Rock on Broadway? -- It all starts today for Pink Floyd... -- The tragic loss of a Southern rock legend...

Live 8 London - Stage
David Gilmour; Pink Floyd performing at Live 8, London, July 2005. (Photo: MJ Kim/Getty Images)
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4/28/1968 (48 years ago today) - If you're one of those theater purists who don't believe that Broadway stages are meant for rock and roll, well, the blame starts right here: "Hair" opens at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City. The self-billed "American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" featured future classics "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In", "Easy To Be Hard", "Good Morning Starshine" and the title song. Diane Keaton was part of the original cast! The production ran for 1,729 performances, not closing until July 1st, 1972.

4/28/1973 (43 years ago today) - Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon" album goes to No. 1, just the beginning of a record-breaking 741 weeks on the Billboard chart, with sales currently at 45 million and counting. After moving to Billboard's Top Pop Catalog chart, the LP notched up another 759 weeks; when you combine the two, "Dark Side" exceeded over 1,500 weeks on the sales charts. Flat-out astonishing. And it continues to sell, year in, year out. An actual classic, then...

4/28/1980 (36 years ago today) - The charismatic bassist and backing vocalist of The Marshall Tucker Band, the extremely gifted Tommy Caldwell, died from injuries he suffered in a horrific car accident a week earlier in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina; he was only 30 years old. If you didn't know...: The key to the band's warehouse rehearsal space was inscribed with the name "Marshall Tucker" -- that's how they came about calling themselves by that moniker. Turns out, Marshall Tucker was an actual person, a blind piano tuner, who had rented the space before the band!

Share your thoughts on the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"Here, baby/There, momma/Everywhere, daddy, daddy...", xoxo!

 

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