Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for Rocktober 30th

Today you got a must-have piece of real psychedelic vinyl, and a couple of singers who could not be more different from each other sharing a birthday...

10/301971 (44 years ago today) - Just in time for Halloween!: Pink Floyd release their sixth studio LP "Meddle", which opens with the classic eerie/creepy instrumental "One Of These Days" and features the unbelievable 23-minute spooky epic "Echoes" (which takes up all of Side 2!). The weird photo on the cover, taken by Floyd pal Bob Dowling, was an image of an ear, underwater, collecting waves of sound represented by ripples in the water. Far-out, man...

10/30/1939 - Happy Birthday Grace Slick, 76 years old today. Born Grace Barnett Wing in Highland Park, Illinois; her family moved to the San Francisco area in the late 1950's and it wouldn't take long for Grace to find her calling. After a brief stint in modeling, she joined a band -- The Great Society, in August 1965 --  for whom she composed and performed the classic "White Rabbit". Before the year was out, Jack Casady of the up-and-coming Jefferson Airplane asked Grace to replace their just-departed female singer; this "new" line-up of the Airplane then goes in to record the infamous and perfect psychedelic classic album "Surrealistic Pillow", and it's rock history from this moment on. In 1969 the band appears live on The Dick Cavett Show and Grace becomes the first person to say "motherf---er" on TV during a performance of "We Can Be Together". Can't say Grace ever cared what anybody thought of her, like a true icon should...

10/30/1947 - Happy Birthday to guitarist/bassist/songwriter-and-underappreciated vocalist Timothy B. Schmit, 68 years old today. Born in Oakland, California, Tim began performing professionally at age 15 with his first band, the folk trio Tim, Tom & Ron. By 1970, he'd become a full-fledged member of Poco ("Good Feelin' To Know") and then joined The Eagles in 1977 on the "Hotel California" tour. Tim's talents as a musician had long been in demand -- his vocals are on Firefall's biggest hit, 1977's "Just Remember I Love You", and he played bass and provided vocal work on Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic", "The Royal Scam" and "Aja" albums. So a good guy to have around, apparently. But just because his contributions are on the subtle side, don't take Tim for granted as he's quietly done some excellent solo stuff, too; his fifth album in particular, "Expando" (released in 2009) is a completely overlooked gem! He can play on our album...

What do you think of the Calendar? Let us know here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"Every time I try to walk away/Something makes me turn around and stay...", xoxo!