This Week In Music: 3/28 - 4/3

 This Week In Music

 March 28 – April 3

“Cover of the Rolling Stone” Comes True … Gladys Loses The Pips … The Ramones Debut

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1956: Elvis appears on The Milton Berle Show … broadcast live from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego, the then-rising star belts out “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” and duets with his “twin brother, Melvin Presley,” played of course by Uncle Miltie … as Elvis launches into an encore of “Blue Suede Shoes,” Berle pounds on his own instrument until it splinters into oblivion …

1966: Mick Jagger requires eight stitches in his head after being hit by a chair thrown by a rowdy concertgoer in Marseille, France …

1967: the photo session for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album takes place at 4 Chelsea Manor Studios in London … it took the eight days prior to set up Peter Blake’s life-sized collage of historical figures that accompanies the band on the cover …

1970: Janis Joplin has a tattoo placed over heart reading “One For The Boys” …

1973: just 12 days after the single “Cover of the Rolling Stone” peaks at #6 on the pop chart, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show appears on the cover of the magazine …

1974: The Ramones give their first live show at the Performance Studio in New York …

1989: after singing with the Pips for 37 years, Gladys goes solo in Las Vegas …

2003: after Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder makes remarks critical of President George W. Bush during a show, dozens of fans walk out while others boo … trying to calm the crowd, Vedder says, “just to clarify, we support the troops” …

2005: The Decemberists opt to release their new music video, "Sixteen Military Wives," via BitTorrent, an easy way to give the video exposure without fronting a lot of money for bandwidth … the experimental release is a success, seeing almost 2,000 downloads its first weekend … The White Stripes finish recording their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, in just under two weeks, averaging about a song a day … the follow-up to Elephant will be released on June 7 in the U.S. but lucky Brits get it on June 6 … the record, described by Jack White as “an exploration of characters and the ideal of truth,” was recorded in Detroit at Jack's Third Man Studios, mixed in Memphis at Ardent Studios and mastered in New York City at Masterdisk … Neil Young recovers from surgery for a brain aneurysm …

2006: singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, announces he is working on a new secular album, his first since 1978 … explaining his return to pop music after swearing it off, the Muslim convert says, “The issue of music in Islam is not as cut and dried as I was led to believe” …

2007: after a six-and-a-half year hiatus, the Smashing Pumpkins announce they’ll launch a European tour in May … SonyBMG announces that henceforth it will no longer accept CDs or tapes from bands hoping to land a contract with the company’s labels … instead, would-be recording acts are directed to post their demos on sites set up for the purpose by Sony’s subsidiaries as well as on blogs … singer Nelly Furtado picks up five Junos (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy) for best album, single, fan’s choice, artist and pop album …

2008: MySpace.com jumps into the digital download fray as it announces its new online music store …

2009: following a five-year touring hiatus, the Grateful Dead play three shows on a single day—all in smaller New York venues including the storied Roseland Ballroom and Gramercy Theatre … tensions during their previous tour had kept the band off the road, but according to Bob Weir, “We’ve learned to listen to each other.” …

2010: following years of speculation around his sexuality, Ricky Martin officially comes out of the closet with an announcement on his website …

And that was the week that was.

Arrivals

March 28: multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy (1941), Scottish singer Sally Carr (1945), Turtles bassist Chuck Portz (1945), Jethro Tull keyboardist John Evan (1948), Milan Williams (1948), country music legend Reba McEntire (1955), Ged Grimes of Danny Wilson and Simple Minds (1962), Steve Turner of Mudhoney (1965), James Atkin of EMF (1969), Cheryl James AKA Salt of Salt-n-Pepa (1969), David Keuning of The Killers (1976), Lady Gaga (1986)

March 29: Donny Conn (1930), British pop singer Eden Kane (1940), Chad Allan of The Guess Who (1943), Terry Jacks (1944), Toto’s Bobby Kimball (1947), saxophonist Michael Brecker (1949), Patti Donahue of The Waitresses (1956), Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction (1959)

March 30: ’50s crooner Frankie Laine (1930), Sonny Boy Williamson (1914), Willie Nelson (1933), Graeme Edge of the Moody Blues (1942), Sir Eric Clapton (1945), Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Procol Harum’s Dave Ball (1950), MC Hammer (1963), Celine Dion (1968), Norah Jones (1979)

March 31: blues pianist “Big Maceo” Merriweather (1905), Lightning Hopkins (1912), songwriter John D. Loudermilk (1934), Herb Alpert (1937), Al Nichol of The Turtles (1946), Jon-Jon Poulos (1948), Thijs van Leer (1948), Angus Young (1959), Big Dee Irwin of The Pastels (1986)

April 1: jazz singer Alberta Hunter (1895), boogie-woogie pianist Amos Milburn, who transformed jump blues into R&B (1927), singer-actress Debbie Reynolds (1932), Rudolph Isley of The Isley Brothers (1939), Alan Blakely, guitarist and keyboard player with The Tremeloes, one of the longest surviving British bands (1942), John Barbata of Jefferson Starship (1945), Small Faces bassist Ronnie Lane (1948), ska and reggae musician Jimmy Cliff, born James Chambers (1948), session drummer and TOTO cofounder Jeff Porcaro (1951), Dennis Boon, guitarist with The Minutemen (1958)

April 2: blues sax man J.T. Brown (1910), French pop star Serge Gainsbourg (1928), Marvin Gaye (1939), Leon Russell (1941), Kurt Winter of The Guess Who? (1946), Emmylou Harris (1947)

April 3: country musician-songwriter Don Gibson (1928), country singer Johnny Horton (1929), R&B/funk guitarist Jimmy Nolen (1934), jazz organist Jimmy McGriff (1936), bassist Scot LeFaro (1936), Phillipe Wynne of The Spinners (1938), songwriter Jeff Barry, born Joel Adelberg (1939), Jan Berry of Jan & Dean (1941), The Duprees’ Joe Canzano (1941), Joey Vann of The Duprees (1943), Tony Orlando (1944), The Band's Richard Manuel (1945), Elton John bassist Dee Murray (1946), Grand Funk's Mel Schacher (1951), Mike Ness of Social Distortion (1962), Criss Oliva of Savatage (1963)

Departures

March 28: Earl Scruggs (2012), Herb Ellis (2010), percussionist Don Alias, Freaky Tah (1999), Miguel Rios (1977), Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1974), W.C. Handy (1958)

March 29: announcer/general manager of the Grand Ole Opry Hal Durham (2009, film composer Maurice Jarre (2009), singer Joe Williams (1999), drummer Howard Wyeth (1996), controversial rock biographer Albert Goldman (1994)

March 30: legendary producer/engineer/ Phil Ramone (2013), singer-songwriter Timi Yuro (2004), Doors producer Paul Rothchild (1995)

March 31: Sean Levert (2008), saxman Jackie McLean (206), Tommy Seebach (2003), The Gun Club vocalist Jeffrey Lee Pierce (1996), Selena (1995), Kelly Isley of the Isley Brothers (1986)

April 1: Denny Barcelona, drummer with Louis Armstrong (2007), Zombies guitarist Paul Atkinson (2004), pioneer Gibson guitar designer-inventor Ted McCarty (2001), songwriter, jazz musician, and A&R man, Jesse Stone (1999), goth rocker Rozz Willimas (1998), soul singer Jimmy Hughes (1997), Cult drummer Nigel Preston (1992), Sister Luc-Gabrielle, born Jeanine Deckers, The Singing Nun (1985), ragtime pianist Scott Joplin (1917)

April 2: session guitarist Cliff White (1998), organist Joe Madison (1995), Buddy Rich (1987)

April 3: Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey of The Kinsey Report (2001), session sax man Alvin "Red" Tyler (1998), Rob Pilatus of the disgraced Milli Vanilli (1998), Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes (1996), Sarah Vaughan (1990)