Music History Events: Strange But True
June 21, 1973 The band Bread, already having decided to break up, play their last live gig ever in Salt Lake City after one of its tour trucks flips over and destroys most of its gear.
January 16, 1969 Aretha Franklin's attorney calls police in Ocala, Florida to let them know the woman who has been performing there as Franklin - quite convincingly - is a fake. The imposter, Vickie Jones, is arrested but set free when it becomes clear she was coerced into the scheme by an unscrupulous promoter. She becomes a popular live draw when news of her arrest, and how she can believably sing like Aretha, gets out.
June 5, 1966 Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, awakens suddenly in Memphis, convinced that her boy is in danger; at that moment, Elvis' first pink Cadillac catches on fire while en route from Fulton, Arkansas. Elvis is unharmed.
June 23, 1965 The Kinks play a show in Springfield, Illinois, that they later learn was organized by John Wayne Gacy, who would become a notorious serial killer.
January 5, 2019 The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne marries Katy Weaver in his hometown of Oklahoma City. The wedding itself takes place inside a plastic bubble like the one Coyne uses to surf crowds.
May 1, 2017 At the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, John Popper, Susan Tedeschi, Widespread Panic and many other artists perform at a tribute to Col. Bruce Hampton in celebration of his 70s birthday. Hampton, a mentor to many of these musicians, collapses on stage and dies during the encore. "Bruce was the only person I could think of who has ever played at his own funeral," his friend Scott McKinney says.
April 26, 2017 Father John Misty releases his video for "Total Entertainment Forever," which stars Macaulay Culkin as a crucified Kurt Cobain.More
December 29, 2016 Azealia Banks reveals that she has been sacrificing chickens for three years when she posts an Instagram video of her cleaning up the mess.
August 17, 2016 MTV's Catfish: The TV Show introduces Spencer Morrill, a Tennessee native who insists he's been in an online romance with Katy Perry for six years. He even made a ring for her out of a family heirloom. When hosts Nev and Max lure out the catfish in England and bring him face to face with the singer, he believes the real Perry sent the "imposter" as a joke.
June 17, 2016 Tom DeLonge reveals his true reason for leaving blink-182: to investigate UFOs. In an interview with Mic, the "Aliens Exist" singer claims the truth is out there: "There's been hundreds and hundreds of thousands of eyewitness accounts. Trace evidence that's been analyzed by scientists across the world. Events have happened on the ground. It's all around us. I know of stuff I can't talk about right now."
July 24, 2014 Chubby Checker settles his lawsuit with Hewlett-Packard over their app: "The Chubby Checker." The app, which sold for 99 cents, purported to estimate a man's penis size based on his shoe size.
August 14, 2012 John Geils, former guitarist for the semi-retired J. Geils Band, files suit against the other band members to stop them from touring under his name... since he's left the band. The irony stings like bleach in a wound! Despite this move, the remaining members of the band say they'll tour anyway.
August 8, 2004 There is a big stink when The Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumps its sewage into an Illinois river from the Kinzie Street bridge. An unfortunate group of tourists are doused with the waste, which hits their tour boat. The band was not on the bus, and their driver denied it until he was confronted with surveillance video.
March 3, 1991 The investigative news show Hard Copy runs a story about an FBI investigation into film footage found on a Michigan farm showing what appeared to be a ritual killing. The "victim" turned out to be Trent Reznor; the footage was shot for the Nine Inch Nails video for "Down In It" using a Super 8 camera attached to weather balloons that flew away.
September 2, 1934 Russ Columbo dies when his friend's antique gun accidentally fires and strikes him in the eye. The 26-year-old singer's friends and family hide the news from his ailing mother, fearing the shock will kill her. Through an elaborate scheme of writing fake letters and using old recordings to simulate live broadcasts, it appears that Columbo is alive and well, but busy. The subterfuge lasts until her death a decade later.
February 23, 1933 Daisy Canfield Danziger, oil heiress and estranged wife of silent screen star Antonio Moreno, dies on the way home from a party when her car careens off Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. The music connection? Daisy allegedly haunts her former home, The Paramour Mansion, which has been the site of many album recording sessions, from My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade to Papa Roach's The Paramour Sessions.More
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