Imagine having tickets to this concert at the National Guard Armory in Amory, Miss., today in 1955: Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley:
Today in 1957, while Jerry Lee Lewis secretly married his 13-year-old second cousin (while he was still married — three taboos in one!), Al Priddy, a DJ on KEX in Portland, was fired for playing Presley’s version of “White Christmas,” on the ground that “it’s not in the spirit we associate with Christmas.”
The number one album today in 1961 was Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii” …
… while the number one single was a request:
Today in 1968, filming began for the Rolling Stones movie “Rock and Roll Circus,” featuring, in addition to the group, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The Who, Eric Clapton and Jethro Tull, plus clowns and acrobats.
The film was released in 1996. (That is not a typo.)
Today in 1959, the four members of the Platters, who had been arrested in Cincinnati Aug. 10 on drug and prostitution charges, were acquitted.
Still, unlike perhaps today, the acquittal didn’t undo the damage the charges caused to the group’s career.
U2’s Bono is an interesting guy in the music world.
He’s not a conservative, but he admits that capitalism helps poor people improve their lives better than government (or what serves for government in the Third World).
So his comments reported by the Independent Journal about ISIS are worth considering:
In recent weeks, many different strategies for defeating ISIS have been proposed. Russia and France (among others) have engaged in airstrikes. President Obama has suggested more “gun control.”
U2’s Bono and the Edge? “Music.”
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Bono and the Edge sat down to discuss their dedication to returning to Paris as a venue, despite the fact that a rock concert was so recently the target of a horrific attack.
Zakaria mentioned the Paris resident who, following the attack at the Bataclan, dragged a piano out into the streets and began to play John Lennon’s “Imagine.” He asked if Bono felt that music was a proper response to terrorism. Bono explained:
“That’s poetry in music, and humor…
All fascists are afraid of humor. That’s why Hitler outlawed the dadaists, the surrealists. Violence is their language.”
He then addressed the philosophical side of the issue:
“Think about the idea of outlawing music. A child sings before it can speak. It’s the very essence of our humanity.”
And he added a few words of caution for Americans:
“If you only take Christian refugees… this is not the American idea. I’m always reminding people that America is not just a country – it’s an idea.
If they change the nature of the United States and the way people think and the pluralism and inclusiveness, then they win.”
The Edge added his perspective as well:
“Everything that we hold dear seemed to be the target.
And France, the birthplace of the enlightenment movement, which gave birth to America. It’s like the place where the modern Western world was born.”
And he added the historical significance:
“There have only been a few movements that have targeted music specifically. The Taliban banned music, and during Mao’s cultural revolution some music was banned.
We think of music as the sound of freedom. We think that rock and roll has a part to play.
Defiance. Resistance, as it were.”
U2, after canceling a performance immediately following the attacks on the Bataclan and surrounding areas, returns to Paris for back to back concerts December 6th and 7th. They are determined to be a part of that “spirit of defiance,” said Bono:
“[ISIS] is not trying to take lives. They’re trying to take away our way of life.
They’re a death cult. We are a life cult.”
And ticket sales indicate that Paris is ready to embrace U2 and the music Bono referred to as “defiant joy” – all but 300 seats were sold to the rescheduled shows in a city still reeling from the effects of a terror attack.
Even if you don’t agree with all of their analysis, most of it is correct. Certainly if humor includes ridicule, humor is a useful weapon against ISIS. Whether or not they are legitimate, every video that shows a terrorist blowing up himself by accident deserves to go viral. (As observed by someone decades ago, comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else.)
No war is ever won merely by bombs and soldiers. World War II, for instance, required not just the military defeat of Germany and Japan, but, in Japan’s case, the elimination of the militaristic facets of their culture, and in Germany’s case the elimination of the Nazi culture. That takes decades in some cases. The last thing that pushed the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries into the dustbin of history was the fall of the Berlin Wall, pushed there by young East Germans wanting to live in the more prosperous and more free West.
Donald Trump has been wrongly advocating for the elimination of Muslim immigration. (The fact that Jimmy Carter stopped Iranian immigration during the Iran hostage crisis proves only that two wrongs don’t make successful strategy.) Were Trump serious about the cultural war between radical Islam and our culture, he would have gone to Paris (unlike the other presidential candidates, he certainly can afford the trip) for the U2 concerts and demonstrated to the world that he’s not afraid of radical Islam.
Wars are not won by hiding in your bunker and fencing yourself off.
Imagine having the opportunity to see Johnny Cash, with Elvis Presley his opening act, in concert at a high school. The concert was at Arkansas High School in Swifton, Ark., today in 1955:
Today in 1961, the Beatles played a concert at the Palais Ballroom in Aldershot, Great Britain. Because the local newspaper wouldn’t accept the promoter’s check for advertising, the concert wasn’t publicized, and attendance totaled 18.
After the concert, the Beatles reportedly were ordered out of town by local police due to their rowdiness.
That, however, doesn’t compare to what happened in New Haven, Conn., today in 1967. Before the Doors concert in the New Haven Arena, a policeman discovered singer Jim Morrison making out in a backstage shower with an 18-year-old girl.
The officer, unaware that he had discovered the lead singer of the concert, told Morrison and the woman to leave. After an argument, in which Morrison told the officer to “eat it,” the officer sprayed Morrison and his new friend with Mace. The concert was delayed one hour while Morrison recovered.
Halfway through the first set, Morrison decided to express his opinion about the New Haven police, daring them to arrest him. They did, on charges of inciting a riot, public obscenity and decency. The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.
The number one album today in 1972 was the Moody Blues’ “Seventh Sojourn”:
The number one single today in 1978:
Today in 1988, a poll was released on the subject of the best background music for sex. Number three was Luther Vandross …
… number two was Beethoven …
… and number one was Neil Diamond.
Neil Diamond?
The number one single today in 1989:
Today in 2003, Ozzy Osbourne crashed his ATV at his home, breaking his collarbone, eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck.
Birthdays begin with Sam Strain of the Imperials and the O’Jays:
Joan Armatrading:
Jack Sonni of Dire Straits:
Nick Seymour played bass for Crowded House:
Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers:
Zak Foley of EMF:
Today in 1940, the first NFL championship game was broadcast nationally on Mutual radio. Before long, Mutual announcer Red Barber probably wondered why they’d bothered.
Today in 1963, Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe hotel. He was released two days later after his father paid $240,000 ransom. The kidnappers were arrested and sentenced to prison.
The top selling 8-track today in 1971:
The number one British album today in 1963 will be at number one for 21 weeks — “Meet the Beatles”:
The number one single here today in 1963 certainly was not a traditional pop song:
Today in 1967, Otis Redding recorded a song before heading on a concert tour that included Madison:
The number one British album today in 1968 was the Beatles’ “White Album”:
The number one British single today in 1974 was originally a country song:
See the comment from 1963 about the number one single today in 1974:
The number one song today in 1985:
The number one British song today in 1991:
The number one album today in 1991 was U2’s “Achtung Baby”:
The number one single today in 2003:
Only one birthday of note today: Tom Waits, whose voice was described as “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car” makes him better known as writing for others:
The number one British single today in 1967:
Today in 1968, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra backed The Doors for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS:
The number one single today in 1969:
On that day, a free festival in Altamont, Calif., featured the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
The number one album today in 1960 was Elvis Presley’s “G.I. Blues” …
… which is probably unrelated to what Beatles Paul McCartney and Pete Best did in West Germany that day: They were arrested for pinning a condom to a brick wall and igniting it. Their sentence was deportation.
The number one single today in 1964:
The number one single today in 1965 wasn’t a single:
The number one British single today in 1981:
The number one British single today in 2004 was a remake of the original:
The number one British album today in 2004 was U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”:
So who shares a birthday with our youngest son? “Little Richard” Penniman:
Eduardo Delgado of ? and the Mysterians:
Jim Messina of Buffalo Springfield and Loggins and Messina:
Jack Russell of Great White …
… was born the same day as Les Nemes of Haircut 100:
Two deaths of note today: Doug Hopkins, cofounder of the Gin Blossoms, in 1993 …
… and in 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Imagine being a fly on the wall at Sun Studios in Memphis today in 1956, and listening to the Million Dollar Jam Session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.
The number one single today in 1965:
The number one British album today in 1971 was Led Zeppelin’s ” 
“, alternatively known as “Four Symbols” or “IV” …
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 