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Today in Rock History – July 3

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monkees-tv1967, A private party was held at the Speakeasy Club in London, England for The Monkees. Guests included: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield, Eric Clapton, Lulu, and all the members from Manfred Mann, The Who and Procol Harum.

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at The Scene in New York City.

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Bath Pavilion in Bath, Somerset, England.

1968, At an impromptu gathering at Joni Mitchell’s house in Lookout Mountain, Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash played together for the very first time.

1969, John Lennon holds a press conference to announce the release of “Give Peace a Chance,” but can’t show up as he and Yoko are recovering from a car crash in Scotland. Ringo fills in instead.

1969, Brian Jones drowned while under the influence of drugs and alcohol after taking a midnight swim in his pool, aged 27. His body was found at the bottom of the pool by his Swedish girlfriend Anna Wohlin. The coroner’s report stated “Death by misadventure,” and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. Jones was one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones.

1969, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Sly and the Family Stone, Jeff Beck, Savoy Brown, Johnny Winter, Jethro Tull, Buddy Guy Blues Band, Mothers Of Invention and Ten Years After all appeared at the four day Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.

1969, The Grateful Dead appeared at Reed’s Ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1970, Gene Ammons,  Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Miles Davis, Eddie Harris, Herbie Mann, Mongo Santa Maria, Jerry Smith, Oscar Peterson, Roberta Flack, and Sarah Vaughn appeared at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.

1970, The three day Atlanta Pop Festival took place, featuring The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Mountain, Procol Harum and Rare Earth. Over 200,000 music fans attended the festival.

1971, American singer, songwriter and poet, Jim Morrison of The Doors was found dead in a bathtub in Paris, France, the cause of death was given as a heart attack. No autopsy was ever performed. However other theories exist. Morrison’s girlfriend, Pam Courson, stated that Jim had died of an accidental heroin overdose, having snorted what he believed to be cocaine.

1971, Melody Maker reports on the appearance of a new Who bootleg in the US, Who Unreleased. Seven of the ten tracks are British Who releases that had not yet come out in the States.

1972, Blues singer, guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell died of cancer aged 68. The Rolling Stones covered his “You Got To Move” on their Sticky Fingers album. He coached Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar technique.

1973, Laurens Hammond the inventor of the Hammond organ died aged 73. Many rock artists including Procol Harum, Keith Emerson, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Allman Brothers and The Faces featured the sound of the Hammond. He also invented a silent spring-driven clock and during the World War II, he helped design guided missile systems.

1973, On the last night of a 60-date tour David Bowie announced he was about to retire from live performing, although it eventually transpires that Ziggy Stardust, the stage persona is being retired and not Bowie himself.

1975, Yes performed at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.

1975, Lead singer from Three Dog Night Chuck Negron was arrested at his Louisville hotel room on the opening night of the band’s tour and charged with possession of cocaine.

1976, Pete Townshend opens his Meher Baba Oceanic Centre with a week-long convention for his followers and gives away copies of the new Meher Baba tribute LP With Love. It features Pete’s “His Hands,” “Sleeping Dog,” and “Lantern Cabin,” a Pete vocal on “Meher” as well as a Billy Nicholls’ song “Without Your Love,” that will later be a solo hit for Roger.

1976, Brian Wilson played his first live show with The Beach Boys in seven years when they appeared at the Anaheim Stadium, California.

1977, Aerosmith appeared at Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at the Pavillon De Paris, Paris.

1979, James Taylor played at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1980, Roxy Music appeared at Oberschwabenhalle, Ravensburg, Germany.

1981, bands performing on this date: Kraftwerk at the Hammersmith Odeon, London; Blue Oyster Cult at Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon; Van Halen at Cobo Arena, Detroit; Rush at the Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington, Minnesota; and Bruce Springsteen at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford.

1982, The Human League started a three week run at number one on the US singles charts with “Don’t You Want Me,” also a UK chart topper.

1983, Iron Maiden appeared at Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California.

1985, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the first of three sold out shows at Wembley Stadium in London.

1986, U2 crew member Greg Carroll was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin while running an errand for Bono. The song “One Tree Hill” on the band’s Joshua Tree album is dedicated to Carroll.

1996, AC/DC played the second of two nights at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain on their Ballbreaker world tour.

2001, American singer, songwriter Johnny Russell died aged 61. Wrote “Act Naturally” covered by The Beatles and Buck Owens. Jim Reeves, Jerry Garcia, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt all covered his songs.

Born on July 3: David Lynch, The Platters (1929);  Tommy Tedesco, session guitarist for Beach Boys, Everly Brothers, The Supremes, The Monkees, The Association, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, and more (1930); Paul Barrerre, Little Feat (1948); Johnnie Wilder, vocals, Heatwave (1949); Andy Fraser, Free, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1952); Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure (1960); and Kevin Hearn, Barenaked Ladies (1969)

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Today in Rock History – June 21

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1967, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane perform at San Francisco’s Fillmore.

1968, The Who appeared at Durham University, Durham, England.

1969, Young David Bowie signs with Mercury Records. The label has to wait three years for him to produce a successful follow-up to “Space Oddity.”

1969, Jimi Hendrix plays the Newport Jazz Festival for a whopping $125,000. At the time it’s the largest fee ever for a concert appearance.

1973, On American Bandstand’s 20th anniversary show, Dick Clark welcomes Little Richard, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Cheech & Chong, and Three Dog Night.

1974, Bob Dylan and the Band release the live album “Before the Flood.”

1974, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tim Buckley, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and The Doobie Brothers all appeared at Knebworth Park, Stevenage, England. A special PA system was used for the event, claiming to be the best ever for an outside show, weighing 12 tons and needing five technicians.

1975, Elton John, The Beach Boys, Joe Walsh, Rufus and The Eagles all appeared in front of 120,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, London. Tickets cost $5.95.

1975, Captain and Tennille started a four week run at number one on the singles chart with the Neil Sedaka song “Love Will Keep Us Together.”

1975, Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form his own group Rainbow.

1975, The Eagles and The Doobie Brothers both appeared at the Oakland Coliseum, California, Elton John made a surprise appearance with both groups during the concert.

1976, Touring North America for the first time Wings played the last dates of their 31-date tour with three nights at the Los Angeles Forum. Several songs from the June 23rd show appeared on the album Wings over America.

1976, The Grateful Dead played at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1977, Aerosmith played at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on their 81-date Draw The Line Tour.

1980, The Beach Boys, Santana, Mike Oldfield, Elkie Brooks, Lindisfarne and The Blues Band all appeared at Knebworth ’80, in Knebworth Park, England

1986, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Tina Turner and Elton John all appeared at the fourth annual Prince’s Trust Rock Gala held in London.

1986, Genesis Invisible Touch became the band’s fourth UK number one album.

2001, John Lee Hooker, American blues singer and guitarist died in his sleep aged 83.  His songs have been covered by many artists including Cream, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, The Yardbirds, The Doors and The White Stripes. He appeared and sang “Boom,Boom” in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers.

2011, Maroon 5 released “Moves Like Jagger,” featuring Christina Aguilera.  The video featured old footage of Jagger and his iconic dance moves. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards.

Born on June 21: Lalo Schifrin, composer, Mission Impossible theme, Cool Hand Luke, Bullit soundtrack (1932); Miguel Vicens, Los Bravos (1944); Ray Davies (1944); Greg Munford, Strawberry Alarm Clock (1949); Nils Lofgren (1951); and Michael Einziger, Incubus (1976)

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Song Of The Day – “Easy To Be Hard” by Lynn Kellogg

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HairMost rock fans know this song by Three Dog Night’s hit version, but here’s the original recording from the 1968 Broadway Cast of the musical Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.

The show introduced the hits “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine” and the title song which were brought to the charts by the likes of The Fifth Dimension, Oliver and The Cowsills respectively. All of the songs in the musical were written by Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado.  MacDermot also wrote the music to the 1971 musical Two Gentlemen Of Verona and released several influential funk and instrumental jazz albums that are currently the rage amongst those “in the know” of the hipster cognoscenti.

I’ve been listening to this record since I was seven years old…way before I knew the meaning of “Sodomy,” “Hashish,” “Colored Spade,” “Walking In Space” and the numerous other titillating-for-their-time songs in this musical. It is indeed part of my musical DNA.

The cast album to Hair has managed to stand the test of time and the musical has enjoyed numerous successful revivals and tours around the world. The musical was also taken to the big screen in 1979 by director Milos Forman with choreography by Twyla Tharpe, introducing it to numerous later generations.

While I was too young to catch the musical on Broadway in its original incarnation, I did manage to see a revival on Broadway during the 1980s.

Today in Rock History – April 30

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1966, The Rolling Stones fourth album Aftermath went to number one on the UK charts.  It was the group’s third chart topping album.

1966, The Young Rascals went to number one on the American singles chart with “Good Lovin.” The song had been a hit for The Olympics the year before.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Plaza Teen Club in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.

1967, Jimi Hendrix and Chas Chandler are interviewed at their shared flat in London, by Ray Jones for the May edition of Beat Instrumental magazine.

1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first UK Tour comes to a close following two final performances at Granada theatre in Tooting, London. Once again the evening includes performances by The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Californians, The Quotations, and MC Nick Jones.

1968, Pink Floyd played for a recording of the music program Moef Ga Go at Nederland 1 TV Studios in Zaandam, The Netherlands. Two concerts scheduled for later the same day had to be cancelled due to a problem with work permits.

1968, BBC TV launched The Cilla Black Show making Cilla the first British female performer to have her own TV show. The theme song, “Step Inside Love” was written by Paul McCartney.

1968, Al Kooper announces he is leaving Blood, Sweat & Tears.

1970, Twiggs Lyndon, the road manager for the Allman Brothers Band, was arrested for murder after he stabbed a club manager during an argument over a contract. At the ensuing trial, Lyndon’s lawyers argued that he had been temporarily insane at the time of the incident and that touring with the Allman Brothers would drive anyone insane. Lyndon was acquitted.

1971, Three Dog Night performed at the Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

DavidBowieFiveYears1972, David Bowie played at Guildhall, Plymouth, England.

1973, King Crimson appeared at the State Fair Coliseum, Syracuse, New York.

1973, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.

1974, King Crimson played at the Civic Theatre, Akron, Ohio.

1975, Genesis headlined at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.

1976, The Who’s drummer Keith Moon paid nine cab drivers to block-off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window.

1976, The Rolling Stones played at Halle Münsterland, Muenster, Germany.

1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd appeared at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1977, The Grateful Dead perform at The Palladium in New York City.

1977, Glen Campbell went to number one on the US singles chart with “Southern Nights,” his second chart topper.

1977, Led Zeppelin broke a new world attendance record at a concert when they played to 76,229 people at a gig at the Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan. The Who held the previous record at the same venue with 75,962 people.

1977, Pink Floyd performed at Jeppesen Stadium, in Houston, Texas during their In The Flesh North American tour. The set list consisted of the albums Animals and Wish You Were Here, with an encore of “Money” and “Us and Them” from Dark Side of the Moon. General admission tickets cost $10 (£6.67.)

1978, Bob Seger appeared at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1979, Rush played at the Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England.

1980, McVicar, starring Roger Daltrey, premieres.

1982, American music journalist, author and musician Lester Bangs died of a heart attack aged 33. Bangs worked for Rolling Stone, Creem, and The Village Voice.

1983, Muddy Waters dies from a heart attack in Westmont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He was 68. Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age seventeen was playing the guitar at parties, emulating local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson. He was recorded in Mississippi by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941. Two years later, he moved to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician, eventually recording, in 1946, first for Columbia Records, and then for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by the brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.

1983, Michael Jackson started a three week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Beat It,” his fifth solo US chart topper. The third single from the singer’s Thriller album featured Eddie Van Halen on the song’s distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but Van Halen was prevented by his record label from appearing in the music video.

1990, Prince played a concert at Rupert’s Night-club, Minneapolis. The $100 a head ticket proceeds all went to the family of his former bodyguard Charles “Big Chick” Huntsberry, who had died from a heart attack.

1991, Nirvana signed a recording contract with Geffen’s DGC label for $290,000 (£193,333.)

1999, Nazareth drummer Darrell Sweet died aged 52, after suffering a fatal heart attack before a show in New Albany, Indiana. Nazareth had the 1973 UK number nine single “Broken Down Angel,” and the 1976 US top eight single “Love Hurts.”

2005, The Dave Matthews Band agreed to pay $200,000 (£105,000) after their tour bus dumped human waste on a boatload of tourists in Chicago in August 2004. Bus driver Stefan Wohl who was alone on board the bus at the time the sewage was dumped was fined $10,000 (£5,200.) The band had already donated $100,000 (£54,252) to two groups that protect the Chicago River and its surrounding area. The Dave Matthews Band offered their “deepest apologies” to more than 100 boat passengers who were on an architectural tour.

2008, Gail Renard, who was given the hand written lyrics to “Give Peace A Chance” by John Lennon in 1969, announced plans to sell the lyric sheet at a Christie’s auction. At the time, Lennon told Renard to hang on to the piece of paper, saying “It will be worth something someday.” The piece of music history was expected to fetch around $400,000 (£266,667.)  When it was actually sold in July later that year, it went for $790,000 (£400,000.)

2015, Ben E. King,  born Benjamin Earl Nelson, soul and R&B singer with The Drifters, died at the Hackensack University Medical Center at the age of 76. The Drifters had the 1960 US number one and UK number two single “Save The Last Dance For Me,” and King scored the the 1987 UK number one solo single “Stand By Me,”  which was first released in 1961.

Born on April 30: Percy Heath, American bassist, Heath Brothers, Modern Jazz Quartet (1923);  Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter, guitarist (1925); Johnny Farina, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Santo & Johnny (1941); Bobby Vee (1943);  Wayne Kramer, MC5 (1948); Merrill Osmond, American singer, bass player, actor,The Osmonds (1953); Chris Henderson, guitarist, 3 Doors Down (1971); J. R. Richards, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, Dishwalla (1972)

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Today in Rock History – April 21

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beatles -sgtpeppers1967, Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles completed the sessions for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The final recordings were a short section of gibberish and noise which would follow “A Day in the Life,” in the run-out groove. They recorded assorted noises and voices, which engineer Geoff Emerick then cut-up and randomly re-assembled, and edited backwards. At John Lennon’s suggestion, they also added a high-pitch 15 kilocycle whistle audible only by dogs. These were omitted from the American version of the album.

1967, The Who appeared at The Dome, Brighton, England.

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at City Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England.

1967, Pink Floyd played two shows, an early performance at the Starlite Ballroom, in Greenford, and the late show at UFO, held at The Blarney Club, Tottenham Court Road in London.

1969, Janis Joplin made her London debut,  appearing at The Royal Albert Hall,  The opening act was Yes. Her performance earned rave reviews in Disc, Melody Maker, and Telegraph, among others.

1970, Three Dog Night, along with Stone the Crows, played at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1970, Elton John performs his debut solo gig as a support act for T. Rex in London.  Also on the bill were Spooky Tooth, Jackie Lomax, and Heavy Jelly.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band played at New Haven Arena, New Haven, Connecticut.

1972, David Bowie performs at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England.

1972, Pink Floyd appeared at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.

1972, The Grateful Dead performed an eighty minute set that was taped for the German TV show Beat Club, in Bremen, Germany.

1973, Alice Cooper went to number one on the album chart with Billion Dollar Babies.

1973, King Crimson played at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1973, Tony Orlando & Dawn started a four week run at number one on the singles chart with “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree,” It became the biggest seller of 1973, with over 6 million copies sold. The song was based on a true story of a prisoner who wrote to his wife asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree in the town square in White Oak, Georgia, if she still loved him.

1974, Genesis appeared at the Montreal University Sports Centre in Montreal, Quebec.  The show was broadcast by CHOM-FM radio, and is a popular bootleg among Genesis fans.

1975, Yes headlined at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland.

1976, Elvis Presley performed at Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri.

1977, Songwriter Jesse Winchester performs in the U.S. for the first time in ten years. He escaped to Canada a decade ago in order to avoid the draft.

1977, ZZ Top appeared at the Rochester Community War Memorial, Rochester, New York.

1978, The Grateful Dead played at Rupp Arena on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.

Sandy Denny (courtesy Rokpool.com)

1978, UK folk singer Sandy Denny died aged 31. While on vacation with her parents in Cornwall, England, Denny was injured in a fall down a staircase. A month after the fall she collapsed at a friend’s home. Four days later she died at the hospital, her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage. She was a member of Fairport Convention and a solo artist. Her 1967 song “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” was covered by Judy Collins. Denny sang on the Led Zeppelin track “Battle Of Evermore” on the band’s fourth album, the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album.

1979, Roxy Music played at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California.

1981, U2 performed at The Decade, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This small club in the Oakland section of town hosted a number of up and coming acts like The Ramones and the Police, as well as impromptu shows from Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi during its heyday.

1982, Clash front man Joe Strummer disappeared for three weeks, which resulted in the group cancelling a tour. The singer was found living rough in Paris, France.

1984, Van Halen appeared at the Colisée de Québec, Quebec City.

1984, Phil Collins started a three week run at number one in the US singles chart with the theme from Against All Odds. It was Phil’s first US chart topper, a number two in the UK.

1990, Paul McCartney played in front of 184,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, creating a new world record for the largest crowd attending a rock concert.

1990, Sinead O’Connor started a four week run at number one on the US singles chart with her version of the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” The track was also a chart topper in 18 other countries. The video was shot in Paris, and consists almost solely of a close-up on O’Connor’s face as she sings the lyrics. Towards the end of the video, two tears roll down her face. The clip won Best Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, the first video by a female artist to win in this category.

2000, Neal Matthews of The Jordanaires died of a heart attack. He sang on Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog.” He also worked with Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline, Red Foley, Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, George Jones, Marie Osmond, Tom Jones and Merle Haggard.

2002, Oasis went to number one on the UK singles chart with “Hindu Times,” the band’s sixth UK number one and the first single to be released from their fifth album Heathen Chemistry.

2006, The Soul2Soul II Tour,  a co-headlining tour featuring husband and wife country music singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, kicked off at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus ending after 73 shows on September 3, 2006 in Las Vegas. The tour became the highest grossing country music tour ever with a sales of $90 million.

2008, American soul singer and songwriter Al Wilson died of kidney failure at the age of 68. Wilson had a number of US hits, including “The Snake” in 1968 and “Show and Tell” in 1974.

2016, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music legend Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, was found dead in his residence and recording studio complex, Paisley Park, in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prince was renowned as an innovator, and was widely known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, and wide vocal range. He was widely regarded as the pioneer of Minneapolis sound. His music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, soul, psychedelia, and pop.

Born on April 21: Alan Wagner, The Foundations (1947); American singer-songwriter, musician and actor James Osterberg, aka Iggy Pop (1947); Mike Barson, keyboards, Madness (1958); Robert Smith, The Cure (1959); Johnny McElhone, Altered Images (1963)

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Today in Rock History – April 17

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1965, Bob Dylan”s debut album The Freewheelin” Bob Dylan was at No.1 on the album chart.

1965, Paul McCartney spent the day shopping for furniture in Portobello Road, London disguised in a cloth cap, moustache, glasses and overcoat.

1966, The Who performed at the Regal Cinema in London.

1967, Jimi Hendrix played in Luton, Bedfordshire, England.

1969, The Band step out from behind Bob Dylan for the first time to perform solo at San Francisco’s Winterland auditorium

1970, While performing at the White House at the invitation of President Richard Nixon, Johnny Cash was asked to perform “Okie From Muskogee.” Cash declined because it was not his song, but had been a hit for Merle Haggard. Instead, Cash sang his number one hit, “A Boy Named Sue”.

1970, Country Joe & the Fish along with the Hampton Grease Band played at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1970, Paul McCartney releases his first post-Beatles solo album, McCartney. The the versatile musician played every instrument on the record.

1970, Santana began sessions for what would be their breakthrough album Abraxas at Wally Heider Recording Studio, San Francisco, California. When released in September of this year, Abraxas peaked at number one on the US chart.

1971, All four Beatles had solo singles on the charts, Paul McCartney with “Another Day,” John Lennon, “Power To The People,” George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord,” and Ringo Starr with “It Don”t Come Easy.”

1971, Three Dog Night started a six week run at number one on the singles chart with “Joy To The World.” It was the group’s second chart topper.

1972, The Grateful Dead perform at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark during their legendary Europe ’72 tour.

1972, Keith Richards girlfriend Anita Pallenberg gave birth to their second child, daughter Dandelion.

1973, Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of the Moon went gold in the US. The LP went on to stay in the US chart for more than ten years and become the longest charting rock record of all time.

1973, Yes appeared at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri.

1973, Tito and John Jackson from The Jackson Five were arrested for buying stolen TV and stereo equipment.

1974, Vinnie Taylor, guitarist with US rock and roll revival band Sha Na Na, was found dead in a Holiday Inn hotel room in Charlottesville, Virginia from a drug overdose. Sha Na Na played at the Woodstock Festival, their 90-second appearance in the Woodstock film brought the group national attention. The group appeared in the movie Grease as Johnny Casino & The Gamblers.

1975, Pink Floyd performed at the Coliseum in Denver, Colorado.

1975, Elvis Presley bought a Convair 880 Jet formally owned by Delta Airlines for $250,000, which he re-christened Lisa Marie. Presley spent a further $600,000 refurbishing the Jet to include personal quarters, a meeting area and a dance floor.

1976, David Bowie performed at Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland.

1977, The Stranglers, Cherry Vanilla, The Police, and The Jam all appeared at The Roundhouse, London, England.

1978, Genesis played at The Forum, Inglewood, California.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Cameron Indoor Stadium, on the campus of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

1983, Felix Pappalardi, producer and bass player with American rock band Mountain was shot dead by his wife Gail Collins during a jealous rage. Collins was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to four years in prison. Pappalardi who was 43, had produced the  albums Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire by Cream

1987, Reggae drummer and percussion player Carlton Barrett of The Wailers was shot dead outside his house in Kingston, Jamaica. He joined Bob Marley and The Wailers in 1970, wrote the Marley song “War.” Barrett was the originator of the one-drop rhythm, a percussive drumming style.

1991, Nirvana appeared at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, where they played a new song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” live for the first time.

1994, Pink Floyd started a four-week run at number one on the UK album chart with The Division Bell, their fourth chart topping album.

1998, Linda McCartney died after a long battle against cancer. She married Paul McCartney in 1969 when she was working as a photographer. As well as a being a member of Wings, she became an animal rights campaigner and launched her own brand of vegetarian food.

2004, Kurt Cobain’s Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar sold for $100,000 (£66,667) at the Icons of 20th Century Music auction held in Dallas, Texas. Other items sold included Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s song writing piano which sold for $140,000 (£93,333) and a 1966 Rickenbacker guitar owned by The Byrds Roger McGuinn’s sold for $99,000 (£66,000.)

2008, Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen and a member of The E Street Band, died of cancer at the age of 58. Federici had worked with Springsteen for over 40 years, starting with his early bands Steel Mill, and Child.

Born on April 17: Don Kirshner (1934); Roy Estrada, Frank Zappa Band (1943);  Jan Hammer, Mahavishnu Orchestra (1948); Pete Shelley, English drummer, The Buzzcocks (1955); Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter, producer, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer,  Green Jellÿ (1964); LizPhair (1967); Matt Chamberlain, session drummer, Edie Brickell, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, Morrissey, David Bowie, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, The Wallflowers, Kanye West, Garbage, John Mayer (1967)

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Today in Rock History – February 27

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1964, The Rolling Stones made their second appearance on BBC TV show Top Of The Pops performing “Not Fade Away.”

1965, This marked the first date of a 21 twice- nightly UK package tour with Del Shannon, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, and Herman’s Hermits, stopping at Sheffield’s City Hall, England.

1967, Pink Floyd continued working on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn at Abbey Road Studios, London. With the exception of two group-composed instrumentals and one Roger Waters song, the album was written entirely by Syd Barrett.

1969, The Grateful Dead played at the Fillmore West, San Francisco.

1970, Elvis Presley performed at Houston’s Astrodome.

1970, Jefferson Airplane is fined $1000 (£ 625) for using profanity during a show in Oklahoma City.

1971, Small Faces, The Grease Band, and Savoy Brown appeared at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1971, Three Dog Night performed at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis.

1971, Five months after her death, Janis Joplin started a nine-week run at number one on the album chart with Pearl.

1972, T Rex appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

1972, Yes played at the Palace Theater, Waterbury, Connecticut.

1972, Led Zeppelin performed at Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney in Australia.

1973, The Rolling Stones played at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

1974, Cher filed for divorce from Sonny Bono. Cher married Gregg Allman from The Allman Brothers band on June 27th of the following year.

1976, The Who begin a European tour at Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland.

1977, Keith Richards was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hotel, for possession of heroin and cocaine. Bail was set at $25,000.

1977, Led Zeppelin cancel the first date of their world tour in Dallas after Robert Plant comes down with tonsillitis.

1977, Pink Floyd performed at Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany.

1978, Rush appeared at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, England.

1980, Winners at the 22nd Grammy Awards included: Song of the year, “What A Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers, Album of the year, Billy Joel’s 52nd St, and Best new artist, Rickie Lee Jones.

1981, The first Who single recorded after Keith Moon’s death, “You Better You Bet,” is released in the UK. The b-side is John Entwistle’s song “The Quiet One.” It reaches number nine on the charts.

1983, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Bicentennial Center, Salina, Kansas.

1988, Aerosmith performed at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, Shreveport, Louisiana.

1993, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks at number one on the US singles charts, giving her the longest ever US chart topper, taking over from Boyz II Men’s hit “End Of The Road,” and became the second biggest selling single in the US.

2004, A worker in a supermarket in Aspen, Colorado alerted the police-after seeing a man shopping with his face covered by a mask. Police arrived on the scene and identified the man as Michael Jackson who was in town on holiday with his children.

2010, U2 raked in more money than any other music act in the US in 2009 making $109m (£71m) from touring, record sales and other royalties, almost twice as much as the second best, Bruce Springsteen who took home $58m (£38m), followed by Madonna with $47m (£31m) and AC/DC with $44m (£29m). Coldplay were the most successful British group, at number eight, with takings of $27m (£18m).

Born on February 27: Eddie Gray, Tommy James & the Shondelles (1948); Robert Ballderama, ? and the Mysterians (1950); Neal Schon,  Journey (1954); Adrian Smith, Iron Maiden (1957); Johnny Van Zant, Lynryd Skynyrd (1957); Paul Humphreys, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1960); Josh Groban (1981)

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Concert Review: Three Dog Night at the Genesee Theatre

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“Lots of bands play deep album cuts on tour,” said Three Dog Night founding member Danny Hutton wryly. “We’re going to play deep album hits.” The seventeen-song, ninety minute set was well received by the sold out crowd of 2400 at the restored 1920’s era movie palace in Waukegan, Illinois.

Our music guru Eric Berman often refers to the Grateful Dead as “the world’s best cover band, but that moniker really belongs to Three Dog Night, who formed in 1967 with the vocal trio of Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. The band charted twenty-one consecutive Top Forty Hits between 1969 and 1975. Three Dog Night achieved their greatest success by taking other songwriters’ compositions and crafting them with a three part harmony. The streak began with Harry Nilsson’s “One,” and included gems from Laura Niro (Eli’s Coming), Paul Williams (Just An Old Fashioned Love Song), Hoyt Axton (Joy To The World, Never Been To Spain), Randy Newman (Mama Told Me Not To Come) and others.

Wells passed away in 2015, and Negron left the group in 1976. Guitarist Michael Allsup is the only remaining original member. Paul Kingery plays bass and sings vocals, along with vocalist David Morgan, who delivered a funny monologue on the pitfalls of getting old and included the best line of the night, “The back of my drivers license lists the organs that I need!” Paul Bautista was behind the drum kit, and Howard Laravea took over the keyboard for another original member Jimmy Greenspoon, who died of cancer in 2015.

Three Dog Night in concert. Photo by SRN

Hutton served as master of ceremonies, regaling the audience with stage banter and a few stories, such as how they recorded their first album in three days, the fact that the band had three months to compose their sophomore effort.

The most poignant moment in the show occurred during the encore when the band played “Prayer of the Children,” an a cappella song from a forthcoming album.

Set list: Genesee Theatre, Waukegan, IL October 4, 2019

The Family of Man
Never Been to Spain
Shambala
Out in the Country
Easy to Be Hard
Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)
One
Let Me Serenade You
An Old Fashioned Love Song
Liar
Sure as I’m Sittin’ Here
Mama Told Me Not to Come
Celebratete

Encore:
Eli’s Coming
Prayer of the Children
Joy to the World

Today in Rock History – September 16th

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are you experienced1967, Jimi Hendrix’s debut LP, Are You Experienced? entered the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, where it stayed for 106 weeks, including 77 weeks in the Top 40. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 15 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and two years later it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the United States.

1967, Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded 11 takes of “Your Mother Should Know,” giving the song a stronger beat, but this version of the song was discarded in favor of the original recording.

1969, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia.

1970, Led Zeppelin won “Best Group” in the Melody Maker readers Poll. This was the first time in eight years that The Beatles hadn’t won in that category.

1970, Jimi Hendrix joined Eric Burdon & War onstage to jam with them at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London which would be Hendrix’s final public appearance.

1971, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at Honolulu Civic Auditorium. Tickets cost $5.00. The Honolulu Star Bulletin wrote, “The real irony of Led Zeppelin’s two hour performance last night was that they played their own review in their last number, “Communication Breakdown.” The show itself was marred by a generally sloppy performance on the part of the group, rather noisy behavior on the part of some of the 4,000 people in attendance, and a hot and sweaty atmosphere on the part of the good old poorly ventilated Civic Auditorium. The music was limp and uneven during all but a small part of the evening.”

1972, Rod Stewart had his second UK No.1 album with Never A Dull Moment.

1972, The Grateful Dead performed at the Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.

1972, Three Dog Night scored their third No.1 single with “Black and White.”

1972, Wishbone Ash, Family, Steppenwolf, John Kay Band, Slade, Uriah Heep, Roy Wood and Wizzard, Wild Angels, Glencoe, Sunshine and Cold Comfort Farm all appeared at the Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England.

1973, Genesis performed at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.

1974, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Paramount Theatre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Supporting acts were KISS and Rush.

1976, AC/DC appeared at Rhein-Ruhr-Halle, Duisburg, Germany.

Marc Bolan of T. Rex

1977, 29-year-old former T Rex singer Marc Bolan was killed instantly when the car driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, left the road and hit a tree in Barnes, London. Miss Jones broke her jaw in the accident. The couple were on the way to Bolan’s home in Richmond after a night out at a Mayfair restaurant. A local man who witnessed the crash said, “When I arrived a girl was lying on the hood and a man with long dark curly hair was stretched out in the road. There was a hell of a mess.”

1978, Boston went to No.1 on the album chart with Don’t Look Back.

1978, During a UK tour Blondie played two shows at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, with guests The Boyfriends.

1979, The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was released. While it was not the first single to feature rapping, it is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop in the United States and around the world. The song’s opening lyric “I said a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip hip hop,” is world-renowned.

1979, The Who played at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1980, Van Halen appeared at McKale Memorial Center, Tucson, Arizona.

1981, The Kinks performed at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.

1989, U2 jammed with B.B. King on a boat rented for the blues legends 64th birthday in Sydney Harbour, Sydney, Australia.

1996, Pearl Jam played the first night on their No Code tour at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington. Because of the band’s refusal to play in Ticketmaster’s venue areas, they were forced to use alternate ticketing companies for the shows, which fans complained were to be out-of-the-way and hard to get to.

1998, At a Sotheby’s auction a notebook belonging to former Beatles roadie Mal Evans containing the lyrics to “Hey Jude” sold for £111,500 $178,400,) a two-tone denim jacket belonging to John Lennon went for £9,200 ($14720,) and the Union Jack dress worn by Spice Girl Ginger Spice sold for £41,320 ($66,110.)

2006, Bob Dylan was at No.1 on the US album chart with Modern Times. Entering the U.S. charts at No.1, making it Dylan’s first album to reach that position since 1976’s Desire, 30 years prior. At 65, Dylan became the oldest living musician to top the Billboard albums chart. (85 year-old Tony Bennett broke this record in 2011 with his Duets album). The record also reached number one in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.

2008, Norman Whitfield died in Los Angeles, California from diabetes and other illnesses. The Motown songwriter and producer collaborated with Barrett Strong on such hits as “I Heard It through the Grapevine,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” “Cloud Nine,” “War,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and “Car Wash.”

2009, Mary Travers from Folk trio Peter, Paul And Mary, passed away after suffering from leukemia for several years. She was 72.

2013, A souvenir booklet from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival signed by Jimi Hendrix fetched $6,500 (£4060) on eBay. The artifact also included autographs from three members of the Mamas and Papas.

Born on this day: B.B. King (1925); Joe Butler, The Lovin Spoonful (1941);  Kenny Jones, Small Faces,  The Who (1941); Bernie Calvert, bass, The Hollies (1942); David Bellamy, Bellamy Brothers (1950); Ron Blair, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1952); Richard Marx, singer, songwriter (1963); and Tramar Lacel Dillard, aka Flo Rida (1979)

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Today in Rock History – July 22

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beatles-introducing-beatles1963, The Beatles’ first US album, Introducing The Beatles was pressed by Vee-Jay Records, who thought they had obtained the legal rights from EMI affiliate, Trans-Global Records. When it was finally released in January, 1964, Capitol Records would hit Vee Jay with an injunction against manufacturing, distributing, advertising, or otherwise disposing of records by the Beatles. After a trial, Vee-Jay was allowed to release any Beatles records that they had masters of in any form until October 15th, 1964. After that time, they no longer had the right to issue any Beatles product.

1964, The Beach Boys performed at Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.

1965, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman from The Rolling Stones were each fined £5 at East Ham Magistrates Court, London after being found guilty of insulting behaviour at a Romford Road service station. The three had all urinated against a wall.

1966, The Who played at Central Pier in Morecambe, Lancashire, England.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at The Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen, Scotland. The venue is home to one of Scotland’s finest dance floors, famous for its bounce, which floats on fixed steel springs. During the 1960s The Beatles,  The Small Faces, and Cream all appeared at the Beach.

Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service

1967, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother & the Holding Company appeared at the Convention Hall, San Diego, California.

1967, The Who play their first American live gig at New York’s Paramount Theater.

1969, Aretha Franklin was arrested for causing a disturbance in a Detroit parking lot. After posting $50 bail, she ran down a road sign while leaving the police station.

1969, The Doors perform at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood, California, portions of the show appear on Absolutely Live. Later the entire concert was released on CD as well.

1971, John and Yoko spent the second day filming the Imagine promotional film at their home in Tittenhurst Park Ascot, England. Today’s footage included the morning walk on the grounds though the mist and John Lennon singing “Imagine” in the white room on his white piano.

1972, Roxy Music appeared at Civic Hall, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England.

1972, The Grateful Dead play the Paramount Northwest Theater in Seattle, Washington.

1972, Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested in Sweden for possession of drugs.

1972, The Rolling Stones performed at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1973, Humble Pie and Mountain appear at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri.

1973, Van Morrison appeared at Birmingham Town Hall, playing his first UK show for over 2 years.

1974, The Eagles release their third album, On the Border.

1975, Number one on the Billboard album charts is Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti.  Second is Olivia Newton-John with Have You Never Been Mellow. Number three is Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks.

1975, Three Dog Night appear at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1975, The Rolling Stones go into the Musicland Studios in Munich to begin recording Black and Blue.

1976, On the campaign trail, Jimmy Carter tells the National Association of Record Merchandisers’ Scholarship Foundation Dinner his musical inspiration as governor of Georgia was Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Led Zeppelin. He makes pertinent quotations from Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

1977, Stiff Records released My Aim Is True the debut album from Elvis Costello in the UK.

1978, The Police sign with A&M Records.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.

1981, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

1982, Van Halen performed at BJCC Arena, Birmingham, Alabama.

1989, Simply Red scored their first UK top charting album with their third release A New Flame.

1989, The soundtrack album Batman by Prince started a six-week run at number one on the US album chart.

2003, Coldplay played the second of two nights at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia on their A Rush of Blood to the Head world tour.

2004, American singer, songwriter and producer Arthur Crier died of heart failure. Member of The Chimes and had worked with Little Eva, Gene Pitney, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Ben E. King, Johnny Nash and The Coasters.

2005, Founder member and singer with The Chi-lites, Eugene Record died of cancer. Had the 1972 US No.1 single “Oh Girl” and 1972 UK No.3 single “Have You Seen Her.” He also released three solo albums.

2006, Johnny Cash was at number one on the US album chart with American V: A Hundred Highways. Released posthumously on July 4, the vocal parts were recorded before Cash’s death, but the instruments were not recorded until 2005.

Born on July 22: George Clinton, Parlaiment, Funkadelic (1941); Bobby Sherman (1943); Estelle Bennett, The Ronettes, and Rick Davies, Supertramp (1944); Don Henley (1947); and Rufus Wainwright (1973)

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