Dead In The Water...Stones' Tribulations...Beatle Larvae
This is the week that was in matters musical...
July 3 is a big day
for tragic rock deaths...1969, Stones co-founder and
multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool
just a few weeks after leaving the band for "artistic reasons"...his
body contains lots of barbiturates and alcohol and his death is ruled
a "misadventure"...Jones had been on a downward spiral for a few
years already—drinking, drugging, and womanizing his way into a
perpetual stupor...bandmates played gags on him like letting him record
overdubs without the tape rolling...two years later to the day, Doors
frontman Jim Morrison is found dead in his bathtub in Paris after
distancing himself from the band and following a path of dissipation
similar to that tread by Jones...his apparent cause of death is a
heart attack...both Morrison and Jones are 27 when they die...on the
same day in 1972, legendary slide bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell
passes on in a more timely manner of cancer at age 68...
1969, The
Rolling Stones give a free concert for 250,000 freaky Brits in Hyde
Park...the concert was to be a welcome bash for new guitarist Mick
Taylor, but is reslated as a tribute to freshly dead Brian Jones...
1975, Keith Richards is charged with possession of an offensive
weapon and reckless driving...hordes of teenage girlfans mob his
Arkansas jail...
1969, Marianne Faithfull tries to off herself with
barbs on the set of the movie "Ned Kelly"...she's promptly dropped
from the flick in which she was to co-star with her ol' man Mick
Jagger...
1978, EMI halts the presses on the Stones' "Some Girls"
album cover...Lucille Ball is hacked off to see her youthful face
pictured along with the bands' mugs under bad wigs...
1969, the
Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island opens its doors to Led
Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, and Ten Years After, among others...it is the
first and last time rock bands are invited to play the festival...
1973, at the ripe old age of 26, David Bowie announces his retirement
from music performance...11 months later he's back on stage eating
his words...
1957, on July 6, Paul meets John at a church social where
John's band, The Quarrymen, are playing...during the break Paul grabs
a guitar, turns it upside down, and belts out "Twenty Flight Rock,"
including all the words, blowing young John's mind and creating the
spark the would grow into the hottest act in rock history...1964, "A
Hard Day's Night" premieres in London...
1965, The Jefferson Airplane
is formed in the City by the Bay...
1980, West Berlin, Led Zeppelin
plays its last concert with the original lineup...
1995, the Dead play
their last gig with Jerry at the helm in Chicago...
and that was the week that was.
Birthdays
July 3: David Lynch of The Platters (1929), Matthew Fisher of Procol
Harum (1946), Betty Buckley (1947), Paul Barrere of Little Feat
(1948), Laura Branigan of "Gloria" fame (1957), Stephen Pearcy of
Ratt (1959), Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode (1961), Kevin Hearn of
Barenaked Ladies (1969)
July 4: Louis Armstrong (1900), Bill Withers (1938), Jeremy Spencer
of Fleetwood Mac (1948), Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951),
Kirk Pengilly of INXS (1958), Matt Malley of Counting Crows (1963),
Andrew Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies (1971)
July 5: Smiley Lewis (1920), Robbie Robertson (1943), Huey Lewis (1950),
Michael Monarch of Steppenwolf (1950)
July 6: Bill Haley (1925), Della Reese (1932), Gene Chandler of "Duke
of Earl" fame (1937), Rik Elswit of Dr. Hook (1945), Nancy Griffith
(1953)
July 7: Mary Ford (1924), Joe Zawinul of Weather Report (1932), Ringo
Starr (1940), David Hodo of the Village People (1947), Larry "Rhino"
Reinhardt of Iron Butterfly (1948), Mark White of the Spin Doctors
(1962)
July 8: Louis Jordan (1908), Billy Eckstein (1913), Jai Johnny
Johanson of the Allman Brothers Band (1944), Andy Fletcher of Depeche
Mode (1961), Joan Osborne (1962), Beck (1970)
July 9: Mitch Mitchell (1946), Bon Scott of AC/DC (1946), Courtney
Love (1964)
Departures
July 3: Merle Haggard's long-time guitarist Roy Nichols (2001), Rudy
Vallee (1986), Mississippi Fred McDowell (1972), Jim Morrison (1971),
Brian Jones (1969)
July 4: Donald McPherson of "Everybody Plays the Fool" fame (1971)
July 5: Trumpeter Harry James (1983)
July 6: Roy Rogers (1998), Louis Armstrong (1971)
July 8: Nico of The Velvet Underground (1988)
