Happy (would’ve been) 67th Birthday to Bob Marley.  Didja know that in the early ’70s, Bob Marley and the Wailers were booked to open dates for Sly & The Family Stone?  After 4 dates, Bob and company were dropped from the tour.  Turns out they were more popular than the...

OK – maybe it’s a stretch, but …. Today would’ve been Harpo Marx’s 123rd birthday.  Bizarre?  Any excuse to add a little Marx Brothers to the festivities, right? Share Tweet

Today would’ve been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday.  Here’re a few of the things he’s said over the years … A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It’s a theatrica! event. I always knew I was a star And now, the rest of the world seems to agree...

This past weekend the J. Geils Band decimated their audiences in Boston.  This is probably no surprise to anyone who’s ever seen them perform.  It’s a visceral, religious, reverential, exhausting experience.  What’s amazing is that the band hasn’t lost energy or...

30 years ago today, the rocket launched and MTV was born. Surprisingly (or not?), there's no mention of this milestone on the homepage of MTV.com.

At the time of its release in 1970, “Vehicle” by the Ides of March was the fastest selling single in Warner Brothers’...

John Lennon 1940-1980 For a lot of people it seems bizarre to think that John Lennon died 30 years ago today.  While not that long ago, 1980 was a completely different time and place for the music industry — if not the world at large.  To remember John and his music, take a minute, sit...

SS Edmund Fitzgerald (nicknamed “Mighty Fitz,” “The Fitz,” or “The Big Fitz”) was an American Great Lakes freighter launched on June 8, 1958. At the time of its launching, it was one of the first boats to be at or near maximum “St Lawrence Seaway...

It’s Guy Fawkes Day!  Here in the U.S. that probably means nothing. In fact, it’s only a big deal ‘cuz I can post up this song.  Ultimately it’s more of an English thing, but it does let me put up a timely John Lennon track P.S. A bit of background from our...

Happy Birthday to Peter Noone — lead singer of Herman’s Hermits!!! Fun fact:  During 1965, The Beatles released Rubber Soul and Help!, but they were outsold by … Herman’s Hermits! Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone is still touring, still packing houses, and...

Happy 64th Birthday to the pride of Downey, CA — Richard Carpenter.  As one of (and later 2/3 …) of The Carpenters with his sister Karen, they made easy listening even easier.  Nixon loved ‘em, millions mocked ‘em, and well … judge for yourself ...

Today would’ve been John Lennon’s 70th birthday. What...

Happy 74th Birthday to Don Cornelius — Creator and Host of “Soul Train.”   And therefore, creator of the Soul Train line Kurtis Blow – The Breaks “…and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace… and...

I love timely musical references.  Maybe it’s the radio geek in me, I dunno.  Here’s Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughan performing “September Song” with the Boston Pops from the early ’80s…posted today September 1st...

On this day in 1976, the #1 song in the U.S. was “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee. Surprisingly, this was Elton’s first #1 single in the U.K. and his last until “Sacrifice” topped that charts 14 years later. “Don’t...

Ladies and gentlemen – the first septuagenerian Beatle… Mr. Richard Starkey,...

Today’s Paul McCartney’s 68th birthday.  As if that wasn’t odd enough, here’s my all time favorite McCartney performance ever...

Today would’ve been Nelson Riddle’s 89th birthday.  As the arranger/conductor for “the” musicians of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, he defined the sound of the time.  Here’re a few of the folks Nelson Riddle wrote arrangements for: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat...

Born on this day Bobby Darin (1936) and Jack Bruce (1943).  Died on this day, Frank Sinatra...

40 years ago today, at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.  Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American...

When I started at Berklee, I got a job in the jazz department at Tower Records.  This was before iPods, before MySpace, and at a time when people were still asking what we had on cassette.   The jazz department was up on the third floor, and nobody wandered in there unintentionally.  As...

Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35″ is referred to as one source of the origins of the term “420″ referencing the use of marijuana: the numbers 12 and 35 when multiplied equal 420. (Like whoa … and if you play “Blonde on Blonde” while...

The music for “Taxman” was inspired by the theme song for the popular 1960s TV series Batman, which was recorded by the Surf Rock group The Marketts earlier in 1966 and hit #17 in the US. George was a big fan of the show.  Thwap! Kapow!  Bam! From the Beatles cartoons, 1967...

Two very cool people have birthdays today:  Leon Russell and Marvin Gaye.  Both geniuses, and both worth sharing a couple clips from. Leon Russell just finished recording an album with Elton John.  Elton has often declared Leon to be “a god.”  Marvin Gaye was a brilliant...

On this day, in the year 62 (!), a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the city of Pompeii, Italy.  While this doesn’t directly cause the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79, it does provide an excuse to offer up a clip from Pink Floyd’s “Live at Pompeii” … P.S.  This...