KVXB Media Network

31/12/2023

31/12/2023

Happy birthday TOM HAMILTON!!
Thomas William Hamilton
(December 31, 1951)
Bassist for Grammy-winning, venerable hard rockers Aerosmith, "Dream On" ( #6, 1976), "Angel" ( #3, 1988), "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" ( #1, 1998), "Baby, Please Don't Go" (Mainstream Rock #7, 2004)

31/12/2023

Dave Freeman, bluegrass and stringband music anthologist, producer, label head, and fan, died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Christmas morning at the age of eighty-four. (Pictured from left: Freeman, Ralph Stanley, Greg McGraw, and Mark Freeman, celebrating a Stanley album release on Rebel Records. Photo: Alan Mayor.)

Born in 1939 in midtown Manhattan, Freeman heard early country sounds on the radio while on a 1953 family road trip through the South. The excursion, he said later, changed him. He began collecting 78s and 45s found in junk shops and antique stores, and canvassed door-to-door asking strangers for their unwanted records. “I was convinced that I was the only one in New York City that knew anything or cared anything about country music,” he said in an interview.

Freeman began driving through Virginia, North Carolina, and elsewhere, meeting elderly musicians and young bluegrass listeners. He became a crucial conduit for the music—knowledgeable of the makers and the fans from whom he was both buying and selling records, gathering a deep sense of bluegrass’s past (and its precursors) and an understanding of how it could move forward. Freeman launched County Records in 1963, anthologizing hard-to-find older roots music and presenting new recordings by such artists as Red Allen, Kenny Baker, Norman Blake, and Senator Robert Byrd. Freeman printed his first album covers on the same press his father used for his greeting card business. Two years later Freeman created County Sales, a mail-order record outlet.

By then he had already decided to quit his job delivering mail for the federal railway system and turned full-time to presenting the music he loved. Freeman left New York City and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Floyd, Virginia, never looking back. In 1978, he co-founded Sugar Hill Records, producing such contemporary artists as Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson, Tony Rice, and the Seldom Scene. Freeman acquired the Washington, DC-area bluegrass label Rebel Records a year later.

He spelled out his philosophy to the Old-Time Herald in 1999. “The more local, the better,” Freeman explained. Why did he call his label County? “Every county has its own personality, its own musical tradition. You can go from one place to another and pick up the subtle differences.”

31/12/2023

In Memoriam LEMMY KILMISTER!!
Ian Frasier Kilmister
(December 24, 1945 - December 28, 2015)
Hard-playing, hard-living bass guitarist, first with space rock pioneers Hawkwind (“Silver Machine,” 1972), then founded and fronted punk-metal Motörhead (“Ace Of Spades,” UK #15, 1980) and performed with his group until his death from cancer on 12/28/2016, age 70

31/12/2023

Happy Birthday Jeff Lynne! 🎂

Born on this day December 30th in 1947.

Jeff Lynne

31/12/2023

In Memoriam RAY THOMAS!!
Raymond Thomas
(December 29, 1941 - January 4, 2018)
Founding member, harmonica, flute and vocals for prog rock then pop-rock The Moody Blues, his flute solo on “Nights In White Satin” ( #2, 1967) is widely considered to be a defining moment in rock music and the development of the prog rock subgenre, recorded two solo albums in the 70s while the band was on hiatus, left in 2002 due to declining health and died from prostate cancer on 1/4/2018, age 76.

31/12/2023

December 31, 1966: THE DOORS, played at a private party of a friend of the group, located in Montecite, California, USA. The members toasted until the afternoon of January 1, wishing good achievements for the new 1967.

31/12/2023

December 31, 1969: Jimi Hendrix's new group, called Band of Gypsys, makes its stage debut that night at the Fillmore East Ballroom in New York. USA, Part of the concert was later released on the LP “Band Of Gypsys.”

31/12/2023

Happy birthday BURTON CUMMINGS!!
Burton Lorne Cummings
(December 31, 1947)
Founder and frontman for Canadian rockers The Guess Who, “American Woman” ( #1, 1970), solo

31/12/2023

December 31, 1974: Pink Floyd announced that they were going to record an album titled “Household objects” without musical instruments. As the title expresses, they were going to use household objects, such as wine bottles, aerosols, and rubber bands. The project was shelved and the group focused on the recording of “Wish you were here”, which would end up giving them good credits.

31/12/2023

T.I. showing up with his family to celebrate 20 Years Of Trap Muzik with The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

31/12/2023

Happy Birthday Scott Ian

31/12/2023

December 31, 1974, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join the band Fleetwood Mac.
After the departure of Bob Welch, Mick Fleetwood traveled to California to meet with producer Keith Olsen to work on a new album. There Mick told him that they were looking for a new guitarist, so Keith played the song "Frozen Love" by the American duo Buckingham Nicks so that he could learn about the work of one of the musicians who worked with him. After liking the mystique of the song, Mick wanted to meet the composer who was just in the studios, his name was Lindsey Buckingham. After discussing his inclusion in the band, Lindsey told him that he would only enter with his girlfriend and vocalist Stevie Nicks.