Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 10th, 2015

AC/DC announced on Apr. 10 that they'll play five of the largest cities in their native Australia and two in New Zealand, starting with a Nov. 4 show in Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The homecoming lap of outdoor stadiums will continue on Nov. 12 at Brisbane, then hit Adelaide (11/21), Perth (11/27), Melbourne (12/6) and Auckland, N.Z. (12/15), before wrapping in Wellington, N.Z. on Dec. 18. It will be AC/DC's first tour Down Under since their Black Ice Tour in 2009. The rock titans' Rock or Bust World Tour kicks off May 5 in the Netherlands and continues across Europe through July. AC/DC is also set to headline the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., which runs from Apr. 10-17. - Billboard, 4/10/15...... The Shelby County Land Use Control Board in Memphis, Tenn., approved a proposal on Apr. 9 to move two airplanes once owned by Elvis Presley, the "Lisa Marie" and the Hound Dog II," from Presley's Graceland mansion on Elvis Presley Boulevard to a location down the street. The planes have been situated at Graceland since the mid-1980s, where they are a popular tourist draw. They had been sold after Presley's death and were eventually purchased by OKC Partnership in Memphis, which will relocate the aircraft on a lot just steps from the Graceland property. The plan still requires approval from the Memphis City Council, and if the planes are moved to the new location, they would be part of an outdoor display and museum for tourists to visit. - AP, 4/9/15...... On a late night post on their official Facebook page on Apr. 8, Black Sabbath announced they won't be playing a Nov. 22 show at the 2015 Ozzfest Japan, which was reported to be the heavy metal icons' last show ever. Instead, the concert will be a solo performance by Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne. "Despite previous reports, Black Sabbath will not appear on this year's Ozzfest Japan, the show will instead feature the festival's namesake, Ozzy Osbourne (and friends)," they wrote on Facebook. Ozzfest Japan, which still lists Black Sabbath as the Nov. 22 headliner on its official website, is scheduled for Nov. 21 and 22, at the Makuhari Messe venue, located outside Tokyo. Korn is listed as the Nov. 21 headliner. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has responded to rumours that he is suffering from a cancer relapse. Posting on his Facebook page on Apr. 9, Iommi wrote: "Thank you for all the enquiries about my health, very kind. I'm not sure how the rumour of my being unwell started as I was away on holiday! Once you've had something like lymphoma the fear that it will return never leaves, all I can say is that right now I'm fine and have regular blood tests." Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012, undergoing successful treatment for the illness in Jan. 2013. He was expected to complete treatment and get the all clear during 2014. Fans began to speculate on his health again after Sabbath pulled out of the Ozzfest "farewell" show. However, Iommi has denied that this has any relation to his well being. The current line up of the band sees Iommi and Osbourne joined by third original member Geezer Butler on bass. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 4/9/15...... The Rolling Stones announced on Apr. 8 that they'll be among the headliners at the 11-day Quebec Fest music festival in Quebec City, Canada, which is set for July 9-19. Also on the bill will be such artists as Deep Purple, the Doobie Brothers, Keith Urban, Nickelback and Skrillex. Performances at the 47-year-old festival will take place indoors and outdoors, and will range from pop and rock to jazz and electronica. In other Stones news, Keith Richards has just backed Mick Jagger's plan to record a new Stones album. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Richards confirmed that the group are discussing the "idea" of recording their first album since 2005's A Bigger Bang. "We're talking about doing some recording after this tour, but there's nothing definite," he said. "We just threw out the idea. I'd like to get the boys back in the studio again." Also talking to Rolling Stone, Jagger said that he is not considering retirement. "Nah, not in the moment," he said. "I'm thinking about what the next tour is. I'm not thinking about retirement. I'm planning the next set of tours, so the answer is really, 'No, not really.'" The Stones announced on Mar. 31 that they will head out on the road in the US this May, June and July, beginning with a May 24 show in San Diego. - AP/New Musical Express, 4/8/15...... Ahead of his Apr. 18 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Oh., as a solo artist, Ringo Starr told Billboard that he'll definitely be performing during the ceremony, but as far as details, "I'm not telling you 'cause there goes the surprise." "We have several guests who are coming along to play with me, and some of them will be very surprising," Ringo said. Likely candidates appear to be Paul McCartney, who will be making the induction speech, Ringo's son Zak Starkey, who has a night off from "The Who Hits 50!" tour of North America, and Ringo's brother-in-law, Joe Walsh of the Eagles. Starr has also announced he will take his All-Starr Band troupe on the road again this fall, starting Oct. 1 in San Francisco. - Billboard, 4/8/15...... People magazine is reporting that Barry Manilow secretly married his manager, Garry Kief, in a private ceremony in 2014. According to People's source, Barry and Garry invited "20 to 30 guests" to Manilow's Palm Springs house under the guise of a luncheon, which turned out to be a wedding ceremony. The magazine said Manilow and Kief did not sign any paperwork but are wearing wedding bands. The story was first broke by The National Enquirer. Earlier in 2015, Manilow revealed that his current world tour wouild be his last one. "It doesn't mean I'm retiring or anything. I'll do shows and I'll promote albums if I make any more, but no more big tours," Manilow said. "That's it. It's too much packing. It's 40 years -- more than that, really -- of packing and waiting for room service. People think it's glamorous, but glamorous is the last word I would use for this job. You don't see anything; you see the inside of your hotel room." - Billboard, 4/8/15...... Elton John and former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe are calling for the equal rights of transgender inmates following claims that a transgender woman was mistreated at a Georgia prison earlier in 2015. "Transgender women in male prisons have an equal right to protection from violence and abuse in prison, and yet they continue to face horrific injustices," the two musicians wrote in a joint statement on Apr. 7. In early April, the Justice Department said prison officials must treat an inmate's gender identity condition just as they would treat any other medical or mental health condition following a February lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center filed against Georgia Department of Corrections officials on behalf of Ashley Diamond, a transgender woman. "More often than not, assaults in part go unreported because the perpetrators are prison guards, wardens and staff," said Stipe and John, who founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation. "This is outrageous, and the message it sends is horrific: that violence against and discrimination of trans people is not only allowed, but sanctioned." - AP, 4/7/15...... Pres. Barack Obama, who became the first U.S. president to visit Jamaica in three decades when he arrived in Kingston on Apr. 8, made a late evening visit to a museum dedicated to the island's favorite son, reggae legend Bob Marley. In shirt sleeves, Obama toured the museum as Marley's hit "One Love" played through the sound system. One of the rooms he explored held the late reggae star's platinum records and a Grammy award. "What a wonderful tour," he said after visiting the museum. The president is attempting to rekindle an enthusiasm that has waned amid a perceived lack of attention from America's head of state. When he was first elected president in 2008, calypso and reggae songs were written in his honor, the French Caribbean island of Martinique named a road after him, and Antigua's highest mountain officially became "Mount Obama" as the small country saluted him as a symbol of black achievement. - AP, 4/9/15...... Some of the biggest hit songwriters in country music will be honored at the City Winery in Nashville, Tenn., in the coming months, beginning on Apr. 14 with Mac Davis, Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. "I'm always excited to work with Allen," Mac Davis told Billboard. "He's one of my best friends here. I don't know Tom Douglas well at all, but he's a great songwriter. It's always fun to work with these guys. I love the format of sitting in a couple of folding chairs and having a guitar pull, as we used to call it. I'm looking forward to it, and it's for a good cause." Though Davis, whose songs for such artists as Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition and Bobby Golsboro made him one of the most successful composers of the late 1960s/early 1970s, hasn't been onstage much since the 1990s, he says his guitar has never been far away. "I've got it in my lap two or three times a day," he says. "I play golf, come home, put my guitar in my lap and start working on something." Those successes led to his own recording contract with Columbia and hit singles such as "Stop and Smell the Roses," "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" and "I Believe in Music." - Billboard, 4/7/15...... In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar gave his thoughts on the new live offering from Van Halen, Tokyo Dome Live in Concert, which finds David Lee Roth (1974-1985, 2007-present) on the mic. "I'm trying to tread lightly on the whole thing," Hagar told the paper. "[But] they've got some pretty rough vocals. I try to stay away from criticism, but here I am, already starting this interview with it. It's impossible. It's impossible to stay away from. Standing back, I'm just going, 'What the [expletive] are these guys thinking?'" Hagar currently leads a band called the Circle, which includes classic Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham on drums and guitarist Vic Johnson. - Billboard, 4/7/15...... Legendary blues guitarist B.B. King was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital over the first weekend of April, according to the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com. King, 89, was reportedly treated for diabetes-related symptons and dehydration. On Apr. 7, King assured fans that his condition is improving and that he's leaving the hospital. "I want to thank everyone for their concern and good wishes. I'm feeling much better & am leaving the hospital today," he said via Facebook. King, a tireless road veteran, canceled all upcoming tour dates in late 2014 due to health issues. - Billboard, 4/7/15...... Veteran prog-rockers Yes will embark on a five-week co-headlining tour with Toto starting on Aug. 7. The 26-date trek begins at Foxwoods Casino's Grand Theater in Mashantucket, Conn., then winds across the United States with stops at the Borgata Hotel & Casino Event Center in Atlantic City (8/9), the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (8/11), the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines (8/18), and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (9/6) before ending at the Hard Rock Casino in Vancouver on Sept. 12. "Yes are childhood heroes of ours, so this pairing is a dream come true," said Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. "Plus, maybe we'll win over some new fans, because we've always had a prog-y edge to us." - Billboard, 4/6/15...... Saturday Night Fever star and longterm Scientologist John Travolta is speaking out to defend the religion in the wake of a new controversial HBO documentary. Travolta, a member of the church for 40 years, admitted he has not watched the show, titled Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, but is adamant Scientology is not dangerous. "I've been so happy with my experience in the last 40 years that I really don't have anything to say that would shed light on (a film) so decidedly negative," the actor told the Tampa Bay Times. He also praised church members for helping him to deal with his grief following the death of his 16-year-old son Jett in 2009, adding, "Oh, my God, I wouldn't have made it -- honestly... I've helped so many people through hard times. Loss of children, loved ones, physical illnesses. Through many tough, tough life situations I've used the technology to support them and help them. It's always worked... So, why would I even approach a negative perspective? That would be a crime to me, personally, to do that." Going Clear debuted in the U.S. in March and made several criticisms of the church and the treatment of its members. - WENN.com, 4/7/15...... Soul singer Billy Butler, creator of an exuberant 1960s Chicago soul sound whose compositions were recorded by Al Green, Isaac Hayes and Bobby "Blue" Bland, died of cancer Mar. 31 at a Chicago nursing home. He was 69. A recording artist, songwriter, musician, arranger and producer, Billy wasn't as well-known as his brother, Jerry "Iceman" Butler, as bad luck and timing made stardom elusive. "Billy was the guy who would have a hit record just as the record company went out of business," said Jerry Butler, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Billy Butler wrote "Bless Our Love," a song recorded by "Duke of Earl" Gene Chandler, and the Butler brothers co-wrote "I Stand Accused," a single by Isaac Hayes. Butler also formed another group, Infinity, and in his later years, he wrote many gospel songs and hoped to release a CD of those works, said his daughter, Yolanda Goff....... Actor James Best, best known for his portrayal of bumbling sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on the 1979-1985 CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard, died on Apr. 6 at a hospice in Hickory, N.C., of complications from pneumonia. He was 88. Although Mr. Best had been a busy actor for decades in theater and in Hollywood, appearing on scores of TV shows including The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza and Gunsmoke, he didn't become famous until 1979, when The Dukes of Hazzard's cornpone charms began beaming into millions of American homes almost every Friday night. For seven seasons, Best's Rosco P. Coltrane chased the moonshine-running Duke boys back and forth across the back roads of fictitious Hazzard County, Georgia, although his "hot pursuit" usually ended with him crashing his patrol car. Although Rosco was slow-witted and corrupt, Best gave him a childlike enthusiasm that got laughs and made him endearing. His character became known for his distinctive "kew-kew-kew" chuckle and for goofy catchphrases such as "cuff 'em and stuff 'em!" upon making an arrest. Among the most popular shows on TV in the early '80s, The Dukes of Hazzard ran until 1985 and spawned TV movies, an animated series and video games. Mr. Best later appeared in a handful of Burt Reynolds' movies, including Hooper and The End. - CNN, 4/7/15...... Actor Geoffrey Lewis, who appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies and made guest appearances on dozens of TV shows in the '60s through '80s, died on Apr. 7 in Woodland Hills, Calif. of natural causes, according to a family friend. He was 79. The character actor, who often appeared in Westerns, was the father of actress Juliette Lewis. He had roles in Eastwood's High Plains Drifter, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can as well as in Bronco Billy, Pink Cadillac and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance on the 1980 series Flo, and appeared in numerous other shows including Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, Lou Grant, Little House on the Prairie, Falcon Crest, Lou Grant and Murder, She Wrote. - Variety, 4/8/15...... Stan Freberg an acclaimed satirist whose freewheeling career in advertising garnered him worldwide fame, died of natural causes at a Santa Monica, Cal., hospital on Apr. 7. He was 88. The godfather of humorous and irreverent commercials, Mr. Freberg lampooned cultural institutions and described himself as a "guerrilla satirist." In the pre-rock 'n' roll era, 10 of Mr. Freberg's parody records reached the top 30, with "St. George and the Dragonet" hitting No. 1 for four weeks in 1953. His recordings were so popular that he landed his own radio program in 1954, "That's Rich." In 1957, he presented "The Stan Freberg Show" on CBS Radio, where he regularly mocked commercials by advertising bogus products. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/7/15.

The lyrics to Don McLean's famed 1971 opus "American Pie," one of the most dissected and argued-about songs in the pop music canon, sold for $1.2 million on the morning of Apr. 7 to an anonymous bidder during an auction conducted by Christie's. Tom Lecky, a spokesman for the auction house, noted the lyrics, which were sold along with the original manuscript and accompanying notes, "achieved the 3rd highest auction price for an American literary manuscript, a fitting tribute to one the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation." In an interview with Rollling Stone magazine in February, the singer said it was time to part with the manuscript. "I'm going to be 70 this year. I have two children and a wife, and none of them seem to have the mercantile instinct. I want to get the best deal that I can for them. It's time," he said. The New Rochelle-born singer/songwriter has always admitted that the opening lines were inspired by the Feb. 3, 1959 death of Buddy Holly in a plane crash, but after that, it's all been conjecture, and the 8-minute, 33-second song has been analyzed endlessly by those trying to parse its cryptic symbols -- with some contending the "jester" is Bob Dylan and the "girl who sang the blues" is Janis Joplin. "Over the years I've dealt with all these stupid questions of 'Who's that?' and 'Who's that?'" McLean said. "These are things I never had in my head for a second when I wrote the song. I was trying to capture something very ephemeral and I did, but it took a long time." First entering the American Top 40 on Dec. 4, 1971, the song soared to number one in early 1972, despite its length. (The 45-rpm single split the song in half on its A and B sides.) The draft that was auctioned is 16 pages: 237 lines of manuscript and 26 lines of typed text, according to Christie's. It includes lines that didn't make the final version as well as extensive notes -- all of which "should be revealing," McLean said. The record for a popular music manuscript is held by Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," which sold for $2 million in June 2014. - CNN, 4/7/15.