1937, the legendary Golden Gate Quartet cuts a mind-blowing 14 gospel tracks in two hours during a Charlotte, North Carolina, recording session …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1955, Ted McCarty, working for Gibson, is given patent #2,714,326 by the U.S. Patent Office for his design for “Stringed Musical Instrument Of The Guitar Type And Combined Bridge And Tailpiece Therefor,” the one-piece adjustable bridge/tailpiece for the Gibson Les Paul solidbody guitar …

1956, the Platters become the first black group to have a number-one pop hit when “My Prayer” reaches the top spot on the Billboard chart …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1958, The Teddy Bears’ aching teen ballad “To Know Him is To Love Him” is released … a singer in the group, Phil Spector (on the right in video below) produces the session … the song title is reportedly taken from his late father’s headstone …

Click here to view the embedded video.

… Billboard publishes its first Hot 100 chart … Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” nails the top spot …

1960, when the scheduled vocalist fails to show for a recording session, producer Ike Turner presses his wife Tina into service on the track, “A Fool in Love” … much sampled by modern hip-hop and R&B acts, the single will be the first of 20 Hot 100 hits produced by the contentious couple … this same day future soul star Aretha Franklin cuts her first secular sides …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1965, The Beatles’ second feature film, Help, debuts in London with that pretty nice girl Queen Elizabeth in attendance …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1966, Bob Dylan suffers major injuries when the brakes on his Triumph motorcycle lock up near his home in Woodstock, New York … though the exact nature of his injuries are never disclosed, it is clear that he suffered a broken neck and used his lengthy convalescence to marshal his artistic resources … reflecting on the wreck later, Dylan says, “When I had that motorcycle accident … I woke up and caught my senses, I realized that I was just workin’ for all these leeches. And I really didn’t want to do that.” …

1967, Pandora’s Box, the hippie nightspot on the Sunset Strip, feels the wrath of the wrecking ball in the wake of teenage riots the previous year … local politicos say the club played a big role in turning West Hollywood into a teenage wasteland … a fan stows away on The Monkees’ tour plane … the girl’s father vows to have charges brought against the band for transporting a minor across state lines …

1968, The Beatles enter the studio to cut “Hey Jude” … the song will top the Hot 100 Chart for nine weeks and become The Beatles’ biggest hit …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1969, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys is indicted for draft-dodging after he fails to show up for work as a hospital orderly in lieu of military service …

1971, George Harrison organizes the Concert for Bangladesh to help war victims of the South Asian country … the stellar lineup includes Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, and members of Badfinger …

1975, Robert Plant and his family are injured in an auto wreck on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes …

1979, a benefit is held this week for the widow and children of late Little Feat singer Lowell George … members of Little Feat, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Nicolette Larson, Emmylou Harris, and Bonnie Raitt are among the performers … George died of an accidental overdose while on tour with Little Feat a month earlier …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1980, the FBI arrests John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas on cocaine charges … he is later sentenced to five years hard time but dodges prison by delivering 250 hours of anti-drug lectures as an alternative sentence …

1981, MTV bursts onto the airwaves by broadcasting The Buggles’ somewhat prophetic “Video Killed the Radio Star” …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1984, Prince’s album Purple Rain begins a 24-week run at the top of the album charts … the album will sell 10 million copies …

1990, during a New Kids on the Block concert in Montreal, armed robbers make off with souvenir-stand proceeds totaling $260,000 …

1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce they were secretly married in the Dominican Republic 11 weeks earlier … the union will last for 21 months …

1996, Aerosmith cans their manager Tim Collins saying they’re tired of constant pressure to get involved in social causes he’s committed to … Oasis roadie James Hunter is crushed to death when he’s caught between a forklift and truck …

1998, in San Fernando, California, Grammy-winning gospel singer Sandra Crouch is ordained as a minister of the Christ Memorial Church … ordained by her twin brother Andrae, also a gospel star, the pair defy Church of God in Christ rules that forbid female ministers …

1999, after running into legal roadblocks, the leading record labels drop their suit against Diamond Multimedia, makers of the Rio MP3 music player … they had charged that the device would encourage online piracy …

2001, rap group D12 executes a brutal attack on Detroit rap rivals Esham and T.N.T. during a Warped Tour stop in Camden, New Jersey … T.N.T. is bruised and cut while Esham suffers a broken nose, ruptured eyeball, concussion, and hearing damage … D12 is promptly kicked off the tour … that same day in L.A., 300 fortunate Foo Fighters fans are treated to a rare club gig when the band plays the legendary Troubador … attendees are chosen from entries emailed to the Fighters’ website …

2004, Simon and Garfunkel play a free concert in Rome for 600,000 lucky Italians …

2005, newly-unearthed documents relating to Mick Jagger’s drug bust in 1969 reveal that the Stones singer had alleged he was framed and that a cop planted heroin in his home offering to quash the charges if Jagger paid £1,000 … at the time his allegations were swept aside and he was ultimately fined £200 for pot possession …

2006, a court awards Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister control of the late great guitarist’s estate, cutting out his brother Leon … this comes after years of legal wrangling between the family members … Bono, along with five partners, buys a 40-percent stake in Forbes magazine for a reported $250-300 million … A 30-year-old man is beaten to death at the Atlanta stop of the ironically titled Family Values tour led by Korn … the victim was attempting to protect a pregnant friend from two unruly fans … a suspect is arrested a week later … in England the long-running Brit TV pop music show Top of the Pops breathes its last gasp … the show had aired on the BBC continuously since 1964 … on the domestic dissolution front, Travis Barker files a divorce suit against Shanna Moakler, his wife of two years and former Miss USA … and keeping up with the Barkers, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes and his missus, actress Kate Hudson, file for divorce …

2007, when a ballsy female concertgoer reaches out and grabs Tim McGraw’s nether regions at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, his missus, Faith Hill, tells the errant fan in no uncertain terms that that sort of behavior is frowned upon in them there parts (no pun intended) …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 29: revolutionary jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (1916), guitar amp maker Jim Marshall (1929), Neal Doughty of REO Speedwagon (1946), Geddy Lee (1953), Patti Scialfa of the E Street Band (1956), John Sykes of Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy (1959), country singer Martina McBride (1966), Chris Gorman of Belly (1967), Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men (1972)

July 30: blistering blues guitarist Buddy Guy (1936), Paul Anka (1941), saxophonist David Sanborn (1945), Marc Bolan (1947), The Sweet’s Andy Scott (1949), Stewart Copeland (1952), Rat Scabies of The Damned, born Chris Miller (1957), Kate Bush (1958), Brad Hargraves of Third Eye Blind (1972)

July 31: Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac (1946), Karl Green of Herman’s Hermits (1946), singer Gary Lewis (1946), ELO’s Hugh MacDowell (1953), Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets (1957), Bill Berry of R.E.M. (1958), Norman Cook of The Housemartins (1963), Fatboy Slim (1963), Coldplay’s Will Champion (1978)

August 1: Francis Scott Key (1778), Piano Slim aka Robert T. Smith (1928), Ramblin’ Jack Elliot born Elliott Charles Adnopoz (1931), Jerry Garcia (1942), Geoff Britton of Wings (1943), Boz Burrell of Bad Company (1946), Rick Anderson of The Tubes (1947), Rick Coonce of The Grass Roots (1947), Tommy Bolin (1951), Andrew Gold (1951), BTO’s Tim Bachman (1951), bluesman Robert Cray (1953), Joe Elliott of Def Leppard (1960), Public Enemy’s Chuck D (1960), Coolio (1963), Adam Duritz of Counting Crows (1964), Ashley Angel of O-Town (1981)

August 2: big band singer Helen Morgan (1900), “Big” Walter Price (1917), country singer Hank Walters (1933), country star Hank Cochran (1935), Garth Hudson of The Band (1937), Edward Patten of Gladys Knight & The Pips (1939), Doris Coley Kenner of The Shirelles (1941), guitarist Larry Coryell (1943), steel guitarist Hank DeVito (1948), guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low (1948), Fat Larry (1949), Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash (1950), Clive Wright of Cock Robin (1953), Apollonia born Patricia Kotero (1961), Pete De Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen (1961), Zelma Davis of C+C Music Factory (1970)

August 3: Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence (1910), Tony Bennett (1926), blues harp player Alex Randall (1934), Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires (1935), Roscoe Mitchell of The Art Ensemble of Chicago (1940), Beverly Lee of The Shirelles (1941), B. B. Dickerson of War (1949), John Graham of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951) guitarist Steve Hillage (1951), Andrew Gold (1951), James Hetfield of Metallica (1963), Ed Roland of Collective Soul (1963), Shirley Manson of Garbage (1966)

August 4: Louis Armstrong (1901), Frankie Ford (1939), David Carr of The Fortunes (1940), Timi Yuro (1940), Klaus Schultze of Tangerine Dream (1947), Paul Layton of The New Seekers (1947), Clannad’s Máire Ní Bhraonáin (1952), Mark O’Connor (1962), Paul Reynolds of A Flock of Seagulls (1962), Jody Turner of Rock Goddess (1963), Immature’s Marques Houston (1981)

Departures:

July 29: jazz bassist Art Davis (2007), Eugene Record of the Chi-Lites (2005), Al McKibbon, jazz bassist with Dizzy Gillespie (2005), Anita Carter of the Carter Sisters (1999), Rare Earth percussionist Eddie Guzman (1993), pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake (1988), Gordon Mills, manager and songwriter for Tom Jones (1986), singer Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas (1979)

July 30: swing & bebop saxophonist Eli “Lucky” Thompson (2005), Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips (2003), Rob Jones of Wonder Stuff (1993), sax man Donald Myrick (1993), guitarist and vocalist Glenn Goins (1978)

July 31: Jim Reeves (1964), Jim Reeves’ pianist-manager Dean Manuel (1964)

August 1: Irish singer Tommy Makem of The Clancy Brothers (2007), pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1997), Joe “The Honeydripper” Liggins (1987), rockabilly pioneer Johnny Burnette (1964)

August 2: Ron Towson of The 5th Dimension (2001), Afrobeat star Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1997), Motown bassist James Jamerson (1983), former Pink Floyd road manager Peter “Puddy” Watts (1976), Brian Cole of The Association (1972)

August 3: Arthur Lee (2006), reedman Bob Tate (1993), Don Lang of The Frantic Five (1992), Richard Nickens of The Eldorados (1991)

August 4: Lee Hazlewood (2007), classical and rock violinist Monroe Clark (2006), R&B/blues singer-guitarist “Little” Milton Campbell (2005), jazz singer Jeri Southern (1991), pop impresario Larry Parnes (1989)

@yawnerddn Glad I didn't talk you out of it then needs pics. in reply to yawnerddn #

© Toxic Web

1958, from the Dangers of Rock & Roll Department: researchers at Esso oil company warn drivers that tuning into rock music on your car radio is bad for mileage … the infectious beat causes you to lead-foot the GAS pedal …

1959, Seth Lover, working for Gibson guitars, is granted patent #2,896,491 by the U.S. Patent Office for his “magnetic pickup for stringed musical instrument,” better known as the humbucker pickup … the patent was applied for on June 22, 1955 … Gibson added the new pickups to its electric solidbody and archtop guitars in 1957, including the Les Paul … during late 1957, a small black decal with gold lettering was added to the underside of the pickup that read “Patent Applied For” … (today, PAF pickups are the most collectible and desirable pickups, fetching upwards of $1,000 each among vintage guitar collectors) … by mid-to-late 1962, Gibson changed the pickup decal to read “Patent No. 2,737,842″ … interestingly enough, the patent number listed on the decal was not for Seth’s pickup design but was for Les Paul’s trapeze tailpiece … not one to raise a legal fuss, apparently Seth really is a Lover, not a fighter …

1965, the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival turns surly and Pete Seeger seems especially incensed, threatening to take an axe to PA cables, when Bob Dylan, backed by a pickup band composed of Paul Butterfield Blues Band personnel, delivers an abbreviated electrified set … the performance is met with a mixture of applause and booing … Dylan promptly leaves the stage only to be coaxed back to perform a couple of acoustic tunes with just his harp and guitar … the cause of the audience’s hostility is the subject of dispute … some maintain that folk purists in the crowd were put off by Dylan’s conversion to rock while others maintain that a highly distorted PA was to blame …

View on YouTube

1968, after sustaining heavy losses and being forced by neighboring businesses to remove the psychedelic mural adorning its exterior walls, The Beatles shut down their Apple Boutique in London … a near-riot ensues when the shop’s stock is given away to the public … The Byrds begin a tour of South Africa minus Gram Parsons, who quit the band in protest of its playing in a country that promotes Apartheid—state sponsored segregation …

1973, a rock show at Watkins Glen racetrack in upstate New York pulls in a record 600,000 fans to see The Band, The Allman Brothers, and The Grateful Dead …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1976, John Lennon receives his green card from U.S. immigration authorities more than three years after he was ordered to leave the country …

1977, John Bonham and Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant are charged with assault after a backstage fight with employees of the promoter at a U.S. concert … Judas Priest begins its first U.S. tour in Oakland, CA as the opening act for Led Zeppelin …

1980, Back In Black, the new album from AC/DC, is released … it’s the band’s first album with new singer Brian Johnson … Johnson joined the band after the untimely, alcohol-driven death of singer Bon Scott, and the album is a tribute of sorts to the fallen rocker … released just five months after Scott’s death, the disc races up the charts … by 1997 it will have sold 16 million copies in the U.S. alone …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1988, Def Leppard’s Hysteria finally reaches No. 1 after 49 weeks on the U.S. album chart …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1990, a wrongful death trial involving Judas Priest opens in Reno, NV … parents charge in a lawsuit that the band’s Stained Class album contained subliminal messages that drove two teenagers to attempt suicide … the judge clears the group …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1992, after complaining that the food backstage isn’t suitable for Labelle’s labonza, Patti abruptly pulls the plug on her concert in Warwick, Rhode Island … Bruce Springsteen opens his first U.S. tour since 1988 in New Jersey (natch) at The Meadowlands entertainment complex … he and the E-Street Band will play 11 sold-out concerts in the 21,000-seat Brendan Byrne arena, with some of the shows going until one in the morning … it’s good to be the Boss …

1993, UB40 hits the top spot on the U.S. singles chart with “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and also goes to No.1 on the U.K. album chart with Promises and Lies …

1995, The Ramones release their fourteenth and final studio album, Adios Amigos …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1998, Aerosmith cancels the first 13 dates of its U.S. tour after drummer Joey Kramer suffers second-degree burns in a freak GAS-station fire … this is the second crimp in the band’s tour plans … in April dates had to be scrapped on account of Steven Tyler’s knee injury and subsequent surgery … this same week, Toad The Wet Sprocket, after 12 years and six albums, finally croaks …

2000, the Aiken County, SC, sheriff’s office finally catches up with James Brown who’s been overseas at a gig … utility worker Russell Eubanks has filed a complaint that Brown threatened him by brandishing a steak knife when Eubanks came to Brown’s home to respond to a power-outage report …

2003, singer Chino Moreno of The Deftones pulls a groin muscle during a particularly energetic set on the Summer Sanitarium tour … after consulting a doctor, the band announces they will miss the Sanitarium stop in Minnesota and two club dates in South Dakota and Montana … the hope is that a few days’ rest will allow the singer to perform at the next Sanitarium stop in Denver later that week …

2005, in a settlement over payola charges brought by crusading New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment coughs up $10 million … Spitzer’s investigation reveals that the label had plied major stations with cash and gifts in return for airplay of its releases … Spitzer presented evidence in the form of dozens of emails in which the record company solicited airplay in return for payola … one particularly damning message from an Epic record plugger inquired of a Clear Channel programmer, “What do I have to do to get Audioslave on WKSS this week?!!?. Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen!!!” … also this week, an unnamed bidder coughs up $1.1 million for a scrap of paper on which John Lennon had scrawled the lyrics for “All You Need is Love” in preparation for the Beatles’ 1966 BBC satellite broadcast … Lennon had tossed the sheet following the show and it was retrieved by a BBC employee … during the same auction a pair of Lennon’s specs go for $98,000 … the former lead singer of the Motown act Martha Reeves and The Vandellas is qualified to appear on the ballot in her bid for a seat on Detroit’s city council … says Reeves, “Summer’s here and it’s time to run.” … she will ultimately win and Detroit’s voters will dance in the streets …

Click here to view the embedded video.

2006, Kazaa, the file-sharing website, settles with major record companies for $115 million … the site announces it plans to relaunch as a legal purveyor of downloads … Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen fire off a letter to actor Luke Wilson charging that his brother Owen has misappropriated the name of a character from their song “Cousin Dupree” for the movie You, Me and Dupree in which Wilson’s Dupree character is a couch-hopping loser … the letter, posted on the Steely Dan website, warns Wilson that “There are some pretty heavy people who are upset about this whole thing and we can’t guarantee what kind of heat little Owen may be bringing down on himself” … the letter goes on to suggest that Wilson should make an appearance at a Dan concert and apologize to their fans … they also invite him to bring his bongos and sit in … the tongue-in-cheek feud continues when Wilson fires back, “I have never heard the song ‘Cousin Dupree’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, HEY 19.” …

Click here to view the embedded video.

… the long-running Brit TV pop music show Top of the Pops poops out … the show had aired on the Beeb continuously since 1964 … Lance Bass of ‘NSync devastates countless fans of the boy-band singer when he announces that he is not only happy, but gay … says Bass, “I’m more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life.” … Los Lonely Boys bassist Joey “JoJo” Garza is busted for assault and pot possession when cops are called to an Austin, Texas, hotel over a noise complaint … after they find Carina Lyn, Garza’s fiancée, scratched on an arm and shoulder, they lodge charges though the woman denies there was an assault …

2007, Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen … the 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter says he plans to submit his thesis, “Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,” at Imperial College London within the next two weeks … May was an astrophysics student at Imperial when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970 … he dropped his doctoral pursuit when the glam rock band blew up … after Mercury’s death in 1991, May recorded several solo albums, including 1998′s Another World, but his interest in astronomy continued and he co-wrote the book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe …

2008, Frank Zappa is honored with a Berlin street named after him … rapper Lil Wayne is sued by ABKCO Music, which owns the rights to the Stones’ song “Play With Fire” after he releases his mashup “Playing With Fire” without the publisher’s approval … rapper 50 Cent sues Taco Bell for a cool $4 million after the fast-food chain uses his name in an ad offering him $10,000 to change his name to 79, 89, or 99 Cent …

2009, Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss, and Charley Price pay a call on the Obama White House for a country concert … recalling the visit Paisley says, “I just wandered around looking at the paintings. Then I went into the bathroom and swiped the paper towels with the White House insignias” … class act all the way there, Brad …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 22: 1940s-50s pop singer Margaret Whiting (1924), jazz bassist Keter Betts (1928), George Clinton (1940), Thomas Wayne (1940), teen idol Bobby Sherman (1944), Supertramp’s Richard Davies (1944), Estelle Bennett of The Ronettes (1944), Don Henley of The Eagles (1947), Indigo Girl Emily Saliers (1963), Pat Badger of Extreme (1967), Rufus Wainwright (1973), Daniel Jones of Savage Garden (1973)

July 23: Cleve Duncan of The Penguins (1935), Joe Santollo of The Duprees (1943), Tony Joe White (1943), Dino Danelli of The Young Rascals (1945), Andy Mackay of Roxy Music (1946), David Essex (1947), Keith Ferguson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1947), Blair Thornton of BTO (1950), Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore (1961), Tim Kellett of Simply Red (1964), Slash (1965), Sam Watters of Color Me Badd (1970), Alison Krauss (1971), Chad Gracey of Live (1973), Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child (1980)

July 24: Rudy Collins of The Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (1934), country singer Pam Tillis, daughter of Mel Tillis (1957), Paul Geary of Extreme (1961), Jennifer Lopez (1970), Mecca of Digable Planets (1973), Lynval Golding, guitarist for The Specials (1951), bassist Heinz Burt of The Tornados (1942), Barbara Love of The Friends Of Distinction (1941)

July 25: Rudy West, lead singer of The Five Keys (1932), Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton (1941), Bruce Woodley of The Seekers (1942), Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds (1943), Santana percussionist Jose “Chepito” Areas (1946), singer-songwriter Steve Goodman (1948), Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951), Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth (1958)

July 26: jazz drummer Louie Bellson (1924), Darlene Love of The Blossoms (1938), Bobby Hebb, best known for his hit “Sunny” (1938), Mick Jagger (1943), Roger Taylor of Queen (1949), Gary Cherone of Extreme (1961), Headliner (Tim Barnwell) of Arrested Development (1967)

July 27: country yodeler Elton Britt (1927), Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows (1928), Nick Reynolds of The Kingston Trio (1933), Elsbearry Hobbs of The Drifters (1936), country-pop crossover singer, Bobbie Gentry (1944), Al Ramsey of Gary Lewis and the Playboys (1946), singer Maureen McGovern (1949), drummer Simon Kirke of Bad Company (1949), Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum (1963), Rex Brown of Pantera (1964), guitarist-singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield (1967), singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Yorn (1974)

July 28: megaphone crooner of the ’30s, Rudy Vallee (1901), blind flamenco singer Dolores Alcantara (1908), Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough (1930), George Cummings of Dr. Hook (1938), blues/rock guitarist Mike Bloomfield (1944), Rick Wright of Pink Floyd (1945), singer Jonathan Edwards (1946), Steve Peregrine-Took of T.Rex, born Steve Porter (1949), guitarist Steve Morse (1954)

Departures:

July 22: jazz guitarist Joe Beck (2008), tenor sax man Illinois Jacquet (2004), singer Tamara Danz (1996), keyboardist Rob Collins of The Charlatans (1996), Chords singer Jimmy Keyes (1995), doo-wop, jazz, and R&B performer Floyd McDaniel (1995), country-pop singer Larry Finnegan (1973)

July 23: songwriter Ron Miller (2007), Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers (1993), actor-singer Bert Summer (1990), Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux (1980)

July 24: British solo act and songwriter Jerry Lordan (1995), KC-based R&B singer Priscilla Bowman (1988), Bobby Ramirez, drummer with Edgar Winter (1972)

July 25: bop saxophonist Johnny Griffin (2008), Erik Braunn of Iron Butterfly (2003), jazz guitarist Tal Farlow (1998), country music star Charlie Rich (1995), producer Alex Sadkin (1987), albino blues pianist Piano Red, born William Lee Perryman (1985), blues singer Big Mama Thornton (1984)

July 26: Chico Ryan, bassist for Sha-Na-Na (1998), composer Evelyn Levine (1996), ’60s soul singer Mary Wells (1992), Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland (1990)

July 27: Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Leon Wilkeson (2001), saxophonist Harold Land (2001), Harry “Sweets” Edison, trumpeter-arranger-composer with Count Basie (1999), Bobby Day, aka Robert James Byrd Sr., who had a hit with “Rockin’ Robin” (1990), Cliff Burton of Metallica (1986), blues guitarist Lightnin’ Slim, born Otis Hicks (1974)

July 28: South African mbaqanga singer Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde (1999), Margie Ganser of The Shangi-Las (1996), Muscle Shoals session guitarist Eddie Hinton (1995), Johann Sebastian Bach (1750)

© Toxic Web

© Toxic Web

“Ultimate Guitar Speed Learning System” The Fastest & Easiest Way to Accelerate your Guitar Playing Click here to check it out NOW! It’s got heaps of hot tips & tricks.

1953, a young sideburned truck driver—last name of Presley—drops in at the Memphis Recording Service studio, plunks down his four bucks, and records “My Happiness” as a gift for his mother …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1954, Elvis is back in Sun Studios to record the first commercially-available Elvis single, “That’s Alright Mama” … that same week, Presley turns up at the grand opening of a Memphis drugstore where he performs on the back of a flatbed truck …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1958, following a backstage fight between a member of The Drifters and the manager of New York’s Apollo Theater, the group’s manager, George Treadwell, fires the entire lineup, then recruits the members of the opening act, The Five Crowns, to become a new incarnation of The Drifters with Ben E. King handling lead vocals … this is one more chapter in a bewildering history during which rival groups billed as The Drifters will tour simultaneously and band rosters will change dozens of times …

1960, Duane Eddy appears on Dick Clark’s prime time show and performs a work in progress, “Ramrod” … the appearance spurs orders for 150,000 copies, but there’s no way to fill them since the record hasn’t been finished … producer Lee Hazelwood hits the studio and adds sax and vocal overdubs so the single can be rushed to the pressing plant … it later turns out that the remix probably doesn’t include Eddy on guitar … the twangalicious work having been done by studio vet Al Casey …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1963, The Essex score a #1 R&B hit with “Easier Said Than Done” … it’ll later clinch the top spot on the pop chart too … all the members of the group are active Marines and they have to get the Corps’ approval to tour behind their hit …

1964, The Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” makes it to number 48 on the chart … it is the first in their long line of hits …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1965, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released … it turns out to be his biggest hit ever, climbing to number two on the U.S. pop chart …

1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker get together to form one of rock’s most celebrated trios, Cream … 50-year-old crooner Frank Sinatra marries MIA Farrow, 30 years his junior …

1968, Jane Asher calls it quits with Paul McCartney … the announcement that they are no longer engaged is made on the British television show Dee Time while McCartney, who hasn’t been told yet, is watching … Asher came home unexpectedly one night to find Paul with another woman … Asher left the home soon after … despite this occurrence, Asher and McCartney are seen together in public appearances … however, the relationship is acknowledged over when McCartney shows up alone at the Yellow Submarine premiere …

1968, the album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida from Iron Butterfly debuts on the U.S. charts … the title track, clocking in at a whopping 17 minutes, features one of the longest drum solos in rock history … according to producer Jim Hilton, the song’s title results from singer Doug Ingle’s slurred pronunciation of “In Our Garden of Eden” when he was asked for the name of a new song the band was rehearsing … the producer jotted the title down phonetically … Hilton recollects “I felt it was more interesting and a lot more mystical than the straight title … the band thought I had lost my mind, but it was too late to change it, I had already given my OK on the cover for printing” …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1970, British pop star Arthur Brown is held overnight in a Sicilian jail and faces a prison sentence of up to five years after being charged with committing obscene acts in a public place … Brown was performing at the Palermo Pop Festival when he inexplicably stripped naked on stage in front of 15,000 people … the crowd throws things at him and he is arrested and put in solitary confinement for four days … while in solitary, he receives a petition signed by 200 locals requesting that he leave Italy and never return …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1972, a bomb explodes near a Rolling Stones equipment truck in Montreal … the bomb was placed under a ramp and blows the cones out of a lot of PA cabs … nobody is hurt, it’s never determined who placed the bomb … and the show goes on as planned …

1974, John Lennon is given two months to leave the United States by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who have denied him an extension on his visa, supposedly because he pled guilty to a pot charge in England in 1968 … it will be revealed later that he is under surveillance by the FBI … Joey Ramone slides out from behind the drum kit and steps up to the mic to assume vocal duties for The Ramones …

1978, as Bob Dylan leaves England after completion of his U.K. tour, over 200,000 gather at Blackbushe Airport to see him off …

1982, Moon Unit Zappa, still a young teenager, makes her debut with dad, Frank, recording “Valley Girl,” which becomes FZ’s highest-charting single at #32 and wins Grammy nominations for father and daughter alike …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1986, the film Sid and Nancy premieres at the Limelight Club in London … the film relates the mostly true biographical tale of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen … the raw, dark film culminates in the stabbing death of Nancy, Sid’s arrest for suspicion of murder, and his heroin OD shortly thereafter …

1987, Guns N’ Roses debut album, Appetite For Destruction, is released … while it is known as a landmark album now, it won’t start moving significant units or receiving much airplay until MTV puts the video for “Sweet Child o’ Mine” into heavy rotation nearly a year later … after the ballad shoots to the top of the charts, the original lead single from the album “Welcome to the Jungle” is re-released and hits the top ten … the top-ten hit “Paradise City” soon follows, as do sold-out arena tours, classic rock star excess, and truckloads of intra-band conflict …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1988, a California appeals court puts the quash on the old “let’s-blame-our-child’s-suicide-on-a-rock-band” game when it upholds a lower court’s decision dismissing a suit against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS … the suit held Ozzy and CBS responsible for the death of a teen who committed suicide after listening to Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1989, Venice, Italy, is overrun by 200,000 loonies who show up in town for a free Pink Floyd concert and annoy the locals with noise, littering, and drug use …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1991, former Guns N’ Roses drummer, Steven Adler, files suit against the band, claiming they peer-pressured him into heroin addiction, then ousted him from the band when he entered a rehab program … eventually, Adler will accept an out-of-court settlement to the tune of 2.5 million bucks …

1995, a bear-bone flute is found in an archaeological dig in the Indrijca River Valley in Slovenia … at an estimated 45,000 years old, it is the oldest musical instrument ever found …

1996, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin loses his gig with the Smashing Pumpkins after he ODs on smack with touring percussionist-keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in a New York hotel room … Melvoin dies and Chamberlin is told to take a hike … he will not rejoin the band until 1999 … Chamberlin has already been booted for a short time on this tour after having overdosed in Thailand and again in Portugal …

2002, Bob Seger wins the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat Race, his second sailing title in two years …

2004, singer Linda Ronstadt not only gets booed, she gets the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino …

2006, Rolling Stone Keith Richards receives a pardon from the state of Arkansas over a 31-year-old conviction for reckless driving …

2007, Prince angers the music industry and stirs up trouble among British retailers by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper for a weekend …

2008, Billy Joel plays the first of two rock shows to be held at Shea Stadium, the home of the Mets scheduled for demolition after the baseball season … backed by a 26-piece band and joined by guests John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Tony Bennett, and Don Henley, Joel puts on a show that runs over three hours … tickets for the show attended by 55,000 sell in 48 minutes …

2009, two workers die after a stage erected for a Madonna concert collapses …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 15: Cowboy Copas, country singing star who died in the same plane as Patsy Cline (1913), Motown house drummer William “Benny” Benjamin (1925), singer-actress Nina, Baroness van Pallandt (1932), soul star Millie Jackson (1944), guitarist (and son of actress Loretta Young) Peter Lewis of Moby Grape (1945), singer-songwriter-producer Linda Ronstadt (1946), flamboyant New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale Jr. (1952), guitarist for .38 Special Jeff Carlisi (1952), Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis (1956), instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani (1956)

July 16: Sollie McElroy of The Flamingos (1934), soul songstress Denise LaSalle (1939), Ruben Blades (1948), Stewart Copeland (1952), Ed Kowalczyk of Live (1971)

July 17: Texas R&B singer Peppermint Harris (1925), Spencer Davis (1941), The Sweet’s Mick Tucker (1948), Black Sabbath’s Terry “Geezer” Butler (1949), Nicolette Larson (1952), Doobie Brother Chet McCracken (1952), Phoebe Snow (1952), JC of PM Dawn (1973)

July 18: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1929), Papa Dee Allen of War (1931), Dion DiMucci (1937), Rolling Stones pianist-road manager Ian Stewart (1938), Brian Auger (1939), Martha Reeves (1941), Tim Lynch of The Flamin’ Groovies (1946), Golden Earring’s Caesar Zuiderwijk (1950), Ricky Skaggs (1954), drummer Terry Chambers of XTC (1955), Pearl Jam’s Jack Irons (1962), Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (1962)

July 19: ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (1902), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (1932), Bo Diddley’s fellow guitarist-vocalist Lady Bo born Peggy Jones (1940), pop singer Vikki Carr (1941), Clarence White of The Byrds (1944), Average White Band’s Alan Gorrie (1946), Bobby Neal of the Stone Canyon Band (1947), Brian May (1947), The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon (1947), Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux (1948), Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1952), Kevin Haskins of Love & Rockets (1960)

July 20: Buddy Knox (1933), Kim Carnes (1945), The Moody Blues’ John Lodge (1945), Carlos Santana (1947), Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French (1954), Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols (1956), Simple Minds’ Mick McNeil (1958), Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave (1964), Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam (1966), Vitamin C (1972)

July 21: Floyd McDaniel (1915), Kay Starr (1922), R&B saxophonist Plas Johnson (1931), offbeat pop producer–artist–impresario Kim Fowley (1939), Cat Stevens a.k.a. Yusuf Islam (1947), Al Di Meola (1954), bassist Howie Epstein of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1955), Emerson Hart of Tonic (1969)

Departures:

July 15: rapper Too Poetic, born Anthony Berkeley (2001), Bizarros drummer Rick Garberson (1979)

July 16: singer and radio star Jo Stafford (2008), agent-manager Don Arden (2007), salsa singer Celia Cruz (2003), Styx drummer John Panozzo (1996), Sun Records’ Bill Justis (1982), Harry Chapin (1981), Peter Cowap of Herman’s Hermits (1977)

July 17: Gordon Waller of ’60s duo Peter & Gordon (2009), opera singer Teresa Stich-Randell (2007), Paul Young of Mike and the Mechanics (2000), Marc Hunter of Dragon (1998), Hendrix manager Chas Chandler (1996), blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes (1983), sax giant John Coltrane (1967), “Lady Day” Billie Holiday (1959), harpin’ bluesman Henry Strong (1954)

July 18: tenor Jerry Hadley (2007), Haroon Shamsher of Joi (1999), Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, born Christa Päffgen (1988), bandleader Jimmy Liggins (1983), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1970), Bobby Fuller (1966)

July 19: highlife bandleader Emmanuel Tettey “E.T.” Mensah (1996), R&B sax man Red Prysock (1993)

July 20: guitarist-producer-songwriter Artie Traum (2008), singer-guitarist Buster Benton (2007), musician-music executive-manager Jim Tyrrell (1998), recording engineer Gary Kellgren (1977), Roy Hamilton (1969)

July 21: art director of Yellow Submarine Heinz Edelman (2009), New Riders of the Purple Sage co-founder John "Marmaduke" Dawson (2009), agent-manager Don Arden (2007), English bluesman Long John Baldry (2005), film composer Jerry Goldsmith (2004), gospel singer O’Landa Draper (1998), Colonel Tom Parker (1997), Frankie “Cannibal” Garcia, founder of Cannibal and The Headhunters (1996), arranger-songwriter Bert Keyes (1980)

© Toxic Web

Three and a half months into the season and only one post about baseball – damn you all to hell channel 5 – and the second one is about the death of The Boss. And I’m a bit late on that.*

Not much to say really, what can I say that hasn’t already, whether good, bad or indifferent. All I know is the Yankees are a bit better off now than when he and his cohorts paid $8.7 million for them in ’73 – where can you go now in the wolrd and not see that famous NY logo on a blue cap?

And while some fans bitch and moan about the him and the Yankees, the players they bought and traded for he was paying the luxury tax to make the Yanks winners while other team owners were just making sure their pockets were well lined. Don’t blame George because your owners have produced crap teams.

Hey I know it’s not GMS III but Larry David but a fitting tribute?

Just wish he hadn’t fired Billy that fifth and final time before a certain trip to the new old Yankee stadium in ’88.

Click here to view the embedded video.

*Also so late I never mentioned Bob Sheppard’s passing, happy I got to hear him at his job.

© Toxic Web

“Ultimate Guitar Speed Learning System” The Fastest & Easiest Way to Accelerate your Guitar Playing Click here to check it out NOW! It’s got heaps of hot tips & tricks.

Iron Maiden: The Final Frontier.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well I’ve got the album on pre-order but not so sure about the chorus though…

© Toxic Web

Song Surgeon – The Ultimate Musician’s Tool

It epitomised pretty much what had happened in most of the previous 63 games throughout this last 31 days of the 19th FIFA World Cup.

One team wanted to play football the other didn’t, they just wanted to avoid losing by stopping the other side through mainly scummy tactics. Thankfully it the end it didn’t work for the Dutch.

It’s been a bad World Cup, all he way through there’s been no outstanding matches, very few if any take your breath away moments. It’s not a World Cup that’ll be remembered past the fact it was staged in Africa for the first time. Which certainly doesn’t make it a great World Cup, but then the locals should be used to the head patting by now, they’ve had plenty of it over the last four weeks.

As for the final, well I couldn’t believe the amount of neutrals that were supporting the Dutch for the day – oh I get it in certain Jock bars with Rangers flags on the wall but not the rest. They’ve been duller than dull throughout, with tactics that seem to rely on stifling other sides when not just kicking them and then nicking it with own-goals. That with Robben’s falling over scweaming act, van Bommel somehow not being red-carded. Though them not passing to van Persie was funny. But christ it was a team where the manager said the first name on the team sheet was Kuyt, who showed in every game what an incredibly limited player he is. Oh yes he can run about a bit but beyond that his only talent is as a look-a-likey – Lotney ‘Sloth’ Fratelli from The Goonies.

Now that ain’t the beautiful game.

And neither was much else on show by the Dutch. From the moment van Persie put in the first scummy tackle through van Bommel’s personal crusade to have his ex-Barca team-mate carried off with two shocking challenges, via de Jong’s impersonation of Carl Douglas, to the whinging and moaning that followed Iniesta’s winner, carried on past the final whistle and is still going on.

Could Howard Webb have stamped it out earlier? Probably, the Dutch were lucky he didn’t forget where he was and confuse their Oranje for lillywhite. If it had been Spurs, especially against say ManUre it would have turned out differently. Van Bommel should have gone for that first flying leap at Iniesta, little Spaniard was lucky his foot wasn’t fully planted, could have been a career ender. De Jong’s kung-fu kick should also have been red, if he had pushed someone over like that it would have been a yellow so a kick, straight red. The Dutch stated they had a plan to stifle the Spanish from playing but they also had the plan of knowing the ref wouldn’t want to send anyone off in the final, especially not early on or indeed in the first half.

At some point, I think was still in the first half, I was left saying that the game didn’t need a goal – as is the cliché – but a red card.

Says it all that apart from Robben the only decent Dutch player on the park was their ‘keeper. The Dutch will have to go back to the drawing board as they’ve found now that they can’t win the World Cup with total football nor with anti-football.

Spain may have lost their first game, scored more than one goal twice, never going past 2 on the scoresheet and won all the knockout games 1-0 – which in a way summed up the whole tournament – but they deserved the win. Were they the best team? Well they had to play a lot of the tournament with 10 men with Torres playing every game whether in the starting XI or coming off the bench. He might as well have laid on the grass as he did in the final few minutes of the final for all the good he did for the most part. Still went up for his medal, must be a Liverpool thing, remember Harry Kewell at the ’05 Champions League final?

Funny though, even if he did very little his presence probably brought out the best in the team as Villa could be out left, to come inside. The newly arrived Barca striker isn’t the same on his own up the middle, it tends to mean Spain have no one in the box when they’re attacking. It was one of the decisions by Del Bosque I thought was strange, nullifying his only real scoring option. Even stranger was taking him off for Torres in extra-time, at worst surely Villa would have been a penalty taker? Torres came on and looked just like a Liverpool old boy. Dalglish? Rush? Toshack? Keegan? No, Heskey. First touch went for miles and the he fell over, very Emile.

So played with 10 men and quite frankly their back 4 aren’t the best. Ramos got a load of plaudits but defensively very rarely tested but when he was wasn’t the best. And for all the talk of his attacking play, yes he stood out on the wing most of the time but his delivery was useless most of the time and for all the space he had in front of him on so many occasions he didn’t attack as he could have and dithered a lot. Capdevila, even worse ditherer on the left, Puyol, slow and past his use by date, got away with a lot and Pique you just feel he’s going to have a lazy moment. But it doesn’t matter because Xavi, Iniesta etc. kept the ball and they won it all.

Worst World Cup, maybe. Worst final? Probably not worse than ’94 – ’90 wasn’t great either was it. Spoilt by bad teams employing bad tactics, the ball – shouldn’t have to master a ball just before the biggest show in town – and vuvuzelas.

Roll on Brazil in four years time…

© Toxic Web

Play Your Favorite Song Better

© Toxic Web

Learn to play CLASSIC guitar leads

1954, Elvis Presley’s career comes to a crashing end—his career as a truck driver that is … he signs his first contract with Sun Records …

1955, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets becomes the first rock-and-roll record to hit #1 on the national pop charts …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1962, The Rolling Stones play out for the first time at the Marquee Club in London … Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Avory, and Dick Taylor constitute the lineup …

1967, in one of the strangest rock and roll pairings ever, the Jimi Hendrix Experience joins The Monkees’ North American tour in Jacksonville, FL … the teenybopper crowds don’t know what to make of Hendrix’s wild performances, resulting in the Experience leaving the tour after only a few dates …

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

1968, Steppenwolf releases the ultimate biker anthem “Born To Be Wild” …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1969, Blind Faith makes their American concert debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City …

Click here to view the embedded video.

… Elvis Presley’s cool comes to a crashing end as the heavily sequined King plays to a packed house at the International Hotel in Vegas … not being one to let an opportunity pass, manager Colonel Parker works out a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract covering return engagements … the terms are jotted down on a tablecloth in the hotel’s coffee shop …

1973, The Everly Brothers arrive at an ignominious career low when the sweet-harmonizing siblings’ set at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, is stopped by the theme park’s entertainment director who feels Don is doing a poor job … brother Phil sees red, smashes his guitar, and stalks offstage … ironically, Don performs the third set as a solo and announces that the Everly Brothers are history … Clarence White, singer and guitarist for the Byrds, is run down and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment after a gig in Palmdale, California …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1974, Crosby, Stills, and Nash start their reunion tour in Seattle …

1977, just like his namesake, Elvis Costello’s career comes to a crashing end—his career as a computer operator at a cosmetic factory, that is … ignoring the advice given to all rock star hopefuls, Elvis quits his day job to enter rock history …

1985, more than 50 acts perform to raise money for starving Africans in two simultaneous events named Live Aid … one is broadcast from Philadelphia, the other from London … the lineup includes such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Joan Baez, Tina Turner, Patti LaBelle, The Pretenders, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Black Sabbath, and many more …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1995, Jerry Garcia plays his final show with The Grateful Dead … the guitarist, vocalist and founder of the band will die of a heart attack a month later while in a California rehab center …

1998, a Los Angeles judge issues a bench warrant for Scott Weiland when the Stone Temple Pilots singer fails to appear in court for a second time on drug possession charges … in what’s becoming a bad week for Weiland, he’s sentenced to three years’ probation and a stint in rehab this same week in 2004 for a DUI arrest the previous October …

1999, Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst is arrested in St. Paul, MN, for suspicion of aggravated assault following the band’s show at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium … during the performance, Durst’s bodyguard attempts to remove a fan who had jumped onstage … venue security mistook the bodyguard for an unruly fan and attempted to remove him from the stage … at this point Durst allegedly kicked one of the guards in the head …

2002, the surviving members of The Doors announce that they will be joined by The Cult singer Ian Astbury at an upcoming concert at the California Motor Speedway …

2003, Jack White of The White Stripes breaks his finger in a car wreck in his hometown of Detroit … as a result of the injury, the band must cancel two European performances and reschedule their North American tour … White spends his recuperation time producing an album for country star Loretta Lynn and posts a video clip of his finger surgery on the band’s website to prove the injury’s not a publicity stunt …

2006, in a sorry commentary on the state of pop music sales and the vapidity of the product being crammed down the throats of the music-buying public, the soundtrack to Disney’s High School Musical scores top-seller status through the first half of 2006 with 2.6 million discs sold, while the industry continues to struggle with overall CD sales down four percent … rap and rock are the biggest losers while digital downloads offer a ray of hope with a 77-percent increase … but the online business consists mostly of sales of singles and the profit margins for the record companies and artists are much slimmer … country music is an exception posting a 17-percent increase in disc sales … The Grateful Dead cut a long-term deal with Rhino Records to handle the band’s vast archive of live-show recordings and market Dead-related merch … Rhino executive vice president Gregg Goldman promises the label will be selective in the deals it makes with potential advertisers averring that, “We are sensitive to the legacy. We would never pitch to The Grateful Dead that they should do a deal with a fast food company or a soda company.” …

2008, Bon Jovi treats a crowd of 60,000 to a two-hour set of hits on Central Park’s Great Lawn … three days later, the Jersey band wraps up its Lost Highway tour after grossing $56 million, making it the biggest money-maker of the festival season … the drumhead from the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band brings in $1.1 million at an auction in London … other items sold at Christie’s include the guitar on which Pete Townshend composed “Behind Blue Eyes” that fetches $27,000; some multicolored pants worn by Jimi Hendrix go for $40,000; and John Lennon’s tinted prescription sunglasses fetch $78,000 …

Click here to view the embedded video.

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 8: Louis Jordan (1908), Billy Eckstein (1914), pioneering rock ‘n’ roll pianist Johnnie Jones (1924), Earl Van Dyke (1930), Big Dee Irwin of The Pastels (1939), Jai Johnny Johanson of the Allman Brothers Band (1944), Prince (1958), Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode (1961), Toby Keith (1961), Joan Osborne (1962), Beck (1970)

July 9: jump blues singer Joe Liggins (1916), producer Lee Hazelwood (1929), Phil Leavitt of The Diamonds (1935), Donald McPherson of the Main Ingredient (1941), drummer Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1946), Bon Scott of AC/DC (1946), Debbie Sledge of Sister Sledge (1954), Soft Cell’s Marc Almond (1959), Jim Kerr of Simple Minds (1959), singer-songwriter Courtney Love (1965)

July 10: composer-music educator Carl Orff (1895), Arkansas blues slide guitarist Casey Bill Weldon (1909), heavy metal shrieker Ronnie James Dio (1942), Jerry Miller of Moby Grape (1943), Arlo Guthrie of “Alice’s Restaurant” fame and son of Woody Guthrie (1947), Dave Smalley of The Raspberries (1949), Greg Kihn, singer-songwriter-guitarist and frontman of the Greg Kihn Band (1950), Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys (1954), banjo-meister Bela Fleck of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (1958), Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros (1965), pop singer Jessica Simpson (1980)

July 11: blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897), actor-singer Tab Hunter (1931), R&B singer Thurston Harris (1931), Jeff Hanna of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1947), Bonnie Pointer of The Pointer Sisters (1950), Benny DeFranco of The DeFranco Family (1954), singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega (1959), Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi (1960), rapper Li’l Kim (1975)

July 12: lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895), Barbara Cowsill, mother and member of The Cowsills (1928), concert pianist Van Cliburn (1934), KISS drummer Eric Carr (1950), Chicago electric blues guitarist Sammy Lawhorne (1935), singer-keyboardist Christine VcVie of Fleetwood Mac (1943), Liz Mitchell of Boney M (1952), Phillip Taylor Kramer, bassist with Iron Butterfly (1952), singer Sandi Patti (1956), Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy (1962), UB40′s Alan Duval (1963), John Petrucci of Dream Theater (1967)

July 13: Cajun artist Joe Berry, born Joseph Barrios (1939), drummer Steven Jo Bladd of the J. Geils Band (1942), Roger McGuinn of The Byrds (1942), comedian Cheech Marin (how’d he get in here?), who sang on the hidden track of Korn’s Follow the Leader (oh, that’s how) (1946), country singer and multi-instrumentalist, Louise Mandrell (1954), Mark Mendoza of Twisted Sister (1956), rock journalist and movie maker Cameron Crowe (1957), R&B singer Gerald Levert, son of O’Jays lead singer Eddie Levert (1966), Coldplay’s Will Champion (1978)

July 14: American folk legend Woody Guthrie (1912), influential Atlanta DJ Zenas “Daddy” Sears (1913), Cliff Trenier of ’50s doo-wop group, The Treniers (1919), Lowman Pauling of The “5″ Royales (1926), Bob Scholl, member of The Mello-Kings (1938), expatriate British rocker Vince Taylor, role model for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust (1939), Detroit soul singer Ty Hunter (1940), Trevor Horn of Buggles and Yes (1949), singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (1952), singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tanya Donelly of Belly (1966), keyboardist-vocalist Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies (1966), singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Cottle of Xscape (1975), rapper Taboo of Black Eyed Peas, born Jaime Luis Gómez (1975)

Departures:

July 8: drummer Chaino (1999), Shiva singer Louise Dean (1995), Nico of The Velvet Underground (1988)

July 9: for one day in rock history, everybody lives!

July 10: music journalist, producer, and talent scout who discovered Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Hammond Sr. (1987), Boston Pops Orchestra conductor Arthur Fiedler (1979), “Jelly Roll” Morton, born Ferdinand Joseph Lemott (1941)

July 11: James Hill of The Fairfield Four (2000), Helen Forrest, popular big band jazz vocalist who worked with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James (1999), Louis Gottlieb, bassist and lofty comic spokesman for The Limeliters (1996), Afro-Cuban jazz maestro Mario Bauza (1993), Hubert Johnson of The Contours (1981), composer George Gershwin (1937)

July 12: rapper Luis “Papo” Deschamps of Sandy Y Papo (1999), Jimmie Driftwood, born James Corbett Morris, the “Father of Arkansas Folk Music” (1998), Jonathan Melvoin of the Smashing Pumpkins (1996), Chris Wood of Traffic (1983), singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, known for her 5-1/2 octave range (1979)

July 13: Arthur “Killer” Kane, New York Dolls bassist (2004), Compay Segundo, Cuban musician featured on the Buena Vista Social Club CD (2003), Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd (1994)

July 14: Beryl Bryden, dubbed the “British Queen of the Blues” (1998), Phillippe Wynne of the Spinners (1984), Malcolm Owen of the Rutts (1980), progressive country guitarist Clarence White of The Byrds (1973)

© Toxic Web

FREE – Stairway to Heaven Guitar Lesson

Or … “How Low Can You Go?”

Bill Ruppet is back with another of his videos showcasing the amazing non-guitar sounds he – and now you with the help of these videos – can get from a few Electro-Harmonix effects pedals and a guitar.

Now the sub-title for this video led myself and others to think that Bill was taking it easy on this one. After all EHX produce some of the best known octave down effects pedals out there. Plug guitar in to EHX POG or HOG, move octave down slider, he presto bass.

Well not quite…

Click here to view the embedded video.

…err sorry Bill, how could we have ever doubted you.

Yes the octave effects pedals are there but he’s done far more than just plugging into them. That upright bass sounds spot on doesn’t it?

Find the settings for each pedal used in the demo at the EHX site

Finally got my hands on one of the Lovepedal mini line of effects pedals, the Amp 50, the miniest version of the Lovepedal Church of Tone overdrives.

So far very happy, get some nice tones out of it and as the blurb states it stacks well with my other mini-pedals – the Catalinbread “Hyperpak Dirty Channel” and “V8 Fuzz” – and my main fuzz – Tonefactor Huckleberry – also works well when using the volume pot on the guitar to clean up. But it could be one of those pedals that you require three of – one for clean boost, one for overdrive and one for flat out fuzz.

Very dynamic pedal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

…the gratuitous Andy from ProGuitarShop video.

Now just have to get my hands on the vibe, echo and tremolo.

© Toxic Web

That’s what it would have been on paper after the German’s stuffed Maradonna’s lot in the quarter-final on Saturday, of course on actual grass it probably would have somewhat different.

Yes Argentina were not good, at one point they were just humping aimless long balls up the park – it was just like watching England except Heskey wasn’t there falling over – and they never really looked like scoring but I still feel they would have humped England’s superstars. Messi would have finally found his form, though it has been ridiculous to compare him with the rest of the big names that haven’t performed to the standard we have expected. Rooney, Ribery, Ronaldo, Torres etc. haven’t performed at all whereas Messi did play his part in Argentina getting as far as they did. No he didn’t score but at least he did contribute to the team, unlike those others mentioned. I did start to type Kaka’s name in that list as well but then thought better of myself as I still don’t rate him, though that doesn’t explain why I included Ribery who is also vastly overrated.

On Saturday night unlike the rest of the known world I wasn’t supporting Ghana. The main reason for this was ITV and their insistence that everyone was Ghanaian for the night. So of course Uruguay cheated their way into the semi and the Dutch contain footballers the TV sofa sitters have heard of so we all have to be orange for the night. Er no. I won’t be orange and supporting the Dutch as the TV channels will be claiming everyone is. I couldn’t bring myself to actively root for any team containing van Pervert or Kuyt, especially when they’ve been as dull as the current Dutch outfit.

I don’t care about how Uruguay got there, they wouldn’t if someone had taken the penalty properly as he did a few minutes later. Funny reading some of the vitriol in the media, would they have been saying such a thing if it had been the other way round? I doubt it, they would have been praising the Africans for growing up in the game, showing some nous. Would it have been the hand of all Africa?

Funny how there was much talk of the South American’s getting through the groups and the low numbers of European teams and then you get to the last 4 and it’s three from Europe and one rather unexpected South American team.

I had picked a Brazil v Argentina final. The former certainly wasn’t picked because I rated them just figured teams get scared of the shirt and the players who have filled it in the past. Some luck for Holland that Dunga’s mob had to wear their away kit. The blue doesn’t instil any fear does it?

I figured the latter would get through once Diego had figured he wasn’t playing his strongest front line. Always felt that Milito and Agüero would be better alongside Messi than Higuaín and Tévez. But that wasn’t to pan out, also figured that any team who left Riquelme – that’s Juan Román Riquelme not Larissa Riquelme – Cambiasso and Zanetti out couldn’t be half bad. Though of course I wasn’t figuring him using a Newcastle player as a fullback in place of Zanetti.

I wasn’t at the beginning of the tournament figuring on the Germans turning it on. I should have known better shouldn’t I.

I see Alan Hanson is making as big a dick of himself in print as he does on the telly. “You can’t win anything with kids”, he’s spouting that crap again. This time with the England set-up. What he and so many seen to not realise is you can’t win anything with this bunch of established failures. He needs to listen to one of his print colleagues who has finally had the guts to tell the truth about Steven Gerrard. That he is “tactically illiterate”.

I see Spurs are also at the front of the queue for things that are wrong with the national team. They have refused permission for 4 of their players to take part in an international Under-19s tournament. The full senior squad won’t advance beyond the mess it’s currently in if the club v country situation isn’t resolved. Added to that they are one of the favourites for Joe Cole’s signature, a player who epitomises so much that is all wrong about the over-hyped failures that are current England internationals. Here’s a player who isn’t close to being as good as he thinks he is – while slagging off others technique he should look as his own ability to lose possession of the ball – has been a bench warmer for club and country but wants a huge pay-packet and to dictate where he plays. But he only wants to play in England, hasn’t got the balls to try his “technique” abroad, where it would be found out very quickly.

But I’ve seen the future, after the announcement that because money is tight, Roy took another job and ‘Arry ‘as baggage Capello will keep his job for another two years – when over a third of managers at this tournament have had the decency to quit of have been sacked – and the future is in Fabio’s own words “Bobby Zamora!”

English football, the gift that keeps giving!

© Toxic Web

@osc_pro Shudders at the thought that I could be browsing the same interweb haunts as Burty in reply to osc_pro #

@rutty_uk It's not premature when you are as old as you are in reply to rutty_uk #

© Toxic Web

FREE – Stairway to Heaven Guitar Lesson

1956, Elvis Presley appears on The Steve Allen Show … ol’ Steverino, being sensitive to criticism that the hip-swiveling teen sensation is unduly arousing the youth of America, decrees that Elvis will not rock out but instead croon “Hound Dog” to an actual hound dog … a basset wearing dress tails … get it? …

Click here to view the embedded video.

…Johnny Cash appears for the first time on the Grand Ole Opry …

1957, setting off a chain of events that will change the face of modern music, John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time … the encounter takes place at the Woolton Parish Church Garden show at Liverpool’s St. Peter’s Church … recalling the meeting years later, McCartney says Lennon was drunk … Ray Charles’ self-titled debut album is released on Atlantic …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1960, Jim Marshall & Son Musical Instruments has its grand opening at 76 Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, a West End suburb of London … Jim would make his first Marshall JTM 45s here …

1968, following a concert in New York, the Yardbirds break up … shortly thereafter, to fulfill contractual obligations, Jimmy Page forms The New Yardbirds … after finishing up the final Yardbirds tour dates, the band changes its name to Led Zeppelin …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1976, pioneering punk outfit The Damned make their live debut at London’s 100 Club …

1980, Led Zeppelin plays the last show of its European tour at the Eissporthalle in West Berlin … the show turns out to be the band’s swan song when a couple of months later John Bonham is found dead … the band had been planning to tour North America next …

Click here to view the embedded video.

1982, Ozzy Osbourne marries his manager Sharon Arden, laying the groundwork for MTV’s future entry into the sitcom market …

1984, Epic sets a record by shipping two million copies of The Jacksons album Victory to record stores … the release is the group’s only album to feature all six Jackson brothers and is the last to feature Michael, whose solo career is burning brightly …

1990, 2 Live Crew releases the single “Banned in the U.S.A.” in response to bluenoses who have targeted the rap group’s albums … “Born in the U.S.A.” composer Bruce Springsteen gives his blessings to the parody …

1991, over 60 audience members are injured during a Guns N’ Roses show in Maryland Heights, Missouri … singer Axl Rose is charged with property damage and third-degree assault for jumping off the stage and attacking a videotaping fan, starting the fracas … a year later he surrenders to authorities …

1993, MIA Zapata, lead singer of Seattle punk band The Gits, is brutally raped and murdered … her case remains unsolved until 2 Seattle Cold Case Squad detectives find a DNA match 10 years later … Cuban-born fisherman Jesus Mazquia, a former Seattle resident living in the Florida Keys is convicted of the crime and sentenced to 37 years in prison …

1998, in a successful effort to prevent reporters from eavesdropping on their wedding ceremony, Barbra Streisand and James Brolin arrange to have the White Zombie album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One blasted from a van parked outside their Malibu villa at an earsplitting volume …

2001, New Orleans R&B singer Ernie K-Doe dies … he had scored a big hit in 1961 with the song “Mother-in-Law” … ironically, he’s laid to rest in a family plot right next to—you guessed it—his mother-in-law …

2002, six postage stamps designed by Paul McCartney go on sale in the Isle of Man … proceeds will go to the Adopt-A-Minefield charity …

2004, excerpts from a forthcoming Record Collector magazine interview with Dave Mustaine reveal his anger over a scene in the Metallica docu-drama Some Kind of Monster … the scene is a confrontation between Mustaine and his former Metallica bandmate, drummer Lars Ulrich … Mustaine maintains that the band agreed to keep the scene out of the final cut of the film, and calls its inclusion a “final betrayal” by his former band …

Click here to view the embedded video.

…in an interview with mtv.com, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor explains his penchant for incorporating big words into his lyrics … “I’m sorry, but there aren’t a lot of smart people out there … I try to throw in as many polysyllabic words as possible … it’s very cool to be able to do that and pass down the knowledge” …

2006, the world’s biggest concert operation, Live Nation, a former Clear Channel property that spun off in 2005, announces that it will buy out its largest competitor, House of Blues, for $350 million … the resulting merger will pretty much force major touring acts to deal with them … Courtney Love is charged with assault after she belts Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna at a Lollapalooza show in George, Washington … the tempestuous singer is given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to take anger-management classes … a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat collectively owned by the members of U2 is auctioned for $10.1 million in London … the painting, titled “Untitled (Pecho/Oreja)” had hung in U2′s Dublin studio since 1989 when the band bought it … canny investment lads …

…and that was the week that was.

Arrivals:

July 1: father of gospel music Thomas Dorsey (1899), Alvino Rey (1911), Imperial Records founder Lew Chudd (1911), saxman Earle Warren (1914), Willie Dixon (1915), flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal (1922), singer Bobby Day (1930), harp man James Cotton (1935), Delaney Bramlett (1939), Andraé Crouch (1942), Deborah Harry (1945), June Monteiro of The Toys (1946), Marc Benno (1947), Fred Schneider of The B-52′s (1951), Dan Aykroyd (1952), Keith Whitley (1955), Roddy Bottum of Faith No More (1963), Missy Elliott (1971)

July 2: Marvin Rainwater (1925), R&B saxophonist Lee Allen (1926), The Temptations’ Paul Williams (1939), Roy Bittan of the E Street Band (1949), Johnny Colla of Huey Lewis and The News (1952), Pete Briquette of The Boomtown Rats (1954), Mike Anger of The Blow Monkeys (1957), Dave Parsons of Bush (1965), Monie Love (1970), Michelle Branch (1983)

July 3: Mississippi John Hurt (1893), David Lynch of The Platters (1929), session guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1930), Fontella Bass (1940), Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum (1946), Betty Buckley (1947), Paul Barrere of Little Feat (1948), Mike Corby of The Babys (1955), Laura Branigan (1957), Stephen Pearcy of Ratt (1956), Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode (1961), Kevin Hearn of Barenaked Ladies (1969), Shane Lynch of Boyzone (1976)

July 4: Louis Armstrong (1900), Champion Jack Dupree (1910), Dave Patillo of The Red Caps (1914), Bill Withers (1938), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson of Canned Heat (1943), Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac (1948), Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951), John Waite (1955), Kirk Pengilly of INXS (1958), Matt Malley of Counting Crows (1963), Andrew Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies (1971), Stephen McNally of BBMak (1978)

July 5: R&B singer Smiley Lewis (1913), songwriter Ronnie Self who wrote “I’m Sorry,” “Sweet Nothings,” and “The Letter” (1938), Jaime “Robbie” Robertson of The Band (1944), Huey Lewis (1950)

July 6: Bill Haley (1925), Della Reese (1932), Gene Chandler of “Duke of Earl” fame (1937), country singer-songwriter Jeannie Seely (1940), soul singer Jan Bradley (1943), Rik Elswit of Dr. Hook (1945), Nanci Griffith (1953), Kenny “G” Gorelick (1956), 50 Cent (1976)

July 7: Gustav Mahler (1860), blues pianist Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins (1913), Tiny Grimes (1916), Doc Severinsen (1927), Mary Ford (1928), Joe Zawinul (1932), Ringo Starr (1940), David Hodo of the Village People (1947), Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt of Iron Butterfly (1948), Mark White of Spin Doctors (1962)

Departures:

July 1: Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley (2008), jazz flutist Herbie Mann (2003), reggae singer Dennis Brown (1999), DJ Wolfman Jack (1995), Phil “Snakefinger” Lithman of The Residents (1987), Rushton Moreve of Steppenwolf (1981), Claude Thornhill (1965), Erik Satie (1925)

July 2: opera diva Beverly Sills (2007), songwriter Hy Zaret (2007), Mark Sandman of Morphine (1999), Marion Williams (1994), Justin Adams (1991), Snooky Lanson (1990), Eddie “Cleanhead” Vincent (1988), Jimmy Ricks of The Ravens (1974)

July 3: saxophonist (Boots Randolph), songwriter-producer Skip Scarborough (2003), Merle Haggard’s long-time guitarist Roy Nichols (2001), country songwriter Johnny Russell (2001), Steve Walsh (1988), Rudy Vallee (1986), R&B pianist Monk Higgins (1986), R&B balladeer Larry Darnell (1983), Mississippi Fred McDowell (1972), Jim Morrison (1971), Brian Jones (1969)

July 4: G&L Guitars co-founder George Fullerton (2009), Bill Pinkney of The Drifters (2007), Barry White (2003), R&B guitarist “Lightning Bug” Rhodes (1990), Donald McPherson of The Main Ingredient (1971)

July 5: jazz/blues singer George Melly (2007), rock critic and Mercury Records executive Paul Nelson (2006), Motown singer and former wife of Stevie Wonder, Syreeta Wright (2004), Houston blues guitar slinger Johnny “Clyde” Copeland (1997), New Orleans R&B singer Ernie K-Doe (2001)

July 6: Byrds bassist Clyde “Skip” Batten (2003), Roy Rogers (1998), jazz bassist Scott LaFaro (1961), “The Hustle” composer Van McCoy (1979), Louis Armstrong (1971)

July 7: Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, born Roger Keith Barrett (2006), folk singer Fred Neil (2001), MIA Zapata of The Gits (1993)

© Toxic Web

FREE – Stairway to Heaven Guitar Lesson