August 2nd

Musical birthdays today include Garth Hudson (83), ex-Amen Corner guitarist Andy Fairweather Low (72), former Gong guitarist Steve Hillage (69), ex-Rainbow lead singer Joe Lynn Turner (69), DJ & psychobilly singer Mojo Nixon [né Neil McMillan, Jr.] (63), former Jesus Lizard lead singer David Yow (60), ex-The La's lead singer Lee Mavers (58), Battles drummer John Stanier (52), and pop singer Nayer Regalado (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer & conductor Arthur Bliss, born on this day in 1891... for Québecois singer-songwriter Félix Leclerc and bluesman Big Walter Price, both born in 1914... for jazzman Roy Crimmins, born in 1929... for country singer Hank Cochran, who would have been 85... for Shirelles vocalist Doris Coley, who would have been 79... for Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi, who would have been 76... for Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete de Freitas, who would have been 59... for Enrico Caruso, who died on this date in 1921... for The Association bassist Brian Cole, who died of a drug overdose on this day in 1972 at the age of 29... for Motown house band bassist James Jamerson, who died from complications of alcoholism on this day in 1983 at the age of 47... for chansonnier Michel Berger, who passed away in 1992... for Fela Kuti, who died in 1997... and for operatic soprano Marguerite Piazza, who left us today in 2012. 

Also on August 2nd: The first festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music is held in Salzburg, Austria; chamber works by Berg, Bartok and Schoenberg are on the programme (1926)... Ralph Peer, a talent scout and A&R man with Victor Records in NYC, arrives in Bristol, VA to begin recording local musicians. Over the next 10 days, he will blanket local villages and hamlets with posters and flyers inviting anyone interested to come and audition for him at the studio he has set up. Among his discoveries are The Carter Family and Jimmie Rogers, who will become the first country superstars (1927)... Touring with Clyde McPhatter, The Cadillacs, Edna McGriff, and Otis Rush, Buddy Holly & the Crickets appear the Howard Theater in Washington, DC. With 'That'll Be the Day' sitting at № 2 on the charts, this is the band's first major US tour (1957)... At the US District Court in NYC, Robert Allen Zimmerman legally becomes Bob Dylan. He has already signed his first publishing deal with Witmark Music earlier in the summer under his adopted name (1962)... The Beatles play a show at the Gaumont Cinema in Bournemouth. Among the opening acts are a 'new and unknown London group' called The Kinks (1964).,.. The Doors score their second US № 1 single with 'Hello I Love You' (1968)... As a guest on this week's edition of The Johnny Cash Show on ABC, Merle Haggard performs his own 'The Fugitive' and a version of Jimmie Rogers' 'Hard Times No More' before joining Cash for  duet on 'Sing Me back Home' (1969)... The Mamas and the Papas file a lawsuit against their record label ABC-Dunhill for over a million dollars in unpaid royalties (1973)... The Clash release their single 'Bank Robber' in the US ~ it was previously available as an import only. The band's label CBS resisted releasing the record on the grounds that it was 'not commercial enough' (1980)... Rick James is arrested in Los Angeles on charges of assault with  deadly weapon, aggravated mayhem and torture and forcible oral copulation, according to accusations made by his girlfriend Tanya Hijazi. The singer is released on $1 million bail (1991)... The Liverpool music store Rushworth and Dreaper close down after 150 years of trading. The store became famous for supplying The Beatles and other Merseyside groups with their instruments (2000)... New Orleans International Airport is renamed Louis Armstrong Airport (2001).