January 6, 1966 - DUKE Ellington's special concert at the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City was recorded and broadcast on CBS-TV tonight. Sorry, folks, couldn't locate that video, so howzabout us all going back a couple of decades, and watching this classic version of a classic song, Takin' The A Train, certainly one of the Duke's signature tunes, and one of his best tunes.
1957 - ELVIS Presley made his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show tonight, in New York City. Way before the Sullivan show, though, here's a real gem of a bootleg from a 1956 taping of the Steve Allen Show. Elvis is on the right hand side of the band, all dressed in black. And if you can deal with Allen's crap, at the end you will hear Elvis's dulcet tones. Before that he is introduced as Tumbleweed Presley. This is a vintage gem.
1958 - GIBSON Guitar patented its Flying V electric guitar today. The sleek, space age lines and bold tones of Gibson Flying Vs have seduced generations of players, putting the wham into Lonnie Mack’s licks and making Albert King’s big-bellied southpaw bends hang in the air like smoking prawns on a down under barbie. Though its origins may lie in the blues, the Flying V found a home in rock and roll, too. And Metallica’s monolithic wall of sound has a vein of V at its igneous core, not to mention Zakk Wylde blasting his signature model on-stage and in the studio with Ozzy. And let's not forget dirty and sweet and your my V guitar from Marc Bolan.
1968 - DICK Clark premiered his TV series Happening '68 tonight, with the show running through to September of 1969. Paul Revere and the Raiders appeared regularly on this show and in fact, co-hosted it at various times. The band appeared regularly on other national television, but most notably on Dick Clark's Where the Action Is, Happening '68, and It's Happening, the latter two of which were co-hosted by Revere, and here they are performing one of their biggest hits, Indian Reservation, followed by their version of Louie Louie.
1975 - LED Zeppelin fans by the hundreds went on riot while waiting for tickets to go on sale at Boston Garden tonight. About $30,000 was done in damage and the show was cancelled by Boston Mayor Kevin White. No footage of the riot, but here is footage of Zep at Earl's Court in the same year, performing Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp.
1977 - EMI terminated its contract with the Sex Pistols today, only 3 months after signing it. No reason was given. The group was signed from obscurity to EMI for the sum of GBP40,000 British pounds - around AU$100,000 at the time. This is the band live from Holland, which is where the group was performing when they were sacked by EMI.
1980 - GEORGEANNA Gordon, singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes, died 32 years ago today, aged 46. She died from complications of lupus and sickle-cell anemia, at age 36. The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label, and the group became Motown's first successful female vocal group. The Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, Please Mr. Postman, and for setting the standard for later Motown girl groups such as Martha and the Vandellas, and the Supremes. Here is their 1961 worldwide #1 single Please Mr Postman.
1993 - BILL Wyman announced that he had officially left the Rolling Stones today, to pursue a solo career, a new young bride, and a hamburger store in London called Sticky Fingers. Bill thought he was quite the rock star, and here's his cute pop song about himself, tongue in cheek.
1957 - ELVIS Presley made his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show tonight, in New York City. Way before the Sullivan show, though, here's a real gem of a bootleg from a 1956 taping of the Steve Allen Show. Elvis is on the right hand side of the band, all dressed in black. And if you can deal with Allen's crap, at the end you will hear Elvis's dulcet tones. Before that he is introduced as Tumbleweed Presley. This is a vintage gem.
1958 - GIBSON Guitar patented its Flying V electric guitar today. The sleek, space age lines and bold tones of Gibson Flying Vs have seduced generations of players, putting the wham into Lonnie Mack’s licks and making Albert King’s big-bellied southpaw bends hang in the air like smoking prawns on a down under barbie. Though its origins may lie in the blues, the Flying V found a home in rock and roll, too. And Metallica’s monolithic wall of sound has a vein of V at its igneous core, not to mention Zakk Wylde blasting his signature model on-stage and in the studio with Ozzy. And let's not forget dirty and sweet and your my V guitar from Marc Bolan.
1968 - DICK Clark premiered his TV series Happening '68 tonight, with the show running through to September of 1969. Paul Revere and the Raiders appeared regularly on this show and in fact, co-hosted it at various times. The band appeared regularly on other national television, but most notably on Dick Clark's Where the Action Is, Happening '68, and It's Happening, the latter two of which were co-hosted by Revere, and here they are performing one of their biggest hits, Indian Reservation, followed by their version of Louie Louie.
1975 - LED Zeppelin fans by the hundreds went on riot while waiting for tickets to go on sale at Boston Garden tonight. About $30,000 was done in damage and the show was cancelled by Boston Mayor Kevin White. No footage of the riot, but here is footage of Zep at Earl's Court in the same year, performing Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp.
1977 - EMI terminated its contract with the Sex Pistols today, only 3 months after signing it. No reason was given. The group was signed from obscurity to EMI for the sum of GBP40,000 British pounds - around AU$100,000 at the time. This is the band live from Holland, which is where the group was performing when they were sacked by EMI.
1980 - GEORGEANNA Gordon, singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes, died 32 years ago today, aged 46. She died from complications of lupus and sickle-cell anemia, at age 36. The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label, and the group became Motown's first successful female vocal group. The Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, Please Mr. Postman, and for setting the standard for later Motown girl groups such as Martha and the Vandellas, and the Supremes. Here is their 1961 worldwide #1 single Please Mr Postman.
1993 - BILL Wyman announced that he had officially left the Rolling Stones today, to pursue a solo career, a new young bride, and a hamburger store in London called Sticky Fingers. Bill thought he was quite the rock star, and here's his cute pop song about himself, tongue in cheek.
