Today In Oldies Music History: August 1
--Births
1942: Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead)1946: Boz Burrell (Bad Company)
1947: Rick Coonce (The Grass Roots)
1947: Rick Anderson (The Tubes)
1951: Tommy Bolin
Deaths
1964: Johnny Burnette1996: Bill Buchanan (Buchanan and Goodman)
Events
1942: In response to what it sees as a threat from the new fad, phonograph records, the American Federation of Musicians goes on strike (but only for recording, not live, gigs).1954: Alan Freed presents his first Moondog Jubilee Of Stars Under The Stars revue at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, featuring Fats Domino, The Clovers, The Orioles, Muddy Waters, and Little Walter. It is the first large racially mixed crowd at a concert of this size.
1958: Feeling that label head Sam Phillips is spending too much time promoting Jerry Lee Lewis and not enough promoting him, Johnny Cash leaves Sun Records and signs with Columbia.
1960: For his embodiment of decadent American culture, Elvis Presley is named "Public Enemy Number One" by the East Berlin newspaper Young World.
1960: Aretha Franklin begins her first non-gospel recording session, an abortive attempt at jazz-pop with the Columbia label.
1964: A report in Billboard claims that the harmonica is hip again thanks to the Beatles, Dylan, the Stones and Stevie Wonder.
1964: A brand new group called "The Steampacket," featuring lead vocals by one Rod Stewart, opens for the Rolling Stones at the London Palladium.
1965: Marianne Faithfull collapses during a performance in Lancashire, England, and is taken to a hospital, canceling the remainder of her tour.
1966: Birmingham radio station WACI calls for the first "Beatles Burn-In," a bonfire of Beatles records to protest John Lennon's recent published comments that his group was "bigger than Jesus."
1969: Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted in Los Angeles for failing to perform his required community service hours, which were imposed upon him after he refused to be drafted as a conscientious objector; rather than the janitorial duty he was sentenced to at LA County Hospital, Wilson taught music classes there instead.
1970: After two years of sitting on the shelf (namely due to shocking sex and violence scenes), the gangster movie Performance, featuring the acting debut of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, premieres in London.
1971: The first big all-star rock benefit concert, The Concert For Bangla Desh, was held in New York's Madison Square Garden, helmed by George Harrison and featuring Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr. The show raised $11 million for starving people in Bangladesh, a recently-liberated area of Pakistan.
1971: The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS television.
1973: The first big oldies revival kicks off in earnest as George Lucas' new film, American Graffiti, premieres in Los Angeles. Portraying a night in the life of several California teenagers in 1961, it made stars out of Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips and more, and also inspired the ABC-TV smash Happy Days.
1976: Gladys Knight gives birth to her third child, Shanga-Ali.
1977: Elvis: What Happened? a tell-all book written by his closest confidantes Red West and Sonny West, hit the bookshelves and made no impact until Presley's death two weeks later, when it confirmed what many had suspected: that Elvis had been abusing prescription drugs. Some say the revelatory book hurt Elvis and indirectly hastened his demise.
1978: George Harrison and his bride-to-be Olivia Trinidad Arias announce the birth of their first child, Dhani.
1980: George Harrison forms a movie production company called Handmade Films, which would go on to produce films like Monty Python's Life of Brian, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, and Shanghai Surprise.
1984: Jermaine Jackson appears on an episode of CBS' long-running soap opera, As The World Turns.
1988: Cincinnati AM radio station WCVG changes its format, becoming the first US all-Elvis radio station. The concept died out within the year.
1994: The Rolling Stones politely refuse an invitation to play at the Clinton White House, though they would go on to play his 60th birthday party in 2006.
1994: Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce their marriage in the Dominican Republic 11 weeks earlier.
Releases
1960: Chubby Checker, "The Twist"1972: Elvis Presley, "Burning Love"
Recording
1942: Jimmy Dorsey, "Charleston Alley"1968: The Beatles, "Hey Jude"
1969: The Beatles: "Because"
Charts
1959: Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy" hits #11964: The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" hits #1
1970: Chicago's "25 Or 6 To 4" hits #1
