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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

THIS DAY IN ROCK HISTORY: January 5

1940: Now Hear This!



Inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong is credited with developing many of the features of radio as it is known today. Armstrong patented three important inventions that made today's radio possible. Regeneration, the superheterodyne circuit and wide-band frequency modulation or FM. Regeneration or the use of positive feedback greatly increased the amplitude of received radio signals to the point where they could be heard without headphones. The superhet simplified radio receivers by doing away with the need for several tuning controls. It made radios more sensitive and selective as well. FM gave listeners a static-free experience with better sound quality and fidelity than AM.

In the United States FM radio stations broadcast at frequencies of 87.8–108 MHz. FM radio was developed in the United States by Edwin Armstrong.

During the 1930s there were a small number of experimental (known as "Apex") stations attempting to broadcast high fidelity audio using wide-bandwidth AM on VHF frequencies. In 1937 W1XOJ was the first FM radio station, granted a construction permit by the FCC. On June 17, 1936, FM radio was demonstrated to the FCC for the first time. On January 5, 1940, Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrated FM broadcasting in a long-distance relay network, via five stations in five States. FM radio was assigned the 42 to 50 MHz band of the spectrum in 1940.

After World War II, the FCC moved FM to the frequencies between 88 and 108 MHz on June 27, 1945. The change in frequency was said to be for avoiding possible interference problems between stations in nearby cities and to make "room" for more FM radio channels. However, the FCC was influenced by RCA chairman David Sarnoff, who had the covert goal of disrupting the successful FM network that Edwin Armstrong had established on the old band. The 500,000 receivers built for the original FM radio band could be retrofitted with converters, but many were just replaced. The greater expense was to the radio stations themselves that had to rebuild their stations for the new FM radio band. The move of the FM band, an organized campaign of misinformation by RCA (a company that competed with FM radio by focusing on AM radio and the emerging technology of television), and adverse rulings by the FCC severely set back the development of FM radio. As late as 1947, in Detroit, there were only 3,000 FM receivers in use for the new band, and 21,000 obsolete ones for the old band. On March 1, 1941 W47NV began operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first modern commercial FM radio station. However, FM radio did not recover from the setback until the upsurge in high fidelity equipment in the late 1950s.

During the 1970s, FM radio experienced a golden age of integrity programming, with disc jockeys playing what they wanted, including album cuts not designated as "singles" and lengthy progressive rock tracks.
- From Wikipedia



1967: Winchester Prefers Canada To Far East



Jesse Winchester (born James Ridout Winchester; May 17, 1944) is a musician and songwriter who was born and raised in the southern United States. To avoid the Vietnam War draft he moved to Canada in 1967, which is where and when he began his career as a solo artist. His highest charting recordings were of his own tunes, "Yankee Lady" in 1970 and "Say What" in 1981. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973, gained amnesty in the U.S. in 1977 and resettled there in 2002.

Winchester is probably most well known as a songwriter, with his works being recorded by many notable artists, including Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Anne Murray, Reba McEntire, The Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris. A number of these recordings have had success on various charts.

Born in Bossier City, Louisiana, Winchester was raised in northern Mississippi and the city of Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduating in 1966. Upon receiving his draft notice the following year, Winchester moved to Montreal, Quebec to avoid military service.

Winchester had begun playing guitar in bands while still a high school student. He also played in Germany during college study abroad and after graduation. Upon arriving in Quebec in 1967, he joined a local band, Les Astronautes. At this time, he also began writing songs that he performed as a solo artist in coffee houses throughout eastern Canada. Under the auspices of The Band's Robbie Robertson, Winchester began his recording career in 1970 with his self-titled album, released on the Ampex label.
Winchester released several albums during the '70s. However, due to his status as a draft dodger, he was unable to tour in the United States. As a result, he became recognized primarily as a songwriter. His best known songs include "Yankee Lady", "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz", "Mississippi, You're on My Mind", and "Biloxi". These and others have been recorded by numerous artists, including Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Anne Murray, Reba McEntire, The Everly Brothers, Wynona Judd, The Weather Girls, New Grass Revival, Fairport Convention, Tim Hardin, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Nicolette Larsen, Ted Hawkins, Ian Matthews, Colleen Peterson, Tom Rush, Brewer & Shipley, Raffi, Skydiggers and Wilson Pickett.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted draft resisters unconditional amnesty. Winchester subsequently began performing in the U.S., with his first appearance being in Burlington, Vermont on April 21 of that year. He was nominated for the Best Country Male Vocalist award at the Juno Awards of 1990. In 2002, Winchester moved back to the United States, settling in Virginia. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2007. Winchester has continued to record and perform throughout the United States and Canada, releasing his tenth studio album, Love Filling Station, in 2009.

In 2011 Jesse Winchester was diagnosed with cancer of the aesophagus and had to undergo treatment for the next couple of months. Winchester has since been given the all clear from his doctor and has resumed his tour.
- From Wikipedia



1976: "Fifth Beatle" Mal Evans Killed


Malcolm Frederick 'Mal' Evans (27 May 1935 – 5 January 1976) was best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles.

In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and also worked part-time as a bouncer at the Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed. Manager Brian Epstein later hired Evans as their assistant road manager, in tandem with Neil Aspinall. Evans was tall and heavily-built, and Peter Brown (one of Epstein's staff) later wrote of Evans as "a kindly, but menacing-looking young man". Evans contributed to many Beatle recordings, and appeared in some of the films they made. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, but Evans carried on assisting the band and working with them in the studio.

Evans was killed by police on 5 January 1976 at his home in Los Angeles. Officers were called when his girlfriend phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused and had a gun. The police believed that the air rifle Evans was holding was a rifle and shot him dead.


Early life

Details of Evans’ early life are unknown, apart from his birth date. No book has been written about him although he wrote his memoirs, Living The Beatles' Legend, from which extracts were released on 20 March 2005. Anything known about him starts in 1961, when Evans married a Liverpool girl, Lily, after meeting her at a funfair in New Brighton, Merseyside, and their first child, Gary, was born in the same year. The Beatles were the house band at Liverpool's Cavern Club when Evans first heard them perform during his lunch break. He was then living in Hillside Road, Mossley Hill and working as a telephone engineer for the Post Office. He became a committed fan, even though his musical hero at the time was Elvis Presley.

He first befriended Harrison, who put forward Evans' name to the Cavern Club's manager, Ray McFall, when he needed a doorman. The 27-year-old Evans was accepted—even though he wore thick-framed glasses—mainly because of his burly 6 ft 6in frame, which was an asset when holding back the numerous fans at the Cavern's door, and later as an unofficial bodyguard for them. He was later nicknamed the "Gentle Giant" and "Big Mal". In 1962, Evans wrote that it was "a wonderful year", as he had Lily (his wife), his son Gary, a house, a car, and he was working at the Cavern club, which he wrote into a 1963 Post Office Engineering Union diary, which also had information concerning Ohm's law and Post Office pay rates.


The Beatles

Three months after starting at the Cavern Club, Evans was hired by Brian Epstein as road manager, on 11 August 1962. Evans and Neil Aspinall’s duties were to drive the van while the band was on tour, set up and test the equipment, and then pack it up again. The Beatles were being driven back to Liverpool from London by Evans through heavy fog on 21 January 1963, when the windscreen was hit by a pebble and cracked, so Evans had to break a large hole in it to see the road ahead. This was in winter, so The Beatles had to lie one on top of the other in the back with a bottle of whisky and try to stay warm in the freezing temperatures; something McCartney later referred to as a "Beatle sandwich".

Evans had many other duties. As well as acting as a bodyguard, he was sent to buy anything they needed, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks. If Lennon said "Socks, Mal", Evans would have to rush to a local Marks and Spencer store and buy six pairs of cotton socks for him. In 1967, Evans wrote in his diaries that he "bought Ringo Starr some undies for his visit to the doctor". The Beatles' memorabilia is in continuous demand, but a full set of autographs by all four could be forgeries: Evans and Aspinall used to sign many of them when Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were too busy.

The Beatles started their first European tour in January 1964, and Evans was allowed to take his wife and son with him, but was involved in a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris whilst protecting them. Epstein’s associate, Alistair Taylor, once asked him why he was driving an Austin Princess limousine, rather than a Daimler, a Bentley, or a Rolls-Royce. The Beatles were forced to choose an Austin (as Evans explained) because they had tested every car to see how wide the doors would open as they (literally) had to "dive into the car" to escape their fans.

Evans enjoyed an executive position at Apple until 1969, when Allen Klein was hired as a manager to reorganise the whole company. Evans was fired by Klein the next year, because Klein complained to Lennon that Aspinall and Evans were "living like kings—like fucking emperors", although Evans was later reinstated after McCartney, Harrison and Starr complained. On 13 September 1969, Evans accompanied Lennon, Yoko Ono, Klaus Voorman, Alan White and Eric Clapton to Toronto, Canada, for the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Concert. He later commented about the concert: "I was really enjoying myself. It was the first show I had roadied for three years and I was really loving every minute of plugging the amps in and setting them up on stage, making sure that everything was right. Everyone wanted the show to go particularly well because Allen Klein, who had flown over, had organised for the whole of John's performance to be filmed. This was on top of it being video-taped by Dan Richter."


Musical contributions

Evans contributed to many recordings, including lending his voice to "Yellow Submarine". Evans played single organ notes on "You Won't See Me", and harmonica, kazoo, and organ on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!". McCartney explained that he showed Evans where the notes were on the organ, and then nodded his head when he wanted Evans to play, and shook it when he wanted him to stop.

On "A Day in the Life", Evans controlled an alarm clock, counted the measures in the original 24-bar break and was one of the five piano players simultaneously hitting the last chord of the song. Evans played tambourine on "Dear Prudence" and saxophone on "Helter Skelter". He played a double solo with Lennon, although neither of them were proficient on the instrument. Evans contributed background vocals and shovelled a bucket of gravel (as part of the rhythm) on "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)". Evans also contributed to the White Album outtake "What's the New Mary Jane", and hit an anvil on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", because Starr could not lift the hammer high enough to get the right sound and keep in time with the song.

According to his diaries, Evans helped to compose songs on the Sgt. Pepper album. Evans wrote, on 27 January 1967: "Sgt Pepper. Started writing song with Paul McCartney upstairs in his room, he on piano" and "Did a lot more of "where the rain comes in" a lyric from "Fixing a Hole". Hope people like it. Started Sergeant Pepper". On 1 February: "Sergeant Pepper sounds good. Paul tells me that I will get royalties on the song—great news, now perhaps a new home. On 2 February: "Recording voices on Captain Pepper. All six of us doing the chorus in the middle, worked until about midnight."

Keith Badman—author of The Beatles off the Record—referred to a tape recording of Evans speaking shortly before his death, on which Evans reiterated some of the statements made in the diary. According to Badman, Evans was asked at the time if it would be a problem that he was not credited, as the Lennon–McCartney writing name was "a really hot item". Evans did not receive any royalties and stayed at his £38-a-week pay (equivalent to £514 today).


On film

Evans appeared in three (out of five) Beatles' films. In Help!, Evans played a confused channel swimmer who pops up through an ice-hole in Austria, and on a beach in the Bahamas. The Beatles asked Evans and Aspinall to find and hire the actors they wanted to perform in the Magical Mystery Tour film, and to hire an old 60-seater coach, on which they were told to paint the Magical Mystery Tour logo which McCartney had designed. Evans later appeared in the film as one of the magicians who cast mysterious spells on the passengers of the bus.

In the Let It Be film, Evans can be seen playing the anvil during early versions of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and can be seen talking to police officers on the Savile Row rooftop when they came to stop the live performance. Before the rooftop concert, Evans placed a camera and a microphone in a corner of Apple's reception area, so that when the police came in to complain about the noise—which was expected—they could be filmed and recorded. The Beatles were often filmed by Evans during his time with them (without sound) and a collection of his recordings was later released on DVD.


After The Beatles

In 1968, Evans had discovered the band Badfinger (then known as The Iveys) and suggested that they be signed to Apple. Although not trained as a studio technician, Evans produced several songs recorded by the Iveys/Badfinger in 1969 and 1970. The most notable of these is the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger, which charted on Billboard's Top 10 in December 1970. Evans also produced some tracks for Keith Moon's solo album Two Sides of the Moon.

Evans separated from his wife in 1973, and subsequently moved from the UK to Los Angeles (where Lennon had moved to live with May Pang after his own separation from Yoko Ono). Evans is credited on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album as providing "tea and sympathy". Evans co-wrote "You and Me (Babe)" with Harrison, which appears on Starr's solo album, Ringo, in 1973. Evans was asked to produce the group Natural Gas, and was working on a book of memoirs called Living The Beatles' Legend, which he was due to deliver to his publishers, Grosset & Dunlap, on 12 January 1976. Evans was depressed about his separation from his wife Lil Evans—who had asked for a divorce before Christmas—although he was then living with new girlfriend Fran Hughes in a rented motel apartment at 8122 W. 4th Street in Los Angeles.


Death

On 5 January 1976, Evans was so despondent that Hughes phoned his collaborator on his book, John Hoernie, and asked him to visit them. Hoernie saw Evans "really doped-up and groggy", and Evans told Hoernie to make sure that he finished Living The Beatles' Legend. Hoernie helped Evans up to an upstairs bedroom, but during an incoherent conversation Evans picked up a 30.30 air rifle. Hoernie struggled with Evans, but Evans, being much stronger, held onto the weapon.

Hughes then phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused, had a rifle, and was on valium. Four policemen arrived and three of them, David D. Krempa, Robert E. Brannon and Lieutenant Higbie, went up to the bedroom. They later reported that as soon as Evans saw the three policemen he pointed a rifle at them. The officers repeatedly told Evans to put down the rifle (which they did not know at the time was an air rifle) but Evans constantly refused. The police fired six shots, of which four struck Evans, killing him instantly. Evans had previously been awarded the badge of "Honorary Sheriff of Los Angeles County", but in the Los Angeles Times, he was referred to as a “jobless former road manager for The Beatles”.

Evans was cremated on 7 January 1976, in Los Angeles. None of The Beatles attended his funeral, but Harry Nilsson and other friends attended, although Harrison arranged for Evans' family to receive £5,000, as Evans had not maintained his life insurance premiums, and was not entitled to a pension.
- From Wikipedia