Today in rock history 29th September

1935 – Jerry Lee Lewis is born in Ferriday, La. His parents later mortgage their home to buy him his first piano.

1948 – Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner is born in Flint, Mich.

1961 – Three days after Bob Dylan begins his two-week stint supporting the Greenbriar Boys at Greenwich Village’s Gerde’s Folk City, critic and future Dylan biographer Robert Shelton catches his act.

1963 – The Rolling Stones open their first British tour supporting the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley at the New Victoria Theatre in London.

1966 – At London’s Birdland club, Eric Burdon’s New Animals are holding auditions for a new guitarist. The band members are unimpressed by Noel Redding’s guitar skills, but invite him to play bass. He jams with Chas Chandler’s new find Jimi Hendrix and the two head off to a pub. Redding would go on to play bass with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

1967 – Drummer Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead.

1976 – Happy birthday Jerry Lee Lewis style Trying to shoot a soda bottle, Lewis instead hits his bassist twice in the chest. With a .357 Magnum.

1977 – After the death of his friend Marc Bolan of T.Rex, David Bowie sets up a trust fund for the glam rocker’s son Rolan.

1989 – With a full-scale Eagles reunion still five years away, Glenn Frey joins Don Henley onstage for the first time since 1980 at a concert in LA. Throughout the decade, band members received several lucrative offers to reunite, but declined them all.

1989 - Bruce Springsteen stopped in Matt’s Saloon in Prescott, AZ to jam with the house band for an hour. He overheard a barmaid discussing financial problems & one week later, the barmaid received a check from Springsteen for $100,000.

1990 –Twins Nelson top the charts with “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.”

1996 – Alanis Morissette finishes her first U.S. tour in Houston, Texas.

2003 - Ozzy Osbourne announced that he was writing a Broadway musical based on the life of Russian monk Rasputin.

Today in rock history 28th September

1902 – Born on this day, Ed Sullivan, TV host

1943 - Nick St. Nicholas-bassist for Steppenwolf born

1953 – Paul de Lotbiniere Harwood, founding member of Mahogany Rush is born

1968 – The Beatles started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Hey Jude’.

1968 – Bruce Springsteen and a local folk rock group The Founders appeared at the Off Broad Street Coffee House in Red Bank, New Jersey.

1971 – Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at the Festival Hall in Osaka, Japan.

1972 – David Bowie sells out his first show in New York at Carnegie Hall.

1974 – Bad Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled debut album.

1976 – A&M Records sued George Harrison for $6 million over non-delivery of a new album after he missed the deadline by two months.

1980 – The Police were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ the group’s third No.1. Taken from their album ‘Zenyatta Mondatta’ and the best selling single of 1980.

1991 – Bryan Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.

1991 – Guns N’ Roses released 2 albums ‘Use Your Illusion I’ and ‘Use Your Illusion II’ which debut at number 1 and number 2 on the UK album chart. Both albums make No.1 & No.2 in the US.

2000 - Ballet for Life a ballet in tribute to Queen’s Freddie Mercury opened to a sell-out crowd & fellow Queen members Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.

2007 – The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival was held in Durness, Scotland, the most northwesterly and remote village on mainland Britain.

2011 – Chickenfoot hold press conference for Chickenfoot 3.

Today in rock history 27th September

1943 – Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

1947 – Happy birthday to Meat Loaf, who is born in Dallas

1964 – In England, Ringo Starr and Beatles manager Brian Epstein appear as judges in a talent contest to benefit the Oxfam charity.

1967 –The Beatles spend the day at Abbey Road recording string parts and themselves for “I Am the Walrus.”

1973 – Rolling Stone announces that guitarist Carlos Santana has added the name “Devadip” since becoming a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. The name means “the Lamp of the Light Supreme.”

1973 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “We’re an American Band,” Grand Funk. The single is pressed on gold-colored vinyl.

1979 – Elton John collapses onstage during a show at Los Angeles’ Universal Amphitheater. After a 10-minute break he returns to continue with the concert. He’s later said to be suffering from exhaustion coupled with a case of the flu.

1986 - Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was killed in Sweden when their tour bus skidded off the highway & flipped onto the ground, he was thrown through the window of the bus, which later fell on top of Burton, crushing him to death. He was 24 years old.

1997- Bob Dylan performs at the World Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, Italy, before the pope. The two chat for about a minute after Dylan sings “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

1999 – Atlanta declares today ZZ Top Day. The band is actually from El Paso, Texas.

2000 – U2 perform two songs from its upcoming album on the roof of Dublin’s Clarence Hotel, a property owned by the band.

2003 – Great White drummer Derrick Pontier is hurt in a car collision in Allentown, Pa. He was heading to a gig benefiting victims of the Rhode Island club fire which killed 100 people during a Great White show.

2007: Van Halen kicked off their reunion tour with David Lee Roth at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. It was their first tour with Roth in 23 years.

2008 – Pink Floyd’s manager Bryan Morrison died after spending over two years in a coma. Morrison suffered severe brain injuries in a polo accident at the Royal Berkshire Polo Club, England in 2006, and never recovered.

Today in rock history September 26th

1945 – Vocalist Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music is born in Durham, England.

1954 - Craig Chaquico-guitarist for Jefferson Starship born today in California.

1961 – Bob Dylan gets a steady gig. He spends the next two weeks at Gerde’s Folk City in New York’s Greenwich Village, opening for the Greenbriar Boys, a local bluegrass group.

1964 – The Kinks release their single “You Really Got Me.”

1965 – Queen Elizabeth II awards the Beatles the Order of the British Empire. John Lennon later returns his to protest poor sales of “Cold Turkey,” Vietnam, and whatever else was bugging him that morning.

1968 – Rolling Stone Brian Jones is found guilty of marijuana possession. A judge fines him $150.

1969 – Promoter Bill Graham opens the Fillmore West in San Francisco. It quickly becomes the epicenter of the city’s psychedelic-band boom.

1970 – John Lennon begins recording sessions for what will become his therapeutic John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album.

1974 – John Lennon releases his solo album Walls and Bridges. Featuring the Elton John-assisted single “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” it becomes his last album of original material for six years.

1979 – The Clash release their first single in America. “I Fought the Law,” a cover of the Bobby Fuller Four number, fails to chart.

1981 - Bruce Dickinson replaced Paul Di’Anno as the singer for Iron Maiden.

1986 – Having been delayed by nearly a year, Mick Jagger’s longform video Running Out of Luck finally arrives in stores to scant notice.

1988 – Keith Richards releases his first solo album, Talk Is Cheap

1989 – Paul McCartney begins his Get Back tour – in which he plays several Lennon/McCartney compositions live for the first time – at the Drammenshallen, in Dramen, Norway.

1996 – The Grateful Dead unveil their new line of ties at a New York art gallery.

1999 – Deep Purple play London’s Royal Albert Hall accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

2003 – British singer Robert Palmer, best known for his dapper dressing style and his iconic videos in the 1980s for songs like “Addicted to Love,” dies. He is 54.

2003 – Metallica’s James Hetfield puts his restored black 1967 Chevrolet Camaro up for sale – on eBay!

2004 – Green Day top the UK charts with their punk-rock concept album American Idiot.

Today in rock history September 25th

1936 – Bluesman Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes is born.

1943 – John Locke, keyboardist with the acid rock band Spirit, is born in Los Angeles.

1945 – The Average White Band guitarist and vocalist Onnie McIntyre is born in Lennox Town, Scotland.

1964 – Brian Epstein reveals that a consortium of American businessmen tried to buy out the Beatles’ management contract. Despite an offer of 3.5 million pounds, Epstein turned them down.

1965 – The Beatles’ Saturday-morning cartoon series premieres on ABC.

1966 – Jimi Hendrix’s second day in London is an eventful one. He’s in bed with Cathy Etchingham, a 19-year-old hairdresser who has taken his fancy, when Keith Richards’ ex Linda Keith bursts into his hotel room, steals a guitar she bought for him in New York, climbs under the covers, and says he can only have the guitar back if he sleeps with her. This is the ’60s, but Hendrix still declines the offer.

1967 – At Abbey Road, the Beatles record “Fool on the Hill.”

1969 – John Lennon records “Cold Turkey,” about his battle with heroin addition, with a band including Eric Clapton, Beatles associate Klaus Voormann, Yoko Ono, and Ringo Starr.

1976 – In America, Boston’s self-titled debut enters the albums chart. It would go on to become the fastest-selling debut album in chart history.

1976 – They meant well. Wings perform a benefit concert in Venice’s St. Mark’s Square to raise money to restore art damaged by the canal water. However, the 25,000-strong crowd only causes the square to sink deeper into the brine, and water rises up through the cracks in the paving.

1980 – Drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin is found dead in his bed after a drinking binge.

1990 – Dave Grohl, former drummer of the Washington DC band Scream, joins Nirvana.

2000 – A collection of 1965 writings by Janis Joplin to then-fiance Peter DeBlanc go up for auction on eBay.

2000 – U2 frontman Bono turns up in Prague, where he meets with the World Bank president to discuss his debt-relief plan for the Third World.

2003 – Welsh power trio the Stereophonics announce they have fired drummer Stuart Cable over “commitment issues.”

2006 - Steven Tyler made a cameo appearance on Two and a Half Men playing himself as a noisy, obnoxious neighbor.

2008 – Paul McCartney announced today that he will perform in Israel to the delight of many fans. It has been over 40 years since The Beatles tried to perform there and were shut out by the government.

Today in rock history September 24th

1941 – Rock photographer and Beatle spouse Linda McCartney is born in Scarsdale, N.Y. She also sang backing vocals with Wings, but let’s not speak ill of the dead.

1946 - Jerry Donahue-guitarist for Fairport Convention is born

1966 – Jimi Hendrix arrives in London in the company of his new manager, Chas Chandler. Chandler was a bassist with the original Animals and discovered Hendrix playing in a Greenwich Village go-go club. On the flight to England, Hendrix changes the spelling of his name from “Jimmy” to “Jimi.”

1971 – John Lennon appears as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show.

1977 – Styx release their single “Come Sail Away.” It becomes their second top 10 hit, peaking at No. 8.

1978 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Kiss You All Over,” Exile.

1989 – The group Chopped Liver make their debut on the L’Chaim to Life Telethon ’89 in Israel, featuring Bob Dylan on flute and recorder, actor Harry Dean Stanton, and Dylan’s son-in-law Peter Himmelman on guitar.

1991 – Nirvana’s breakthrough album “Nevermind” is released.

1993 – Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler reaches a $2.5 million settlement in his lawsuit against the group and managers. Adler was thrown out of the band because he couldn’t kick his heroin habit. The agreement was reached shortly before the lawsuit would have gone to the Superior Court jury.

1994 – Eric Clapton is tonight’s special musical guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.

1998 – Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler, 33, is sentenced to 150 days in jail for beating two women he dated and for violating his probation from an earlier domestic violence conviction.

1998 - Steven Tyler threw out the first pitch at the Montreal Expos-St. Louis Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

2003 – Dave Matthews Band plays to over 100,000 people at charity show in New York’s Central Park. Warren Haynes joins them onstage for a version of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”

Today in rock history September 23rd

1947 – Neal Smith, drummer with Alice Cooper, is born in Akron, Ohio.

1949 – Bruce Springsteen is born in Freehold, N.J.

1959 – Songwriter Martin Page is born in Southampton, England. If you’ve heard Starship’s “We Built This City” or Heart’s “These Dreams,” you know his work.

1960 – In Hamburg, the young Beatles with Stu Sutcliffe cut versions of “Fever,” “Summertime,” and “September Song.”

1966 – The Rolling Stones kick off a British tour at London’s Royal Albert Hall, supported by an all-star cast of Ike & Tina Turner, the Yardbirds, Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers, the Kings of Rhythm Orchestra, Jimmy Thomas, Bobby John, and Long John Baldry.

1969 – In today’s issue of Illinois’ Northern Star newspaper, a journalist rounds up the clues that point to the death of Paul McCartney. They include a mumble that sounds like “I buried Paul” in the fade to “Strawberry Fields Forever” and numerous things to do with walruses.

1972 – Mott the Hoople release their single “All the Young Dudes.” Not so much a comeback single as life support system, the song was written for them by David Bowie to encourage the band to stay together.

1978 – Foreigner release their second album, Double Vision.

1980 – Bob Marley collapsed on stage during a concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Marley had collapsed in New York’s Central Park while jogging, two days before and was told to immediately cancel the US leg, but flew to Pittsburgh to perform one final performance.

1980 – David Bowie opens in the title role of “The Elephant Man” on Broadway.

1991 - Guns N’ Roses announced that guitarist Izzy Stadlin was leaving the band. Gilby Clarke would shortly replace him.

1999 – Garbage’s Shirley Manson unveils her own line of lip gloss.

2006 – Neil Young was named artist of the year at the Americana Honors and Awards at the fifth annual event in Nashville, Tennessee. The 60-year-old singer-songwriter released the protest album Living With War this year.

2010 -  Heart guitarist & singer Nancy Wilson filed for divorce from her husband of 22 years, film director Cameron Crowe.