Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for December 15th

1, 2, 3, 4...make that 5  birthdays we love to celebrate today!

12/15/1919 - Born on this day, Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock farm where the legendary 1969 festival took place. Max suffered a heart attack on February 8, 1973; he was just 53 when he died. Could not have had that culture shift without him...

12/15/1922 - Born on this day, Alan Freed, arguably the most influential American radio DJ ever! His "Moondog Show" in the 1950's was the very first of its kind, mixing blues, Country & Western and R&B in ways that had never been done on-the-air before -- The payola scandal of the 1960's unfortunately diminished his contributions, no doubt about it, but it was Alan who came up with the phrase "rock and roll" and paved the way for everything that followed, he really did kick the doors down! Alcoholism contributed to his early death at age 43 on February 20, 1965.

12/15/1942 - Happy Birthday to drummer-producer-singer-songwriter and artist-rights-publishing-pioneer Dave Clark, 75 years old today -- In a recent interview, none other than Bruce Springsteen was quoted as saying that all he ever really wanted was for his records to sound as good as The Dave Clark Five's "Glad All Over". And there you have it...

12/15/1946 - Another classic rock drummer celebrating a birthday today: Carmine Appice turns 71 -- After co-founding the underrated Vanilla Fudge in the Sixties, Carmine went on to establish himself as one of the premier go-to-drummer-dudes, recording and touring with Jeff Beck, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, Rick Derringer, Paul Stanley and Rod Stewart, plus some interesting and kind've out-there jazz-prog stuff with the likes of Stanley Clarke and Jan Akkerman! Of note: that's Carmine playing drums on the Pink Floyd track "Dogs Of War" from "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason"...

12/15/1955 - Happy Birthday to Paul Simonon, bass player and one of the founding members of The Clash (that's Paul smashing his Fender bass on the cover of the classic "London Calling" LP), 62 years old today. Paul most recently has worked with the ultra-talented and utterly unpredictable Damon Albarn on the Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen projects; also has quite a regarded reputation as a painter, with several exhibitions in London and Europe to his credit. So, cool then...

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

"Now you say it was just a game...", xoxo!