Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Oct. 13th, 2015

As nude photos of pop sensation Justin Bieber's private parts have gone viral on the internet, Bette Midler took to Twitter on Oct. 10 to lash out at Bieber's father, Jeremy Bieber. "(Justin Beiber's) dad tweeted he's proud of his son's penis size. I think the biggest dick in this situation is the dad who abandoned his son," Midler posted. The The Rose star was referring to Jeremy Bieber's now-deleted tweet that asked Justin "What do you feed that thing? #proud daddy" -- presumably referring to the graphic images of his son. Justin Bieber's camp is threatening legal action against any outlet that shared the leaked photos. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart has branded Justin Bieber's bad boy antics old-fashioned and "fake" in a new magazine interview. Stewart, who had a reputation as a hard-drinking womaniser during his heyday with the Faces in the 1970s, now says the image of a rock 'n' roll wildman has become "passe." "The public have seen it all before and they're tired of rock stars behaving badly," Rod told the U.K. magazine Event. It's passe. The Who and the Faces did it all before they were born." In recent years, Bieber has been rocked by a series of scandals including convictions for vandalism, careless driving and resisting arrest. - Billboard/WENN.com, 10/10/15...... '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 Cass County at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Oct. 9 as he tours behind the new album. Of the night's 23-song set list, 13 tracks were from Cass County or its two more robust deluxe editions, and Henley warned the crowd that "this show is going to be all over the map... I don't like to live a monochromatic life." "Seven Bridges Road," from the 1980's Eagles Live album, was the only nod to his famous band the Eagles that evening, but there were plenty of solo Henley hits, including "New York Minute," "The Heart of the Matter" and "The End of the Innocence." The three encores included "Boys of Summer," "Train in the Distance" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance." Meanwhile, Cass County topped Billboard's Top Country Albums chart for the week ending Oct. 17, with 87,000 copies sold, as well as No. 3 on the Hot 200 albums chart. - Billboard, 10/10/15...... 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 visited Chippewa Hills High School in Cadillac, Mich., after the small northern Michigan community's football team credited the band's music for its success on the field the previous year, residents of the city unveiled a monument to the band on Oct. 10. "The renowned bond between Cadillac and Kiss endures to this day," the black granite monument reads, and says the Oct. 9, 1975 event "attained worldwide acclaim as one of the most iconic stories in rock and roll lore... On that day, Kiss came to Cadillac, and a legend was created." Kiss rode in the homecoming parade and performed in the school gym, ultimately departing Cadillac from the football field in a helicopter, showering the students with hundreds of "Kiss Loves You" cards. Then-assistant football coach Jim Neff spearheaded efforts in 1975 to get Kiss to town. The previous year, the football team played Kiss songs before games, and had a seven-game winning streak and became conference co-champions, according to the monument. Although members of Kiss weren't able to attend the event, a Kiss tribute band performed some of their hits. - AP, 10/12/15...... The city of Boston celebrated the influence of punk poetess Patti Smith on their city by proclaiming Oct. 10 "Patti Smith Day." "When Patti Smith emerged on the American art scene in the mid-1970s, she defined a new breed of artist through her mystical poems and urgent rock and roll," Boston mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. "Ms. Smith captivated audiences yearning for intellectual and emotional challenges in popular art, choosing ambiguity and raw emotion over the traditional stereotypes of women in rock music," he added. Smith was in the city on that date signing copies of her new book, M Train. - New Musical Express, 10/9/15...... The estate of Jimi Hendrix is suing an Arizona guitar shop owner for a guitar once owned by the legendary axman. Experience Hendrix LLC, the company that runs Hendrix's estate, has requested a Pima County Superior Court judge to order the guitar, which is currently owned by Harvey Moltz of Rainbow Guitars in Tuscon, returned. The complaint, filed on Oct. 2, claims that Moltz is not the rightful owner of the Black Widow acoustic guitar, which Hendrix LLC attorney Ed McPherson says is valued between $750,000 and $1 million. Moltz maintains he purchased the guitar in June 2014 from someone who bought it from Sheldon Reynolds, ex-husband of Hendrix's adopted sister, Janie Hendrix. McPherson claims Reynolds stole the guitar. "The guitar is priceless to our family," Janie Hendrix says. "It is one of the few guitars that came home after Jimi passed away. We just want our guitar returned safely and back where it belongs." Moltz's laywer says his client purchased the guitar in good faith, "without knowledge of competing claims of ownership." - AP, 10/11/15...... Yoko Ono marked what would have been the 75th birthday of her husband and late Beatle John Lennon on Oct. 9 by traveling to the island of Videy near Reyjkavik, Iceland to light the Imagine Peace Tower, built in Lennon's honour in 2007. This year was the ninth consecutive year Ono attended the annual lighting ceremony. Earlier the same week, Ono attempted to break the world record for the largest human peace sign at Central Park in New York. Around 2,000 people gathered, while 5,000 attendees were needed to break the record. Lennon's surviving former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr also paid tribute to the 75th anniversary of John's birth on Twitter, posting: "It is 2 o'clock in the morning in the UK happy birthday John happy birthday to you love to Yoko and Sean peace and love." - NME, 10/9/15...... Joni Mitchell's acclaimed 1971 album Blue is among the recipients of the inaugural Slaight Family Polaris Canadian Heritage Prize. Polaris organizers say the award was designed to essentially answer the question, "Which album would've won if the Polaris Music Prize had existed back then?" Also receiving a similar award, for their respective time periods, were albums by Cowboy Junkies, Sloan and Peaches. - Billboard, 10/9/15...... ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons will release his first-ever solo album, Perfectamundo, on Nov. 6 via Concord Records. The album fuses Cuban and other Latin influences with Gibbons' regular mix of rock an blues, even incorporating some hip-hop flavors. Gibbons will be touring behind the new album with his BFG band starting Nov. 10 in Atlanta, and later headline the 2015 Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba. - Billboard, 10/8/15...... Keith Richards, who earlier in 2015 dismissed the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album as "rubbish," was quizzed on more legendary rock bands in a new interview and described Led Zeppelin as "hollow" and The Who as "all flash." "Jimmy (Page) is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?," Richards said of Led Zeppelin. "I love Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler." Moving onto The Who, vocalist Roger Daltrey is "all flash" according to Richards while drummer Keith Moon was a "disaster" when it came to playing with others. - NME, 10/9/15...... Tom Petty has spoken publicly for the first time about his '90s heroin addiction in a new biography by author Warren Zanes, Petty: The Biography. Though "unauthorized," the book has Petty's full backing and was written following extensive interviews Petty and his band The Heartbreakers. Zanes reports Petty became addicted to heroin relatively late in his career, when he was 50 years old. "He's a rock and roller. He had had encounters with people who did heroin, and he hit a point in his life when he did not know what to do with the pain he was feeling." Zanes explained that Petty was concerned the revelation about his drug use would set a bad example to young fans. "If anyone is going to think heroin is an option because they know my story of using heroin, I can't do this," he told Zanes. "I think you're going to come off as a cautionary tale rather than a romantic tale," Zanes replied. - NME, 10/8/15...... In an interview with the UK paper The Metro promoting his new album Long Lost Suitcase and book Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography, Tom Jones said he would never patch things up with his rival, Engelbert Humperdinck. "No. It's as I say -- once a c*** always a c***," Sir Tom, 75, said of the 79-year-old Humperdinck. There has long been reports of competition between the two veteran performers, who are said to have grown resentful of each other's success and developed a simmering rivalry" and "haven't spoken a word to each other in the last two decades." In 2013, Humperdinck reached out to Jones, tweeting: "Hey Tom, I think we should put our differences aside and record a duet in the honour of [former manager] Gordon Mills. What do you think?" Jones failed to respond. - NME, 10/9/15...... Roger Waters has announed he will release a live album from his time spent touring Pink Floyd's The Wall as a solo artist. Waters embarked on a The Wall tour between 2010-2013, and the tour is also the subject of a new documentary which it theaters in September. The two-disc The Wall live album consists of recordings from the tourdates and has been produced by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Due Nov. 20, the album will be available on CD, vinyl and digitally. - NME, 10/8/15...... Leo Sayer said during an interview on the UK TV show Loose Women that he would be interested in performing in the "legend" slot at the next Glastonbury Festival. "There's that nice little slot they put people like Al Green and the other legendary artists. Yeah I could do that, hands down," Sayer said. When asked whether it would be something Sayer would be interested in, the "When I Need You" singer said: "It's on the cards man. I want do to it. Why not?" The 2016 Glastonbury Festival will take place at Worthy Farm over the week of June 22-26, and prevous "legends" acts include Dolly Parton, Shirley Bassey and earlier this year, Lionel Richie. - NME, 10/8/15...... Ann Wilson of Heart released her first ever solo EP, The Ann Wilson Thing, on Oct. 9 via Rounder Records. Highlights include "Fool No More," which was written by Wilson and described by her as "a heavy blues song about bad love and the fleeting of time," and "For What It's Worth," described by the singer/songwriter as "a melding of some timeless lyrics with meat, hair and teeth." Wilson kicked off a tour behind the new release in Hartford, Conn., on Oct. 6, and future shows include Vienna, Va. (10/12, 13), Nashville, Tenn. (10/15) and Oakland, Calif. (11/23, 24). - Miles High Productions..... Steve Mackay a saxophonist whose best known for playing on the Stooges' second album, Fun House, in 1970, died on Oct. 11. He was 66. Mackay left the Stooges near the end of 1970 and later rejoined the group for its comeback albums Ready to Die (2007) and The Weirdness (2013). He also collaborated with such bands as the Violent Femmes, Snakefinger and Commander Cody. Mackay was admitted to a California hospital in September for sepsis, a complication of an infection that can cause multiple organs to fail. - Billboard, 10/11/15...... Larry Rosen, an infuential modern jazz producer and record label co-owner, died on Oct. 9 at his home in Park Ridge, N.J., after a battle with brain cancer. He was 75. Rosen and his partner, composer/pianist Dave Grusin, mortgaged their homes to borrow money to launch GRP Records as an independent label in 1982. Its catalogue included albums by many top jazz artists such as Chick Corea, Lee Ritenour, Diana Krall, Diane Schuur, Patti Austin, Dr. John and Ramsey Lewis. After enjoying success as an independent label, the pair sold GRP to MCA Records in a multimillion-dollar deal, with Rosen remaining as president and CEO of the label until 1995. In 2008, Rosen created Jazz Roots, a popular jazz concert series with an education and mentoring program for music students. - AP, 10/10/15...... John Berg, a Grammy-winning album art designer who conceived covers for the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Chicago, passed away on Oct. 11 in Southampton, N.Y. after a battle with pneumonia. He was 83. Berg joined Columbia Records in 1961 and went on to enjoy a prolific career, designing more than 5,000 albums covers including such unforgettable sleeves as Dylan's 1967 Greatest Hits album and Chicago X from 1976. In 1985, he retired from Columbia after reaching the position of a vice president. - Billboard, 10/13/15....... Singer/songwriter Billy Joe Royal, best known for his country-flavored 1965 hit "Down in the Boondocks," died on Oct. 5 of an apparent heart attack. He was 73. Born in Valdosta, Ga., on Apr. 3, 1942, Royal began performing on his uncle's radio show at the age of 11. Royal took up steel guitar and joined the Georgia Jubilee in Atlanta at 14, performing with artists such as his close friend, Joe South, and others including Jerry Reed and Ray Stevens. Royal formed his own rock & roll band in high school in Marietta, and was performing regularly in Atlanta and Savannah by the age of 15. After recording an unnoticed single in 1962, in 1965 he flew from Cincinnati (where he was working at the time) to Atlanta to record "Down in the Boondocks," a song that South had written and wanted Royal to record as a demo for Gene Pitney. The echo-heavy song, which resulted from the use of a large septic tank that had been dragged into the studio, received interest from Columbia Records, who signed Royal to a six-year deal. "Boondocks" became his breakthrough single, reaching number nine on the pop charts and briefly making him a teen idol. Following its success, Royal had a string of lesser Top 40 hits, including "I Knew You When," "I've Got to Be Somebody," and "Cherry Hill Park." As his star faded by decade's end, he became regular performer in Las Vegas and around Lake Tahoe, and did some acting on TV, feature films and commercials. Royal attempted to establish himself as a country artist in the early '80s, and was signed to a contract by Atlantic. He had a string of Top 40 country hits in that decade, including "Burned Like a Rocket" and "I'll Pin a Note on Your Pillow." He continued to have minor hits into 1992 and toured into the 2000s.

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 two-disc, six-disc, and monster limited-edition 18-disc set that includes every single take of every song from the three albums (the complete "Like a Rolling Stone" sessions take up an entire CD on the latter set, with Dylan scholar/critic Greil Marcus promising "people are going to get lost in that"). The Cutting Edge is the third of Dylan's "Bootleg Series" collection released in the past two years, following Another Self Portrait and The Basement Tapes Complete -- and the Dylan camp says its nowhere near done raiding the legendary musician's vaults. "We've always wanted to do one of pre-album stuff where Bob is just singing songs in Greenwich Village coffeehouses," a Dylan insider says. "We'd also love to revisit Blood on the Tracks, Infidels, Oh Mercy and the gospel albums." - Rolling Stone, 10/8/15.

The current box office smash The Martian features several classic '70s songs on its soundtrack, including Vickie Sue Robinson's "Turn The Beat Around" and Abba's "Waterloo," and now Columbia Records hopes to repeat the success of the '70s-influenced Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack by releasing all eight of The Martians' '70s songs via iTunes on Oct. 2 and on CD on Nov. 6. The songs included on Songs From The Martian provide lighthearted moments in the Ridley Scott-directed film, including when abandoned astronout Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) digs up a nuclear generator to provide heat as Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" plays. "The music was always there for comic relief or for some sarcasm," says The Martian editor Pietro Scalia. "The [songs] are played with irony and were perfectly chosen." "What I saw with The Martian was every use of the music enhanced the movie. There was a reason for every song," Columbia Records soundtrack consultant Glen Brunman added. 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in its second week of release, making it the only soundtrack composed of all previously released material to reach No. 1. The Guardians soundtrack has sold 1.4 million copies, according to Nielsen Music, including 5,000 copies on cassette. - Billboard, 10/2/15...... 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 Pipes of Peace and, the song's video premiered exclusively on McCartney's Facebook page on Oct. 6. Paul also posted the news on Twitter: Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson - '#SaySaySay [2015 Remix]'Song taken from 'Pipes of Peace 2015 Remaster' - in stores nowVideo directed by Ryan Heffington#PaulMcCartney #MichaelJackson #PipesOfPeace. The new video, which was directed by Ryan Heffington (Lady Gaga), featured a cast of young dancers, most of whom look way too young to remember when McCartney and Jackson ruled the charts. - Billboard, 10/6/15...... David Cassidy was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and driving with an expired license plate tag on Sept. 30 after being involved in a crash in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier in the month. Authorities say Cassidy, 65, sideswiped a truck and then tried to cover his license plate before driving away with a flat tire. They also said the former The Partridge Family star was identified by witnesses in a photo line-up. Cassidy's lawyer, Jason Forman, says the police report is riddled with inconsistencies. He says Cassidy gave police his driver's license and registration before leaving the scene. A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 27. Cassidy, who resides in Fort Lauderdale, filed for bankruptcy earlier in 2015. - AP, 10/3/15...... 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 M Train, to be released on Oct. 6. It has been described as a "roadmap" through Smith's life. Smith has announced her next book will be a detective novel, and she envisions UK actor Clive Owen playing the lead. - NME, 10/5/15...... Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty published his revealing new memoir, Fortunate Son: My LIfe, My Music, on Oct. 6. Fogerty said the incentive to write the book came from his wife (and manager) Julie. "I don't know that I would've kept at it had it been only my idea," Fogerty said. "The process was certainly a lot harder than I ever imagined. Growing up I'd see all these people on Johnny Carson, 'So and so has a book, this athlete has a book, that movie star has a book' and all that. It's an event in your life to do something like that -- but it wasn't easy." Fogerty added now that the book has come out, he's ready to return to songwriting and recording the followup to his 2013 LP Wrote a Song For Everyone, a collaboration with other music stars on some of his and CCR's most popular songs. He recently announced he'll play an 8-city residency starting Jan. 8 at the Venetian Theatre inside the Venetian Las Vegas casino and hotel, which will, like his most tours, focus on material from the three albums CCR released during 1969. - Billboard, 10/5/15...... Mick Jagger was spotted touring Havana, Cuba's historic center in late September, give rise to speculation that the Rolling Stones will indeed play Cuba next year. According to various newspapers in Cuba and Spain, The Rolling Stones are planning to play their first concert in Cuba in March 2016. According to an official Cuba newspaper, a hotel maid said Jagger was traveling with one of his children and checking out clubs in the city. Current Rolling Stones bassist Daryl Jones reportedly picqued the band's interest in playing in Cuba, which has recently seen many longtime diplomatic and travel restrictions lifted under the presidency of Barack Obama. - Billboard, 10/6/15...... In other Rolling Stones news, guitarist Ronnie Wood spoke out about the huge amounts of pressure on TV talent show contestants today during a speech at the UK's Cheltenham Literature Festival on Oct. 6. "Apart from being nervous and playing in front of a panel, they play in front of millions and millions of people," Wood said. "It's bad for their ego if they don't make it, or if they make a mistake, I mean it's magnified so much more. I'm amazed more people don't commit suicide, do you know what I mean?" he added. Wood also said that "the thought of being in the Stones is what gave me the drive to carry on... It was the atmosphere that lured me as much as the music, the raggedness, the glory, the image -- it looked like a good job." - NME, 10/7/15...... Best known for a cover showing a mutt with a gun pointed to its head and the tagline "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog," National Lampoon captured the outrageous humor of the '70s counterculture and became the merry-prankster farm team for Saturday Night Live and Animal House. Now in selected theaters, Douglas Tirola's new documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead about the satirical bible's rise and fall is fascinating, funny, smart, juvenile, tragic, and likely to offend just about everyone. It's a must-see for anyone who cares about comedy. - Entertainment Weekly, 10/2/15...... Tom Jones will release his new covers album Long Lost Suitcase, on Oct. 9, which sees the Welsh crooner covering the likes of the Rolling Stones and Hank Williams, among others. Sir Tom, who was recently axed as a judge on the BBC's The Voice, says that he still feels Welsh despite having lived in Los Angeles for a large portion of his life. "Welshness is realism, no bullshit," he said. "A Welsh person will remind you of who you are." Meanwhile, Jones published his new memoir, Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography, on Oct. 8. - NME, 10/5/15...... The skimpy "slave" bikini metal costume worn by Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi sold for 96,000 at a "Profiles in History" memorabilia auction in New York on Oct. 2. That amount, though, pales in comparison to the $450,000 winning bid on the same day for a 16" filming miniature of the "Blockade Runner" ship that's the first spacecraft seen in the original 1977 Star Wars. The auction included around 50 items of Star Wars memorabilia. - New York Daily News, 10/2/15...... Gail Zappa, the widow of Frank Zappa, passed away on Oct. 7 at the age of 70. Born Adelaide Gail Sloatman, Gail married the famed experimental musician Zappa in 1967 at age 22. The couple had four children together, Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva, as Gail dedicated her time to her family and profession, running all Zappa enterprises and acting as guardian to her husband's legacy after his death in 1993. As such, she advocated for clear definitions of intellectual property and copyright laws for all artists, while seeking to protect her husband's legacy as one of America's greatest composers and musicians. In a statement issued by the Zappa Family Trust, Gail was described as being "motivated by love in all aspects of her life, kept her authenticity intact, unbowed and, simply put, was one bad ass in the music business and political world." Gail met Frank in 1966 following a tour in support of his groundbreaking 1966 debut album Freak Out! Zappa has been reported saying he fell in love with her within "a couple of minutes." Gail moved into his Laurel Canyon house -- a haven for Los Angeles musicians at the time -- and the next year they were married. Like her husband, Gail is regarded as a key figure of Los Angeles' richly creative Laurel Canyon scene. - Billboard, 10/7/15.

Speaking to the UK's The Guardian as he promotes his new LP Cass County, Don Henley reaffirmed his disdain for Frank Ocean after Ocean sampled the Eagles' "Hotel California" for his 2011 mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra without permission. "Some of these young kids have grown up in a world that doesn't understand or respect copyright material or intellectual property," Henley said. "They look at songs as interactive playthings." Just last year, Henley also spoke critically of Ocean, saying, "You can't rewrite the lyrics to somebody else's songs, record it and put it on the Internet." Asked by The Guardian whether he was flattered that an artists as "cool" as Ocean would sample one of his songs, Henley replied: "I didn't think he was cool. I thought he was a talentless little prick. And I still do." The Eagles singer/drummer/songwriter was also critical of Kayne West when asked if he'd be upset if West had referenced one of his songs: "He's either incredibly arrogant or incredibly insecure, or some combination of the two." Cass County dropped on Sept. 25 via Capitol Records. - Billboard, 10/1/15...... 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 Rattle That Lock has topped the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for the week ending Oct. 10. Moving 70,000 units, Rattle That Lock is Gilmour's first No. 1 on that chart, both as a solo artist or as part of Pink Floyd. On the Nov. 29, 2014, chart, Pink Floyd's The Endless River, purportedly its final recording, debuted at No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums chart, although with a significantly loftier 170,000 sold. Rattle That Lock also debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 200 LP chart, making it his best charting album ever as a solo act. - Billboard, 9/29/15...... Hall & Oates' Daryl Hall has had his popular web-to-cable series Live From Daryl's House renewed for two more years by the high-definition music channel Palladia, which is owned by Viacom. Production for the series, which has been extended through 2017, will begin this fall at Daryl's House Restaurant & Live Music Club in Pawling, N.Y. Recent guests on the program, which was launched in 2007, include Aaron Neville, Sammy Hagar and Ben Folds, among others. The show has earned a Webby Award for best variety series and an O Music Award from MTV, and a national Live From Daryl's House tour also saw a successful run. - Billboard, 10/1/15...... Billy Joel, who is known for dropping amusing asides during his concert performances, got in a jab at his ex-wife Christie Brinkley, who is currently dating John Mellencamp, at a recent concert at Madison Square Garden. After singing "The Longest Time" -- which was written about Brinkley -- Joel told the audience, "And now she's dating John Mellencamp." Brinkley and Mellencamp have been seen on dates together since early September, and it seems Joel -- who's still on good terms with his ex -- is fully aware of her love life. Joel married his fourth wife in July, and the couple welcomed a daughter into the world in August. - Billboard, 9/29/15...... 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 deluxe 45th anniversary reissue of its 1970 album Loaded will drop on Oct. 30. That release will feature 6 discs of material, including the original album remastered in stereo and mono, as well as previously-unreleased demos, outtakes and alternate mixes. - New Musical Express, 10/1/15...... Joe Jackson, the 87-year-old father of Michael Jackson, is "doing a lot better" after suffering a stroke in late July while visiting Brazil, according to his grandson Taj Jackson. "Prognosis is good," Taj Jackson said on Sept. 29. "He's strong and at the same time he's got Jackson hard-headedness of like when you're supposed to take it easy, not taking it easy. So that's the only thing I worry about," he added. Taj, along with brothers TJ and Taryll Jackson, sons of Tito Jackson (one of the original Jackson Five), spoke at an event promoting their reality docuseries, The Jacksons: Next Generation. The series, which premiered on Oct. 2 on Lifetime, also features Michael's children Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson, and his mother, Katherine Jackson. - AP, 9/20/15...... 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 remastered versions of their two posthumous Morrison releases, 1971's Other Voices and 1972's Full Circle. "After awhile we realized there was quite a market for them, so we finally talked to [Rhino Records] and got it going," Krieger says. "That was, like, 10 years ago, and it took us this long to get around to it." - Billboard, 9/29/15...... A new Christmas-themed album from pop star Kylie Minogue will feature a guest appearance by Iggy Pop on one of its tracks called "Christmas Wrapping." "Christmas Wrapping" was originally recorded by American new wave band The Waitresses in 1981 and is among the 16 tracks on Kylie Christmas, which hits stores Nov. 13. - Billboard, 10/2/15...... A musical based on the 1970's black music TV show Soul Train is heading to Broadway. Helmed by CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, the production will be a lyrical narrative, weaving together the personal story of Soul Train creator Don Cornelius with more than 20 classic hit songs from the TV series, including "Proud Mary" (Ike & Tina Turner), "I'll Be Around" (The Spinners), "Loving You" (Minnie Riperton), and "The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" (Gladys Knight & The Pips). - Deadline.com, 9/29/15...... NBC announced on Sept. 30 that it is scrapping a proposed new '70s-themed miniseries produced by Adam Levine and starring Hayden Christensen and Kelsey Grammar. The potential series was eyed as a 10-hour event series that was poised to explore the decade through the eyes of the music executives and artists who helped create some of the most influential music of the era, with contemporary stars re-recording classic '70s hits. Insiders say NBC toyed with the financial numbers but ultimately decided it didn't want to take the gamble and pulled the plug completely. "What not everyone realizes about the '70s is just how much the culture was informed by the corporate world's drive to control, package and profit from it," Boardwalk Records co-founder Tim Bogart told The Hollywood Reporter in Aug. 2014 when the project was first announced. "It was the beginning of the end of the independent labels and the driving force of radio transitioning into the corporate takeover of the business and the demise of the mob influence," added Boardwalk co-founder Gary Randall. Levin and his producer partners are said to be coming up with new ideas for a different music project. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/20/15...... A live TV production based on the hit 1978 movie Grease will feature pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen in the iconic role of Pink Lady Frenchy, the Fox network announced on Sept. 30. Also joining the cast of the live musical is You're the Worst breakout Kether Donohue, who is set as Pink Lady Jan, while David Del Rio (Spare Parts) will play T-Bird Putzie. The live event, set for Jan. 31, 2016 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. EST, will open with Grammy nominee Jessie J singing a new version of the Barry Gibb-penned title tune, "Grease (Is the Word)" that was featured in the opening-title sequence of the 1978 film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/30/15...... A documentary on the ill-fated Tower Records record store chain, which was started in the back of a drugstore in 1961 by Michael Solomon and became an industry phenomenon before filing for bankruptcy in 2006, will premiere in selected theaters on Oct. 16. The film, titled All Things Must Pass, is directed by Colin Hanks and looks beyond the fall-back idea that Internet killed the record store and follows the rebellious beginnings and heartbreaking demise, while also profiling Tower founder Solomon. During its 45 year existence, Tower Records was patronized by the likes of Elton John and grew to over 40 stores, with the average one stocking around 25,000 items. - Billboard, 9/30/15...... Frankie Ford, a rock & roll and R&B singer best known for the 1959 hit "Sea Cruise," died on Sept. 28 of natural causes at his home in Gretna, La., following a lengthy illness. He was 76. A childhood singer, Ford was brought to New York by his adapted parents, Vincent and Anna Guzzo, at age 5 when he was to perform on The Ted Mack Amateur Hour. Released via Ace Records, Ford's version of "Sea Cruise" sold more than a million copies and hit No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. From 1959 to 1961, Ford released a handful of modest hits, appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and barnstormed the country with various rock 'n' roll caravans. But after a stint in the Army in the early 1960s, he came home to discover that the British Invasion had dried up the market for his brand of piano-driven New Orleans R&B and rock 'n' roll. So he went to work on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, holding down regular gigs at various clubs from the mid-'60s until 1980. His final performance was during the 2013 Gretna Heritage Festival. - Billboard, 9/29/15