It happened this week

This is the week that was in matters musical…

1952, bebop drummer “No Hands” Henderson-famous for his legendary sessions with Biz and Dix and his unique headbanging style-knocks himself out during an especially spirited solo at New York’s Blue Note…

1958, Elvis performs live on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time … to protest Sullivan’s decision to film him only from the waist up, Presley performs without his pants…

1962, the New Hampshire garage band The Electras breaks up when its bass player, John Kerry, is told by his band mates to find something else to do in life…

1967, Elvis frees the slaves of Graceland…

1970, a potential super band drawing together the groups Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; Simon and Garfunkel; and Peter, Paul, and Mary is scuttled when the parties involved cannot come to an agreement on the order each name should appear in the title…

1988, during a show in Throckmorton, Vermont, guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen suffers second- and third-degree burns to his fingers in the midst of an extended solo when his fretboard bursts into flames…

1989, Tina Turner experiences a change of heart and remarries Ike Turner … this same week, Miles Davis gets his name into the Guinness Book of Records … his autobiography sets the all-time world record for the number of times the word “motherf***er” is repeated in a single work…

1990, in a Terry Gross interview on NPR, Jerry Lee Lewis wonders why there are no Jerry Lee Lewis impersonators … also this week, in what would prove to be his last interview with Rolling Stone, Stevie Ray Vaughan credits his musical talent to good genes received from his mother, jazz great Sarah Vaughan…

1991, James Brown meets his violent end in a hail of police gunfire after escaping from the Georgia State Prison…

1993, The Orlando Sentinel reports that a local Elvis impersonator has signed a management contract with a Colonel Tom Parker impersonator…

1995, Donny Osmond and Ozzy Osbourne host an all-day concert in Las Vegas dubbed the Osz Fest … the highlight of the event is a good-natured bat-eating competition between the two stars…

1997, Mariah Carey, in her autobiography, reveals her belief in reincarnation and her conviction that in a former life she was Marie Curie…

2001, Sting, pop artist and advocate for indigenous people of the Amazon basin, is noisily eaten by a tribe of cannibals…

2002, former-president Bill Clinton starts the career he always dreamed of as a tenor sax man for a touring southern rock band…

2003, writers from magazines covering the indie rock music scene come together in Chicago to bestow the title of “Most Indie Artist of the Decade” upon the band Leaves of Green … the little-known group of tastemakers had only one real member, recorded only two songs, never played a show, never got signed to a label, and broke up after only three weeks of half-hearted disinterest … record store clerks everywhere instantly begin touting Leaves of Green as their favorite band and lamenting the loss of its unique and creative musical genius …

2004, ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl sets a new record by playing on every single album released in the past year … also this week, Janet Jackson’s right breast is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…

2006, Japan’s secret war of revenge against the US begins its third and final stage … having conquered the American electronics and auto industries, Japan launches its final assault, sending wave after wave of girl punk bands to our shores … also this week, Miles Davis is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, causing the legendary jazz trumpeter to roll over in his grave…

2012, Britney Spears has her seventh child in as many years … her comment: “whoops, I did it again”…

And that was the April Fool’s week that was. 😉

4 years since Layne Staley died – that means it has to be a load of Dirt on the playlist.

Arrivals

March 30: John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson (1914), Willie Nelson (1933), Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues (1942), Eric Clapton (1945), Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Procol Harum’s Dave Ball (1950), rapper Stanley “M.C. Hammer” Burell (1963), Tracy Chapman (1964), Celine Dion (1968), Norah Jones (1979)

March 31: blues pianist “Big Maceo” Merriweather (1905), Lightning Hopkins (1912), Herb Alpert (1937), R&B performer and songwriter Chuck Willis (1928), Al Nichol of The Turtles (1946), Jon-Jon Poulos of The Buckinghams (1948), Angus Young (1959)

April 1: jazz-blues singer Alberta Hunter (1895), Willie Dixon (1915), bluesman Amos Milburn (1927), singer-actress Debbie Reynolds (1932), Rudolph Isley (1939), Alan Blakely of The Tremeloes (1942), John Barbata of Jefferson Starship (1945), soul man Arthur Conley (1946), Jimmy Cliff (1948), Jeff Porcaro of Toto (1954), Stan Ridgeway of Wall of Voodoo (1955), Dennis Boon of The Minutemen (1958)

April 2: blues sax man J.T. Brown (1910), French pop star Serge Gainsbourg (1928), Marvin Gaye (1939), Leon Russell (1941), Kurt Winter of The Guess Who? (1946), Emmylou Harris (1947)

April 3: Don Gibson (1928), Johnny Horton (1929), R&B/funk guitarist Jimmy Nolen (1934), jazz organist Jimmy McGriff (1936), Phillipe Wynne of The Spinners (1938), songwriter Jeff Barry (1939), Jan Berry of Jan & Dean (1941), Joey Vann of The Duprees (1943), Tony Orlando (1944), The Band’s Richard Manuel (1945), Elton John bassist Dee Murray (1946), Grand Funk’s Mel Schacher (1951), Mike Ness of Social Distortion (1962), Criss Oliva of Savatage (1963)

April 4: Cecil Gant (1913), Muddy Waters aka McKinley Morganfield (1915), writer/actor/dancer/singer/poet laureate Maya Angelou (1928), Tiny Tim (1930), Margo Sylvia of The Tune Weavers (1936), trumpeter Hugh Masekela (1939), soulman Major Lance (1941), Tangerine Dream’s Christophe Franke (1942), Allman Brothers’ bassist Berry Oakley (1948), Dire Straits’ Pick Withers (1948), The Faces’ Ronnie Lane (1948), Peter Haycock of Climax Blues Band (1952), Humble Pie’s Jerry Shirley (1952)

April 5: The Platters’ Tony Williams (1928), Leroy Griffin of The Nutmegs (1934), Fairport Convention’s Dave Swarbrick (1941), David LaFlamme of It’s a Beautiful Day (1941), Eric Burdon (1941), Allan Clarke of the Hollies (1942), Crispin St. Peters (1944), Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA (1948), Pick Withers of Dire Straits (1948), Ronnie Lane of Faces (1948), Everett Morton of The English Beat (1951), Dream Theater’s James LaBrie (1963), Michael McCready of Pearl Jam (1964)

Departures

March 30: Doors producer Paul Rothschild (1995)

March 31: Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club (1996), Tejano singing star Selena (1995), O’Kelly Isley of the Isley Brothers (1986), Big Dee Irwin of The Pastels (1986)

April 1: Zombies guitarist Paul Atkinson (2004), Denmark’s pop king Tommy Seebach (2003), rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jesse Stone (1999), Rozz Williams of goth band Christian Death (1998), soul singer Jimmy Hughes (1997), Sister Luc-Gabrielle AKA The Singing Nun (1985), Marvin Gaye (1984), Scott Joplin (1917)

April 2: session guitarist Cliff White (1998), organist Joe Madison (1995), Buddy Rich (1987)

April 3: Lester “Big Daddy” Kinsey of The Kinsey Report (2001), session sax man Alvin “Red” Tyler (1998), Rob Pilatus of the disgraced Milli Vanilli (1998), Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes (1996), Sarah Vaughan (1990)

April 4: songwriter Kurt Weill (1950)

April 5: Layne Staley of Alice in Chains (2002), Colin “Cozy” Powell (1998), Kurt Cobain (1994), Danny Rapp of Danny & The Juniors (1983), soul singer Joe Hinton (1981), Bob Hite of Canned Heat (1981)