1957: A young British skiffle band named The Quarrymen plays its very first gig on a flatbed truck for a fete in Roseberry Street in Liverpool. The group was led by the very brash John Lennon. A few months later, Paul McCartney would join the band, soon to be followed by Paul’s chum, George Harrison.

1968: Due to the recent assassination of Robert Kennedy, Steve Binder, the director of Elvis Presley’s upcoming Christmas special decides to ditch “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” as the closing number. On this day, he asks musical director, Bones Howe, to pen a “more socially conscious” song as a replacement.

The same afternoon, Howe writes “If I Can Dream.” Elvis likes it and the rest is music history.

Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane (1967)

If someone were to ask us what is was like during the summer of love, we’d be tempted to just give them this album, “Surrealistic Pillow” by Jefferson Airplane and leave it at that. With the possible exception of “Sgt. Pepper,” there is no other single LP that could capture the feeling of that magical summer season.

This wasn’t the Airplane’s first album. That honor goes to “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off,” which was released on the RCA label in August, 1966. But that album gained very little altitude, not even charting on the Billboard Hot 100 Albums. Soon after, the band’s drummer Skip Spence and female singer Signe Toy Anderson departed. They were replaced by experienced jazz drummer Spencer Dryden and the former lead vocalist for the Great Society, Grace Slick. Together with male vocalist Marty Balin, guitarist Paul Kantner, lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassidy, they formed the classic Airplane line-up until Dryden departed in 1970.

“Surrealistic Pillow” was the perfect blend of folk, rock and the burgeoning psychedelic movement that was taking hold in San Francisco, building on the efforts of the Byrds and the Mamas and Papas.

Propelled by an actual Top 10 single, “Somebody to Love,” the album was not only a breakthrough for the Airplane but for the entire Haight-Ashbury music scene in San Francisco. “White Rabbit” followed “Somebody to Love” up the singles chart, also cracking the Top 10. Of course, its thinly veiled drug reference made the song one of that era’s most controversial.

Perhaps because those first 2 hit singles featured Grace Slick in the lead, it’s easy to forget that most of the rest of the album featured Marty Balin on lead vocals.

There is also controversy to this day about the exact role that Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia played in the album’s creation. Garcia was listed on the original album liner notes as “spiritual advisor.” Producer Rick Garrard has denied that Garcia played on any of the tracks, but the band’s manager claimed Garcia played on one of the album’s unreleased tracks (“In the Morning”). Garcia himself claimed he played on that track as well as “Today,” “Plastic Fantastic Lover” and “Coming Back to Me.” He further claimed he took part in arranging and rewriting portions of “Somebody to Love.” Band member Jorma Kaukonen goes further, saying that Garcia essentially produced and arranged nearly the entire album.

All agree that it was a comment by Jerry, “the album sounds surrealistic as a pillow” that gave the record its name.

No matter who played what, whenever you want to bring back the Summer of Love, we suggest you light some incense, slip a few flowers in your hair and close your eyes as the strains of “Embryonic Journey” fill your ears. You will be there.

Contemporary research shows that an active sex life for men and women above 50 is very good for the brain!

Those adults who remain sexually active score higher on cognitive tests than those who are not. Researchers believe that sex boost hormones that improve singaling connectivity between brain regions.

Experts warn against hiding a key in some “secret” place outside your home as a hedge against you losing or forgetting to bring along your house key.

Burglars know all the places people typically hide such keys and could be inside your house in seconds. Instead, security experts recommend leaving a duplicate with a neighbor you trust or a friend that lives nearby.

Most of us know about the classic movie National Velvet starring Liz Taylor and Mickey Rooney.

But how many us remember that there was a National Velvet TV series as well?

It debuted on Sunday, September 18, 1960 on NBC. It starred Lori Martin as the young horse lover Velvet Brown. Scottish actor James McCallion played the former jockey Mi Taylor who was helping Velvet groom her stallion, King, for a run in the Grand National Steeplechase.

It would have seemed that the show couldn’t miss. Young girls love horses, but apparently they loved Ed Sullivan more. He was Velvet’s competition on CBS. 

NBC made an effort to save the show. When it was renewed for a second season, they moved it to Monday night. Alas, it did no better there and the show had to be put out of its misery.

Because only 58 episodes were filmed, the show never made it into syndication. There has been no home video release either.

Lori Martin went on the star in the film Cape Fear in 1962, but after that, her career faded out.

Lori resumed using her real name, Dawn Menzer. She eventually married Charles Breitenbucher and together they ran a medical supply business until he passed away in 1999.

Lori herself passed in April of 2010,

1969: The town of Northridge, California hosts the Newport Rock Festival. Acts at the festival included Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ike and Tina Turner, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, the Rascals and Steppenwolf.

Jimi Hendrix is the headliner and his $125,000 paycheck sets a record for the most ever paid to a rock act for a single performance up to that time.

1973: In London’s west End theater district, a modest little musical that will come to rock pop culture has its first performance. Tim Curry takes the stage as Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show.

1977: On the eve of their wedding, Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and his intended, Silvia Sommerlath receive a special serenade when they attend a Stockholm concert by, who else, ABBA.