August 12th

 

Musical birthdays today include Mark Knopfler (71), August Darnell, AKA Kid Creole (70), Pat Metheny (66), Culture Club multi-instrumentalist Roy Hay (59), Felt and Go Kart Mozart frontman Lawrence Hawyward (58), Anthony 'Sir Mix-a-Lot' Ray (57), Tanita Tikaram (51), hip hop MC Del the Funky Homosapien [né Terence Delvon Jones] (48), ex-Murderdolls frontman Wednesday 13 [né Joseph Poole] (44), and former Sweetbox lead singer Jade Villalon (40). 

Shoutouts to the Great Beyond for country legend Porter Waggoner, born on this day in 1928... for Buck Owens, who would have been 90 today... for Czech composer Leoš Janáček, who died on this date in 1928... and for American avant-garde composer John Cage, who left us today in 1992.


Also on August 12: Thomas Edison receives the patent for the phonograph (1877)... A live concert is broadcast on radio for the first time, as WJZ in NYC transmits the New York Philharmonic playing a program of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Gluck and Saint-Saens from the Lewisohn Stadium as part of the orchestra's summer series (1922)... Art Kane photographs 57 notable jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait 'A Great Day in Harlem' in front of a brownstone at 17 E. 126th St. in Manhattan (1958)... Pete Best auditions to become the Silver Beatles drummer. He passes and is asked if he would be available to accompany the band to Hamburg for its next set of dates. Before departing, the group will shorten its name to The Beatles (1960)... A Hard Day's Night opens in America on general release to rave reviews (1964)... Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham play together for the first time when they rehearse at a Gerrard Street studio in London's West End. The first song they play is 'The Train Kept A-rollin'. They also work up an early version of Dazed and Confused called 'I'm Confused'. At this point, the group are still known as The New Yardbirds, a name which they will keep through the first few live dates before changing to Led Zeppelin next month (1968)... No. 1 on the UK singles chart today is Alice Cooper's School's out for the Summer (1972)... Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and The Eagles are on the bill at the Corral Club in Topanga Canyon (1973)... The Commodores hit no. 1 on the US and UK singles charts simultaneously with Three Times a Lady. Reportedly, Lionel Ritchie came up with the tune first, and then was unable to decide whether he wanted to write a lyric to his wife, his mother or his grandmother ~ hence the 'Once, twice, three times a lady' written to one unnamed woman (1978)...  The two day Moscow Music Peace Festival is held at the city's Lenin Stadium. Western headliners include Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions and Bon Jovi. For the first time, fans are permitted to stand up and dance at a stadium rock concert in the USSR ~ previously, all concertgoers were required to remain seated (1989)... A mass wake is held for Jerry Garcia in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (1995)... Alanis Morissette plays the Darien Lake Performing Arts center in Buffalo, NY with Radiohead as her opening act (1996)... Members of the NY state chapter of the National Organization for Women demonstrate outside the office of Woodstock '99 promoter John Scher to protest the violence against women that allegedly occurred at the July 23-25 event. Several rapes and numerous incidents of sexual harassment and assault were reported after the event... A record-setting 15-night sold out stand by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band at the Continental Airlines Arena in E. Rutherford, NJ comes to a close (1999)... eBay auctioneer Anthony DeFontes says that he will sell one of Elvis' teeth separately, after the molar combined with a lock of the King's hair fails to attract a high enough initial bid (2003).