This is the week that was in matters musical…
1906, the first Victrola phonograph, with wind-up drive and its own horn, is marketed by Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, for $200 …
1938, one of the most covered standards ever, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” by Fats Waller, Harry Brooks, and Andy Razaf is recorded by Waller, a master of stride piano …
1947, in yet another demonstration that fame can get you almost anything, President Truman’s daughter Margaret makes her singing debut before an audience of 15,000 at the Hollywood Bowl …
1958, Eddie Cochran’s biggest hit, “Summertime Blues,” enters Billboard magazine’s Top 100, where it will peak at #18 and sell over a million copies … it will later be covered by such groups as Blue Cheer and The Who …
1962, the #1 Billboard Pop Hit is “The Loco-Motion” by Little Eva … the singer, a former babysitter for the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, achieves Cinderella-like stardom after the couple ask her to cut a demo of the song … both Grand Funk and Kylie Minogue will chart with their covers of the tune in 1974 and 1988 respectively …
1964, The Beatles begin their first tour of the U.S. at the Cow Palace in San Francisco … the Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon are also on the bill … The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles is reportedly selling 25,000 copies of John and Paul’s compositions a DAY …
1965, the bobbies show what they think of those unruly rock ‘n’ rollers by turning a fire hose on a bunch of Rolling Stones fans gathered at a planned TV taping in Manchester …
1966, The Beatles arrive in New York for a concert at Shea Stadium … a couple of girl fans threaten to jump from their hotel room’s 22nd-floor window unless they see the group … they get to see some cops instead and are charged with disorderly conduct …
1967, The New York Times reports on a new noise-reduction system for records and tapes pioneered by the Dolby brothers … drummers everywhere pan the system as a cymbal killer …
1968, Who drummer Keith Moon caps a truly bacchanalian 21st birthday bash by driving a Rolls Royce into the pool at a Holiday Inn in Flint, MI … though a Moon biographer maintains it never happened, Who vocalist Roger Daltrey begs to differ … “I saw it. We paid the bill (for the damages). It was $50,000. It’s vague now, but I just remember the car in the pool. And the chaos. And Keith being rushed off to the dentist after being arrested because he knocked his front tooth out … but then I read in the biography that never happened, so maybe I’ve been living someone else’s life, I don’t know” …
1969, Frank Zappa’s “tired of playing for people who clap for all the wrong reasons,” so he breaks up the Mothers of Invention … most of the other Mothers take it very hard since Frank didn’t found the band and they have all been putting up with his dictatorial style in order to get to the big time … at the moment they finally arrive, Frank cuts them loose … some of the band members will play in later incarnations of the Mothers, but the original lineup is history …
1975, Queen begins recording “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Rockfield Studio One in Monmouth, Wales … altogether, five studios will be used, making it one of the most expensive singles ever … the 30-second opera portion takes three weeks to record with 180 overdubbed voices … the vocal harmony parts are duplicated so many times the original vocal parts are eight generations down … the original 24-track tape becomes so worn it has to be copied to a fresh tape …
1981, some simpering loser whose name we won’t mention is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon …
1986, Paul Simon releases his landmark Graceland album …
1990, a Nevada court exonerates heavy metal band Judas Priest in a $6.2 million civil suit filed by the parents of two youths who shot themselves allegedly as a result of listening to the band’s records …
1992, after 10 years of going steady, Sting and Trudi Styler tie the knot …
1993, Snoop Dogg is arrested in connection with the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was fired at and killed in a gang fight … Snoop and his bodyguard McKinley Lee are ultimately acquitted but the rapper will remain entangled in legal battles surrounding the case for three years … his video “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” with Tupac Shakur chronicles the difficulties each rapper faced as a result of their unrelated criminal prosecutions …
1994, drummer Dave Abbruzzese is dismissed as Pearl Jam’s drummer … though the band tells the media he left to pursue music studies, Abbruzzese maintains he was fired for reasons unknown … fans speculate that singer Eddie Vedder was unhappy with Abbruzzese’s media-friendly embrace of the band’s superstardom, something the other members were uncomfortable with … Jimmy Buffett loses control of his plane on takeoff from Nantucket, MA … it flips and splashes down in the cold North Atlantic but Buffett is able to swim to safety … parrot heads everywhere breathe a sigh of relief …
1995, singer Natalie Merchant becomes the first guest on Elektra’s new online chat site … the former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman later says she won’t make a habit of virtual chatting as it hurts her eyes and would make her feel lonely when her computer’s off …
1997, a 50-mile section of Interstate 65 in Alabama is dedicated as the “Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway” …
1998, the little sister John Lennon had been told of but was never able to find materializes in the person of 53-year-old Ingrid Pedersen … she had been waiting for the death of her adoptive mother before coming forward … in Miami, a concert by Compay Segundo of Buena Vista Social Club fame is interrupted by a bomb threat … Segundo is accompanied by 13 fellow Cuban musicians all given special visas by the U.S. State Department … though no culprit is found, it is suspected the bomb scare came from an anti-Castro Cuban emigre …
2003, OSHA fines Derco LLC, the company that operated The Station club, $85,200 for violations that resulted in the fire that killed 100 Great White fans and a band member in February … the band itself is fined $7,000 … 200 fans are ejected from the Charlotte, North Carolina stop of the Ozzfest tour for alcohol and drug use … the show started at around 10 a.m. and the first group of partied-out attendees was ushered out just after noon, proving Ozzy Osbourne fans are not into pacing themselves …
2004, Queen becomes the first band to have a rock album legally released in Iran … the album is a compilation of the band’s hits and includes an insert with lyrics and production notes … Queen’s vocalist, Freddie Mercury, was of Iranian extraction … The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that filesharing services such as Grokster and StreamCast do not bear responsibility for user’s illegal activities … the ruling puts a crimp in the RIAA’s attacks on peer-to-peer services that enable the dissemination of MP3s … instead the recording industry will have to go after individual violators of copyright laws …
2005, Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer, dies from a brain tumor at the age of 71 … in 1964 he demonstrated his first synthesizer that used a keyboard and controller … by 1971, his company, Moog Music, is producing the MiniMoog Model D, one of the first portable synths that soon will be a standard part of the keyboard array of artists such as Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman …
2006, Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton undergoes treatment for throat cancer, forcing him to sit out the first half of the band’s Route of All Evil Tour, the first time he has missed any shows in the band’s history … longtime band friend David Hull fills in until his return … a settlement of five separate suits is struck between Apple, maker of the category-leading iPod, and rival Creative Technology, manufacturer of the Zen player … the computer maker agrees to pay Creative $100 million in return for the use of Creative’s patented technology which it had charged Apple had incorporated into its iPod … the payout gives Creative a shot in the arm but its trouncing in the marketplace by Apple continues unabated …
2007, now you can call him “Dr. May” … Queen guitarist Brian May earns his PhD in astronomy from London’s Imperial College … May handed in his 48,000-word doctoral thesis, “Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,” earlier in the month—36 years after he started it—and then took a three-hour oral exam … May already has two honorary doctorates … British neo-soul singer Amy Winehouse postpones her planned U.S. tour three weeks before the kickoff … word has it she needs to kick alcohol and drug dependencies …
2008, the Democratic National Convention in Denver takes on the look of a Lollapalooza show as dozens of top-flight acts descend on the Mile-High City in support of Barack Obama … artists include Melissa Etheridge, Dave Matthews Band, David Crosby and Graham Nash, John Legend, Wyclef Jean, Stevie Wonder, and Daughtry … the inaugural Outside Land Music and Arts Festival is held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park … a flood of 130,000 fans including plenty of neo-hippies enjoy a star-studded lineup headlined by Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, and Wilco …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
August 19: jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles (1918), Cream drummer Ginger Baker (1939), singer Johnny Nash of “I Can See Clearly Now” fame (1940), vocalist Billy J. Kramer of the Dakotas (1943), Ian Gillian of Deep Purple (1945), Queen’s John Deacon (1951), country singer-songwriter Lee Ann Womack (1966)
August 20: jazz trombonist-vocalist Jack Teagarden (1905), country singer Jim Reeves (1924), jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney (1927), Paul Robi of The Platters (1931), bluesman J.J. Malone (1935), country singer-songwriter Justin Tubb (1935), Tom Coster of Santana (1941), Isaac Hayes (1942), John Povey of The Pretty Things (1942), James Pankow of Chicago (1947), Robert Plant (1948), Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy (1951), Rudy Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers (1952), Doug Fieger of The Knack (1952), singer-songwriter John Hiatt (1952), Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit (1970)
August 21: William “Count” Basie (1904), big-band singer Savannah Churchill (1920), gospel singer Clara Ward (1924), songwriter Carolyn Leigh (1926), Kenny Rogers (1938), country picker James Burton (1939), Harold W. Reid of The Statler Brothers (1939), Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple (1952), Steve Smith of Journey (1954), Joe Strummer of The Clash (1955), Budgie—born Pete Clark—of Siouxsie and the Banshees (1957), Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge (1958), Liam Howlett of Prodigy (1971)
August 22: Claude Debussy (1862), classic blues singer Addie “Sweet Peas” Spivey (1910), pianist and bandleader Sonny Thompson (1916), John Lee Hooker (1917), Carolina Slim, born Edward P. Harris (1923), Bob Flanigan of The Four Freshmen (1926), producer Jerry Capehart (1928), Freddie Milano of The Belmonts (1939), Jackie De Shannon (1944), Donna Godchaux of The Grateful Dead (1947), Teresa Davis of The Emotions (1950), country chirper and writer Holly Dunn (1957), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (1958), Debbi Peterson of The Bangles (1961), Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears (1961), Tori Amos (1963), James DeBarge of DeBarge (1963), Layne Staley of Alice in Chains (1967), Matchbox 20’s Paul Douchette (1972), Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys (1973)
August 23: singer-dancer Gene Kelly (1912), country star Tex Williams (1917), The Drifters’ Rudy Lewis (1936), Jamaican producer Bunny Lee (1941), Ramon Phillips of The Nashville Teens (1941), Keith Moon (1947), Rick Springfield (1949), Shadows of Knight’s Jim Sohns (1949), Jim Jamison of Survivor (1951), Steve Clark of Def Leppard (1960), Dean DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots (1961), Colin Angus of The Shamen (1961), The Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder (1962)
August 24: bluesman and Elvis influence Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1905), jump-blues shouter Wynonie Harris (1915), country songwriter Fred Rose (1917), William Winfield of The Harptones (1929), David Frieberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1938), Mason “Classical Gas” Williams (1938), Ernest Wright of Little Anthony and the Imperials (1939), Procol Harum, The Move, and T-Rex manager Tony Secunda (1940), Joe Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1942), soul singer Fontella Bass (1942), Jimmy Soul, born James McCleese (1942), John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1943), Jim Capaldi of Traffic (1944), Malcolm Duncan of Average White Band (1945), Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep (1945), Heart’s Mike DeRosier (1951), Ben Harper bassist Juan Nelson (1958), Mark Bedford of Madness (1961), Pebbles, born Perri McKissack (1964)
August 25: Charlie Burse of The Memphis Jug Band (1901), composer Leonard Bernstein (1918), jazz reedman Wayne Shorter (1933), Walter Williams of The O’Jays (1942), jazz guitar phenom Pat Martino (1944), Tavares drummer Francis A. Donia (1945), Gene Simmons, born Chaim Witz (1949), Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford (1951), Elvis Costello, born Declan McManus (1954), Billy Ray Cyrus (1961), Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard (1962), Mia Zapata of The Gits (1965), DJ Terminator X of Public Enemy (1966), country chirper Jo Dee Messina (1969)
Departures:
August 19: LeRoi Moore, saxophonist with The Dave Matthews Band (2008), Joseph Hill, lead singer and founder of reggae band Culture (2006), Dorsey Burnette, bass player of rockabilly institution The Rock and Roll Trio (1979), 12-string guitarist Blind Willie McTell, composer of “Statesboro Blues” (1959)
August 20: Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan (1999), singer Rio Reiser (1996), masterful steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys (1988), jazz trumpeter Thad Jones (1986)
August 21: producer Jerry Finn (2008), Nashville session drummer Buddy Harman (2008), Robert Moog (2005), Tarheel Slim, born Alden Bunn (1977), country guitarist Sam McGee (1975)
August 22: singer Ralph Young (2008), honky-tonk legend Floyd Tilman (2003), blues pianist Leonard “Baby Doo” Caston (1987), bluesman John Lee Granderson (1979)
August 23: high-note jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson (2006), Eleanor O. Guest, one of Gladys Knight’s Pips (1997), Skinny Puppy drummer Dwayne Goettell (1995), Broadway songwriter-director Oscar Hammerstein II (1960)
August 24: producer-arranger Gene Page (1998), Doug Stegmeyer, bassist for Billy Joel (1995), Jesse Bolian of The Artistics (1994), Gene Knight of The Showmen (1992), Motown drummer Larry Londin (1992), bluesman L.C. Greene (1985), trumpeter-pop singer Louis Prima (1978)
August 25: R&B star Aaliyah (2001), Ronnie White of The Miracles (1995), bandleader Stan Kenton (1979)