Only one major birthday as Beach Boys  bassist and keyboard player Bruce Johnson turns 68.

On this day in 1968, Elvis Presley began taping his first television special which would be aired on December 3..  It revived Elvis’ career and brought him back to the top 20 with his closing song If I Can Dream.

June 27, 1987 was the day Whitney Houston became the first woman in history to enter the billboard album chart at #1 with Whitney.  She would later also become the first woman to top the singles chart with seven consecutive releases: Saving All My Love For You, How Will I Know, The Greatest Love Of All, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Didn’t We Almost Have It All, So Emotional, and Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

And 22 years ago today, Aerosmith became the first major rock group to let fans download a new track free from the internet.

In the mid 80′s I asked Bruce Johnston about taking Glen Campbell‘s place and becoming a permanent member of  The Beach Boys.