Today In Music, July 18th

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Friday 18th July):

Birth

1946. Tim Lynch (The Flamin’ Groovies) born in San Francisco, California.

On Tour

1972. The Rolling Stones arrive in Boston but after a scuffle at the airport, Mick Jagger, Marshall Chess and film-maker Robert Frank are charged with obstructing police officers and Keith Richards is charged with assaulting a photographer and a journalist. With the band playing Boston’s Garden Theater tonight, the city’s mayor, Kevin White, bails them out of jail. The band hits the stage two hours late but no-one seems to care. The mayor is given a standing ovation by the audience.

In Politics

1972. Frank Sinatra appears before the U.S. House Crime Select Committee in Washington, D.C. and accuses it of irresponsibly letting a convicted felon “bandy his name about”. He told the packed hearing that it was “character assassination” and said they should have immediately refuted claims, made during the testimony of Joseph “The Baron” Barboza, that the singer was a front-man for the Mafia in the Fontainbleau and Sands hotels in Miami and Las Vegas. Joseph Phillips, counsel for the committee, said that Barboza made the allegations when he was being asked about unrelated matters, without any prompting.

In Court

1966. William Oliver Smedley, 54, an accountant and former vice-president of the Liberal Party, appears in court at Saffron Walden, Essex, charged with the murder of Reginald Calvert, 37, head of the Radio City pop radio station. Smedley is reported to have sparked the incident on the night of 19th June, when he and a boarding party visited the old wartime fort at Shivering Sands, where the radio station is based. They immobilized the transmitter and left some men to guard it. It’s thought the action was taken to stop the sale of the radio station to an American company. As a result, Calvert had visited Smedley at home on June 21st. Smedley said he feared for his life and admitted to police that he shot Calvert. Mr. Peter Palmes, prosecuting, said that the only weapon Calvert carried was a small tear gas pen. The hearing continues tomorrow.

On Television

 

 

1975. The Midnight Special (NBC, U.S.A.) 125. Host: Helen Reddy. Guests: Mac Davis; Minnie Riperton; Waylon Jennings; Steve Martin; Joe Simon. Here’s Minnie Riperton with “Lovin’ You”.

Death

1966. Bobby Fuller‘s body is found in his parked car in Los Angeles. He had been badly beaten and had been forced to swallow gasoline which killed him. Strangely, the police put the 22 year old’s death down to suicide and a coroner’s report, which ignored the bruising, agreed. It was only later after an investigation that details of the true circumstances were revealed. Rumours circulating at the time suggested that he’d been having an affair with the wife of a mafia gangster.

 

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