This is the week that was in matters musical …
1927, bluesman Texas Alexander records “Range In My Kitchen Blues” for Paramount Records in New York City …
1939, pioneering electric guitarist Charlie Christian sits in with Benny Goodman’s group at a club in Beverly Hills … Goodman isn’t interested in hearing an electric guitar, but Charlies’ manager John Hammond sneaks him onstage while Goodman is on a break … he proceeds to wow audiences and musicians alike with his seemingly endless single-string virtuosity …
1962, “Your Heart Belongs to Me” by the Supremes debuts on the Hot 100 chart … it is the first of their eventual 47 hits … Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as The Beatles’ drummer … rumor has it Lennon and McCartney are frustrated by Best’s good looks, which attract the most groupies … fact is, Best isn’t cutting it as a drummer whereas Ringo is the missing piece of the puzzle …
1965, The Jefferson Airplane play their first live show at the Matrix Club in San Francisco … the band will ink a deal with RCA before the year’s end, one of the first rock bands on the Bay Area scene to do so …
1966, John Lennon generates more controversy after his recent Jesus
comments by publicly expressing his admiration for American draft dodgers while the band is in Toronto …
1967, recording sessions resume for the classic Love album Forever Changes … sessions that began in June were marked with bickering and personnel changes that resulted in the producer bringing in members of L.A.’s famed session stars “The Wrecking Crew” to record backing tracks for three tunes prompting group members to get their recording chops together … Fleetwood Mac plays their first gig at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival a month before bassist John McVie joins the band even though the band’s name is derived from drummer Mick Fleetwood’s and McVie’s last names … the rhythm section these two form will be the only constant throughout the entire history of the band …
1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience performs their instrumental version of the “Star Spangled Banner” for the first time in concert … a full month before Jose Feliciano sings his controversial version at Game 5 of the World Series in Detroit … a year later Hendrix will perform it at Woodstock, this time it is filmed and thereby influences countless other desecrations of our sacred national anthem …
1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Festival is held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York … anywhere from 300,000 to nearly half a million (depending on whose estimate you believe) will gather to celebrate what is billed as “3 Days of Peace and Music” and enjoy performances by a who’s who of rock, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ten Years After, Joe Cocker, Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and Jefferson Airplane …
1970, Jim Morrison’s trial for allegedly exposing himself during a 1969 concert begins in Miami … Morrison will be found guilty on one count of profanity and one count of indecent exposure but will appeal the convictions …
1977, The Police play their first gig as a threesome after guitar man Henri Padovani leaves the band … Peter Frampton comes alive in three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden …
1985, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon nearly drowns after his yacht capsizes during a race off the coast of England …
1988, Michelle Shocked’s album Short Sharp Shocked is released with an authentic cover shot of the artist being carted off by a pair of L.A. cops … her label, Cooking Vinyl, overprints sunglasses on a policeman’s face and obscures a badge number to protect the innocent …
1990, in a tragic freak accident, part of a lighting rig falls on Curtis Mayfield during a performance in Brooklyn, New York … the incident leaves Mayfield paralyzed from the neck down …
1995, Courtney Love blows her cork when the audience at a Hole concert doesn’t get ecstatic over her performance on the last night of the Lollapalooza tour in Mountain View, California … security guards carry her off the stage when she begins to physically fight with audience members …
1998, Pete Townshend plays to an SRO crowd at Chicago’s House of Blues and raises $300,000 for Maryille Academy, a home for abused and neglected children …
1999, The Backstreet Boys break box office records by selling all 765,000 tickets for their North American tour in just one day, taking in a cool $30 million, most of it within just a single hour …
2003, during a radio interview, Ted Nugent says that the people of Illinois are “spineless, apathetic, embarrassing wimps” for their lack of involvement in their state government … Nugent’s comments result from his displeasure over the state’s gun laws … despite his scorn, Nugent will play the Illinois State Fair later in the day … fortunately for the Motor City Madman, the audience is apparently a bunch of embarrassing wimps who are too spineless and apathetic to demand refunds …
2005, a reworked version of the musical Lennon opens on Broadway following a debut in San Francisco that met with hostile reviews … the storyline of the rejiggered show has been revamped into a more linear flow when critics and audiences alike were mystified by the original libretto … Eminem cancels a European tour and checks into rehab … a representative says the sojourn is for a “dependancy on sleep medication” … the 11-date tour cancellation costs the rapper about $18 million in ticket sales … Madonna breaks her collarbone, hand, and three ribs when she’s tossed from a horse in England … the ride was in celebration of her 47th birthday …
2006, My Chemical Romance Toilet is obliged to cancel a San Diego festival date when singer Gerard Way and drummer Bob Bryar injure themselves while shooting a video …
2008, the format of Rolling Stone magazine is being downsized from large-format pages to traditional magazine size to spur lagging sales … The Allman Brothers sue Universal Music Group for more than $10 million charging that they are owed royalties on downloads and CD sales of material they cut on the Capricorn label between 1969 and 1980 …
2009, Eddie Van Halen is reported to be mending from surgery intended to deal with severe pain in his left hand … it is estimated that healing will be a four- to six-month process …
2010, after a ten-year absence, the first Lilith Fair completes its tour in Dallas … performers in this celebration of women in music included The Bangles, Brandi Carlisle, Colbie Caillat, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, The Go-Go’s, Indigo Girls, Kelly Clarkson, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Norah Jones, Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, Suzanne Vega, and of course, the originator of Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan who told Chris Harris of Rolling Stone magazine it was wonderful to see established and new artists alike have the opportunity to play in front of much larger or more diverse audiences than usual
…
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
Arrivals:
August 11: Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann (1942), David Box—a Buddy Holly soundalike who ironically also died in a plane crash (1943), Jim Kale of Guess Who (1943), Eric Carmen (1949), Joe Jackson (1955), Bragi Olafsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), guitarist Charlie Sexton (1968), Ali of A Tribe Called Quest (1970), Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly of Kriss Kross (1978), J-Boog of B2K (1985)
August 12: R&B singer-songwriter Percy Mayfield (1920), singer-songwriter Joe Jones (1926), Porter Wagoner (1927), Buck Owens, creator of “The Bakersfield Sound” (1929), pop songstress Jennifer Warren (1941), Mark Knopfler (1949), August Darnell of Kid Creole and the Coconuts (1950), jazz guitarist Pat Metheny (1954), Suzanne Vega (1959), Roy Hay of Culture Club (1961)
August 13: jazz pianist George Shearing (1919), “Baby Boy” Robert Warren (1919), Don Ho (1930), Dave “Baby” Cortez (1938), Son Seals (1942), Dan Fogelberg (1951), Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1953), Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones (1958)
August 14: swing and jazz violinist Stuff Smith (1909), R&B singer Jackie Brenston (1927), songwriter Carol Joyner Gourley (1938), Dash Crofts of Seals and Crofts (1940), David Crosby (1941), Tim Bogart of Vanilla Fudge (1944), inventor of the slap bass, Larry Graham (1946), Slim Dunlap of The Replacements (1951), Sharon Bryant of Atlantic Star (1956), Kevin Cadogan of Third Eye Blind (1970)
August 15: blues harp player Buster Brown, born Waymon Glasco (1911), Oscar Peterson (1925), bluegrass-country singer Rose Maddox (1925), Bill Pinkney of The Drifters (1925), R&B singer Bobby Byrd (1934), singer Bobby Helms (1936), Peter York of the Spencer Davis Group (1942), songwriter Jimmy Webb (1946), Tom Johnston of The Doobie Brothers (1948), Tommy Aldridge of Black Oak Arkansas (1950), MCA of The Beastie Boys (1967)
August 16: baritone jazz crooner Al Hibbler (1915), jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans (1929), English country and pop singer Karl Denver (1931), chanteuse Eydie Gormé (1931), lead singer of The Dubs, Richard Blandon (1934), New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell (1935), R&B singer-songwriter Barbara George (1942), songwriter and touring musician Kin Vassy (1943), Barry Hay of Golden Earring (1948), J.T. Taylor of Kool & The Gang (1953), Tim Farriss of INXS (1957), Madonna (born Louise Ciccone) (1958), Chris Pederson of Camper Van Beethoven (1960), Emily Erwin of Dixie Chicks (1972), singer-songwriter-pianist Vanessa Carlton (1980)
August 17: ’50s pop singer Georgia Gibbs (1919), Sam Butera, tenor sax player with Louis Prima (1927), Mark Dinning of “Teen Angel” fame (1933), bluesman Luther Allison (1939), Sib Hashian of Boston (1949), guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson (1954), XTC’s Colin Moulding (1955), Gilby Clark of Guns N’ Roses (1962), singer-songwriter Maria McKee (1964), Steve Gorman of Black Crowes (1965), Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson (1966), Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block (1969), Posdnuos of De La Soul (1969)
Departures:
August 11: pedal steel player Don Helms (2008), singer-talk show host Mike Douglas (2006), conductor Rafael Kubelick (1996), The Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1996), bandleader-pianist Sonny Thompson (1989), Percy Mayfield—one day short of his 64th birthday (1984)
August 12: free jazz drummer Rashied Ali (2009), singer-talk show host Merv Griffin (2007), Luther Allison (1997), John Cage (1992), Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto (1985), Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty (1984)
August 13: Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward (2010), guitar legend Les Paul (2009), John Loder, founder of the punk label Southern Records (2005), composer David Tudor (1996), blues drummer Fred Below (1988), soul singer Joe Tex, born Joseph Arrington Jr. (1982), soulful sax man King Curtis (1971), R&B star Joe Hinton (1968)
August 14: Johnny Duncan (2006), Esther Wong, owner of the L.A. punk venue Madame Wong’s (2005), Tony Williams, lead vocalist of The Platters (1992), Hawkwind vocalist Robert Calvert (1989), guitarist Roy Buchanan (1988)
August 15: record producer-pianist Jim Dickinson (2009), William Herbert “Lum” York, bass player for Hank Williams (2004), singer-songwriter Joe Seneca (1996), Jamaican singer-songwriter Jackie Edwards (1996), Thomas Wayne (1971), Stick Mcghee, born Granville McGhee, most associated with his song, “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” (1961), influential bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (1958)
August 16: jazz drummer Max Roach (2007), percussionist Ray Romero (2006), country fiddler Vassar Clements (2005), Bobby DeBarge, member of R&B groups Switch and DeBarge (1995), Christian rock songwriter Mark Heard (1992), Stacy Sutherland, guitarist for The 13th Floor Elevators (1978), The King, Elvis Presley (1977), legendary bluesman Robert Johnson (1938)
August 17: Skatalite trumpeter, Dizzy Moore (2008), Bernard Odum, bassist with James Brown (2004), guitar-maker to the stars, Tony Zemaitis (2002), Chicago soul singer Johnny Sayles (1993), Phil Seymour, drummer and singer with The Dwight Twilley Band (1993), singer-actress Pearl Bailey (1990), soul singer Lorraine Ellison (1985), Paul Williams, singer and guitarist for The Temptations (1973)