October 16, 1992: The Bob Dylan Tribute Concert at The Garden

Left to right: Ron Wood, George Harrison,

Johnny Cash, Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan

October 16, 1992: "Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration" is held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Or, as one of the performers, Neil Young, put it, "This one's for you, Bob. Thanks for having Bobfest!" Actually, it was Columbia Records, Dylan's label the whole way, that put the show on.

And what a show it was. It may have been the greatest array of musical talent ever brought together for one show in one building. (Live Aid was 1 show, but in 2 stadiums on 2 continents, and I'm not sure it was a better show, anyway.) The house band consisted of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, with Jim Keltner and World's Most Dangerous Band member Anton Fig filling in for the late Al Jackson Jr. on drums, plus G.E. Smith of the Saturday Night Live Band. Kris Kristofferson, himself one of America's greatest songwriters, was master of ceremonies, and sang "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight."

John Mellencamp kicked it off with perhaps Dylan's greatest song, "Like a Rolling Stone." He also sang "Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat."

One by one, some serious legends came, each playing a Dylan song or two:

* Stevie Wonder, singing the gospel-inflected version of "Blowin' in the Wind" that he hit with in 1966.

* Lou Reed, "Foot of Pride."

* June Carter and Johnny Cash, "It Ain't Me Babe."

* Willie Nelson, "What Was It You Wanted?"

* Johnny Winter, whose version of "Highway 61" was particularly blistering.

* Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, "Seven Days."

* Richie Havens, whose acoustic version of "Just Like a Woman" was epic.

* The Clancy Brothers, Greenwich Village folkie contemporaries of Dylan's, singing "When the Ship Comes In" with an Irish brogue.

* Neil Young, who blitzed through "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," and made absolutely nobody miss Jimi Hendrix with "All Along the Watchtower."

* Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, "I Shall Be Released."

* Eric Clapton, who did "Love Minus Zero"/"No Limit," then totally tore the place up with a bluesy rendition of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."

* The O'Jays, "Emotionally Yours."

* The Band, "When I Paint My Masterpiece."

* George Harrison of the Beatles, "If Not For You" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

* Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "License to Kill" and "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" (a.k.a. "Everybody Must Get Stoned").

* And Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man."

The younger generation got in on the act, too: Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready, with "Masters of War"; Tracy Chapman with "The Times, They Are A-Changin'," and a performance of "You Ain't Going Nowhere" by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Johnny's daughter (and June's stepdaughter) Roseanne Cash.

Said younger generation included a performer who became the focus of the show's one moment of controversy: Mere days after singing Bob Marley's "War" and tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II on SNL, Sinéad O'Connor tried to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You," but got booed off the stage.

Kristofferson, perhaps anticipating such a reaction, tried to introduce her by saying that, like Dylan, she stood for freedom, including freedom of speech. It was to no avail: Harder than Dylan was at Newport in 1965, she got booed. She walked off and cried on Kristofferson's shoulder, and a microphone picked up him saying to her, "Don't let the bastards get you down."

George Harrison introduced Bob, and the big question everybody had was, "What's Bob going to do?" Not because so many of his great songs had already been done, but because a Bob Dylan show is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get. Was he going to walk on, wave, and then just walk off? Was he going to say something controversial? Was he not going to be understandable as he sang?

There was no issue with him: He sang, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," he was totally understandable, and he was on his game. In turn, the 6 verses of "My Back Pages" were sung by McGuinn, Petty, Young, Clapton, Dylan and Harrison. Bob closed with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Girl from the North Country."

I still have most of this concert from the WNEW-FM broadcast. To me, it sounds better than any other recording of it.

*

October 16, 1992 was a Friday. Baseball star Bryce Harper was born on this day.

There was high school football, including a game by my alma mater: East Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Monroe, 28-8 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

It was too early for the NBA. The American League Championship Series had wrapped up 2 days earlier, with the Toronto Blue Jays beating the Oakland Athletics in 6 games. The National League Championship Series had also wrapped up 2 days earlier, with the Atlanta Braves beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games. The World Series began the next day, and the Jays won it in 6 games.

There were 3 NHL games played that night. Obviously, not at The Garden. In fact, none of the New York Tri-State Area teams were involved:

* The Washington Capitals beat the expansion Ottawa Senators, 5-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob Sweeney scored the winner, halfway through the overtime.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-2 at the Winnipeg Arena. 

September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid Concert

Left to right: Willie Nelson, Stan Lynch, 

Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell

September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid concert is held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, on the campus of the University of Illinois. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt -- and, while he didn't mention him by name, other policies of President Ronald Reagan.

In addition to the preceding, performers included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Billy Joel, B.B. King and Roy Orbison, and raised over $9 million for America's family farmers. That's just under $20 million in today's money.

There have been Farm Aid concerts since, including in 2006 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey (a hard city, but South Jersey still has lots of farms), 2007 on Randall's Island in New York, and a 30th Anniversary celebration in 2015 at Northerly Island in Chicago.

Earlier in 1985, Nelson, Cash, Jennings and Kristofferson had formed a country "supergroup" called The Highwaymen. In 1988, Dylan, Petty and Orbison joined with former Beatle George Harrison and Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne to form The Traveling Wilburys. So the 1st Farm Aid concert had 100 percent of The Highwaymen and 60 percent of The Traveling Wilburys.

On November 2, the football team at the University of Iowa, like Illinois a Big Ten Conference school, went to Ohio State, and wore stickers on their helmets, reading "ANF," meaning "America Needs Farmers." Although Iowa lost the game, they still went on to win the Big Ten title, and have worn the stickers ever since.

*

September 22, 1985 was a Sunday. Actress Tatiana Maslany was born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ron Guidry won his 20th game of the season. Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Sr. hit home runs. Don Mattingly went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Dave Winfield did not play. For the Orioles, Eddie Murray and Floyd Rayford hit home runs. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. 

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Robin Yount did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Luis Salazar won it with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tom Herr hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Mike Mason pitched a 6-hit shutout, striking out 11 with just 1 walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-5 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The winning run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning when Rod Carew, in his last 2 weeks as an active player, hit a ground ball that shortstop Julio Franco mishandled, scoring Rufino Linares. Carew went 1-for-5 with a walk on the day. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-6. Bobby Grich hit a grand slam.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Since it was Sunday, there were NFL games:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-17 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 24-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 19-6 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons, 44-28 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-0 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-14 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers, 20-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 44-41 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Detroit Lions, 14-6 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 43-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The preceding Thursday, the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 33-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Bears went on to win Super Bowl XX.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 35-24 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

May 12, 1964: The 1st Draft Card Burnings

May 12, 1964: Twelve young men in New York City publicly burn their draft cards to protest the Vietnam War. This is the 1st time it has been done in public.

From 1948, under the Selective Service Act, all American men aged 18 through 25 were required to register with a local draft board. In case of war, the able-bodied ones among them could be drafted to serve in the military. The law required the men to always carry their draft cards with them. These were small cards bearing the registrant's identifying information, the date and place of registration, and a unique Selective Service number.

By the time the draft was ended on July 1, 1973, never to be re-established, thousands of men had burned their draft cards, though very few were ever prosecuted for it.

At some point between the end of the war and the rise of Ronald Reagan, with his many lies, such as that of the "Welfare Queen" and the soldiers getting spit on when they came home from Vietnam, the story of men burning their draft cards got conflated with feminists throwing their restrictive underwear in trash cans, and it become "Women burned their bras." There is no record of that ever happening.

In 1965, Jack Clement, recording engineer for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, wrote a comedy song titled "The One on the Right Is On the Left." It was recorded by Johnny Cash, formerly of Sun, released in 1966, and hit Number 2 on Billboard magazine's country music chart.

The song is about a folksinging group. In their group photo, politically speaking, the one on the right was on the left, the one in the middle was on the right, the one on the left was in the middle and the guy in the rear... was different. In the 2nd verse, he burned his driver's license. In the 3rd verse, the group got into a fight, and that was the end. In the 4th and final verse, the guy in the rear... got drafted.

*

May 12, 1964 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Yankee starter Al Downing left with an injury while pitching to leadoff batter Don Wert, and ended up missing his next start. Bob Meyer relieved, and got a home run from Hector López. But he Yankees blew a 2-0 lead, with Wert going 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Al Kaline did not play. Mickey Lolich went the distance for the win. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1 with 2 walks, before being relieved due to injury.

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 2-0 at Shea Stadium. Hank Fischer pitched a 3-hit shutout. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 5-0 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Dave McNally pitched a 2-hit shutout. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Willie Stargell went 0-for-3. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4. Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Colt .45s, 6-0 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Juan Marichal pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie Mays went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. The Colts became the Houston Astros the next season.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 6-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels were groundsharing until their Anaheim stadium could be built.

January 13, 1968: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

 

January 13, 1968: Johnny Cash and his entourage perform at Folsom Prison, in Folsom, California, near the State Capitol of Sacramento.

In 1951, Crane Wilbur, one of the first Hollywood stars, moved into documentary filmmaking with Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison. In 1953, that film was screened at a U.S. Air Force base, at which Cash was serving. In late 1955, at the start of his country music career, he wrote, recorded and released the song "Folsom Prison Blues."

The song, about a prisoner regretting the murder he committed and the life sentence it's gotten him, reached Number 4 on the country charts, and Number 5 on the pop charts, in early 1956. Along with "I Walk the Line," it made him a star.

Real prisoners, rather than thinking Cash a poseur trying to make money off of their plight, loved it, and sent him fan mail, asking him to perform at their prisons. He first did so at Huntsville, Texas the following year. "I keep doin' it for a reason," he said. "I want these men to know that someone, somewhere, still thinks of them as human beings."

Despite an increasing dependence on amphetamines, Cash kept churning out hit records, but his behavior at concerts made bookings hard to get. He got clean in 1967 -- although he had at least two relapses down the line -- and thought a live album recorded at a prison would be a good comeback vehicle. Bob Johnston, a producer at Columbia Records, agreed, and began calling prisons. Folsom was the 1st to say yes.

The Cash group arrived in Sacramento on January 10, 1968, where they rehearsed for 2 days. The Governor of California, Ronald Reagan, was giving a speech at a dinner at their hotel, and met with them. (Years later, when Reagan was President, Cash was less of a fan.)

Two shows were scheduled for January 13: For 9:40 AM, and then, in case the recording didn't go well, a 2nd try at 12:40 PM. The performers included Cash; his girlfriend (later wife) June Carter of the country-singing Carter Family; the Tennessee Three, Cash's backing band, with lead guitarist Luther Perkins, bass player Marshall Grant, and drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland; Carl Perkins' author-singer of "Blue Suede Shoes," Cash's stablemate at Sun Records in the 1950s, and Luther's brother; and The Statler Brothers, country and gospel stars in their own right, serving as Cash's backing vocalists (though none of them were named Statler, and only Harold and Don Reid were actually brothers, the others being Joe McDorman, Lew DeWitt and Phil Balsley).

Johnston handled the recording board. Also present with Cash's group were his father, Ray Cash; and the Rev. Floyd Gressett, the pastor at a church near his home in Ventura, California.

Carl Perkins opened the show with "Blue Suede Shoes." The Statlers sang their hit song "Flowers On the Wall" and the country standard "This Old House." Then the Tennessee Three kicked into an intro with Cash's familiar "Boom-chicka-boom" sound, and The Man In Black took the stage. He gave is familiar, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash," and told the prisoners, this show is being recorded for a live album, so you can't say, 'Hell' or 'Shit,' or anything like that!" The prisoners cheered.

And then he launched into a new version of "Folsom Prison Blues," more hopped-up than the original version. He sang songs about prison life, including "Dark as a Dungeon," "The Long Black Veil," "Green, Green Grass of Home," and "25 Minutes to Go." To me, the interesting thing about that last one, which had been written by Shel Silverstein, is that, in contrast to "Folsom Prison Blues," where the narrator admits his guilt, and won't be executed," this narrator never says whether he admits it, only that he will be executed, and that he doesn't want to die."

Cash brought Carter onstage to sing the duet "Jackson," and closed the show with a new song, "Greystone Chapel." Ironically, given the intent, the 2nd show wasn't as strong as the 1st, and, although some songs were played at both shows, only 2 songs from the 2nd show went on the album, neither of which were played during the 1st show: "I Got Stripes" (as in, prison stripes, this in the era before "prison clothes" meant "an orange jumpsuit") and "Give My Love to Rose."

The album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison was released on May 6, 1968, and was a hit. But the line, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" doomed the new version of "Folsom Prison Blues": While it still hit Number 1 on the country charts, on the pop charts, it had only reached Number 32 when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, and a lot of radio stations refused to play it after that.

But the album did provide the revival that Cash wanted. On February 24, 1969, lightning struck again, although not in the same place: Johnny Cash at San Quentin was recorded, at the prison of that name north of San Francisco, in Marin County. Among the songs done for this one was another Shel Silverstein composition, one Cash had never even seen before, so he had the lyrics written down, for him to basically recite: "A Boy Named Sue."

A few weeks after that album's release, ABC began airing The Johnny Cash Show, and for 3 years, it ran as a Summer replacement series. He married June Carter, and became a bigger star than ever.

*

January 13, 1968 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. The football season came to an end the next day, as the Green Bay Packers beat the Oakland Raiders, 33-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, to win Super Bowl II.

There were 3 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the San Diego Rockets, 122-116 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 32 points.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons, 115-106 at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 110-106 at the Chicago Stadium.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association, in its 1st season. The New Jersey Americans beat the Oakland Clippers, 118-110 at the Teaneck Armory in Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey. And the Indiana Pacers beat the Pittsburgh Pipers, 113-99 at the Indiana Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

Both venues still stand. The latter is now named the Indiana Farmers Coliseum. After 1 season in Teaneck, the Americans, the 1st major league sports team with "New Jersey" in its name, moved to Long Island, becoming the New York Nets.

There were 5 games played in the NHL: 

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 4-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Oakland Seals and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 2-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. This was the game in which Bill Masterton of the North Stars sustained the head injury that led to his death 2 days later.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Kings were not scheduled.

Also, Arsenal played Sheffield United to a 1-1 draw at Highbury in North London.