April 23 1991 One of the original New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, is found dead of a drug overdose.  Born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. he renamed himself after a comic…

April 22 1959 Alan Freed’s last film, Go Johnny Go, premieres starring Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran,  and The Flamingos. 1972 “Human Kindness Day” draws 25,000 the Washington Mall, in…

April 21 1960 The Congressional committee investigating the payola scandal hears from Dick Clark who admits he had a financial interest in 27 percent of the records he played on…

April 20 1976 A great fan of the comedy troupe, George Harrison joins Monty Python onstage in New York to sing “The Lumberjack Song.” 1991 Former Small faces and Humble…

We present this second of a two part series on Steve Traina and his new book, La Cave: Cleveland’s Legendary Music Club and the ‘60s Folk-to-Rock Revolution. Steve took on…

April 19 1959    A song that was recorded when Dolly Parton was just eleven years old, “Puppy Love” is released by Goldband Records and flops.  Nothing really happens for…

April 18 1957 Buddy Knox  hit with the song “Party Doll” when he got called up for six months of active duty with the US Army Reserve. Roulette Records rushed…

April 17 1960 A freak traffic accident claims the life Eddie Cochran when the taxi he was riding blew a tire and hit a lamp post. Best known for “Summertime…

April 16 1969 This will not help sales.  Elektra Records drops Detroit’s MC5 after the band takes out an ad in a local paper with the company logo and reads…

April 15 1956 Mitch Miller made it clear that he hated rock and roll.  He carried a lot of weight in the business as music director at Columbia Records, but…