Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for April 13th

All Birthdays Edition. Had to.

4/13/1944 - Happy Birthday to Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna bassist John William "Jack" Casady, 73 years old today -- Got an early career boost as bass man for Little Anthony & The Imperials(!) -- Also appeared on The Jimi Hendrix Experience double LP epic "Electric Ladyland" -- His playing on those early Airplane albums was considered groundbreaking at the time as Jack was one of the very first to infuse jazz and raga bass lines into the standard rock format. Cool dude, yes.

4/13/1945 - Born on this date, Lowell George, singer-songwriter-producer-arranger-and-slide-guitar-master who founded the legendary Little Feat -- Began playing guitar at age 11; his finesse and sheer musicality eventually landed him gigs with The Standells (of "Dirty Water" fame) as well as Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention (Lowell's all over their 1970 classic "Weasels Ripped My Flesh") -- But it was his stint as main man for Little Feat that earned him cult hero status -- Ya can't go wrong with any of the Feat releases on Warner Bros. with the 1,2,3 punch of "Sailin' Shoes" (1972), "Dixie Chicken" (1973) and "Feat's Don't Fail Me Now" (1974) providing the best examples of what Lowell truly excelled at. Oh, and 1978's "Waiting For Columbus" remains one of the greatest live sets in the history of music, period. Lowell passed away from a heart attack (brought on by an accidental drug overdose) on June 29, 1979 -- he was only 34 years old. Yeah, we love (and miss) Lowell George very much.

4/13/1951 - Happy Birthday to E Street drummer Max Weinberg, 66 years old today -- Notorious session work includes Meat Loaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" album, Ian Hunter's legendary "You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic" and {weird fact here} in 1983, Max was featured on both the Number One and Number Two songs on the Billboard Hot 100, Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The  Heart" and "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply(!!!) -- Led the band on Conan O'Brien's late night TV show for many years as well. More than reliable.

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"We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks...", xoxo!