October 13, 2016, Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He gets it for creating “New poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Now, some previous winners of this award, John Steinbeck and William Faulkner, and Bob is the first American to win it since 1993.
Today in 1986, Neil Young headlines the first Bridge School benefit. Now, this is a school that Neil and his then-wife Pegi founded It’s for education of children with verbal and physical disabilities, and they founded it because their son, Ben, deals with cerebral palsy. There were a lot of performers that first year, including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Tom Petty, a reunited, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. And then as we look ahead, it becomes an annual tradition, and out of all the major artists who do play it, one band that shows up a number of times is Pearl Jam.
Today in 1978, Queen released their single Fat Bottom Girls backed with Bicycle Race, and the cover artwork for it features imagery from both songs.
Then we take a look at the calendar. We find a couple Rock birthdays on it. Born today in 1947, a member of Montrose, a member of Van Halen, and a solo artist, Sammy Hagar, and then born today in 1941, Paul Simon.
