December 23rd

 

Musical birthdays today include former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen (83), Iron Butterfly drummer Ron Bushy (78), former Rainbow and Alcatrazz singer Graham Bonnet (76), Adrian Belew (74), original Genesis lead guitarist Anthony Phillips (72), Iron Maiden lead guitarist Dave Murray (66), Eddie Vedder (59), Carla Bruni (56), Quincy Jones III (55), Burns Unit singer & guitarist Karine Polwart (53), Israeli Mizrahi singer Dudu Aharon (39), and McFly drummer Harry Judd (38)nbsp;

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Greek popular singer Chronis Aidonidis, born on this day in 1928... for Chet Baker, born in 1930... for R&B singer Esther Phillips, who would have been 88... for Tim Hardin, who would have been 82... for Parliament and Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel, who died on this date in 1992... for English jazz empresario Ronnie Scott, who died in 1996...  for Victor Borge, who passed away in 2000... and for jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, who left us today in 2007.

Also on December 23: At the Met in NYC, Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel becomes the first opera to be televised in its entirety. The broadcast coincides with the 50th anniversary of the work's first performance in Weimar. (1943)... Chuck Berry is arrested after taking 14 year old Janice Norine (who unbeknownst to Berry was working as a prostitute), across a state line. It is the beginning of a 4 year ordeal of trials, appeals, re-arrests and new sentences for the guitarist. He will finally be released for good in October 1963 (1959)... Bob Dylan's tour of small London venues continues with a gig at the King and Queen Pub in the West End (1962)... During  a Beach Boys US tour, Brian Wilson has a nervous breakdown on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston. He will make no further live appearances with the the group ~ Glen Campbell will replace him for the remainder of the current tour ~ and will concentrate solely on work in the studio (1964)... ITV broadcasts Ready, Steady, Go! for the last  time. Among the special guests for the farewell show are Mick Jagger, The Who, Eric Burdon, The Spencer Davis Group and Donovan (1966)... Cat Stevens legally changes his name to Yusef Islam (1977)... During an LL Cool J concert at a Baltimore roller rink, an altercation breaks out that leads to gunfire, with one person trampled to death and three  wounded in the fusillade (1985)... George Harrison's holiday home in Maui is broken into by longtime fan Cristin Keleher, who cooks a frozen pizza, drinks beer from the fridge, starts a  load of  laundry and phones her mother in New Jersey. When police arrive, Keleher is arrested and charged with burglary and theft (1999)... Sir Paul McCartney is granted his own coat of arms by the College of Arms, the English heraldic body formed in 1484. The crest features a bird that appears to be holding a guitar in its claws. The motto is 'Ecce Cor Meum', Latin for 'Behold My Heart', which is the title of an oratorio the former Beatle composed (2002)... Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler offers £5,000 for any information leading to the safe return of Toga, a three-month-old penguin that was stolen from a zoo on the Isle of Wight a week earlier (2005).