Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for May 3rd

A really bad idea for a tour... -- One of Detroit's best ever sits on top! -- An actual American music icon to remember on his birthday...

5/3/1968 (50 years ago today) - The Beach Boys begin a tour of the U.S., only this time around it's with none other than the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi getting equal billing as their co-headliner! Here's how (bizarrely) it was set up: The Beach Boys performed first(!?!?), then the Maharishi would come on and proceed to lecture the fans on "spiritual regeneration". You can guess what happens; audience reactions were so over-the-top negative that more than half of the scheduled tour dates had to be cancelled. Buh-bye...

5/3/1980 (38 years ago today) - It is a pretty solid record, from start-to-finish...: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band kick off six weeks at No. 1 with the "Against The Wind" LP -- The track listing is practically a Greatest Hits compilation: in addition to the title track, there's "Her Strut", "Fire Lake", "You'll Accompany Me", "Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight", "Shinin' Brightly", making this album one of Bob's very best. Not only did it go on to win two Grammys, but it had the distinction of knocking Pink Floyd's "The Wall" out of the No. 1 spot on the chart! Take that, Brits!

5/3/1933 - Born on this date, the incomparable 'Soul Brother Number One', singer-songwriter-activist-record-producer-dance-band-leader and the undisputed founding father of funk, let's give it up for the utterly fantastic James Brown! "Please, Please, Please", "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)", "It's A Man's Man's Man's World", "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine", "Night Train", "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" -- In a career than spanned six decades, there's no question of JB's influence on soulful (and bluesy) funk rock; The "Godfather Of Soul" continued to perform and record right up until his death (from pneumonia and congestive heart failure) on Christmas Day, 2006. He was 73 years old, one-of-a-kind, and completely irreplaceable.

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

"And I feel nice/Like sugar and spice...", xoxo!