May 29th

Musical birthdays today include former Can keyboardist Irmin Schmidt (85), Procol Harum lead singer Gary Brooker (77), French chanteuse Catherine Lara (77), ex-Ohio Express lead singer Joey Levine (75), Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi (73), ex-Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman (70), La Toya Jackson (66), Melissa Ethridge (61), Wolfsbane lead singer Blaze Bayley (59), Noel Gallagher (55), Blues Traveler guitarist Chan Kinchla (53), ex-Verve  bassist Simon Jones (50), Melanie Brown AKA Spice Girl Mel B (47), and Hives lead singer Pelle Almqvist (44). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for film score composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, born on this day in 1897... for Mexican singer & actress Armida Vendrell, born in 1911... for Poco bassist Mike Porcaro, who qould have been 65 today... for Gilbert & Sullivan librettist W.S. Gilbert, who died on this date in 1911... for former Quicksilver Messenger Service lead guitarist John Cipollina, who passed away in 1989... for Jeff Buckley, drowned in an accident on this day in 1997 at the age of 30... for Doc Watson, who died in 2013... and for pop singer B.J. 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My head' Thomas, who left us one year ago today.   

Also on May 29th: Beethoven attends a performance of Haydn's oratorio The Seasons in Vienna (1801)... 'The Swedish Nightingale' Jenny Lind sails from NYC after a triumphant 2-year US tour (1852)... The premiere of Stravinsky's score for Diaghilev's ballet The Rite of Spring causes a riot at the Ballet russe in Paris (1913)... Bing Crosby records Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas' in 3 takes and 18 minutes with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers (1942)... Chubby Checker wins a grammy for Best Rock & Roll Recording with 'Let's Twist Again', while Ray Charles' 'Hit the Road Jack' takes the trophy for best R&B Recording (1962)... Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home goes to № 1 on the UK album chart... The Beach Boys have the top US single with 'Help Me Rhonda' [The recording session for the song was interrupted by the Wilson brothers' father Murry, who arrived at the studio drunk and criticized the band's enthusiasm, lifestyle and hair length. The tape reel continued to record the confrontation, which still circulates among fans] (1965)... The Move, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, Zoot Money, Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band all appeare at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The Floyd are only a support band and play in a corner of the hall [basically a large shed] with a white sheet behind them and lights projected through coloured oils onto it. Tickets cost £1, and the poster advertising the show promises a 'Knockout Atmosphere' (1967)... Crosby, Stills & Nash release their self-titled debut album on Atlantic Records (1969)... The Rolling Stones hit № 1 in the US with 'Brown Sugar'... Several dozen Grateful Dead fans are treated for hallucinations caused by LSD after they unwittingly drink spiked apple juice served at a gig at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom (1971)... The Buzzcocks play a gig at the Electric Circus in Manchester. Their opening act, a local band called Warsaw, are making their live debut and will soon change their name to Joy Division (1977)... Tina Turner releases her comeback album Private Dancer (1984)... Michael Jackson makes an offer of $1 million to the London Hospital Museum, where the skeleton of 'Elephant Man' John Merrick is preserved, to buy the remains. The proposition is turned down (1987)... Fresh from the final studio sessions for the Nevermind album, Nirvana play an announced show at the Jabberjaw in Los Angeles. In the audience are Iggy Pop and Dave Grohl's girlfriend and L7 bassist Jennifer Finch, who has also brought along Courtney Love (1991)... The FBI recover 44 nude pictures of Madonna that had been stolen from the studio of NYC photographer Steven Meisel (1992)... Skeletal remains are found by scuba-diving photographers looking for old car wrecks to shoot at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, CA. Based on forensic analysis, the remains are those of Philip Kramer, former bassist with rock group Iron Butterfly, who disappeared on his way home from work on February 12, 1995. His death is ruled a probable suicide (1999)... In Moscow, The Eagles play their first concert in Russia as part of a 6-date tour of the country (2001)... A 16ft by 6ft mosaic designed by John Lennon goes on display at The Beatles Story museum on the Albert Docks in Liverpool. The mosaic had been built into Lennon's swimming pool at his Kenwood home in Surrey where he lived between 1964 and 1968 (2002)... A piano played by John Lennon on the night he died is put up for sale for $375,000 online at the Moments in Time memorabilia website. The upright grand piano is the property of the Record Plant Recording Studios in New York where the former Beatle recorded his 1971 album Imagine. Lennon was said to be so fond of the instrument that he had it moved to whichever studio he was working in and had used the piano hours before being shot in December 1980 (2007)... After being found guilty last month of the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003, Phil Spector is sentenced to a minimum of 19 years by a Los Angeles judge (2009)... A park in Sabrosa, Portugal [some 50 miles north of Lisbon] is renamed BB King Park in honour of a live show for 20,000 spectators that the blues legend played there in 1975 (2010).