Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on March 21st, 2015

What are being described as the master tapes of the Beatles' 1962 live performances in Hamburg, Germany, will be offered for auction by London's Ted Owen & Co. auction house with a starting bid of about $300,000. The tape, made in Hamburg's "red light district" Star Club not long before the Beatles shot to international fame, included nearly five hours of live performances of 33 songs, and were recorded by the Star Club's stage manager, Adrian Barber, who had been asked to document the band's live show by another Liverpool musician, Ted "King Size" Taylor. Much of the material on the tapes was released in 1977 as a two-LP set titled The Beatles: Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany -- 1962, which the Beatles tried unsuccessfully to block. Those recordings have since been widely bootlegged. "These tapes are of considerable historical and cultural value, but they are not a Holy Grail for serious students of the Beatles," Beatles scholar and Beatles music/film reissue producer Martin Lewis said. "They hold some interest because they give us a tantalizing aural snapshot of the primitive visceral power of their live performances in those early Beatles days. But the technical limitations of the tapes means that we hear more of their youthful swagger than the proficiency and creativity that would later enchant the world," he added. The tapes, which are currently owned by onetime Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali business manager Larry Grossberg, reportedly were once offered to Beatles manager Brian Epstein at a price of £100,000, prompting Epstein to make a counteroffer of £20 based on the inferior sound quality. The auction includes the master tapes for the 26-song album as well as stereo mixes created from the original monaural recording and the 7-inch reel safety master from the original unedited tape that Barber made. - The L.A. Times, 3/19/15...... Meanwhile, "Strawberry Fields Forever" has just been named as the greatest Beatles song ever in a new poll of some of music's biggest names, including Beatles producer George Martin, Pete Townshend, Brian Wilson, Dave Grohl and Nile Rodgers. Coming in behind the 1967 chart-topping hit in the poll conducted by Britain's New Musical Express were "A Day in the Life," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Here Comes the Sun," and "Blackbird." - NME, 3/18/15...... In other Beatles news, it was announced on Mar. 18 that Paul McCartney will present Ringo Starr with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's one-off Award For Musical Excellence during the 2015 induction ceremony on Apr. 18 at Cleveland's public hall, making Ringo the final member of the group to be honored as a solo artists. Other presenters include Stevie Wonder, who will do the honors for '70s hitmaker Bill Withers, and Pattie Smith, who will induct the late Lou Reed. - Billboard, 3/18/15...... Barry Manilow is donating a piano to the Uniondale school district on Long Island in New York as part of the singer's Manilow Music Project. Manilow says he started the project to help public schools with depleted music programs, and is urging others to also donate musical instruments for schoolchildren to play. The 71-year-old crooner performed at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale on March 20, and announced he'd be giving free tickets to anyone who donates a new or gently used musical instrument. "Music is a vital part of a child's education," Manilow said. - AP, 3/21/15...... Organizers of a proposed Jimi Hendrix park in Seattle, Wash., announced on Mar. 20 that they've picked a developer to build a 2.5 acre Jimi Hendrix Park in the city's Central District, adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum. Construction, which is being handled by ERRG, Inc., is expected to begin in April, with phase one projected to open this fall. The non-profit groups Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation and the Friends of Jimi Hendrix Park have raised more than $1.4 million for the project since 2012. "It is our hope that for generations, [the park] will exist as more than an attraction or point of interest, but a place of homage to one of Seattle's own," said Janie Hendrix, the legendary guitarist's sister and director of the Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation. "The landscaping, the artistic design, and the ambience all mimic the vibe of the persona of Jimi, whom this park honors." Phase one of the park -- dubbed "Little Wing" -- will include an entrance at 25th and Massachusetts, a pathway with a timeline of the Seattle native's life and career, rain infiltration gardens and a central plaza for performances, among other features. Phase two, which is still in the fundraising stages, will add the park's centerpiece, a so-called "shadow wave wall" depicting silhouette images of Hendrix. Hendrix died in London on Sept. 18, 1970, at age 27. - Billboard, 3/20/15...... A planned Janis Joplin biopic starring Hollywood A-lister Amy Adams has been halted, at least temporarily, by a new lawsuit that claims writer-producer Ron Terry and an investor breached an exclusive option agreement by owned by producers for the script about the hard-living rock and roll queen. LKL Productions and Swiss production company Silver Reel claim they paid $117,000 for the exclusive rights in August 2014 to the script Get It While You Can, which Terry wrote with his wife Teresa Kounin-Terry. Silver Reel and LKL's option is set to expire at the end of March, and they have equested the judge extend the option agreement until the lawsuit's resolution, and want an injunction preventing the defendants from shopping the screenplay to any third party. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/18/15...... With its release held up for seven years because of rights issues, Danny Tedesco's illuminating documentary The Wrecking Crew about the unsung L.A. session musicians who provided the backbeat for some of the greatest songs from the '50s through the '80s can now be seen in selected theaters in the US. The wait was worth it. Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer, Carol Kaye, and the director's dad, Tommy Tedisco, are finally allowed to step out of the shadows and take a belated bow. - Entertainment Weekly, 3/20/15...... Neil Young made a surprise appearance at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 19, attending a Q&A session following a special screening of his 1982 film Human Highway. "It has a life of it's own. It refuses to die - we tried to kill it a couple of times," said Young of the surreal movie, which was shown in a newly re-cut and re-mastered format. "It was never satisfying to look at, because I knew there was more than what we were seeing... I always wanted to make it what it could be." Human Highway is set at a roadside diner near a nuclear power plant and stars the singer-songwriter, who also wrote and directed the film under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey. It also features the band Devo as power plant workers and also sees the band jamming with Young on a version of his track "Hey Hey My My (Out Of The Blue)." "They're geniuses -- they had something that was totally unique," said Young of the Ohio-based Nw Wave band. "When I met them I freaked out." He added that the new version of the movie, which includes previously unseen footage, will be touring film festivals throughout the year, before getting a DVD release. - New Musical Express, 3/20/15...... Meanwhile, late Small Faces and Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan was remembered at the Austin Music Awards on Mar. 18 with an hour-long tribute by an all-star group of musicians, including Steven Van Zandt, Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo. McLagan, an Austin transplant who died on Dec. 3 at the age of 69, had also been named best keyboardist in a poll conducted by the Austin Chronicle. The award was accepted by his son Lee McLagan, who'd flown over from England and received a standing ovation from the crowd. "He loved this place with all his heart. I hope he gave you a good time, 'cause you gave him a home," McLagan said. - Billboard, 3/19/15...... Fleetwood Mac has rescheduled their tour of Australasia for later in 2015 after previous dates in late 2013 were called off when bassist John McVie diagnosed with cancer (he sought treatment and returned to the stage in late December of that year). The classic Fleetwood Mac lineup of McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie will play 10 shows in Australia and New Zealand in the fall, beginning with shows on Oct. 22 and 24 in Sydney. The band will also visit Perth, Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, Hunter Valley, and Dunedin before wrapping on Nov. 21 in Auckland. Fleetwood Mac was last Down Under for the 2009 Unleashed Tour, and they've not toured as a five-piece since 1998. - Billboard, 3/20/15...... Former Chic principal Nile Rodgers has weighed in on the recent controversial verdict concerning the Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke song "Blurred Lines," which has been ruled as copying Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give it Up." "Compositionally, purely compositionally, I don't think they should have lost that case," said Rodgers, who has worked alongside Williams in Daft Punk's smash hit "Get Lucky." "'Got to Give it Up' is clearly a blues structure, ('Blurred Lines') isn't at all....they don't really sound alike." On Mar. 18, Gaye's children wrote an open letter in hopes to "set the record straight on a few misconceptions" surrounding their winning case against Thicke and Williams. The siblings said that they were "forced into court" by a lawsuit brought by Thicke and Williams' attorneys, and that the lawsuit could have easily been avoided had the pair acknowledged their infringement and approached the family in advance and come to a deal on the song -- something they "would have welcomed." - AP/Billboard, 3/19/15...... Auctioneers Julien's have announced an auction of Elvis Presley items at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York on May 16 will include the King of Rock & Roll's TCB (Taking Care of Business) bus was owned by Elvis' backup band, The TCB Band, and purchased with money provided by Elvis. The bus, which features the TCB initials and lighting bolt logo throughout, has been fully restored. It features bunks for nine, old-fashioned tube TVs and classic '70s decor. And Elvis drove it himself sometimes. The estimated selling price is $100,000-$200,000. Also up for sale is Presley's 1971 two-seat Stutz Blackhawk car, which featured the best audio system of the day and was delivered to Elvis at his Beverly Hills home on Sept. 9 1971. The pre-sale estimate is $400,000-$600,000, along with Elvis' army winter dress uniform ($20,000-$40,000), Las Vegas "penguin suit" ($60,000-$80,000), marriage certificate to Priscilla Presley, black Gibson J-200 he played in Vegas, and the contract he signed to play the Louisiana Hayride early in his career. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/17/15...... The Crawford, Colorado home of late British-born rocker Joe Cocker is back on the market again, after being taken off the market after the the singer's death. The nearly 16,000-square-foot Tudor-style mansion was on the market fully furnished for $7.9 million last year, before Cocker's death, but has now been relisted again, fully furnished, for $7 million. It has eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms and sits on 243 acres. The home is about a two-hour drive from the resort areas of Aspen and Telluride. - AP, 3/16/15...... Johnny Cash's acclaimed Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings I-VI will be released as a special vinyl box set on March 23. Recorded in the final decade of Cash's life with guidance from Rubin, the American Recordings led to a resurgence for the late-country singer. Four of the six albums were released during his life. The final two were issued posthumously. Pressed onto 180-gram audiophile vinyl, the records were cut from original masters under supervision from Rubin. - NME, 3/18/15...... Robin Trower has just released a video for the title track of his new album, Something's About to Change, which hit stores on March 9 via Manhaton/V12 Records. Released on Trower's 70th birthday, Something's About to Change marks Trower's first album since 2013's critically acclaimed Roots And Branches, and dovetails his 17-date UK tour with special guest Joanne Shaw Taylor starting March 26. Trower's tour kicks off in Lincoln, and also visits cities including Birmingham, Salford, Gateshead, Glasgow, York, Sheffield, London, Exeter and Salibury before wrapping at the Milton Keynes Stables on April 17. - Noble PR, 3/17/15...... Cabaret star Liza Minnelli has reportedly checked into a rehab center for substance abuse in Malibu, Calif. "Liza Minnelli has valiantly battled substance abuse over the years and whenever she has needed to seek treatment she has done so. She is currently making excellent progress at an undisclosed facility," a rep for the singer said. Minnelli's mother, Judy Garland, died in 1969 from an overdose of barbiturates. This past winter, Minnelli teamed up with jazz legend Wynton Marsalis for a new song called "Until the End" that was featured in the documentary film Garnet's Gold. - Billboard, 3/18/15...... With contemporary bands like War on Drugs refracting Dire Straits' honeyed 1980s guitar sound, it's surprising that frontman Mark Knopfler hasn't rebooted his old band lately. Instead, he's been unpacking his influences on modest, multifaceted rock LPs like his latest, Tracker. Opening on a vamp recalling Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," then veering into Celtic folk, "Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes" sets the tone for this burnished set about days past. Other highlights of his eighth solo effort include "Basil," a nod to his youth in Northumbria, and "Skydiver," which echoes Seventies Grateful Dead. The Mar. 31 Verve release includes a bonus DVD containing exclusive video and interviews, numbered art print, and six photographic prints. - Rolling Stone, 3/26/15...... Andy Fraser, the former bassist for the Classic Rock band Free, died on Mar. 16 at his home in California. He was 62. The cause of Fraser's death has yet to be announced, however he had been battling both cancer and AIDS. Fraser was a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before co-founding Free with Paul Rodgers in 1968 when he was just 15. He co-wrote the band's 1970 hit "All Right Now" but left the group in 1972 to form Sharks with guitarist Chris Spedding. He then formed the Andy Fraser Band before moving to California and going on to write for artists such as Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart. - NME, 3/17/15...... Songwriter/keyboardist Michael Brown, a former member of the '60s group The Left Banke, died of heart failure on Mar. 19 at his home in Englewood, N.J. He was 65. Born Michael Lookofsky, Brown grew up in Brooklyn and co-wrote "Walk Away Renee," which rose to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and composed "Pretty Ballerina," which rose to No. 15. - AP, 3/20/15...... 'Ib Melchior, a screenwriter and director who took two classics of literature and set them in the future for the 1960s sci-fi films Robinson Crusoe on Mars and The Time Travelers, has died at age 97. Mr. Melchior, who claimed he was the one who came up with the ideas for TV's Lost in Space and Star Trek, died on Mar. 14 of natural causes at his home in West Hollywood, according to his son, Leif. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/19/15.

Paul McCartney has made chart history once again, this time for having two simultaneous Top 15 hits for the first time since 1982 as his latest collaboration with rapper Kayne West, "All Day," has cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 15, along with a previous McCartney, West and Rihanna collaboration, "FourFiveSeconds," which sits at No. 5. McCartney previously earned the honor multiple times with the Beatles, or as a soloist and with the Fab Four, last on May 22, 1982. That week, his own "Ebony and Ivory," with Stevie Wonder, topped the chart, and the group's "The Beatles' Movie Medley" remained at its No. 12 peak. - Billboard, 3/13/15...... In other Macca news, Paul's ex-wife Heather Mills went to town on her former husband on an Irish TV show called The Late Show on Mar. 14, suggesting that Paul is finding it hard to stay "relevant" in the modern music industry, stating that he only collaborated with Rihanna and Kanye West "so people remember him." Mills, a former ski racer and environmental activist, who was married to the former Beatle between 2002 and 2008, seemed to become agitated with host Ryan Tubridy mentioned McCartney's name. Mills added: "If I go down the street all I get is kids coming up to me - half of them don't even know who he is.... he is just someone I fell in love with, who to me was a normal guy that happened to write a few cool songs in the '60s -- and a few in the '70s. It was just someone I fell in love with... You fall in love, get married, you sometimes then go, 'Oh my god, this was completely wrong', and you wake up and you move on." - New Musical Express, 3/16/15...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr has been forced to postpone two All Starr Band concerts set for Mar. 12 and 13 in San Francisco due to an unspecified illness, according to a tweet from the venue. The city's The Masonic posted that the Mar. 13 concert has been rescheduled for Oct. 1, 2015. Ringo's new solo album, Postcards From Paradise, is due Mar. 31. His current All Starr Band features Gregg Rolie, Todd Rundgren and other notable artists. - Billboard, 3/13/15...... Eric Clapton announced on Mar. 12 that he'll celebrate his milestone 70th birthday on Mar. 30 with two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden on May 1 and 2. The concerts will also commemorate another anniversary: the 46th anniversary of his first peformance at the venue with Cream, which christened the "new" MSG in 1968. Clapton ahs since appeared at the arena more than 45 times -- more than any other place in the U.S. General public tickets go on sale Mar. 20, and the opening act will be Andy Fairweather Low and the Low Riders. - Billboard, 3/12/15...... The Eagles announced on Mar. 13 that they'll take their History of the Eagles Tour on the road again in 2015 beginning with a May 19 performance at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Tex. The iconic country-rock band will play relatively smaller markets on the 24-date tour, including Bakersfield, Calif., Sioux Falls, S.D., Eugene, Ore., and Dayton, Ohio, before wrapping in Bossier City, La., on July 29. The previous leg of their HOTE tour raked in more than $145 million in 2013-14, playing for 1.1 million fans. - Billboard, 3/13/15...... Robert Plant has announced a series of live North American dates, some of which will see the alternative band the Pixies providing support. Plant will tour North America during May and June, with Frank Black & Co. opening for the musician in Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Rochester Hills and Raleigh. Singer-songwriter JD McPherson will open on the remaining dates. Full dates can be found at Plant's official website. - New Musical Express, 3/16/15...... Ann Wilson of Heart says her band is planning on multi-tasking during its upcoming tour by not only preparing, but also recording significant portions of its next album while on the road. "We're touring and recording at the same time," Wilsonsays. "We're actually recording off the stage in sound checks and the shows, so if we're doing a song you're not familiar with at a show this year, you can be sure we're recording it to be worked on later. We're going to take the tracks and mess with them towards making a new record. You can get the spark of the live performance in the basic track, which is something which is really hard to do in the studio." Wilson added Heart currently has four new songs ready to play, which are "sounding very multi-dimensional, just real different from stuff we've done before." Heart will kick of its latest tour on Mar. 18 in Mankato, Minn., and hopes to finish recording the album -- the follow-up to 2012's Fanatic -- during the fall, with an early 2016 release. - Billboard, 3/12/15...... Elton John is among the voices calling for a boycott of fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana after the pair expressed skepticism about the use of in vitro fertilization and surrogate mothers to create families in a recent interview with an Italian magazine. "How dare you refer to my beautiful children as "synthetic," Sir Elton posted on his official site on Mar. 14. He added: "And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF -- a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children. Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again." The designers, under growing social media pressure, issued a statement on Mar. 14 saying their comments supporting traditional families with a mother and a father "weren't intended to judge the choices made by others." The designers, who are gay and formerly were a couple, have put the traditional family at the center of their last two collections, sending a pregnant model and models with their own children down the runway to celebrate motherhood. - AP, 3/16/15...... Stevie Wonder will serve as an executive producer on Freedom Run, a proposed NBC show about the Underground Railroad. The mini-series will be based on Betty DeRamus' book Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories From the Underground Railroad. The show is indicative of the networks' desire to satisfy the audience's thirst for more diverse programming after the success of such diverse hits as Empire, How to Get Away With Murder and Fresh Off the Boat. Wonder is also writing a musical version of Freedom Run to be staged on Broadway. - Entertainment Weekly, 3/13/15...... Comedian/actor Eddie Murphy is in talks to portray Richard Pryor's dad in an upcoming Pryor biopic that Lee Daniels is directing for The Weinstein Co. Mike Epps will star as the controversial '70s comedian who pushed the boundaries of race and mined his own gritty experiences, becoming one of the most influential acts of all time. Murphy will play the father, LeRoy Pryor, and Kate Hudson will play Pryor's fourth wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor, who was married to Pryor in 1981-82, and then became his seventh wife after the couple remarried in 2001. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/13/15...... In one of the most unlikely career moves in recent times, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has recently relocated to Nashville and begun collaborating with local songwriters for a new album of country music, after first announcing his intention to record a country LP last October. Tyler is expected to sign with Big Machine Label Group very soon, and has reportedly already begun work on the album. On the Mar. 11 episode of American Idol, Tyler joined country stars Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire and The Band Perry in a taped segment, all of whom are signed to BMLG imprints, in praising Big Machine executive Scott Borchetta. Taylor Swift is the label's biggest act. A release date for Tyler's album could come as early as November, though a 2016 release is more likely. No producer has been confirmed for the project. - Billboard, 3/13/15...... Mike Porcaro, a longtime bassist for the Grammy-winning band Toto, died on Mar. 15 after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), according to a Facebook post by his brother, Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro. He was 59. "My brother Mike Porcaro is now now at peace. I will miss him more than I could ever put into words. My deepest love to the family. God Bless," Toto guitarist/singer Steve Lukather tweeted on Mar. 15. Porcaro, the son of the jazz percussionist Joe Porcaro, joined the Grammy-winning rockers Toto in 1982 and was with the band for their most successful album, Toto IV, which featured the hit singles "Africa" and "Rosanna." He appeared on many more Toto albums before retiring from the band in 2007 due to complications from ALS. Toto is set to tour Europe this spring in support of their new album, Toto XIV. - Billboard, 3/15/15...... Lew Soloff, a jazz trumpeter who reached a broader audience with the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat and Tears, especially with a memorable solo on the original version of the 1969 hit "Spinning Wheel," died of a heart attack on Mar. 8 in Brooklyn. He was 71. Soloff was a session musician for such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Lou Reed; he was the lead trumpeter of both the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; and tackled Bach as a member of the quintet Manhattan Brass. Soloff toured the world with Blood, Sweat and Tears, and in 1970 the band played before 14,500 fans at Madison Square Garden; their opening act was a sextet led by Miles Davis But he left the band in 1973, seeking new musical challenges, and released eight albums as a leader and performed or recorded with Gil Evans, Paul Simon, Dizzy Gillespie and many others....... Three Dog Night keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon died of etastatic melanoma in Gaithersberg, Md., on Mar. 11. He was 67. Greenspoon's organ and electric piano on hits such as "Easy to be Hard" and "Joy to the World" defined the band on par with its three lead vocalists, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells. "We are very saddened at the passing of our dear friend and longtime band mate, Jimmy Greenspoon. Jimmy died peacefully at home today surrounded by his family. Please keep him and his loved ones in your prayers and your hearts," Three Dog Night posted on its official website. Greenspoon, an L.A. native whose mother had been in silent films, recorded with his surf group the New Dimensions while in junior high and high school. After attending the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, he became a fixture at Sunset Strip clubs, playing with a host of bands. For a brief time he lived in Denver, where he was a member of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Throughout his career, Greenspoon performed and recorded with such acts as America, The Beach Boys, Beck, Bogert & Appice, Nils Lofgren, Lowell George, Donovan, Eric Clapton, and many others. Greenspoon published his autobiography in 1991, titled One Is The Loneliest Number - On The Road And Behind The Scenes With Legendary Rock Band Three Dog Night. Since Greenspoon announced his cancer diagnosis five months ago, he used a crowd-funding page at GoFundMe.com to help pay medical bills. He is survived by his wife, Susie. - Billboard, 3/12/15...... Soft Machine and Gong co-founder Daevid Allen, a psychedelic rock legend, passed away on Mar. 12 after a battle with cancer. He was 77. The Australia-born Allen co-founded the immensely influential British psych-jazz band Soft Machine in 1966, which produced the self-titled underground classic The Soft Machine in 1968. He also co-founded the British-French experimental band Gong in 1968. - Billboard, 3/13/15...... Comic Gene Patton, better known as "Gene Gene the Dancing Machine" from his many appearances on the wacky daytime NBC series The Gong Show, died on Mar. 13 in Pasadena, Calif., after a battle with diabetes. He was 82. At a random moment during the 1976-78 game show, host Chuck Barris Barris would introduce Mr. Patton, and the curtain would part, bringing the shuffling stagehand with the painter's cap onstage to the sounds of "Jumpin' at the Woodside," a jazz tune made popular by Count Basie. His dance sent everyone on the set -- Barris, the judges, the cameramen, the audience -- into an uncontrollable boogie. A native of Berkeley, Calif., Mr. Patton also appeared as Gene in The Gong Show Movie (1980) and as himself in the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, George Clooney and Charlie Kaufman's surreal 2002 adaptation that starred Sam Rockwell as Barris. By then, Mr. Patton had lost both his legs to diabetes. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/13/15.