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 …
1967, a worldwide audience of 40 million witnesses a satellite broadcast of The Beatles performing “All You Need is Love” … chiming in on backing vocals are Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, and Keith Moon …
1968, the Small Faces album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake hits #1 on the U.K. album chart … the original album comes in a circular sleeve that is a parody of “Ogdens’ Nut-brown Flake,” a brand of tobacco produced in Liverpool … the B-side features an original fairy tale about a boy called Happiness Stan, with narration in “Unwinese,” by gobbledygook expert Stan Unwin, who incorporates modern slang into his surreal narrative … this proves to be the group’s last album with Steve Marriott, who quits to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton …
1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays at the Denver Pop Festival, after which Hendrix makes the infamous announcement: “This is the last gig we’ll be playing together” … bassist Noel Redding quits the band … Mick Taylor makes his stage debut with The Rolling Stones at a concert in Rome … replaced by Ron Wood after his retirement in 1975, he holds the distinction of being the only Stones guitarist to quit the band and live …
1975, Greg Allman ties the knot with pop diva Cher just four days after her divorce from Sonny Bono is final … the new union lasts only nine days before Cher files for yet another divorce, but the birth of their son Elijah keeps them together … the marriage will end two years later …
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 … perhaps this provided the inspiration for the lyric, “Oh won’t you show me the way” …
1983, the Everly Brothers reunite after a 10-year estrangement …
1985, John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls Phantom V limo sporting a psychedelic paint job fetches $3,006,385 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York …
1993, in what could easily be construed as a mercy marriage, the very beautiful Julia Roberts marries the not-quite-so-beautiful Lyle Lovett … like Cher and Greg Allman’s marriage, this one also tanks after two years … perhaps a pattern is emerging …
1996, Neil Young’s new album Broken Arrow debuts via the Internet …
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, 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 …
2000, in a phenomenally belated ruling, a San Francisco court decides that The Rolling Stones should give the devil his due in the form of credit for the songs “Stop Breakin’ Down” and “Love in Vain,” both of which were written by Robert Johnson, the legendary bluesman who supposedly sold his soul to the devil … The Stones’ former record label claims that to its knowledge, the songs were in the public domain … the hell you say? …
… nine people die and 24 are injured at a Pearl Jam concert at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival … but this time it’s not the fault of the band … the fatalities occur as the crowd surges toward the stage because the PA isn’t getting enough sound to the back …
2001, Liverpool renames the city’s airport after John Lennon … it’s the first time in U.K. history that an airport is named after a famous person … the new logo for the airport included the famous self-portrait by John Lennon and the strapline “above us only sky,” taken from the lyrics of Lennon’s “Imagine,” one of the most popular songs of all time …
2004, pop vixen Britney Spears and her boyfriend, dancer Kevin Federline, announce their engagement … the engagement comes about six months after Spears is granted an annulment to dissolve her Las Vegas marriage to a childhood friend … following the tradition established by Cher, Spears and Federline untie the knot after two years … you see, a pattern … we said so … something about actors and musicians not being good marriage material is our theory … rapper turned actor DMX is arrested 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 … it must be some sort of misunderstanding … he was probably just researching a part where he plays a crack federal agent commandeering a vehicle …
2006, Yoko Ono joins Ringo Star and Paul McCartney in Las Vegas for the debut of Cirque du Soleil’s Beatle-based extravaganza LOVE
2007, James Blunt’s multimillion-selling ballad “You’re Beautiful” is voted the most irritating song of all time … Despite reaching number one in 11 countries and making the singer a star around the world, the track polled more votes than “Axel F” by Crazy Frog … other tracks in the top 10 included “Mmm Bop” by Hanson, “Mr. Blobby” by Mr. Blobby, and “The Birdie Song” by the Tweets … Hollywood music emporium Amoeba Records is paid a visit by none other than Sir Paul McCartney … the legendary former Beatle makes a rare appearance at the shop to play an intimate live gig … flying in from as far away as Japan to attend the free “secret” show, diehard Macca-maniacs camp out on Sunset Boulevard for three days… Sir Paul rewards their devotion with 90 minutes of Fab Four classics, songs off his hot-selling new Memory Almost Full album, and plenty of amusing stage banter and audience interaction … the Spice Girls, following a calculated publicity buildup, announce an agreement to get together for 11 concerts around the world … the shows will be their first concerts 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 … two stage hands die after part of the set from a Rolling Stones concert collapses on top of them while dismantling it …
2009, guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen is no longer a solo act … he marries Janie Liszewski, his girlfriend of three years … the 54-year-old groom’s 18-year-old son Wolfgang serves as best man, while brother Alex Van Halen, an ordained minister, officiates at the 20-minute, nondenominational service … among the 100 guests is Van Halen’s ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, whom he divorced after 25 years of marriage … way to rub it in, Eddie … oh, and thanks for screwing up our two-year marriage theory …
…and that was the week that was.
June 24: jazz and R&B sax player Jimmy Forest (1920), multi-instrumentalist Chris Wood of Traffic (1944), Jeff Beck (1944), theatrical rocker Arthur Brown (1944), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), Colin Blunstone of The Zombies (1945), Mick Fleetwood born Michael John Kells Fleetwood (1947), Dire Straits bassist John Illsley (1949), Terry Wilson AKA Astro of UB40 (1957), Curt Smith of Tears for Fears (1961), pop singer Glenn Madeiros (1970), Mario Calires of The Wallflowers (1973)
June 25: Clifton Chenier, King of zydeco accordion (1925), soul singer Eddie Floyd of “Knock on Wood” fame (1935), Bobby Nunn of The Coasters (1936), Harold Melvin of The Blue Notes (1939), Johnnie Richardson, female half of R&B duo Johnnie & Joe (1940), Harry Womack of The Valentinos (1945), Ian McDonald, founding member of King Crimson and Foreigner (1946), Allen Lanier of Blue Oyster Cult (1946), Clint Warwick of The Moody Blues (1949), multi-instrumentalist Brian Macleod of Chilliwack (1952), Tim Finn of Split Enz (1952), David Paich of Toto (1954), George Michael (1963)
June 26: influential and prolific bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (1893), Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker, born Andreas Cornelius Van Kuijk (1909), The 5th Dimension’s Billy Davis Jr. (1940), Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor (1942), keyboardist-singer Georgie Fame, born Clive Powell (1943), Rindy Ross of Quarterflash (1951), The Clash’s Mick Jones (1955), singer-songwriter Chris Isaak (1956), Patty Smyth, lead singer of Scandal (1957), Terri Nunn of Berlin (1959), Colin Greenwood of Radiohead (1968), EMF drummer Mark Decloedt (1969), country singer Gretchen Wilson (1973)
June 27: hit songwriter Doc Pomus, born Jerome Solon Felder (1925), Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis (1951), Jeffery Lee Pierce of The Gun Club (1958), country singer Lorrie Morgan (1959), Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1961), bassist Andy Couson of All About Eve (1963), pop singer Beverly Craven (1963), vocalist Ray Slijngaard (1971)
June 28: pianist-writer Arnold Shaw (1909), bluegrass guitarist Lester Flatt of The Foggy Mountain Boys a.k.a. Flatt and Scruggs (1914)
June 29: Frank Kirkland, drummer with Bo Diddley (1927), Leonard Lee, of the pop duo Shirley and Lee (1936), singer Little Eva, born Eva Narcissus Boyd (1943), twins Derv and Lincoln Gordon of The Equals (1948), Five Star singer Stedman Pearson (1964), Nicole Scherzinger of Eden’s Crush (1978)
June 30: pop songwriter Guy Hemric (1931), songwriter-producer Mike Leander (1941), Florence Ballard of The Supremes (1943), neo-classical metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen (1963), Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud (1983)
Departures:
June 24: Ira Tucker Sr., lead singer of The Dixie Hummingbirds (2008), Hank Medress, lead singer of The Tokens (2007), Carlos “The King of Tango” Gardel (1935), opera singer Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones a.k.a. “Black Patti” (1933)
June 25: Michael Jackson (2009), Sky Saxon, lead singer and founder of The Seeds, born Richard Marsh (2009), legendary producer Arif Mardin (2006), guitarist Bob Sanderson of The Royaltones (1994), Jimmy Soul, born James McCleese, of “If You Want To Be Happy” fame (1988), songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1987), blues guitarist Pee Wee Crayton (1985), lyricist-composer-singer Johnny Mercer (1976)
June 26: songwriter Brandon Chase (1996), Pink Fairies guitarist Mick Wayne (1994), bebop trumpeter Clifford Brown (1956)
June 27: singer-actress Gale Storm (2009), bassist John Entwistle of The Who (2002), guitarist Stefanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch (1992), opera diva Carlotta Patti (1989), Hillel Slovak, original guitarist of The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1988), Steve Peregrine Took of T-Rex, born Stephen Ross Porter (1980)
June 28: punk rocker G.G. Allin (1993), punk rocker Rob Graves (1990), Harry Mills of The Mills Brothers (1982)
June 29: George McCorckle of The Marshall Tucker Band (2007), jazz-blues organist Richard “Groove” Holmes (1991), Lowell George, slide guitarist and founder of Little Feat (1979), C&W singer Johnny Bond (1978), pianist Shorty Long of The Ink Spots (1969), revolutionary alto sax and bass clarinet player Eric Dolphy (1964)
June 30: tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson (2001), jazz and R&B singer Phyllis Hyman (1995)