August 28th

Musical birthdays today include operatic bass Paul Plishka (78), former Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine (71), ex-Stranglers lead guitarist Hugh Cornwell (70), Shania Twain (54), CKY drummer Jess Margera (41), country singer Jake Owen (38), LeAnn Rimes (37) and Florence + the Machine lead singer Florence Welch (33).  

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for song and dance man Donald O'Connor, born on this day in 1925... for Velvet Underground founding member Sterling Morrison, who would have been 77... for Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, who died on this day in 1959... and for Hilly Krystal, founder and owner of CBGB, who left us today in 2007. 

Also on August 28: Richard Wagner's Lohengrin has its premiere in Weimar (1850)... Bob Dylan is one of the performers at the Washington Civil Rights March. In addition to performing duets with Joan Baez and folk revivalist Len Chandler [with the latter on the traditional 'Hold On'], Dylan solos on Blowin' in the Wind and Only a Pawn in Their Game (1963)... After playing a show at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, NYC, the Beatles meet Bob Dylan for the first time, at the Delmonico Hotel in Manhattan. Dylan and mutual journalist friend Al Aronovitz introduce the Beatles to marijuana (1964)... Bob Dylan kicks off his now legendary 1965-66 world tour with a show at the Forest Hills Stadium. The format presented at this show is to remain constant throughout the next nine months on the road. The 45-minute opening set features Dylan solo, just guitar and harmonica, followed by a similar-length electric set with the band. A large contingent in the audience boo throughout the second half, something else that will be a constant throughout the tour (1965)... Nearing the end of their final American tour, the Beatles play Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles before a crowd of 45,000. The group's attempt to escape from the stadium in an armored truck is thwarted when the main gate is found to be locked. and the Beatles have to spend two hours in the back of the vehicle before they can leave (1966)... Merle Haggard releases the classic country album Branded Man (1967)... Simon & Garfunkel's fourth studio album Bookends is at the top of the LP charts on both sides of the Atlantic... Working at London's Trident Studios, the Beatles begin recording John's new song Dear Prudence. They build the song instrument by instrument using 8-track equipment more advanced than anything at Abbey Road. Paul plays drums in place of Ringo, who has been AWOL from the group since the 22nd (1968)... David Bowie and his Spiders from Mars make their Carnegie Hall debut. Bowie soldiers through with a well-received performance in spite of suffering from the flu (1972)... Devo release their debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978)... Tina Turner is honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1986)... Billy Joel is at № 1 on the US album charts with River of Dreams. According to the singer, he chose the title because most of the songs in the collection came to him in his sleep. Then-wife Christie Brinkley painted the cover, later voted worst album cover of the year by the readers of Rolling Stone (1993)... Isaac Hayes, co-author of the Sam & Dave classic 'Soul Man', writes a letter of protest to Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, demanding that the Senator stop using his song, which supporters had changed to 'I'm a Dole Man' (1996)... Noel Gallagher quits Oasis, saying that he can no longer work with his brother Liam (2009).