Magical Dates in Music History

[Guest]

OK, so this is not magic, but it is a magical week in music history.

Tuesday, February 3, 2004, is the 45th anniversary of the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) in the private plane crash in Iowa. Elvis was already in the army, Carl Perkins was hospitalized for months after a serious car crash, Little Richard had quit rock'n'roll for the study of the ministry, Jerry Lee Lewis had married his 14-yr-old second cousin and gotten blacklisted from performing, careers of Fats Domino and Bill Haley's Comets were fading, Chuck Berry would be imprisoned in 1960 for five years for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes, and Eddie Cochran would die in 1960 in a car crash that also severely crippled Gene Vincent. Rock'n'roll died until the advent of the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

Saturday, February 7, 2004, is the 40th anniversary of the Beatles first concert in the USA, at Washington D.C. Stadium. Monday, February 9, 2004, is the 40th anniversary of the Beatles first television appearance in the USA, on the Ed Sullivan Show.

I used to teach a two-semester sequence university course called the History of American Popular Music, so I am calling all of this up from memory, and I hope that I got the chronology correct.

Anyway, these are the anniversaries of "the day the music died" and the "day rock was reborn."

Jon

[Steve Bryant]

Ah, but the music didn't die, just the musicians. "Peggy Sue" was playing in my local grocery last night. Who thought, way back when, that we would still be listening to this stuff? And now I can carry it all around in my iPod.

[Guest]

True, not exactly magic, but here is how the Beatles on the Sullivan made me $1,110.00:
The day after the Beatles were on Sullivan, of course everyone was buzzing about the Beatles.
Our neighbor, Alex Tretiakoff, had bought the 45rpm record,(remember them?) and we spent the ENTIRE afternoon, playing both sides: "I want to hold your hand" and "I saw her standing there", while we acted like the Beatles, using his tennis rackets, as if they were guitars.(very young kids)
Fast forward to 20 years later, I'm a contestant in a 60's trivia contest, sponsored by a radio station. The final question, that determined who would win the most money was:
"What song is on the flip side of "I want to hold your hand?" THANK YOU Alex Tretiakoff, wherever you are!

[Dave Shepherd]

Originally posted by Jon A. Hand:
Saturday, February 7, 2004, is the 40th anniversary of the Beatles first concert in the USA, at Washington D.C. Stadium. Monday, February 9, 2004, is the 40th anniversary of the Beatles first television appearance in the USA, on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Almost. Their first public performance in the US was the Sullivan show, on Sunday, February 9. (Followed immediately, just after a commercial, by Fred Kaps performing Homing Card and Long Salt Pour.)

Some might say their first "performance" was the New York City news conference after they landed at JFK Airport, on February 7.

After the Sullivan show they took the train from NYC to Washington for their first live concert, at the Washington Coliseum on Tuesday, February 11.

Yep, Diego, I too remember that first Capitol 45, with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand, " b/w "I Saw Her Standing There." I think it was the first single I purchased, at age 10. That got me started playing the guitar, which I would later do for a semi-living in Nashville as an adult.

Dave "Beatlemaniac" Shepherd

[Guest]

To show how production values have changed, when the Beatles played Washington, D.C., if you watch the film of that show, they perform in the middle of the arena, and have been provided only 3 microphones, that they either share, or they trade between songs, who goes without a mic. Also they themselves,(no stage hands/help) turn the circular stage that Ringo is set up on, so they can face different parts of the audience, for different songs....and this was the biggest act in decades.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Dave Shepherd:
That got me started playing the guitar, which I would later do for a semi-living in Nashville as an adult.

Apparently the listeners were also "semi-alive" by the time you'd finished playing! :D