Toxic Web » The Rolling Stones

Keef’s teef…

Toxic Web — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:55:07 +0000

…what happened there then.

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Was watching the TV news the other day when they started some showbiz fluff that passes for news these days. It was about the Rolling Stones celebrating 50 years as a band.

What struck me straight away was Keith’s teeth. Bloody hell, has he been to Dennis Waterman’s dentist? Or has he also been borrowing Dick Emery’s comedy gnashers?

They just don’t look right on Keef. I guy after all who stuck his teeth back in himself with super glue. Those rotting black, gappy things he had back in the 70s heyday, now that was more rock and or roll.

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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, 03 Dec 2011 13:00:40 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1842, formed by a group of local musicians, the New York Philharmonic gives its first concert …

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1877, the world’s first record-and-playback machine is completed … designed by Thomas Alva Edison, the phonograph picks up sound through a mouthpiece connected to a diaphragm and a stylus that etches the vibrations onto a tinfoil-covered cylinder that is hand-cranked … playback is achieved by placing the stylus at the beginning of the cylinder where it reproduces the etchings into vibrations via the diaphragm and out through the mouthpiece … Edison’s first recording is a recitation of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” … the inventor files for a patent on Christmas Eve … 12 years later the first commercial recordings go on sale …

1929, EMI Group purchases a nine-bedroom house in St. John’s Wood, London, for £16,500 to build new recording studios … the address for what will be officially called EMI Studios is 3 Abbey Road …

1965, the infamous blue flame strikes down Keith Richards in Sacramento when he grabs an ungrounded mic … the indestructible Stone is on his feet and performing again inside of seven minutes …

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1968, Elvis’ “comeback” TV special, titled simply Elvis, airs on NBC … Colonel Tom Parker wanted Elvis to do the usual smaltzy cornball Christmas special, but Elvis, who could see his musical legacy slipping away, wanted to let fans know he was still raw and vital, and he delivers … leather-suited and sweaty on a small stage in front of adoring fans, Elvis shows everyone he’s still the … well, you know … unhappy with plans to record an all-Dylan album, Graham Nash quits the Hollies … three days later he announces the formation of Crosby, Stills and Nash …

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1969, this week sees the infamous Altamont Speedway concert with The Rolling Stones; Jefferson Airplane; Santana; and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young on the playbill … violence erupts and four people are killed, at least two in deliberate, bloody assaults … one of those killed is Meredith Hunter … he is stabbed and beaten to death by Hell’s Angels, who had unwisely been hired as security for the show … many consider the concert the end of the Summer of Love …

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1970, a gold record goes to Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Steve Stills for Supersession, a July 1968 rock-blues album they expressly recorded as studio jam sessions … the documentary film Gimme Shelter, chronicling the 1969 Stones tour and the Altamont debacle, is released on the occasion of the concert’s one-year anniversary … one scene shows a somber Mick Jagger watching the film of Meredith Hunter’s stabbing … see video above …

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1971, the Montreux Casino in Geneva, Switzerland, catches fire during a show by the Mothers of Invention, inspiring Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” … the proto-metal band watches the fire from their hotel across Lake Geneva, hence the song’s title … its crunching riff, harmonized in parallel fourths by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, becomes one of the most cherished figures in all of rock riffdom with garage rockers everywhere laying it down endlessly …

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1976, during a Battersea Power Station photo shoot for the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals, a 40-foot helium-filled pig breaks loose from its moorings and floats up to an estimated 18,000 feet before finally touching down in Kent … Bob Marley and the Wailers are rehearsing at Marley’s house in Kingston, Jamaica, when seven gunmen appear and shower the house with a hail of gunfire … Marley, wife Rita, and manager Don Taylor are all hit but miraculously nobody is seriously injured … the band plays a gig two nights later …

1979, 11 fans are trampled to death at a Who show in Cincinnati …

1986, Annie Lennox gets so carried away during a Eurythmics concert in Birmingham, England she rips off her bra, which is the only thing covering her breasts … this does not cause a national scandal … Jerry Lee Lewis checks into the Betty Ford Clinic to treat an addiction to painkillers …

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1993, revered rock weirdo, musical wizard, and spokesman for lyrical freedom Frank Zappa meets his demise from pancreatic cancer at the age of 53 … Guns ‘N’ Roses announce they will keep the Charles Manson-penned song “Look At Your Game, Girl” on their album The Spaghetti Incident? … the band decides to leave the song on the album when they learn the royalties will go to the son of one of Manson’s victims …

1998, Cuban-born jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States after a six-year struggle with the Immigration and Naturalization Service …

2005, in an unlikely coupling, Mary J. Blige’s new album Reminisce features the hip-hopper singing a duet with U2′s Bono … the pair had gone public with the U2 song “One” during a New York show by the band in October … Brian May is presented with the insignia of the Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II …

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2006, the handwritten lyrics for The Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” fetch $192,000 at auction in New York … Christie’s also gets $168,000 for a former Hendrix Strat while a collection of memorabilia belonging to former Dylan girlfriend Suze Rotolo garners $116,640 … Oklahoma City honors the Flaming Lips by naming an alley after the homegrown alt band … Flaming Lips Alley is in Bricktown, the city’s entertainment district … previous recipients of the honor include Vince Gill and Charlie Christian … America’s Oldest Teenager, Dick Clark, puts up a lifetime’s worth of memorabilia for auction … the huge collection includes the mouth harp Dylan blew in The Last Waltz, a beaded white glove worn by Michael Jackson, and the mic Clark used when his American Bandstand TV show launched in 1956 …

2008, Rolling Stone magazine names Aretha Franklin the greatest singer of all time …

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2010, the blue denim jumpsuit worn by Johnny Cash during rehearsal at San Quentin prison in 1969 fetches $50,000 at auction … the suit was immortalized when during the rehearsal, Cash grew annoyed with photographer Jim Marshall and flipped him the bird …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals

December 1: British crooner Matt Monro (1930), the legendary Lou Rawls (1933), soul singer Billy Paul of “Me and Mrs. Jones” fame (1934), Blue Öyster Cult’s Eric Bloom (1944), Doors drummer John Densmore (1944), the multi-talented Bette Midler (1945), the inimitable Jaco Pastorius (1951), jazz/fusion/metal guitarist Chris Poland (1957), Japan’s Steve Jansen (1959), Brad Delson of Linkin Park (1977)

December 2: Tom McGuinness of Manfred Mann (1941), Joe Henry (1960), Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle born Nicholas Dingley (1960), Belizean musician Andy Palacio (1960), Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel (1968), Nelly Furtado (1978), Britney Spears (1981)

December 3: DJ William “Hoss” Allen (1922), pop crooner Andy Williams (1927), Capitol Records producer Nik Venet (1936), Ralph McTell (1944), Commander Cody’s “Buffalo” Bruce Barlow (1948), the Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne (1948), Mickey Thomas of Starship (1949), Molly Hatchet’s Duane Roland (1952), Montell Jordan (1968)

December 4: film singer Deanna Durbin (1921), jazz drummer Denis “Jazz” Charles (1933), KC blues guitarist Larry Davis (1936), Freddy Cannon aka Anthony Picariello (1939), Bob Mosley of Moby Grape (1942), Chris Hillman of The Byrds (1944), Beach Boy Dennis Wilson (1944), Southside Johnny (1948), Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1951), Bob Griffin of The BoDeans (1959), Vinnie Dombroski of Sponge (1962), Jay-Z born Shawn Corey Carter (1969)

December 5: Sonny Boy Williamson II (1899), sax man Alvin “Red” Tyler (1925), gospel singer Reverend James (1931), the Real King of Rock ‘n’ Roll Little Richard (1932), jazz bassist Art Davis (1934), J.J. Cale (1938), Jim Messina (1947), Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown (1947), Canadian pop singer-songwriter Andy Kim (1952), Jack Russell of Great White (1960), Johnny Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls (1965)

December 6: Broadway lyricist Ira Gershwin (1896), Hugo Peretti (1916), Dave Brubeck (1920), Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five (1943), Joe X. Dube of Looking Glass (1955), Jam’s Rick Butler (1955), Peter Buck of R.E.M. (1956), Randy Rhoads (1956), Dave Lovering of Pixies (1961), Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt (1962), Ulf Ekberg of Ace of Base (1970)

December 7: Harry Chapin (1942), Tom Waits (1949), Carlos Vega (1956), Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs (1958), Barbara Weathers of Atlantic Starr (1963), Oasis guitarist Gem Arthur (1966), All Saints’ Nicole Appleton (1974), Aaron Carter (1987)

Departures

December 1: bluegrass guitarist Carter Stanley (1966), Magic Sam (1969), singer Ray Gillen (1993), jazz songwriter Irving Gordon (1996), jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli (1997)

December 2: folk singer David Blue (1982), Lee Dorsey (1986), Aaron Copland (1990), jazz pianist Mal Waldron (2002), singer-songwriter Kevin Coyne (2004), singer Mariska Veres (2006), American folk music legend Odetta (2008), songwriter-publisher Aaron Schroeder (2009)

December 3: songwriter Phil Medley (1997), Whiskey A Go Go founder Elmer Valentine (2008)

December 4: Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin (1976), the one and only Frank Zappa (1993), Wall of Voodoo’s Joe Nanini (2000), rapper Pimp C. (2007), Cuban percussionist Carlos “Patato” Valdez (2007), Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers (2009)

December 5: multi-instrumentalist jazz behemoth Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1977), New Orleans sax man David Lastie (1987), Doug Hopkins of the Gin Blossoms (1993), jazz/rock tenor sax player Bob Berg (2002), German avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (2007)

December 6: Lead Belly (1949), Roy Orbison (1988), Memphis bassist Busta Jones (1995)

December 7: Germs singer Darby Crash (1980), New Riders of the Purple Sage bassist Dave Torbert (1982), Manhattans singer Richard Taylor (1987), R&B singer Dee Clark (1990), songwriter Carol Joyner Gourley (1997), composer John Addison (1998), British jazz trumpeter Kenny Baker (1999), Jerry Scoggins (2004), Classics IV singer Dennis Yost (2008)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:00:37 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1958, Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke are both injured in an Arkansas auto wreck that kills their chauffeur …

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1960, Greg Allman turns 13 and gets a guitar for his birthday … 14-year-old brother Duane eclipses him quickly on that instrument while Greg excels at organ and vocals … they’ll play together in the Kings, the Allman Joys, and Hourglass before they rule the southern rock universe with the Allman Brothers Band, which they’ll form in 1969 …

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1963, “Louie Louie” is released by the Kingsmen … one of the most covered songs of all time, it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene … the song is banned on some radio stations especially in Indiana where Governor Matthew Welch determines that the ditty is definitely dirty … even the FBI gets caught up in the controversy though the Bureau ultimately wraps up its 31-month investigation, including playing the record at various speeds, inconclusively stating that they are “unable to interpret any of the wording in the record” … in 2003, 754 guitarists play a 10-minute rendition of the song at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington … the event is thought to be the world’s largest jam session … in 2004, Rolling Stone would rank “Louie Louie” #55 in the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as voted on by musicians and critics …

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1964, The Nashville Teens become One Hit Wonders in the U.S. by reaching #14 with “Tobacco Road” … the follow-up single “Google Eyes” by the same songwriter, John D. Loudermilk, goes nowhere …

1965, promoter Bill Graham rents the building destined to become Fillmore East for a lordly $60 … his first rock show bill features The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead … at the Longshoreman’s Hall, the Family Dog present “A Tribute to Ming the Merciless” featuring The Mothers and The Charlatans …

1966, The Monkees first single “The Last Train To Clarksville” hits #1 on the U.S. charts replacing “96 Tears” by ? & the Mysterians … in London, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an art gallery previewing her “Unfinished Paintings and Objects” …

1967, the movie How I Won the War featuring John Lennon in an acting role, opens in the U.S. ….it is the first film to feature a solo performance by a Beatle … Lennon in costume as a soldier from the movie is featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine that hits the newstands for the first time … Pink Floyd appear on The Pat Boone Show in the U.S …. singer-guitarist and erstwhile band leader Syd Barrett refuses to answer interview questions from the host and does not even try to lip-synch to the pre-recorded track for the single “See Emily Play” … the following day, he repeats his non-performance in front of the cameras for Dick Clark’s American Bandstand …

1968, Cream perform their last U.S. concert at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence …

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1969, The Rolling Stones gross a record-breaking $260,000 for two shows for 36,000 fans at the L.A. Forum …

1970, Bob Dylan records “George Jackson” a tribute to the black militant leader killed in a California prison shootout …

1971, Led Zeppelin releases their fourth album that has no official name and is variously referred to as: the runes album, ZoSo and “Led Zeppelin IV” (a name actually used by Jimmy Page) …

1972, Johnny Paycheck starts pulling down a regular salary when he officially joins the cast of the Grand Ole Opry …

1977, The Jam release their second album in the U.K., This Is The Modern World … many record shops there pull the Sex Pistols album cover Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols from their front window claiming it is indecent because of the word “bollocks” … Virgin Records boss Richard Branson says his shops will continue to display the album in their windows …

1978, The Clash release their second album Give ’Em Enough Rope … Donna Summer’s cover of “MacArthur Park” becomes the #1 Pop Hit … a decade earlier, actor Richard Harris had taken his bombastic reading of the Jimmy Webb tune noted for its incomprehensible lyrics to #2 … unlike “Louie Louie” with unintelligible lyrics, in 1996 readers of Dave Berry’s syndicated newspaper column voted “MacArthur Park” the Worst Song of All Time …

1980, The Human League split up with synth players Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware leaving … vocalist Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright keep the name going … The B-52s new single “Strobe Light” is from their album Wild Planet …

1981, Depeche Mode releases their first album Speak and Spell containing the singles “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “Dreaming Of Me” …

1985, the theme from the TV show Miami Vice composed and recorded by former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboard player Jan Hammer, rides the top of the Billboard Hot 100 … the soundtrack LP also goes to #1 in the album chart where it will reside for 11 weeks, beating the former TV-theme record-holder, The Music from Peter Gunn …

1986, Willie Nelson plays a corrupt cop in a guest appearance on Miami Vice …

1991, blues, soul, rock, and country are all well represented when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Bobby “Blue” Bland, Booker T & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Yardbirds, and Sam and Dave …

1992, Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” reaches the end of the #1 road when it makes its 13th and final appearance in the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s top slot … Axl Rose is convicted of property damage in the wake of a Guns N’ Roses show in Missouri … he gets two years’ probation and is ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to community groups …

1995, Michael Jackson’s ATV Music catalog and Sony Corp. merge to form the world’s third biggest music publishing company worth an estimated $300 million … among the goodies Jackson brings to the table are a raft of classic Beatles tunes … The Wizard of Oz in Concert is performed at the Lincoln Center in New York … the cast includes Jewel as Dorothy, Jackson Browne as the Scarecrow, and Roger Daltrey as the Tin Man …

1996, Michael Jackson announces that he and friend Debbie Rowe are expecting a child … the King of Pop denies tabloid reports that the baby had been conceived using artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid to bear the child …

1998, Ahmet Ertegun and Bobby “Blue” Bland are honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Blues Foundation … Little Jimmy Dickens’ appearance at the Grand Ole Opry marks his 50th year as a member of the cast … Dickens is best-remembered for his 1965 hit, “May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose” … Rick James has a stroke when a blood vessel in his neck ruptures during a head-banging performance in Denver …

2005, Mike Love of the Beach Boys files suit against his cousin Brian Wilson claiming that a British promotion for Wilson’s 2004 album Smile that gave away 2.6 million Beach Boys compilations discs cut into the band’s sales … this marks the seventh time that Beach Boys have sued one another … despite all the litigation and unpleasantness, in July 2010 Al Jardine announces the surviving original members of the Beach Boys: Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson, Jardine, and early member David Marks will reunite for at least one reunion show in 2011 … Mike Love reacts by saying there were no specific plans but states I’ve had a few conversations recently with my cousin Brian about doing some musical projects together … in the fall we’ll get more focused on it … Madonna notches her 36th Top Ten single with “Hung Up,” tying her with Elvis Presley as the act with the most Top Ten hits … The Beatles have 34 … the song is also her 47th Top Forty single—at this point, the most for any female artist …

2006, Yoko Ono observes John Lennon’s 66th birthday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where she dedicates the site of a planned Imagine Peace Tower, a beam of light 100 feet high that will shine around the clock … Nelly Furtado makes a cameo appearance on the Portuguese soap Floribella …

2007, The Eagles’ first studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden debuts at number one with sales of 710,000 copies, this despite its only being available at Wal-Mart stores and the band’s website … the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hosts a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis with Chrissie Hynde, Wanda Jackson, Kris Kristofferson, and others covering The Killer’s songs … Lewis’ cousin, the televangelist Jimmy Swaggart turns in a bluesy rendition of the hymn “Precious Lord Take My Hand” after delivering an emotional speech about learning to play piano on the same instrument as his cousin … uncharacteristically, Lewis plays a serious and haunting version of “Over the Rainbow” … the website Wolfgang’s Vault makes more than 300 vintage rock concerts featuring acts such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Led Zep available via streaming audio … they are part of a huge archive of soundboard recordings made by the late rock promoter Bill Graham … Garth Brooks passes Elvis to become the second-best-selling artist of all time with 123 million albums shipped … however, he has a long way to go to catch The Beatles, who hold the record with 170 million discs…

2008, Van Morrison reprises his 1968 critically revered LP Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl, supported by a full string section as well as performers on the original studio release—Richard Davis on bass and Jay Berliner on guitar … A man accused of illegally posting songs on the Internet from an unreleased album by the rock band Guns N’ Roses has agreed to plead guilty …

2009, Apple Corps and EMI Music announced an upcoming release of the entire Beatles’ catalog digitally in MP3 and FLAC formats … the tracks won’t be available in iTunes, or any other online store in fact, but only on 30,000 limited-edition, apple-shaped USB sticks …

2010, Neil Young’s hybrid Lincoln causes a fire in his California memorabilia warehouse … Young had converted the car to run on batteries and a biodiesel-powered generator as part of his LincVolt project to create the world’s most efficient full-size vehicle … fire crews were able to save about 70 percent of the warehouse’s contents, including other cars and music equipment belonging to Young …

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

Arrivals:

November 3: Brian Poole of The Tremeloes (1941), Marie McDonald Lawrie a.k.a. Lulu (1948), Adam Ant born Stuart Leslie Goddard (1954)

November 4: Four Vagabonds singer John Jordan (1913), Delbert McClinton (1940), Squeeze singer-guitarist Chris Difford (1954), James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders (1956), Sean John “Puff Daddy” Combs (1969)

November 5: Roy Rogers born Leonard Slye (1911), blues and R&B innovator Ike Turner (1931), Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946), Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits (1947), Don McDougall of Guess Who (1948), Mike Score of A Flock Of Seagulls (1957), Bryan Adams (1959), David Bryson of Counting Crows (1961), singer-actress Andrea McArdle (1963), Jon Greenwood of Radiohead (1971), Ryan Adams (1974)

November 6: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (1814), John Philip Sousa, inventor of the sousaphone (1854), composer-pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), musician, songwriter, lyricist Gus Kahn, born Gustav Gerson Kahn, who penned songs such as “It Had To Be You” and “Dream a Little Dream Of Me” (1886), ragtime pianist and composer Ole Olsen born John Sigvard Olsen, of the vaudeville act Olsen and Johnson, who hit the big time with the Broadway show and movie Hellzapoppin (1892), musician-arranger Ray Conniff, who founded The Ray Conniff Singers (1927), Joseph Pope, lead singer of The Tams (1933), singer P.J. Proby (1938), Guy Clark (1941), Glenn Frey of The Eagles (1948), Corey Glover of Living Colour (1964)

November 7: New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt (1922), Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), soul singer Dee Clark, whose biggest single was “Raindrops” (1938), Johnny Rivers, rock-and-roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, born John Henry Ramistella (1942), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born Roberta Joan Anderson (1943), Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers (1964), Russell Barrett of Chapterhouse (1968)

November 8: Bert Burns, R&B producer of The Drifters and Van Morrison (1929), Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie (1944), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1945), Roy Wood of The Move and ELO (1946), Minnie Riperton, singer-songwriter noted for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range (1947), blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt (1949), Gerald Alston, lead singer of The Manhattans (1951), singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones (1954), singer-actor-teen idol Leif Garrett born Leif Per Nervik (1961), Stephen Patman of Chapterhouse (1968)

November 9: big band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905), bass singer Leroy Fann of Ruby & The Romantics (1936), Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1941), Phil May of The Pretty Things (1944), Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon (1948), Joe Bouchard of Blue Öyster Cult (1948), Tommy Caldwell, bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band (1949), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa born Sandra Denton (1961), Brad “Scarface” Jordan of the Geto Boys (1969), singer-songwriter Diana King (1970), Susan Tedeschi, blues and roots-music singer and guitarist married to Derek Trucks (1970), Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (1973), rock-country-rap musician Uncle Kracker born Matthew Shafer (1974), Sisqó, lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, born Mark Althavean Andrews (1978)

Departures:

November 3: Robert Kirby, string arranger for Nick Drake and Elton John (2009), singer Art Wood (2006), Lonnie Donegan (2002), blues harmonica player William Clarke (1996), songwriter Mort Shuman (1991)

November 4: Shonen Knife drummer Mana “China” Nishiura (2005), jazz drummer Vernel Fournier (2000), Hi-Lites singer Ronnie Goodson (1980)

November 5: Link Wray (2005), Robert Lee “Bobby” Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers (2003), saxophonist Eddie Harris (1996), jazz pianist Bobby Scott of The Coasters (1990), Barry Sadler (1989), Vladimir Horowitz (1989), Bobby Nunn (1986), Guy Lombardo (1977), Robert “Nighthawk” McCollum (1967), Johnny Horton (1960), piano magician Art Tatum (1956), Orioles singer Tommy Gaither (1950)

November 6: Hank Thompson, Texas honky-tonk and Western swing pioneer (2007), George Osmond, patriarch of the singing Osmond Family (2007), jazz pianist Pete Jolly (2004), Don Julian, leader of The Meadowlarks (1998), novelty artist Dickie Goodman (1989), New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia (1972)

November 7: rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds (2008), Jimmy Jones, studio bassist who worked with Wilson Pickett (1995), Carter Cornelius, leader of The Cornelius Brothers with Sister Rose (1991)

November 8: trumpeter Lester Bowie (1999), Dr. Tommy Comeaux of Beausoleil, voted best Cajun guitarist (1997), Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers (1995), R&B pianist James Booker (1983), R&B singer Ivory Joe Hunter (1974), pioneering blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (1968)

November 9: English movie composer Stanley Myers (1993), Egon Wellesz, composer-teacher-musicologist and student of Arnold Schoenberg (1974), Swedish jazz composer Jan Johansson (1968), composer Frederick Preston Search (1957), Broadway and film composer Sigmund Romberg, best known for “Lover Come Back to Me” performed by Billie Holliday (1951), Mannheim composer Carl Philipp Stamitz, son of famous composer Johann Stamitz (1801)

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It happened this week…

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

This is the week that was in matters musical …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1986, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather is attacked while walking down Park Avenue in New York City about 11 p.m. …he is knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly by a mentally unstable citizen who asks over and over, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” …his assailant is William Tager, a diagnosed psychotic who suspected the media of beaming hostile messages to him, and wanted Rather to tell him the frequency being used for the nefarious plot …nearly 10 years later R.E.M. will write a song loosely based on the event titled “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” …

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

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

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

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

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

Arrivals:

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

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

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

October 2: Ron Griffiths of Badfinger (1942), singer-songwriter Don McLean (1945), Michael Rutherford of Genesis (1950), Sting, born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (1951), The Diamonds’ David Somerville (1953), Phillip Oakey of Human League (1955), soul singer Freddie Jackson (1956), singer-songwriter Robbie Nevil (1960), Siggi Baldursson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Claude McKnight of Take 6 (1962), Sean McDonald, singer and guitarist with Surgery (1965), Bud Gaugh of Sublime (1967), teen pop singer Tiffany (1971), Richard Hell of the Voidoids and Dim Stars, born Richard Myers (1949)

October 3: American rock-and-roller Eddie Cochran, who co-wrote “Summertime Blues” (1938), Chubby Checker, born Ernest Evans, who popularized the dance The Twist (1941), Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac (1948), Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954), Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee (1961), Gwen Stefani (1969), Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boys (1971), soul and R&B singer India.Arie (1975), Ashlee Simpson (1984)

October 4: Leon Thomas, jazz vocalist who worked with Pharoah Sanders and Santana (1937), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1944), bassist Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Mothers of Invention, and Buffalo Springfield (1947), blues singer-guitarist-songwriter Keb’ Mo’, born Kevin Moore (1951), Barbara K. MacDonald of Timbuk 3 (1958), Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (1959), singer-songwriter Jon Secada (1961), Lena Katina of t.A.T.u. (1984)

October 5: blues musician George “Little Hat” Jones (1899), guitarist-singer-dancer Abi Ofarim (1939), Richard Street of The Temptations (1942), Steve Miller (1943), Richard Kermode, keyboardist who worked with Janis Joplin and Santana (1946), Brian Johnson of AC/DC (1947), seminal country rocker B.W. Stevenson (1949), Bob Geldof (1951), Paul Thomas of Good Charlotte (1980)

Departures:

September 29: Algerian singer Cheb Hasni (1994)

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

October 1: Moonglows singer Prentiss Barnes (2006), Richard Avedon (2004), bassist Bruce Palmer of Buffalo Springfield (2004), Booker T. & The MGs drummer Al Jackson Jr. (1975)

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

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

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

October 5: The Temptations’ Eddie Kendricks (1992)

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It happened this week…

Toxic Web — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:00:40 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1953, in what will later be considered the golden age of vocal groups, seven of the R&B chart’s Top 10 positions are occupied by doo-wop acts including The Orioles, The Clovers, The Five Royales, The Royals, The Spaniels, The Dominoes, and The Coronets …

1954, Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips secures his place in rock ‘n’ roll history when he spins a test pressing of Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right” on radio station WHBQ … it’s the first time an Elvis record hits the airwaves …

1956, Elvis Presley’s much-anticipated single “Love Me Tender” notches a music biz first when advance orders for the record top one million …

1958, while crossing the Atlantic on his way to a couple of years of army service in Germany, Elvis is asked to put together a talent show and ends up playing piano in the impromptu band he organizes …

1962, The Springfields are the first British vocal act to score a U.S. Top 20 hit with their single “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”… their lead singer is Mary O’Brien who will later sustain a major solo career using the stage name Dusty Springfield …

1963, “She Loves You” is played on the radio by influential DJ Murray “The K” Kaufman on WINS in New York … it is the first time a Beatles song is played on U.S. airwaves … Murray later becomes a staunch Beatles advocate and supporter, helping them to break into New York and America …

1966, The Yardbirds, with lead guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, embark upon a British tour with The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner … Blues Breakers John Mayall with Eric Clapton peaks at Number Six in the British LP charts … it is bested by other LPs that will go on to achieve classic status: Revolver, Pet Sounds, and Blonde on Blonde …

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1975, soul man Jackie Wilson suffers a heart attack in mid-performance at the Latin Casino in Camden, N.J. … the singer, dubbed “Mr. Excitement,” falls off the stage and strikes his head on the concrete floor, causing permanent brain damage … he lapses into a coma and spends the rest of his life hospitalized until death overtakes him in 1984 … the soul group The Spinners donate $60,000 for his medical care but much of that money is consumed in lawyer’s fees due to relatives tussling over control of Wilson’s estate … the singer will be laid to rest in an unmarked grave … the Wilson family is haunted by tragedy … son Jackie Jr. was killed in 1970 during a burglary, daughter Sandra will die of a heart attack in 1977, and daughter Jacqueline will be shot to death in a 1987 drive-by shooting …

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1976, British bobbies take The Runaways into custody following the disappearance of a hair dryer from a hotel room …

1980, David Bowie makes his Broadway debut playing the title character in The Elephant Man …

1982, the first compact discs and players hit the market in Japan … a joint venture between Sony and Philips, the CD will become a dominant musical format within five years …

1988, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” becomes the first a capella song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 … the single will also land George Bush the elder in hot water when he uses it in his presidential campaign without permission … in 2008, Billboard listed the tune in its top ten One Hit Wonders from the last 50 years … McFerrin, a classically trained musician and conductor, later expresses reservations about the single, saying “It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.” …

1991, Garth Brooks’ album Ropin’ the Wind debuts at number one on the Billboard Pop chart … it is the first country album to do so …

1993, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler settles his lawsuit with his former band and its managers for $2.5 million just before the case goes to the jury, this despite having signed an agreement in 1990 giving up his partnership interest in the band … during the trial guitarist Slash had testified that Adler had signed the agreement while he was “strung out” … Adler had been booted from the band when he couldn’t kick his heroin habit … five years to the day later, Adler is back in court, this time for sentencing on charges of having beaten two women he dated as well as violating probation on an earlier domestic case … he gets 150 days jail time …

1996, Smashing Pumpkins get off to a delayed tour start … the band needed extra time to integrate former Filter drummer Matt Walker and former Frogs’ keyboardist Dennis Flemion … the pair replace former keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin who died three months earlier from a heroin OD and drummer Jimmie Chamberlin who was canned following a drug possession bust … leader Billie Corgan will later acknowledge the replacements were a bad idea that hurt the band’s music and reputation … in 1999 a rehabilitated Chamberlin will rejoin the Pumpkins …

1997, wearing a white cowboy hat, Bob Dylan performs his “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in Bologna, Italy, with an apparently bored John Paul II looking on … the Audio Engineering Society unveils the new DVD Audio format in New York …

1999, Diana Ross is taken into custody at London’s Heathrow airport after a tussle with a female security officer … she is later cautioned and released …

2002, Mike Batt of The Planets settles a lawsuit filed by the John Cage Trust for “an undisclosed six-figure sum” … at issue is one minute of silence on the band’s latest CD Classical Graffitti … the avant-garde composer’s estate had claimed Batt plagiarized Cage’s 1952 composition “4’33″—which was completely silent—when he credited his piece “A One Minute Silence” to “Batt/Cage” …

2004, Cat Stevens is kicked out of the United States after a jet bound for Washington from London is diverted to unload him … the former pop singer now known as Yusuf Islam, born Stephen Georgiou, enjoyed a string of hits in the 1960s and 70s, including “Wild World” and “Morning Has Broken” … he released two songs, including a rerecording of “Peace Train,” to express his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq … officials say he was refused entry under the Immigration and Naturalization Act “based on national security grounds”…

2006, U2 and Green Day join forces by performing at New Orleans’ Superdome at the Saints’ first game in the arena since Hurricane Katrina shredded the venue more than a year earlier … broadcast on ESPN, the game draws 15 million viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a cable broadcast …

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2007, Van Halen kicks off its first reunion tour since 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with David Lee Roth aboard … the band rips through a best-of set list with Eddie Van Halen and Roth bouncing off each other without a hint of the bad blood that has existed between the pair for decades … amazon.com launches its MP3 music download site … it’s expected that Amazon’s variable pricing scheme will put pressure on iTunes to adopt a similar strategy … it’s reported that director Martin Scorsese is working on a documentary about George Harrison amd will have the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late Beatle’s widow, Olivia … in September of 2011, it is announced the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World would be broadcast on the BBC later in the year …

2008, in a real turnabout Metallica fans ask the veteran heavy metalists to turn it down … in recording the band’s latest album, Death Magnetic, the sound was cranked and compressed so severely that the CD is riddled with distortion … 11,000 fans sign an online petition asking the band to remix and reissue the album … Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks implores Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder to write a song in support of the team’s World Series aspirations … Vedder’s “All The Way” is the result, but the Cubbies still fail to make the Series … London’s Victoria and Albert Museum spends £51,000 at auction to acquire the original artwork for the Stones’ tongue logo … artist John Pasche received £50 for creating the logo in 1970 …

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

Arrivals:

September 22: Mike Patto, leader and vocalist for ’70s Brit rock band Patto (1942)

September 23: R&B and jazz bandleader Tiny Bradshaw (1905), Marion Keisker, assistant to Sun Records’ Sam Phillips who urged him to record Elvis (1917), blues guitarist-harpist Joe Hill Louis (1921), jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane (1926), jazz bassist Jimmy Woode (1928), Wally Whyton, leader of the British skiffle band The Vipers (1929), musical genius Ray Charles (1930), blues guitarist Fenton Robinson (1935), blues, rock, and jazz guitarist Roy Buchanan (1939), singer-songwriter Charlie Fox (1939), folk rocker Tim Rose (1940), British one-man blues band Duster Bennett (1943), songwriter-producer-session pianist Don Grolnick (1947), Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf (1947), John Baker Saunders, bassist for Seattle band Mad Season (1954)

September 24: gospel, blues, and doo-wop singer Allen Bunn (1924), Carl Feaster of The Chords (1930), actor and singer-songwriter Anthony Newley (1931), Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1933), James “Shep” Sheppard of Shep & The Limelites (1935), session reed player Steve Douglas (1938), Barbara Allbut of The Angels (1940), Phyllis Allbut of The Angels (1942), Linda McCartney (1942), Gerry Marsden of Gerry And The Pacemakers (1942), Cedric Dent of Take 6 (1962), Marty Cintron of No Mercy (1971)

September 25: Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906), Erik Darling of The Rooftop Singers (1933), bluesman Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes (1936), Ian Tyson of folk duo Ian and Sylvia (1933), Joseph Russell of The Persuasions (1939), Wade Flemons of Earth, Wind and Fire (1940), co-founder of Love, Bryan MacLean (1946), Italian rocker Zucchero (1955), actor and hip-hop artist Will Smith (1968), Diana Ortiz of Dream (1985)

September 26: George Gershwin (1898), New Orleans guitarist Rene Hall (1912), country singer Marty Robbins (1925), George Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1931), Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music (1945), country singer Lynn Anderson (1947), Olivia Newton-John (1948), Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos (1954), Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship (1954), country vocalist Carlene Carter (1955), Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl (1962), Cindy Herron of En Vogue (1965), Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon (1967), Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men (1972), pop and R&B singer Christina Milian (1981)

September 27: bluesman “Mighty” Joe Young (1927), producer Don Nix (1941), Randy Bachman of BTO (1943), Meat Loaf aka Marvin Lee Aday (1947), Greg Ham of Men At Work (1953), reggae bassist Robbie Shakespeare (1953), teen throb Shaun Cassidy (1958), Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind (1964), Mark Calderon of Color Me Badd (1970), Avril Lavigne (1984)

September 28: Ed Sullivan (1902), bluesman Houston Stackhouse (1910), country singer Tommy Collins (1930), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1931), Chicago blues songstress Koko Taylor (1935), soul singer and former Drifter Ben E. King (1938), bassist Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf (1943), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1955), George Lynch of Dokken (1955), Alannah Currie of The Thompson Twins (1959), pop singer Jennifer Rush (1960), teen popster Hilary Duff (1987)

Departures:

September 22: big band singer Connie Haines (2008)

September 23: blues harmonica player-vocalist-songwriter Gary Primich (2007), Etta Baker, Piedmont blues guitarist prominent in the folk revival of the 1960s (2006), Mississippi blues singer-guitarist Houston Stackhouse (1980), Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh (1974)

September 24: folk rocker Tim Rose (2002)

September 25: Jamie Lyons of The Music Explosion (2006), British folk singer-songwriter Matthew Jay (2003), Steve Canaday of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (1999), Led Zeppelin’s hard-hitting drummer John Bonham (1980)

September 26: virtuoso guitarist Shawn Lane (2003), eclectic British vocalist Robert Palmer (2003), songwriter Carl Sigman (2000), jazz diva Betty Carter (1998), pianist and writer Arnold Shaw (1989), blues guitarist Auburn “Pat” Hare (1980), “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith (1937)

September 27: rockabilly guitarist Paul Burlison (2003), D.O.A. drummer Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery (1994), Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1979)

September 28: DJ Scott Muni (2004), country star Bob Gibson (1996), Marcels baritone singer Allen Johnson (1995), jazz titan Miles Davis (1991), Rory Storm born Alan Caldwell (1972), DJ Dewey Phillips (1968), bandleader Lucky Millinder (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 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:00:17 +0000

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1955, Elvis buys his mama a pink Cadillac …

1956, in the wake of Johnny Ray’s success with “Just Walking in the Rain,” Sun Records releases a cover by The Prisonaires, a smooth-singing doo-wop group composed of Tennessee State Penitentiary inmates …

…Elvis begins recording his second album in Los Angeles … it is to include covers of Little Richard hits “Rip It Up,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Ready Teddy” … Elvis even plays piano on some of the tracks …

1962, The Beatles hit Abbey Road recording studio for the first time, recording “Love Me Do” in about 16 takes with drummer Andy White …

1968, because of fears of street violence during the National Democratic Convention, The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” is banned from airplay in Chicago … Ray Charles’ backup singers quit en masse over a wage dispute and band rules they consider unfair …

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1978, Who drummer Keith Moon succumbs to an overdose of the drug Heminevrin prescribed to combat his alcoholism … an autopsy reveals that he’d washed down 32 of the pills with champagne … his death occurs in the same apartment in which Mama Cass of The Mamas & The Papas met her demise in 1974 … at a Teddy Pendergrass show in New York called “For Women Only,” female concertgoers receive white chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear …

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1990, Tom Fogerty, an original member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and brother of John, dies of tuberculosis this week at age 48 … he had parted from the band at the height of its success in 1971, a casualty of sibling rivalry … and although he recorded a number of albums on his own, he never scored a hit after his CCR days … across the pond, The Cure launches a pirate radio station beamed at London to publicize the release of the remix album Mixed Up … but the station will soon go off the air beset by technical difficulties and use of the powerful BBC signal to cover up its broadcasts …

1991, country music star Dottie West dies from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in the parking lot of The Grand Ole Opry … the crash occurred a few days earlier when an elderly neighbor, who was giving West a ride to work, lost control of the car …

1997, Pat Smear announces he will no longer be a Foo Fighter and that Franz Stahl will take his place …

1999, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is arrested at a show in Raleigh, N.C., charged with felony rioting and three counts of misdemeanor inciting to riot, assault, and disorderly conduct … the charges stem from bad behavior at a Greensboro concert in 1997 … Sixx allegedly assaulted a security guard and encouraged a melee among fans …

2000, Rage Against the Machine bassist Timothy Commerford pleads guilty to charges of assault and disorderly conduct at the MTV Video Music Awards … while raging against Limp Bizkit’s acceptance of the award for Best Rock Video–which was coincidentally up against Rage’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”–Commerford climbed a 15-foot arch that was part of the stage set … stagehands and security swarmed the stage to extricate Tim, who would “sleep now in the slammer” … The Doobie Brothers offer 15 new tracks for free download to launch the promotion of their latest album, Sibling Rivalry …

2004, the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati rules that artists should pay for every sample they use … previously courts had held that as long as short samples could not be identified, licensing was unnecessary … in this new decision, the court, acknowledging other cases involving digital piracy says, If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative. … ironically, a two-second sample of a Funkadelic record in NWA’s “100 Miles and Runnin” is at the heart of the ruling … Funkadelic and Parliament leader and founder George Clinton had historically been supportive of sampling, having produced two albums titled Sample Some of Dis and Sample Some of Dat that permit remixers to use his music without legal considerations …

2006, in a Rolling Stone interview, Elton John reveals that he’s thinking about putting out a hip-hop album … I want to work with Eminem, Pharrell, Kanye, and Snoop. We’ll see what happens. It could be a disaster. … Rapper Master P debuts his new musical Uncle Willy’s Family, in Meridian, Mississippi … the show is semiautobiographical, focusing on a family that has to abandon its home in the face of Hurricane Katrina … to no one’s particular surprise, it’s revealed that Whitney Houston has separated from her husband of 14 years, Bobby Brown … the marriage was punctuated by drugs and domestic disturbances … on a more positive note, Lou Reed joins Jack White and his Raconteurs at the VMA Awards show in New York, pitching in on the vocals of “White Light/White Heat” …

2007, with just 7.4 million in album sales this week, Nielsen SoundScan reports the lowest numbers in the chart service’s history … only the High School Musical 2 soundtrack manages to move more than 50,000 units … just eight years earlier 27 albums moved that many … Lucinda Williams kicks off a novel tour in which she will play five nights each in New York and L.A. … each show will be devoted to one of her five studio albums in its entirety: her 1988 self-titled disc, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence, and World Without Tears …

2008, Oasis is mid-way through its headline set at the V Festival when a man runs from backstage and knocks Noel Gallagher to the ground … security guards wrestle the attacker to the floor and drag him away with brother Liam in pursuit … after a 15-minute break, the band resumes its set to cheers from a 25,000-strong audience …

2009, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, more than 2 months after his controversial death …

… and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

September 1: Boxcar Willie (1931), Conway Twitty (1933), Tommy Evans of The Drifters (1934), Archie Bell of The Drells (1944), Barry Gibb (1946), Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone (1948), The Jam’s Bruce Foxton (1955), Gloria Estefan (1957), Joe Williams of Toto (1960), DJ Sprigg Nice of Lost Boyz (1970), J.D. Fortune, replacement singer for INXS (1973), Sean Stewart, son of Ron (1980), Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohan (1984)

September 2: Hugo Montenegro (1925), Sam Gooden (1939), Bobby Purify (1939), Rosalind Ashworth of Martha and The Vandellas (1943), Joe Simon (1943), Billy Preston (1946), Richard Coughlan of Caravan (1947), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (1947), Micahel Rother, guitarist and keyboardist for Kraftwerk, Neu! (1950), Mik Kaminski of E.L.O. (1951), Simply Red’s Fritz McIntyre (1956), Steve Porcaro of Toto (1957), Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs (1958), Dino Cazeres, guitarist for Fear Factory (1966), K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci (1969), Phil Lipscomb, Taproot bassist (1976)

September 3: bluesman Memphis Slim born Peter Chatman (1915), Hank Thompson (1925), Tompall Glaser (1933), Freddie King (1934), Kenny Pickett (1942), Al Jardine of The Beach Boys (1942), Walter Scott of the Whispers (1943), George Biondi of Steppenwolf (1945), Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell (1947), Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad (1948), Doug Pinnik of King’s X (1950), Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols (1955), Perry Bamonte of The Cure (1960), Jonathan Segal of Camper Van Beethoven (1963), Jennifer Paige (1973), Tomo Miličević of 30 Seconds to Mars (1979), Jason McCaslin of Sum 41 (1980)

September 4: “Lightning Bug” Rhodes, guitarist for Otis Redding and B.B. King (1939), lead singer George Lanuis of The Crescendos (1939), Merald Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1942), fret wizard Danny Gatton (1945), Greg Elmore of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946), Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan (1946), Ronald LaPread of The Commodores (1950), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins (1951), Martin Chambers of the Pretenders (1952), Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. (1956), George Hurley of Minutemen (1958), Kim Thayil of Soundgarden (1960), Sam Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks (1963), Igor Cavalera, Sepultura drummer (1970), Carmit Bachar of Pussycat Dolls (1974), Dan Miller of O-Town (1980), Beyoncé Knowles (1981), Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm (1981)

September 5: Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1907), doo-wopper Jimmy Springs of The Red Caps (1911), guitarist Willie Woods of Junior Walker & The Allstars (1936), singer-songwriter and Kingston Trio member John Stewart (1939), Al “Year of the Cat” Stewart (1945), Freddie Mercury of Queen (1946), Buddy Miles (1946), guitarist Clarence White born Cecil Ingram Connor (1946), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainright III (1946), Buddy Miles of Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys (1947), David “Clem” Clempson of Humble Pie/Colosseum (1949), Juan Aldrete of Racer X (1963), Terry Ellis of En Vogue (1966), Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (1968), Dweezil Zappa (1969)

September 6: bluesman Jimmy Reed (1925), David Allan Coe (1939), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (1943), Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1942), androgynous disco star Silvester aka Silvester James (1947), Claydes Charles Smith, lead guitarist and founder of Kool & the Gang (1948), Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners (1958), Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis (1961), Pal Waaktar of A-Ha (1961), William DuVall of Alice in Chains (1967), CeCe Peniston (1969), Dolores O’Riordon of The Cranberries (1971), Nina Persson of The Cardigans (1974), rapper N.O.R.E. (1976), Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack (1978), Foxy Brown (1978)

September 7: tenor sax giant Sonny Rollins (1930), bluesman Little Milton (Campbell) (1934), Buddy Holly born Charles Hardin Holley (1936), Continental Drift bassist Jim Gault (1943), Alfa Anderson of Chic (1946), disco diva Gloria Gaynor (1949), Chrissie Hynde (1951), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1953), Benmont Tench, keyboardist and founding member of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1953), session guitarist Chuck Beattie (1954), Michael Feinstein (1956), R&B singer Jermaine Stewart (1957), Brad Houser of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (1960), LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band (1961), Eazy-E of N.W.A. (1963), Brent Liles of Social Distortion (1963), Chris Acland of Lush (1966), Chad Sexton of 311 (1970), Atmosphere Slug rapper (1972)

Departures:

September 1: keyboardist-producer Wycliffe Johnson (2009), Jerry Reed (2008), blues musician R.L. Burnside (2005), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (2001), composer Vagn Holmboe (1996), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson (1985)

September 2: New York Metropolitan Opera impressario Sir Rudolf Bing (1997), composer Otto Luening (1996), violinist Cyril Reuben (1996), Ljuba Welitsch (1996)

September 3: Free jazz alto saxophonist Noah Howard (2010), Carter Albrecht, keyboardist and guitarist Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians (2007), Major Lance (1994), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (1970)

September 4: Chuck Greenberg of Shadowfax (1995), country singer Dottie West (1991), jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet (1991)

September 5: Norwegian alt-country musician Thomas Hansen (2007), swamp-boogie queen Katie Webster (1999), R&B pianist Sonny Knight (1998), conductor Georg Solti (1997), Charlie Charles, drummer for Ian Dury and the Blockheads (1990), Joe Negroni of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1978)

September 6: Luciano Pavarotti (2007), co-founder of Atari Teenage Riot, Carl Crack (2001), stand-up country bassist Roy Husky Jr. (1997), Tom Fogerty of CCR (1990), Josh White (1964)

September 7: Warren Zevon (2003), Erma Franklin, sister of Aretha (2002), composer Niccolo Castiglioni (1996), Keith Moon (1978)

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David “Honeyboy” Edwards…

Toxic Web — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:29:12 +0000

…the last of the great Mississippi delta bluesmen.

Dave “Honeyboy” Edwards was at aged 96 the last link to the pre-war era of bluesmen. Having been present when the almost mythical Robert Johnson was given the bottle of whisky that supposedly poisoned him.

He was a friend and played with the likes of Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House and Sonny Boy Williamson. Moving then to the post-war Chicago era with the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and the rest of the greats at Chess Records. Leading to him mixing with the new generation of the mid to late sixties of white English kids that took the music back to it’s homeland to flourish – The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac.

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His only appearance on record during those early years are the 15 sides recorded by legendary archivist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1942.

So in tribute I’ve been playing “Blues Jam in Chicago” volume 1 & 2 from Fleetwood Mac, which were recorded in 1969 at the Ter-Mar complex owned by Chess which featured some of the blues greats available. Willie Dixon led things with Buddy Guy, Otis Spann, Walter Horton, JT Brown, SP Leary and David “Honeyboy” Edwards.

Edwards died aged 96 on August 29th the Grammy Award winner was playing nearly right up until his passing.

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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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