1928 - The German musical, Die Dreigoschenoper, based on the Threepenny Opera, premiered in Berlin today, with music by Kurt Weill and German dramatist, Bertolt Brecht. With the help of translator Elisabeth Hauptmann, and set designer Caspar Neher, it was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique of the capitalist world. As a special treat, today we have the brilliance of Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming's performance of The Ballad of the Pimp, a song from the Broadway production of the Threepenny Opera, at the Tony Awards 2006. Then a bootleg of Grammy and Emmy Award winner Cyndi Lauper performing Solomon's Song in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera. This is a bootleg - is that a nod to Marlene Dietrich?
1939 - Frank Sinatra recorded the song All or Nothing at All with the Harry James Band, today, a song composed in the same year by Arthur Altman, with lyrics by Jack Lawrence. Sinatra's original recording of the song became a huge hit in 1943, during the 1942-43 musicians' strike. In a 1944 interview, 'blue eyes' made the following comment about the song: "That was the song, a few days after Harry James and myself recorded it, that gave us our walking papers out of the old Victor Hugo Cafe (a major entertainment venue of the 1930s) on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. The manager came up and waved his hands for us to stop. He said Harry's trumpet playing was too loud for the joint and my singing was just plain lousy. He fired Harry, me and the entire band on the spot. He said the two of us couldn't draw flies as an attraction, and I guess he was right - the room was as empty as a barn. It's a funny thing about that song. The recording we made five years ago is now one of the top spots among the best sellers. But it's the same old recording. It's also the song I auditioned with for Tommy Dorsey, who signed me on the strength of it. And now it's my first big record." Dear reader this is a version Frank did towards the end of his life, as the original version is not available on the internet in video form.
1967 - Almost immediately following the recent death of Brian Epstein (go to our archive search engine for more vids and info re his death), the Beatles today announced they would handle their own affairs. My, my how times have changed. Get this interview with Brian Epstein...and the Beatles, too...my, my how quickly it all changed, in just a few short years.
1968 - This is the day, 43 years ago, guitar player supreme, Danny Kerwan, joined Fleetwood Mac, this was the original Mac, Peter Green's Mac. Danny Kirwan's guitar skills started attracting attention at an early age, and when he was just 17 he came to the attention of established British blues band Fleetwood Mac, while he was playing in London with one of his first bands, Boilerhouse. Mac's producer, Mike Vernon, went and watched his band rehearse - at this insistence. Suitably impressed, Vernon then informed Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green of his discovery. Green was impressed and Boilerhouse began playing support slots for Fleetwood Mac, allowing Kirwan and Green to jam together and get to know each other, as Green had been looking for another guitarist to share some of the workload, in view of slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer's unwillingness to contribute much to Green's songs. Previously a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, drummer Mick Fleetwood suggested to Green that Kirwan could join Fleetwood Mac, and although neither Green, bassist John McVie (both also former Bluesbreakers), nor Spencer were entirely convinced, Fleetwood asked Kirwan to join the band this very day. Mac's addition of Kirwan expanded Fleetwood Mac to a five-piece with three guitarists. In an interview with Mike Vernon in June 1999, Peter Green described Kirwan as "a clever boy who got ideas for his guitar playing by listening to all that old-fashioned roaring twenties big band stuff." He added that in those early days, Kirwan "was so into it that he cried as he played". Here's a very young Kerwin, who remains one of the forgotten great guitar players of our generation.
1969 - England's Isle of Wight Festival sure has featured the best of rock music throughout the years, including the one in 12969, with Bob Dylan headlining. It was Dylan's his first paid appearance since his motorcycle accident three years earlier. No clips of Dylan on this occasion, except the following: A very short excerpt from what could be the preceding press conference - in which he answers a stupid question perfectly and succinctly; the second clip, without audio at the start, is of John Lennon and Ringo Starr (and girlfriends) at the festival watching Dylan. I think I even spotted George and Eric's wife, Patti, in the audience with Lennon. Any crowd spotters out there?.
1971 - In a shocking event that dampened concert spirits for a while, a security guard was stabbed to death at a Who concert in Forest Hills, New York, today. Three year later, on the same day, the Rolling Stones released their album, Goat's Head Soup, and they decided to promote it on TV with tele commercials. Here's the TV advertisement for the album, with voice over by American radio DJ legend, Wolfman Jack.
1974 - Outrage, tears of disappointment, and the sad end of dreams-a-plenty today, when The Partridge Family television series went to air for the final time. For those who remember, this was a big hit series, for those who were not born, here are the opening credits PLUS one of their songs...I Think I Love You...and a big Power To Women message…not to mention another message, and that was David Cassidy.
1974 - This is the day John Lennon testified in the United States federal court, that the Nixon administration tried to have him deported because of his involvement with the anti-war demonstrations at the 1972 Republican convention in Miami, Florida. Carole King released her Jazzman album today, too, in 12974, and two years later a judge ruled that George Harrison was guilty of copying from the song He's So Fine by the Chiffons. OK, dear reader, you decide. What do you think? Do you agree with the judge?
1987 - Parodied so well by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Jackson's Bad video was televised for the first time on CBS-TV, today, almost quarter a century ago. The full music video for Bad is an 18-minute short film written by novelist and screenwriter Richard Price and based on the case of Edmund Perry. The video was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Michael Jackson, who plays the role of a boy named Daryl who has just completed a successful term at an expensive private school. He returns to the city by subway, arriving in a derelict neighborhood. Daryl arrives to find his house empty (his mother is played by Roberta Flack, albeit in voiceover), but is greeted by his old friends, led by Mini Max (a very young emerging Wesley Snipes) and spends an evening with them.
1988 - Julianne Phillips filed for divorce from Bruce Springsteen, today, and Bob Seger's wife, Annette Sinclair, did the same thing on the same day, same year. In 1991, on the same day, Metallica's self-titled album debuted at #1 around the world; Fourteen years ago on this day, James Brown became the first U.S. artist to appear in Lebanon following the recent lift of the ban on American travel to the country. This is James Brown, after five decades of performing, wowing this Lebanon audience - the swinging cat suit dancer on his left is the daughter of Issac Hayes.
1939 - Frank Sinatra recorded the song All or Nothing at All with the Harry James Band, today, a song composed in the same year by Arthur Altman, with lyrics by Jack Lawrence. Sinatra's original recording of the song became a huge hit in 1943, during the 1942-43 musicians' strike. In a 1944 interview, 'blue eyes' made the following comment about the song: "That was the song, a few days after Harry James and myself recorded it, that gave us our walking papers out of the old Victor Hugo Cafe (a major entertainment venue of the 1930s) on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. The manager came up and waved his hands for us to stop. He said Harry's trumpet playing was too loud for the joint and my singing was just plain lousy. He fired Harry, me and the entire band on the spot. He said the two of us couldn't draw flies as an attraction, and I guess he was right - the room was as empty as a barn. It's a funny thing about that song. The recording we made five years ago is now one of the top spots among the best sellers. But it's the same old recording. It's also the song I auditioned with for Tommy Dorsey, who signed me on the strength of it. And now it's my first big record." Dear reader this is a version Frank did towards the end of his life, as the original version is not available on the internet in video form.
1967 - Almost immediately following the recent death of Brian Epstein (go to our archive search engine for more vids and info re his death), the Beatles today announced they would handle their own affairs. My, my how times have changed. Get this interview with Brian Epstein...and the Beatles, too...my, my how quickly it all changed, in just a few short years.
1968 - This is the day, 43 years ago, guitar player supreme, Danny Kerwan, joined Fleetwood Mac, this was the original Mac, Peter Green's Mac. Danny Kirwan's guitar skills started attracting attention at an early age, and when he was just 17 he came to the attention of established British blues band Fleetwood Mac, while he was playing in London with one of his first bands, Boilerhouse. Mac's producer, Mike Vernon, went and watched his band rehearse - at this insistence. Suitably impressed, Vernon then informed Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green of his discovery. Green was impressed and Boilerhouse began playing support slots for Fleetwood Mac, allowing Kirwan and Green to jam together and get to know each other, as Green had been looking for another guitarist to share some of the workload, in view of slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer's unwillingness to contribute much to Green's songs. Previously a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, drummer Mick Fleetwood suggested to Green that Kirwan could join Fleetwood Mac, and although neither Green, bassist John McVie (both also former Bluesbreakers), nor Spencer were entirely convinced, Fleetwood asked Kirwan to join the band this very day. Mac's addition of Kirwan expanded Fleetwood Mac to a five-piece with three guitarists. In an interview with Mike Vernon in June 1999, Peter Green described Kirwan as "a clever boy who got ideas for his guitar playing by listening to all that old-fashioned roaring twenties big band stuff." He added that in those early days, Kirwan "was so into it that he cried as he played". Here's a very young Kerwin, who remains one of the forgotten great guitar players of our generation.
1969 - England's Isle of Wight Festival sure has featured the best of rock music throughout the years, including the one in 12969, with Bob Dylan headlining. It was Dylan's his first paid appearance since his motorcycle accident three years earlier. No clips of Dylan on this occasion, except the following: A very short excerpt from what could be the preceding press conference - in which he answers a stupid question perfectly and succinctly; the second clip, without audio at the start, is of John Lennon and Ringo Starr (and girlfriends) at the festival watching Dylan. I think I even spotted George and Eric's wife, Patti, in the audience with Lennon. Any crowd spotters out there?.
1971 - In a shocking event that dampened concert spirits for a while, a security guard was stabbed to death at a Who concert in Forest Hills, New York, today. Three year later, on the same day, the Rolling Stones released their album, Goat's Head Soup, and they decided to promote it on TV with tele commercials. Here's the TV advertisement for the album, with voice over by American radio DJ legend, Wolfman Jack.
1974 - Outrage, tears of disappointment, and the sad end of dreams-a-plenty today, when The Partridge Family television series went to air for the final time. For those who remember, this was a big hit series, for those who were not born, here are the opening credits PLUS one of their songs...I Think I Love You...and a big Power To Women message…not to mention another message, and that was David Cassidy.
1974 - This is the day John Lennon testified in the United States federal court, that the Nixon administration tried to have him deported because of his involvement with the anti-war demonstrations at the 1972 Republican convention in Miami, Florida. Carole King released her Jazzman album today, too, in 12974, and two years later a judge ruled that George Harrison was guilty of copying from the song He's So Fine by the Chiffons. OK, dear reader, you decide. What do you think? Do you agree with the judge?
1987 - Parodied so well by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Jackson's Bad video was televised for the first time on CBS-TV, today, almost quarter a century ago. The full music video for Bad is an 18-minute short film written by novelist and screenwriter Richard Price and based on the case of Edmund Perry. The video was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Michael Jackson, who plays the role of a boy named Daryl who has just completed a successful term at an expensive private school. He returns to the city by subway, arriving in a derelict neighborhood. Daryl arrives to find his house empty (his mother is played by Roberta Flack, albeit in voiceover), but is greeted by his old friends, led by Mini Max (a very young emerging Wesley Snipes) and spends an evening with them.
1988 - Julianne Phillips filed for divorce from Bruce Springsteen, today, and Bob Seger's wife, Annette Sinclair, did the same thing on the same day, same year. In 1991, on the same day, Metallica's self-titled album debuted at #1 around the world; Fourteen years ago on this day, James Brown became the first U.S. artist to appear in Lebanon following the recent lift of the ban on American travel to the country. This is James Brown, after five decades of performing, wowing this Lebanon audience - the swinging cat suit dancer on his left is the daughter of Issac Hayes.
