December 29, 1964: "The T.A.M.I. Show"

December 29, 1964: The T.A.M.I. Show is released in movie theaters. It was filmed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 28 and 29, 1964.

The Auditorium opened in 1958, and from 1961 to 1967 hosted the Academy Awards -- the Oscars. On May 27, 1972, George Carlin recorded his album Class Clown there, including his bit "Seven Words You Can Never Use On Television." It still stands.

"T.A.M.I." stood for "Teen Age Music International." The show was directed by Steve Binder, who later went on to direct Elvis Presley's 1968 "Comeback Special." It was hosted by Jan Berry and Dean Torrence. Jan & Dean had already had a few hits together.

The various acts were backed up by go-go dancers, including Teri Garr, who became a major actress; and Toni Basil, who become one of America's top choreographers, and had a Number 1 hit in 1982 with "Mickey." Film director John Landis claimed he attended the show with his classmate, future Partridge Family star David Cassidy.

Here's the set list, and the songs they sang at the show. It's one hell of a list, even if you only count what these performers had already done, not what they would later do. An asterisk (*) indicates the performer has been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

1. Jan and Dean, singing "(Here They Come From) All Over the World." The song incorrectly places The Rolling Stones in Liverpool, when they were from London and environs.

2. * Chuck Berry: "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybellene," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Nadine."

3. Gerry and the Pacemakers, who actually were from Liverpool: "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," "It's Gonna Be Alright" and "I Like It."

4. * The Miracles, from Motown Records, led by Smokey Robinson: "That's What Love Is Made Of," "You've Really Got a Hold On Me" and "Mickey's Monkey."

5. * Marvin Gaye, from Motown Records: "Stubborn Kind of Fellow," "Pride and Joy," "Can I Get a Witness" and "Hitch Hike."

6. Lesley Gore: "Maybe I Know," "You Don't Own Me," "You Didn't Look Around," "Hey Now," "It's My Party" and its sequel "Judy's Turn to Cry."

A reprise of Jan and Dean: "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" and "Sidewalk Surfin'" (the 1st hit song about skateboarding).

7. * The Beach Boys: "Surfin' U.S.A.," "I Get Around," "Surfer Girl" and "Dance, Dance, Dance."

8. Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas: "Little Children," "Bad to Me," "I'll Keep You Satisfied" and "From a Window."

9. * The Supremes, from Motown Records, with Diana Ross singing lead: "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes," "Run, Run, Run," "Baby Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go."

10. The Barbarians, probably the only band ever to come out of Cape Cod. They never had a Top 40 single, not even the song they performed here, "Hey Little Bird."

11. * James Brown and The Famous Flames: "Out of Sight," "Prisoner of Love," "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train." This performance is often credited with introducing The Godfather of Soul to white audiences. Within a year, his new audience had given him his 2 biggest hits: "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)."

12. * The Rolling Stones: "Around and Around," "Off the Hook," "Time Is On My Side," "It's All Over Now," "I'm Alright" and "Let's Get Together." They were still a few months away from releasing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

*

December 29, 1964 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL and the AFL had just wrapped up their seasons. No college football bowl games were played. There was 1 NBA game played that day: The St. Louis Hawks beat the San Francisco Warriors, 122-104 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Wilt Chamberlain scored 35 points in a losing effort.

And there was 1 NHL game: The Chicago Black Hawks beat the New York Rangers, 4-2 at the old Madison Square Garden. The Rangers led 2-0 and blew it. Bobby Hull scored 2 goals for the Hawks. 

October 9, 1983: The Resignation of Secretary James Watt

October 9, 1983: James Watt resigns as U.S. Secretary of the Interior. To say that this was too long in coming is erroneous, simply because he never should have had the job in the first place.

Born on January 31, 1938 in Lusk, Wyoming, he became a lawyer, and an aide to Senator Millard Simpson of Wyoming, whose son Alan also became a Senator. He served as Secretary to the right-wing Natural Resources Committee and Environmental Pollution Advisory Panel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He served in the U.S. Department of the Interior under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980, he appointed Watt to be Secretary of the Interior. On paper, he was qualified for the job.

On May 7, 1982, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Carson did a fantastic impersonation of Reagan, with an actor standing in for James A. Baker III, then the White House Chief of Staff. (The actor looked nothing like Baker, but that didn't matter.) It turned into a variation of the Abbott & Costello "Who's On First?" routine. It involved Watt, with whom Reagan would be swimming at the YMCA, or "The Y"; Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat; and a fictional Chinese leader named Hu:

Baker: Mr. President, Hu is on the phone.

Reagan: Well, I don't know, Jim, who is on the phone?
Baker: Yes, sir.
Reagan: That Arafat guy is on the phone?
Baker: Who?

Reagan: What?

Together: Swimming, tomorrow at the Y!

That was funny. Watt was not funny. He was the worst Secretary the Department ever had, and it isn't even close. He proposed that 80 million acres of undeveloped land in the U.S. be opened for drilling and mining by the year 2000. The area leased to coal mining quintupled during his term. He boasted that he leased "a billion acres" of coastal waters, even though only a small portion of that area would ever be drilled.

Environmental groups accused Watt of reducing funding for environmental programs, restructuring the department to decrease federal regulatory power, easing regulations of oil and mining, and recommending lease of wilderness and shore lands to explore and develop oil and gas.

It was all for money, for the corporations that fund Republican political campaigns. Watt wanted to get them what he could, while he could -- and not just because he knew that, at most, he would be in office for 8 years. He was also an "evangelical" "Christian": Speaking before Congress, when asked why he would try to preserve more land and waters for future generations, he said, "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns."

And, like so many other evangelicals, he was a bigot. On January 18, 1983, he was interviewed by the Satellite Program Network, and he said, "If you want an example of the failure of socialism, don't go to Russia, come to America and go to the Indian reservations." Native American groups were furious. What nobody yet knew is that, when it came to bigotry, Watt was just getting warmed up.

As Secretary of the Interior, he was in charge of maintaining the National Mall, and setting up the annual 4th of July concert there. For the last few years, there had been appearances by rock groups. Watt said that rock hands that had performed there in 1981 and 1982 had "encouraged drinking and drug use," and "attracted the wrong element."

The Beach Boys had previously played the show, and were scheduled to do so again, but Watt vetoed this choice. His choice? Las Vegas showman Wayne Newton. Newton was, and (he is still alive as of October 9, 2022) remains, a great entertainer. He also was, and remains, a heavy Republican donor. So that may have been a part of it.

If Watt knew anything about rock and roll, he might have known that Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love is also a hardcore Republican, as is bass guitarist Bruce Johnston -- and that's one of the things had caused friction between the band members. On one side, there was Love and Johnston. On the other side, there was Love's cousin, the band's founder, keyboard player, and former bassist Brian Wilson; Wilson's brothers, lead guitarist Carl and drummer Dennis; and rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, who had been Brian's best friend.

It should be said that the Beach Boys had their issues with booze and drugs. Indeed, at the end of the year, Dennis would get drunk, fall off his boat, and drown. Being the most conservative member of the band, Mike suspected that the real reason Watt didn't want the band for the Mall show was that the Soviet Union invited the band to visit and perform in 1978. Love said, "Obviously, they did not feel that the group attracted the wrong element."

What Watt apparently didn't know was that both Ronald and Nancy Reagan said they were Beach Boys fans, and Vice President George H.W. Bush said, "They're my friends, and I like their music."

On September 21, Watt finally went too far. He addressed a breakfast in Washington, held by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the most conservative organizations in America. He attacked the media, Congress, and "liberal Democrats."

He also compared affirmative action -- which, as few people realize, has helped more white women than it has black people -- to the diversity on a coal leasing panel at DOI: "I have three Democrats, two Republicans, every kind of mix you can have. I have a black, a woman, two Jews, and a cripple. And we have talent."

The live audience laughed. Of course they did. But on the outside, the reaction was overwhelming: People from coast to coast were furious, and demanded Watt's resignation.

One of the commission members, Richard Gordon, a professor at Penn State, was Jewish, and had also lost the use of an arm. so he was one of the "two Jews" and the "cripple." He said he was "disturbed" by Watt's remarks. Julia Walsh, the woman on the panel, said, "I resent it being implied that I am the token woman, because I have a 30-year background in investment and finance."

The commission's chairman was David Linowes, an economics professor at the University of Illinois. He was Jewish, and said, "I know he has a sense of humor," adding, "If the remarks were made by a bigot, I would have been offended. His track record shows a wholesome record in dealing with other people."

This had already been proven to be a lie. Linowes didn't help matters by saying, off the cuff, "Maybe the Secretary thinks I'm mentally handicapped."

Reagan did not need this. This remark came 3 weeks after the Soviet Union shot down a Korean airliner, and Cold War tensions were as high as they had ever been since the Cuban Missile Crisis 21 years earlier. The economy was finally beginning to recover, but many people weren't feeling it yet. Several other officials in his Administration were under investigation.

And, in a little more than a year, he would have to face the voters for re-election -- and, contrary to what the Reagan myth-drivers, both in 1984 and in the 21st Century, would have you believe, in the early Autumn of 1983, Ronald Reagan was not overwhelmingly popular.

From December 1981 to October 1983, he never had an approval rating of over 50 percent. From April 1982 to August 1983, his disapproval rating was higher. In a poll ending on January 31, 1983, with unemployment at 11 percent, he bottomed out: 56 percent disapproval, 35 percent approval. And in one ending on October 10, which included the day of Watt's resignation, his approval rating was only slightly ahead, 45-44.

Watt announced his resignation on October 9, taking effect on November 8. He was succeeded by William P. Clark Jr., who had been Reagan's National Security Adviser. He served out the remainder of the 1st term, and Donald P. Hodel, formerly Secretary of Energy, served at Interior through Reagan's 2nd term. Neither Clark nor Hodel generated anywhere near the controversy that Watt did.

Reagan personally called the Beach Boys' manager, and invited the band to play the National Mall on July 4, 1984. It was too late for Dennis, though, and Brian led a tearful tribute to him. Riding an improved economy, and a wave of patriotism from that holiday through the Olympics that started in Los Angeles in the Summer of '84, Reagan's approval rating reached 55 percent in late January 1984, stayed roughly there through the election on November 6, and peaked at 68 in mid-January 1985, at the time of his 2nd Inauguration.

Like so many other public officials before and since, as soon as he was legally able to do so, Watt became a lobbyist, targeting the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Unlike many Reagan officials, who fell under criminal investigation while still in office (or, at least, while Reagan was), Watt ended up being charged for things he did afterward. In 1995, he was indicted on 18 felony counts, relating to his lobbying. He made a deal, pleading guilty to 1 misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 5 years' probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine.

The most wacko member, if not the worst, of a wacko Administration, James G. Watt retired to the suburbs of Phoenix. As of October 9, 2022, he is still alive. (UPDATE: He died on May 27, 2023.)

*

October 9, 1983 was a Sunday. Both baseball Leagues' Pennants had been won the day before: The American League's by the Baltimore Orioles, beating the Chicago White Sox;  and the National League's by the Philadelphia Phillies, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both were won 3 games to 1.

These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-13 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to the Cleveland Browns, 10-7 at Shea Stadium.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the New England Patriots, 12-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The New Orleans Saints beat their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, 19-17 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-24 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, 38-35 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 23-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 38-14 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Washington Redskins beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 38-14 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Houston Oilers, 26-14 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-20 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 10-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-21 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-14 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

The NBA season hadn't started yet, but there were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The Boston Bruins beat their neighbors, the Hartford Whalers, 4-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 6-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Calgary Flames and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 1-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Denver. Jari Kurri scored the winning goal with 1:10 left in overtime.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

May 16, 1966: The Greatest Day In American Music

Left to right: Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson,

Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine

May 16, 1966: Was this the greatest day in the history of American music? Three epochal events happened. No one fully realized just how epochal until later.

The Beach Boys released their album Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson -- born on June 20, 1942, 2 days after Paul McCartney of The Beatles -- admitted that Pet Sounds was his response to the Beatle album Rubber Soul, released on December 3, 1965. Wilson viewed Pet Sounds as a solo album, and attributed its inspiration partly to his marijuana use, and an LSD-rooted spiritual awakening. 

He said he aimed to create "the greatest rock album ever made," surpassing Rubber Soul, and extending the innovations of producer Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound." This explains the use of an orchestra, and some instruments that even Spector hadn't used before.

It included 2 of the group's most-loved singles, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which led off Side A, and "God Only Knows," which led off Side B. It also included "Sloop John B," an adaptation of the folk song "The Wreck of the John B." Oddly, given how much it sounds like it's in the spirit of the album, it does not include "Good Vibrations," which became the group's 3rd and last Number 1 hit, and is often called their greatest song.

John Lennon, the other main creative voice in The Beatles, said Brian was "doing some very great things." With Revolver about to be released on August 5, McCartney later said that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on June 1, 1967, was his -- if not his band's -- response to Pet Sounds. Brian tried to top it with Smile, but, battling his inner demons, was unable to finish it.

Along with The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and The Band, Lifehouse by The Who, The Black Album by Prince, and Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses, Smile became one of the great talked-about-but-unreleased albums in rock and roll history. Of course, all of these were eventually released. In Smile's case, in 1993.

*

On the same day, the aforementioned Bob Dylan released his album Blonde On Blonde. He's never said it was a response to anything.

Neither the name of the performer

nor the title of the album was on the front cover.

Bob already had that much oomph.

One of the things I love about Bob is that he came up with such great song titles. One of the things that drives me crazy about him is that sometimes, those titles are not mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, making it hard for someone who hears the song, but not the title, to know it. Typical of this is the song that leads off the album, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," better known by its chorus: "Everybody Must Get Stoned."

"I Want You" and "Just Like a Woman" were hit singles. The 9-verse, 7-minute "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is fantastic. I once discovered that it fit the rhythm of Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat," and imagined Dylan singing it to the tune. The album also includes "Visions of Johanna" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

It's a double album, 4 sides, although the 4th and last side is just 1 song, the 11-minute-23-second "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." Based on the lyrics, and the word "lowlands," we can presume that this song, along with some of the other songs on the album, were written about Sara Lownds, to whom he was married from 1965 to 1977. Their breakup inspired Dylan's best post-crash album, Blood On the Tracks, in 1975.

I say "post-crash" because, on July 29, 1966, just 76 days after releasing the album, Dylan was badly hurt in a motorcycle crash near his home in Woodstock, in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. He didn't record again for nearly a year, and didn't tour again until 1974.

In 1987, celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine named its 100 Greatest Albums, though not limiting it to just the last 20 years. Sgt. Pepper came in 1st, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen 2nd, Blonde on Blonde 3rd, and Pet Sounds 8th.

The magazine dropped Blonde on Blonde to 9th in 2003, and all the way to 38th in 2020. Perhaps there were 6 better albums released between 1987 and 2003, but there's no way in hell that 29 better albums were released between 2003 and 2020.

Pet Sounds was ranked 8th in 1987, rose to 2nd in 2003, and kept that honor in 2020. Sgt. Pepper has remained 1st.

*

Those 2 albums being released on the same day would make the day epic enough. But, also on that day, Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, outside Chicago. The youngest of the 9 singing siblings, she not only became the 2nd-most successful among them, but, by 1986, was able to establish her own "brand," separate from her megastar brother Michael, although they did occasionally work together. Judged solely on her own merits, she also became one of the biggest music stars in the world.

And, while this has nothing to do with music, another celebrity was born on the day: Thurman Thomas, running back for the Buffalo Bills, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

*

May 16, 1966 was a Monday. This was also the day that Chinese dictator Mao Zedong began what he called the Cultural Revolution. I have a separate entry for that event.

As Monday is often a travel day in baseball, football was out of season, and this was before the NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs extended that far into the calendar year, only 1 major sporting event was played that day.

The Minnesota Twins beat the Washington Senators, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Camilo Pascual went the distance for the win for the defending American League Champions. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with a walk. The Senators' only run came on a home run by Jim King.

The current Senators franchise had been founded in 1961, to take the place of the old Senators franchise, who had moved to Minnesota. The "New Senators" also moved, after the 1971 season, to become the Texas Rangers.

March 25, 1963: The Beach Boys Release "Surfin' U.S.A."

Left to right: Al Jardine, Mike Love,

Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, and Carl Wilson.

March 25, 1963: The Beach Boys release their album Surfin' U.S.A. It contains the title track, which rose to Number 3 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. It's not the best Beach Boys song, but it is the most familiar one – much like the soon-to-be-recorded "She Loves You" became the prototypical early Beatles song. The album also contains the racing song "Shut Down," which became the B-side to "Surfin' U.S.A.," and also became a Top 40 hit.

The album also includes 2 instrumentals that had been made famous the year before by lefthanded guitarist Dick Dale, considered the true father of surf rock: "Misirlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'." At the time, "trippin'" meant just that, going on a roadtrip, not feeling the effects of a mind-altering drug, or simply being crazy -- subjects with which the Beach Boys would, eventually, become sadly familiar.

Beach Boys bass guitarist and main songwriter Brian Wilson was then dating a woman named Judy Bowles, whose brother Jim was a surfer, and knew all the surfing spots in the southern half of California. Brian thought of how Chuck Berry had listed a bunch of cities in his 1958 song "Sweet Little Sixteen," and decided to try the same thing.

Brian's brother, Carl Wilson, was one of the few guitarists who has ever been able to play Chuck Berry riffs as well as Chuck himself. But this song was so close to "Sweet Little Sixteen" that Chuck sued. A settlement was reached, and Chuck has been listed as the sole author of "Surfin' U.S.A." ever since. Chuck later told them that he loved the song, he just wanted to be properly credited and paid for his role in writing it.

The Beach Boys' 1st song, titled simply "Surfin'," was released in 1961, and was a regional hit. The next year, they released "Surfin' Safari," and it became a national Top 20 hit. "Surf rock" became a big deal, especially with instrumentals like "Misirlou," The Chantays' "Pipeline," and The Surfaris' "Wipe Out," with its epic drumming by Ron Wilson (no relation to the Beach Boys).

And yet, the only song about surfing that ever hit Number 1 on Billboard magazine's "Hot 100" chart was "Surf City," by Jan & Dean (Jan Berry and Dean Torrence), in the magazine's July 20, 1963 edition. As the skateboarding craze followed, Jan & Dean had a Top 20 hit with "Sidewalk Surfin'" in 1964.

The Beach Boys also specialized in songs about cars, and the racing thereof, like "Shut Down," "409," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Fun, Fun, Fun" (about a teenage girl and her Ford Thunderbird), and their 1st Number 1 hit, "I Get Around," which topped the chart in Summer 1964. They even recorded a Christmas album, which included "Little Saint Nick," which invoked Santa Claus working on his sleigh as if it were a hot rod.

The Beach Boys' car songs inspired others: "G.T.O." by Ronnie & the Daytonas, "Hey Little Cobra" by The Rip Chords, and "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean. The last of these, partly written by Brian Wilson, proved tragic and prophetic: In 1966, Jan Berry was badly hurt in a crash on North Whittier Drive, not far from the real-life curve mentioned in the song, at 9900 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Ironically, the only member of the Beach Boys who was a regular surfer was the other Wilson brother, Dennis, the drummer. Brian, Carl, their cousin and lead singer Mike Love, and rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, who had been Hawthorne High School quarterback Brian's best friend and star receiver, weren't surfers, though they all acted out the part, especially with their onstage clothes. Brian never went surfing until 1976.

In a further irony, Dennis died by drowning in 1983, although that was because he was drunk and fell off a boat, not because of a surfing accident. Carl Wilson died of cancer in 1998. As of March 25, 2022, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine are still alive. So is Bruce Johnston, who took over from Brian as the touring bass guitarist in late 1965. (UPDATE: Brian Wilson died in 2025.)

"Surfin' U.S.A." is one of those songs with a notorious misheard lyric: The opening line, "If everybody had an ocean" often gets heard as "If everybody had a notion." "Baggies" are loose-fitting, or "baggy," swimming trunks.

As for the locations mentioned in the song: Waimea Bay is in Hawaii, and Narrabeen is in Australia. The rest, as you might guess, are in California: Manhattan Beach, Haggerty's, Pacific Palisades and Redondo Beach are in Los Angeles County; Doheny and Sunset are in Orange County; Ventura County Line is in, you guessed it, Ventura County; Santa Cruz is in, of course, Santa Cruz County; and Del Mar, San Onofre, Trestles, Swami's Beach and La Jolla are in San Diego County.

Newport, Rhode Island is considered the top surfing location on the East Coast. The Trade Winds were a band from Providence, Rhode Island, and in 1965, they had a hit with "New York's a Lonely Town," about a boy who claims he's "the only surfer boy around." "Woodies," the wood-paneled cars of the 1930s, were popular among surfers, and Jan & Dean mentioned them in "Surf City." The Trade Winds sang, "My Woodie's outside, covered with snow."

Even Bo Diddley, best known for one of the founding records of rock and roll, the 1955 hit "Bo Diddley," got into the act: In 1963, he released Surfin' with Bo Diddley. Bo was black, and the vast majority of surfers -- at least, outside of Hawaii, where the natives taught the tourists -- have been white. As rock and roll historian Dave Marsh pointed out, it wasn't Bo's race that was the outlier, it was the location. The title of his 1960 album Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger made sense, especially given that he recorded on the South Side of Chicago; but where was he going to surf, Lake Michigan?

For the record, I have never surfed. Or skied. I'm not that crazy.

The Beach Boys hit Number 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 Singles charts 4 times: With "I Get Around" in 1964, "Help Me, Rhonda" in 1965, "Good Vibrations" in 1966, and then, long after their initial run of success, "Kokomo" in 1988.

So who was Rhonda? Brian Wilson insisted that the song wasn't based on a real person, and that "Rhonda" just sounded like a good name to use. Can't argue with that, even if there would be car commercials 20 years later singing, "Help me, Honda."

*

March 25, 1963 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were no NBA games scheduled. And the NHL was between the regular season and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So there were no scores on this historic day.

January 20, 1988: Mike Love Speaks His Mind and Vents His Spleen

January 20, 1988: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its induction ceremony in the ballroom of The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The Hall of Fame building, selected to be built in Cleveland, would not open until 1995.

The Hall has one rule for eligibility for performers: The person or group must have released his or her first record at least 25 years earlier. This time, each having released their 1st record in 1962, and thus inducted in their 1st year of eligibility, were The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, and Bob Dylan. Not in their 1st year, but also inducted, were The Drifters.

Of The Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr showed up to claim their places in history. Representing John Lennon were his widow, Yoko Ono; and John’s sons Julian (whose mother was John's first wife, Cynthia Twist) and Sean (whose mother was Yoko). Julian and Yoko managed to put their differences aside for the sake of the occasion.

Paul McCartney did not show up, and it would take a few more years before he made peace with George and Ringo, and a few more to do so with Yoko.

But, for once, The Beatles were not the big story of the occasion. Nor was it that Diana Ross refused to come, and thus did not accept her award with fellow Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, and the daughters of the late Florence Ballard.

The big story was Mike Love, making a colossal jerk of himself with his induction speech. He spoke his mind, and in so doing, he vented his spleen.

The Beach Boys, from the suburbs of Los Angeles, burst onto the rock and roll scene in 1962, and from then until 1969, cranked out several great songs about girls, cars and surfing. With their usually upbeat lyrics, their superb harmonies, their Hawaiian shirts, and their connection with good times, especially in the Summer, they have been considered by many to be the greatest American rock band -- or, perhaps more accurately, the most American rock band.

They consisted of 3 brothers: Brian Wilson, the main songwriter and bass guitarist; Carl Wilson, the lead guitarist; and Dennis Wilson, the drummer; their 1st cousin, Mike Love, the lead singer; and Brian's best friend, Al Jardine, the rhythm guitarist. Bruce Johnston, who had filled in for Brian on bass for live performances from 1965 onward, was not included as an official inductee. Nor was actor John Stamos, who had drummed for the group since Dennis' death by drowning in 1983.

Love has become known as one of the few overt conservatives in rock music. (Johnston has as well, but the rest of the band stayed liberal.) But, despite it being the start of a Presidential election year, Love's anger on this night wasn't about politics. It was about music -- specifically, about performing it live. He compared his group's touring schedule with those of the ex-Beatles, of The Rolling Stones and their lead singer Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.

From its 1st in 1986, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony has concluded with a jam session, in which the inductees and the introducers take turns on the stage, cranking out their familiar tunes. Referring to this, Love said, "The Beach Boys did about 180 performances last year. I'd like to see the Mop Tops match that! I'd like to see Mick Jagger get out on this stage and do 'I Get Around,' versus 'Jumpin' Jack Flash,' any day now. And I'd like to see some people kick out the jams, and I challenge the Boss to get up on stage and jam."

At this point, Paul Shaffer and The World's Most Dangerous Band, the house band for Late Night with David Letterman and for the ceremony, kicked into the Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations," in an attempt to get Love to stop.

He wouldn't: "I wanna see Billy Joel, see if he can still tickle ivories. I know Mick Jagger won't be here tonight, he's gonna have to stay in England. But I'd like to see us in the Coliseum, and he at Wembley Stadium, because he's always been chickenshit to get on stage with The Beach Boys."

Since The Beatles were the headliners, they were the last act to be introduced, and Mick hadn't yet given his speech, to introduce them. But he was there, to give it. The Stones became eligible the next year, and were elected.

Springsteen was at the ceremony to introduce Dylan, and Joel was there to introduce The Drifters. The Beach Boys' introduction speech had been given by Elton John, who was certainly no slouch in the touring department, despite approaching the depth of substance abuse issues that he finally got free of in 1990. Love didn't mention Elton, or The Drifters, or The Supremes, and certainly not Diana Ross. The Supremes were introduced by 1986 charter inductee Little Richard. Love didn't mention him, either.

"Carl Wilson came up to me afterward," said Shaffer. "He handed me his award and said, 'Our career is over.'"

It wasn't. The Beach Boys still sold out arenas and stadiums. Carl Wilson died in 1998, and that led to a split between factions led by Mike and Brian, and a 50th Anniversary reunion tour in 2012, after which they split again.

In a 2013 interview with The Guardian, Love tried to explain himself. "I hadn't meditated that morning," he said. "It was so funny. Someone said to me, 'Hey, Mike, you're either meditating too much or not enough!'"

Funny? Funny how? Love didn't amuse me. He wasn't that kind of clown.

After Love finished his diatribe, Dylan was the next inductee, As always, there was an air of mystery about him. No one knew if he would say something controversial, or even if what he said would be understood. But he spoke clearly. For the most part, he avoided controversy. He thanked a few people, and added, "I'd also like to thank Mike Love, for not mentioning me!"

When people stopped laughing, Dylan said, referring to what's become known as his "Never Ending Tour," "I play a lot of dates every year, too. Peace, love and harmony is greatly important, indeed. But so is forgiveness, and we gotta have that too."

As usual, Dylan had a good point. But a lot of rock and roll fans still haven't forgive Mike Love for being an ass that night.

*

That night, January 20, 1988, was a Wednesday, Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between rounds of its Playoffs. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Seattle SuperSonics, 108-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Xavier McDaniel led all scorers on the night with 41 points.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Golden State Warriors, 103-101 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns, 131-115 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-98 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Utah Jazz, 120-117 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. Karl Malone scored 39 in defeat for the Jazz.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Indiana Pacers, 104-97 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. And the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 8-3.