On this day in music, April 1, 1984, soul star Marvin Gaye died after being fatally shot by his father during a heated altercation over mislaid insurance documents. The shooting, which occurred one day before Gaye’s 45th birthday, came at a time when the Washington D.C.-born singer and songwriter was enjoying a career resurgence, sparked by the success of his 1982 single, “Sexual Healing,” and its parent album, Midnight Love. Gaye rose to fame at Detroit’s Motown Records where he racked up 13 No.1 singles on the Billboard R&B chart between 1962 and 1981, though it was as an album artist that he made his biggest impact, releasing the acclaimed concept LP, What’s Going On in 1971.
In 1966, David Bowie (born David Jones) released his maiden solo single, “Do Anything You Say,” on the Pye label. Produced by Tony Hatch, it was the London artist’s first recording under his new stage name.
In 2020, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Adam Schlesinger died at the age of 52 from COVID-19. Schlesinger was best known as the co-founder of the power-pop band Fountains Of Wayne, with whom he released five albums. The Emmy and Grammy-winning artist, who penned the hit theme from 1996’s That Thing You Do!, was also an accomplished songwriter for film, theater, and TV.
In 1989, The Bangles scored their only British chart-topping single with “Eternal Flame,” taken from the all-girl group’s third album, Everything. The record was the Los Angeles quartet’s second US No. 1, following 1986’s “Walk Like An Egyptian.”
In 1976, pioneering British punk band the Buzzcocks played their first show at Bolton’s Institute of Technology, though the concert didn’t last long. After three numbers, the gig was brought to a premature close by a power outage.
In 2000, Santana scored their first No.1 album in the UK with Supernatural. The long-running Latin music group’s 18th studio album, which featured a variety of guest stars, eventually sold over 30 million copies worldwide and earned eight Grammy awards.
In 1985, Van Halen’s charismatic frontman David Lee Roth quit the band after six albums. Ex-Montrose singer Sammy Hagar replaced him.
BORN ON APRIL 1
1939: Rudolph Isley (The Isley Brothers)
1946: Ronnie Lane (Small Faces)
1952: Billy Currie (Ultravox)
1954: Jeff Porcaro (Toto)
1961: Susan Boyle
1965: Peter O’Toole (Hothouse Flowers)
1986: Hillary Scott (Lady A)
Pastor Aaron VanDuinen will once again be doing a monologue during the Sunday morning Easter worship service at First Baptist Church on North 5th Street in Grove City. He welcomes anyone who is looking for a place to worship on Easter Sunday to visit the church.
Pastor Aaron says he’s done these monologues each year over the past 5 years portraying the Roman Centurion, the Apostle Peter and other characters from the Easter story, but will be giving the perspective this year from an inanimate object – the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb. He says it’s interesting to contemplate what would be going through the minds of the people who were around Jesus during his earthly ministry.
Pastor Aaron says he’s memorized his monologue. He says he has also memorized a lot of scripture during his lifetime and says it’s a good way to store things in your heart. He says First Baptist Church in Grove City will have a Good Friday service at 7 p.m. on April 3rd, Easter breakfast on April 5th at 8:45 a.m. and then the worship service at 10 a.m. and everyone’s welcome.
The Litchfield Rotary Club has its Spring Fling on Monday at the Litchfield Eagles Club. The social time begins at 5:30 and dinner will be served at 6 p.m.
Tom Zens says tickets are $50 which includes the meal and drinks, and qualifies you for a cash prize drawing, and you need not be present to win. He says this is one of the Rotary Club’s big fundraisers each year.
Zens says the Rotary Club has partnered with the City of Litchfield over the years on some big projects such as the park on Butler Street and the Splash Pad and they have on-going projects such as Beds-for-Kids, and Scholarships for high school seniors, and they donate to other organizations such as the Food Shelf and MAM – just to name a few. He says the Litchfield Rotary Club meets for breakfast each Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. at the Fire/Rescue Hall and new members are welcome to join.
Zens says the Spring Fling on Monday evening at the Litchfield Eagles Club will also include a live auction and there will be raffle baskets. He says he has tickets available at Center Bank, and you can get tickets at the door that evening, but they prefer that people get tickets in advance so that they will have enough food prepared.
The Pioneerland Libraries in Meeker County have all kinds of activities planned during the month of April. Each library – Litchfield, Dassel, Grove City and Cosmos – has seed libraries available. For more information about what’s going on, call 693-2483.
Litchfield
Wednesdays 10:15-10:45 am: Baby/Toddler Story Time
Fridays 10:15-11:15 am: Kids’ Story Time
Drop-in button making for kids and teens 3/30 through 4/3
Sat 4/11, 1:30-3:30 pm: Teen Program: Erasure Poetry. Ages 11-18
Mon 4/13, 4 pm: Friends of the Litchfield Library meeting
Tues 4/14, 12 pm: Adult Book Club: Before We Were Yours
Tues 4/14, 6:30-7:30 pm: LEGO Night. Ages 14 and under.
Wed 4/15, 7 pm: Mystery Book Club
Thurs 4/16, 12:30-1:30 pm: Knitting Club. All ages
Mon 4/20, 6-7 pm: Parenting Book Discussion: The Anxious Generation. Books available to borrow from the library without a library card.
4/20 through 5/9: Voting open for Litchfield Library Foundation’s bookmark contest
Tues 4/21, 6:30-7:30 pm: Board Game Night. All ages.
Thurs 4/23, 6:30 pm: Adult Arts & Crafts: Decoupage birdhouse. Sign up required, beginning 4/1.
Thurs 4/30, 6:30 pm: Adult Arts & Crafts: Decoupage birdhouse. Sign up required, beginning 4/1.
Dassel
Poems for a Pickle all month for National Poetry Month
Fridays 10 am: Story Hour
Thurs 4/9, 4-5:30 pm: Crafternoon bring-your-own craft program for adults and older teens
Sat 4/11, 2 pm: Singer-songwriter Charlie Maguire at the Dassel History Center: Songs of America’s Hometowns. RSVP to History Center. All ages.
Tues 4/28, 1 pm: Adult Book Club: Everything I Never Told You
Grove City
Thursdays 3-5 pm: Crafternoon bring-your-own craft program for adults
Tues 4/14, 2 pm: Storytime
Wed 4/15, 4-5 pm: Board Games. All ages.
Thurs 4/16, 3 pm: Mushroom Mosaic Class. Sign up required. All ages.
Thurs 4/16, 4-5 pm: Knitting Club. All ages.
Tues 4/21, 7 pm: ATGC Book Club at Grove City: Horse
Cosmos
Thursdays 4-5:30 pm: Pokémon Trading Card Game. Ages 7-18.
Sat 4/25, 10:30 am-12:30 pm: Craft Circle bring-your-own craft program for adults and older teens.
Each day a business will be featured as “Business of the Day” and every time their commercial is aired be the 7th caller and win a chance to receive KLFD Bucks to be spent at our “Business of the Day” locations.
Monday thru Friday, at 4 pm we will draw out a winner to be put into our final drawing to be held sometime later in April. Once your name has been drawn out daily and put into the final drawing, you are no longer qualified to call in. Otherwise, you can keep calling in once a day to qualify.
Our sponsors include: Miller Automotive, Litchfield Liquors, DC Diesel Tek, El Chilero, Parts City Auto Parts, Scott’s Auto, Litchfield Chrysler, Litchfield Licensing, Davis Motors, Mid Country Bank, Queen Bee’s Bar & Grill, A.M. Maus & Son, Litchfield Eagles Club, SJP Designs, Central Counties Cooperative, Edina Realty, Quality Autowerx