Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for November 9th

Legendary publication is almost...50 years old?!?! -- Props for a uniquely talented woman artist -- and a late 1950's single gets in the record books (hey, a pun!)...

11/9/1958 (57 years ago today) - Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" exceeds three million copies sold in the U.S.A., becoming only the third 45 to do so! The other two? Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Gene Autry.

11/9/1967 (48 years ago today) - First published in San Francisco: John Lennon is on the cover of the debut issue of Rolling Stone, wearing Army fatigues while acting in the film "How I Won The War". The name of the magazine was a mix of three significant counter-culture sources at the time: the Muddy Waters song, Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", and...The Rolling Stones themselves, of course. Interesting factoid: This first issue also came with a free roach clip! 

11/9/2008 (7 years ago today) - She's really worth looking up, trust us: Miriam Makeba passed away from a heart attack at the age of 76. In the 1960's she was the first artist from Africa to popularize that country's music all around the world; her best known song was "Pata Pata" which went to No. 12 here in America in 1967. Among her many notable achievements was becoming the first African woman to win a Grammy (Best Folk Recording in 1966 with Harry Belafonte for "An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba"), as well as touring with with ex-husband Hugh Masakela and later on with Paul Simon. Ahead of her time politically, too -- Miriam campaigned against the South African system of apartheid (about twenty-plus years before Bono and Little Steven) and the South African government responded by revoking her passport in 1960 and her citizenship and right to return in 1963, the year she released her landmark work "The World Of Miriam Makeba", probably the first recorded attempt to showcase what's become known as "world music". So, basically, she was fantastic!

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"The dance keeps going all night long/Till the morning sun begins to shine...", xoxo!