Today in Rock n Roll History

1967: Pink Floyd completed recording of their debut single Arnold Layne with producer Joe Boyd at EMI Studios in London.

1970: Jefferson Airplane was fine $1,000 for obscenity during a concert in Oklahoma City for using profanity onstage.

1971: Janis Joplin posthumously reached the topped of the Billboard 200 album chart for the first of nine consecutive weeks with her album Pearl.

1974: Cher filed for divorce from Sonny Bono. Cher had married Gregg Allman from The Allman Brothers band on 27th June 1975.

1977: Not a good day for Keith Richards. While sleeping at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hotel he’s awakened by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who search the suite. They find 22 grams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine, and drug paraphernalia. The Rolling Stones guitarist is arrested and charged with possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to traffic. He’s released on $25,000 bail and trial is set for October. Charges were later reduced to simple possession of heroin & given a suspended sentence probation for a year & orders to continue rehab & perform a concert on behalf of the CNIB.

1991: James Brown was released from prison on an early parole in Columbia, SC after serving two years of a six year sentence for a high-speed car chase through two states.

1994: Enigma went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Cross Of Changes.’

1998: Motley Crue singer Vince Neil reached an agreement with Vivid Video & the Internet Entertainment Group to distribute a sex tape featuring Neil & two adult film models during a 1992 vacation in Hawaii.

2001: Returning home after a 46-year absence guitarist Carlos Santana unveils a plaque in Autlan De Navarro declaring him the “favorite son” of the west central Mexican town. Mayor Armando Perez also gives Santana the keys to the town where he spent his early childhood and where his father was a well-known musician. The town’s main street is named for Santana and a statue of his father, mariachi musician Jose Santana is unveiled.

2008: Eric Clapton is been invited to play a landmark concert in communist North Korea, according to an official at the country’s embassy in London. The confirmation follows a report in today’s Financial Times which claimed that North Korea had invited Clapton to perform in the capital Pyongyang in 2009.

2008: Roger Waters will perform his last two performances of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The moon’ in the UK later this Spring. As with similar performances which have taken place across the world, Waters will play the album in its entirety as well as playing a mixture of Pink Floyd tracks and his own solo material.
The final two performances will take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on May 15th and the O2 Arena in London on May 18th.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS
1954: Neal Schon guitarist for Journey/Santana
1657: Adrian Smith guitarist for Iron Maiden
1957: Johnny Van Zant-singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd