Monthly Archive: January 2016

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

1941 – The late David Ruffin (The Temptations – ‘My Girl’) was born.

1941 – Bobby Goldsboro (‘Honey’) was born. He’s 75 today.
Rock Factoid: Goldsboro was a member of The Candymen, Roy Orbison’s touring group, from 1962 to 1964. It wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds. Roy would fly to each scheduled city while the four band members drove U-Haul trucks to carry their equipment.
Rock Factoid: Goldsboro is often considered a musical lightweight but as a songwriter, he has received twenty-seven BMI awards and his compositions have been recorded by such diverse artists as Aretha Franklin, John Denver, Paul Anka, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Dr. John, Conway Twitty and Bette Midler.
His compositions, With Pen In Hand and Autumn Of My Life are members of BMI’s exclusive “Million-airs Club,” which contains only those songs which have been played on the air over one million times.

1965 – The Rolling Stones recorded ‘The Last Time’ and ‘Play With Fire’ at RCA Studios in Los Angeles.
Rock Factoid: Play With Fire was credited to Nanker Phelge, a pseudonym used when tracks were composed by the entire band, even though Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards were the only Rolling Stones to appear on the track. Phil Spector played bass (actually a tuned-down electric guitar), and Jack Nitzsche provided the song’s distinctive harpsichord arrangement.
Rock Factoid: “We had spent a lot of time recording ‘The Last Time’ and by the time we got to ‘Play With Fire,’ it was late and Brian, Bill and Charlie fell asleep. We were leaving for a tour of Australia the next day so Mick and I grabbed Phil and Jack and got it done.” … Keith Richards

1965 – Barbra Streisand and Bobby Darin sang at the Inaugural Gala for President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1968 – LBJ was in the music news again but for all the wrong reasons.
Rock Factoid: Because of her work with inner-city youth programs, singer Eartha Kitt had been invited to a White House luncheon by First Lady Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson.
The topics of discussion were both juvenile delinquency and the beautification of America. When she stepped to the podium, Kitt linked them both, and offered the Vietnam War as “the main reason we are having trouble with the youth of America. It is a war without explanation or reason. Our children are snatched from us before they have a chance to know life, taught to kill and if, by chance, they return, they are not retrained but simply thrown back into society. They are not given a job, or even examined to see if they might have an emotional or physical problem. They are not taken care of in any way. To beautify America, it seems, is to beautify her with jobs and less taxes and getting out of Vietnam.”
Mrs. Johnson, her voice trembling and tears welling in her eyes, looked directly at the singer and said, “Because there is a war on – and I pray that there will be a just and honest peace – that still doesn’t give us a free ticket not to try to work for better things such as against crime in the streets, better education, and better health for our people.”
LBJ happened at that moment to pass by and saw that Lady Bird was upset, resulting in the photo above. Almost immediately, all of Kitt’s acting and singing work evaporated, and she was eventually forced to move to Europe to make a living.

1969 – The Beatles and former drummer Pete Best settled a defamation of character lawsuit.
Rock Factoid: Best had taken issue with an interview the group did with Playboy in February 1965, where they were asked about Ringo Starr’s origins with the Beatles. John Lennon mentioned that Ringo sat in with them when Best couldn’t make it (“I missed four shows in over two years so if that makes me unreliable”), the former drummer took particular exception to a comment Ringo made in the article (“He took little pills to make him ill”), implying that the absences were the result of pill-popping.

1973 – The Rolling Stones performed a benefit concert in Inglewood, California for Nicaraguan earthquake relief that raised $200,000. Lead singer Mick Jagger personally donated another $150,000.

1974 – Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke of Free, Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople and Boz Burrell of King Crimson combined to form supergroup Bad Company.

1977 – Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt sang at the Inaugural Gala for President Jimmy Carter.

1988 – Def Leppard released the ‘Hysteria’ single. It was the fourth of six singles from the album of the same name to reach the Billboard Top 40.

1989 – The Temptations, Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, and Dion were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Bessie Smith, The Soul Stirrers and The Ink Spots were also inducted (Early Performers category) along with producer Phil Spector (Non-Performers).

1990 – Mel Appleby (sister duo of Mel & Kim – ‘That’s The Way It Is’) died from pneumonia following treatment for spinal cancer. She was 23.

1991 – Three people were crushed to death at an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City when fans rushed the stage.

1996 – Lisa Marie Presley, citing irreconcilable differences, filed for a divorce from Michael Jackson.

2015 – Dallas Taylor (drummer with Crosby, Stills & Nash – ‘Marrakesh Express’ – and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – ‘Carry On’) died of complications from viral pneumonia and kidney disease. He was 66.

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.