The late Roy Acuff (the ‘King of Country Music’ – ‘Wabash Cannonball’) was born in 1903
The late Bobby Short (singer/pianist – ‘I Can’t Get Started’) was born in 1924
The late Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley (‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’) was born in 1928
The late Les Braid (bass guitar with The Swinging Blue Jeans – ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’) was born in 1937
The late Lee Dorman (bass guitar with Iron Butterfly – ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’) was born in 1942
The late Ola Brunkert (drummer with Abba on every song they recorded) was born in 1946
The late Allen Shellenberger (drummer with Lit – ‘My Own Worst Enemy’) was born in 1969
Mitch Dorge (drummer with Crash Test Dummies – ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm’) is 54
Signe Toly Anderson (original lead singer with Jefferson Airplane – ‘Chauffeur Blues’) is 73
Jimmy Gilmer (‘Sugar Shack’) is 74
Pat Barrett (tenor vocals with The Crew Cuts – ‘Sh-Boom’) is 81
Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra recorded the original version of ‘Georgia On My Mind’—1930
The Beach Boys – known at the time as The Pendletones – recorded a rough take of ‘Surfin’ at Hite Morgan’s studio in Los Angeles, even though Brian Wilson had not yet completed the song. Morgan was interested and asked them to call back when the song was complete—1961
Brian Epstein brought the Beatles to London for an interview with the Daily Mirror’s Peter Jones, who concluded: “They’re a nothing group.”—1962
Ford Motor Company became the first automaker to offer an 8-track tape player as an option for their entire line of vehicles on sale in the U.S. Tapes were initially only available at auto parts stores—1965
The Who appeared on ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’—1967
Rock Factoid: At the conclusion of ‘My Generation’, an explosion was planned but drummer Keith Moon had planted a triple dose of explosives without telling the rest of the band. The resulting flash nearly blew guitarist Pete Townshend’s head off and has been blamed – at least in part – for Pete’s subsequent hearing loss.
Jim Morrison collapsed before a Doors concert in Amsterdam—1968
U.S. Vice-President Spiro Agnew claimed the youth of America were being “brainwashed into a drug culture” by rock music, movies, books and underground newspapers—1970
The Rolling Stones released ‘Respectable’ / ‘When The Whip Comes Down’—1978
David Bowie debuted on Broadway in The Elephant Man—1980
Queen performed their final concert in the U.S. with Freddie Mercury at The Forum in Inglewood, CA—1982
Mark Knopfler announced the end of Dire Straits (but the inevitable reunion came three years later)—1988
A reel to reel tape of The Quarry Men appearing at St Peter’s Parish Church garden party on July 6, 1957 (the day John met Paul), sold for $125,000 at a Sotheby’s auction—1994
Gerry Marsden (of Gerry & The Pacemakers) had triple bypass heart surgery—2003
Johnny Ramone (born John William Cummings – guitarist with the Ramones – ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School’) died (prostate cancer)—2004
The Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool was given a Grade II listed building status (significant building of more than local interest) after a recommendation from English Heritage—2006
Rock Factoid: On August 29, 1959, a local band called the Quarrymen, featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ken Brown played – on opening night – in the converted coal cellar of the house – owned by Mona Best (Pete’s mother).
Rick Wright (keyboards/songwriter with Pink Floyd – ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’) died (cancer)—2008
Rock Factoid: “Like any band, you can never quite quantify who does what. But Pink Floyd wouldn’t have been Pink Floyd if [we] hadn’t had Rick. I think there’s a feeling now – particularly after all the warfare that went on with Roger (Waters) and David (Gilmour) trying to make clear what their contribution was – that perhaps Rick rather got pushed into the background. Because the sound of Pink Floyd is more than the guitar, bass and drum thing. Rick was the sound that knitted it all together. He was by far the quietest of the band, right from day one. And, I think, probably harder to get to know than the rest of us. It’s almost that George Harrison thing. You sort of forget that they did a lot more than perhaps they’re given credit for.” … drummer Roger Mason
James ‘Sugar’ Boy Crawford (wrote and recorded ‘Jock-A-Mo’ in 1954, which later was recorded by the Dixie Cups as ‘Iko Iko’) died (prolonged illness)—2012
Rock Factoid: After the Dixie Cups version of the ‘Iko Iko’ was released in 1965, they and their record label, Red Bird Records, were sued by Crawford, who claimed that ‘Iko Iko’ was the same as his composition ‘Jock-A-Mo’. Although The Dixie Cups denied that the two compositions were similar, the lawsuit resulted in a settlement in 1967 with Crawford making no claim to authorship or ownership of ‘Iko Iko’ but being credited 25% for public performances, such as radio, of ‘Iko Iko’ in the United States.
Rock Factoid #2: Even though a back-to-back listening of the two recordings clearly demonstrates the two songs were the same, Crawford’s rationale for the settlement was motivated by years of legal battles with no royalties. In the end, he stated, “I don’t even know if I really am getting my just dues. I just figure 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing.”
Jackie Lomax (British guitarist/singer/songwriter – The Lomax Alliance – ‘Try As You May’ and later a solo artist – ‘Sour Milk Sea’) died (natural causes)—2013
Rock Factoid: His recording of ‘Sour Milk Sea‘ came about when The Beatles had discarded the idea of formally recording the George Harrison song. George offered it to Lomax and supplied him with a stellar set of recording musicians (Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Ringo Starr on drums).
Rock Factoid #2: Along with ‘Hey Jude’/’Revolution’, Mary Hopkin’s ‘Those Were The Days’, and Black Dyke Mills Band’s ‘Thingumybob’, ‘Sour Milk Sea’ (registered on the 45 as Apple 3) was one of the first four singles released on Apple (all issued on the same day; August 26, 1968) in the United States.
Rock Factoid #3: Even with all that going for it, the single was a monumental flop. It failed to chart in the UK and only reached #117 in the U.S. Lomax had a theory as to why the song failed. “It was very flattering to be released in tandem with obvious hits like ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Those Were the Days’ but at the same time, it hurt my chances. Radio stations were reluctant to risk alienating other record labels by featuring Apple singles so heavily on their playlists. So they kind of lost me in the shuffle.”
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2014 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.
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