This Week In Music: 3/21 - 3/27

This Week In Music

3/21 - 3/27

Beatles Get Waxed … Rock & Roll Comes Of Age … Dylan Sells Panties

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1952: Cleveland DJ Alan Freed mounts his first rock ’n’ roll show dubbed The Moondog Coronation Ball … the venue holds 10,000 but 30,000 rock-hungry teens turn up causing the cops to call the show off … the resulting riot is a precursor to the coming age of rock … Sun Records, the revered label that first gave Elvis a shot and cut dozens of great rockabilly and blues sides, issues its first single, “Selling My Whisky” by Jackie Boy and Little Walter …

1956: Carl Perkins receives severe injuries in a Delaware auto accident … he was on his way to the Big Apple to perform on Perry Como’s TV variety show … the El Capris enjoy a minor hit with the tune "(Shimmy Shimmy) Ko Ko Wop" … the song will resurface as a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1960 … in an early instance of political correctness, it’s retitled "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop" …

1964: wax images of The Beatles go on display in London at the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum … they will later appear on the Sergeant Pepper cover …

1967: The Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” commemorating the 1966 teenage riots on the Sunset Strip, peaks at #7 on the pop chart … Peter Bergman of Firesign Theatre coins the term “love-in,” and throws the first such event in Los Angeles’ Elysian Park …

1969: The Allman Brothers Band is formed in Jacksonville, Florida, consisting of Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny Johanson …

1991: the world bids farewell to the one and only Leo Fender … the revolutionary inventor who brought us the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision Bass and so much more passes at the age of 81 …

1994: Bruce Springsteen wins the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Streets of Philadelphia” … the song is from the film Philadelphia, and is the first ever written by Boss specifically for a film …

1995: Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder is rescued while surfing with pal Tim Finn of the coast of New Zealand … a riptide carried the singer over 200 feet from the coastline before lifeguards came to his aid … Eric “Eazy-E” Wright of NWA dies of complications from AIDS at the age of 31 …

1996: The Beatles’ last charting single, “Real Love,” enters the Top 100 and will eventually rise to #11 … the song is based on a demo cut by John Lennon in 1979 to which the other Beatles added new vocals 16 years after Lennon’s death …

1999: rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard is arrested yet again, this time in New York City after police claim to have found crack cocaine in his vehicle after pulling him over for missing license plates … ODB will be charged with misdemeanor drug possession and driving with a suspended license … he will be arrested again five days later after police pull him over because once again, the vehicle he is driving has no license plates …

2002: drummer extraordinaire Randy Castillo succumbs to cancer at 51 …

2004: Bob Dylan starts hawking lady’s underwear in a television ad for Victoria’s Secret, which also features the song “Love Sick” from Dylan’s 1997 album Time Out of Mind … the commercial features Dylan and model Adriana Lima dancing in and out of scenes shot on location in Venice … music critics, columnists, and Dylan fans immediately erupt on the internet after the first spot aired, all asking “Why?” … the answer is no one knows except Bob, who when asked in 1965 what might tempt him to sell out replied: "Ladies undergarments." …

2005: Justin Jeffre, former member of the boy band 98 Degrees, announces his candidacy for mayor of Cincinnati … he will finish fifth out of seven candidates with 708 votes …

2006: Graceland is named a national historic landmark … Elvis’ former home draws more than 600,000 visitors annually … Pete Doherty of Babyshambles cops pleas to seven drug charges in London that include marijuana, crack, and heroin possession … the singer shows up more than an hour late for court and kicks a BBC reporter upon making his exit … Alice in Chains announces their first tour in 10 years will begin the following May … this follows the heroin-induced death of singer Layne Staley four years earlier … Apple releases a free software patch for download that permits iPod owners to set a maximum volume level … the action is seemingly in response to articles critical of the device’s potential for hearing damage and a pending class-action lawsuit …

2007: XM Satellite Radio is sued by the National Music Publishers Association on charges that its XM + MP3 service that allows listeners to store songs on their computers violates copyright laws … meanwhile, a similar case case filed in 2006 by the RIAA is wending its way through the courts …

2008: in the wake of Radiohead’s successful web-only release of In Rainbows, Nine Inch Nails brings in $1.6 million with its 36-track instrumental album Ghosts I - IV available in five different versions ranging from a nine-song free download to a $300 deluxe vinyl package all available from the NIN website … ironically just a month earlier, TVT REcords—the indie label that broke NIN—filed for bankruptcy, laying off about 30 of its 50 workers … Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora is arrested for drunk driving in California …

2013: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is selected for preservation in the US Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry … other selections include Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” and the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever …

And that was the week that was.

Arrivals:
March 21: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), Delta bluesman Bo Carter (1893), Delta blues legend Eddie "Son" House (1902), Chicago bluesman Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers (1929), blues pianist Otis Spann (1930), Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943), Rosemary Stone of Sly and the Family Stone born Rosemary Stewart (1945), Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry (1946), Eddie Money, born Edward Mahoney (1949), Roger Hodgson of Supertramp (1950), Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos (1951), Russell Thompkins of The Stylistics (1951), Prodigy's MC Maxim (1967), Ace of Base's Jonas Berggren (1967), Andrew Copeland of Sister Hazel (1968), rapper Notorious B.I.G. born Christopher Wallace (1972)

March 22: composer Stephen Sondheim (1930), jazz guitarist George Benson (1943), Keith Relf of The Yardbirds (1943), Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs (1944), Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy (1944), Harry Vanda of The Easybeats (1947), Patrick Olive of Hot Chocolate (1947), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), McCoys/Johnny Winter bass player Randy Jo Hobbs (1948), R&B/soul singer Stephanie Mills (1957), Richard Ploog of The Church (1962)

March 23: Joey d’Ambrosio of Bill Haley & His Comets (1934), swamp bluesman Louisiana Red (1936), Ric Ocasek of The Cars (1949), disco singer Karen Young (1952), Chaka Khan, born Yvette Marie Stevens (1953), Epic Soundtracks, born Kevin Godfrey, founding drummer of the punk band Swell Maps (1959), Damon Albarn of Blur (1968)

March 24: Ollie McLaughlin, producer for Del Shannon (1925), George Lee, singer with Ruby & The Romantics (1936), soul singer Billy "Fat Boy" Stewart (1937), songwriter Peggy Sue, sister of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle (1947)

March 25: Vivian Carter of Vee-Jay Records (1921), producer Tom Wilson (1931), Johnny Burnette (1934), songwriter Hoyt Axton (1938), The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin (1942), engineer Jose L. Rodriguez (1944), Sir Elton John (1947), Nick Lowe (1949)

March 26: Stax soul man Rufus Thomas (1917), the inimitable Diana Ross (1944), Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler (1948), Teddy Pendergrass (1950), Billy Lyall (1953), Eddie Van Halen (1955), Richard Coles (1962)

March 27: influential blues pianist Leroy Carr (1905), Robert Lockwood, Jr. (1915), Sarah Vaughan (1924), record exec Mo Ostin (1927), guitar slinger Johnny “Clyde” Copeland (1937), Brenda Knight (1948), Tony Banks of Genesis (1951), Billy MacKenzie (1957), Mariah Carey (1970)


Departures:
March 21: songwriter Fred Spielman (1997), Leo Fender (1991)

March 22: George Howard, sax player with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1998), singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dan Hartman (1994), Dave Guard of The Kingston Trio (1991), one-hit-wonder Mark Dinning of "Teen Angel" fame (1986)

March 23: Walter Turnbull, founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem (2007), Cindy Walker, country songwriter who also wrote hits for Ray Charles and Roy Orbison (2006), songwriter-producer J.D. Miller (1996), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1996), Ripley Ingram, tenor vocalist with The Five Keys (1995), Jeanine Deckers aka the Singing Nun (1985), Frank Kirkland, Bo Diddley’s drummer (1973)

March 24: Funk Brothers drummer Uriel Jones (2009), country singer Hensen Cargill (2007), Foghat's founding guitarist Rod Price (2005), Harold Melvin, leader of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1997)

March 25: Dan Seals (2009), Nikki Sudden (2006), Buck Owens (2006), Kenny Moore (1997), Marc Conners (1989), folk singer-songwriter Tom Jans (1984)

March 26: Crowded House drummer Paul Hester (2005), Jan Berry of Jan and Dean (2004), Denis Charles (1998), Eric “Eazy-E” Wright (1995), Cliff Trenier (1983), Jon-Jon Poulos (1980), Duster Bennett (1976), Harold McNair (1971

March 27: poet-musician Gil-Scott Heron (2011), Faustino Oramas aka “El Guavabero” (2007), Ian Dury (2000), Paul Gayten (1991)