May 28th

Musical birthdays today include ska & reggae pioneer Cecil 'Prince Buster' Campbell (82), Gladys Knight (76), ex-Billy & the Beaters lead singer Billy Vera (76), John Fogerty (75), session bassist Leland Sklar (73), guitarist & avant-garde composer Arto Lindsay (67), Union Station lap steel guitarist Jerry Douglas (64), former Fine Young Cannibals lead singer Roland Gift (59), King Crimson & Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison (57), country singer Phil Vassar (56), Presidents of the United States of America guitarist Chris Ballew (55), Kylie Minogue (52), Doves frontman Jimi Goodwin (50), ex-Westlife vocalist Mark Feehily (40), Moldy Peaches singer-songwriter Adam Green (39), Beach House singer & keyboardist Victoria Legrand (39), and singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat (35). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter Tommy Ladnier, born on this day in 1900... for bluesman Aaron 'T-Bone' Walker, born in 1910... for former Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach, born in 1917... for operatic baritone & conductor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, born in 1925... for Wendy O. Williams, who would have been 71... for classical pianist Yuri Egorov, who would have been 66... for jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams, who died on this date in 1981... for trumpeter & bandleader Melvin 'Sy' Oliver, who passed away in 1988... and for Cameroonian makossa guitarist & pop singer Francis Bebey, who left us today in 2001. 

Also on May 28th: The world's first air-conditioned opera house opens in Dessau, Germany (1938)... The John Coltrane Quartet record the Live at the Village Vanguard Again! album... Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass go to № 1 on the US album chart with What Now My Love; the group also have three other LPs in the US Top Ten ~ South of the Border, Whipped Cream and Other Delights, and Going Places ~ for a new record... All four Beatles spend the day with Bob Dylan in his room at the Mayfair Hotel in London watching rushes of D.A. Pennebakers's forthcoming documentary film, Don't Look Back, which covers Dylan's concert tour of the UK the previous year (1966)... Atlantic Records release Graham Nash's first solo album, Songs for Beginners (1971)... Ronnie Lane announces that he is leaving The Faces. He will go on to form the group Slim Chance, who will have a hit the following year with 'How Come' (1973)... The Allman Brothers Band release a statement that they are going on indefinite hiatus after Greg Allman testifies against Scooter Herring, his personal road manager, who is charged with drug trafficking. Herring is subsequently sentenced to 75 years in prison. An album of previously unreleased live material will be issued later in the year under the title Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas (1976)... Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers play together for the first time when they perform as part of Mike Howlett's band Strontium 90 in Paris (1977)... Irene Cara has the № 1 single in America with 'Flashdance... What a Feeling'... The second 4-day US Festival opens at Glen Helen Regional Park outside San Bernardino, CA. On the bill are The Clash, U2, David Bowie, The Pretenders, Van Halen, Stray Cats, Men At Work, Judas Priest, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson. INXS, Joe Walsh, Motley Crue and Ozzy Osbourne. [Bowie will come in for subsequent criticism when it is revealed that he received $1 million for his one hour set, while paying each member of his backing band $350]. Over 750,000 fans attend the festival (1983)... Steven Tyler marries his second wife, clothing designer Teresa Barrick (1988)... Britney Spears is at № 1 on the album chart in the US and thirteen other countries with Oops!... I Did It Again (2000)... Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell are both attacked by riot police during a demonstration in Moscow. Trouble breaks out when they try to appeal against the ban on a gay rights march through the Russian capital. The banned march was aimed at marking the 14th anniversary of Russia's decriminalisation of homosexuality (2007).