Today In Music, November 10th

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Monday 10th November):

Birth

1947. Glen Buxton (Alice Cooper) born in Akron, Ohio.

On Stage

1965. Bill Graham stages his first promotion at the Fillmore Auditorium featuring The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

In Court

1978. Johhny Rotten starts legal proceedings in the High Court in London to wind-up The Sex Pistols. His lawyers are granted special leave to serve notice of the action on Sid Vicious who is currently on bail in a New York hospital accused of murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungeon. Vicious was admitted to hospital after slashing his wrists in an abortive suicide attempt. Further action is adjourned for a hearing date to be set.

In The Studio

1966. Brian Wilson is hard at work in Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles on the new Beach Boys album, “Smile”. The track “Fire” doesn’t seem to be coming together so he sends an aide out to a toy store to buy plastic red fire helmets for the orchestra, studio crew and friends assembled there. Even that doesn’t quite capture the feeling he’s trying to create so he gets the studio’s janitor, Brother Julius, to start a fire in a bucket in the middle of the studio. On the 24th take he is finally satisfied. Later in the evening, Brian is told that the studio was nearly burned down. A wave of fires had been sweeping the city during the week and Brian decides they’ve been caused by his recording of the track. He tries to set light to the master tape but it won’t ignite. Convinced that he’s imbued the track with magical properties he has the tape locked in a vault where it can do no harm.

On Television

1972. The Partridge Family (ABC, U.S.A.) Swiss Family Partridge. Here’s the complete episode. The first clip links to the other two parts.

Death

2006. Gerald Levert (LeVert) dies in Newbury, Ohio, U.S. from an accidental mix of prescription drugs and over the counter medications.

 

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© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.

Today In Music, November 8th

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Saturday 8th November):

Birth

1944. Bonnie Bramlett (Delaney And Bonnie) born Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell in Acton, Illinois.

On Tour

1969. The Rolling Stones set a new world record for the highest grossing one-night stand in pop history. Tonight’s two shows at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles raised $260,000 of which the band receives $ 108,000 (£ 71,000). The first of the evening’s two performances was two hours late in starting due to the over-run of an ice-hockey match. The 7 o’clock show started at 9 p.m. and the 10 o’clock show began at 1 a.m. The Stones didn’t leave the arena until 5 a.m.

In Custody

1988. Ranking Dread (real name Errol Codling) is escorted by police to Heathrow airport outside London and deported from the U.K. The expulsion is officially as a result of immigration offences but he is returning to Jamaica to face questioning over the death of a policeman. Codling was arrested earlier this year after a raid on an illegal drinking club when he was found in possession of drugs but no action was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service. The singer, who had a UK Top 10 hit in 1980 with “Fatty Bum Bum”, is reported to have been on Scotland Yard’s list of most wanted Yaries for some time. The Yardies, a Mafia-style organisation, are said to be heavily involved in drugs and prostitution in London.

In Court

1968. At the Court Of Session in Edinburgh, The Small Faces are ordered to pay £ 2,000 in damages for breach of contract. Lord Thompson, presiding, granted a decree in absence to promoter Albert Bonici of Elgin. Bonici claimed the group breached a contract to appear in Aberdeen, Nairn, Montrose and Perth during August of last year. None of the Small Faces were in court and they were not represented by counsel. No defences were lodged against the action.

On Television

1974. The Midnight Special (NBC, U.S.A.) 90. Guests: Golden Earring; Little Anthony and the Imperials; Orphan. Here are Golden Earring with “Radar Love”. The camp introduction by Little Richard is quite amusing.

Death

1968. Blues singer and bottleneck guitarist James “Kokomo” Arnold dies in Chicago, Illinois aged 67.

 

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© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.

I Met Amy Macdonald’s Sister!

I know this isn’t the usual posting but forget “Today In Music”. Face it, I have so why can’t you for an hour or two?

This evening was spent in Dundee at a wine tasting which was extremely pleasant. The wine’s were good, the company was good and in amongst the small but select band of tasters was a final-year medical student who looked a lot like Amy Macdonald. She claimed to be her sister and I know she does have an older sister. The young lady I met even had a bank card with the name Macdonald on it, so who am I to assume it was not Amy’s sister.

Thankfully, before she identified who she was I had stated that I loved Amy’s album. It is quite simply the best female vocal album I’ve heard in years and there is not a single bad track on it which has always been a rare event.

I’m a total sucker, since I first rang Steve Hillage’s number and his mother told me he was on tour but to pop by for a cup of tea, to being at Hipgnosis when Robert “Percy” Plant walked in on crutches following the accident in Crete, I have and hope always will get excited by rock and pop music.

I’ll reiterate my slogan, “If religion is the opiate of the people, then rock music is marijuana for the masses!”

I’m going to go and organize dinner now. I’ll be back with the normal blog later.

Today In Music, November 2nd

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Sunday 2nd November):

Birth

1941. Bruce Welch (The Shadows) born Bruce Cripps in Bognor Regis, Sussex.

On The Street

2003. P. Diddy spent today pounding the pavement and riased $ 2 million for New York children’s AIDS charities. The rapper entered the New York marathon under his real name of Sean Combs. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours 14 minutes and 54 seconds and came home in 11,359th place.

In Court

1998. Sarah McLachlan appears for the first day of a three week trial at court in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is being sued by Darryl Neudorf, recording engineer on her first album, “Touch” who claims he provided parts of the songs “Vox”, “Streaming”, “Sad Clown” and “Strange World” without credit or payment. Neudorf, ex-drummer with Canadian rockers, 54-40 is playing tough. He’s scheduled witnesses from October Game a band McLachlan was in as a teenager who will testify that she has since claimed credits for songs that were written by other members of that band. Despite fans gathering for the event, proceedings are being held in closed court with no public access.

In Hospital

1998. Ska pioneer Roland Alphonso (The Skatalites) collapses onstage during a gig at the Key Club in West Hollywood. He is rushed to Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. Despite being kept in hospital for tests and treatment, he will slip into a coma on November 17th and die on November 20th.

On Television

1998. Rockpalast (WDR, Germany) R.E.M. (Club Grünspan, Hamburg)

Death

1996. Bluesman William “W.C.” Clarke dies in a Fresno hospital after surgery for a bleeding ulcer. He had collapsed yesterday in his hotel room shower hours before he was due onstage for a club date in the city.

 

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© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.

Today In Music, November 1st

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Saturday 1st November):

Birth

1946. Ric Grech (Family, Blind Faith) born in Bordeaux, France.

On Tour

1979. Bob Dylan launches his first evangelical tour at San Francisco’s Fox Warfield Theatre. During the 95 minute performance Dylan played nothing more than a year old – and nothing which could be classed as secular. The music may have been great but the songs were “God-awful” according to the critics.

In Court

1971. Singer Danny Williams is jailed for 18 weeks at Falkirk Sheriff Court after he and his wife admitted possessing cannabis in the town’s Metropolitan Hotel yesterday. The court heard how everything went wrong for Williams, who had been a regular in the pop charts, when he was convicted for possession in 1968. His solicitor, Mr. Pat Emery, told how Williams had suffered a nervous breakdown which led to him being unable to work. That in turn led to him being made bankrupt. Williams’ wife, Jean, was remanded in custody for two weeks to allow for background reports.

To The Rescue

2001. After months of uncertainty, it seems that Jimi Hendrix‘s childhood home has been saved from the wrecking ball. The house in Seattle had been sold on eBay in August but the buyer pulled out of the deal. Pleas had been made to Paul Allen who owns the Experience Music Project but he had no interest in it.

A condominium developer who had planned to demolish the building in the next two weeks has agreed to sell it to a developer who happens to be a former business manager og Leon hendrix, the guitarist’s brother. He plans to move the house to a temporary location while a permanent home can be found for it.

On Television

1983. Rockpalast (WDR, Germany) Jack Bruce And Band (Zeche Bochum). Here they are with “Green And Blue”.

Death

1990. Ron Wood‘s father dies from a heart attack during a conversation with his son at the guitarist’s home in Wimbledon.

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© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.