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THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON FEBRUARY 28


Westminster Abbey, London, England.1066--The majestic Westminster Abbey opens in London.

1692--The Salem "Witch Hunt" begins in Massachusetts.

Brian Jones, founder and original member of The Rolling Stones, is among the long list of rock stars who died too young from a drug overdose.1942--Brian Jones, guitar player for The Rolling Stones, is born Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones in Cheltenham, England. Although it may not be widely known, Jones was the founder of The Rolling Stones, but stronger members, such as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, led the group in their own direction. Jones was asked to leave the group due to his heavy drug use. In the late sixties, Brian Jones was found dead in the swimming pool of his English estate.

1959--Cash Box magazine, a trade publication for the music and radio industry, begins using a red ‘bullet’ on its record charts to indicate those records that have the strongest upward movement each week. The phrase, “number one with a bullet” designates hits at the top of the list and still climbing higher.

1961--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime. That night they appear at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool, and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club -- a night show.

1963--The Beatles perform at the Granada Cinema, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Earlier in the day, in a bus carrying the entire tour group to Shrewsbury, John Lennon and Paul McCartney compose the song that will be their next single, From Me to You. Helen Shapiro, her cold somewhat abated, performs after having missed two nights in the line-up.

1964--UK release of Tony Sheridan / The Beatles single Why / Cry for a Shadow (Polydor).

The Beatles performing on BBC radio in 1964. Left to right: John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Note that Lennon is wearing his dark-rimmed glasses; he wore them quite often to the radio performances if there wasn't a live audience for the show.1964--The Beatles record their second "From Us to You" radio program at the BBC Piccadilly Studios in London. They record the songs You Can't Do That, Roll Over Beethoven, Till There Was You, I Wanna Be Your Man, Please Mr. Postman, All My Loving, This Boy, and Can't Buy Me Love. The show also opened and closed with a new 55-second adaptation of The Beatles' song From Me to You for the show's theme song. A BBC audience poll showed two distinct sets of listeners: those who loved The Beatles and their music, and those who thought their music was worthless and/or amateurish. Age seemed to be a significant factor in predicting which group a listener would belong to. [Note: the From Us to You intro is included on the 1994 Beatles double-CD Live at the BBC (Disc one, Track two). Also included are this day's recordings of Can't Buy Me Love and Till There Was You (Disc one, Tracks 32-34) and I Wanna Be Your Man, Roll Over Beethoven, and All My Loving (Disc two, Tracks 4-7)].

1965--Filming for the movie "Help!" continues in the Bahamas. This day's shooting takes place on Cabbage Beach, Paradise Island.

1966--The Cavern Club, in debt, closes. Fans protest in vain. The stage is sawed into small sections and sold.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by Julian Lennon. This is the drawing that young Julian showed to his father in 1967; this inspired one of the most psychedelic songs of the 60s.1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). The Beatles rehearse Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. They take so long getting the song worked out that formal recording doesn't begin until the following evening. John Lennon would later say that he didn't much care for The Beatles' version, but that he preferred the Elton John version of the song, on which Lennon played and sang. The song's title was born when John's son, Julian, (age 3) showed him a painting of a girl. Julian told John, "It's Lucy, in the sky, with diamonds." Because Lennon was using LSD heavily at this time, many people have discounted this explanation and assumed he was simply covering up his drug reference to quell criticism from the Establishment. Lennon never changed his account of the song title's origin.

1969--Ringo Starr privately settles a lawsuit brought against him by Bryman Estates, Ltd. Ringo was renting an apartment from Bryman and had sublet it to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. After John and Yoko were arrested at the apartment on October 18, 1968, for possession of cannabis resin and for obstructing the execution of a search warrant, Bryman sued Ringo. Ringo's lease had forbade him to sublet the apartment and contained prohibitions against using the apartment in an "illegal or immoral manner."

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their apartment in Greenwich Village, New York.1972--At their Greenwich Village apartment in New York, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are visited by a two-man camera crew from London Weekend Televsion, there to shoot film of the Lennons for an “Aquarius” documentary on the theme of “The Pursuit of Happiness in Modern-Day America.” For their 3 min. 13 sec. appearance, John is seen performing (on a steel guitar) a version of the song, Attica State, which breaks down 1 min. 14 sec. into the song, because in his words, “I’ve forgotten the last verse...I’ve forgotten the rest.” John spends the rest of the time explaining his and Yoko’s attempt to change the apathy of the youth in America. He optimistically announces: “Our job now is to tell them there is still hope and we still have things to do and we must get out now and change their heads and tell them it’s ok. We can change it! It isn’t over because flower power didn’t work. It’s only the beginning; we’re just in the inception of revolution.” With Yoko at his side, he goes on to say: “That’s why we are going out on the road. All our shows we do will be for free. All the money will go to prisoners or to poor people, so we’ll collect no money for the performance. We hope to start touring in America and then eventually, go around the world, and go possibly to China, too. For instance, we’d go to, say, Chicago and then, in the Chicago prison, half or quarter of the money earned will go towards releasing the first 500 people alphabetically who couldn’t get bail to get out of prison. So, wherever we go, the show will arrive and we will release people in each town. So possibly when the Stones are touring America for money, we’ll be touring for free!” Lennon concludes by cheekily looking into the camera to ask with a laugh, “What are you going to do about that, Mick?”

1972--Driving to London, George and Pattie Harrison are involved in an auto accident near Maidenhead, Berkshire. During an electrical blackout, their car hits a light pole. Both sustain minor head injuries. George receives some stitches and is released, but Pattie, suffering from a concussion, is kept in a nursing home overnight for observation.

Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon, Sean Lennon, and Cynthia Lennon seem to be enjoying an evening out together.1999--The Fox Family Network (US) broadcasts a program in its "Famous Families" series about "The Lennons." While focussing primarily on the life of John Lennon, the show also includes segments about his sons, Julian and Sean.

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