• 1906 ~ American premièr of Puccini’s opera, “Madama Butterfly”, Washington, D.C.
• 1913 ~ David Carroll, Conductor, arranger, record producer for The Diamonds and The Platters
• 1925 ~ Mickey (McHouston) Baker, Guitarist, singer in the duo, Mickey and Sylvia
• 1925 ~ Grand Ole Opry started on radio in Nashville, Tennessee (where it still originates). It was first heard on network radio in 1939. The show finally made it to TV on this day in 1955.
• 1926 ~ Karl Richter, German organist and conductor
• 1931 ~ The production of “Cat and the Fiddle” opened in New York. It played for 395 performances.
• 1932 ~ The first city-owned opera house, the War Memorial Opera House of San Francisco, opened this day. “Tosca” was the first opera presented.
• 1937 ~ Barry McGuire, Singer, songwriter with The New Christy Minstrels
• 1942 ~ Don Stevenson, Drummer, singer with Moby Grape
• 1946 ~ Richard Carpenter, Composer, singer, Grammy Award-winning group, the Carpenters
• 1948 ~ Chris De Burgh (Davidson), Singer, songwriter
• 1951 ~ I Love Lucy debuted on CBS-TV. For the next 20 years, Lucille Ball would be a TV regular. She did take 1956 off. Why? No, having little Ricky had nothing to do with it. She starred in “Damn Yankees” on Broadway that year.
• 1953 ~ Tito (Toriano) Jackson, Singer with The Jackson Five, brother of Michael,Janet, Jermaine, LaToya
• 1953 ~ “Teahouse of the August Moon” opened on Broadway to begin a long and successful run of 1,027 performances.
• 1964 ~ An American treasure passed away. Cole Porter, renowned lyricist and composer, died at age 73. I’ve Got You Under My Skin and hundreds of other classics crossed all musical style and format boundaries throughout his long and rich career.
• 2001 ~ Etta James, the prolific jazz vocalist whose soulful, blues-influenced recordings over more than a half century won her acclaim and two Grammy nominations, died of complications from a bout with cancer. She was 72. Jones’ style was described as a cross between Billie Holiday, her idol, and Dinah Washington. She died the same day her last recording, Etta Jones SingsLady Day, hit music stores. Born in Aiken, S.C., Jones was a teen-ager when she was discovered while competing in a contest at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. Jones collaborated with such greats as Oliver Nelson, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Kenny Burrell and Cedar Walton, both in concert and on recordings. She recorded prolifically for RCA, Prestige, Muse and more recently Highnote Records. Jones earned a gold record for her 1960 recording Don’t Go to Strangers, and received a Grammy nomination in 1981 for Save Your Love For Me. She got a second Grammy nomination in 1999 for a collection of songs: My Buddy – Etta Jones Sings the Songs of Buddy Johnson. Jones was the recipient of many awards, including the prestigious Eubie Blake Jazz Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women in Jazz Foundation.
The Washington Folk Festival returns this year after a one-year hiatus on October 19, 12pm to 9:00pm, with a contra dance from 7:30-9:00pm. Now a one-day event, expect a jam-packed roster full of dancing, storytelling, and music ranging from American to International styles: bluegrass to Celtic, Klezmer to Americana, blues to Zydeco, we cover folk music from around the world! Five stages, hundreds of performers, food trucks, a picnic area, and it’s all free!
Come see such acts as Furia Flamenca, Dede and the Do-Rights, Karpouzi Trio, Urban Artistry, the Sweater Set, Rick Franklin, The Irish Inn Mates, Morris dancers, Mrs. Toretsky’s Nightmare, Slaveya, the Washington Balalaika Orchestra, The Chromatics, Mutual Agreement, The Poor Ellen Smith Band, Trio Sefardi, Little Red and the Renegades, Jillian Matundan, and many more!
Spanish Ballroom 4:00-4:45
Members of the community-based Washington Balalaika Society play a wide variety of music from around the world on authentic folk instruments.
Students always find this piece fun with its finger snaps. There are three versions in Piano Maestro and it’s in several piano books including Halloween Songbook (Easy Piano). There was a a new Addams Family animated movie out in 2019, so your students are going to be snapping all over the place when this Halloween rolls around.
• 1930 ~ I Got Rhythm, by George Gershwin, sung by Ethel Merman, was a show-stopper in the production of “Girl Crazy” on Broadway. It was Merman’s debut on the Great White Way as she captivated audiences and launched her stellar career. “Girl Crazy” went on for 272 performances.
• 1931 ~ Rafael Puyana, Colombian harpsichordist
• 1938 ~ Melba Montgomery, Singer
• 1938 ~ One of the great songs of the big band era was recorded by Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother) and The Bob Cats. Big Noise from Winnetka on Decca Records featured Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc. Haggart whistled and played bass, while Bauduc played the skins.
• 1939 ~ Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) was organized on this day to compete with ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). The two music licensing organizations’ goal is to ensure that composers, artists and publishers are properly paid for the use of their works.
• 1940 ~ Cliff Richard (Harry Webb), Singer
• 1946 ~ Justin Hayward, Guitarist, singer with The Moody Blues
• 1961 ~ The Broadway production “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” opened.
• 1971 ~ It was John and Yoko Day on The Dick Cavett Show on ABC. The couple promoted Lennon’s new LP (Imagine) and film (Imagine) and Yoko’s book, two films and a fine arts show.
• 1996 ~ Eighteen years after its creation, The Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus was finally released. The 1968 event put together by The Stones comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included performances by The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull and Jethro Tull. John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called The Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell and Keith Richards. It was originally planned to be aired on BBC TV.
• 2001 ~ Willam Farr Christensen, a Utah dancer who started on the vaudeville stage and went on to become one of the most important figures in American ballet, died at the age of 99. Founder of the San Francisco Ballet and Utah’s Ballet West, Christensen was the first person in the United States to choreograph full-length versions of several ballet classics, including “The Nutcracker”, “Coppelia” and “Swan Lake”. With his brothers Lew and Harold, he toured the famous Orpheum vaudeville circuit in the 1920s, performing a ballet act at a time when few Americans were familiar with the art. By 1934, Christensen had quit the circuit to found the first ballet company in Portland, Ore., then left three years later to join the San Francisco Opera Ballet as a principal soloist. Within a year he was named ballet master of the company. In 1941 he founded the San Francisco Ballet, the first major ballet company in the West. Christensen choreographed the country’s first full-length production of “The Nutcracker” in 1944, and today it is a Christmas tradition for nearly every ballet company in the nation.
• 1903 ~ Beginning this night, and for 192 performances, “Babes in Toyland” entertained youngsters of all ages in New York City. Toyland is just one of Victor Herbert’s timeless operettas.
• 1939 ~ Harry James and his band recorded On a Little Street in Singapore for Columbia Records. A kid singer named Frank Sinatra was the featured vocalist on what was his seventh recording.
• 1941 ~ Paul Simon, American folk-rock singer, songwriter and guitarist, duo called Simon and Garfunkel, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer
• 1944 ~ Robert Lamm, Singer, keyboards, songwriter with The Big Thing; Chicago Transit Authority; Chicago
• 1945 ~ Karen Akers, Singer
• 1947 ~ Sammy Hagar, Singer, guitarist with Van Halen
• 1948 ~ Leona Mitchell, American soprano
• 1948 ~ Lacy J. Dalton (Jill Byrem), Songwriter, singer
• 1957 ~ Two superstars introduced a new car on ABC-TV. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra joined forces in an hourlong special that turned out to be a big ratings hit. Too bad the Edsel, the car that Ford Motor Company was introducing, didn’t fare as well.
• 1958 ~ This day was musically memorable as Warren Covington conducted the TommyDorsey Orchestra for what would be the last big band tune to climb the pop charts. Tea for Two Cha Cha, made it into the Top 10, peaking at #7. And that was the end of the Big Band Era. Rock ’n’ roll was here to stay.
• 1959 ~ Marie (Olive) Osmond, Singer, TV host on Donny and Marie
• 1963 ~ Beatlemania hit the London Palladium. The Beatles made their first appearance on a major TV show for the BBC. Thousands of delirious fans jammed the streets outside the theatre to voice their support of the Fab Four. A few months later, Beatlemania would sweep the U.S. as well.
• 1965 ~The Who recorded ‘My Generation’ at Pye studios, London. When released as a single it reached No.2 on the UK chart, held off the No.1 position by The Seekers ‘The Carnival Is Over’. Roger Daltrey would later say that he stuttered the lyrics to try to fit them to the music. The BBC initially refused to play the song because it did not want to offend people who stutter.
• 1971 ~ ‘Little’ Donny Osmond received a shiny gold record for his rendition of the Steve Lawrence hit, Go Away Little Girl. He went on to garner million-seller success with Hey Girl and Puppy Love too. Donny was quite popular with the bubblegum set, as well he should have been. Donny was only 13 years old.
• 1974 ~ Ed Sullivan died. Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) died at the age of 73. He is principally remembered as the creator and host of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, later popularly—and, eventually, officially—renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in US broadcast history. “It was, by almost any measure, the last great TV show,” proclaimed television critic David Hinckley. “It’s one of our fondest, dearest pop culture memories.”
Sullivan was a broadcasting pioneer at many levels during television’s infancy. As TV critic David Bianculli wrote, “Before MTV, Sullivan presented rock acts. Before Bravo, he presented jazz and classical music and theater. Before the Comedy Channel, even before there was the Tonight Show, Sullivan discovered, anointed and popularized young comedians. Before there were 500 channels, before there was cable, Ed Sullivan was where the choice was. From the start, he was indeed ‘the Toast of the Town’.” In 1996, Sullivan was ranked number 50 on TV Guide’s “50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time”
• 1979 ~ Michael Jackson went to #1 … 1 … 1 for the second time with Don’t Stop’Til You Get Enough. His first number one (Oct. 14, 1972 at age 14) was a ratty little number about Ben.
• 1979 ~’Reggatta De Blanc’ the second album from The Police started a four-week run at No.1 in the UK. The album which features the band’s first two No.1 hits, ‘Message in a Bottle’ and ‘Walking on the Moon’, cost only £6,000 to record. Do you have a favorite track from this album?
• 2000 ~ Britt Woodman, a versatile jazz musician best known for his work as a trombonist with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in the 1950s, died. He was 80 and had been suffering from respiratory problems. Woodman was featured in Ellington numbers including Sonnet To Hank V (from “Such Sweet Thunder”) and Red Garter(from “Toot Suite”). He worked with greats including Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and John Coltrane, and played in many big bands, including the Lincoln CenterJazz Orchestra. Piano was Woodman’s first instrument, but soon he was playing trombone, saxophone and clarinet as well. By the time he was 15, he was playing professionally with his older brothers, William Jr. and Coney, in the Woodman Brothers Biggest Little Band in the World. The band became known in Los Angeles’ flourishingjazz scene of the 1930s because Britt and William – who played saxophone, clarinet and trumpet – often traded instruments in the middle of a set. William would go on to a professional career as a saxophonist. Britt Woodman played in such swing-oriented ensembles as the Les Hite Band in the late 1930s, and later played with the iconoclastic Boyd Raeburn Band.
• 2001 ~ Raoul Kraushaar, who scored or supplied music for classic television series like Lassie and Bonanza, and films including Cabaret and Invaders From Mars, died at the age of 93. Kraushaar’s contributions spanned film, cartoons and television dating back to the 1930s. Kraushaar is credited with composing hundreds of music cues – the bits of background music used to augment the action and emotion in a scene on film – during his 55-year career, according to The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Born in Paris, Kraushaar stowed away as a teen-ager aboard a ship bound for New York, where he went on to study at Columbia University. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, and got his first music credit on the 1937 film, Round-Up Time In Texas, with Gene Autry. Kraushaar scored music for Hopalong Cassidy films, among other Westerns, musicals like “Cabaret”, and the 1953 film “Blue Gardenia”. Over the years, he supplied or scored music for such television shows as My Three Sons, The Donna Reed Show, Dennis The Menace and Father Knows Best.
The Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett is in Piano Maestro with 3 different levels to play. The song was released as a single in August 1962 along with a full-length LP (record) called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The “Monster Mash” single was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20–27 of that year, just before Halloween. It has been a perennial Halloween favorite ever since.
• 1872 ~ Ralph Vaughan Williams, British composer
More information on Vaughan Williams
• 1935 ~ Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor, Emmy Award-winning opera star
• 1935 ~ Samuel Moore, Singer with Sam & Dave
• 1944 ~ Who could forget the picture of a huge crowd of swooning bobbysoxers stopping traffic in New York’s Times Square as Frank Sinatra made his triumphant return to the famed Paramount Theatre (he had played there for eight weeks starting on December 30, 1942). In what was called the ‘Columbus Day Riot’, 25,000 teenagers, mostly young women, blocked the streets, screaming and swooning for Frankie. Sinatra later explained, “It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness. And I was the boy in every corner drug store … who’d gone off, drafted to the war. That was all.”
• 1948 ~ Rick Parfitt, Singer, guitarist with Status Quo
• 1950 ~ Susan Anton, Singer
• 1956 ~ Dave Vanian (Letts), Singer
• 1968 ~ Big Brother And The Holding Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Cheap Thrills’. The cover, drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, replaced the band’s original idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together. Crumb had originally intended his art to be the LP’s back cover, but Joplin demanded that Columbia Records use it for the front cover. Initially the album title was to have been Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but this didn’t go down too well at Columbia Records.
• 1971 ~ Some folks weren’t pleased when “Jesus Christ Superstar” premiered on Broadway because of the controversial content of the musical. Before the show opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, some 2.5 million copies of the album were sold to the curious. The Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber collaboration would become a big hit. “Jesus Christ Superstar would run on Broadway” for 720 shows, and spawn several hit songs, including I Don’t Know How to Love Him (Helen Reddy) and the title song, Jesus Christ Superstar (Murray Head).
• 1981 ~ Barbara Mandrell walked away with the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year honor for the second year in a row.
• 1989 ~ Carmen Cavallaro passed away. He was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation.
• 1994 ~ Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band had started playing ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed. The show was immediately canceled and re-scheduled.
• 1997 ~ John Denver died. Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, died at the age of 53. He was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for popularizing acoustic folk music in the 1970s as part of the ongoing singer-songwriter movement of the mid-to-late 20th century. Denver is widely recognized as a cultural icon of the American West.
• 1894 ~ Albert Stoessel, American conductor and composer
• 1918 ~ Jerome Robbins (Rabinowitz), Academy Award-winning director of “West Side Story” in 1961, Tony Award-winning choreographer of “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1965, West Side Story in 1958, “High Button Shoes” in 1948, Tony Award-winning director of “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1965, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway in 1989.
• 1919 ~ Art Blakely, American jazz drummer, bandleader, composer
• 1932 ~ Dottie West (Dorothy Marie Marsh), Grammy Award-winning singer
• 1939 ~ One of the classics was recorded this day. Body and Soul, by jazz great Coleman Hawkins, was waxed on Bluebird Records. It’s still around on CD compilations.
• 1940 ~ Glenn Miller recorded Make Believe Ballroom Time for Bluebird Records at the Victor studios in New York City. It would become the theme song for Make Believe Ballroom on WNEW, New York, with host Martin Block. Block created the aura of doing a ‘live’ radio program, complete with performers (on records) like Harry James or Frank Sinatra, from the ‘Crystal Studios’ at WNEW. His daily program was known to everyone who grew up in the NYC/NJ/Philadelphia area in the 1940s and 1950s. Miller had been so taken with the show’s concept that he actually paid for the Make Believe Ballroom Time recording session himself and hired the Modernaires to join in.
• 1943 ~ Gene Watson, Singer
• 1946 ~ Viktor Tretyakov, Russian violinist
• 1948 ~ Starting this night and for 792 performances, the musical, “Where’s Charley?”, played on Broadway. It included the show-stopping hit song: Once in Love with Amy.
• 1949 ~ Daryl Hall (Hohl), Singer
• 1950 ~ Andre Woolfolk, Reeds with Earth, Wind and Fire
• 1955 ~ Lindy (Linda) Boone, Singer with The Boone Family, singer Pat Boone’s daughter
• 1967 ~ The Doors appeared at Danbury High School, Danbury, Connecticut. Before the group came on stage an announcer told the audience not to leave their seats during the performance or they would be escorted out of the venue. There was also a beauty pageant just prior to The Doors coming on stage.
• 1969 ~ One hit wonders Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Je t’aime… Moi non plus.’ Banned by many radio stations for its sexual content and sounds and for first time in the history of the show, the BBC’s Top Of The Pops producers refused to air the No. 1 song.
• 1996 ~ Johnny Costa, jazz pianist (Mr. Rogers), died at the age of 74
• 2001 ~ Beni Montresor, a Tony award-winning set and costume designer who was also known for his plays and children’s books, died at age 75. Montresor worked as a set designer at Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. In 1960, he moved to New York, where he designed sets and costumes for both Italian and New York theatrical and operatic productions and began to write and illustrate children’s books. In 1986, he won a Tony, Broadway’s highest award, for scenic design in The Marriage of Figaro.
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