Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Dec. 8th, 2015

Bruce Springsteen announced on Dec. 4 that he'll mount a 22-city North American tour in 2016 with his E Street Band behind his new deluxe The River reissue beginning Jan. 16 in Pittsburgh. The tour then hits Chicago on Jan. 19, followed by two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden on Jan. 24 and Jan. 27. Other stops include Toronto (2/2), Boston (2/4), Philadelphia (2/12), Atlanta (2/18), Louisville (2/21), Cleveland, Oh. (2/23), Milwaukee (3/3), St. Louis (3/6) and Phoenix (3/13), before wrapping with two nights at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on March 15 and 17. It will be Springsteen's first ever tour behind one of his seminal deluxe reissues of recent years, which also include 1975's Born to Run and 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town, and according to his website the tour "will include an in-sequence, complete performance of The River album in addition to other Springsteen favorites." Each night of the The River tour will be mixed for release on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net as high-quality downloads and CDs, and recordings will be available within days of each performance. Springsteen's most recent tour was his highest-grossing ever, with the Wrecking Ball/High Hopes trek of 2012-2014 taking in $422 million and selling 4 million tickets from 157 shows. Springsteen and the E Street Band will also be the musical guests on NBC's Saturday Night Live on Dec. 19. - Billboard, 12/4/15...... Meanwhile, after years of enduring low-quality bootlegs, Springsteen has been quietly releasing decades' worth of classic concerts online in 2015 -- some 39 professionally shows -- in response to the poor quality of the shows he saw popping up on YouTube. Partnering with the bootleg site Nugs.net, the live boots initially focused on his 2014 High Hopes tour, but eventually spanned his entire career. So far, highlights include an acoustic set from 2005 and a classic from the Born to Run tour. A new show appears about every six weeks, and downloads are $9.95 with physical CDs going for $23. "They have some incredible stuff in the archives," says Nugs.net founder Brad Serling, who hopes some of the Boss's rocker peers will also make their concerts available on the site. - Rolling Stone, 12/3/15...... After Rush drummer Neil Peart recently told Drumhead magazine that "it does not pain me to realize that, like all athletes, there comes a time to take yourself out of the game," Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee clarified Peart's alleged retirement plans on Dec. 8, saying that Peart isn't necessarly quitting Rush entirely, just backing away from the touring side. "I think Neil is just explaining his reasons for not wanting to tour, with the toll that its taking on his body," Lee said. "We'll get together eventually and chat about things. But in my view, there is certainly nothing surprising in what he said. Neil just feels that he has to explain with all the thousands of people asking, Why no more tours? He needs to explain his side of it," he added. Peart has been treated for chronic tendonitis in recent years, while guitarist Alex Lifeson has struggled with psoriatic arthritis. Their ailments have sparked rumors that their R40 Live 40th anniversary tour would be the band's final large-scale tour. - Billboard, 12/7/15...... On Dec. 5, copy #0000001 of the Beatles' 1968 double-LP The Beatles (aka The White Album) sold for $790,000 at Julien's auction, a new world record for a vinyl record at an auction. The winning bid easily surpassed early estimates for the album, which placed its value between $40k-60k. The album was owned by Ringo Starr, who with his wife Barbara Bach auctioned off a trove of their personal belongings in December. Starr had been storing the LP in a London vault for 35 years, and it was described by Julien's as being in excellent condition: "The top load sleeve is in near mint minus condition and would be near mint if not for the bumped upper right front gatefold corner, but it is overall very clean and fresh with very minor abrasions." It was the first numbered U.K. copy of the White Album ever pressed, and adding to its value is that it is the mono version of the album, which many fans claim is the preferred way to listen to the Fab Four as the band was usually present for the mono mixing of their albums but not involved in the stereo mixing process. Meanwhile, Ringo's first Ludwig drum kit set as a Beatle from 1963 was sold at the same auction a day earlier for $1.7 million to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Irsay owns prominent guitars from the other three Beatles -- Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon -- and earlier in 2015, he also purchased a drumhead that will fit the set he just bought. "Finally, after 45 years, the Beatles are together again," Irsay texted to the AP. An avid collector of music memorabilia, Irsay also owns instruments used by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Eric Clapton. A portion of the proceeds from Starr's auction will benefit the couples Lotus Children Foundation, which focuses on global social welfare issues. - Billboard, 12/5/15...... In other Beatles news, a new statue of the band has been unveiled in their hometown of Liverpool to mark the 50th anniversary of their final show in the city. The bronze sculpture, situated on Liverpool's Pier Head, was made by artist Andy Edwards and presented to the city by famed Merseybeat venue the Cavern Club. The Beatles played their last ever show in Liverpool at the Empire Theatre on Dec. 5, 1965. - New Musical Express, 12/5/15...... Even a life as brief as Janis Joplin's (she died in 1970 at age 27) can't be fully explored in just over 100 minutes, the running time of the new Amy Berg-directed documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue. Instead, Berg aims to tell the most personal story she can by giving the narrative over to the family, friends, and bandmates who knew her best (Clive Davis, Dick Cavett, D.A. Pennebaker, Kris Kristofferson). Berg is also lucky to have access to a trove of letters, voiced here by singer and kindred spirit Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power. The portrait that emerges is one of a brash, talented girl who grew up an outcast in her small Texas town and developed her gale-force voice and gypsy-queen mien as armor against a world that would have dismissed her otherwise. While her romances, studio sessions and struggles with addiction are portrayed in a style that can best be described as Behind the Music deluxe, the true draw here is really just Janis: Sweet and wild and vividly alive, she takes a little piece of your heart when she goes. Janis: Little Girl Blue is in selected theaters in the U.S. - Entertainment Weekly, 12/11/15...... Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 68, has learned he will be a father for the fifth (and sixth) time next summer, as his wife, 37-year-old Sally Humphries, are expecting twins. "Sally and Ronnie Wood are delighted to announce that they are expecting twins in June 2016," a spokesperson for the band said. "Needless to say, they are thrilled and overjoyed with the wonderful news." Wood and Humphries were married in 2012. Wood has a son, Jesse, with his first wife Krissy Wood, and a son and daughter, Tyrone and Leah, with his second wife Jo Wood. He also adopted Jo's son Jamie. A source close to Wood says he's actually looking forward to being a dad again, and doesn't think his age is a problem because he still feels very young and fit. - Billboard, 12/7/15...... Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood ended his nearly two-decade marriage to Lynn Frankel Fleetwood on Nov. 20, according to court records obtained on Dec. 8. The judge finalized the couple's divorce, but did not contain any details on how they will divide their assets. They were married in July 1995, and have 13-year-old twin daughters. - AP, 12/8/15...... Carole King, filmmaker George Lucas, actresses Rita Moreno and Cicely Tyson, and conductor Seiji Ozawa were feted at the prestigious 2015 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6. Introduced by Sec. of State John Kerry -- who noted, "We fought to the music of the Doors, the Stones and the Dead, but we healed with the music of Carole King" -- King received the final tribute of the night as the cast of the her Broadway musical "Beautiful," as well as such music greats as James Taylor and Aretha Franklin, performed some of King's own songs in her honor. In what was clearly a surprise to King, the show closed when Franklin stepped out to the piano to bring down the house with "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman." The event was taped and will be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 29. - Billboard, 12/7/15...... Kief Nilsson, the 30-year-old son of late celebrated '70s singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, is reportedly recording an album of his some of his dad's more obscure songs, including "Daybreak," "Rainmaker," "Maybe," "Kojak Columbo" and "All I Think About Is You." "It's a work in progress," says Lee Blackman, the attorney for the Nilsson estate. Blackman adds that Kief is recording the album with Cal Campbell, the son of Glen Campbell, at Cal's Agoura Borealis Recording studio in Agoura Hills, Calif., and taht the record has no release date or major label attached to it. - Billboard, 12/4/15...... Jeff Lynne's ELO have added two summer dates to their upcoming UK tour behind their new album, Alone in the Universe. The band, which kicks off the run with a with a gig at Liverpool Echo Arena on Apr. 5 and will play four dates at London's O2 in April, has added dates in Manchester (6/22) and a tour closer in Birmingham (6/24), bringing the total number of cities to 10. - NME, 12/8/15...... Peter Gabriel has announced plans to take part in a new animal research experiment to find out if monkeys would use video technology to communicate with each other. The former Genesis frontman will work with the Monkey World rescue centre and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the Interspecies Internet project. "The idea is to extend a big video network that already exists in labs at [MIT] so that different species including our own have a chance to communicate," Gabriel is quoted as saying in London's Sunday Times. "I am absolutely certain the monkeys will use the video cameras in Monkey World to communicate with each other. I am also interested in how they would use the internet to communicate," he added. It is not known what part Gabriel will play in the experiment, as a spokesperson for Monkey World said the plans were still at an early stage and they could not comment further. In 2001, Gabriel made headlines after he taught monkeys how to play the keyboard, and in 1982 he charted his first Billboard Top 40 hit with "Shock the Monkey," which rose to No. 29 on the hit parade. - New Musical Express, 12/8/15...... Veteran actor Robert Loggia, known for his roles in director Brian De Palma 1986 gangster epic Scarface as well as An Officer and a Gentleman, Prizzi's Honor, Independence Day, Problem Child and Big, died on Dec. 4 in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with Alzheimers Disease. He was 85. Mr. Loggia was nominated for a Supporting Actor Academy Award for Jagged Edge in 1986 for his portrayal of a blunt private detective, and appeared in TV's The Rockford Files as three different characters. He also portrayed a violent mobster named Feech La Manna on several episodes of The Sopranos. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his portrayal of FBI agent Nick Mancuso in the series Mancuso FBI and again in 2000 for his guest star role in Malcolm in the Middle. Other TV credits include T.H.E. Cat, The Untouchables, Columbo, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Big Valley, Rawhide, Little House on the Prairie and Starsky and Hutch, among numerous others. Mr. Loggia, who broke into the entertainment business performing in stage plays in New York, is survived by his widow Audrey, three children, and a stepchild. - Variety, 12/4/15...... Actor Martin E. Brooks, best known for his role as scientist Dr. Rudy Wells on the 1970s series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman, died of natural causes on Dec. 7 after a brief hospitalization in Los Angeles. He was 90. His other credits included The Philco Television Playhouse in the 1950s, Combat! in the 1960s and Knots Landing in the 1990s. He also played Dr. Arthur Bradshaw on the ABC daytime serial General Hospital. - AP, 12/7/15.

Elton John's next album, titled Crazy Wonderful Night, is due Feb. 5 via Island Records. Described as an "up" record with "lots of 12-string guitars" that gives a nod to his mid-Seventies classics, the LP was banged out in L.A. by John and his touring band in just 17 days, with T Bone Burnett producing. "I think he felt there's enough pain and suffering in the world without contributing to it," says Elton's songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin. "I wanted to write things that were really hook-driven. It was an adventure we hadn't investigated since the loud, brash pop rock of our mid-1970s albums." T Bone Burnett says during recording John stuck to his tradition of composing music to Taupin's lyrics in the studio, without ever seeing the lyrics before or coming up with a single note of music. "It's crazy to watch," says Burnett. "It's the same improvisational courage that (Bob) Dylan used for Highway 61 Revisited." John says he took the record to Island after his former label, Capitol, refused to release the album and dropped him from the label. But he says Island is enthused about the project and "I can ask for no more." "I follow the charts and I know everything about this business... I'm not expecting to sell a million records," Elton says. Taupin adds that he and John feel compelled to put new music out, whether it sells or not. "You can be Billy Joel and stop making records, but if you have that drive and passion, you're going to do it whether it sells or not. It's there inside of you, and if you don't get it out you're going to explode." - Rolling Stone, 12/3/15.

The father of Raju Patel, a movie producer and deceased friend of Michael Jackson, is suing the Jackson estate after it refused to provide him with home video footage or music rights for a planned Jackson tribute film called Messages to Michael. Sharad Chandra Patel filed the suit on Dec. 3 in Los Angeles Superior Court to enforce a creditor's claim that was rejected by the Jackson estate. Patel alleges his son, who died of cancer in 2005, had a film company with Jackson called Neverland Entertainment and that a 2002 contract provides that all proceeds from their films will be split 50-50. After Jackson's 2003 child molestation scandal subsided, the singer is said to have wanted to make a film dedicated to the millions of fans who also stood by him during the controversy, and a 2005 contract signed three months before Raju died provided that Raju and Jackson would make Messages to Michael, "a tribute to Michael and his loyal fans." Ever since Jackson died in 2009, Sharad has been trying to get access to Jackson's music and personal effects in order to make the film but has been shut out by estate executors John Branca and John McClain. "Branca and McClain have disregarded the terms of the agreement, as well as Michael's wishes for his fans, because [they] are simply motivated by the biggest payday," the lawsuit reads, then refers to the Sony-produced 2010 Jackson documentary film This Is It, in which they allege the estate collected "a 90 percent share of the film profits." - Billboard, 12/3/15...... Pink Floyd will be coming out with a limited-edition (1,000 copies) EP of their earliest recordings, including songs composed by band cofounders Syd Barrett and Roger Waters. The late '60s songs originally appeared on two seven-inch singles and will feature four compositions by the late Barrett, "Lucy Leave," "Double O Bo," "Remember Me" and "Butterfly," along with Waters' "Walk With Me Sydney" and a Slim Harpo remake, "I'm a King Bee." The band says they also "hope to make them available in some physical form towards the end of 2016." - Rolling Stone/NME, 12/3/15...... Barbra Streisand has signed on to direct the story of one of history's most powerful women, Russian empress Catherine the Great. The planned movie is said to have one of the industry's best unproduced screenplays, by Kristina Lauren Anderson, and is being produced by Gil Netter. Catherine the Great took power after her husband was assassinated and ruled from 1762 to 1796, in the process reinvigorating the Russian empire and growing it in size and power. The film will be Streisand's first time in the director's chair for a dramatic movie since 1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces. - Billboard, 12/3/15...... Lionel Richie has confirmed he'll be collaborating with red hot pop singer Adele for an upcoming project, saying it's "almost in the works." The rumors began after a video mash-up of Richie's hit "Hello" and Adele's current smash of the same name was posted and went viral. Responding to the video, Richie took to Instagram to post a screenshot from his video next to one from Adele's, writing: "HELLO @adele is it me you're looking for... #hello." Richie then told E! News that "we are going to be doing something together" after Adele finishes promoting and touring behind her latest LP, 25. "Her mission is [to] get her record out and go on tour, so until she finishes that cycle, that won't happen just yet. She is committed to that," he said. The album, which was released in November, has broken records in the US and UK for the fastest million-selling record ever. - New Musical Express, 12/2/15...... Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty has been added to the lineup of artists participating in the upcoming John Lennon tribute concert commemorating the late Beatles member's 75th birthday. To be aired on the AMC channel on Dec. 19 at 9:00 p.m. EST, Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert will also feature Eric Church, Sheryl Crow and Juanes, among many others, and include special video features from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Actor Kevin Bacon will host. - Billboard, 12/2/15...... In an interview with the UK publication GQ, Keith Richards dissed his Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Jagger's solo albums and said he's never listened to them. "They had something to do with ego. He really had nothing to say," said Richards, who just released his first solo effort in over 20 years, Crosseyed Heart. "What did he have, two albums? She's the Boss and Primitive Cool?" asked Richards (Jagger also released Wandering Spirit in 1993 and Goddess in the Doorway in 2001). When the interviewer told Richards he'd never listened to Jagger's solo material, Richards replied: "Nor have I. I'll leave it at that." He added that he would "never make records as a way of being famous or making a statement... I just want to make good records with good musicians, to play with the best and learn." - NME, 12/1/15......Eagles principals Don Henley and Glenn Frey have just settled a federal lawsuit they brought against a New York man they accused of peddling bootleg recordings of their concerts. Henley and Frey sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bill Shelley when they learned the Avon Theater in Connecticut was advertising an October 2014 show called Legends of Rock Live: The Eagles: 1976 Tour with concert footage from Shelley's film vault. Although Shelley's lawyer claims his client canceled the movie showing, he says Henley and Frey sued him anyway. But now both sides have apparently settled the lawsuit, with a permanent injunction barring Shelley from showing any recordings of the group and a financial compensation, the terms of which were not disclosed. - AP, 11/28/15...... Kinks frontman Ray Davies, who released his autobiography Americana: The Kinks, the Riff, the Road: The Story, in 2013, says he's also readying a new solo album also called Americana and that it will be a nod to his boyhood obsession with American music." I had a book out year and a half ago called Americana and there are 100 some songs with that I need to start recording," Davies recently told Billboard. "And I've been fact-checking this musical called 'Sunny Afternoon' that's become a hit in the West End, so that took a year out. The last few years have been dedicated to that. But there is music coming," he added. Davies blamed the infamous touring ban placed on the Kinks in the US for four years in the '60s for causing the band to fall off the radar then: "It was a struggle coming to America because we were embroiled in management disputes, but without touring we would have gone broke. Thankfully we restored our image and we able to tour again, although it was a long climb back, as my book Americana illustrates." As for a possible Kinks reunion (his brother Dave Davies has said he's open to one), Ray responded that it could happen "if we make it relevant to new music." "Not saying we need a new album, but it's got to relate to new music. Because it's impossible just to do the hits. I like playing the hits, I just did a solo tour, but when the Kinks get back together, I need to be inspired to write new material," he explained. - Billboard, 12/1/15...... Punk poetess Patti Smith is among the 12 women who have posed for photos that are included in the 2016 Pirelli Tires calendar. First launched in 1964, the calendar has become a highly coveted annual of who's who among powerhouse models and photographers, and the 2016 calendar also features women's tennis champion Serena Williams and a topless shot of comedian/actress Amy Schumer. In addition to the portraits, all shot in black and white by Annie Leibovitz, the calendar also features paragraphs about each woman's contributions and accomplishments. - Billboard, 11/30/15...... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler model/actress daughter Liv Tyler confirmed she plans to wed her partner Dave Gardner in an Instagram post on Nov. 30. "Crazy about my man!!!!!" sweet sweet daddy , friend , fiance "thank you !!!!!! Grateful" pic.twitter.com/rkfzjpLDnJ," posted Tyler, who was previously married to rocker Royston Langdon, the father of her 10-year-old son, Milo. Gardner, the sports agent pal of soccer great David Beckham, reportedly proposed to Tyler in Dec. 2014, while she was pregnant with Sailor Gene, their first child together. - WENN.com, 11/30/15...... All six of the classic comedy albums released by comedian Richard Pryor on the Warner Bros. Records label -- from 1974's That Nigger's Crazy to 1983's Here and Now -- are now available for digital download and on streaming services including Spotify and YouTube to commemorate what would have been his 75th birthday. "I am thrilled to celebrate Richard's upcoming 75th birthday with this great news. A wonderful gift to his fans, old and new alike," said Pryor's widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor. Her late husband would have turned 75 on Dec. 1. Fans can buy a digital bundle of all the albums or a best-of compilation called The Anthology: 1968-1992 that includes stand-up from his non-Warner Bros. releases. The tenth anniversary of Pryor's death is also coming up -- the controversial comedian died of a heart attack on Dec. 10, 2005. - Billboard, 11/30/15...... Quintessential "King of Cool" and the '70s The Dean Martin Show star Dean Martin will take the stage in 2016 thanks to Hologram USA, the company that produces lifelike hologram performances. Martin's national tour will kick off, unsurprisingly, in Las Vegas. Co-produced by FilmOn TV Networks, the performances will be distributed online via FilmOn.com. "(Dean) owned Vegas like no other entertainer, and is the definition of elegance and cool," says Hologram USA CEO Alki David. "It's a distinct pleasure to work with Laura Lizer and the estate to ensure we deliver Dean Martin with the utmost authenticity." The company has also announced plans to create hologram shows of such artists as Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby and Whitney Houston, among others. - Billboard, 12/2/15.