Happy Birthday — Brent Mydland
Brent would have been 57 today, but sadly left us in 1990 at age 37. I found this cool video that shows Bob, Billy and Brent at a hotel bar with a brief cameo from Jerry. Also included is the band’s take on Chuck Berry’s classic, “Johnny B. Good”.
Happy Birthday — Trey Anastasio
My favorite living musician and guitarist for Phish, turns 45 today. 2009 has been a great year for Trey, with the return of Phish and working with various orchestras for his compositions, Trey has proven once again that he is one of the most creative and inspired musicians working today. Thanks for all you do, Big Red!
Happy Birthday — John Coltrane
Bebop and free jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane would have been 83 today. To say that Coltrane was a great saxophonist is like saying Willie Mays was a good outfielder, translation = he was the best. Here’s John tackling the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, “My Favorite Things”.
Happy Birthday — Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson was born on this date in 1930 in Albany, GA. Born into a poor family in the heart of the depression, losing his sight at age seven, losing his brother at age five, father at ten and mother at fifteen, Ray persevered to become perhaps the greatest male soul singer of all time. Here’s Ray singing “Mess Around”, which you may remember being “air performed” by John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Happy Birthday — Van Morrison
Van the man turns 64 today. Please raise your goblet, pilsner glass or vat of spirits to the heavens in honor of George Ivan from Belfast. You may know him as a Van, regardless, lift a snifter and quaff mass quantities of the bubbly and whatever else whets your whistle to celebrate the light Van’s shown on us.
“Sweet Thing”
Happy Birthday — Robert Plant
Little Robert Anthony came out to play on this date in 1948. Perhaps you’ve heard of the small band he fronted, went by the name of Led Zeppelin. Sound familiar? I may have to do a little research on this Mr. Led Zeppelin fellow, they may be worth checking out.
Which one is Led?
Happy Birthday — Mike Bloomfield
Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag guitarist, Mike Bloomfield would have turned 66 today. His legendary fret work was featured on such albums as PBBB’s East-West, EF’s Long Time Runnin’ and Super Session with Al Kooper. Bloomfield died of a drug overdose in 1981.
Here’s a Mike, Muddy, Junior Wells and a whole slew of blues musicians.
Here’s a show featuring Paul Butterfield with aid from Mike. Click here.
Happy Birthday — Kanye West, Chuck Negron and Nancy Sinatra
Kanye turns 32, Chuckie of Three Dog Night turns 67 and Little Nance turns 69, all sharing June 8th as their birthday. Coincidentally, all three partied in our hot tub this past weekend. Yeah, that’s how we roll.
Happy Birthday — Mike Gordon
One of the most exciting bassist on the planet, Mike turns 44 today. After answering a flyer for a bassist role in a band at The University Of Vermont in 1983, he joined the band and sealed his fate. His soul shaking bass bombs are currently on display nightly on Phish’s summer tour. Happy birthday Cactus! Click here to download his 6/30/08 show.
Ya Mar from 4/5/98:
Possum from 4/29/90:
Mike’s Song from 6/13/94:
Happy Birthday — John Bonham
Zeppelin drummer, John Henry Bonham was born on this date in 1948. Bonham is one of the most influential drummers in rock history and was the backbone to Zeppelin. Here’s Zeppelin in ’75 at Earl’s Court with “Moby Dick”:
Happy Birthday — Miles Davis
One of the coolest cats to ever walk this earth would have been 83 today. Miles pioneered jazz with his Kind Of Blue album and continued to blow the lid off the jazz world throughout the rest of his life. A trumpeteer, composer and band leader extrordinaire, Miles also gave birth to the rock-fusion genre. Click here to download/stream a Miles show from 1967.
Happy Birthday — Bob Dylan
Born on this date in 1941 in Duluth, MN, Robert Zimmerman would go on to be one of the most important voices of the second half of the 20th century in America. Click here to check out his pairing with Johnny Cash on outtakes of 1969′s Nashville Skyline. Click here for more Dylan.
Like A Rolling Stone:
With Willie Nelson, performing Townes van Zandt’s Pancho and Lefty:
A 2009 performance of You Gotta Serve Somebody:
Happy Birthday — Jack Johnson
Surfer turned singer/songwriter, Jack Johnson turns 34 today. So not only does he surf, but he has an amazing career in the music industry, he lives in Hawaii and he’s younger than me! He must’ve been a saint in a previous life or something.
Happy Birthday — Page McConnell
“The Chairman Of The Boards” turns 46 today. Page is the newest member of Phish, joining in 1985 and added a whole new dimension to the texture, improvisation and framework to the band. Here are some clips of Page through the years:
“Strange Design” from 5/30/07:
“Lawn Boy” from 4/4/98:
“Suzy Jam” from Hampton:
Happy Birthday — David Byrne
David Byrne turns 57 today. Born in Scotland, but raised primarily in the US, Byrne has never become an American citizen. Byrne kicks off his Summer ’09 tour June 1st in Shelburne, VT. Here are some of my favorite Byrne/Talking Heads songs through the years.
(Naive Melody) This Must Be The Place:
Life During Wartime:
Crosseyed and Painless:
Happy Birthday — Stevie Wonder
Little Stevie turns 59 today. Blind from birth, Stevie went on to be the darling of Motown from the age of the 13 to becoming an international funk and R&B superstar. Here’s a ripping version of his song “Superstition” from Sesame Street (!) circa 1974.
Happy Birthday — Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton was born on this date in 1945. “Slowhand” has most recently played with the Allman Brothers, celebrating their 40th anniversary at the Beacon, reconnected with two old friends, Steve Winwood and Jeff Beck and is recording an album with Robbie Robertson. I thought I read in his 2007 biography that he was expecting to slow down. Guess not.
Here’s Clapton and Buddy Guy performing “Sweet Home Chicago”:
Happy Birthday — Ray Manzarek
Keyboardist for The Doors and eternal worshipper of the throne of St. James, Raymond Daniel Manzarek turns 70(!) today. An excellent and tasteful keyboard player, Manzarek has also been guilty of feeding the “Morrison Is Alive” myth, “Jim was Dionysus”, etc., etc., amongst other statements of pompousity in regards to The Doors. This has served the band well, as they remain a rite of passage for every rock loving teenager during their formative years and continue to sell 1 million+ albums a year. Unfortunately he and guitarist Robbie Krieger disagree with drummer John Densmore over the use of the band’s name. The remaining three could hardly stand to be in the same room with one another during the recent Sundance showing of When You’re Strange, the Oliver Stone-less documentary that’s set to be narrated by Johnny Depp. Here’s the trailer for said movie:
Happy Birthday — Bob Marley
Robert Nesta would’ve been 64 today. Click here for more on the rastaman.
Happy Birthday — Eddie Van Halen
Eddie turns 54 today. Here he is performing “Eruption” from Van Halen’s first album with his trusty guitar Frankenstrat.
Happy Birthday — John Belushi
“Joliet” Jake Blues would have been 60 today. Here’s John doing his incomparable Joe Cocker impersonation in 1973:
Happy Birthday — Captain Beefheart
AKA Don Van Vliet, born on this date in 1941. Here’s Don with “Tropical Hot Dog Night” and with David Letterman.
and live in ’71:
Happy Birthday — Dave Matthews
Born on this date in 1967, mega superstar Dave Matthews has been thrilling audiences with his unique acoustic , horn and fiddle inflected pop jams since 1991. Click here for recent Dave news, video clips and some choice archived DMB shows.
Happy Birthday — Elvis Presley
“The King” was born on this date in 1935. Click here for more info on Elvis Aaron Presley, including a couple of great shows and some trivia. Here he is performing “Suspicious Minds” in 1970:
