Vehicular Mayhem...Wonder Thunder...Grace Maced
This is the week that was in matters musical...
1956, Elvis begins
work on his first movie, "Love Me Tender"...
1962, Little Eva's "The
Locomotion" hits No. 1 on the pop chart...
1963, Little Stevie Wonder
is the first artist to top the pop single chart, the pop albums
chart, and the R&B singles chart simultaneously with the album "The
Twelve Year-Old-Genius" and "Fingertips, Part Two"...
1964, Martha and
the Vandellas' "Dancing In The Streets" is released...also in 1964,
Liberty Records reports that "The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles" is
selling 25,000 copies a day...
1965, The Beatles meet Elvis Presley...
he invites them to his Bel Air home where they talk and jam for a few
hours...
1967, The Beatles meet with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the
first time in London and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" is released...
1968, Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" hits No. 2 on the pop chart...
1970, Derek and the Dominoes begin work on their first and only
studio album, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"...also in 1970, Elton
John signs with MCA Records, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer make their
world debut at Plymouth Guild Hall in Plymouth, England...
1972,
following a show in Akron, Ohio, Grace Slick is maced in the face and
Paul Kantner is slammed to the floor by police...the brouhaha begins
when someone phones in a bomb threat which puts the police on edge...
when fans throw rocks at a squad car all hell breaks loose...
1977,
The Pretenders play their first public gig, opening for Strangeways
...also in 1977, Waylon Jennings is arrested for cocaine possession,
shortly after he is made honorary police chief of Nashville...
1978,
Bruce Springsteen appears on the cover of "Rolling Stone"...
1979, Lou
Reed leaves the Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin releases what
turns out to be their last album together, "In Through The Out Door"
...
1981, Lennon's murderer is sentenced to 20 years in prison...in
the months following he complains of repeated beatings at the hands
of other inmates, much to the delight of the Lennon-loving public...
1989, The Who performs "Tommy" at the Universal Amphitheater with
guests Steve Winwood, Elton John, Phil Collins, Patti LaBelle, and
Billy Idol...
1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan, after rocketing to fame for
his gritty blues style, meets a tragic end when the helicopter that
carries him and members of Eric Clapton's entourage crashes into a
hillside in Wisconsin...
1994, singer John Denver is charged with
drunken driving after crashing his Porsche into a tree and Jimmy
Buffett's plane flips after taking off in Nantucket, Mass...Jimmy
swims to safety...
1995, Neil Young headlines the Redding Festival
with Pearl Jam as his backing band...
and that was the week that was.
Birthdays
August 21: Count Basie (1904), Kenny Rogers (1938), James Burton
(1939), Jackie De Shannon (1944), Glen Hughes of Deep Purple (1952),
Steve Smith of Journey (1954), Joe Strummer of The Clash (1955), Kim
Sledge of Sister Sledge (1958), Liam Howlett of Prodigy (1971)
August 22: John Lee Hooker (1917), Freddie Milano of The Belmonts
(1939), Teresa Davis of The Emotions (1950), Living Colour guitarist
Vernon Reid (1958), Debbi Peterson of The Bangles (1961), Roland
Orzabal of Tears For Fears (1961), Tori Amos (1963), James DeBarge of
DeBarge (1963), Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys (1973)
August 23: Tex Williams (1917), Bunny Lee (1941),Ramon Phillips of
The Nashville Teens (1941), Keith Moon (1947), Rick Springfield
(1949), Jim Jamison of Survivor (1951), Steve Clark of Def Leppard
(1960), Dean DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots (1961)
August 24: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1905), Wynonie Harris (1915),
David Frieberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1938), Mason
Williams (1938), Joe Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1942),
Fontella Bass (1942), John Cipollina (1943), Jim Capaldi of Traffic
(1944), Malcolm Duncan of Average White Band and Ken Hensley of Uriah
Heep (1945), Mike Derosier of Heart and Rob Halford of Judas Priest
(1951), Pepples (1964)
August 25: Charlie Burse of Memphis Jug Band (1901), Leonard
Bernstein (1918), Wayne Shorter (1933), Pat Martino (1944), Valerie
Simpson (1948), Gene Simmons (1949), Elvis Costello (1954), Billy Ray
Cyrus (1961), Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard (1962), DJ Terminator X
of Public Enemy (1966)
August 26: Jimmy Rushing (1902), Dan Vickrey of Counting Crows
(1966), Adrian Young of No Doubt (1969)
August 27: Lester Young (1909), Carter Glen Stanley (1925), Alice
Coltrane (1937), Tommy Sands (1937), Daryl Dragon (1942), Tim Bogert
of Vanilla Fudge (1947), Simon Kirke of Bad Company (1949), Jeff Cook
of Alabama (1949), Mink "Willy" DeVille (1950), Alex Lifeson of Rush
(1953), Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols (1956)
Departures
August 21: Tarheel Slim
August 22: blues pianist Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (1987), bluesman
John Lee Granderson (1979)
August 23: Oscar Hammerstein (1960)
August 24: bluesman L.C. Greene (1985), Louis Prima (1978)
August 25: Ronnie White of The Miracles (1995), hip hop star DJ Scott
La Rock (1987), Lee Hays of The Weavers (1981), Stan Kenton (1979)
August 26: Ronnie White of The Miracles (1995)
August 27: Stevie Ray Vaughan of Double Trouble (1990), blues
guitarist Harding "Hop" Wilson (1975), Brian Epstein (1967)
