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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:00:27 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

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

1957, Al Priddy, a disc jockey at station KEX in Portland, Oregon, is fired for playing Elvis Presley’s version of “White Christmas” … the station instituted a ban of the song due to a behind-the-scenes deal with original song composer Irving Berlin, who detested The King’s version of his tune … KEX management releases a statement which states the song is “not in the spirit we associate with Christmas” … whatever that means … Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra Gale Brown … she is his third wife, his third cousin, and 13 years old …

1961, The Beatles sign with manager Brian Epstein …

1964, Sam Cooke is shot and beaten to death by a motel manager in Los Angeles … Cooke was apparently running amok wearing only a sport coat and shoes … he was chasing a young woman who had fled his room with his clothes after he had assaulted her … in pursuit Cooke broke open the door to the manager’s office, resulting in her shooting him three times and then beating the singer for good measure … he is dead when police arrive … John Coltrane records “A Love Supreme” with his quartet … original blue-eyed soul singers The Righteous Brothers release the Phil Spector-produced mega-hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”… besides being deliriously catchy with an instantly memorable melody, the song records several firsts … it is the first four-minute single to hit number one in the U.S. and the first tune produced by Spector to top the charts in England … Spector refused to cut the song to the under three-minute time required for radio … instead the last two digits of the running time were reversed to appear as 3:05 … it takes programming directors weeks to discover why shows were suddenly running long … the trick works, though, as “Lovin’ Feelin’” is already a hit and in demand …

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1965, Bill Graham promotes his first concert at the Fillmore Auditorium as a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe … performers include a very early Jefferson Airplane, and The Great Society with vocalist Grace Slick … Graham rents the venue from leaseholder Charles Sullivan, an African-American man who, during the 1950s and 1960s, is the largest promoter of black music west of the Mississippi … Graham will later take over all shows at the venue and the Fillmore will become a Mecca for psychedelic bands and their patchouli-scented fans … Ray Charles charts his 44th song this week when “Crying Time” enters the Hot 100 …

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1966, “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night” by the Electric Prunes is released …

1967, Jim Morrison, who is famous for legal troubles over dropped trousers, is arrested for breach of peace … Morrison, hacked at getting maced earlier for mouthing off to a policeman, goes into a rant about the incident in the middle of “Back Door Man” … the cops grab him right off the stage … Byrds drummer Michael Clarke quits within a month of Byrds’ leader Jim McGuinn firing David Crosby … this happens about two years after another Clark, that is Gene Clark, quits the band on account of his aversion to flying … a big liability for a Byrd … Cream’s Disraeli Gears enters the U.S. album charts … Otis Redding finishes recording “Dock of the Bay” … three days later he is killed when his tour plane crashes into Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin … the “Love Man” is 26 … killed with Redding are the pilot and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays … the scheduled opening band for Redding’s show that evening is a group called The Grim Reaper …

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1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is filmed in front of a live audience in London … the music performers include The Stones, The Who, Marianne Faithful, Jethro Tull, and temporary rock supergroup Dirty Mac, consisting of John Lennon, Mitch Mitchell, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards … Yoko Ono makes an appearance on one Dirty Mac tune … the rock-concert extravaganza is intended for broadcast as a television special, but never made it … the film would not see release until 1996 … Graham Nash quits The Hollies and says he’s going to form a group with David Crosby and Stephen Stills …

1969, Jimi Hendrix takes the stand in the Toronto Supreme Court at his trial for possession of hashish and heroin … Hendrix testifies that he has smoked pot four times and hashish five times, taken LSD five times, and sniffed cocaine twice but says he has “outgrown” drugs … the jury finds him not guilty after eight hours of deliberation …

1970, Pink Floyd are touring the U.K. in support of their latest album Atom Heart Mother …

1971, Frank Zappa is pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London … he gets the shove from the jealous boyfriend of an ardent young fan … Frank suffers a broken leg, broken ankle, fractured skull, and crushed larynx, but it’s the damage to his spine that keeps him in a wheelchair for most of the year …

1972, Frank Zappa advertises in Variety, offering instruction in how to win at craps, roulette, and blackjack using mathematics … the Zappa placing the ad is Frank Zappa’s father, Frank (but not Senior, dad was named Francesco, his son was named Frank) …

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1974, John Lennon and Ronald Reagan are the celebrity guests on ABC’s Monday Night Football … off-camera the former California governor and future president schools the former Beatle on the finer points of the game …

1976, KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is electrocuted onstage during a concert in Florida when he touches a light fixture that has shorted … he has to be carried from the stage but collects himself and returns to finish the performance …

1977, Saturday Night Fever premieres in New York … the movie will spread the disco craze across the country and the soundtrack album will become one of the biggest sellers of all time …

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1978, The Blues Brothers release their version of Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” …

1979, The Clash release what many feel is their best album London Calling, a two-record set that could be called their version of The Beatles so-called “White Album” in the way it embraces so many musical genres … on the initial release, the track “Train In Vain” is not listed, an Easter egg … it would then be released as a single becoming a #4 hit in England and #23 in the States …

1980, John Lennon is shot to death in New York City on the street outside his apartment … he Clash release the sprawling three-record set Sandinista … The Minutemen live up to their name with a seven-song EP, five of them clocking in at under a minute …

1982, actress-choreographer-one-hit-wonder Toni Basil hits number one on the BillBoard pop chart with “Mickey” …

1984, various popular artists, who are part of Bob Geldof’s Band-Aid rock charity, release the well-intentioned, but campy, single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” … performers include Phil Collins, Simon Le Bon, Bono, Paul Weller, Mark Knopfler, George Michael, and Sting … David Bowie and Paul McCartney were not at the recording session but mailed in their vocal contributions …

1991, Rita Marley is finally awarded Bob Marley’s contested estate after years of legal wrangling … as a result of the verdict famous Marley son Ziggy names his daughter Justice …

1995, the surviving members of The Grateful Dead disband in the wake of Jerry Garcia’s death in August …

1998, Frank Sinatra’s FBI file is released to the public by the bureau … it contains 2,403 pages documenting assorted sordid Sinatra facts like his close connections with organized crime and well-hidden arrest records … Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs is injured in a brawl outside the Liberty Lunch nightclub … the band has just finished a show inside the Austin, Texas, club when the singer gets into a fight with one of the club’s security guards … Dulli ends up in the hospital for a few days with a fractured skull …

1999, rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s second posthumous album, Born Again, sells nearly a half million copies in its first week … it bumps Celine Dion out of the top spot with national retailers …

2000, Metallica sues Neiman-Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Guerlain, Inc. for trademark infringement … the three companies are producing and selling a perfume branded Metallica …

2003, Ozzy Osbourne is crushed under the all-terrain vehicle he is riding at his country estate in Buckinghamshire, England … the accident puts him in the hospital for nearly a month recovering from injuries that include a fractured left collarbone, eight fractured ribs, and crushed neck vertebrae … he awakes from a coma-like condition with no sense of smell or taste, convinced he has been in a bomb blast in Wales while touring with his band …

2004, Damageplan and ex-Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell is shot to death at a Columbus, Ohio, nightclub … Damageplan had just started their show when a crazed fan runs onstage and shoots Dimebag … the shooter then kills a band roadie and two fans … a hostage situation is ended when a local police officer enters the backstage area and shoots the assailant, killing him … in the weeks leading up to the holidays, new releases by such luminaries as Britney Spears, U2, Eminem, and Destiny’s Child are leaked to the internet … record labels attribute the illicit releases to thefts from studios and distributors … Def Jam Recordings announces that Jay-Z will assume duties as the president of the record label on January 3, 2005 … the announcement coincides with his Linkin Park collaboration Collision Course arriving at #1 on the Billboard chart … James Brown announces that he will be operated on for prostate cancer … Tupac Shakur’s eighth posthumous album Loyal to the Game is released … at the time of his death in 1995 the rapper had sold a total of 5.9 million records; by 2004 that number has grown to over 35 million units … his estate has also spun off a line of urban apparel, a biography, a poetry collection, two authorized documentaries on DVDs … and at the end of 2004 a VH1 biographical documentary and a Broadway musical are also in the works …

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

2007, Led Zeppelin reunites for a one-off show at London’s O2 arena as a part of a tribute to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who died a year earlier … the two-hour set includes many of the band’s biggest hits and represented Zep’s first full-length show since drummer John Bonham died in 1980 … filling in on drums is John’s son, Jason, who acquitted himself well … rumors swirl about a reunion tour … Embedding has been disabled so to watch the full thing you have to head to YouTube. in the wake of his departure from Interscope, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor launches the website remix.nin.com where fans can mash up songs from the NIN catalog and post their creations online … a half dozen tracks posted online by garage rockers Foxboro Hot Tubs get heightened attention when word leaks that the songs are actually the work of pop punksters Green Day … a full-length album, Stop Drop and Roll containing the singles, will be released the following April …

2008, Coldplay’s Chris Martin says “Viva La Vida” is not copied from Joe Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” … Sir Elton John loses libel case … according to the U.K.’s Guardian, a high court judge rules the singer’s sense of humor failure over a satirical piece by a Guardian columnist is a tantrum too far, that “irony” and “teasing” do not amount to defamation …

2009, just before boarding a plane at LAX headed for the first of Guns N’ Roses’ Asian tour dates, frontman Axl Rose Rose is captured on video punching a photographer …

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

Arrivals:

December 8: Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865), Sammy Davis Jr. (1925), master of the B3 Jimmy Smith (1925), soul singer Jerry Butler (1939), flutist James Galway (1939), The Hollies’ Bobby Elliot (1942), Jim Morrison (1943), Gregg Allman (1947), Warren Cuccurullo of Duran Duran (1956), Phil Collen of Def Leppard (1957), Paul Rutherford of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1959), Marty Friedman of Megadeth (1962), Sinead O’Connor (1966), Bushwick Bill of The Geto Boys (1966), Ryan Newell of Sister Hazel (1972)

December 9: blues singer-harpist Junior Wells (1934), Rick Danko of The Band (1943), Shirley Brickley of The Orlons (1944), Neil Innes of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (1944), The Commodores’ Walter Orange (1946), Candy Givens of Zephyr (1946), Joan Armatrading (1950), Randy Murray of BTO (1955), Donny Osmond (1957), Crowded House’s Nick Seymour (1958), Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan (1970), Geoff Barrow of Portishead (1971), Green Day’s Tre Cool (1972), rapper Canibus (1974)

December 10: jazz bandleader Jerry Blaine (1910), Guitar Slim, born Eddie Jones (1926), Ralph Tavares of Tavares (1948), J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., born Joseph Donald Mascis (1965), Timothy Christian Riley of Tony! Toni! Tone! (1966), Scot Alexander of Dishwalla (1971), Meg White of The White Stripes (1974)

December 11: Yodeling Slim Clark (1917), Big Mama Thornton aka Willie Mae Thornton (1926), Buddy Ace aka the Root Doctor (1936), David Gates of Bread (1940), Booker T. Jones of Booker T and The MGs (1944), Brenda Lee (1944), Jermaine Jackson (1954), Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens (1958), Nikki Sixx (1958), Justin Curie of Del Amitri (1964)

December 12: Frank Sinatra (1915), big–band singer Joe Williams (1918), Sun Records founder Sam Phillips (1923), jazz guitarist Jim Hall (1930), Connie Francis (1938), Dionne Warwick (1941), Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers (1943), Motor City 5 singer Rob Tyner (1944), Clive Bunker of Jethro Tull (1946), Martin Stone of Savoy Brown (1946), George Brown of Kool & The Gang (1949), Chris Stein of Blondie (1950), Don Baird of The Georgia Satellites (1953), Cy Curnin of The Fixx (1957), Sheila E. (1959), Eric Schenkman of Spin Doctors (1963), Grant Young of Soul Asylum (1964), Kate Schellenbach of Luscious Jackson (1965), Nick Dimichino of Nine Days (1967), Danny Boy of House Of Pain (1968), Marilyn Manson (1969), Dino Meneghin of The Calling (1977)

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

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

Departures:

December 8: Dimebag Darrell Abbott (2004), Antonio Carlos Jobim (1994), jazz trumpeter Buck Clayton (1991), Herbert “Toubo” Rhoad of The Persuasions (1988), Howlin’ Wolf drummer Willie Williams (1988), blues guitarist Hollywood Fats born Michael Mann (1986), Marty Robbins (1982), harp maestro Walter “Shakey” Horton (1981), John Lennon (1980), Gary Thain of Uriah Heep (1975)

December 9: drummer Freddie Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers (2006), pop singer Georgia Gibbs (2006), Mike Botts of Bread (2005), Mary Hansen of Stereolab (2002), Waitresses singer Patti Donahue (1996), Orioles vocalist Sonny Til (1981)

December 10: fingerpickin’ Delta blues legend Jerry Ricks (2007), Rick Danko of The Band (1999), lyricist Buddy Feyne (1998), Jake Carey, bass singer with The Flamingos (1997), country singer Faron Young (1996), rapper Darren Robinson of The Fat Boys (1995), Willie Harris of the Clovers (1988), Otis Redding, Bar–Kays guitarist Jimmy King, Bar–Kays sax player Phalin Jones, Bar–Kays drummer Carl Cunningham, Bar–Kays organ player Ronnie Caldwell (all 1967)

December 11: Snot member Lynn Strait (1998), Sam Cooke (1964)

December 12: Elvis impersonator Orion (1998), king of zydeco accordion Clifton Chenier (1987), session pianist and founding member of The Rolling Stones Ian Stewart (1985)

December 13: Yvonne King Burch of the singing King Sisters (2009), slide guitarist “Homesick” James Williamson (2006), children’s composer Larry Troxel (1998)

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

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:43:28 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1945, Elvis Presley makes his first-ever public appearance in a talent contest at the Mississippi Alabama Dairy Show singing “Old Shep.” Elvis is 10 years old at the time and comes in second …

1963, The New Vic in London is the site of the first night of a 30-date U.K. tour that features the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, The Rolling Stones, Mickie Most, and The Flintstones …

1965, John Coltrane releases the volcanic Live in Seattle double LP …with players including McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Donald Garrett, and a ferocious performance from Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, the album charts the outer frontiers of Coltrane’s explorations into atonal music …

1967, Jimi Hendrix makes his stage debut in the U.K. when he jams onstage with Cream during their gig at London Polytechnic …

1969, The Beatles Abbey Road album goes to No. 1 on the U.K. chart. The final studio recording from the group includes two George Harrison songs—“Something” and “Here Comes The Sun” plus “Come Together,” “Sun King,” and “Golden Slumbers.” The cover allegedly provides clues relating to the ‘Paul Is Dead’ phenomenon: Paul is barefoot and the car number plate ‘LMW 281F’ supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 years old if he was still alive. ‘LMW’ was said to stand for ‘Linda McCartney Weeps.’ The four Beatles allegedly represent; the priest (John, dressed in white), the undertaker (Ringo in a black suit), the corpse (Paul, in a suit but barefoot), and the gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim work shirt) …

1973, Grand Funk tops the U.S. singles charts with “We’re An American Band” …

1974, police are called to a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Öyster Cult concert after a fight erupts between two sound engineers. The Skynyrd roadie claims that the sound has been deliberately turned off during the band’s set …

1976, at his own birthday celebration singer Jerry Lee Lewis fires off some rounds through an office door and accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens in the chest. Owens survives but sues Lewis …

1983, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler ascends to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the Jim Steinman written and produced track “Total Eclipse Of The Heart.” She becomes the only Welsh artist to score a U.S. No. 1. …

1986, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather is attacked while walking down Park Avenue in New York City about 11 p.m. …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 10 years later R.E.M. will write a song loosely based on the event titled “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” …

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 …

1998, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and composer Philip Glass appear in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. The concert, in front of a crowd of 4,000, is in honor of the memory of poet Allen Ginsberg and raises funds for the Tibetan Buddhist organization Jewel Heart …

1999, 59-year old Welsh chart veteran Tom Jones does something he hasn’t done in 25 years: he goes No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with Reload, which features Jones accompanied by Robbie Williams, Stereophonics, Barenaked Ladies, the Pretenders, Natalie Imbruglia, and many others …

2001, Earth Wind and Fire announce that Viagra will sponsor their forthcoming 30th anniversary American tour …

2005, Sir Bob Geldof is awarded the freedom of his native Dublin after the City Council votes to provide the accolade in honor of his campaign against world poverty and debt alleviation in Africa …

Arrivals:

September 29: Gene Autry (1907), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (1942), singer-songwriter Tommy Boyce (1944), Mark Farner of Grand Funk (1948), Mike Pinera of Iron Butterfly (1948), Suzzy Roche of The Roches (1956), Les Claypool of Primus (1963), Barry D of Jesus Jones (1965), Brad Smith of Blind Melon (1968)

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), R&B singer Patrice Rushen (1954), singer-songwriter 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), saxophonist Jerry Martini of Sly & the Family Stone (1943), 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 Gaugh of Sublime (1967), teen pop singer Tiffany (1971), Richard Hell of the Voidoids and Dim Stars, born Richard Myers (1949)

October 3: American rock-and-roller Eddie Cochran, who co-wrote “Summertime Blues” (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), Ashlee Simpson (1984)

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 Springfield (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 t.A.T.u. (1984)

October 5: blues musician George “Little Hat” Jones (1899), 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 (1951), Paul Thomas of Good Charlotte (1980)

Departures:

September 29: Algerian singer Cheb Hasni (1994)

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

October 1: Moonglows singer Prentiss Barnes (2006), 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 Rivers (1996), guitarist Danny Gatton (1994), 1950s R&B singer Varetta Dillard (1993), J. Frank Wilson, lead vocalist of J. Frank Wilson 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)

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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 — 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)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:06:04 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1954, Elvis Presley’s career comes to a crashing end—his career as a truck driver that is … he signs his first contract with Sun Records …

1955, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets becomes the first rock-and-roll record to hit #1 on the national pop charts …

1958, silky-voiced jazz vocalist Norma Jean Egstrom, better known as Peggy Lee, soars up the charts to the #8 spot with her definitive version of “Fever.” The tune is destined to become her signature song … The piece is covered by many others, including Elvis, Madonna, and Beyoncé …

1962, The Rolling Stones play out for the first time at the Marquee Club in London … Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Avory, and Dick Taylor constitute the lineup …

1967, in one of the strangest rock-and-roll pairings ever, the Jimi Hendrix Experience joins The Monkees’ North American tour in Jacksonville, FL … the teenybopper crowds don’t know what to make of Hendrix’s wild performances, resulting in the Experience leaving the tour after only a few dates … the persistent rumor that Hendrix is kicked off the tour after protests by Daughters of the American Revolution that his show was “too erotic,” is false …

1968, Steppenwolf releases the ultimate biker anthem—”Born To Be Wild” …

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1969, Blind Faith makes their American concert debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City … Elvis Presley’s cool comes to a crashing end as the heavily sequined King plays to a packed house at the International Hotel in Vegas … not being one to let an opportunity pass, manager Colonel Parker works out a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract covering return engagements … the terms are jotted down on a tablecloth in the hotel’s coffee shop …

1974, Crosby, Stills, and Nash start their reunion tour in Seattle …

1977, just like his namesake, Elvis Costello’s career comes to a sudden stop—his career as a computer operator at a cosmetic factory, that is … ignoring the advice given to all rock star hopefuls, Elvis quits his day job to enter rock history …

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1985, more than 50 acts perform to raise money for starving Africans in two simultaneous events named Live Aid … one is broadcast from Philadelphia, the other from London … the lineup includes such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Joan Baez, Tina Turner, Patti LaBelle, The Pretenders, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Black Sabbath, and many more …

1995, Jerry Garcia plays his final show with The Grateful Dead … the guitarist, vocalist, and founder of the band will die of a heart attack a month later while in a California rehab center …

1998, a Los Angeles judge issues a bench warrant for Scott Weiland when the Stone Temple Pilots singer fails to appear in court for a second time on drug possession charges … in what’s becoming a bad week for Weiland, he’s sentenced to three years’ probation and a stint in rehab this same week in 2004 for a DUI arrest the previous October …

1999, Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst is arrested in St. Paul, MN, for suspicion of aggravated assault following the band’s show at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium … during the performance, Durst’s bodyguard attempts to remove a fan who had jumped onstage … venue security mistook the bodyguard for an unruly fan and attempted to remove him from the stage … at this point Durst allegedly kicked one of the guards in the head …

2002, the surviving members of The Doors announce that they will be joined by The Cult singer Ian Astbury at an upcoming concert at the California Motor Speedway … It’s announced at the band’s first concert that John Densmore will not be the drummer as he is suffering from tinnitus … Densmore will later fight a legal battle with Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger over the use of the band’s name … Stewart Copeland plays several dates with The Doors of the 21st Century before leaving the tour after breaking his arm in a bike wreck, precipitating more lawsuits …

2003, Jack White of The White Stripes breaks his finger in a car wreck in his hometown of Detroit … as a result of the injury, the band must cancel two European performances and reschedule their North American tour … White spends his recuperation time producing an album for country star Loretta Lynn and posts a video clip of his finger surgery on the band’s website to prove the injury’s not a publicity stunt …

2006, in a sorry commentary on the state of pop music sales and the vapidity of the product being crammed down the throats of the music-buying public, the soundtrack to Disney’s High School Musical scores top-seller status through the first half of 2006 with 2.6 million discs sold, while the industry continues to struggle with overall CD sales down four percent … rap and rock are the biggest losers while digital downloads offer a ray of hope with a 77-percent increase … but the online business consists mostly of sales of singles and the profit margins for the record companies and artists are much slimmer … country music is an exception posting a 17-percent increase in disc sales … The Grateful Dead cut a long-term deal with Rhino Records to handle the band’s vast archive of live-show recordings and market Dead-related merch … Rhino executive vice president Gregg Goldman promises the label will be selective in the deals it makes with potential advertisers, averring that, “We are sensitive to the legacy. We would never pitch to The Grateful Dead that they should do a deal with a fast food company or a soda company.” …

2008, Bon Jovi treats a crowd of 60,000 to a two-hour set of hits on Central Park’s Great Lawn … three days later, the Jersey band wraps up its Lost Highway tour after grossing $56 million, making it the biggest money-maker of the festival season … the drumhead from the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band brings in $1.1 million at an auction in London … other items at Christie’s include the guitar on which Pete Townshend composed “Behind Blue Eyes” that fetches $27,000; some multicolored pants worn by Jimi Hendrix go for $40,000; and John Lennon’s tinted prescription sunglasses fetch $78,000 …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 7: Gustav Mahler (1860), blues pianist Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins (1913), Tiny Grimes (1916), Doc Severinsen (1927), Mary Ford (1928), Joe Zawinul (1932), Ringo Starr (1940), David Hodo of the Village People (1947), Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt of Iron Butterfly (1948), Mark White of Spin Doctors (1962)

July 8: Louis Jordan (1908), Billy Eckstein (1914), pioneering rock ‘n’ roll pianist Johnnie Jones (1924), Earl Van Dyke (1930), Jai Johnny Johanson of the Allman Brothers Band (1944), Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode (1961), Toby Keith (1961), Joan Osborne (1962), Beck (1970)

July 9: jump blues singer Joe Liggins (1916), producer Lee Hazelwood (1929), Phil Leavitt of The Diamonds (1935), Donald McPherson of the Main Ingredient (1941), drummer Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1946), Bon Scott of AC/DC (1946), Debbie Sledge of Sister Sledge (1954), Soft Cell’s Marc Almond (1959), Jim Kerr of Simple Minds (1959), singer-songwriter Courtney Love (1965)

July 10: composer-music educator Carl Orff (1895), Arkansas blues slide guitarist Casey Bill Weldon (1909), heavy metal shrieker Ronnie James Dio (1942), Jerry Miller of Moby Grape (1943), Arlo Guthrie of “Alice’s Restaurant” fame and son of Woody Guthrie (1947), Dave Smalley of The Raspberries (1949), Greg Kihn, singer-songwriter-guitarist and frontman of the Greg Kihn Band (1950), Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys (1954), banjo-meister Béla Fleck of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1958), Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros (1965), pop singer Jessica Simpson (1980)

July 11: blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897), actor-singer Tab Hunter (1931), R&B singer Thurston Harris (1931), Jeff Hanna of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1947), Bonnie Pointer of The Pointer Sisters (1950), Benny DeFranco of The DeFranco Family (1954), singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega (1959), Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi (1960), rapper Li’l Kim (1975)

July 12: lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895), Barbara Cowsill, mother and member of The Cowsills (1928), concert pianist Van Cliburn (1934), KISS drummer Eric Carr (1950), Chicago electric blues guitarist Sammy Lawhorne (1935), singer-keyboardist Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac (1943), Liz Mitchell of Boney M (1952), Phillip Taylor Kramer, bassist with Iron Butterfly (1952), singer Sandi Patti (1956), Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy (1962), UB40′s Alan Duval (1963), John Petrucci of Dream Theater (1967)

July 13: Cajun artist Joe Berry, born Joseph Barrios (1939), drummer Steven Jo Bladd of the J. Geils Band (1942), Roger McGuinn of The Byrds (1942), comedian Cheech Marin (how’d he get in here?), who sang on the hidden track of Korn’s Follow the Leader (oh, that’s how) (1946), country singer and multi-instrumentalist, Louise Mandrell (1954), Mark Mendoza of Twisted Sister (1956), rock journalist and movie maker Cameron Crowe (1957), R&B singer Gerald Levert, son of O’Jays lead singer Eddie Levert (1966)

Departures:

July 7: Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, born Roger Keith Barrett (2006), folk singer Fred Neil (2001), Mia Zapata of The Gits (1993)

July 8: drummer Chaino (1999)

July 9: for one day in rock history, everybody lives!

July 10: music journalist, producer, and talent scout who discovered Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Hammond Sr. (1987), Boston Pops Orchestra conductor Arthur Fiedler (1979), “Jelly Roll” Morton, born Ferdinand Joseph Lemott (1941)

July 11: Helen Forrest, popular big band jazz vocalist who worked with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James (1999), Louis Gottlieb, bassist and lofty comic spokesman for The Limeliters (1996), Afro-Cuban jazz maestro Mario Bauza (1993), Hubert Johnson of The Contours (1981), composer George Gershwin (1937)

July 12: rapper Luis “Papo” Deschamps of Sandy Y Papo (1999), Jimmie Driftwood, born James Corbett Morris, the “Father of Arkansas Folk Music” (1998), Jonathan Melvoin of the Smashing Pumpkins (1996), Chris Wood of Traffic (1983), singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, known for her 5-1/2 octave range (1979)

July 13: Arthur “Killer” Kane, New York Dolls bassist (2004), Compay Segundo, Cuban musician featured on the Buena Vista Social Club CD (2003), Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd (1994)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:00:06 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1888, the first noted use of mobile recording equipment occurs at the Crystal Palace in London, when a recording machine is set up in the press gallery to record a performance of “Israel in Egypt” during a Handel Festival …

1967, a worldwide audience of 40 million witnesses a satellite broadcast of The Beatles performing “All You Need is Love” … chiming in on backing vocals are Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, and Keith Moon …

1968, the Small Faces album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake hits #1 on the U.K. album chart … the original album comes in a circular sleeve that is a parody of “Ogdens’ Nut-brown Flake” a brand of tobacco produced in Liverpool … the B-side features an original fairy tale about a boy called Happiness Stan, with narration in “Unwinese,” by gobbledygook expert Stan Unwin, who incorporates modern slang into his surreal narrative … this proves to be the group’s last album with Steve Marriott, who quits to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton …

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1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays at the Denver Pop Festival, after which Hendrix makes the infamous announcement: “This is the last gig we’ll be playing together” … bassist Noel Redding quits the band … Mick Taylor makes his stage debut with The Rolling Stones at a concert in Rome … replaced by Ron Wood after his retirement in 1975, he holds the distinction of being the only Stones guitarist to quit the band and live …

1970, the cops in Niagara Falls discover Chubby Checker packing pot and some other illegal substances …

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1977, Elvis makes his last public appearance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis … “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is the last song he sings … Elton John achieves a lifelong ambition when he becomes Chairman of the Watford Football Club …

1978, Peter Frampton suffers a broken arm and cracked ribs in a Bahamian auto wreck … perhaps this provided the inspiration for the lyric, “Oh won’t you show me the way” …

1985, John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls Phantom V limo, sporting a psychedelic paint job, fetches $3,006,385 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York … U.S. patent granted to Seymour Duncan for stacked single-coil humbucker pickup design … Fables of the Reconstruction, R.E.M.’s third album, enters Billboard‘s album chart, where it will peak at #28 …

1993, in what could easily be construed as a mercy marriage, the very beautiful Julia Roberts marries the not-quite-so-beautiful Lyle Lovett … like Cher and Greg Allman’s marriage, this one also tanks after two years … perhaps a pattern is emerging …

1994, five fans are shot and injured by a crazed gunman at the Glastonbury Festival …

1995, Pearl Jam pulls the plug on its current tour saying they don’t want to cooperate with monopolistic Ticketmaster…

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1998, Johnny Cash returns to the stage for the first time since being diagnosed with Shy-Drager Syndrome months earlier … he walks onstage surprising Kris Kristofferson who is singing “Sunday Morning Coming Down” at a Cash and Waylon Jennings tribute concert at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville … the song was the one a young and unknown Kristofferson had hand-delivered to Cash after landing a helicopter on his lawn in a creative attempt to get his music into the hands of someone who could help him gain recognition as a songwriter …

1999, Eric Clapton auctions off 100 of his guitars to raise funds for his Crossroads Center, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center in Antigua … among the guitars sold is his famous “Brownie,” which fetches a cool $497,500 …

2000, Michael Jackson is slapped with a lawsuit by German promoter Marcel Avram … the suit alleges that Jackson refused to perform two scheduled events … it is a small problem for Jackson compared with future trials he will face … nine people die and 24 are injured at a Pearl Jam concert at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival … but this time it’s not the fault of the band … the fatalities occur as the crowd surges toward the stage because the PA isn’t getting enough sound to the back …

2001, Liverpool renames the city’s airport after John Lennon … it’s the first time in U.K. history that an airport is named after a famous person … the new logo for the airport included the famous self-portrait by John Lennon and the strapline “above us only sky,” taken from the lyrics of Lennon’s “Imagine,” one of the most popular songs of all time …

2004, pop vixen Britney Spears and her boyfriend, dancer Kevin Federline, announce their engagement … the engagement comes about six months after Spears is granted an annulment to dissolve her Las Vegas marriage to a childhood friend … following the tradition established by Cher, Spears and Federline untie the knot after two years … rapper turned actor DMX is arrested at New York’s Kennedy Airport for allegedly attempting to steal a car and identifying himself as a federal agent … he is charged with possession of a weapon and crack … it must be some sort of misunderstanding … he was probably just researching a part where he plays a crack federal agent commandeering a vehicle …

2005, former guitarist for Static-X, Tripp Eisen, pleads guilty in an Orange County, California, court to having sex with a minor … the following October 7 he is arraigned on charges involving a 14 year-old girl that include among other things kidnapping and enticing a minor in New Jersey … he enters a not-guilty plea and is sprung on bail …

2007, James Blunt’s multimillion-selling ballad “You’re Beautiful” is voted the most irritating song of all time … Despite reaching number one in 11 countries and making the singer a star around the world, the track polled more votes than “Axel F” by Crazy Frog … other tracks in the top 10 included “Mmm Bop” by Hanson, “Mr. Blobby” by Mr. Blobby, and “The Birdie Song” by the Tweets … Hollywood music emporium Amoeba Music is paid a visit by none other than Sir Paul McCartney … the legendary former Beatle makes a rare appearance at the shop to play an intimate live gig … flying in from as far away as Japan to attend the free “secret” show, diehard Macca-maniacs camp out on Sunset Boulevard for three days… Sir Paul rewards their devotion with 90 minutes of Fab Four classics, songs off his hot-selling new Memory Almost Full album, and plenty of amusing stage banter and audience interaction … the Spice Girls, following a calculated publicity buildup, announce an agreement to get together for 11 concerts around the world … the shows will be their first concerts since breaking up in 2001, and the first with all five of the original group since Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell quit to pursue a solo career … two stage hands die after part of the set from a Rolling Stones concert collapses on top of them while dismantling it …

2008, Celine Dion’s rendition of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” is given the dubious distinction of being the “Worst Ever Cover Song” in a Total Guitar magazine survey … editor Steven Lawson decries Dion’s version as “sacrilege” … the Canadian singer’s never released the song as a single, but performed it as a duet with Anastacia during the Live Divas Las Vegas concert six years ago … DO NOT WATCH THE SECOND VIDEO BELOW! …

2009, guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen is no longer a solo act … he marries Janie Liszewski, his girlfriend of three years … the 54-year-old groom’s 18-year-old son Wolfgang serves as best man, while brother Alex Van Halen, an ordained minister, officiates at the 20-minute, nondenominational service … among the 100 guests is Van Halen’s ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, whom he divorced after 25 years of marriage …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

June 23: June Carter, singer-songwriter, actor, comedienne, and wife of Johnny Cash (1929), British singer and actor, Adam Faith (1940), Stu Sutcliffe, original bassist in The Beatles (1940), Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (1941), Paul Goddard of Atlanta Rhythm Section (1945), Steve Shelley, drummer with Sonic Youth (1962)

June 24: jazz and R&B sax player Jimmy Forest (1920), theatrical rocker Arthur Brown (1942), multi-instrumentalist Chris Wood of Traffic (1944), Jeff Beck (1944), Colin Blunstone of The Zombies (1945), Mick Fleetwood born Michael John Kells Fleetwood (1947), Dire Straits bassist John Illsley (1949), Terry Wilson AKA Astro of UB40 (1957), Curt Smith of Tears for Fears (1961), pop singer Glenn Medeiros (1970), Mario Calires of The Wallflowers (1973)

June 25: Clifton Chenier, king of zydeco accordion (1925), soul singer Eddie Floyd of “Knock on Wood” fame (1935), Harold Melvin of The Blue Notes (1939), Clint Warwick of The Moody Blues (1940), Johnnie Richardson, female half of R&B duo Johnnie & Joe (1940), Harry Womack of The Valentinos (1945), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), Ian McDonald, founding member of King Crimson and Foreigner (1946), Allen Lanier of Blue Oyster Cult (1946), multi-instrumentalist Brian Macleod of Chilliwack (1952), Tim Finn of Split Enz (1952), David Paich of Toto (1954), George Michael (1963)

June 26: influential and prolific bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (1898), Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker, born Andreas Cornelius Van Kuijk (1909), The 5th Dimension’s Billy Davis Jr. (1938), Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor (1942), keyboardist-singer Georgie Fame, born Clive Powell (1943), Rindy Ross of Quarterflash (1951), The Clash’s Mick Jones (1955), singer-songwriter Chris Isaak (1956), Patty Smyth, lead singer of Scandal (1957), Terri Nunn of Berlin (1959), Colin Greenwood of Radiohead (1969), EMF drummer Mark Decloedt (1969), country singer Gretchen Wilson (1973)

June 27: hit songwriter Doc Pomus, born Jerome Solon Felder (1925), Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis (1951), Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club (1958), country singer Lorrie Morgan (1959), Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1961), vocalist Ray Slijngaard (1971)

June 28: pianist-writer Arnold Shaw (1909), bluegrass guitarist Lester Flatt of The Foggy Mountain Boys AKA Flatt and Scruggs (1914), bassist Andy Couson of All About Eve (1963), pop singer Beverly Craven (1963)

June 29: Frank Kirkland, drummer with Bo Diddley (1927), Leonard Lee, of the pop duo Shirley and Lee (1936), singer Little Eva, born Eva Narcissus Boyd (1943), twins Derv and Lincoln Gordon of The Equals (1948), Ian Paice, drummer Deep Purple / Whitesnake (1948), Colin Hay, lead singer of Men at Work (1954), Five Star singer Stedman Pearson (1964), Nicole Scherzinger of Eden’s Crush (1978)

Departures:

June 23: bassist Pete Quaife of The Kinks (2010), John Novarese, owner of Hi Records (1996), Tony Romeo, producer of the Cowsills and Partridge Family (1995)

June 24: Ira Tucker Sr., lead singer of The Dixie Hummingbirds (2008), Hank Medress, lead singer of The Tokens (2007), Carlos “The King of Tango” Gardel (1935), opera singer Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones AKA “Black Patti” (1933)

June 25: Michael Jackson (2009), Sky Saxon, lead singer and founder of The Seeds, born Richard Marsh (2009), legendary producer Arif Mardin (2006), guitarist Bob Sanderson of The Royaltones (1994), Jimmy Soul, born James McCleese, of “If You Want To Be Happy” fame (1988), Hillel Slovak, original guitarist of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1988), songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1987), blues guitarist Pee Wee Crayton (1985), lyricist-composer-singer Johnny Mercer (1976)

June 26: songwriter Brandon Chase (1996), Pink Fairies guitarist Mick Wayne (1994), bebop trumpeter Clifford Brown (1956)

June 27: singer-actress Gale Storm (2009), bassist John Entwistle of The Who (2002), blues singer/guitarist Prez “Kidd” Kenneth (1995), Steve Peregrin Took, percussionist T-Rex (1980), guitarist Stefanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch (1992), opera diva Carlotta Patti (1889)

June 28: Bill Aucoin, manager who discovered KISS (2009), American punk rocker G.G. Allin (1993), punk rocker Rob Graves (1990), Harry Mills of The Mills Brothers (1982)

June 29: jazz-blues organist Richard “Groove” Holmes (1991), Lowell George, slide guitarist and founder of Little Feat (1979), C&W singer Johnny Bond (1978), American singer/songwriter Tim Buckley (1975), pianist Shorty Long of The Ink Spots (1969), revolutionary alto sax and bass clarinet player Eric Dolphy (1964)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:00:39 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1948, CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) demonstrates the long-playing microgroove recording, playing at 33-1/3 revolutions per minute, replacing albums consisting of several 10- or 12-inch 78rpms with a single record … in response, RCA Victor, who had experimented with 33-1/3 in 1931, comes out with its own innovation, the seven-inch 45rpm record that becomes the standard for single releases … 78rpms are gone by 1960 …

1955, Sun Records releases Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry” … Johnny will be cashing in for quite some time to come, as it’s the first in a string of over 100 hit singles by the Man in Black …

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

1963, on his way to becoming huge, Little Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt. 2″ becomes the 13-year-old’s first of 61 records to hit the charts …

1964, in the midst of an American tour, The Rolling Stones spend $2,500 in airfares to get back to England in order to play a date at Oxford’s Magdalen College committed to a year earlier … the gig pays $170 …

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

1967, the Monterey Pop Festival in California debuts with a stellar lineup including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Otis Redding … the three-day event is a precursor to Woodstock and many more giant outdoor rock festivals … hippies gather in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district to celebrate the Summer of Love … as an ominous harbinger of more troubling times, dozens are carted off to psycho wards after ingesting STP, a newly-developed psychedelic that produces scary three-day trips … the following October, a mock funeral for the death of the hippie is held in “the Haight” … that, along with The Stones’ disastrous Altamont concert, signals that the honeymoon is over, and the Summer of Love will soon turn into the winter of our discontent …

1969, Mick Taylor makes his stage debut with The Rolling Stones at a concert in Rome … he replaces guitarist Brian Jones and will stay with the band until 1975, when he retires and is replaced by Ron Wood … Taylor holds the distinction of being the only Stones guitarist to quit the band and live … Jimi Hendrix earns the largest paycheck to date for a single show, receiving $125,000 for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival … Also this week, the Hollies record “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” with Elton John playing piano … the song reaches No. 7 on Billboard’s singles chart …

1970, “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young goes gold, bringing Neil’s search for a heart of the same substance that much closer …

1973, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens for the first time in London … after seeing audiences quivering with antici … pation, Tim Curry will reprise his role for the movie version two years later …

1975, Alice Cooper takes a tumble from a stage in Vancouver, British Columbia, resulting in six broken ribs … his makeup, however, emerges unscathed …

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1980, Led Zeppelin begins a three-week tour with a concert in Dortmund, Germany … held at the Westfalenhalle, it is their first concert on the European continent since 1973 … however, due to John Bonham’s death in September, it will be the group’s last European tour … they open the show with “Train Kept A Rollin’,” a song they haven’t played since 1969 and which Page also performed with the original Yardbirds … the Tiny Bradshaw composition was popularized by Johnny Burnette and will later be covered by rockers ranging from Alex Chilton to Motorhead to, most famously, Aerosmith …

1981, Donald Fagan and Walter Becker announce the break-up of Steely Dan … Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing John Lennon …

1990, Little Richard hitting the big time is commemorated with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame …

1993, the U.S. Postal Service releases a set of stamps that feature iconic images of Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, and Dinah Washington …

1994, Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff is found slumped over her bathtub, dead of a heroin overdose … next to her body is a cosmetic bag with more than just lipstick inside … tragically, this occurs just after Kristen had packed her bags to move back to Minneapolis to escape Seattle and its too-easy-to-cop drug scene … Pfaff dies just two months after Kurt Cobain ended his life … it’s been a swell couple of months for Courtney Love …

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

1998, Paul McCartney personally selects and arranges the flowers—45,000 of them—at Manhattan Riverside Church where friends and family gather to say farewell to his wife Linda …

1999, the band Pantera rides a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas … the honor is bestowed upon the band because Pantera, in addition to being huge Stars fans, wrote the team’s theme song, which is played multiple times at every home game …

2000, exactly 30 years and two days after “Cinnamon Girl” went gold, Neil Young is honored in Toronto with a star on the Canada Walk Of Fame … the Toronto native joins prior honorees Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Gordon Lightfoot, Rush, Christopher Plummer, Jim Carey, and director Norman Jewison …

2003, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announces plans to fight Internet piracy by suing hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online … many industry experts argue that suing one’s customers is not a formula for repeat business; however, the RIAA says it will start the following day … hey RIAA, what about selling a better product for less money? … that still works …

2004, Britney Spears announces her engagement to boyfriend, dancer Kevin Federline … the engagement comes about six months after the pop vixen dissolved her Las Vegas marriage to childhood “friend” Jason Allan Alexander, who hails from her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana … proving once again that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, the wedding was annulled after two days of intensive marital bliss … Spears’ lawyers contended before a Nevada court that she “lacked understanding of her actions.” … lucky for Kevin, Britney’s had a good six months to figure out the whole getting married thing … however, as time will show, she’ll never really quite get the hang of it, as Federline will be Fed-exed out of her existence …

2006, while traveling in the Middle East with his Dark Side of the Moon world tour, Roger Waters visits a concrete wall built by the Israeli government in the East Bank to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers … Waters scribbles sentiments on the structure such as, “Tear Down the Wall!” … the next day the Pink Floyd founder decides to play in a community called Neveh Shalom where Israelis and Arabs peacefully live together instead of Tel Aviv as originally planned … it’s reported that those opposed to the barrier have adopted Waters’ song “Another Brick in the Wall” as a rallying cry … in an ironic twist, the New Cars’ Road Rage tour has the brakes slammed on when the band’s tour bus suddenly swerves to avoid a head-on … guitarist Elliot Easton breaks a clavicle in the incident … rumors that the New Cars next tour will be sponsored by State Farm Insurance and called, “The $500 Deductible Tour,” with Mike And The Mechanics playing warm up, are sadly unfounded … Korn pulls the plug on its European tour when singer Jonathan Davis comes down with a blood disorder … Davis posts a note on the band’s website saying that head-banging with his condition could lead to instant death by brain hemorrhage … then again, so could standing in front of the PA speakers … just before The Stones embark on yet another tour, guitarist Ron Wood enters rehab, apparently he didn’t hab right the first time …

2007, New Order get their marching orders as bassist Peter Hook confirms the breakup of the band to BBC 6 Music … Hook seems upset as he explains the situation, “It has been very sad actually, and it has been very difficult to live with, but that is life, isn’t it? But you pick yourself up, you dust yourself off, and you start all over again.” … pushed to give a reason for the split, he replied simply, “It’s personal.” …

2008, presidential contender Barack Obama continues to rack up support in the rock community with Michael Stipe, Pete Wentz, Billie Joe Armstrong, Bob Weir, Dave Matthews, Jeff Tweedy, and Conor Oberst all signing on to give his campaign support … commenting on the candidate, The Dead’s Weir says, “The contagion of hope is real” … subsequently, the CDC was able to stamp out the contagion in short order … or was that the GOP …

… and that was the week that was …

Arrivals:

June 16: lyricist Ben Raleigh (1913), honkin’ saxophonist Lucky Thompson (1924), jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd (1925), Motown songwriter-producer Lamont Dozier (1941), Eddie Levert of the O’Jays (1942), Pete Rivera of Rare Earth (1945), James Smith of the Stylistics (1950), pop singer Gino Vanelli (1952), Tupac Shakur (1971)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Departures:

June 16: Ben Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo (2004), The Savages singer Screaming Lord Sutch born David Edward Sutch (1999), Dr. Hook drummer John Wolters (1997), Kristen Pfaff of Hole (1994), John Jordan of The Four Vagabonds (1988), James Honeyman-Scott (1982), Warren Ryanes of The Monotones (1982), Don Robey, founder of Peacock Records (1975), pioneer electric guitarist Lonnie Johnson (1970), Jack McFadden, Nashville manager of Buck Owens (1968)

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

June 18: Luther Tucker (1993), “Rock Around The Clock” guitar soloist Danny Cedrone (1954)

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

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

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

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

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 12:00:35 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1910, Chester Burnett is born in rural White Station, Mississippi … later known as Howlin’ Wolf, he’ll become legendary for his huge, raw voice and matching physique … one of the pioneers of electric blues, Wolf will exert a powerful influence on many British blues musicians and his songs such as “Spoonful,” “Smoke Stack Lightning,” and “Little Red Rooster” will be covered by a generation of rockers including The Stones …

1949, Hank Williams makes a big impression at his Grand Ole Opry début, earning an unprecedented six encores from the Nashville crowd …

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1957, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” hits the C&W charts for Jerry Lee Lewis … the record will ease over onto the pop chart within a week to become a crossover hit … John Lennon and The Quarrymen enter a talent competition in Liverpool but lose to The Sunnyside Skiffle group … I think we know who truly won in the end …

1958, Jerry Lee Lewis’ producer, Sam Phillips, forces the rocker to sign an apologetic letter to his fans … Phillips then runs it as a full-page ad in Billboard trying in vain to bolster Lewis’ plummeting reputation in the fallout from his marriage to 14-year-old second-cousin Myra … the letter doesn’t help much … the Killer’s career will remain in the toilet until he reinvents himself as a country star in the 1960s …

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1961, country singer Patsy Cline is involved in a near-fatal head-on crash in Nashville … she is slammed into the windshield where she receives scars she hides with makeup and wigs the remainder of her career … she is still recovering when she records the Willie Nelson-penned “Crazy,” her signature hit …

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1963, Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaki” hits number one on the U.S. pop chart … it is the first and last Japanese song to do so …

1964, Ringo Starr comes down with acute tonsillitis days before a Beatles world tour is to begin … his replacement is session drummer Jimmy Nichol who thereby becomes a Beatle for 11 days …

1965, it is announced that The Beatles will receive MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medals from Queen Elizabeth in October … in the controversy that ensues, some previous recipients return their awards … in 1969 John Lennon will return his medal, symbolizing his opposition to Britain’s support of the U.S. in Vietnam …

1966, “Paperback Writer” is released by The Beatles … the b-side is “Rain,” a song they created using a reversed-tape effect for the first time … it’s the same technique that will later incite “Paul-is-dead” rumors … this same week, rumors of Roger Daltrey’s death are greatly exaggerated as European radios spew misinformation after Pete Townshend is injured in a car wreck …

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1970, Derek & The Dominos, featuring established blues rock guitarist Eric Clapton and nobody named Derek, plays its first gig together at London’s Lyceum Theatre…

1972, One of America’s most lilting pop voices is silenced when singer Clyde McPhatter dies of a heart attack at 39 after years of hard living … McPhatter was signed by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records after leaving Billy Ward and the Dominoes to become the lead singer of the newly formed Drifters … this lineup (there would be many) enjoys several big hits including a doo-wop version of “White Christmas” that prominently features his tenor … after leaving the Drifters in the mid-’50s, McPhatter will have sporadic success as a solo act, but his career is undermined by alcoholism …

1973, American Graffiti, directed by George Lucas and featuring a pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford, opens up in theatres in New York … the movie is a success as is the soundtrack having gone triple platinum in the US and peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200 charts album charts…

1977, Alice Cooper’s boa constrictor, a major component of the shock-rocker’s stage schtick, dies after being bitten by a rat intended as the snake’s snack … Joe Strummer and Topper Headon of The Clash are each fined $8 by a London judge for spray-painting the band’s name on a wall … a couple days later they’re back in front of another London magistrate, this time for having pinched a pillowcase from a Holiday Inn … the fine is stiffer: $170 apiece …

1986, Jerry Garcia goes into a five-day diabetic coma requiring the Dead to cancel shows … three Ozzy Osbourne fans die when they plunge from a balcony at a Long Beach, California, concert …

1988, a birthday bash held in London for Nelson Mandela features performers Stevie Wonder, Dire Straits, and Simple Minds …

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1988, Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, is released … the name comes from ubiquitous street posters warning junkies to bleach their works …

1990, 25 years to the day after their father Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys owned the top of the pops with “Help Me Rhonda,” Wilson Phillips, the trio composed of Carnie and Wendy Wilson together with Chynna Phillips, owns the same spot on the Top 100 chart with their single, “Hold On” …

1991, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin perform at the funeral of Temptations’ lead singer David Ruffin … The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, pays for the event … speaking of paying, Ruffin’s bandmate Eddie Kendricks is arrested at the funeral for not paying child support … Kendricks will die the following year …

1992, a judge in L.A. dismisses a $25 million palimony suit brought by model Kelly Emberg against Rod Stewart … she charges that they had lived together in a marital-like state between 1985 and 1990 and had a child together … despite their current contretemps, sources close to Emberg report that she still thinks Rod is sexy …

1994, Falcons wide receiver Andre Rison’s Atlanta mansion burns to the ground … it’s later determined that his girlfriend Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of the R&B girl group TLC committed the arson in a fit of pique …

1995, 90 minutes before he’s to perform at a Texas police convention, country star Ty Herndon is busted by an undercover cop for drug possession … he will plead guilty …

1998, a judge in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court hears opening arguments in a suit brought by ’60s girl group The Ronettes against their former producer, Phil Spector, charging him with breaching their 34-year-old contract by failing to pay royalties … in 2002 the reclusive studio guru is finally ordered to pay the girls $2.9 million plus interest …

2000, Bobby Brown is sentenced to 75 days in jail after pleading guilty to 2 charges of probation violation from a 1996 drunk driving charge … when passing through U.S. Customs at Newark International Airport in New Jersey with then-wife Whitney Houston, his name is run through a computer database where an outstanding warrant is spotted for failing a drug test … He admits to being an addict and alcoholic, stating “Hopefully I can get back to what I do best, dancing and singing. The day I get out will be the day I start working again.” … as of this writing, we’re still waiting for a new album, allegedly titled The Masterpiece … when it’s released is his prerogative …

2003, Adam Ant is busted for stripping off his clothes in a London café after smashing his neighbours’ windows with stones …

2004, following a layoff of 1,000 employees in March, Warner Music Group announces that it’s cutting its artist roster by nearly one-half in the face of a continuing soft market for music … Iggy Pop and The Stooges are reported to be working on songs for their first new studio record in 31 years … Pop speculates that they may record the album in Los Angeles noting, “That will torture me deeply” … after complaining about what he believes to be a pinched nerve in his shoulder, David Bowie receives an emergency angioplasty to deal with a severely blocked artery …

2005, after deliberating for 32 hours, a California jury finds Michael Jackson not guilty of child molestation charges …

2006, despite having a #1 album with Taking the Long Way Home, The Dixie Chicks are having trouble selling seats in some venues for their summer tour … it is believed anger over Chicks singer Natalie Maines’ criticism of George W. Bush in 2003 is behind the sluggish box office … Jacob the Jeweler aka Jacob Abarov, purveyor of bling to hip-hop’s glitterati, is busted by the Feds on charges of money laundering in a case that also includes drug peddling by the Black Mafia Family of Detroit … he will be sentenced to 30 months in federal slam and ordered to pay a $2 million fine …

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2008, AC/DC’s next studio album will be exclusively sold at Wal-Mart stores in the United States, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal … while touring Europe, Bob Dylan tells The London Times he supports Barack Obama’s run for the White House … the historically apolitical Dylan says, “Right now, America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralizing. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.” … Rolling Stone names Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” the all-time greatest guitar record … Jimi’s “Purple Haze” and Cream’s “Crossroads” place second and third respectively …

2009, Blur make their live comeback after a 10-year live hiatus at an intimate gig at the East Anglian Railway Museum near Cochester near where they made their first-ever public performance 20 years before …

2010, R. Kelly and the Soweto Spiritual Singers perform “Sign of Victory” during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Anthem in front of a sold-out crowd at Soweto’s Soccer City …

… and that was the week that was …

Arrivals:

June 9: songwriter Cole Porter (1891), bandleader and financial backer of the first electric blender Fredrick Waring (1900), Les Paul born Lester Polfus (1915), R&B singer and Russian roulette-ist Johnny Ace born John Marshall Alexander Jr. (1929), operatic soul singer Jackie Wilson (1934), Wild Jimmy Spruill (1934), Deep Purple’s Jon Lord (1941), Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (1947), guitarist Paul Chapman of UFO and Lone Star (1954), Dean Felber of Hootie & The Blowfish (1967), Dean Dinning of Toad the Wet Sprocket (1967), neo-classical metal guitarist Rick Renstrom (1971), black metal guitarist Samoth, born Tomas Haugen, of Emperor and Zyklon (1974), Muse frontman, guitarist, and pianist Matthew Bellamy (1978), sitarist Anousha Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar (1981), Chloë Agnew, youngest singer in Irish group Celtic Woman (1989)

June 10: Chester Burnett AKA Howlin’ Wolf (1910), Judy Garland (1922), Brazilian singer and guitarist João Gilberto (1931), British free-improvisational drummer John Stevens (1940), Mickey Jones of The First Edition (1941), The Shirelle’s Shirley Alston (1941), Skyliners vocalist Janet Vogel (1942), The Move’s Rick Price (1944), Will Shatter of Flipper (1956), Stray Cats guitarist and frontman Brian Setzer (1959), Kim and Kelley Deal of The Breeders (1961), Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins (1964), Pixies lead guitarist Joey Santiago (1965), Darren Robinson of The Fat Boys (1967), guitarist Emma Anderson of Lush (1967), N.W.A. rapper The D.O.C., born Tracy Curry (1968), Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing (1970), Joel “Jo-Jo” Hailey of K-Ci & Jo-Jo (1971), guitarist Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal (1971) Faith Evans (1973), Lemisha Grinsted of 702 (1973), rapper Flesh-N-Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, born Stanley Howse (1973)

June 11: boogie-woogie pianist Clarence “Pine Top” Smith (1904), West Coast jazz drummer Shelly Manne, born Sheldon Manne (1920), country vocalist Jud Strunk (1936), drummer Bernard Purdie, creator of the funky “Purdie Shuffle” (1939), Joe DiNicola of Joey Dee and the Starlighters (1940), Frank Beard of ZZ Top (1949), free-jazz bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, born Rudy McDaniel (1956), Donnie Van Zant of .38 Special (1952), Dan Lavery of Tonic (1969), multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips (1969), contemporary Christian musician Chris Rice (1970)

June 12: New Orleans jazz cornet player Emmett Louis Hardy (1903), bandleader Archie Bleyer (1909), R&B bassist Eddie Williams of Johnny Moore and The Three Blazers (1912), Jim Nabors (1941), pioneer rockabilly Charlie Feathers (1932), keyboardist Chick Corea (1941), British folksinger-songwriter Roy Harper (1941), The Dovelles’ Len Barry, born Leonard Borisoff (1942), Reg Presley of The Troggs (1943), bassist John Wetton of Asia (1949), Brad Delp of Boston (1951), Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick (1951), bassist Pete Farndon of The Pretenders (1952), John Linnell of They Might Be Giants (1959), Michael Hausman of ’til tuesday (1960), bassist Kira Roessler of Black Flag (1961), Grandmaster Dee of Whodini (1962), keyboardist Paul Clark of The Bolshoi (1962), Bobby Sheehan of Blues Traveler (1968), Bardi Martin of Candlebox (1969), blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd (1977), Robyn (1979), country singer Chris Young (1985)

June 13: Bobby Freeman of “Do You Wanna Dance” fame (1940), Arlester “Dyke” Christian of Dyke and the Blazers (1943), John Kahn of the Jerry Garcia Band (1947), vocalist and guitarist Dennis Locorriere of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (1949), Howard Leese of Heart (1951), James Smith of The Stylistics (1951), Bo Donaldson (1954), Godsmack’s Robbie Merrill (1963), Paul DeLisle of Smash Mouth (1963), David Gray (1968), Denise Pearson of Five Star (1968), Søren Rasted of Aqua (1969), Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (1970), Jason “J” Brown of Five (1976), country singer Jason Michael Carroll (1978), Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster Raz B of B2K (1985)

June 14: folk singer and actor Burl Ives (1909), pianist Cy Coleman (1929), Motown sax man Junior Walker (1931), Renaldo “Obie” Benson of The Four Tops (1936), session organist Spooner Oldham (1943), Rod Argent of the Zombies (1945), Barry “Fish” Melton of Country Joe and the Fish (1947), Jim Lea of Slade (1949), Alan White of Yes (1949), King Diamond (1956), Maxi Jazz, rapper for Faithless, born Maxwell Fraser (1957), jazz musician Marcus Miller (1959), gender-bending popster Boy George (1961), Chris DeGarmo of Queensryche (1963), guitarist Matt Freeman of Operation Ivy and Rancid (1966), rapper MC Ren, born Lorenzo Patterson (1969), British pop diva Billie Myers (1971), Rob Nanna of Braid and Hey Mercedes (1975), Siobhán Donaghy of Sugababes (1984)

June 15: jazz pianist Jaki Byard (1922), Nigel Pickering of Spanky & Our Gang (1929), Waylon Jennings (1937), singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (1941), Doug Roberts of Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (1941), Muff Winwood, bassist for The Spencer Davis Group (1943), French pop singer Johnny Halliday (1943), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Eddie Hinton (1944), Noddy Holder of Slade (1946), Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply (1949), Steve Walsh of Kansas (1951), country-pop singer Terri Gibbs (1954), Garry Roberts of Boomtown Rats (1954), drummer Scott Rockenfield of Queensryche (1963), Michael Britt of Lonestar (1966), Ice Cube (1969), Dryden Mitchell of Alien Ant Farm (1976), Gordon Lightbody of Snow Patrol (1976), guitarist Billy Martin of Good Charlotte (1981), Nadine Coyle of Girls Aloud (1985)

Departures:

June 9: German singer Drafi Deutscher (2006), folksinger Walter Pardon (1996), ’60s R&B singer Arthur Alexander (1993), jazz and blues singer Clarence “Big” Miller (1992)

June 10: The Swampers’ keyboardist Barry Beckett (2009), Jamaican singer Ruddy Thomas (2006), Graeme Kelling of Deacon Blue (2004), Ray Charles (2004), Steve Sanders of The Oak Ridge Boys (1998), Alan Blakely of the Tremoloes (1996), Jimmy Weston of the Danleers (1993), American jazz pianist and arranger for Woody Herman, Nat Pierce (1992), The Shirelles’ Addie “Mickey” Harris (1982), organist Earl Grant (1970)

June 11: A.R.E. Weapons guitarist Ryan Noel (2004), Al Rinker of the Rhythm Boys with Bing Crosby (1982)

June 12: Danny Davis of The Nashville Brass (2008), drummer Matthew Fletcher of Heavenly (1996), “Shaddup You Face” novelty Italian-American singer Lou Monte (1989), the “Vee” in Vee-Jay Records, Vivian Carter (1989), American Dixieland trumpeter and bandleader Bob Scobey (1963), jazz legend Jimmy Dorsey (1957)

June 13: country singer and sausage slinger Jimmy Dean (2010), jazz saxophonist and composer Ken McIntyre (2001), Southern blues guitarist John Campbell (1993), bandleader and clarinetist Benny Goodman (1986), Clyde McPhatter of The Drifters (1972)

June 14: Ventures bassist Bob Bogle (2009), jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson of E.S.T. (2008), flamenco singer Delores Alcantara (1999), bluesman Rory Gallagher (1995), composer Henry Mancini (1994), Brenda Payton of Brenda and the Tabulations (1992), songwriter-producer Cliff Goldsmith (1991), drummer Pete DeFreitas of Echo and the Bunnymen (1989), reedman Charles Miller of War (1980), jump blues singer Wynonie Harris (1969)

June 15: pianist for Janis Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band, Richard Bell (2007), jazz double-bassist Leonard Bush (2004), Lew Chudd, founder of Imperial Records (1998), Ella Fitzgerald (1996), tour musician Kin Vassy (1994), Steely Dan drummer Jim Hodder (1990), “Music Man” composer, songwriter, conductor, and playwright Meredith Wilson (1984), jazz alto saxophonist Art Pepper (1982), jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery (1968)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 28 May 2011 12:00:24 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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1957, Buddy Holly and the Crickets release their first record “That’ll Be The Day.” The release will soar to #1 on the U.K. charts and #3 on the U.S. charts …

1963, The Beatles, touring the U.K. with Roy Orbison, perform at the Rialto Theatre in York …

1964, Marianne Faithful records the Jagger/Richards song “As Tears Go By.” She is accompanied by Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass …

1965, on vacation in Portugal, Paul McCartney pens the lyrics to “Yesterday” while riding in a car to visit a friend’s villa. The song’s working title? “Scrambled Eggs” …

1966, Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass go to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “What Now My Love,” setting a new American record with four albums in the U.S. Top Ten. The other three are “South of the Border,” “Going Places,” and “Whipped Cream and Other Delights” …

1967, The Move, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Zoot Money, and Pink Floyd all appear at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall in Spalding, Lincs, England. Tickets will set you back £1 ($1.70 now, nearer $4 back then) …

1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their “bed-in for peace” at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada … In an act that’s equal parts performance art and publicity event, the couple will spend eight days in bed, holding forth and singing on the subject of world peace to a court of media and counter-culture celebrities …

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1973, The Edgar Winter Group tops the charts with their monster synth-pop hit “Frankenstein” …

1977, Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers play together for the first time at the Circus Hippodrome in Paris. The future Policemen perform as part of Mike Howlett’s band, Strontium 90.

1983, actress and singer Irene Cara starts a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Flashdance…What A Feeling,” taken from the film Flashdance, a No. 2 hit in the UK. Cara has also appeared in TV’s “Roots” and “The Next Generation” …

1992, singer-songwriter Paul Simon marries singer Edie Brickell …

1994, Michael Jackson weds Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ daughter. The union will end a year later …

1997, Oasis singer Liam Gallagher is battered and bruised after getting into a fight with a youth at the Tower Thistle Hotel in East London. Gallagher and several of his band mates were drinking at the bar when the scuffle broke out …

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1999, skeletal remains are found by photographers looking for old car wrecks to shoot at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California. Based on forensic evidence the remains are those of Philip Kramer former bassist with rock group Iron Butterfly, who had disappeared on his way home from work on February 12, 1995. His death is ruled a probable suicide …

2001, The Eagles make their first-ever visit to Russia when they appear at SC Olymisky in Moscow …

2004, Velvet Revolver’s highly anticipated debut album Contraband makes its online debut courtesy of MTV.com … the group features former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland handling vocals … the album will go platinum within two months … no comment from Axl … legendary ’80s metal band Judas Priest plays the first show of its reunion tour with singer Rob Halford in Hanover, Germany … Halford left the group in 1993 to form the alt-metal band Fight … he was replaced by Tim Owens, frontman for a Judas Priest cover band …

2009, Phil Spector is jailed for at least 19 years for murdering an actress in 2003. The producer, 69, famed for his Wall of Sound recording technique, was found guilty of shooting Lana Clarkson at his California home. Spector pleads not guilty to the second-degree murder during the five-month retrial in Los Angeles. His lawyers say he will appeal. Spector is given a sentence of 15 years to life for second-degree murder and an additional four years for personal use of a gun …

… and that was the week that was …

Arrivals:

May 26: Peggy Lee, American jazz and popular music singer (1920), Miles Davis, American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer (1926), Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist with The Band (1942), Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac (1948), Mick Ronson, guitarist and producer, member of Mott The Hoople (1949), Lenny Kravitz, American singer-songwriter (1964), Alan White, drummer of the British rock band Oasis (1972)

May 27: Cilla Black, British singer and entertainer (1943), Pete Sears, British bassist and keyboardist (1948), Split Enz guitarist Neil Finn (1956), Eddie Harsch, keyboardist with the Black Crowes (1957), Susan Dallion AKA Siouxsie Sioux, singer with Siouxie Sioux and the Banshees (1957), Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopez, vocalist with TLC (1971), Andre Benjamin AKA Andre 3000, rapper and singer with Outkast (1975)

May 28: T-Bone Walker, born Aaron Thibeaux Walker (1910), violinist “Papa” John Creach (1917), ska musician Prince Buster, born Cecil Bustamente Campbell (1938), Gladys Knight (1944), singer-songwriter-guitarist-actor-music historian Billy Vera (1944), John Fogerty (1945), Stacy Sutherland of The 13th Floor Elevators (1946), Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne (1948), Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics (1949), Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals (1952), Kylie Minogue (1968)

May 29: Gary Brooker of Procol Harum (1945), Roy Crewsdon of Freddie & The Dreamers (1949), jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz (1952), Toto bassist Mike Porcaro (1955), LaToya Jackson (1956), The Time’s Jesse Johnson (1960), Mel Gaynor of Simple Minds (1960), Melissa Etheridge (1961), Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher (1967), Chad Kinchla of Blues Traveler (1969), Melanie Brown aka Mel B and Scary Spice of The Spice Girls (1975)

May 30: Benny Goodman (1909), Western swing fiddle player Johnny Gimble (1926), Lenny Davidson of The Dave Clark Five (1944), drummer Nicky “Topper” Headon of The Clash (1955), Roxette’s Marie Fredericksson (1958), Wynonna Judd (1964), Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello (1964), Patrick Dalheimer of Live (1971)

May 31: Ghanaian musician Emmanual Tettey (E.T.) “King of Highlife” Mensah (1919), Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary (1938), Tex-Mex organist Augie Meyers (1941), Mick Ralphs, founding member of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company (1944), Junior Campbell of Marmalade (1947), John “Bonzo” Bonham (1948), songwriter Jimmy Silva (1952), Corey Hart (1962), Darryl McDaniels of Run-D.M.C. (1964)

June 1: English romantic composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857), C&W singer Johnny Bond (1915), Nelson Riddle (1921), New Orleans session guitarist Justin Adams (1923), Pat Boone (1934), Dan Hamilton of Hamilton Joe Frank & Reynolds (1946), Ron Wood (1947), Graham Russell of Air Supply (1950), Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn (1953), Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode (1959), The Cure’s Simon Gallup (1960), Mike Joyce of The Smiths (1963), Stefanie Sargent, guitarist with 7-Year Bitch (1968), Alanis Morissette (1974)

Departures:

May 26: television theme composer Earle Harry Hagen (2008), ska pioneer Desmond Dekker (2006), African guitarist Matima Kinuani Mpiosso (1996), William Powell, singer with The Ojays (1994), jazz and rock guitarist Sonny Sharrock (1994), bluesman “Reverend” Robert Wilkins (1987), R&B star Little Willie John, born William Edgar John (1968)

May 27: jazz trumpeter Red Rodney (1994), music promoter C. W. Stubblefield (1995), jazz clarinetist/saxophonist Albert “Pud” Brown (1996)

May 28: jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles (1996), jazz pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams (1981), novelty singer Nervous Norvus aka Jimmy Drake (1968)

May 29: manager Jo Lustig (1999), Jeff Buckley (1997), Ollie Halsall of Patto (1992), John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1989)

May 30: producer Mickie Most (2003), bandleader Tex Beneke (2000), songwriter-guitarist West Arkeen (1997), bassist John Kahn (1996), trombonist Bob Stroup (1996), jazz composer and orchestra leader Sun Ra (1993), songwriter-musician Leon Rene (1982), bassist Carl Radle (1980), John Ryanes of The Monotones (1972)

May 31: Tito Puente (2000), gospel/soul singer Johnnie Taylor (2000), Elsbeary Hobbs, bass singer with The Drifters (1996)

June 1: psychedelic poster artist Alton Kelly (2008), songwriter David Mook (1996), jazz musician Don Grolnick (1996), David Ruffin of The Temptations (1991), John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson (1948)

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