May 23rd

Musical birthdays today include Irish folk singer Luka Bloom (66), Radiohead drummer Philip Selway (54), session saxophonist Mindi Abair (52), Maroon 5 drummer Matt Flynn (51), Jewel (47), blink-182 drummer Scott Raynor (40), Pipettes vocalist Gwenno Saunders (40), Tristan Prettyman (38), ex-Sugababes vocalist Heidi Range (38), and singer-songwriter & mandolinist Sarah Jarosz (30). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for song & dance man Scatman Crothers and big band leader Artie Shaw, both born on this day in 1910... for jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttleton, born in 1921... for Foggy Mountain Boys singer & guitarist Mac Wiseman, born in 1925... for Rosemary Clooney, born in 1928... for electronic music pioneer Robert Moog, who would have been 87... for producer & former Chairmen of the Board frontman General Johnson, who would have been 80... for classical pianist Wilhelm Kempff, who died on this date in 1991... for jazz guitarist Joe Pass, who died in 1994... for folk singer & activist Utah Phillips, who passed away in 2008... and for Franco-Egyptian singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki, who left us today in 2014. 

Also on May 23rd: Beethoven's only opera Fidelio premieres at the Kärntertor Theatre in Vienna (1814)... At the Park Theater in NYC, Don Giovanni is performed in America for the first time, with Mozart's librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte in attendance (1826)... Shuffle along, the first all-black musical in the US, opens on Broadway (1921)... The Everly Brothers hit № 1 in the US with 'Cathy's Clown' (1960)... John Coltrane & sidemen convene for the first of the Africa/Brass sessions (1961)... Roy Orbison and the Beatles kick off a joint tour of the UK in Nottingham (1963)... Ella Fitzgerald becomes the first artist to have a hit with a cover of a Beatles' song when her version of 'Can't Buy Me Love' enters the British Top 40 (1964)... The Who release their rock opera Tommy (1969)... Jefferson Airplane are prevented from giving a free concert in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco authorities having recently passed a resolution banning electric instruments in public. The group will later write the song ‘We Built this City’ in response to the incident (1973)... George Harrison announces the launch of his own label, Dark Horse Records (1974)... Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band launch their 117-date Darkness on the Edge of Town tour with a show in Buffalo, NY (1978)... Tom Petty files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move is partly the result of a dispute with Petty’s record label, which was recently purchased by MCA (1979)... The UK Musicians Union moved a resolution to ban synthesizers and drum rhythm machines from sessions and live concerts fearing that their use would put musicians out of work (1982)... Photographer Michael Lavine takes what will be the publicity shots for Nirvana’s Nevermind album at Jay Aaron Studios in Los Angeles. The idea for the front cover shot of the baby swimming was adopted after Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl saw a TV documentary on water babies, and was taken by Kirk Weddle. Several babies were used; five-month old Spencer Eldon’s photo came out best (1991)...   Hanson notch a sellout in less than 20 minutes in the Detroit market for a June 29 show at the Pine Knob Amphitheater (1998)... The musical ‘Up for Grabs’ opens at London’s Wyndham Theatre featuring Madonna in the lead role. The first night crowd complains that the singer is lacking in vocal power, and that they have to strain to hear her lines (2002)...  King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden presents the surviving members of Led Zeppelin with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, recognising them as “great pioneers” of rock music. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are joined by the daughter of drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group Abba, who named it after his record label, Polar Records previous winners include Sir Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and producer Quincy Jones (2006).