Chubby Twists One...Townshend Bombs...Brownie Bought
This is the week that was in matters musical...
1948, the TV show "Toast Of
The Town" premieres...later its name will be changed to "The Ed Sullivan
Show"...and Columbia Records begins the first mass production of the 33-1/3
RPM LP...
1955, Johnny Cash's first single, "Cry Cry Cry," is
released...
1958, Bobby Darin records "Splish Splash"...
1963, The Surfaris'
"Wipe Out" is released...
1964, Sam Cooke starts a two-week stint at New
York's Copacabana Club...
1965, John Lennon's second book, "A Spaniard in
the Works" is published...
1966, The New York Times reports that George
Harrison and Brian Jones have taken up the sitar...
1967, Arthur Conley
receives his first gold record for "Sweet Soul Music"...and Procol Harum's
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" enters the U.S. pop charts...
1968, The Jeff Beck
Group makes its U.S. debut in New York at The Fillmore East...Rod Stewart
gets a bad case of stage fright and hides behind a speaker stack for the
first song...
1969, Blind Faith's first and only LP is released...and the
three-day Newport '69 Festival begins in Northridge, California...150,000
attend...Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, CCR, Ike & Tina, Jethro Tull, The
Rascals, Steppenwolf, and others perform...
1970, in a foreshadowing of
current-day concerns, Pete Townshend is overheard by Memphis International
Airport staff using the word "bomb" which results in his being questioned
by the F.B.I. and police...he uses the word as the British slang equivalent
of our "hit" in referring to the success of "Tommy," but officials react
simply to the word and not its meaning or context...1970, Chubby Checker is
arrested in Niagara Falls for marijuana possession...
1972, Neil Young's
"Cinnamon Girl" goes gold...and the Tallahatchie Bridge of Bobbie Gentry's
"Ode To Billie Joe" fame, alas, collapses...
1973, "The Rocky Horror Picture
Show" stage production opens in London...
1975, Alice Cooper falls from the
set of his "Welcome To My Nightmare" tour in Vancouver, breaking six
ribs...
1976, Wild Cherry releases "Play That Funky Music"...
1980, Donna
Summer signs with Geffen Records as the new label's first artist...
1981,
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker announce the break-up (yeah, right) of
Steely Dan...and this same week, a total scumbag who here will remain
nameless pleads guilty to first-degree murder for killing John
Lennon...
1988, over 3,000 East Germans gather at the Berlin Wall to hear
Michael Jackson who is performing a concert on the other side in West
Berlin...
1990, actor Gary Busey pays $242,000 for one of Buddy Holly's
guitars at auction in New York...Busey, of course, played Holly in the
movie, "The Buddy Holly Story"...
1992, Billy Joel finally receives his high
school diploma...he had failed to graduate with his 1967 class because he
overslept and missed his Gym and English finals...
1996, The Furthur
Festival kicks off in Atlanta...it is the first time members of The
Grateful Dead perform together since the death of Jerry...
1998, Johnny Cash
surprises Kris Kristofferson by joining him onstage during a tribute to
Cash and Waylon Jennings in Nashville...it is the first time Cash has
performed in public since stricken with Shy-Drager Syndrome the preceding
year...
1999, Eric Clapton raises five million for his drug rehab clinic,
Crossroads, by auctioning off 100 of his guitars...Brownie fetches a record
$497,500...
and that was the week that was.
Birthdays
June 19: Tommy Devito of The Four Seasons (1936), Nick Drake (1948), Ann
Wilson of Heart (1950), Paula Abdul (1962)
June 20: Guy Lombardo (1902), Chet Atkins (1924), Billy Guy of The Coasters
(1936), Brian Wilson (1942), Anne Murray (1945), Lionel Richie (1949),
Cyndi Lauper (1953), Alan Longmuir of The Bay City Rollers (1953), Van
Halen bassist Michael Anthony (1955), John Taylor of Duran Duran (1960)
June 21: "Mission Impossible" composer Lalo Schifrin (1932), Ray Davies of
the Kinks (1944), Joey Molland of Badfinger (1948), Aerosmith drummer Joey
Kramer (1950), Nils Lofgren (1951), Mark Brzezicki of Big Country (1957)
June 22: Kris Kristofferson (1936), Peter Asher of Peter And Gordon
(1944), Howard Kaylan of the Turtles (1945), Todd Rundgren (1948), Alan
Osmond of The Osmonds (1949), Derek Forbes of Simple Minds (1956), Gary
Beers of INXS (1957)
June 23: June Carter (1929), Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (1938?),
Paul Goddard of Atlanta Rhythm Section (1945)
June 24: Mick Fleetwood (1942), Jeff Beck (1944), Arthur Brown (1944),
Chris Wood of Traffic (1944), Colin Blunstone of The Zombies (1945), Dire
Straits bassist John Illsley (1949), Terry Wilson aka Astro of UB.40
(1957), Curt Smith of Tears For Fears (1961)
June 25: Clifton Chernier (1925), Eddie Floyd (1935), Carly Simon (1945),
Ian McDonald of Foreigner (1946), Clint Warwick of The Moody Blues (1949),
Tim Finn of Split Enz (1952), David Paich of Toto (1954), George Michael
(1963)
Departures
June 19: Bobby Helms of "Jingle Bell Rock" fame (1997), composer Vivian
Ellis (1996), Clarence White of The Byrds (1973)
June 20: Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1997)
June 21: rhythm and blues singer Arthur Prysock (1997), gospel singer
Thomas Whitfield (1992), bandleader Bert Kaempfert (1980)
June 22: Dennis Day (1988), Fred Astaire (1987), composer Darius Milhaud (1974)
June 23: Elton Britt (1972)
June 24: Sissieretta Jones AKA "Black Patti" (1933)
June 25: songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1987), Johnny Mercer (1976)
