Posted by Administrator on Oct. 28th, 2015
Current Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant says guitarist and sole original surviving band member Gary Rossington is "doing good" after a "slight heart attack" earlier in October, which was caused by a blood clot as he was in the hospital for another procedure for which doctors took him off his blood-thinning medication. Van Zant says Rossington, who underwent surgery after the health scare, wants to finish the band's 2015 itinerary, which has three shows left, including the Alabama National Fair in Montgomery. "(Gary has) lived through a lot of stuff in his lifetime, so, yeah he's gonna be OK here. He's still got a lot of life ahead of him," Van Zant says. A full slate of Skynyrd shows is being put together for 2016, including what Van Zant says will be "something going on in the amphitheaters...with some friends of ours, and if it all works out we're gonna hook up and go out and play a bunch of shows." Meanwhile, the band has just released Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd & Second Helping -- Live From Jacksonville at the Florida Theatre, a new CD/DVD set of shows in their hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., and is already working on material for a follow-up to its last studio album, 2012's Last of a Dyin' Breed. - Billboard, 10/23/15...... 
Singer/guitarist Cory Wells, one of the founding members of the mega-selling late 1960s/early 1970s band Three Dog Night, passed away on Oct. 20 in his Buffalo area home along the Lake Erie shore, the band confirmed in a press release. He was 74. "It is with deep sadness and disbelief that I must report the passing of Cory Wells, my beloved band mate for over 45 years," said Three Dog Night member Danny Hutton. "Cory was an incredible singer -- a great performer, he could sing anything. Cory was like a brother in so many ways. We had been together since 1965 and I am in shock at this sudden loss," Hutton added. 
Wells was one of the three leaders of the band, also including Chuck Negron, who topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart three times with such seminal classics as 
During his latest monthly residency at New York City's Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, Billy Joel introduced surprise guest Steve Miller to the crowd to jam with him on a rendition of Miller's 1974 No. 1 hit 
Black Sabbath will be the among the headliners for the U.K.'s 2016 Download Festival, which is set for June 11 and 12. Sabbath, fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, will headline the June 11 show as part of the band's final "The End" tour in 2016. According to a press release, it will be "their biggest and most mesmerising production to date." Sabbath, also featuring original members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, will kick off their "The End" trek in the U.S. in Jan. 2016, in Nebraska. Following the U.S. dates, the band will commence a string of dates in Australia and New Zealand in April before heading to Europe in June. - NME, 10/20/15...... Current Queen vocalist and former American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert appeared on the U.K. talk show Chatty Man with host Alan Carr on Oct. 17 and recreated the classic music video of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Carr. Lambert recently revealed that he'd like to perform with Queen at this year's Glastonbury festival after rumours circulated that they might be a frontrunner for the 2016 headlining slot, but Queen guitarist Brian May suggested that Lambert's commitments might have been the reason the band didn't play the festival. "Look these things get put on the table, it would be interesting to do Glastonbury if we were an operational unit at the time," May said. "You see this year Adam's off doing his solo work at the moment so it wouldn't have worked. You only look at things that are possible logistically at the time," he added. - NME, 10/20/15...... Producer Eddie Kramer, who worked with Jimi Hendrix on Hendrix's final 1968 album Electric Ladyland, said in a recent interview with the BBC that Hendrix "would have pioneered rap" if he was alive today. "This whole idea of street music would have definitely influenced him," Kramer said. "Jimi was aware of everything that was going on, he was a musical sponge. The next step? Who knows... He may have even gotten into rap. I think about this all the time. Not only would he have been a great record producer, but he would have had his own record company, a film company, a musical production company. He would have been an enormous force -- pretty much like Jay-Z is today. He would have been king of the heap," Kramer added. Kramer was speaking ahead of the release of a forthcoming Hendrix documentary titled Electric Church. - NME, 10/19/15...... Michael Jackson's son Prince Jackson has finally acknowledged rumours suggesting the late King of Pop is not his biological father, but still insists that Michael is the only father he's ever known. After a Twitter troll posted "everyone knows you are a Rowe-Klein NOT A Jackson!! Yall (sic) should stop trying to put on a FAKE front and get real," Prince, 18, responded with a tweet of his own: "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" I was raised by my dad with my brother and sister." Prince and his siblings are currently being raised by their cousin, TJ Jackson (the son of Tito Jackson), and their grandmother Katherine Jackson. Prince, whose mother is Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe, was born in 1997, and his sister Paris Jackson was born a year later. Critics have long speculated over the paternity of the kids, and their 13-year-old sibling Prince Michael Jackson II, who was born to a mystery surrogate, but Michael maintained he had fathered all three of his offspring -- even though they shared no similar facial features. - WENN.com, 10/22/15...... '70s funnyman Steve Martin has collaborated with his fellow Grammy-winning musician Edie Brickell on a new Broadway musical that will launch on the Great White Way in March 2016. Martin and Brickell collaborated on the music, with Brickell penning the lyrics and Martin writing the story. It was inspired by the pair's collaboration on the album Love Has Come for You. Set in the South in the 1920s and 1940s, the show is about a woman who befriends a soldier just home from World War II. The show had its premiere in San Diego in 2014 and this winter has a run at the Kennedy Center. - AP, 10/21/15...... 
The final trailer for the latest movie in the 
Rod Stewart ended his two-decade songwriting drought with 2013's Time. Now he's on a roll with 
A new exhibit dedicated to Graham Nash, "Touching the Flame," opened to the public on Oct. 17 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Oh., and after viewing it Nash says he thinks it "looks f---ing spectacular." The one thing that I was wanting to do more than anything is make sure people understood Graham Nash is more than just Graham Nash that musician; that I'm a photographer and a painter and a sculptor and la la la la la, all that shit. I'm happy to show it to people, to share what was going on in my life," the CSN/CSNY/Hollies member said. The exhibit combines artifacts over his entire career, including photographs, handwritten lyrics, clothing and instruments, with other memorabilia he owns, including handwritten Bob Dylan lyrics, guitars previously owned by Duane Allman and Phil Everly, and the belt and jeans that he wore at Woodstock in 1969. - Billboard, 10/16/15...... In 1970, after British actor David Hemmings (Blow Up) was rumored to be the preferred lead for a new Stanley Kubrick-directed movie called 
U.K. hard rockers Def Leppard will release their first eponymous LP, 
Bruce Springsteen announced on Oct. 15 that he'll release a 
Tommy Chong of the '70s doper duo Cheech & Chong has revealed that he will be undergoing surgery to remove a tumour in his rectum in the hope it will end his painful battle with cancer. Chong checked into the hospital in Los Angeles on Oct. 15 shortly after appearing on the syndicated celebrity TV show Access Hollywood Live, where he revealed he's desperate to overcome his longtime health issues. Chong won his battle with prostate cancer in 2012, insisting pot suppositories were a miracle cure, but earlier this year the comedian was diagnosed with rectal cancer -- and he believes the hemp oil he used to beat his first cancer is the cause of his latest crisis. "When you go into your orifice you've got to clinically know what you're doing with it," Chong said. "I put suppositories up there and I don't know how they did the oil and so on, and so now I found a laboratory where they test and they make sure that the oil that they give you to inject and everything else is pharmaceutically correct, it's pure," he added. Chong says he also believes his stint on TV show Dancing With the Stars is responsible for his latest diagnosis, adding, "I was under a lot of stress and then I wasn't smoking or doing any pot, and the pot keeps you from getting disease. I got it (cancer) during that.... They're going to remove the tumor surgically... It's going to be fine." - WENN.com, 10/15/15...... Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted on Oct. 14 that he will agree to stop using the Aerosmith song "Dream On" during his campaign events after band frontman Steven Tyler sent him a cease-and-desist letter on Oct. 10, and added that he "has a better one to take its place." "Even though I have the legal right to use Steven Tyler's song, he asked me not to. Have better one to take its place!," Trump posted, and followed up on Twitter with "Steven Tyler got more publicity on his song request than he's gotten in ten years. Good for him!" There is no word yet on which "better song" Trump has chosen to replace "Dream On." - Billboard, 10/14/15...... Journey drummer Deen Castronovo pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges on Oct. 12 and was sentenced to four years probation by a judge in Salem, Ore. Castronovo, who was arrested on June 14 and charged with knowingly causing physical injury to a woman, will be required to undergo counseling for domestic violence offenders and drug abuse. The Marion County District Attorney's Office says he faces more than five years in prison if he violates the terms of his probation. After the first arrest, Castronovo again two weeks later and ordered to jail when prosecutors said he texted the woman 122 times and called her 35 times despite a no-contact order. He has been with Journey since 1998, when he replaced Steve Smith. - AP, 10/13/15...... Pop crooner Engelbert Humperdinck responded to recent comments by Tom Jones in which Jones referred to him as a "a c***" during an interview with a UK paper. Humperdinck said that he was taken aback by the comment and said he was particularly shocked by the language used from Jones considering he is a Sir. "To be honest I feel sorry for Tom always being in a bad mood. Life is too short to hold anger inside. I wish him luck," Humperdinck told Noise11.com. Humperdinck and Jones reportedly had a falling out after Humperdinck left record label MAM in the 1970s. MAM was owned by Jones and Gordon Mills, who managed both artists. - New Musical Express, 10/14/15.
'70s artists Chicago, Cheap Trick, Steve Miller, Deep Purple, Yes, Chic, The Cars, The Spinners and Chaka Khan are among the 15 finalists for induction into the class of 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, organizers announced on Oct. 8. Others nominated include Janet Jackson, The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, N.W.A, Los Lobos and James Brown's backing band The J.B.'s. Chicago, Steve Miller, Cheap Trick, The Cars, Chaka Khan, The J.B.'s, Janet Jackson and Los Lobos earned nods for the first time, while Chic has been nominated previously a record 10 times, with N.W.A. on the ballot four times already and Deep Purple and The Spinners being considered for entry three times each. Chicago's Robert Lamm told Billboard that his band is "suprised and honored" to be nominated, while Cheap Trick's Rick Neilsen praised the band's fans for "keeping us working and relevant." Acts are eligible for induction into the Cleveland-based Hall and Museum 25 years after the release of their first recording, album or single, and the public has until Dec. 9 to cast votes on the final inductees. The top five acts will comprise a "fans' ballot" that will make an impression along with those of the 800 artists, historians and music industry professionals who make up the Rock Hall voting body. Those chosen will be announced in December and inducted in a Hall of Fame ceremony next April in New York, which will be taped and later broadcast on HBO. 2015 RRHOF inductees include Ringo Starr, Lou Reed, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. - Billboard, 10/8/15...... George Benson was among the headliners at a celebration observing the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra at Los Angeles' The Park at the Grove on Oct. 9. The outdoor mall, a destination for tourists visiting the Hollywood area, has long used the legendary singer's music to soundtrack the shopping experience. The concert followed a book signing by author Charles Pignone and one of Sinatra's daughters, Tina Sinatra, for their new book, Sinatra 100. The show was one of several Frank Sinatra 100th birthday events scheduled in 2015, including the new CD Ultimate Sinatra and the multimedia exhibit "Sinatra: An American Icon" which will premiere in Los Angeles at the Grammy Museum on Oct. 21. - Billboard, 10/12/15...... Don Henley performed several selections from his acclaimed new LP 
Lawyers representing Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler sent a cease-and-desist order to Donald Trump's campaign on Oct. 10, ordering the 2016 presidential hopeful to stop using Aerosmith's 1973 hit "Dream On" at his campaign events. "Trump for President does not have our client's permission to use 'Dream On' or any of our client's other music in connection with the Campaign because it gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump's presidential bid," the letter states. Ironically, in August Tyler showed up at the first Republican presidential debate as the personal guest of Donald Trump, and Tyler reportedly says his demand "has nothing to do with politics," only that Trump was never given permission to use the song. Trump first used "Dream On" at his presidential announcement this summer, as the song played amid opera and Broadway showtunes. One TV commentator noted the title and declared it was a "somewhat odd choice for a presidential campaign." Trump previously received cease-and-desist messages from two other rock acts -- Neil Young and R.E.M.'s Mike Mills and Michael Stipe for using "Rockin' in the Free World" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," respectively. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/11/15......Queen have announced they will release their concert film Queen - A Night at the Odeon - Hammersmith 1975 on CD, DVD, SD Blu-Ray, 2 LP vinyl, Super Deluxe Box Set and digitally (via Virgin EMI) on Nov. 20. "This concert was very special because it was the first time we ever played a whole show completely live on TV | the Christmas Show," said Brian May in a statement. "The quality, after great rescue work and transfer into the digital domain, is amazing. And the energy we had comes across very forcefully." The 19-song, Christmas eve 1975 concert is also notable for being the first time the band performed its iconic song "Bohemian Rhapsody" during its '75 tour. - New Musical Express, 10/12/15...... Phil Collins announced on Oct. 12 that he will write his as-yet-untitled autobiography to be published in October 2016 by Century in Britain and Crown Archetype in the United States. Both are owned by Penguin Random House, which holds global rights. Collins, a seven-time Grammy winner, promised to tell his life story, "warts and all," and a spokeswoman for the publisher said Collins's "unflinchingly honest" memoir would reveal "a Phil Collins that not many people know." The former Genesis member and 1980's solo star added that he's been asked several times in the past to write a memoir but he "never felt that the time was right -- until now." - AP, 10/12/15...... In his new unofficial Lou Reed biography Notes From The Velvet Underground, author Howard Sounes suggests that the late glam-rocker's prickly personality wasn't the only one of his flaws -- Sounes writes that Reed's first wife Bettye Kronstad claims Reed would "Tussle you. Hit you...shake you...and then one time he actually gave me a black eye." Reed, who often sang in explicit terms about violence against women, always insisted that his lyrics were rooted in fiction -- but Sounes contends that after interviewing more than 140 sources, he's found there's more truth to them than Reed ever admitted, and that he was an "unpleasant person." The word that kept coming up was prick," Sounes concludes. "Girlfriends called him a prick, people he was at school with called him a prick; people in his band called him a prick." - Billboard, 10/12/15...... Meanwhile, Reed's sometime collaborator David Bowie has purportedly said that he's absolutely done with touring, according to veteran British concert promoter John Giddings, who hosted one of Bowie's final shows in 2004. "David is one of the best artists I've ever worked with. But every time I see him now, before I even speak to him, he goes, I'm not touring' and I say, I'm not asking," Giddings recently said at the inaugural International Festival Forum. "He has decided to retire and, like Phil Collins, you can't demand these people go out there again and again and again. I'm really pleased and proud that the last show he ever did in the U.K. was the 2004 Isle Of Wight Festival." Bowie's last album, 2013's The Next Day, was a critical and commercial hit, reaching No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 2 in the U.S., and Bowie helped promote the album by releasing five videos from it. The 68-year-old musician underwent an emergency angioplasty in 2004 to relieve an "acutely blocked artery," his reps said at the time. - Billboard, 10/12/15...... 
Forty years after Kiss 
Tom Petty has spoken publicly for the first time about his '90s heroin addiction in a new biography by author Warren Zanes, 
Ann Wilson of Heart released her first ever solo EP, 
An exhaustive and fascinating box set of Bob Dylan studio-outtakes from his influential 1965-66 period, The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, is due from Columbia on Nov. 6 and offers a definitive look at the development of iconic rocker's plugged-in sound found on the studio albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. Embryonic takes and alternate versions of some of his greatest songs, including "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Visions of Johanna" are included in the collection, which will be available in a 
Yoko Ono led thousands of participants in New York's Central Park on Oct. 6 in an attempt to form the world's largest human peace sign to honor her late beloved husband, John Lennon. Although the record attempt didn't succeed, the crowd still celebrated the upcoming birthday of the late Beatles member, who would have turned 75 on Oct. 9. A Guinness World Records representative said the effort drew more than 2,000 people, with at least 5,000 needed for an official record. More than three decades after her husband's assassination, Ono, 82, summed up the event using his famed lyrics, "Imagine all the people living life in peace." "This is the best present to John," she added. Two days earler, Ono and the latest iteration of the Plastic Ono Band -- a loose collective that she formed in 1969 with Lennon and revived in 2009 after a 35-year hiatus -- headlined the Modern Sky Festival, also held in Central Park. - AP/Billboard, 10/6/15...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has debuted a remix of "Say, Say, Say," his 1983 collaboration with Michael Jackson. A special version of "Say, Say, Say," featuring unheard vocals and swapped parts, is featured on the recent reissue of Paul's LP 
Bob Dylan is appearing in a new television commercial for tech company IBM, in which he shares a conversation with a computer to promote IBM's new question-answering system, IBM Watson. In the clip, the computer tells Dylan what he knows about the musician's lyrics: "I know that your major themes are that time passes and love fades", to which Dylan replies: "That sounds about right... Maybe we should write a song together." Dylan has previously appeared in commercials for such companies as Apple, Pepsi, Victoria's Secret and more. Meanwhile, the house in West Saugerties, N.Y., where Dylan and The Band recorded the sessions that would later become The Basement Tapes is now listed for rental. Dylan relocated to the property, nicknamed The Big Pink, after surviving a motorcycle crash in 1966. The musicians recorded music in the basement of the house, which were fully released as a bootleg collection in 2014. The house is being listed online to rent for $650 per month, however the basement is not part of the rental. - New Musical Express, 10/7/15......Rod Stewart, who reunited with his old Faces bandmates Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones to headline a gig at the Rock 'N' Horsepower event in Surrey in September, says he wants to reunite the band again for the next Glastonbury Festival. "I just wish someone would phone us up from Glastonbury and ask us to do that," Stewart recently said during a BBC Radio interview. "They have never done it. We would be up for it. There are only three of us standing now." Stewart added he'll be hoping any future Faces gigs will be more memorable than the Surrey event, with the frontman admitting the show passed quickly. "It is like sex sometimes," Stewart joked. "It goes by too fast." The Faces previously reunited in 2010 with Simply Red's Mick Hucknall on lead vocals in place of Stewart and played a headline set at the Vintage at Goodwood Festival. That line-up of the band then went on tour in 2011. - New Musical Express, 10/7/15...... Satellite radio host Howard Stern lambasted former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters during a seven-minute soliloquy on Sirius XM Radio on Oct. 6 over Waters' longtime anti-Israel activism. "What is with Roger Waters and the Jews?" Stern asked, while insinuating over and over that Waters is anti-Semitic. "Where do you want the Jews to go, Roger?" Stern asked. "You want them just to go back to the concentration camps? What is it you want, f--head?" Stern continued: "He's got to shut up, Roger Waters. If you take a look over there -- Roger, genius, Mr. Pink Floyd -- there are so many Arab countries and so much land around Israel, if you threw a pin in a pool, that's what Israel is." Waters, who supports a boycott of Israel for engaging in "apartheid" against the Palestinians, has chastised musicians including Jon Bon Jovi and the Alan Parsons Project for agreeing to perform in Israel. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/6/15...... 
Bob Seger has been tapped as the 2015 Billboard Legend of Live honoree, and will be honored during the 12th annual Billboard Touring Conference & Awards on Nov. 18-19 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. The Legend of Live title is given to professionals who have had significant and lasting impact on the touring industry. The 2014 winner was Lionel Richie, and previous recipients include Elton John, Neil Diamond, George Strait and Ozzy Osbourne. "Bob Seger is one of the most enduring live acts of all time and we are thrilled to honor him as our 2015 Legend of Live," said Billboard's Ray Waddell. Seger, 70, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012. - Billboard, 10/6/15...... On Oct. 5 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge finalized Stevie Wonder's divorce from fashion designer Kai Millard Morris, more than three years after Wonder filed to end his second marriage. The couple married in Sept. 2001 and separated in 2009. They have two sons together, ages 14 and 10. Wonder, 65, and his ex-wife will share custody of the two sons, and Wonder was ordered to pay $25,000 a month in child support. - AP, 10/6/15...... The widow of late Mork & Mindy star Robin Williams and Williams' three children from previous marriages reached a settlement in their legal feud over the actor's estate, the two sides announced on Oct. 2. An attorney for Susan Williams, Robin's widow, said his client will remain in the San Francisco Bay Area home she shared with Williams and receive living expenses for the rest of her life. He said she also will receive a watch he often wore, a bike they bought on their honeymoon, and the gifts received for their wedding. The settlement, which is subject to a judge's approval, ends a bitter and public dispute following the beloved comedian's suicide in 2014. An attorney for the three children said, "I think they're just very happy to have this behind them." - AP, 10/2/15...... Never-before-seen photos of such iconic rock acts as the Beatles, the Doors and James Brown from the UK magazine TV Times are being showcased in a new London exhibit titled "Interplay" at Platform Southwark on Joan Street. The exhibit will run through Oct. 18, and another TV Times exhibition, "60 Years, 60 Iconic Images," is also taking place at the Blue Fin Building on Southwark Street. It features photos of Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Diana Rigg and more. - New Musical Express, 10/5/15...... A court in New Zealand has turned down AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd's appeal against his conviction on a count of threatening to kill a man who used to work for him, as well as convictions of possessing meth and marijuana. The ruling means that Rudd can't avoid serving eight months of home detention. Rudd's lawyers argued the sentence was "excessive," but the judge disagreed and dismissed the appeal. Rudd has said that once his sentence is up, he hopes to rejoin AC/DC, a possibility they've remained silent on. Chris Slade is handling AC/DC drumming duties on their current tour. - Billboard, 10/6/15...... David Bowie has made available a minute-long sample of his haunting theme song for the new UK crime drama The Last Panthers, which will be aired on the Sky Atlantic channel. "On the day of execution, lonely women kneel and smile," Bowie opens, with his vocals cloaked in ghostly distortion. There's distant chanting, a basic programmed beat, and a bit of guitar coming in just before the sample cuts out. The six-part series premieres in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria via Sky Atlantic on Nov. 12 and in France via Canal+. - Billboard, 10/6/15...... Speaking at the New Yorker Festival on Oct. 3, Patti Smith said she prefers to see herself as a "performer" rather than a "musician." "I feel embarrassed when people call me a musician, because I can't play anything," Smith told the audience. "I didn't have any musical aspirations. I liked being in front of people," she said before adding that she would rather be called a "performer." Smith, whose 2010 memoir Just Kids will become a limited series on cable network Showtime, regularly delivers readings at spoken word events. She recently announced a sequel to Just Kids, titled 
Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty published his revealing new memoir, 
Tom Jones will release his new covers album 
In an open letter posted on the Salon.com website on Oct. 2, former Pink Floyd bassist and frequent critic of Israel Roger Waters accused Jon Bon Jovi and his band mates of standing "shoulder to shoulder" with Israel as Bon Jovi prepares for a concert in Tel Aviv on Oct. 3. "Often in the past I have written detailed, and sometimes even persuasive, letters to colleagues in the music business, encouraging them not to give succor to the Israeli government's apartheid policies by performing in Israel," Waters wrote. "Having read Jon's comments last week in Yedioth Ahronoth, I won't waste my time drawing parallels with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then and that thousands are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians." Waters then listed many of the casualties suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government. In February, Waters offered similar criticism of '80s pop star Alan Parsons after his Alan Parsons Project performed in Israel. - New Musical Express, 10/2/15...... Meanwhile in other Pink Floyd-related news, David Gilmour's new solo album 
On Sept. 29 The Who announced their rescheduled tour itinerary after their fall North American tour was axed as frontman Roger Daltrey recovers after being recently diagnosed with viral meningitis. Now the veteran British band says it's "Who Hits 50!" tour will kick off on Feb. 27 in Detroit, one of 28 major American and Canadian cities the trek will visit before wrapping on May 29 in Las Vegas. Daltrey said in a statement that "I am now on the mend and feeling a lot better." Guitarist Pete Townshend added that the band "will be coming back stronger than ever!" Tickets for the originally scheduled shows will be honored at the new dates. - AP, 9/29/15...... Paul McCartney and recent Grammy-winner Beck performed together at Peta's 35th anniversary charity gala in Hollywood on Sept. 30. The two musicians jammed on the Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Drive My Car," with Sir Paul tweeting afterward: "Thanks to @beck and everyone at #PETA35! Sorry we didn't get to play Beck In The USSR, Get Beck or Paperbeck [sic] Writer!". Meanwhile, Britain's ITV channel announed on Oct. 1 that it will air a new show to determine the country's favourite Beatles Number One. The special two-hour long program, The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One, is modeled after a similar show about Queen and will allow viewers to vote for their favorite of the Fab Four's 27 chart-toppers in the UK and US -- from 1962's "Love Me Do" to 1970's "The Long and Winding Road." In more Beatles news, the band's first management sold for £365,000 during a Sotherby's auction in London on Sept. 29. The contract is notable for being the only managerial contract signed by all four members of the group, as well as their manager Brian Epstein, and being co-signed by some of the Beatles' parents because they were too young at the time to sign legally themselves. The contract was previously sold for £240,000 in 2008. Also at the auction, an Eric Clapton Fender Stratocaster sold for £45,000. - New Musical Express, 10/1/15...... A new live box set from the Velvet Underground recorded in 1969 is planned for this fall. The 42-track, 4-disc The Velvet Underground: The Complete Matrix Tapes is due Nov. 20 from Polydor/Universal and will feature material from two gigs at the San Francisco club The Matrix took place in Nov. 1969. Recorded on a tape deck by VU guitarist Robert Quine, the release will contain nine previously-unreleased recordings and is the first time all the tapes from the shows have been released in a single set. In August, the band announced a 
As the 50th anniversary of the Doors' classic 1967 debut album nears in 2017, surviving members Robby Krieger and John Densmore are promising Doors fans some special treats -- including a long overdue tribute to late keyboardist Ray Manzarek. "There'll be something cool happening," guitarist Krieger told Billboard. "I can't say exactly what yet, but we never did get our tribute to Ray thing going, so it'll be part of that, for sure, and probably for Jim [Morrison], too." The Doors actually formed in 1965 but released their first two albums during 1967. Morrison died in 1971, while Manzarek passed away in 2013 after he and Krieger had reunited to play Doors music under several different names -- mostly owing to legal maneuvering with Densmore and the Morrison estate. However Krieger and Densmore reconciled in the wake of Manzarek's death and are looking forward to giving the Doors its proper 50th anniversary due. Krieger admits that he "doesn't think about" anniversaries too much: "For some reason people still love the Doors' music and I can tell you that it's still fun to play. I think that's a good indicator right there; If people still like to play it then people still like to listen to it. I've played on a lot of records that I wouldn't even care about hearing again or playing live, but for some reason the Doors songs are still fun to play." On Sept. 4, the Doors re-released 
A live TV production based on the hit 1978 movie