SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1922 - Oscar Pettiford, double bass and cello player, composer, member of Capitol Records group Woody Herman and His Orchestra, Thad Jones' Blue Note Records group, and Jimmy Guiffre's Atlantic Records group, as well as a player on recordings with Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Stan Getz, and "discoverer" of Capitol Records artist Cannonball Adderley, is born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma
1940 - Dewey Martin, singer, drummer, with the Tower Records band Sir Raliegh and The Coupons, on a demo for Capitol for the band The Dillards, drummer with the band The Herd which will become Buffalo Springfield, is born Walter Milton Dewayne Midkiff in Chesterville, Ontario, Cananda
55 Years Ago Today In 1953- Deborah Allen, singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and Capitol Records artist, is born Deborah Lynn Thurmond in Memphis, Tennessee

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
50 Years Ago Today In 1958 - Frank Sinatra, with arranger and conductor Billy May, records the tracks "Just In Time", "The Song Is You", and "It All Depends On You" which will be remain unreleased until it is included as a bonus track in 1987 on the CD version of his Capitol Records album "Come Dance With Me!"
1968 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "I've Got You On My Mind Again" with "That's All Right With Me" on the flip side
1977 - Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Hatfield), singer, motion picture actress, guitarist, television variety show co-host ("The Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home Show"), one-time wife of Capitol Records artist Les Paul, and half of the Capitol Records duo Les Paul and Mary Ford, dies at age 53 in Arcadia, California of cancer after spending 54 days in a diabetic coma and is later buried at Forest Lawn-Covina Hills in Covina, California
1990 - Garth Brooks' Liberty Records (later renamed Capitol Records Nashville) single "Friends In Low Places", on the flip side of "Dance", is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
5 Years Ago Today In 2003 - Capitol Records releases Bonnie Raitt's compilation album "The Best of Bonnie Raitt"
2004 - Capitol Records releases The Smashing Pumpkins' album "I Might Be Wrong-Live Recordings"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1955- James Dean, stage, television and motion picture actor, is killed in head-on collision while driving his Porsche Syder at 75 miles an hour at the intersection of routes 46 and 41, near Cholame, California. Capitol Records will later release a soundtrack album for the documentary film "The James Dean Story.
1987 - Virgin Records artist Roy Orbison records the television special "Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night" for Cinemax at The Coconut Grove in The Ambassador Hotel. I was working at Virgin at the time and was in the audience in the back of the room. Also in the audience were singer Billy Idol (who was in total awe of Roy) and actor Patrick Swayze (who, by the end of the show was feeling no pain). The Ambassador was torn down in 2006 to make room for a new school. After the show I met Roy and he was nice enough to sign a CD I brought of his early recordings. The next morning Los Angeles was hit by the biggest earthquake (5.6 on the Richter scale) and after shocks since the '70s. I was at home when the first one hit and at Virgin's offices for a large aftershock that had the staircases swaying. I later designed the packaging for Virgin's promotional version of the video. Virgin Records is currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group. The Ambassador Hotel was demolished by its new owner, The Los Angeles Unified School District, in 2006 to make way for a new school. The Coconut Grove building is also no longer standing. It was originally promised to be turned into the new school's auditorium after the floor had been tilted for seating, but an examination determined that the concrete in 66 percent of the structure didn't meet current standards for surviving a large earthquake and, if the LAUSD board got its way, and it was demolished to make way for a new auditorium. An article in the Los Angeles Times said that one bright note was that the original sign for the Coconut Grove was found when the glass entryway that was a later addition to the building was demolished.
20 Years Ago Today In 1988 - John Lennon's star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame is unveiled with Yoko Ono in attendance
1990 - Maxi Priest's Charisma Records (a subsidiary of Virgin Records, distributed at the time in the United State by Atlantic Records) single "Close To You", with "I Know Love" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. The single was released by 10 Records (another Virgin Records subsidiary) in the United Kingdom. 10 Records' and Charisma Records' catalogs are currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group.
1991 - Former Capitol Records artist, Broadway and motion picture actress Liza Minnelli receives a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
15 Years Ago Today In 1993 - George Harrison guests on Fox-TV's "The Simpsons"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1452 - Johann Guttenberg publishes a German language version of The Bible, the first book in Europe to be printed using moveable type
1935 - George and Ira Gershwin's opera "Porgy And Bess" premieres at The Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusettes
1950 - Billboard Magazine renames its Hillbilly singles chart to become the "Country & Western" chart
1960 - At the end of the last episode of the NBC-TV series "The Howdy Doody Show" the normally silent character Clarabell The Clown says "Good-bye" to the audience.