January 24th

Musical birthdays today include fiddler Doug Kershaw (84), country singer Ray Stevens (80), Neil Diamond (79), Aaron Neville (79), singer-songwriter Michael Des Barres (72), ex-Squeeze keyboardist & TV presenter Jools Holland (62), Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek (53), Dream Theater bassist John Myung (53), Beth Hart (48), Diane Birch (37), and former Sugababe Jade Ewen (32).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for castrato singer Carlo Broschi AKA Farinelli, born on this day in 1705... for pianist and composer Muzio Clementi, born in 1752... for New Orleans R&B pianist Isidore 'Tuts' Washington, born in 1907... for jazz pianist Joe Albany, born in 1924... for R&B and gospel singer Ann Cole, who would have been 86... for countertenor Klaus Nomi, who would have been 76... for Limelites lead singer James Sheppard, found murdered in his car on the Long Island Expressway in 1970 ~ Sheppard had been beaten and robbed... and for operatic soprano June Bronhill, who left us today in 2005. 

Also on January 24th: Mussorgsky's opera Boris Gudunov premieres in St. Petersburg (1874)... Elvis is at the top of the UK singles chart with 'Jailhouse Rock'. It is the first single ever to enter the chart at № 1... The Quarrymen make their first and only appearance at the Cavern Club under their current name. When they return to play the establishment in 1961, they will be known as The Beatles (1958)... Bob Dylan arrives in NYC for the first time accompanied by a friend from Minneapolis named Fred Underhill. They head immediately for the Cafe Wha in Greenwich Village, where it is a hootenany night ~ Dylan plays two songs (1961)... Brian Epstein signs a management deal with The Beatles. Epstein is to receive 25 per cent of the band's gross earnings, the normal management deal at the time being 10 per cent (1962)... The Doors appear at Madison Square Garden. They receive over $50,000 for the gig, making them one of the highest paid acts this year... New Jersey state prosecutors issue a warning to US record dealers that they will be charged with distributing pornography if they are caught selling the John Lennon / Yoko Ono LP Two Virgins. The front cover of the album showed the pair frontally nude, while the back cover shows them from behind (1969)... Led Zeppelin appear at Leeds University. After the show, Zeppelin have a meeting with fine arts lecturer Zacron to discuss their ideas for the album sleeve of the band's next album, Led Zeppelin III. Zacron, born Richard Drew, studied at the Kingston College of Art with members of the Yardbirds (1970)... Michael Jackson's debut solo album Got to Be There is released on Motown Records (1972)... Bob Dylan hits № 1 on the US album chart with Desire, which will occupy the top spot for the next 6 weeks. Tops on the singles chart is Diana Ross with 'Theme from Mahogany' (1976)...  Workers at EMI's record pressing plant refuse to press copies of The Buzzcocks' forthcoming single 'What Do I Get' because of the title on the B-side 'Oh Shit' (1978)... The Clash release their first US single, their cover of 'I Fought the Law'... Brian Wilson and his wife Marilyn are divorced after 15 years of marriage (1979)...  A billboard is erected on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood to promote Pink Floyd's new album The Wall. A blank wall is pasted up, and each day a brick is removed to slowly reveal the inside spread and title of the album (1980)... Nirvana play their first ever show in Australia at the Phoenician Club in Sydney. Opening for them are local heroes Tumbleweed and The Meanies (1992)... Oasis go to № 1 in the UK with 'All Around The World'. It sets a record for longest running-time for a British chart-topper with a total duration of 9 minutes 38 seconds. It was one of the first songs to be written by Noel Gallagher, with the band rehearsing it as early as 1992 (1998)... Country singer Lynn Anderson is arrested for shoplifting after being caught stealing a Harry Potter DVD from a Santa Fe, NM supermarket and punching a police officer during her arrest. The 57 year-old had the 1970 Top 5 hit 'Rose Garden' (2005).

January 23rd

Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Teresa Żylis-Gara (85), pop singer Joe Dowell (80), Anita Pointer (72), original Box Tops bassist Bill Cunningham (70), former Henry Cow bassist John Greaves (70), Cheap Trick lead singer Robin Zander (67), KC and the Sunshine Band producer & bassist Richard Finch (66), Legendary Pink Dots lead singer Edward Ka-Spel (66), UB40 bassist Earl Falconer (63), and R&B singer and Boyz II Men founder member Marc Nelson (49). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Django Reinhardt, born on this day in 1910... for country singer-songwriter Johnny Russell, who would have been 80 today... For E Street Band organist Danny Federici, who would have been 70... for pianist and composer John Field, considered the originator of the nocturne, who died on this date in 1837... for composer Edward McDowell, who died in 1908... for jazz trombonist Kid Ory, who passed away in 1973... for original Chicago guitarist Terry Kath, who fatally shot himself while cleaning a handgun that he thought was unloaded today in 1978 at the age of 32... for Lynyrd Skynyrd founding member Allen Collins, who died on this day in 1990 at the age of 32 from complications resulting from a car crash four years earlier... for gospel singer-songwriter Thomas A. Dorsey, who died in 1993... for doo-wop singer and songwriter ['Louie Louie'] Richard Berry, who passed away on this day in 1997... and for South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who left us two years ago today. 

Also on January 23rd: Duke Ellington plays Carnegie Hall for the first time (1943)... Rock 'n' Roll fans in Cleveland under the age of 18 are banned from dancing in public (unless accompanied by an adult), after local police enforce a law dating from 1931 (1956)... Tony Bennett records 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' (1962)... 'Downtown' makes Petula Clark the first British female singer to have a US № 1 since Vera Lynn in 1952 (1965)... Pink Floyd spend the first of three days recording the Syd Barrett songs 'Arnold Layne' and 'Candy and a Current Bun' at Sound Techniques Studios, Chelsea, London. According to Roger Waters, Arnold Layne was based on a real person ~ a transvestite whose primary pastime was stealing women's clothes and undergarments from washing lines in Cambridge (1967)... Working at Apple Studios, The Beatles record 'Get Back' with Billy Preston on keyboards (1969)... George Harrison becomes the first solo Beatle to have a № 1 single when 'My Sweet Lord' goes to the top of the UK chart, where it will stay for 5 weeks... In the US, Tony Orlando & Dawn are at № 1 with 'Knock Three Times' (1971)... The Sex Pistols play their first gig of the year at Watford College, north of London (1976)... Patti Smith breaks two lower vertebrae when she falls off the stage during a show in Tampa, FL... Pink Floyd's Animals is released (1977)... The first induction ceremony for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame is held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC. The living inductees are Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Little Richard, while Elvis, Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly are honoured posthumously (1986)... Nirvana record a 10-song demo with Seattle producer Jack Endino. Sub Pop records boss Jonathan Poneman hears the tape and offers to put out a Nirvana single (1988)... David Bowie announces his forthcoming world tour, 'Sound And Vision 1990', which he says will be his last. The singer says that he will invite each local audience to decide on a 'greatest hits' running order, organised through local radio stations (1990)... John Sebastian, owner and general manager of KLSK FM in Albuquerque, NM, plays Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' continually for twenty-four hours to inaugurate a format change to Classic Rock. Police show up at the station twice: once after a listener calls in to report that the DJ has apparently suffered a heart attack, and later with guns drawn because of suspicion that, eight days after the beginning of the Gulf War, the radio station has been taken over by terrorists dispatched by Saddam Hussein, known to be a rabid Zeppelin fan (1991)... Rage Against The Machine headline the Rock For Choice benefit at The Palladium in Hollywood. Also appearing are Screaming Trees, Eddie Vedder, Mary's Danish, 7 Year Bitch and Green Apple Quick Step (1994)... An English coroner criticises the rap singer Eminem's lyrics as 'depressing in the extreme' during an inquest into the death of a schoolboy who threw himself in front of a train. The 17-year old boy had printed out the lyrics to Eminem's track 'Rock Bottom' before his death (2001)... One of the biggest charity concerts since Live Aid raises £1.25 million ($2 million) for victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia. The concert held at The Millennium Stadium, Cardiff features Eric Clapton, Manic Street Preachers, Keane, Charlotte Church, Snow Patrol, Embrace, Feeder, Craig David and Liberty X, who appear before 60,000 fans at the sold-out concert (2005).

January 22nd

Musical birthdays today include prog rock guitarist Phil Miller (71), Steve Perry (71), L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley (64), Daniel Johnston (59), Widespread Panic lead guitarist Jimmy Herring (58), original Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler (55), Jeffrey 'DJ Jazzy Jeff' Townes (55), Mike & the Mechanics singer Andrew Roachford (55), singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy (53), former Evanescence frontman Ben Moody (39), and guitarist Orianthi Panigaris (35). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Blind Willie Johnson, born on this day in 1897... for composer and NYC Ballet co-founder George Ballanchine, born in 1904... for Sam Cooke, who would have been 89 today... for Malcom McLaren, who would have been 74... for INXS frontman Michael Hutchence,  who would have been 60... for former Riot lead singer Rhett Forrester, shot and killed in a carjacking today in 1994 at the age of 37... and for Associates lead singer Billy Mackenzie, who took his own life today in 1997 at the age of 39. 

Also on January 22nd: Columbia Records is founded in Washington, DC as the Columbia Phonograph Company (1889)... Alone with an acoustic guitar and tape recorder in his New York City apartment, Buddy Holly makes his last recordings, including ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’, ‘Crying, Waiting, Hoping’, ‘That's What They Say’, ‘What To Do’, ‘Learning The Game’ and ‘That Makes It Tough’. The solo tracks will be overdubbed posthumously and released by Coral Records (1959)... Thelonious Monk officially begins a six-year residency with CBS Records as the album Monk's Dream is released on the label (1963)... The Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton appear at the Cavern Club in Liverpool  (1964)... The Rolling Stones kick off their tour of Australia and New Zealand at the Manufacturers' Auditorium in Sydney with Roy Orbison, The Newbeats and Ray Columbus and the Invaders (1965)... The Beach Boys go into the studio to begin recording 'Wouldn't It be Nice' (1966)... The Monkees perform live for the first time, to a sellout crowd at the Cow Palace in San Francisco (1967)... The Who open their first Australian tour in Sydney with the Small Faces as their opening act... Dr. John releases his debut album Gris-Gris (1968)... The Beatles move from Twickenham Film Studios to Apple headquarters in London to start recording the Get Back LP. Billy Preston is brought into the sessions (John, Paul, and George have known Preston since 1962, when he was a member of Little Richard's backing group). The Beatles are determined to record the album 'live', flaws and all... Neil Young releases his eponymous debut album (1969)... David Bowie reveals that he is bisexual in an interview with the British weekly Melody Maker (1972)... Wings over America, recorded live during Paul McCartney's 1976 US tour, goes to № 1 on the US album chart (1977)... MTV begins broadcasting on the west coast of the US after being picked up by the Cable W network in Los Angeles (1983)... Adele breaks an American chart record that has stood since 1980 ~ the singer's album 21 has clocked up 16 weeks at № 1 on the US chart. Released last January, the record has now passed Sgt. Pepper and Pink Floyd's The Wall, which had previously held the accolade with runs of 15 weeks each at № 1. The London native has now sold over 6 million copies of 21 in America, and over  17 million copies worldwide to date (2012).

January 21st

Musical birthdays today include Plácido Domingo (79), Mac Davis (78), Troggs lead guitarist Chris Britton (76), Caravan frontman Pye Hastings (73), Billy Ocean (70), Massive Attack  founding member Robert Del Naja (55), Charlene 'Tweet' Keys (49), Cat Power (48), Emma 'Baby Spice' Bunton (44), and Dru Hill producer Tamir 'Nokio the N-Tity' Ruffin (41). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for singer & Flamenco dancer Lola Flores, born on this day in 1923... for DJ Robert 'Wolfman Jack' Smith, who would have been 82 today... for Ritchie Havens, who would have been 79... for Edwin Starr, who would have been 78... for Jason 'Jam Master Jay' Mizell, who would have been 55... for Québecois composer Calixa Lavallée [best remembered for 'O Canada'], who died on this date in 1891... for soul singer Jackie 'Mr. Excitement' Wilson, who passed away in 1984... for Colonel Tom Parker, who died in 1997... and for Peggy Lee, who left us on this day in 2002. 

Also on January 21st: A performance of  Gounod's opera Faust at the Auditorium Building in Chicago is transmitted over the Westinghouse Network for the first nationwide broadcast of a musical event in American history (1927)... Over 3,000 screaming fans meet The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison at Sydney Airport when they arrive for a 16-date tour of Australia and New Zealand (1965)... George Harrison marries Patti Boyd at Leatherhead Register Office in Surrey with Paul McCartney as best man. George first met Patti on the set of  'A Hard Day's Night' when she had a small part as  schoolgirl on a train... Bob Dylan goes back into Columbia Studios in NYC to begin work on his next album. The Hawks, who are currently backing him on his world tour, are with him (1966)... Jimi Hendrix records his version of the Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower' at Olympic Studios in London. Brian Jones and Dave Mason from Traffic both play on the session... Simon & Garfunkel's soundtrack to The Graduate is released (1968)... Pink Floyd appear at the Guildhall in Portsmouth on the Dark Side of the Moon tour. This time they are able to perform the entire album without a hitch (1972)... The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever goes to № 1 on the US album chart ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 24 weeks (1978)... B.B. King donates his entire record collection of over 20,000 discs to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi (1982)... Yes have the № 1 single in the USA with 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'... The Pretenders release the Learning to Crawl album (1984)... Keith Richards inducts Aretha Franklin at the 2nd annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards, held at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC. Keith later takes part in a jam with Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Roy Orbison, Sting and Daryl Hall (1987)... David Palmer, former keyboard  player for Jethro Tull changes his name to Dee Palmer after a successful sex change operation. Palmer was the keyboardist for Tull between 1969 and 1980, played on all the group's classics including 'Thick As A Brick' and 'Aqualung' (2003).

January 20th

Musical birthdays today include jazz trumpeter and bandleader Ray Anthony (98), jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb (91), Zager and Evans co-member Rick Evans (77), former 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart (75), ex-Poco drummer George Grantham (73), Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill (69), Paul Stanley (68), ex-Fear bassist Scott Thunes (60), country singer John Michael Montgomery (55), M People lead singer Heather Small (54), L.A. Guns founder Tracy 'Tracii Guns' Ulrich (54), Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire (51), Edwin McCain (50), Gary Barlow (49), Slipknot turntablist Sid Wilson (43), Bullet for My Valentine lead singer Matthew Tuck (43), Cobra Starship keytarist Victoria Asher (36), Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker (34), and rapper Jo-Vaughn 'Joey Badass' Scott (25). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Huddie Ledbetter AKA Lead Belly, born on this day in 1888... for Slim Whitman, born in 1923... for 5th Dimension founding member Ron Townson, who would have been 87... for Barclay James Harvest drummer Mel Pritchard, who would have been 72... for pioneering rock 'n' roll DJ Alan Freed, who died on this date in 1965... for former Lemon Pipers drummer Bill Albaugh, who passed away in 1999... for Etta James, who died in 2012... and for Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese, who left us five years ago today.

Also on January 20th: The Kolisch Quartet premiere Bartók's 6th string quartet ~ his last ~ in NYC (1941)... Meet the Beatles! is released in the USA (1964)... The Byrds go into the  studio in Los Angeles to record 'Mr. Tambourine Man', their first single for Columbia Records (1965)... The Monkees TV show airs in Britain for the first time... The Rolling Stones release the Between the Buttons album in the UK (1967)... Bob Dylan makes his first public appearance in more than a year and a half, playing a 3-song set with the Band [billing themselves as 'The Crackers'] at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hall (1968)... One hit wonders John Fred and the Playboys are at № 1 in the US with 'Judy in Disguise' (1968)... Led Zeppelin play the Wheaton Youth Center in Wheaton, MD on their first US tour before a reported audience of 55 people. The turnout, the smallest of the band's career, is blamed on the weather, Richard Nixon's inaugural, and the fact that it is Monday night. Zeppelin take home $250 for the gig... Bruce Springsteen has two of his poems published in the Ocean County College Literary Yearbook 'Seascapes'. Springsteen is in his second semester at the Toms River, NJ community college (1969)... Pink Floyd kick off their UK 'Dark Side of the Moon' tour at the Dome in Brighton, but are forced to abandon the show after 'Money' because of technical problems (1972)... Bob Dylan releases Blood on the Tracks (1975)... During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, IA, a member of the audience throws a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the lights, the bat lies motionless; the singer, thinking it is a rubber fake, picks it up and attempts to bite its head off. As he does so, the bat starts to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realizes it is not fake but in fact a living thing. After the show, the former Black Sabbath frontman is immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots (1982)... Def Leppard release Pyromania (1983)... Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder headline a concert in Washington, DC to celebrate America's first nationwide Martin Luther King Day (1986)... The Beatles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney absents himself, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles are the reason for his failure to show (1988)... The first № 1 single of the '90s in the US is Michael Bolton's 'How Am I Supposed to Live without You' (1990)... Ben and Jerry's introduce 'Phish food', a new flavour of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge (1997)... Tourism operators in Liverpool are banned from putting up motorway signs saying 'Liverpool, the Birthplace Of The Beatles', because the Highways Division of the Ministry of Transport is concerned that the signs will distract motorists (2000)... George Harrison has a posthumous UK  № 1 single with the re-release of his 1971 chart-topper 'My Sweet Lord'. Harrison's single replaces Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman', the only time  in chart history that one deceased artist has taken over from another at No. 1 (2002).

January 19th

Musical birthdays today include filmmaker Richard Lester [who directed the Beatles in 'A Hard Day's Night' and Help!] (88), former Audience bassist Trevor Williams (75), Dolly Parton (74), original Deep Purple lead singer Rod Evans (73), producer and songwriter Tony Mansfield (65), conductor Simon Rattle (65), Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson (61), Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whit Crane (52), Trey Lorenz (51), Marcy Playground frontman John Wozniak (49), and Japanese pop singer Risha Ishikawa (35). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Broadway musical performer John Raitt, born on this day in 1917... for Phil Everly, who would have been 81 today... for Janis Joplin, who would have been 77... for Robert Palmer, who would have been 70... for Carl Perkins, who died on this date in 1998... for Wilson Pickett, who passed away in 2006... for Denny Doherty, who died in 2007... and for jazzman Jimmy Heath, who left us today. 

Also on January 19th: Verdi's Il Trovatore premieres in Rome (1853)... The Platters' 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes' goes to № 1 on the US charts (1959)... The Beatles make their first national TV appearance in the UK, performing 'Please Please Me' on the variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars (1963)... The Monkees are at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'I'm  Believer', the group's only British № 1... The Beatles begin recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road Studios, recording four takes of the new song. According to John Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who ran a red light and crashed his Lotus Elan on the 18th of December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London (1967)... 

Tracks from the White Album (including 'Helter Skelter') are played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to determine if any of the songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder (1971)... Johnny Rotten is fired from the Sex Pistols for 'not being weird enough anymore' (1978)... Pink Floyd's The Wall becomes the № 1 album in the US ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 4 months... The Pretenders self-titled debut album is released (1980)... Fleetwood Mac reunite to rehearse for their performance at Bill Clinton's first inaugural tomorrow. 'Don't Stop Dreaming about Tomorrow' was the Clinton campaign's principal theme song (1993)... The New Musical Express  reports that Paul McCartney is set to become the world's first English pop star billionaire in pounds. The NME estimates that McCartney is worth £725 million and is expected to become a Sterling billionaire thanks to sales from the forthcoming Beatles compilation hits album (2001).

January 18th

Musical birthdays today include Bobby Goldsboro (79), English session keyboardist Dave Greenslade (77), singer-songwriter & Nashville session man R. Stevie Moore (68), Hudson Brothers vocalist Brett Hudson (67), former Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey (66), producer and guitarist Jim O'Rourke (51), ex-Black Crowes lead guitarist Luther Dickinson (47), former BBMak vocalist Christian Burns (46), Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer (43), R&B singer Estelle (40), and Joanna Newsom (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for sound engineer Ray Dolby, who would have been 87 today... for former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, who would have been 79... for Greek bouzouki virtuoso & Rebetika pioneer Vassilis Tsitsanis, who died on this date in 1984... for former Agent Orange bassist Brent Liles, who passed away in 2007... and for Kate McGarrigle, who left us today in 2010. 

Also on January 18th: The Metropolitan Opera House in NYC hosts its first jazz concert. On the bill are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden (1944)... The Beatles break into the American Top 40 for the first time, as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' enters the upper reaches of the Billboard chart at № 35. The song will go on to spend 7 weeks at № 1  (1964)... The Rolling Stones record 'The Last Time' and 'Play with Fire' at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, with Phil Spector contributing the memorable acoustic guitar figure on the latter track (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience tape a performance of 'Purple Haze' for broadcast on Top of the Pops (1967)... Former members of Free (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson (Boz Burrell) form Bad Company. The band goes on to score a US № 1 album with their debut release (1974)... Barry Manilow is at № 1 on the US charts with 'Mandy'. In Britain, the top spot is occupied by Status Quo with 'Down Down', the group's only № 1 of their 52 UK chart hits between 1968 and 1996 (1975)... Warren Zevon's album Excitable Boy is released (1978)... Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics is arrested on stage in Milwaukee and charged with the offence of public lewdness for simulating sex with a sledgehammer. Williams later files a multimillion dollar civil suit against the Milwaukee Police, claiming they sexually assaulted and beat her during the arrest, but a jury rejects her claims (1981)... Van Halen launch their aptly named 103-date '1984' tour with a show in Jacksonville, FL (1984)... Dionne Warwick's 'That's What Friends Are for' goes to № 1 in the US. All profits from the single will go to AIDS charities (1986)... At the age of 38, Stevie Wonder becomes the youngest living person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, other inductees include The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Otis Redding and Dion DiMucci (1989)... Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson are divorced after less than two years of marriage (1996)... Tori Amos has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Professional Widow',  a song which has widely been interpreted as an attack on Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love (1997)... Animals in Michael Jackson's private zoo are declared to be in good health after officials pay a surprise visit to the singer's Neverland ranch. A medical officer from the US Department of Agriculture inspects the property following concerns voiced by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Jackson earlier moved out of Neverland and took up residence in Bahrain (2006)... An extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia goes on display in a new museum in Buenos Aires. Rodolfo Vazquez, a 53-year-old accountant, turned his mammoth Beatles collection into a museum with more than 8,500 objects, setting the new world record for the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia. Some of the items include a box of condoms bearing the names of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a brick from the Cavern Club, a chunk of the stage from the Star Club in Hamburg, and certified copies of the band members' birth certificates. Among his favorite items were 64 boxes of chewing gum in the form of Beatles records (2011).