This is the week that was in matters musical …
1939, “Cherokee” is recorded for the first time by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra … the tune will be recorded by scores of jazz greats and often played at a breakneck pace to humble neophytes …
1953, a young sideburned truck driver-last name of Presley-drops in at the Memphis Recording Service studio, plunks down his four bucks, and records “My Happiness” on an acetate disc as a gift for his mother …
1954, Elvis Presley officially ends his career as a truck driver when he signs his first record contract with Sun Records …
1962, The Rolling Stones play out for the first time at the Marquee Club in London … Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Avery, and Dick Taylor constitute the lineup …
1964, The Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” makes it to number 48 on the chart … it is the first in their long line of hits …
1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker form Cream, the first “supergroup” and one of rock’s most celebrated trios …
1968, Steppenwolf releases the ultimate biker anthem “Born To Be Wild” … this same week The Beatles’ full-length animated film Yellow Submarine debuts at the Pavilion Theatre in London with John, Paul, and George in attendance …
1969, Blind Faith makes their American concert debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City …
1970, British pop star Arthur Brown is held overnight in a Sicilian jail and faces a prison sentence of up to five years after being charged with committing obscene acts in a public place … while performing at the Palermo Pop Festival, Brown inexplicably strips naked on stage in front of 15,000 people … the crowd throws things at him and he is arrested and put in solitary confinement for four days … while in solitary, he receives a petition signed by 200 locals requesting that he leave Italy and never return …
1972, a bomb explodes near a Rolling Stones equipment truck in Montreal … the bomb was placed under a ramp and blows the cones out of a lot of PA cabs … nobody is hurt, it’s never determined who placed the bomb, and the show goes on as planned …
1973, the Everly Brothers arrive at an ignominious career low when the sweet-harmonizing siblings’ set at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, is stopped by the theme park’s entertainment director who feels Don is doing a poor job … brother Phil sees red, smashes his guitar, and stalks offstage … Don performs the third set as a solo and announces that the Everly Brothers are history …
1974, John Lennon is given two months to leave the United States by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who have denied him an extension on his visa, supposedly because he pled guilty to a pot charge in England in 1968 … it will be revealed later that he is under surveillance by the FBI … in early 2007 the FBI’s dossier on Lennon is made public … among its not-so-shocking revelations: British leftists failed to get Lennon to bankroll a bookstore and that J. Edgar Hoover considered the singer “a sympathizer of Trotskyist communists in England” …
1978, as Bob Dylan leaves England after completion of his U.K. tour, over 200,000 gather at Blackbush Airport to see him off …
1982, Moon Unit Zappa, still a young teenager, makes her debut with dad, Frank, recording “Valley Girl,” which becomes FZ’s highest-charting single at #32 and wins Grammy nominations for father and daughter alike …
1986, after 28 years of collaboration, Columbia Records drops Johnny Cash, who then signs with Mercury …
1988, a California appeals court upholds a lower court decision dismissing a suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS that held them responsible for the death of a teen who commited suicide after listening to Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” …
1989, Venice, Italy, is overrun by 200,000 loonies who show up in town for a free Pink Floyd concert and annoy the locals with noise, littering, and drug use …
1995, a bear-bone flute is found in an archaeological dig in the Idrijca River Valley in Slovenia … at an estimated 45,000 years old, it is the oldest musical instrument ever found …
1996, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin loses his gig with the Smashing Pumpkins after he ODs on smack with touring percussionist-keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in a New York hotel room … Melvoin dies and Chamberlin is told to take a hike … he will not rejoin the band until 1999 … this is the second time Chamberlin has been booted on this tour, the previous vacation mandated after an overdose in Thailand and another in Portugal …
1998, Harry Chapin lives! … his policy of donating half of his concert proceeds to such humanitarian causes as fighting hunger is carried on after his death by the Harry Chapin Tribute Concert … the performers include past members of Chapin’s band … the audience donates food …
1999, Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst is arrested in St. Paul, MN, for suspicion of aggravated assault following the band’s show at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium … during the performance, Durst’s bodyguard was attempting to remove a fan who had jumped onstage … venue security mistook the bodyguard for an unruly fan and attempted to remove him from the stage … at this point Durst allegedly kicked one of the guards in the head …
2002, Bob Seger wins the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat Race, his second sailing title in two years …
2006, It’s announced that Twyla Tharp’s musical based on the music of Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A Changin’, is Broadway-bound in October … the show opened in San Diego earlier in 2006 to mixed reviews … Dylan endorses the show saying, “Twyla’s artistry knocks me out. Her production is the best presentation of my songs I have ever seen or heard on any stage” … after a contentious history with the Internet and downloading in general, and Apple’s iTunes in particular, Metallica relents and agrees that iTunes may sell individual band tracks instead of entire albums …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
July 12: Oscar Hammerstein II (1895), Barbara Cowsill (1928), Van Cliburn (1934), blues guitarist Sammy Lawhorne (1935), Christine McVie (1943), John Wetton of Asia (1949), Eric Carr of KISS (1950), Liz Mitchell of Boney M (1952), Sandi Patti (1956), Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy (1962), UB40’s Alan Duval (1963), John Petrucci of Dream Theater (1967)
July 13: drummer Steven Jo Bladd of the J. Geils Band (1942), Roger McGuinn (1942), Cheech Marin (1946), Louise Mandrell (1954), Mark Mendoza of Twisted Sister (1956), rock journalist and movie maker Cameron Crowe (1957), Gerald Levert (1966), Coldplay’s Will Champion (1978)
July 14: Woody Guthrie (1912), D.J. Zenas Sears (1913), Cliff Trenier (1919), Lowman Pauling of the “5” Royales (1926), Bob Scholl (1938), Vince Taylor (1939), soul singer Ty Hunter (1940), Trevor Horn of Buggles and Yes (1949), Chris Cross (1952), Tanya Donelly of Belly (1966), Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies (1966), Tameka Cottle of Xscape (1975), Taboo of Black Eyed Peas (1975)
July 15: Cowboy Copas (1913), Motown drummer William “Benny” Benjamin (1925), potty-mouth soul star Millie Jackson (1944), Peter Lewis of Moby Grape (1945), Linda Ronstadt (1946), guitarist for .38 Special Jeff Carlisi (1952), Johnny Thunders (1952), Joe Satriani (1956), Ian Curtis of Joy Division (1956)
July 16: Sollie McElroy of the Flamingos (1934), Denise LaSalle (1939), Ruben Blades (1948), Stewart Copeland (1952), Ed Kowalczyk of Live (1971)
July 17: Texas R&B singer Peppermint Harris (1925), Spencer Davis (1941), The Sweet’s Mick Tucker (1948), Black Sabbath’s Terry “Geezer” Butler (1949), Nicolette Larson (1952), Doobie Brother Chet McCracken (1952), Phoebe Snow (1952), JC of PM Dawn (1973)
July 18: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1929), Papa Dee Allen of War (1931), Dion DiMucci (1937), Ian Stewart (1938), Brian Auger (1939), Martha Reeves (1941), Tim Lynch of The Flamin’ Groovies (1946), Golden Earring’s Caesar Zuiderwijk (1950), Ricky Skaggs (1954), Terry Chambers of XTC (1955), Pearl Jam’s Jack Irons (1962), Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (1962)
Departures
July 12: Sandy y Papo’s Luis “Papo” Deschamps (1999), Jimmie Driftwood (1998)
July 13: Arthur “Killer” Kane of the New York Dolls (2004), Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd (1994)
July 14: “British Queen of the Blues” Beryl Bryden (1998), Phillipe Wynne of the Spinners (1984), Malcolm Owen of the Rutts (1980), progressive country guitarist Clarence White of The Byrds (1973)
July 15: rapper Too Poetic aka Anthony Berkeley (2001), Bobby Day (1990), Rick Garberson (1979)
July 16: Styx drummer John Panozzo (1996), Sun Records’ Bill Justis (1982), Harry Chapin (1981), Peter Cowap of Herman’s Hermits (1977)
July 17: Paul Young of Mike and the Mechanics (2000), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1998), Hendrix manager Chas Chandler (1996), blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes (1983), John Coltrane (1967), Billie Holiday (1959), harpin’ bluesman Henry Strong (1954)
July 18: Haroon Shamsher of Joi (2001), Nico (1988), Jimmy Liggins (1983), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1970), Bobby Fuller (1966)