This is the week that was in matters musical …
1931, Blind Willie McTell and Mary Willis record “Talkin’ To You Wimmen About The Blues” and “Merciful Blues” for Paramount Records in Atlanta …
1936, country singer Hank Snow records for the first time … the songs are “Lonesome Blue Yodel” and “Prisoned Cowboy” …
1954, 50,000-watt Memphis radio station WDIA bans airplay on a list of singles deemed to have suggestive lyrics … included are the Drifters’ “Honey Love” together with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters’ “Work With Me Annie,” not to mention its follow-up platter, “Annie Had a Baby” …
1955, Etta James (who scored a hit with the answer song “Work With Me Henry” in response to Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie”) is joined by fellow rhythm and blues stars The Five Keys, Gene and Eunice, The Clovers, and Big Joe Turner in the first-ever R&B show to play New York’s Carnegie Hall …
1956, R&B singer Clarence Henry’s “Ain’t Got No Home” is released on the Argo label … because he sings like a frog on the record, for the rest of his career he will be known as Clarence “Frogman” Henry …
1960, Ben E. King, former lead singer for The Drifters, records his first solo numbers, “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me” … the songs will climb to number 10 and number 4 respectively on the pop chart, and “Stand by Me” will prove to have long legs … Brenda Lee’s “I Want to be Wanted” reaches #1 on the pop chart making this her third million-seller hit in a row…
1962, the first Motown Revue featuring the label’s top breadwinners including Stevie Wonder, The Miracles, The Temptations, The Supremes, and Martha and the Vandellas debuts at Washington, DC’s Howard Theater … the tours will become a significant part of owner Berry Gordy’s master plan to rule the pop music universe …
1963, a year and 22 days after he played to an anemic crowd of 53 ticketholders at the Carnegie Hall Annex, Bob Dylan enjoys a sellout crowd in the venue’s main room …
1965, The Who release “My Generation” as a single …
1971, rock loses one of its brightest lights when guitarist Duane Allman dies in a Georgia motorcycle wreck …
1975, much to the chagrin of both news magazines, Bruce Springsteen makes the cover of Time and Newsweek in the same week …
1980, Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner’s brain starts bleeding during a recording session … he makes a full recovery after being hospitalized …
1991, legendary rock promoter Bill Graham attends a Huey Lewis and the News show in Concord, California, where he gets the band to agree to perform at a benefit concert for the victims of the 1991 Oakland firestorm … he returns to his helicopter, but is stopped by the News’ bass player Mario Cippolina, who, in a flash of clairvoyance, urges Graham to take a limo … after being reassured by the pilot, Graham decides to take the flight … moments after take-off, the helicopter’s rotors become entangled in power lines and the craft plummets to the ground killing Graham, his girlfriend, and the pilot … meanwhile, on this same day down in Mexico, three members of Pink Floyd are injured in an auto race when their car plunges down a 230-foot embankment … guitarist Steve O’Rourke suffers a broken leg, David Gilmour receives blows to the head, and drummer Nick Mason, though injured, continues the race …
1992, Boyz II Men tie Elvis’ record when their single “End of the Road” logs its 11th straight week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart … The King’s “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” was the last record to have such staying power …
1995, business manager Yolanda Saldivar is sentenced to life for the murder of Tejano singing star Selena … she murdered the singer upon being confronted about embezzled funds … meanwhile at the Vatican City, Gloria Estefan performs for Pope John II as part of the celebration of the pontiff’s 50 years in the priesthood … she is the sole pop act invited to the event …
1998, the record industry is dealt a blow when a federal judge refuses to issue an injunction preventing the sale of an early MP3 player … Stray Cats leader Brian Setzer sues former bandmate Ken Kinneally who played with the guitarist in the pre-Stray Cats group, The Bloodless Pharoahs … Setzer charges Kinneally licensed 1978 studio tracks without his consent that turned up on the Collectibles Records LP Brian Setzer & the Bloodless Pharoahs … in other legal developments, three former members of the S.F. punk outfit the Dead Kennedys sue former leader Jello Biafra, charging he diverted money due to the plaintiffs for his own use …
1999, Korn debuts a new single, “Falling Away From Me,” on the season premiere of South Park … the boys in the band also lend their voices and likenesses …
2004, during a call-in talk show on San Francisco radio station KGO, shock-jock Howard Stern tears into FCC Commission Chairman Michael Powell whose agency had previously issued big fines against Stern and the stations carrying his broadcasts for indecent on-air remarks … Stern accuses Powell among other things of getting his government gig by virtue of his father Colin Powell’s pull as US Secretary of State …
2005, Jefferson Starship performs at a ceremony to name a 600-seat amphitheater in San Francisco after the late Jerry Garcia … that same week Birkenstock, purveyors of footwear to the New Age, unveils a new line of sandals named the J. Garcia Special Edition Collection …
2006, a copyright infringement complaint is filed against Green Day in U.S. District Court in Medford, OR, by Paul McPike, a 32-year-old grocery store checker … McPike’s complaint alleges he composed the lyrics and melodies on Green Day’s American Idiot album in 1992 when he was a high-school student … the suit asks for an unspecified share of the profits from the album and its companion Bullet in a Bible concert CD/DVD … McPike—who represented himself—wrote several unanswered letters to Warner Brothers Records and Green Day before filing the suit … his only evidence is a copy of the album and his claim that the words Billie Joe Armstrong sings don’t exactly match those on the liner notes … McPike has never recorded or performed publicly but theorizes a friend must have surreptitiously recorded him and that recording somehow made it into the hands of Green Day … U.S. Magistrate Judge John Cooney recommends a dismissal … Kurt Cobain passes Elvis on the Forbes magazine list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities … it’s estimated that the Nirvana frontman raked in $50 million over the past year … a substantial part of that sum results from licensing Nirvana songs for movies and TV … asked what criteria is used to decide on such licensing, Courtney Love’s manager Peter Asher says, “We’re interested in cool scripts that make use of what the songs mean … No rock bands, no suicides, nobody that’s trying to make any kind of Nirvana story.” … in what’s becoming a regular occurrence, Snoop Dogg is busted at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, when pot and a weapon are found in his vehicle … this is his second arrest at this airport in as many months … just days later an arrest warrant is issued for the rapper stemming from yet another incident the previous September at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, when a collapsible baton is found in the Doggfather’s laptop case … he is released on $150,000 bail …
2007, in a sting, Cass County Sheriff Paul D. Laney snares 36 Ozzy Osbourne fans wanted for various infractions … the Ozzheads, who all had outstanding bench warrants, were offered free tickets to Osbourne’s show in Fargo, ND, only to be popped when they showed up at the venue … Ozzy is not amused saying “Sheriff Laney should be apologizing to me for using my name in connection with these arrests. It’s insulting to me and to my audience, and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job.” …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
Arrivals:
October 23: rockabilly artist Johnny Carroll (1937), songwriter Ellie Greenwich (1939), Charlie Foxx of Charlie & Inez Foxx (1939), Freddie Marsden of Gerry & The Pacemakers (1940), Greg Ridley of Spooky Tooth/Humble Pie (1943), Barbara Hawkins of The Dixie Cups (1943), Pauline Black of The Selector (1953), Dwight Yoakam (1954), rock parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic (1959), Take 6’s David Thomas (1966), Shelby Lynne (1968)
October 24: blues harpist Sonny Terry (1911), jump blues shouter Willie Mabon (1925), contemporary composer George Crumb (1929), The Big Bopper aka J.P. Richardson (1930), former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman born William Perks (1936), Santo Farina of Santo and Johnny (1937), Ted Templeman of Harpers Bizarre (1944), Jerry Edmonton of Steppenwolf (1946), Dale Griffin of Mott the Hoople (1950), Silverchair’s Ben Gillies (1979), Monica (1980)
October 25: “Waltz King” Johann Strauss (1825), Georges “Carmen” Bizet (1838), Minnie Pearl born Sarah Ophelia Colley (1912), Helen “I Am Woman” Reddy (1941), Jon Anderson of Yes (1944), John Hall of Orleans (1947), Glen Tipton of Judas Priest (1948), Paul Hancox of Chicken Shack (1950), Matthias Jabs of The Scorpions (1956), Christina Amphlett of Divinyls (1960), Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith (1962), Speech of Arrested Development (1968), Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies (1970), Jerome Jones of Immature (1981)
October 26: gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911), the world’s funkiest human, Bootsy Collins (1951), David Was of Was (Not Was) (1952), Keith Strickland of the B-52’s (1953), Natalie Merchant (1963), New Zealand-born country singer Keith Urban (1967)
October 27: C&W piano-tickler Floyd Cramer (1933), country singer Lee Greenwood (1942), The Sheppards guitarist Kermit Chandler (1945), Garry Tallent of The E Street Band (1949), Kenneth K.K. Downing of Judas Priest (1951), Simon LeBon of Duran Duran (1958), Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver (1967), Kelly Osbourne (1984)
October 28: good ’ol boy Charlie Daniels (1936), singer-songwriter Ted Hawkins (1936), blues-rock saxist-organist Graham Bond (1937), Hank Marvin of The Shadows (1941), singer Wayne Fontana (1945), Rickie Reynolds of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Thelma Hopkins of Tony Orlando & Dawn (1948), Stephen Morris of New Order (1957), William Reid of The Jesus & Mary Chain (1958), Ben Harper (1969), American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini (1978)
October 29: composer Vivian Ellis (1904), jazz arranger-composer Neal Hefti (1922), The Big Bopper J.P. Richardson (1930), Mickey Gallagher of Frampton’s Camel (1940), Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings (1944), Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac (1946), Roger O’Donnell of The Cure (1955), Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (1955), Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5 (1961), Einar Orn Benediktsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Peter Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1965), Douglas “SA” Vincent Martinez of 311 (1970), Toby Smith of Jamiroquai (1970)
Departures:
October 23: R&B singer Ted Taylor (1988), Leonard Lee, the male half of the pop duo Shirley and Lee (1976), Buddy Holly soundalike David Box (1964), Al Jolson (1950)
October 24: Sandy West of The Runaways (2006), album cover illustrator Phil Hays (2005), crooner Joe Henderson (1964)
October 25: BBC DJ John Peel (2004), George Lee of Ruby and the Romantics (1994), bassist Howard Blauvelt (1993), Roger “King of the Road” Miller (1992), promoter Bill Graham (1991), Margo Sylvia of the Tune Weavers (1991), Johnnie Richardson of Jonnie and Joe (1988), R&B sax honker Willis “Gatortail” Jackson (1987), Gary Holton of The Heavy Metal Kids (1985)
October 26: singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton (1999), Wilbert Harrison of “Kansas City” fame (1994), rock promoter Bill Graham (1991), UK pop star Alma Cogan (1966)
October 27: legendary producer Tom Dowd (2002), Steve Peregrine-Took of Tyrannosaurus Rex (1980), composer/arranger/conductor Frank Devol (1999), rockabilly artist Donnie Owens (1994), Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat (1990)
October 28: country star Porter Wagoner (2007), R&B keyboard man Jon Thomas, who sang “It’s Hurtin’ Me” (1995), R&B singer Billy Wright (1991), jazz arranger Oliver Nelson (1975), R&B reedman Earl Bostic (1965)
October 29: saxophonist Henry Berthold “Spike” Robinson (2001), jazz bandleader Woody Herman (1987), King Harvest drummer Wells Kelly (1984), guitar master Duane Allman (1971)