On this day in music, March 30, 2020, 81-year-old soul troubadour Bill Withers died from heart complications. A coal miner’s son from West Virginia, Withers began singing and writing songs while in the US Navy and released his first album Just As I Am in 1971 at the age of 33. His debut single “Ain’t No Sunshine” went gold in the US but was surpassed by “Lean On Me,” an anthem of togetherness that became his only No.1 record. Withers also scored hits with “Use Me,” “Lovely Day,” and “Just The Two Of Us.”
In 1987, Prince released his broadly acclaimed ninth studio album, Sign o’ the Times, which marked his first LP without his band, The Revolution. The double album, which was originally scheduled as a triple LP set called Crystal Ball, spawned three hit singles: the title song, “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” and “U Got The Look.”
In 1963, 16-year-old Lesley Gore wrote herself into pop’s history books when she hit No.1 with her debut single, “It’s My Party.” The track was produced by Quincy Jones, who decided to record Gore after being impressed by a demo sent to him by her vocal coach.
In 1996, The Prodigy secured their first and only No.1 hit in the UK with “Firestarter,” which spent three weeks in the top spot. Taken from their third album The Fat Of The Land, the rave anthem sampled snippets from records by The Breeders, Art Of Noise, and Ten City and also marked Keith Flint’s debut as the band’s frontman.
In 1974, John Denver (real name Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.) topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with “Sunshine On My Shoulders.” It was the New Mexico-born singer’s first of four US No.1s.
In 2013, celebrated recording engineer, music producer, and multiple Grammy winner Phil Ramone died at the age of 79. Born Phil Rabinowitz in South Africa, Ramone was raised in Brooklyn and studied violin at the Juilliard School before moving into the world of recording. Those he worked with included Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Elton John.
In 1957, Buddy Knox topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Party Doll,” a song whose lyrics he had composed behind a haystack on his family’s farm in Texas. Knox had the distinction of being the first artist of the rock‘n’roll era to score a No.1 with a self-written song.
BORN ON MARCH 30
1913: Frankie Laine
1945: Eric Clapton
1950: Dave Ball (Procol Harum)
1955: Randy VanWarmer (Singer-songwriter and guitarist)
1962: MC Hammer
1964: Tracy Chapman
1968: Celine Dion
1979: Norah Jones
1990: Thomas Rhett
March is Food Share Month and the Meeker Area Food Shelf welcomes any donations of non-perishable food, personal care items and cash. The Litchfield Lions Club had a food collection on Saturday at Family Fare and at Walmart and delivered the items to the Food Shelf in downtown Litchfield.
Food Shelf Coordinator Jamie Revermann says they had volunteers who unloaded the items from the Lions Club and spent time getting the shelves stocked at 118 North Sibley Avenue in Litchfield. She says they keep track of the pounds of the items that they collect and the cash that is donated from March 1st through April 6th as Minnesota Food Share gives them an extra grant based on those amounts.
Revermann says the cash donations she receives are greatly appreciated because for every $1, she can purchase about $4 worth of food at the Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank. She says food donations such as cooking supplies, soups and canned goods and personal care items like shampoo and detergent are appreciated as the need is greater than ever, and she is so grateful for the way that the community supports the Food Shelf.
Revermann says the Food Shelf in downtown Litchfield is open Mondays from 11-to-6, and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10-to-3 and the Food Shelf in downtown Dassel is open Tuesdays from 10-to-3 and Thursdays from 3-to-6. She says they also have a mobile unit that can deliver food to people who are homebound and they have bags that they send home with students.
Dean Urdahl has two more movies coming out this year that will continue the “Uprising” series of films that he has produced in recent years. The next two films deal with the events leading up to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Urdahl says the film “Tangled Web” will have its world premiere April 28th, 29th and 30th at 7 p.m. each evening at the Hollywood Theater in downtown Litchfield. He says this film will wrap up the Indian Wars that began in Minnesota in 1862 and will start to look into the plots to assassinate Lincoln.
Urdahl says the second film “Lincoln and Booth” will explore the various plots – one of which was to kidnap the President, but evolved into Booth shooting Lincoln. He says that film is expected to be released in late August or early September.
Urdahl says the director of the films, Christopher Forbes of Augusta, Georgia, had a couple of setbacks recently in which the film distributor, ITN which would help finance the films, dropped them, and then his wife and daughter were involved in an automobile accident which required Chris to care for them rather than spending time editing the films, so they have started a Go Fund Me page to help finish the film editing process.
Urdahl says if anyone is willing to help, they can email him at urdahls@hotmail.com and then he will send the Go Fund Me link. He says he doesn’t make any money on these low-budget films; they are just meant to entertain and educate people and they’ve been produced using local actors and local landmarks such as the G.A.R. Hall, Litchfield Opera House, Rosemary Home, the former residence of State Senator Steve Dille, and the Forest City Stockade.
The second of Willmar’s two wind turbines was taken down by demoltion workers on Friday afternoon. On Thursday morning, crews from Veit Construction wired both towers with explosives and ignited them. The south tower came down, but the north tower remained standing.
Kevin Marti said some of the explosives did not go off because of faulty blasting caps, so the contractor reportedly made an overnight trip to Missouri and got some more. At 2:18 p.m. Friday the north tower came down about 8 seconds after a successful blast.
Willmar Municipal Utilities General Manager Jeron Smith says the bid from Veit to take down the towers was less than half of what they had budgeted. The steel from the towers and the fiberglass blades will be recycled along with whatever they can salvage from the wind turbine machinery. Later, the concrete pads will be broken up and removed, and the land will be returned to the Willmar School District.
The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop for suspicion of an impaired driver on Friday afternoon at 5:07 on Indian Beach Road by Green Lake. As deputies were in the middle of the stop, the 65-year-old female driver from Sunburg took off at a high rate of speed and struck a bridge railing at 134th Avenue Northeast. Spicer Fire, Kandiyohi County Rescue and New London Ambulance personnel were able to remove the woman from the vehicle as she was trapped. She was transported by New London Ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries and alcohol was a factor in the crash. The walking portion of the bridge was closed.
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.