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 Litchfield School Board has approved of a list of budget reduction items that were put together by the administration. The cuts for next year’s budget total $368,005.
On February 9th, the Board approved of a motion assigning the administrative team the task of finding $350,000 or more worth of cuts for the 2026-27 budget. The list includes one full-time equivalent literacy lead, one full-time equivalent focus teacher (student success coordinator), a point-4 Spanish teacher position, three full-time equivalent para professionals (2 Title-1 and 1 special ed.), one full-time equivalent clerical position, special projects support for district reduced days, a varsity assistant wrestling coach, and a middle school track coach. Marcia Provencher voted against the measure as she did not want cuts to be made to the paraprofessional positions.
The Board heard a report last night from Peter Leatherman of Morris & Leatherman regarding a telephone survey that was conducted with 400 random school district residents from late January to early February to help gauge the feasibility of going to voters in November with either an operating levy and/or a building referendum. Leatherman went over the results and determined that residents have positive feelings about the school district, but there is a solid 25% who would not support any property tax increases.
The Board also heard a report from Jennifer Ridgeway regarding the Crisis Management Policy and Comprehensive School Safety Guide which had a first reading approved as part of the consent agenda. Litchfield School Board member Greg Mathews also reported on a meeting that he and fellow board member Darrin Anderson had with a group of community members who are concerned about bullying and he proposed having a community forum to allow people to air their feeling on the topic, but the idea failed on a 3-to-3 tie vote with Stephanie Danielson joining Mathews and Anderson on the idea. The other members wanted to check first with the Minnesota School Board Association on some of the legal issues involved with holding a public forum and taking a different approach to addressing the issue.
The Litchfield Downtown Council, Litchfield Golf and Community Partners and Prospects presents “An Evening in Front of the Radio” – a dinner reader’s theater production about the golden age of radio. It’s coming up this Saturday, March 14th, at Prospects in Litchfield.
Betty Allen says doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with a 2-meat buffet at 6 p.m. and the show at 7. She says tickets are $35 and there were 70 seats available, so get your tickets soon. Carl Minton from the Litchfield Golf and Community Partners Board says they are providing the materials for a stage at Prospects along with the labor. He says this is a new venture at the golf club.
Darlene Kotelnicki says tickets are available at the Fieldgate Cheese Store, DeAnn’s Country Village Shoppe, Farm Bureau or by calling her at 320-535-0034; and it’s cash or check only. She says the cast includes Art Elson, Erika & Michael Buller, Paul White, Beckie Simenson, Karter Cunningham, Jeff Woods, Scott Nelson, Betty Allen and herself and they’ll be portraying news and other events that people would have heard on the radio back in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Kotelnicki says there will be items like the crash of the Hindenburg, Charles Lindberg landing in Paris, the Kentucky Derby, a Joe Lewis fight, Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” skit, Norma Berke doing the 10 a.m. news from her home in Litchfield, Betty Crocker, George Burns & Gracie Allen and more. She says they will also have sound effects and signs for the audience to follow such as “on air,” “laugh” and “applause.”
Kotelnicki says they are raising funds to help with this summer’s musical line-up in Central Park. She says it’s a family-friendly show and if it goes well, they’ll try it again.
In 1997, 24-year-old rapper Notorious B.I.G. was shot and fatally wounded as he was traveling back to his hotel after leaving a Los Angeles awards party. Born Christopher Wallace, the artist – also known as Biggie Smalls – was a gangster rap icon and regarded by many as one of hip-hop’s finest MCs. He topped the Billboard Hot 100 twice in 1997 with the singles “Hypnotise” and “Mo Money Mo Problems” and was commemorated by his wife, R&B singer Faith Evans, with the transatlantic chart-topper “I’ll Be Missing You,” based on a sample of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.”
In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree, their first album to top the US charts. In addition to becoming the fastest-selling album in the UK, where it spent 201 weeks on the Official Charts, it also had the distinction of being the first album to sell a million copies in the recently introduced CD format.
In 1968, Bob Dylan’s eighth album John Wesley Harding began a ten-week chart-topping run in the UK. The album included Dylan’s original version of “All Along The Watchtower,” a hit later that year for Jimi Hendrix. While the LP stalled at No. 2 in the US, stuck behind The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, it went gold after three months.
In 1985, the Liverpool group Dead Or Alive reached No.1 after 17 weeks on the UK chart with “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record).” The track also marked the debut chart-topper for the London-based production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman, who went on to rack up over 100 Top 40 UK hits.
In 1991, The Clash scored their only UK No.1 with “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” reissued after it was used in a Levi’s jeans commercial. The track first appeared on the London punk band’s 1982 album, Combat Rock, and originally made No.17 in the UK singles chart.
In 1966, The Beach Boys began recording “God Only Knows,” which opened side two of their acclaimed Pet Sounds album and reached No. 2 in the UK singles chart. In the US, the song was relegated to the B-side of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” due to record company fears that the word “God” in its title might prove controversial.
In 1996, British boy band Take That racked up their eighth UK No.1 with a cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love.” It was the Mancunian quartet’s final single before they split up.
BORN ON MARCH 9
1930: Ornette Coleman
1942: John Cale (Velvet Underground)
1945: Robin Trower (Procol Harum)
1958: Martin Fry (ABC)
1968: Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five)
1980: Chingy
1985: Wretch 32
1993: Suga (BTS)