Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on June 14th, 2015

Paul McCartney was presented with a tulip named in his honor, "Tulipa Paul McCartney," during his stop off in the Netherlands on June 6 for two sell-out shows in Amsterdam. Jack Uittenbogaard of the Remarkable Tulips company said it was a lifelong wish of his partner, Rose van Teylingen, to honor the former Beatle with a Dutch tulip. "I was enthusiastic about the idea and we got started. Perhaps we plant in the garden of Paul McCartney his tulip this autumn," Uittenbogaard said. Described as a "red flower with a distinctive white border," Tulipa Paul McCartney reportedly took 20 years to develop and will be available to buy in limited quantities from 2016. - New Musical Express, 6/11/15...... In other Fab Four-related news, Yoko Ono's first permanent public art installation in the United States will go on display in Chicago in June 2016. During a news conference in the city's Jackson Park with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Ono said the idea for her "Sky Landing" exhibition came when she visited the park in 2013 for a cherry blossom tree installation. "I recall being immediately connected to the powerful site and feeling the tension between the sky and the ground," Ono said in a statement. "I wanted the Sky to land here, to cool it, and make it well again." Jackson Park was the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and is one of two sites under consideration to be home to Barack Obama's presidential library. Ono also has a public art exhibit in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Imagine Peace Tower, which shines a beam of light in tribute to her late husband, John Lennon. - AP, 6/13/15...... Organizers of the annual "A Capitol Fourth" Independence Day celebration announced on June 13 that Barry Manilow will headline the event. The famous '70s crooner will perform a patriotic medley he first performed nearly 30 years ago for the reopening of the Statue of Liberty. The concert at the U.S. Capitol, attended by thousands of visitors, leads up to a massive fireworks display on the National Mall and is simulcast on PBS and NPR stations across the country. Other performers have not yet been announced. - AP, 6/13/15...... The Rolling Stones' deluxe reissue of its classic album Sticky Fingers is headed back to the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 200 album charts, some 44 years after its 1971 release. Sticky Fingers, which spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1971, is expected to move around 35,000 equivalent album units in the week ending June 14. The album, which has been remastered for its June 8 release, has been absent from the tally since 1981. The reissue follows the 2010 reboot of 1972's Exile on Main Street and the 2011 reissue of 1978's Some Girls, both also No. 1 albums in their day. - Billboard, 6/12/15...... A new collaborative album from country music legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, Django and Jimmie, debuted at No. 7 on Billboard's Top Country Albums Chart after its first week of release, moving 31,000 units for the week ending June 7. The LP is also the first Billboard Hot 200 Top 10 set for Haggard, and the fourth for Nelson. Named after late genre-spanning guitarist Django Reinhardt and country icon Jimmie Rodgers Django and Jimmie was released through Legacy Recordings on June 2, and is the fifth collaborative set from Nelson and Haggard. - Billboard, 6/12/15...... Van Morrison was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth on June 12 for his services to music and tourism in Northern Ireland, the inspiration for many of his classics. Morrison was born in Belfast, and many of his wistful, mystical songs are set on the streets of the city. The acclaimed Celtic crooner is among more than 1,000 people recognized by the queen in her annual Birthday Honors list, and joins his fellow previously knighted countrymen Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger and several others in the British pantheon. Others knighted this year include actors Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Twelve Years a Slave), and Kevin Spacey (American Beauty). - AP, 6/12/15...... Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has told a Niagara Falls newspaper that the Canadian power trio's current 40th anniversary tour of North America could be their last. "This tour is the first tour where we're really looking at it that way," Lifeson said. "It's a lot tougher at 61 than it was at 21. And we're all feeling the aches and pains of our advancing years. I have had arthritis for a long time and it's just a little more in the forefront, in terms of my hands. And you know [drummer] Neil's [Peart] had this chronic tendonitis in his arm and his shoulders are starting to feel it, you know he plays so hard, so it only stands to reason that you need to warm up, you need to get in shape." Lifeson added that the band members work out in a gym "four or five times a week" and don't just "sit around eating chips and smoking pot." But Lifeson says he doesn't see Rush disbanding anytime soon, and would consider multiple night residencies at such venues as Radio City and Massey Hall. - New Musical Express, 6/13/15...... As the ABBA musical "Mama Mia!" prepares to finally end its epic 14-year run on Broadway in September after grossing a mind-boggling $2 billion from more than 40 international stage adaptations, the Swedish quartet's Bjorn Ulvaeus said in a recent rare interview that you'll never see an ABBA reunion tour. "I don't know if ever those speculations will stop," said Ulvaeus. "But it's kind of good to be the only group that never came back. Because I think we're virtually the only group that could have a reunion that hasn't had one." Ulvaeus hasn't recorded a song under the ABBA banner since 1982, and he and his fellow bandmates have fiercely maintained in the 33 years since that they never intend to do that again. Ulvaeus also said there was "a huge resistance from me and the rest of us" for the new ABBA Museum in Stockholm which opened in 2013, "but the City of Stockholm wanted it, and it seemed to be a good thing for Stockholm, and anything that's good for Stockholm I'm for it." He also teased that "There might be another musical in us, you never know." - Billboard, 6/11/15...... Speaking of Sweden, Emmylou Harris was among the honorees of Sweden's Polar Music Prize on June 9 in Stockholm. Harris gave an emotional acceptance speech that moved the assemblage to tears as she concluded, "I have only one regret on this magical evening, that my beloved parents, Walter and Eugenia, did not live to share this with me. It didn't matter to them if I was successful or not, they only cared for my happiness. Their unconditional love carried me through good times and bad and will abide with me whatever the future holds, 'til my journey ends." - Billboard, 6/9/15...... Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, who has embarked on a 41-city summer tour of the U.S., says he has no plans to reunite with remaining members of the band. "Through the years I have left that question open. I think it's safe to say the longer time you spend on the earth the more you realize you don't know everything that's gonna happen, but the other fellas recently made it difficult for me to do it," the 70-year-old musician told the Associated Press on June 11. Fogerty is also prepping the release of his memoir named after one of CCR's most famous songs, Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, in October via Little Brown. Fogerty, an Army veteran, recalled how he "took a harsh look" at how poor and middle class citizens were being shipped overseas to fight the Vietnam War, so he decided to write a song called "Fortunate Son." "It just seemed like the young male sons of rich people were managing to escape being drafted or at least being sent to places that weren't dangerous," he said. - AP, 6/11/15...... In an interview with Forbes magazine, former Cream drummer Ginger Baker took a scathing dig on both Led Zeppelin and the entire heavy metal genre. Baker singled out Zeppelin drummer John Bonham in particular, asserting that he wasn't "anywhere near what I am. He wasn't a musician." "Jimmy's [Page] a good player. I don't think Led Zeppelin filled the void that Cream left, but they made a lot of money. I probably like about five percent of what they did -- a couple of things were really cool. What I don't like is the heavy bish-bash, jing-bap, jing-bash bullshit," said Baker. He added that he "loathed and detested" the current state of heavy metal..."people (who) dress up in spandex trousers with all the extraordinary makeup." "I've seen where Cream is sort of held responsible for the birth of heavy metal. Well, I would definitely go for aborting," he mused. - NME, 6/13/15...... Chic has scored its first Billboard Dance Club Songs chart-topper in 23 years with its latest hit, "I'll Be There." "I'd like to sincerely thank all the Billboard reporting DJs, my band and the fans who've supported Chic in this long journey back to the top of the dance charts," says Chic's Nile Rodgers. "I'm so humbled, it's unreal." Chic last topped the chart on March 21, 1992, with its "Chic Mystique," and its previous No. 1's include Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" in 1977 and "Le Freak" in 1978. - Billboard, 6/11/15...... Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police, a documentary based on former Police guitarist Andy Summers' memoir One Train Later, premiered on the Vimeo streaming service on June 11. Among Summers' recollections is a tale of the time he took magic mushrooms with late Saturday Night Live cast member John Belushi. "We meet John Belushi [at a hotel] and immediately hit it off. In five minutes we discovered, to our mutual delight, that nearby there was a place that sells magic mushroom omelets," Summers recalled. - Billboard, 6/11/15...... In a recent Facebook post, The Who's Pete Townshend is blaming "musical snobbery" for his Classic Quadrophenia album not being eligible for the classical charts in the U.K. "Classic Quadrophenia is not allowed in the U.K. classical charts? Musical snobbery in the classical elite still alive and kicking then. F--- 'em, There's a huge team behind this, rooted in the practical world of recorded classical music, who deserve better than this slap-down. I know I'm a rock dinosaur and I'm happy to be one, but the team behind Classic Quadrophenia are all young, creative and brilliant," Townshend wrote. The orchestral adaptation of the band's 1973 rock opera was released on June 9 and scored by Townshend's girlfriend Rachel Fuller and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Oriana Choir. Classic Quadrophenia will have its live debut on July 5 at London's Royal Albert Hall with the full album cast, and Townshend has hinted that "there are some more shows in the cards" based on the Who's work. - Billboard, 6/10/15...... Peter Frampton has teamed up with AxCent Tuning Systems LLC to promote a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdfunder.com to raise $1 million to manufacture and market an affordable, mass-consumer edition of its Performer computer-controlled guitar tuning system. The device resides inside the guitar and makes use of an external app, allowing players to change tuning in seconds and without having to switch instruments. In addition the Frampton, the tuner has been used by such guitarists as Jimmy Page, Graham Nash, Tom Keifer and Mark Slaughter. "I've been a gadget freak and therefore an engineer for my own records for many, many years," Frampton says. "It's very interesting to me." Meanwhile, Frampton is on the road this summer with Cheap Trick and his own headlining shows, and says he has recorded nine songs so far for a new album he hopes to have ready for release later this year or in early 2016. - Billboard, 6/10/15...... Fleetwood Mac was forced to cancel a gig in Manchester, UK, on June 12 on their current European tour due to illness. The group posted on the Manchester Arena website announced the cancellation, and said that the "July 1 show will go ahead as planned." The band are also due to headline gigs in London, Glasgow and Leeds later this summer. - NME, 6/12/15...... AC/DC tour manager Garry Van Egmond has confirmed that estranged band drummer Phil Rudd will not be joining AC/DC for their upcoming gigs in New Zealand. In April, Rudd pleaded guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and cannabis. Rudd has been unable to play live with AC/DC on their current world tour as he awaits trial. However, he could theoretically play with the band in New Zealand this December as he lives in the country. Van Egmond added that there was "no confirmation that Phil has left the band permanently" but added: "All I can say is that Phil will not be playing in the New Zealand concerts." Rudd was due to be sentenced on the recent charges on June 26, but the verdict was recently pushed back to July 9. - NME, 6/11/15...... The Tubes have announced a 40th anniversary tour of the UK with a 9-date trek that kicks off in Bristol on Aug. 3. The San Francisco-based rock band, who are best rememberd for their 1983 single "She's a Beauty," will also visit Brighton (8/4), Southampton (8/6), London (8/7), Manchester (8/8), Glasgow (8/9), Leeds (8/11), Edinburch (8/12) and Wolverhampton (8/13). In 1977 the Tubes toured the UK, but many of their shows were banned due to British censorship (their 1975 debut album included the controversial rock anthem "White Punks on Dope"). - Noble PR, 6/10/15...... Former The Little House on the Praire star Melissa Gilbert has been charged by the Internal Revenue Service for failing to pay more than $360,000 in federal income taxes. The IRS reportedly filed a tax lien against Gilbert in February and details emerged after she recently announced that her family was moving from a rented home in Howell, Michigan, to another area home. Gilbert blames the 2011-2013 tax debt on a stalled acting career, the economy and divorce. In a statement to the Detroit News, she says that "like so many people across the nation, the recession hit me hard" and there was a "perfect storm of financial difficulty for me." She added that she's negotiated a payment plan with the IRS. - AP, 6/12/15...... Jim Ed Brown, a member of the country music trio The Browns and a star of the Grand Ole Opry for more than a half-century, died on June 11 after a battle with lung cancer in a Franklin, Tenn., hospital near Nashville. He was 81. Mr. Brown was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in March with his sisters Maxine and Bonnie, and The Browns' 1959 crossover smash "The Three Bells" topped Billboard's country chart for 10 straight weeks, and it spent four weeks atop the magazine's all-genre Hot 100 singles chart. The Browns also notched Top Twenty country hits with "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow," "I Take the Chance," "Just as Long as You Love Me," "Money," "I Heard the Bluebirds Sing," "Would You Care" and "Beyond the Shadow." In 1967, after Maxine and Bonnie retired, Jim Ed stayed in Nashville as a solo artist on RCA, and he recorded his signature solo song, "Pop a Top," a No. 3 country single. From 1967-74, Brown also reached the Top Ten of the country charts with the singles "Morning," "Southern Loving," "Sometime Sunshine" and "It's That Time of Night." In 1976, he began recording duets with Helen Cornelius, and they logged a No. 1 country hit with "I Don't Want to Have to Marry You." In March, The Browns were announced as the among the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Their official induction won't come until October, but a delegation visited Jim Ed in the hospital on June 4 to present him with a medallion commemorating his membership. - The Hollywood Reporter, 6/11/15...... Jazz legend Ornette Coleman died at age 85 of cardiac arrest on June 11. He was 85. The alto saxophonist is one of the select few individuals to change the face of jazz forever, also worked with a number of rock legends over the years. He contributed to Yoko Ono's version of the 1970 LP Plastic Ono Band, and collaborated with Lou Reed on 2003's The Raven. In 2007, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his album Sound Grammar, which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. - Billboard, 6/11/15...... Bandleader James Last, known as the "King of Easy Listening and the Emperor of Elevator Music," has passed away at age 86 of an unspecified illness. Mr. Last's biggest hit was "The Seduction," the theme song from the Paul Schrader-directed film American Gigolo, composed by Giorgio Moroder. Mr. Last was also often called the world's most commercially successful bandleader, and his trademark smooth, jaunty tunes that mixed jazz and pop into a seamless, inoffensive whole were heard by anyone who has spent time in a hotel lobby (or elevator). He was also a tireless live performer, and his happy music continued to sell out concert halls, particularly in Europe, up until the end. - The Hollywood Reporter, 6/13/15...... Recording engineer Dennis Ferrante, whose long list of credits includes work on albums by such diverse artists as John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Lou Reed, Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Duke Ellington and the 1910 Fruitgum Company, died on June 6 from heart failure. In a 2009 interview, Ferrante said the creation of Lennon's hit "#9 Dream" followed the former Beatle's standard of work in the studio. "John's way of doing music was he would come into the studio with his song. He would run the tune down for the band and after about 45 minutes the band would be ready to put it down. Then we would record any guitar overdubs or other instruments and be ready to put down John's vocal. He didn't like to hear his voice plain so I had to put in his headphones efx's that seemed to me the more he heard, the better he sang. After that we put on the background vocals and whatever little nuiances were needed like May (Pang) saying 'John' in the chorus. After all the parts were put down, we would mix and the rest is what you hear." Recently, Ferrante had played a show at the Cutting Room in New York with former Wings drummer Steve Holley and others. "He was a storyteller and a real joy to be around," Holley said. - TheExaminer.com, 6/6/15...... Christopher Lee, the mystical British actor whose haunting, intimidating performances as Count Dracula, the Frankenstein monster and Fu Manchu made him an icon of horror films and the cinematic embodiment of villainy, died on June 7 at Westminster Hospital in London of respiratory problems and heart failure. He was 93. Mr. Lee, who as bad guy Scaramanga battled Roger Moore's James Bond in 1974's The Man With the Golden Gun, re-ignited his career in his late 70s with what would be recurring roles in the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit and Star Wars franchises. With his gaunt 6-foot-5 frame and deep, strong voice, Mr. Lee was best at playing characters -- slave traders, crazed kings, vampires, demented professors -- who were evil, murderous, dour and unrepentantly ruthless. Mr. Lee often said that he identified with Count Dracula, because they were both embarrassments to an aristocratic family. "In my mind Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein's monster are driven figures, unable to help themselves, eventually out of control like a runaway train," he wrote in his 2003 memoir Lord of Misrule, "and consequently very much alone." - The Hollywood Reporter, 6/11/15.

Credit card issuer MasterCard has approved artwork of the Sex Pistols to adorn a pair a new credit cards. The cards come from the new collection of Virgin Money, a bank backed by billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, who headed Virgin Records when it signed the band in 1977. "In launching these cards, we wanted to celebrate Virgin's heritage and difference. The Sex Pistols challenged convention and the established ways of thinking -- just as we are doing today in our quest to shake up U.K. banking," said Virgin Money director of cards Michele Greene. In a press release, Virgin Money added that it was, "time for consumers to put a little bit of rebellion in their pocket." - Billboard, 6/9/15...... A battle over the estate of recently deceased iconic bluesman B.B. King is headed to a courthouse in Las Vegas, as attorneys for King's designated executor, LaVerne Toney, have filed documents in a Nevada court to fend off allegations that King family members were kept away in his dying days, that he was mistreated medically, and that his money was siphoned off before he died May 14 at his Vegas home at age 89. "We're asking the probate commissioner to approve (Toney) as executor and personal representative of the estate," attorney Brent Bryson said. Two of King's 11 surviving children, Williams and Patty King, have accused Toney and B.B. King's personal assistant, Myron Johnson, of poisoning him to hasten his death. The allegation prompted an autopsy by the Clark County coroner the day after a King memorial at a Las Vegas funeral chapel, and the results of toxicology tests are expected in several weeks. King was buried May 30 at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi. - AP, 6/8/15...... A modern-style Oregon house once owned by Steve Miller Band principal Steve Miller has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Architectural historian Diana Painter of Oregon's Historic Preservation Office says the house, which was designed by architect and UC Berkley faculty member Winifred Scott Wellington and built in 1951 just outside Williams, is admired as "one of the finest examples of post-World War II modern-style architectural design in southern Oregon and a rare example in Josephine County," according to architectural historian Diana Painter. Miller owned the house from 1976 to 1986. It is now owned by a nonprofit foundation founded by William J. and Sarah Wagner that operates the 400-acre property as a nature center, botanical garden, school and community center. - AP, 6/8/15...... Aretha Franklin performed at a memorial service for her late father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit on June 7. The Sunday service featuring gospel music and a free soul food buffet, with several people sharing their memories of Franklin's father and her brother, the Rev. Cecil Franklin. The "Queen of Soul" appeared nearly two hours into the service to perform the gospel tune "The Old Ship of Zion," with some in the audience crying. C.L. Franklin would have turned 100 this year, according to the Detroit News. - AP, 6/8/15...... The iconic '60s girl group The Supremes will be the focus of a new exhibit at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on June 25. Legends of Motown: Celebrating the Supremes will chronicle the trio's legendary reign through rare artifacts from the private collection of founding member Mary Wilson. On June 24, Wilson will take center stage for the museum's interview/Q&A series, "A Conversation With." Founded as the Primettes in Detroit by Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, The Supremes became the most popular female group of the '60s thanks to a string of No. 1 R&B and pop hits including "Where Did Our Love Go?," "Baby Love" and "Stop! In the Name of Love." The exhibit will run through spring 2016. - Billboard, 6/5/15...... Legendary Queen of Funk Chaka Khan was the featured performer on the opening night (June 3) of Celebrate Brooklyn's 37th season. Khan, 62, heated up the unseasonably chilly park with an 18-song set that spanned her greatest hits, while showcasing her still-vibrant voice on tunes such as "I Feel For You," "I'm Every Woman," "Tell Me Something Good" and "Everlasting Love." - Billboard, 6/4/15...... Carlos Santana and his wife and band member Cindy Blackman performed the National Anthem before game 2 of the NBA Finals on June 7 at the Golden State Warriors ' Oracle Arena. The Santanas belted out a Jimi Hendrix-esque version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" on drums and electric guitar, and there wasn't a lyric to be heard. The pair also posed with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. - Billboard, 6/7/15...... Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson is in the midst of a press tour to promote his new biopic Love & Mercy, which premiered in US theaters on June 5. Wilson, 72, has been rushing to screenings, giving interviews and posing for photos at a Los Angeles hotel and says the new movie is "a trip." "The first time I watched it, it was like a real test for my emotions," Wilson said in his typical clipped diction. "It portrays me so well that I felt like I was being pushed into the movie. Ten years in the making, Love & Mercy stars Paul Dano and John Cusak at different periods in his life and takes an unflinching look at the musician's powerful creative energy and debilitating mental illness. Wilson, who released his latest studio LP No Pier Pressure in April, says he's currently having an "off period" where he hasn't written for a few months, and knows there's more music in him. It's his language, he said, his means of communication. "It's all done through music, that's how I explain it," Wilson said. "As a person, I couldn't explain nothing. But with music, I can explain something." Meanwhile, a cover of the Beach Boys' hit "Good Vibration" by contemporary rockers the Flaming Lips recorded at a "Brian Fest" tribute gig in Los Angeles in March is being featured in the first instalment of a two-part Internet documentary produced by Flood Magazine that focuses on Wilson's legacy. Part one of Brian Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Life and Music of Brian Wilson features interviews with Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin, Heart's Ann Wilson and Wilson-Phillips, among others, with the footage intercut with The Lips' live redition of "Good Vibrations." - AP/NME, 6/4/15...... Neil Diamond's current tour has topped the Billboard Hot Tours list for the week ending June 2 with $29.5 million in box office revenue reported during the past week from his 2015 tour through North American cities. Diamond kicked off the trek earlier this year with shows booked in 29 markets in the U.S. and Canada during a three-month stretch. On the road in support of Melody Road, his first album released on Capitol Records after signing with the label in 2014, Diamond began the tour in Allentown, Pa. on Feb. 27. Other '70s acts in the Top 10 touring list include the Rolling Stones ($16,376,925), Rod Stewart ($8,112,733), Paul Simon and Sting ($7,370,604), the Eagles ($5,473,040), and Kiss ($4,563,999). - Billboard, 6/4/15...... The Grateful Dead' three-day concert series "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Greatful Dead" at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3-5 will be broadcast live on the SiriusXM radio network on its dedicated Grateful Dead Channel. Produced in collaboration with the band, the dedicated channel's hosts, David Gans and Gary Lambert, will do a special edition of their weekly talk show "Tales from the Golden Road" before and after the concerts. Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux will be a special guest. This reunion series in Chicago will be the last time the Dead, now consisting of Bob Weir, 67; Phil Lesh, 75; Mickey Hart, 71; and Bill Kreutzmann, 69, perform together live. - Billboard, 6/4/15...... Pink Floyd's David Gilmour has announced his new solo album, Rattle That Lock, will be released in September 2015 and feature collaborations with Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera, Jools Holland and Gilmour's own wife, Polly Sampson. During an event at the 2015 Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas in Carlow, Ireland on June 5, Gilmour performed two new songs from the upcoming LP, "Girl With A Yellow Dress" and "Boots On The Ground." Gilmour will tour the UK and Europe behind the new LP for the first time in nine years beginning in Croatia on Sept. 12 and visiting various cities in Europe before heading to the UK for three consecutive nights at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 23-25. Gilmour and Pink Floyd topped the UK album charts in 2014 with the release of Pink Floyd's final album, The Endless River, which was the band's first release in 20 years. Meanwhile in other Pink Floyd news, former member Roger Waters has announced that he will be releasing a concert film, titled Roger Waters - The Wall. The film, which follows Waters' 2010-2013 "The Wall Live" tour, was first shown at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and will now be released in theatres worldwide for one day only on Sept. 29. It was the largest worldwide tour ever undertaken by a solo artist and was the first time any Pink Floyd member had played their 1979 concept album The Wall in two decades. - New Musical Express, 6/9/15...... Elton John has apologized for remarks he made during his concert at Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester, UK, on June 7. Irritated by female security guards who were manning the crowd, Sir Elton said, "Lighten up you lot, it's not f---ing China so piss off! You get a f---ing uniform on and you think you're Hitler... we're not having it, piss off!" Following the outburst, John reconsidered his words and uttered a lengthy apology to the staff. "I do apologize, whoever told the stewards to be restricting that, that's their f---ing fault and not hers," he said. "So I apologize to her and I would be willing to apologize to her face. So if she comes up now I'll give her a big hug, come on. You're doing your job. But it's so frustrating, if people want to wave their hands don't tell them to stop. It's a musical event." - NME, 6/8/15...... A previously unreleased Led Zeppelin song called "Sugar Mama" which will be included in a deluxe edition of Zeppelin's 1982 Coda album has been shared online ahead of the band's forthcoming reissue releases, which also include 1976's Presence and 1979's In Through the Out Door. "Sugar Mama" was originally recorded during the sessions for the band's first album in 1968 at Olympic Studios in south west London. It will feature as a bonus track on the Coda reissue, and is now streaming at The Guardian UK's website. - NME, 6/8/15...... Patti Smith paid tribute to several of her lost idols, including Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, during her Field Day 2015 performance on the Main Stage in London on June 7. Before "Elegie," the final song from her seminal 1975 LP Horses, she told the crowd the song had been written "in memory of Jimi Hendrix." "This song is for all the people we've lost," she continued, calling out the names of deceased friends like Robert Mapplethorpe and her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith. "Call out!" she invited the audience, before adding two more names of her own -- Lou Reed and John Nash. Smith finished her set by dedicating a cover of The Who's "My Generation" to the Stones' Brian Jones. - NME, 6/8/15...... The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine that the band may soon return to the studio to work on a new album. "Just last week, the word 'studio' popped up while we were rehearsing," Richards said. "I said, 'Well, let's find a time. I'm ready'." Elsewhere in the interview, Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood described the atmosphere within the group as the "best vibe ever within the band". "We've never been closer," he said. "Mick [Jagger] went through that terrible thing [Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott died in 2014], and the band has become even more important to him because of that." The Rolling Stones last released a new studio album in 2005 in the form of A Bigger Bang, and a Sticky Fingers deluxe reissue dropped on June 8. Their in-progress "Zip Code Tour" of North America next hits Orlando, Fla., on June 12, and continues through a July 15 date in Quebec, Canada. - NME, 6/5/15...... A Gibson Jumbo J-160E acoustic guitar played by John Lennon on the Beatles hit "Love Me Do" is expected to fetch over $900,000 in a Julien's auction in California this November. The guitar, purchased by Lennon in Liverpool, went missing in 1963 during the Beatles' Finsbury Park Christmas Show, and turned up 50 years later, after it was purchased by John McCaw in a US junk shop. "This is one of the biggest finds in music history," says Julien's owner Darren Julian, who added it could top the $965,000 auction record set in 2013 for an electric guitar owned by Bob Dylan. "John Lennon items don't come up very often because a lot of people keep them. This was one of his favourite guitars, he talked about wishing he still had it," Julien said. The instrument's authenticity was verified by Andy Babiuk, who has written about musical equipment used by the Beatles, by matching the guitar's serial number, wood grain and scratches to photographs and videos of Lennon playing the instrument. - Telegraph.co.uk, 6/5/15...... In related news, a copy of the Beatles' 1968 "The White Album" alleged to be signed by Charles Manson of the Sharon Tate murders infamy is currently for sale on the auction website iOffer.com, with a "buy it now" price of nearly $50,000. The front cover of the album is said to include signatures by Manson and fellow Manson Family members Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Charles "Tex" Watson and Pat Krenwinkel. "The signatures were obtained by a gentleman who was at one time associated with the Manson family at the Spahn Ranch, I choose not to post his name here," the seller of item notes. "He acquired them at the respective prisons where they are incarcerated in California, including Corcoran State Prison, and the California Correctional Institution for women." "The White Album" figured prominently into the trial and conviction of Manson, with one of its tracks, "Helter Skelter," becoming the name of a best-selling account of the murders by Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. The authenticity of the item hasn't been confirmed but the seller states that they "would always refund an item if shown not to be genuine." Mr. Bugliosi, meanwhile, died of cancer in L.A. on June 6 at age 80. After securing death sentences for Manson and the others in 1972 -- sentences commuted to life in prison when California's death sentence was abolished -- he retired from the DA's office, after winning 105 of his 106 felony trials, including 21 murder convictions. According to his publisher, Simon & Schuster, his Helter Skelter was "the biggest selling true crime book in publishing history." Manson, 80, remains incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison in California. He has been denied parole 12 times. - New Musical Express/CNN, 6/9/15...... Thoroughbred horse racing's elusive Triple Crown award, which was last won by Affirmed in 1978, was broken on June 5 at the Belmont Stakes by American Pharoah [sic]. "The 37-year wait is over. American Pharoah is finally the one! American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown!," excited announcer Larry Collmus proclaimed as American Pharoah crossed the finish line in an easy win over the other contenders. The race was the most-watched Saturday Afternoon Sporting Event since AFC Divisional Playoff on NBC. An average of 22 million viewers tuned in on NBC from 6:45-7 p.m. ET as American Pharoah secured a 5-length edge to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. The replay of the Belmont Stakes, with the Larry Collmus race call plus additional Belmont video coverage, was viewed 2.5 million times across the platforms of NBC Sports Digital. - Variety, 6/7/15...... Singer Ronnie Gilbert a member of the influential 1950s folk quartet The Weavers, died on June 6 a retirement community in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Mill Valley. She was 88. With the Weavers, whose other members were Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman, Ms. Gilbert helped spark a national folk revival by churning out hit recordings of "Goodnight Irene," ''Tzena Tzena Tzena," ''On Top of Old Smokey," ''If I Had A Hammer," ''Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" and "Wimoweh." The Weavers were hugely popular before their left-wing activities were targeted by anti-Communists during the Joe McCarthy era. They were blacklisted, unable to record, appear on television or radio and perform in many concert venues, and eventually disbanded. Ms. Gilbert went on to pursue a solo career as a singer, as a stage actor and psychologist. Her memoir, Ronnie Gilbert: A Radical Life in Song, which is the same title of a one-woman show she performed for years, will be published in the fall. - AP, 6/7/15.