On this day: March 16, 1979

A fight broke out on March 16, 1979 at a hotel bar between Elvis Costello's Attractions and members of Stephen Still's backing group. Issues first arose when some of the Attractions made offensive remarks about Still's cocaine habit, which he had recently kicked, and referred to Ray Charles as a 'blind ignorant n*****'

Costello and crew had been drinking heavily prior to the altercation and it is believed some of the anger from that night was misdirected, and had been caused by Linda Ronstadt recording five of Costello's songs recently, bringing him fame with the older 'uncool' generation.

Other notable events for March 16:
-Fats Domino's I'm Walkin' replaced his own Blue Monday at the top of Billboard's R&B chart on March 16, 1957
-Louis Armstrong topped the UK singles charts on March 16, 1968 with Wonderful World
-(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by the late Otis Redding topped the US singles chart on March 16, 1968
-President Richard Nixon attended the first performance of the Grand Ole Opry on March 16, 1974, at the new purpose-built Opry House. It cost $15 million to build
-Seven members of  country start Reba McEntire's backing group perished in a plane crash on March 16, 1991