Jimmy Page Hits #1(But Not With Zep), Plus…

...wait till you see who's in the super-group called Trading Faces (playing birthday parties!), and a very influential blues legend born this date (one of Eric Clapton's heroes, that's all). Here's your Thursday Coffee Break Calendar...

9/03/1966 (54 years ago today) - Donovan goes to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. singles chart with the psychedelic classic "Sunshine Superman" featuring then-with-The Yardbirds axeman Jimmy Page on lead guitar! The song was written by Donovan for his future wife Linda Lawrence; meanwhile, the idea of Led Zeppelin was out there...somewhere...

9/03/1975 (45 years ago today) - British actor-comedian Peter Sellers celebrates his 50th birthday with a bona-fide rock 'n' roll party in L.A., and the band that entertains the crowd positively kills it: They call themselves The Trading Faces, and let's see, from The Rolling Stones there's Bill Wyman on bass and Ronnie Wood on guitar, Joe Cocker does lead vocals, Keith Moon from The Who and Nigel Olsson from Elton John's band on drums and keyboards, saxophones are handled by David Bowie and Stones-man Bobby Keys, with additional guitars courtesy of Danny Kortchmar and Jesse Ed Davis who have played with everyone from John Lennon, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and beyond. We say, hey, if you're gonna throw a birthday bash, you may as well go all in...

9/03/1934 - It's the birthday of one of "The Three Kings" of electric blues guitar: there's Albert King, B.B. King, and born on this date, the legendary Freddie King -- In the early 1960's, it was Freddie's albums on the Federal record label that Jerry Garcia and Stevie Ray Vaughan pointed out as having a huge influence on the way they learned to play -- Meanwhile, over in England, Eric Clapton and Peter Green were really paying attention; Eric would go on to record Freddie's "Hide Away" (with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" (with Derek & The Dominoes). Freddie also earned some much respected notoriety by going on tour with one of the first multi-racial backing bands in the U.S.; passed away December 28, 1976, age 42; inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2012. We suggest picking up his 1961 classic "Let's Hide Away And Dance Away With Freddy King" for your next socially-distanced-approved-get-together and watch what happens...

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

"I'll pick up your hand and slowly blow your little mind...", xoxo!