Rock & Roll History – November 20
The late Daniel ‘Dirty Dan’ McBride (guitarist with Sha Na Na) was born in 1945
The late Duane Allman (lead/slide guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band – ‘Ramblin’ Man’ and Derek & The Dominos – ‘Layla’) was born in 1946
The late Kevin Gilbert (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter – co-wrote Sheryl Crow’s ‘All I Wanna Do’) was born in 1966
Jimmy Brown (drummer with UB40 – ‘Red Red Wine’) is 58
Joe Walsh (lead guitarist with The James Gang – ‘Walk Away’ and solo artist – ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ before joining The Eagles – ‘Hotel California’) is 68
Rock Factoid: Walsh admits to struggling with alcohol and drug addictions for most of his career; however, he has been in recovery since 1995.
“In 1994 I woke up after blacking out on an airplane to Paris. When I arrived, I had my passport, but I did not remember getting on the plane. That was the turning point.” … Joe Walsh
Rock Factoid #2: Walsh announced a mock presidential campaign in 1980, running on a platform of “Free Gas For Everyone.” However, in 2012, Walsh revealed he was considering a legitimate bid for political office. “I think I would run seriously, and I think I would run for Congress. The root of the problem is that Congress is so dysfunctional. We’re dead in the water until Congress gets to work and passes new legislation to change things.”
Norman Greenbaum (‘Spirit In The Sky’) is 73
Rock Factoid: Greenbaum has the unique distinction of being a one-hit wonder twice! … sort of.
In 1968, Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band, which included Greenbaum, released ‘The Eggplant That Ate Chicago’ (peaking at #52) two years before ‘Spirit In The Sky’. His solo hit was the only song he recorded which reached the Top 40 so technically he may be a one-hit wonder but ‘The Eggplant’ is a cult classic!
Rock Factoid #2: The inspiration for ‘Spirit In The Sky’? Greenbaum was watching country gospel king Porter Wagoner singing a stirring song about forgiveness and redemption. Wagoner’s performance sent Greenbaum scrambling for a notepad. “I thought, ‘Yeah, I could do that,’ knowing nothing about gospel music. So I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. It came easy. I wrote the words in 15 minutes.”
Tony Butala (The Lettermen – ‘When I Fall In Love’) is 75
Bo Diddley appeared The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan had requested the singer perform a cover version of ‘Sixteen Tons’ but when he appeared on stage, he sang his own song, ‘Bo Diddley’ resulting in him being banned from further appearances on the show—1955
Legendary radio DJ Alan Freed was dropped by WABC in New York when he refused to sign an affidavit stating he never took money to play records—1959
Bob Dylan began recording his first album with Columbia Records—1961
Rock Factoid: The entire 13-song album, produced by the legendary John Hammond, was completed in three days (covering a period of just twelve hours).
The Beach Boys completed the recording ‘Cabinessence’—1968
Rock Factoid: The song was written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, and intended for ‘Smile’, the abandoned follow up to ‘Pet Sounds‘. ‘Cabinessence’ is noted for being one of a number of ‘Smile’ tracks which contained lyrics that the other band members did not approve of; no one more than Mike Love, who questioned the lyrics in an aggressive fashion with lyricist Parks. The showdown was so heated it cause Parks to eventually leave the ‘Smile’ project.
Rock Factoid #2: Defending himself in later years, Love said, “I asked Van Dyke, ‘What the hell does ‘Over and over the crow cries, uncover the cornfield’ mean?’ I always liked lyrics that are boy-girl, or made sense, or connected to the minds of people.”
Mike? I almost forgot: “The ‘over and over’ part of the song combines the elements of ancient and modern, of East meets West, of an accommodation and fledgling synthesis between the natural and the mechanical. The crows cry ‘uncover the cornfield’ because they have nowhere to land. Everything has been paved over and turned into shopping mall parking lots.” … Arkhonia
Got all that, Mr. Love?
Idle Thought: With the ‘Smile’ project abandoned, the song was included on 1969’s woeful ’20/20′ album, a sad ending for a true “masterpiece” because every time I hear ‘Cabinessence’, I am reminded of Steve Jobs’ last words: “Oh wow!”
Ray Davies of The Kinks flew to London to re-record a lyric to their single ‘Apeman’. Radio stations objected to the lyric, “The air pollution is a-foggin’ up my eyes”, claiming “foggin'” sounded too much like another word that begins with an F—1970
Tom Waits performed his first-ever paid gig – appearing as “Thomas Waits” – and received $25 by opening for Michael Milner at The Heritage in Los Angeles—1970
Scott Halpin, a 19 year-old audience member, filled in at a Who concert when drummer Keith Moon collapsed—1973
Allan Sherman (comedy writer/satirist – ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah’) died (emphysema)—1973
Paul Simon hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live and performed live with George Harrison on ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘Homeward Bound’—1976
The Beach Boys recorded ‘Baby Blue’—1977
Rock Factoid: The only members of the band to appear on the song – co-written by Dennis Wilson, Gregg Jakobson and Karen Lamm – were the Wilson brothers: Carl (lead vocal and guitar), Dennis (lead vocal on the bridge), and Brian (piano, high harmony vocal on the bridge).
Rock Factoid #2: It would become the last Dennis Wilson song released by the band prior to his death in 1983.
Idle Thought: It is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.
AC/DC released the ‘For Those About To Rock We Salute You’ album—1981
The Rolling Stones signed a three album deal with Virgin Records for $45 million, making it the biggest recording contract ever (at the time)—1991
David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash received a liver transplant—1994
Charlie Daniels underwent prostate cancer surgery in Nashville—2001
Stevie Wonder threatened to sue his mother, Lula Hardaway, for a passage in her autobiography where she claims Stevie lost his virginity to a prostitute. The story was deleted from future copies—2002
Phil Spector, the influential, eccentric music producer who worked with a long list of performers including The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, and The Beatles, was indicted for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson—2003
George Harrison, Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, Prince, The Dells, Traffic and ZZ Top were revealed as the Class of 2004 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place on March 15 the following year—2003
Chris Whitley (blues/rock guitarist – ‘Breaking Your Fall’) died (lung cancer)—2005
Bob Relf (Bob & Earl – the original ‘Harlem Shuffle’ which the duo wrote) died (natural causes)—2007
Queen guitarist Brian May was named chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. He relinquished the title in 2013 after his five-year term expired—2008
Albert ‘Little Smokey’ Smothers (blues guitarist with Paul Butterfield Blues Band – ‘Got My Mojo Working’) died (natural causes)—2010
A man wearing a (fake) backstage pass to a Bob Dylan concert played a cruel joke on a Massachusetts pizza parlor when he ordered 178 pizzas and never came back to pick them up—2010
Rock Factoid: The incident occurred at Antonio’s in Amherst, MA shortly after Dylan performed at The University of Massachusetts. The “customer” promised a big tip and said he would return in several hours and deliver them to Dylan’s crew. Owner Walter Pacheco explained that his staff worked until 5:30a.m. to fill the order, which came to approximately $3900. Pacheco said that he was able to give away some of the pizzas but that most needed to be thrown away.
Fortunately the prankster was captured on a surveillance camera and struck a deal with Antonio’s, although there’s no word as to exactly how much money he had to hand over.
Idle Thought: Is it just me or does anyone else think someone at Antonio’s should have asked for a deposit? I mean, come on, 178 pizzas?
Michael Dunford (guitarist with Renaissance – ‘Prologue’) died (cerebral hemorrhage)—2012
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2015 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.