Today In Music, August 6th
From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Wednesday 6th August):
Birth
1952. Pat MacDonald (Timbuk 3) born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
On Tour
1970. The “Popanalia” Festival in Nice, France becomes the second one in a week to be abandoned. It should have lasted 36 hours and featured Derek & The Dominoes, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine as headliners but turned into a riot when fans discovered that Soft Machine were refusing to play after being told they wouldn’t get their agreed fee. Only Joan Baez, Country Joe and Rare Bird actually performed before disgruntled fans stormed the stage. As well as throwing a grand piano off the stage, the mob also set fire to two mobile recording studios belonging to the broadcaster RTL.
In Custody
1999. Following an incident at the city’s Music Hall on July 31st, misdemeanour assault charges are filed against Art Alexakis and Brian Lehfeldt of Everclear in Austin, Texas. Alexakis stormed off stage during the show after being hit by a plastic water cup. Security guards pulled a 17 year old girl to the front of the stage, claiming she was responsible. On his return, Alexakis is said to have thrown a plastic water bottle at the girl calling her, “a f***ing redneck bitch” while Lehfeldt kicked her.
In Court
1990. Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) is fined £ 50 and ordered to pay £ 25 costs at Marlborough Magistrates Court after admitting threatening behaviour. He was stopped by police in London’s Soho in the early hours of the morning with two others. Rowland and pal David Philips (Earth) had obviously been fighting as both had blood on their faces. Initially police just spoke to the men but shortly after being allowed to go, they started fighting again and were arrested. Another friend, Lawrence Coles was arrested for shouting and swearing.
On Television
1987. Late Night With Letterman (U.S.A.) Musical guest: Patty Smyth – “Isn’t It Enough” 4m 52s.
Death
1973. Chicago Blues singer Memphis Minnie dies in a nursing home in Memphis, Tennessee.
Babble
A trip back to the Ballerina Ballroom in Nairn gave me a pleasant surprise. I was taking some memorabilia up to let John Byrne see the sort of stuff I planned to hang and walked in to discover he’d painted one wall with the wording “Rock Dreams”. It’s reproduced below but he said it would be “Improved on”. I can’t wait to see how it develops.
Yesterday, I gave a link to the myspace site for the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema Of Dreams but the “official site” can be found here. As I said, I spent a few happy hours trawling through microfiche reels looking for a complete listing of gigs at the Ballerina. I got a couple of years done but one of the things confusing me is that it originally seems to have been in a different venue but I need to check that out. Needless to say, I’ll keep you posted with any developments.
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