FEBRUARY 21, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1951 - Vince Welnik, keyboardist with the Capitol Records band The Tubes and The Grateful Dead, is born in Phoenix, Arizona

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
55 Years Ago Today In 1957 - Buck Owens signs a recording contract with Capitol Records in Los Angeles, California
1966 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' single "Nowhere Man" with "What Goes On" on the flip side
45 Years Ago Today In 1967 - The Beatles record tracks for their song "Fixing A Hole" at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England
1970 - John Ono Lennon's Apple Records single "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)", with Yoko Lennon Ono's "Who Has Seen The Wind?" on the flip side, enters the U.S. Pop singles charts one day after being released and just 26 days after being recorded
25 Years Ago Today In 1987 - Crowded House's Capitol Records single "Don't Dream It's Over", with "That's What I Call Love" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1988 - Tanya Tucker (with with Paul Davis and Paul Overstreet)'s Capitol Records single "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love", with "Heartbreaker" on the flip side, is #1 on the U.S. Country Singles charts
1990 - Bonnie Raitt's Capitol Records album "Nick Of Time" wins the Grammy for Album Of The Year
1990 - Paul McCartney, Polygram, Parlophone, Vee-Jay, Swan, Capitol, Apple, Columbia and Capitol (again) Records artist, is honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards ceremony
5 Years Ago Today In 2007 - Al Viola, mandolin player, guitarist, member of the Page Cavanaugh Trio, session musician for motion pictures (most notably the mandolin solo in the soundtrack for "The Godfather"), and a Capitol Records and Liberty Records session musician at many sessions for Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Zappa and with Bobby Troup, dies of cancer at age 87 at his home in Studio City, California. I was able to talk to Al briefly at Bill Miller's wake in 2006 and he was a very approachable guy and was still performing until late January 2007 at Spazio, a jazz supper club, in Sherman Oaks, California
2011 - Haila Stoddard, actress, Broadway producer as herself and as Bonard Productions which produced in association with Charles Russel the musical "Sail Away" whose original Broadway cast album was distributed by Capitol Records, died of cardiopulmonary arrest at her home in Weston, Connecticut at age 97.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1965 - Gary Lewis and The Playboy's United Artists Records single "This Diamond Ring" is still #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
30 Years Ago Today In 1982 - "Murray The K" Kaufman, disc jockey at Radio WINS in New York City and early United States supporter of The Beatles (aka "The Fifth Beatle"), dies of cancer at age 60 in Los Angeles, California

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
35 Years Ago Today In 1977 - Members of the band KISS have small quantities of their blood taken after their apperance at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York which will later be mixed with the red ink used for the band's pseudo-autobiographical Marvel Comics comic book
2003 - Tom Glazer, singer and songwriter (best known for "On Top of Spaghetti" [1963]) dies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at age 88