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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Today In Music, September 6th

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Saturday 6th September):

Birth

1946. Eric Hine (Simon Dupree And The Big Sound) born in Portsmouth, England.

On Tour

1979. Just hours before Siouxsie And The Banshees are due on stage in Aberdeen, drummer Kenny Morris and guitarist John McKay quit the band without warning. Their departure is as a result of arguements during the afternoon at a record signing in a local shop. Polydor underestimated local interest in the band and only sent 50 copies of the album to the store. Those were eagerly grabbed by some of the hundreds of fans that turned out. Luckily, the band’s manager had a stock in the back of his car which he agreed to sell to the shop’s owner. Before the deal was complete, Morris and Mckay were handing the albums out for free to the fans.

Both the manager and the shop owner complained and that sparked a refusal from the pair to continue the signing. Then, the row intensified and the two stormed off. By the time the rest of the band returned to their hotel, they had caught atrain to London and left their tour passes pinned to their pillows. That night, the support band (The Cure) extended their set and sat in with Siouxsie and Steve Severin for several Banshees numbers. The rest of the tour is cancelled.

In Court

1972. Paul Pawlowski and William Dwyer, joint promoters of the pop and sex festival staged at Windsor Great Park, two weeks ago, appear at South West London Magistrates Court charged with cultivating cannabis at their south London home. Pawlowski, head of the free-love Church of Aphrodite, based in Tooting, refused to plead and stood in the dock with his back to the judge. The court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. In his evidence, a police officer said that Pawlowski admitted the plants were cannabis but said they were sacred and could not be interfered with as they had religious uses. He was found guilty and remanded in custody until September 19th for reports. Dwyer was found not guilty and released.

Under The Hammer

1988. The three day auction at Sotheby’s of Elton John‘s personal collection of memorabilia and antiques starts in London. Estimated to make at best £ 3 million, the auction actually makes £ 4,838,022. Even the banners hung outside the auction rooms are sold for £ 550 each. The lavish catalogues, available for £ 60 soon become collector’s items themselves. All this for a sale that was prompted when Elton started to clear rooms out for redecorating!

On Television

1974. The Midnight Special (NBC, U.S.A.) 82. Host and only guest: Marvin Gaye. Here he is with, “Let’s Get It On” 4m 39s.

Death

1990. Tom Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) dies in Scottsdale, Arizona from tuberculosis, aged 48.

 

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

Today In Music, August 19th

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Tuesday 19th August):

Birth

1943. Billy J. Kramer born William Howard Ashton in Bootle, Lancashire.

On Tour

1965. As The Beatles arrive at Houston Airport in Texas, 5,000 fans break through police lines and rush towards their chartered plane. Luckily, a catering truck is backed up to the aircraft and the boys are ferried to safety. Promoter Bill Weaver said that the security force assembled to ensure the group’s safety was larger than that used by President Johnson when he was in the city. Sell out audiences of 12,000 at each of tonight’s shows will earn The Beatles £ 30,050. The city authories, who own the Coliseum where the concerts are taking place, have demanded a $ 10,000 (£ 3,500) damage bond from the promoter.

In Shops

1981. Neil Tennant meets Chris Lowe for the first time in an electronics shop in London’s Kings Road. Finding a common interest in dance music, the pair start writing together, eventually forming a duo called West End. That name soon gets dropped in favour of Pet Shop Boys, a name they had jokingly used to refer to some friends who worked in an Ealing pet shop.

In The Press

1976. Glasgow’s Evening Times runs a headline, “Ramones In Teenage Glue Death Outrage”. The paper claims that the band advocates the habit of sniffing glue. A local member of parliament, James Dempsey, tries to have the band’s first album banned from Scottish stores.

On Television

1972. The Midnight Special (NBC, U.S.A.) Pilot show. Host: John Denver. Guests: Argent; Harry Chapin; David Clayton Thomas; ‘Mama’ Cass Elliot; The Everly Brothers; The Isley Brothers. Here’s Argent with “Hold Your Head Up”.

Death

1996. Gospel-rock drummer Steve Marsh (Elim Hall, One Hundred Days) dies of liver cancer, first diagnosed in June.

Music Paper From Today

Record Mirror from 19th August 1972. A copy taken from Rockmine’s almost complete run of U.K. music papers from the last 45 years.

Babble

The first thing I have to do today, is apologize. Somehow, I managed to put today’s blog (i.e. Tuesday 19th August) up in place of yesterday’s. I didn’t realise until late last night and decided to leave it for the morning. So, here I am correcting a rather idiotic mistake.

Apart from that, there’s little to report today. The Ballerina Ballroom Blog is getting a lot of interest. Whether that’s as a result of my flyer and poster blitz of Nairn remains to be seen. I have started to feature the regular bands that played there and have reworked it so it’s easier to navigate. The trouble is it just keeps giving me more work! All the video clips I’ve added to it will now have to be added to the index of clips on the Rockmine TV pages. No rest for the wicked. Oh well, I better get on…

 

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© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Monday 19th August):