Nowadays Olive Can't Even Write

On January 31, 2009, former Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin passed away.  Source: Getty Images Martin, born Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff, was found in his apartment located in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. He was discovered by his roommate the day after his death. According to a Lisa Lenes, a longtime friend of his, he had struggled with his health for quite some time, and is believed to have died of natural causes. He was 68 years old. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside the other members of Buffalo Springfield, which included Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay, and Bruce Palmer. Outside of the band's short-lived tenure, he did session work for the Monkees, and has also been a member of various other bands such as Sir Raleigh and the Coupons, The Standells, the Modern Folk Quartet, the Dillards, and Medicine Ball.  From 2008 up until his death, he became a cast member of OUTLAW RADIO, a live internet radio program ran by ...

January 30, 2022 - Today seems to be a rather loaded day for the music world, and holds a lot of great news, as well as a cool part of music history! Celebrating the Late Marty Balin on His Birthday (1942) Martyn Jerel Buchwald, known professionally as Marty Balin, was a co-founding member of Jefferson Airplane, and later, a member of Jefferson Starship. Balin would have been 81 years old as of today. Celebrating the Late Steve Marriott on His Birthday (1947) Source: Andrew Maclear/Redferns Stephen Peter Marriott, was the co-founder of both Small Faces and Humble Pie, and has been recognized by artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Perry, Clem Burke, and Paul Stanley as one of the best vocalists ever. Marriott died far too young at the age of 44, and would have been 76 today. Phil Collins Celebrates His 72nd Birthday (1951) David Philip Charles Collins, known as the drummer and (eventual) lead singer of Genesis, celebrates his birthday today. He learned to play the drums at age five, an...

Due to the fact that there is a lot to cover, news today shall be kept brief. January 28th seems to be kind of a terrible day for the rock music community, as there are five significant deaths highlighted below, but unfortunately, no other news. Jim Capaldi (August 2, 1944 - January 28, 2005) Nicola James Capaldi was known as the drummer and co-founder of Traffic. He passed away at age 60 due to stomach cancer. Paul Kantner (March 17, 1941 - January 28, 2016) Paul Lorin Kantner was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist of Jefferson Airplane. He passed away at age 74 due to multiple organ failures and septic shock following a heart attack he had a few days prior.  Source: Morton Beebe/Corbis Signe Toly Anderson (September 15, 1941 - January 28, 2016) Anderson, another founding member of Jefferson Airplane, passed away at age 74 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) just a few hours after Kantner. She was the vocalist on their first album, J efferson Airplane T...

Today we wish Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason a happy 79th birthday! Mason was born on January 27, 1944, in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. He has been the only constant member of Pink Floyd since its formation in 1965, and in 2018, founded Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in order to reintroduce Pink Floyd's older material to more fans.  Source: Jorgen Angel/Redferns He's had an eventful 2022, starting with the recording of  "Hey Hey Rise Up"  with Pink Floyd and Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boom Box on April 8 in support of Ukraine. He completed a North American tour with his Saucerful of Secrets from September 22-October 31, and later collaborated with a plethora of musicians including Ozzy Osbourne, Noddy Holder, and Andy Taylor  on "This Christmas Time" in support of an online global project led by the Cancer Awareness Trust. More information on that here . While there is no current news on what Nick Mason is currently up to, I look forward to finding out ...

January 24 seems to be a rather significant day for folk musicians and fans alike, due to the birthdays of quite a few important figures. This includes Michael Chapman! Source: Rex/Shutterstock Chapman, who would have turned 82 today, started out as a jazz musician, but became well known in the folk clubs in the late '60s. He incorporated jazz, folk, and ragtime stylings into his playing, and straddled between the folk and progressive rock scenes.  He released over 50 albums throughout his career, and continued to tour up until his death in 2021. Despite many ups-and-downs throughout his career, he always kept going.  If you haven't already, I suggest checking him out! With a discography as impressively long as his, I guarantee you'll find something you'll like. Happy listening! Note: Because his discography is far too large for me to get into here without risking my eligibility for monetization in the future, I can't type up a list of albums like I normally try to ...

January 24, 2022 - Today we celebrate the 70th birthday of Matthew Wilder, known for his hit song, " Break My Stride". Source: Ron Wolfson/Michael Ochs Archives Wilder has been active in the music industry since 1972, starting out as one half of a folk rock duo known as Matthew & Peter. They were based in Greenwich Village, which you may also recognize as a former home of famous musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon. He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 to pursue a career singing in commercials, and became a backup vocalist for Bette Midler and Rickie Lee Jones.  Going along with the New Wave movement of the '80s, he released his debut album, I Don't Speak the Language , in 1983, which included his biggest hit, " Break My Stride ".  He released a total of 3 albums throughout his solo career. I Don't Speak the Language (1983), Bouncin' Off the Walls  (1984), and Especially on Birthdays  (2021). In the stretch of 37 years, he became...

Today marks twenty years since former Jethro Tull Keyboardist Dee Palmer changed her name as part of her transition from male to female.  Before joining the band as a full-time member, she worked for them behind the scenes as a composer starting in 1968. She helped to pen the horn and string arrangements on   "Move on Alone" off of the album This Was. She, along with most of the other members, departed the band in 1980. The only remaining members that stayed were Ian Anderson and Martin Barre. Source: Jethro Tull's Official Website She and fellow JT member John Evan formed a band known as Tallis, however, they were not commercially successful and she went back to film scoring and working as a session musician. Palmer, who was also intersex, was born with genital ambiguity. She spent her youth struggling with gender dysphoria as a result, and had had several surgeries (the last one taking place at age 28). Her dysphoria was repressed until after the death of her wife, Magg...

 Today we celebrate the birthday of one of rock and roll's most powerful and unique singers, Janis Joplin! Janis Lyn Joplin rose to fame in 1967 after her performance at the Monterey Pop Festival as the front woman of psychedelic rock band Big Brother & the Holding Company, which she recorded two albums with before departing in 1969. She toured solo for the remainder of her career with the exception of her backing bands. The Kozmic Blues Band lasted from January to December of 1969, while the Full Tilt Boogie Band (formerly named Main Squeeze) lasted from around April up until her death in October of 1970.  Source: Lisa Law She had a unique and powerful voice that continues to set her apart from other rock singers to this day, and remains one of the top-selling musicians in the US as a result with over 18.5 million album sales to her name. I often like to joke that Janis "raised me" due to the fact that I grew up on her music. Many memories of my childhood involve mus...

January 18, 2022 - Today we remember session drummer Dallas Taylor, who is best known for his work with Clear Light, Crosby Stills, Nash, & Young, Manassas, and more. He passed away at age 66 due to complications from viral pneumonia and kidney disease. Source: Jeff Allen Dallas Woodrow Taylor Jr. was born on April 7, 1948 in Denver Colorado, but grew up in San Antonio, Texas. As a young adult he found a small bit of success with the psychedelic rock band Clear Light in the late 60s, but found further success with Crosby, Stills, and Nash's debut album, as well as their follow-up with Neil Young, Déjà Vu , alongside bassist Greg Reeves.  He also appeared on Stephen Stills's first three solo albums, ( Stephen Stills , Stephen Stills 2 , and Stills)  as well as Graham Nash's debut solo album, Songs for Beginners .  In 1974,  Taylor played  in a quartet backing Van Morrison at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and played percussion on the Byrds' 1973 reunion album By...

On this day in 1996, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed a handful of inductees, including David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Pete Seeger, the Velvet Underground, Tom Donahue, Jefferson Airplane, Little Willie John, and the Shirelles.  Source: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website. Artists who were responsible for inducting these bands included Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, and Stevie Wonder. Happy listening!

Today we remember Mott the Hoople founder Terence Dale "Buffin" Griffin on the 7th anniversary of his death. Source: Brian Cooke/Redferns Griffin was born on October 24, 1948 in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England and attended Ross-on-Wye Grammar School with fellow Mott the Hoople member Overend Watts. He played in various local bands around this time, and in 1966, appeared on two singles by Yemm and the Yemen at the age of 18. He also began playing in the Doc Thomas Group that same year, which later became the Shakedown Sound, then Silence, and then Mott the Hoople before becoming the British Lions due to personnel changes over the years. Between the years of 1981 and 1994, Griffin was also a producer, and worked with bands such as Pulp, the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Carcass, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Nine years prior to his death, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease at the age of 58, and passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of ...

 On January 14, 1980, Rush released their seventh studio album, Permanent Waves .  Following a six-week break after the conclusion of their eight month tour in support of Hemispheres , Rush began to write material for Permanent Waves in July 1979 at Lakewoods Farm in Flesherton, Ontario. The band followed a pretty solid routine, starting with Alex Lifeson cooking the three breakfast every morning, followed by Neil Peart walking down to a nearby cottage to write lyrics while Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson stayed behind and worked out musical ideas they had. Within days,  "The Spirit of Radio" , "Jacob's Ladder" , and "Freewill"  were put down and ready to be recorded. Image courtesy of Wikipedia In September of the same year, they traveled to Morin-Heights, Quebec to record the album at Le Studio. Many of their following albums, which include Moving Pictures (1981), Signals (1982), Grace Under Pressure (1984), Show of Hands ( 1988), Presto (1989), Roll the...

January 10, 2022 - David Robert Jones, known by his stage name of David Bowie, passed away on this day in 2016 due to liver cancer. He had just turned 69 two days beforehand. Source: Masayoshi Sukita Active as a musician from 1962 up until 2016, he started out in a band called the Konrads at age 15. He eventually left the band, citing his frustration with his bandmates' "limited aspirations" and joined the King Bees. Bowie went under his first personal management contract with Leslie Conn, but quit the band in less than a month.  He then joined the Manish Boys for a brief time before joining the Lower Third, where he adopted the stage name of David Bowie to avoid confusion between him and Davy Jones of the Monkees. He penned his first single under the name in 1966, which was " Can't Help Thinking About Me ". He was in one more group, Feathers, before embarking on a solo career, and found commercial success in 1969 with his first hit, " Space Oddity...

Today we celebrate the birthday of James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, who turns 79 today! He started playing guitar at the age of 12, and by 13, had appeared on Huw Wheldon's show, All Your Own in a skiffle quartet. When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do post graduation, he replied, "I want to do biological research to find a cure for cancer, if it isn't discovered by then." Source: Michael Ochs Archives Page eventually left secondary school (which is like a combination of middle and high school for us American folk) to pursue music full time, but eventually enrolled in Sutton Art College when he kept coming down with infectious mononucleosis. In the late '60s, he joined the Yardbirds, although he was initially reluctant. He was offered Eric Clapton's spot but declined out of loyalty to his friend, but ended up replacing former bassist Paul Samwell-Smith before moving to 2nd lead guitar weeks later.  He joined Led Zeppelin in 1968, whose sound was large...

January 7, 2023 - Today marks 3 years since the death of one of the world's best drummers, Neil Elwood Peart OC. He was 67 years old at the time of his death. Peart has cemented himself in music history as one of the best drummers to have existed during his time with Rush. Although he had gotten his start in adolescence working with various regional bands, it wasn't until he joined Rush in 1974 that he was able to attain his dream of being a full-time musician (although the members did struggle financially for the first few years). Later, in 1983, he became the youngest drummer to be inducted into the Modern Drummer Readers Poll Hall of Fame at the age of 30. Source: The Fordham Ram /Twitter He had a wide range of artists he took inspiration from, such as Pete Thomas, John Bonham, Stewart Copeland, Phil Collins, Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham, Keith Moon, and more. He also influenced countless drummers himself, and along with the other members of Rush, has become a musical hero to ma...

Today we remember Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett, co-founder and former member of Pink Floyd, who would have been 77 years old today.  Source: The Pink Floyd HyperBase /Aubrey Powell As a musician, Barrett was a rather innovative guitarist before the peak of his decline, known for mixing slide guitar with echo using a lighter and delay pedal to create a lot of the sounds present in Pink Floyd's music. In the same vein, he loved exploring different effects, and playing around with distortion, feedback, and dissonance as well. As a vocalist, he sang with a heavy southern English accent, and was often cited as one of the first to do so in rock music. Many artists, such as Paul McCartney, Marc Bolan, the Flaming Lips, David Bowie, have all cited him as an influence on their work.  Barrett was active as a musician for nine years, from 1963 to 1974 before disappearing from the public eye permanently. According to his sister, Rosemary Breen, he dedicated himself to painting and took ...

Source: Michael Putland/Getty Images January 3, 2023 - Today marks the 78th birthday of one of my favorite musicians, Stephen Stills! Mainly known for his work with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, as well as Buffalo Springfield, Stills has made quite the name for himself within the music industry. He's a rather unique guitarist. From soaking strings in barbecue sauce to flipping pickups, he isn't afraid to get a little weird when it comes to experimenting. On top of that, he would use alternate tunings such as E E E E B E and D A D F# A D along with standard tunings. Much of what he's incorporated into his own playing style is drawn from various genres such as rock, folk, country, blues, gospel, and Latin music.  He is also a rather accomplished multi-instrumentalist, with instruments such as the bass, organ, keyboards, banjo, drums, clavinet, and more.  Stills, being one of my personal favorite musicians, is part of the reason why my blog has its name. Taken from the Buffalo Spr...

Today we remember guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt on the 11th anniversary of his passing.  Source: Michael Putland/Getty Images Reinhardt was mainly known as a member of Iron Butterfly and Captain Beyond, however, he was in numerous bands throughout his career. These include the Load, the Second Coming, the Ryno Band, and Mad Dancer, as well as a solo career. He was active as a musician until 2011, save for the time he temporarily retired from the music industry during the '90s.  Just short of a year after his final album was released, Reinhardt passed away at the age of 63 due to cirrhosis of the liver.  Today is a great day to listen to the music made by this psychedelic and southern rock legend. Are you a fan of his work? Happy listening.