The new Aretha Franklin concert film Amazing Grace has been picked up by the American film production and distribution company NEON in time for the film to qualify for the 2018 Oscars. Amazing Grace, which tracks the Queen of Soul's return to gospel music in 1972 with the choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Calif., went unreleased for over three decades as it was tied up in legal issues. NEON is planning an early 2019 theatrical release of the film following its Oscar-qualifying run in NY and LA before the end of the year. Amazing Grace premiered at the DOC NYC festival in November, three months after Franklin died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/7/18...... Diana Ross will be among the performers on NBC's upcoming New Year's Eve special for 2019. NBC's New Year's Eve will air Dec. 31 from 10-11 p.m. ET/PT from Times Square in NYC, then break for local news and return for the countdown from 11:30p.m.-12:20 a.m. Kelly Clarkson, Andy Grammer, John Legend and Blake Shelton will also be performing in New York, while Keith Urban and Brett Young will also perform via a live telecast from Nashville. - Billboard, 12/7/18...... 
Steve Miller is joining forces with country star Marty Stuart and his band for a pair of "Music From Appalachia" shows at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in New York City on Dec. 7 and 8. The second show is being streamed on the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" Facebook page, and Miller promises it will shed a different insight on his exploration of the blues roots of jazz than his previous explorations into jazz greats Miles Davis, T-Bone Walker and the "blues triangle" of the Mississippi Delta, Chicago and Texas. "All the basic blues really came over from Africa with the slaves and was developed primarily in the Mississippi Delta," Miller says. "The Appalachian blues is kind of interesting because it's mountain music, and it was more integrated than the Delta blues was at the beginning because of coal mining and timber," he added. Miller and his Steve Miller Band will continue his collaboration with Marty Stuart and his band the Superlatives in the summer of 2019 as they tour the US together. "I'm thrilled because I'll be taking mandolin lessons every day," Miller says with a laugh. "Marty and his guys are going to come out and travel with us all over and country and I'm going to expose him to my audience. They've already come up to me and said, 'Oh, man, come on, we wanna do "Jet Airliner"! Let's do "Going to the Country."' It's just going to be a great time." After that tour, Miller says he's planning on laying low for a couple of years as he works on his next album, which he plans to release in 2021. - Billboard, 12/6/18...... Bruce Springsteen knocked down internet rumors that he's planning a 2019 tour with his E Street Band on Dec. 4 with a post on Twitter. "Just a note to quell some of the rumors over here on E Street. While we hope to be back with you soon, the E Street Band won't be touring in 2019," he posted. The Boss continued: "Before I go back to my day job, the year will be consumed with a break after our Broadway run and various recording projects I've been working on. We do hope to see you soon, and until then, we have some mighty E Streeters out there regularly performing with their own projects who'd love and deserve your support." In an interview with London's Sunday Times, the musician said he will be going "back to my day job" after performing on Broadway since 2017 but without further elaboration, which led fans to believe a tour was coming sooner than expected. Meanwhile, Springsteen's "Springsteen On Broadway" special will debut worldwide on Netflix on Dec. 16, the streaming service has announced. The film, which follows the structure and sequence of the Broadway show, includes the full length of Springsteen's theatrical creation interspersed with his songs played on piano and acoustic guitar. A soundtrack CD of the complete performance will drop on Dec. 14, with the performance also available on vinyl and digital download. - Billboard, 12/6/18...... 
On Dec. 3, 1968, NBC aired Elvis Presley famous "'68 Comeback Special" which relaunched the King of Rock 'n Roll's music career. Now the network is planning to mark the special's 50th anniversary with a 50th Anniversary of the Elvis Comeback Special on Feb. 17 with several prominent artists re-creating Elvis' 1968 performance that propelled him back into live performing after years of absence. In addition to musical performances, the two-hour special will also show exclusive footage of Presley and interviews from those involved in the special, including his late wife Priscilla Presley and director Steve Binder. The full lineup of musicians is set to be announced early next year. The new special, set for Feb. 17 from 9:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST, will be hosted by The Voice's Blake Shelton, and the full lineup of musicians is set to be announced early in 2019. A 7-disc deluxe reissue of the "'68 Comeback Special" was also recently released by RCA/Legacy Recordings. In other Elvis news, the central German town of Friedberg near Frankfurt, where Presley was stationed as a U.S. soldier in the late 1950s, has installed three pedestrian crossing lights with images of Elvis to honor the American rock icon. The lights show an image of the singer striking a pose at a microphone and the green depicts his trademarked hip swivel dance. They went online in early December in the town of Friedberg, where Elvis, who died in 1977, was stationed at the U.S. Army's Ray Barracks from October 1958 to March 1960. He lived in nearby Bad Nauheim. - Billboard/AP, 12/3/18...... Paul McCartney, who recently headlined a successful Austin City Limits show in October, has announced four additional U.S. stadium dates for his 2019 "Freshen Up" tour. The four new dates include McCartney's first-ever appearances at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., on June 8 and Globe Life Park in Arlington, Tex., on June 14. On June 22 and July 13, respectively, McCartney will return to Petco Park in San Diego and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, both of which hosted McCartney performances to capacity crowds on his 2014 "Out There" tour. The four new dates bring his "Freshen Up" tour to a total of 12 shows. The tour will kick off on May 23 at Smoothie King Arena in New Orleans and hit South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, before closing out with two shows in California. Sir Paul is touring behind his latest acclaimed LP, Egypt Station, which was released on Sept. 7 and became his first No. 1 album debut on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in over 36 years. - Billboard, 12/4/18...... 
The opening night of the new Cher-based Broadway musical "The Cher Show" on Dec. 3 at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York featured a surprise performance from the star herself. Cher was in the audience as three actresses -- Stephanie J. Block, Teal Wicks and Micaela Diamond -- stepped into her shoes at different stages of her life for renditions of 35 hit songs by the famous diva. The production ended with a stage appearance and short performance of "If I Could Turn Back Time" from the real Cher, accompanied by Block. Attending the premiere were the likes of Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Bernadette Peters, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. "The Cher Show" director Jason Moore said the singer provided direction for the musical "from the beginning," and that it was initially difficult to portray the life of someone who's still living. "We want to do her justice, and I think we have, but it's also been really fun because she gives us shortcuts," he said. "She's like, 'This is more me. This is what actually happened.' So we're telling the truth." - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/4/18...... In other Cher news, the singer was among the class of 2019 honorees at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 2. Among those honoring the 72-year-old iconic pop star were Cyndi Lauper with a show-stopping performance of "If I Could Turn Back Time," and a Lauper and Adam Lambert duet of the Sonny & Cher classic "I Got You, Babe." Lambert also put his stamp on "Believe," and got a standing ovation from Cher upon sustaining a high note. After the ceremony, Cher seemed genuinely honored to add this national honor to her treasure trove of awards. "Meryl [Streep] told me once, 'You do things for the art and if the award comes, it's a bonus,'" she said. But Cher added she never expected to win this particular award: "I never thought I was the right person to win this award, because I'm just a little bit out there. I'm the girl who rode the cannon." The event was taped and will air on CBS as a two-hour primetime special on Dec. 26. Cher will kick off her newest U.S. tour on Jan. 17, 2019, in Estero, Fla., and wrap on May 18, 2019, in Saint Paul, Minn. - Billboard, 12/3/18...... Elton John is among the big names in the running for this year's annual Christmas No. 1 single in the U.K. Bookies in the country are giving Sir Elton only a 15/2 chance of being this year's festive chart-topper however, for his performance of his first major hit "Your Song" which was used in a Christmas ad campaign for the UK retail chain John Lewis & Partners. Ariana Grande is currently the favourite, at 6/5, to land at the top spot on Dec. 22 with her latest single "Thank U, Next." - New Musical Express, 12/3/18...... Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to a number of classic Prince songs for a new original Prince-inspired movie. However, don't expect the fictional narrative to be a Prince biopic like the 1984 film Purple Rain. Instead, like the ABBA music that inspired the successful Mamma Mia! movie franchise, the studio is looking to develop an original film that uses Prince songs as signposts. The as yet untitled Prince project follows the 2016 death of the multi-instrumentalist and virtuosic performer, who sold more than 100 million records worldwide and earned eight Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Purple Rain. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/3/18...... 
Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the English punk rock band the Buzzcocks, died on Dec. 6 of a suspected heart attack in Estonia, where he was living at the time. He was 63. "It's with great sadness that we confirm the death of Pete Shelley, one of the UK's most influential and prolific songwriters and co-founder of the seminal original punk band," the Buzzcocks wrote on their official Twitter account. Former Sex Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock also shared sympathetic words about the late singer. "I am totally shocked and saddened to just hear of the untimely death of Pete Shelley," he wrote. "A superb songwriter, artist and a totally sweet hearted guy who was one of the very few originals of punk and even a one off within that. My deepest condolences to his family and friends." Best known for hits such as "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?" and "Why Can't I Touch It," the Buzzcocks were formed in Bolton, England, by singer/songwriter/guitarist Shelley and singer/songwriter Howard Devoto, after the two met at the Bolton Institute of Technology and traveled to London to see a Sex Pistols gig. The Buzzcocks then released their debut album in 1976, and opened for the Sex Pistols in Manchester. The band went on to release their acclaimed U.S. debut, Singles Going Steady, in 1979 and record eight additional studio albums. Devoto left Buzzcocks in 1977, and Shelley became the frontman. Their most recent album, The Way, was released in 2014. - Billboard, 12/6/18...... Allan Bregman, a veteran booking agent and talent manager who worked with such acts as Stevie Wonder, Perry Como and Soupy Sales, died on Sept. 25 in La Quinta, Calif., his daughter, Jacqueline, announced on Dec. 4. In 1955, Mr. Bregman began handling guest appearances for NBC specials and shows hosted by Perry Como and Steve Allen. Two years later, he became the personal manager for Soupy Sales and negotiated the comedian's deal for his syndicated TV program. After coming to the West Coast, Bregman joined the Ashley-Famous talent agency, where he packaged variety shows for local and network syndication and represented the Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. Starting in the mid-1970s, he worked for Marquee Enterprises, which owned and operated several theaters in the round, and the Nederlander Organization, booking such talent as Neil Diamond, Bette Midler, Johnny Mathis, Cher and Aerosmith and Broadway productions across 32 theaters in the U.S. and England. A memorial for Mr. Bergman will be held in 2019. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/4/18.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Favorite Seventies Artists In The News
Monday, December 3, 2018
Favorite Seventies Artists In The News
The Heart spinoff group Roadcase Royale has announced three dates in southern California in early December. Featuring Heart's Nancy Wilson and former Prince's New Power Generation band member Liv Warfield, Roadcase Royale will play The Canyon in Agoura Hills on Dec. 6, The Canyon in Santa Clarita on Dec. 7, and the Irvine Bowl in Laguna Beach on Dec. 8. Roadcase Royale is touring behind its latest EP, First Things First. Ticket details can be found at Roadcaseroyale.com. - Miles High Productions, 11/29/18...... 
Todd Rundgren has announced he'll embark on a hybrid concert and book-signing tour around the globe in the spring of 2019 behind his upcoming new memoir, The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams & Dissertations, which hits stores on Dec. 21. Rundgren will launch the tour in Duisburg, Germany on Apr. 1, and play 15 cities around the world, combining shows with book events. He will dig deep into the first 40 years of his recording and producing, which is the period detailed in the memoir. "There's obviously not a whole lot of video for my very early days; I don't even recall that our family had, like, a movie camera or anything like that," he says. "There's photographs but not much in the way of movie images, so I guess we'll be Ken Burns-ing it a lot," referring to the famous documentarian. "But we have photos and stuff that have never been made public very much, so if I can find some of those rarities they'll make it into the show somehow," he adds. After shows in Hamburg, Amsterdam and London, Rundgren will return to North America for events in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Then he'll wrap the tour in Japan with shows in Tokyo and Osaka in late May. Rundgren says he's also gearing up to release audio and film recordings from this year's Utopia reunion tour, though no date has been set yet. The musician also recently received his first-ever Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, though he says he's "never really taken the whole thing seriously" and doesn't want to "invest myself in it." - Billboard, 12/2/18...... In a new interview with the U.K.'s Sunday Times magazine, Bruce Springsteen revealed that he has several projects in the works for 2019, including a new solo album and touring plans with the E Street Band. "I'll get back to my day job," quipped the Boss, who will wrap his successful "Springsteen on Broadway" show at the end of the year. His upcoming album and the followup to 2014's High Hopes, he says, "for lack of a better word (will be) a singer-songwriter album... more of a solo record." Meanwhile, a film of his "Springsteen on Broadway" show will hit Netflix on Dec. 14. - Billboard, 12/2/18...... With her contribution to the Just Loud track "Soul Train," Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry has charted her first appearance on Billboard Alternative Songs airplay chart since 1990, and her fourth overall. Harry previously reached the AS chart with the No. 2-peaking solo efforts "I Want That Man" (Nov. 1989) and "Liar, Liar," which peaked on the very first AS chart (Sept. 10, 1988) at No. 14. Blondie itself has never made the ranking, although it almost certainly would have had the chart existed during the band's late-'70s/early '80s prime. "Soul Train" debuted at No. 40 on the Dec. 1-dated tally. - Billboard, 11/29/18......
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Rod Stewart performed during the iHeartRadio LIVE concert on Nov. 27, 2018 in Burbank, Calif., taking over the iHeartRadio Theater with songs from his latest release, Blood Red Roses, as well as classic gems from his deep catalog. The show got off to a rollicking start with two numbers from Blood Red Roses -- "Look in Her Eyes" and "Hole in My Heart" -- and included such sing-along fan faves as "You're in My Heart," "Some Guys Have All the Luck" and "Forever Young." Before the concert, Stewart told KOST L.A. morning show host Ellen K that "I truly love what I do." The show was also livestreamed on iHeartRadio's official YouTube channel and broadcast across the company's AC stations. Stewart recently wrapped up his latest residency engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. - Billboard, 11/28/18...... Actress Michele Carey, best known for her roles as Josephine "Joey" MacDonald in the 1966 film El Dorado and as Elvis Presley's leading lady in 1969's Live a Little, Love a Little, died on Nov. 21. She was 75. Carey originally enjoyed success as a model, but was more interested in acting. Aided by her beauty and trademark long, wild hair, she soon caught the eye of Hollywood producers, and in 1964 made her first TV appearances. She had a small part in the kitsch classic How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and acted in her first major film, the 1966 Howard Hawks-produced and directed John Wayne Western El Dorado, with a memorable role as high-spirited troublemaker Josephine "Joey" MacDonald. Other film roles include The Sweet Ride (1968) and Dirty Dingus Magee (1970), and on television she appeared in guest-starring roles on episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible, It Takes a Thief, and three episodes of The Wild Wild West. Fading from view in the late 1970s, Carey staged a brief comeback in the mid-'80s in such films as In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro (1986). She was married to married businessman Fred G. Strebel from 1999 until his death in 2011. - Wikipedia.com, 12/3/18...... Gloria Katz, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter who partnered with her husband, Willard Huyck, on the scripts for the George Lucas classics American Graffiti and Star Wars, died on Nov. 25 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She was 76. Katz and her husband also penned the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Messiah of Evil (1973), French Postcards (1979), Best Defense (1984), Howard the Duck (1986) -- all directed by Huyck -- and Radioland Murders (1994). They shared an Oscar nomination with Lucas for their work on American Graffiti (1973). Born in Los Angeles on Oct. 25, 1942, Katz attended UC Berkeley as an English major. She went to UCLA to get her graduate degree in history but left with a masters in film. She married Huyck, who became friends with Lucas at USC, in 1969. - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/29/18...... 
Actor/singer/dancer Ken Berry, the star of such TV series as Mama's Family, Mayberry R.F.D. and F Troop, passed away at age 85 on Dec. 1 in Burbank, Calif. Born in Moline, Ill. on Nov. 3, 1933, Mr. Berry realized he wanted to be a dancer and singer at age 12 and won a local tap dance talent competition at age 15. He toured US Air Force bases in the U.S. and Europe for 15 months with The Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program, a popular touring group. After volunteering for the Army, he entered a post talent contest which he won, then headed to New York for his television debut on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show. After being spotted by Carol Burnett during a performance with The Billy Barnes Review in Los Angeles, Burnett convinced the producers of The Garry Moore Show, on which she was appearing, to sign Mr. Berry. Mr. Berry then became on of Burnett's most frequent guest stars on her The Carol Burnett Show. After appearing in a few of the final episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as widowed farmer Sam Jones, Mr. Berry took the lead role on the spin-off Mayberry R.F.D., which ran from 1968 until 1971 when it became a victim of CBS's "rural purge." In 1982, Mr. Berry appeared in the TV movie Eunice, which was based on The Carol Burnett Show sketch, "The Family." Mr. Berry originally played Phillip, Eunice's brother, in the special; however he went on to play Vinton, a different brother, on Mama's Family, which ran on NBC from 1983 to 1984 and in repeats until 1985. Mr. Berry also guest starred on numerous shows, including The Bob Newhart Show, The Julie Andrews Hour, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Donny & Marie Show, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, CHiPs and The Golden Girls. Mr. Berry's bigscreen credits include Hellow Down There (1969), Herbie Rides Again (1974), Guardian of the Wilderness (1976) and The Cat From Outer Space (1978). Mr. Berry was also a spokesman in commercials for Kinney Shoes from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, singing and dancing to the "Great American Shoe Store" jingle. Mr. Berry was married to Jackie Joseph, a Billy Barnes castmate, from 1960 to 1976. The couple adopted two children together, and his son John, who later became a co-founder of the Indie rock band Idaho, died in 2016 of brain cancer at the age of 51. - Wikipedia.com, 12/3/18...... Former president George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died on Nov. 30. He was 94. Pres. Bush served as vice president to Ronald Reagan from 1981-1989, before becoming president, himself, from 1989-1993. He wed Barbara Pierce in 1945 and the two were married for 73 years, until her death in April. Their marriage was the longest of any American president and First Lady. Pres. Bush served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, enlisting on his 18th birthday after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and becoming the youngest aviator in the Navy at the time. He served until the end of the war. Pres. Bush returned stateside and moved his family to Texas, where he became a millionaire in the oil business. After founding his own company, he became involved in politics and won election in the House of Representatives. By 1971, he was appointed ambassador to the United Nations by Richard Nixon. In 1976, he was named director of the CIA. In 1980, Pres. Bush ran for president but lost to Reagan, but went on to become his vice president for two terms. He was elected president in 1988 and served one term in office from 1989-1993, losing to Democratic candidate Bill Clinton in the 1992 election. Two decades later, Pres. Bush's eldest son, George W. Bush, became president in 2000. Pres. Bush was named "Man of the Year" by Time magazine in 1990, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 and received the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Pres. Bush is survived by his two siblings, five children and their spouses, his 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/1/18.
Friday, November 23, 2018
Favorite Seventies Artists In The News
Washington state congressman Rep. Adam Smith has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to name a post office in the state after Jimi Hendrix. Bill H.R. 6628 aimes to designate the post office in Renton, Wash. "The James Marshall Jimi Hendrix Post Office Building." Located at 4301 Northeast 4th Street, the post office is on the same street where Jimi grew up, and close to the Greenwood Memorial Park where Hendrix is also buried. So far, the bill has won unanimous backing from the Washington representatives in Congress. - New Musical Express, 11/28/18...... Elton John was forced to cancel a Nov. 27 concert at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., due to an ear infeciton. The Amway Center posted the bad news its Twitter account but encouraged concertgoers to "hold onto your tickets," as the show will soon be rescheduled. The show was part of John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" three-year tour, which kicked off Sept. 8 in Allentown, Penn. Elton's Nov. 28 show in Tampa, Fla. at Amalie Arena has also been postponed. - Billboard, 11/27/18...... 
Foreigner has announced a new stage production based on its songs will have its world premiere in Toronto at The Ed Mirvish Theatre for a limited run of shows from Feb. 20 to 24. "Jukebox Hero, The Musical" is produced by Annerin Productions, a division of the Canadian-based Jeff Parry Promotions, who also has produced musicals around such acts as Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, The Band and the Beatles. Named after their 1981 hit about a boy who couldn't get into a sold-out rock concert, "Jukebox Hero, The Musical" will feature 16 songs, including "Cold As Ice," "Hot Blooded", "Waiting For A Girl Like You," "Dirty White Boy" and No. 1 global smash "I Want To Know What Love Is." The storyline follows "the closing of rust-belt town of Blaydon, Pennsylvania's biggest factory," according to a press release. "Confronted with a deluge of unemployment and instability, the community calls on Ryan, a local boy turned rock 'n' roll superstar, for help. Yet Ryan never left his roots on good terms, so must confront the ghosts of his past as well as a home he no longer recognises." The idea for a musical based on Foreigner's songs dates back to the 1980s, when founder, co-writer lead guitarist Mick Jones bumped into Diana Ross in an airport lounge, according to the release. Foreigner, whose original singer was Lou Gramm, has continued to tour with a revolving door of players; Kelly Hanson is the current lead singer. Earlier in November, all of the surviving original members joined the current line-up at Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles to kick of four "Double Vision: Then and Now" shows. The latest lineup will continue touring in 2019. - Billboard, 11/28/18...... After recently announcing a new North American Rolling Stones tour for next year that's set to get underway in Miami on Apr. 20, Mick Jagger told the AP in a Nov. 27 interview that fans can expect "a good night out for all." "We did a kind of similar tour in Europe this summer, so it's got a lot of fun... It's pretty high energy and it's a good a show, I think. I'm into it," Jagger said. Jagger added that the new music he's writing is "going good." "I enjoy the writing process a lot. I mean, you always think the last thing you wrote is really wonderful and sometimes they're really not (laughs). But it's really fun doing it and it's really enjoyable doing new things," he said. Asked about his TV and documentary producing, the 75-year-old singer volunteered that he "just actually finished doing a cameo part in a movie which is kind of a twisted thriller, which is called The Burnt Orange Heresy." "I just finished doing that in Italy. I did a couple weeks on that, so it'll be out next year. It was only a small part, but fun to do," he said.
Meanwhile, Jagger's bandmate and songwriting partner Keith Richard said in a new interview with Rolling Stone that he and Jagger are in the "early stages" of working on songs. "Mick and I got together for a few days a month or so ago in the studio, just playing around," Richard said. Richard added that he hasn't thought about a farewell tour yet: "It's what I do, man," he said on playing. "Give me 50,000 people and I feel right at home. The whole band does. As Ronnie [Wood] and I often say before we go on, 'Let's get onstage and get some peace and quiet.'" - AP/Rolling Stone, 11/27/18...... Stevie Wonder announced on Nov. 27 that he plans on helping victims, firefighters and first responders impacted by the recent catastrophic wildfires in California. Wonder is asking concertgoers who attend his annual House Full of Toys Benefit Concert on Dec. 9 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to bring an unwrapped toy or other gift. "We have to do our best to raise money for those that have been so less fortunate, for those that have lost dreams, lost their homes," Wonder said. "I am very happy to do this again this year but very, very, very excited to do something to help those in a bigger sense the less fortunate." Wonder said his foundation House Full of Hope along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation will also help raise money for those affected by the wildfire. Nearly 90 people were killed in the massive wildfires as thousands have been displaced from their homes. The lineup for this year's charity benefit has not been announced. Last year's performers included Tony Bennett, Pharrell Williams and Andra Day. - AP, 11/28/18...... 
Bruce Springsteen is the subject of a cover story in the December 2018 issue of Esquire magazine, and the singer says that "I do feel that people feel under siege, and sometimes for reasons that I don't agree with and that are unfortunate. Like I say, whether it's the changing face of the nation or... I think those people legitimately feel under siege. Their way of life is somehow threatened... that's always been a part of the American story. It continues to be a part of it today." Springsteen invited the magazine backstage for the interview at The Walter Kerr Theater in New York, where he's in the midst of his "Springsteen on Broadway" run. Springsteen also spoke about Pres. Donald Trump, specifically, the rise of the alt-right and those "invested in denying the idea of a united America and an America for all." "[He] has no interest in uniting the country, really, and actually has an interest in doing the opposite and dividing us, which he does on an almost daily basis." he said. "So that's simply a crime against humanity, as far as I'm concerned. It's an awful, awful message to send out into the world if you're in that job and in that position. It's just an ugly, awful message." Still, the Boss says that he's hopeful "we'll survive Trump." "Let people view themselves as Americans first, that the basic founding principles of the country could be adhered to, whether it's equality or social justice. Let people give each other a chance," he said. "Springsteen on Broadway" is set to close its run on Dec. 15, and will hit Netflix in the form of a special for the streaming network on Dec. 16. - Esquire, 11/27/18...... Class of 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees Def Leppard have released a new compilation, The Story So Far -- The Best of Def Leppard, featuring three fresh tracks. One of those is an official recording of the band's fan-favorite cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus (Rock On Remix)." Def Leppard recently wrapped the North American leg of their co-headlining tour with Class of 2017 RRHOF inductees Journey, which played to 1 million fans. - Billboard, 11/27/18...... ABBA launched an official Twitter account on Nov. 28, ahead of their recent announcement to release new music in 2019. Earlier in 2018, ABBA revealed that they would be unveiling two new tracks, marking their first release in 35 years. "I Still Have Faith In You" and another new song will be revealed on a BBC TV special in December, ahead of a "virtual" ABBA hologram tour in 2019. "We have Arrived to Twitter," their first post reads, playing on the title of their hit fourth 1977 album, Arrival. In October, ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus hinted that the band"s recent recording sessions could lead to "a new album, possibly." "Or four songs or something like that -- that"s possible," he continued, before repeating his insistence the band would not tour. "But for us to perform on stage that"s just not going to happen. That"s a definite." - NME, 11/28/18...... In a new interview from his home in Los Angeles, Birmingham, UK native Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he no longer follows British politics and doesn't really understand what the word "Brexit" means. "People keep going on at me about that -- is it a big deal over there? What will happen with it? Are people voting in or out, what's going on?," Ozzy said. "I don't read the newspapers and I don't really talk politics because I don't really know. I don't really understand Brexit," he added. The Black Sabbath singer also weighed in about the Kardashian klan. "I said to (wife) Sharon (Osbourne) the other day, 'What the f**k is the deal with these Kardashians? They don't sing, they don't act, they don't do anything,'" he said. "She told me, 'The trend now is that people want to be celebrities and make money for doing f**king nothing.'" Ozzy and his family were stars of their own reality series, The Osbournes, from 2002 until 2005, and the rocker was quick to compare the two shows. "When we did The Osbournes it was totally raw, there was no script," he said. "We just did what we did and had the camera rolling. Have a camera crew in your house for three years and you go a bit crazy!" - New Musical Express, 11/26/18...... 
Bob Dylan and Neil Young are set to co-headline next summer's British Summer Time music festival at Hyde Park in London on July 12. The iconic pair first shared a stage in 1976 at a farewell show for Dylan's backing band and have consistently supported each other's musical talents since. Dylan last toured the U.K. over the summer, while Young was part of the O2 fest in London in June 2016. The rest of this year's line up is yet to be announced. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Nov. 30. Meanwhile in other Bob Dylan news, the musician made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show on Nov. 24, however he never said a word. Instead, Dylan -- who rarely appears on chat shows -- joined Fallon for a pre-recorded clip that saw the pair enjoying some of the Dylan's new line of whiskey together while watching a private circus performance from the "Big Apple Circus." Dylan is promoting his new brand of whiskey, called Heaven's Door. The star filed a trademark for the term "bootleg whiskey" back in 2015, which caught the eye of liquor entrepreneur Marc Bushala and led to the new line being created. "Dylan has these qualities that actually work well for a whiskey," Bushala told The New York Times. "He has great authenticity. He is a quintessential American. He does things the way he wants to do them. I think these are good attributes for a super-premium whiskey as well." The label for the drink is silhouettes of wagon wheels and crows, and it retails at $50-$80 a bottle. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 11/27/18...... KISS has just added 25 new dates to its "End of the Road" farewell world tour, which are set to begin on Aug. 6, 2019 in Sunrise, Fla., and wrap on Sept. 16 in Oakland, Calif. Currently, KISS' "End of the Road" trek is scheduled to wrap in Australia on Nov. 26, 2019, but that could easily change, according to the rockers. Tickets for the second leg of the "End of the Road" farewell tour go on sale on Dec. 3. - Billboard, 11/26/18...... David Bowie's son Duncan Jones has shared a Twitter tribute to director Nicolas Roeg, who passed away on Nov. 24 at the age of 90 and directed Duncan's dad in his first major onscreen performance, 1976's The Man Who Fell to Earth. "Just heard another great storyteller, the inimitable Nicolas Roeg left us today," Duncan tweeted. "What an incredible body of work he's left us with! All my love to his family. Thank you for making so many brave choices, & giving this strange little lad in pajamas an ongoing love of filmmaking." Jones accompanied the post with a photo of him as a lad with his father and Roeg on set, along with his heartfelt message. - Billboard, 11/24/18...... Aretha Franklin's historic mansion in Detroit has sold for $300,000 at auction. The 5,600-square-foot brick home adjacent to the Detroit Golf Club was built in 1927. Franklin bought the home in 1993, but nearly lost it in 2008 due to unpaid property taxes. Meanwhile, Franklin's 4,148-square-foot Colonial-style house in suburban Detroit's Bloomfield Township still is listed for $800,000. Franklin died of pancreatic cancer in August in her Detroit riverfront apartment. She was 76. - AP, 11/24/18...... 
In a new interview with the UK's The Daily Mail paper, Barbra Streisand revealed that she had a secret rough relationship with her mother Diana, who died in 2002. Streisand, 76, said that after her father Emanuel died of an accidental morphine overdose when she was only 15 months old, Diana had to care for her alone. "I think there are parents who don't really like themselves. They don't like their offspring either. My mother meant well. She loved me as best she could. She had dreams of her own and she wanted to be a singer. She was jealous, and that was staggering for me to learn," Barbra remarked. Streisand, known for her diva ways, added in the emotional interview about Diana, "She never praised me to my face but I have a feeling she praised me to other people. And she never hugged me or said, 'I love you.'" The Funny Girl star, who is married to James Brolin, added, "I'm more of a toucher than my mother. Now I'm older I can do it, but for a long time touching felt alien. I always felt, 'Why are you hugging me, what is this about?' I didn't understand it and it felt uncomfortable. But I owe her my career. It was painful on the way up. I was always trying to prove to her that I was worthy of being somebody. She'd say, 'Your voice needs strengthening. Put an egg in milk and whip it up.'" - Canoe.com/American Media Inc., 11/24/18...... Ricky Jay, a famous magician and actor who appeared in such films as the '70s-themed film Boogie Nights, died on Nov. 24 in Los Angeles. He was 72. In a 1993 profile of Jay in The New Yorker, fellow magician and actor Steve Martin said of Jay, "I sort of think of Ricky as the intellectual lite of magicians. I've had experience with magicians my whole life. He's expertly able to perform and yet he knows the theory, history, literature of the field. Ricky's a master of his craft. You know how there are those teachers of creative writing who can't necessarily write but can teach? Well, Ricky can actually do everything." In addition to his long career as a magician, Jay also appeared in such movies as Magnolia (1999) as the narrator, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) as a cyber terrorist and Boogie Nights (1997), among others, and several times appeared in David Mamet's films, including House of Games; Homicide, Things Change, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main and Heist. He also had various roles on television series, including The X-Files and Deadwood. In addition to acting, Jay wrote and hosted his own television specials for the likes of CBS, HBO and the BBC, and he also served as host and narrator of the first documentary miniseries on conjuring, The Story of Magic, for the A&E network. - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/25/18.
Aretha Franklin was honored during a Thanksgiving parade in her hometown of Detroit on Nov. 22. Members of the late Queen of Soul's family traveled in Ford Mustangs on a three-mile route along Woodward Ave. as thousands of spectators turned out in sub-freezing temperatures. A high school marching band also performed Franklin's signature tunes during the parade. Franklin's son, Eddie Franklin, and niece, Sabrina Owens, were among the family members traveling in Mustangs. "We were honored to be invited to be a part of a Detroit tradition," Owens told reporters. "Aretha loved the holiday season, so it was great for the family to be able to represent her." Meanwhile, Franklin has appeared on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart for the first time in 24 years as her new version of "Silent Night" debuted at No. 28 on the survey dated Nov. 24. The song, fully titled "Silent Night (Solo Piano Version)," was originally released on the late icon's 2008 album This Christmas, which arrived on vinyl for the first time on Nov. 16. Franklin died on Aug. 16 at 76. - AP/Billboard, 11/23/18...... 
An official David Bowie app based on the "David Bowie Is" exhibition is set to launch in January 2019, it has been confirmed. The exhibition -- which explored "the broad range of the late artist's collaborations with artists and designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre, art, and film" -- closed down for good in July 2018 ,five years after it debuted at the V&A in London and became the institution's most-visited touring exhibition. The Augmented Reality (AR) app, first announced in the summer, has now been green-lit for a launch on Jan. 8, 2019, to mark what would've been the legend's 72nd birthday. It will be available in iOS and Android, and will grant fans access to the show's hundreds of costumes, videos, handwritten lyrics, original works of art and much more. Dozens of items not featured in the original exhibition will also be included, including some entirely new and exclusive to the AR version of the app. - New Musical Express, 11/20/18...... Diana Ross was among the many stars highlighting the 92nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan on Nov. 22. Ross chose Paul McCartney's holidy tune "A Wonderful Christmas Time" as her yuletide tribute, and members of her family were also present on her float. With temps as low as 19 degrees, the parade was the coldest Macy's Thanksgiving parade on record. - Billboard, 11/22/18...... German electronic rock pioneers Kraftwerk have been announced as the first headliners of the UK's 2019 Bluedot Festival, set for July 18-21 in the ground's of Cheshire's Jodrell Bank Observatory. Kraftwerk will provide a special 3-D live performance for the show, which will mark their first-ever UK headline festival appearance and will see the group bring their 'Gesamtkunstwerk' (translated as "a total work of art") style of live performance to the festival. More acts for Bluedot 2019 will be announced in January. - New Musical Express, 11/21/18...... Cher took to Twitter on Nov. 20 to tease that she may be planning a follow-up to her successful ABBA-based album Dancing Queen. Cher posted "If I was going to do [ABBA] 2," then listed a number of ABBA songs, including such well-known hits as "Take a Chance on Me," "Money Money Money" and "Does Your Mother Know." Dancing Queen was Cher's critically-acclaimed 26th album recorded by the diva after she appeared in the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! film as Ruby Sheridan, mother of Donna (played by Meryl Streep) and grandmother of Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfried). Meanwhile, Cher discussed her life, loves and unexpected success of the new Cher-based Broadway musical "The Cher Show" in a new interview with Elle magazine published on Nov. 19. When asked about how following her instincts has always led her to huge career-defining moments, she replied: "It doesn't always -- look, I've had huge failures in my life. Huge dips and 'Oh, you're over. You're over.' This one guy once said, 'You're over' every year for I don't know how many years. And I just said to him, 'You know what? I will be here when you're not doing what you do anymore.' I had no idea if I was right or wrong. I was just tired of hearing him say it." - Billboard, 11/21/18...... Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has officially canceled his string of headlining tour dates on the heels of his recent hospitalization after collapsing backstage after a cameo appearance at a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 11. He was treated by medics before taken to the hospital and released soon after. Perry now says he will be taking the rest of 2018 off. - Billboard, 11/20/18...... 
Yoko Ono said in a recent interview promoting her 14th album Warzone that she decided to use a crow, elephant and wolf on several tracks on the album because those animals aren't typical pets. "These animals are very strong," Yoko says. "I noticed that many people get animals they can pet and I wanted to show that many animals are very independent of us." The album also features a stripped-back version of John Lennon's "Imagine," and when asked why she interpreted the song in such a minimalist fashion, Yoko said: "I think that people are too concerned about isms, because again what happened to the song was something that came to my mind without even knowing it." Ono also commented on the new John Lennon stamp which has recently been issued by the US Postal Service: "I always wanted to do it! And finally it's a reality. John would have been very pleased." - Billboard, 11/20/18...... In related news, a new live John Lennon tribute album featuring performances by Willie Nelson, Brandon Flowers, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Aloe Blacc and more has been given a January 2019 release date. Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert will showcase the 2015 concert that took place at New York City's The Theater at Madison Square Garden to celebrate Lennon's iconic career. "It's beautiful to see so many wonderful and talented musicians come together for this special show to celebrate John's birthday," Yoko Ono said in a statement. "John's art continues to give hope, light and happiness to generations of people everywhere. His belief that each of us can change the world continues to inspire the human race to believe in themselves, and his influence is everlasting in everyone's hearts as we all share in the possibilities and power of music." The concert will also be released as a vinyl LP featuring artists including Kris Kristofferson, Peter Frampton, Juanes, Tom Morello, Chris Stapleton, Kevin Bacon, Eric Church and Pat Monahan of Train. - Billboard, 11/20/18...... In other Beatles-related news, a deluxe 50th anniversary reissue of the Fab Four's 1968 album The Beatles (aka "The White Album") has re-entered the Billboard Hot 200 album chart at No. 6 following its release on Nov. 9. The set climbed back onto the tally with 63,000 units earned (up 1,499%) in the week ending Nov. 15, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 52,000 were in traditional album sales (up 5,596%). "The White Album," first released in 1968, was remastered and reissued in a variety of formats, including some with a bevy of bonus tracks. The set spent nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 between Dec. 28, 1968 and March 1, 1969, and is one of the band's 19 No. 1 albums on the survey. - Billboard, 11/18/18...... Queen has topped the Billboard Artist 100 chart for the week ending Nov. 24 for the second straight week following the Nov. 2 premiere of the new Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. The Artist 100, which launched in July 2014, measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity. Queen is the first duo or group to spend consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100 since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Oct. 2017, following Petty's death. - Billboard, 11/20/18...... In an exclusive interview with iHeartMedia on Nov. 19, the Rolling Stones confirmed they will be heading back to the U.S. for a North American leg of their "No Filter Tour" that will kick off on Apr. 20 in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Stones will also be visiting 12 other cities during the jaunt, including Jacksonville, Fla. (4/24), Houston (4/28), Glendale, Az. (5/7), Pasadena, Calif. (5/11), Santa Clara, Calif. (5/18), Seattle (5/22), Denver (5/26), Washington, D.C. (5/31), Philadephia (6/4), Foxborough, Mass. (6/8) and East Rutherford, N.J. (6/13) before wrapping in Chicago on June 21. "We finished off a few months ago in Europe and it just felt so good that when they said do you want to do the States? Yeah, because I didn t want to get off, I mean I thought we were just getting going," Stones guitarist Keith Richards told iHeartMedia. Frontman Mick Jagger added: "You want to pick towns that you haven t been for a while. Last time, we toured a lot of the UK and a lot of those towns we haven t been to in a very, very long time. - Billboard, 11/19/18...... 
Folk/rock icon Arlo Guthrie says his Nov. 24 edition of his annual Thanksgiving concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall will probably be the penultimate one. "I don't know if we'll continue it beyond next year," Guthrie says. "Next year we'll do the actual 50th anniversary show at Carnegie, and I think I'll probably call it quits after that. It's been a long tradition, but the older I get the harder it is to do. I'd rather quit while we're ahead and it's still a good show." Guthrie is in the midst of his "Alice's Restaurant -- Back By Popular Demand Tour," which he started this fall and plans to carry into 2020, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his epic 1967 story song and the 1969 movie it helped inspire. "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" -- which chronicles a citation for littering in 1965 and the U.S. Army's refusal to draft him because of that conviction -- came out during October of 1967 and became an instant Thanksgiving tradition for fans and radio stations around the country. Guthrie himself gave it a long lay-off before returning to performing it during 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the event that inspired that song, complete with a multi-media presentation on stage. Guthrie says plans are being formulated for 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Alice's Restaurant film, in which he starred -- although he was "never a big fan of the movie" -- and for which director Arthur Penn received an Academy Award nomination. Firm plans have yet to be announced, but the 2019 Carnegie Hall show will be a focal point. In the meantime Guthrie says he'll keep the "Massacree" alive in concert -- as well as the spirit of counter-culture protest it evokes and which is still a big part of Guthrie's own repertoire. - Billboard, 11/19/18...... The Criterion Collection will reissue former Talking Heads frontman's David Byrne's zany 1986 directorial debut, True Stories, on Nov. 27. Byrne, who doesn't usually enjoy looking backwards, says he's borderline excited about revisiting the movie. "You know [those features are] what you're going to get in one of [Criterion's] packages, and Criterion doesn't let you down," Byrne said in a phone interview. "And with the mastering of the film it's like, 'This is the version that we hope people see.'" The package includes a reworked soundtrack, an hour-long making-of retrospective, a series of essays about the film, and a remastered cut. Meanwhile, Byrne and his band continue to tour behind Byrne's latest solo effort, American Utopia. - Billboard, 11/19/18...... A memorial service for late country music star Roy Clark was held at Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow, Okla., on Nov. 21. Family and friends including Vince Gill and Ricky Scaggs gathered to remember the singer, who died on Nov. 15 due to complications from pneumonia. Clark's family asked that contributions be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in lieu of flowers. Clark headlined a golf tournament for St. Jude's for many years, where a floor was named in his honor. - Billboard, 11/19/18...... British blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Laurence Jones will be special guest on the second UK tour of former Deep Purple frontman Glenn Hughes' "Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live" tour in May 2019. The eight date UK 2019 tour will be a two-hour live extravaganza homage to Hughes' tenure in the "MK 3" and "MK 4" incarnations of Deep Purple. Laurence Jones has previously supported the likes of Status Quo, Gary Clark Jr, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Van Morrison, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Burdon. "I'm excited to be touring the "Classic Deep Purple Live" in the UK in May 2019 with Laurence again," Hughes says. "I first toured Classic Deep Purple Live in Australia and New Zealand last year and it went down like a storm. We are looking forward for a second round in 2019," he added. The tour gets underway May 14 in Holmfirth, also visiting seven additional cities. - Noble PR, 11/19/18...... Legendary The Price Is Right game show host Bob Barker was rushed to the hospital over a medical emergency on Nov. 17. According to reports, the 94-year-old Barker was picked up from his Hollywood Hills home by an ambulance this and taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital. At the time, he said he was experiencing severe back pain related to his 2017 fall. Barker is reportedly doing much better at home after his health scare. - Canoe.com, 11/19/18...... 
A police department in Washington state has opened an investigation into the death of "American Top 40" host Casey Kasem more than four years after the radio icon's death. "We received information from the family that alleges the death to be wrongful and we are conducting an administrative review of that information. The case is being titled Death Investigation," Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey told NBC News. He said the review was opened on Oct. 29. Kasem died in June 2014 in Washington state, where his wife, Jean Kasem, took him after removing him from a medical facility in Southern California where he was receiving around-the-clock care. Kasem had a form of dementia and severe bedsores when he died. Jean Kasem and Kasem's three adult children from a previous marriage have been in a drawn-out and sometimes bizarre battle since his death. Kerri, Julie, and Michael Kasem filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jean Kasem in 2015 after prosecutors declined to charge her with elder abuse. Jean has denied the claims. Both sides have accused the other of being motivated by greed over Casey Kasems estimated $80 million fortune. - NBC News, 11/20/18...... British songwriter and producer Scott English, who worked on some of the most iconic tunes in pop music history, died on Nov. 20 at age 81. Mr. English is best known for penning "Brandy" (not to be confused with the 1972 Looking Glass hit), which later became known as Barry Manilow's 1974 hit "Mandy." He also co-wrote a plethora of other smashes, including "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Bend Me Shape Me," and has songs on albums by the likes of Thin Lizzy, Bobby Darin, Black Lace, Slade, Donny Osmond, Dionne Warwick, Lynsey De Paul, Jeff Beck, Carole King, Amen Corner, Alan Parsons and Mama Cass. "Scott English was a gifted songwriter and an incredibly warm person who everyone loved working with," said Mike Smith, managing director of Warner/Chappell Music UK. "Even when he was ill in hospital, he was still working on new lyrics. 'Brandy', which went on to be popularised as 'Mandy', is a timeless pop classic, while his prodigious output included songs for artists ranging from Dionne Warwick to Thin Lizzy. He'll be truly missed and our thoughts are with his family." - Billboard, 11/20/18.