Friday Rocks!!!!

Ugg Boot

Do you play guitar? If so, you NEED one of these. I bought my new Line 6 Pod XT guitar processor. It rocks sooooooooo hard and sounds sooooo sweet. I went to this site and clicked on the Big N Marketplace, the icon then All Stores, then Music123. I even got free shipping on it with a 45 day return/refund deal. This baby isn't goin' back though. Click here to listen to what this will do. (after opening the page, click on listen then choose a sound)

1949, RCA introduces the first 45rpm record...

1952, Sun Records, future home of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, releases its first record: an instrumental recording by saxman Johnny London ... it flops...

1955, the US record industry reports that 45s have outsold 78s for the first time...

1968, Frankie Lymon dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 26 ... Lymon is generally regarded as the first black teenage star ... his 1956 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" marked the apex of a career that promptly headed downhill ... also this week Johnny Cash and June Carter marry at the First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky ... a motorcade of Cadillacs carry Johnny, June, and the families to the small, private ceremony ... Johnny's best man is Merle Kilgore, who shares co-writing credits with June on "Ring of Fire," the tune generally credited as a musical documentation of Johnny and June's love affair...

1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience plays their last gig together at Royal Albert Hall...

1972, Elvis and Priscilla Presley separate ... Priscilla gets a one-time settlement of $5 million plus a monthly check of $25,000 for child support of daughter Lisa Marie ... ironically the King's top 20 hit in '72 (and his last while he was alive) is "Burning Love" (#2 in US, #5 in UK) something he and Priscilla were obviously missing...

1976, The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) becomes the first album in the US to be certified platinum by the RIAA ... more incredible is the fact that it hit the million-unit mark in just one week...

1977, Keith Richards is arrested in Toronto after his hotel room is raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who discover both heroin and cocaine ... he is charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell plus possession of cocaine and is released on $25,000 bail ... Stones fans everywhere wonder if the cops were on horseback when they broke into Keef's room ... also this week, Bob Dylan's wife Sara files for divorce in Santa Monica, California ... the couple has been married for 11 years and have five children ... in the settlement she is given possession of their home and custody of the kids ... Sara is said to be the inspiration behind classic tunes such as "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," "Lay Lady Lay," and "Sara"...

1983, Michael Jackson's Thriller reaches #1 and stays there 37 weeks, selling over 40 million copies ... it is the number-one album in all Western nations...

1989, Hard Rock/Metal is a Grammy category for the first time ... in a class that includes heavyweight nominees Metallica, Jane's Addiction, and Iggy Pop, the winner is (drum roll, please): Jethro Tull ... a chorus of boos rains down from the public balconies and even some of the artists on the main floor join in ... critics nearly unanimously lambast the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences voters who selected Tull, whose mix of classic English prog rock and jazz flute is the farthest thing from Hard Rock or Metal...

1992, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love wed in Waikiki, Hawaii...

1995, Lyle Lovett breaks his collarbone while motorcycling in Mexico ... as a result, he is unable to attend the Grammys to accept the two awards he wins ... one for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for his duet on "Funny How Time Slips Away" with Al Green ... the other for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for his version of "Blues For Dixie" with the band Asleep At The Wheel ... and also this week, Bill Berry of R.E.M. begins suffering from a massive migraine about 90 minutes into the band's set in Lausanne, Switzerland ... he collapses and is rushed off stage, but does not see a doctor until the next day when it is discovered he has an aneurysm on the right side of his brain ... the aneurysm is clipped and Berry makes a full recovery...

1998, Virgin Records files suit against the Smashing Pumpkins for alleged breach of contract and nondelivery of albums ... the suit claims the band notified Virgin that instead of delivering seven albums, per its contract, the band was delivering just three and walking ... the band cited a California labor law which limits personal service contracts to seven years as its justification, a law originally used by movie stars to break free from the once-dominant studio system ... the band eventually wins and gets more money with its royalty rate bumped up to 20 percent ... some feel the band's subsequent albums decrease in quality an equal percentage ... also this week, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is arrested and charged with domestic abuse for hitting his wife Pamela Anderson Lee...

1999, Sony Music Distribution raises the wholesale price on CDs by eight cents...

2000, Dennis Danell of Social Distortion dies of an apparent brain aneurysm ... Danell collapsed in the driveway of his Newport Beach home and was transported to Hoag Memorial Hospital ... he is pronounced dead at 10:29 AM ... he was 38 years old ... also this week, it is announced that pop princess Britney Spears will be releasing her own brand of bubble gum creatively named, "Britney Spears CD Bubble Gum" ... the product is a promotion for her upcoming tour ... the manufacturer, Famous Fixins, will give part of the proceeds to The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit that encourages celebrities to raise money for charities...

2003, bass player and producer Howie Epstein dies in Santa Fe, NM, of an apparent heroin overdose ... he was 47 ... Epstein was brought to a Santa Fe hospital by an unidentified female companion, who reportedly said he had been using heroin ... Epstein and then-girlfriend Carlene Carter were arrested in June 2001 in Albuquerque for driving a stolen SUV and possession of black tar heroin...

BIRTHDAYS:

February 23: George Frederic Handel (1685), Johnny Winter (1944), Poco's Rusty Young (1946), Brad Whitford of Aerosmith (1952), Howard Jones (1955), Japan's David Sylvian (1958), Michael Wilton of Queensryche (1962), keyboardist Robert Collins (1963), Nicki Tedesco (1971), Jeff Beres of Sister Hazel (1971), Lasse Johansson of The Cardigans (1973)

February 24: Enrico Caruso (1873), George Harrison (1943 - until he was in his 40s he believed it was Feb. 25th), Paul Jones of Manfred Mann (1942), keyboard session man Nicky Hopkins (1944), Lonnie Turner of the Steve Miller Band (1947), Michelle Shocked (1962)

February 25: Faron Young (1932), Frank "Poncho" Sampedro of Crazy Horse (1949), Stewart "Woody" Wood of The Bay City Rollers (1957), Dennis Diken of The Smithereens (1957), The Alarm's Mike Peters (1959)

February 26: Fats Domino (1928), Johnny Cash (1932), Paul Cotton of Poco (1943), Bob "The Bear" Hite of Canned Heat (1943), Mitch Ryder (1945), Jonathan Cain of Journey (1950), Michael Bolton (1953), Bronski Beat's John Jon (1961), Erykah Badu (1971)

February 27: Eddie Gray of Tommy James & The Shondells (1948), Neil Schon of Journey (1954), Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (1957), Chili of TLC (1971), Jeremy Dean of Nine Days (1972), Josh Groban (1981)

February 28: guitarist John Fahey (1939), Joe South (1940), Brian Jones (1952), Ronald Rosman of Tommy James & The Shondells (1945), Cindy Wilson of The B-52's (1957), Ian Stanley of Tears For Fears (1957), Phillip Gould of Level 42 (1957), Pat Monahan of Train (1969)

March 1: Glenn Miller (1904), Harry Belafonte (1927), Roger Daltrey (1942), Jerry Fisher of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1943), Mike D'Abo of Manfred Mann (1944), Nik Kershaw (1958)

DEATHS:

February 23: Howie Epstein of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2003), jazz critic Stanley Dance (1999), Melvin Franklin of The Temptations (1995)

February 24: blues pianist Memphis Slim aka John Len "Peter" Chatman (1988)

February 25: Johnnie Ray (1990)

February 26: Cornell Gunter (1990), bluesman Bukka White (1977), blues pianist Big Maceo (1953)

February 28: David Byron of Uriah Heep (1985), Bobby Bloom (1974), Frankie Lymon (1968)

March 1: Dennis Danell of Social Distortion (2000)