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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dear Reader,
Friday March 23, and we go from the Pope to pop, to classical, to new wave and back again.
* Pope John Paul II had a dabble in pop music 13 years ago today when he released his debut album.
* Psychedelic Furs show us their pretty pink wares in 1980.
* Elvis at #1 with an old German folk song as he records a new hit with an old Italian folk song in 1960.
* Adam and the Ants show a new style of rock'n'roll new music, 31 years ago.
* It's 1963 and the Beach Boys look very...er...dapper performing this hit.
* We go way back to two John Lennon events; his marriage to Yoko Ono, shown here by Australian TV pop show host, Dick Williams, and the release of Lennon's book, In His Own Write.
* Former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer, John Fogerty shows us his solo style in 1985, on this day.
* We go classical once again with a debut of one of Haydn's pieces.
* And classical again, this time with the debut of Handel's Messiah in 1743.

* Scroll down to the bottom of the page for headlines from world's top publications: New York Times, Guardian, The Age, Rolling Stone, Spin, & many more. click on the glowing blue headlines for your daily dose.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

November 6, 1968 - THE MONKEES' three quarter of a million dollar feature film, Head, opened in New York City. Instead of being aimed at their target audience of teeny boppers, the film contained a dark theme about the manipulation of the group with walk-on appearances by inappropriate guests and scenes of Vietnam War atrocities. Reviews were harsh and the picture was a box office disaster. But for me, this remains one of the best movies from any music act, challenging and smashing, as it does, the smoke & mirrors of the music industry and its hypocrisy, in a totally out-there manner. Be warned, this movie is a head trip.

1814 - BORN in Belgium today was inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax. He is described as being the instrument maker to the kings, and following is an extremely irreverent oral and visual Biography of Adolphe Sax. It was produced with the full cooperation of The Organization of Adherents to Adolphe Sax and His Esoteric Wisdom. You may need to smoke something before you watch it - the producers did! Hilarious.

1965 - SHINDIG was the big American rock TV show by 1965, and it became necessary for every single rock/pop/soul act to appear on the show for maximum audience exposure reach. Appearing on the show 46 years ago today were the Rolling Stones, the Strangeloves, and Fontella Bass. We've seen the Rolling Stones video from this show before, & if you want to see it again, go to our archive search, and type in Rolling Stones and Shindig. Meanwhile, this is the mighty Strangeloves with their original version of Cara-Lin - check out the Go-Go dancers. The other act on the show, gorgeous and talented Fontella Bass, sings her original version of the much-covered song, Rescue Me. ms. Bass also co-wrote the song.



1965 - THE other big TV show in USA at the time, also a must see-must appear, was Hullaballoo, and here are The Animals performing for the first time ever, their song, It's My Life. Note in particular the 'trophies' on the walls, nodding to the beat. Certainly a chauvinist period in time, and particularly in pop culture.


1966 - BILL Graham, the famous promoter, opened his iconic venue, Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California today. And on the same day in 1973, one of the rock industry's most colourful, most famous, most notorious, most efficient, most funny, and certainly most loved characters, Phil Kaufman was fined $700. His crime? The tour manager/personal assistant/confidante and all-round icon stole the coffin containing the body of his mate, Byrds singer Gram Parsons, from the Los Angeles International Airport, taking it to a spot near the Joshua Tree in the desert and cremating the country rock musician. Kaufman claimed that it was Parson's wish to be cremated. Phil 'Mangler' Kaufman, has been described as the entertainment industry's 'executive nanny' by Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Emmylou Harris, Elizabeth Ashley, Rosanne Cash, the Byrds, the Everly Brothers, and Divinyls have all benefitted from the wisdom, madness and big heart of Kaufman. This is an excerpt from the movie of the event.


1968 - JOE Cocker was at #1 in the UK singles chart with his version of The Beatles song, With A Little Help From My Friends. Cocker's version then became a worldwide hit. It was also a UK #1 for Wet Wet Wet in 1988. This video is from Cocker with the brilliant Mad Dogs & Englishmen, led by one of rock's most enigmatic musicians, Leon Russell. This is one of rock's magic moments.


1975 - ST. MARTIN'S School of Art in London was the chosen venue for the Sex Pistols to make their debut today. We haven't got that video, but we do have this following rarely seen video of the second gig featuring Sid Vicious on bass. The pistols were supporting a band called Joe Bazooka, which featured Stuart Goddard, the future Adam Ant.


2001 - BRITNEY Spears' album Britney was released exactly a decade ago today, and clearly mush has happened in 10 years. Here's a video of Britney at a photo shoot for the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine. She looks bright, alert and totally gorgeous looking, her demons about to strike.


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