HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MELISSA ETHERIDGE. TODAY MELISSA TURNS 59 YEARS YOUNG. ETHERIDGE IS ONE OF ROCK’S GREAT FEMALE ICONS. SHE BURST ON THE SCENE WITH HER DEBUT ALBUM FOR WHICH SHE WON HER FIRST GRAMMY AWARD. IN THE PAST 30 YEARS MELISSA ETHERIDGE IS TIED WITH CELINE DION FOR THE 5TH MOST TOP 40 ALBUMS AMONG WOMEN. SHE’S SOLD OVER 16 MILLION RECORDS. SHE’S RECEIVED 15 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS OVER THE YEARS, WINNING TWO GRAMMY AWARDS, AN OSCAR FOR “BEST ORIGINAL SONG IN 2007, AND APPEARED ON BROADWAY IN GREEN DAY’S ROCK OPERA “AMERICAN IDIOT”. IN 2016 SHE RELEASED THE SONG ‘PULSE’. SHE WROTE THE SONG IN REACTION TO THE MASS SHOOTINGS THAT TOOK PLACE IN ORLANDO JUNE 12, 2016. SHE TOLD ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: “We want to try to make sense. We want to try to heal. We want to bring some meaning, some purpose. We also want to put it down forever in history. That’s how I’m coping.” ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SONG ‘PULSE’ BENEFIT EQUALITY FLORIDA, THE STATE’S LARGEST LGBT CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION. IN 2004 ETHERIDGE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER, AND SHE UNDERWENT SURGERY AND CHEMOTHERAPY. SHE RETURNED TO THE STAGE IN 2005 AT THE GRAMMY AWARDS, AND DESPITE BEING BALD FROM THE CHEMO, SHE PERFORMED AN INCREDIBLE TRIBUTE TO JANIS JOPLIN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MELISSA ETHERIDGE. HER TALENT IS SECOND TO NONE AND I LOVE EVERYTHING SHE STANDS FOR. HERE’S HER GUTSY AND AWESOME TRIBUTE TO JANIS JOPLIN.
THIRTY YEARS AGO, DAVID BOWIE ROCKED THE SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE. THE DATE WAS MAY 29TH 1990. IT WAS PART OF BOWIE’S “SOUND AND VISION TOUR”. IT WAS A GREATEST HITS TOUR INTENDED TO RETIRE HIS BACK CATALOGUE OF HITS FROM LIVE PERFORMANCES. THE TOUR WAS 7 MONTHS LONG, SPANNED 27 COUNTRIES AND BOWIE PERFORMED 108 SHOWS. THE TOUR GROSSED 20 MILLION DOLLARS. HERE’S WHAT WAS PLAYED AT SHORELINE, COURTESY OF SETLIST.COM: Space Oddity, Changes, TVC15, Rebel Rebel, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Life on Mars?, Blue Jean, Let’s Dance, Pretty Pink Rose, Stay, Sound and Vision, Ziggy Stardust, China Girl, Station to Station, Young Americans, Suffragette City, Fame, “Heroes” Encore: Panic in Detroit, The Jean Genie
HERE’S BOWIE LIVE IN 1990 WITH SUFFRAGETTE CITY
FORTY SEVEN YEARS AGO ALICE COOPER RELEASED AN ANTHEM, THE SINGLE SCHOOL’S OUT. IT WAS THE FIRST SINGLE ISSUED FROM THE ALBUM OF THE SAME NAME. COOPER SAID HE WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE THE SONG WHEN ANSWERING THE QUESTION: “What’s the greatest three minutes of your life?”. Cooper said: “There’s two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you’re just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you’re sitting there and it’s like a slow fuse burning. I said, ‘If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it’s going to be so big.'” IT WAS BIG. IT WENT TO NUMBER 7 ON THE BILLBOARD SINGLES CHARTS AND IS EVERY KID’S THEME SONG WITH THE END OF SCHOOL YEAR. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE RANKED THE SONG ON THEIR LIST OF “THE 500 GREATEST SONGS OF ALL-TIME”, AND VH1 NAMED IT #35 ON THEIR LIST OF “THE BEST HARD ROCK SONGS OF ALL-TIME.” HERE’S ALICE FROM A TV APPEARANCE IN 1972
HERE’S A LIVE VERSION OF ALICE COOPER FROM ALICE COOPER: TRASHES THE WORLD