China Grove, Tennessee, that is..!–which–I learned recently–is where my maternal grandmother’s family settled in the mid 1800’s. Here’s a picture of them from a century ago (circa 1908)…my grandmom is the 9 yr old girl in the center…in front of their house on…China Grove Road!  The town is about halfway between Memphis & Nashville. I asked my mom why she hadn’t told me this earlier…I mean, haven’t you heard of the DOOBIE BROTHERS?? And she said..”Well, son, I don’t think we’re related to the Doobie family.” Don’t believe the sheriff had a samurai sword, either….

Our show is called say you want a Revolution, Saturday mornings. A reference of course to the Beatles song of the same name, a reference to what was going on in our world in the 60s. Well guess what.. Revolution is again in the air, in a hundred ways and and a hundred different places. Every few decades, the oppressed, out of desperation, push back against the “Man”. I wish success to those struggling for freedom and a better life. This Saturday’s Revolution will celebrate the freedom of Rock and Roll, Lou Reed style, we’ll put together a set from Rod Stewart’s early solo career, when he really was a true rocker. He blended folk, rock, blues and acoustic music better than most. Canned Heat will drop by for some hard scrabbled blues, CSN will blend their voices to just take you away, and the Beatles and Stones will jump in from time to time. That’s the Revolution…It’s the spirit of the 60s, may the spirit live forever. Have a far-out weekend.

I guess I just can’t figure out the deal with Charlie Sheen.   The other day, he got on a private jet with an entourage of porn stars.  Isn’t he supposed to be in rehab?  With all due respect, I’m sure there are a lot of people in treatment who are saying to themselves..”Hey, I want THAT kind of rehab!”  Then there are these recent rants about his show, its creators, his bosses.  This kind of stuff used to be called the destruction of a career.  Now, I don’t know.  The more he talks, the more exposure he gets.  Do we simply have an insatiable appetite to put people like this on the Today Show?  Is Charlie Sheen a meltdown in progress, or is he just a cunning, marketing genius?  According to TMZ, he’s writing a tell-all book about life on the set of Two and a Half Men, and he wants at least $10 million to spill the beans.  Someone will give it to him.  In any case, he’s certainly not dull.  To paraphrase Bill Maher… “A train wreck stopped to watch him…”

darkchacal photo

By Michael Wright

One might assume that Robert Cray was originally inspired to pick up the guitar by someone like B.B. King or Muddy Waters, given his lengthy and successful career as a bluesman. But the five-time Grammy winner says that he was originally inspired to strap on an axe by a decidedly more rock-and-roll act.

“I got a guitar because The Beatles came out,” Cray told Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania’s Times Leader. “I wanted to be a Beatle, and my parents thought I was nuts.”

A couple of years later, Cray says that he was lucky enough to catch a Jimi Hendrix concert, an event that changed his outlook on music and his instrument.

“After that, I started listening to all these guys with cool names like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. I got really into blues and R&B right before getting out of high school.”

Cray says that while his recording career has been consistently blues heavy, he retains a bit of musical diversity when approaches his instrument.

“I love blues music, but I listen to and play all different styles, as well. When I write and play, it is a reflection of everything I have heard, not just the blues. I don’t sit down to write a specific style or have a certain flavor in mind; I just let it go where it wants to go.”

By Bryan Wawzenek

Alice Cooper has said his new album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, is finished but that it won’t be released until the Fall, according to Blabbermouth.net. Cooper is delaying the release of the sequel to his 1975 album, Welcome to My Nightmare, because of what he wants to do with his live show.

“Well, we have a whole big tour of big outdoor festival shows coming up and I didn’t want to get that confused with that album,” Cooper said at the press conference for the Revolver Golden Gods awards. “So even though the album’s in the can right now ready to go, Bob’s got to mix it and everything like that. I don’t really want it to come out until probably next fall and then we’ll be able to do the brand-new show with it.”

The “Bob” Cooper referred to is producer Bob Ezrin, who is working on this album and helmed many classic records with the original Alice Cooper band. Speaking of the band, Cooper has reunited with the surviving original members (bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce). All will be present for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in March, after which they will tour with Cooper.

They also played on a few tracks on Welcome 2 My Nightmare – an ironic circumstance given that the original Welcome to My Nightmare was Cooper’s first solo album. It’s not yet clear if Dunaway, Smith and Bruce will be part of the Nightmare tour that Cooper is cooking up for Fall.

“When I listen to the first Nightmare, I’ve got all kinds of things going on,” Cooper told Billboard.com. “There’s a lot of hard rock on it, but it’ll go way off in a weird direction in one song and then way off in other direction for another song. So where Welcome to My Nightmare left off, this one starts right up. When it comes out it’ll have an entire new production around it, probably as big as the original Nightmare show. It’ll be a big moment in my career.”

Brought to you by ThisDayinMusic.com.

Born on this day:

1942, Brian Jones, guitar, The Rolling Stones
1957, Cindy Wilson, The B-52’s
1966, Ian Brown, vocals, The Stone Roses
1971, Nigel Godrich, producer

1964, The Yardbirds played at the Rhythm and Blues Festival at The Town Hall, Birmingham, England.

1966, Police were called after more than 100 music fans barricaded themselves inside Liverpool’s Cavern Club to protest at the clubs closing. The club had run up debts of more than £10,000.

1968, Frankie Lymon was found dead at his mother’s house in New York of a suspected drug overdose. He was 25.

1970, Led Zeppelin played a gig in Copenhagen as The Nobs after Eva Von Zeppelin, a relative of the airship designer, threatened to sue if the family name was used in Denmark. For more on this story, see today’s This Day in Music Spotlight.

1970, Billed as “David Bowie’s New Electric Band,” Bowie played at the Basildon Arts Lab experimental music club in Essex, England.

1974, Singer-songwriter Bobby Bloom shot himself in the head at his Hollywood apartment and died at age 28. Bloom had the 1970 U.S. #8 and U.K. #3 single “Montego Bay.”

1977, Ray Charles was attacked by a member of his audience who tried to strangle him with a rope.

1984, Michael Jackson won a record seven Grammy awards including: Album of the Year for Thriller; Record of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for “Beat It”; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Billie Jean”; and Best Recording For Children for E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.

1985, David Byron, singer with Uriah Heep, died from an epileptic fit and liver disease at age 38. His group had a hit with “Easy Livin’” from the 1972 album Demons and Wizards.

1996, Grammy award winners this year included Alanis Morissette, who won Album of the Year for Jagged Little Pill and Best Female Rock Vocal and Song of the Year for “You Oughta Know,” Nirvana, who won Best Alternative Album for MTV Unplugged, and Coolio, who won for Best Rap Performance with “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

2006, Two stewards were shot during a concert by rapper Kanye West at the NEC in Birmingham, England. Police said the shootings took place after people who tried to gain entrance without tickets were escorted from the arena. A man, who had no ticket, entered the foyer and was ejected, he then returned and shot at the stewards. One was in serious condition after being shot in the face.

2008, Boy George pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning a male escort by chaining him to a wall. The singer and DJ was also accused of assaulting Audun Carlsen during the alleged incident on April 28, 2007. He was released on bail until a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in November.

2008, Drummer Buddy Miles, who played with Jimi Hendrix in his last regular group, Band of Gypsys, died at age 60 at his home in Austin, Texas, after struggling with a long-term illness. Born George Allen Miles in Omaha, Nebraska, Buddy’s nickname was a tribute to his idol, jazz drummer Buddy Rich. Miles also played with The Delfonics, The Ink Spots, Wilson Pickett, Electric Flag, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Muddy Waters and Barry White. In the 1980s, he achieved a certain amount of notoriety in the U.S. as the vocalist on the celebrated Claymation California Raisins commercials.

By Peter Hodgson

Bob Dylan’s early ’60s muse, Suze Rotolo, died on February 24 at the age of 67 after a long illness. Rotolo was a passionate civil rights activist, an artist who specialized in artists’ books, and a teacher at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. Rotolo inspired Dylan tracks, including “Boots of Spanish Leather,” “Tomorrow is a Long Time” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and also appeared with Dylan on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Dylan and Rotolo began dating in 1961 in New York when she was 17. Dylan described their first meeting in his 2004 memoir, Chronicles: Volume One: “She was fair skinned and golden haired, full-blooded Italian. The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves. We started talking and my head started to spin. Cupid’s arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard.”

Their relationship ended in late 1963.

By Bryan Wawzenek

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

By February of 1970, Led Zeppelin had released their first two albums and had become one of the big names in rock and roll. But the legendary band didn’t use their name when they played a show in Denmark on this day in 1970. For the first, and only time, Led Zeppelin were billed as The Nobs.

The name change stemmed from an incident from when the group played Copenhagen the year before. Eva von Zeppelin, a descendant of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (creator of the famous aircraft), was unhappy that a rock band was becoming famous off of her family’s name. She even tried to prevent Led Zeppelin from recording a performance for Danish television, saying that the band sounded like a bunch of “shrieking monkeys.” The attempt didn’t work and the boys performed for the TV Byen cameras, as planned.

But Jimmy Page and company weren’t upset with Frau von Zeppelin, and invited her to have tea with the band after the taping, just to prove to her that they were a bunch of decent guys. By all accounts, the meeting went very well and everyone got along very well. Unfortunately, things went south quickly as von Zeppelin was leaving.

“We invited her backstage to meet us, to see how we were nice young lads,” Page told Melody Maker. “We calmed her down but on leaving the studio, she saw our LP cover of an airship in flames and she exploded! I had to run and hide. She just blew her top.”

After seeing the cover of the band’s debut album, with the famous image of the Hindenburg, von Zeppelin’s hostility to the group instantly returned and even grew worse than before. When Led Zeppelin announced plans to perform in Copenhagen in 1970, she threatened to sue the band if they continued to use their name. Although manager Peter Grant was rarely one to back down, in the face of the lawsuit, he encouraged the band to play under a pseudonym for their Denmark appearance.

But what would they call themselves? Although Ned Zeppelin was discussed, it was dismissed because it didn’t really address the whole “Zeppelin” aspect of the name. The band settled on calling themselves The Nobs, which could have been for a few reasons. One – it was a slang term for a part of the male anatomy. Two – it was the last name of their European promoter, Claude Nobs. Three – the word also could mean “a person of wealth and high social standing,” which was appropriate in regard to von Zeppelin.

“Then we shall call ourselves The Nobs when we go to Copenhagen, the whole thing is absurd,” Page toldMelody Maker. Even though the band found the ordeal silly, they got a ton of attention and press because of the incident. Most of it was favorable and showed that the group had a sense of humor. Regardless of her threats, Eva von Zeppelin never sued and never bothered the band about their name ever again.

Although they were called The Nobs when they played at K.B. Hallen Centre in Copenhagen on this day in 1970, they performed a pretty typical Led Zeppelin set list from their European winter tour, which had begun a few days earlier and ended on March 12. Included in the performance were standards like “Dazed and Confused,” “Heartbreaker” and “Whole Lotta Love” along with an extended version of “How Many More Times” that included a medley of “Boogie Chillen,” “Move on Down the Line” and “Cocaine Blues” among other tunes.

The night’s concert later surfaced on the bootleg, Dancing with Snow Queen, a reference to Frau von Zeppelin.

The Nobs (Led Zeppelin) set list, February 28, 1970:

1. “Dazed and Confused”
2. “Heartbreaker”
3. “White Summer”/“Black Mountainside”
4. “Since I’ve Been Loving You”
5. Organ solo/“Thank You”
6. “Moby Dick”
7. “How Many More Times” (medley including “Boogie Chillen,” “Move on Down the Line,” “Cocaine Blues,” “Bottle Up ’n Go,” “Bye Bye Baby”)
8. “Whole Lotta Love”
9. “Communication Breakdown”
10. “C’mon Everybody”/“Something Else”
11. “Bring it on Home”
12. “Long Tall Sally”

By Andrew Vaughan

The Concert for George tribute show that honored the late George Harrison was streamed live at GeorgeHarrison.com on February 25, on what would have been the Beatle’s 68^th birthday. If you missed it, the all-star concert will be released on Blu-ray and digital download for the first time on March 22.

The Concert for George was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2002, a year after Harrison’s death. Performers included Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Monty Python, Billy Preston, Jools Holland, Joe Brown, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Sam Brown and George’s son Dhani Harrison.

According to Undercover.fm, the March release will include previously unreleased interviews with Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner and Ray Cooper, the original theatrical version of the film, interviews with the acts and some behind-the-scenes footage.

The last remaining veteran of World War 1 has died. Frank Buckles, at 110 years of age, died at his home in West Virginia Sunday morning. The Americans in that war were called Doughboys, my grandfather was one, and Mr. Buckles was the last man standing from among them. In recent years he fought for to see to it that his comrades were honored with a monument on the National Mall, alongside memorials for veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

After serving in World War 1, Buckles took employment as a ship’s officer on merchant vessels. He was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II and held prisoner of war for more than three years before he was freed by U.S. troops. He seldom spoke of it, instead he spoke often of the need to remember the vets of WW1.

PLEASE CLICK HERE to link to the full story on the CNN site. -Jobe