Rock Almanac/Notable Events

May 14^th thru May 20^st

Tuesday May 14th

1607 The first permanent settlement by Europeans in North America was established at Jamestown, in what is now Virginia.

1796 English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an eight-year-old boy.

1804 The Lewis and Clark expedition set out from St. Louis.

1897 John Philip Sousa's ‘Stars And Stripes Forever’ was first performed.

1904 The Olympic Games were held in the U.S. for the first time, in St. Louis, Missouri.

1948 British rule in Palestine came to an end as The Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel. Within hours, Israel was under attack from Arab forces.

1955 The Warsaw Pact was signed by the Soviet Union and seven other Communist bloc countries.

1973 Skylab, the United States’ first space station, was launched into orbit.

1977 Heart released their 2nd album ‘Little Queen,’ featuring ‘Barracuda.’

1988 Atlantic Records celebrated its 40th anniversary with a star-studded gala at New York's Madison Square Garden featuring reunions of Led Zeppelin, Genesis and Crosby, Stills & Nash. There also are appearances by Foreigner, Yes and many others.

1996 Magic Johnson retired from basketball for a second and final time.

1998 Frank Sinatra died at age 82.

1998 ‘Seinfeld’ aired its final episode on NBC.

Birthdays:

1952 David Byrne, vocalist with the Talking Heads

1953 Tom Cochrane, Red Rider vocalist

Wednesday May 15th

1940 Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States.

1941 The N.Y. Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio began his record 56-game hitting streak.

1967 Paul McCartney met Linda Eastman for the first time at the Bag O' Nails nightclub in London.

1970 Pink Floyd played at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London. Performing in front of a large lake, a number of fish are killed by the volume.

1971 Two experimental John Lennon and Yoko Ono films are screened at the Cannes Film Festival, ‘Apotheosis,’ and ‘Fly.’

1973 Nolan Ryan threw the first of his record seven career no-hitters.

1974 Bill Wyman released ‘Monkey Grip,’ the first solo album by a member of the Rolling Stones.

1975 Fleetwood Mac played their first concert with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in El Paso, TX.

1976 The Rolling Stones went to No.1 on the album chart with 'Black And Blue', the group's sixth No.1 album in the U.S.

1976 The Steve Miller Band released their 9th studio album, ‘Fly Like an Eagle.’

Thursday May 16th

1868 The U.S. Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial.

1929 The first Academy Awards ceremony took place.

1969 John Lennon, declared "an inadmissible immigrant to the U.S.," sought a visa to visit America. Ten days before, Lennon's "standing visa" was revoked by the U.S. Embassy in London because of his drug conviction last November.

1969 Pete Townshend spent an evening in jail after being charged with assault. Plainclothes police alert the crowd at NY’s Fillmore East that a grocery store next doors was on fire. Townshend thought the officer was an audience member and kicked him off stage. The audience doesn't leave until Townshend is finally dragged off.

1974 Queen’s Brian May collapsed in New York and was flown back to England suffering from hepatitis.

1980 Former Buggles members Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes joined Yes, replacing Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson.

1985 The Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan was named NBA Rookie of the Year.

1986 The movie ‘Top Gun,’ starring Tom Cruise, opened.

1987 U2 topped the singles chart for the first time with ‘With or Without You,’ which stayed on top for three weeks.

1990 Muppets creator Jim Henson died at age 53.

1998 Keith Richards fell while reaching for a book in his Connecticut home, breaking his ribs. The Rolling Stones were forced to postpone many dates on their ‘Bridges To Babylon’ tour.

2010 Ronnie James Dio, singer with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell and solo, died at age 67, after a battle with stomach cancer.

Friday May 17th

1792 The New York Stock Exchange was established when a group of 24 brokers and merchants met by a tree on what is now Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

1875 The first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, KY.

1954 The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against segregation in schools in Brown v. Board of Education.

1971 Paul and Linda McCartney released the album ‘Ram.’

1973 Televised Watergate hearings started.

1975 Just two weeks before the start of the Rolling Stones' ‘Tour of the Americas '75,’ Mick Jagger put his right hand through a window at a restaurant on Long Island. The injury required 20 stitches but the tour goes on as scheduled.

1980 Peter Criss left KISS to establish a solo career.

1980 Joe Walsh released the single ‘All Night Long’ from the ‘Urban Cowboy’ movie soundtrack.

1987 A fire started by an arsonist destroyed Tom Petty's L.A. home, causing $800,000 worth of damage. 

1989 Bill Wyman's first ‘Sticky Fingers’ restaurant opened in London.

1989 At the Cannes Film Festival, Roger Daltrey said he wanted to become a doctor of Chinese medicine. He said he never felt that singing and acting were proper careers and that he wanted to study herbal medicine and acupuncture.

1998 N.Y. Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.

2010 ZZ Top made a cameo appearance on ‘Two and a Half Men.’ 

Saturday May 18^th

1804 Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France.

1963 The Beatles kicked off their first headlining tour with a concert at the Grenada Theatre in Slough, England.

1979 Journey hosted ‘The Midnight Special’ and performed ‘Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’’ & ‘City of the Angels.’

1980 Mount St. Helens, in Washington State, erupted after being dormant for 123 years.

1982 Joe Strummer reappeared after disappearing for a month moving to Paris to get away from The Clash. He cited exhaustion & doubts about his career as the reason for this disappearance.

1991 R.E.M. went to No.1 on the album chart with 'Out Of Time.'

2004 Randy Johnson, age 40, became the oldest pitcher to throw a perfect game.

2011 John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' sold for $237,132 at an auction.

Birthdays:

1949 Rick Wakeman, keyboardist with Yes

Sunday May 19th

1536 Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was beheaded.

1588 The 130-ship-strong Spanish Armada set sail for England; it was defeated in August.

1884 The first Ringling Brothers circus was performed.

1928 The first annual Calaveras County "Frog Jumping Jubilee" was held in Angel's Camp, CA.

1935 British author and soldier, T. E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.

1960 DJ Alan Freed was indicted along with seven others for accepting $30,650 in payola from six record companies. Two years later, he was convicted and given a suspended sentence and a $300 fine.

1962 Marilyn Monroe sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Pres. Kennedy.

1965 FBI Agents visited the Wand Records offices to investigate the lyrics to ‘Louie Louie.’

1976 Keith Richards crashed his Bentley into a highway divider in Newton Pagnell, north of London. Police take various substances from his vehicle and Richards was charged in August with possession of cocaine and marijuana.

1978 Dire Straits released their first major label single, 'Sultans Of Swing.’

1979 Supertramp was No. 1 on the album chart with ‘Breakfast in America,’ for the first of a six non-consecutive weeks on top of the chart.

1979 Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr perform with Eric Clapton, Denny Laine and Mick Jagger at a wedding reception for Clapton and the former Mrs. Harrison, Patti Boyd. The two married the previous March.

1980 Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach were involved in a car crash. Although the car was totaled, they were not seriously injured.

1981 Sting was named “Songwriter of The Year” at the 26th Ivor Novello Awards.

1986 Peter Gabriel released the ‘So’ album.

1992 Vice President Dan Quayle criticized ‘Murphy Brown’ for its title character giving birth out of wedlock.

1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York.

1996 Peter Frampton made a guest voice appearance as himself on ‘The Simpsons.’

Birthdays:

1945 Pete Townshend, The Who and solo guitarist-vocalist

1949 Dusty Hill, ZZ Top guitarist-vocalist

1952 Joey Ramone, Ramones frontman

1954 Phil Rudd, AC/DC drummer

Monday May 20th

1927 Charles Lindbergh began the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, departing from Long Island aboard the Spirit of Saint Louis.

1932 Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

1966 Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey grew tired of waiting for John Entwistle and Keith Moon to arrive for their gig at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England so they took to the stage with the bass player and drummer of the local band that opened the show. When Moon and Entwistle finally arrived in the middle of the set, a fight broke out, with Townshend hitting Moon on the head with his guitar. Moon and Entwistle quit the band, (and rejoined a week later).

1967 Jimi Hendrix signed his first American record contract with Reprise Records. The Jimi Hendrix Experience had already released records on the Polydor and Track labels in Britain.

1968 Pete Townshend married Karen Astley, daughter of British composer and producer Edwin Astley.

1969 U.S. and South Vietnamese forces captured Apbia Mountain, referred to as "Hamburger Hill" by the Americans, following one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

1989 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were the musical guest on the season finale of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ performing ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ & ‘Free Fallin.’

1993 The last episode of ‘Cheers’ aired on NBC. Over 80 million tuned in.

1995 Don Henley married Sharon Summerall in Malibu. Guests included Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sting and Tony Bennett.

1997 The last episode of ‘Roseanne’ aired on ABC.

1997 U2 caused chaos in Kansas City after they paid for traffic control to close down five lanes so they could shoot the video for ‘Last Night On Earth’. Apart from major traffic jams, a passing Cadillac crashed into a plate glass window trying to avoid a cameraman.

1998 Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward was taken to a hospital in London after suffering a heart attack during band rehearsal.

2000 The Guess Who performed at a Winnipeg community center as a prelude to their reunion tour featuring the band's most prolific line-up: Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall and Garry Peterson. Kale drops out of the tour before the first show to tend to family matters.

Birthdays:

1944 Joe Cocker, singer-songwriter