November 11th

 

Musical birthdays today include singer-songwriter Chris Smither (79), Yardbirds rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja (78), Vanilla Fudge lead guitarist Vince Martell (78), songwriter and Survivor guitarist Jim Peterik (73), Marshall Crenshaw (70), former XTC frontman Andy Partridge (70), ex-Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin (68), ex-Human League synth player Ian Craig Marsh (66), Green Day lead guitarist Jason White (50), and Death from above 1979 bassist & synth player Jesse F. Keeler (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Mose Allison, born on this day in 1927... for Nashville session guitarist Hank Garland, born in 1930... for rapper Static Major [né Stephen Garrett], who would have been 49... for songwriter Jerome Kern, who died on this date in 1945... for former Allman Brothers bass player Berry Oakley, who was killed in 1972 when his motorcycle hit a bus at the same intersection as former band member Duane Allman, who had died a year earlier. Oakley was 24 years old... for film score composer Dimitri Tiomkin, who passed away in 1979... and for jazzman Erskine Hawkins, who left us today in 1994.

Also on November 11: Louis Armstrong makes his first recordings with the Hot Five at the Okeh Studios in Chicago (1925)... Bill Haley & the Comets score their first US Top ten single with 'Shake Rattle And Roll' (1954)... Elvis Presley appears at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, for his last concert of the '50s (1957)... The final recording session for Rubber Soul takes place at Abbey Road. The Beatles need three new songs to finish the album, so an old song ~ ‘Wait’ ~ is pulled off the shelf, and the group records two new songs from start to finish. The basic tracks for both Paul's ‘You Won't See Me’ and John's ‘Girl’ are completed in two takes (1965)...  John Lennon and Yoko Ono release the album Two Virgins (1968)... Agents from the FBI's Phoenix, AZ office arrest Jim Morrison for drunk and disorderly conduct aboard a plane. The Doors singer, who was on his way to a Rolling Stones concert with actor Tom Baker, were drinking and harassing the flight attendants. The pair spend the night in jail and are released on $2,500 bail (1969)... Thirty US radio stations broadcast a 'live' Mott the Hoople concert. In reality it is the band recorded in the studio with the applause dubbed in (1973)... Donna Summer holds down the top spots on both the Billboard singles and album charts, with 'Macarthur Park' and Live and More, respectively (1978)... Prince kicks off his 87-date '1999' North American tour at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, TN (1982)... Pink Floyd issue a press statement saying that they intend to continue using the band's name without Roger Waters and are in the process of recording their next album (1986)... The Smashing Pumpkins top the US album charts with Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)... Britney Spears wins four MTV Awards: Best Female Singer, Best Pop Act, Best Song ['...Baby One More Time'],  and Best Breakthrough Artist (1999)... Liza Minnelli's former bodyguard accuses the singer of forcing him to have sex with her in order to keep his job, court documents reveal. M'hammed Soumayah is suing Minnelli for $100 million in damages, saying she made 'many repeated attempts' to compel him into sex and that he 'eventually succumbed' (2004)... The four original band members of Black Sabbath announce that they are reuniting and recording a new album, which will be followed by a world tour in 2012 (2011).