Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for January 31st

The Beatles were in color for a reason... -- Didn't know this No. 1 was a cover, duh... -- Wicked cool guitarist birthday today...

1/31/1967 (52 years ago today) - The Beatles embark on their second day of shooting the promotional film for the upcoming "Strawberry Fields Forever" single at Knole Park in Kent, England -- Two cool factoids: (1) The video was shot in color for the benefit of the U.S. market; at the time, television in the U.K. was still broadcasting only in black and white(!); (2) During a break for lunch, John Lennon went shopping and purchased a poster from 1843 at an antiques shop which provided him with most of the lyrics for the Sgt. Pepper track "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite"...

1/31/1980 (39 years ago today) - Blondie score the third of what would be a total of four Number One singles for 'em when "The Tide Is High" goes to top spot on the Billboard chart -- The song was first recorded in 1966 by The Paragons, a ska/rock-steady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, and was written by band member John Holt -- By the by (for those of you wondering...), Blondie's other No. 1's were "Heart Of Glass" (1979), "Call Me" (also 1980), and "Rapture" (1981, and arguably the first chart-topper featuring a rap).

1/31/1951 - Happy Birthday to Roxy Music founding member and well-established guitar wiz Phil Manzanera, 68 years old today -- The future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer most recently has been working with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour in the studio and on tour (Phil co-produced and played on Gilmour's ridiculously overlooked solo album "On An Island" back in 2006), but for the true "Wowza!!!" factor at just how awesome he really is, drop the needle anywhere on classic Roxy albums "Stranded" (1973), "Country Life" (1974) or "Avalon" (1982). Another amazingly under-appreciated talent for sure...

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

"Living is easy with eyes closed...", xoxo!