It happened this week

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1955, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker succumbs to a heart attack … the 34-year-old alto saxophonist was the progenitor of bebop, playing with fluidity and invention that has yet to be equaled …

1957, Fats Domino hits the pop chart for the first time with his swingin’ “I’m Walkin'” … the fat man will enjoy another 66 charting hits during the next 13 years …

1958, Billie Holiday is sentenced to a year’s probation after pleading guilty to narcotics possession …

1965, The Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” rides the top of the Billboard pop chart … oddly, the song isn’t released as a single in England … this same week Eric Clapton splits from The Yardbirds to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers …

1967, Dick James, the Beatles’ music publisher, announces that 446 versions of “Yesterday” have been waxed to date making it the all-time champ among covered songs …

1968, the Fillmore East opens in New York …

1969, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show is canceled by CBS … during its run the show had featured many rock acts including The Beatles, The Doors, and The Who … the cancellation is seen as the result of the brothers refusing to censor comments made by guest Joan Baez about her husband David Harris who was facing prison as a war resister …

The classic appearance by The Who on the “Smothers Brothers” show

Where Moony kept adding explosives to the mix, causing Townshend to lose most the hearing in one ear but The Ox managed to stay unflappable throughout.

1972, country music star and reformed burglar Merle Haggard is given a pardon by California governor Ronald Reagan … it’s been 12 years since Merle did his singing behind bars at San Quentin …

1973, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, keyboard and harp player with the Grateful Dead, dies from a stomach hemorrhage … a very heavy drinker, McKernan was the only member of the band who refrained from doing other drugs in the post Acid-Test era … the keyboard slot in the band proves to be a dangerous one … in later years replacements Keith Godchaux and Brent Mydland both die, respectively from an auto accident and drug overdose, and Vince Welnick commits suicide.

1974, John Lennon and his drinking buddy Harry Nilsson are booted out of West L.A.’s Troubadour Club after heckling comic Tom Smothers …

1976, former porn star Andrea True charts with her disco ditty “More, More, More” … it will rise to #4 on the pop chart …

1977, the Sex Pistols sign with A&M Records and commemorate the event with a ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace …

1979, Soul Brother (and Good Old Boy) Number One James Brown gets funky at the Grand Ole Opry …

1991, in a deal worth $40 million, Janet Jackson announces she is switching labels from A&M to Virgin … there is no word on whether her nipples are part of the pact …

1997, the Notorious B.I.G. is shot to death in Los Angeles following the Grammy Awards ceremony … his death is thought to be the result of a feud between East Coast and West Coast gangbangers, but the LAPD is baffled … meanwhile in London, Her Majesty proves she’s a pretty nice girl by knighting Paul McCartney …

1998, Alan Reed, an American dancer, sues Japanese pop star Seiko Matsuda for 48 million yen, charging that she pressured Reed, a member of her stage show, into having sex with her … his case is a loser … meanwhile in another court action, lawyers representing Korn serve Assistant Principal Gretchen Plewes of Zeeland High School in Michigan with court papers demanding she stop making “defamatory comments about Korn and its products” … the action stems from the suspension of a student who wore a Korn T-shirt to school … Cathay Pacific Airways announces that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher has been banned from flying with the airline following a flight during which he is reported to have screamed obscenities and smoked in the cabin … meanwhile in Arizona, 56,000 country music fans turn up in Phoenix for what must be the longest-winded name ever for a music event: Nokia Presents The George Strait Chevy Truck Country Music Festival Brought To You By Wrangler … phew …

1999, Cher’s long-time manager Bill Sammeth files suit against his former client for the 15% fee he says she owes him from proceeds of her comeback hit “Believe” … Sammeth, who had guided Cher’s career for 22 years, says he was “unceremoniously dumped” just before Cher’s Super Bowl halftime appearance-a gig he says he got her …

2000, in the middle of a Fargo, North Dakota, show, Korn drummer David Silveria suddenly loses use of one of his wrists … Mike Bordin of Faith No More subs for the rest of the tour while Silveria heals … meanwhile in New York, Chrissie Hynde is busted for slashing leather goods at a Gap store as part of a PETA action …

2003, the Chinese government orders the Rolling Stones to axe four songs from the set lists of their Shanghai and Beijing shows … the banned tunes are “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Beast of Burden,” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together” …

2004, Jack White of The White Stripes pleads guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery on singer Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies … word has it that White was upset about derogatory comments Stollsteimer had made in connection with White’s production of the Von Bondies’ debut record …

2005, the Get Up Kids announce via their website that they have gotten up and split … former Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is arrested for drunk driving in Orange County, California … the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebrates its 20th anniversary along with the 50th anniversary of rock itself … inductees include U2, Buddy Guy, and Percy Sledge … meanwhile in London an audience is treated to an unannounced appearance by Mick Jagger during a Ron Wood concert … Jagger handles vocals on the Stones song “Dance (Pt. 1)” …

2006, British court rules that Apple Computer did not violate Apple Corps trademark when it launched iTunes … the case hinged on whether a 1991 agreement forbade Apple Computer from distributing music on physical media … at that time the computer maker paid Apple Corps $27 million and agreed to not enter into music distribution … the English judge finds that because iTunes is not the original source of the content it offers, the no-distribution provision doesn’t apply … in a convoluted deal reached the following year, Apple (which has by then removed “Computer” from its name) acquires rights to all Apple logos used by both companies and will license the green apple logo of Apple Corps back to the company founded by The Beatles … no financial details are revealed … on other fronts, Isaac Hayes quits South Park, the animated show on which he voiced the character of Chef for nine years … Hayes cites the show’s take on religion as his reason for leaving saying, “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of others begins” … Matt Stone, the show’s co-creator, referring to a recent episode that targeted Hayes’ religion, Scientology, drily notes, “He has no problem-and he’s cashed plenty of checks-with our show making fun of Christians” …

And that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

March 8: fingerpicking blues giant Mississippi John Hurt (1892), Micky Dolenz of The Monkees (1945), Eagles bassist Randy Meisner (1946), Three Dog Night’s Michael Allsup (1947), Mel Galley of Whitesnake (1948), Little Peggy March (1948), singer Gary Numan (1958), Peter “Pedro” Gill of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1960), Julian Lennon (1963), Cheryl James of Salt-N-Pepa (1964), Shawn Mullins (1968), Kameelah Williams of 702 (1978)

March 9: composer Samuel Barber (1910), Motown songwriter Clarence Paul (1928), N’awlins R&B stalwart Lloyd Price (1933), John Steeler of The Willows (1934), Mickey Gilley (1936), Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders (1942), John Cale (1942), Robin Trower (1945), Ron Wilson of The Surfaris (1945), Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1948), Jeffrey Osborne (1948), The Move’s Trevor Burton (1949), Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five (1968), Lil’ Bow Wow (1987)

March 10: Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903), Tex-Mex legend Huey Meaux (1929), The Penguins’ Dexter Tisby (1935), swamp rocker Johnny Allen (1938), Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean (1940), Eddie Guzman of Rare Earth (1944), Tom Scholz of Boston (1947), Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam (1963), Neneh Cherry (1964), Edie Brickell (1966), Sims Ellison of Pariah (1967)

March 11: bandleader Lawrence “champagne music” Welk (1903), Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann (1940), Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge (1947), Golden Earring’s George Kooymans (1948), singer Bobby McFerrin (1950), singer Nina Hagen (1955), Bruce Watson of Big Country (1961), Lisa Loeb (1968), Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte (1979)

March 12: Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller (1896), R&B bandleader Red Saunders (1912), Leonard Chess (1917), Houston bluesman L.C. Williams (1930), Al Jarreau (1940), Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane (1942), Liza Minnelli (1946), James Taylor (1948), Bill Payne of Little Feat (1949), Mike Gibbons of Bad Finger (1949), Marlon Jackson of The Jackson 5 (1957), Steve Harris of Iron Maiden (1957), Graham Coxon of Blur (1969)

March 13: Helen Sinclair Glatz (1908), Howlin’ Wolf drummer Willie Williams (1922), songwriter Mike Stoller (1933), Neil Sedaka (1939), Mississippi bluesman Melvin Taylor (1959), U2’s Adam Clayton (1960)

March 14: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681), Johann I. Strauss (1804), bandleader Les Brown (1912), Phil Phillips (1931), Quincy Jones (1933), Loretta Lynn (1940), Jim Pons of The Turtles (1943), Chicago’s Walt Parazaider (1945), Boon Gould of Level 42 (1955)

Departures:

March 8: session drummer Bobby Chouinard (1997), Vic Venus (1994), Billy Eckstine (1993)

March 9: Chris LeDoux (2005), George Scott of the Blind Boys of Alabama (2005), Rust Epique of Pre)thing (2004), Notorious B.I.G. (1997)

March 10: Molly Hatchet’s Danny Joe Brown (2005), Dave Blood of Dead Milkmen (2004), singer-pianist Shirley Scott (2002), Laverne Baker (1997), Doc Green of The Drifters (1989), Andy Gibb (1988)

March 11: Stacy Guess of Squirrel Nut Zippers (1997)

March 12: violinist and conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin (1999), Alex Taylor (1993)

March 13: soul singer Lyn Collins (2005), reggae singer Judge Dread (1998), record exec Bob Shad (1985), jazz bandleader Jerry Blaine (1973), alto sax maestro and bebop originator Charlie Parker (1955)

March 14: songwriter Jerome “Doc” Pomus (1991), soul singer Linda Jones (1972)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Required fields *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.