September 27th

 Musical birthdays today include Austrian balladeer Freddy Quinn (93), Stax session player Don Nix (83), Randy Bachman (81), classical guitarist David Starobin (73), session bassist Robbie Shakespeare (71), Shaun Cassidy (66), Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins (60), Wild Flag guitarist & singer Carrie Brownstein (50), rapper Lil Wayne [né Dwayne Carter, Jr.] (42), Avril Lavigne (40), and Of Mice & Men lead singer Austin Carlile (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist Bud Powell, born on this day in 1924... for bop trumpeter Red Rodney, born in 1929... for Soul Train host and producer Don Cornelius, who would have been 88... for Meat Loaf [né Marvin Lee Aday], who would have been 77... for Men at Work multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham, who would have been 71... for Wings guitarist Jimmy McCullough, who died of a drug overdose on this date in 1979 at the age of 26... for Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in an accident involving the band's tour bus in 1986... and for Johnny Mathis, who left us today in 2011. 

Also on September 27: Dvořák arrives in NYC to take up the position of director of the National Conservatory (1892)... The Beach Boys make their debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing 'I Get around' and 'Wendy'... Bob Dylan is among the guests at a party at Miles Davis' home in Manhattan given for Robert Kennedy, candidate for the US Senate from NY (1964)... The Beatles complete work on 'Fool on the Hill' and begin recording 'I Am the Walrus' (1967)... Pink Floyd appear at Queen's Hall on the Isle of Dunoon in Scotland. All regularly scheduled ferry services to the island having been cancelled because of bad weather, the group hire a small boat on their own and risk the rough seas to make the crossing. They eventually appear in front of 400 fans (1968)... Creedence Clearwater Revival are among the guests on Johnny Cash's ABC-TV weekly variety show (1969)... Carlos Santana announces that he has become a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and that he has legally added the middle name 'Devadip' [meaning 'the Light of the Lamp Supreme'] to his own (1973)... Blondie release the album Eat to the Beat, while Regatta de Blanc by The Police also appears in shops (1979)...  The № 1 album in Britain today is David Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)... R.E.M. release Monster (1994)... Bob Dylan performs before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The two chat briefly after the singer's concluding number, 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' (1997)... In NYC, Placido Domingo breaks Enrico Caruso's record when he headlines his 18th season opening performance at the Met (1999)... U2 play a show from the rooftop of Dublin's Clarence Hotel [which they own] to more than 4,000 listeners in the streets below (2000)... Phil Spector is formally charged with murder in the February 3, 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson (2004)... Metallica have the № 1 album in the US with Death Magnetic, the group's ninth studio release (2008)... At the age of 85, Tony Bennett becomes the oldest living person to top the US album chart, with Duets II. Featuring collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, among others, it is also the singer's first US № 1 (2011).