SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
100 Years Ago Today In 1908 - Max Kaminsky, bandleader, trumpet player, who worked in the bands of Capitol Records artists Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Ray Noble, Alvino Rey, and "Pee Wee" Russell, is born in Brockton, Massachusetts

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1959 - Capitol Records releases The Kingston Trio's single "A Worried Man", with "San Miguel" on the flip side, which were both recorded in Studio B of The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
45 Years Ago Today In 1963 - A live performance by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis (aka The Rat Pack) in the Copa Room at The Sands is recorded and will be released as "The Rat Pack Live at the Sands" by Capitol Records in 2001 on CD and cassette
1964 - Capitol Records releases the compilation album "The Big Hits From England And The USA", which features tracks by Peter & Gordon, The Beatles, Al Martino and others, in mono (T2125) and duophonic (DT 2125)
1969 - Everett McKinley Dirksen, Republican senator from Illinois and Capitol Records recording artist (1966-1967), dies at age 73 in Washington, D.C. during lung surgery
1981 - Levon Helm, drummer for Capitol Records group The Band, marries Sandra Dodd, whom he met in Los Angeles in 1974 at the pool at a Sunset Boulevard hotel, in Woodstock, New York
1991 - Capitol Records' international marketing division releases a promotional cassette for Richard Thompson called "Live In Ventura" that includes the tracks “Turning Of The Tide”, “I Misunderstood”, “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”, “Shoot Out The Lights”, “I Feel So Good”, “Now That I Am Dead”, “Two Left Feet”, “Waltzing’s For Dreamers”, “Valerie”, and “Don’t Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes At Me”
2004 - Capitol Records releases The Smithereens' 2 CD compilation set "From Jersey It Came! The Smithereens Anthology"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1921 - Arthur Ferrante, composer, pianist, and member of United Artist Records (1960-1979) duo Ferrante & Teicher, is born in New York City, New York. EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company, currently owns the United Artists catalog.
1929 - Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophonist, composer, and Blue Note Records artist, is born Theodore Walter Rollins in New York City, New York. EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company, currently owns the Blue Note Records catalog.
1964 - Easy-E, rapper, founding member of the Ruthless Records group N.W.A., solo artist, record producer, owner of Ruthless Records, is born Eric Wright in Compton, California. Capitol Records, after it acquired Priority Records, currently owns the Ruthless Records catalog.
1969 - The last episode of the cartoon series "The Beatles" airs on ABC-TV network in the United States
1984 - EMI America Records releases album Queensrÿche's album "The Warning". EMI America's catalog is currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group.
1997 - Derek Taylor, press officer for The Beatles for much of their career, dies at his home in Suffolk, England, at the age of 65 after several years of battling cancer
5 Years Ago Today In 2003 - Warren Zevon, singer, songwriter, and Virgin Records America artist, dies of cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California at age 56. I worked on the production of the design of Zevon's "Sentimental Hygene" album with freelance designer Margo Chase as and designed the packaging for the promotional 12" singles for "Boom Boom Mancini" and "Detox Mansion". I met Warren first at Virgin's offices where I also met his manager Andy Slater who would go on to become president of Capitol Records in 2001. I ran into Warren one night at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard in 1988 after I had been laid off from Virgin. He recognized me and asked how things were going. A truly nice guy.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1927 - Philo Farnsworth transmits the first television image. It's the image of a dollar sign (pretty accurate prediction on what the main concern of the industry would be) made up of 60 horizontal lines using a dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic television signals, developed by Farnsworth.
1936 - Buddy Holly, singer, songwriter, and bandleader of Buddy Holly And The Crickets, is born Charles Harden Holley in Lubbock, Texas. The publishing rights for his catalog are currently owned by Paul McCartney, through his company MPL Communications, who will commemorates Holly's 40th birthday in 1976 with the inauguration of "Buddy Holly Week"' in the U.K.
1954 - Alan Freed begins his first shift as a deejay at radio station WINS in New York City after being at WJW in Cleveland, Ohio
1967 - "The Flying Nun", starring Sally Field, premieres on ABC-TV