October 29th

 

Musical birthdays today include Cuban jazz singer Omara Portuondo (90), ex-Wings guitarist Denny Laine (76), Melba Moore (75), former Alan Parsons Project guitarist David Paton (71), The Cure keyboardist Roger O'Donnell (65), Randy Jackson (59), ex-Sugarcubes trumpeter Einar Örn (58) and Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazzman Zoot Sims, born on this date in 1925... for operatic tenor Jon Vickers, born in 1926... for Peter Green, who would have been 74 today... for former Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow, who would have been 65... for classical pianist William Kapell, who died in a commercial airliner crash on this day in 1953 at the age of 31... for jazz bassist and Louis Armstrong sideman George 'Pops' Foster, who passed away in 1969... and for Duane Allman, killed in a motorcycle accident today in 1971 at the age of 24. 

Also on October 29: Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has its premiere in Prague (1787)... The Beach Boys release their debut album Surfin' Safari (1962)... The Who release the single 'My Generation' in the UK. The song came in at no. 11 when Rolling Stone magazine compiled their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and 13th on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Rock & Roll. It reached № 2 in the UK, the Who's highest charting single in their home country but only № 74 in America (1965)... The musical Hair opens off-Broadway at the Public Theater in the East Village (1967)... Joan Baez joins Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue (1975)... The Belgian National Tourist Board issue a summons against the Sex Pistols, claiming the sleeve to the band's single 'Holidays in The Sun' infringes copyright of one of its brochures (1977)... 'Islands in The Stream' gives Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers a № 1 on the US singles chart. The song was written by The Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. Meanwhile, Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' marks its 491st week on the album chart, surpassing the previous record holder, 'Johnny's Greatest Hits' by Johnny Mathis (1983)... David Bowie played the first of the 15 dates on the Australia/New Zealand leg of his Glass Spider Tour at the Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane (1987)... 
The Memphis, TN City Council name a section of the I-55 interstate running through town the B.B. King Freeway (1991)...  Manchester band The Stone Roses announce that they are splitting up. Singer Ian Brown says "Having spent the last ten years in the filthiest business in the universe, it's a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses" (1996)... U2 perform for the first time on The Late Show with David Letterman (2001)... Research in the US finds that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a 'brain itch' that can only be scratched by repeating a tune over and over. Songs such as the Village People's 'YMCA' and the Baha Men's 'Who Let The Dogs Out' owe their success to their ability to create a 'cognitive itch', according to Professor James Kellaris, of the University of Cincinnati College of Behavioral Science (2003)... A set of waxwork heads of The Beatles from their Sgt. Pepper album cover sell for £81,500. The 'pepperheads' are auctioned off after recently being discovered in a back room at Madame Tussaud's. They were used in 1967 by artist Sir Peter Blake in the backdrop of the 'Lonely Hearts Club Band' album with the actual Beatles posing at the front (2005).