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Saturday
1
Kevin Ayers
is joined on stage at London's Rainbow Theater by
John Cale, Nico
and
Brian Eno
, resulting in the album
A.C.N.E.
The four were put together by their label, Island Records, for the one-shot concert, which Eno describes as "only a passing thing. I can't see anything permanent coming out of it."
2
3
Consumers' Research Magazine
announces "the new Polaroid SX-70 camera," which is selling in the New York area for about $130.
4
5 The
Eagles
' third album,
On the Border,
goes gold. The album yielded minor hit singles in "Already Gone" (#32 on the pop chart) and "James Dean" (#77), two of this slick Los Angeles country-rock band's hardest-rocking songs. But one of the album's ballads, "Best of My Love,"
would become one of their biggest hits, reaching Number One in early 1975.
Sly Stone
, 30, is married to
Kathy Silva
, 21, on the stage of Madison Square Garden. A horde of celebrities turns out for the gala affair, which includes a postceremony set by
Sly and the Family Stone
.
Don Cornelius
of TV's
Soul Train
is the master of ceremonies,
Eddie Kendricks
is the opening act and the ceremony is performed by
Bishop B.R. Stewart
of San Francisco's Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ, the church Sly attended as a child. One fitting note: Sly is late to his own wedding -- although by only two minutes. The marriage will last only until Oct. 30.
6
The White House reveals that the Watergate grand jury's secret report names Richard Nixon
as an unidicted coconspirator in the break-in and cover-up.
7 Newly released Watergate evidence from 1973 links Henry Kissinger
to four years of wiretapping newsmen. He demands proof and threatens to resign: the investigating Senate Foreign Relations Committee agrees to pursue the matter. The New York Times
will later report that Kissinger testified in closed Senate hearings that either he or H.R. Haldeman
authorized illegal wiretaps. By Aug. 6, in the shadow of Nixon's impending impeachment
or resignation, the committee will exonerate Kissinger.
8 Rick Wakeman
announces his split from
Yes
. "I gave my week's notice and left them plenty of time to pull it together," he later says. The crux of the decision is his recent solo success, but also his dislike of the group's
Tales of Topographic Oceans.
"It was embarrassing to me when people would ask me questions about
Topographic,
and I didn't understand." Wakeman's debut solo album, Journey to the Centre of the Earth,
soon soars to No. 1 in the UK and No. 3 in the US. His lush run continues with The Six Wives of Henry VIII,
though he does wind up reuniting with Yes from time to time over the years.
Dolly Parton
's "I Will Always Love You" hits #1 on the country charts. Eighteen years later, it will top the pop charts as sung by Whitney Houston
.
Country/pop singer Bobbie Gentry
, of "Ode to Billie Joe" fame, debuts her new CBS musical variety series, The Bobbie Gentry Show
(a.k.a. Bobbie Gentry Happiness
). It's gone in less than a month, just like whatever Billie Joe McAllister threw off the Tallahatchee Bridge. In two years, Gentry's signature song will inspire a film called Ode to Billie Joe,
starring Robby Benson
as a young teen tormented by his possible homosexuality.
The Top Five
1. "Band on the Run"
- Paul McCartney & Wings
2. "The Streak"
- Ray Stevens
3. "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
- The Stylistics
4. "Dancing Machine" - Jackson 5
5. "Sundown"
- Gordon Lightfoot
9
10
The
Who
begin a four-day stint at Madison Square Garden. Tickets for the shows had sold out in just sixty hours, a full two months before the concert dates.
11
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
threatens to resign following charges that he conducted wire-taps.
12
Philadelphia soul vocal group the
O'Jays
earn their fourth gold record, "For the Love of Money." Together since the mid-Sixties, the O'Jays are one of the most successful acts in the stable of Philadelphia International Records' renowned production team of
Kenny Gamble
and
Leon Huff
.
13
14
With an estimated 4,000 people dying in the United States every year from choking on food, surgeon Henry M. Heimlich
has an idea. Today he gives a public demonstration of his simple, life-saving, arm-wrapping maneuver that dislodges items trapped in the windpipe. Within days Heimlich's method is saving lives, and the busy, soon-to-become-famous doctor gladly promotes his procedure to whoever will listen. Several days later, the ever inquisitive doctor has a letter published in the New York Times
on a totally unrelated matter, nuclear power in the Mideast.
15 After several drummer-less months,
Paul McCartney and Wings
announce the addition of drummer
Geoff Britton
, who replaces
Denny Seiwell
.
In a year beset by an unusually large number of novelty hits and pop fluff ( "Seasons in the Sun,"
"Hooked on a Feeling,"
"The Streak,"
"The Night Chicago Died"
), add
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
to the list, with their Number One single, "Billy, Don't Be a Hero."
The Top Five
1. "Billy, Don't Be a Hero"
- Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
2. "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
- The Stylistics
3. "Sundown"
- Gordon Lightfoot
4. "The Streak"
- Ray Stevens
5. "Band on the Run"
- Paul McCartney & Wings
16
17
18
According to
Rolling Stone,
Peter Hoorelbeke
, drummer for
Rare Earth
, is arrested after tossing his sticks into the crowd. Later, he tells police he had done it to get audience reaction. "If you had been trying to get crowds to see you for ten years, you'd do it too. Here I am, almost thirty years old and still doing this shit."
Ninety-six people are arrested at a concert at Atlanta's Omni. About thirty of the arrests are made inside the concert hall, where 7,500 fans have come to hear
Robin Trower
(who canceled) and
Edgar Winter
. Promoter
Howard Stein
bitterly claims that Atlanta has "reverted back to the Southern redneck-sheriff image of the early Sixties."
19
20 Chinatown,
Roman Polanski
's hard-bitten movie about poltical corruption and murder, starring Jack Nicholson
and Faye Dunaway
, opens. The convoluted 1930's detective yarn is the latest film shot stateside by director Roman Polanski
, who later flees to France after his conviction on a charge of statutory rape. A box-office and critical winner, it receives a whopping 11 Oscar nominations but comes home with a lone win: Robert Towne
for original screenplay.
21
22
23
24 The
Hues Corporation
have a gold hit with "Rock the Boat,"
an early example of what will later be called disco. It's a Number One hit in July.
25
26
27 The Flip Wilson Show
has its last telecast on NBC-TV. The former star of Laugh-In,
Flip Wilson
is known for his "Geraldine" and "Here Come the Judge" characters.
28
The
Ohio Players
-- originators of the
Sly Stone
-infected Dayton, Ohio, school of hard funk that would also produce
Slave
-- earn a gold record for
Skin Tight,
which would yield the hit singles "Skin Tight" (#13) and "Jive Turkey" (#47).
29 Russian dancer extraordinaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov
, defects to the West, electrifying the American dance scene.
The Top Five
1. "Sundown"
- Gordon Lightfoot
2. "Billy, Don't Be a Hero"
- Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
3. "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
- The Stylistics
4. "Be Thankful for What You Got" - William DeVaughn
5. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" - Olivia Newton-John
30
The
Modern Jazz Quartet
bids farewell to the U.S. with a concert in San Francisco. The group --
Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Percy Heath
and
Connie Kay
-- will end its twenty-two-year career after a tour of Australia.