THE MAN WHO BUILT AMERICA – HORSLIPS
HORSLIPS ARE AN IRISH CELTIC ROCK BAND THAT COMPOSE, ARRANGE AND PERFORM SONGS BASED ON TRADITIONAL IRISH JIGS AND REELS. THE GROUP ARE REGARDED AS ‘FOUNDING FATHERS OF CELTIC ROCK’[ FOR THEIR FUSION OF TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC WITH ROCK MUSIC AND WENT ON TO INSPIRE MANY LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTS. THEY FORMED IN 1970 AND ‘RETIRED’ IN 1980 FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD.
THE MAN WHO BUILT AMERICA (1978), PRODUCED BY STEVE KATZ OF BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS AND BLUES PROJECT FAME, CONCERNED IRISH EMIGRATION TO THE USA AND WAS COMMERCIALLY THEIR MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM.
THE HEAVIER SOUND DID BRING SOME ACCEPTANCE IN AMERICA BUT THEY LOST THEIR FOLK BASE AND THEIR FRESHNESS.SHORT STORIES, TALL TALES (1979) WAS THEIR LAST STUDIO ALBUM
1966, THE BEATLES PLAYED TWO SHOWS AT RIZAL MEMORIAL FOOTBALL STADIUM, MANILA, IN THE PHILIPPINES TO OVER 80,000 FANS. THE BEATLES FAILED TO APPEAR AT A PALACE RECEPTION HOSTED BY PRESIDENT MARCOS’ FAMILY, WHO WERE NOT INFORMED THAT THE BEATLES HAD DECLINED THEIR INVITATION. THE PHILIPPINE MEDIA MISREPRESENT THIS AS A DELIBERATE SNUB AND WHEN BRIAN EPSTEIN TRIES TO MAKE A TELEVISED STATEMENT, HIS COMMENTS ARE DISRUPTED BY STATIC. THE NEXT DAY, AS THE BEATLES MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE AIRPORT THEY WERE GREETED BY ANGRY MOBS, THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT HAD RETALIATED BY REFUSING POLICE PROTECTION FOR THE BEATLES.
1974, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE THE #4 SONG IN THE US WITH ‘RIKKI DON’T LOSE THAT NUMBER’ AND A CURRENT PLATINUM ALBUM WITH ‘PRETZEL LOGIC’, STEELY DAN’S WALTER BECKER AND DONALD FAGAN PLAY THEIR FINAL GIG TOGETHER IN SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA. THEY WOULD NOT TOUR AGAIN FOR THE NEXT EIGHTEEN YEARS.
1999, VICTORIA ‘POSH SPICE’ ADAMS MARRIED FOOTBALLER DAVID BECKHAM AT LUTTRELLSTOWN CASTLE, IRELAND. THE COUPLE HAD SIGNED A DEAL WORTH £1MILLION FOR OK MAGAZINE TO HAVE THE EXCLUSIVE PICTURE RIGHTS.
2002, GEORGE MICHAEL TOOK PART IN A LIVE PHONE INTERVIEW ON US NEWS CHANNEL CNN, DEFENDING HIS NEW SINGLE ‘SHOOT THE DOG’. AMERICANS WERE UPSET BY THE CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO, WHICH HAD PRESIDENT BUSH IN BED WITH TONY BLAIR.
2003, AMERICAN RECORD PRODUCER AND SINGER-SONGWRITER AND FIVE-TIME GRAMMY AWARD-WINNER BARRY WHITE DIED FROM KIDNEY FAILURE AGED 58. PRODUCED HITS FOR GIRL GROUP LOVE UNLIMITED AND OTHER CHART HITS INCLUDE 1974 HIT ‘YOU’RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING’, 1974 US NO.1 ‘CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR LOVE, BABE’. BUBBLEGUM ACT THE BANANA SPLITS RECORDED HIS SONGS AND HE ARRANGED THE 1963 HIT ‘HARLEM SHUFFLE’ FOR BOB & EARL.
2005, U2 WON THEIR COURT FIGHT FOR THE RETURN OF ITEMS OF MEMORABILIA, INCLUDING A STETSON HAT WHICH THEY ACCUSED A FORMER STYLIST OF STEALING. JUDGE MATTHEW DEERY AT DUBLIN’S CIRCUIT COURT ORDERED LOLA CASHMAN TO RETURN THE ITEMS, WHICH ALSO INCLUDE EARRINGS, WITHIN SEVEN DAYS. MS CASHMAN, HAD WORKED AS U2’S STYLIST DURING THE 1980S AND WROTE AN UNAUTHORISED BOOK CALLED ‘INSIDE THE ZOO’. JUDGE DEERY SAID HE FOUND MS CASHMAN’S VERSION OF HOW SHE HAD BEEN GIVEN THE ITEMS AT THE END OF A US TOUR DOUBTFUL, PARTICULARLY HER DESCRIPTION OF BONO RUNNING AROUND IN HIS UNDERPANTS BACKSTAGE.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1938, BILL WITHERS
1948, JEREMY SPENCER, GUITAR, FLEETWOOD MAC, (1969 UK NO.1 SINGLE ‘ALBATROSS’). LEFT THE BAND DURING A 1971 US TOUR SAYING HE WAS GOING OUT TO BUY A NEWSPAPER. HE WAS FOUND TWO DAYS LATER IN LA AT THE CHILDREN OF GOD HEADQUARTERS WITH HIS HAIR SHAVED OFF.
1954, JOHN WAITE, SINGER
1951, RALPH JOHNSON, DRUMS, EARTH WIND AND FIRE, (1975 US NO.1 SINGLE ‘SHINING STAR’, 1981 UK NO.3 SINGLE ‘LET’S GROOVE’).
1958, KIRK PENGILLY, GUITAR, BACKING VOCALS, INXS
1940, , DAVE ROWBERRY, KEYBOARDS, THE ANIMALS
