Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for April 3rd

A beyond-impressive Elvis stat... -- When The Space Cowboy played with matches... -- One of the many reasons The Band was legendary...

4/3/1956 (64 years ago today) - At the time, it was estimated that one out of every four Americans watched this broadcast: Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV's "The Milton Berle Show", which was being transmitted live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego -- Elvis performed "Heartbreak Hotel", "Shake, Rattle And Roll" and "Blue Suede Shoes"; the future was wide open indeed...

4/3/1975 (45 years ago today) - Some people call him "Maurice"...: Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of his friend, the lovely Benita Diorio. Seems that when the fuzz-ola arrived at The Gangster of Love's residence, Ms. Benita was anxiously trying to put the flames out -- Well, of course it only takes a couple of minutes for Steve to get disgruntled with the authorities; he pretty much starts a fight with one of the officers when he refuses to be hand-cuffed, so the cops charge him with "resisting arrest" and escort him to the back seat of their cruiser. See, he is a lover and a sinner!

4/3/1943 - Born on this date, Richard Manuel, composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist; best known as pianist for The Band during their peak years between 1967 and '76 -- Co-wrote The Band classic "Tears Of Rage" with Bob Dylan -- Despite genuine talent and a fantastic, emotional singing voice, years of alcohol and drug use ultimately took their toll and sadly, on March 4, 1986, after performing at a Band "re-union" gig in Winter Park, Florida, Richard committed suicide by hanging himself in his hotel room; he was 42.

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"We're so alone/And life is brief...", xoxo!