60 Years of Music • January, 1963

The Beatles are coming...

January 2 – Mary Kit Smith celebrates her seventh birthday.

January 3 – The Beatles begin their first tour of 1963 with a five-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do", beginning with a performance in Elgin.
January 7 – Gary U.S. Bonds files a $100,000 lawsuit against Chubby Checker, claiming that Checker stole "Quarter to Three" and turned it into "Dancin' Party." The lawsuit is later settled out of court.
January 11 – "Please Please Me" is released in the United Kingdom by the Beatles, with "Ask Me Why" as the B-side.
January 12 – Bob Dylan portrays a folk singer in The Madhouse of Castle Street, a radio play for the BBC in London.
February 16 - The Beatles achieve their first No. 1 hit single, when "Please Please Me" tops the charts in the UK.
February 22 – The Beatles form Northern Songs Publishing Company.
March 5 – 1963 Camden PA-24 crash: Patsy Cline is killed in small plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, while on her way to Nashville, Tennessee, from Kansas City, Missouri, at the height of her career, together with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
March 22 – The Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me, in the UK.

from Wikipedia, 1963 in Music

In 1963, music singles are king. In looking at the singles recorded in 1963 it was amazing to see that many were released just a month later. The mentality was, get it out there, and then, get another one out there. Kids were buying 45's with the marketed 'hit' on the A side, and then typically a deeper cut on the B side that would eventually be part of a released album coming soon. (The Beatles would later buck that trend, but that's a story for another day.)

In January 1963, I'm seven years old and mostly unaware of the pop music around me other than hearing songs on the radio. My parents were not listening or buying any kind of records and the only music I heard live was the singing of 1850's white hymns in church. I loved that part of the service because you got to get up and stretch your legs, fidget about and do something besides sit and listen to some old man talking. My mom said to me when I was in my 30's, "Why didn't any of you kids continue to go to church?" Yeah mom, I wonder why? Now maybe if I'd gone to a black church where they were singing and moving to gospel music...

Another memory.  Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass were big on the radio in the early and mid-sixties. Hearing The Lonely Bull this past week hit me like a lightning bolt where I'm in a downtown shop with my mom probably W. A. Haslam's and that song is playing through their sound system.

This past week, I watched on Hulu,  If These Walls Could Sing - Mary McCartney's 2022 documentary on Abbey Road Studios' 90 year history with a big chunk involving her father. I highly recommend it as it will get you thinking about the Brian Epstein and George Martin connection, and the rest as they say is history.

Enjoy my friends, the British are coming.

P. S. I Love You Mary Kit Smith!

Went to a Garden Party

If you look at the tour schedules for bands and individuals from the 60's and 70's, you'll be amazed (or maybe not) of how many acts are still currently touring. It seems that 'older' rock 'n roll acts represent at least 50% of the current concerts, when in fact, most of these acts haven't had a hit in years. I don't need to ask why, as you already know, that the power of rock 'n roll is still very strong with the people who cut their teeth to the rhythm of acoustic and electric guitar.

In this past year, I have seen Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Bette Midler and Gary Clark Jr., not to mention, Motown the Musical. In the coming months, I have tickets for Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Mark Knopfler, Don Henley and Shawn Colvin, Neil Young and Elton John. I love the music, the nostalgia and to see it live is just so special. I have and will continue to go to shows to hear hit songs from the past. Some of the songs are even a bit tiresome (if you read my blog last week), but live music gets your blood pumping and feeling part of a community, just having fun and enjoying the good vibrations. We are all blessed to celebrate music together in venues all over America.

In going to see all these great bands this past year, I thought about Rick Nelson, who like several other prominent music greats, died in a plane crash. I thought about all the great musicians that I will never see live. Rick Nelson's 1972 song, Garden Party, struck a chord with me in that we should always celebrate the old songs but also, embrace an artist's new songs with an open mind. I say this as several older musicians have come out with new music in 2015 (e.g. James Taylor, Neil Young), or will be coming out with a new album soon (e.g. Don Henley). This gives me inspiration to always be creating something new, even if you're an old dog. So let's all keep creating new stuff! However, at the same time I can't help but reflect, the good die young and it's sad we'll never get to hear new music from the likes of Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Rick Nelson.

Anyway, I've never seen Jackson Browne live. I will finally get that pleasure on August 12th, here in San Diego. Whatever he chooses to play, it will be a gift.