Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for Rocktober 5th

The Man In Black and Jimi makin' a little history today; plus a b'day for the singer of a band we absolutely love, love, love, and that no one else seems to understand or care about -- just how we like it!!!

10/5/1965 (51 years ago today) - From the "Sounds About Right" Dept.: While crossing the Mexican border into El Paso, Texas, Johnny Cash is arrested when the customs mucky-mucks discover hundreds of whose-knows-what-kinda-pills in his guitar case. With a bit of help from the fact that his album release at the time, the classic "Orange Blossom Special", was doing pretty well amidst the mania of the British Invasion groups, J.C. manages to get off with a suspended sentence and a $1,000 fine.

10/5/1966 (50 years ago today) - Once again, we make a plea for that Time Machine...: The location? London, England, and this date marks the occasion of the very first time Jimi Hendrix played with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding -- if music can part the heavens and move mountains, well kids, then we're also pretty sure that something like that had to have happened: The Jimi Hendrix Experience is born!

10/5/1948 - Happy Birthday to Russell Mael, the incredibly talented and criminally underrated lead vocalist for Sparks, 68 years old today. Along with brother Ron on keyboards, Sparks have been consistently churning out some of the most provocative-and-more-than-occasionally-indescribable rock albums of any band that's ever been! You either have known about 'em since the mid-1970's and still love 'em today, or you've never been a fan and (we know) you're not going to become one now. Must-have LPs include the legendary over-the-top/three-in-a-row releases on the Island label, so bizarre, so much fun: "Kimono My House" and "Propaganda" (unbelievably, both from 1974!) and "Indiscreet" (1975, and still doesn't sound like anything else) -- excessively weird beyond belief (almost), and as sharp as it gets, whatever it is...

Share your head scratchin' with the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"As twenty cannibals have hold of you/They need their protein just like you do...", xoxo!