July

After more than a decade of incessant touring, the Everly Brothers dramatically parted ways during a performance at the John Wayne Theatre in Hollywood on 7/14/1973, when Phil smashed his guitar onstage and stormed off. Don told the crowd that “the Everly Brothers died ten years ago” and finished the show solo…. On 7/22/1976 a journalist in Rhode Island announced that an album entitled 3:47 EST by a group of anonymous musicians calling themselves Klaatu, was actually a covert reunion album by the Beatles. Capitol Records capitalized on the confusion to increase its sales, but the album, though excellent and quite Beatles-esque, was really recorded by a Canadian band…. Speaking of Canada, on 7/6/1977 Pink Floyd's Roger Waters spat on an audience member during a performance in Montreal. The man had been screaming and throwing fireworks at the stage, but when he climbed onto the barrier separating the band from the crowd, he pushed Waters's patience a bit too far. The incident inspired Waters to write The Wall…. Another wall graced the cover of Chipmunk Punk, an album released on 7/18/1980 that marked the return of Alvin and the Chipmunks, this time with an '80s edge and attitude. Created by the son of Chipmunk originator David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian), the album featured covers of songs by Blondie, the Knack, and others…. On 7/22/1989 in New York, singer Tom Jones was ordered by “Judge Judy” Sheindlin to pay child support to Katherine Berkery when he lost a paternity suit. Jones claimed the child was not his, but DNA tests indicated otherwise.

August

On 8/8/1960 British Decca, having decided that Ray Peterson's “Tell Laura I Love Her” was “too tasteless and vulgar for the English sensibility,” destroyed 25,000 copies of the “death disk” about a man who dies in an auto race while trying to raise money to buy a wedding ring. A rival version later topped the British charts, and Peterson's original went to No. 7 in the United States…. Musical history was made on 8/27/1965 when the Beatles were given an audience with Elvis Presley at his home in Bel Air, California. According to John Lennon, they spent the evening playing music and exchanging horror stories about their touring experiences. Afterward, somewhat disappointed, Lennon is said to have remarked, “Where's Elvis? It was like meeting Engelbert Humperdinck.” … On 8/7/1987 a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, squashed a City Council order requiring “adult” acts such as the Beastie Boys to include the warning “For Mature Audiences Only” on all concert tickets and advertisements. The order had come in response to complaints from parents that a previous Beastie show had featured half-naked showgirls, bare buttocks, and a huge prop phallus…. Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood was interrogated by British police on 8/19/2000, after he was reportedly seen placing the stiff body of actor Vinnie Jones in his Bentley. The “body,” a promotional piece for Nicolas Cage's movie Gone in 60 Seconds, was made of cardboard.