Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 28th, 2014

Paul Simon and his wife Edie Brickell were arrested at their home in New Canaan, Conn., on Apr. 26 over an apparent domestic dispute. In a statement, the New Canaan Police Dept. said officers responded to a location at approximately 8:20 p.m. where they found probable cause to arrest both Simon and Brickell. They were released, and expected to be arraigned in Norwalk Superior Court the following Monday. Simon, 72, and Brickell, 48, were married in 1992 and have three children together. Simon is a 12-time Grammy winner and a member of The Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as half of the duo of Simon and Garfunkel and as a solo artist. Brickell is best known for the hit "What I Am" from the 1988 debut album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, with the New Bohemians. More recently, she recorded a Grammy-winning album with comedian Steve Martin. The pair have a home in New Canaan, about 40 miles northeast of New York City, and representatives for Simon have yet to comment on the incident. - QMI Agency/AP, 4/28/14.

As NBA franchise Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is embroiled in a controversy sparked by several minutes worth of racist remarks allegedly made over a phone call with his girlfriend, former Village People member Victor Willis posted on Twitter on Apr. 27 that he is banning the L.A. Clippers from using the Village People's smash 1979 hit "YMCA" during their games. "Sterling, you're banned from playing "Y.M.C.A." or any of my music @LAClippers games. And I mean it! #Clippers #BoycottClippers," posted Willis, the "motorcycle cop" in the Village People who last September won a copyright suit reclaiming the rights to 33 songs he wrote, including "YMCA." "I learned over the years that there are some awesome powers associated with copyright ownership," he told The New York Times following the ruling. You can stop somebody from performing your music if you want to, and I might object to some usages." Celebrity gossip site TMZ.com reports Willis is serious and intends to follow up with an official notice prohibiting the Clippers' use of the stadium fan favorite. - Billboard, 4/27/14.

Gregg Allman is urging director Randall Miller, who is planning a biopic about Allman based on is autobiography My Cross to Bear, not to proceed with production of the film, titled Midnight Rider, after the tragic death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during its filming on Feb. 20 of this year. "I am writing to you as one human being to another, and appealing to you from my heart. I am asking you from a personal perspective not to go forward," Allman said in a personal letter to Miller amid reports that the director was looking to resume shooting on the controversial film starring William Hurt as Allman in L.A. Allman says he was initially excited about the film, but his feelings have changed after Jones death. "When the idea of you producing the film first came about, I was genuinely excited about the possibility of sharing my story with fans around the world. Unfortunately, all of that changed for me on Feb. 20 of this year," the Allman Brothers Band cofounder wrote. "While there may have been a possibility that the production might have resumed shortly after that, the reality of Sarah Jones tragic death, the loss suffered by the Jones family and injuries to the others involved has led me to realize that for you to continue production would be wrong." Allman continues by urging Miller to not continue out of respect for Jones, indicating he should view the situation as a human being, not a filmmaker. "Your desires as a filmmaker should not outweigh your obligations as a human being. I am asking you to do the right thing and to set aside your attempts to resume the production out of respect for Sarah, her family and the loss that all of us feel so deeply." Jones was killed when she was struck by a train during filming on a narrow trestle bridge in Doctortown, Ga. Local and national authorities are now investigating her death, with Miller suspending production in the wake of the accident. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/26/14.

Tom Petty was honored with the ASCAP Founders Award at the 31st annual edition of the Pop Awards on Apr. 23 in Hollywood, Calif. "Songwriting, songwriters and artists, is the job most people in the band don't want. It's long, lonely work -- you sit there waiting for magic," Petty told a full ballroom of music publishers at Loew's Hollywood Hotel. "My generation used it to speak to the world, to put in our two cents about the way the world should work and how we should be treated. Through my heroes, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, I learned what a good song might be," he added. Petty insisted he had never changed over his 40-year career. "I'm still just a shit kicker from Gainesville. I just have a lot nicer house," he said. Performing in tribute to Petty and his band the Heartbreakers was Lucinda Williams and her band, who played a slowed-down version of "Rebels" and a ragged "Running Down a Dream." To celebrate ASCAP's 100th year, songs from its list of its 100 biggest hits were played between speeches and during walk-ups -- Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing," Eurhythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets" among them. Meanwhile in other award show news, David Bowie hinted that he is working on a new album in a tongue-in-cheek message of support to his record label boss. Bowie sent a message of congratulations to Columbia US chairman Rob Stringer, who picked up the Strat Award at the Music Week Awards in London on Apr. 24. Bowie released his last album The Next Day in 2013. Earlier in 2014, the album's producer Tony Visconti revealed that that there are two or three "astounding" tracks left over from the sessions for the LP. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 4/24/14.

The Fox network has ordered a three-hour live broadcast of Grease, based on the 1971 Broadway musical and the 1978 hit feature film of the same name. The live event will feature a young ensemble cast and hails from Paramount Television productions. The cast and production partners to be announced at a later date. The 1978 film, starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide, ranking as the highest-grossing movie musical ever. A similar production based on the 1965 Oscar-winning film The Sound of Music was a big hit for NBC in December 2013. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/28/14.

On Apr. 23, the California Supreme Court refused to review the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray, rejecting his lawyer's petition without comment. A state appeals court upheld Murray's conviction earlier this year and then refused to reconsider its decision. Murray's attorney, Valerie Wass, said her client will take his fight to federal court. "We're greatly disappointed, but we intend to pursue this in federal court," she said. Murray was convicted in 2011 and served two years in jail after authorities charged him with giving Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009 while the singer prepared for a series of comeback concerts. He was released in October because of a change in California law requiring nonviolent offenders to serve their sentences in county jails and as a result of credits for good behavior. Since his release, Murray has been traveling and spending time with family, "trying to get his life back together." Wass said. She added the federal appeal she plans to file will focus on media coverage of the trial and exposure of the unsequestered jury to the Internet. Meanwhile, the tracklisting for Jackson's upcoming posthumous album Xscape has been revealed. Set for release on May 13 via Epic, its eight unreleased songs include "Love Never Felt So Good," "Slave To The Rhythm" and "Do You Know Where Your Children Are." Executive producer LA Reid was granted unlimited access to four decades worth of Jackson's vocal material, and Sony Mobile customers using select devices will be able to download the album for free on the day of release. - AP/New Musical Express, 4/24/14.

Paul McCartney has just tacked two new West Coast dates onto his expanding "Out There" U.S. tour, including a farewell show on Aug. 14 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the venue where the Beatles played their final full concert as a group on Aug. 29, 1966. It will be the last show to be played at the former home stadium of the Giants and the 49ers before the historic venue is demolished. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the city's mayor, Ed Lee, personally invited McCartney to close the venue when McCartney played at the Outside Lands festival last summer. "Sir Paul McCartney is a class act, and I am very grateful that he's coming back to Candlestick to help us give this iconic landmark the goodbye it deserves," Lee told the paper. "To add a concert like this, one that's not only just great on a purely entertainment level, but one that is rooted in the city's history and musical history, is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event." McCartney will also be playing at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium on Aug. 10, another venue he hasn't performed in since that final run of Beatles concerts in 1966. It will also be his first major L.A. show since his two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in 2010. - Rolling Stone, 4/27/14.

Grammy-winning '70s country/pop singer Glen Campbell has been moved into a care facility three years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in early 2011. "He was moved to an Alzheimer's facility last week," a family friend told People magazine. "I'm not sure what the permanent plan is for him yet. We'll know more next week." Campbell, 78, had been suffering from short-term memory loss in recent years, and he and his wife Kim initially revealed his condition because he'd hoped to give a series of goodbye concerts, in conjunction with an album called Ghost on the Canvas, which was released later in 2011. Although that album was expected to be his last, he released his 62nd solo album, See You There, in December 2013. Campbell's latest health setback came just days before the documentary of that final tour, titled Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me, got its world premiere Apr. 18 at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival. Campbell was named both CMA Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year in 1968, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. His "Rhinestone Cowboy" topped the Billboard pop charts in 1975. Meanwhile in other country music news, Ronnie Milsap, Mac Wiseman and the late Hank Cochran will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year, the Nashville, Tenn.-based institution announced on Apr. 22. Milsap, 71, is the singer/songwriter of such classics as "Smoky Mountain Rain," "It Was Almost Like a Song" and "Stranger in My House," and has 40 Number One singles to his name, along with six Grammy awards and eight Country Music Association (CMA) awards. Wiseman is a former member of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs' legendary Foggy Mountain Boys, and Cochran is known for penning such country classics as "Make the World Go Away" and "I Fall to Pieces." - People.com/Billboard/Rolling Stone, 4/17/14.

A new Alice Cooper "doc opera" dubbed Super Duper Alice Cooper debuted on Apr. 17 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, with a showing on April 22 at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and screenings at theaters around the country starting on April 30. The revealing film includes a load of rare footage, extensive interviews with Cooper, manager Shep Gordon and original Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway, as well as commentary from Elton John, Iggy Pop, John Lydon, Dee Snyder and Bernie Taupin, the latter of whom talks for the first time about his role in hooking Cooper on cocaine while they were working on the 1978 album From the Inside. "They came to us and said, 'You can't just do a documentary on Alice Cooper. You've got to make it something that's as theatrical as the character,' " Cooper says. "I said, 'I agree with that. What's your idea?' And they said, 'We love the idea of a Jekyll and Hyde thing, 'cause you are Jekyll and Hyde, basically. The guy who walks around all day and does interviews and plays golf and goes to church, that's Dr. Jekyll. And your stage character is Mr. Hyde.' I said, 'Well, I love that. That's great.' And it certainly is not going to look like everyone else's documentary." A DVD version of Super Duper Alice Cooper is due out June, with outtakes and more from the interviews. A special VIP Edition will also include a set of commemorative panties, recalling the stunt used for Cooper's 1972 School's Out album. Cooper, meanwhile, is gearing up for a European tour that starts May 30 in the Czech Republic, and then for a swing as the special guest on Motley Crue's farewell tour, which starts July 2 in Grand Rapids, Mich. He's also putting the finishing touches on his next album, a mostly covers tribute to the "Hollywood vampires" crowd (John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, the Who's Keith Moon and others) he partied with during the early 70s, though he's also written four new songs for the project. He's currently adding guest musicians, though Cooper won't reveal any names yet. - Billboard, 4/17/14.

Paul McCartney has confirmed another six dates on the 2014 U.S. "Out There" tour. Paul makes his first ever appearance in Lubbock, Tex., the hometown of his beloved Buddy Holly, on June 14. Other stops include Dallas, Atlanta, Jacksonville (his first ever full headline show there), Nashville and Salt Lake City. McCartney, currently touring South America, was forced to cancel the first of two shows in Chile on Apr. 21 after his equipment failed to show up. He was due to play at the Movistar Arena in Santiago on that evening, but has now rescheduled the date to Apr. 23 after a plane carrying all his gear didn't arrive on time. McCartney's south American tour will continue this month in Uruguay, Peru and will see him play Ecuador and Costa Rica for the first time. The tour will then head to Asia and the US later on in the year. In other Beatles-related news, John Lennon and Yoko Ono explain their love for one another in a revealing interview animated by PBS' Blank on Blank series. "When I was singing about 'all you need is love, I was singing about something I hadn't experienced; I'd experienced love for people in gusts, and love for things, trees, things like that, but I hadn't experienced what I was singing about," Lennon says in one of the interviews, which were conducted between 1969 and 1972 by Howard Smith. The episode, whimsically animated by Patrick Smith, features the voices of Lennon and Yoko explaining their relationship a few years after they had met. Ono, who was 32 when she met Lennon, revealed that she had given up hope on finding real love and had become cynical before meeting the Beatle. For his part, Lennon said that for all his singing about love, he felt like he really experienced it after he met Ono. - PaulMcCartney.com/New Musical Express/Rolling Stone, 4/22/14.

Blondie announced on Apr. 21 that they will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2014 with the release of a new 2-disc set, Blondie 4(0) Ever, which will feature new music and a greatest hits collection. The first disc, Ghosts of Download, is Blondie's 10th studio album and will include brand new tracks produced by Jeff Saltzman, while the second disc, Deluxe Redux: Greatest Hits, features brand new studio recordings of such Blondie classics as "Heart of Glass," "Rapture" and "One Way or Another." The release, the followup to their 2011 LP Panic of Girls, is due on May 13 via Noble ID/ESMG, and the group will mount a handful of U.S. tour dates behind it in May and will be touring through Europe from June through August. - Billboard, 4/22/14.

Neil Young quietly released a new covers album, A Letter Home, on Apr. 18 via Jack White's Third Man Records without formal announcement. The 12-inch vinyl release came out a day before Record Store Day and is being sold through physical retailers and their websites for around $20 plus shipping. A Letter Home includes covers of classics by the likes of Bob Dylan ("Girl From the North Country"), Willie Nelson ("On the Road Again"), Gordon Lightfoot ("Early Morning Rain"), Bruce Springsteen ("My Home Town") and the Everly Brothers ("I Wonder If I Care As Much"), among others. Many of these songs have been a part of Young's live set over the past few months. On his website, Young describes the collect as "rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro mechanical technology captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever." The album will also be released in a deluxe package that will include a CD, a download card, a making-of DVD and two vinyl records. The limited edition set will retail for $109.98, but a basic CD version will also be offered for $13.99. Meanwhile, Young's old friend who contributed backup vocals to his 1972 smash album Harvest, Linda Ronstadt, has roared back onto the Billboard Hot 200 album chart with a new compilation album, Duets. The LP has debuted at No. 32, Ronstadt's highest-charting album since 1990. Duets includes the new single "Much" and also boasts collaborations with Don Henley, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Rondstadt's 1987 No. 2 Hot 100 hit with James Ingram, "Somewhere Out There," is also on the new 15-song set, along wiith on previously-unreleased song, "Pretty Bird," with Laurie Lewis. Ronstadt, who could not attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Apr. 10 (as travel is very difficult for her), was celebrated at the event via an all-star performance by Glenn Frey, Sheryl Crow, Harris, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt and Carrie Underwood. - Billboard, 4/18/14.

An attorney representing Aretha Franklin says the Queen of Soul is seriously considering a lawsuit against the satirical website Thenewsnerd.com after it posted a story about a fabricated dustup between Franklin and Patti LaBelle, which Franklin later vehemently denied. Franklin's lawyer, Arnold Reed, contends Thenewsnerd.com's notice of its satirical intent is buried, rendering it ineffective. "What good is a disclaimer when one has to dig deeper than a six-foot grave to find it," Reed said in a statement. Reed acknowledges he case would be fraught with difficulties for the prosecution both constitutional and cultural, after a landmark precedent case in which Jerry Falwell unsuccessfully sued Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited public figures and officials from recovering damages when the item in question "could not reasonably have been interpreted as stating actual facts about the public figure involved." - Billboard, 4/18/14.

California Breed, a new "supergroup" comprised of former Deep Purple vocalist-bassist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham and newcomer guitarist-singer-songwriter Andrew Watt, released their self-titled debut album in the UK on May 19 on Frontier Records. Mixing massive riffs, gutsy vocals and gale force rhythms, the hard-hitting trio's first single "Sweet Tea" has hit No. 7 on the U.S. Classic Rock chart and continues to climb. The group recently debuted an animated lyric video for the LP's first single, "Midnight Oil." That song and "Sweet Tea" are now available as an instant grat tracks by pre-ordering the album exclusively from iTunes worldwide. - Noble PR, 4/22/14.

A Colorado man who acknowledged stealing the luggage of '70s rocker Peter Frampton last year at Denver International Airport has been given a 60-day suspended jail sentence followed by two years of probation. Thornton, Col., resident John Allen Papelbon, 52, was sentenced on Apr. 18 and ordered to pay $8,884 in restitution. He pleaded guilty to theft of between $2,000 and $5,000, acknowledging he took seven pieces of luggage from DIA last year. Authorities say airport surveillance video from Oct. 27 shows a man matching Papelbon's description walking way with luggage after Frampton arrived in town to perform in Beaver Creek. - AP, 4/19/14.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the boxer whose wrongful murder conviction became an international symbol of racial injustice and was the inspiration for Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane," died on Apr. 20 after a battle with prostrate cancer. He was 76. Convicted alongside friend John Artis in 1967 and again in a new trial in 1976, Carter spent 19 years in prison for three 1966 murders at a tavern in Paterson, N.J. He was freed in November 1985 when his convictions were set aside after years of appeals and public advocacy. His ordeal and the alleged racial motivations behind it were publicized in the Dylan song, several books and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington, who received an Academy Award nomination for playing the boxer turned prisoner. In June 1966, three white people were shot by two black men at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson. Carter and Artis were convicted by an all-white jury largely on the testimony of two thieves who later recanted their stories. Carter was granted a new trial and briefly freed in 1976, but sent back for nine more years after being convicted in a second trial. - AP, 4/20/14.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 16th, 2014

The Who will launch a 50th anniversary tour later in 2014 beginning around Christmas in the U.K. before heading to North America in 2015, according to guitarist Pete Townshend. "It will be a world tour. I'm not crazy about going on the road, but I'm in good shape and once I start doing it -- and I'm still very good at it -- I'll take some pleasure from it," Townshend recently told Billboard. Townshend also said there's a possibility the band will be releasing some new music: "I'm trying to [look] through my 20,000 hours of complete and utter disorganized music [to find possible songs]. I'll be pulling some songs out of [his long-gestating project] "Floss" to give to Roger [Daltrey] to see if we've got enough to make an album. It might be a big waste of time, but I'm hoping there will be an album." The Who last toured in 2012 and 2013 on their "Quadrophenia and More" tour that celebrated their landmark 1973 album. They will issue a concert film of their performance from that tour, Quadrophenia: Live in London, on June 10, which contains all 17 tracks on the album as well as a six-song set of some of the rockers' greatest hits, including "Who Are You" and "Pinball Wizard." The last time they toured behind new music was the "Endless Wire" trek of 112 shows in 2006 and '07. Meanwhile, Roger Daltrey and former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson just released "Going Back Home" on Universal Music's Chess Records label. Daltrey will also attend the upcoming IndyCar Series race in Long Beach, Calif., to raise awareness of Teen Cancer America. Daltrey and Townshend co-founded Teen Cancer America, which seeks to ensure that cancer patients throughout the United States have access to special units and treatments. - Billboard, 4/16/14.

Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson will release a second consecutive album called Homo Erraticus on Apr. 15, and its liner notes reportedly affirm that the long-lived group is effectively no more. "The huge body of work that is the Jethro Tull catalogue stands firm close beside me and in good stead... But I think I prefer, in my twilight years, to use my own name for the most part being composer of virtually all Tull songs and music since 1968," Anderson writes. He also recently told Billboard that "nothing is going on at all" with Jethro Tull these days. "...I think that, if we look back on it, it kind of came more or less to an end during the last 10 years or so (with) a couple of live albums and a studio album of Christmas material. That might define the last albums under the name Jethro Tull. It's a body of work I rather think is now kind of historical, since the weight of it lies back in the 70s and 80s in terms of volume. And I rather think it's nice to kind of leave that as legacy," Anderson explained. Anderson and his current band -- all of whom have served tenures as part of Jethro Tull -- hit the road to promote Homo Erraticus starting April 28 in U.K., with European dates into August and U.S. shows during the fall. He plans to play the new album in its entirety, with a second half that will include "a selection of the best of Jethro Tull's sort of classic songs." He'll also be digging deep for three songs that Anderson says "are quite well-known pieces by Jethro Tull" that have been rarely played live but are going to be part of this year's set. - Billboard, 4/14/14.

AC/DC is denying rumors that surfaced on Apr. 14 in the group's native Australia that the band is on the verge of announcing their retirement due to one band member's serious illness. The band says rhythm guitarist Malcom Young will be "taking a break" from the band he co-founded 40 years ago to address an illness that lead singer Brian Johnson described as "debilitating." "Malcolm would like to thank the group's diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support," the statement on the band's Facebook page reads. "In light of this news, AC/DC asks that Malcolm and his familys privacy be respected during this time." The statement added that "the band will continue to make music." Johnson recently told a UK paper that AC/DC will enter a Vancouver recording studio in May to work on new songs. "We're going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas... If anything happens, we'll record it," he said. Johnson said in the same interview that "one of the band's members" was not well. "One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don't want to say too much about it," he said. "He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We've been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much." Johnson added that despite Young's illness he's still hopeful the group can pull off a 40-date tour to commemorate the group's 40th anniversary. "That would be a wonderful way to say bye bye," he said. "We would love to do it. But it's all up in the air at the moment." - Billboard, 4/16/14.

The Rolling Stones have announced they'll restart their trek of Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 25 with a concert at the Adelaide Oval. Their new 9-date "14 On Fire" run will include additional concerts at Perth Arena (Nov. 1) and at the Hope Estate winery in the Hunter Valley (Nov. 15) before wrapping at the Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, on Nov. 22. The Stones had planned to tour these parts in March and April, but the seven dates were nixed following the death of L'Wren Scott, the girlfriend of frontman Mick Jagger. The Stones first toured Australia in January/February 1965, and their most recent trek, A Bigger Bang, played four shows in Australia and New Zealand back in 2006. - Billboard, 4/15/14.

A musical version of Soul Train may he heading toward Broadway after stage and film producer Matthew Weaver acquired the theatrical stage rights to the famous black song-and-dance TV show. Weaver, whose credits include the successful "Rock of Ages" show, says he hopes to turn Soul Train into a show that attracts both die-hard Broadway fans and those who usually avoid Times Square. Soul Train, with its trademark animated train opening, was founded by Don Cornelius in 1970 in Chicago and served as its host until 1993. It provided a national, weekly showcase for R&B artists, black culture and fashion, and featured such acts as James Brown, Al Green, Ike and Tina Turner, Hall & Oates, Donna Summer, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Whitney Houston and David Bowie. Weaver, who also produced such films as We're the Millers and The Heartbreak Kid, has grown "Rock of Ages" into an international brand, with a film version, three national tours and productions of the show in Las Vegas, London, Australia, Toronto, Japan and South Korea. - AP, 4/15/14.

Bob Dylan is now off the hook in a French anti-discrimination case that was brought against the rock legend after he made comments in late 2013 about Croatians that were alleged to violate the country's anti-discrimination laws. "Blacks know that some whites didn't want to give up slavery -- that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke . . ., and they can't pretend they don't know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood," Dylan told the French edition of Rolling Stone. Now, French officials are looking to indict the French Rolling Stone for printing Dylan's remarks in the first place. Its publisher, Michael Birnbaum, faces up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of 45,000 francs ($62,000) for publishing the remarks. - Billboard, 4/16/14.

A campaign on the Kickstarter.com website to fund Neil Young's Pono music player reached its goal of $800,000 less than 10 hours after it went live. Now, the campaign has ended after earning nearly eight times that figure. It is officially the third highest-funded campaign in Kickstarter history. The Pono music player has a suggested retail price of $399 and contains 128 gigabytes of memory, which can store between 1,000 and 2,000 high-resolution songs. The device will also accept memory cards to hold more music and playlists. After years of planning, Young announced Pono in March at the South by Southwest music festival, and recruited a number of his famous friends, including Beck, Norah Jones, Rick Rubin, Jack White, Arcade Fire, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Dave Grohl, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Dave Matthews, Patti Smith and Kid Rock, to appear in a video and offer testimonies to the player's sound quality. - Rolling Stone, 4/15/14.

The estate of Elvis Presley is reportedly suing a gun manufacturer for using the singer's likeness in an advertisement. According to the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, Elvis Presley Enterprises has filed a lawsuit against the Beretta company, claiming they wrongfully used The King's image without permission to advertise their new "692" shotgun. They also used Elvis impersonators at the 2014 Shot Show in Las Vegas. The lawsuit allegedly mentions the fact that Elvis was a big gun lover. However, it states that the estate has never given permission to Beretta. Elvis Presley Enterprises is suing for damages and has demanded that Beretta stop using Elvis' image for now on. Meanwhile, a dozen dentists across the UK will be hosting an "Elvis Day" in May 2014 to promote awareness of mouth cancer. Each practice will host a model of Presley's teeth plus a genuine dental crown made for the rock 'n' roller by former Memphis dentist Henry J Weiss. Each Elvis Day will involve costumes, music and free mouth cancer screenings, according to the organizers. - New Musical Express, 4/13/14.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that Michael Jackson's mother should pay more than $800,000 in trial costs to a concert promoter that she targeted in a failed negligent hiring lawsuit involving the death of her son. Judge Yvette Palazuelos said on Apr. 14 that Katherine Jackson should be required to pay AEG Live LLC after it won the case. The tentative ruling is expected to be finalized after AEG Live submits an amended list of its costs for items such as court filing fees, court reporters and travel. Attorneys for the company and Katherine Jackson agreed not to argue Palazuelos' tentative ruling, but it might be appealed. Katherine Jackson's attorney Kevin Boyle said a decision on appealing the order would be made after reviewing its final language. The verdict and rulings in the case are currently being appealed. AEG Live initially sought more than $1.2 million to cover its costs. Katherine Jackson's lawyers claimed only about a quarter of that amount was justified. Meanwhile, Jackson's family has issued a warning to Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of Jackson's children, that they will fight her if she considers taking custody of Prince and Paris Jackson. According to various reports, Rowe is concerned about the welfare her children who are in custody of Katherine and is planning on filing court papers to take them under her care. However, the children's uncles, Tito, Randy, Jermaine and Jackie Jackson insist Rowe has no right to take the kids away from their care after agreeing to give Michael full custody of them for an alleged cash pay-out in 1999. A posthumous Michael Jackson album entitled Xscape will be released on May 13, with one of its eight songs titled "Do You Know Where Your Children Are?" - AP/New Musical Express, 4/15/14.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda star Valerie Harper has declared herself cancer-free, just over a year after doctors warned her she had months to live. "I'm absolutely cancer-free!," the 74-year-old actress told Closer magazine. "My last scans have been positive, and my doctors are very happy. (The oncologist) looked at the scans and said, 'Oh my God, Valerie, this is very encouraging!'" But Harper added her medics are a little more hesitant to say she's completely in remission: "My doctor doesn't use that term (in remission). He likes to say, 'I give you a treatment, and it's either responsive or non-responsive -- and you are having a phenomenal response.'" Harper says she's still taking a number of pills to combat the illness, but she only has to check in with her doctor every eight weeks. "I take medication once a week, a lot of pills at once, what they call a pulse dose. They can be difficult, but I try to sleep them off -- I usually lay in bed very quietly to keep them down," she said. - WENN.com, 4/16/14.

The 2014 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held on Apr. 10 at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, with Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam), Peter Gabriel, KISS, Linda Ronstadt, Hall & Oates and Nirvana inducted into the Cleveland-based hall and museum. Peter Gabriel was the first performer of the evening, playing "Digging in the Dirt" from 1992's Us. Gabriel was inducted by Chris Martin of Coldplay, and during his acceptance speech he thanked his family and the musicians who he had played and collaborated with. KISS was inducted by superfan and devotee Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who saluted the "KISS Army" before genuine and sincere acceptance speeches from the original four members -- Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss. Art Garfunkel inducted Cat Stevens with a speech that was affectionate and lyrical, quoting liberally from Stevens' work and speaking to it with deep knowledge and respect. Stevens then took to the stage with an acoustic guitar, joined by Waddy Wachtel, for a moving performance of "Father and Son." The Eagles' Glen Frey appeared in support of his friend and former bandmate Linda Ronstadt, with a straight-forward tribute describing her history and achievements, especially calling out her support of his own musical efforts. "She, more than anyone else, helped us put together the Eagles," said Frey, who concluded by saying "Linda lives in a place where art trumps commerce." Health prevented Ronstadt from attending, so instead she was saluted by Carrie Underwood, who performed the Stone Poneys' "Different Drum," Ronstadt's first hit single. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson from the Roots represented Philadephia soul with his induction of Hall & Oates, who then took the stage and launched into "She's Gone," "I Can't Go For That" and "You Make My Dreams Come True." The E Street Band was honored with a special Award for Musical Excellence by none other than The Boss himself, as Bruce Springsteen affectionately reminisced how he met each member of the band, before concluding, "I told a story with the E Street Band that was bigger and better than the story I could have told on my own." Receiving Ahmet Ertegun Awards during the cermony were Beatles manager Brian Epstein and early Rolling Stones impresario Andrew Loog Oldham. The 29th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony was taped and highlights will be aired on HBO on May 31. - Billboard, 4/11/14.

Esteemed anti-war singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester, who became an icon of the anti-war movement after moving to Canada to escape the draft during the Vietnam War, died at a hospice in Virginia on Apr. 11 after a battle with bladder cancer. He was 69. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1944, Winchester started playing music in Memphis, where his family later relocated. In 1967, he received a draft induction letter, but instead of showing up, he took a plane to Montreal. "I was so offended by someone's coming up to me and presuming to tell me who I should kill and what my life was worth," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1977, the same year he was pardoned by Pres. Carter and allowed to tour the U.S. He arrived in Canada with only $300 and no connections, but settled into a new life, joining a local band and finally writing his own material. Winchester was introduced to Albert Grossman, the manager of Bob Dylan and the Band, by the Band's Robbie Robertson, and Robertson also produced Winchester's eponymous 1970 debut album, recorded in Toronto. He released several more albums, including 1972's Third Down, 110 to Go, produced by Todd Rundgren. While never as well known as peers like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, Winchester wrote some of the defining singer-songwriter tracks of the seventies -- evocations of American and Southern life like "Yankee Lady," "Biloxi," "Mississippi You're on My Mind" and "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz" that ached with feelings of loss for the country he decided he had to leave. The songs gained him a cult following and critical respect, and were covered by everyone from George Strait to Tim Hardin. Winchester was considered such a formidable songwriter that a 2012 tribute album, Quiet About It, featured versions of his songs by Taylor, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams and Vince Gill, among others. He continued recording sporadic albums and, about a decade ago, returned to the United States, relocating to Memphis before finally settling into Charlottesville, Va. In 2011, Winchester was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, but he beat the disease and eventually mustered the energy to record a new album, A Reasonable Amount of Trouble. Produced by Mac McAnally, the album will be released this August. But this February, the cancer returned, to his bladder, and Winchester had spent the last week in a hospice. - Rolling Stone, 4/11/14.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry have recorded a new arrangement of their 1973 hit "Dream On" to honor victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Tyler and Perry are accompanied by the Southern California Children's Chorus in the video of their signature hit. Aerosmith had performed "Dream On" during the Boston Strong Concert benefit last May. The song is part of the ESPN special Dream On: Stories from Boston's Strongest that will first air on Apr. 12 on ABC, then re-aired on ESPN on Apr. 15, the anniversary of the attacks. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the 2013 marathon. Aerosmith has also announced they will kick off a 19-city summer "Let Rock Rule" tour of the U.S. on July 10 at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, N.Y., running through a Sept. 9 show at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Mich. The band performed an intimate club show at the famed Los Angeles venue Whisky A Go Go on Apr. 8, the first time they had performed there since Dec. 4, 1973. On the itinerary are such major markets as Cincinnati (7/22), Las Vegas (8/2), Denver (8/19), Dallas (8/22) and Atlanta (8/28). Opening for Aerosmith on the upcoming tour will be Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators). Aerosmith will also be among the headliners at the 2014 London Calling Festival in late June, along with Stevie Wonder. - AP, 4/10/14.

Debbie Harry of Blondie has revealed that she's bisexual to the UK paper Daily Mail. Harry says she doesn't really have a preference for her sexual partners, but admits she finds women "more sensual." "I don't know if I have any specific requirements. Just somebody nice, who has a good sense of humour and loves to have sex. What more could you ask for?," she told the paper. Harry was involved in a long-term relationship with bandmate Chris Stein in the 1980s, but she has never named any of her female lovers. Harry and Blondie made headlines in February after turning down an offer to play the Winter Olympics in Sochi because of Russia's anti-gay legislation. "We feel very strongly about these friendships and associations, and don't feel good about participating in a situation where biases and prejudices are paramount," Harry said at the time. - WENN.com, 4/8/14.

Mick Fleetwood will host a series of television specials called 24 Hours with Mick, during which the Fleetwood Mac drummer/founder will "spend a day with each guest probing their thoughts, interests and ideas," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series will showcase an eclectic lineup of interview subjects from a variety of fields, including music and entertainment to technology and politics, art, architecture and more." So far, no network or premiere date has been announced. Fleetwood, who will personally select the guests, will film the show at his Hawaiian home and on the road with Fleetwood Mac. The band recently put tickets on sale for their first tour with Christine McVie since she left Fleetwood Mac in 1998. - Rolling Stone, 4/9/14.

The opening of an off-Broadway musical based on the life of Janis Joplin has been delayed "due to production issues." The show made a splash on Broadway in October and was to open on Apr. 10 at the smaller Gramercy Theatre in Chelsea. Featuring a powerful performance by Mary Bridget Davies as Joplin alongside a quartet of extremely talented singers, the loud, colorful, '60s-saturated spectacle featured most of the singer's hits, including "Down on Me," "Piece of My Heart," "Mercedes Benz" and "Me and Bobby McGee." Meanwhile, Daryl Hall's critically acclaimed, award-winning performance series Live from Daryl's House has renewed for another season. The new shows will premiere in early 2015 on Viacom's high-definition music channel Palladia. This past season Hall's guests included ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Amos Lee, Gavin DeGraw and Brett Dennen. - AP/The Hollywood Reporter, 4/10/14.

Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe has announced she will marry a friend of the late King of Pop, gay porn producer Marc Schaffel, after insisting in March that they were not engaged. Previous reports suggested Rowe was set to wed Schaffel after she was photographed wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring, she denied the claims then. Rowe now says she initially turned down the proposal because she feared she had terminal cancer, after doctors found irregularities with her lymph nodes. However, test results have shown that the former nurse, who is mother to Jackson's two eldest children Prince Michael and Paris, is actually suffering from autoimmune disease sarcoidosis, which is not life-threatening, and now she has decided to marry Schaffel. " [Marc] loves me, knows my kids, loves my kids and we'll see where this goes," Rowe told the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com. The couple has yet to set a wedding date. - WENN.com, 4/10/14.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 7th, 2014

After wrapping their overseas trek to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in March, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their U.S. High Hopes Tour on Apr. 6 by closing out the NCAA's March Madness Music Festival in Dallas. The performance marked Springsteen's first full-length performance in the U.S. since wrapping the Wrecking Ball tour in late 2012, not to mention his first stateside date in support of 2014's High Hopes album. The band took the stage to the strains of the instantly recognizable Harlem Globetrotters theme, "Sweet Georgia Brown," then brought a referee onstage for an actual opening tipoff, who battled guitarist Nils Lofgren. Appropriately, that was followed by a cover of Van Halen's "Jump." Springsteen also shared the stage with several of his fans, and the band showed a newfound fire thanks to the addition of guitarist Tom Morello to the E Street lineup. - Rolling Stone, 4/7/14.

An exclusive "town hall" interview with Billy Joel conducted by Howard Stern will air at midday on Apr. 28 on Stern's SiriusXM station, Howard 100 (channel 100), Joel's own exclusive station on channel 4 and through the SiriusXM Internet Radio app. SiriusXM's Billy Joel Channel launched on Mar. 26 and will run through June 25. The channel features the musician's biggest hits alongside rarities, previously unreleased live and studio cuts and tracks from A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia, Joel's upcoming live album documenting his 1987 Russian tour. The channel is also scheduled to air new and archival interviews with Joel and members of his touring band as well as excerpts from his "Masters Class" sessions with music students around the world. - Rolling Stone, 4/7/14.

Sales of Fleetwood Mac albums have surged 33 per cent after the recent announcement by former member Christine McVie that she'll be rejoining the band she initially left in 1998. The group's back catalog sold 10,000 copies during the last week of March, up from the 8,000 in the previous week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The band's 1988 Greatest Hits album received the biggest boost and re-entered the Billboard Hot 200 at No. 200, while digital sales of the band's songs grew by 52 per cent, rising from 20,000 to 30,000 in the same period. Their best-seller for the week was the Stevie Nicks-sung tune, "Landslide." With bassist John McVie also onboard after having fully recovered after undergoing treatment for cancer, Fleetwood Mac fans are hoping that the reunited line-up will write and record a new album, which would be the first featuring the "classic '70s" lineup of Fleetwood Mac since 1987's Tango in the Night. On Mar. 27, the band announced that later this year they'll be heading out on their first tour with Christine McVie in 16 years. - New Musical Express, 4/6/14.

Irreverent and outspoken former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (a.k.a. "Johnny Rotten") is set to star in a new production of the religious stage musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." Lydon will appear as King Herod in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, alongside Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas and Destiny Child's Michelle Williams as Mary. 'N Sync's JC Chasez will play Pontius Pilate. The 50-city, North American arena tour is set to launch on June 9 in New Orleans. Boyd, appearing on Good Morning America on Apr. 4, described the production as "completely new, and it's incredible... It's an arena rock show." Meanwhile, John Lydon is also set to publish a new autobiography this year. The hardback version of the book will hit shelves in October and will be written by Lydon along with music journalist Andrew Perry. - AP, 4/4/14.

Actor Will Ferrell is attached to star in a new movie called Match Maker about the legendary 1973 "battle of the sexes" tennis tournament between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Based on Don Van Natta Jr.'s ESPN.com article, "The Match Maker: Bobby Riggs, The Mafia and The Battle of the Sexes," the story follows the high profile rivalry between the two tennis pros and their iconic 1973 tennis match. The match was watched by 50 million Americans, who tuned in to see whether a 29-year-old female King could beat the retired 55-year-old Riggs. Ferrell, who was last seen in Paramount's Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and The Lego Movie, is well known for being a major sports fan and is regularly seen on the sidelines of a USC football game or courtside for a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game. According to insiders, it was his passion for tennis that gave Chernin the idea to pursue him for the role of Riggs. - Variety, 4/3/14.

The Who's Pete Townshend has written his first original song for a television show, composing and performing "It Must Be Done" for FX's The Americans with the show's composer Nathan Barr. It will appear in the episode airing Apr. 30. The song, about three minutes long, appears in a scene for which it was not written. Townshend and Barr initially had the music playing under a scene involving a car being shadowed, which did not fit after the scene was edited. It was moved to a scene that is being described as "sex and murder." "It's really striking," Townshend said of the placement. Prior to The Americans airing, two different versions of Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door" will open and close the season opener of Showtime's Californication on Apr. 13. A re-mix from L.A. producer Philip Stier will open the show and the original version from 1980 will close the episode. - Billboard, 4/4/14.

Musician/composer Arthur Smith, a multi-instrumentalist whose song "Feudin' Banjos" later became known as the popular "Dueling Banjos," passed away in Charlotte, N.C., on Apr. 3 of natural causes, just two days after his 93rd birthday. Mr. Smith wrote "Feudin' Banjos" in 1955 as a banjo instrumental, and the composition famously appeared in the 1972 film Deliverance, for which he was not properly credited -- leading to a lawsuit that eventually yielded him royalties and a songwriting credit. In addition to his musical prowess, Mr. Smith hosted a variety show Carolina Calling on Charlotte's WBTV station, with a nationally syndicated TV show, The Arthur Smith Show, following. The latter was the first of its kind in the country music world. Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison are among the dozens of artists who covered his material at some time. In related news, legendary actor Mickey Rooney died on Apr. 7 at the age of 93. Mr. Rooney's screen credits include 16 Andy Hardy films for MGM among his more than 200 films, and he also appeared opposite Elizabeth Taylor in 1944's National Velvet; as a Navy man in the James Michener adaptation The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954); as Audrey Hepburn's bucktoothed Japanese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); and as Anthony Quinn's trainer and cutman in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). He earned an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a mentally ill man who emerges from an institution and finds love for the first time in the emotional 1981 CBS telefilm Bill, and was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1983. He landed on the cover of Time magazine in 1940 -- rare for any actor at the time -- and in 1941 was the biggest ticket-selling star for the third straight year, ranking ahead of such icons as Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Bette Davis and Abbott & Costello. - Billboard/The Hollywood Reporter, 4/7/14.

Linda Ronstadt's classic 1974 LP Heart Like a Wheel is among 25 recordings selected this year for long term preservation by the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The recordings are chosen for their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance, and Librarian of Congress James Billington notes that Ronstadt helped define the musical era of the 1970s. She was a tastemaker, Barton said, choosing an eclectic mix of early rock and country music for Heart Like a Wheel that could evoke what was happening in 1974. "You can hold up that album for someone. If you want to get an idea of what's happening, start here," he said. Other seminal sounds of the 20th century being inducted into the registry include Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" and the Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown," the library announced on Apr. 2. Meanwhile, Ronstadt is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Apr. 10, and in an interview with the AP said she didn't think about making a hit album with Heart Like a Wheel and was naive about the business of music. "In retrospect, I don't think I realized it at the time how precarious my situation was in terms of my career where if I hadn't had a success with that particular record, I think it would have been game over," she said, adding she was surprised to learn the album had been selected for safekeeping at the library, but that it's nice to have a distinction. "I just wish I had done a little better job singing," she said. "If I listened to that record now, it would probably kill me. I never listen to my own stuff." Ronstadt says her battle with Parkinson's Disease, which has left her unable to sing, will prevent her from attending the upcoming R&RHOF ceremony in Brooklyn. "It wasn't anything I ever thought about. I never thought of myself as a rock' n' roll singer; I sang it, (but) it's just one of the things I sang. I sang a lot of different stuff. I didn't go the last two times I was nominated for a Grammy, either. I don't have anything against it; you just don't do things for those reasons. If you're working for prizes, you're in trouble. There's nothing wrong with it. I don't mind it. It's just not anything I ever gave a thought to." Those confirmed for the ceremony include Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Glenn Frey, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow. The full current lineup of Kiss, who are also scheduled to be inducted this year, will also attend. - AP/Billboard, 4/2/14.

The Rolling Stones have announced they will restart their world tour in May in what will be the group's first concerts since the death of Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott on Mar. 17. The Stones have announced 14 dates across Europe and Israel in May, June and July as part of their "14 On Fire" trek. The itinerary includes a mix of festivals, stadiums and arenas, and kicks off with a May 26 date at Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway, also visiting Lisbon, Zurich, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Rome, Madrid and Stockholm, wrapping with a July 3 headlining date at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The band had postponed their tour of Australia and New Zealand after Scott's suicide, however talks are reportedly underway for the band to return to Oz in October/November. - Billboard, 4/1/14.

Stevie Nicks will be honored with the prestigious BMI Icon Award at the organization's 62nd Annual Pop Awards ceremony on May 13 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. The invitation-only ceremony will also recognize the songwriters and publishers of the past year's most performed pop songs in the country. The BMI Pop Song, Songwriter and Publisher of the Year will be named during the ceremony as well as an all-star musical tribute to Nicks. The Fleetwood Mac songstress will join the ranks of previous winners including Paul Simon, Carole King, David Foster, John Fogerty, Kris Kristofferson, The Bee Gees, Willie Nelson, Brian Wilson, Carlos Santana and Dolly Parton, among others. "Stevie Nicks is an extraordinary songwriter and pedigree artist of stunning genius and unwavering grace, on and off the stage. She has defined an era of pop and rock culture around the world with her brilliance and unforgettable magnificence," said BMI exec Barbara Cane. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/31/14.

A posthumous Michael Jackson album called Xscape featuring 8 previously unreleased songs will be released on May 13, Epic Records and the Jackson estate has announced. Lead producer of the project was Timabaland, with additional work courtesy of Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Jerome "Jroc" Harmon and John McClain. Executive producer L.A. Reid said in a statement that Jackson "left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with... We are extremely proud and honored to present this music to the world." Xscape's title track was written and produced by Jackson and Jerkins, who recorded the original with the singer. Epic will release a deluxe edition of the album that will include all the sourced recordings in their original form. Both the standard and Deluxe Editions were made available on Apr. 1 for pre-order on iTunes and elsewhere. In other new release news, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will release their 13th studio album, Hypnotic Eye, this summer. Frontman Tom Petty recently told Rolling Stone that the new LP sounds like his earlier chestnuts Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers from 1976 and You're Gonna Get It from 1978. "I knew I wanted to a do a rock and roll record. We hadn't made a straight hard-rockin' record, from beginning to end, in a long time," Petty said. Petty and the Heartbreakers are expected to announced a tour behind the new album soon. Petty also commented that the band are far from finished. "This band just grows and grows, and that's an incredible gift, I can't see us calling it off," he said. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 3/31/14.

Elton John and his longtime partner David Furnish will wed in an English registry office in May, according to an interview Furnish gave to a Las Vegas newspaper. He added that the ceremony will be intimate, with their two kids -- Elijah, 3, and Zachary, 16 months -- in attendance along with a few friends. "We don't feel the need to take an extra step legally," Furnish said. "But since were committed for life, we feel it's really important to take that step, and take advantage of that amazing change in legislation. We all live by example." Furnish, 51, broke the news Friday at John's 67th birthday party at Fizz Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, where John continues to perform regularly. It became legal for gay couples to marry in the UK on Mar. 28. John and Furnish have been together for two decades. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/31/14.

A two-hour, 23-song tribute to Paul Simon was held at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan on Mar. 31. The career-spaning overview of Simon's 50-plus year career as a songwriter and performer featured such artists as Allen Toussaint, Judy Collins, Bob Mould, Richard Marx and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. The first part of the evening featured an array of Simon & Garfunkel standards, and the second half of the set drew mostly from albums like There Goes Rhymin' Simon and Still Crazy After All These Years. For the encore, all of the evening's performers gathered on stage for a sloppy, joyful take on "The 59th Street Bridge Song." - Rolling Stone, 4/1/14.

'70s TV icon Shirley Jones announced she has some "high-flying" plans for her milestone 80th birthday on Mar. 31 -- her very first skydive. "That's something I wanted to do all my life," the Oscar-winning Jones said on Mar. 28. Jones says she was inspired by former Pres. George H.W. Bush, who made several skydiving jumps on several birthdays, including when he turned 85 in 2009. "When I saw him do it I thought, 'Wow, if he can do this, I can,'" Jones said. Jones will be jumping in tandem with an instructor in Perris, a popular Southern California skydiving spot, according to her husband, comedian Marty Ingels. Jones, who starred in TV's The Partridge Family in the 1970s, gained fame with the 1950s film versions of the Broadway musicals "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel." She won an Oscar for the 1960 drama Elmer Gantry. But Shirley says she isn't too thrilled to be entering her eighth decade. "I'm not very happy about" turning 80, she said. "The number scares me to death. I don't even like to say it. Eighty years old, it can't be." - AP, 3/29/14.