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.