Died On This Date (January 3, 2009) Greg Pineda / Producer; Sang With Aluminum Marshmallow

Greg Pineda
April 20, 1954 – January 3, 2009

greg-pinedaGreg Pineda, was the lead singer and guitarist for Southern California band,  Aluminum Marshmallow.   Originally formed by Pineda and Tom Behrens back while still in elementary school in 1967, the group had reunited several years ago.  Since then, they have become local favorites in Sierra Madre, California.   Pineda also owned and operated a recording studio, All Media Services, in Westlake Village, California.  It was there that he produced a series of music videotapes called The Hollywood Music Store with the help of Chuck Negron, as well as members of Ambrosia, REO Speedwagon, Chicago and more.  Greg Pineda was 54 when he passed away on January 3, 2009.  He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just a few months earlier.

Thanks to Sierra Madre Sue for the help


Died On This Date (November 13, 2009) Maurice Jones / Artist Manager & Promoter Of Live Aid

Maurice Jones
DOB Unknown – November 13, 2009

Maurice Jones began his career as an artist manager, overseeing the career of English rock band, Slade.  He eventually started his own promotion company, helping popularize such bands as Def Leppard, the Eurythmics, AC/DC, and Simple Minds.  In 1984, Jones joined forces with Bob Geldolf and Midge Ure to promote Live Aid, the massive fund raising concerts that were held in Philadelphia and London and seen by an estimated 400 million people world wide.  The concerts featured the biggest acts in popular music at the time.   After the success of Live Aid, Jones went on to create the Monsters Of Rock festival that ran for many years outside of England’s Castle Donnington and other locations from time to time.  The festivals featured the biggest names in hard rock music.  Maurice Jones was 64 when he died of cancer on November 13, 2009.



Died On This Date (October 25, 1991) Bill Graham / Legendary Concert Promoter

Bill Graham (Born Wolodia Grajonca)
January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991

Bill Graham was a world famous concert promoter who played a key part in the growth of ’60s American rock ‘n roll.  As a Jewish child born in Berlin, Graham barely escaped the Nazis by being placed in an orphanage by his mother.  Fortunately, that orphanage relocated him to France before the Halocaust.  Graham moved to New York City where he received his schooling after which he served in the Korean War and eventually ended up in San Francisco.  In 1965, he landed his first show businees job, managing the San Francisco Mime Troupe which lead to him booking and promoting shows at the Fillmore Auditorium.  Graham had a knack for finding acts that appealed to the city’s growing counter-culture scene and in doing so helped the scene itself grow.  Some of the acts he featured in those early years were Janis Joplin, Country Joe & the Fish, the Fugs, Jefferson Airplane and of course, the Grateful Dead.   By the late ’60s, Graham was the most popular rock concert promoter in the country.  Besides the Fillmore and Winterland in San Francisco, he was booking the Fillmore East in New York City.  He also promoted tours by the Rolling Stones as well as such concert events as Live Aid and Human Rights Now tour for Amnesty Now.  On October 25, 1991, 60-year-old Bill Graham was flying home after a Huey Lewis concert in nearby Concord, California.  The helicopter he was in crashed shortly after takeoff, killing Graham, his girlfriend, and the pilot.  Reports indicate that less-than-ideal weather caused the pilot to crash into an electrical tower.



Died On This Date (October12, 2009) Brendan Mullen / Founder of L.A. Punk Club, The Masque

Brendan Mullen
DOB Unknown – October 12, 2009

Photo by Adam Wallacavage
Photo by Adam Wallacavage

Brendan Mullen is best remembered for The Masque, the legendary Los Angeles punk club that he opened in 1977.  After moving to Los Angeles from London in 1973, Mullen took over a filthy room that sat right behind the notorious Pussycat Theater in Hollywood and transformed it into a rehearsal space for  local bands.  In a matter of matter of months, the room became a venue that some consider the flashpoint of the local punk scene of the late ’70s.  Bands like the Germs, X, the Weirdos, the Go-Gos, and the Plugz all played some of their earliest gigs there.  As could be expected, Mullen clashed on numerous occasions with area merchants, the fire department and the L.A.P.D. before the club was temporarily shut down in 1978.  It briefly re-opened in another location in 1979 before closing permanently.  Mullen later went on to book shows at The Other Masque and Club Lingerie, both also in Hollywood.  In later years, Mullen wrote such books about the L.A. punk scene as We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, and Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley.  Brendan Mullen died in a Los Angeles hospital on October 12, 2009.  He had suffered a massive stroke.

Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist.

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Died On This Date (September 17, 1991) Rob Tyner / The MC5

Rob Tyner (born Robert Derminer)
December 12, 1944 – September 17, 1991

Rob Tyner was the lead singer of Detroit garage rock band, the MC5 who were a heavy influence on the punk movement to soon follow.  More than just another loud blues-rock band, the MC5 were endeared by fans for their anti-establishment lyrics.  The band’s use of itself as a political voice inspired future generations to do the same.  Later bands like the Clash and Rage Against the Machine have cited them as an influence for doing just that.  The MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” is one of the era’s most covered songs by countless young garage bands to follow.  Even Tyner’s spirited “Kick out the jams motherfucker!” intro that he spontaneously shouted on a live recording is often repeated on cover versions.  The MC5 broke up in 1972 and Tyner formed another band or two but was never able to get much going commercial.  He did however, build himself a nice reputation as a manager, producer and concert promoter in the Detroit area.  On September 17, 1991, Rob Tyner, according to his New York Times obituary, died in a Royal Oak, Michigan hospital after suffering a heart attack while driving near his home.  He was 46. MC5 band mates Fred “Sonic” Smith and Michael Davis passed away in 1994 and 2012 respectively.

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The Big Bang! - Best of the MC5 - MC5