In 1977, The Sex Pistols signed with A&M Records, following their controversial departure from EMI over their bad behavior. While the punk pioneers privately inked the contract one day earlier, the label held a press conference outside Buckingham Palace where they took part in a public signing ceremony. Afterward, the band celebrated with a boozy party at the label’s offices where all kinds of mayhem ensued, including bassist Johnny Rotten verbally abusing staff and Sid Vicious smashing a toilet bowl and cutting his foot open. Two days later, the band got in a fight in a club that saw Rotten threatening the life of a record executive, and on March 16th, A&M terminated their contract with the band, paying them a £75,000 settlement fee.
In 2009, tickets for a Las Vegas concert by Sir Paul McCartney sold out in seven seconds. The ex-Beatle was playing a one-off show, marking the April 19 launch of the 4,000-capacity New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Tickets were priced at $750 and sold at a rate of almost 600 a second.
In 1958, Simon & Garfunkel, who were both fifteen years old and still in high school, released “Our Song,” the second of two singles via Big Records under the name Tom and Jerry. Alluding to his interest in math, Garfunkel called himself Tom Graph while Simon adopted the surname of a former girlfriend, calling himself Jerry Landis.
In 1979, disco queen Gloria Gaynor topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Will Survive.” A female empowerment anthem welded to a disco beat, the tune began life as the B-side to a single called “Substitute” before a DJ flipped the record over and exposed it to a wider audience. It also went to No.1 in the UK and won a Grammy in 1980 for Best Disco Recording.
In 1960, the trade paper Record Retailer published the UK’s first-ever EP and LP charts. Topping the EP charts was Cliff Richard & The Shadows’ “Expresso Bongo” while The Explosive Freddy Cannon was the top-selling LP.
In 2017, Sister Sledge’s Joni Sledge, the second eldest of the Philadelphia group, died at the age of 60. The sisters began recording in 1971 but didn’t make a breakthrough until 1979 when they hooked up with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards who masterminded their blockbuster album, We Are Family.
BORN ON MARCH 10
1940: Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean)
1947: Tom Scholz (Boston)
1955: Bunny DeBarge (DeBarge)
1963: Rick Rubin (Producer)
1964: Neneh Cherry
1966: Edie Brickell
1971: Timbaland
1983: Carrie Underwood
1987: Emeli Sandé
The Meeker County Extension Master Gardeners and Horticulture Society Gardener’s Gala is on Thursday, March 27th from 5-to-8:30 p.m. at the Church of St. Philip in Litchfield. If you register by March 14th, the cost is $10, otherwise it’s $20 at the door.
Master Gardener Connie Johnson says there will be two speakers during the event – Laura Irish-Hanson, who will speak about climate-ready gardening; and LeAnne Lund, who will have tips for cut flower growing. She says Lund sells cut flowers from her farm, south of Grove City, all over the nation; and Irish-Hanson is a University of Minnesota Extension Horticulturist who has an office at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and will have tips for growing flexibility to adapt to our changing climate.
Johnson says there will also be a quilt silent auction during this year’s Gardener’s Gala. She says if you have ideas for future topics, let them know. For more information, call the Extension office at 693-5275.
Minnesota’s 1,776 townships will hold their annual meetings on Tuesday, March 11th. Known as Township Day, these annual meetings are held every year on the second Tuesday in March and sets townships apart from other forms of local government.
At this meeting, residents of the townships will meet to voice their opinions about local issues with other township residents and also vote directly on their annual tax levy. Citizens attending annual meetings also often discuss and vote on other local issues.
Many of the state’s townships will hold their township officer elections on Tuesday’s Township Day. You can find the location and time by checking the published notice in the local newspaper, township website, or by contacting your township clerk.
The Meeker County Treasurer’s Office has released the vital statistics for 2024. Records are kept regarding births, deaths, marriage licenses and divorces.
The number of births to Meeker County mothers occurring in Meeker County was 98 in 2024 – up from 75 in 2023. Births to Meeker County mothers occurring out of Meeker County in 2024 was 100 – compared to 135 in 2023. Births to non-resident mothers occurring in Meeker County in 2024 was 19 – up from 8 in 2023.
Deaths of Meeker County residents occurring in Meeker County in 2024 was 156 – down from 182 in 2023. Deaths of Meeker County residents occurring out of Meeker County in 2024 was 73 – down from 76 in 2023. Deaths of non-residents occurring in Meeker County in 2024 was 22 – down from 25 in 2023.
Marriage license applications in Meeker County in 2024 totaled 138 – up from 123 in 2023. Divorces were down in 2024 in Meeker County – with 40 of them granted – compared to 52 in 2023.
Historical Events
1865 – Battle of Kingston, North Carolina (Wilcox’s ridge, Wise’s Forks)
1904 – Australian cricket spin bowler Hugh Trumble dismisses England batsmen Bernard Bosanquet, Plum Warner and Dick Lilley for his second Test hat-trick in 5th Test victory in Melbourne; Trumble’s final Test
1936 – The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
1942 – Japanese forces capture Rangoon, Burma
1953 – Census indicates 239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years in US
1987 – Nelli Cooman becomes world champion 60m indoor
Famous Birthdays
1783 – Gottfied Wilhelm Fink, German Protestant clergyman, composer, music theorist, and poet, born in Sulza, Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1846)
1945 – Bruce Broughton, American Emmy Award-winning television and film score composer (Hawaii Five-0; Dallas), born in Los Angeles, California
1954 – Karl Schnabl, 90m ski jumper (Olympic gold 1976)
1974 – Toran James, linebacker (San Diego Chargers)
1979 – Tom Chaplin, British rock singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (Keane), born in Hastings, East Sussex, England
1991 – Devon Werkheiser, American actor
Famous Deaths
1757 – Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar, dies at 55
1901 – Peter Benoit, Flemish composer (De Leie; Rubens Cantata: Requiem), and conductor, dies at 66
1973 – Gordon Leggat, New Zealand cricket batsman (9 Tests, 2 x 50; Canterbury), dies at 46
2008 – Carol Barnes, British television news journalist (ITN; ITV), dies a few days after suffering a stroke at 63
2020 – Max Von Sydow, Swedish actor (Hawaii, Exorcist, Dune, Game of Thrones), dies at 90
2021 – Julien-François Zbinden, Swiss jazz pianist, and jazz and classical composer (Monophrases), dies at 103