Brad's Worlds: Where Have I Been?

It's been several days since my last update. Where have I been? What a weekend. Friday, my truck broke down so I borrowed my dad's until I got mine fixed. A death in the family. This isn't the place to talk about that. On the way home friday night, I hit a dear in my dad's truck. The truck is an '83 model so it's built like a tank. It only broke the headlight assembly. My direct TV TIVO stopped working. And all of that was just friday. Funeral monday. Not good. Got sick with a stomach virus monday night. Couldn't go to work tuesday. Not good. Direct TV repairman came by to work on tivo. Guess what? It's completely fried. Had to order a new one that didn't cost me anything. That's good. Made myself go to work wednesday. About 1/2 mile from my job, had a blow out in my dad's truck. He's gonna get tired of this soon. As I was walking to work, a state trooper saw me walking and gave me a ride which I greatly appreciated. Some of my co-workers were outside when the trooper let me out the back seat of his patrol car. They told the trooper "keep him, we don't want him". Gotta love Vaughn (co-worker/commedian). Helped my boss get a car of theirs that broke down the following night. I borrowed a car dolly and had to move a truck out of the way to get to it. Wouldn't you know it, the battery in it was dead. Had to jump start it to get it out of the way. Got that car to the shop. Went to lunch in my dad's truck. Had flat number 2 of the day. My dad will probably never let me borrow his truck again. Who could blame him? And today, my new TIVO is supposed to be waiting on me at home when I get there. Just in time too because tonight is SURVIVOR NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you hear that Rodney Dangerfield passed away? He was recovering from heart surgery. When Dangerfield was asked how long he would be in the hospital for his latest operation, he responded with a typical quip: ``If things go right, I'll be there about a week, and if things don't go right, I'll be there about an hour and a half.'' Always keeping people smiling. We'll miss you.

So anyway, what happened this week in music? Well, I'll tell you.

1957, rock-and-roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis records "Great Balls Of Fire"...

1959, Bobby Darin becomes the youngest ever to headline at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas ... he displaces the prior record-holder Johnny Mathis ... Darin is 22; Mathis had been 23 when he first headlined...

1957, in Sidney, Australia, Little Richard announces his intention to give up rock and roll and "live for the Lord" ... he flies to Los Angeles the following day and is baptized a Seventh Day Adventist ... he will abide by his decision for five years before resuming his musical career...

1962, Little Richard and the Beatles are reported to have hit it off nicely...the once and future stars are performing at a concert in Liverpool ... Little Richard is the headliner and The Beatles are among the warm-up acts...

1966, British rocker Johnny Kidd meets his demise in a car crash ... he is the leader of the Pirates who had a hit with "Shakin' All Over" in 1966 and were one of the earliest of the raunchy British rock bands ... this same week, the U.S. government declares LSD an illegal drug ... The Jimi Hendrix Experience is formed in London...

1969, blues giant Muddy Waters is severely injured in an automobile accident near Chicago in which three others are killed...

1970, the musical Jesus Christ Superstar debuts on Broadway...

1976, The Who and The Grateful Dead pair up as dual headliners for a concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium...

1978, The Rolling Stones appear on Saturday Night Live performing "Beast of Burden" ... Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of Sid Vicious is found dead in a room they share at Chelsea Hotel in New York ... Spungen has been stabbed to death and Vicious is charged with her murder ... released on bond, he will die of a heroin overdose before he can be tried...

1980, Bob Marley collapses onstage at a Wailers concert in Pittsburgh at what will prove to be his final performance ... he will die of a brain tumor about seven months later...

1988, Keith Richards is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live ... during the show he performs a skit in which he hilariously parodies Mick Jagger...

1995, Alice in Chains' "Grind," a cut from their latest album, is released for radio play via satellite uplink to halt the spread of tape copies that had been prematurely leaked to radio stations earlier in the month...

1996, it is a musical chainsaw massacre at an environmental benefit concert in Jacksonville, Oregon, when Bonnie Raitt and band are drowned out by protesting loggers who rev chainsaws and light firecrackers to show their opposition to saving the redwoods...

1997, promoter of getting high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains John Denver dies when an experimental plane he is flying crashes into Monterey Bay in Northern California...

Born this week:

October 6: violinist Cyril Reuben (1926), Millie Small of "My Boy Lollipop" fame (1948), Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon (1951), David Hidalgo of Los Lobos (1954), Matthew Sweet (1964), Tommy Stinson of The Replacements (1966)

October 7: "Uncle" Dave Macon (1870), Martin Murray of The Honeycombs (1941), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1943), Kevin Godley of 10cc (1945), David Hope of Kansas (1949), John Cougar Mellencamp (1951), Tico Torres of Bon Jovi (1953), Toni Braxton (1968), Radiohead's Thom Yorke (1968), Leeroy Thornhill of Prodigy (1969)

October 8: composer Toru Takemitsu (1930), Doc Green of The Drifters (1934), Ray Royer of Procol Harum (1945), Toni Wilson of Hot Chocolate (1947), Johnny Ramone (1948), Hamish Stewart of Average White Band (1949), Robert "Kool" Bell of Kool & The Gang (1950), Cliff Adams of Kool & The Gang (1952), Steve Perry of Cherry Poppin' Daddies (1963), C.J. Ramone aka Christopher James Ward (1965)

October 9: John Lennon (1940), John Entwistle (1944), Peter Tosh (1944), Jackson Browne (1948), P.J. Harvey (1969), Sean Ono Lennon (1975)

October 10: composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813), Ivory Joe Hunter (1914), Thelonious Monk (1917), country chirper Dottie West (1932), Keith Reid of Procol Harum (1946), John Prine (1946), Midge Ure (1953), David Lee Roth (1955), Tanya Tucker (1958), Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (1959), Kirsty MacColl (1959), Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1961), Mike Malinin of the Goo Goo Dolls (1967), Michael Bivens of Bell Biv Devoe (1968), Nine Days' Vinnie Tattanelli (1972), Mya (1979)

October 11: Art Blakey (1919), Little Willie Littlefield (1931), jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie (1941), Gary Mallaber of The Steve Miller Band (1946), Daryl Hall (1949), Andrew Woolfolk of Earth, Wind & Fire (1950), Scott Johnson of The Gin Blossoms (1962), MC Lyte (1971)

October 12: Guitar Gabriel aka Robert Lewis Jones (1925), Sam Moore of Sam & Dave (1935), Luciano Pavarotti (1935), Melvin Franklin of The Temptations (1942), Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens (1955), Bob Mould (1960), Garfield Bright of Shai (1969), Martie Seidel of The Dixie Chicks (1969), Ashanti (1960)