This is the week that was in matters musical …
1888, the first noted use of mobile recording equipment occurs at the Crystal Palace in London when a recording machine is set up in the press gallery to record a performance of Israel in Egypt during a Handel Festival …
1956, Elvis Presley appears on The Steve Allen Show … ol’ Steverino, being sensitive to criticism that the hip-swiveling teen sensation is unduly arousing the youth of America, decrees that Elvis will not rock out but instead croon “Hound Dog” to an actual hound dog … a basset wearing dress tails …
1960, in the second of three sessions, The Dave Brubeck Quartet records tracks for their crossover jazz album Take Five … in 1961, the title song, written by alto saxophone player Paul Desmond, is released as a single and goes to #25 in the USA … hard to believe for a jazz instrumental in 5/4 time featuring a drum solo …
1968, Herbert Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, reaches #17 with a song from 1927—”Tip Toe Thru’ The Tulips With Me” … Warner Bros. Records later drops Tim after a series of follow-up singles stub their toes trying to climb the charts …
1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays their last gig together at the Denver Pop Festival at Mile High Stadium in Denver … bassist Noel Redding quits the band afterwards … Redding says he’s tired of constant touring for little or no money and wants to pursue his own artistic vision, out from under the shadow of Seattle’s finest … Crosby, Stills & Nash release their first album … the album cover has a picture taken by Henry Diltz of the trio sitting on a sofa at an abandoned house on Santa Monica Boulevard in LA … according to Diltz, the group was sitting in the wrong name order, so they went back to re-shoot and found the house had been torn down … drummer Dallas Taylor can be seen peering out one of the windows …
1977, Elvis makes his last public appearance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis … “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is the last song he sings …
1978, Peter Frampton suffers a broken arm and cracked ribs in a Bahamian auto wreck …
1983, the Everly Brothers reunite after a ten-year breakup … to keep the peace in the family, they have separate tour buses and, for the most part, only see each other while performing onstage …
1985, Fables of the Reconstruction, R.E.M.’s third album, enters Billboard‘s album chart, where it will peak at #28 …
1993, two of the world’s most beautiful people, Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts, become husband and wife … the union will last for two years …
2000, in a phenomenally belated ruling, a San Francisco court rules that The Rolling Stones should have given proper credit for the songs “Stop Breakin’ Down” and “Love in Vain,” both of which were written by Robert Johnson … the Stones’ former record label had presumed incorrectly that the songs were in the public domain …
2001, Chet Atkins dies of lung cancer at the age of 77 … Gretsch names a whole line of guitars after him … the producer, guitarist, and singer was inducted into both the Country Hall of Fame and the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame …
2002, Sirius Satellite Radio starts broadcasting … John Entwistle dies in Las Vegas one day before The Who is to begin a tour of the U.S. in that city … the official cause of death is “moderate usage of cocaine superimposed upon ischemic heart disease caused by naturally occurring arteriosclerosis” … after hiring Pino Palladino on bass, the band starts the tour just three days late … Entwistle arrived in Las Vegas early for an exhibit of his artwork at a local gallery … he is remembered as one of rock’s most influential bassists and one of its loudest …
2006, Yoko Ono joins Ringo Star and Paul McCartney in Las Vegas for the debut of Cirque du Soleil’s extravaganza Love based on Beatles songs … McCartney busses Ono’s cheek perhaps signifying a thaw in their frosty relations … the show, marking the first time the Beatles music has been licensed for theatrical purposes, is dedicated to George Harrison and John Lennon by McCartney …
2007, two stage hands die after a Rolling Stones gig in Spain … the men fall from the 33-foot-high set when it gives way as the team helps take it down after the concert in Madrid … the Spice Girls announce 11 concerts, their first since breaking up in 2001, and the first with all five of the original group since Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell quit to pursue a solo career in 1998 … Sir Paul McCartney and his band perform for 90 minutes at Amoeba Records in Hollywood … in addition to Fab Four favorites and songs off his new Memory Almost Full album, there is plenty of amusing stage banter and audience interaction to make this a special treat for his fans … James Blunt’s multimillion-selling ballad “You’re Beautiful” has been voted the most irritating song of all time according to OnePoll market research company and reported in the London Sun newspaper … despite reaching #1 in 11 countries and making the singer a star around the world, the track polls more votes than “Axel F” by Crazy Frog … other tracks in the top 10 include “Mmm Bop” by Hanson, “Mr. Blobby” by Mr. Blobby, and “The Birdie Song” by the Tweets … John Sewell of OnePoll says that Blunt’s song was a surprise, observing that “any song that is at number one for so long does start to get annoying.” …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
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)
June 28: Lester Flatt (1914), Procol Harum’s Bobby Harrison (1943) and Dave Knights (1945), Patrick Lachman (1970)
June 29: Nelson Eddy (1901), film composer Bernard Hermann (1911), drummer Frank Kirkland (1927), Johnny Ace (1929), Leonard Lee of Shirley & Lee (1936), Roger Ruskin Spear of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943), Little Eva aka Eva Narcissus Boyd (1945), Bill Kircher of Commander Cody (1948), Deep Purple’s Ian Paice (1948), Don Dokken (1953), Colin James Hay of Men at Work (1953), Evelyn “Champagne” King (1960), Barry D aka Iain Baker of Jesus Jones (1965)
June 30: Lena Horne (1917), Buddy Rich (1917), songwriter Guy Hemric (1931), Dave Van Ronk (1936), songwriter Mike Leander (1941), Larry Henley of The Newbeats (1941), The Supremes’ Florence Ballard (1943), Little River Band’s Glenn Shorrock (1944), Stanley Clarke (1951), The Sweet’s Andy Scott (1951), Hal Lindes of Dire Straits (1953), Human League’s Adrian Wright (1956), Ronald Winans (1956), Julianne Regan of All About Eve (1962), Yngwie Malmsteen (1963), Tom Drummond of Better Than Ezra (1969)
July 1: father of gospel music Thomas Dorsey (1899), Alvino Rey (1911), Imperial Records founder Lew Chudd (1911), saxman Earle Warren (1914), Willie Dixon (1915), flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal (1922), singer Bobby Day (1930), harp man James Cotton (1935), Delaney Bramlett (1939), Andraé Crouch (1942), Deborah Harry (1945), June Monteiro of The Toys (1946), Marc Benno (1947), Fred Schneider of The B-52’s (1951), Dan Aykroyd (1952), Keith Whitley (1955), Roddy Bottum of Faith No More (1963), Missy Elliott (1971)
July 2: Marvin Rainwater (1925), R&B saxophonist Lee Allen (1926), The Temptations’ Paul Williams (1939), Roy Bittan of the E Street Band (1949), Johnny Colla of Huey Lewis and The News (1952), Pete Briquette of The Boomtown Rats (1954), Mike Anger of The Blow Monkeys (1957), Dave Parsons of Bush (1965), Monie Love (1970), Michelle Branch (1983)
Departures:
June 26: songwriter Brandon Chase (1996), Mick Wayne of Pink Fairies (1994), jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown (1956)
June 27: The 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)
June 28: punk rocker G.G. Allin (1993), punker Rob Graves (1990), Harry Mills of The Mills Brothers (1982)
June 29: Marshall Tucker Band guitarist George McCorkle (2007), organist Richard “Groove” Holmes (1991), Lowell George (1979), Tim Buckley (1975), Shorty Long of The Inkspots (1969), Eric Dolphy (1964)
June 30: Chet Atkins (2001), jazz saxman Joe Henderson (2001) jazz vocalist Phyllis Hyman (1995)
July 1: opera diva Beverly Sills (2007), jazz flutist Herbie Mann (2003), reggae singer Dennis Brown (1999), DJ Wolfman Jack (1995), Phil “Snakefinger” Lithman of The Residents (1987), John Rushton Moreve of Steppenwolf (1981), Claude Thornhill (1965), Erik Satie (1925)
July 2: songwriter Hy Zaret (2007), Mark Sandman of Morphine (1999), Marion Williams (1994), Justin Adams (1991), Eddie “Cleanhead” Vincent (1988), Jimmy Ricks of The Ravens (1974), Snooky Lanson (1970)
July 3: songwriter-producer Skip Scarborough (2003), Merle Haggard’s long-time guitarist Roy Nichols (2001), country songwriter Johnny Russell (2001), Steve Walsh (1988), Rudy Vallee (1986), R&B pianist Monk Higgins (1986), R&B balladeer Larry Darnell (1983), Mississippi Fred McDowell (1972), Jim Morrison (1971), Brian Jones (1969)
Beverly Sills died on July 2nd, 2007, not on July 1st.