This is the week that was matters musical…
1906, the first Victrola phonograph, with wind-up drive and its own horn, is marketed by the Victor Talking Machine Company for $200…
1917, bluesman John Lee Hooker is born in Alabama … his primal vocal style and insistent boogie beats will help shape the sounds of acts such as Canned Heat, ZZ Top, and Jimi Hendrix…
1958, the chart-topping “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)” is the first (and last) single originating in Italy to conquer the U.S. pop chart…
1962, the #1 Billboard Pop Hit is “The Loco-Motion” by Little Eva … the singer, a former babysitter for the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, achieves Cinderella-like stardom after the couple asks her to cut a demo of the song … both Grand Funk and Kylie Minogue will chart with their covers of the tune in 1974 and 1988 respectively…
1966, John Lennon generates more controversy while the Beatles are in Toronto by publicly expressing his admiration for American draft dodgers … this comes in the wake of his recent “Jesus” comments …
1967, the New York Times reports on a new noise-reduction system for records and tapes pioneered by the Dolby brothers … drummers everywhere pan the system as a cymbal killer…
1968, responding to a study reporting damage to the ears of guinea pigs subjected to loud music, New York disco owner, Steve Paul, quips, “Should a major increase in guinea pig attendance occur at The Scene, we’ll certainly bear their comfort in mind”…
1969, Miles Davis goes into the studio in New York for the first sessions of the landmark album Bitches Brew with Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Benny Maupin, John McLaughlin, Larry Young, Harvey Brooks, Lenny White, Don Alias, and Jumma Santos … this who’s who list of nascent fusion greats will be expanded during later recording sessions for the double album set … Mick Jagger is accidentally shot in the hand during the filming of Ned Kelly in Australia … his wound is not serious…
1977, the Police play their first gig as a threesome after guitar man Henri Padovani leaves the band … Peter Frampton comes alive in three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden … it’s a black day at Graceland when more than 75,000 people gather to lay the King to rest … Presley is entombed near his mother in a marble mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis … the day before the funeral, Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) sells more flowers than it has for any other single event…
1980, 1,400 Alice Cooper fans in Toronto take umbrage when the original make-up rocker gets sick and can’t make the show … they throw a big stinkin’ riot in protest…
1984, Motley Crue makes its concert debut at the Monsters of Rock festival in England…
1995, Courtney Love blows her cork when the audience at a Hole concert doesn’t get ecstatic over her performance on the last night of the Lollapalooza tour in Mountain View, California … security guards carry her off the stage when she begins to physically fight with audience members … charges by a makeup artist claiming that Snoop Dogg drugged and raped her following a Jimmy Kimmel Live taping in 2003 are dropped … according to a Dogg spokesman, there was no payoff to the plaintiff…
1997, a 50-mile section of Interstate 65 in Alabama is dedicated as the Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway…
1999, Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron is diagnosed with a rare condition causing paralysis of the vocal chords … he will make a slow recovery in the following months…
2004, The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that filesharing services such as Grokster and StreamCast do not bear responsibility for users’ illegal activities … the ruling puts a crimp in the RIAA’s attacks on peer-to-peer services that enable the dissemination of MP3s … instead, the recording industry will have to go after individual violators of copyright laws … Queen becomes the first band to have a rock album legally released in Iran … the album is a compilation of the band’s hits and includes an insert with lyrics and production notes … Queen’s vocalist Freddie Mercury was of Iranian extraction … the cassette release that sells for less than one U.S. dollar includes a brochure explaining that “Bohemian Rhapsody” is about a young man who accidentally kills someone, sells his soul to the devil, then on the eve of his execution calls God “Bismillah” in Arabic, thus redeeming his soul from the devil…
2005, a tearful Courtney Love is yet again ordered into rehab by a judge after a court-ordered drug test comes up positive … during an appearance on the Today Show, the performer-producer P Diddy stuns the nation by announcing that henceforth he will be known as just “Diddy” … previous variations of his appellation include Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, and Puffy … four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer, synth pioneer Robert Moog dies…
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
August 17: Mark (“Teen Angel”) Dinning (1933), bluesman Luther Allison (1939), Sib Hashian of Boston (1949), guitar phenom Eric Johnson (1954), XTC’s Colin Moulding (1955), Belinda Carlisle (1958), Gilby Clark of Guns N’ Roses (1962), Maria McKee (1964), Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes (1965), Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson (1966), Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block (1969), Posdnuous of De La Soul (1969)
August 18: lyricist Otto Harbach (1873), folk singer Cisco Houston (1918), Johnny Preston (1939), Nona Hendryx (1945), Dennis Elliot of Foreigner (1950), Ron Stryker of Men at Work (1957), Dr. Spot (1960), Everlast (1969)
August 19: jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles (1918), Ginger Baker (1939), Johnny “I Can See Clearly Now” Nash (1940), vocalist Billy J. Kramer of the Dakotas (1943), Ian Gillian of Deep Purple (1945), Queen’s John Deacon (1951), Lee Ann Womack (1966)
August 20: jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden (1905), Jim Reeves (1924), jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney (1927), Paul Robi of The Platters (1931), bluesman J.J. Malone (1935), country singer-songwriter Justin Tubb (1935), Tom Coster of Santana (1941), Isaac Hayes (1942), John Povey of The Pretty Things (1942), James Pankow of Chicago (1947), Robert Plant (1948), Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy (1951), Rudy Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers (1952), Doug Fieger of The Knack (1952), John Hiatt (1952), Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit (1970)
August 21: William “Count” Basie (1904), big-band singer Savannah Churchill (1920), gospel singer Clara Ward (1924), songwriter Carolyn Leigh (1926), Kenny Rogers (1938), country picker James Burton (1939), Harold W. Reid of The Statler Brothers (1939), Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple (1952), Steve Smith of Journey (1954), Joe Strummer of The Clash (1955), Budgie born Pete Clark of Siouxsie and the Banshees (1957), Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge (1958), Liam Howlett of Prodigy (1971)
August 22: Claude Debussy (1862), classic blues singer Addie “Sweet Peas” Spivey (1910), pianist and bandleader Sonny Thompson (1916), John Lee Hooker (1917), Carolina Slim born Edward P. Harris (1923), Bob Flanigan of The Four Freshmen (1926), producer Jerry Capehart (1928), Freddie Milano of The Belmonts (1939), Jackie De Shannon (1944), Donna Godchaux of The Grateful Dead (1947), Teresa Davis of The Emotions (1950), country chirper and writer Holly Dunn (1957), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (1958), Debbi Peterson of The Bangles (1961), Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears (1961), Tori Amos (1963), James DeBarge of DeBarge (1963), Layne Staley of Alice in Chains (1967), Matchbox 20’s Paul Douchette (1972), Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys (1973)
August 23: Gene Kelly (1912), Tex Williams (1917), The Drifters’ Rudy Lewis (1936), Bunny Lee (1941), Ramon Phillips of The Nashville Teens (1941), Keith Moon (1947), Rick Springfield (1949), Shadows of Knight’s Jim Sohns (1949), Jim Jamison of Survivor (1951), Steve Clark of Def Leppard (1960), Dean DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots (1961), Colin Angus of The Shamen (1961), The Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder (1962)
Departures:
August 17: James Brown’s bassman Bernard Odum (2004), soul singer Johnny Sayles (1993), guitarist Phil Seymour (1993), Pearl Bailey (1990), soul singer Lorraine Ellison (1985), Temptations singer and guitarist Paul Williams (1973)
August 18: founder of the Country Gentlemen bluegrass picker Charlie Waller (2004), film composer Elmer Bernstein (2004), saxophonist Guy Durosier (1999), Spiders leader Leonard “Chick” Carbo (1998), ivory tickler Michael M. Jones (1984)
August 19: soul singer Betty Everett (2001), Belgian impresario and concert promoter Freddy Cousaert (1998), session pianist Richard Tee (1993), rockabilly star Dorsey Burnette (1979), Blind Willie McTell (1959)
August 20: Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan (1999), singer Rio Reiser (1996), masterful steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys (1988), jazz trumpeter Thad Jones (1986)
August 21: Robert Moog (2005), Tarheel Slim born Alden Bunn (1977), country guitarist Sam McGee (1975)
August 22: honky-tonk legend Floyd Tilman (2003), blues pianist Leonard “Baby Doo” Caston (1987), bluesman John Lee Granderson (1979)
August 23: original Pip Eleanor O. Guest (1997), Skinny Puppy drummer Dwayne Goettell (1995), Oscar Hammerstein II (1960)