Sunday, 23 August 2026

August 23rd

 

Musical birthdays today include South African jazz singer Letta Mbulu (84), Rick Springfield (77), Survivor frontman Jimi Jamison (75), Bucks Fizz singer Bobby G (73), ex-Orange Juice frontman Edwin Collins (67), Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo (64), Happy Mondays lead singer Shaun Ryder (63), jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (56), folk singer Eliza Carthy (51), Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas (48) and Lianne La Havas (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for singer-songwriter and activist Malvina Reynolds, born on this day in 1900... for song & dance man Gene Kelly, born in 1912... for jazz pianist & film score composer [best remembered for the soundtrack to Godard's 'Breathless'] Martial Solal, born in 1927... for satirist Mark Russell, born in 1932... for Keith Moon, who would have been 80 today... and for jazz trumpeter and bandleader Maynard Ferguson, who left us today in 2006. 

Also on August 23: President Harry Truman's daughter Margaret, an aspiring classical singer, presents her first concert before a crowd of 15,000 at the Hollywood Bowl. Reviews are generally negative, prompting a famously scathing letter from dad to Paul Hume, music critic for the Washington Post. Hume will keep the letter framed in his office for the rest of his career (1947)... John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell at the Mount Pleasant registry office in Liverpool. He then plays  gig with the Beatles that night at the Riverpark Ballroom (1962)... The Rolling Stones make their first of 20 appearances on the pop music show Ready, Steady, Go!... 'She Loves You' enters the British singles charts at no. 1 (1963)... In Jerusalem, Stravinsky's oratorio Abraham and Isaac is performed for the first time. Dedicated to the people of Israel, the Israel Festival Orchestra play under the baton of Robert Kraft (1964)... The Beatles play Shea Stadium for the last time, with some 11,000 seats unsold... At home, the group are atop the British singles charts again with the double A-side Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby. According to Paul, he came up with the name of the latter song after working with actress Eleanor Bron in the film Help!, and from frequent patronage of a wine & spirits shop in Bristol called Rigby & Evens Ltd. (1966)...  In the course of a wild 21st birthday party during the Who's current US tour, Keith Moon drives a Lincoln Continental limousine into the swimming pool of the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan... Joni Mitchell plays live in the UK for the first time when she opens for folk rockers The Piccadilly Line at the Marquee Club in London (1967)... Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis marries high school sweetheart Deborah Woodruff ~ they are 19 and 18, respectively (1975)... The Heatwave Festival takes place in Toronto, Talking Heads, the B-52s, the Pretenders and Elvis Costello are among those on the bill. Tickets cost $30, and with only 50,000 attending, the event loses over $1 million... David Bowie goes to № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ashes to Ashes'. The release of the song was also accompanied by a video costing some £250,000 [a record at the time], but which will be seen only sporadically until the launch of MTV the following year (1980)... Bob Dylan's childhood home at 2425 7th Avenue East in Hibbing, MN is sold to an anonymous buyer (1990)... 'The Bigger They Come', a previously unreleased track by Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, is heard for the first time on the soundtrack of the Don Johnson vehicle 'Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man' at the film's Los Angeles premiere (1991)... Queen become the first western rock group to receive official approval in Iran since the Khomeini revolution in 1979. Freddy Mercury was of Iranian ancestry, and bootleg CDs and tapes had been available for years (2004). 

Saturday, 22 August 2026

August 22nd

 

Musical birthdays today include Ron Dante, lead singer of The Archies (81), former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Godchaux (79), Beach Boys founding member David Marks (78), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (68), Bangles drummer Debbi Peterson (65), Tori Amos (63), Gary 'GZA' Grice (59), The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn (55), Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough (53) and Simple Plan lead guitarist Jeff Stinco (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Claude Debussy, born on this day in 1862... for John Lee Hooker, born in 1917... for avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, born in 1927... for Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-go, and rock 'n' roll pioneer Dale Hawkins, both of whom would have been 88... for Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley, who would have been 58... for announcer Al Dvorin, who coined the phrase 'Elvis has left the building' [At a Las Vegas gig in the early '70s, Colonel Tom Parker asked him to inform the audience that Elvis would not be doing an encore ~ Dvorin took the stage and announced "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building ~ thank you and goodnight"], and who passed away on this date in 2004... for The Knack drummer Bruce Gary, who died today in 2006... and for Jerry Lieber and Nick Ashford, two great songwriters who both left us today in 2012.

Also on August 22: Handel begins work on The Messiah. Working in the white heat of inspiration [many musical biographers and historians today believe that the composer was bipolar], he will finish the oratorio in three weeks (1741)... Elvis Presley begins work on his first film, Love Me Tender (1956)... The first television appearance of the Beatles is recorded by Manchester-based Granada TV, who film a lunchtime session at the Cavern Club [the episode will be broadcast on the 17th of October] (1962)... Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas are at no. 1 on the UK charts with 'Bad to Me', which John Lennon wrote while on holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein. It is the first Lennon-McCartney composition to be a hit for an act other than the Beatles themselves (1963)... The Supremes go to № 1 on the Billboard chart with 'Where Did Our Love Go?' The Holland-Dozier-Holland team originally offered the song to The Marvelettes, who rejected it as 'childish' (1964)... Jimi Hendrix is part of another curious lineup as he appears on the BBC's Simon Dee Show following Kiki Dee and Cat Stevens (1967)... Ringo storms out of the White Album sessions, saying that he can't take the bickering and tension in the group anymore and announcing that he's quitting. The news of the drummer's departure is kept secret, and he will rejoin the group on the 3rd of September. In the meantime, the remaining Beatles record 'Back in the USSR' with John on bass and Paul on drums (1968)... The Beatles meet at John's Tittenhurst Park estate for what will be their final photo session together. Two of photographer Ethan Russell's shots will form the front and back of the US compilation album Hey Jude. Yoko Ono and a heavily pregnant Linda McCartney [she will give birth to daughter Mary 6 days later] also appear in some of the pictures... Ornette Coleman's drummer Don Blackwell teams up with Don Cherry for the first time, as the two begin the sessions that will produce the album Mu (1969)... Creedence Clearwater Revival start a 9-week run at the top of the US album charts with Cosmo's Factory. The name of the album came from the Berkeley, CA warehouse where the band rehearsed ~ drummer Doug Clifford, nicknamed Cosmo, had begun calling the space 'the Factory' owing to John Fogerty's insistence on long daily practices (1970)... Sid Vicious makes his last live stage appearance, at London's Electric Ballroom with Rat Scabies of the Damned, former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and Nancy Spungen. In the audience are Elvis Costello, Debbie Harry and Joan Jett, among others (1978)... In through the Out Door, Led Zeppelin's final album with all 4 original members, is released. 'Fool in the Rain' is issued simultaneously as the first single from the album (1979)... Levon Helm discovers the perils of playing the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, when Bruce Springsteen spontaneously jumps on stage after the opening riff of 'Up on Cripple Creek' and commandeers lead vocals (1987)... Sting and longtime girlfriend Trudie Styler are married. The band at the reception is The Troggs, who will be joined by the former Policemen themselves for two numbers (1992)... At a Lilith Fair stop in Toronto, Prince appears during Sheryl Crow's set to jam on 'Every Day Is a Winding Road' (1999)... The Times of London publishes an open letter from Pink to Prince William urging the future monarch to stop hunting on behalf of furry animals everywhere (2003). 

Friday, 21 August 2026

August 21st

 

Musical birthdays today include former Statler Brothers bass vocalist Harold Reid (87), Jackie DeShannon (82), ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith (72), System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian (59), Prodigy founder Liam Howlett (55), Kelis Rogers AKA Kelis (47), and former Burning the Masses lead singer Cameron 'Big Chocolate' Argon (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Count Basie, born on this day in 1904... for bebop trumpeter Art Farmer, born in 1928... for
Kenny Rogers, who would have been 87 today... for Joe Strummer, who would have been 74... for Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesizer that bears his name, who died on this date in 2005... for Nashville session drummer Buddy Harman, who played on Patsy Cline's 'Crazy' [see below] and Tammy Wynette's 'Stand by Your Man', and passed away in 2008... and for Don Everly, who left us four years ago today.  

Also on August 21: The US Marine Corps Band gives its first performance for the general public in Washington, DC (1800)... Motown release The Marvelettes' 'Please Mr. Postman', which will become the label's first № 1 single (1961)... Patsy Cline records the classic Willie Nelson song, ‘Crazy’. Cline is still on crutches after going through a car windshield in a head-on collision two months earlier and has difficulty reaching the high notes of the song at first due to her broken ribs. 'Crazy'will spend 21 weeks on the charts and eventually become one of her signature tunes.(1962)... During today's Beatles concert in Las Vegas, the band stop the show twice to plead with the fans to stop pelting the stage with jellybeans. This has become a regular occurrence at the group's gigs ever since they revealed that the spherical snacks are among their favourite treats (1964)... The Rolling Stones top the US album charts for the first time with their LP 'Out of Our Heads' (1965)... On their final US tour, the Beatles perform in two cities because of a cancellation due to rain the previous day. First they play at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. They then fly to St. Louis for a concert at Busch Stadium, where they perform under a tarpaulin due to a downpour. Paul McCartney will later say it was this gig that convinced him that the Beatles should stop performing live (1966)... The Doors go into the studio in Los Angeles to begin recording their second album (1967)... Linda Ronstadt makes her Broadway debut in a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Pirates of Penzance' (1980)... Bono marries longtime girlfriend Alison Stewart at All Saints Church in the Dublin suburb of Raheny. Adam Clayton is best man (1982)... Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone has a four-hour neurosurgical operation at Bellevue Hospital after being found unconscious on a Lower East Side street where he had been involved in a brawl (1983)... In Columbus, OH, Bob Dylan plays the 600th show on his so-called 'Never-ending Tour' (1994)... David Byrne's lawyers file for an injunction to keep the other members of the band from touring as The Heads. The lawsuit will be settled out of court (1996)... Oasis' third album 'Be Here Now', becomes one of the fastest selling albums ever, shifting over 350,000 units on the first day of release (1997)... A Beatles fan in America foils three men breaking into a shop in Liverpool, England. The man, who had logged onto a site streaming live footage of Mathew Street and a forthcoming Beatles festival, saw the men smash the window of a shop and climb inside. He phoned Merseyside Police, who arrested the perpetrators at the scene (2006)... Paedophile and ex-pop star Gary Glitter returns to Thailand after being refused entry to Hong Kong. Chinese authorities inform the UK Foreign Office that they barred Glitter from entry. He was earlier deported from Vietnam after spending almost three years in jail for sexually abusing two pre-teen girls. He flew to Hong Kong from Bangkok after refusing to fly to the UK, and had made a plea for medical treatment after saying he was suffering a heart attack (2008).

Thursday, 20 August 2026

August 20th

 

Musical birthdays today include jazz drummer Milford Graves (85), Hawkwind guitarist Dave Brock (85), Kraftwerk founder and leader Ralf Hütter (80), Chicago [the group, that is] trombonist and horn arranger James Pankow (79), Robert Plant (78), John Hiatt (74), Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst (56), singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum (47), and Demi Lovato (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz legend Jack Teagarden, born on this day in 1905... for country singer Jim Reeves, born in 1923... for original Flying Burrito Brother and country rock pioneer Sneaky Pete Kleinow, born in 1934... for The Seeds frontman Sky Saxon, who would have been 88... for Isaac Hayes, who would have been 84... for Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, who would have been 77... for The Knack lead singer Doug Fieger, who would have been 74... for Joe Dassin, who died today in 1980... and for Bread member and widely employed session man Larry Knechtel, who left us today in 2009. 


Also on August 20: Tchaikovsky conducts the orchestra in the premiere performance of his 1812 Overture in Moscow (1882)... Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and his partner found Immediate Records. The launch party is attended by Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Nico, among others. The new label's first release will be the McCoys' 'Hang on Sloopy', and will go on to become the home of the Small Faces and the Nice, as well as the place where Jimmy Page will serve his apprenticeship as a producer... The Rolling Stones release (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction in the UK, some 2 1/2 months after its American debut (1965)... Dr. David R. Lipscomb, director of the audio lab at the University of Tennessee, reports that guinea pigs subjected over a 3-month period to 90 hours of rock music recorded at 120 decibels at a Knoxville club have suffered acute inner ear damage. NYC disco owner Steve Paul is quoted as saying "In the event that we notice a rise in guinea pig attendance at The Scene, we will bear their comfort in mind" (1968)... Frank Zappa announces that he has disbanded The Mothers of Invention. he will form a new lineup the following year... After finishing 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)', The Beatles begin working on the running order for the Abbey Road album. The medley is initially slated for side 1 of the record, and Octopus' Garden and Oh! Darling are in reverse order from the final version. This day also marks the last time all four Beatles are together in the Abbey Road studio (1969)... The Stones release the single 'Angie' (1973)... Bob Dylan visits Michael Bloomfield at the guitarist's home in Marin Co., CA to play him some of the material from the yet-to-be-recorded Blood on the Tracks. He is considering using Bloomfield on some of the sessions. The visit does not go well, however, and the atmosphere is tense as Dylan runs through song after song without a pause. Bloomfield is unable to follow the chord changes, and Dylan seems uninterested in helping him learn the songs (1974)... Dylan releases Slow Train Coming, his first album following his conversion to Christianity (1979)... Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen makes his first live appearance with the band since losing his left arm in a car accident (1986)... A doctor in Phoenix, AZ files a $35 million lawsuit against the Southwest Bell phone company. He alleges that his wife died because he could not get through to 911, all lines being jammed by callers trying to purchase Garth Brooks concert tickets (1992)... Madame Tussaud's opens an interactive Pop Idol display with a speaking waxwork of judge Simon Cowell. The waxwork makes such comments as "That was extraordinary... Unfortunately, I mean extraordinarily bad", and "Thank you, goodbye, and that was the worst performance I have ever heard" (2003)... A man in Stoke-on-Trent, England names Bryan Adams as the 'other man' in a divorce action after years spent trying to cope with his wife's obsession with the singer. Rob Tinsley says that he has been living for years with a life-size cutout standing at the foot of the marital bed, and posters of the Canadian rocker covering most of the wall surfaces of the house (2004).

 

 

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

August 19th

 

Musical birthdays today Billy J. Kramer (83), country singer Eddy Raven (82), Ian Gillan (81), Queen bassist John Deacon (75), Europe lead singer Joey Tempest [né Rolf Larsson (63), country singer Lee Ann Womack (59), rapper Fat Joe [né Joseph Cartagena] (56), stage musical singer Darius Campbell (45), and rapper Romeo Miller [AKA Romeo] (37).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist & longtime Billie Holiday accompanist Jimmy Rowles, born on this day in 1918... for Ginger Baker, who would have been 86 today... for Johnny Nash, who would have been 86... for rapper Nate Dogg [né Nathaniel Hale], who would have been 57... for Blind Willie McTell, who died on this date in 1959... for rockabilly pioneer Dorsey Burnette, who passed away in 1979... for soul singer Betty Everett, who died in 2001... and for R&B singer Donna Hightower and jazz pianist & Art Blakey sideman Cedar Walton, both of whom left us today in 2014.
 

Also on August 19: Monteverdi becomes musical director of St. Mark's in Venice (1613)... In Washington, D.C., West Side Story premieres in its pre-Broadway run (1957)... The Beatles kick off their latest North American tour at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with the Righteous Brothers, the Exciters and Jackie DeShannon as opening acts (1964)... 'All You Need is Love' goes to the top of the US charts, giving the Beatles their 14th stateside № 1  (1967)... After 58 episodes, The Monkees' TV show airs on NBC for the last time (1968)... Joni Mitchell, Steven Stills, David Crosby and Jefferson Airplane all appear on the Dick Cavett Show from Television Center in NYC... Miles Davis begins three days of sessions that will yield the landmark fusion album Bitches Brew (1969)... Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge are married in Malibu, CA. The couple will divorce in 1979 (1973)... The Three Degrees score their only UK № 1 with When Will I See You Again. The girl group were reportedly Prince Charles' favourite band of the '70s (1975)... The Sex Pistols began an incognito tour under the name The Spots [an acronym for Sex Pistols on Tour Secretly] (1977)... On the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the first jukebox, Patsy Cline's 'Crazy' and Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' are announced by the Record Industry of America as the most selected songs of the 20th century (1988)... At the Tanglewood Festival, Leonard Bernstein makes his final concert appearance, conducting the Boston Symphony in a performance of Beethoven's 7th (1990)... James Brown, a man with a history of domestic violence, offers to turn over all of the proceeds from a Montauk, NY concert to a local shelter for battered women, but his contribution is refused (1996)... The Fleetwood Mac reunion album The Dance is released (1997)... A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott is unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin. The ceremony is attended by the singer/guitarist's former Thin Lizzy bandmates Gary Moore, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham (2005).

Tuesday, 18 August 2026

August 18th

 

Musical birthdays today include Hugues Aufray [known in France for his translations and performances of Bob Dylan's songs] (97), Northern Irish singer Ronnie Carroll [the only performer to date to have represented the UK in the Eurovision song contest two years in a row] (90), Barbara Harris, formerly of The Toys (81), Split Enz bassist Nigel Griggs (77), ex-Foreigner drummer Dennis Elliott (76), Men at Work lead guitarist Ron Strykert (69), House of Pain frontman Erik 'Everlast' Schrody (57) and Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Régine Chassagne (49). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Antonio Salieri, born on this date in 1750... for folk singer and Woody Guthrie collaborator Cisco Houston, born in 1918... for pioneering Dixieland jazz trumpeter Paul Mares, who died on this date in 1949... for Searchers bassist Tony Jackson, who passed away in 2003... for film score composer Elmer Bernstein, who died in 2004... and for Scott McKenzie [best remembered for 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair')], who left us today in 2012. 

Also on August 18th: As this year's Mozart Festival in Salzburg gets underway, Mahler conducts the orchestra in a performance of The Marriage of Figaro. Richard Strauss is billed to conduct Cosi Fan Tutte tomorrow (1906)... At Columbia's 30th St. Studio in NYC, Dave Brubeck and sidemen finish the sessions for the Time Out album (1959)... Ringo Starr makes his debut with the Beatles at the Horticultural Society Dance at Birkenhead, Merseyside, after a single 2-hour rehearsal with the band (1962)... Nearly 10,000 frenzied fans meet the Beatles as they arrive in America to begin another tour. The band are taken into a fenced-off enclosure so that photographers can take pictures of them. As fans press against the barrier, it comes crashing down just seconds after the Fab Four have managed to make their escape (1964)... Mick Jagger is accidentally shot in the hand during the filming of the movie 'Ned Kelly' in Australia. The film has been dogged by problems since the start of production, including the attempted suicide by leading lady Marianne Faithfull shortly after arrival in Sydney (1969)... Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa play together in public for the last time, in a concert at the New School, NYC... Jethro Tull have the № 1 album in the US with A Passion Play (1973)... Patrick Moraz offcially replaces Rick Wakeman on keyboards in Yes (1974)... The Police make their live debut at Rebecca's in Birmingham, England (1977)... The Who release Who Are You, their final album with Keith Moon (1978)... Nick Lowe marries Johnny Cash's stepdaughter Carlene in Los Angeles (1979)... The city of Liverpool names four streets after the Fab Four: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive (1982)... R.E.M. play before their biggest audience to date as they open for the Police at Shea Stadium. Following the Athens, GA quartet on the bill are Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (1983)... Bon Jovi release the album Slippery When Wet, which will go on to sell more than 28 million copies worldwide (1986)... Kurt Cobain becomes a father when his wife Courtney Love gives birth to their daughter Frances (1992)... Kanye West calls for an end to homophobia in the hip-hop community during an MTV interview (2005)... French perfume makers Etat Libre d'Orange announce that they have teamed up with The Sex Pistols to bottle the scent of the punk era by launching the band's first fragrance. The press kit says: 'To wear this scent, you must resist tradition, fight conformity, and disregard aromatic conventions' (2010). 

Monday, 17 August 2026

August 17th

 

Musical birthdays today include Box Tops guitarist Gary Talley (79), Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland (73), Belinda Carlisle (68), ex-Lone Justice lead singer Maria McKee (62), Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman (60), jazz singer Maysa Leak (58), Donnie Wahlberg (56), and Cage the Elephant lead singer Matthew Shultz (42). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz and popular singer Georgia Gibbs, born on this day in 1919... for bossa nova pianist & composer João Donato, born in 1934... for Native American activist and country singer Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and Bahamian calypso singer Ronnie Butler, both of whom would have been 90 today... for guitarist and longtime Howlin' Wolf sideman Luther Allison, who would have been 86... for Boston drummer Sib Hashian, who would have been 77... for lyricist Ira Gershwin, who died on this date in 1983... and for Pearl Bailey, who left us today in 1990. 

Also on August 17: The London newspaper The General Advertiser reports that Handel is now blind (1752)... In Bayreuth, the first complete performance of Wagner's Ring concludes with Die Götterdämmerung [Twilight of the Gods] (1876)...  Elvis Presley releases his first 1 hit, 'I Forgot to Remember to Forget', with a version of Mystery Train on the B side (1955)... Columbia releases Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (1959)... The Beatles begin their first Hamburg engagement, at the Indra Club, where they are booked for 48 nights (1960)... Glasgow council in Scotland announces that all men with Beatles moptops will be required to wear bathing caps in public swimming pools henceforth, as hair from 'Beatle-cuts' is clogging the filters (1964)... The Byrds are forced to cancel a concert on their UK tour when only 250 out of 4,000 tickets to their show at The Guildhall, Portsmouth are sold (1965)... The Doors have the 1 album in the US with Waiting for the Sun. The top spot on the singles chart is held by the Rascals with 'People Got to Be Free' (1968)... The final day of the Woodstock Festival is held on Max Yasgur's farm (1969)... Eric Clapton starts a four week-run at № 1 on the US album chart with 461 Ocean Boulevard. The house featured on the album cover is 461 Ocean Blvd. in the Miami, FL suburb of Golden Beach, where Clapton lived while making the record (1974)... Bob Dylan is interviewed by Neil Hickey of TV Guide for a cover story the magazine is doing to promote the singer's upcoming 'Hard Rain' television special. Dylan is generally forthcoming, though he bristles slightly when the journalist asks him how he imagines God, replying "How come no one ever asks Kris Kristofferson questions like that?" (1976)... A Run DMC concert in Long Beach, CA becomes a battleground for two rival gangs, with 42 injuries resulting (1986)... Nirvana shoot the video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in a Culver City, CA studio for under $50,000, and using Nirvana fans recruited through classified ads as audience members (1991)... Jackson Browne files a copyright infringement lawsuit against Republican Party US presidential candidate John McCain for using the song 'Running on Empty' in a campaign ad without the singer's permission. Browne is seeking $75,000 in damages (2008)... Three members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot are sentenced to two years' imprisonment after they staged a performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in a protest directed at the open support of the Orthodox Church patriarchate for Vladimir Putin during his recent election campaign (2012).