Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for February 11th

The Fab Four act as their own roadies! -- The Monkees do a big jump! -- Another installment of "Remembering those who also served..."

2/11/1964 (56 years ago today) - The Beatles made their U.S. live concert debut playing an eleven-song set at the Washington Coliseum -- How about the 350 police officers that were needed (for what many of them regarded as baby-sitting duty) to surround the stage in an effort to maintain some sort of order amidst the near psychotic screaming chaos of over 8,000 fans (most of them young teenage girls, but of course...) -- One officer found the noise so loud he was forced to stick a bullet in each ear to use as ear plugs! -- Weird but true: John, Paul and George had to stop in between songs on three different occasions in order to turn Ringo's drum kit around and then re-position their microphones so they could face a different section of the audience...

2/11/1969 (51 years ago today) - This was the one with "I'm A Believer" and "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone", so here they come, etc.: The Monkees made album chart history when their second album, "More Of The Monkees", took quite the leap from being in the No. 122 position last week and going all the way up to No. 1 on this date! It remained in the top spot for eighteen weeks, so now everybody gotta say "Yowza!!!"...

2/11/2009 (11 years ago today) - Lest we forget...: Props for Ronettes singer Estelle Bennett, who passed away at her home in Englewood, N.J.; she was 67 years old -- Estelle was actually the older sister of Victoria Bennett, better known as Ronnie Spector -- It was Ronnie who took most of the lead vocal duties on The Ronettes magnificent run of classic singles that they made with {whackadoodle} producer Phil Spector, and the tracks remain absolutely amazing and perfect:  "Be By Baby", "Baby, I Love You" (later covered, somewhat oddly, by The Ramones), "Walking In The Rain", "(The Best Part Of) Breaking Up", even all these years later, still capable of inducing heaven-sent goose-bumps. Truly fantastic stuff. The Ronettes, by the way, were the only girl group ever to tour with The Beatles; they were inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame back in 2007.

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

"For every kiss you give me/I'll give you three...", xoxo!