Saturday 17 September 2016

September 17th

Musical birthdays today include Fifth Dimension founding member Lamonte McLemore (77), Five Man Electrical Band guitarist Les Emmerson (72), Tubes frontman Fee Waybill (66), Budgie drummer Steve Williams (63), Ned's Atomic Dustbin lead singer Jonn Penney (48), Prodigy singer Keith Flint (45), Simple Plan drummer Chuck Comeau (37), and ex-Panic! At the Disco bassist Jon Walker (30). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Hank Williams and for jazz pianist Ralph Sharon, both born on this day in 1923... for Jeanine Deckers, AKA the Singing Nun, who would have been 83 today... for original Steely Dan drummer Jim Hodder, who would have been 69... for pioneering boogie-woogie pianist Jimmy Yancey, who died on this day in 1951... for former MC5 lead singer Rob Tyner, who passed away in 1991 at the age of 47... and for British cabaret singer Frankie Vaughn, who left us in 1999. 

Also on September 17: Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries is performed in America for the first time at a free concert by the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in NYC's Central Park (1872)... The first 33 1/3 RPM vinyl LP, a recording of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, is demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in NYC by RCA Victor. The venture proves impractical owing to the high cost of the record players ($95, or approximately $1150 in today's dollars). The project is shelved, and will not be revived until 1948 (1931)... The Beatles set a new American record for payment for a single show when they receive $150,000 to play Kansas City's Municipal Stadium... Roland Kirk changes labels, going into the studio to record his first album for Limelight. Kirk plays only flute, and records 'Serenade to a Cuckoo', one of his signature tunes, which will later be covered by Jethro Tull (1964)... The Doors are banned from the Ed Sullivan Show after Jim Morrison breaks his promise to the producers to drop 'Girl, we couldn't get much higher' from 'Light My Fire' by singing the offending line anyway. The group also perform their new single 'People Are Strange' (1967)... Newspaper on both sides of the Atlantic run headline stories of Paul McCartney's reported demise. The Beatles bassist was supposedly killed in a car accident in Scotland on the 9th of November, 1966, and a double has been taking his place for public appearances ever since. McCartney tells journalists "Believe me, if I were dead, I'd be the last to know" and that he and Jane Asher were in Kenya at the time of the alleged mishap (1969)... The Sex Pistols play a show for the inmates at Chelmsford Prison, Essex (1976)... The video for Queen's single 'Bicycle Race' is filmed at Wimbledon Stadium, London. It features 65 female models pedalling around the track in the nude on bicycles that were hired for the day. The rental company will reportedly demand payment for all the saddles when they learn how the cycles were used (1978)... The  1 single in America today is John Waite's 'Missing You' (1984)... Over 4 million copies of the Guns N' Roses albums use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II are simultaneously released for retail sale, making it the largest ship-out in US pop history... An inebriated 19-year-old man is taken off  plane in Denver, CO after harassing members of Hootie and the Blowfish, who are travelling in the first class section (1991)... The Fleetwood Mac reunion tour in support of the band's new album The Dance gets underway in Hartford, CT (1997)... Bono meets with President George W. Bush to discuss increasing US federal funding for AIDS initiatives. At a press conference after their talk, the U2 singer says "I'm not here to peddle a cause. Seven thousand people a day dying isn't a cause, it's an emergency" (2003)... Barry Manilow cancels his appearance on The View because he refuses to be interviewed by conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Manilow says that he will speak only to co-hosts Joy Behar, Barbara Walters or Whoopi Goldberg, a demand that the show's producers reject as 'completely disrespectful' (2007).

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