Browsing: Music

A Brief History On May 23, 2012, American Idol runner up Adam Lambert became the first openly gay musical artist to debut an album at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with his album, Trespassing (his second album).   In 2009, Lambert had finished second in the eighth season of American Idol (2009) and his first album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 in 2009  Lambert’s third album also debuted at #3, making him a recording force to be reckoned with. Digging Deeper Coy about his sexuality, Lambert demurred when asked about it during his Idol run, coming out only…

A Brief History On May 19, 1962, an indelible part of the legends of two iconic Americans was inscribed in history when blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe sang the most famous sexy version of “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. Digging Deeper The popular and seemingly virile John Kennedy had become the youngest elected president in US history, succeeding Dwight Eisenhower, at the time the oldest president in US history.  Young, tan, and the picture of health, the public did not know of the physical ailments JFK had.  With his Hollywood good looks and beautiful young wife, women wanted JFK…

A Brief History On March 31, 1923, the first U.S. dance marathon ended in New York City but began a strange fad with sometimes fatal consequences! Digging Deeper Less than a decade later, in 1932, a young woman dropped dead after dancing non-stop for 48 hours in a dance marathon!  And when the police raided a ballroom during a Marathon World Championship, the promoters simply transferred the contestants, who were still dancing, into a van.  From there they were taken onto a sloop, a small sailing ship, which sailed out of territorial waters and so beyond the area of police…

A Brief History On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono came up with a unique way to celebrate their honeymoon, by inviting friends and reporters to spend the day in their hotel bedroom each day for a week! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find soon to be Ex-Beatle John Lennon married to the love of his life, Yolo Ono, on honeymoon in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland). In accordance with Lennon and Ono’s avowed opposition to war (especially the Viet Nam War) they staged an event they called a Bed-In for Peace, where the lovebirds would spend a week…

A Brief History On March 21, 1952, disc jockey Alan Freed (inventor of the term “rock and roll”) and record store owner Leo Mintz staged the first rock concert in Cleveland, Ohio! Digging Deeper At the time, our country was divided by race, with African-Americans who served the country during World War II expecting to achieve something more like equality than the segregation and discriminatory treatment of the day. With major civil rights milestones such as integration of the armed forces in 1948 and landmark events such as Brown v. Board of Education and the Rosa Parks led bus boycott…