April 11
1961
Bob Dylan just 19 years old at the time, debuts as a solo artist opening for John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City in New York. Amazingly, a recording of that historic moments exists.
1966
NBC pulls the plug on Hullabaloo. Aimed at competing with ABC’s Shindig!, it came on the air a year after its competition. Hullabaloo concentrated on the hits, was in color and often had featured artists doing other acts hit even if they were on the same show.
1966
Okay, let’s clean this up. Calling it, “a piece of sh**” and “the worst f***ing song that I have ever heard”, Frank Sinatra still records “Strangers in the Night” at United Recording in Hollywood. Word is he adlibbed the “dooby dooby doo” part at the end.
1988
Neil Young lashes out at the marketing of art and corporate music with “This Note’s for You”. The video features a lookalike of Spuds McKenzie, the famed marketing mutt that sold a whole lot of beer.
2017
Yet another loss as J.Geils, whose band gave us “Freeze Frame” and “Centerfold”, is found dead at the age of 71. He died of natural causes.
