October 2nd

Musical birthdays today include Don McLean (81), Cajun musician Jo-El Sonnier (80), Richard Hell [né Richard Meyers] (77), Mike Rutherford (76), Sting (75), Human League frontman Philip Oakey (71), ex-Dream Academy multi-instrumentalist Kate St John (69), Glass Tiger lead guitarist Al Connelly (66), ex-Sugarcubes drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson (62), Gillian Welch (59), Damon 'Badly Drawn Boy' Gough (57), Slipknot guitarist Jim Root (54), Aqua lead singer Lene Nystrøm (53), and The Sounds lead singer Maja Ivarsson (47). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz guitarist Howard Roberts, born on this day in 1929... for rapper Proof, who would have been 53... and for cowboy singer and entertainer Gene Autry, who left us today in 1998. 

Also on October 2: The NY Academy of Music opens at 14th St. & Irving Place in Manhattan with a performance of Bellini's Norma. It will be the centre of opera in the city until the creation of the Met (1854)... Leonard Bernstein arrives in Tel Aviv to begin conducting the newly renamed Israel Philharmonic in a month-long concert series (1948)... 'Stay' by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs is the № 1 song in America today. At 1:37, it remains the shortest US chart-topper ever (1959)... 15 Elvis Presley fans are arrested in Leipzig, East Germany, after marching through the city streets shouting "Long live Elvis!" along with derogatory remarks about German music (1959)... Phil Spector and his partner Lester Sill release their first single on their new label Philles, The Crystals' 'Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby' (1961)... The Kinks' eponymous debut albumn is released (1964)... The McCoys have the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with 'Hang on Sloopy' (1965)... All six members of the Grateful Dead are arrested for possession of marijuana after an SFPD raid on their house at 710 Ashbury St. (1967)... Pink Floyd release their fifth album, Atom Heart Mother (1970)... Following several attempts at grave robbery, the remains of Elvis and his mother Gladys are disinterred from the Memphis cemetery and moved to Graceland (1977)... Peter Gabriel performs with Genesis for the first time since leaving the band in 1975. Phil Collins and company join their former lead singer on stage in a concert to benefit WOMAD [World of Music, Art and Dance], the festival organizing body that is Gabriel's current project (1982)... Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA world tour ends with the last of 4 sold out shows at L.A.'s Memorial Coliseum (1985)... The Everly Brothers receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1986)... The Cranberries release their second album No Need to Argue (1994)... Journey announce that they have decided to re-form (1995)...  In Galway, Ireland, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones plays his first solo concert (1999)... Kevin Spacey is the MC for 'Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music' at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Among those performing are Alanis Morissette, Moby, Stone Temple Pilots and the Dave Matthews Band. The evening closes with an invitation to the audience to sing along on 'Give Peace a Chance' (2002)... Robbie Williams signs with EMI for £80 million, the most lucrative record deal in British history to date. When asked what he's going to do with all the money, the singer replies "Count it" (2002)... Billy Joel marries 23-year-old Kate Lee at his Centre Island, New York mansion. It is the singer's third trip to the altar (2004).

October 1st

 

Musical birthdays today include Julie Andrews (91), Cajun accordion master Marc Savoy (86), Herb Fame [of Peaches & Herb] (84), ex-Sly & the Family Stone saxophonist Jerry Martini (83), former Wishbone Ash bassist Martin Turner (79), April Wine guitarist Brian Greenway (75), OMD keyboardist Martin Cooper (68), Youssou N'Dour (67), Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin (59), Suede guitarist Richard Oakes (50), and rapper Dizzee Rascal [né Dylan Mills] (40). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Vladimir Horowitz, born on this date in 1903... for pioneering doo-wop singer Grady Chapman and for country singer Bonnie Owens, both of whom were born in 1929... for bluesman Albert Collins, born in 1932... for Donny Hathaway, who would have been 81 today... for Brownsville Station frontman Cub Koda, who would have been 78... for Booker T & the M.G.s drummer Al Jackson, Jr., who was murdered in a home robbery today in 1975 at the age of 40... and for Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer, who left us today in 2004. 

Also on October 1: John Phillip Sousa is appointed conductor of the US Marine Band (1880)... The Curtis Institute of Music opens in Philadelphia with a $12 million endowment from Mary-Louise Curtis Bok, heiress to the Saturday Evening Post publishing fortune (1924)... Following an overwhelmingly negative reaction from screening audiences to Elvis Presley's death at the end of the film Love Me Tender, the King is called back to re-shoot the scene. In the new ending, the hero lives (1956)... Shostakovich's Symphony № 12 in D Minor, subtitled The Year of 1917, premieres in Leningrad (1961)... Brian Epstein signs a 5-year management contract with the Beatles (1962)... Bob Dylan plays his first electric show at Carnegie Hall, backed by Levon & the Hawks... At Camelot Sound Studios in Lynwood, WA, John Coltrane and sidemen record the album Om, which will be released posthumously. Controversy persists to this day as to whether or not Coltrane and fellow saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders were under the influence of LSD at the time (1965)... Jimi Hendrix plays live in the UK for the first time when he is invited onstage by Cream to jam with them at a gig at London Polytechnic (1966)... Pink Floyd arrive at JFK airport to begin their first US tour (1967)... Jimi Hendrix is laid to rest in the Greenwood Cemetery, over the road from the Dunlop Baptist Church in Seattle. Among the graveside mourners are Miles Davis, Eric Burdon and Johnny Winter (1970)... The Pretenders are forced to cancel the remaining shows on their current US tour after drummer Martin Chambers punches out a windowpane, severing tendons and nicking an artery in the process (1981)... Sony unveils the CDP-101, the world's first commercially released Compact Disc Player. The system retails for 168,000 yen, or c. $1,730 in today's dollars (1982)... Robert Plant wraps up his first solo North American tour at the PNE Coliseum in Vancouver, BC (1983)... British tabloid The Daily Mirror publishes a cover photo of Michael Jackson in a scoutmaster's uniform along with 5 young scouts. A spokesman for the Boy Scouts makes a statement the next day that the singer has no association with the organization (1994)... The surviving members of Nirvana release From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, a compilation of live recordings made between 1989 and 1994 (1996)... The № 1 album in America today is Madonna's latest release, Music (2000)... The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia officially unveils the street sign for the newly named AC/DC Way. The local council ordered two dozen of the signs in anticipation of future thefts... As part of the John Kerry campaign in swing states, Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., John Fogerty and Bright Eyes kick off the Vote for Change tour in Philadelphia (2004)... The Spice Girls London reunion concert sells out in 38 seconds after fans are informed that tickets have gone on sale. More than one million people in the UK had pre-registered for notification. The show is scheduled for December 15 at the O2 Arena (2007).  

 

September 30th

 

Musical birthdays today include soul singer Cissy Houston (93), 5th Dimension vocalist Marilyn McCoo (83), Québecoise pop singer Diane Dufresne (82), 10,000 Maniacs founding member John Lombardo (74), Gov't Mule drummer Matt Abts (73), singer & multi-instrumentalist Patrice Rushen (72), country singer Marty Stuart (67), Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio (62), Goo Goo Dolls original lead singer Robby Takacs (62), ex-Sugababes vocalist Keisha Buchanan (42), and rapper T-Pain [né Faheem Rasheed Najm] (40).  

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz legend Buddy Rich, born on this day in 1917... for English songwriter & pianist Donald Swann [of Flanders & Swann], born in 1923... for Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin, who would have been 86... for Frankie Lymon, who would have been 84... for Marc Bolan, who would have been 79... for Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Nick Curran, who would have been 49... for Mary Ford, who died on this date in 1977... for American composer Virgil Thomson, who passed away in 1989... and for songwriter [and sometime Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn collaborator] Jacques Levy, who left us today in 2004. 

Also on September 30: Mozart's final opera Die Zauberflöte[The Magic Flute] has its premiere in Vienna (1791)... Donovan makes his US television debut on ABC's Shindig! (1965)... The UK's first national pop radio station, BBC Radio 1, is launched to take over from the pirate radio stations, which had been shut down by the Home Office. The first record played by former pirate DJ Tony Blackburn is The Move's 'Flowers in the Rain' (1967)... David Crosby's girlfriend Christine Hinton is killed in a head-on collision just north of San Francisco (1969)... In Reading, Yes begin their first UK tour with Rick Wakeman at the keyboards (1971)... Foghat play a benefit concert at the Palladium to help the NY Public Library buy a collection of rare blues records for its archives (1977)... Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' is at № 1 on both sides of the Atlantic (1983)... Steve Earle is arrested in Nashville for failing to report for jury duty (1992)... Kate Pierson of the B-52's is charged with criminal mischief and trespassing after being arrested during an anti-fur demonstration outside Vogue Magazine's New York offices (1993)... Mariah Carey becomes the first female artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at № 1 with her latest single 'Fantasy' (1995)... Chris De Burgh's website is closed down after its guestbook is flooded with obscene messages. One of the posts consisted of two four-letter words repeated 3500 times (1999)... Dido releases Life for Rent, her follow-up to her multi-million selling debut album No Angel (2003)... George Strait breaks Conway Twitty's record by scoring his 41st № 1 hit on the Billboard Country chart with 'Give It Away' (2006).

September 29th

 

Musical birthdays today include bluegrass flatpicker Dan Crary (87), jazz-rock violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (84), television theme composer Mike Post [best remembered for 'The Rockford Files' and 'Law & Order'] (82), ex-Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner (78), Suzzy Roche (70), record label owner & impresario Alan McGee [manager of Oasis and The Jesus and Mary Chain, among others] (66), Primus lead singer & bassist Les Claypool (63), Suede lead singer Brett Anderson (59), jazz and metal guitarist Alex Skolnick (58), rapper AMG (56), and former Much the Same frontman Chris 'Gunner' McGrath (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Gene Autry, born on this date in 1907... for Czech conductor and violinist Václav Neumann, born in 1920... for Jerry Lee Lewis, born in 1935... for Tommy Boyce [of the songwriting duo Boyce & Hart), who would have been 87 today... for session player and King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace, who would have been 80... and for songwriter Paul Jabara [best known for Donna Summer's 'Last Dance' and 'It's Raining Men' for the Weather Girls], who left us today in 1992.  

Also on September 29: Handel finished his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 1 (1739)... Gustav Holst's The Planets has its premiere at Queen's Hall, London. It was noted that during rehearsals, custodians would stop work and listen in awe to the work that would bring Holst lasting fame (1918)... Berry Gordy's new label Motown Records release their first single, 'Bad Girl' by The Miracles (1959)... Robert Shelton's glowing review of Bob Dylan's support slot at Gerde's Folk City is published in the New York Times. On the same day, Dylan has his first audition with legendary CBS Records scout John Hammond (1961)... At Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles do the final mix of 'I Am the Walrus', which includes the sound of a radio being tuned through numerous stations and coming to rest on a BBC production of King Lear. John Lennon composed the song by combining three separate fragments that he had been working on, and reportedly made the words as nonsensical as possible when he learnt that a former English teacher of his was giving students Beatles lyrics to analyse... The Rolling Stones officially part ways with their manager Andrew Loog Oldham (1967)... Capitol Records releases Merle Haggard's 'Okie from Muskogee' (1969)... Led Zeppelin close their triumphant first Japanese tour with a show at Osaka's Festival Hall (1971)... Celebrating his birthday somewhat excessively, Jerry Lee Lewis nearly lives up to his nickname of 'the Killer' when he accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens in the chest. The piano-pounder was using an office door for target practice. Owens survives, but sues his boss (1976)... Prince has his second US № 1 with 'Let's Go Crazy' (1984)... The Smiths release Strangeways, Here We Come, their final studio album (1987)... While travelling cross country on his motorbike from Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen calls in at Matt's Saloon in Prescott, AZ and jams with the house band. He also writes a cheque for $10,000 to pay the medical expenses of one of the barmaids who has just returned to work after a long stay in hospital (1989)... Keith Moon's five-piece drum kit, custom made for him in 1968, sells for £125,000 at auction in London to an American collector (1992)... Alanis Morissette plays the final show of her first US tour in Houston, TX (1996)... Ozzy Osbourne announces that he is writing a Broadway musical based on the life of Rasputin (2003).

September 29th

 

Musical birthdays today include bluegrass flatpicker Dan Crary (87), jazz-rock violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (84), television theme composer Mike Post [best remembered for 'The Rockford Files' and 'Law & Order'] (82), ex-Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner (78), Suzzy Roche (70), record label owner & impresario Alan McGee [manager of Oasis and The Jesus and Mary Chain, among others] (66), Primus lead singer & bassist Les Claypool (63), Suede lead singer Brett Anderson (59), jazz and metal guitarist Alex Skolnick (58), rapper AMG (56), and former Much the Same frontman Chris 'Gunner' McGrath (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Gene Autry, born on this date in 1907... for Czech conductor and violinist Václav Neumann, born in 1920... for Jerry Lee Lewis, born in 1935... for Tommy Boyce [of the songwriting duo Boyce & Hart), who would have been 87 today... for session player and King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace, who would have been 80... and for songwriter Paul Jabara [best known for Donna Summer's 'Last Dance' and 'It's Raining Men' for the Weather Girls], who left us today in 1992.  

Also on September 29: Handel finished his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 1 (1739)... Gustav Holst's The Planets has its premiere at Queen's Hall, London. It was noted that during rehearsals, custodians would stop work and listen in awe to the work that would bring Holst lasting fame (1918)... Berry Gordy's new label Motown Records release their first single, 'Bad Girl' by The Miracles (1959)... Robert Shelton's glowing review of Bob Dylan's support slot at Gerde's Folk City is published in the New York Times. On the same day, Dylan has his first audition with legendary CBS Records scout John Hammond (1961)... At Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles do the final mix of 'I Am the Walrus', which includes the sound of a radio being tuned through numerous stations and coming to rest on a BBC production of King Lear. John Lennon composed the song by combining three separate fragments that he had been working on, and reportedly made the words as nonsensical as possible when he learnt that a former English teacher of his was giving students Beatles lyrics to analyse... The Rolling Stones officially part ways with their manager Andrew Loog Oldham (1967)... Capitol Records releases Merle Haggard's 'Okie from Muskogee' (1969)... Led Zeppelin close their triumphant first Japanese tour with a show at Osaka's Festival Hall (1971)... Celebrating his birthday somewhat excessively, Jerry Lee Lewis nearly lives up to his nickname of 'the Killer' when he accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens in the chest. The piano-pounder was using an office door for target practice. Owens survives, but sues his boss (1976)... Prince has his second US № 1 with 'Let's Go Crazy' (1984)... The Smiths release Strangeways, Here We Come, their final studio album (1987)... While travelling cross country on his motorbike from Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen calls in at Matt's Saloon in Prescott, AZ and jams with the house band. He also writes a cheque for $10,000 to pay the medical expenses of one of the barmaids who has just returned to work after a long stay in hospital (1989)... Keith Moon's five-piece drum kit, custom made for him in 1968, sells for £125,000 at auction in London to an American collector (1992)... Alanis Morissette plays the final show of her first US tour in Houston, TX (1996)... Ozzy Osbourne announces that he is writing a Broadway musical based on the life of Rasputin (2003).

September 28th

 

Musical birthdays today include guitarist Emmett Chapman [inventor of the Chapman Stick] (90), original Steppenwolf bassist Nick St. Nicolas (83), pop singer Helen Shapiro (80), guitarist George Lynch (72), Jennifer Rush (66), Moon Zappa (59), singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur (55), A.J. Croce (55), Pussycat Dolls vocalist Melody Thornton (42), Hilary Duff (39), and classical violinist Chloë Hanslip (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for variety show host Ed Sullivan, born on this date in 1901... for Fugs co-founder Naphtali 'Tuli' Kupferberg, born in 1923... for bluesman Koko Taylor, born in 1929... for Johnny Mathis, born in 1934... for Ben E. King, who would have been 88... for Temptations vocalist Elbridge Bryant, who would have been 87... for harmonica virtuoso Phillip 'Norton Buffalo' Jackson, who would have been 74... for jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland, who would have been 71... for Miles Davis, who left us today in 1991... and for Lucy Vodden, the childhood friend of Julian Lennon who was the subject of his drawing that inspired one of his father to write 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', and who lost a long battle with lupus today in 2009 at the age of 46. 

Also on September 28: The British national anthem God Save the King is performed for the first time at the Drury Lane Theatre in London (1745)... Placido Domingo makes his American debut at the Met in NYC, performing in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur... The Beatles start a 9-week run at № 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 'Hey Jude' (1968)... David Bowie sells out his first performance in NYC at Carnegie Hall (1972)... Bad Company's eponymous debut is the № 1 album in the US (1974)... A&M Records sue George Harrison for $6 million for being two months late in delivering a new album... Stevie Wonder releases Songs in the Key of Life (1976)... U2 play the first of two sold out nights at Madison Square Garden on the Joshua Tree tour... Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson are guests on the game show 'The $10,000 Pyramid' (1987)... The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society [AES], feturing the official US debut of the DVD audio format, opens in NYC (1997)... Tina Turner's hometown, made famous in her song 'Nutbush City Limits', names a section of Tennessee State Highway 19 the Tina Turner Highway. Turner was born in Nutbush, a small town some 50 miles northeast of Memphis, and lived there until she was 17 (2002)... In an editorial published in the Los Angeles Times, Yusuf Islam blasts the U.S. government's policy of screening airline passenger manifests for potential terrorists as 'indiscriminate and unjust'. The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens was barred from entering the country last week because his name appeared on a Homeland Security watch list (2004)... The first John Lennon Northern Lights Festival is held in Durness, Scotland, one of the most northwesterly and remote villages in mainland Britain. Lennon spent his childhood holidays between the ages of 9 in 13 in the village, and also returned there in 1969 with Yoko and Julian (2007).

September 27th

 Musical birthdays today include Austrian balladeer Freddy Quinn (95), Stax session player Don Nix (85), Randy Bachman (83), classical guitarist David Starobin (75), session bassist Robbie Shakespeare (73), Shaun Cassidy (68), Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins (62), Wild Flag guitarist & singer Carrie Brownstein (52), rapper Lil Wayne [né Dwayne Carter, Jr.] (44), Avril Lavigne (42), and Of Mice & Men lead singer Austin Carlile (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist Bud Powell, born on this day in 1924... for bop trumpeter Red Rodney, born in 1929... for Soul Train host and producer Don Cornelius, who would have been 89... for Meat Loaf [né Marvin Lee Aday], who would have been 79... for Men at Work multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham, who would have been 73... for Wings guitarist Jimmy McCullough, who died of a drug overdose on this date in 1979 at the age of 26... for Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in an accident involving the band's tour bus in 1986... and for Johnny Mathis, who left us today in 2011. 

Also on September 27: Dvořák arrives in NYC to take up the position of director of the National Conservatory (1892)... The Beach Boys make their debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing 'I Get around' and 'Wendy'... Bob Dylan is among the guests at a party at Miles Davis' home in Manhattan given for Robert Kennedy, candidate for the US Senate from NY (1964)... The Beatles complete work on 'Fool on the Hill' and begin recording 'I Am the Walrus' (1967)... Pink Floyd appear at Queen's Hall on the Isle of Dunoon in Scotland. All regularly scheduled ferry services to the island having been cancelled because of bad weather, the group hire a small boat on their own and risk the rough seas to make the crossing. They eventually appear in front of 400 fans (1968)... Creedence Clearwater Revival are among the guests on Johnny Cash's ABC-TV weekly variety show (1969)... Carlos Santana announces that he has become a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and that he has legally added the middle name 'Devadip' [meaning 'the Light of the Lamp Supreme'] to his own (1973)... Blondie release the album Eat to the Beat, while Regatta de Blanc by The Police also appears in shops (1979)...  The № 1 album in Britain today is David Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)... R.E.M. release Monster (1994)... Bob Dylan performs before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The two chat briefly after the singer's concluding number, 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' (1997)... In NYC, Placido Domingo breaks Enrico Caruso's record when he headlines his 18th season opening performance at the Met (1999)... U2 play a show from the rooftop of Dublin's Clarence Hotel [which they own] to more than 4,000 listeners in the streets below (2000)... Phil Spector is formally charged with murder in the February 3, 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson (2004)... Metallica have the № 1 album in the US with Death Magnetic, the group's ninth studio release (2008)... At the age of 85, Tony Bennett becomes the oldest living person to top the US album chart, with Duets II. Featuring collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, among others, it is also the singer's first US № 1 (2011).