Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for July 25th
7/25/1965 (54 years ago today) - Was the crowd hostile because he abandoned his folk roots or was it due to really poor sound quality? Well, history says, it was likely a little of both: Tonight is the night Bob Dylan went electric for his headlining set at The Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island -- Backed by The Butterfield Blues Band (featuring the fantastic Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar), Bob was roundly booed by the folk music purists who felt betrayed, while some in the audience gave him an enthusiastic response! Which brings us to where's the "Wayback Machine" when you really need it?...
7/25/1969 (50 years ago today) - The truth is he was only asked to just help out with some live stuff...: This evening marks the first appearance by Neil Young on stage with Crosby, Stills and Nash -- The gig is at the Fillmore East in N.Y.C., and at the time, not one of the artists involved ever considered it to be what it was: the official start of a feisty 40-year on-again/off-again artistic battleground. Pretty much the definition of "It is what it is", we say...
7/25/1970 (49 years ago today) - Say what you will, the girl could sing!: "Close To You" by The Carpenters starts four weeks at No. 1, the first of three chart topping singles for the saccharine brother and sister MOR legends -- They were beyond wildly successful (especially when you consider how they were going against the 'artistic grain of the times') and would proceed to score another 17 Top Ten hits, all of 'em selling in the million-millions!! This one was written by the legendary team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David back in 1963; "Close To You" was originally offered to Herb Alpert who turned it down because he loathed the line "so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair..." -- Stats don't lie: Burt composed no less than 28 Top Ten classics between 1958 and 1986. Karen Carpenter's fate was a much sadder story...
Share your "hate-to-admit-it, but's" with the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.
"Why do birds suddenly appear/Every time you are near?...", xoxo!
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