I'll bet most of you went through your day not knowing just how historic and special it was. Well, today marks a special anniversary.

Is it the 21st anniversary of a solar flare that created a geomagnetic storm affecting microchips and leading to a halt of all trading on the Toronto stock market? Well, yeah. But in the rock and roll world, today also marks 48 years since Pete Best was let go as the drummer for the Beatles, and that was a pretty big move.

As well, on August 16, 1977, Elvis died.



This week on the show we're going to remember Elvis by focusing our attention on a man who would take a pretty serious run at the then free-for-the-taking title of "king of rock and roll". And at the time of Presley's death, Bruce Springsteen was two years removed from the release of his breakout album, and less than a decade away from international super stardom.

So join me this Thursday night at 7pm for a look at Springsteen and his Heartland Rocking friends, including Tom Petty, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp, Southside Johnny, and Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers.

PS. In the last two weeks, we covered important music of the late sixties and the early seventies, respectively. Without wanting to write too much, here is a very brief recap:

Music of the late sixties in a nutshell: Vanilla Fudge. If you are not sure how passionate you should be about the things you do in life, use bassist Tim Bogert as your guide. If you can do anything with even half as much fervor, you've won.

Music of the early seventies in a nutshell: The Mahavishnu Orchestra. If you watch all nine minutes, I think you're supposed to become enlightened, or something.

See you this Thursday in the Heartland,

Ian