With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Today would have been the 80th birthday of Jerry Goldsmith who created the music for some classic TV series (Star Trek, Planet Of The Apes, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Dr Kildare and the Waltons “G’night Jerry Boy!”). He died on July 21st 2004 from cancer aged 75. His film scores were nominated 18 times for Oscars, but he only won one, for “The Omen” So I will use this to show the long gone opening sequence to “The Man From U.N.C.L.E” Enjoy!

Jerry conducting

It is Roberta Flack’s 72nd birthday. She was born in 1937 in Black Mountain in the US, we just don’t have place names like that in the UK do we? What do we get? Slough, Grimsby and ………. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. How about “is This The Way To Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch”anyone?
Thanks to it’s use in the Clint Eastwood movie “Play Misty For Me” Flack’s version of the Ewan MacColl’s song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” became a massive hit in 1972 and remained at the top of the US charts for 6 weeks. It was the longest run at the top of the US charts for a female singer since 1956 (That was “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant). It went on to sell more than 2 million copies. Incidentally fact fans Ewan MacColl is the late great Kirsty MacColl’s Dad. Roberta was also credited as producer of her second album “Feel Like Makin’ Love” (don’t we all?) she used a great pseudonym, Rubina Flake.

On this day in 1972 David Bowie appeared at the Tolworth Toby Jug (It doesn’t really have the same ring as Carnegie Hall New York does it?) in London on the opening date of the Ziggy Stardust tour. Actually might have been the first official date but I seem to recall that he and the Spiders played a tour warm up gig at Friars in Aylesbury. Incidentally he played Carnegie Hall later that year, it was his first ever New York gig and it was a sell out.
I really wanted to see Mr Bowie on that tour when it came back to the UK in 1973. It would have been my first ever gig too. In fact the gig I might have gone to was to be the final Ziggy show “This is not only the last show of this tour, it’s also the last show we’ll ever do” was what he said that night. Anyway I wasn’t allowed to see Bowie as my Dad said he’s too bloody weird. In the end I did see my first gig later in 1973 it was the Jackson 5. Shortly before my Dad died in 2001 we had a rather amusing conversation about this in the sense of who turned out to be the most weird in the end? Clearly Jacko hands down (but down what exactly?) in my opinion. In the meantime check out The Dame himself singing the Jaques Brel song “My Death” at that last ever Ziggy gig.

Weird? Well maybe my Dad had a point in those days LOL

On this day in 1977 The Clash began recording their first album at the CBS studios in London. It took just three weekends to record the 14 tracks, it was released in April that year. It’s probably still my favourite album from the punk period alongside “Never Mind The Bollocks” from the Sex Pistols. Following the albums release they embarked on the short lived “White Riot” tour, which started on 1st May and ended on 29th May. The support bands were the Jam and the Buzzcocks

Good cover, but I prefer the "London Calling" cover personally

And finally on this day in 1942 Glenn Miller became the first person to be awarded a Gold Disc for 1.2 million sales of “Chattanooga Choo Choo”. It was the number one song in the USA 7th December 1941 the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The song has often been the subject of what now seems a very old and tired and widely varied joke (like most of mine I hear you cry!), which makes a play on the lyrics, “Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?” Rather than those words, the man walking with Roy Rogers says, “Pardon me Roy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes?”