Pick a Day

Music History Events: Odds And Ends

June 29, 1967 While on tour with The Hollies, Graham Nash writes a song called "Marrakesh Express," which will later find a home (and a hit) with his new band, Crosby, Stills & Nash.

May 20, 1967 George Harrison visits the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time.

May 12, 1967 Archie Bell is drafted into the US Army.

April 12, 1967 Greyhound begins offering tours of the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, billing it as "Hippyland."

April 11, 1967 Flying back to England after participating in The Beach Boys' aborted Smile sessions, Paul McCartney comes up with the idea for The Beatles' film and album Magical Mystery Tour.

April 5, 1967 Monkees fans march in London in protest of band member Davy Jones' announced induction into the Army. The teen heartthrob is eventually exempted from duty for being his family's main provider.

February 7, 1967 The Monkees announce during an appearance on the British TV show Top of the Pops that they will play on their own records from now on instead of using session players.

January 5, 1967 In order to avoid the draft, folk singer Jesse Winchester moves to Canada.

January 3, 1967 Declaring himself a conscientious objector, The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson refuses to be sworn in after receiving an induction notice from the US Army.

December 23, 1966 London's premiere psychedelic hangout, the UFO club, opens on Tottenham Court Road, with Pink Floyd as the house band.

December 22, 1966 Beatles producer George Martin and his engineer Geoff Emerick pull off one of the all-time great feats of sound editing: combining two takes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" - in different keys and tempos - to make one song. The edit is 59 seconds in, just before John Lennon sings, "Going to..."

November 29, 1966 Elvis Presley hears Tom Jones' version of "Green Green Grass Of Home" on the radio just outside Little Rock, and calls the radio station to hear it several times. Elvis later covers the song.

November 20, 1966 The Kander-Ebb musical Cabaret, featuring Joel Grey and Bert Convy, opens on Broadway.

November 9, 1966 According to the "Paul Is Dead" rumors, this was the day Paul McCartney "blew his mind out in a car," meeting his doom and being replaced with a lookalike.

September 21, 1966 Jimmy Hendrix changes his name to Jimi at the urging of his manager Chas Chandler.

June 17, 1966 Paul McCartney buys the farm in Kintyre, Scotland, that inspires his 1977 megahit ballad "Mull Of Kintyre."

March 25, 1966 The Beatles show up for a photo shoot with photographer Robert Whitaker, who has butcher smocks, doll parts and raw meat waiting for them. The shoot results in their "butcher cover" photo used on the Yesterday And Today album before it is recalled.

February 3, 1966 Paul McCartney meets Stevie Wonder for the first time after Wonder's show at London's Scotch Of St. James nightclub.

January 22, 1966 After a rare snowstorm in Memphis, Elvis Presley and his cohorts build a snowman outside of his Graceland mansion.

December 28, 1965 Elvis Presley and his girlfriend Priscilla try LSD for the first, and last, time at his Graceland mansion.

November 27, 1965 Author Ken Kesey and his band of "Merry Pranksters" hold the first "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" in San Francisco.

November 25, 1965 London's famed department store, Harrods, opens for The Beatles for two hours after closing time in order to allow the members of the group to do their Christmas shopping.

October 15, 1965 Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract. The 3-year deal with PPX productions gives him one dollar plus one percent of his royalties on his records. The deal causes major legal issues in the years to come.

September 30, 1965 Elvis Presley meets Tom Jones for the first time, on the set of the King's Paradise, Hawaiian Style movie. The two become fast friends.

September 4, 1965 While The Who shop for a guard dog, their van and $10,000 worth of equipment is stolen.

August 28, 1965 The Rolling Stones sign with Decca records and ink a management contract with Allen Klein.

August 27, 1965 Elvis Presley meets The Beatles for the first time when the Fab 4 are brought to The King's Los Angeles mansion. They hang out, talk music and have a little jam session. John Lennon would later say, "If it hadn't been for him, The Beatles would be nothing."

January 4, 1965 Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars to CBS for $13 million.

October 22, 1964 The Who (who are calling themselves the High Numbers at that time) audition for EMI Records, who choose not to sign them to a record deal.

August 28, 1964 The Beatles smoke pot for the first time, supplied by Bob Dylan, who joins the band after one of their concerts in New York state. Dylan is surprised they haven't tried it before, as he thought they sang "I get high" in their song "I Want To Hold Your Hand," when it was really "I can't hide."