Britain’s number one single today in 1972:

On the same day, the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival was held on Bull Island in the Wabash River between Illinois and Indiana. The festival attracted four times the projected number of fans, three fans drowned in the Wabash River, and the remaining crowd ended the festival by burning down the stage:

And all that was without bands that were scheduled to appear but didn’t, including the Allman Brothers, Black Sabbath, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac, Nazareth, Bob Seger and Slade. (Maybe they knew something.) To no one’s surprise, there were no Erie Canal Soda Pop Festivals thereafter.

Birthdays begin with Hugo Montenegro, who had a couple instrumental hits in the 1960s:

One-hit wonder Bobby Purify:

Joe Simon …

… was born the same day as Rosalind Ashford of Martha and the Vandellas:

Billy Preston:

Mik Kaminski played violin for the Electric Light Orchestra:

Steve Porcaro of Toto:

Jerry Augustyniak, one of the 10,000 Maniacs:

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