Thursday, August 25, 2005

Follow the yellow brick road...

Elton John took his first step down that yellow brick road on this date in 1970 when he debuted at The Troubador in West Hollywood...

Bearded and wearing bell bottoms and a red tee-shirt with "Rock and Roll" printed on it, Elton did an hour set that included "Your Song", "Border Song", "Take Me To The Pilot" and "Honky Tonk Women". Elton co-headlined with the "immortal" David Ackles nightly through August 30th...

If you're wondering what the music critics thought of this new 23-year old rocker, this is what the L.A. Times said, "Rejoice. Rock music has a new star who was in almost every way, magnificent. He's going to be one of Rock's biggest and most important stars." In 1990 Rolling Stone rated this show among the top 20 concerts that changed Rock and Roll...

More August 25 Memories...

1952) Tiger pitcher Virgil Trucks pitches his second no-hitter of the season, beating the Yankees 1-0...

1956) To make room for newly acquired Enos Slaughter, the Yankees release Phil Rizzuto...

1960) The AFL begins placing players names on the back of their jersey...

1970) Elton John debuts (feature story)...

1973) The Allman Brothers release "Ramblin' Man"...

1975) Bruce Springsteen releases his "Born To Run" LP...

1976) The self-titled Boston LP debuts...

1978) The shroud of Turin goes on display...

1979) "Cars" by Gary Numan is released...

1984) The body of author Truman Capote is discovered. Capote was 59...

1985) Dwight "Doc" Gooden at 20 becomes the youngest pitcher to win 20 games. He will finish the season 24-4...

1986) Paul Simon releases "Graceland"...

1991) "LA Law" and "Cheers" are the big winners at the 43rd Emmy Awards...

1993) Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman is indicted for terrorist activities that include the first World Trade Center bombing...

1994) The marriage between Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley is formally dissolved...

1994) Jimmy Buffett's plane flips over after taking off in Nantucket. Buffett will swim to safety (he then proceeded getting wasted away in Margaritaville)...

2003) Tennis champion Pete Sampras retires...

Happy Birthday to...

1916) Van Johnson...

1921) Monty Hall...

1930) Sean Connery...

1931) Regis Philbin...

1933) Tom Skerritt...

1938) Soap star David Canary...

1942) The O'Jay's Walter Williams...

1946) Baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers...

1949) Gene Simmons of Kiss...

1951) Judas Priest lead singer Rob Halford...

1954) Elvis Costello...

1964) Blair Underwood...

1966) Former major league malcontent Albert Belle...

Commentary...

Elton John's journey down the yellow brick road continues with top grossing concerts that include the 3-year Caesar's Palace deal he signed in 2004...

Winner of far too many Grammy and other music awards that we don't have space to list, Elton continues to write and record original songs for himself as well as Broadway musical and movie scores and soundtracks. Elton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994...

A couple of things you may not know about Elton: Born Reginald Dwight, he chose the name "Elton" from his band's sax player, Elton Dean and "John" came from touring with Long "John" Baldry...

When Elton John debuted at the Troubador he was introduced by Neil Diamond and sitting in the audience was Leon Russell...