Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for May 20th

Today, The Who fight, The Beatles roll, and we remember a legendary singer born this date...

5/20/1966 (49 years ago today) - This incident makes sibling rivalry stories look tame: Very tired and pissed-off while waiting and waiting and...waiting some more for Who band mates Keith Moon and John Entwistle to arrive for a performance at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey get fed up and decide to go ahead and start the gig without 'em, enlisting the help of the drummer and bassist of the local band that opened the show! Of course they're right in the middle of the set when Moon and Entwistle finally arrive and it's their turn to get pissed off. You know it: a fight breaks out onstage with Townshend infamously smashing his guitar on Moon's head! Keith and Entwistle quit, then rejoin a week later.

5/20/1968  (47 years ago today) - The Fab Four are in go-mode: They've got loads of new material to try out and The Beatles waste no time upon their return from India, getting together at George Harrison's house where there's a brand-new 4-track recorder ready and waiting -- they tape 23 new songs, most of them winding up on "The White Album" and "Abbey Road". Hard to believe the break-up was on its way when you look at the strength of the material they recorded in just a couple of days -- they breezily knock out demo versions of "Revolution", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Blackbird", "Cry Baby Cry", and an unfinished piece by John titled "Child Of Nature" which would wind up (in its finished version) as "Jealous Guy" on his solo "Imagine" LP.

5/20/1944 - Born this date in Sheffield, England, the truly gifted John Robert "Joe" Cocker: a fantastically gritty voice combined with spastic body movements while performing led to Joe's breakthrough performance at Woodstock. Best known for fiery cover versions of other artists material (especially The Beatles), Joe also had bona-fide rock royalty backing him up, most notably on his classic Sixties albums (which featured Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood and Procol Harum) and the super-cool "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour with a backing band starring Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, and members of Derek and the Dominoes, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, The Mothers and even The Stones' horn section!. Nice!!! Joe lost his battle with cancer on December 22, 2014, at his home in Crawford, Colorado.

Got any thoughts on the Calendar? Please share right here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"Can you take me back where I came from?/Brother can you take me back?...", xoxo!