1885 - It's now 126 years since Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter applied for and attained a patent on their invention known as the gramophone. Charles Sumner Tainter was an American scientific instrument maker, engineer and inventor, best known for his collaborations with Alexander Graham Bell, and for his significant improvements to Thomas Edison's phonograph. Their improvement resulted in the Graphophone, one version of which was the first dictaphone. Chichester Bell was a cousin to Alexander Graham Bell, and began working in 1881 with his famous cousin, along with their associate Tainter, on addressing the drawbacks to Thomas Edison's phonograph. The three men created the Volta Laboratory Association to be the holder of their patents. Their successful development of the Graphophone led to the formation of the Volta Graphophone Company of Alexandria, Virginia in February 1886 by the principals, along with Chichester's brother, lawyer and banker, Charles B. Bell. This was advanced technology for its time, a new platform for playing music...a but like the invention of the iPod, some 120 odd years later. Blink your eyes and new technology will pass you by. Here's a comedy skit, clearly demonstrating the rapid change of sound technology.
1959 - The musical play, West Side Story, disappointingly closed 52 years ago today, after 734 performances on Broadway. West Side Story is an American musical based on a book by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical's plot and story is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and set in New York City in the mid-1950s. The musical explores rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The members of the Sharks are first-generation Americans from Puerto Rico taunted by the Jets, a working-class white group who consider themselves the true Americans. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular, including Something's Coming, Maria, America, Somewhere, Tonight, Jet Song, I Feel Pretty, and many more classic songs. The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold Prince, also happened to be the Broadway debut of the great Stephen Sondheim. It ran for 732 performances (a successful run for the time), before going on tour. The production garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical in 1957, The musical went on to become a hit movie, and setting a precedent for dance musicals. The film company have ensured we cannot show you any clips, but here is a video from USA's Today Show, 30 years ago, when the show had a new life on Broadway, and this is the cast performance on the Today show that morning.
1964 - They were a bit like a two-man boy band without a choreographed routine, and therefore as exciting as a snail on Xanax, but Jan and Dean had a total of 30 hits, including this one, Little Old Lady From Pasadena, which was released today back in '64. By the way, if you stay the distance, you'll see the first ever skateboard, 47 years ago.
1968 - This is the day, as you will see on the ticket stub, that Elvis Presley began taping his first television special, Elvis, Presley began taping his first television special, "Elvis," at NBC studios in Burbank, CA. This was effectively his comeback concert. Following is a very brief, unedited, unofficial informal section of the show, followed by a bootleg special of the event.
1971 - Exactly 40 years to the day, the famous Fillmore East in New York City was closed. Fillmore East was entertainment promoter Bill Graham's late '60s - early 70 rock palace in the East Village area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. The venue originally opened in 1926 as the independently-operated Commodore Theatre, later taken over by Loewe's Inc, and known as the Village Theatre. It is where the great comedian, Lenny Bruce, performed on a regular basis. Located on Second Avenue on East Sixth Street, it became the Fillmore East concert venue In March 1968. Despite the deceptively small marquee and façade, the theatre had a capacity of 2,700 seats. Following is the great Albert King doing the blues at Filmore East, about a year after its opening. King remains one of the great electric blues guitar influences of all time, influencing many that followed - before mobile phone cameras, before video, this is Albert King.
1988 - This is the day Cyndi Lauper got her high school diploma from Richmond High in New York. Just days after celebrating her 35th birthday, singer Cyndi Lauper was back in her native Queens to mark another milestone, her long-delayed high school graduation. Lauper was at that point one of the world's most recognizable pop stars, so it may have been a little odd to some, viz, a thrift-store-fashion pioneer with an endearing nasal honk that morphed, onstage, into a phenomenal alto wail that could pin back your ears. Her 1984 debut album had spun off some very big hits, most importantly among them, the timeless rally-anthem of women all over the world, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and the chart-topping, Time After Time. Cyndi Lauper? Love her. Sadly MTV will not allow you to watch the video - their loss - so here is, firstly, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, performed live in Paris, with all its 80s splendour. Then the classic Time After Time - do you remember this video from 23 years ago?
1989 - The Who performed the rock opera, Tommy, in its entirety, for the first time in 17 years at New York's Radio City Music Hall, with Patti Labelle, Billy Idol, James Taylor, Elton John and many more. Really worth watching, and this is the entire concert - if you ever get the time or inclination.;)
1989 - It's 22 years since former Welsh miner, Tom Jones, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and just to remind you what good old Tommy was doing in that year, here's a live clip of him at London's Hammersmith Stadium. Great band, great back-up singers, great performance. Kiss, kiss, kiss.
1959 - The musical play, West Side Story, disappointingly closed 52 years ago today, after 734 performances on Broadway. West Side Story is an American musical based on a book by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical's plot and story is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and set in New York City in the mid-1950s. The musical explores rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The members of the Sharks are first-generation Americans from Puerto Rico taunted by the Jets, a working-class white group who consider themselves the true Americans. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular, including Something's Coming, Maria, America, Somewhere, Tonight, Jet Song, I Feel Pretty, and many more classic songs. The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold Prince, also happened to be the Broadway debut of the great Stephen Sondheim. It ran for 732 performances (a successful run for the time), before going on tour. The production garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical in 1957, The musical went on to become a hit movie, and setting a precedent for dance musicals. The film company have ensured we cannot show you any clips, but here is a video from USA's Today Show, 30 years ago, when the show had a new life on Broadway, and this is the cast performance on the Today show that morning.
1964 - They were a bit like a two-man boy band without a choreographed routine, and therefore as exciting as a snail on Xanax, but Jan and Dean had a total of 30 hits, including this one, Little Old Lady From Pasadena, which was released today back in '64. By the way, if you stay the distance, you'll see the first ever skateboard, 47 years ago.
1968 - This is the day, as you will see on the ticket stub, that Elvis Presley began taping his first television special, Elvis, Presley began taping his first television special, "Elvis," at NBC studios in Burbank, CA. This was effectively his comeback concert. Following is a very brief, unedited, unofficial informal section of the show, followed by a bootleg special of the event.
1971 - Exactly 40 years to the day, the famous Fillmore East in New York City was closed. Fillmore East was entertainment promoter Bill Graham's late '60s - early 70 rock palace in the East Village area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. The venue originally opened in 1926 as the independently-operated Commodore Theatre, later taken over by Loewe's Inc, and known as the Village Theatre. It is where the great comedian, Lenny Bruce, performed on a regular basis. Located on Second Avenue on East Sixth Street, it became the Fillmore East concert venue In March 1968. Despite the deceptively small marquee and façade, the theatre had a capacity of 2,700 seats. Following is the great Albert King doing the blues at Filmore East, about a year after its opening. King remains one of the great electric blues guitar influences of all time, influencing many that followed - before mobile phone cameras, before video, this is Albert King.
1988 - This is the day Cyndi Lauper got her high school diploma from Richmond High in New York. Just days after celebrating her 35th birthday, singer Cyndi Lauper was back in her native Queens to mark another milestone, her long-delayed high school graduation. Lauper was at that point one of the world's most recognizable pop stars, so it may have been a little odd to some, viz, a thrift-store-fashion pioneer with an endearing nasal honk that morphed, onstage, into a phenomenal alto wail that could pin back your ears. Her 1984 debut album had spun off some very big hits, most importantly among them, the timeless rally-anthem of women all over the world, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and the chart-topping, Time After Time. Cyndi Lauper? Love her. Sadly MTV will not allow you to watch the video - their loss - so here is, firstly, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, performed live in Paris, with all its 80s splendour. Then the classic Time After Time - do you remember this video from 23 years ago?
1989 - The Who performed the rock opera, Tommy, in its entirety, for the first time in 17 years at New York's Radio City Music Hall, with Patti Labelle, Billy Idol, James Taylor, Elton John and many more. Really worth watching, and this is the entire concert - if you ever get the time or inclination.;)
1989 - It's 22 years since former Welsh miner, Tom Jones, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and just to remind you what good old Tommy was doing in that year, here's a live clip of him at London's Hammersmith Stadium. Great band, great back-up singers, great performance. Kiss, kiss, kiss.
