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Guns
A little-known and deeply troubled Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, shoots himself in the chest with a revolver in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, Europe. He will die, aged 37, two days later. Don McLean's 1970 song Vincent refers to several Van Gogh paintings, including The Starry Night, but the song, with lines such as "You took your life as lovers often do," is more generally inspired by Van Gogh's life, his tragic existence and his suicide.
Gertrude Lawrence is recorded in His Majesty's Theatre, London, UK, singing the George Gershwin song Someone To Watch Over Me.
Green Bailey records The Santa Barbara Earthquake and The Fate Of Ellen Smith for Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, USA.
At a meeting of The Association For Education By Radio in Columbia, Missouri, USA, Charles A. Seipmann of the OWI (Office of War Information) declares that "Propaganda can win the war and must. Armed victory alone can't. Music is our strong morale builder." Seipmann uses his speech to argue for the use of popular music to inspire the war effort, and specifically mentions the Frank Loesser song Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition.
The first edition of a new magazine, The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, shows the Doomsday Clock set at seven minutes to midnight. The Doomsday Clock is not a real clock, but it is a symbolic representation of how close the world has come to a man-made global catastrophe. It will inspire such songs as 2 Minutes To Midnight by Iron Maiden (1984) and Doomsday Clock by Smashing Pumpkins
Charles Brown records The Message, All My Life and Moonrise, for Aladdin Records at Radio Recorders Studio, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Country music singer and songwriter Jimmie Osborne is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his trailer home near Louisville, Kentucky, USA.Judy Garland, bloated by acute hepatitis caused by drug abuse, enters The Doctors' Hospital, New York City, USA.
Jackie Wilson, recovering from a shooting incident on 15 February, is discharged from hospital. The bullet, judged inoperable, remains in his abdomen.
Jazz trumpet star Dizzy Gillespie is held up at gunpoint in his hotel room in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and robbed of $2,700.
Pianist Johnny Griffith records Like You and Little Bit Of Some 'Um for Motown Records at Hitsville USA Studio, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Griffith is a Motown in-house keyboardist who played on tracks including I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye, Ain't Too Proud to Beg by The Temptations, Stop! In the Name of Love by The Supremes, and Shotgun by Junior Walker And The All Stars.Ringo by Lorne Greene reaches No1 in the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA, making him only the second Canadian to top the Billboard Singles Chart in the USA. Paul Anka was the first.
Ken Curtis (aka Festus from the tv series Gunsmoke) records Streets Of Dodge City and In My Home Town, for Capitol Records in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Bill Carlisle records I Love That Little Woman Of Mine, I'm A Runnin' and Wouldn't That Cock Your Pistol for Hickory Records in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Elvis Presley hires The Memphian cinema in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, to hold a private screening of Death Of A Gunfighter and two other films.
In a black limousine, Jimi Hendrix's manager Mike Jeffery visits him at Traver Hollow Road, Shokan, New York State, USA, to convince him to play a gig at the gangster-controlled Salvation Club in New York City, USA.
In the afternoon, The Sex Pistols sign a management contract with Glitterbest Ltd, owned by music biz entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren. That night, they earn £438 for playing at the first of two days of the Punk Festival at The 100 Club, London, UK, along with The Clash, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Subway Sect. The album The Clones Of Dr Funkenstein by Parliament is certified as a gold disc in the USA by the RIAA.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer (E.L.P.) play at the WNEW-FM benefit show in Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA.Valeriun (aka Gary Webb), lead singer of Tubeway Army, finds a new name for himself in the Yellow Pages - Gary Numan.
On their Against The Wind Tour, Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band play the second of two nights at Poplar Creek Music Theater, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA.
Violence breaks out at a Uriah Heep concert in Athens, Greece, Europe. Shots are fired by ticketless fans, resulting in three police officers being injured and sixteen people arrested.
As a Christmas present, Marvin Gaye gives his father an unlicensed Smith + Wesson .38 Special pistol with which to protect himself from intruders. A few months later, Gaye Sr. will use it to shoot his son dead.
Carlton Barrett (Carlie Barrett), drummer for Bob Marley And The Wailers is shot dead by his wife and her lover outside his home in Kingston, Jamaica, Caribbean.
Following a fight in a bar, Wilson Pickett is found guilty by a court in New Jersey, USA, of possessing a shotgun with intent to endanger life.
James Brown pleads guilty in Aiken Circuit Court in South Carolina, USA, to charges of gun possession and resisting arrest. Brown was arrested in May after leading police on a car chase.
Richard Colson Baker is born in Houston, Texas, USA. He will find success as hip hip performer/rapper Machine Gun Kelly (MGK).
The trial of Judas Priest begins at Washoe County Courthouse, Reno, Nevada, USA. The charges against the band claim that subliminal messages hidden in their album Stained Class contributed to the deaths of two young men. Ray Belknap, killed himself with a shotgun on 23 December 1985, and his friend Jay Vance was badly disfigured in the same incident.An obsessive fan of The Beatles, Mark Chapman, checks in at the Y.M.C.A. in New York City, USA. He is in the city with the intention of confronting and possibly murdering John Lennon.
Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot four times in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, while leaving the MGM Grand hotel, after seeing the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match, in what is apparently a drive-by shooting.In the Superior Court, Long Beach, California, USA, Rapper Tray Deee, founder of Tha Eastsidaz with rappers Snoop Dogg and Goldie Loc, is sentenced to twelve years in prison after pleading no contest to charges arising from a 2003 shooting incident during which he fired at an occupied vehicle.
Country music singer and songwriter Billy Joe Shaver turns himself in to police at McLennan County Jail, Waco, Texas, USA. Warrants for Shaver's arrest had been issued the previous day by police in Lorena, Texas, USA, because he had recently shot Billy Bryant Coker, in the face with a handgun, following a confrontation in Papa Joe's Texas Saloon, Lorena. He is released after an hour on a $50,000 bond and gives his scheduled performance at Waterloo Records in Austin that evening.It is reported that Insane Clown Posse fan John Antonelli is seeking at least $50,000 in damages in a lawsuit filed in the Cass County District Court, North Dakota, because of an injury sustained at their June 2007 concert in North Dakota.
Evan Chandler, father of Jordan Chandler, and instigator of charges against Michael Jackson of child sex abuse, is found dead in bed at home, having shot himself in the head.
The Sonisphere '10 festival is held at Terra Vibe Park, Athens, Greece, Europe. Artists appearing include, Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, Bullet For My Valentine and Stone Sour.Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band play at the BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, Florida, USA.
B.B. Cunningham, best remembered for his 1967 garage-rock hit Let It All Hang Out with The Hombres, is shot dead while working as a security guard in the Cherry Crest Apartment block in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. 
Police find a veritable arsenal of weapons, including an AK-47, a TEC-9 automatic handgun, a sawed-off shotgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, tactical vests and a laser scope inside the gated mansion owned by Randall Cutler, former lawyer for 50 Cent and Eminem, in Bronxville, New York, USA. Randall is arrested.In Florida, USA, District Judge James Moody throws out a gun possession conviction against reggae star Buju Banton on a technicality involving a juror who had done independent research into the case during the trial.
A jury is chosen in the Manhattan Federal Court case to decide if the rapper Lil’ Kim lied to a federal grand jury investigating a 2001 shoot-out outside a Manhattan radio station.
Songwriter Eric Bogle, professes himself to be unhappy with a recent version by Joss Stone and Jeff Beck of his song No Man's Land (Green Fields Of France), which has been chosen as this year’s official Poppy Appeal single.
The Mission headline the first day of the three-day long Bearded Theory Festival at Catton Hall, Walton Upon Trent, Derbyshire, UK. Also appearing are Alabama 3, Gun, Hugh Cornwell and others.
Guns N' Roses are officially announced as headliner of the next Coachella Festival, with KROQ reporting that Slash and Duff McKagan are both rejoining the band.
Whitehorse release a new LP, Panther In The Dollhouse, on Six Shooter Records.
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