August 26th

Musical birthdays today include former Hawkwind sax & winds player Nik Turner (78), Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker (74), Valerie Simpson (72), film & TV score composer Mark  Snow (72), Leon Redbone (69), Branford Marsalis (58), Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson (52), The Donnas guitarist Allison Robertson (39), and rapper Big K.R.I.T. [né Justin Scott] (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz vibraphonist Peter Appleyard, who would have been 90 today... for original Deep Purple drummer Chris Curtis, who would have been 77... for English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams, who died on this date in 1958.... for operatic soprano Lotte Lehmann, who died in 1976... for Lee Hays of The Weavers, who passed away in 1981... and for Laura Branigan, who left us today in 2004 at the age of 47. 

Also on August 26: With the composer himself conducting, Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah is performed for the first time at the Birmingham Festival in England (1846)... At the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ [but with Bob Thiele in the producer's chair], the John Coltrane 'Classic Quartet' have their final session. The tracks will be shelved temporarily, but will be released after Coltrane's death as the album Sun Ship (1965)... The Beatles hold a press conference with the Maharishi Mashesh Yogi at University College in Bangor, north Wales. The Fab Four announce that they have become disciples of the guru and that they renounce the use of drugs. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, who have arrived to take part in the Maharishi's 'Spiritual Regeneration Movement', are also present (1967)... Bob Dylan and his wife Sara fly from New York to Heathrow Airport. Their ultimate destination is the second annual Isle of Wight festival, where the singer will arrive in the early hours of the next day to begin rehearsals with the Band (1969)... Glen Campbell has the № 1 song in America with 'Rhinestone Cowboy' (1975)... Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy, Golden Earring, Aerosmith, The Doobie Brothers, Hawkwind and Graham Parker are among those scheduled to appear as the Reading Festival gets underway in Berks. A ticket for the full three days costs £7.95 (1977)... The Japanese prison camp drama 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' starring David Bowie and Japanese pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto, goes on general release in US cinemas (1983)... The Cure release the album The Head in the Door (1985)... Sonny Bono, who once said that he never voted until he was 53, announces that he is running for mayor of Palm Springs, CA. He will carry the election in 1988, and go on to win a seat in Congress in 1996 (1987)... Boyzone kick off an Indian and southest Asian tour, the first of its kind by western act,  in Bangalore (1997)... Rolling Stone Magazine names Jimi Hendrix the greatest guitarist in rock history (2003)... A plaque was unveiled by former Quarrymen John Duff Lowe and Colin Hantonat at the site where the band that was to become the Beatles made their first recordings. John, Paul and George recorded a version of Buddy Holly's That'll Be the Day and  Lennon-Harrison song called 'In Spite of All the Danger' at Liverpool's Percy Studio in 1958... A post office on the same street as the Los Angeles studio where Ray Charles recorded many of his classic sides is renamed after the R&B legend. A federal bill is signed by president George W. Bush to effect the name change (2005).