Friday 17th August 2012 Turn, Turn, Turn

1790 – The capital city of the U.S. moved to Philadelphia from New York City. I suppose there were reasons

1815 – Napoleon began serving his exile when he arrived at the island of St. Helena. He probably quite enjoyed himself

1859 – A hot air balloon was used to carry mail for the first time. John Wise left Lafayette, IN for New York City with 100 letters. He had to land after only 27 miles. Any of the letter delivered

1877 – F.P. Cahill became the first person to be killed by “Billy the Kid.” Do we know why?

1896 – The Klondike gold rush was set off by George Carmack discovering gold on Rabbit Creek in Alaska. He inspired many

1903 – Joseph Pulitzer donated a million dollars to Columbia University. This started the Pulitzer Prizes in his name. Good call

1915 – Charles F. Kettering patented the electric, automobile self-starter.

1939 – The movie “Wizard of Oz” opened. Any yellow bricks?

1943 – The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina. Good

1945 – The nationalists of Indonesia declared their independence from the Netherlands.Fair enough

1961 – The Communist East German government completed the construction of the Berlin Wall. Bad idea

1962 – 18-year-old Peter Fechter was killed by East German border guards when he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into the western sector. This is very sad

1969 – Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast killing 248 people. I hate such statistics

1973 – Lee Trevino got the first hole in one of his career at the U.S.I. Golf Classic, in Sutton, MA. He was great

1977 – Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that in one day the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland had surpassed the number for any other event in the company’s history. The King had died

1978 – Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman became the first to land after a successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight. The voyage began in Presque Isle, ME and ended in Miserey, France. Brave men

1982 – The U.S. Senate approved an immigration bill that granted permanent resident status to illegal aliens who had arrived in the United States before 1977. Good

1987 – Rudolph Hess died after apparently committing suicide. Hess was the last member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. Not many would miss him

1987 – Charles Glass, American journalist, escaped his kidnappers and was rescued after being held for 62 days in Lebanon. Good

1988 – Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a plane crash. Bad

1991 – At a shopping mall in Strathfield, Australia, a man killed seven people before killing himself. He had been armed with a rifle and a machete. Why do so many of these events happen at this time of the year

1992 – Woody Allen admitted to being romantically involved with Soon-Yi Previn. The girl was the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, Allen’s longtime companion. Is there a problem?

1996 – A military cargo plane crashed in Wyoming killing eight crewmembers and a Secret Service employee. The plane was carrying gear for U.S. President Clinton. Sad

1998 – U.S. President Clinton admitted to having an improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. He was only human but should have known better

1999 – More than 15,000 people were killed in an earthquake in Turkey.Dreadful

The Day’s Music Events 17th August

1955, Elvis Presley released his first number 1 hit, ‘I Forgot to Remember to Forget / Mystery Train’. It hit the top of the country charts several months later and stayed there for 5 weeks. Nice song
1960, The Beatles begin their first Hamburg engagement at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, West Germany, playing the first of 48 nights at the Club. The owner, Bruno Koschmider, asked The Beatles to “Mach Shau”, or really put on a show, which led to the band screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage and sometimes playing lying on the floor. John Lennon once appeared wearing only his underwear and on another occasion, wearing a toilet seat around his neck. The Beatles lodged in a single room behind the screen of a nearby movie house.I’ll bet they looked back and laughed at a future date…

1963, Rory Storm And The Hurricanes, Gus Travis And The Raincoats and Johnny Sandon And The Remo 4 all appeared at the Royal Lido, Prestatyn, Wales, in a Merseybeat package show. Tickets 5 shillings, This was not that far from Liverpool up the coast of North Wales

1964, Glasgow council in Scotland announced that all boys and men with Beatle styled haircuts would have to wear bathing caps after a committee was told that hair from ‘Beatle-cuts’ was clogging the pools filters. In these days of Health and Safety we can understand this

1965, The Byrds were forced to cancel a concert during their UK tour at The Guildhall, Portsmouth when only 250 of the 4,000 tickets had been sold.This was hard to understand as the Byrds had some good hits

1966, During a North American tour The Beatles played two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada. The attendance for each show was 18,000.They were a phenomenon

1968, The Rascals (formally the Young Rascals), started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘People Got To Be Free’. The group had thirteen US top 40 hits. We didn’t have this song in the UK

1969, The final day of the three day Woodstock festival took place at Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. Acts who appeared included Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, The Band, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Over 186,000 tickets had been sold but on the first day the flimsy fences and ticket barriers had come down. Organisers announced the concert would be a free event, prompting thousands more to head for the concert. There were two deaths – a teenager was killed by a tractor as he lay in his sleeping bag and another died from a drugs overdose. This is one of those events that has become part of folklore
1971, Johnny Cash played the first of 3 nights at The Kings Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester.That’s a gig I would have liked

1973, Former Temptations singer Paul Williams was found dead in his car, after shooting himself. He owed $80000 in taxes and his celebrity boutique business had failed.Who were his advisers?

1974, Eric Clapton started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ’461 Ocean Boulevard’, a No.3 hit in the UK. I don’t remember this

1974, UK group Paper Lace scored their only US No.1 single with ‘The Night Chicago Died’, it made No.3 in the UK.I met Chris Morris in Cornwall and Carlos in Benidorm

1979, The New York Post reported that Anita Pallenberg (the wife of Keith Richards) was linked to a witches coven in South Salem, New York where Richards owned a house. A policeman claimed he was attacked by a flock of black-hooded, caped people and a local youth claimed he had been invited by Pallenburg to take part in ‘pot smoking sex orgies’. Locals also claimed they found ‘ritualistic stakes’ and small animals that had been ‘sacrificed’ near the house.What was the truth?

1987, Session drummer Gary Chester died of cancer. He had been a member of The Coasters and played on many major hits for other acts including: ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ ‘Under The Boardwalk’ ‘Walk On By’, ‘It’s My Party.’ A great pedigree

1995, Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after an apparent suicide attempt. Police had found him at his Los Angeles home with a two-inch laceration on his wrist. Stardom is riddled with those who cannot handle the fame
1998, Carlos Santana received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. He is a bit special

1999, Former Bay City Rollers drummer Derek Longmuir appeared at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court accused of child porn and drugs offences. Longmuir, 48, denied the charges. He was later sentenced to 300 hours community service. It makes me not want to play their music but why should the others suffer?
1999, Led Zeppelin topped a chart of Britain’s most bootlegged musicians, compiled by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), after identifying 384 bootleg titles featuring Led Zeppelin performances. I suppose there is a compliment in there somewhere
2002, Darius was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Colourblind’. The third “Pop Idol” finalist to get a number one. He’d originally lost out on “Popstars”, failing to get a place in the group Hear’Say, and then came third in “Pop Idol”.I liked his single

2002, Travis, Alanis Morissette, Nickelback, Supergrass, Elvis Costello, The Bluetones, Mull Historical Society, Badly Drawn Boy and The Chemical Brothers all appeared at the UK festival V2002 in Chelmsford, England. Not a lot there for me
2003, Eva Cassidy started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘American Tune’ the singers third UK No.1 album. I love her Fields of Gold
2004, A report showed how touts were now using eBay to sell tickets for sold-out concerts. It said the touts were not breaking the law by using auction sites on the internet, it showed tickets for Madonna’s Wembley gig worth £150 were for sale at £350 and a pair of tickets to see The White Stripes worth £90 were currently on eBay for £130. You can’t have the Stock Exchange as legitimate and then deny this enterprise
2007, High School Musical 2 premiered on the US Disney Channel and Family Channel. Watched by a total of 17.2 million viewers in the United States, making it the highest rated basic cable broadcast in U.S. history. Great music

2008, Jackson Browne was suing US Republican presidential candidate John McCain for using one of his songs without permission. Browne claimed the use of his song Running on Empty in an advert was an infringement of copyright and would lead people to conclude he endorses McCain.Was he right?

. 2009, An arrest warrant was issued for singer Bobby Brown after he failed to appear at a court hearing involving child maintenance payments. He won’t be the last

2009, A thief in New Zealand took the unusual step of leaving his contact details at the site of his crime. The man reserved a copy of Pink Floyd’s The Wall at a record shop in Christchurch, leaving his name and phone number, before robbing the till. He was a regular customer at the shop and already had several records on order. What a plonker

 Born this day

 1944,John Seiter, Spanky And Our Gang, (1967 US No.9 single ‘Sunday Will Never Be The Same Again’). 1947,  Gary Talley guitar, The Box Tops, (1967 US No.1 & UK No.5 single ‘The Letter’).
1949, Sib Hashian, drums, Boston, (1977 UK No.22 single ‘More Than A Feeling’, 1986 US No.1 single ‘Amanda’). 1953,Kevin Rowland, singer, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, (1982 UK No.1 & 1983 US No.1 single ‘Come On Eileen’). Solo 1986 UK No.13 single ‘Because Of You’).
1958,Belinda Carlisle, singer, The Go-Go’s, (1982 US No.2 single ‘We Got The Beat’, 1982 UK No.47 single ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’) and solo, (1987 US & UK No.1 single ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’).
1964, Maria Mckee, singer, Lone Justice (1987 UK No.45 single ‘I Found Out’), solo, (1990 UK No.1 single ‘Show Me Heaven’).
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