April 27th

Musical birthdays today include ex-April Wine drummer Jerry Mercer (85), session drummer Jim Keltner (82), bluegrass guitarist Herb Pedersen (80), B-52's bassist & singer Kate Pierson (76), ex-Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley (73), Sheena Easton (65), former Belle & Sebastian vocalist Isobel Campbell (48), My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan (46), ex-Evanescence bassist Will Boyd (45), Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump (40), and Halo Circus lead singer Allison Iraheta (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical violinist Igor Oistrakh and country singer Maxine Brown, both born on this day in 1931... for radio host Casey Kasem, born in 1932... for Badfinger frontman Pete Ham, would have been 77... for composer Alexander Scriabin, who died today in 1915... for composer Olivier Messiaen, who died in 1992... for trumpeter Al Hirt, who passed away in 1999... and for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who left us today in 2007. 

Also on April 27th: Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworksreceives its official premiere in London's Green Park. The visual spectacle is somewhat less successful than the music itself, however, as sputtering rockets set fire to the specially built structure housing the musicians (1749)... Beethoven composes Für Elise (1810)... Tchaikovsky has his first rehearsal with the New York Symphony Society at the new Music Hall (the future Carnegie Hall) on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan (1891)... In a rare appearance outside the U.S., Elvis plays the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, performing in his gold lamé suit for the last time (1957)... John Coltrane and the classic quartet record the album Crescent in one session at the Van Gelder Studio (1964)... Bob Dylan gives an interview to BBC journalist and radio presenter Jack DeManio at London's Savoy Hotel for broadcast on the Today programme of the Home Service the following day. Later in the day, Dylan and Joan Baez are filmed singing the traditional song 'Wild Mountain Thyme' in the Savoy. Parts of the interview and the song will be used in the film 'Don't Look Back' (1965)... The Beatles begin recording John's new song 'I'm Only Sleeping' (1966)... Epic Records release Sly and the Family Stone's second album, Dance to the Music, including the hit title track (1968)... Pink Floyd appear at Mother's Club in Erdington, Birmingham. Radio 1 DJ John Peel reviews the gig as '...sounding like dying galaxies lost in sheer corridors of time and space'. Recordings from this show will be included in the group’s album Ummagumma later this year (1969)... In an unusual double bill, The Grateful Dead share the stage with The Beach Boys at the Fillmore East (1971)... A free afternoon event is held in the parking lot of the University of Connecticut's Ice Hockey Arena in Storrs. Musical entertainment includes Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Fairport Convention. Springsteen goes on to play another gig that evening at the University of Hartford (1974)... Customs officers on a train at the Soviet/Polish Border detain David Bowie after Nazi books and mementos, including a first edition of Mein Kampf, are found in his luggage. Bowie claims that he is using the material for research on a movie project about Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (1976)... Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach are married (1981)... The Verve announce that they have disbanded (1999)... Plans are announced for Aerosmith to hold a free concert in Hawaii to placate angry ticket buyers who brought a legal case against them. Fans filed a class action suit, which claimed the band had cancelled a sold-out show in Maui two years ago, leaving hundreds of fans out of pocket, in favour of a bigger gig in Chicago. Lawyers for the would-be concert-goers say that Aerosmith have now agreed to put on a new show, and will pay all expenses. Everyone who bought a ticket to the original concert will receive a free ticket (2009).