This is the week that was in matters musical …
1960, Johnny Cash plays the first of many free shows he will perform at San Quentin Prison … in the audience is a convict by the name of Merle Haggard … Merle credits the concert with helping him turn his life around … upon his release from prison, Haggard dedicates his life to music instead of crime …
1961, what’s in a name? … at a New Year’s Eve memorial concert for Ritchie Valens in Long Beach, California, a band previously known as Kenny and the Cadets, The Pendletons, and Carl and the Passions, settles on the name The Beach Boys … apparently the name sticks … Janis Joplin makes her first public singing engagement at the Halfway House in Beaumont, Texas …
1962, Dick Rowe of Decca records turns down a group of four unknowns from Liverpool, explaining to their manager, Brian Epstein, "Groups of guitars are on the way out. You should really stick to selling records in Liverpool." … fate is kind to the maker of what could have been rock’s greatest blunder … still smarting from not signing The Beatles, Rowe signs The Rolling Stones … according to Andrew Loog Oldham, who is credited with their discovery and pairing Richards and Jagger as The Stones’ principal writing team, “You just had to go to the person who turned down The Beatles. It was logical. Dick Rowe should be remembered not as the man who turned down The Beatles, but the man who signed The Rolling Stones." … narrowly escaping death, Brenda Lee dashes into her burning Nashville home in an attempt to rescue her poodle Cee Cee … Lee is slightly injured, but sadly Cee Cee dies from smoke inhalation and the home is destroyed …
1964, British singer Cleo Sylvestre covers the 1958 Teddy Bears’ hit "To Know Him is to Love Him" penned by Phil Spector … though the record sinks without a trace at the time, it has come to be highly collectible in recent years … the backing band is an unruly outfit called The Rolling Stones …
1966, while goofing around in the studio The Beach Boys cut a raucous, practically a cappella version of "Barbara Ann," a minor hit for the Regents in 1961 … oddly enough, the lead is sung by Dean Torrance of Jan and Dean …
1970, possibly inspired by his passion for Indian food, George Harrison hits the post-Beatles’ chart with his song, "All Things Must Pass" … perhaps the real inspiration for Harrison’s aforementioned song, the worst-kept secret in rock and roll is finally revealed … The Beatles officially announce their breakup … Paul McCartney files in the London High Court for dissolution of The Beatles Co. partnership …
1973, Pink Floyd finishes recording Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios in London … the influential album began as a musical piece "Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics" with its first live performance nearly a year earlier in Brighton, U.K. …
1975, Elvis Presley gives a rare New Year’s Eve performance at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan … the show earns him the largest one-night gross ever received by a solo artist, $800,000 … after the gig, he flies home to Memphis to ring in the new year watching Monty Python episodes in his bedroom with his entourage … a whacked-out fan levels a loaded .44 at super-hunter Ted Nugent, but is brought down without incident by a combined force of security guards and fans …
1977, the Roxy opens on this first day of the year in London’s Covent Garden with The Clash as headliners, going against a general club ban on punk music … it will soon be the place for punk …
1978, Bruce Springsteen plays Cleveland on New Year’s Eve and gets his cheek torn open when someone, obviously not a big fan, throws a firecracker at the stage …
1982, Steve Van Zandt marries Maureen Santora in Asbury Park, NJ … Bruce Springsteen is the best man and Percy Sledge and Little Richard sing a duet of "When a Man Loves a Woman" at the reception …
1983, in a tragic case of life imitating art, Walter Scott, lead vocalist for Bob Kuban and the In Men, whose big hit was "The Cheater," mysteriously disappears … his car is found abandoned at a local airport … four years later his remains are discovered in a neighbor’s concrete cistern … an investigation revealed that Scott’s wife had been involved in an affair with the neighbor, James H. Williams Sr. (whom she married in 1986), and that Williams had murdered Scott along with his own wife Sharon Williams … Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, the only real surfer in the group, drowns while swimming off his boat moored in Marina Del Rey, California …
1984, Rick Allen takes a knocking and keeps on rocking … in an auto accident in England, the indomitable drummer for Def Leppard loses his left arm … his admirable and loyal bandmates refuse to replace their fallen comrade … upon recovery, in an inspiring display of determination and will, Allen adapts his kit and later rejoins the band …
1985, rock music suffers another loss at the hands of aviation, when a plane crash takes the lives of former teen idol Rick Nelson and the members of his Stone Canyon Band … Andy Chapin, bassist with a later incarnation of Steppenwolf is also lost in the crash …
1989, Marion Keisker passes away … while her name is not well known in the annals of rock and pop, as an assistant at Sun Records, she played a pivotal role in the very course of rock itself … after a young truck driver cut a vanity record at Sun’s studio, it was Marion who urged Sam Philips to record the future star Elvis Presley … a former cook in the restaurant owned by Chuck Berry takes her erstwhile boss to court for allegedly placing a camera in the ladies’ room …
1992, high-caliber crooner Harry Connick Jr. is arrested at New York’s JFK Airport for carrying a 9mm pistol in his carry-on bag … with the 9mm being the gun of choice for so many talented rap artists, speculation has surfaced that Connick is pioneering a new style of music called "gangsta swing" … perhaps we can look forward to an album entitled, Connick is the Chronic or The Wrath of Con …
1994, after turning up the heat for her boyfriend, Atlanta Falcon Andre Rison, hot-tempered Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes pleads guilty to an arson charge for having set fire to and destroying Rison’s million-dollar Atlanta mansion … Lopes is sentenced to five years probation and a $10,000 fine … she and Rison will get back together several times following the incident … apparently their hot- and cold-running relationship passed the test of fire …
1997, while vacationing at his mother’s home at Molokai, Hawaii, rock guitarist Randy Wolfe, better known as Randy California, is lost in the ocean after heroically rescuing his son … according to witnesses, California was swimming with his 12-year-old son, Quinn, when they were caught in a riptide … California shoved his son into a wave that propelled the boy safely to shore before being dragged in himself … moving to New York at age 15 from California, the talented guitarist found himself a gig in a band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames … the Jimmy James in question was none other than Jimi Hendrix, who gave California his stage name as means of differentiating him from another Randy in the band (dubbed Randy Texas by Hendrix) … his parents, unwilling to let him travel to England with Hendrix and Chas Chandler, caused Randy to miss out on being part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience … together with his stepfather, jazz drummer Ed "Cass" Cassidy, he founded the influential band Spirit in 1967 and wrote their two biggest hits, "I Got a Line on You" and "Nature’s Way" …
1998, after cops spot rapper Busta Rhymes making three successive lane changes without signaling, they pull him over and discover a loaded, unregistered handgun leading to his arrest … like the man said, "don’t do the crime if you wanna get paid to rhyme" … or something like that …
1999, "dressed to the nines" took on new meaning for rap mogul-turned-fashionista, Sean "Puffy" Combs … after leaving a nightclub where three people have just been shot, he is arrested and charged with possession of a 9mm pistol that was found in the front of his car and another stolen 9mm that was reportedly thrown from the vehicle … Combs will later be cleared of all charges … George Harrison and wife Olivia manage to subdue an intruder who has invaded their home … Harrison is stabbed several times in the process but will be released from the hospital two days later …
2000, country music legend Kitty Wells, along with her husband Johnny Wright, perform a farewell show before a capacity crowd at the Nashville Night Life Club … Wells is 81, Wright 86 … in the house are such Nashville notables as Ricky Skaggs, Connie Smith, and Marty Stuart …
2004, alleged Elvis water is sold on eBay … Wade Jones of North Carolina says he snared a plastic cup from which Elvis Presley drank at a concert in 1977 and kept the cup and the water for 27 years before selling the remaining few tablespoons of water on eBay … the winning bid for the water is $455, but Jones says he won’t sell the cup … according to the 40-year-old resident of Belmont, North Carolina, he was 13 when he attended a Presley concert at the Charlotte Coliseum in February 1977, six months before the death of the rock ‘n’ roll icon … after the concert, Jones went to the stage looking for a souvenir … a policeman gave him the plastic foam cup, from which he had seen Elvis drinking earlier, he said … Jones said he kept the cup and water in his freezer until 1985, when he transferred the water to a vial and sealed it … over the years, he said, he acquired a photograph of Elvis holding the cup at that concert as authentication for his claim … proving that the ’80s are gone but definitely not forgotten, Pollstar reports that Prince is the top concert draw in 2004 with $87.4 million in ticket sales … when ya’ got it, ya’ got it …
2005, reissue labels have a field day when European copyrights expire on a number of classic pop and rock-and-roll songs recorded in 1954 and earlier, titles include Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” and “Only You” by The Platters … the body of former family-band member Barry Cowsill is found on a wharf in New Orleans … it is believed that he died in the wake of Hurricane Katrina … singer Tom Jones is knighted and thus joins the ranks of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Sir Mick Jagger …
2006, R&B singer Brandy is involved in a four-vehicle freeway crash in L.A. when her 2007 Land Rover plows into a Honda at an estimated 65 mph … one of the drivers involved is killed while Brandy emerges unscathed … the California Highway Patrol says alcohol and drugs are not involved and is continuing an investigation … the following month she is sued for wrongful death by the family of the deceased and the CHP recommends that she be charged with vehicular manslaughter … Kid Rock gets to play DJ at Jet in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve … commenting on the gig, he chortles, "It was $200,000 to act crazy and go out of my f***ing mind." …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
December 27: actress, singer, and entertainer, Marlene Dietrich (1901), pianist-composer Oscar Levant (1906), John "Buddy" Bailey of The Clovers (1931), guitarist Scotty Moore (1931), Leslie McGuire of Gerry and the Pacemakers (1941), Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues (1941), The Animals’ Dave Rowberry (1943), Mick Jones of Foreigner (1944), vocalist Tracy Nelson of Mother Earth (1947), Larry Byrom of Steppenwolf (1948), drummer Terry Bozzio of Missing Persons (1950), David Knopfler of Dire Straits (1952), singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff (1952)
December 28: jazz pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines (1903), Leonard "Chick" Carbo, leader of the ’50s New Orleans doo-wop group The Spiders (1927), R&B bandleader Johnny Otis (1928), rockabilly bass player Dorsey Burnette (1932), Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers (1938), Edgar Winter (1946)
December 29: Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues (1942), singer and ex-Jagger girlfriend Marianne Faithfull (1946), metal drummer Cozy Powell (1947), singer Yvonne Elliman ("If I Can’t Have You"’) (1951)
December 30: Bo Diddley (1928), session guitarist Red Rhodes (1930), country crossover artist Skeeter Davis, born Mary Francis Pennick (1931), singer-songwriter John Hartford (1937), Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), Del Shannon born Charles Weedon Westover (1939), Felix Pappalardi, bassist with Mountain and producer of Cream (1939), Bon Jovi producer Bruce Fairbairn (1949), Michael Nesmith of the Monkees (1942), Davy Jones of the Monkees (1945), Jeff Lynne of ELO and The Traveling Wilburys (1947), Alex Chilton of The Box Tops and Big Star (1950), Jay Kay of Jamiroquai (1969), Tyrese (1978)
December 31: composer Jule Styne (1905), folk singer Odetta Holmes (1930), Andy Summers of The Police (1942), John Denver (1943), Pete Quaife of The Kinks (1943), Patti Smith (1946), Burton Cummings of The Guess Who (1947), disco queen Donna Summer, born LaDonna Gaines (1948), Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith (1951), George Thorogood (1952), innovative guitarist Michael Hedges (1953), Scott Ian of Anthrax (1963), Joe McIntyre of New Kids on the Block (1972)
January 1: Xavier Cugat (1900), Al McKibbon, bassist with Dizzy Gillespie, George Shearing, Monk, and Miles (1919), Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish (1942), Grandmaster Flash (1956)
January 2: baritone jazz and R&B crooner Arthur Prysock (1929), country singer Roger Miller, whose "King of the Road" was a big crossover hit (1936), Chick Churchill of Ten Years After (1949), Glenn Goins, guitarist and vocalist with George Clinton (1954), Douglas Robb of Hoobastank (1975), Little Drummer Boy of Immature (1981)
Departures:
December 27: legendary country, rock, and jazz guitarist Hank Garland (2004), music mogul and founder of Chance Records, Ewart G. Abner (1997), Walter Scott, vocalist for Bob Kuban and the In Men (1983), Hoagy Carmichael (1981), 1950s rockabilly artist Bob Luman (1978)
December 28: Barry Cowsill (2005), Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson (1983), Chris Bell of The Box Tops (1978), Texas blues guitarist Freddy King (1976)
December 29: conductor Takashi Asahina (2001), French singer-songwriter Mireille (1996), Marion Keisker (1989), Steve Torbert, bassist for New Riders of the Purple Sage (1982), folk singer-songwriter Tim Hardin (1980)
December 30: bandleader Artie Shaw (2004), Hong Kong pop singer Anna Mui (2003), singer with The Drifters, Johnny Moore (1998), Clarence G. Satchell, horn player for The Ohio Players (1995), lyricist Mack David, older brother of Hal David who also collaborated with Burt Bacharach (1993), lead singer of The Dubs, Richard Blandon (1991), Broadway composer Richard Rodgers (1979), Delta bluesman Willie Brown, who traveled with Robert Johnson and is named in Johnson’s "Crossroad Blues" (1952)
December 31: manager of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Gerry Tolman (2005), guitarist Eddie Shaver (2000), Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer (1997), teen pop star Rick Nelson (1985), Patrick Woodward, Rick Intveld, and Bobby Neal of Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band (1985), bassist Andy Chapin (1985), bluesman Robert Pete Williams (1980), R&B writer-producer Bert Berns (1967)
January 1: House of Freaks guitarist Bryan Harvey (2006), singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt (1997), singer-songwriter Ted Hawkins (1995), Buck Ram, R&B manager, composer, and producer who worked with The Platters (1991), Brit blues pioneer Alexis Korner (1984), honky-tonk piano player Moon Mullican (1967), country music legend Hank Williams (1953)
January 2: Juan Garcia Esquivel, creator of space-age bachelor-pad music (2002), jazz trumpeter Nat Adderly, who worked in the shadow of his older brother alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (2000), Capitol Records producer Nik Venet (1998), Randy California (1997), David Lynch of The Platters (1981), ’50s R&B singer Larry Williams (1980), Tex Ritter (1974)