On this date in 1963, right after signing their deal with Decca Records, The Rolling Stones entered London’s Olympic Sound Studios to track its first single, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On." The single came out in the U.K. on June 7 and went to No. 21 on the U.K. charts, allowing them to begin playing shows outside of London. The band's singles steadily performed better in the U.K. — the second one, "I Wanna Be Your Man" (a Beatles cover) made it to No. 12 and their cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" went to No. 3 (it was their first U.S. chart single, as well, reaching No. 48). In early 1964, the band had its first No. 1 single (in the U.K.) with another cover, Bobby and Shirley Womack's "It's All Over Now."

The first original song by the Stones to make it to No. 1 didn't come until 1965's "The Last Time." Later in ’65 the Stones released the following tune, which signaled the coming of a legendary, enduring band — it reached No. 1 in countries across the globe. Over 50 years after forming, the Stones are still rocking. They ended up doing pretty OK for themselves.

A 50th anniversary tour is currently said to be in the works; reports are that the band has been rehearsing in New York and New Jersey for … something (details have not yet been publicly released). Keith Richards told Rolling Stone their aiming to hit the road next year.

Mick Jagger is hosting Saturday Night Live on May 19 for the show's season finale. He'll also be the musical guest. But with whom will he perform? Maybe those New York-area rehearsals will result in a full Stones performance on SNL? All four members of the Stones were present (along with Don Was on bass). They reportedly rehearsed just a few songs, including "Miss You" and "Jumping Jack Flash."

But Jagger's most recent release was with the "supergroup" SuperHeavy, featuring Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, A. R. Rahman and Damian Marley. Perhaps that's who will play?

My money's on either a solo performance backed by SNL's band or the full Stones. Though if The Rolling Stones are performing on Saturday Night Live, you'd think NBC would be very, very eager to promote that. We'll see.

One thing of which I'm fairly certain — wanna bet Jimmy Fallon makes another cameo on SNL May 19?

Click on for Born This Day featuring Donovan, Bono, Craig Mack and Sid Vicious.

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On this date in 1980, the British awards program honoring songwriters, The Ivor Novello Awards, bestowed the awards for best Pop song and best lyrics to The Boomtown Rats, the Irish Punk band featuring Live Aid founder Bob Geldof. The song that won the honors was the band's biggest, "I Don't Like Mondays," a tune written by Geldof after reading about the news of a 16-year-old high school student who started a shooting spree on a playground in San Diego in early 1979.

The young girl killed two adults and injured eight kids and one cop. With a rifle given to her by her father as a gift, she began shooting from her house across the street from the elementary school playground. When she was asked by a reporter why she did it, she said, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." She also told police during a six-hour standoff that "there was no reason for it, and it was a lot of fun." She was sentenced to 25 years to life and has been denied parole multiple times. During parole hearings, the woman has made various excuses, from claiming that it was the cops who fired the shots that killed and hurt people to insisting she was sexually abused by her father to proclaiming she was on alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs at the time.

She is not eligible for parole again until 2019.

The Boomtown Rats released "I Don't Like Mondays" that summer. The song gave the Rats their second No. 1 in the U.K. (it only made it to No. 79 in the States) and became the tune for which they're best known. The tune wasn't a celebration of the girl, nor was it a tribute to the victims. Rather, it was a clever, emotional look at mental illness and how it can effect anyone, even those you'd least suspect.

Russell Brand referred to the song when he hosted the NME Awards in 2006. When the often curmudgeonly Geldof won the "Best DVD" award for the Live 8 disc (ooh, what an honor!), he began his speech by saying, "Russell Brand … what a cunt." Brand shot back and won the diss battle instantly, saying "It's no wonder Bob Geldof knows so much about famine — he's been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years."

Here's a clip of Geldof and Rats pianist Johnny Fingers performing my favorite version of the song, at the 1982 Secret Policeman's Ball benefit concerts for Amnesty International.

Click below for Born This Day featuring Andrew W.K., Billy Joel, Richie Furay and Ghostface Killah.

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By now, thanks to Facebook mostly, most of you have heard that one third of the legendary Hip Hop trio Beastie Boys — Adam "MCA" Yauch — died this morning in New York City after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old and leaves behind a legacy to be proud of, with his crucial contributions to music, video and activism.

In an eerie coincidence, Northside club Mayday tonight has a scheduled dance party hosted by DJ Mowgli called "Run DMC vs. Beastie Boys," featuring music by both historic crews. The music starts at 10 p.m. and there's no cover. Something tells me there will be a little extra Beasties love from the DJ in light of today's events. 

Below is the press release about Yauch's death from the Beastie Boys' longtime publicists at Nasty Little Man.

R.I.P. MCA.

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Entertainment Weekly's website recently debuted a bizarre music video for Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's cover of "Mack the Knife." The clip features Eric Nally, singer for internationally renowned, Cincy born-and-bred hard rockers Foxy Shazam, as a nerded-up emcee introducing Snider before a less-than-enthused small crowd. The song is from Snider's album of covers, Dee Does Broadway, which includes Broadway cameos from Bebe Neuwirth and Patti LuPone. The video clip also includes a cameo by modern Prog Rock legend Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Translatlantic). "Mack the Knife" is rendered fairly straightforward by Dee … at first. (You just knew he wasn't going to take it anymore.)

Click here to watch the clip.

Snider is a Foxy fan, apparently. On a morning show in L.A. recently, he shouted-out the band to viewers, calling them "Queen meets The Darkness … so brilliant!

It's not the first Rock veteran to take notice of Foxy's talent. Nally co-wrote songs with Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, Meat Loaf and others for Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Here's "California Isn't Big Enough (Hey There Girl)," which Nally and Hawkins wrote together. (Foxy and the since-reunited Darkness have been touring together a bunch lately, a match made in flamboyant Rock & Roll heaven.)

Tone House Music, the much-needed new music store in Northside, hosts the first of what is scheduled to be a really cool weekly happening at the shop. The "Cincinnati Songwriter Round" will be an every-Thursday event featuring some of the top singer/songwriters in the area performing intimate "in-the-round" shows together, trading off songs and stories. The music begins at 7 p.m. and admission is free. Tone House is "B.Y.O.B.," so if you wanna drink, swing by the pony keg beforehand.

The showcase is hosted this month by singer/songwriter/guitarist/engineer Andyman Hopkins. Tonight's inaugural "round" features writers "Easy" Tom Eby (of The EZ Tom Eby Experience) , Kristen Kreft (formerly of J. Dorsey Blues Band and currently fronting the group The Perfect Children) and Mark Utley, mainman in the colossally talented Americana group Magnolia Mountain.  

Tone House Music was recently opened for business by local musician Tim Seiwert (drummer with for algernon and The Newbees). The store sells instruments and accessories (including picks, sticks and strings), something the hip, artsy neighborhood has been strangely lacking. Tone House also provides repairs, consignment sales, PA rental and lessons. And they even have an art gallery!

Seiwert began hosting live music in the store last month. Upcoming performances include experimental music act The Letdown (May 18) and an evening of acoustic Folk with Caleb Hawkins (May 19). Click here for the store's Facebook page and more details. The venue is located at 4040 Hamilton Ave.

On this date in 1972, Les Harvey — guitarist for the Scottish band (which many believed would become huge) Stone the Crows — died on stage when he was electrocuted by a microphone. He reportedly died when he touched the (probably) ungrounded mic and his guitar at the same time during soundcheck (with what many believe were wet hands).

Harvey is a member of the sad club of rockers who died at the age of 27. He's also a member of a smaller club of known musicians who died from electrocution.

Keith Relf, singer for The Yardbirds, died in 1976 at the age of 33 after being electrocuted by an (again) ungrounded electric guitar.



John Rostill was the bassist for the British Pop group that gave Cliff Richard to the world, The Shadows (he was also a member of Zoot Money Quartet alongside future Police guitarist Andy Summers). Rostill was found dead in 1973, electrocuted by a guitar that was (again!) believed to be improperly grounded.



French Pop singer/songwriter Claude Francois — who cowrote the classic Sinatra tune "My Way" and sold over 70 million records in his career — died in 1978 at the age of 39. Francois returned to his Paris abode after recording a BBC special and was standing in a full bathtub when he tried to adjust a light on the wall above the tub. He was electrocuted and died. As far as I know, everything was properly grounded in the bathroom.



Lessons: Bathtubs and electronics don't mix. And always make sure your equipment is grounded before touching anything.

Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a May 3 birthday include singer/actor Bing Crosby (1903); early Blues musician and slide guitarist Homesick James (1914); late Funk superhero James Brown (1933); Pop star with the Four Seasons, Frankie Valii (1934); bassist for proto-Garage band The Troggs ("Wild Thing"), Pete Staples (1944); Soft Rock superstar Christopher Cross (1951); singer for Nu Metal band Saliva, Josey Scott (1971); singer/guitarist for Indie Rock favorites Interpol, Paul Banks (1978); and Folk legend Pete Seeger (1919).

Seeger — who will be awarded a "Distinguished Service" honor from the American Academy of Arts and Letters on May 16 — popped up in the news recently in a manner befitting the revolutionary singer/songwriter who penned (or co-penned) standards like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "If I Had Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn!" He also popularized the spiritual "We Shall Overcome," which became the Civil Rights Movement's theme song.

Seeger's social consciousness in song was used once again in a powerful way last week when tens of thousands of Norwegians joined together for a marathon singalong of his song, "My Rainbow Race" (the Norwegian version is called "Children of the Rainbow") as a way to protest/heckle admitted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik during his trial for murdering 77 people last summer. Breivek had previously dissed the song because it "brainwashed" children into believing that things like cultural diversity and racial harmony are good. He said, in court, that the song was brought to schools by "cultural Marxists."

"The curriculum is stripped of knowledge relating to the codes of honor that have been so important for Europe for thousands of years,” Breivik said. “They put up these songs and propaganda films to get students to despise their forefathers.”

Here's Lillebjørn Nilsen leading the singalong (he popularized the original Norwegian version).

Singer/songwriter Leslie Feist (best known for her hit "1, 2, 3") was in town April 9 to discuss her work in the music video world at the Contemporary Arts Center downtown. Her appearance with director Martin de Thurah (who directed her clip for "The Bad in Each Other") was a part of the programming related to the current exhibit, Spectacle: The Music Video, which, according to the clip below, Feist quite enjoyed (and enjoyed being a part of).

Feist on 'Spectacle: The Music Video' from CincyCAC on Vimeo.

If you haven't seen Spectacle yet, you still have plenty of time. The exhibit is up through Sept. 3. Click below for a couple more clips about the show.

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Tonight at The Drinkery on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, excellent local Pop/Hip Hop/Rock crew Gold Shoes release its first long-player in conjunction with a free performance (the album is conveniently titled The Gold Shoes LP). The band was formed in 2009 and features MC vocals from rapper Buggs Tha Rocka (a great solo artist as well), Steven Shaefer on guitar/sax, Mike Weigand (keys), Kevin Johnson (bass), Tony Kuchma (drums/percussion) and singer/guitarist Archie Niebuhr. Gold Shoes has a magnetic, endearing sound that mixes Hip Hop and Rock with great hooks and touches of Jazz and Blues. Fun, cool stuff. You can purchase or give the album a preview spin online here.

Tonight's show starts at 9 p.m. and also features Vito Emmanuel, The Zoo Crew and DJ Sinceer.

Late last year, the band released the album's first single and video, "Trade Your Wings." More recently, they unveiled another great music video for the track "Barely Alive." Check 'em both out below.

Paste magazine's "50 States Project" series singling out some of the best music in all of the states in America today posted its list of Ohio bands. Three Cincinnati acts — Bad Veins (in at No. 1!), Walk the Moon and Pomegranates — made the cut.

Here's the rundown of all the bands chosen in Paste's "10 Ohio Bands You Should Listen to Now." 

1. Bad Veins (Cincinnati)

2. The Black Swans (Columbus)

3. Cloud Nothings (Cleveland)

4. The Lighthouse and the Whaler (Cleveland)

5. Nick Tolford and Company (Columbus)

6. Old Hundred (Columbus)

7. Phantods (Columbus)

8. Pomegranates (Cincinnati)

9. Southeast Engine (Athens)

10. Walk the Moon (Cincinnati)

Listen to a track from each band and read what Paste has to say about Ohio here.