farm on the outskirts of Memphis that is still a mecca for fans of “The King” …

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1958, Tom and Jerry, aka Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, release their first song, appropriately titled “Our Song” &hellip Hank Williams Jr. makes his stage debut in Swainsboro, Georgia, at the tender age of eight, continuing a family tradition …

1962, Bob Dylan releases his self-titled debut album selling a measly 5,000 copies in its first year …

1963, The Beatles first album Please Please Me is released in the UK … no one seems to take notice either … Not! …

1965, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman are busted for peeing on a petrol station wall after they’re refused admittance to the loo …

1967, The Grateful Dead release their first album … Jerry Garcia reveals that it was recorded on “dietwatcher’s speed and pot” and that “the tempo was way too fast” …

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1968, Donovan travels to India to study transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi … the Beatles are soon to follow … Donovan teaches Lennon a finger-picking technique (Travis-picking) that he teaches to Harrison. It makes its way onto the songs “Julia” and “Dear Prudence” … the latter written about actress Mia Farrow’s sister who was also there at the time &hellip Donovan pens the hit “Jennifer Juniper’ for his girlfriend Jennifer Boyd who is also present … a late night jam in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon with Eric Clapton and Buffalo Springfield is broken up by the police who, upon arriving, smell marijuana … Stills escapes through a window; Clapton is somehow set free; the rest, including Neil Young, spend the night in jail and later plead guilty to disturbing the peace in exchange for having the drug charges dropped … The Bee Gees make their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. They performed “To Love Somebody” and “Words” … Sullivan says it “was a very good shooow” …

1969, John and Yoko are married in Gibraltar … two days later they begin their famous “bed-in for peace” …

1970, David Bowie and Angela Barnett (the inspiration for his hit song “Golden Years”) are married at Bromley Register Office in Beckenham Lane, Kent …

1973, Yoko Ono is granted permission to live in the U.S. permanently … the person who grants her permission must not be a big Beatles fan …

1977, The John Denver TV special “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” is aired on ABC …

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1982, soul-singing smoothie Teddy Pendergrass is paralyzed from the waist down in Philly when he flips his Rolls attempting to avoid another auto … Randy Rhoads, lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne’s band, is killed when a plane he is flying in crashes into a home and explodes … the band has stopped at the Leesburg, Florida, home of its bus driver, Andrew Aycock, a licensed pilot … Aycock “borrows” a plane from a nearby airfield and invites Rhoads and costume designer Rachel Youngblood to take a quick flight … as Ozzy and the rest of the band sleep on the bus, Aycock circles and buzzes it three times without incident … on the fourth pass, the aircraft bumps the bus, clips a wing, and crashes into a nearby house, erupting in flames … all three onboard are killed … a postmortem exam finds cocaine in Aycock’s system …

1985, Spin magazine begins publishing … Billy Joel and model Christie Brinkley are married in New York … less than 10 years later the uptown girl tells the piano man she’s movin’ out and they divorce …

1987, U2 releases The Joshua Tree, which spends 9 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts, only surpassed by Whitney Houston’s album from the previous year and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack … but it is proof nobody puts Bono in a corner … The “Soul Train Music Awards” debuts, becoming the first televised awards ceremony exclusively celebrating black producers, songwriters, and recording artists …

1990, Gloria Estefan is seriously hurt when a tractor-trailer smacks into her band’s tour bus near Scranton, Pennsylvania … she returns to touring 11 months later …

1991, Eric Clapton’s 4-year-old son, Conor, falls 56 floors out the window of a New York apartment building in a freak accident … the little boy is in the custody of his mother, Italian actress Lori Del Santo … they are visiting New York and staying in a friend’s apartment … the housekeeper has just cleaned a room and opened the window to air it out when young Conor comes dashing by and falls out the window … Clapton is in his hotel nearby … he had just taken Conor to the circus the previous evening … “Tears in Heaven,” “The Circus Left Town,” and “Lonely Stranger” are all inspired by the deep impact the accident has on Conor’s grieving father …

1994, Bruce Springsteen wins the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Streets of Philadelphia” … the song is from the film Philadelphia, and is the first ever written by Springsteen specifically for a film … Four guns and 25 boxes of ammo are confiscated from Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) after his wife, Courtney Love, calls police fearing he is going to commit suicide … He does commit suicide about 3 weeks later … The Rolling Stones announce that Darryl Jones will replace drummer Bill Wyman who no longer wants to tour …

1996, The Beatles last charting single, “Real Love,” begins its climb up the Top 100 and will eventually rise to #11 … the song is based on a demo cut by John Lennon in 1979 to which the other Beatles added new vocals 16 years after Lennon’s death … The original four Sex Pistols reunite in 1996 for the six-month Filthy Lucre Tour, with dates in Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Japan …

1999, rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard is arrested yet again, this time in New York City when police claim to have found crack cocaine in his vehicle after pulling him over for missing license plates … ODB is charged with misdemeanor drug possession and driving with a suspended license … he will be arrested again five days later after police pull him over because once again, the vehicle he is driving has no license plates …

2000, the Recording Industry Association of America certifies 17 million copies sold of Shania Twain’s album Come On Over, making it the best-selling album by a solo female artist and surpassing Garth Brooks’ No Fences for best-selling country album of all time … Brooks eventually proved he’s “still the one” with the release of Double Live, currently the only country album with more sales than Come On Over, proving once again he has plenty of friends in low places …

2002, The Ramones are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the 17th annual induction dinner … Pearl Jam frontman and self-admitted Ramones fanatic Eddie Vedder is their presenter … with a freshly cut mohawk atop his shaved head, Vedder delivers a 16-minute-long tribute to the band before bringing them onstage …

2004, Courtney Love repeatedly flashes her breasts during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman … later that night she plays an unannounced gig at the New York club, Plaid, where she throws a mic stand into the audience and is arrested for reckless endangerment … the next night she turns up at the Bowery Ballroom with the legend “EAT MY F**K” emblazoned in 10-inch high letters on her tank top, then tops off the night with a Kodak moment in which she is photographed breast-feeding a fan at a local Wendy’s … like the man said, “All you need is Love” …

2005, rapper Lil’ Kim is convicted of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury in connection with a 2001 shooting involving her manager and a former member of her posse …

2006, Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer withdraws a civil suit he filed against Prince resulting from the Purple One’s redecoration of the mansion he rents from the basketballer … among Prince’s improvements: lavender stripes painted on various surfaces, installation of purple-and-black carpets, and modifications to the plumbing system to accommodate several beauty-salon chairs … Aerosmith is obliged to cancel the rest of its tour dates when Steven Tyler is operated on for unspecified throat problems …

2007, members of the ’70s Scots pop band Bay City Rollers sue Arista, their former label, charging that they are owed millions in unpaid royalties … Elsrock, an outdoor heavy-metal rock festival, is given conditional approval to put on its show outside the town of Rijssen, located in the Netherlands’ Bible Belt … the proviso prohibits cursing and blasphemy … the 2006 version of the festival had outraged residents … in explaining why the permit was granted, Mayor Bort Koelewijn cites “the stated readiness of the organizers to make sure that no blasphemous words are used, and that the honor of God’s name is not besmirched” …

2008, a judge awards Heather Mills nearly $50 million in her divorce from Paul McCartney … R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe publicly reveals he’s gay in an interview with Spin magazine …

2010, Justin Bieber releases My World 2.0, taking him from a YouTube sensation to mega-superstar and garners several nominations and accolades … Bieber Fever and Beiber backlash sweeps the nation and the world …

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

Arrivals:

March 17: clarinetist Alcide Nunez (1934), film composer Alfred Newman (1900), singer-drummer-bandleader Ray Ellington, born Henry Pitts Brown (1916), singer-songwriter-pianist Nat “King” Cole, born Nathaniel Adams Coles (1917), Adam Wade (1937), Zola Taylor of The Platters (1938), Clarence Collins of Little Anthony & The Imperials (1939), Vito Picone of The Elegants (1940), Paul Kantner of The Jefferson Airplane (1941), singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful (1944), Elis Regina (1945), Harold Brown of War (1946), Ian Gomm of Brinsley Schwartz (1947), Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Lavoie (1949), producer Patrick Adams (1950), Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham (1951), Mike Lindup of Level 42 (1959), The Flaming Lips’ bassist Michael Ivins (1963), Paul Black of L.A. Guns (1965), Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan (1967), Gene Ween of Ween (1970), Melissa Auf der Maur of Hole (1972), Marc Gunn of Brobdingnagian Bards (1972), Caroline Corr of The Corrs (1973), German metal keyboardist Oliver Palotai (1974), Justin Hawkins (1975), Mason Jennings (1975), Miles Kane of The Last Shadow Puppets (1986)

March 18: Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844), jazz pianist Jean Goldkette (1893), Lester “Smiley” Burnett (1911), composer John Kander (1927), Lester “Big Daddy” Kinsey (1927), Robert Lee Smith of The Tams (1936), Charley Pride (1938), Wilson Pickett (1941), singer Eric Woolfson of The Alan Parsons Project (1945), dub-style reggae pioneer Keith Hudson (1946), B.J. Wilson of Procol Harum (1947), John Hartman of The Doobie Brothers (1950), Bill Frisell (1951), Irene Cara (1959), James McMurty (1962), guitarist Jeff LaBar of Cinderella (1963), Vanessa Williams (1963), Courtney Pine (1964), Rozalla (1964), Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains (1966), Lush’s Miki Berenyi (1967), Queen Latifah born Dana Owens (1970), Jamiroquai’s Stuart Zender (1974), Devin Lima of LFO (1977), Adam Levine of Maroon 5 (1979), Lykke Li (1986)

March 19: German composer Max Regar, born Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (1873), saxophonist Ornette Coleman (1930), Chicago blues singer Sam Myers (1936), New Orleans R&B singer Clarence “Frogman” Henry (1937), R&B artist Walter Jackson (1938), singer-songwriter Richard Dobson (1942), Grateful Dead keyboard player Tom Constanten (1944), The Monkees’ Mickey Dolenz (1945), The Zombies’ Paul Atkinson (1946), Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters (1946), Austrian singer-songwriter Wolfgang Ambros (1952), bassist Billy Sheehan (1953), The B-52s’ Ricky Wilson (1953), Bay City Rollers’ Derek Longmuir (1955), Bruce Willis (1955), Terry Hall of The Specials (1959), Brazilian jazz pianist-singer Eliane Elias (1960), composer Yoko Kanno (1964), Gary Jules (1969), Brant Bjork, drummer for Kyuss (1973), rapper Bun B (1973), Brann Dailor, drummer for Mastodon (1975)

March 20: big band leader Bob Chester (1904), Oswald “Ozzie” Harriet (1906), Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915), British singer Vera Lynn (1917), gospel singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1921), guitarist Jerry Reed (1937), blues saxist Eddie Shaw (1937), blues pianist Marcia Ball (1949), Carl Palmer of ELP (1950), guitarist Jimmy Vaughan (1951), Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats (1961), singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman (1964), Indian playback singer Alka Yagnik (1966), Belgian singer Natacha Atlas (1969), Franz Ferdinand vocalist Alex Kapranos (1972), vocalist Chester Bennington of Linkin Park (1976), Nick Wheeler of All-American Rejects (1982), Norwegian R&B singer Winta (1984)

March 21: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839), Florenz Ziegfeld of the Ziegfeld Follies (1867), Delta bluesman Bo Carter (1893), Delta blues legend Eddie “Son” House (1902), Chicago bluesman Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers (1929), blues pianist Otis Spann (1930), Solomon Burke (1940), Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943), Rosemary Stone of Sly and the Family Stone born Rosemary Stewart (1945), Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry (1946), Eddie Money, born Edward Mahoney (1949), Roger Hodgson of Supertramp (1950), Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos (1951), Russell Thompkins of The Stylistics (1951), Robert Sweet of Stryper (1960), guitarist Shawn Lane of Black Oak Arkansas (1963), Prodigy’s MC Maxim (1967), Ace of Base’s Jonas Berggren (1967), Andrew Copeland of Sister Hazel (1968), rapper Notorious B.I.G. born Christopher Wallace (1972), Kevin Federline (1978), Deryk Whibley of Sum 41 (1980), Rochelle Wiseman of The Saturdays (1989), rapper Diggy Simmons (1995)

March 22: jazz tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson (1929), composer Stephen Sondheim (1930), William Shatner (1931), radio host J.P. McCarthy (1933), Roger Whitaker (1936), Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor (1942), jazz guitarist George Benson (1943), Keith Relf of The Yardbirds (1943), Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs (1944), Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy (1944), Harry Vanda of The Easybeats (1947), Patrick Olive of Hot Chocolate (1947), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), McCoys/Johnny Winter bass player Randy Jo Hobbs (1948), drummer Jay Dee Daughtry of The Patti Smith Group (1952), R&B/soul singer Stephanie Mills (1957), Pete Wylie (1958), Richard Ploog of The Church (1962), Euronymous, born ø ystein Aarseth of the band Mayhem (1968), Swedish singer Andreas Johnson (1970), Beverley Knight (1973), singer Shannon Bex (1980), songwriter David Choi (1986), Australian singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell (1990)

March 23: Joey d’Ambrosio of Bill Haley & His Comets (1934), jazz vibraphonist Dave Pike (1938), swamp bluesman Louisiana Red (1936), Brit blues guitarist Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs (1944), bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman (1945), folk songwriter David Olney (1948), Ric Ocasek of The Cars (1949), disco singer Karen Young (1952), Chaka Khan, born Yvette Marie Stevens (1953), Epic Soundtracks, born Kevin Godfrey, founding drummer of the punk band Swell Maps (1959), singer Marti Pellow, born Mark McLachlan, of Wet Wet Wet (1965), Damon Albarn of Blur (1968), classical pianist Jan Liseicki (1995)

Departures:

March 17: Alex Chilton, born William Alexander Chilton of Box Tops and Big Star (2010), blues musician Lester “Mad Dog” Davenport (2009), Narvin Campbell of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (2006), Lumumba Nelson aka Professor X of the ’90s rap posse X-Clan (2006), MTV VJ J.J. Jackson (2004), Lillian McMurry, co-founder of Trumpet Records (1999), ’80s R&B and pop singer Jermaine Stewart (1997), Elvis sound-alike Terry Safford (1996), Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim, born Albert Luandrew (1995), singer Yvonne Fair of The Chantels (1994), Ric Grech, bass player for Blind Faith and Traffic (1990), New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell (1989), Samuel George, singer-drummer with The Capitols (1982)

March 18: New Orleans pianist Eddie Bo (2009), rapper Darnell “King Tut” Brittingham (2009), session bassist Wayne Pedzwater (2005), The Mamas & the Papas co-founder John Phillips (2001), jazz trumpeter Billy Butterfield (1988)

March 19: drummer Jeff Ward of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry (1993), Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood (1990), Randy Rhoads (1982), Chicago’s first big blues star, bottleneck slide man Tampa Red (1981), Paul Kossoff of Free (1976)

March 20: blues guitarist Mel Brown (2009), Klaus Dinger of Neu!, Kraftwerk, and La Düsseldorf (2008), Canadian funk/rock musician Gene Eugene (2000), jazz saxophonist George Howard (1998), jazz and R&B guitarist Billy Butler (1991), Cadence Records founder Archie Bleyer (1989), Greek bouzouki virtuoso Minolis Chiotis (1970), Danish composer Hans Christian Lumbye (1874)

March 21: singer Bobby Short (2005), Motown songwriter Johnny Bristol (2004), songwriter Fred Spielman (1997), Leo Fender (1991), Dino Martin Jr., son of Rat Packer Dean Martin, and singer in his own right (1987)

March 22: drummer Reg Isidore who worked with Robin Trower (2009), Israel “Chacao” L"pez, Cuban mambo musician (2008), singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dan Hartman (1994), Don Murray of the Turtles (1996), Dave Guard of The Kingston Trio (1991), one-hit-wonder Mark Dinning of “Teen Angel” fame (1986)

March 23: Walter Turnbull, founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem (2007), Cindy Walker, country songwriter who also wrote hits for Ray Charles and Roy Orbison (2006), opera singer Eileen Farrell (2002), songwriter-producer J.D. Miller (1996), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1996), Ripley Ingram, tenor vocalist with The Five Keys (1995), Alan Barton of Black Lace and Smokie (1995), Donald Ibrah’m Swann (1994), Jeanine Deckers aka the Singing Nun (1985), Frank Kirkland, Bo Diddley’s drummer (1973)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:10:28 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1949, future Dead Boys leader Stiv Bators is born Stivan John Bator in Youngstown, Ohio …

The Dead Boys – “Ain’t It Fun”

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1954, The Penguins record the doo-wop classic “Earth Angel” … the song will choreograph a million back-seat couplings …

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1956, “Love Me Tender” is the first single to enter the pop charts at #1 … Elvis’ recording, based on the sentimental Civil War ballad “Aura Lee,” also appears on the country and western and R&B charts …

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1957, Paul McCartney makes his live debut with the Quarry Men at New Clubmoor Hall Conservative Club in Liverpool …

1958, Tommy Facenda, a backup vocalist for Gene Vincent, charts with a single called “High School U.S.A.” … the tune is released in 28 versions, each name-dropping a different major high school across the country … the combined sales get the single to #28 on the pop chart …

1961, The Beatles join forces with Gerry & The Pacemakers for a one-off show … the combine is billed as The Beatmakers …

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1962, “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … cannily released to coincide with Halloween, the novelty tune with a Boris Karloff-like spoken vocal reappears on the charts in 1970 and 1973 …

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1965, a San Francisco collective calling itself The Family Dog presents a rock ‘n’ roll dance and concert at the Longshoremen’s Hall … on the bill for “A Tribute to Dr. Strange” are The Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, The Marbles, and The Great Society …

1966, Joan Baez is arrested along with 124 others at an anti-draft demonstration outside an induction center in Oakland, California …

1967, the “tribal rock” musical Hair opens off-Broadway … Jimi Hendrix sits in with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers at a club in northwest London … Jimi borrows Mick Taylor’s Les Paul sunburst and manages to burn some incredible blues even while playing lefty with a guitar strung for a right-handed guitarist, that is, upside-down with low E string nearest the floor …

1968, RCA releases Jose Feliciano’s groundbreaking, bluesy rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” … the blind singer had been roundly booed for his performance of the song at a World Series game earlier that month … Led Zeppelin make their live debut appearing at University of Surrey, England … John and Yoko are busted for possessing pot at their London apartment … a month later, they plead guilty and are fined $150 … this would later cause problems with the U.S. immigration office and the FBI …

1969, with about a year’s worth of practice, practice, practice, under their belts, Led Zeppelin kicks off their third U.S. tour at New York’s Carnegie Hall … also in The Big Apple, The Who start a six-night stand at the Fillmore East with a two-hour show featuring their new rock opera Tommy … Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, dies of a heart attack at age 52 … one-hit-wonders the Crazy World of Arthur Brown reach #2 on the pop charts with “Fire” co-written by lead singer Brown and organist Vincent Crane … Brown’s stage act is highlighted by his wearing a crown that’s on—wait for it—fire …

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1971, a crowd expecting ’50s teen idol Rick Nelson to play all his old hits at a Madison Square Garden show turns surly when he insists on performing new material … the hostile reception is later memorialized in his song “Garden Party” that becomes a hit the following year … a line from the song goes, “If memories are all I’d sing, I’d rather drive a truck” … Creedence Clearwater Revival is sued by a music publisher claiming that John Fogerty’s song “Travelin’ Band” is a ripoff of “Good Golly, Miss Molly” … the suit is later dropped …

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1972, in the wake of weak sales of their latest album Mardi Gras, and dissension by band members over John Fogerty’s lock on writing and publishing of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music, the band calls it quits … leader Fogerty goes on to a robust solo career while rhythm section Stu Cook and Doug Clifford eventually form Creedence Clearwater Revisited over the opposition of Fogerty … Chuck Berry scores his first and only #1 Pop Chart hit with “My Ding-a-Ling,” an ever-so-slightly salacious bit of silliness …

1973, The Stones’ “Angie” is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … supposedly a paean to David Bowie’s missus, the song is covered by Tori Amos in the ’90s …

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… the Supreme Court refuses to review a Federal Communications Commission directive ordering broadcasters to censor songs with drug-oriented lyrics before airing them … it will be another three decades before the FCC becomes concerned over breasts … seriously, FCC dudes, you need to lighten up …

1974, soul singer Al Green is seriously burned when a disturbed girlfriend tosses a pot of boiling grits on him … the incident results in Green becoming a minister … it will be 2003 before he releases another recording of secular music …

Al Green – “Let’s Stay Together”

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1976, Ike and Tina Turner split up their act …

Ike & Tina Turner – “Proud Mary”

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… the Sex Pistols sign to EMI records for $68,000 … Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots reach #1 on the U.S. hit parade with “Disco Duck” …

1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd fans are stunned this week when they learn that band members Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and Ronnie Van Zant have died along with three members of their entourage in a plane crash in a swamp near Gillsburg, Mississippi …

Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Gimme Three Steps”

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1978, Keith Richards receives a suspended one-year sentence after pleading guilty to heroin possession in Toronto … he’s also ordered to play a charity concert for the blind … The Police make their U.S. debut at CBGB’s in NYC … the tour consists of 23 gigs in 27 days across the U.S. in a station wagon packed with their gear …

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1979, Swedish popsters ABBA appear in Vancouver for their first North American concert … The Buggles top the U.K. pop chart with “Video Killed The Radio Star” …

1980, The Dead Kennedys unleash their latest 45rpm vinyl assault “Kill The Poor” … the picture sleeve shows a bulldozer with a scoop full of dead bodies …

1985, A-Ha becomes the first Norwegian group to score a #1 U.S. hit with “Take On Me” …

1986, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards rock out at an affair honoring Chuck Berry on his 60th birthday captured on film for the movie Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll …

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… former Tubes singer Jane Dornacker, who had gone on to a new career as a traffic reporter, dies in a New York helicopter crash … this week also marks the first time ever that three femme popsters hold down the first three positions on the pop chart … in order they are: Janet Jackson with “When I Think of You,” “Typical Male” by Tina Turner, and Cyndi Lauper with “True Colors” …

1991, John Mellencamp is hospitalized in Seattle after suffering a dizzy spell … a doctor later attributes his malady to “too much coffee, stress, and not enough breakfast” …

1992, the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Tribute concert in Madison Square Garden includes guest George Harrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn, and Tom Petty … Sinead O’Connor is booed off the stage by the hostile crowd reacting to the singer’s appearance two weeks earlier on Saturday Night Live when she tore up a picture of the Pope …

1993, Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” video is ranked No. 1 in video history by Rolling Stone … it had also racked up a record-setting nine MTV awards … Nirvana’s In Utero debuts in the top slot on the U.S. album chart …

1995, Generation X loses another distinctive voice when Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon is found dead of a cocaine overdose on the band’s tour bus in New Orleans … Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde makes a return trip to her hometown of Cleveland to sing the national anthem at game three of the World Series …

1997, Elton John’s loving tribute to Princess Diana, a remix of “Candle In The Wind,” is declared by the Guinness Book of Records to have become the biggest-selling single of all time, having sold 31.8 million copies in less than 40 days and raising $34 million for charity …

1998, the publisher of Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” files suit against Cooper’s primary makeup-rock competitors KISS, claiming they ripped off his song “Eighteen” for their song “Dreamin’” … Cooper has nothing to do with it and hasn’t even heard the KISS tune … asked about the outcome years later, Cooper says, “I think we all forgot to show up at court. Paul Stanley bought me a cheeseburger to make up for the whole thing” …

2001, VH1 hosts its Concert for New York, which raises over $30 million for victims of 9/11 with performances by such heavy hitters as The Who, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, and Bon Jovi …

2003, singer-songwriter Elliot Smith takes his life in Los Angeles … a hero of the Portland, Oregon, indie-rock scene in the ’90s, Smith gained national prominence after director Gus Van Sant tapped him for the soundtrack to the 1997 film Good Will Hunting … Smith’s song “Miss Misery” was nominated for an Oscar the following year … a posthumous release, From A Basement On A Hill, includes material the singer was working on when he died …

2005, Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton is arrested in connection with the beating of six gay men in June 2004 … Banton had a hit with the song “Boom Bye Bye,” whose lyrics refer to burning and shooting gays … Rivers Cuomo, frontman for Weezer, announces he’ll return to Harvard University to complete his last semester for a bachelor’s degree … Cuomo’s higher education had been interrupted a couple of times by touring and recording in the College of Musical Knowledge … Paul McCartney joins forces with the co-sponsor of his 2005 tour, Fidelity Investments, to establish the Music Lives Foundation … the non-profit will fund music programs and provide students with instruments in the U.S. and U.K… . observing what would have been John Lennon’s 65th birthday, Yoko Ono plants a tree at England’s Coventry Cathederal … school children sing “Imagine” during the ceremony …

2006, New Zealand country singer Keith Urban checks into rehab to deal with an alcohol addiction, causing him to miss the Country Music Association Awards show where he is nominated in four categories … Neil Young’s 20th Bridge School acoustic concerts host an array of unusual performances including Trent Reznor playing unplugged in front of a string quartet … other headliners include Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, and Brian Wilson … Young sits in with, and energizes, many of the sets … after completing the first leg of a North American tour, Who leader Pete Townshend reveals a new, curmudgeonly persona in an interview with Rolling Stone … the aging rocker disses aging rockers proclaiming that he doesn’t want to witness “old guys in their self-congratulatory mode” … rambling on, he says, “I don’t want to go out and see Bob Dylan. I don’t want to go out and see The Stones. I wouldn’t pay money to go see The Who, not even with new songs.” … leading some old-time Who fans to wonder if going out to see the latest incarnation of the Moon-less, Entwistle-less band could result in them being fooled again …

2007, former member of The Smiths and current Modest Mouse multi-instrumentalist Johnny Marr is appointed visiting professor at Salford University, near Marr’s home town of Manchester, England … he’ll teach classes about recording and pop music …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

October 14: R&B guitarist and bandleader Jimmy Liggins (1922), monster picker Mickey “Guitar” Baker of Mickey & Sylvia (1925), rockabilly pioneer Bill Justis (1927), Robert “Barefootin” Parker (1930), Barry McGuire of The New Christy Minstrels (1935), pop vocalist Marv Johnson (1938), British rocker and leader of The Shadows Cliff Richard (1940), Colin Hodgkinson of Whitesnake (1945), Moody Blues vocalist Justin Hayward (1946), English musician-producer Thomas Dolby (1958), A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister (1959), R&B singer Karyn White (1965), Natalie Maines of Dixie Chicks (1974), Shaznay Lewis of All Saints (1975), R&B artist Usher (1978)

October 15: blues singer Victoria Spivey (1906), orchestra leader Bobby Gimby (1918), R&B singer Marv Johnson (1938), Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters (1946), Chris De Burgh of “Lady in Red” fame (1948), Tito Jackson of The Jackson Five (1953), R&B singer Ginuwine, born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (1975)

October 16: Mississippi bluesman Big Joe Williams (1903), songwriter-producer Burt Kaempfert (1923), Nico of the Velvet Underground (1938), Fred Turner of BTO (1943), Bob Weir (1947), Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1959), Michael Balzary, better known as Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips (1969), Chad Gray, lead vocalist for Mudvayne and Hellyeah (1971), pop/blues-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist John Mayer (1977)

October 17: jazz drummer Cozy Cole (1909), British record executive Louis Benjamin (1922), noted classical music recording engineer and audio technology developer John Mosley (1933), trombonist Rico Rodriguez of The Specials (1934), Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts (1941), pop singer Gary Puckett (1942), Jim Tucker of The Turtles (1946), Mike Hossack, 2nd drummer of the Doobie Bros. (1946), country singer Alan Jackson (1958), Rene Dif of Aqua (1967), reggae singer Ziggy Marley, son of Bob Marley (1968), Chris Kirkpatrick of ‘N Sync (1971), Eminem born Marshall Bruce Mathers (1972), hip hop/reggae musician Wyclef Jean (1972)

October 18: Chuck Berry (1926), Ronnie Bright of the Coasters (1938), The Association’s Russ Giguere (1943), singer-songwriter Laura Nyro (1947), Joe Egan of Stealers Wheel (1946), Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon (1949), Doobie Brother Keith Knudsen (1948), trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1961), Dan Lilker, bassist for Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, and Brutal Truth (1964), Peter Svensson of The Cardigans (1974)

October 19: barrelhouse blues pianist Piano Red, born William Lee Perryman (1911), Kings of Rhythm drummer Billy Gayles (1931), Dave Guard of The Kingston Trio (1934), Peter Tosh of The Wailers (1944), soul singer George McCrae who had the hit “Rock Your Baby” (1944), Jeannie C. Riley “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1945), Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid (1946), Wilbert Hart of The Delfonics (1947), Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers (1948), Nino DeFranco, singer and guitarist with The DeFranco Family (1956), Karl Wallinger of World Party (1957), singer/Broadway actress Jennifer Holliday (1960), Dan “Woody” Woodgate of Madness (1960), Pras Michel of The Fugees (1972)

October 20: jazz innovator Jelly Roll Morton, born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe (1890), Johnny Moore of The Blazers (1906), master producer Tom Dowd (1925), electric sax man Eddie Harris (1934), rockabilly-ette Wanda Jackson (1937), Jay Siegel of The Tokens (1939), Ric Lee of Ten Years After (1945), Al Greenwood of Foreigner (1951), rocker Tom Petty (1950), Mark King of Level 42 (1958), James George “Soni” Sonefeld of Hootie and The Blowfish (1964), rapper Snoop Dogg born Cordazar Calvin Broadus (1971)

Departures:

October 14: Tex-Mex star Freddy Fender, born Baldemar Huerta (2006), conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (1990), crooner-actor Bing Crosby (1977)

October 15: Canadian punk rocker Frank Kerr (2008), songwriter Terry Gilkyson (1999), singer-songwriter-actor Tasha Thomas (1984), Bobby Lester of The Moonglows (1980), pop songwriting giant Cole Porter (1964)

October 16: jazz vocalist Etta Jones (2001), singer Ella Mae Morse of “Cow Cow Boogie” fame (1999), Santana keyboardist Rich Kermode (1996), jazz drummer Art Blakey (1990), jazz drummer Gene Krupa (1973), Leonard Chess, co-founder of Chess Records (1969)

October 17: pop songstress Teresa Brewer (2007), composer Berthold Goldschmidt (1996), Chris Acland of Lush (1996), Criss Oliva of Savatage (1993), country-pop singer Tennessee Ernie Ford (1991), blues singer-songwriter Alberta Hunter (1984), New Orleans guitarist Edgar V. Blanchard (1972)

October 18: soul singer Dee Dee Warwick (2008), reggae star Lucky Dube (2007), singer-actress Julie London (2000), Broadway singer-dancer Gwen Verdon (2000), New Orleans sax man Lee Allen (1994), songwriter Ed Labunski (1980), Houston bluesman L.C. Williams (1960)

October 19: actor-singer-comedian Rudy Ray Moore (2008), harmonica great James “Snooky” Prior (2006), rock journalist Greg Shaw (2004), Alice Cooper lead guitarist Glen Buxton (1997), Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy (1989), Delta bluesman Son House (1988)

October 20: bassist Paul Raven of Killing Joke and Ministry (2007), jazz pianist and vocalist Shirley Horn (2005), country and western singer-songwriter Merle Travis (1983), Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines—all of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1977)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:00:30 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1957, rock-and-roll wildman Jerry Lee Lewis records “Great Balls of Fire” …

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… in Sydney, Australia, another wildman, Little Richard, announces his intention to give up rock-and-roll and “live for the Lord” … he flies to Los Angeles the following day and is baptized as a Seventh Day Adventist … the erstwhile piano pounder and shouter will abide by his decision for five years before resuming his musical career …

1958, Eddie Cochran records the rock-and-roll anthem “C’mon Everybody” …

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… the Sex Pistols will also enjoy a hit with their cover in 1979 … an article in Billboard reports that Phil Spector, the writer and arranger of the Teddy Bears’ hit “To Know Him is to Love Him,” is studying to be a court reporter … though the reclusive producer, famed for creating “wall of sound” recordings in the 1960s, never takes up that profession, his trial and conviction for the 2003 murder of Lana Clarkson provides him with lots of courtroom experience …

1959, Bobby Darin becomes the youngest to ever headline at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. He displaces the prior record-holder Johnny Mathis who headlined when he was 23 … Darin is 22 …

1961, the Beatle haircut is born when Paul and John are celebrating John’s 21st birthday in Paris … they meet up with Jurgen Vollmer, a friend from Hamburg who wears his hair brushed forward in a cut popular with French teens … Paul and John like the style and have Jurgen give them haircuts in their hotel room … the rest is sartorial history …

1962, Little Richard and Sam Cooke begin a European tour in Doncaster, England … playing keyboards on the tour is a 16-year-old Billy Preston and the M.C. is Gene Vincent of “Be-Bop-A-Lula” fame, who wasn’t allowed to perform because his work permit had expired … for later concerts it is oddly decided by authorities that Vincent will be allowed to sing, but only in front of the stage, not on it …

1966, the Jimi Hendrix Experience plays its first ever gig at a concert in Paris supporting French pop start Johnny Halliday … the Experience played a 15-minute set of “Hey Joe” (soon to be their first single), “Killing Floor,” and soul standards “Land of a Thousand Dances,” “Respect,” and “Have Mercy” … in San Francisco, Grace Slick replaces expectant mother Signe Anderson in The Jefferson Airplane … Grace leaves her current band Great Society and brings along two songs that will be at the forefront of the San Francisco music scene: “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” …

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1967, David Crosby is bounced from The Byrds by leader Roger McGuinn after months of acrimony … Crosby complained that some of his songs the band recorded weren’t being released or, if they were, promoted properly including “Triad,” a song promoting a relationship between two men and a woman … McGuinn called it a “freak-out orgy tune”… Crosby took the song to the Jefferson Airplane who will release their version in 1968′s Crown of Creation … although recorded by The Byrds it was not released until 1987 …

1969, blues giant Muddy Waters is severely injured in a car crash in which three others are killed …

Muddy Waters – “Blues And Trouble” (1969)

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1970, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber opens on Broadway to mixed reviews, harsh criticism from Webber, and condemnation from some religious groups … the show will close in 1973 after 711 performances …

1976, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler are injured during an Aerosmith concert in Philadelphia when a fan throws a cherry bomb onto the stage … The boy band The Sex Pistols enter Landsdowne Studios in London with producer Dave Goodman and engineer Hugh Padgham to attempt to record their debut single “Anarchy In The U.K.” … unhappy with the results they try again a week later at Wessex Studios with Chris Thomas producing and Bill Price engineering … a key to the recording is Thomas layering Steve Jones’ guitar parts to create a roaring wall of sound …

1980, Bob Marley collapses in New York while preparing for a tour … he is diagnosed with cancer and will die seven months later …

1987, the three members of ZZ Top book their seats on the first passenger flight to the moon … at press time, they are still awaiting their confirmations …

1990, members of the British alt-rock band The Stone Roses are fined $5,100 each after being convicted of trashing their former record company’s offices …

1996, former Smashing Pumpkin Jimmy Chamberlain pleads guilty to disorderly conduct … the charges are related to fellow band member Jonathan Melvoin’s death from a heroin overdose …

1998, the Crossroads Centre of Antigua opens … the treatment facility for drug addicts is bankrolled by Eric Clapton …

2000, British scandal sheet, The Daily Mirror, reports that singer Toni Braxton will skip England’s MOBO Awards ceremonies celebrating black singers after one of her breast implants explodes …

2001, U2 launches the third leg of its Elevation tour with a South Bend, Indiana, concert inviting the world to see and hear it for free … the performance is webcast and accessible to U.S. fans on U2.com …

2005, Marilyn Manson announces he’s working on a line of perfumes and cosmetics … a recently discovered live recording of the Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring John Coltrane debuts in the #2 spot on the Billboard jazz chart … the tape of the 1957 Carnegie Hall performance was discovered in a dusty Library of Congress archive the previous January by a researcher … Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe is treated in Casper, Wyoming, for second-degree burns after sparks from a pyrotechnic display during a show burn his arms and face …

2006, Weird Al Yankovic scores his first Top Ten hit with “White & Nerdy” … after a 30-year hiatus, proto punk band The Stooges hit a Chicago studio to cut a new record … Weezer files suit against Miller Brewing Co. after the beer monolith airs ads that include images of ticket stubs for its shows along with those of Audioslave, Devo, and Incubus … Incubus also filed suit in 2005 charging misappropriation of its name … the Weezer action seeks millions in damages for “dilution of the value of the Weezer name and good will” … the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mounts an exhibit titled Revolution Rock: The Story of the Clash featuring 150 artifacts including lyric sheets and Joe Strummer’s well-worn Telecaster … Grace Slick is on hand to help California Gubernator Arnold Schwarzenegger christen the first of a new fleet of Virgin Airlines planes with the moniker “Jefferson Airplane” … while the pair do the champagne thing, “White Rabbit” plays … commenting on the the name choice, Slick observes dryly that, “The Grateful Dead would’ve been a bad name so they picked us.” …

2008, Eminem releases his memoir The Way I Am … in it the rapper reveals that his blonde hair was the result of an Ecstacy trip and that his 2003 “Superman” was the outcome of a romance with Mariah Carey … in their first gig together in four years, Grateful Dead alumni Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann play a benefit for Barack Obama at Penn State University … on the other hand, Robert Plant squashes rumors of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour when he posts a statement on his website saying, “It’s both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its ugly head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move on.” … apparently this word hasn’t reached Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham who have been reported to be continuing rehearsals without Plant at the mic … and here’s a union, not a reunion: Ritchie Blackmore marries longtime live-in musical partner Candice Night at the Castle on the Hudson in England … they have been recording and performing as Blackmore’s Night since 1997 …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

October 7: banjo player-singer-songwriter-comedian “Uncle” Dave Macon (1870), Martin Murray of The Honeycombs (1941), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1943), Kevin Godley of 10cc (1945), David Hope of Kansas (1949), John Mellencamp (1951), Tico Torres of Bon Jovi (1953), singer-songwriter Toni Braxton (1968), Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (1968), Leeroy Thornhill of Prodigy (1969)

October 8: composer Toru Takemitsu (1930), Doc Green, baritone with The Drifters (1934), Tornados guitarist George Bellamy (1940), Redbone drummer Butch Rillera (1945), Ray Royer of Procol Harum (1945), Toni Wilson of Hot Chocolate (1947), Johnny Ramone born John Cummings (1948), Hamish Stewart of Average White Band (1949), Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool & The Gang (1950), Cliff Adams of Kool & The Gang (1952), roots blues revivalist Lonnie Pitchford (1955), Steve Perry of Cherry Poppin’ Daddies (1963), C.J. Ramone, aka Christopher James Ward of the Ramones (1965), R&B singer Teddy Riley (1967)

October 9: John Lennon (1940), John Entwistle of The Who (1944), Jackson Browne (1948), Brendan Mullen, founder of L.A. punk club Masque (1949), P. J. Harvey (1969), Sean Ono Lennon (1975)

October 10: composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813), Ivory Joe Hunter, R&B singer-songwriter-pianist, best known for his hit recording “Since I Met You, Baby” (1914), inventive pianist-composer Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917), “The Big Bopper” born Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. (1932), country singer Dottie West (1932), soul singer O.V. Wright (1939), singer-songwriter John Prine (1946), Edward Freche of the Neville Brothers band (1947), singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Midge Ure (1953), David Lee Roth (1955), Tanya Tucker (1958), singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl (1959), Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1961), Mike Malinin of Goo Goo Dolls (1967), Michael Bivens of Bel Biv Devoe (1968), Nine Days drummer Vinnie Tattanelli (1972), pop and R&B singer Mya Harrison (1979)

October 11: hard-hitting jazz drummer Art Blakey (1919), bluesman Little Willie Littlefield (1931), jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie (1941), Gary Mallaber of The Steve Miller Band (1946), blue-eyed soul singer Daryl Hall (1949), Andrew Woolfolk of Earth, Wind & Fire (1950), Haircut 100 drummer Blair Cunningham (1957), Scott Johnson of The Gin Blossoms (1962), MC Lyte (1971)

October 12: composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872), Guitar Gabriel AKA Robert Lewis Jones (1925), Sam Moore of soul duo Sam and Dave (1935), Luciano Pavarotti (1935), Melvin Franklin of The Temptations (1942), Status Quo guitarist and vocalist Rick Parfitt (1948), Irish singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy (1948), Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens (1955), Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould (1960), Garfield Bright of Shai (1969), Dixie Chicks fiddle player Martie McGuire (1969)

October 13: Paul Simon (1941), Robert Lamm of Chicago (1944), Sammy Hagar (1947), Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention (1950), Marie Osmond (1959) R&B vocalist Ashanti (1980)

Departures:

October 7: NRBQ guitarist Steve Ferguson (2009), British rocker Johnny Kidd (1966), blues singer Overton Amos Lemons aka Smiley Lewis (1966), American tenor and movie star Mario Lanza (1959)

October 8: singer-songwriter Nicky James (2007), Nat “King” Cole Trio guitarist Oscar Moore (1991), country singer Harold Dorman (1988), Cliff Gallup of Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps (1988), Dr. Demento favorite Jimmy Cross (1978)

October 9: founder of The Modern Jazz Quartet, Milt Jackson (1999), New Orleans R&B artist Joseph “Mr. Google Eyes” August (1992), Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel (1978), R&B and gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1973), R&B sax honker Earl Bostic (1965)

October 10: Darren Robinson, 400-pound member of The Fat Boys known as The Human Beat Box (1995), Lenny Peters of British pop duo Peters and Lee (1992)

October 11: reggae star Alton Ellis (2008), composer Neal Hefti (2008), Werner von Trapp, member of the singing family (2007), BBC star and pop singer Andy Stewart (1993), Edith Piaf (1963)

October 12: Blue Cheer bassist-vocalist Dickie Peterson (2009), Brendan Mullen, founder of L.A. punk club Masque (2009), songwriter Baker Knight (2005), bluesman Frank Frost (1999), John Denver (1997), Ricky Wilson of the B-52′s (1985), rockabilly pioneer Gene Vincent (1971)

October 13: singer-actor Al Martino (2009), Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks of The Ohio Players (1996), Shirley Brickley of The Orlons (1977), Ed Sullivan (1974)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:00:53 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1944, Dinah Shore’s “I’ll Walk Alone” moves to the top spot on the American singles chart … it is the first-ever #1 U.S. hit for a female artist …

1954, singing “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Elvis makes his debut at the Grand Ole Opry … he elicits an unenthusiastic response from the hard-core country audience …

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1960, Tommy Roe & The Satins release “Sheila” on Judd Records … the single will prove a flop … a revised version will be released two years later by Tommy Roe alone on ABC-Paramount and will streak to the top of the chart, the first of over 20 hits for the artist … just a little reminder to stay in the game …

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1962, The Beatles release their first single in the U.K., “Love Me Do,” backed by “P.S. I Love You” … according to rumor, in an act of faith manager Brian Epstein orders 10,000 copies for the record store chain he owns … all 10,000 are purchased, assuring The Beatles a spot in the British Top 20 …

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1966, The Jimi Hendrix Experience is formed in London … his song “Fire” will become one of the most played songs in rock … despite the song’s sexual overtones, the actual inspiration came while spending a cold December night at the home of bassist Noel Redding’s mother … Jimi asked if he could stand next to her fireplace … though she agreed, apparently her Great Dane did not … hence the spoken line before the solo, “Aw, move over, Rover, and let Jimi take over” …

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1967, Woody Guthrie dies in Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens, New York, at the age of 55 … the legendary singer-songwriter had been in and out of various New York area hospitals since 1954, receiving treatment for Huntington’s disease, a hereditary illness that Guthrie’s mother, Nora, also died of and son Arlo suffers from … in 1998 and 2000, urban folk troubadour Billy Bragg and Wilco will issue two CDs of songs based on lyrics Guthrie wrote before his death that were given to Bragg by his widow Nora … State narcs execute a raid on the Grateful Dead house in Haight-Ashbury … Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Bob Weir are arrested along with managers Rock Scully and Danny Rifkin, equipment manager Bob Matthews, and six friends … the cops, though they had no warrant, knocked down the front door, then confiscated money and records belonging to the band as well as the Haight-Ashbury Legal Organization whose office is part of this den of iniquity … after everyone has been bailed out the next morning, the band hosts a press conference in their living room … when Rifkin is asked by a reporter how long it took for the manager to grow his hair long, Rifkin produces a large, frothy bowl of whipped cream that he says has been reserved for the first reporter to ask a stupid question … when the reporter cringes, Rifkin relents …

1968, after rising to the top with three million-seller albums, supergroup Cream begins its farewell tour … Fleetwood Mac are at CBS Studios in central London … the Sunday session begins with a recording of guitarist/leader Peter Green’s instrumental “Albatross” … the tune is reminiscent of Santo and Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” but features twin guitar harmonies by Green and Danny Kirwan over a gently loping bass by John McVie, with Mick Fleetwood playing tom-toms with mallets … the recording is a huge international hit and influences John Lennon in writing “Sun King” for The Beatles Abbey Road album … years later, Green still plays the tune in concert …

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1970, Janis Joplin is found dead in her room at Hollywood’s Landmark Hotel, the victim of a heroin overdose … she had just finished recording her second solo album, entitled Pearl … at the time of her death, Joplin is only 27 years old … Jimi Hendrix is buried on October 1, 1970, at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Renton, Washington … the planned memorial service is canceled because of lack of time and concerns with crowd control …

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1986, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather is attacked while walking down Park Avenue in New York City about 11 PM … he is knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly by a mentally unstable citizen who asks over and over, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” … his assailant is William Tager, a diagnosed psychotic who suspected the media of beaming hostile messages to him, and wanted Rather to tell him the frequency being used for the nefarious plot … nearly ten years later R.E.M. will write a song loosely based on the event titled “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” …

1990, record store owner Charles Freeman of Fort Lauderdale, FL, is convicted of obscenity charges for selling the 2 Live Crew rap album Nasty As They Wanna Be … he is fined $2,000 …

1992, Sinead O’Connor puts a serious crimp in her career when she appears on Saturday Night Live … after singing an acapella version of Bob Marley’s “War” in which she inserts a verse about sexual abuse in the Catholic church, the Irish singer tears up a photo of the Pope and says, “Fight the real enemy” … the following week, guest host Joe Pesci holds up the photo, taped back together … during Madonna’s next SNL appearance, she holds up a photo of Joey Buttafuoco saying, “Fight the real enemy” … nowadays, when Comedy Central airs the original episode, the incident is replaced with O’Connor holding up a picture of a black child taken from a rehearsal tape …

1997, there’s a madness to the Method Man, who is being sued after he leaps off the stage and lands on a Wu-Tang fan, knocking her unconscious … the suit is against band members Method Man, RZA, and Redman, as well as the student government that sponsored the show … the fan, Juanita L. Evans, says she was distracted by Redman and therefore didn’t see the flying Method Man … it’s like the old adage says, “When in doubt, sue everyone” …

2004, five Vote for Change concerts are mounted on the same night in Florida, considered a state up for grabs in the 2004 presidential election … Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Tracy Chapman, and John Fogerty perform in Orlando where Chapman sings a stirring rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” … the lineup in Gainesville is Dave Matthews, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, and Jurassic 5 … in Kissimmee, Pearl Jam and Death Cab for Cutie do their bit to try and unseat the incumbent … Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’, and Sheryl Crow perform in Jacksonville, where the three sing a show-closing rendition of the Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” … meanwhile in Clearwater, the Dixie Chicks and James Taylor hit the stage … Taylor describes himself as a “big old yellow-dog Democrat” and reveals that his songs “Line ‘Em Up” and “Slap Leather” were composed to celebrate the end of the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan respectively … the following night, John Mellencamp and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds perform in Chicago in support of the John Kerry candidacy … Howard Stern tells his 12 million listeners that in 2006 he will move over to Sirius Satellite Radio … six stations fired the breast-fixated broadcaster from their rosters after Clear Channel Broadcasting was hit with $495,000 in FCC fines … though Clear Channel president John Hogan admitted that Stern hadn’t committed any recent sins, the company decided to drop him anyway … reportedly the decision was based on Stern’s lifetime fascination with biology … his “lectures” on applied female anatomy in particular … Stern fires back saying, “As soon as I came out against Bush, that’s when my rights to free speech were taken away. It had nothing to do with indecency.” …

2006, a victim of plummeting record sales, record retailer Tower Records is liquidated … 3,000 employees in 20 states lose their jobs … Elton John is joined by, among others, Elvis Costello, Moby, Liv Tyler, and Neil Young in a fundraiser for his AIDS charity … Young wows the crowd with an acoustic set that includes a duet with John on “Your Song” …

2007, in the first lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America against illegal downloaders to go to trial, the RIAA is awarded a $220,000 judgment against Jammie Thomas of Brainerd, MN, who was charged with downloading 24 copyright-protected songs … the RIAA had originally offered to settle with Thomas in 2005 for $4,750, which was refused by the defendant who argued that she hadn’t downloaded the tunes … more than 26,000 suits have been filed against alleged song pirates by the RIAA to date … it later became known that the RIAA withheld roughly $400 million from artists for years … the RIAA gained the money through lawsuits claiming to defend the rights of artists, although none of the artists whose music was “illegally” downloaded have received any of the settlement money … the RIAA has also lobbied for a decrease in artist royalty payments … an odd way to protect artist’s rights, to say the least … Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor announces that he is no longer under contract with Interscope Records, allowing him to be able to distribute any future Nine Inch Nails and solo work in whatever form he desires … he also expresses his belief that being free from contract will enable him to have more direct contact with his fanbase and get his material to them in a more efficient and cost-effective manner … this is bad news for the record industry coming on the heels of Radiohead going indie with its web-only distribution of In Rainbows and Madonna’s split with Warner to cut a deal with Live Nation that covers both concert and record business …

2008, E Street Band axeman Nils Lofgren undergoes double hip replacement surgery … one of the last artists to resist making his music downloadable throws in the towel when Rhapsody.com begins offering Kid Rock’s catalog online … at Rock’s stipulation, only entire albums—not singles—are offered … the Kid is still holding out where iTunes is concerned … he is quoted as saying, “It’s funny, I have a shitload of stock in Apple, but it’s just not very American to me when Apple tells you how they want to sell your product and they tell you what it’s worth” …

2009, the ninth annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park … spread over seven stages, acts comprise a virtual who’s-who of roots and country music … an estimated 750,000 fans enjoy sets by Doc Watson, Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs, Del McCoury, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Ralph Stanley, and a host of other living legends … monster Nashville producer and guitarist Buddy Miller wows the crowd with his gritty road show that includes a guest appearance by Robert Plant … Hardly Strictly is an entirely free event—a gift to the city from real estate developer and bluegrass fan Warren Hellman …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 30: jazz drummer Buddy Rich (1917), New Orleans soul man Chris Kenner (1929), soul and gospel singer Cissy Houston (1933), crooner Johnny Mathis (1935), soul singer Z.Z. Hill (1935), Frankie Lymon (1942), Dewey Martin of Buffalo Springfield (1942), producer Gus Dudgeon (1942), Marilyn McCoo of The 5th Dimension (1943), Sylvia Peterson of The Chiffons (1946), Mark Bolan of T. Rex (1947), Patrice Rushen (1954), Basia (1956), Trey Anastasio of Phish (1964), Robby Takac of The Goo Goo Dolls (1964)

October 1: piano maestro Vladimir Horowitz (1904), Texas bluesman Albert Collins (1932), Julie Andrews (1935), Capitols singer-drummer Samuel George (1942), saxist Jerry Martini of Sly & the Family Stone (1943), pop singer Scott McKenzie (1944), Herbert Rhoad of The Persuasions (1944), Barbara Paritt of The Toys (1944), R&B singer-songwriter Donnie Hathaway (1945), bassist-vocalist Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash (1947), Tubes singer Jane Dornacker (1947), Senegalese vocalist Youssou N’Dour (1959), Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra (1968), Xscape’s LaTocha Scott (1974)

October 2: Ron Griffiths of Badfinger (1942), singer-songwriter Don McLean (1945), Michael Rutherford of Genesis (1950), Sting, born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (1951), The Diamonds’ David Somerville (1953), Phillip Oakey of Human League (1955), soul singer Freddie Jackson (1956), singer-songwriter Robbie Nevil (1960), Siggi Baldursson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Claude McKnight of Take 6 (1962), Sean McDonald, singer and guitarist with Surgery (1965), Bud Graugh of Sublime (1967), teen pop singer Tiffany (1971)

October 3: R&B pianist and saxophonist Monk Higgins, born Milton Bland (1930), influential American rock-and-roller Eddie Cochran, who co-wrote “Summertime Blues” (1938), former Mountain bass player and Cream producer Felix Pappalardi (1938), Chubby Checker, born Ernest Evans, who popularized the dance The Twist (1941), Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac (1948), Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954), Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee (1961), Gwen Stefani (1969), Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boys (1971), soul and R&B singer India.Arie (1975)

October 4: Leon Thomas, jazz vocalist who worked with Pharoah Sanders and Santana (1937), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1944), bassist Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Mothers of Invention, and Buffalo Stringfield (1947), blues singer-guitarist-songwriter Keb’ Mo’, born Kevin Moore (1951), Barbara K. MacDonald of Timbuk 3 (1958), Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (1959), singer-songwriter Jon Secada (1961), Lena Katina of tATu (1984), Ashlee Simpson (1984)

October 5: blues musician George “Little Hat” Jones (1899), Delta singer and guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill (1934), guitarist-singer-dancer Abi Ofarim (1939), Richard Street of The Temptations (1942), Steve Miller (1943), Richard Kermode, keyboardist who worked with Janis Joplin and Santana (1946), Brian Johnson of AC/DC (1947), seminal country rocker B.W. Stevenson (1949), Bob Geldof (1954), Paul Thomas of Good Charlotte (1980)

October 6: Cliff White, session guitarist with Sam Cooke (1921), Walter Kimble, sax player with Fats Domino (1946), Millie Small of “My Boy Lollipop” fame (1948), Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon (1951), David Hidalgo of Los Lobos (1954), singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet (1964), Tommy Stinson of The Replacements (1966)

Departures:

September 30: Moonglows singer Prentiss Barnes (2006), Jacques Levy (2004), Texas rockabilly pioneer Ronnie Dawson (2003), disco-era songwriter Paul Jabara (1992), pop singer Mary Ford (1977)

October 1: Richard Avedon (2004), bassist Bruce Palmer of Buffalo Springfield (2004), Booker T. & The MGs drummer Al Jackson Jr. (1975)

October 2: “The Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry (1998), Evelyn Young, Memphis sax player who appeared on early B.B. King records (1990), New Orleans R&B and jazz pianist Pleasant “Cousin Joe” Joseph (1989)

October 3: Darryl DeLoach, original lead vocalist with Iron Butterfly (2002), Cars bassist Benjamin Orr (2000), blues singer Victoria Spivey (1976), blues master Skip James, whose blues classics were covered by rockers including Cream and Canned Heat (1969), American folk icon Woody Guthrie (1967)

October 4: bebop trumpeter Art Farmer (1998), country fiddler Jerry River (1996), guitarist Danny Gatton (1994), 1950s R&B singer Varetta Dillard (1993), J.Frank Wilson, lead vocalist of J.Frank Williams and the Cavaliers (1991), Ray Stephens, singer with The Village People (1990), Atlanta DJ Zenas “Daddy” Sears (1988), Jimmy Springs, drummer and singer for The Red Caps (1987), Janis Joplin (1970)

October 5: The Temptations’ Eddie Kendricks (1992)

October 6: Portuguese fado singer Amalia Rodriguez (1999), raspy-voiced Texas rockabilly singer “Groovey” Joe Poovey (1998), arranger-composer-orchestra leader Nelson Riddle (1985), Johnny O’Keefe, Australia’s first rock star (1978)

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