This is the week that was in matters musical…
1955, Elvis Presley appears for the first time on television on a regional show called Louisiana Hayride … this same week, it is an unlikely gathering for “The Limbo Party” at San Francisco’s Cow Palace … Chubby Checker is host … performers include Marvin Gaye, The Crystals, Lou Christie, The Four Seasons, Dick & Dee Dee, Paul & Paula, and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass…
1963, golden-voiced country/pop great Patsy Cline never makes it back to Nashville when her plane goes down en route from St. Louis … she, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins are returning from a benefit concert for the widow of DJ Cactus Jack Call, who was recently killed in a car crash…
1967, it is announced in the music media that Steve and Muff Winwood plan to quit the Spencer Davis Group … the brothers have been with the band four years and will later form Traffic…
1970, Janis Joplin is fined $200 for onstage swearing in Tampa, Florida…
1971, Radio Hanoi broadcasts Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” … the tape was sent to the North Vietnamese station by anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman…
1973, that notorious pothead Paul McCartney pleads guilty and pays a fine of $240 after marijuana plants are found growing at his farm in Scotland … in his defense McCartney claims that a fan gave him some seeds, which he planted, not knowing what would grow from them … this same week in 1975, Linda and Paul are pulled over for running a red light in Los Angeles … police sniff pot and find six to eight ounces in Linda’s purse and charge her with possession … since it isn’t his purse, Paul skates free…
1976, a wax version of Elton John goes on display at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum…
1980, the number-one song on the pop chart this week is “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen…
1982, Blues Brother John Belushi dies at age 33 of too much speedball … according to fellow Blues Brother Dan Akroyd, Belushi had taken to hanging out with a group of sleazy sycophants who had anything but Belushi’s best interests in mind…
1994, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana washes down a handful of Valiums with champagne and winds up in a coma in a Rome hospital … he revives after about 20 hours … though officially labeled accidental, the overdose was secretly thought to be a suicide attempt by those close to Cobain and conspiracy theorists have suggested that Courtney Love may have slipped him the dose without his knowledge … a second try by Cobain a month or so later with a shotgun will prove fatal…
1995, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry undergoes successful brain surgery for an aneurysm after collapsing during a concert in Switzerland…
2000, at the Annual Brit Awards in the U.K., Macy Gray takes honors for Best International Female Artist and Best Newcomer…
and that was the week that was.
Arrivals
March 2: Desi Arnaz (1917), Doc Watson (1923), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1938), Lou Reed born Louis Firbank (1942), George Benson (1943), Eddie Money (1949), Rory Gallagher (1949), Karen Carpenter (1950), Jay Osmond of The Osmonds (1955), Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons (1955), Mark Evans of AC/DC (1956), Jon Bon Jovi born John Bongiovi (1962), Coldplay’s Chris Martin (1977)
March 3: Junior Parker (1927), Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane (1942), Mike Pender of The Searchers (1942), Jance Garfat of Dr. Hook (1944), Jennifer Warnes (1947), Robyn Hitchcock (1953), Tone-Loc (1966), John Bigham of Fishbone (1969), Ronan Keating of Boyzone (1977)
March 4: Miriam Makeba (1932), Bobby Womack (1944), Shakin’ Stevens (1948), Billy Gibbons (1948), Chris Squire of Yes (1948), Emilio Estefan of Miami Sound Machine (1950), Jason Newsted of Metallica (1963), Patrick Hannan of The Sundays (1966), Fergal Lawlor of The Cranberries (1971)
March 5: blues great J.B. Lenoir (1929), R&B star Tommy “High Heel Sneakers” Tucker (1939), Electric Prune James Lowe (1945), Eddy Grant (1948), Alan Clark of Dire Straits (1952), Teena Marie (1956), Mark Smith of The Fall (1957), Andy Gibb (1958), Craig Reid and Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers (1962), John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1971)
March 6: bottleneck guitarist Furry Lewis (1893), Western Swing pioneer Bob Wills (1905), Wes Montgomery (1925), Sylvia Robinson of Mickey and Sylvia (1936), Doug Dillard (1937), Mary Wilson of the Supremes (1944), Hugh Grundy of The Zombies (1945), David Gilmour (1947), singer Kiki Dee (1947)
March 7: Maurice Ravel (1875), producer and ex-Zombie Chris White (1943), J. Geils Band vocalist Peter Wolf (1946), Procol Harum keyboardist Matthew Fisher (1946), Taylor Dayne born Leslie Wonderman (1962)
March 8: fingerpicking blues giant Mississippi John Hurt (1892), Mickey 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)
Departures
March 2: Hank Ballard (2003), Dusty Springfield (1999), Charlie Christian (1942)
March 4: country artist Eddie Dean of “I Dreamed Of a Hillbilly Heaven” fame (1999), Minnie Pearl (1996), jazz guitarist Mary Osborne ( (1992), Richard Manuel of The Band (1986)
March 5: Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Band (1995), John Belushi (1982), Patsy Cline (1963), Cowboy Copas (1963), Hawkshaw Hawkins (1963)
March 6: producer Mickey Most (2003)
March 7: country bandleader-songwriter Pee Wee King (2000), producer Dave Jordan (1995), Jack Anglin (1963)
March 8: Billy Eckstine (1993), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead (1973)