Friday, January 29, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Feb. 1st, 2016





After previously canceling two shows in late January, Def Leppard announced on Feb. 1 that it's postponing the remainder of its winter U.S. tour dates "due to illness," although no band member was specified. The cancellation was for shows in San Antonia, Tex.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Brooklyn's Barclays Center that ran from Feb. 2-17. The band said it will announce new dates for those shows soon, and tickets will be honored for their rescheduled shows. Opening for Def Leppard on the tour are Styx and Tesla. - Billboard, 2/1/16...... A three-hour live telecast on Fox of the musical "Grease" on Jan. 31 was a big hit for the network, with 12.2 million viewers tuning in to see Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit, Carly Rae Jepsen. Vanessa Hudgen, Carlos Pena Vega and Keke Palmer play the students of Rydell High in the 1950s-set musical. Grease: Live still fell short of NBC's The Sound of Music Livein 2013, which attracted 18.3 million live viewers. Just hours before Grease: Live aired, the soundtrack for the live television event was made available for purchase on iTunes. - Billboard, 2/1/16...... Jeff LynneJeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra will be headlining the final night of the 2016 Glastonbury Music Festival, which is set for June 22-26 at Eavis' Worthy Farm in Somerset, England. In 2015, the band released its first album of new music in 15 years, Alone in the Universe, which peaked at No. 4 on the UK's Official Albums Chart and No. 23 on the US's Billboard Hot 200 album chart. It will be the first ever Glastonbury appearance for ELO leader Jeff Lynne and his band, which will tour arenas throughout the U.K. and Europe in the leadup to their Glastonbury performance. - New Musical Express, 2/1/16...... In a remarkable coincidence, it has been revealed that Signe Anderson, the original singer of the Jefferson Airplane, died on Jan. 28, the same day as Jefferson Airplane co-founder, guitarist and vocalist Paul Kantner. An official cause of Anderson's death has not yet been revealed, although the 74-year-old reportedly had suffered health issues in recent years. The Seattle-born and Portland, Ore.-raised Anderson joined the JA in 1965, and sang on the band's 1966 debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Soon after, she married Merry Prankster Jerry Anderson, and exited the JA after giving birth. She was replaced by Grace Slick. "One sweet Lady has passed on. I imagine that she and Paul woke up in heaven and said "Hey what are you doing...," JA co-founder Marty Balin posted on his Facebook page on Jan. 30. Balin has also reacted to the death of Paul Kanter, telling Billboard that Kantner "didn't do anything to take care of his health with all his drinking and everything, smoking cigarettes all the time, pushing himself too much." "He asked me to join him for this last go-round. He'd been touring around the world and I talked to him and said, 'You better be careful. Take care of yourself. You've got a grueling schedule.' He just said, 'Don't worry about me. I can do anything. I'm strong as a bull.' He WAS a hard-headed German," said Balin, who added that he left the group because of all the cocaine use and "It all got too famous and I couldn't deal with (Kantner). I couldn't talk to him. I didn't have the energy to fight him, so I just went and did my own thing." - Billboard, 1/29/16...... Black Sabbath has postponed two Canadian dates in Edmonton and Calgary due to frontman Ozzy Osbourne suffering from "extreme sinusitis." The two shows, part of Sabbath's 2015/2016 farewell tour, were set for Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, respectively, and rescheduled dates have yet to be announced but will be shortly, according to a post on Ozzy's Twitter account. However the band currently has concerts booked through September. - Billboard, 1/30/16...... Yoko Ono will be the recipient of The Inspiration Award at this year's New Musical Express (NME) Awards on Feb. 17 at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London. "Thank you, NME for this great honour. I accept this as your encouragement for me to keep making my 'Sound of Music'," Ono said in a statement on Feb. 1. The gala will take place the day before Yoko's 83rd birthday on Feb. 18. The magazine and website noted that Yoko had been an inspiration "to generations of musicians, artists and activists (and) has fans in David Bowie, Ornette Coleman, Nile Rogers and Eric Clapton," among others. - NME, 2/1/16...... Rod StewartRod Stewart has announced he'll kick off a 7-city tour of the UK this fall at Liverpool's Echo Arena on Nov. 12. Stewart's "From Gasoline Alley to Another Country Hits Tour" will also visit London's O2 (11/22), Sheffield (11/29), Birmingham (12/2), Leeds, (12/6) and Manchester (12/8) before wrapping at Glasgow's SSE Hydro on Dec. 13. Stewart is touring behind his 2015 album, Another Country. - New Musical Express, 2/1/16...... Iggy Pop, who once collaborated with David Bowie on Pop's 1977 albums The Idiot and Lust for Life, has spoken of the pair's friendship in a new intervew with Rolling Stone magazine. Pop said he first met Bowie after hearing that he liked his band the Stooges, which was "something not a lot of people would admit at the time." "My impression was that he was very poised and very friendly, but not as friendly in that setting as when I got to know him in smaller groups," Pop recalled. "I could see that he had some ideas for me... I learned a lot from him. I first heard the Ramones, Kraftwerk and Tom Waits from him," Pop added. Bowie and Pop also toured together in 1976 on Bowie's "Station To Station" tour, and lived together in Berlin in 1977, with Bowie helping Pop write The Idiot and Lust For Life, his first two solo albums following the end of the Stooges. Pop, meanwhile, is preparing to release his new studio album, Post Pop Depression, on Mar. 18. - New Musical Express, 1/28/16...... In other Bowie-related news, it has been revealed that the late rocker wanted his ashes scattered in Bali "in accordance with the Buddhist rituals" in a 20-page will filed under his legal name of David Robert Jones on Jan. 29 in Manhattan. The document said that the singer was worth about $100 million, but didn't break down the finances, and that he left his SoHo home to his wife Inman, along with half of the rest of his worth. His son Duncan Jones from a previous marriage received 25 percent and his daughter Alexandria also received 25 percent as well as his Ulster County mountain home. Bowie left $2 million to his longtime personal assistant Corinne Schwab and left her shares he owned in a company called Oppossum Inc. He left $1 million to Marion Skene, Alexandria's nanny. Bowie prepared the will in 2004. He said if cremation in the Indonesian island was "not practical" then he wanted his remains cremated and his ashes scattered there still. According to the death certificate, filed with the will, his body was cremated Jan. 12 in New Jersey. Meanwhile, it has come to light that Bowie once auditioned for a role in the hugely popular movie The Lord of the Rings. Actor Dominic Monaghan, who played hobbit Merry in the first LOR film, said as he was waiting for his audition in the Peter Jackson-directed movie David Bowie came in in and signed a little list and went in. "I'm assuming he read for Gandalf. I can't think of anything else he would've read for," Monaghan said. In more Bowie news, the artwork for Bowie's final album Blackstar has been released publicly for fans to use for free on the website BowieBlackstar.net. "...In the spirit of openness and in remembrance of David we are releasing the artwork elements of his last album ['Blackstar'] to download here free under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence," a statement from Bowie's London-based design agency, Barnbrook, says. "That means you can make t-shirts for yourself, use them for tattoos, put them up in your house to remember David by and adapt them too, but we would ask that you do not in any way create or sell commercial products with them or based on them. Any questions or commercial licence usage please contact us." - AP/NME/The Hollywood Reporter, 1/30/16...... Director and Empire creator Lee Daniels has signed on to direct a new documentary about the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. "I am honored to be entrusted with the story of this incredible American iconic institution and work with this team. I used to go to The Apollo Theater as a kid and never in a million years would I have imagined I would be back to be doing this -- it is very special for me," Daniels said in a statement. Daniels, creator of the hit Fox series Empire whose film credits include The Butler, is joining Apollo Theater president-CEO Jonelle Procope in appealing to the public to cull through any memorabilia, including audience footage and photographs, they might have for use in the new documentary. "We have established a website for anyone who wants to submit. We will, of course, respect everybody's ownership of their property," the duo said. - Billboard, 1/28/16...... Chaka KhanSinger Chaka Khan, who is releasing a new single, "I Love Myself," on Feb. 19 is inviting fans to submit a one-minute video clip of themselves lip-synching to the song's chorus by Feb. 19. The winning clips will then be featured in the song's accompanying music video. "It is important that in these troubled times we honor our own self-respect," says the "Tell Me Something Good" singer in announcing the "I Love Myself" video contest. "Beauty knows no boundaries and is accepting of us all whether black, white, gay, straight, physically or mentally challenged." A percentage of the new single's net proceeds will benefit two charitable organizations that assist victims of domestic violence and discrimination, and be distributed through The Chaka Khan Foundation. More details can be found at Khan's "I Love Myself" website. - Billboard, 1/28/16...... The upcoming tribute to former Commodores member and '80s solo star Lionel Richie during Grammy week festivities will feature contributions from Rihanna, Dave Grohl, Ellie Goulding, Yolanda Adams, Leon Bridges and Florence Welch. Richie is being honored as the 2016 MusiCares Person of the Year during thec elebratory gala, which will be held Los Angeles on Feb. 13. Previously announced participants include Lenny Kravitz, Lady Antebellum and John Legend. - Billboard, 1/28/16...... Aretha Franklin has donated hotel rooms to residents of Flint, Mich., who have been affected by the city's ongoing water crisis. Franklin, a resident of Detroit, likened the situtation to Hurricane Katrina on Jan. 27, calling it "just horrible" to see families holding up jars of "green and brown" water on television day after day. "Flint is so close to Detroit I think it's just regarded as being a part of Detroit. My contribution is to donate 50 rooms nightly at either the [Detroit] Holiday Inn Express or the Comfort Inn with coupling it with a per diem, which is food and beverage at the Coney Island just next door where they really have good food, because I go in there a lot...My assistant is helping me to set that up," Franklin said, adding that she also plans on asking her good friends Stevie Wonder, Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson to chip in on the effort. - Jezebel.com, 1/28/16...... The NBA's 2016 All-Star game halftime show at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Feb. 14 will be headlined by 16-time Grammy winner Sting, it was announced on Jan. 28. The former Police frontman will be performing a medley of his classic hits for the show, which will broadcast in more than 200 countries and territories as well as heard in 40 languages. The show will be broadcast in the US on cable TV's TNT channel beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET and on Sportsnet ONE and TSN in Canada. - Billboard, 1/28/16...... Neil Young once sang about "the story of Johnny Rotten" and how it was "better to burn out than fade away." Now John Lydon (ne Johnny Rotten) seems to be taking Young's advice to heart. The former Sex Pistols member, who turned 60 on Feb. 31, says in a new interview with GQ magazine that he is still smoking and drinking. "If I can't enjoy being alive, then I don't want to be alive. Drinking and cigarettes and having fun and staying up for endless days -- these are all great attractions to me," he said. Lydon also claimed that the last time he exercised was "years and years ago... when my band PiL was first touring America." Lydon's post-punk group PiL released their tenth studio record, What The World Needs Now, in September 2015. - Billboard, 2/1/16...... Ryan O'NealAli MacGrawActors Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw, the stars of the smash 1970 tearjerker Love Story, returned to the setting of the movie, Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 1, a little more than 45 years after their soppy duet in the movie turned them into major movie stars. MacGraw and O'Neal's return was aimed at promoting their national tour of "Love Letters," a play about a couple who maintain contact over 50 years through notes, cards and letters. Now in their 70s, the pair arrived on campus in an antique MG convertible similar to the one in their 1970 movie about a rich-and-preppy Harvard student who marries a working-class Radcliffe girl over his parents' objections. Later, the two reflected on their mutual past before an audience of current Harvard students, in a conversation moderated by arts journalist Alicia Anstead. O'Neal, 74, noted that cancer, as in the movie, has played a big part in his real life, including his battle with leukemia. MacGraw, 76, said being back on campus recalled wonderful memories that few of her subsequent experiences in film ever captured. And both admitted they had a crush on each other during filming. "Love Letters" begins a one-week engagement at Boston's Citi Shubert Theatre on Feb. 2. - USA Today, 2/1/16.

Paul KantnerGuitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner, a founding member of the pioneering Bay Area psychedelic band the Jefferson Airplane as well as the 1970s JA spinoff band Jefferson Starship, died on Jan. 28 of multiple organ failure, following a heart attack earlier in the week. He was 74. Kantner and Marty Balin formed Jefferson Airplane in 1965 after meeting at the San Francisco club The Drinking Gourd. The band, which first played folk-rock material, were rounded out by guitarist/vocalist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer Skip Spence, vocalist Signe Anderson, and bassist Bob Harvey, though Harvey was soon replaced by Jack Casady. The Airplane played their first major show on Aug. 13 of that year at the new Matrix Club, which later became an outlet for new Bay Area bands, and they became one of the first bookings for promoter Bill Graham -- who managed them for a short period -- at his legendary Fillmore Auditorium. Before the end of the year, they were signed by RCA Records, and their debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, was released in Sept. 1966 and went gold. Just before that LP came out, Anderson left the group to have a baby and was replaced by former model and former Great Society vocalist Grace Slick. With Slick's stronger and more expressive vocals, the band defined what became known as the "San Francisco sound," and not only epitomized the burgeoning Haight-Ashbury counterculture but also provided its soundtrack with Top 10 hits like "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," a song which developed Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" with its acid connotations (and was banned in some areas of the U.S. as a drug song). Jefferson Airplane Takes Off climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, sold half a million copies, and became the first of five of their seven albums to go gold. After releasing Surrealistic Pillow in 1967, which featured the two aforementioned singles plus two more killer cuts called "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Today," the band released After Bathing at Baxter's the same year, which featured a nine-minute psychedelic jam-collage called "Spayre Change." In 1968 came their magnum opus, Crown of Creation, which included Slick's "Lather" and the David Crosby-penned "Triad," a song about a ménage à trois that had been rejected by Crosby's group The Byrds. Paul Kantner Grace SlickAfter a string of arduous U.S. tours and free festivals -- including the horrendous nerve-shattering event at Altamont in 1969 -- schisms in the band began to appear, precipitated primarily by Slick's pregnancy with Kantner's child. In 1970, Kantner and Slick recorded Blows Against the Empire, an LP that also featured Crosby, Jerry Garcia, Graham Nash and other friends, and became the first musical work nominated for the science-fiction writers' Hugo Award. Also in 1970, the band released a greatest hits package, The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane, and on Jan. 25, 1971, Slick and Kantner's baby girl, China, was born. In August, the Airplane formed their own label, Grunt, and released a reunited effort, Bark. In 1972, Airplane members Kaukonen and Casady formed Hot Tuna, and also that year Long John Silver became the Jefferson Airplane's last studio LP. In 1974, Slick and Kantner formed the Jefferson Starship with Balin, and had their big breakthrough in Jan. 1975 with their second album, Red Octopus. That LP was the Jefferson Starship's first No. 1 LP, hitting that position several times during the year and selling four million copies on the strength of singles like Balin's No. 3 "Miracles." The followup, 1976's Spitfire, became their first platinum album, but after another platinum LP, Earth, in 1978, both Slick and Balin left the group. In 1979, the band recruited singer Mickey Thomas, best known as the lead vocalist on Elvin Bishop's hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," and the new lineup's Freedom at Point Zero peaked at No. 10. Professing his disdain for the group's more commercial direction, Kanter left Jefferson Starship in 1984, and the group became known as simply Starship. That lineup achieved even greater commercial success, with "We Built This City" and "Sara" from the platinum 1985 album Knee Deep in the Hoopla, and both songs hit No. 1 on the pop chart. In 1989, Kanter, Slick, Balin, Casady and Kaukonen revived the early Jefferson Airplane lineup and released the poorly-selling Jefferson Airplane. In 1996, Kantner, Slick and the other members of the original Jefferson Airplane were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kantner, who is the first of Jefferson Airplane's founding members to have passed away, is survived by three children: sons Gareth and Alexander and daughter China. After learning of Kantner's death, Grace Slick updated her Facebook cover photo with a picture of a young Kantner, before posting a brief statement: "Rest in peace my friend. Love Grace." - Billboard/Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, 1/29/16.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Jan. 27th, 2016





Barry Manilow says he's working on the followup to his 2014 album My Dream Duets, which has been nominated for a Grammy this year. Manilow, a native of Brooklyn, will be mixing his own originals with standards on a new thematic LP about his beloved hometown. This Is My Town: Songs of New York will such famous NYC-themed songs as "On Broadway," "New York, New York," "Downtown," "Lonely Town" and even Don Henley's 1990 single "New York Minute." "It's half standards and half originals. We just got out of the studio with a beautiful 40-piece orchestra. It's gonna be a great-sounding album," says Manilow, who anticipates a release later in 2016. Manilow is also continuing to work with producers on bringing his musical "Harmony" to Broadway after successful runs in Atlanta and Los Angeles. On Jan. 28, he'll kick off the 2016 leg of his One Last Tour trek in Pensacola, Fla., and is considering one more North American leg in the spring before taking the show to the U.K. in June. The 72-year-old pop crooner insists this will be his final full-scale tour, though not a retirement from performing altogether. Meanwhile, Manilow is trying to help spur donations of musical instruments to the International School of Louisiana in New Orleans by giving a Yamaha piano to the institution. Also, anyone who donates a new or gently used instrument to the school between now and Jan. 29 will receive two free tickets to his Jan. 29 show in New Orleans at the Smoothie King Center. - Billboard/AP, 1/25/16...... David BowieParlophone Records UK has announced David Bowie's seminal first six albums from 1969-73 will be getting a vinyl re-release on Feb. 26. Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Aladdin Sane and Pin Ups will all be reissued on heavyweight 180g vinyl. Bowie's Bowie at the Beeb box set compilation of recordings from various BBC Radio stations from 1968-1972 will also be released on that day. All the albums have been remastered. Meanwhile, Newsweek is reporting that a treasure trove of new music the legendary artist created will be released in stages beginning in 2017. According to an unnamed source "close to the late artist, there's "a long list of unscheduled musical releases that Bowie planned before he died," which have been "divided into eras," the first of which will hit stores before the end of 2017. Also, a cast album for Bowie's off-Broadway musical "Lazarus" is also in production. The musical, which featured 18 of the artist's biggest hits, closed on Jan. 20 after its two-month run at the New York Theatre Workshop. Meanwhile Labyrinth, director Jim Henson's 1986 fantasy film starring Bowie, is getting a reboot with a script by Nicole Perlman, the co-writer of the hit film Guardians of the Galaxy. Labyrinth told of a teenager, played by Jennifer Connelly in one of her first roles, who has to navigate a fantastical maze in order to save her young brother, kidnapped by a goblin king (Bowie). It is unclear whether the new film, which is being produced by Columbia/TriStar, will be a reimagining of the story or a sequel. Despite the film's popularity in recent years, it was a box-office disappointment at the time of its release and led to Henson's exit from film directing. It was only in the intervening years that the film gained a strong cult following. In other Bowie-related news, his producing partner Tony Visconti will be the opening keynote speaker at this year's 30th annual South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW). The 2016 SXSW Music Festival runs March 15-20 and is expected to showcase 2,000 acts ranging from across all the genres. Visconti's keynote address will take place March 16. Finally, Bowie's son Duncan Jones thanked fans on Twitter on Jan. 23 for their support following his father's death earlier in January. "Hi all. Just wanted to thank you for the incredibly kind words & thoughts. I'll be easing my way back into Twitter- pic.twitter.com/n0ytOiESWb," Jones posted. Jones is the director of the films Moon and Source Code. - Billboard/The Hollywood Reporter/New Musical Express, 1/27/16...... Actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast to play Michael Jackson in a new one-off, half hour British TV comedy, chronicling a fabled road trip that the King of Pop took with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. Michael JacksonThe unbelievable story is based on a 2011 Vanity Fair article that alleged the three entertainment icons rented a car and fled New York westward following the attacks. Unable to fly, they were hoping to make it home to California and made it as far as Ohio while gorging on junk food in the car, before catching a plane the rest of the way. Taylor's former assistant has claimed the legendary actress never joined Brando and Jackson on the trip, and Fiennes, who has been the subject of controversy over his controversial casting as an African-American, insists that the project is only intended to be lighthearted. "It's a light comedy look. It's not in any way malicious. It's actually endearing," he told Entertainment Tonight. Fiennes is a white British actor best known for his role in 1998's Shakespeare in Love, as well as more recent roles in Hercules and American Horror Story. - Billboard/Vulture.com, 1/26/16...... In other Michael Jackson news, it appears the crazy Internet conspiracy theory that the King of Pop provided uncredited musical contributions to the 1994 Sega video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is true. The gist of the convoluted story is that former Sega exec Roger Hector, who worked on Sonic 3, has confirmed in a recent Huffington Post article that Jackson reached out to Sega in the early '90s to express his admiration for the new Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Sega, which released several titles of Jackson's Moonwalker video game, invited him to visit their office. Jackson was provided with a demo of the game and invited to compose music for it. "He took it from there and started making music," Hector said. After receiving music from Jackson's team for Sonic 3, Hector recalled, "I was really impressed with how much of a signature Michael Jackson sound there was in this, and yet, it was all new." Sega, however, still denies Jackson had any involvement on Sonic 3. Meanwhile, producer John Branca, who's also the co-executor of Jackson's estate, has hinted that more Michael Jackson movies could be on the way. "I'd like to see a movie about the History album and tour," says Branca. "It was his last tour, and his most underappreciated album. Michael was out of favor in the U.S. at the time. But if you listen to it start to finish, it's one of the greatest albums of all time." Branca also says a movie about Jackson's blockbuster 1982 album Thriller is also "definitely a candidate, and that he's planning Halloween-themed events around the album in 2017, its 35th anniversary. But until then, fans will have to be content with the new Spike Lee-directed Showtime documentary Michael Jackson's Journey From Motown to Off the Wall, which premiered on Jan. 24 at the Sundance Film Festival and hits Showtime on Feb. 5. "This (film) shows the story of Michael resurrecting the Jacksons and making his first solo album -- and we all know what happened after that," Branca says. - Billboard, 1/26/16...... Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have rescheduled their postponed Madison Square Garden concert, which was cancelled on Jan. 24 due to a blizzard in New York City, to March 28. Tickets to the original show will be honored on the new night. Springsteen's camp has also announced that his The River Tour is extending its U.S. run with 14 new shows, and the band will play May 19 in Portugal as the headlining act on the first night of "Rock in Rio Lisboa." The new dates will begin with a third and final show at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena March 19, and will extend through Denver, Dallas, and Detroit with two final shows at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on April 23 and 25. The River Tour, Springsteen's first in two years, follows the release of his 1980 The River deluxe reissue The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. The band is performing the entire River record in sequence on every date of the tour, complemented with an additional set of songs to stretch the show to over three hours. - Billboard, 1/27/16...... The attorney for singer/songwriter Don McLean, who was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge on Jan. 18 in Camden, Maine, said on Jan. 24 that he and his wife have agreed to dismiss an order of protection case that followed his arrest. Attorney Walter McKee said the couple have "agreed to move forward" and dismiss the order of protection case, however McClean is still due in court on Feb. 22 in his criminal case. The "American Pie" singer is pleading not guilty, according to McKee. McLean's wife, photographer Patrisha McLean, said in a statement she "did not intend to define Don or our relationship" with her handwritten request for protection. In the request, Patrisha McLean said she feared for her life due to her husband's rage when she called 911. It also documented a pattern of abuse going back decades. She also asked McLean's fans not to focus on the criminal case: "Don has a big heart. He and I had many happy times in the 30 years of our marriage and what has recently transpired is unfortunate for all of us." - AP, 1/25/16...... Brian WilsonBrian Wilson has announced he'll be launching an ambitious Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour on Mar. 26 at Auckland, Australia's Civic Theatre. More than 70 dates are confirmed so far in countries also including Japan, the UK, Spain, Israel and Portugal, with additional shows being added. Wilson, joined by former bandmates Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, will also be playing the seminal 1966 album in its entirety in U.S. cities coast-to-coast on the tour beginning on June 14 in Burlington, Vermont, wrapping on Oct. 14 in Lake Tahoe, California. "It's really been a trip to sit here and think about releasing Pet Sounds 50 years ago," the 73-year-old Beach Boys mastermind said in a statement. "I love performing this album with my band and look forward to playing it for fans all across the world," he added. - Billboard, 1/25/16...... Iggy Pop has announced he'll be headlining London's Royal Albert Hall on May 18 with new bandmates, drummer Josh Homme (Arctic Monkeys) and Matt Helders (Queens of the Stone Age). On the same day, Pop will release his new album, Post Pop Depression, which he recorded in secret in 2015. Pop released the first track from the album, "Gardenia," earlier in January. - New Musical Express, 1/27/16...... Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the worldwide rights (excluding France and Germany) to a new documentary on Frank Zappa, Eat That Question -- Frank Zappa In His Own Words. Directed by Thorsten Schutte, the film zooms in on the iconoclastic composer-musician entirely through rare archival footage from his three-decade career and includes clips of rare TV interviews and international performances. "I'm delighted and I'm thrilled that Sony Pictures Classics believes in the film and I feel we're in very good hands," said Schutte, whose film premiered on Jan. 25 at the Sundance Film Festival. "The news of the acquisition is really the cherry on the cake of our world premiere at Sundance," he added. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/23/16...... Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-John, who played Sandy in the big-screen adaptation of the hit stage musical Grease, says there's "something magical" about the story, which will get a live TV treatment on Jan. 31 when the Fox network stages its own staging of the musical, Grease: Live!, with Julianne Hough stepping in as the newest Sandy. "I think Julianne's going to be a wonderful Sandy," Newton-John says. "She's an amazing dancer and has a really lovely energy about her." Fans hoping for a live Grease fix from Newton-John can instead check out the diva singing Grease tunes in her concert residency show in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. The ongoing 90-minute show, Summer Nights, premiered in 2014 and has been extended through 2016. It features a bevy of Newton-John's hits. - Billboard, 1/22/16...... Bette Midler will return to Broadway for the first time since her hit 2013 one-woman play "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers" with a new production of "Hello, Dolly!" The show will begin Broadway performances on Mar. 13, 2017 and open on Apr. 20, 2017 at a theater to be announced. A "Hello, Dolly!" revival has been on Broadway's wish list for a long time and was mentioned as a suitable vehicle for Midler following "I'll Eat You Last," which then marked her return to the Broadway stage after a nearly 40-year absence. Based on Thornton Wilder's farce" The Matchmaker," "Hello, Dolly!" first premiered on Broadway with Carol Channing in the title role and won ten Tony Awards. - Billboard, 1/19/16...... "Rewind: The 80s Festival," the world's biggest 80s music festival, will return with three UK festivals during July and August 2016. Tickets for all three festivals will go on sale at 9am on Friday January 29th at the official website rewindfestival.com. Artists participating in this year's festivals - Rewind Scotland, Rewind South and Rewind North -- include Adam Ant, Rick Astley, ABC, Big Country, Leo Sayer, Slim Jim Phantom From Stray Cats, Go West, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby, and members of Joy Division and Heaven 17. - Noble PR, 1/27/16...... The ABC network is in early stages of developing a Watergate miniseries set in the 1970s Richard Nixon White House during the notorious Watergate burglary and scandal. Written by Jon Maas (The Last Debate) and produced by Bob Cooper, the series takes place amid the sexual revolution of the 1970s and is told through the eyes of John Dean, then-White House Counsel for President Nixon. - Deadline.com, 1/25/16...... Abe VigodaActor Abe Vigoda, best known for his roles as mobster Tessio in The Godfather and as Detective Sgt. Fish in TV's Barney Miller and a spinoff series Fish in which he starred, died of natural causes on Jan. 26 at his home in New Jersey. He was 94. Mr. Vigoda, a tall character actor with the characteristically slouched shoulders and hangdog face, became something of a pop culture figure due to repeated false reports of his demise, which became the subject of jokes. Reflecting his somewhat odd celebrity was the existence of a punk rock band named Abe Vigoda; his recurring appearances in the late 2000s on Late Night With Conan O'Brien; and the existence of a website named "IsAbeVigodaDead.com," which for years consisted simply of a blank page with the word "No." After a few guest roles on TV series, Mr. Vigoda was cast as the aged, malady-laden and slow-moving cop Phil Fish in ABC police sitcom "Barney Miller," which started its long run in 1974. The character was so popular that the network launched a spinoff, simply titled "Fish," in 1977. For a while, Mr. Vigoda appeared on both series, and also guested on series including Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, The Bionic Woman, The Rockford Files and Eight Is Enough. During the 1980s and '90s, he appeared on shows including The New Mike Hammer, Tales From the Darkside, MacGyver, Murder, She Wrote, Law and Order and Wings. Mr. Vigoda also enjoyed steady film work, including the 1990 Tom Hanks comedy Joe Versus the Volcano, which was a box office failure but developed a cult following. In 1986-87 he starred on Broadway in a revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace," and during the 2010 Super Bowl, Mr. Vigoda appeared with Betty White in a commercial for Snickers candy bars. Mr. Vigoda's wife Beatrice died in 1992. He is survived by a daughter. - Variety, 1/26/16.

As a massive blizzard bears down on much of the Eastern U.S. on Jan. 22, concerts by such artists as Jackson Browne and former Styx member Dennis DeYoung have been postponed due to States of Emergency being declared. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's edict forced Browne to postpone a show in Asheville set for Jan. 22, and DeYoung's concert at the Paramount in Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. has been put off until Feb. 25. New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., are also among the cities expected to be hammered with snow, sleet and freezing rain. - Billboard, 1/22/16...... Don McLeanPolice in Maine arrested Don McLean on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge at his Camden home on Jan. 18, and court records show she then filed a handwritten request for protection that claims her 70-year-old husband's rage was "unfathomably deep and scary." In the request, she said McLean's abuse often left her bruised, and that she feared for her life when she called 911 earlier in the week. "Don terrorized me for four hours, until the 911 call that I think might have saved my life," she wrote. On Jan. 21, McLean issued a statement saying his marriage is experiencing a "very painful breakdown," that he is "not a villain," and that it is an emotional time for his family. "I may never recover from this but I will try and hope to continue to entertain you all as I always have," McLean said. The singer/songwriter was released from the Knox County Jail on a $10,000 bail the same day and is due in court Feb. 22. McLean's attorney, Walter McKee, said his client will plead not guilty when the case returns to court, and that McLean "vigorously denies" his wife's allegations. McLean, who grew up in Port Chester, N.Y., and has resided in the wealthy coastal Maine town of Camden for years, is best known for his chart-topping 1972 song "American Pie," about the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 -- "The Day the Music Died." - AP, 1/21/16...... Rock legend and political activist Graham Nash has weighed in on the current U.S. presidential campaign, calling it the "strangest" one he's seen. Nash, a native of Britain who became a U.S. citizen in the late 1970s, says he's "watched the American political climate for almost 50 years... and this is by far the strangest one." "I have never seen a party in such disarray as the Republicans and such extreme levels of hatred and animosity towards other people," Nash said, and singled out New York real estate developer Donald Trump in particular. "We're just feeding his show, his shtick... There are an incredible amount of people in this country that are not so bright and he is appealing to a great many of them and a great many of their fears, the boogie man waiting to take their guns and come and rape their daughters in the middle of the night... He's playing upon all those fears and it's dreadful to see, but nobody I know has the will or the power to shut him up." Nash says he's backing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race for the White House, and although he "doesn't believe right now he can be elected," he thinks Sanders' campaign can continue to build momentum. "If Bernie Sanders wins Iowa or New Hampshire, I think you'll see an enormous wave of energy coming his way," he added. Nash, 74, is releasing his new album, This Path Tonight, on Apr. 15, and he previewed the new LP on Jan. 20 at L.A.'s landmark Village studios, where he recorded the recorded the album, for a gathering of friends, family and industry people. Before the presentation, he said in an interview that late Eagles member Glenn Frey had been a friend of his "since the late '60s, early '70s because he was growing up in Laurel Canyon, making music the same that we all were at the time and I hung with him several times in the journey of the Eagles... we actually lived on the same island in the Hawaiian chain for 30 years so I did see him occasionally." Nash also said he met the recently deceased David Bowie a couple of times, and he was "an artist who displayed genious qualities at times." "On both occasions I was very impressed with his intelligence and the energy that poured out of that man was amazing," Nash said. - Billboard, 1/22/16...... Glenn FreyOther musicians are remembering Glenn Frey, including Jimmy Buffett, who described the Eagles co-founder as "a friend, professional, inspiration, and sometimes a handful." Buffett, who was asked to induct the Eagles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, says after he first met Frey in August of 1975 when his band was invited to open for the Eagles, "Glenn and I went on to become close friends, songwriting collaborators, and neighbors in Aspen. He and Don [Henley] were instrumental in getting Irving Azoff to become my manager, and eventually open for the Eagles on the Hotel California tour of America, which was the rocket ship we rode to eventually becoming a headliner." Meanwhile, even one of Frey's most well-known antagonists, former Eagles member Don Felder, is offering praise for his ex-bandmate. "Glenn's passing was so unexpected and has left me with a very heavy heart filled with sorrow," said Felder in a statement. "He was so young and still full of amazing genius. He was an extremely talented songwriter, arranger, leader, singer, guitarist, you name it and Glenn could do it and create 'MAGIC' on the spot. His visions and insights into songs and lyrics have become legendary and will echo throughout time on this earth for decades to come." Eagles manager Irving Azoff provided additional details of Frey's Jan. 18 passing on the following day, saying his death was caused partly be medications. In an interview with TheWrap.com, Azoff said that the "complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia" that were announced on the Eagles' website were "side effects from all the meds." "Glenn died from complications of ulcer and colitis after being treated with drugs for his rheumatoid arthritis which he had for over 15 years," said Azoff. "I can't believe he's gone... I can't believe everything we accomplished. It was a staggering body of work and just an amazing run. I don't think there will ever be another American band as successful." Also paying tribute to Frey are his "Take It Easy" co-writer Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen. On Jan. 19, Browne played "Take It Easy" during a show at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida, his first concert following Frey's death the previous day at the age of 67. Springsteen also performed an acoustic version of the breezy song with just a guitar at the beginning of his encores during a concert at Chicago's United Center on Jan. 19. - Billboard, 1/20/16...... Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has received permission from Simon & Garfunkel to use one of their songs in what has been described as one of the most effective campaign commercials so far -- a 60-second spot that uses the Grammy-winning duo's folksy 1972 hit "America" as a backdrop for scenes of snowy fields and average American families bundling hay in the cold and feeding their cows. Sanders is shown hugging the elderly, and millennials high-fiving while waiting in line for the Senator. - Billboard, 1/21/16...... Billy Joel has pledged $1 million to help save an school for the arts in his beloved Long Island, N.Y., from closing. On Jan. 22, a spokeswoman for the Piano Man said the singer's foundation would donate the money if the Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services vows to keep the Long Island High School for the Arts open for three years. School officials have said that the school is facing closure because of low enrollment. They say it has a deficit of about $400,000 for the current academic year. Joel, a native of Hicksville, N.Y., attended public schools and credited his music teachers for giving him the tools to succeed. - AP, 1/22/16...... David BowieThe late David Bowie has earned his first No. 1 Billboard Hot 200 album chart debut with his new album Blackstar, and Bowie's greatest hits album Best of Bowie has re-entered the chart at No. 4, marking the highest charting hits package on the Hot 200 in over a year. A whopping total of ten of Bowie's albums are on the Billboard Hot 200 chart dated Jan. 30, the most concurrently charting titles for an artist since the Beatles racked up 13 on the March 1, 2014 chart. Bowie's haul is the most for a soloist since Whitney Houston landed 10 on the March 10, 2012 chart, following her death. The depth of appreciation for the late artists is also evidenced on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, where he has landed his first Top 40 hit single in more than 28 years with the Blackstar track "Lazarus." The song debuted at No. 40 on the Hot 100, his first Top 40 hit since "Never Let Me Down" reached No. 28 in September of 1987. "Lazarus" is Bowie's 14th top 40 entry on the Hot 100 overall. On Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart, Bowie boasts a record 21 songs, including all seven tracks from Blackstar. "Lazarus" was also the most-streamed Bowie song of the week with 8.1 million streams, and "Space Oddity" was his top-selling track with 44,000 purchases. Bowie's total U.S. music sales have increased more than 5,000% in the wake of his death, and the wave of tributes to the singer include New York mayor Bill deBlasio declaring Jan. 20 "David Bowie Day" in the city where Bowie resided. Acting Commissioner Luis Castro of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment presented the proclamation that evening at the sold-out final performance of the New York Theater Workshop production of "Lazarus," which was conceived and co-created by Bowie. In the U.K., a David Bowie fan has launched a campaign to organize a mass sing-along in honor of the late star at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival. An unnamed individual has launched the Twitter account @BowieGlasto2016 in an attempt to get thousands of people singing the late singer's hits at the Pyramid Stage during the Wednesday evening edition of Glastonbury, which takes place at Worthy Farm over the week of June 22-26. - Billboard, 1/21/16...... One of the more bizarre stories to come out following the death of Bowie is a claim by country singer Dwight Yoakam that Elvis Presley wanted to work with Bowie, who also recorded for his label RCA Records, in 1977. Yoakam told the Orange County Register that he met Bowie in 1997, and Bowie told him that six months before Presley's death in Aug. 1977, Bowie received a call from the King of Rock & Roll. Bowie said that Elvis had been impressed by Bowie's song "Golden Years, which was originally penned with Presley in mind, and Presley was interested in having Bowie produce his next album. "I thought 'Oh my God, it's a tragedy that he was never able to make that'," said Yoakam. "I couldn't even imagine 1977 David Bowie producing Elvis. It would have been fantastic. It has to be one of the greatest tragedies in pop music history that it didn't happen, one of the biggest missed opportunities." Bowie was known for his love of Presley, with the pair also sharing a birthday (January 8). - New Musical Express, 1/21/16...... One of Bowie's former collaborators, Iggy Pop, is teaming up with Josh Homme of the band Queens of the Stone Age for a new album. The new set, called Post Pop Depression, was recorded in secret sessions over the past year. Pop and Homme told the New York Times that the new album picks up where Pop's acclaimed 1977 Bowie-produced solo album Lust for Life left off. "Where those records pointed, it stopped.... But without copying it," Homme said, "that direction actually goes for miles. And when you keep going for miles you can't see these two records any more." - Billboard, 1/21/16...... Agnetha FaltskogBenny AnderssonFrida LyngstadBjorn UlvaeusABBA members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad made a rare group appearance for the Jan. 20 opening of an ABBA-inspired restaurant, Stockholm's Mamma Mia! The Party. The legendary Europop foursome arrived and left separately and declined to be photographed together on the red carpet, according to reports. Though the Swedes did stand beside one another on the stage -- a momentous occasion which was captured on camera. "We are here to party," Ulvaeus told reporters. ABBA, who split in 1982 and haven't performed together since 1986, purportedly once turned down a $1 billion offer for a comeback tour. - Billboard, 1/21/16...... Elton John has confirmed that he's working with Lady Gaga on music for Gaga's next album. "I've heard two songs, which are killer. They're just great songs," Sir Elton said during an interview on Jan. 19 on the U.K.'s Beats 1 program. The show's host, Zane Lowe, also Tweeted that John said he'd be "writing with Gaga tomorrow." Meanwhile, Elton has released a new video for "Blue Wonderful" from his new studio album, Wonderful Crazy Night. The video shows a pair of dancers moving in surreal, dream-like motions, floating through the air to create the feeling of magic in an otherwise unmusical, suburban setting. John previously released a video for the first single, "Look Up." Wonderful Crazy Night, John's 33rd studio album, is due Feb. 5 via Island Records. - Billboard, 1/20/16...... Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers will be among the artists headlining the 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which is set for April 22-24 and April 28-May 1. The hundreds of artists set to appear also include Neal Young + Promise of the Real, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie, Boz Scaggs, Herbie Hancock, Nick Jonas and My Morning Jacket. - Billboard, 1/19/16...... Former Police frontman Sting and former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel have announed they'll be co-headlining a 19-date tour of North America beginning on June 21 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Oh. "I have no idea what they're going to do together, but I do know that whatever they do together will feel totally natural and great," said Live Nation touring division exec Arthur Fogel. - Billboard, 1/19/16...... The linuep for a planned two-night Fleetwood Mac tribute concert in Los Angeles in February has been announced. Artists and celebrities include Mark Ronson, Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Joanna Newsom, Perry and Etty Farrell, Cold War Kids, Sarah Silverman, Will Forte and Danny Masterson, among others. The tribute is set for L.A.'s Fonda Theatre on Feb. 9 and 10. The show will benefit Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and The Sweet Stuff Foundation. There is no word yet if anyone from Fleetwood Mac will make an appearance. - Billboard, 1/20/16...... A Kris Kristofferson tribute concert set for March 16 at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena will feature performances by Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Eric Church and Lady Antebellum. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will also perform at "The Life and Songs of Kris Kristofferson," and the show will be taped for a future telecast. - AP, 1/20/16...... Ozzy OsbourneBlack Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has announced that his band has opted not to record a final album to go along with the band's upcoming The End tour, but they will have a final piece of product to offer fans. Osbourne and Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler say the group has prepared an eight-track CD that will be sold only at shows featuring four unreleased tracks from sessions for 2013's Grammy Award-winning 13, which was also Sabbath's first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. The set includes "Season of the Dead," "Cry All Night," "Take Me Home" and "Isolated Man," along with live versions of the 13 tracks "God Is Dead?," "Age of Reason" and "End of the Beginning" and the Vol. 4 deep cut "Under The Sun." The End tour kicks off Jan. 20 in Omaha, Neb., with dates currently booked into September. The lineup will include Osbourne, Butler and guitarist Tony Iommi from the original band, with drummer Tommy Clufetos sitting in for co-founder Bill Ward, who remains on the outs with the group and its management. - Billboard, 1/19/16...... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will be among the artists appearing on the upcoming season of the PBS performance series Front and Center. Tyler, who is expected to release a country-influenced solo debut album in 2016, will appear on the Feb. 29 edition of the show. - Billboard, 1/20/16...... The official cause of death of late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has been revealed, with the surprise death now being attributed to prostate cancer. His death certificate also lists congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia as contributing factors. Kilmister's death was originally attributed to an "extremely aggressive cancer" when the singer passed away on Dec. 28 at age 70. - TMZ.com, 1/19/16...... The Ann Wilson Thing!, Heart frontwoman Ann Wilson's solo project, has announced its digital live EP, Live at The Belly Up, is available now at BellyUpLive.com. It will be released through all digital outlets on Jan. 29. Recorded at Solana Beach, CA's legendary Belly Up nightclub, the EP features seven riveting performances that refresh works by artists from Bob Dylan to Aretha Franklin and everywhere in between. The EP will available via all digital outlets beginning Jan. 29. In Sept. 2015, Wilson's "passion project" The Ann Wilson Thing released it's first EP, #1, and embarked on her first solo tour ever, with stops in intimate venues across the country throughout September and October. - Miles High Productions, 1/20/16...... Dale GriffinDrummer Dale Griffin, a former member of the British glam-rock outfit Mott the Hoople, passed away in his sleep on Jan. 17 after having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a decade ago. He was 67. Griffin was a founding member of the group that released eight albums over their five-and-a-half years as a band. Mott the Hoople are best known for their hit "All The Young Dudes," which was penned by David Bowie. The band were on the verge of splitting in 1972 when Bowie wrote "All The Young Dudes" for them, after originally offering them "Sufragette City." "All The Young Dudes" became a hit and spurred the band on to create more hits with "Honaloochie Boogie," "All The Way From Memphis" and "Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll" all following. Mott The Hoople split in 1974 after completing a European tour. Griffin continued playing alongside bassist Pete Overend Watts and Morgan Fisher under the name Mott in 1976. The original band reunited in 2009 for their 40th anniversary but Griffin was unable to perform with the group due to ill-health, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 58. Griffin later worked as a producer for BBC live music sessions by bands including Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins and Pulp. - New Musical Express, 1/19/16...... Mic Gillette, a talented trumpet and trombone player and founding member of the Oakland, Calif., soul-R&B powerhouse Tower of Power, died unexpectedly on Jan. 16. He was 64. Gillette was a key component of Tower of Power's legendary horn section, which is routinely ranked among the best of its kind over the last 50 years. He also touched many in his East Bay neighborhood with his tireless involvement with and support for middle and high school music programs. The acclaimed brass player, who performed on both trumpet and trombone, was prominently featured on the band's best-known recordings, including such hits as "You're Still a Young Man," "So Very Hard to Go" and "What Is Hip?" He remained with Tower of Power until the mid-1980s, when he decided to trade in the touring life to spend more time with his family. He rejoined the seminal Oakland act from 2009 to 2011. "Mic was without a doubt the greatest brass player I've ever known," Tower of Power band leader Emilio Castillo said on the band's website. "Our sincere condolences go out to his wife, Julia, and his daughter, Megan, and their entire family." - 1/19/16.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Jan. 19th, 2016





The rock music world suffered its second major shock in a week when the Eagles confirmed on their official website on Jan. 18 that founding member Glenn Frey, who had been battling intestinal issues in the past year, had died in New York from a combination of illnesses including rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia. He was 67. "Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia," read the statement. "Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide," it continued. Glenn FreyBorn on Nov. 6, 1948, in Detroit, Frey was raised in nearby Royal Oak, Mich., and was exposed to both the Motown sounds and harder-edged rock of his hometown, including Bob Seger and his band. After playing in a succession of local bands in Detroit, Frey first connected with Seger when Frey's band, the Mushrooms, convinced Seger to write a song for them. Seger also invited Frey to sing backing vocals on Seger's first hit, 1968's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," which was also Frey's first recorded appearance. After relocatiing to Los Angeles with his then-girlfriend Joan Silwin, Frey was introduced to songwriter John David Souther by Silwin's sister, Alexandra. Before long, Frey, Souther and another aspiring songwriter, Jackson Browne were living as roommates in East L.A. and quickly became deeply involved in the burgeoning L.A. country-rock scene centered around the Troubadour nightclub. Frey and Souther, calling themselves Longbranch Pennywhistle, secured a recording contract with the short-lived indie label Amos Records in 1969, but soon split up. However 1971 would prove to be a fateful year when future country-rock superstar Linda Ronstadt hired Frey and his friend, drummer Don Henley to play in her backing band, on the advice of her boyfriend, Souther. Frey and Henley decided to form their own band on the night of their first show backing Ronstadt, and later recruited ex-Poco bassist Randy Meisner and former Flying Burrito Brothers guitarist Bernie Leadon to join them. Calling themselves the Eagles, they became one of the first artists signed to David Geffen's new label, Asylum Records. The EaglesThe Eagles became an instant success after releasing their eponymous debut album in 1972, with its lead track, "Take It Easy" (written mostly by Jackson Browne with some lyrics added by Frey), climbing to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June of that year. The Eagles then became the standard-bearers of the California soft-rock scene with a string of Top 40 mid-'70s hits including "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Desperado," "Tequila Sunrise," "Best of My Love" (No. 1 March 1975) "Witchy Woman" the funkier "One of These Nights" (No. 1 August 1975) and the harder-edged "Already Gone." The Eagles added an additional guitarist, Don Felder, in 1974, and after Bernie Leadon left in 1975, recruited Joe Walsh, a successful solo artist himself, to beef up the band's sound and help them reach even greater heights in 1976 with the mega-selling Hotel California. Two singles from that LP, the title track and Frey's "New Kid in Town" (possibly his defining song), reached No. 1 on the Hot 200, and along with Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours, defined the late '70s California rock scene. With drugs, egos and success taking their toll, it would be three years before the Eagles released their next album, The Long Run, and while that album was a commercial success, the band succumbed to infighting and split in 1980. Frey embarked on a successful solo career, releasing his debut solo album No Fun Aloud in 1982, and enjoying a series of '80s hits, the biggest of which were tied to movie and TV soundtracks like Beverly Hills Cop ("The Heat Is On") and Miami Vice ("You Belong to the City"). The EaglesFrey also began a side career in acting, and portrayed a drug-smuggling musician on Miami Vice named Jimmy Cole. In 1991, after solo hits by Frey and Don Henley began to dry up, the Eagles' manager Irving Azoff mastermined a reunion tour with a title, "Hell Freezes Over," that mocked the acrimony which caused the band to spllit up. The Eagles continued to tour periodically -- and lucratively -- over the past two decades, releasing just scattered new material (including a successful studio album called Long Road Out of Eden in 2012) and focusing on solo works. In 2007, Frey released his first solo album since the 1990s, a collection of pop standards called After Hours. Although the Eagles were reviled by some as much as they were revered during their heyday, the enduring quality of their hits or the freshness of their sound cannot be denied, and for many years the group's 1976 collection Their Greatest Hits 1971-75 regularly swapped places with Michael Jackson's Thriller as the top the top-selling album of all time, being certified a whopping 29 times platinum by the RIAA. Similarly, Hotel California is certified 16 times platinum. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Frey had been battling intestinal issues that caused the band to postpone its Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. A statement from the band said then the recurring problem would require "major surgery and a lengthy recovery period." Don Henley issued a statement calling Frey "like a brother to me" and while there was some dysfunction, "the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved... I'm not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some." - Billboard, 1/18/16.

A concert by Holy Holy, a band formed by David Bowie's longtime producer Tony Visconti and Bowie's one-time drummer Woody Woodmansey that had been booked at Toronto's Opera House since December, took new meaning on Jan. 12 after the passing of the 69-year-old rock legend on Jan. 10. Holy Holy, named after an obscure 1971 Bowie single and originally brought together to perform Bowie's 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World in its entirety on tour, performed not only that album but also classics from Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era. "We have David's total approval on this tour," Visconti told the audience. David Bowie"He saw the videos; he heard the music; and he's so happy you're doing this and I want you to know too, so we're going to celebrate the life of David Bowie." Visconti, who appeared tearful at times, added: "The reason why we're doing this is about 46 years ago Woody and I were the original musicians who played this album, so technically we're not a tribute band; we are the real deal." The band closed out the two-hour concert with "Time" and "Suffragette City," with the crowd throwing red roses onstage. Meanwhile, Bowie's family posted a new message on Bowie's official Facebook page on Jan. 14 thanking fans for their recent "love and support" following the music icon's passing, describing themselves as "overwhelmed and grateful," and announcing plans for a private funeral service. "Thank you. The family of David Bowie is currently making arrangements for a private ceremony celebrating the memory of their beloved husband, father and friend...We are overwhelmed by and grateful for the love and support shown throughout the world," the message read, and also requested that fans "respect their privacy at this most sensitive of times" and noted that while the concerts and tributes planned in honor of Bowie in the coming weeks are welcome, "none are official memorials organised or endorsed by the family." Two Bowie tributes -- in Berlin and New Orleans -- already occurred on Jan. 17, with a memorial service held at Berlin's Hansa Studios, where Bowie recorded most of his "Berlin trilogy" albums (Low, Lodgers, "Heroes"), and a parade in New Orleans led by the band Arcade Fire that brought traffic in the city to a standstill. Additionally, two rock music superstars -- Elton John and Bruce Springsteen -- have honored the Thin White Duke during concerts in the past week. John performed a special "piano requiem" as a tribute to Bowie during his concert at L.A.'s Wiltern Theater on on Jan. 13, weaving his own hit "Rocket Man" and Bowie's "Space Oddity," and Springsteen, performing in Pittsburgh on the opening night of his The River Tour, treated the crowd to a rousing rendition of Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" from Diamond Dogs. According to a report in the U.K. paper The Guardian, the singer has been privately cremated in New York without any friends and family present, as per his wishes. He wanted "to go without any fuss", a source told the paper. The executors of Bowie's will have revealed that his family stands to inherit his fortune, thanks to his "Bowie bonds" scheme devised by California-based banker David Pullman, which gave investors the rights to royalties for his first 25 albums for 10 years, before ownership returned to him and llowed him to buy back the rights to some of his most popular work from a former manager. "He was astute financially and he had the foresight to have things set up then that would look after his family," Pullman said on Jan. 13. David BowieAs predicted, Bowie's 26th album Blackstar, which was released on Jan. 8, his 69th birthday, has debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, giving the music legend his first No. 1 album. Blackstar earned 181,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., during the week ending Jan. 14, according to Nielsen Music, of which 174,000 were in pure (complete) album sales. Bowie also has had nine albums from his catalog either re-enter or debut on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, with The Best of Bowie entering at No. 4 and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars at No. 21. Bowie's history on the chart dates back nearly 44 years, when Hunky Dory bowed on the chart dated April 15, 1972. Blackstar is additionally the first posthumous No. 1 Billboard album since Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack arrived atop the list dated Nov. 14, 2009. In the U.K., Bowie scored an astonishing 19 Top 100 albums on the Official Charts roundup, with 150,000 copies of Blackstar sold in the first week. Bowie's singles have also reentered the U.K. chart, with "Heroes" at No. 11, "Life On Mars" at No. 16, and eleven other Bowie singles charting on the U.K. Top 100. Bowie producer Tony Visconti has revealed that the artist was planning a follow-up to Blackstar, and reached out to him in the weeks prior to his death to discuss entering the studio. " I was thrilled," Visconti said, "and I thought, and he thought, that he'd have a few months, at least. Obviously, if he's excited about doing his next album, he must've thought he had a few more months. So the end must've been very rapid. I'm not privy to it. I don't know exactly, but he must've taken ill very quickly after that phone call." Visconti added he was first made aware of Bowie's illness a year ago when the performer showed up for a Blackstar session in New York with tell-tale signs of chemo treatment -- he had no eyebrows or hair on his head. In other developments, the SiriusXM satellite radio service brought back the David Bowie Channel on Jan. 12 in honor of the musician. "Since his death, many of our channels have been playing music from his legendary career. Now we'd like to present an entire channel devoted to his artistic genius and extraordinary musical longevity," SiriusXM president Scott Greenstein said in a statement. The station will run until Jan. 18 on SiriusXM's The Loft station, channel 30. Meanwhile, a lightning-bolt shaped constellation has been named after Bowie by Belgian astronomers. The constellation is constructed by seven stars fittingly in the direction of Mars, and shaped like the lightning bolt that cover's Bowie's face on his iconic 1973 Aladdin Sane album cover. Finally, one man in the U.K. has launched a petition to rename the planet Mars after Bowie. So far he has gained nearly 5,000 supporters, and in another petition that's gaining greater traction, more than 25,000 people have signed on to support a campaign to put Bowie on the upcoming £20 British banknote, replacing Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, who has been on the bill since 2010. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 1/17/16...... CherCher has donated thousands of bottles of water to residents of Flint, Mich., as the city struggles with a drinking water crisis linked to lead contamination. Cher has reportedly paid for more than 180,000 bottles of water to be shipped to Flint beginning on Jan. 17, calling the situation "a tragedy of staggering proportion and shocking that it's happening in the middle of our country." Flint's 100,000 residents haven't had safe water to drink and bathe in since 2014, when officials began drawing water from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. However, the city did not treat corrosive water properly, which led to metal leaching from old pipes. - AP, 1/16/16...... Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer has announced he'll be opening up a new coffee shop in Nort Attleboro, Mass., just 40 miles outside of Boston, in April. Kramer says the 1,500 square-foot facility will serve up organic coffee and have a rock 'n' roll theme, with Kramer's drum kit and other Aerosmith memorabilia on display. Kramer has already put his name on a line of organic coffee, according to his business parter Frank Cimler, and they hope the business will be the first in string of coffeehouses with a "rock star edge." - AP, 1/16/16...... Actor Tim Curry, who played Dr. Frank N Furter in the original 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show cult classic, has signed on to appear in Fox's upcoming live, two-hour TV remake of the movie. This time around, Curry will portray the criminologist narrator in a cast that also includes Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert, Victoria Justice and Ryan McCartan. The Fox version is set to air in fall 2016. - Billboard, 1/15/16...... A soundtrack to accompany the new HBO series Vinyl, which premieres on the channel on Feb. 14, will be released by Atlantic and Warner Bros. Records on Feb. 12. Vinyl: Music From the HBO Original Series - Volume 1 will feature music in and inspired by the first episode, and two days prior to the finale of the series, a second physical and digital soundtrack will come out. Set in New York in the early '70s, Vinyl is executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger and pivots around label head Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale), as he tries to save his record company. It also stars Olivia Wilde, Juno Temple, Ray Romano, Andrew Dice Clay and Jagger's son, James, who plays the lead singer of fictional band Nasty Bits. - Billboard, 1/15/16...... Neil YoungA one-night-only Neil Young film event, "An Evening with Neil Young," will take place in theaters across the U.S. on Feb. 29 featuring two Young films and feature a Q&A with Young hosted by director Cameron Crowe. The Young-starred, co-directed and co-written 1982 film Human Highway will be followed by Young's 1979 concert film, Rust Never Sleeps, and capped off with a live Q&A. - Billboard, 1/14/16...... Veteran soul singer Patti LaBelle, 71, has reportedly struck up a romance with the drummer in her band, Eric Seats, who is 30 years her junior. "She tried to keep it quiet," a source told the website Dailymail.com. "But everyone around her has figured things out now. She's completely smitten with him and they spend so much time together." The source claims LaBelle and the 41-year-old Seats first met years ago, when he was hired to be her drummer, and he helped "heal her broken heart" after the end of a previous relationship. Seats, an accomplished musician, has also toured with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliot. - WENN.com, 1/13/16...... Pete Huttlinger, best known for being the lead guitarist in John Denver's band, died on Jan. 15 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after suffering a stroke. He was 54. Huttlinger, the youngest son of a former White House correspondent named Joseph Bernard Huttlinger, graduated with honors from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and moved to Nashville to begin his musical career. Ten years later he connected with Denver after a producer heard him playing on a recording session. Huttlinger toured with Denver over the next four years and played on his various recordings. He would go on to tour with such artists as LeAnn Rimes and John Oates. As a solo artist, Huttlinger recorded more than 15 albums. - Billboard, 1/16/16...... Giorgio Gomelsky, best known as the first manager of the Rolling Stones, died on Jan. 13 after a battle with cancer. He was 82. The Soviet-born and Swiss-raised Mr. Gomelsky originally moved to England to be a filmmaker, but became in London's London's burgeoning blues scene led by Alexis Korner and the as yet little known Rolling Stones. He opened the Crawdaddy Club where the Stones were essentially the house band and began managing their career, but by May of 1963 he had been disloged by Andrew Loog Oldham as their manager. Mr. Gomelsky then shifted his attention to managing The Yardbirds and began booking them at the Crawdaddy, along with other British acts like Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll and Gong. Mr. Gomelsky moved to New York in 1978 and settled into a building on 24th St. in Chelsea that later was converted into an underground club know as the Green Door. - Billboard, 1/14/16...... Alan RickmanAcclaimed British actor Alan Rickman, one of the best-loved and most warmly admired British actors of the past 30 years, died in London on Jan. 14 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Rickman, who rose to fame in Hollywood as the sharp-tongued baddie Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard film, was much-loved on both sides of the Atlantic, later adding to his list of on-screen antagonists when he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Price of Thieves, for which he won a BAFTA, and finding a new generation of fans as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series. Other memorable roles included playing Metatron -- the voice of God -- in Dogma, as a deceased over in Truly Madly Deeply, and as Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. Although Rickman would never win an Oscar, he would add to his BAFTA win for Robin Hood with a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, both for his lead role in HBO's 1996 TV film Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. Rickman is survived by his wife Rima Horton, who he met as a teenager and married in New York in 2012. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/14/16...... Actor Dan Haggerty, best known as the lead character in the 1974 TV movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and the subsequent series of the same name that ran in 1977-78, died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif., on Jan. 15 after a bout with spinal cancer. He was 73. Born Nov. 19, 1942, in Los Angeles, Haggerty was the son of an entertainment industry veteran who as a young man got a job with a ranch in the San Fernando Valley that trained animals for movies. He became an animal handler, wrangling rabbits and frogs for various film productions, and was a stuntman on the side. The combination of skills led to his discovery as an actor, and a colleague on the set later tapped the bearded Haggerty for the role of the burly, amiable woodsman in the 1974 back-to-nature TV movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and later the series of the same name. The family-programming hit premiered in 1977 and ran for 37 episodes and made Haggerty and his bushy beard famous. In 1985, a jury found Haggerty guilty of one count of selling cocaine to undercover officers who were part of an "entertainment industry task force" run by the LAPD at the time. Jurors threw out a second count, apparently because Haggerty had grown so genuinely fond of the two officers. A few months later, he suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident on Benedict Canyon Road. While still recovering, he was sentenced by a federal court for failure to pay taxes. He then marketed a Cajun barbecue sauce, tried his hand as a restaurateur and kept acting. He reprised his Grizzly Adams character in several TV movies and appeared on dozens of other shows, including Charlie's Angels, CHiPs and The Love Boat. Later productions romanticized motorbikes, nature and family -- and at least one starred a chimpanzee. Haggerty, who was preceded in death by his wife Samantha, is survived by daughters Megan and Tracy Haggerty, sons Dylan, Cody and Don, all of Los Angeles, and one grandson. - The Los Angeles Times, 1/15/16...... Jim Simpson, a Hall of Fame sportscaster who was best known for his work on AFL games for NBC when he was hired by fledgling ESPN in 1979, died on Jan. 13 after a short illness. He was 88. Mr. Simpson was ESPN's first play-by-play announcer, and called college football, college basketball, college baseball, the USFL, and the NBA. He also called the World Series, Olympics and Wimbledon for NBC, and did play by play for Super Bowl I for NBC Radio. - ESPN.com, 1/13/16.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Jan. 12th, 2016





The shocking news of David Bowie's death on Jan. 10 after an 18-month battle with cancer, just days after releasing a new album Blackstar on his 69th birthday, has been met with disbelief from fans, celebrities and members of the music industry. Bowie's longtime producer and collaborator Tony Visconti said that Bowie "always did what he wanted to do...and he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way." "His death was no different from his life - a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry," Visconti added. David BowiePaul McCartney was one of the estimated 100 million Facebook interactions who remembered the rock luminary on his Facebook page: "Very sad news to wake up to on this raining morning. David was a great star and I treasure the moments we had together. His music played a very strong part in British musical history and I'm proud to think of the huge influence he has had on people all around the world," Sir Paul posted on Jan. 11. John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono remembered Bowie on her website as being something of a father figure to the couple's son, Sean, after the former Beatle was gunned down in Dec.1980: "John and David respected each other. They were well matched in intellect and talent. As John and I had very few friends we felt David was as close as family." Bowie's record label, Columbia, posted "We are deeply saddened by the loss of David Bowie. It was an honor and a privilege to release his music to the world." On Twitter, a massive number of over 4.3 million tweets poured in worldwide, with the title track from Blackstar clocking more than 5 hours as the service's most shared and discussed track. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger posted that Bowie was "always an inspiration to me and a true original," while Bowie's first wife, Angie Bowie, told a TV news crew that "I just feel like an era has ended with his passing. I'm so very sad... The stardust is gone." Traditional press outlets across the world also covered the news, with the U.K.'s Daily Mirror announcing "The stars look very different today... The world mourns a legend," and the Daily Telegraph illustrating its daily edition with Aladdin Sane-era photographs. Thousands of Bowie fans gathered in the star's birthplace of Brixton, London on Jan. 11 to celebrate his life, with people playing and singing such Bowie songs as "Heroes," "Rebel Rebel", "Starman" and "Suffragette City" on harmonica and acoustic guitars. David BowieMeanwhile, Blackstar is on track to be Bowie's first No. 1 album on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, with industry forecasters saying the LP could sell upwards of 130,000 albums in the week ending Jan. 14, and debut at debut at No. 1 on the same chart in the week dated Jan. 30 (Bowie's highest-charting album so far was his previous one, 2013's The Next Day, which debuted and peaked at No. 2). In the U.K., OfficialCharts.com is predicting Blackstar will also top the charts there to become Bowie's 10th chart-topping LP in his native country. On the streaming services and online retailers, streams of Bowie songs surged 2,700% after the news of his passing broke, and digital editions of Bowie albums are also being scooped up by fans on iTunes and Amazon.com. Blackstar skyrocketed to No. 1 on the iTunes Store's constantly updated chart, with his Best of Bowie collection at No. 2, and on Amazon, Blackstar is only being outsold by Adele's new album, 25. Meanwhile, sources close to Bowie have revealed that the singer "died from liver cancer" after "surviving six heart attacks." Writer Wendy Leigh, who published a biography about Bowie in 2014, claims that the star had suffered a series of heart attacks prior to his passing. "He didn't just battle cancer| he had six heart attacks in recent years. I got this from somebody very close to him," Leigh told BBC News. And the New York Times is reporting that New York's Carnegie Hall will present a memorial concert in tribute to David Bowie and his legacy (the concert was already in the works before he died, but will now be a memorial). Among the confirmed artists to perform thus far are The Roots, Cyndi Lauper, Ann Wilson of Heart, and the Mountain Goats. Tony Visconti -- who produced Bowie's last album Blackstar -- is reportedly assembling the house band. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 1/12/16...... The life of singer Natalie Cole was celebrated during a memorial service at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, with such R&B icons as Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Gladys Knight, Eddie Levert of The O'Jays, Mary Wilson and Freda Payne attending. Also on hand was longtime friend Chaka Khan, who was expected to perform but was under the weather. One of the service's more touching moments, noted one attendee, was Wonder's delivery of the Lord's Prayer. Cole, the daughter of popular music icon Nat "King" Cole, died on New Year's Eve at age 65 of pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure. - Billboard, 1/11/16...... David GilmourFormer Pink Floyd guitarist/singer David Gilmour has topped Billboard Hot Tours list of top-grossing tours for the first week of January with $25.7 million in ticket sales revenue from the South American leg of his 2015-2016 world tour. Gilmour is on the road supporting his latest album, Rattle That Lock, which was released in September. Gilmour's South American trek kicked off in December in Brazil, opening with a two-night stint at Sao Paulo's Allianz Parque in front of more than 84,000 fans in attendance for performances on Dec. 11 and 12. Sales for both performances topped the $8 million mark. Gilmour kicked off his world tour in September with a 7-city swing through Europe that continued through Oct. 18. It is set to resume in March with concerts booked in four major North American markets through mid-April. - Billboard, 1/7/16...... Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 84, and model/actress Jerry Hall, 59, have announced they will be getting married in the "Births, Marriages and Deaths" section of the British paper The Times, which Murdoch's company owns. It will be the first marriage for both Hall, the former girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, and Murdoch. The night before they shared the good news, Murdoch and Hall stepped out together at the Golden Globes. The couple have been dating since September after reportedly being set up by Murdoch's sister and niece. - Justjared.com, 1/11/16...... Brett Smiley a glam-rock cult hero who earlier appeared on Broadway in the original musical "Oliver!" in 1965, died on Jan. 8 at his home in New York City. He was 60. In 1974, Smiley recorded an album titled Breathlessly Brett that was produced by British rock impressario Andrew Loog Oldham, however it was shelved until eventually being released in the U.K. in 2003. Smiley was also the subject of Nina Antonia's book, The Prettiest Star: Whatever Happened to Brett Smiley? In recent years, he fronted a series of small bands in New York. - AP, 1/11/16...... Singer Red Simpson, who helped pioneer the "Bakersfield Sound" and was one of the original musicians on Merle Haggard's country classic "Okie from Muskogee," died on Jan. 8 in a Bakersfield, Calif., hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was 81. In the '60s, Mr. Simpson was a regular performer at Bakersfield's historic Blackboard Club, where he replaced Buck Owens, who had struck out on his own history making career. Mr. Simpson, who charted such singles on the Billboard country charts as "Roll Truck Roll," ""The Highway Patrol," "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves" and "Mini-Skirt Minnie," had his biggest success in 1971 with "I'm a Truck," which reached No. 4 on the country singles chart. His final charted single was 1979's "The Flyin' Saucer Man and the Truck Driver," which barely dented the charts at No. 99. Mr. Simpson also wrote the Haggard classic "You Don't Have Very Far To Go," which has been recorded by artists like Rosanne Cash. Mr. Simpson was on a tour in the Pacific Northwest recently when he fell ill, and died after being rushed to a Bakersfield hospital. - Billboard, 1/9/16...... Veteran TV producer Norman Lear of All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Maude fame has announced he will be reviving his '70s-'80s family sitcom One Day at a Time with a Cuban-American spin for the popular streaming service Netflix. Before landing at the streaming giant, the revival of the show had been in the works for quite some time, and Lear has spoken about developing the project over the past year. Described as "a reimagining" of the classic, the modernized series that "will center around a Cuban-American family," the rebooted One Day at a Time will have its heroine as a recently separated, former military mom navigating a new single life, while raising her radical teenage daughter and socially adept tween son with the help of her old-school Cuban-born mom (played by Rita Moreno and a friends-without-benefits building manager named Schneider. - Variety, 1/11/16...... Pat HarringtonIn related news, actor/comedian Pat Harrington, Jr., who portrayed the farcically macho building superintendent Dwayne Schneider in the original One Day at a Time series, died on Jan. 6 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 86. Although billed as a supporting actor on One Day at a Time, Mr. Harrington provided such welcome comic relief that the program's popularity and longevity -- it aired on CBS from 1975 to 1984 -- was owed as much to him as to anyone. Years afterward, producer Norman Lear said Mr. Harrington "turned out to be the comic strength of the show." Born in Manhattan on Aug. 13, 1929, Mr. Harrington went to a Catholic military school and graduated from Fordham University, where he also later received a master's degree in political philosophy. After serving in the Air Force, he began working in the NBC mail room, a job he parlayed into a junior advertising salesman position for the network. Before gaining fame as Schneider, Mr. Harrington worked in nightclubs, released comedy albums, and appeared in several made-for-TV movies, including The Affair, The Healers, Let's Switch and Savage. A seasoned comic performer, Mr. Harrington often entertained clients at Toots Shor's, the Manhattan watering hole, where he had his greatest success conjuring a fictional Italian immigrant named Guido Panzini, part of a gag he honed over many years and many drinks. - The Washington Post, 1/8/16...... R&B singer Otis Clay, a Blues Hall of Fame musician who also was a community activist on Chicago's West Side, died of a heart attack on Jan. 8. He was 73. Clay had been preparing an upcoming gospel tour and had been nominated for two Blues Music Awards -- one for his album with Billy Price and one for soul blues music artist. Clay's manager, Miki Mulvehil, said Clay was not only a great musician but a humanitarian, who often performed his 1993 standard, "When the Gates Swing Open" for funerals. - AP, 1/9/16...... Early '60s rock & roll singer Troy Shondell, whose song "Kissin' at the Drive-In" became a popular tune at drive-in movie theaters, died on Jan. 7 at a nursing facility in Picayune, Miss, of complications related to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. He was 76. Shondell hit the Billboard charts in 1961 with "This Time (We're Really Breaking Up)," which spent four months on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart in 1961 and also charted on the UK singles chart. He later became a songwriter and publisher in Nashville, Tenn. - AP, 1/9/16...... Robert Balser, who served as the animation director for the Beatles' 1968 film Yellow Submarine and on the Saturday morning Jackson 5 cartoons of the early 1970s, died on Jan. 11 of complications from respiratory failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 88. More than 200 artists were under Mr. Balser's supervision on the surreal Yellow Submarine, a vividly colored film set in the paradise of Pepperland. The production that took 11 months to complete on a budget of less than $1 million. Mr. Balser also partnered with graphic design legend Saul Bass on the seven-minute, end-of-film animated title sequence for Michael Anderson's star-studded Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and he helmed the otherworldly "Den" sequence for Heavy Metal in 1981. - Billboard, 1/7/16.

David BowieLegendary British singer/songwriter/actor David Bowie, one of the most iconic and influential rock stars of the 1970s and beyond whose stature can perhaps only be matched by Bob Dylan, died on Jan. 10 after a private 18-month battle with cancer, his publicist has announced. He was 69. "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief," his rep posted on Twitter. Bowie, who excelled at glam-rock, art-rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his amazing and eclectic 40-plus-year career, died just days after the release of his 25th album Blackstar, which came out on Jan. 8, his birthday. Born David Jones in South London on Jan. 8, 1947, Bowie nearly lost sight in his left eye in a boyhood fight after surgery left him with a paralyzed pupil. After attending Bromley High School, he worked as a commercial artist for a London ad agency, and played saxophone in local semi-pro groups around 1963 before forming his own outfit David Jones and the Lower Third which recorded one obscure album. After The Monkees became famous later in the '60s, he changed his surname to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones. Contracted to the Pye Records label as a solo artist in 1966, he made two unsuccessful singles before moving to Decca the following year. His pop material for that label was first gathered together on 1967's The World of David Bowie, although a more complete collection, Images 1966-67, later appeared as a double album set on London Records in 1973. David BowieHis early semi-hits as a pop singer, including "Love You Till Tuesday," "Rubber Band," and "The Laughing Gnome" (an embarrassing novelty recorded reissued by Decca and became a Top 10 U.K. hit in 1973) showed a theatrical bias and heavy debt to the phrasing of British singer/actor Anthony Newley. In 1969, he released Space Oddity (originally titled Man of Words Man of Music), which although an undisciplined album, nevertheless possessed a freshness and individuality that would later bear fruit. The title track of Space Oddity saw the artist break through into the U.K. Top Five (and when reissued in 1976 in the U.K. it even topped the charts), and after a brief "retirement" to run the Arts Lab in South London, he returned to the studio in 1970 to cut the powerful, doom-ladened LP, The Man Who Sold the World, which many critics count among his finest works. His taste for rock returned, and he began to play occasional dates first as a soloist with an acoustic guitar and later with the as-yet unnamed Spiders From Mars -- Mick Ronson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass), and Woody Woodmansey (drums). It was at this point that Bowie was beginning to indulge in his taste for outrageous clothing, posing in ankle-length dresses with his model wife Angie Bowie and their child, Zowie. After 1971's Hunky Dory from this period drew widespread critical plaudits, his 1972-recorded Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars became his blueprint for stardom. On its release, and a turning-point London charity gig previewing the Spiders' stunningly-theatrical stage presentation, Bowie shot to eminence in a blaze of publicity and acclaim, helped along by a new record deal with a major U.S. label, RCA Records. Ziggy became a million-seller, and from that point on, Bowie consistently charted on the singles and album charts in Britain and the U.S., first breaking through in America when RCA released "Space Oddity" as a single in 1973. David BowieDuring this period, he also worked with other artists including Lou Reed and Mott the Hoople, and in late 1972 he undertook an extensive U.S. tour with the Spiders, the experience of which he used to write material for his May 1973 LP, Aladdin Sane. Released to perhaps an unsurpassed wave of public interest, the album didn't quite measure up to the standard set by Ziggy, though it did produce a couple of semi-classic singles, "Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday," the former purportedly about his friend Iggy Pop. Two months later he recorded Pin Ups, (released in Oct. 1973), which comprised reworkings of his favorite oldies from the 1964-67 U.K. pop scene, which again was met with only muted critical approval. In July 1973, during the last date of a 60-concert U.K. tour, he stunned the rock world by announcing his "retirement" from the road, and never worked with the Spiders From Mars again. Shortly after his "retirement," Bowie filmed his now-famous NBC-TV Midnight Special episode, a lavish production entitled "The 1980 Floor Show" at the London Marquee Club and then left by boat for the U.S. (having a fear of planes and refusing to fly anywhere), where he began to base his center of operations. During his 1974 U.S. tour, which was chronicled on his million-selling double album David Live, he began to first display signs of a gradual shift away from rock and towards R&B and soul territories, and in 1975 he released Young Americans, which was recorded largely at Sigma Studios in Philadelphia. That album's brilliant title track returned him to the U.K. and U.S. charts, as did its follow-up, "Fame" (co-written with John Lennon). "Fame" became Bowie's first U.S. No. 1 single, and also established him in the U.S. disco market. In the spring of 1976, after another lengthy U.S. tour, Bowie returned to the U.K. for the first time since his 1973 "retirement" for a series of major gigs at London Wembley Empire Pool. Moving to Los Angeles, Bowie became a fixture of American pop culture, and even played the title role in director Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth. David BowieHe then returned to the U.K. for the first time in three years before settling in Berlin, where he lived in semi-reclusion, studying art, painting, and recording with Brian Eno. His work in this period, known as the "Berlin trilogy," was comprised of Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), and Lodger (1979). After revitalizing Iggy Pop's career by producing The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), Bowie toured Europe and America as Pop's unannounced pianist. The next year, he embarked on a massive world tour, and a second live album, Stage (1978), was recorded on the U.S. leg of the tour. Settling in New York, he recorded the paranoic Scary Monsters LP (No. 12, 1980), and updated his classic "Space Oddity" single in "Ashes to Ashes." After that album, he turned his attention away from his recording career, and in 1980 played the title role in a stage production of "The Elephant Man." He collaborated with Queen in 1981's "Under Pressure," and in 1982 played a 150-year-old vampire in the movie The Hunger. In 1983, he signed one of the most lucrative contracts in history, and moved from RCA to EMI. That year's Let's Dance LP, his first album in three years, was produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers and returned him to the top of the charts with three Top 20 singles -- "Let's Dance" (No. 1), "China Girl" (No. 10) and "Modern Love" (No. 14). He toured behind that album with his sold-out Serious Moonlight Tour, and his career seemed revitalized. In 1989, he formed Tin Machine with Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Hunt and Tony Sales, who had worked with him on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life album. The followup, Tin Machine II, came in 1991, and lacking the novelty of the debut, was quickly forgotten.David Bowie In 1992, Bowie married Somilian supermodel Iman, and the following year he recorded Black Tie White Noise which he called his "wedding present to his wife." Although it received generally positive reviews, it failed to excite the public. In 1995, he recorded Outside with Eno, and toured with Nine Inch Nails as his opening act. The following year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and returned to the studio to record the techno-influenced Earthling, and followed that with two more albums, 1999's hours... and 2002's Heathen. He was relatively quiet between the years of 2004 and 2012, reemerging in 2013 with the album The Next Day. Its arrival was met with a social media firestorm which catapulted it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, his highest charting album ever. In recent years he kept a decidedly low profile, maintaining a residence in New York, but rarely being seen. He recently opened the rock musical "Lazarus" in New York, in which he revisited the character he played in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. A video for his song of the same name, which is included on his new Blackstar album, was released on Jan. 7. "I grew up listening to and watching the pop genius David Bowie. He was a master of re-invention, who kept getting it right. A huge loss," U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron posted on Twitter on Jan. 11 after learning the shocking news of Bowie's passing. David Bowie is survived by his wife Iman, his son, director Duncan Jones, and a daughter, Alexandria. - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock/The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll/Billboard, 1/11/16.