This is the week that was in matters musical…
1955, Elvis buys his mama a pink Cadillac …
1956, Elvis begins recording his second album in Los Angeles … it is to include covers of Little Richard hits “Rip It Up,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Ready Teddy” … Elvis even plays piano on some of the tracks …
1963, “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes hits the charts … the song will later be cited as the perfect pop song by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys … one can maybe hear a touch of it in Brian’s own “Good Vibrations” …
1968, The Beatles release the single “Hey Jude” that eclipses Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” as the longest single to receive Top-40 airplay by nearly a minute at 7:06 … it is the first release from newly formed Apple Records and becomes The Beatles’ biggest hit, going to number one around the world … the recording took two days and involved a 36-piece orchestra who also clapped and sang the na-na-nahs on the fadeout … the epic ballad begins with Paul playing the piano and ends with 50 layered instruments …
… “Piece of My Heart” by Big Brother & The Holding Company with Janis Joplin singing lead enters the charts … it is Joplin’s and the band’s first hit …
… Ray Charles’ backup singers quit en masse over a wage dispute and band rules they consider unfair …
1970, Duane Allman begins sessions as a member of Derek & The Dominos … Eric Clapton praises Allman as the catalyst in a double-album project, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, that is completed in only 10 days …
1971, Paul McCartney’s jaunty single “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” is the number one pop hit of the week … the former Beatle reveals that he actually had an Uncle Albert who used to get drunk and quote the Bible …
1977, three people are nabbed in Memphis for attempting to steal the remains of Elvis … to prevent such thievery, Elvis is moved from the cemetery to a more secure resting place at Graceland …
1978, art-punk practitioners Television break up just a month after returning to New York from a West Coast tour … their proto-New Wave approach and unique guitar style sets aside nearly every accepted rule of rock guitar, making them guitar heroes to a legion of young rockers …
1989, G N’ R’s Izzy Stradlin is arrested in Phoenix for causing an in-flight public disturbance … he verbally abuses a flight attendant, urinates on the floor, and smokes in the non-smoking section of the plane … Izzy is apparently upset about the potty queue … the flight from Los Angeles to Indianapolis makes an unscheduled landing in Phoenix to dump him off …
1990 Amazingly it’s been 20 years since Stevie Ray Vaughan died…
1995, in a landmark rock ‘n’ roll event, veteran rocker Neil Young headlines the Reading Festival with Seattle’s Pearl Jam backing him up …
1996, Isaac Hayes, co-writer of the song “Soul Man,” writes a letter to senator Bob Dole protesting his use of the song in his presidential campaign that had changed the chorus to “I’m A Dole Man” …
1999, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx is arrested at a show in Raleigh, N.C., charged with felony rioting and three counts of misdemeanor inciting to riot, assault, and disorderly conduct … the charges stem from bad behavior at a Greensboro concert in 1997 … Sixx allegedly assaulted a security guard and encouraged a melee among fans …
2000, The Doobie Brothers offer 15 new tracks for free download to launch the promotion of their latest album, Sibling Rivalry …
2002, Eminem draws boos at the MTV Video Music Awards after he calls Moby a girl and tries to pick a fight with the diminutive techno popper … Moby had called the rapper’s music misogynistic and homophobic … Em also mixes it up with Triumph The Insult Comic Dog after Triumph tells the crowd “Eminem should lighten up. I mean, my mom was a bitch too, but I don’t go writing songs about it.” … this portion is removed from repeat broadcasts …
2006, one of the last iTunes holdouts, Linkin Park reverses their position and Apple begins selling all three of their studio albums along with bonus cuts and videos …
2007, The Stones wrap their Bigger Bang tour having grossed $558 million, eclipsing the record formerly held by U2’s 2005 Vertigo tour that brought in a paltry $389 million … commenting on the end of the long-running tour, Mick Jagger acknowledges, “I’m sort of glad it’s done. I need to do some resting” … rock pioneer Bo Diddley suffers a heart attack …
2008, a blogger who posted nine unreleased songs from the forthcoming Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy is arrested for violating a three-year-old law that prohibits such leaks … according to Kevin Cogill’s girlfriend, the cops “let me get him a shirt and shoes without laces before they took him away” … Cogill is a former employee of Universal Records’ distribution department …
2009, Noel Gallagher announces he’s leaving Oasis …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
August 26: jazz and blues shouter Jimmy “Mr. Five by Five” Rushing (1903), Chris Curtis of The Searchers (1941), Valerie Simpson of Ashford and Simpson (1948), Bill Rush of The Asbury Dukes (1952), Branford Marsalis (1960), Shirley Manson of Garbage (1966), Dan Vickrey of Counting Crows (1966), Adrian Young of No Doubt (1969)
August 27: bluegrass guitarist Carter Stanley (1925), harpist-keyboardist Alice Coltrane (1937), avant-garde guitarist Sonny Sharrock (1940), Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille (1942), Jeff Cook of Alabama (1949), Simon Kirke of Free and Bad Company (1949), Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson (1953), Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols (1956), gospel powerhouse Yolanda Adams (1962), Tony Kanal of No Doubt (1970), rapper Ma$e (1977), John Siebles of Eve 6 (1979), Mario (1986)
August 28: John Perkins of The Crew Cuts (1931), David Soul (1943), Daniel Seraphine of Chicago (1948), Wayne Osmond (1951), Shania Twain (1965), LeAnn Rimes (1982)
August 29: bluesman Jimmy Bell (1910), bebop innovator Charlie “Yardbird” Parker (1920), versatile jazz and blues chanteuse Dinah Washington (1924), gospel singer Marion Williams (1927), Dick Halligan of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1943), Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground (1944), Chris Copping of Procol Harum (1945), Stone Canyon Band bassist Patrick Woodward (1948), Dave Jenkins of Pablo Cruise (1949), Rick Downey of Blue Oyster Cult (1953), punk rocker G.G. Allin (1956), Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Frazer (1958), Michael Jackson (1958), singer-bassist Me’shell NdegeOcello (1969), Carl Martin of Shai (1970), Kyle Cook of Matchbox 20 (1975), David Desrosiers of Simple Plan (1980)
August 30: blues pianist Mercy Dee Walton (1915), Kitty Wells (1919), vaudeville-blues singer Olive Brown (1922), John McNally of The Searchers (1931), bluesman Luther “Georgia Snake Boy” Johnson (1934), John Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas (1935), Mick Moody of Whitesnake (1950), Horace Panter of General Public (1953), Sir Horace Gentleman of The Specials (1954), Martin Jackson of Swing Out Sister (1958), drummer Nicky Hammerhead (1960), Rich Cronan of LFO (1974)
August 31: jazz pianist Todd Rhodes (1900), tunesmith Alan Jay Lerner (1918), “Spider” John Koerner (1938), Jerry Allison of The Crickets (1939), Wilton Felder of The Crusaders (1940), Van Morrison (1945), Rudolf Schenker of the Scorpions (1948), Gina Schock of The Go-Go’s (1957), Squeeze singer-songwriter Glenn Tilbrook (1957), Tony DeFranco (1959), Chris Whitley (1960), Debbie Gibson (1970)
September 1: Brook Benton (1931), Conway Twitty (1933), Tommy Evans of The Drifters (1934), Archie Bell of The Drells (1944), Barry Gibb (1946), Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone (1946), The Jam’s Bruce Foxton (1955), Gloria Estefan (1957), DJ Sprigg Nice of Lost Boyz (1970)
Departures:
August 26: songwriter Ellie Greenwich (2009), Laura Branigan (2004), Ronnie White of The Miracles (1995), zydeco squeezebox star Rockin’ Dopsie (1993), “Professor” Eddie Lusk (1992), honking sax man Jimmy Forrest (1980), Lee Hays of The Weavers (1981)
August 27: Stevie Ray Vaughan (1990), KRS-One rapper Scott LaRock (1987), Bob Schol of The MelloKings (1975), Beatles manager Brian Epstein (1967)
August 28: DJ AM (2009), CBGB founder Hilly Kristal (2007), Sun Records rockabilly and songwriter Ronnie Self (1981)
August 29: rockabilly pioneer Ervin L. “Wee Willie” Williams (1999), rockabilly singer-songwriter Charlie Feathers (1998), record store mogul “Waxie Maxie” Silverman (1989), country star Archie Campbell (1987), eecentric DJ and Clash producer Guy Stevens (1981), blues legend Jimmy Reed (1976)
August 30: jazz vocalist Chris Conner (2009), trumpeter-bandleader Maynard Ferguson (2006), Swedish producer Denniz Pop aka Dag Volle (1998), keyboardist Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy (1995), Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground (1995), Thomas Sylvester aka “Papa” Dee Allen of War (1988)
August 31: Carl Wayne, singer for The Move (2004), Cajun artist Joe Berry (2004), jazz vibes man and bandleader Lionel Hampton (2002), rocker Vince Taylor (1991), bluesman Son Bonds (1947)
September 1: keyboardist-producer Wycliffe Johnson (2009), Jerry Reed (2008), Aussie rocker Ted Mulry (2001), composer Vagn Holmboe (1996), gospel singer Joseph Hutchinson