September 9th

"Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In" aired for the very first time as a television special.  It proved to be so popular that NBC launched it as a television series the following January.

A riot breaks out amongst those unable to get a ticket to a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich concert in Bergen, England. 

The Doors performed at The Village Theater in New York City.  (The theater was built in the mid-1920's on Second Avenue, an area referred to as "The Yiddish Theater District" at the time.)  Originally named The Commodore Theater, it was later taken over by Loews, who turned it into a movie theater known as The Loews Commodore.  In 1967, concert promoter Bill Graham  took over the theater, now in a state of serious disrepair, and rebuilt it into a rock and roll palace.  On March 8th of 1968, he renamed it The Fillmore East, a counterpart to The Fillmore West in California.  

Doing two shows a night on Fridays and Saturdays, it soon became home to some of the biggest names in rock, many of whom recorded live albums at the 2700 seat theater, including  The Allman Brothers (who appeared at The Fillmore East so many times they were often referred to as "Bill Graham's House Band"), The Grateful Dead (who did 43 shows there), Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Miles Davis, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Derek and the Dominoes, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly and many others.  (In fact, in 1969 Led Zeppelin played The Fillmore East as the opening act for Iron Butterfly!)  

The theater closed on June 27th, 1971, with an "by invitation only" performance featuring The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Albert King and "special surprise guests" Edgar Winter, Mountain, Country Joe McDonald and The Beach Boys.

Ray Graffia, Jr. of The New Colony Six married the love of his life, Miss Bonita Kosi on this date in 1967 - they're celebrating their 50th Anniversary today with a Mediterranean Cruise!  (Photo courtesy of Ray Graffia, Jr.)  Congratulations, you two!  (kk)