JUNE 13, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
60 Years Ago Today In 1949 - Dennis Locorriere, guitarist and singer with the Capitol Records group Dr. Hook, is born in Union City, New Jersey

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - The King Cole Trio (Nat "King" Cole on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Johnny Miller on bass) records the tracks "Naughty Angeline" and "That's What" in Los Angeles, California. Capitol Records will release the tracks together on a single (Capitol 437)
1953 - Les Baxter and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "April in Portugal" is #3 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart and its flip side "Ruby" is 9, Nat "King" Cole (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Pretend" is #10, Jane Froman (with Sid Feller and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "I Believe" is #11, Les Paul and Mary Ford's Capitol Records single "Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)" (with "Johnny (Is The Boy For Me)" on the flip side) enters the top 20 at #14 and will go on to top the chart and stay there for 11 weeks, and Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "Half A Photograph" (with "Allez-Vous-En" from the musical "Can Can" on the flip side) is #19
1955 - Arranger Bob Cooper, on tenor saxophone, oboe, and english horn, (with Bud Shank on flute alto saxophone and tenor saxophone; Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet, tenor saxophone, and baritone saxophone; Bob Enevoldsen on tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and valve trombone; John Graas on french horn; Claude Williamson on piano; Joe Mondragon on bass; and Shelly Manne on drums) records the tracks "Hallelujah" (which will be released by Capitol Records on the album "Kenton Presents Bob Cooper - Shifting Winds"), "Deep In A Dream", "It's De-lovely", and "Drawing Lines" (which will finally be released by Mosaic Records as part of its 1999 box set "Kenton Presents Cooper, Holman & Rosolino") with producer Stan Kenton at Capitol Records' Melrose Avenue studios in Hollywood, California
45 Years Ago Today In 1964 - The Beatles' United Artists soundtrack album "A Hard Day's Night" is released. Capitol Records will eventually buy the United Artists Records catalog and has since re-released the album on the Capitol label.
1968 - Vocalist Letta Mbulu records the tracks "Olu Ati Ayo" and "Welele", with producer David Axlerod, for her Capitol Records album "Free Soul". She also records a version of "Gumba Gumba" that will be re-recorded the next day that will be issued on a single (Capitol 4-2152) with the song "Ade" on the flip side. Arranger H.B. Barnum conducts Tony Terran and Freddie Hill on trumpet and flugelhorn; Lew McCreary on trombone and tenor trombone; Jackie Kelso on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute; Dick Houlgate on saxophone and clarinet; Jim Horn on saxophone, clarinet, flute and recorder; Don Randi on piano, electric piano and harpsichord; Mike Melvoin on organ; Les Buie, Louis Morell, and Carol Kaye on guitar; Bob West on bass; Earl Palmer on drums, tympani, and bells; John Guerin on drums, vibraphone and tympani; Joe Clayton on congas; Gene Estes and Ken Watson on percussion at The Capitol Tower Studios. Copyists for the arrangements were Allen DeRienzo, Leonard Gordon, and Kenneth Mitchell.
1970 - The Beatles' Apple Records single "The Long And Winding Road", distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart and The Beatles' Apple Records album "Let It Be" is #1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart
1970 - Glyn Johns completes a mix of The Band's Capitol Records album "Stage Fright". Many of the tracks will be remixed by Todd Rundgren for the final album release. Dave Hopkins has written reviews of all The Band's 2000 CD reissues.
1986 - Benny Goodman, clarinetist, singer, bandleader, motion picture actor, and Capitol Records artist, dies of cardiac arrest in his Manhattan apartment at age 77 and is later buried in Long Ridge Union Cemetery, Stamford Connecticut
1986 - Dean Reed, Capitol Records and Imperial Records artist (1958), best known for his recordings of "Our Summer Romance" and "Whirly Twirly", singer, songwriter, director, actor and socialist activist, dies after disappearing the day before and will be found in two days in a lake near is home in East Berlin, Germany. Tom Hanks is said to be working on a project about Reed's life. The University of Colorado sponsors the Dean Reed Peace Prize, an annual essay contest held in Reed's memory, as part of its Conference on World Affairs.
2003 - The film contest for a video for Capitol Records artist Fischerspooner, sponsored by iFilm and Capitol, ends and the winner's entry is placed on iFilm.com
2005 - Zane Williams, guitarist, singer and songwriter, auditions for Larry Willoughby, Vice President of A & R for Capitol Records Nashville at the label's top floor offices in Nashville, Tennessee. Zane has a good description of the event in the June 13, 2005 entry on his blog "The Music Row Diaries".
2006 - The surviving original members of The Beach Boys reunite in public after 10 years apart when Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine gather on the roof of The Capitol Tower in Hollywood, California to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album "Pet Sounds" and their 2003 Capitol Records album "Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys" being certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1917 - Sy Zenter, trombonist, bandleader, session musician and Liberty Records artist, is born Simon H. Zentner in New York City, New York
1960 - Rick Nelson's Imperial Records single "Young Emotions" is #14 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
1963 - Sarah Vaughn, with arranger Benny Carter conducting the studio orchestra (Shorty Sherock, Carmell Jones, Conrad Gozzo, and Bobby Bryant on trumpet; Ed Kusby and Dick Nash on trombone; Buddy Coillete, Bill Green, Plas Johnson, Wilbur Schwartz, and Bill Hood on reeds; Jimmy Rowles on piano; Barney Kessel and Tommy Tedesco on guitar; Red Callender on bass; and Alvin Stoller on drums), records the tracks "Solitude", "I'll Never Be The Same", "So Long, My Love", and "Lonely Hours" at United Recorders' studios in Los Angeles, California for her Roulette Records album "The Lonely Hours"
1972 - CBS-TV broadcasts the final episode of Capitol Records artist Glen Campbell's variety show "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour"
1981 - Dottie West and Kenny Roger's Liberty Records single "What Are We Doin' In Love", with "Choosin' Means Losin'" on the flip side is #1 on the U.S. Country singles chart. EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company, currently owns the Liberty Records catalog
1997 - Capitol Records band Megadeth starts their "Cryptic Writings" tour with a concert in Mesa, Arizona that is broadcast live on the internet
5 Years Ago Today In 2004 - Capitol Records Nashville artists The Jenkins perform on the Riverfront stage of the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee
2006 - Capitol Records band Radiohead perform live in concert at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to a Capitol Records press release, the set list "will draw heavily on the newer material the band has been working on over the past months", and "will feature appropriately scaled down staging and lighting design, creating a suitably intimate environment for the first ever airings of several new songs".

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1946 - Edward J. "Major" Bowes, producer and host of radio's "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour", dies on his 72nd birthday at his home in Rumson, New Jersey. Cardinal Spellman will perform the last rites at Bowes' home. Those amongst the show's most famous winners were Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. A year after Bowes' death, Ted Mack would revive the Amateur Hour and bring it to television.