Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today April 18
1975
John Lennon's last performance: a farewell no one recognized
John Lennon taped his appearance for the TV special "A Salute to Lew Grade" in New York: it would be his final public performance. He sang "Imagine" and "Slippin' and Slidin'" backed by a band wearing two-faced masks, his joke about the industry. He then chose five years of domestic life; there was no comeback.
John Lennon
1946
Skip Spence is born, the broken angel of San Francisco psychedelia
Alexander "Skip" Spence was born in Canada, Jefferson Airplane's original drummer and Moby Grape's guitarist. After a psychotic break he recorded "Oar" in Nashville, a solitary, spectral album that became an object of absolute cult devotion. His story is the painful reverse of the California psychedelic dream.
Skip Spence
Moby Grape
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