On March 21, 1952, Cleveland, Ohio hosted an event now
recognized as history’s first major rock-and-roll show…
the Moondog Coronation Ball.

Breathless promotion on the local radio station. Tickets
selling out in a single day. Thousands of teenagers,
hours before show time, lining up outside the biggest
venue in town.

The “Moondog” in question was the legendary disk jockey
Alan Freed, the self-styled “father of rock and roll” who
was then the host of the enormously popular “Moondog
Show” on Cleveland AM radio station WJW.

        
        
        
        
        
        
       
The King of Rock and Roll teamed up with TV’s reigning variety
program, as Elvis Presley (21) appeared on “The Ed Sullivan
Show” for the first time on September 9, 1956.        

With 60 million viewers—or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time—tuning in, the appearance garnered the show’s best
ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV
broadcast of the 1950s.

Although “The Ed Sullivan Show” was filmed in New York,
Presley performed remotely from CBS’s Los Angeles
studio because he was filming his first movie, Love Me
Tender, in California. 

  
Ed and Elvis 
       

SANDY KOZEL

Singer Bono (Paul David Hewson) is 64 years old today.

The Irish rock band U2 on stage.

ROSS SIMPSON

Johnny served four years in the Air Force.

Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950,
shortly after the start of the Korean War. After
basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and
technical training at Brooks Air Force Base,
both in San Antonio, Texas, he was assigned
to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S.
Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West       
Germany.

The Man in Black.

Born to poor cotton farmers in Kingsland, Arkansas,
country singer – songwriter Johnny Cash rose to
fame during the mid-1950s in the burgeoning
rockabilly scene in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cash is one of the best-selling music artists of all
time, having sold more than 90 million records
worldwide. His genre-spanning music embraced
country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and
gospel sounds.

His crossover appeal earned him the rare honor of
being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and
Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.

Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle. Hendrix grew up
playing guitar, imitating blues greats like Muddy Waters as well
as early rockers.

In 1964, he moved to New York and played in coffeehouses, where bassist Chas Chandler of the British group the Animals heard
him. Chandler arranged to manage Hendrix and brought him to
London in 1966, where they created the Jimi Hendrix Experience
with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

The band’s first single, “Hey Joe,” hit No. 6 on the British pop

In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience made its first U.S. appearance,
at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Hendrix in the Army in 1961