November 1976

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Country-rock band Firefall earn a gold record for their self-titled debut album, which includes the hit singles "You Are the Woman" (#9, later this year) and "Livin' Ain't Livin'" (#42, earlier this year). The band's members include former Flying Burrito Brother Rick Roberts and ex-Spirit member Mark Andes.

Former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter is elected 39th president of the United States in a rare -- and narrowly accomplished -- unseating of an incumbent. Carter is the first Deep South candidate to reach the White House since before the Civil War.
 4
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, completing a two-month tour with a six-night stand at New York City's Palladium Theater, backed up by Ronnie Spector and the Asbury Jukes' Miami Horns section, have their final show interrupted by a phoned-in bomb threat. After a quick check shows the hall to be clear of danger, Springsteen's quips that the caller might just be one Mike Appel, his former manager and then-current litigant in an extensive lawsuit.

New York City Mayor Abraham Beame hosts a luncheon for the Bee Gees at mayoral residence Gracie Mansion. The affair is in honor of the group's announced intentions to donate their profits from an upcoming Madison Square Garden concert to the city's Police Athletic League Organization. Upon being handed a platinum record of the Gibbs' Children of the World, the perhaps less than altogether hip His Honor says, "I look forward to taking it out of the frame and playing it."

Daryl Hall and John Oates' fifth album, Bigger than Both of Us, goes gold. It features their biggest hit single to date, "Rich Girl," which will eventually hit Number One on the pop chart in early 1977.
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Part 1 of Gone With the Wind airs on NBC, which paid $5 million for the classic Civil War film's television premiere. With a 47.7 average audience percentage, it becomes the highest rated single telecast to date. Part 2 airs the following night and earns a slightly smaller 47.4 average.
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In the wake of the reformed Fleetwood Mac's phenomenal success with their latest, self-titled album, one of the band's earlier albums, Mystery To Me, goes gold. The band's personnel at the time of Mystery to Me included Bob Welch, Bob Weston, Martin Birch and the only three members currently with the band -- Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers earn a gold record for the 1973 album Over-nite Sensation, which includes such dirty-humor Zappaphile favorites and FM-radio staples as "Montana" and "Dinah Mo Hum."
 10
New York City mayor Abe Beame hosts a luncheon at his official residence, Gracie Mansion, in honor of the Bee Gees' contributions to the city's Police Athletic League.
 11
Kiss, the cartoonish heavy-metal/ glitter-rock band the critics love to hate, earn another gold record, for the album Rock and Roll Over, which will yield the hit single "Calling Dr. Love" (#14, in the summer of 1977).
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President Carter's church in Plains, Georgia, becomes integrated for the first time.
 15
California singer/songwriter Jackson Browne's critically acclaimed fourth album, The Pretender (produced by rock critic Jon Landau, who has also worked with Bruce Springsteen), is certified gold. Browne had completed work on the album in the wake of the suicide of his wife, Phyllis Major, on March 25, 1976. His debut album, Jackson Browne, released in 1972, goes gold the next day.
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Van Morrison's album Moondance, released in 1970, goes gold. The album had brought Morrison two minor hits: the title track and "Into the Mystic." The latter song became a somewhat bigger hit for Johnny Rivers, reaching #51 in 1976.
 20
John Sebastian and Fred Neil lead a show in Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium at the request of Govenor Jerry Brown, climaxing the state's California Celebrates the Whales Day. Also appearing at the show aimed at raising public consciousness about the plight of the internationally hunted mammals are the Paul Winter Consort, Country Joe McDonald and Joni Mitchell.
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Police arrest Jerry Lee Lewis outside the gates of Graceland after he shows up for the second time that evening and makes a scene, shouting, waving a pistol and demanding to see Elvis Presley. After security guards call police, Lewis is found at his car with a .38 Derringer in hand; authorities charge him on counts of public intoxication and possession of a weapon. At the time of the Graceland incident "The Killer" was already in trouble with the law, having received a DWI charge the day before after driving his Rolls-Royce into a ditch.
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The Band play their "Last Waltz" Thanksgiving night before Martin Scorsese's cameras and a packed house at San Francisco's Winterland. Bill Graham convinces the group to turn the originally scheduled show into a grand affair, complete with buffet, chandeliers, dancing to an orchestra and a twenty-five dollar ticket. Musicians and friends who help the Band celebrate their final show together include Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Paul Butterfield, Bobby Charles, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Ron Wood and Ringo Starr. A Graham aide neatly sums up the special sense of occasion that prevails throughout the evening when he sighs: "Yeah, and tomorrow night, Ted Nugent." The Scorsese-directed documentary, The Last Waltz, is released in 1978 to huge critical acclaim.
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