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Music et al, Music of the 60s

March 27 Music et al

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March 27 Music et al

Roots of Rock

see Sun Records for more

March 27 Music et al

March 27, 1952: Sam Phillips began Sun Records, a division of Sun Entertainment Corp, as an American independent record label. (see January 4, 1954)

March 27 Music et al

Technological Milestone

March 27 Music et al

March 27, 1958: CBS Laboratories announced a new stereophonic record that was playable on ordinary LP phonographs, meaning, monaural. In stereo, on the proper equipment, a new rich and fuller sound was heard. It eventually became a standard for record and equipment buyers. (see December 10, 1959)

March 27 Music et al

Bob Dylan

March 27 Music et alMarch 27, 1965: Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home, his fifth studio album. He had recorded  between January 13 – 15, 1965.

The album’s cover photographed by Daniel Kramer features Sally Grossman (wife of Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman) lounging in the background. There are also artifacts scattered around the room, including LPs by The Impressions (Keep on Pushing), Robert Johnson (King of the Delta Blues Singers), Ravi Shankar (India’s Master Musician), Lotte Lenya (Sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill) and Eric Von Schmidt (The Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt). Dylan had “met” Schmidt “one day in the green pastures of Harvard University” and would later mimic his album cover pose (tipping his hat) for his own Nashville Skyline four years later. (see Apr 12)

March 27 Music et al

Supremes

March 27 – April 9, 1965: “Stop! In the Name of Love” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, “Stop! In the Name of Love” also reached the number-two position on the soul chart.

March 27 Music et al

Fear of Rock

March 27, 1971: New York radio station WNBC banned the song ‘One Toke Over the Line’ by Brewer & Shipley because of its alleged drug references. Other stations around the country followed. (see April 28, 1982)

March 27 Music et al

Jerry Garcia

March 27 Music et al

March 27, 1973: NJ State Police pulled over Jerry Garcia on the NJ Turnpike for driving 71 in a 60 mph zone. Garcia and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter had a day off while on tour, so they decided to drive from Baltimore to the next date in Springfield, Massachusetts. Two hours into their drive, Trooper Richard Procahino stopped the car.

As Garcia opened up his travel bag to get his driver’s license, the officer noticed a plainly visible bag of pot. Though Garcia also had cocaine residue on him, the state trooper did not discover that. Hunter made a couple of phone calls and John Scher, an old friend of Garcia’s, came to his rescue with the $1,000 bail. Garcia escaped relatively unscathed, sentenced to a year of probation for possession.

Here’s a link to the March 28, 1973 show in Springfield just because there’s always time for some Dead and there’s a recording of almost every Dead concert! There are several for this date. I chose a matrix: GD 1973-03-28

March 27 Music et al
Music et al, Music of the 60s, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

March 23 Music et al

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March 23 Music et al

see Our Day Will Come for much more

March 23 Music et al

March 23 – 29, 1963: “Our Day Will Come” by Ruby & the Romantics #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

March 23 Music et al

In His Own Write

March 23 Music et al

March 23, 1964: release of John’s first book, In His Own Write. 

The New York Times wrote, “The author is a Beatle, a kind of upper­class choir boy with a churl’s haircut, and he writes like a Beatle possessed. What he is possessed with is the feeling that if there isn’t a word like the one he needs to use, there should be one. He has the touch of inspired nonsense and a gift for illustrating his notions with strangely funny drawings, even though his taste runs to the weird” (see Apr 4)

Good Dog Nigel

Arf, Arf, he goes, a merry sight
Our little hairy friend
Arf, Arf, upon the lampost bright
Arfing round the bend.
Nice dog! Goo boy,
Waggie tail and beg,
Clever Nigel, jump for joy
Because we are putting you to sleep at three of the clock, Nigel.
March 23 Music et al

Elvis Costello’s father sings Michelle

March 23, 1967: at a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling British single ‘Yellow Submarine’, most-performed song ‘Michelle’, and next-most-performed song ‘Yesterday’. None of the Beatles attended and the winning songs were played by Joe Loss and his Orchestra. The lead vocal for ‘Michelle’ was sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on to become the professional musician Elvis Costello. (see Mar 30)

March 23 Music et al

Fear of Rock

March 23 Music et al

After the Jim Morrison incident in Miami on March 1, 1969 where he supposedly exposed himself while onstage (very likely did not) a group of kids from a local church decided to hold a ‘Decency Rally’ to show the world that the youth of Florida was not corrupted by the evils of Rock and Roll.

March 23, 1969, the “Rally For Decency” (or “Decency Rally”) was held at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The rally featured top name entertainers including Jackie Gleason, The Lettermen, Kate Smith, and Anita Bryant and promising that the crowd of 30,000 will contain no “longhairs and weird dressers.”  (see April 28, 1982)

March 23 Music et al

Concert For Bangladesh

March 23 Music et al

March 23, 1972: the film of The Concert For Bangladesh featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton premiered in New York. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The concert raised $243,418.51 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF. (see Mar 31)

March 23 Music et al

John Lennon v Immigration

March 23, 1973: purportedly because of a disputed conviction for possession of hashish in England in 1968 and as part of a three-and-a-half-year-long campaign by the U.S. government to deport former Beatle John Lennon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ordered him to leave the country within 60 days.

In reality, the government sought to deport Lennon because of his anti-Vietnam War activities and other criticisms of the U.S. government. The deportation campaign finally ended on October 7, 1975, when a federal appeals court reversed his deportation, ruling that the government could not selectively deport someone because of his or her political views. (see April 3)

March 23 Music et al
Beatles, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Beatles March 21 Music et al

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Beatles March 21 Music et al

Cavern Club

Beatles March 21 Music et al

March 21, 1961 was The Beatles’ first night-time performance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. Their 11 previous appearances at the venue had been lunchtime shows.The band got $42.00 per night. They supported The Blue Genes, who later became The Swinging Blue Jeans.

Although the precise number of their Cavern performances is not known, The Beatles played at least 155 lunchtime and 125 evening shows. Their final performance at the venue took place on 3 August 1963. (see Mar 24)

Beatles March 21 Music et al

She Loves You

Beatles March 21 Music et al

March 21 – April 3, 1964, The Beatles: “She Loves You” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (next Beatles, see Mar 23)

From Soundscape dot com: …there are a number of significant ways in which “She Loves You” is not particularly daring; shades of Norm’s warning to the group, “let’s not pull any strokes or do anything I’ll be sorry for.” In particular:

  • The phrasing throughout is totally four-square; the verse is four times four, and the refrain is a true middle eight.
  • The harmonic rhythm is fairly regular throughout with no extremes. The chords generally change every two measures. The few places where this pattern is broken by chord changes every measure would seem to be carefully staged, however subconsciously.
  • The harmonic scheme, in spite of a few localized touches of color, is rather static; the song is firmly in G throughout.
  • And yet, the song contains a musical vocabulary and arrangement that is shot through with quirky details and nuances that were soon to develop into trademarks of the group; their special “sound” is already apparent.
Beatles March 21 Music et al

The Saturday Evening Post

Beatles March 21 Music et al

March 21, 1964: Beatles appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, one of America’s mainstream magazines at the time.  Post’s cover story – “The Secrets of The Beatles” – promised “an intimate account of their American tour and a probing analysis of their incredible power to excite frenzied emotions among the young.”

Written by Alfred G. Aronowitz, the article lead with, “They can’t read music, their beat is corny and their voices are faint, but England’s shaggy-maned exports manage to flip wigs on two continents.”  (Full article) 

Beatles March 21 Music et al

Strawberry Fields

March 21, 1984: a section of Central Park was renamed ‘Strawberry Fields’ to honor John Lennon. 

The New York Times article read in part…

Yoko Ono looked up at the cold, rainy sky over Central Park yesterday. ”Thank you, John,” she said, her voice choking through a smile. ”We made it happen again.”

Using golden shovels, the musician’s widow and Mayor Koch helped break ground on the two-and-a-half- acre section of the park called Strawberry Fields, dedicated to John Lennon. The Mayor said Miss Ono had given the city $1 million to restore and maintain the area.

The plot, just east of 72d Street and Central Park West, is a few hundred yards from the spot where the former Beatle was shot dead on Dec. 8, 1980, in front of his home in the Dakota. (full NYT article) (see February 10, 1986)

Beatles March 21 Music et al

Paul McCartney

March 21, 2016: Paul McCartney filed legal papers in the US, as part of an attempt to reclaim the publishing rights to The Beatles’ back catalog. Although he co-wrote most of the band’s hits, the he never controlled the publishing.

However, the US copyright act of 1976 gives writers the opportunity to reclaim the rights after 56 years. The Lennon-McCartney catalog becomes available in 2018, and McCartney recently moved to recapture it. (see Aug 29)

Beatles March 21 Music et al