Pick a Day

23 MAY

In Music History

1987 The Doobie Brothers reunite with original members, including singer/guitarist Tom Johnston, for a Vietnam Veterans benefit at the Hollywood Bowl. The show leads to a series of reunion concerts over the next month, and a full-on reunion tour in 1989.

1985 Hall & Oates perform with Temptations Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin at the re-opened Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The concert is later released as Live At The Apollo.

1985 It's Aretha Franklin Appreciation Day in Michigan, as Governor James Blanchard declares the singer "One of Michigan's natural resources."

1979 The Third Barry Manilow Special airs on ABC.

1979 Sister Sledge's We Are Family is certified Platinum.

1979 The Who's acclaimed documentary The Kids Are Alright debuts in New York City.

1978 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band begin their "Darkness Tour" at Shea's Buffalo Theatre in Buffalo, New York.

1977 When San Francisco outlaws "electronic instruments" in public, a free Jefferson Airplane concert in Golden Gate Park is canceled.

1976 Bob Dylan finishes recording the album Hard Rain.

1975 Jackie "Moms" Mabley, vaudeville star and standup comedian who appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, dies of heart failure at age 81. At age 75, she became the oldest living person to have a Top 40 hit with her 1969 cover of Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John."

1973 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson, debuts in theaters. In addition to scoring and writing songs for the film, Bob Dylan makes his acting debut as a knife-wielding stranger named Alias. His acting is derided, but he lands a hit with "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."

1973 Neo-soul singer Maxwell is born Gerald Maxwell Rivera in Brooklyn, New York.

1971 Iron Butterfly breaks up.

1970 Paul McCartney's first solo album, the back-to-basics McCartney, hits #1 in America even though it contains no singles.

1970 Grateful Dead play outside North America for the first time, doing a 4-hour set at the Hollywood Music Festival in England. Mungo Jerry and Steppenwolf are also on the bill.