As I sat down to start looking up facts for today's column, my first reaction was "there's not a whole lot for today, is there?".  My husband who was sitting beside me looked through them, he made me realize the hidden gems that I had just passed over.

As I had said in an earlier column, today's music was birthed out of what a lot of people today would consider, pretty lame music indeed.  But if it hadn't been for that "lame" music, would music have evolved into what it is today?  Without those early pioneers of rock, would we have bands like Motley Crue, Queensryche, or Sixx:A.M.? 

So, as we delve into these gems from December 4th of years gone by, I would like to dedicate today's column to my husband as he was the one who helped harvest them.

Today we are going to start in the year 1956.  On this day in rock, pioneer rocker Elvis Presley made an un-expected stop by Sun Records in Memphis.  There he found Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis watching Carl Perkins in the studio.  An impromput recording session stemmed from this meeting of musical minds and although they did tape some songs together, the recordings were not put to disc for another 25 years.  When they finally were, they were released as the "Million Dollar Quartet".

In 1961 "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler was released on Vee Jay Records.  It would go on to reach number 1 in the US and sell over 1 million copies.

When was the last time that you heard that the President, Vice President and 40 US Governors try to understand the younger?  In my rememberance, I don't ever recall such a thing, but in 1969, President Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and 40 Governors did that when they viewed simulated "acid trip" films and listened to rock music to comprehend the generation gap.

In 1994, 52 year old Frank Zappa lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.  He passed away at his Los Angeles home.

How much are the lyrics to a song worth?  What makes one song worth more than another?  Is it determined by who wrote the lyrics or by the merit of the song?  Is it determined if it is a "lost" song that is on paper and never made it to tape?

In 2006 on this day, a page of working lyrics of Paul McCartney's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" sold at an auction of Rock and Pop memorabilia that was held at Christie's Auction House.  It sold for $192,000 and was bought by a Texas bookstore owner named Bill Butler.

And there you have it.  The hidden gems from this day in rock.  What gems are being made in our day and age, in our generation?  What memories are being formed in today's rock world that will be mined for future observance?  They are all around and with google and myspace, it's easier than ever to discover rock gems daily.