January 2nd

 Musical birthdays today include classical clarinetist David Shifrin (71), singer-songwriter Christine Lavin (69), funk singer Dawn Silva (67), Tia Carrere (54), Taye Diggs (50), and jazzman Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews (35). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Sir Michael Tippett, born on this day in 1905... for cabaret singer Julius La Rosa, who would have been 90 today... for Roger 'King of the the Road' Mitchell, who would have been 84... for cowboy balladeer Tex Ritter, who died on this date in 1974... for Erroll Garner, who passed away in 1977... for former Platters vocalist David Lynch, who died in 1981... and for Spirit guitarist Randy California, who drowned on this day in 1997 at the age of 45 while saving his young son from a rip current in waters off Molokai, Hawaii. 

Also on January 2nd: Richard Wagner's opera Der Fliegende Holländer [The Flying Dutchman] premieres in Dresden (1843)... The first issue of Melody Maker goes on sale in the UK priced at 3 shillings. The monthly magazine is for 'all who are interested in the production of popular music'. The first issue includes Dance Band News, and features on the ukulele and on how to read music by sight (1926)... Eddie Calvert tops the UK singles chart with 'O Mein Papa', the first № 1 to be recorded at Abbey Road Studios (1954)... The entire shipment of John and Yoko's album 'Two Virgins' is seized by  authorities at the port of Bayonne, NJ due to the full frontal nude photograph of the couple on the cover. The album will eventually make it to record stores wrapped in plain brown paper (1968)... Led Zeppelin finally earn stateside headline status, kicking off a four-night stand at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles with the Alice Cooper Band as their opening act... Filming of the Beatles rehearsing for their projected get Back album begins at Twickenham Studios (1969)... George Harrison's All Things Must Pass is the № 1 album in America, and will remain at the top of the chart for the next 7 weeks (1971)... Sid Vicious goes on trial in NYC on the charge of allegedly murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen three months earlier (1979)... Ron Wood marries his girlfriend Jo Karslake in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Guests include Keith Richard, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck (1985)... Brett Anderson of Suede is quoted in a Melody Maker interview as saying  "I honestly think lack of sex is vital to my writing process... I don't know if the same goes for Aerosmith" (1993)... Arrested Development announce that they have disbanded (1996)... Green Day have the № 1 album on both sides of the Atlantic with American Idiot (2005).