January 3rd

 

Musical birthdays today include Van Dyke Parks (81), Stephen Stills (77), John Paul Jones (76), Dictators lead guitarist Ross the Boss Friedman (68), Slits original drummer Paloma 'Palmolive' McCardy (67), Daft Punk co-founder Thomas Bangalter (47), Lloyd (36), and KPop singer Kim Seol-hyun (27). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Victor Borge, born 0n this day in 1909...  for Maxene Andrews, born in 1916... for George Martin, born in 1926... for R&B singer-songwriter Zulema Cusseaux, who would have been 75... for classical violinist and conductor János Fürst, who died in 2007... and for Gerry and the Pacemakers founder Gerry Marsden, who left us today. 

Also on January 3rd: The Symphonic Society of Boston gives the first performance of Brahms' 1st Symphony in America (1878)... Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler makes his American debut, leading the NY Philharmonic in a performance of Beethoven's 5th and 7th Symphonies at Carnegie Hall (1925)... The Beatles are seen for the first time on US TV when a clip from the BBC's 'The Mersey Sound' showing the group playing 'She Loves You' is broadcast on 'The Jack Paar Show' (1964)... Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys refuses to comply with his draft notice from the US Army and  requests conscientious objector status (1967)... The Byrds release The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)... Appearing live on 'The Lulu Show' in the UK, Jimi Hendrix performs 'Voodoo Child', the first of two songs that he was scheduled to sing, then stops in the middle of 'Hey Joe', launching instead into a version Cream's 'Sunshine Of Your Love' as a tribute to the band, who had split a few days earlier. Hendrix then proceeds to continue jamming with the Experience, running over their allocated time slot on the live show, preventing hostess Lulu from closing the show properly (1969)... B.J. Thomas starts a month-long run at № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head'. In the UK, Syd Barrett's debut solo album The Madcap Laughs is released  (1970)... Pink Floyd begin two weeks of rehearsals for the forthcoming Dark Side Of The Moon tour at The Bermondsey in London [the club is  owned by The Rolling Stones] (1972)... In Chicago, Bob Dylan and the Band kick off a 39-date US tour. It is Dylan's first full-scale tour in 8 years ~ there were more than 5 million applications for the 660,000 tickets (1974)... The Bay City Rollers have the № 1 
single in America with 'Saturday Night'. Further down the chart is Bob Dylan's 'Hurricane', which is peaking at № 33 (1976)... David Bowie closes his run in the play 'The Elephant Man' on Broadway (1981)... Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987)... Liam and Noel Gallagher top a poll of 'Celebrities you would least like to live next to', getting 40% of the vote. Readers of Britain's 'Your Home' magazine voted the brothers from Oasis as 'Neighbours From Hell' (2002).