Rock News

--A  class action lawsuit claiming breach of racketeering and consumer protections laws has been launched against Lady Gaga. The suit, filed by 1800LAWFIRM, claims that the singer did not turn over all money raised from the sale of wristbands to help Japanese earthquake victims.  In addition, the suit also claims Gaga overcharged consumers for shipping and handling to inflate the donation totals, which she claims were around $3 million. An attorney for 1800LAWFIRM, Alyson Oliver, said in a statement. "Our intention via this lawsuit is to uncover any improprieties committed by Lady Gaga and appropriate the full donations assumed to the victims in Japan." There has been no comment thus far from Lady Gaga's camp concerning the suit.

--An eight-foot statue of rock pioneer Chuck Berry has been approved for display in in St. Louis Missouri, despite a letter of protest by local residents. The statue, which depicts a young Berry playing his guitar, met with complaints that the musician was a "felon and not a friend to women,"  in a petition signed by over 100 local residents. However, the owner of the University City Council, who own the land where the state is slated to stand, is disregarding the protest and plan to go ahead with the installation.

--The iconic red-and-black leather jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the video for the song "Thriller" has sold at auction for $1.8 million dollars. The buyer, Texas gold trader Milton Verret, says he plans to tour the jacket as a fund-raiser for children's hospitals across the country. Plans are already underway to display the jacket at Dell's Children's Hospital in Austin, Texas.

--Oren Moverman, co-writer of the 2007 Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There," has been hired to pen a movie based on the life of enigmatic Beach Boys' front man Brian Wilson. The filmmakers have acquired the rights to Wilson's life, as well as permission to use his music in the film. The film is part of a number of projects surrounding the 50th anniversary of the forming of the band, also in the works are a possible reunion with all surviving members and the release of the uncompleted Pet Sounds follow-up album Smile, which was abandoned in 1967 due to Wilson's fragile mental state  (Wilson released his own, rerecorded, version of the album in 2004)

--Reggae star Buju Banton has been sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine. Banton was busted by an undercover DEA agent in 2009 after he was recorded claiming he "could broker cocaine sales." Though Banton lated claimed he was "only bragging," the recording was enough to secure a conviction, which carries a minimum 10 year sentence under federal law. Banton's lawyers are hoping to get the singer assigned to a Florida prison, so he can remain close to his family.   

This Week In Rock History

 1957--Buddy Holly and The Crickets record Peggy Sue, which will go on to reach #3 on the US charts. The song was called "Cindy Lue," after Holly's niece, right up until the day of recording when Crickets drummer Jerry Allison convinced Holly to re-title it after Allison's current girlfriend Peggy Sue Garron.  The gesture was Allison's way of apologizing following a fight with Garron.  It must have worked because the two were married a year later. 

1964--Peter and Gordon reach number one "World Without Love" written by Peter Gordon's sister Jane's finance Paul McCartney. The song was released without a writer's credit due to McCartney's desire to see if he could write a hit song without using his name.

1970--UK band The Smile make their first public performance with their new name, Queen.

1971--Don McLean releases American Pie debuting it on KNEW-FM in New York. The song would go to become the longest #1 song in rock history, coming in at 8 minutes, 36 seconds.

1975--Sonny and Cher divorce after 11 years of marriage, four days later Cher would marry Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers.  This marriage would last four years.

1975--The Jackson Five leave Motown Records for Epic. They would be forced to change their name to The Jackson, since Motown owns the rights to the name Jackson Five.

1976--Police raid the home of Neil Diamond claiming they are responding to a burglary call.  The raid was actually a search for drugs, which turn up nothing after a three-hour search. Diamond apparently takes the intrusion well, signing autographs for officers as they leave.

1986--Wham! hold their farewell concert before a sold out crowd of 75,000 at London's Wembly Stadium.

2002--Who bassist Pete Entwistle is found dead in his hotel room on the eve of a world tour. The cause of death is later attributed to a cocaine induced heart attack.

2008--A Beatles interview from April 30, 1964, in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney discussed how they met and the way they composed songs together, was broadcast by the BBC after it was discovered in a film can in a damp garage in south London.

Rock News

-- On Saturday rock-and-roll hall-of-famer Clarence Clemons, of the E-Street Band, passed away due to complications from a recent stroke. As we reported last week, Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12th, but was, at the time, making a steady recovery. However Clemons took a turn for the worse on Saturday, passing away that afternoon. In a statement, Bruce Springsteen said of Clemons... "Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."

--La Toya Jackson is making claims in her up coming book, Starting Over, that her brother Michael was murdered. According to La Toya, Michael Jackson had expressed being "afraid for his life", further stating that he was killed by "the people controlling him." La Toya was light on details, encouraging people to purchase the book which hits shelves on Thursday.

--Country music legend Glen Campbell has announced that his upcoming fall tour will be his "swan song," publicly stating that he is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Campbell, 75, has decided to go public with his disease because he wants his fans to understand why he is taking to the stage for one last hurrah. According to Campbell's wife, Kim, "Glen is still an awesome guitar player and singer...But if he flubs a lyric or gets confused on stage, I wouldn't want people to think, 'What's the matter with him? Is he drunk?' " Campbell's career has earned him 7 Grammy Awards, as well as eight Country Music Awards and several Dove awards.

--Reclusive funk singer Sly Stone has pleaded not guilty to drug possession charges. Stone, who has a long history with drug abuse problems, was arrested in April when a search of the van he was riding in turned up rocks of cocaine in Stone's clothing, as well as clothing owned by the van's driver. Stone's lawyer maintains that the drugs did not belong to the Sly and The Family Stone frontman, saying "A lot of musicians hang out with people who have drugs. How are they supposed to know?"

--Two men have been arrested in Cullompton, England, for plotting to rob and murder soul singer Joss Stone. The men, who were stopped and questioned after police received calls of a suspicious vehicle, were reportedly carrying swords, a body bag, detailed maps and areal photographs of Stone's estate. There appears to be no personal animosity towards the singer, the two men claim they were simply after her money. The men are still being questioned by police.

--The London crosswalk made famous on The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover has been declared a "site of national importance," meaning the site can not be altered in any way without approval of local authorities. In a statement, England's Minister for Tourism and Heritage said, "This London zebra crossing is no castle or cathedral but, thanks to The Beatles and a 10-minute photo shoot one August morning in 1969, it has just as strong a claim as any to be seen as part of our heritage." The crosswalk, which is situated just outside of Abbey Road Studios, attracts a large number of tourists every year who attempt to recreate the famous album cover.

This Week In Rock History

1957--The Quarrymen, consisting of Rob Davis, Eric Griffith, Collin Hanton and John Lennon, play on the back of a coal truck in the town center to celebrate Liverpool's 750th anniversary. In the audience that afternoon was as 15 year-old Paul McCartney.

1966--Jackie Wilson is arrested for starting a riot after he refuses to obey police orders to stop singing to a frenzied crowd of 400 fans. He is later convicted of public drunkenness and fined $30.

1967--The Beatles premieres "All You Need Is Love" on live TV to over 400 million viewers.

1974--Rare Earth drummer Peter Hoorelbeke is arrested after throwing his drumsticks into the crowd.

1975--Singer/songwriter Tim Buckley passes away from a drug overdose at the age of 28. His son, musician Jeff Buckley, would also die young, drowning in a slackwater channel of the Mississippi river at 30.

1977--Witnesses in Madison, Wisconsin saw Elvis Presley stop his limo, jump out and confront two teenage boys who were beating up on a smaller boy at a gas station. Elvis was heard to say "I'll take you on!" as the young boy ran inside the gas station to safety. The two teenagers apologized and Elvis got back in his limo and drove off.

1981--After 14 years and numerous hit singles, Steely Dan announce they are breaking up.

1981--Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to the murder of John Lennon and is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He has subsequently been denied parole six occasions.

1990-- Gary Busey, who played Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story, pays $237,419 for one of Holly's acoustic guitars at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The guitar came in a tooled leather case made by Holly himself.

2006--Victor Willis, the "police officer" in The Village People, pleads "no contest" to drug possession charges.

2009--Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, died of heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

New Releases

06/06/11

Above & Beyond, All Time Low, The Appleseed Cast, Arctic Monkeys, Battles, Bedouin Soundclash, Justin Bieber (acoustic), Benny Benassi, Black Lips, Blindside, Buzzcocks, Carolina Chocolate Drops (re-issue), City and Colour, Nels Cline, Count Bass D, Cults, Depeche Mode (remixes), F*%ked Up, Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz), Bruce Hornsby, Iron Maiden (B.O. 90-10), Fela Kuti (comp), Sondre Lerche, Branford Marsalis, Morbid Angel, Peter Murphy, Rosebuds, Santah, Bob Seger (re-issues), Paul Simon (re-issues), The Soul of John Black, Sunspot Jonz, Tech N9ne, Tedeschi Trucks Band, (VA) “Highlife Time: Nigerian and Ghanaian Sounds, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Soundtrack), (VA) “Sensaciounal Soul: 37 Groovy Spanish Soul & Funk Stompers,” “The Book of Mormon (Broadway Soundtrack), more!

This Week In Rock History

1954--Guitarist Denny Cedrone is killed in a fall down a staircase just a few weeks after recording the iconic solo in Billy Haley & the Comets "Rock Around the Clock"

1957--Elvis Presley's song "All Shook Up" debuts on the charts at #24 weeks before it's official release date, after DJs obtain copies of the single intended as gifts for US service men.

1964--British railway workers discover a young girl packed in a tea-chest on a station platform. The girl, who was uninjured, was attempting to mail herself to the Beatles.

1970--Promoters of the Woodstock concert announce that they lost over $1-million dollars on the concert. They would later make the money back through sales of the soundtrack, movie, and related memorabilia.

1972--Keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan played his last show with the Grateful Dead at the Hollywood Bowl. McKernan would die less than a year later from liver failure brought on by years of hard drinking at the age of 27.

1982--Pretenders guitarist and founding member James Honeyman Scott died of a cocaine related heart-attack. Scott's death came just 2 days after the dismissal from the band of bass player Pete Farndon for drug related reasons.

1995--Beatles producer George Martin receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

1999--British musician and politician David "Screaming Lord" Such, founder of the "Official Monster Raving Loony Party," committed suicide by hanging.

2002--A copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band autographed by all four Beatles sells at auction for over $57,000.

Rock News

-- Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, suffered a serious stroke at his Florida home over the weekend. Clemons, known to fans as "Big Man", has been battling health issue for the past few years, undergoing knee and back surgery in 2008. Early reports listed Clemons as "seriously ill" also reporting that members of the band were encouraged to visit him "as soon as possible." Subsequent reports however have Clemons' condition improving dramatically, including regaining partial movement on his right side, which was initially paralyzed after the stroke.

--Carl Gardner, lead singer for 1950's doo-wop band The Coasters passed away Monday morning from unknown causes at the age of 83. The Coasters, the first band inducted into the Rock-&-Roll Hall of Fame, had a string of hits starting in 1955 including "Yakety-Yak," "Poison Ivy," "Charlie Brown," and "Searchin." Gardner was the only member to stay with the band through it's entire 55 year history, and the last remaining member of the original line-up. Gardner spent a good portion of his later life touring with a revamped Coasters line-up, and battling impostors who billed themselves as The Coasters.

--Seth Putnam, lead singer and founder of the grindcore band Anal Cunt (AC, AxCx) died Saturday night of an apparent heart attack. Formed in Boston in 1988, Putnam decided to name the band "the most offensive, stupid, dumb, etc name possible." Putnam attempted suicide in 2004 by intentionally overdosing on the sleep aid Ambien and spent nearly 2 months in a coma. AxCx had been working on a new album at the time of Putnam's death. He was 43.

--Former White Stripes guitarist/singer Jack White has announced that he, and musician/model wife Karen Elson, are separating after six years of marriage. The couple announced their impending divorce at a party held on their sixth wedding anniversary. The party was billed as a celebration of " [the] making and breaking of the sacred union of marriage." The couple have 2 children, Scarlett Teresa White and Henry Lee White, born in 2005 and 2007 respectively.

--Lawyers for Willie Nelson have announced that they have reached a plea bargain in a drug possession case which could have sent the country music icon to jail for up to 2 years. Nelson was busted near Sierra Blanca, Texas, and charged with possession of 6-ounces of marijuana in 2010 after a state trooper smelled smoke coming from Nelson's tour bus. In the plea Nelson will avoid all jail time by pleading "no contest" to the charges and staying clean for 30 days, at which point the charges will be dropped entirely.

New Releases

06/06/11

Above & Beyond, All Time Low, The Appleseed Cast, Arctic Monkeys, Battles, Bedouin Soundclash, Justin Bieber (acoustic), Benny Benassi, Black Lips, Blindside, Buzzcocks, Carolina Chocolate Drops (re-issue), City and Colour, Nels Cline, Count Bass D, Cults, Depeche Mode (remixes), F*%ked Up, Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz), Bruce Hornsby, Iron Maiden (B.O. 90-10), Fela Kuti (comp), Sondre Lerche, Branford Marsalis, Morbid Angel, Peter Murphy, Rosebuds, Santah, Bob Seger (re-issues), Paul Simon (re-issues), The Soul of John Black, Sunspot Jonz, Tech N9ne, Tedeschi Trucks Band, (VA) “Highlife Time: Nigerian and Ghanaian Sounds, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Soundtrack), (VA) “Sensaciounal Soul: 37 Groovy Spanish Soul & Funk Stompers,” “The Book of Mormon (Broadway Soundtrack), more!

This Week In Rock History

1958--Jerry Lee Lewis and his producer, Sam Phillips, take out a full page ad in Billboard Magazine attempting to explain his recent divorce and subsequent marriage to his 14 year old cousin Myra.

1960--Drummer Tommy Moore quits The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at Garston bottle works. Moore would later regret his decision.

1963--After they appear on the BBC television program Thank Your Lucky Stars, The Rolling Stones' manager, Andrew Loong Oldham, is told by the show’s producer that if he wants the band to be a success he should "get rid of that vile looking singer with the tire-tread lips."

1964--Chicago police are called in to stop a press conference being held by The Rolling Stones in the middle of Michigan Street.

1965--Roy Orbison, who had only days before reconciled with his 25 years old wife Claudette, witnesses Claudette being injured when her motorcycle collides with a truck. Orbison had written the song "Claudette", a hit for the Everly Brothers, about her.

1966--A DJ at a European radio station announces on the air that Who singer Roger Daltrey has been killed in a car accident. In fact, it was guitarist Pete Townshend who was involved in the accident, and he was only mildly injured.

1971--John Lennon and Yoko Ono join Frank Zappa and The Mother's of Invention on stage at the Fillmore East in New York.

1977--Alice Cooper lost his most famous prop when a rat being served as dinner to Cooper's boa constrictor, bit the snake and killed it. Cooper held public auditions to replace the snake.

1991--Eddie Kendricks is arrested at the funeral of fellow Temptations member David Ruffin for non-payment of nearly $30,000 in child support.

1998--Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are seen together for the first time in 28 years when all three attend the funeral of Paul's wife Linda.

Rock News

Last week we reported that reggae/hip-hop star Sean Kingston had been involved in a Jet Ski accident in Miami, Florida. Kingston, who is recovering
from a fractured wrist and broken jaw in a Miami hospital, may now also face over $30,000 in fines for disturbing the local population of sea cows. Florida law strictly prohibits "water users [from causing] a wake, or sea turbulence, in areas populated by manatees" and the damage from the Kingston crash, and the reckless driving leading up to it, would have directly violated these
protection laws.

Guitar legend Jimmy Page made a surprise appearance on stage this week at a concert held by 60s folk/rock troubadour Donovan. The concert, which took placeat London's Royal Albert Hall, had Donovan playing his entire 1965 album Sunshine Superman, on which both Page and future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones played as studio musicians. Page joined Donovan to re-create his lead guitar on the albums title song, as well as returning to help close out the show with the song "Mellow Yellow"

Singer Patti LaBelle is being accused of ordering her bodyguards to attack a young man at Huston's George H.W. Bush International Airport. According to lawyers for the victim, 23 year- old West Point senior Richard King, LaBelle's
three bodyguards confronted King when LaBelle thought the young man was standing too close to her luggage. When King pushed one of the bodyguards (in self-defense, according to his lawyers) the three men proceeded to attack King resulting in contusions and a concussion. King is suing LaBelle, her bodyguards and the airport for unspecified damages. LaBelle has issued no
statement on the matter.

Rapper Eminem has filed a lawsuit against car marker Audi for copyright infringement. The lawsuit stems from a European television ad for the new 2012 Audi A6 Avant which features a sound-alike rapper performing a song very similar to Eminem's 2002 song "Lose Yourself." The ad is also being accused of borrowing visual elements from Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" series of ads, which feature "Lose yourself," used with permission. A similar lawsuit brought by musician Tom Waits in the 1980s against Frito-Lay, who hired a "sound alike" singer after Waits refused to grant permission for his song to be used in a commercial, was decided in the artists favor, giving the Eminem suit clear president.

Pop singer Adele has been forced to cancel her North American tour after developing a case of laryngitis. The singer is on doctor's orders to take some time off and recover. Plans are already underway to reschedule all dates for
later in the year.

New Releases

New Releases for

May/June 2011

05/03/11
Architecture in Helsinki, Beastie Boys, Brandi Carlile (live), Fleet Foxes, Galactic (live), Eliza Gilkyson, Gorilla Zoe, INXS, Wanda Jackson (B.O.), Dave Matthews (live), Morrissey (B.O.), Stevie Nicks, James Pants, Loudon Wainwright III (box set), Sixx: A.M., more!
05/10/11
(VA) “Nigeria 70: Sweet Times (Afro Funk, Highlife and JuJu from 1970s Lagos), The Antlers, ATB, Black Label Society, Greg Brown, The Cars, Booker T. Jones, Bill Laswell, The Felice Brothers, The Globes, Warren Haynes,  Jennifer Lopez, Jesu, Joan of Arc, Man Man, Randy Newman (B.O.), Manchester Orchestra, Messy Marv, Okkervil River, oOoOO, Raphael Saadiq, Sloan, Chris Thile, Tanya Tucker, The Sea and Cake, Sam Roberts Band, more!

05/17/11
(VA) “Marijuana Madness”, 13 & God, Alice Cooper (CD/DVD/7” Box Set), Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, BMX Bandits (re-issue), Crass (re-issue), Damon & Naomi, DJ Paul Nice, Elvin Bishop (live), Face to Face, Glasvegas, Hank Williams III, Iggy Pop (live bootlegs ’77-’09), J. Rawls, Lofty, Let’s Wrestle, Mac Dre, MC Lars, Michael Grimm, Moby, Nick Cave (re-issues), Noam Chomsky (spoken), Nosferatu, Queen (re-issues), Queens of the Stone Age (re-issue of their OP 1st album!), Seether, Soulstice, Supersuckers (live), The Go-Go’s (re-issue), The Rentals, The Waterboys (piano demos), The Wiggles, Sarah Jarosz, Planningtorock, more!


05/24/11
(VA) “Soundtrack – The Hangover pt. 2", Aerosmith (B.O.), Boris (x2), Brad Paisley, Foster the People, Graham Nash (re-issue), Joseph Arthur, Lady Gaga, Rosanne Cash (B.O.), Stephen Marley, The Prodigy, Thurston Moore, Second Sky, more!


05/31/11
Black Stone Cherry, BT, Dave Matthews (live), Death Cab for Cutie, Flogging Molly, Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine, King Crimson (re-issue), Kool G Rap, Ozzy Ozbourne (re-issues), Paul McCartney (re-issues), The Vaccines, more!

* Release Dates are Subject to Change
* I f you can’t find it, ask!

Rock News

--Beat poet and musician, Gil Scott-Heron, passed away this past Friday. Scott-Heron was best known for his 1970 composition "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" a satirical piece on consumerism that branded him as a revolutionary. Often called "The Godfather of Rap" and "The black Bob Dylan"  Scott-Heron was a prolific writer who put out an album a year every year between 1970 and 1982, when his drug and alcohol abuse finally caught up with him. Between 1982 and his death last week Scott-Heron put out only 2 more albums (1994's Spirit and 2010's I'm New Here) as well as managing a handful of sporadic live performances. The cause of his death has not been released, though Scott-Heron had been hospitalized in recent years due to AIDS related health problems. He was 62.

--George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic have donated their iconic Mothership to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History. The prop, a 1,2000 aluminum "spaceship," is not the original Mothership, but a replica built in the 1990s. The original was dumped at a Maryland junkyard in 1982 when the band's management company could no longer afford to store it due to finical troubles. The museum, scheduled to open in 2015, made efforts to locate the original Mothership, but no trace could be found.

--A group of hackers calling themselves "Lulzboat" hacked into the PBS news website on Monday and posted a number of fake news articles, including one claiming Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were alive and well and living in New Zealand. The group were upset by what they considered a biased report about WikiLeaks on the TV program Nightline, and quickly flooded the PBS site with fake article and screen captures, as well as posting sensitive information including email passwords. The report and other hacked information were quickly taken down and PBS issued an apology. 

--Jamaican-American hip-hop singer Sean Kingston, and a female companion, were seriously injured after running into a bridge while Jet Skiing over the weekend. Kingston, 21, is in stable condition and has been moved out of critical condition and placed in ICU.  The accident took place around 6pm on Saturday when Kingston lost control of his Jet Ski and struck the bridge connecting Palm Island with the MacArthur Causeway in Miami.

--Amy Winehouse has entered rehab again on the eve of her summer tour. According to her representative Winehouse voluntarily checked into the Priory Clinic in London for an "assesment" before heading out on tour claiming "[Amy] wanted to be ready for performances in Europe this summer." Winehouse is reportedly working on a follow album to her 2006 breakthrough Back to Black, including a duet with soul singer Cee-lo Green. No word on whether this stint in rehab will effect the album's recording or release.

--Promoters for the popular Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have announced that the 2012 festival will take place over 2 weekends, April 13-15 and April 20-23, with the same line-up both weekends. The festival, which started in 1999 as a 1-day festival, has grown into a 3-day event with tickets to this years show selling out in only six days. The decision to add a second weekend is a risky one for the promoters, with no way to tell if the festivals popularity will hold over to a second weekend, or bring in the additional 750,000 people needed to sell out both shows. In addition, logistical and scheduling difficulties with having the same line-up both

weekend may prove a problem, making the booking of bands with fuller touring schedules less likely.  Passes for both weekends go on-sale this Friday at 10am, however no acts have been confirmed for the 2012 show. 

 

This Week In Rock History

THIS WEEK IN ROCK HISTORY

1896—Guglielmo Marconi was granted a patent for the first radio, called an “electro-magnetic wave communication system”.

1955—Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley appeared together at an autograph session at a Lubbock, Texas car dealership.

1956—After performing the song “Hound Dog” on the Milton Berle show, outraged televisions critics lambaste Elvis Presley claiming that he obviously “Has no future in music.”

1965—Davie Jones and The King Bees, a British R&B band, release the single “Liza Jane.” Fearing confusion with the Monkees' Davey Jones, the band's lead singer would change his name to that of a “big America bear killing knife”, rechristening himself David Bowie.

1970—The Kinks' Ray Davies flies nearly 7,000 miles round trip to England from the US to re-record the words "cherry cola" in the song "Lola" after the BBC refuses to air the song with the original words, "Coca-Cola".

1976—The Who appear at the Charlton Athletic Grounds in England and put their name into the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest rock band ever, when their set measures at 120 decibels. That record has since been surpassed.

1983—Jim Gordon, a member of Derek and the Dominos and co-writer of "Layla", kills his mother with a hammer and a kitchen knife. Gordon had long been complaining of “hearing voices”, mostly the voice of his mother telling him to starve himself. He is eventually convicted of 2^nd degree murder and is still serving time in a California penitentiary after twice being denied parole.

1988—In what has to be the best, if eventually unsuccessful, defense tactic ever, lawyers for Adrienne Brown, who is being tried for drunk driving, argue that since her husband James Brown is the “Ambassador of Soul” Mrs Brown should be granted diplomatic immunity.

2002—The Motor City Madman Ted Nugent is pulled from a local radio interview after he launches into a tirade of racial slurs aimed at Asians and Africans. He had been a regular guest on the show, but has never been invited back.