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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.





Friday, December 16, 2011

December 17, 18, 1892 -TCHAIKOVSKY'S the Nutcracker was first performed in St. Petersburg today, by the Russian Imperial Ballet. Following is a cut out from Walt Disney's animated movie, Fantasia in 1940, which features the Nutcracker. Proceeds from Fantasia have now grossed more than US$80 million in domestic revenue and is the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time in the USA, when adjusted for inflation. Disney used the music in the classic cartoon masterpiece, and it was all hand drawn - no computer, no digital enhancement, just a straight-up hand drawn cartoon masterpiece -  pure genius. Sit back and enjoy.


1955 - CARL Perkins was at the heart of rock'n'roll when he wrote the classic rocker Blue Suede Shoes, later covered by Elvis Presley who had a huge worldwide hit with the song. Less than 48 hours after writing the tune, Perkins recorded it in Memphis, Tennessee. Following the original we have Presley's version for all you Elvis fans reading this.



1965 - THIS was the night that Judy Garland and The Supremes performed at the opening of the Astrodome in Houston, and four years after that on the same day, we saw the most conventional wedding ceremony held for one of the most unconventional pop stars of all time. Television history was made when Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki Budinger were married on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Watch the ceremony, then watch them interviewed by Carson. The event attracted between 40 and 50 million viewers, the highest rated Tonight Show, as well as talk show, episode of all time. This was so at the time, but may have been superseded since then. Not sure. Anyody out there know?


1977 - ELVIS Costello and the Attractions appeared on NBC's iconic Saturday Night Live in place of the Sex Pistols, tonight. The Sex Pistols could not get visas to enter the U.S. There doesn't appear to be footage of that event, dear reader, so we have delved into footage for earlier that year, and here is Elvis and his crew in the same year, singing Watching The Detectives.


1982 - THE WHO play the last concert of their farewell tour at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens today, but more significant in my opinion is the fact that on the same day American Delta blues musician and songwriter Big Joe Williams died in Macon, Mississippi aged 79. He is the man who wrote the oft-covered song, Baby Please Don't Go, a cover version of which was a UK top 10 record for Them, featuring Van Morrison in 1964. Here's the original version, then Them's version.



1986 - DOOBIE Brothers reunited tonight for a benefit in Palo Alto, California. The performance inspired a reunion tour in 1987. On the same day, same year, night club performer Wayne 'Danke Schoen' Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. The TV network had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false. Here's a very young, very slick Wayne Newton, singing *that* song.


1988 - FEATURED on the front page of British music magazine NME, were teen pop sensations Bros, who were interviewed for the paper. Young and inexperienced, one of the brothers was quoted as saying: "We've got the quickest selling debut LP in the history of CBS Records. You don't do that if your talentless." And this is the duo, performing their biggest hit, their query about their own fame.


1999 - CROSSOVER jazz saxophonist, Grover Washington, collapsed and died in New York today, after taping a performance for CBS's The Saturday Early Show. He was 56 years old. The show aired the next day, with his performance.