Thursday 26 May 2016

May 17th

Musical birthdays today include bluesman Henry 'Taj Mahal' Fredericks (74), Passport drummer Udo Lindenberg (70), Camel guitarist Andrew Latimer (67), former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford (67), original Iron Maiden lead singer Paul Di'Anno (58), Enya Brennan (55), Phish keyboardist Page McConnell (53), Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor (51), original Tool bassist Paul D'Amour (49), New Kids on the Block lead singer Jordan Knight (46), Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme (43), and Maylene & the Sons of Disaster lead singer Dallas Taylor (36).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Erik Satie, born on this day in 1866... for operatic soprano Birgit Nilsson, born in 1918... for French horn virtuoso Dennis Brain, born in 1921... for free jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman, who would have been 85 today... for Spinners bass vocalist Pervis Jackson, who would have been 78... for singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester, who would have been 72... for Surface lead guitarist David Townsend, who would have been 61... for violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini, who died on this date in 1840... for Lawrence Welk, who died in 1992... for Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, who passed away in 1996... and for Donna Summer, who left us four years ago today. 

Also on May 17th: Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria rusticana premieres at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome (1890)... The first Monterey Folk Festival opens in Monterey, CA (1963)... Bob Dylan makes his first headlining concert appearance in the UK when he plays an afternoon show at the Royal Festival Hall in London billed as a ‘Folksong Concert’. Dylan's 18-song set includes the live debut of Mr. Tambourine Man, and takes place on a Sunday afternoon. During an intermission, Dylan receives a telegram from John Lennon seeking a meeting which will not materialise until later in the year (1964)... On the UK leg of his current world tour, Dylan plays the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. A member of the audience unhappy with Dylan's move from an acoustic sound to rock shouts "Judas!" The star replies "I don't believe you... You're a liar" before turning to his backing musicians, who are leading into 'Like a Rolling Stone', and instructing them to "Play it fucking loud!" (1966)... Working at Abbey Road studios, The Beatles begin recording a new John Lennon song entitled ‘You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)’. The song was not finished until November 1969, and was not released until March 1970, as the B-side of the ‘Let it Be’ single (1967)... McCoy Tyner records the album Time for Tyner (1968)... Joni Mitchell is on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time... Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert as director of the NY Philharmonic (1969)... Apple Records release Paul & Linda McCartney's album Ram... 'Godspell' premieres off- Broadway (1971)... Elton John is awarded a Platinum Record for sales of a million copies of the LP Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first album ever to be certified Platinum on the day of its release... Led Zeppelin play the first of five sold-out nights to 17,000 fans at Earls Court Arena, London (1975)... A fire destroys Tom Petty's house in Los Angeles (1987)... Bill Wyman's restaurant 'Sticky Fingers' opens in London (1989)... Nirvana play the last date of a North American tour at the Zoo in Boise, ID. It is Chad Channing's final gig with the band before being replaced as drummer by Dave Grohl (1990)... Paul McCartney and Heather Mills admit that they have given up the fight to save their marriage, saying that after four years together, they are going their separate ways (2006)... Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty post a two-minute clip of themselves playing with newborn mice on YouTube. The video shows Doherty and Winehouse in a bare room making rambling comments whilst picking up the mice and talking to them (2008).

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