LOS ANGELES - Phil Spector, the most influential record producer of the 1960's and well known eccentric who is charged with the February 2003 shooting death of "B" movie actress Lana Clarkson at his home has switched lawyers again.  The 64 year old architect of the "Phil Spector Wall Of Sound" recording technique seems to be building a wall of top rated legal talent.  First Mr. Spector hired Robert Shapiro who was a member of the O. J. Simpson "dream team."   But in February of 2004 Mr. Spector turned to lady lawyer Leslie Abramson cutting Mr. Shapiro loose.  Ms. Abramson resigned from the case in July stating she was "forced" to quit explaining that "if we wanted to be ethical and competent, we had to resign."   Now it is New York criminal defense attorney Bruce Cutler who will be representing Mr. Spector.  Mr. Cutler says he actually has been working as personal representation and confidant for the producer since January of this year.  One previous client of Mr. Cutler's was organized crime figure John Gotti, known as "the teflon Don."  He got the then mob boss out of three beefs before he was forced off the Gotti defense team by the state which was followed by Gotti's conviction on a fourth charge.  Gotti died in prison in 2002.  Federal prosecutors in New York portray Cutler as "house counsel" for the Gambino crime family.  The Spector case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday October 20th but Mr. Cutler says they will seek to postpone the hearing to get up to speed on the case.  Meanwhile, Phil Spector remains free on one-million dollars bail.

NEW YORK - Robert Zimmerman from Duluth, MN left the University of Minnesota for New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene at the start of the 1960s. Under his stage name of Bob Dylan he soon won fame for songs with a social content slant like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-changing."   The famously private singer/songwriter, whose background and music are the stuff of more legends than facts, will intimately detail his life and four-decade career as a singer-songwriter in memoirs to be published this autumn.  Dylan’s “Chronicles: Volume One" which is the first of a planned three-book series from Simon & Shuster, is a first-person narrative from the 63-year-old music icon who continues to tour relentlessly. The first volume of his memoirs focuses on significant periods in Dylan’s life. The 304-page book is due out on Oct. 12 and will be followed about a week later by an updated edition of “Lyrics: 1962-2001,” a book of lyrics to almost every Dylan song.

LOS ANGELES - Standup comic turned actor Rodney Dangerfield was hospitalized Tuesday August 24th for a scheduled heart valve replacement surgical procedure.  Once the number one standup comic in America, the 82 year old is not only still working but he's also still very funny.  Speaking to reporters as he went into the hospital in advance of surgery scheduled for August 25th Mr. Dangerfield was asked how long he would be hospitalized.  The star adlibbed, "If things go right, I'll be there about a week, and if things don't go right, I'll be there about an hour and a half."  Last year he had some minor brain surgery to reduce the risk of a stroke in preparation for this week's heart surgery.  On Dangerfield's upcoming schedule are guest spots on "Still Standing" and voiceover work as himself on the newly revived animation series "Family Guy" for FOX.  His autobiography was released earlier this year and was titled, ""It's Not Easy Being Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs."  There is also a TV movie in the works based on that book.  Get Well Rodney! 

MEMPHIS TN - Al Dvorin, the off-stage announcer best known for the famous the phrase “Elvis has left the building,” was killed Sunday August 22nd in an auto accident near Ivanpah, California according to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson. He was 81. He performed his famous line one last time the night before he died at an Elvis impersonator show. Before hooking up with Elvis on tour, Mr. Dvorin was a bandleader and a talent agent in Chicago. He joined the Elvis touring entourage during Elvis's early days and toured with him up until the very last Elvis show in 1977.

KETTERING OH - The doctor is way out man!  Grammy winning singer Lou Rawls will be honored Saturday August 28th by Wilberforce University with an honorary doctorate.  The award will be made during a Rawls show at Fraze Pavilion in Kettering. 

NASHVILLE TN - Ownership of the guitar that Mother Maybelle Carter played for nearly 50 years as a member of one of country music’s most influential families, now belongs to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum thanks to philanthropist Bob McLean.  Mr. McLean donated $1 million to the Hall of Fame to purchase the guitar, saying historic instruments such as Carter’s guitar belong in the museum.  The guitar had been on loan to the museum since 1998, but in May of this year the owner decided to sell it setting a price of $575,000!   

Mrs. Carter bought the guitar new for $275 in 1928 and played that Gibson L-5 archtop F-hole acoustic until her death in 1978.  The original Carter Family's first recordings, made in Bristol TN in 1927 for the Victor Talking Machine Co., rank among the very first country music recordings.  After the original Carter trio split up in 1943, Maybelle teamed with daughters Helen, June and Anita to record & perform as the Carter Family.  June Carter went on to marry country legend Johnny Cash.

LOS ANGELES - The "Holy Grail" of 60's music, a work billed as "the ultimate American pop album" and lost since Brian Wilson pulled the plug on the project in 1967 is going to see the light of day 37 years later.  Appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" Friday night August 20th Brian Wilson and his wife talked for a solid hour.  The one standout revelation from the interview was that the Beach Boys "SMiLE" album will finally be released this fall.  The songs "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes & Villains" were both recorded to be included on that album.  The reasons Brian stopped production on the "SMiLE" project has been a perpetual and controversial topic among Beach Boy fans for over three decades. 

During the Larry King interview Brian said that he stopped the "SMILE" project because "it was too advanced for people to hear.  It had a very avant-garde feel about it."  It appears Brian believes the public is ready for it now.  Many of the songs written, recorded and mixed for "SMILE" were completely re-recorded with a different producer at the helm that yielded watered down simplistic versions which the Beach Boys released on an album called "Smiley Smile."  The "Smiley Smile" album became a huge flop.  This was a very disappointing turn of events considering the caliber of the two songs we did get to hear in their original form. 

Legends surrounding the "SMiLE" sessions include a tale about Brian actually burning all the tapes, which is still unclear.  Another is that after the group had worked on one of the songs called "Fire" and gone home for the day a fire actually erupted in the studio and Brian felt that it was so spooky that he refused to touch the project after that.  What is for certain is that vocalist Mike Love complained that the lyrics were less than ideal which prompted project lyricist Van Dyke Parks to quit the project never to return.  Some say the group broke up during the "SMiLE" sessions and it is also a certainty that Brian Wilson never enjoyed his once invincible complete artistic control over the Beach Boys after the "SMiLE" project was canned. 

Given 37 years to think about it, the real reason "SMiLE" died could be that while Brian was recording and mixing "SMiLE" the Beatles had finished their "Sergeant Peppers" album and Brian didn't want his masterpiece compared to the British pop masterpiece.  This was a very troubling period in Brian's well know mental health history to say the least. 

At any rate, the new "SMiLE" album has been recorded by Brian with his road band, the Stockholm Strings & horns and lyricist Van Dyke Parks back on board.  The album's songs were featured in Wilson's February U.K. tour which got rave reviews.  Premium cable channel SHOWTIME has struck a deal with Wilson to broadcast the London "SMiLE" performance on October 5th in a program called "Beautiful Dreamer:  Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE."  What does Brian Wilson listen to himself?  He told Larry King he listens to Nat King Cole, Kenny Rogers and Andy Williams.  Who would have ever guessed that?

LONDON - The "quiet Stone", Charlie Watts has throat cancer. He was diagnosed in June of this year and his radiation treatments given at a London hospital will be completed soon. It is anticipated the drummer will make a full recovery and resume work with the rest of the Stones later this year.

DETROIT - Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls and Ramsey Lewis lead the lineup for the 2004 Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival.  The festival's 25th anniversary edition will be held during the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6, at Hart Plaza.  The Queen of Soul won't be singing her R&B hits, instead she plans to Sing Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and Gershwin according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.   For more information see the Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival website, click HERE.

LOS ANGELES - A 12-hour mini-series about Motown Records and its founder, Berry Gordy, is being developed for NBC. "Berry Gordy's Motown" will dramatize Gordy's rise from a struggling Detroit inner city hustler to the head of an entertainment empire with artists that included the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, the Jackson 5, and others. The series is expected to air during the 2005-06 season. Producer Suzanne de Passe has harvested Motown history before. Her credits include "Motown Returns to the Apollo," the miniseries "The Temptations" and "The Jacksons: An American Dream."

ELVIS COMES TO BROADWAY!  "ALL SHOOK UP" is a new musical comedy featuring over 25 of the king's hits.  The show opens at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago on December 19th and running there until January 23rd.  Then it opens on Broadway in February.  It tells the story of a small town girl who dreams of hitting the open road and the guitar-playing guy who brings rock & roll into her life.  To hear the soundtrack, click the "ALL SHOOK UP" image.   

Warner Home Video has released six new Elvis Movie DVDs in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll. The digitally restored widescreen films are: "It Happened at the World's Fair," "Double Trouble," "Speedway," "Spinout," "Harum Scarum" and "The Trouble with Girls."

 

 

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Dave's Time Machine   Fourth Week of August   "This week in..."

1956, Elvis Presley begins filming his first movie, "Love Me Tender" and records the hit theme song. Also this week in '56 Buddy Holly is in the audience as Little Richard plays Lubbock, Texas' Cotton Club.

1958, John Lennon and Paul McCartney welcome George Harrison into their group, The Quarrymen.

1960, Barry White goes straight for good after leaving prison having finished serving 90 days for larceny of 300 tires.

1962, The Beatles are captured on film for the first time, by Grenada TV, at Liverpool's Hamburg Club.

1964, Beatles manager Brian Epstein meets Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker for the first time at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  Also this week on the Beatles tour, Bob Dylan meets with the Beatles in a New York hotel room and turns them on to marijuana.

1965, The Epstein/Parker meeting went so well the previous year that the Beatles finally get to meet Elvis Presley himself at his Bel-Air, California home and all five of them hung out for about four hours.

1967, Beatles manager Brian Epstein dies of an accidental drug overdose.  The first of three notable overdose deaths this week in rock & roll history. 

1968, Cynthia Lennon files for divorce from John on the eve of their sixth wedding anniversary.  That same week Ringo Starr temporarily quits the Beatles, but reconciles and agrees to stay.

1969, Elvis Presley makes his first concert appearance in eight years, at the International Hotel Ballroom in Las Vegas. Meanwhile in the U.K. Paul & Linda McCartney's first child, Mary, is born.

1970, Elton John signs with Uni Records and makes his U.S. concert debut as Neil Diamond introduces him at the Troubador nightclub in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Jimi Hendrix performs his last concert at the Isle of Wight Festival before Hendrix would die of a drug overdose.  Also this week in '70 Duane Allman begins sessions as a member of Derek & The Dominos earning Eric Clapton's praise as the catalyst in a double-album project that is completed in only 10 days.

1971, James Brown hits number one for the 10th time with "Make It Funky".

1973, Bobby Darin performs his last concert, at the Las Vegas Hilton.

1976, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello premiere their 4-week Summer variety series on CBS-TV.

1977, three people are nabbed in Memphis for attempting to steal the body of Elvis.  Elvis is moved from Memphis cemetery to a more secure resting place at Graceland to prevent a repeat attempt.

1979, bandleader Stan Kenton dies. 

1981, Mark Chapman is sentenced to 20 years-to-life in prison for the shooting murder of John Lennon.  He soon complains that he's being beaten by other inmates.  His 20 years were up three years ago but he's still in prison and likely to remain there.  Although he does have the right to parole hearings, the parole board says that releasing him would diminish the seriousness of his crime, so they can keep him in jail as long as they like. 

1983, Jerry Lee Lewis' fifth wife, Shawn Lewis, dies of a drug overdose.

1985, Rick Nelson and Fats Domino film a TV special in Los Angeles.

1987, Sonny Bono announces he's running for mayor of Palm Springs, California.  Mayor Bono is sworn in the following January!  Later the singer turned politician would be sent to Washington as a congressman but ski into a tree ending a charmed life.

1990, blues-rock guitar-man Stevie Ray Vaughan meets an untimely end along with three of Eric Clapton's band-mates in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin.

1992, John Lennon's handwritten lyric work sheet for "A Day In The Life" fetches a cool $87,000 at auction.

1994, Jimmy Buffett is at the controls when his seaplane crashes shortly after takeoff in Nantucket, Massachusetts and the captain excapes injury.  Now grounded, his plane called "The Hemisphere Dancer" is on permanent display at Universal Studios City Walk in Orlando. Also this week in '94 Billy Joel divorces model Christie Brinkley.

1995, Ronnie White of The Miracles dies. 

2002, Peter Noone sues the former Herman's Hermits drummer for touring under that name with a bogus group, and wins.  Now Mr. Noone owns the exclusive rights to the name.  Also this week in '02, vibraphone jazz master and sometimes bandleader Lionel Hampton dies following a 60 plus year career in music playing with the biggest and the best bands and making numerous film appearances.