It happened this week

This is the week that was in matters musical…

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

1891, New York City’s Music Hall, which will become Carnegie Hall, throws its grand opening with a performance by Tchaikovsky … the concert takes place just two days before Tchaikovsky’s 51st birthday…

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

1944, Jimmie Davis, country superstar and co-author of the worldwide hit “You Are My Sunshine,” takes over as the governor of Louisiana … the tune will become the state song of Louisiana…

1953, Clyde McPhatter, after leaving The Dominoes, is signed by Ahmet Ertegun to be lead singer of The Drifters…

1959, the world’s first Grammy awards are handed out to Domenico Modugno for “Volare” (Record of the Year), the Champs for “Tequila” (R&B), and the Kingston Trio for “Tom Dooley” (Country)…

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

1968, proto-supergroup Buffalo Springfield-in which Neil Young, Steven Stills, Jim Messina, and Richie Furay all came to fame-calls it quits…

1969, at the invitation of First Daughter Tricia Nixon, the Turtles perform a gig at Tricky Dick’s White House … singer Mark Volman is so happy to be there he reportedly falls off the stage five times. … this same week, the manager for Tommy James and the Shondells rejects an offer for the group to perform at Woodstock, referring to it as a “stupid gig on a pig farm”…

1972, in an apparent effort to show that famous entertainers can be interested in something beside themselves, Warren Beatty brings together 30 artists-including Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass, Judy Collins, Goldie Hawn, and Jack Nicholson-for a series of 12 benefits underwriting George McGovern’s bid for the presidency … despite their best efforts, the nation reelects Nixon only to have him resign in shame facing impeachment halfway through his term…

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

1986, supermodel Heather Locklear ties the knot with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee…

1987, bandmaster and top-drawer blues harpist Paul Butterfield dies of hard living at the age of 44…

1990, Tom Waits is awarded 2.5 million bucks by a jury in a suit against Frito-Lay, who brazenly ripped off Waits’ vocal and songwriting style for a Doritos ad … the decision will be appealed and wind up at the Supreme Court in January of 1993, where Frito-Lay will finally be forced to cough up the money…

1991, Ozzy Osbourne triumphs in court over a couple of Macon, Georgia, parents who want to blame their son’s suicide on Ozzy’s music…

1991, Bushwick Bill of the rap group the Geto Boys takes a bullet in the face from his girlfriend … the 4-1/2-foot-tall rapper winds up losing his eye after threatening the woman’s 3-month-old son, handing her a loaded .22, and saying he wants to die…

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

1996, Pamela Anderson Lee and Tommy Lee (who has inexplicable luck at marrying supermodels) fail in their legal attempt to stop Penthouse from publishing stills from a homemade porno flick featuring the famous couple … this despite their claim that the film was stolen from their house…

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

1998, tens of thousands of young fans shut down traffic in central Tokyo due to an outpouring of grief over the suicide of X-Japan guitarist Hide Matsumoto … one fan follows him in suicide and two others fail in the attempt…

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

2003, after a traumatizing mix-up, Pete Townshend is cleared of charges of possessing child pornography … Townshend had been researching child pornography for a book in 1999 when he foolishly used his credit card to sign onto a child porn site … in 2002 he had, in fact, published on his website a long treatise condemning the free accessibility of child porn on the web … a year later, the book he was researching was already at press by the time an investigation of the porn site’s credit card users list turned up his name, prompting a media freakout and a raid of his home which turned up no child pornography of any sort…

And that was the week that was.

Arrivals

May 4: Maynard Ferguson (1928), Ed Cassidy of Spirit (1931), Dick Dale (1937), Ron Carter (1937), soul singer Tyrone Davis (1938), Nick Ashford (1942), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1942), Peggy Santiglia of The Angels (1944), George Wadenius of Blood Sweat & Tears (1945), Jackie Jackson of The Jackson Five (1951), Randy Travis (1959), Mike Dirnt of Green Day (1972), Lance Bass of ‘N Sync (1979)

May 5: Blind Willie McTell (1901), Johnnie Taylor (1938), Tammy Wynette (1942), Bill Ward of Black Sabbath (1948), Martin Simpson (1953), Kevin Mooney of Adam and the Ants (1962), Kevin James LaBrie of Dream Theater (1963)

May 6: Peggy Lee (1920), Chicago bluesman Eddie C. Campbell (1939), Herb Cox of the Cleftones (1939), Mungo Jerry aka Colin Earl of Foghat (1942), Bob Seger (1945), Davey Johnstone of Elton John’s trio (1951), Billy Burnette of Fleetwood Mac (1954), John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants (1960), Mark Ryan of Hootie and the Blowfish (1967)

May 7: Johannes Brahms (1833), Pyotr Il’yitch Tchaikovsky (1840), jazz/pop singer Teresa Brewer (1931), Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor (1932), Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin (1939), Johnny Maestro of The Crests (1939), Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls (1945), Bill Dannoff of Starland Vocal Band (1946), Janis Ian (1951), Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church (1959), Motorhead’s Phil Campbell (1961)

May 8: jazz pianist Mary Lou Willams (1910), blues legend Robert Johnson (1911), the first to introduce the Top 40 radio format Todd Storz (1924), Ricky Nelson (1940), frat party scenemaker John Fred (1941), Paul Samwell-Smith of The Yardbirds (1943), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (1943), Chris Frantz of Talking Heads (1951), Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire (1951), Alex Van Halen (1955), Dave Rowntree of Blur (1964), Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes (1972), Enrique Iglesias (1975)

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

May 10: Fred Astaire (1899), Maybelle Carter (1909), session guitarist Bert Weedon (1920), Cliff Goldsmith (1925), Fats Domino (1929), Larry Williams (1935), Arthur Alexander (1940), “Groovy” Joe Poovey (1941), Danny Rapp of Danny & The Juniors (1941), Donovan born Donovan Phillip Leitch (1946), Graham Goldman of 10cc (1946), Dave Mason (1947), Sly Dunbar of Sly and Robbie (1952), Sid Vicious (1957), Bono born Paul Hewson (1960), Krist Novoselic of Nirvana (1965), Young MC (1967), Jason Dalyrimple of Soul for Real (1980)

Departures

May 4: reggae producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd (2004), Dudu Zulu born Dudu Mntowaziwayo Ndlovu, percussionist for Johnny Clegg & Savuka (1992), Paul Butterfield (1987)

May 5: zydeco pioneer Boozoo Chavis (2001), Chicago blues man Andrew Tibbs (1991), Tele whiz Danny Gatton (1986), singer Ralph Garone of the Bob Knight Four (1986), Clarence Quick of the Del Vikings (1983), Reverend Gary Davis (1972)

May 6: jazz guitar monster Barney Kessel (2004), Otis Blackwell, writer of “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up” (2002), Clarence Paul of The “5 Royales” ( 1995), guitarist Billy Johnson of The Moonglows (1987), Skatalites leader Don Drummond (1969)

May 7: Eddie Rabbit (1998), Alphonso Howell of The Sensations (1998), Cult drummer Nigel Preston (1992), Pacific Gas and Electric singer Charles Allen (1990)

May 8: jazz yodeler Leon Thomas (1999), Ronald Koal of Ronald Koal and the Trillionaires (1993), pianist Rudolf Serkin (1991), disco record exec Neil Bogart (1982), Graham Bond (1974)

May 9: lyricist and poet Shel Silverstein (1999), blues harpist-vocalist Lester Butler (1998)

May 10: confidante to the stars and Astral Studios mogul Burnetta “Bunny” Jones (1998)