Toxic Web » Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath – God is Dead…

Toxic Web — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:10:32 +0000

…?

From Black Sabbath’s upcoming album “13”. The first with Ozzy for 35, though without Bill Ward it’s not a real Sabbath reunion. Not too sure about this one, maybe a grower.

Do know the female backing vocals are a touch annoying.

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Supernaut…

Toxic Web — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:20:20 +0000

…swamp rock slide-Dobro style.

Brother Dege slide-Dobro version of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut”.

This version of “Supernaut” includes the ancient practice of “mishearing” lyrics. All songs are organic compositions that go through many mutations over the years as they are learned and played by others, thus giving them new life. Brother Dege

And here’s the original Black Sabbath track – Ozzy: vocals, Tony Iommi: guitar, Geezer Butler: bass, Bill Ward: drums – from their classic 1972 album “Vol. 4”.

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Randy Rhoads, it’s been 30 years…

Toxic Web — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:00:20 +0000

…since that sad day.

Hard to believe today March 19th 2012 is the 30th anniversary of the death of Randy Rhoads.

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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, 29 Oct 2011 12:00:19 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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1928, a candle starts a fire at a Gypsy caravan in France … the left hand of 18-year-old guitarist Django Reinhardt is badly burned, rendering two fingers useless … with his right leg also injured, Django is bedridden for 18 months and uses that time as therapy to rebuild his guitar chops so that by the mid-1930s he is a master of swing guitar and ultimately one of the best guitarists of any genre …

1936, country singer Hank Snow records for the first time … the songs are “Lonesome Blue Yodel” and “Prisoned Cowboy”…

1956, Elvis makes his second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show… meanwhile, R&B singer Clarence Henry’s “Ain’t Got No Home” is released on the Argo label … because he sings like a frog on the record, for the rest of his career he will be known as Clarence “Frogman” Henry …

1960, Ben E. King, former lead singer for The Drifters, records his first solo numbers, “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me”… the songs will climb to number 10 and number 4 respectively on the pop chart, and “Stand by Me” will prove to have long legs …

1964, “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison turns gold … it’s his ninth and last Top Ten single … this same week, The Supremes release “Come See About Me”…

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1965, The Who release “My Generation” as a single …

1970, Jim Morrison gets six months in the slammer for exposing his privates in Miami … in other news, Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper … they divorce eight days later, proving wrong those who said the marriage wouldn’t last a week …

1972, Philly soul singer Billy Paul gets on the soul charts with “Me and Mrs. Jones” … the song will hold the top position for three weeks and will become a soul classic …

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1975, Queen releases “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a single … with three and-a-half minutes being the standard limit to the length of a single, the band and producer Roy Thomas Baker have to convince EMI executives to release the six-minute recording without any edits … the single tops the U.K. chart for nine weeks and goes to number two in the U.S. … it will go to #1 again in the U.K. in 1991 after lead singer Freddie Mercury’s AIDS-related death … meanwhile, justifying his title of The Boss, Bruce Springsteen makes both the cover of Time and Newsweek…

1983, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon becomes the longest-listed album ever on the Billboardchart–491 continuous weeks …

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1986, The Beastie Boys release their album License To Ill, which will become the first rap album to reach number one on the album chart …

1988, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain smashes his guitar onstage for the first time at the Evergreen State Dorm Room Party in Olympia, Washington …

1991, three members of Pink Floyd are injured in a Mexican auto race when their car plunges down a 230-foot embankment near San Luis Potosi … guitarist Steve O’Rourke suffers a broken leg, David Gilmour receives blows to the head, and drummer Nick Mason, though injured, continues the race …

1995, business manager Yolanda Saldivar is sentenced to life for the murder of Tejano singing star Selena … she murdered the singer upon being confronted about embezzled funds … that same week, Gloria Estefan performs for Pope John II as part of the celebration of the pontiff’s 50 years in the priesthood … she is the sole pop act invited to the event …

1998, Stray Cats leader Brian Setzer sues former bandmate Ken Kinneally who played with the guitarist in the pre-Stray Cats group, The Bloodless Pharoahs … Setzer charges that Kinneally licensed 1978 studio tracks without his consent that turned up on the Collectibles Records LP Brian Setzer & the Bloodless Pharoahs … other courtroom news this week, three former members of the S.F. punk outfit the Dead Kennedys sue former leader Jello Biafra charging he diverted money due to the plaintiffs for his own use …

1999, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle, the surviving members of The Who, reunite for the first time in two years for a concert in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand … simultaneously, Tina Turner announces plans for her final stadium concert tour …

2002, hip-hop giant Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is shot dead in his Jamaica, Queens, recording studio … police pursue many leads and theories as to motive: unpaid drug bills, rival rappers, armed robbery, insurance scams, a rivalry with Murder, Inc. over 50 Cent, and more … the crime remains unsolved to this day …

2006, Kurt Cobain passes Elvis on the Forbes magazine list of “Top-Earning Dead Celebrities” … it’s estimated that the Nirvana frontman raked in $50 million over the past year … a substantial part of that sum results from licensing Nirvana songs for movies and TV … in other news, the absinthe flows like wine as Marilyn Manson opens his new Hollywood art gallery Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art … on display is a painting of Adolf Hitler with breasts and a flaccid male member …

2007, Cass County Sheriff Paul D. Laney snares 36 Ozzy Osbourne fans wanted for various infractions in a sting … the Ozzheads were offered free tickets to Osbourne’s show in Fargo, ND, only to be popped when they showed up at the venue … Ozzy is not amused saying, “Sheriff Laney should be apologizing to me for using my name in connection with these arrests. It’s insulting to me and to my audience, and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job.” …

2008, producer Phil Spector’s retrial on charges of murdering actress Lana Clarkson convenes … his first trial ended with a hung jury …

2009, Rosanne Cash releases her new album The List, revealing that the collection of cover songs is based on a list of 100 classic American songs created by her father, Johnny Cash, aboard his tour bus in 1972 … Rosanne recalls the moment her father handed her the list saying, “This is your education.” … meanwhile, Classic Rock Awards Honor Anvil frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow for the warts-and-all documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil… accepting the DVD/film of the year award Steve says “I’m a guy who’s worked my whole life for this, and it’s the most rewarding moment I’ve ever had.” …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

October 27: Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer (1933), session guitarist Kermit Chandler (1945)

October 28: good ‘ol boy Charlie Daniels (1936), singer-songwriter Ted Hawkins (1936), blues-rock saxist-organist Graham Bond (1937), Hank Marvin of The Shadows (1941), singer Wayne Fontana (1945), Rickie Reynolds of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Telma Hopkins of Tony Orlando & Dawn (1948), Stephen Morris of New Order (1957), William Reid of The Jesus & Mary Chain (1958), Ben Harper (1969), American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini (1978)

October 29: composer Vivian Ellis (1904), jazz arranger-composer Neal Hefti (1922), The Big Bopper J.P. Richardson (1930), Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings (1944), Mickey Gallagher of Frampton’s Camel (1945), Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac (1946), Roger O’Donnell of The Cure (1955), Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (1955), Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5 (1961), Einar Orn Benediktsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Peter Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1965), Douglas “SA” Vincent Martinez of 311 (1969), Toby Smith of Jamiroquai (1970)

October 30: trumpeter Clifford Brown (1930), rockabilly star Ray Smith (1934), Grace Slick born Grace Wing (1939), Otis Williams of the Temptations (1941), Timothy Schmit of Poco and The Eagles (1947), Jim Messina (1947), David Green of Air Supply (1949), Gavin Rossdale of Bush (1967)

October 31: Dale Evans (1912), Bernard Edwards of Chic (1952), South African rocker Johnny Clegg (1953), U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. (1961), Adam Horovitz a.k.a. King Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys (1966), Vanilla Ice born Robert Van Winkle (1967), Linn Berggren of Ace Of Base (1970)

November 1: blues songstress Sippie Wallace (1898), Peacock Records founder Don Robey (1903), Barry “Ballad of Green Berets” Sadler (1940), Rick Grech, bass player for Blind Faith and Traffic (1946), Dan Peek of America (1950), Ronald Bell of Kool and the Gang (1951), Lyle Lovett (1957), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen (1963), Willie D of The Geto Boys (1966), LaTavia Roberson of Destiny’s Child (1981)

November 2: trumpet legend Bunny Berigan (1908), Keith Emerson (1944), J.D. Souther (1945), Dave Pegg of Jethro Tull (1947), Maxine Nightingale (1952), Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band (1957), Matt Sorum of Cult, Guns N’ Roses, and Velvet Revolver (1960), k.d. lang born Katherine Dawn Lang (1961), Bobby Dall of Poison (1963), Reginald Arvizu of Korn (1969), John Hampson of Nine Days (1971), Nelly (1978)

Departures:

October 27:producer Tom Dowd (2002), rockabilly artist Donnie Owens (1994), T-Rex founding member Steve Peregrine-Took (1980)

October 28: country star Porter Wagoner (2007), R&B keyboard man Jon Thomas who sang “It’s Hurtin’ Me” (1995), R&B singer Billy Wright (1991), jazz arranger Oliver Nelson (1975), R&B reedman Earl Bostic (1965)

October 29: saxophonist Henry Berthold “Spike” Robinson (2001), jazz bandleader Woody Herman (1987), King Harvest drummer Wells Kelly (1984), guitar master Duane Allman (1971)

October 30: crooner Robert Goulet (2007), Ramones co-manager Linda Stein (2007), Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC (2002), TV host and musician Steve Allen (2000), hard swingin’ sax man Chu Berry (1941)

October 31: John Holohan, drummer for Bayside (2005), record exec Lester Sill (1994), A Chorus Line producer Joseph Papp (1991), guitarist Malcolm Hale of Spanky and Our Gang (1968)

November 1: Grand Funk Railroad manager Terry Knight (2004), classic blues singer and pianist Sippie Wallace (1986), pioneer Delta blues singer Tommy Johnson (1956)

November 2: Sammy Kaye Band singer Wandra Merrell (1994), Mississippi John Hurt (1966)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:00:25 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1958, the first stereo records and phonographs hit the marketplace … demo LPs simulating planes taking off and the sound of ping-pong balls caroming between the left and right speakers are all the rage …

1960, Nancy Sinatra weds pop singer Tommy Sands … in five years Sands run out on the dissolving marriage … Nancy dons her boots and walks … the FCC bans payola, the pervasive practice of record companies making payments to radio DJs to spin their releases … the practice resurges four decades later and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer collects hefty fines from all the major labels for engaging in the pay-to-play game …

1963, first record companies forced their artists to cash in on The Twist craze, then the surf music boom … and now Muddy Waters is recording Muddy Waters: Folk Singer for Chess Records at Tel Mar Studios in Chicago … helping Muddy connect with his folkier side are Buddy Guy on second acoustic guitar, Clifton James on drums, and Chess stalwart Willie Dixon on bass … a folk album in name only, the tunes are mostly written by Muddy and/or Willie and include unplugged blues classics like “Good Morning Little School Girl” … in 1968, Chess will subject Muddy to recording a “psychedelic” album with funk session men and wah-wah pedals … Electric Mud features Muddy essaying his way through The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend The Night Together” … how about that for acknowledging your roots? … what’s next? … Otis Redding recording “Satisfaction?” …

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1964, Rod Stewart cuts his first single—the blues chestnut “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” … a pair of enterprising Beatles fans pack themselves into a carton marked “Beatles Fan Mail” and have it delivered to the Baltimore Civic Center where the Fab Four are appearing … their plot is foiled when the girls are discovered by guards checking deliveries …

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

1968, Roy Orbison’s home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, burns down while he’s touring England … his two eldest sons die in the fire …

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1969, during Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s set at the Big Sur Festival a yahoo in the crowd heckles the band for being rich rock stars … Stills, wearing a flamboyant fur coat, leaps off the stage, chases the heckler down, and administers a pounding while from the stage Crosby pleads for Peace and love, peace and love … Stills gets back onstage and reflects, Y’know, we think about what that guy was saying, and we look at these coats and these pretty guitars and fancy cars and say, ‘Wow man, what am I doin’?’ … apparently, Still’s water runs deep …

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1970, from the One-Hit Wonders Department: the good timey, washboard and jug band sound of Mungo Jerry reaches #3 on the U.S. pop charts with their debut single “In The Summertime” … Mungomania briefly takes hold of the U.K. as the band shuffles its way to 10 top singles … but the U.S. quickly tires of the shtick … singer Ray Dorset finally calls it quits later in the ’70s …

1978, The Grateful Dead do a three-night stand at the Son Et Lumiere Theater in Giza, Egypt with the Great Pyramids as a backdrop … proving that eventually, what happens in Egypt winds up in Vegas …

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1981, Pink Floyd begins production on the film version of The Wall …

1984, the burgeoning MTV network holds its first Video Music Awards ceremony at New York’s Radio City Music Hall … the show is co-hosted by Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd and honors the top music videos of the year … winners are awarded Moon Man trophies that depict an astronaut with an American flag, one of the network’s earliest icons …

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1991, in a publicity stunt, Alice Cooper sells copies of his new album Hey Stoopid in New York’s Times Square for 99 cents a pop … smart …

1995, Paul McCartney’s hand-written lyrics to the Beatles’ classic “Getting Better” sell for a cool quarter-million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction …

1996, Wal-Mart refuses to carry Sheryl Crow’s second album because the song “Love is a Good Thing” includes the lyrics, “Watch out sister/Watch out brother/Watch our children as they kill each other/With a gun they bought at the Wal-Mart discount stores” … rumors that Wal-Mart employees started a band called Discounting Crows are unfounded …

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

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2000, the soundtrack for Almost Famous is released … it’s notable for including four vintage Led Zeppelin tracks—a first for any soundtrack … Robert Plant and Jimmy Page agree to the tunes’ inclusion after falling in love with Cameron Crowe’s filmed semi-autobiographical remembrance of a teenaged rock journalist in the ’70s … however, Page/Plant don’t allow Crowe to use “Stairway to Heaven” for a scene in the theatrical release … in the subsequent director’s cut DVD version, Crowe shows the deleted scene and instructs viewers to cue up their CDs of “Stairway” and wait for the onscreen countdown to press play so the scene can be experienced the way Crowe intended it, as the actors respond to the lyrics and musical changes in the song …

2003, The Pixies announce that band members have buried the hatchet and will embark on a reunion tour in 2004 … the Pixies dust the competition, going on to huge success in the face of a lackluster touring season …

2004, a jet-lagged Elton John, set upon by Taiwanese paparazzi, has a hissy fit calling them rude, vile pigs! …

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2005, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, versatile blues, cajun, jazz, and R&B guitarist, vocalist, and fiddler, dies in Baton Rouge at his brother’s house after leaving his home in Slidell, LA, due to Hurricane Katrina … Britney Spears gives birth to a baby boy by Cesarean section at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, with her backup dancer and beau Kevin Federline by her side … Sony BMG and EMI manage to further alienate music buyers by incorporating copy-protection software that’s incompatible with the iPod, the world’s most popular MP3 player … some of the releases affected are by artists such as The Dave Matthews Band, Switchfoot, and Foo Fighters …

2006, Paul McCartney agrees to donate $3 million to Adopt-a-Minefield after having backed out of playing a benefit for the charity hosted by his estranged wife Heather Mills … apparently, Pat Benetar was right, love is a battlefield … after being found guilty of tax evasion, the IRS orders Ron Isley to pay $3.1 million in delinquent taxes and sentences him to 37 months in prison … the 65-year-old Isley, who is rebounding from kidney cancer and a stroke, will probably do his time in a federal prison hospital … Linda Ronstadt cancels the balance of her 2006 tour schedule after undergoing surgery for an unspecified condition … a documentary about Kurt Cobain is debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival … titled Kurt Cobain: About a Son, the film is based on more than 25 hours of audio interviews with the Nirvana frontman recorded for a biography that was scratched following Cobain’s suicide in 1994 … filmmaker AJ Schnack edited down the tapes in which the troubled Cobain recalls his childhood, domestic troubles, and the downside of fame, matching them up with newly-created stills of places significant to Cobain … Athens, Georgia, music fans get an unexpected thrill when R.E.M. shows up unannounced at a fundraiser at the 40 Watt Club … drummer Bill Berry, who split the band in 1997 to become a gentleman farmer, decides that being a rude rocker is more fun and rejoins his bandmates to rip through a set of faves …

2009, Kanye West apologizes for interrupting Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards … despite the apology on his blog, West still writes, Beyonce’s video was the best of this decade!!! I’m Still Happy for Taylor!!!! … it seems he isn’t the only one with this sentiment … Beyonce actually does win the video of the year for Single Ladies and promptly invites Swift to join her on stage during her acceptance speech … Swift says afterwards, I thought I couldn’t love Beyonce more, and then tonight happened. … while Beyonce and Taylor Swift put on a show of solidarity, West is booed off the stage and subsequently asked to leave the show … numerous attendees tweet their disapproval during the awards: Katy Perry tweets Fuck Kanye, it’s like you stepped on a kitten, while Pink writes, Kanye West is the biggest piece of shit on earth. Quote Me. … this isn’t the first time West has rushed the stage at an awards ceremony to protest an award’s recipient … during the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2006, the rapper lost it after Justice v Simian’s We Are Your Friends scooped best video instead of West’s Touch the Sky …

Arrivals

September 8: composer Antonin Dvorak (1841), “The Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers (1897), Patsy Cline born Virginia Patterson Hensley (1932), soul sermonizer Joe Tex (1933), Dante Drowty of Dante & The Evergreens (1941), Brian Cole of The Association (1942), Cathy Jean Giordano of “Please Love Me Forever” fame (1945), Kelly Groucutt of E.L.O. (1945), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of The Grateful Dead (1945), Atlanta Rhythm Section’s Dean Daughtry (1946), Benjamin Orr of The Cars (1947), David Steele of Fine Young Cannibals (1960), singer-songwriter Aimee Mann (1960), singer-songwriter Pink (1979)

September 9: Modern Records co-founder Jules Bihari (1913), Jacob Carey of The Flamingos (1926), jazz drummer Elvin Jones (1927), soul singer Otis Redding (1941), R&B/soul singer Inez Foxx (1942), Iron Butterfly’s Doug Ingle (1945), Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics (1952)

September 10: R&B shouter and early influence on rock & roll, Roy Brown (1925), vibist Roy Ayers (1940), Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night (1942), singer-virtuoso guitarist-composer Jose Feliciano (1945), Don Powell of Slade (1946), Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull (1949), Aerosmith’s Joe Perry (1950), Johnny Fingers of Boomtown Rats (1956), Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama (1958), Cracker’s Dave Lowrey (1960), Bush drummer Robin Goodridge (1966), rapper Big Daddy Kane, born Antonio Monterio Hardy (1968)

September 11: tenor saxman Bobby Fields (1928), Bernie Dwyer of Freddie And The Dreamers (1940), Mickey Hart (1943), fingerstyle guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke (1945), Tommy Shaw of STYX (1953), Jon Moss of Culture Club (1957), bassist Victor Wooten (1964), Moby born Richard Melville Hall (1965), singer-composer-bandleader-pianist-actor Harry Connick, Jr. (1967), Ludacris (1977)

September 12: singer-actor Maurice Chevalier (1888), blues singer Alger “Texas” Alexander (1900), country vocalist George Jones (1931), Warren Corbin of The Cleftones (1939), folk-blues singer Maria Muldaur, born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato (1943), suave soulman Barry White (1944), Gerry Beckley of America (1952), Rush drummer Neil Peart (1952), Barry Andrews of XTC (1956), Larry LaLonde of Primus (1968)

September 13: swing saxophonist Chu Berry (1908), bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe (1911), blues singer-pianist Charles Brown, who influenced Ray Charles (1922), Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac (1922), Mel “The Velvet Fog” Torme (1925), Joseph “Mr. Google Eyes” August, New Orleans R&B hitmaker (1931), Dave Quincy of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1939), Gene Page, producer-arranger for Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and Whitney Houston (1940), David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears, born David Henry Thomsett (1941), Randy Jones of The Village People (1952), producer Don Was (1952), Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Metallica (1961), Steve Perkins of Jane’s Addiction (1967), singer-songwriter Fiona Apple (1977)

September 14: composer Johann Michael Haydn, younger brother of Franz Joseph Haydn (1737), country DJ-songwriter Mae Boren Axton (wrote “Heartbreak Hotel”), mother of country star Hoyt Axton (1914), Archibald, born Leon T. Gross, influential New Orleans pianist (1916), influential Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez (1918), Peter Cetera of Chicago (1944), Pete Agnew, bass player for Nazareth (1946), MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith (1948), Steve Gaines, guitarist with Lynyrd Skynyrd (1949), Paul Kossoff, guitarist with Free (1950), Barry Cowsill, drummer-bassist for The Cowsills (1954), Steve Berlin of Los Lobos (1955), A-Ha vocalist Morten Harket (1959), Everclear’s Craig Montoya (1970), Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis (1971)

Departures

September 8: songwriter Dick Heard (1998), Beatle publicist Derek Taylor (1997), Jack Vigliatura and Bill White of For Squirrels (1995), rapper Cowboy AKA Keith Wiggins of The Furious Five (1989)

September 9: singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti (1998), bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe (1996), Sandra Tilley of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (1981)

September 10: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown (2005), zydeco accordionist Beau Jocque (1999)

September 11: Raybeez AKA Raymond Barbieri of Warzone (1997), Peter Tosh (1987)

September 12: Nashville session drummer Kenny Buttrey (2004), Johnny Cash (2003), jazz tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine (2000), Abba producer Stig “Stikkan” Anderson (1997)

September 13: gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur (1996), R&B singer-songwriter Titus Turner (1984), Helen Humes, jazz chantreuse noted for her little-girl voice (1981), Conductor Leopold Stokowski (1977)

September 14: New Orleans R&B singer Johnny Adams (1998), blues singer Walter “Furry” Lewis of “John Henry” fame (1981)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:00:27 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Departures:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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, 07 May 2011 12:00:54 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1824, one of the world’s best-loved pieces of music, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, is performed for the first time …

1891, romantic era rocker Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (or Пётр Ильич Чайковский as he is known to his friends) conducts his Coronation March at the grand opening of Andrew Carnegie’s new Music Hall, which will become Carnegie Hall … the concert takes place just two days before Tchaikovsky’s 51st birthday … on his birthday, he conducts his Suite No. 3 at the Music Hall …

1911, Robert Johnson is born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi … probably the most influential bluesman to emerge in the 20th century; his songs and riffs have become a foundation for the genre …

1937, blues legend John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson cuts his first tracks at the Aurora Studios in Aurora, Illinois, including “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” …

1944, country singer Jimmie Davis becomes governor of Louisiana … his most famous composition, “You Are My Sunshine,” will become the state song …

1958, The Coasters’ single “Yakety Yak,” featuring a disaffected, back-talkin’ teen’s lament, is released … though six of the group’s novelty tunes will land in the Top Ten, this will be their only #1 hit …

1960, Neil Sedaka’s “Stairway to Heaven” peaks at #9 on the Billboard pop chart … the teen-romance ditty has nothing whatever to do with Led Zep’s later hit of the same name, which apparently has a lot to do with Randy California’s “Taurus” …

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1963, The Rolling Stones cut their first 45, a cover of a Chuck Berry obscurity “Come On” … producer Quincy Jones learns that Phil Spector is planning to cover Lesley Gore’s teen-angst single “It’s My Party” with a version by the Crystals … he rushes the Gore 45 to stores just two days after cutting the track … and it will be Quincy’s party for decades to come … perhaps Spector should have covered “Jailhouse Rock” instead … it would certainly suit his current surroundings …

1965, while toying with a newly acquired fuzz box in a Florida hotel room, Keith Richards comes up with the riff that will later become the hook in “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” …

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1968, proto-supergroup Buffalo Springfield (named after a tractor), the band that spawned the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Jim Messina, and Richie Furay, calls it quits … The Springfield ends due to creative clashes between its most fiery personalities, Stills and Young, while the band’s most easy-going member, Richie Furay, who simply wants to be a pop star, will never reach the level of fame of his former bandmates … Stills will find mega-fame in Crosby, Stills & Nash; Jim Messina will team up with Furay to form Poco, which doesn’t make as big a splash as Messina will when he ditches Poco and joins Kenny Loggins for a stellar run as Loggins & Messina; and Neil Young will go on to become … well, Neil Young … eventually Furay will find his peace as a pastor at the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado, while maintaining a solo career …

1969, at the invitation of First Daughter Tricia Nixon, the Turtles perform at Tricky Dick’s White House … singer Mark Volman is so happy to be there he reportedly falls off the stage five times … legend has it that the band spent the night smoking spliffs in the Lincoln Bedroom …

1972, in an apparent effort to show that famous entertainers can be interested in something beside themselves, Warren Beatty brings together 30 artists, including Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass, Judy Collins, Goldie Hawn, and Jack Nicholson, for a series of 12 benefits underwriting George McGovern’s bid for the presidency … despite their best efforts, the nation re-elects Nixon, the man who admittedly targeted rock music, only to have him resign in shame facing impeachment halfway through his term … like Neil said, “Rock and roll will never die” … unfortunately, neither will corrupt politicians …

1973, Paul Simon starts his first solo tour following his divorce from Art Garfunkel …

1981, reggae star Bob Marley succumbs to cancer …

1990, Tom Waits is awarded 2.3 million bucks by a jury in a suit against Frito-Lay, who brazenly ripped off Waits’ vocal and songwriting style for a Doritos ad … the decision will be appealed and wind up at an appeals court in January 1993, where Frito-Lay will finally be forced to cough up the money …

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1991, Ozzy Osbourne wins a court case in which a couple of Macon, Georgia, parents blamed their son’s suicide on Ozzy’s music … Bushwick Bill of the rap group The Geto Boys takes a bullet in the face from his girlfriend … the 4-1/2 foot-tall rapper winds up losing his eye after threatening the woman’s three-month-old son, then handing her a loaded .22, saying he wants to die …

1994, Tupac Shakur goes to jail for a couple weeks as a result of his 1993 attack on Allen Hughes, the director of the movie Menace II Society in which Shakur had a part … the rapper was cut from the production …

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1995, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray reunite to play a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the late guitar slinger’s hometown of Austin, Texas … all five had appeared with SRV at his last show on August 26, 1990, just before he took that fateful helicopter ride …

1998, in perhaps the most unlikely pairing since Hendrix opened for the Monkees, Jimmy Page duets on Saturday Night Live with rapper Sean “Puffy” Combs … the pair perform “Come With Me,” featuring a sampled guitar riff from Zep’s “Kashmir” …

2000, a federal appeals court gives Michael Bolton the thumbs down when he tries to weasel out of a $5.4 million jury award levied against him for ripping off the Isley Brothers’ “Love is a Wonderful Thing” in his song of the same name …

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2006, after holding out for three years, Red Hot Chili Peppers agrees to post its catalog on the iTunes website … the deal includes the band’s latest 28-song double CD, Stadium Arcadium that can be downloaded for $19.90 … after spending 736 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon enjoys another 759 weeks on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart … that adds up to a staggering 1,500 weeks total … the nearest competitor is Bob Marley’s Legend … but it’s years behind, having notched a mere 845 weeks … Keith Richards undergoes surgery in New Zealand for a head injury sustained while scaling a palm tree in Fiji trying to retrieve coconuts …

2007, indie label Kill Rock Stars issues a two-disc compilation of mostly unreleased material by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith … titled New Moon, the CD set includes tracks recorded between 1994 and 1997 … Smith’s body bearing two stab wounds was discovered at his L.A. home in October 2003 … although the cause of death was widely reported as suicide, the coroner never established that … it’s official: British band New Order, which arose from the ashes of post-punk band Joy Division in the early 1980s, is breaking up according to a web posting by the group’s bass player … Sammy Hagar reaps a cool $80 million when he sells off his majority interest in the Cabo Wabo tequila brand to Campari/Skyy Spirits … that should keep his margarita glass well salted …

2009, the album Playing for Change debuts at #10 on the Billboard album chart … the record is the work of L.A. engineer Mark Johnson, who spent four years circling the globe with a digital recording rig, capturing performances of classic tunes like Bob Marley’s “One Love” by street musicians … back in the studio, Johnson edited the performances together to create seamless songs that took YouTube by storm followed by a theatrically released documentary … TV producer Norman Lear, who saw the doc at the Tribeca Film Festival, is impressed enough to release the CD through his Concord Music Group … Bob Dylan is spotted on a public tour of John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool that’s now a museum to the late Beatle … a staff member recalls that Dylan “seemed to enjoy his visit, really poring over the books and photos; [he] found the kitchen fascinating, commenting that it reminded him of his own upbringing” … Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell tears a calf muscle mid-set in Atlanta … recalling the injury Farrell says “It felt like a knot exploded and went in two directions, like a rubber band” … like a trooper, Farrell finishes the set before having his leg examined … “There was this hot male nurse, and my wife came along—it was pretty kinky. We should’ve shot a porn” … Farrell acknowledges he’s blown off his doctor’s orders by getting rid of the prescribed crutches, “But I am following his advice and taking all the great meds!” … and in other medically related news this week, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan is successfully operated on for a malignant bladder tumor … the surgery interrupts the band’s months-long European stadium tour that is set to resume June 8 …

… and that was the week that was …

Arrivals:

May 5: bluesman Blind Willie McTell of “Statesboro Blues” fame (1901), R&B-soul-pop singer Johnnie Taylor (1938), country singing star Tammy Wynette (1942), Bill Ward of Black Sabbath (1948), British folk singer-guitarist-songwriter Martin Simpson (1953), Kevin Mooney of Adam and the Ants (1962), Kevin James LaBrie of Dream Theater (1963), R&B-pop singer Chris Brown (1989)

May 6: Chicago bluesman Eddie C. Campbell (1939), Herb Cox of the Cleftones (1939), Mungo Jerry keyboardist Colin Earl (1942), singer-songwriter-guitarist Bob Seger (1945), Robbie McIntosh of Average White Band (1950), Davey Johnstone of Elton John’s band (1951), John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants (1960), Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish (1967)

May 7: composer Johannes Brahms (1833), composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840), jazz/pop singer Teresa Brewer (1931), Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor (1932), Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin (1939), Johnny Maestro of The Crests (1939), Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls (1946), Bill Dannoff of Starland Vocal Band (1946), Whitesnake axeman Bernie Marsden (1951), film composer and Art Of Noise founder Anne Dudley, born Anne Jennifer Beckingham (1956), guitarist Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church (1958), Motörhead’s Phil Campbell (1961)

May 8: jazz pianist Mary Lou Willams (1910), blues legend Robert Johnson (1911), Top 40 radio format pioneer Todd Storz (1924), teen idol turned singer-songwriter Ricky Nelson (1940), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (1940), blue-eyed soul, Cajun swamp pop, and bubble-gum pop performer John Fred (1941), Paul Samwell-Smith of The Yardbirds (1943), Chris Frantz of Talking Heads (1951), Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire (1951), Billy Burnette of Fleetwood Mac (1953), drummer and brother of Eddie, Alex Van Halen (1953), Dave Rowntree of Blur (1964), Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes (1972), Latino pop star Enrique Iglesias (1975

May 9: country singer Hank Snow (1914), Nokie Edwards of The Ventures (1935), Dave Prater of Sam and Dave (1937), Sonny Curtis of The Crickets (1937), Pete Birrell of Freddie and The Dreamers (1941), pop singer Tommy Roe (1942), Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco (1944), Blood, Sweat and Tears’ Steve Katz (1945), piano man Billy Joel (1949), Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode (1962), Paul Heaton of The Housemartins (1962)

May 10: dancer-singer Fred Astaire (1899), country pioneer “Mother” Maybelle Carter (1909), session guitarist Bert Weedon (1920), Cliff Goldsmith of The Olympics (1925), New Orleans singer Larry Williams (1935), soul singer Arthur Alexander (1940), Texas rockabilly figure “Groovy” Joe Poovey (1941), Danny Rapp of Danny & The Juniors (1941), Donovan born Donovan Phillips Leitch (1946), Graham Goldman of 10cc (1946), Traffic’s Dave Mason (1947), prolific reggae drummer Sly Dunbar (1952), Sid Vicious, born John Simon Ritchie (1957), Bono, born Paul Hewson (1960), Young MC, born Marvin Young (1967), Jason Dalyrimple of Soul for Real (1980)

May 11: songwriter Irving Berlin (1888), British blues diva Beryl Bryden (1920), record exec Ewart Abner, born Edward Gladstone Abner Jr. (1923), Kit Lambert, manager of The Who (1935), jazz pianist-composer Carla Bley (1938), Eric Burdon of The Animals and War (1941), Les Chadwick of Gerry and the Pacemakers (1943), Arnie Satin of The Dovells, born Arnold Harris Silver (1945), Art of Noise’s Jonathan Jeczalik (1955)

Departures:

May 5: Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, reggae producer and owner of Studio One record label (2004), zydeco pioneer Boozoo Chavis (2001), Chicago blues singer Andrew Tibbs (1991), Ralph Garone, singer with The Bob Knight Four (1986), Clarence Quick, singer with The Del-Vikings (1985), blues and gospel singer-guitarist Reverend Gary Davis (1972)

May 6: Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans (2009), Chicago harp player Carey Bell (2007), Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens (2006), jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz (2006), jazz guitarist Barney Kessel (2004), Otis Blackwell, writer of “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up” (2002), Clarence Paul of The “5″ Royales (1995), Skatalites leader Don Drummond (1969)

May 7: country singer Eddie Rabbit (1998), Alphonso Howell of The Sensations (1998), Pacific Gas and Electric singer Charles Allen (1990)

May 8: country star Eddie Arnold (2008), Phil Spector’s chief engineer Larry Levine (2008), Abbey Road cover photographer Iain Macmillan (2006), jazz yodeler Leon Thomas (1999), Ronald Koal of Ronald Koal and the Trillionaires (1993), pianist Rudolf Serkin (1991), disco record exec Neil Bogart (1982), English R&B trailblazer Graham Bond (1974)

May 9: guitarist Stephen Bruton (2009), blues harpist Lester Butler (1998), cowboy-chic tailor Nudie Cohn (1984)

May 10: jazz pianist John Hicks (2006), Colombian singer Soraya (2006), songwriter Shel Silverstein (1999), confidante to the stars and Astral Studios mogul Burnetta “Bunny” Jones (1998)

May 11: original Rush drummer John Rutsey (2008), Philadelphia International artist and producer John Whitehead (2004), Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding (2003), Chess Records singer-guitarist Danny Overbea (1994), reggae legend Bob Marley (1981), banjo star Lester Flatt (1979)

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It happened this week…

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

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arrivals:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Departures:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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