This is the week that was in matters musical …
Already five years since The Ox died
1926, blues master Skip James is born Nehemiah Curtis James near Bentonia, Mississippi … over the course of two days in 1931 he will record 26 songs for Paramount that include standards such as “Killing Floor Blues” and “I’m So Glad.” He later became a minister returning to prominence during the 1960s blues revival … his eerie falsetto and idiosyncratic guitar work made him a favorite with many rockers, including Cream and Canned Heat, who covered his tunes …
1948, Columbia Records begins mass production of 33-1/3rpm LPs opening up performance possibilities previously limited to the few minutes afforded by 78rpm records … the new format will enable jam bands to endlessly noodle on vinyl in years to come … the problem will be exacerbated in 1982 with the advent of the CD …
1955, Sun Records releases Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry” … it is the first in a line of well over 100 hit singles by Cash to appear on the country, rock, and pop charts …
1962, Hank Ballard who wrote and first recorded “The Twist” is scheduled to perform the song on American Bandstand but has to cancel the date … Chubby Checker is hired as a replacement to perform his version of “The Twist,” which will climb higher on the pop chart than Ballard’s original, twice … it will hit number one, and then do it again a year later …
1963, 13-year-old Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt. 2” becomes his first of 61 records to chart …
1969, Mick Taylor makes his stage debut with The Rolling Stones at a concert in Rome … he replaces Brian Jones and will stay with the band until 1975 when he retires and is replaced by Ron Wood … he holds the distinction of being the only Stones guitarist to quit the band and live … this same day The Hollies cut their hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” with Elton John providing piano accompaniment …
1970, Niagara Falls, New York, cops bust Chubby Checker for doing the twist … twisting up a fatty, that is …
1975, Alice Cooper takes a tumble from a stage in Vancouver, British Columbia, resulting in six broken ribs … his makeup however emerges unsmudged …
1977, Elvis makes his last public appearance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis … “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is the last song he will sing publicly …
1993, two of the world’s most beautiful people, Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts, become husband and wife … the union will last just two years …
1995, Pearl Jam pulls the plug on its current tour saying they don’t want to cooperate with monopolistic Ticketmaster …
1998, Johnny Cash returns to the stage for the first time since being diagnosed with Shy-Drager Syndrome months earlier … he walks onstage surprising Kris Kristofferson who is singing “Sunday Morning Coming Down” at a Cash and Waylon Jennings tribute concert at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville … the song was the one a young and unknown Kristofferson had hand-delivered to Cash after landing a helicopter on his lawn in a creative attempt to get his music into the hands of someone who could help him gain recognition as a songwriter …
1999, members of Pantera ride a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas … the honor is bestowed upon the band because the band, in addition to being huge Stars fans, wrote the team’s theme song that’s played at every home game … this same day Eric Clapton auctions off 100 of his guitars to raise funds for his Crossroads Center, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center in Antigua … among the guitars sold is his famous “Brownie” which fetches a cool $497,500, topping the $320,000 paid for a Jimi Hendrix Strat …
2002, on the eve of the The Who’s scheduled first show of their U.S. Tour, bass player John Entwistle suffers a fatal heart attack in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas … the coroner attributes his death to cocaine … Entwistle’s room number remains a closely guarded secret, apparently to prevent it becoming a shrine for rock pilgrims … in the wake of his death. The Who quickly recruit Pino Palladino to handle the bottom end and the tour commences just three days late …
2004, rapper DMX is busted at New York’s Kennedy Airport for allegedly attempting to steal a car and identifying himself as a federal agent … he is charged with possession of a weapon and crack … faced with anemic ticket sales, the promoters of the Lollapalooza Festival pull the plug on the tour saying they would lose millions if the festival went ahead as scheduled … insiders say the problem lies with the death of the market for alternative music genre … in 2005 Lollapalooza is revived in a retooled form as a single-weekend event in Chicago’s Grant Park …
2005, former Static-X guitarist Tripp Eisen pleads guilty in an Orange County, California, court to having sex with a minor … the following October 7 he is arraigned on other charges of kidnapping and sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl in New Jersey … police say Eisen posed as his own impersonator in luring his victim … the guitarist, who is notable among rockers for his right-wing and libertarian politics, is canned from Static-X in the wake of these charges …
2006, while traveling in the Middle East with his Dark Side of the Moon world tour, Roger Waters visits a concrete wall built by the Israeli government in the East Bank to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers … Waters scribbles sentiments on the structure such as “Tear Down the Wall!” … the next day the Pink Floyd founder decides to play in a community called Neveh Shalom where Israelis and Arabs peacefully live together instead of in Tel Aviv as originally planned … it’s reported that those opposed to the barrier have adopted Waters’ song “Another Brick in the Wall” as a rallying cry … this same day, in an ironic twist, the New Cars’ Road Rage tour comes to an abrupt halt when the band’s tour bus suddenly swerves to avoid a head-on … guitarist Elliot Easton breaks a clavicle in the incident …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
June 21: bluesman Skip James (1902), Clifford Scott (1928), composer Lalo Schifrin (1932), Carl White of the Rivingtons (1932), Ray Davies of The Kinks (1944), Tommy Evans (1947), Joey Molland of Badfinger (1948), Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer (1950), Nils Lofgren (1951), Mark Brzezicki of Big Country (1957), Kathy Mattea (1959), Mike Einziger of Incubus (1976)
June 22: Ella Johnson (1923), Joe Medwick (1933), Kris Kristofferson (1936), Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon (1944), Howard Kaylan of the Turtles (1945), Todd Rundgren (1948), Alan Osmond of The Osmonds (1949), Cyndi Lauper (1953), Derek Forbes of Simple Minds (1956), Gary Beers of INXS (1957), Alan Anton of Cowboy Junkies (1959), Jimmy Summerville of Bronski Beat (1962), Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones (1964), Tom Cunningham of Wet Wet Wet (1965), Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies (1970)
June 23: saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax (1846), Helen Humes (1913), June Carter (1929), Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (1938), Adam Faith (1940), Stuart Sutcliffe of The Beatles (1940), Paul Goddard of Atlanta Rhythm Section (1945), Richard Coles of The Communards (1962), Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth (1962)
June 24: jazz and R&B sax player Jimmy Forest (1920), Mick Fleetwood (1942), Jeff Beck (1944), Arthur Brown (1944), Chris Wood of Traffic (1944), Colin Blunstone of The Zombies (1945), Dire Straits bassist John Illsley (1949), Terry Wilson AKA Astro of UB40 (1957), Curt Smith of Tears for Fears (1961), Glenn Madeiros (1970), Mario Calires of The Wallflowers (1973)
June 25: zydeco king Clifton Chenier (1925), soulman Eddie Floyd (1935), Bobby Nunn of The Coasters (1936), super-smoove R&B singer Harold Melvin (1939), Johnnie Richardson (1940), Carly Simon (1945), Harry Womack of the Valentinos (1945), Ian McDonald of Foreigner (1946), Allen Lanier of Blue Oyster Cult (1946), Clint Warwick of The Moody Blues (1949), Tim Finn of Split Enz (1952), Brian Macleod of Chilliwack (1952), David Paich of Toto (1954), George Michael born Yorgos Kyriacos Panayiotou (1963)
June 26: blues progenitor Big Bill Broonzy (1893), Colonel Tom Parker (1909), The 5th Dimension’s Billy Davis Jr. (1940), Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor (1942), Georgie Fame (1943), Quarterflash’s Rindy Ross (1951), The Clash’s Mick Jones (1955), Chris Isaak (1956), Patty Smyth (1957), Terri Nunn of Berlin (1959), Colin Greenwood of Radiohead (1968), Gretchen Wilson (1973)
June 27: songwriter Doc Pomus born Jerome Felder (1925), Beach Boy Bruce Johnston (1944), Jeffrey Lee Pierce (1958), Lorrie Morgan (1959), Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1961)
Departures
June 21: John Lee Hooker (2001), jazz and R&B singer Arthur Prysock (1997), gospel singer Thomas Whitfield (1992), bandleader Bert Kaempfert (1980)
June 22: Kripp Johnson of The Del Vikings (1990), session guitarist Jesse “Ed” Davis (1988), Dennis Day (1988), Fred Astaire (1987), The Cleftones’ Warren Corbin (1978), Peter Laughner of Pere Ubu (1977), composer Darius Milhaud (1974)
June 23: Hi Records owner John Movarese (1996), producer Tony Romeo (1995), country yodeler Elton Britt (1972)
June 24: Latin star Carlos Gardel (1935), opera singer Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones AKA “The Black Patti” (1933)
June 25: legendary producer Arif Mardin (2006), Bob Sanderson of The Royaltones (1994), Jimmy Soul (1988), songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1987), blues guitarist Pee Wee Crayton (1985), Johnny Mercer (1976)
June 26: songwriter Brandon Chase (1996), Mick Wayne of Pink Fairies (1994), C&W singer Johnny Bond (1978), jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown (1956)
June 27: Who bassist John Entwistle (2002), Stefanie Ann Sargent of 7 Year Bitch (1992), Hillel Slovak of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1988), Steve Took of T-Rex (1980), opera diva Carlotta Patti (1889)