October 25, 1988: The Traveling Wilburys

Left to right: Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne,

Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison.

Or: Lucky, Otis, Charlie T. Jr., Lefty and Nelson.

October 25, 1988: The album Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 is released. You've heard of rock and roll "supergroups"? This was the most super group of them all.

Former Beatle George Harrison made a comeback with his 1987 album Cloud Nine, produced by Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne, who also played several instruments on it. Among the other guest musicians: Former Beatle Ringo Star and Jim Keltner on drums, Eric Clapton on guitar, and Elton John and Gary Wright on piano.

During the recording of the album, there were some mistakes caused by faulty equipment. George said to Jeff, "We'll bury 'em in the mix." For the rest of the sessions, any mistake became known as a "We'll bury," or "Wilbury."

For a follow-up album, George got an idea to get some friends together and have some fun. For a name, George suggested "the Trembling Wilburys." Jeff suggested "Traveling Wilburys," and George agreed that this one was better.

George had worked with Bob Dylan before, and wanted him for the new group. Jeff wanted Roy Orbison. And Jeff had already agreed to collaborate with Tom Petty on an album that became Full Moon Fever. Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers, had backed Bob on a European tour.

Aside from being rock and roll legends, they shared a common love of the founding rock of the 1950s, and of the Monty Python comedy troupe, which led to them asking Michael Palin to write the album's liner notes. So they got together, and picked out names:

* Roy Orbison, then 51 years old: Lefty Wilbury.

* Bob Dylan, 47: Lucky Wilbury.

* George Harrison, 45: Nelson Wilbury.

* Jeff Lynne, 40: Otis Wilbury.

* Tom Petty, 37: Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.

The "real names" of Lefty and Lucky have never been divulged; maybe those were the real names. And it was never explained why the youngest son, rather than the oldest, had the father's name. An interviewer asked them, in character, if Charlie T. Sr. was also an itinerant musician, and Roy said, "The way I remember it, Daddy was a preacher." Keltner became the drummer, a.k.a. Buster Sidebury, a play on the term "sideman."

The lead song, "Handle With Care," became the lead single. George sang the 1st 2 verses, Roy a bridge, Bob and Tom a 2nd bridge, George the 3rd and 4th verses, then Roy again, then Roy joined Bob and Tom, and then they all sang the last verse, with George on the lead. There was no fancy production for the video: Just the five of them standing around a microphone and singing -- in black and white, just as an all-star concert headlined by Roy the year before was, released as the film Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black and White Night.

"Not Alone Anymore" was designed to sound like one of Roy's early 1960s heartbreak classics. "Heading for the Light" could have been mistaken for one of George's late Beatle or early solo efforts. Bob's song "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" reminded everyone of just how much he influenced Bruce Springsteen, especially since the song drops more New Jersey references than even a typical Bruce song. And the last song was, fittingly, titled "End of the Line."

"Handle With Care" only reached Number 44 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, and no other single even got that close. But the album reached Number 3 on Billboard's album chart, and sold 2 million copies in the 1st 6 months. And "Handle With Care" did reach Number 3 in Australia and Number 21 in Britain. The critics loved the album, too.

By that point, Jeff had produced Roy's next album, Mystery Girl, with Tom also playing and singing on it. And Jeff had also produced Tom's next album, Full Moon Fever, with George, Roy, Jim, and one of Tom's favorite performers of all time, Del Shannon, also appearing on it. The video for its big single, "I Won't Back Down," included George, Ringo, and Jeff.

And then, on December 6, 1988, at the age of 52, Roy Orbison died of a heart attack. The world was stunned. He was at the peak of his fame. He was not known to be in ill health. But he had publicly confided to Johnny Cash, a close friend, that he'd been having chest pains, and was working like crazy in those last few weeks.

They had to film the video for "End of the Line" without him. They did it on a moving train. George, Bob, Jeff and Tom sat around playing their guitars. Jim sat at a drum kit. And when they got to the 3rd verse, which was Roy's verse, the camera focused on a rocking chair, rocking, with a guitar in it, with a shot of a photo of Roy on a shelf in the boxcar in the middle of it. It gets me every time.

In 1990, without replacing Roy, the 4 surviving Wilburys released their 2nd album, titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. Not 2, 3. It included Shannon's biggest hit, "Runaway." There had been a rumor that Del was going to replace Roy, but it never happened. And then, the next year, Shannon died, too.

There were no more Wilbury albums. In 1992, Columbia Records celebrated 30 years of Dylan recording with them with an all-star concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, and Harrison, Lynne, Petty and Keltner were included. Harrison introduced Bob: "Some of you may call him Bobby, some of you may call him Zimmy, I call him Lucky."

Harrison died in 2001, Petty in 2017. As of October 25, 2022, Dylan, Lynne, and Keltner are still alive.

There couldn't be a Traveling Wilburys now, or ever again. Seriously, who would it be? Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, so a substitute could be the 1st personality outside of classical and jazz to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Kendrick Lamar. Since Lynne was the producer, the Wilbury reboot could have Timbaland.

It couldn't be Justin Timberlake or Harry Styles, because they were the "Paul McCartney" of *NSYNC and One Direction, respectively. So... let me see if I can remember any of the other names of the boys in One Direction... Niall Horan. But who's the Petty equivalent, the great band frontman? Maybe Danny Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. And the Orbison equivalent? Forget it: As Springsteen taught us, "Everybody knows that nobody sings like Roy Orbison."

*

October 25, 1988 was a Tuesday. Baseball season ended 5 days earlier, with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't begin for another 10 days. But there were 7 NHL games played:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 7-4 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-4 at the Colisée de Québec.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 1-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Calgary Flames, 6-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Mario Lemieux, Randy Cunneyworth and Phil Bourque each scored 2 goals.

* The Edmonton Oilers faced the Los Angeles Kings for the 2nd time since the Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky to the Kings. On October 19, at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, the Oilers won, 8-6, a game filled with both goals and penalties. For the Kings, Gretzky had 2 assists, and Bernie Nicholls had 2 goals and 2 assists. For the Oilers, Mark Messier had 2 goals.

On this night, at The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California, the Oilers won again, 5-4. Again, lots of goals and lots of penalties. This time, though, all 9 goals were scored by different players, while Gretzky was limited to 2 assists.

* And the Washington Capitals beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Mike Ridley scored the winning goal with 2:05 left in overtime.

September 30, 1987: Roy Orbison's Black and White Night

Left to right: Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello

September 30, 1987: A rock concert is held in the Coconut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. This was the same room where Robert F. Kennedy gave his last speech before being assassinated.

Earlier in the year, Orbison had been among the 2nd class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Giving his induction speech was Bruce Springsteen. At that time, he said, "In '75, we got together to make Born to Run. I wanted lyrics like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector. But, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now, everybody knows that nobody sings like Roy Orbison."

A celebration of him was held at the Ambassador. Having gotten his start at Sun Records, like Elvis Presley, he was backed on this night by members of Elvis' Las Vegas band: Guitarists James Burton and John Wilkinson, bass guitarist Jerry Scheff, drummer Ronnie Tutt, and pianist Glen Hardin.

Among those also joining him, and singing backup, were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Brown, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt. As Orbison sang songs like "Only the Lonely," "Running Scared," "In Dreams," "Crying" and "It's Over," Springsteen, sitting on the stage, and already pretty accomplished himself, could be seen looking up, with a look on his face that said, "Oh my God, I'm backing up Roy Orbison!"

The show was closed with an extended version of Roy's biggest hit, the 1964 Number 1 hit "Oh, Pretty Woman." It was a reminder that Roy wasn't just a truly great singer, he was also a really good songwriter and a really good guitarist. (On an earlier song, "Candy Man," he also showed that he was a really good harmonica player.)

Orbison died on December 6, 1988, a little over a year after the concert. It has since been regularly broadcast, as Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night, on PBS, during the networks' pledge drives.

*

September 30, 1987 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 7-0 at Yankee Stadium. The Sox scored 6 runs in the top of the 4th, knocking Al Leiter out of the box. Roger Clemens went the distance for Boston, striking out 13. Wade Boggs did not play.

The Yankees were limping to a frustrating end of a season where they were in 1st place as late as August 8, going 23-28 the rest of the way and finishing 9 games behind Detroit in the American League Eastern Division. Injuries to Willie Randolph and Dave Winfield proved key.

* The Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Mets got home runs from Darryl Strawberry and Tim Teufel, but Luis Aguayo hit a home run to win the game in the bottom of the 10th. Jesse Orosco gave it up, ruining a good 9-inning performance by Dwight Gooden. Mike Schmidt also homered for the Phils, the 530th of his career.

Despite the close margin, the Mets' loss was even worse than the Yankees', because they entered the game 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the National League Eastern Division, with 4 games to play, so they still had a chance. The defending World Champions hadn't been in 1st place since April 24, but had stayed close the whole way. Just 2 days earlier, they were only 2 games behind the Cards.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4, but the O's got home runs from Cal Ripken Jr., Fred Lynn and Terry Kennedy.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Paul Molitor went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.

* A doubleheader was split at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener, 5-3. The Chicago Cubs won the nightcap, 10-8.

This was part of a 7-game losing streak, including the last 4 to the Tigers, that would give the Tigers the AL East title, earning Toronto the nickname "The Blow Jays." Despite Division titles in 1989 and 1991, it would take until 1992 to get rid of the nickname.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Despite the Mets' loss, the Cards couldn't finish the job. The next game, they would, beating the Expos the next day to clinch the NL East.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-3 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Braves scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th, as Dave Smith blew a save for Mike Scott, who had allowed just 3 hits in 8 innings.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Krukow (the future Giants broadcasting pitching 6 innings) and Joe Price combined on a 6hit shutout.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

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.

March 23, 1990: “Pretty Woman” Premieres

March 23, 1990: Pretty Woman premieres, directed by Garry Marshall. Richard Gere plays a corporate raider, and Julia Roberts plays a Los Angeles prostitute.

And it's a comedy.

And we're supposed to root for both of them.

Even though it's a weird ripoff of Pygmalion -- or, since they end up together, My Fair Lady.

What a waste of a great Roy Orbison song.

The original screenplay was titled 3000, referring to the number of dollars he pays her; and was written by then-struggling screenwriter J.F. Lawton. It was originally intended to be a dark cautionary tale about class and prostitution in L.A., but, you know Hollywood: They wanted to turn it into a romantic comedy, or "rom-com," and it worked.

Gere had already been a star, with films like the U.S. remake of the French film Breathless, and An Officer and a Gentleman. But the film vaulted Roberts from up-and-coming status, having been in Mystic Pizza, to superstar level, as she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. (Playing a prostitute had already been considered "Oscar bait," and there would be later examples.) It grossed $463 million, and sold over 42 million tickets, making it, as of 2021, still the highest-selling rom-com of all time.

The film included "It Must Have Been Love," by the Swedish pop duo Roxette, which hit Number 1 in June. Roxette's singer, Marie Fredricksson, died of cancer in 2019. As of March 23, 2022, guitarist Per Gessle is still alive and performing.

In 1991, just a year after Pretty Woman, Theresa Russell starred as a Los Angeles prostitute in a film that tried to reflect the reality of the life. It was not a comedy. It was bleak as hell. It was titled Whore. It made a shade over $1 million.

*

March 23, 1990 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 9 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 106-93 at the Charlotte Coliseum. Patrick Ewing scored 32 points in defeat.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 125-109 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-98 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Sacramento Kings, 115-99 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat, 106-103 at the Miami Arena. Derek Harper scored 34.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 102-95 at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan led all scorers on the night with 41 points.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 120-99 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Eddie Johnson scored 37.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors, 106-91 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 110-102 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.