AUGUST
August 1
August 2 1966: The Lovin' Spoonful, featuring Zal Yanovsky, see their biggest hit, "Summertime In The City" peak at number 1 on Billboard. 1973: Brave Belt sign with Mercury Records. They're told to change their name, which they do. Now they're Bachman Turner Overdrive. 2008: Bobby Curtola makes a surprise stop in Cold Lake, AB. He's annoyed because he wants a campsite, but the campgrounds are full.
August 3 1993: Jane Siberry releases the album WHEN I WAS A BOY. 2006: Barney Bentall releases GIFT HORSE. 2008: Iggy Pop & The Stooges have a 15-foot van full of tens of thousands of dollars of equipment stolen after performing at the Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, QB.
August 4 1968: The two day Newport Pop Festival in California begins with Steppenwolf, as well as Canned Heat, Sonny & Cher, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Tiny Tim, Iron Butterfly and Jefferson Airplane. Over 100,000 fans attend the festival. 1992: Blue Rodeo releases LOST TOGETHER, their fourth lp. 2004: Kim Mitchell's debut self-titled EP is re-released Stateside on Wounded Bird Records.
August 5 1947: Greg Leskiw of Kilowatt, Gettysburg Address, Les Q, and The Guess Who is born in Winnipeg. 1968: Country star Terri Clark is born as Terri Lynn Sauson in Montreal. 1989: Shania Twain attends her class reunion at Timmins High and Vocational School in Timmins, ON. She says she's there for the same reason as everyone else, to see old friends, not to gloat she's more famous than the town's other names, Frank & Peter Mahovlich. Did you know Frank was also a star in the World Hockey Association? For more quirky facts on the WHA, visit WHAhockey.com. 1995: In celebration of The Bay's 325th birthday, 30 Canadian acts converge on High River, AB for a weekend festival that features Bryan Adams, Susan Aglukark, Burton Cummings, Jann Arden, Blue Rodeo, Celine Dion, David Foster, Colin James, Ashley MacIsaac, Sarah McLachlan, Anne Murray, The Rankin Family, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Michelle Wright, among others.
August 6 1970: Steppenwolf appear at the Concert For Peace at New York's Shea Stadium. The concert date coincided with the 25th anniversary of dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. 1971: Procol Harum record their live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on this day, with conductor Lawrence Leonard and the 24-member Da Ca Camera Singers at the Jubilee Auditorium. 1979: Triumph releases the single "Hold On." 1996: The Guess Who plays a show at West Arliss, Wisconsin. The show is taped and becomes part of the THE SPIRIT LIVES ON album.
August 7 1959: The CBC debuts The Don Messer Show, later renamed The Don Messer Jubilee. 1998: Anvil performs at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Wacken, Germany. The show finds its way to DVD in 2004 as one half of BACK TO BASICS. 2008: The 28th edition of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival begins. Headlining the first of the three days on the main stage is Hawksley Workman.
August 8 1980: The Edmonton Folk Festival is held for the first time. 1999: The Guess Who, featuring Bachman, Cummings, Kale and Petersen play together for the first time in 16 years, in front of 5,000 athletes and 22,000 fans at the closing ceremonies of the 13th annual Pan Am Games at the Winnipeg Stadium. 2006: Colin James and Chilliwack both make their first stops ever in Cold Lake, AB, during the second annual Great Canadian Patio Party. On the bill with James are several ex-Odds members, as well as Simon Kendall of Doug & The Slugs fame. 2008: UK's Cherry Red Records releases HALF PAST MIDNIGHT, a collection of Five Man Electrical Band hits over the years, including some as The Staccatos.
August 9 2004: Bryan Adams' 1981 self-titled debut is re-released on CD.
August 10 2006: Ra McGuire from Trooper not only visits the local library, he reads passages from "Here For a Good Time", at the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
August 11 1946: Michael Fonfara, keyboardist for Jon Lee & The Checkmates is born in Stevensville, ON. 1959: Alan Frew of Glass Tiger is born in Coatbridge, Scotland. 1978: The first Vancouver Folk Festival is held in Stanley Park, Vancouver. 2007: Honeymoon Suite play for the first time in Cold Lake, AB, when they headline 'An Evening In The Park.'
August 12 1984: Lenny Breau. master of jazz, flamenco, classical, country and more, but more importantly the mentor for Randy Bachman, is found strangled at 43 at the bottom of his swimming pool in Los Angeles, the victim of a homicide that remains unsolved to this day. 1989: The Moscow Music Peace Festival kicks off. The 2 day festival was set up by Doc McGhee, as part of a plea bargain for drug smuggling charges. All proceeds go to fighting drug abuse in the US and the USSR. Sebastian Bach and Skid Row are among the featured acts, along with Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Scorpions and Ozzy. 2008: Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush begin a rare Canadian tour in Toronto at the Sound Academy.
August 13 1969: The Guess Who release the "American Woman" lp. 1977: BTO announce their split-up, the first time. 1994: Jann Arden's Insensitive peaks at number 5 on the US charts.
August 14 1969: The Guess Who receive their first American gold record for the song, "These Eyes." 1976: Paul Anka's duet with Odia Coates, "You're Having My Baby," is certified gold. This is despite feminists' objections to the use of the word 'my' as in "my baby", not "our baby." Nonetheless, the track tops Billboard's charts. 1980: Alice Cooper cancels a Toronto show due to illness, or was just too drunk. Regardless, a crowd of 1,400 riot, and the police are called in.
August 15 1948: Patsy Gallant is born in Campbellton, New Brunswick. 1974: Neil Young releases ON THE BEACH, which 'Rolling Stone' calls the most despairing album of the decade.
August 16 1941: Influence's lead singer Andy Keiller is born in Bodmin, Cornwall, England. 1969: "Sugar, Sugar", is released by the Archies. The song was written by Montreal born Andy Kim, who also penned a number of other Archies hits. 2005: The Trews release DEN OF THIEVES. 2007: Frank Soda plays Healey's in Toronto, along with him are Max Webster alumni Terry Watkinson and Mike Tilka. They play Soda's songs, as well as a few Max Webster hits.
August 17 1964: Colin James is born Colin James Munn in Regina, SK. 1969: Steppenwolf perform "Born To Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride" on the Ed Sullivan Show. It would be their only appearance on the show.
August 18 1969: Joni Mitchell is slated to perform at Woodstock but is advised to honor a commitment to appear on Dick Cavett's TV talk show. In lieu of appearing at that landmark event, she writes the anthemic tribute, "Woodstock." 1986: Ian & Sylvia reunite for a concert at the Kingwood Music Theatre in Maple, ON. Also on the bill are Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan, Emmylou Harris and Judy Collins. The show is filmed by the CBC. 1999: Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings perform together as The Guess Who, featuring Kale and Petersen, for the first time in 16 years. The show is in front of 5,000 athletes and 22,000 fans at the closing ceremonies of the 13th annual Pan Am Games at the Winnipeg Stadium.
August 19 1950: Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" tops the Billboard country charts, and stays there for 21 weeks, only done twice before or since. 1974: Rush embark on their first US tour, backing up Uriah Heep, Rory Gallagher and KISS. The tour features new drummer Neil Peart. 1997: CBS releases the new Barney Bentall CD, TIL TOMORROW. 2000: Barenaked Ladies, along with Richard Ashcroft, Paul Weller, James, Toploader, Moby, and a dozen others appear at this years V2000 festival in Staffordshire, England. 2003: The Trews release the original version of HOUSE OF ILL FAME.
August 20 2006: Québécois pop singer and actor Claude Blanchard dies in his Montreal home of natural causes. August 21 1955: Gary Lalonde of Rose and Honeymoon Suite is born in Toronto. 1965: Zal Yanovsky and Lovin' Spoonful release their debut single today, "Do You Believe In Magic?" 1967: "Cornflakes and Ice-Cream" by The Lords Of London reaches #1 on CHUM FM's (Toronto radio station) chart knocking off Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe." 2007: Hedley releases the single "She's So Sorry."
August 22 1976: Klaatu releases their debut lp, 3:47 EST. 1987: While doing a solo show in Asbury Park, NJ, Levon Helm is joined onstage by hometown boy Bruce Springsteen, and joins him on "Up on Cripple Creek" and "Lucille."
August 23 1964: Paul Langlois, guitarist for Tragically Hip is born in Ottawa, Ont.
August 24
August 25 2009: The Mike Plume Band is on the stage at Telus Field in Edmonton.
August 26 1983: Bob & Doug McKenzie's silver screen venture, "Strange Brew" debuts, with Ian Thomas singing the title track. 2003: April Wine releases the DVD (audio only), LIVE FROM THE FRONT ROW. 2008: Hawksley Workman releases LOS MALINCIOUS in Canada.
August 27 1976: Sweeney Todd release the third version of "Roxy Roller," this time with new singer Bryan Adams. The song enters Billboard's Top 100 at #99, then disappears a week later. 1982: Lee Aaron appears at the prestigious Reading Music Festival. 2007: Doug Riley, known affectionately as Dr. Music, dies at the age of 62 of a heart attack while waiting for his plane to take off in Calgary. Riley wrote over 2,000 radio and TV commercial jingles over more than four decades and worked on several television programs in the late 60's and 70's. As well as working with the likes of David Clayton-Thomas, Placido Domingo, Ringo Starr, Gordon Lightfoot, Ray Charles, Anne Murray, Sylvia Tyson, Dan Hill and Bob Seger, he was also mentor to many up and coming musicians at the time, including Paul Shaffer of SNL and David Letterman fame.
August 28 1945: Bob Segarini of The Dudes, Family Tree, The Wackers and a million other bands is born in Stockton, CA. 1965: All hail the country/pop babe! Shania Twain is born in Timmins, ON. 1985: "Kim Mitchell Day" is proclaimed in his hometown of Sarnia, ON. 1986: In Long Beach, CA, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, most of the Eagles, and Mick Fleetwood perform at a concert billed Get Tough on Toxics. 2003: EMI releases Zappacosta's self-titled debut and Streetheart's DRUGSTORE DANCER are re-released in the US.
August 29 1954: Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo is born in Inverness County, NS.
1971: Five Man Electrical Band see their biggest single, "Signs," peak at number 3 on the US charts. 1976: Spirit perform a reunion concert in Santa Monica, Calif. Though he's an invited guest, Neil Young gets onstage to play "Like a Rolling Stone" with them. But Spirit guitarist Randy California pushes him away. The concert proceeds after the bonehead is told who he just shoved. 2002: Lee Aaron's self-titled debut lp from 1982 is re-released on CD.
August 30 2005: In a ceremony in Toronto, Jane Siberry is awarded the 2005 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award in music by the Canada Council for the Arts.
August 31 1971: Toronto sensation Max Brand is born. 1984: MuchMusic hits the airwaves. 1989: The Tragically Hip release UP TO HERE. 1992: Barney Bentall releases AIN'T LIFE STRANGE. |
