ANNIVERSARIES
2008-Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel co-headline a fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
1999-David Bowie is made a Commander of Arts and Literature in France.
1992-Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, John Mellencamp, George Harrison are among the stars at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. Sinead O’Connor is booed off by a crowd angry that she had torn up a photo of The Pope on Saturday Night Live two weeks earlier.
1986-Chuck Berry performs at the Fox Theater in St. Louis backed by a band led by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. The 60th birthday show, which also features Eric Clapton, Linda Ronstadt and others, is the subject of a theatrical concert film, Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll.
1979-Fleetwood Mac releases Tusk, the follow-up to the hugely successful Rumours.
1972-Creedence Clearwater Revival announce that the band has broken up. The first rift had occurred a year earlier, when guitarist Tom Fogerty quit.
1971-John Lennon and Yoko Ono settle in New York, moving into an apartment owned by Lovin’ Spoonful drummer Joe Butler at 105 Bank Street in Greenwich Village.
1966-Replacing Signe Anderson, who left to have a baby, Grace Slick does her first show with Jefferson Airplane, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
1964-19 year old Rod Stewart releases his first solo single in the U.K. It’s a cover of the Sonny Boy Williamson (the First) blues classic “Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl.” The bass player on it is future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones.
BIRTHDAYS
Flea (Michael Balzary) – 54 years old
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist. Born in 1962.
Bob Weir – 69 years old
The singer-guitarist co-founded The Grateful Dead. Since that band ended, he has carried on in The Dead, Ratdog and Furthur. Born in 1947.
C.F. “Fred” Turner – 73 years old
The bassist in Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Canadian band that hit number-one in the U.S. with the stuttering “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” Though “Taking Care of Business” didn’t chart as high, it’s their best-known song and has been used in numerous radio and TV commercials. Turner bought the rights to the group name from Randy Bachman and led a version of it for a while; they currently work together as Bachman & Turner. Born in 1943.
Nico (Christina Paffgen) – Died in 1988
The German actress, model and vocalist sang on the Velvet Underground‘s debut album (on which she had featured billing), then went solo. She was a young Jackson Browne‘s girlfriend and muse, recording some of his early songs before he did, including “These Days.” She died in a bicycling accident July 18th, 1988 at 49. Her life is documented in the film Nico Icon. Born in 1938.
