August 30th

 

Musical birthdays today include jazz singer Jewel Brown (85), Specials bassist Horace Panter (69), ex-Swing Out Sister and Magazine drummer Martin Jackson (64), classical pianist Dimitris Sgouros (53), Rancid frontman Lars Frederiksen (51), Edguy lead guitarist Jen Ludwig (45), former Panic! at the Disco lead guitarist Ryan Ross (36), and classical pianist Emily Bear (21).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for country music legend Kitty Wells [née Ellen Deason] born on this day in 1919... for bebop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, born in 1926... for John Phillips, who would have been 86... for British DJ John Peel, who would have been 82... and for the Velvet Underground's Sterling Morrison, who left us today in 1995 two days after his 48th birthday.

Also on August 30: Handel completes his final oratorio Jephtha (1751)... Hank Williams goes into the studio in Cincinnati, OH to record 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', a song about his troubled marriage (1949)... Bob Dylan releases Highway 61 Revisited (1965)... The Byrds release the pioneering country rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)... Two weeks after Woodstock ends, the second Isle of Wight festival begins. Bob Dylan, The Band, Joe Cocker, The Moody Blues and The Who are the headliners playing for some 150,000 fans who have paid 25 shillings ($3) per ticket. Among those spotted in the crowd are John & Yoko, George, Ringo, Jane Fonda, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor... The Texas International Pop Festival opens in Lewisville, TX with Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Santana and Grand Funk Railroad headlining (1969)... Backed by Elephant's Memory, John & Yoko play Madison Square Garden to raise money for the One to One charity. The performance is recorded, and partially released on the Sometime in New York City album (1972)... The remaining Doors announce the official dissolution of the band, who have released two albums with dismal sales since the death of lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971 (1973)... The № 1 single in the US is Steve Winwood's 'Higher Love' (1986)... Bruce Springsteen's wife Julianne Phillips files for divorce after salacious pictures of her husband and his backup singer Patti Scialfa  are published worldwide (1988)... James Taylor and Carly Simon perform live together before a crowd of 10,000 at Martha's Vineyard. It is the first time the pair have appeared on the same stage since 1979. The former couple play their own solo sets before joining forces in the concert to raise money for the local agricultural society (1995)... Stella McCartney marries publisher Alasdhiar Willis on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. Guests include dad Sir Paul, Madonna, Chrissie Hynde and Chris Martin (2003)... Kris Kristofferson is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN (2004)