March 22, 1978 - ONE OF THE FUNNIEST comedic slants on rock'n'roll music came 34 years ago, with the spoof group, The Rutles and their rockumentary, All You Need Is Cash. The affectionate take of the Beatles' career, was broadcast for the first time in the USA tonight. For your pleasure, dear reader, here are the first four parts of this hilarious mockumentary.
1963 - THE BEATLES' first album, Please Please Me, was released in the UK today, and here's a live performance of the song - the lead guitar sound is on low level here, and the screaming girls are interesting.
1965 - BOB DYLAN'S first electric album Bring it All Back Home was released today, and controversy followed this former acoustic folkie for ever more. When he went electric on stage, many fans booed him. Here is an outtake from Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home movie, independently filmed a year after the album was released, with Dylan and friends, including a bored looking Robbie Robertson, discussing the booing and the concert walkouts.
1956 - SAMMY DAVIS Jr. remains one of the most talented all round entertainer of all time, and it was on this day that he began his starring role in the NYC Broadway play, Mr. Wonderful. Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian who became known for his performances on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and as a member of Frank Sinatra's so-called Rat Pack. Davis battled against racism his entire life, at a time when racism and segregation was a way of life in USA. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap - I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles. Here is Sammy Davis from his early days, in two clips, a giant talent.
1956 - CARL PERKINS was injured in a car accident, today, on his way to perform on the Perry Como TV Show. But holding to the old show business edict, 'the show must go on', Perkins still managed to make it to the show on time. And here is the cool Mr. Como introducing the cool Mr. Perkins.
1958 - HANK WILLIAMS Jr made his stage debut 54 years ago today, in Swainsboro, Georgia, USA, at the age of eight, and as much as I'd like to have that video for you right now, I haven't. But I do have a video from 2007, in Baltimore, singing his signature song, Family Tradition, in which he gives a nod to his father, Hank. Great crowd participation. This is a home-grown bootleg, with audience participation supreme.
1962 - BARBRA STREISAND opened in the Broadway show I Can Get it For You Wholesale, tonight. Ms. Streisand's status as one of the most successful singers of her generation remains remarkable not only because her popularity was achieved in the face of the dominant musical trend of rock'n'roll which she did not follow, but also because she used her vocal skills as a mere stepping stone to other careers - as a stage and film actress, and as a film director. Here is Ms. Streisand as a special guest on Judy Garland Show TV.
1978 - THE POLICE signed to A&M Records, today, the new music/new wave/post punk group eventually scoring more than 15 worldwide Top 40 hits with the label including this one, Every Breath You Take.
1980 - JOHNNY MATHIS, the American singer of popular music, began his career singing single recordings of standard songs, but he eventually became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 of which making the Billboard charts. According to Guinness Book of World Records and writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Johnny Mathis has sold 350 million records worldwide, and this was a song from one of them.
1994 - DAN HARTMAN, singer, songwriter, and producer died of a brain tumor in Westport, Connecticut, today. He was once a member of the Edgar Winter Group and wrote the band's hit Free Ride. Hartman also had the 1978 #1 dance hit Instant Replay, along weigh Relight My Fire and a Brit #1 for Take That and Lulu. He also collaborated with Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, James Brown, Holly Johnson and Steve Winwood. Hartman also produced and co-wrote Living In America, an international hit for James Brown, which appeared on the soundtrack of 1985's Rocky IV.
1963 - THE BEATLES' first album, Please Please Me, was released in the UK today, and here's a live performance of the song - the lead guitar sound is on low level here, and the screaming girls are interesting.
1965 - BOB DYLAN'S first electric album Bring it All Back Home was released today, and controversy followed this former acoustic folkie for ever more. When he went electric on stage, many fans booed him. Here is an outtake from Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home movie, independently filmed a year after the album was released, with Dylan and friends, including a bored looking Robbie Robertson, discussing the booing and the concert walkouts.
1956 - SAMMY DAVIS Jr. remains one of the most talented all round entertainer of all time, and it was on this day that he began his starring role in the NYC Broadway play, Mr. Wonderful. Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian who became known for his performances on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and as a member of Frank Sinatra's so-called Rat Pack. Davis battled against racism his entire life, at a time when racism and segregation was a way of life in USA. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap - I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles. Here is Sammy Davis from his early days, in two clips, a giant talent.
1956 - CARL PERKINS was injured in a car accident, today, on his way to perform on the Perry Como TV Show. But holding to the old show business edict, 'the show must go on', Perkins still managed to make it to the show on time. And here is the cool Mr. Como introducing the cool Mr. Perkins.
1958 - HANK WILLIAMS Jr made his stage debut 54 years ago today, in Swainsboro, Georgia, USA, at the age of eight, and as much as I'd like to have that video for you right now, I haven't. But I do have a video from 2007, in Baltimore, singing his signature song, Family Tradition, in which he gives a nod to his father, Hank. Great crowd participation. This is a home-grown bootleg, with audience participation supreme.
1962 - BARBRA STREISAND opened in the Broadway show I Can Get it For You Wholesale, tonight. Ms. Streisand's status as one of the most successful singers of her generation remains remarkable not only because her popularity was achieved in the face of the dominant musical trend of rock'n'roll which she did not follow, but also because she used her vocal skills as a mere stepping stone to other careers - as a stage and film actress, and as a film director. Here is Ms. Streisand as a special guest on Judy Garland Show TV.
1978 - THE POLICE signed to A&M Records, today, the new music/new wave/post punk group eventually scoring more than 15 worldwide Top 40 hits with the label including this one, Every Breath You Take.
1980 - JOHNNY MATHIS, the American singer of popular music, began his career singing single recordings of standard songs, but he eventually became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 of which making the Billboard charts. According to Guinness Book of World Records and writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Johnny Mathis has sold 350 million records worldwide, and this was a song from one of them.
1994 - DAN HARTMAN, singer, songwriter, and producer died of a brain tumor in Westport, Connecticut, today. He was once a member of the Edgar Winter Group and wrote the band's hit Free Ride. Hartman also had the 1978 #1 dance hit Instant Replay, along weigh Relight My Fire and a Brit #1 for Take That and Lulu. He also collaborated with Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, James Brown, Holly Johnson and Steve Winwood. Hartman also produced and co-wrote Living In America, an international hit for James Brown, which appeared on the soundtrack of 1985's Rocky IV.
