The Rolling Stones have released a lyric video for their 1967 song "2000 Light Years From Home" in advance of the upcoming 50th anniversary reissue of their classic dark psychedelic masterpiece LP, Her Satanic Majesties Request. The Stones themselves are not featured in the clip, however it features all the touchstones of the era, from a floating yogi, dancing mushrooms, groovy space ships, and doors that open new worlds of perception. The Her Satanic Majesties Request reissue arrives on Sept. 22 as a box set with both stereo and mono version of the album on vinyl and a hybrid super audio CD along with a 20-page book with new liner notes. - Billboard, 8/30/17...... 
The sister of late rock icon Prince, Tyka Nelson, has told Britain's Evening Standard paper in a new interview that her famous brother's favorite color was actually orange -- not purple. "The stand out piece for me is his orange Cloud guitar," Nelson said about a Prince memorabilia auction earlier in August. "It is strange because people always associate the colour purple with Prince, but his favourite colour was actually orange." A cursory search of images of Prince could bear Nelson's assertion out, as he appeared in a sparkling orange tunic at the 2016 Grammy awards, in an all-orange suit from his legendary 2007 Super Bowl performance, in orange with an orange guitar during a Las Vegas residency in 2006, and in orange wear at the 2006 BET Awards and the 2012 iHeartRadio festival. The shocking claim comes as Spotify erected several simple all-purple billboards earlier this to promote the addition of his catalog to their streaming library, and more recently the Pantone Color Institute partnering with the Prince estate to create a new custom shade of purple in his honor. - Spin.com, 8/29/17...... On Aug. 24, David Bowie reached another posthumous milestone -- the 1 billionth stream of the late rocker's catalogue on the Spotify streaming service. Bowie reached the benchmark with his 1977 classic "Heroes" leading the way as his most-streamed solo track of all time on the popular subscription platform. "Heroes", originally recorded in English, French and German, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2017 and will enjoy a special limited edition picture disc release in September. Also coming that month is the latest in a series of career-spanning Bowie box sets, A New Career in a New Town, which covers the years 1977-1982. Bowie passed away on Jan. 10 of cancer, two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar, which became his first No. 1 album in the US. - Billboard, 8/29/17...... The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced on Aug. 28 that the upcoming New York Film Festival will include the debut of a new Bob Dylan documentary titled Trouble No More. The concert film, directed by Jennifer Lebeau, features long-lost footage from Dylan's '79-'80 tour. Also premiering will be a new doc about the career of Jaws director Steven Spielberg directed by Susan Lacy and featuring interviews with his fellow directors Francis Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese. The 55th New York Film Festival, also showcasing new films from Woody Allen, Todd Haynes and Richard Linklater, is set to run Sept. 28-Oct. 15 at Lincoln Center. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/28/17...... 
On Aug. 28, a U.S. District Court judge issued an extraordinary injunction banning the release of Street Survivor, a new documentary about the 1977 plane crash that killed Lynyrd Skynyrd members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines. The injunction is the result of a lawsuit brought by heirs of Van Zant and Gaines, along with Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington, who sued the film production company Cleopatra and alleged that former Synyrd drummer Artimus Pyle assisted the making of the movie in violation of his agreements that the band survivors never use the name Lynyrd Skynyrd again. "Cleopatra is prohibited from making its movie about Lynyrd Skynyrd when its partner substantively contributes to the project in a way that, in the past, he willingly bargained away the very right to do just that," Judge Robert Sweet opined. "In any other circumstance, Cleopatra would be as 'free as a bird' to make and distribute its work," he added, making reference to the band's signature tune, "Freebird." The filmmakers argued that Street Survivor didn't and wouldn't represent any authorization from the band, that the production company wasn't a party to the agreements, and that the film constituted free speech. But after hearing evidence, the judge has now sided with the heirs and ordered up an expedited trial. Attorneys representing Cleopatra said their client still intends to release Street Survivor and will seek relief from an appeals court. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/28/17...... Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson, paid tribute to her late dad on Aug. 29, what would have been the King of Pop's 59th birthday, by posting a photo of herself as an infant kissing her father. Writing in the accompanying caption, the 19-year-old remarked that she'd "never feel love again the way I did with you." "You are always with me and I am always with you," Paris added. "Though I am not you, and you are not me, I know with all of my being that we are one. And our should will never change in that way. Thank you for the magic, forever and always." Jackson also appeared during the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 27 and called out "Nazi, white supremacist jerks" when discussing the recent violence and far right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. "As a nation with liberty as our slogan, we have zero tolerance for their violence, their hatred and their discrimination," she declared. - New Musical Express, 8/29/17...... 
In the late 1960s, pioneering rock & roller Jerry Lee Lewis mounted a return to the country music charts after his career was nearly derailed over a 1950s scandal involving his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra. Lewis scored several top country singles, including "What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)," "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye," "To Make Love Sweeter for You" and "Touching Home," and recently a petition was started online to call attention to his exclusion from the Country Music Hall of Fame (he was among the first inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. "I don't know why I am not in it," the 81-year-old Lewis said of the CMA snub. "I mean, they got it stirred up and talking about it. I don't know why they don't put me in it. I don't understand that." And there seems to be plenty of support for that within Nashville's music community, who consider "The Killer" more of a country singer than a rock star. "You know, I was at the age that I didn't really know him as a rock 'n' roller until I got in the bar and started playing his rock stuff," says country star Toby Keith. "But I knew all of his country songs. He's an incredible country singer." On Aug. 24, Lewis was honored by top country artists such as George Strait, Kris Kristofferson, Chris Stapleton and Lee Ann Womack during the live concert series Skyville Live. Womack said that Lewis' contributions to music, no matter the genre, should make him eligible. "He's one of the greatest artists that we have ever had the pleasure of having in country music," she said. "That's my opinion and I am sure that's most everybody's opinion. I think anybody that has made that kind of impact deserves to be in the Hall of Fame." Lewis adds that "my style of country music is just me... I wouldn't know how to do anyone else's." - AP, 8/26/17..... The band Muse closed out the UK's Reading 2017 festival on Aug. 27 by bringing out AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson for a surprise jam. Johnson joined the trio on stage at the start of the encore. "He's back!" announced frontman Matt Bellamy, inviting the singer to the stage to join Muse in a cover of AC/DC's "Back In Black." "Thank you so much, thank you boys," Johnson said at the end of the song, hugging Bellamy. The performance marked one of Johnson's first since being forced to leave AC/DC in 2016 to hearing issues. He previously joined Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers on stage in Oxford earlier in 2017. - NME, 8/27/17...... 
Tobe Hooper, the pioneering director of the 1974 grisly horror masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as Poltergeist, died on Aug. 26 in Sherman Oaks, Calif., of as yet unannnounced causes. He was 74. Hooper, who began his film career as a documentary cameraman in the 60s, gained fame as director of two of the most frightening and original horror films ever made. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre practically invented its own strain of evocative rural terror, telling a story of a group of friends drawn into the deadly orbit of a group of cannibals. The film, made for only $300,000, drew widespread acclaim and is remembered as one of the greatest horror films of all time. Hooper cowrote The Texas Chain Saw Massacre script with Kim Henkel, basing it loosely onthe horrific crimes of Ed Gein, a murderer whose influence would also be felt on a latter horror classic, The Silence of the Lambs. While initially banned in some countries, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre became recognized as a great horror film in that, much like Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (also inspired by Gein), most of the violence was implied as a traveling group of teens found their way into the company of a demented clan of cannibals in a Texas slaughterhouse, led by the saw-wielding burly figure Leatherface. While the film was initially lambasted for its shockingly violent subject matter, it received reconsideration over time for the restraint shown onscreen, and stands with films like Halloween and The Night of the Living Dead as pictures that helped shape the genre. Subsequent and far more violent incarnations of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series helped launch the film careers of Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger, along with Jessica Biel. Hooper's other classic was Poltergeist, the 1982 ghost story produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams as parents who move to a dream house in the suburbs, only to find it full of ghosts from a graveyard below the house. Perhaps his other most memorable credit was directing the 1979 miniseries adaptation of the Stephen King vampire saga Salem's Lot. Hooper's last directing project was he 2013 horror thriller Djinn. - Deadline.com, 8/27/17.
Sting and composer J. Ralph, who collaborated on the Oscar-nominated song "The Empty Chair" for a recent documentary about murdered American photojournalist James Foley, will be honored at The Smithsonian for their contributions to American music. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will acquire donations from the pair, including "The Empty Chair," and participate in a discussion hosted by Dan Rather, followed by performances from Sting and the world premiere of Ralph's new symphonic piece, "Evolocean. Tickets to the free event will benefit the Smithsonian's culture and arts programs. - Billboard, 8/25/17...... Many may not be aware that the subject of the famous Beatles tune "Eleanor Rigby" was an actual person who is buried in Peter's churchyard in Woolton, Liverpool -- where Paul McCartney and John Lennon spent time growing up. Now, Britain's The Guardian is reporting that the grave of Eleanor Rigby will be auctioned off in September, with bidding expected to land somewhere between £2,000 ($2,570) and £4,000 ($5,100). If you happen to win the auction, you could have the right to be buried in the same plot as Ms. Rigby in only seven years. In addition to the grave rights, the original handwritten score for the track will go up for auction as well -- that's expected to bring in around £20,000 ($25,700). - Stereogum.com, 8/22/17...... 
Jerry Lewis, an American comedy and film legend who dominated show business with his "straight man" singing partner Dean Martin in the 1950s before going on to star in, write and direct dozens of classic movies on his own, died on Aug. 20 at his home in Las Vegas after battling numerous health problems in recent years. He was 91. Born Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926, in Newark, N.J., to professional entertainers, Mr. Lewis made his debut at age 5 at a hotel in the Borscht Belt, the legendary upstate New York venue, by singing "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" He dropped out of high school and, while working as a soda jerk and theater usher, cultivated a comedy routine, in which he mimed phonograph records. In July 1946, Mr. Lewis teamed up with Italian-American crooner Martin, who was nine years his elder. Their ad libs, including insults and off-the-wall jokes, were a sensation,and their salaries skyrocketed from $250 a week to $5,000. Playing up their physical and personality contrasts -- Mr. Lewis' monkeyshines and ineptitude against straight man Martin's sedate, sexy charm -- the duo became overwhelmingly successful, catching the attention of Paramount Pictures producer Hal B. Wallis, who signed the team to a contract with Paramount and produced their first film, My Friend Irma, in supporting roles in 1949 which became a hit. Martin & Lewis made a total of 16 films together as headliners, including At War With the Army (1950), Sailor Beware (1952), The Caddy (1953), Living It Up (1954) and You're Never Too Young (1955), before Martin became tired of Mr. Lewis getting most of the attention, and the pair made their final appearance together at New York's Copacabana club on July 25, 1956, ten years to the day they formed their team. The feud that developed did not publicly end until the MDA telethon of 1976, when Frank Sinatra surprised longtime host Mr. Lewis by bringing Martin onstage. Martin died in 1995. Mr. Lewis then signed a $10 million deal with Paramount for 14 films during a seven-year period, and he formed his own production company. Mr. Lewis found his first solo starring role in The Delicate Delinquent (1957) and quickly followed with a string of hits: The Sad Sack (1957), Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958), The Geisha Boy (1958), Don't Give Up the Ship (1959) and The Bellboy, the latter a slew of blackout gags he concocted around the Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel. Mr. Lewis' string of hits continued with Cinderfella (1960) and The Errand Boy (1961), but it was 1963's The Nutty Professor that cemented his reputation. Directing himself, Mr. Lewis starred as a near-sighted professor and chemistry egghead who dazzles his coeds by becoming the ultra-cool pop singer Buddy Love. The movie also served as the basis for Eddie Murphy's retooled remake in 1996, with Murphy taking over the nerdy professor role, this time turning into a sharp-tongued comedian. (Murphy presented Mr. Lewis with the Hersholt trophy at the 2009 Oscars.) 
After that, his films dropped drastically at the box office, and he experienced his greatest disappointment on TV in 1963 when his two-hour Saturday night talk and variety show didn't click with the socially-conscious mid-1960s era. However, his popularity remained intact in France, which became something of a running gag. For 13 years, Mr. Lewis later admitted, he also was addicted to the painkilling drug Percodan, which was prescribed for treatment of a chipped spinal column he received while doing a pratfall in 1965 on The Andy Williams Show. His controversial 1972 film The Day the Clown Cried -- a drama set inside a Nazi concentration camp -- was never released, although he donated a copy to the Library of Congress in August 2015, with the agreement the film not be shown for a decade. In 1980, after an absence of nearly 10 years from the screen, Mr. Lewis attempted a comeback with the film Hardly Working. More successfully, he followed with a straight role as a talk-show host stalked by an obsessive fan in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1982), starring Robert De Niro. Mr. Lewis' dramatic performance as a beleaguered TV star was critically lauded. Mr. Lewis most recently appeared in such films as Cookie (1989), Arizona Dream (1993), Funny Bones (1995) and Max Rose (2016), and he played opposite Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood in The Trust (2016). He performed a cameo as himself in Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and guest-starred on a 2006 episode of Law & Order: SVU. In 1991, he was presented with the Comic Life Achievement Award at the National Academy of Cable Programming's ACE Awards. The American Comedy Awards gifted him with a lifetime achievement award in 1998. And the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. presented him with its career achievement honor in 2004. When Mr. Lewis was 18, he met singer Patti Palmer, and they wed 10 days later. During their marriage, which lasted from 1944-82, they had five sons, including '60s pop singer Gary Lewis and adopted another child. His youngest, Joseph, became a drug addict and committed suicide in 2009 at age 45. Mr. Lewis also was known for his efforts as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. He devoted more than a half-century to fighting the neuromuscular disease, hosting an annual Labor Day telethon -- and raising nearly $2.5 billion -- from 1955 until he was ousted before the 2011 telecast. Mr. Lewis was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for his efforts. Mr. Lewis' health ailments over the years included open-heart surgery in 1983, surgery for prostate cancer in 1992, treatment for his dependence on prescription drugs in 2003, a heart attack in 2006 and a long bout with pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease for which he took Prednisone, causing his face and body to balloon. He reportedly died at 9:15 a.m. at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by family and friends. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/20/17.
Robert Plant announced on Aug. 18 that he'll release a new solo album called 
In an Aug. 16 interview with the right-wing media outlet Newsmax TV, Country musician Charlie Daniels said the removal of Confederate statues was similar to demolition actions by the terrorist group ISIS. "That's just what ISIS is doing over at the places where they were," Daniels said when asked if Confederate symbols should be removed across the United States. "There were pieces of history over there they didn't like, they're taking them down," he added. Daniels then echoed Pres. Donald Trump's "slippery slope" argument made by the president a few days earlier in a press conference, saying "Where does it stop?... "Is it just going to be Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, or are we headed into Jefferson and Washington, who were both slave owners?... Is everybody in history who we disagree with, we're going to have to wipe every semblance of them out?" The "Devil Went Down to Georgia" singer concluded by saying "They're statues of people who are part of our history... There are people who are part of our history who were not very savory characters... If you don't like it, don't look at it.... I walk past movie posters I don't like [but] I'm not going to go over and tear them down." - Billboard, 8/18/17...... In related news, the family of late Country legend Johnny Cash are condemning a white supremacist who was spotted wearing a Johnny Cash T-shirt during the neo-Nazi rallies protesting that city's removal of Confederate statues that broke out in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12. "[Johnny Cash] would be horrified at even a casual use of his name or image for an idea or a cause founded in persecution and hatred," Cash's daughter Roseanne Cash posted on Facebook. "The white supremacists and neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville are poison in our society, and an insult to every American hero who wore a uniform to fight the Nazis in WWII," she added. The emotional post was also signed by Kathy, Cindy and Tara Cash. - Billboard, 8/18/17...... Michael Lang, the co-founder of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York, has organized the new Lovelight Festival which he hopes to bring enlightenment and the arts to an aching country. Running from Aug. 18-21 in Darlington, MD, the Lovelight Festival celebrates yoga, health and the arts of enlightenment for a family-friendly experience over a long weekend. The headliners include Matisyahu, Trevor Hall, MC Yogi and Living Light. Lang and his co-creators, yoga musician Wynne Paris and producer Kim Maddox, have made the event alcohol and drug-free and vegan. Yoga played a key role in the 1969 festival and that legacy is hoped to continue with Lovelight. Lang also says he plans to expand the festival to two other locations. And with the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock coming up in a couple of years, Lang says "We're pursuing a festival event for that." - Billboard, 8/17/17...... Randy Newman has come out in support of the Music Scoring Tax Credit Bill (AB 1300), legistlation in his home state of California which aims to keep film and TV music scoring in the state. "The studio musicians here in Los Angeles are one of the greatest resources this city has," the lauded singer/songwriter/composer said in a statement. "For more than 80 years, Los Angeles musicians have played music heard and admired around the world. In the last ten years or so many filmmakers chose to record elsewhere. Film music has suffered because of it," he added. On Aug. 19, a free concert was presented at Los Angeles' City Hall supporting the California State assembly bill, with various unions particpating and featuring Rickey Minor of American Idol and The Tonight Show. - Billboard, 8/16/17...... A defiant Gene Simmons has made his first public remarks since aborting his attempt to trademark the "rock 'n roll devil horns" hand symbol popularized by Ronnie James Dio. "I regret nothing," Simmons told the U.K. paper The Windsor Star. "Wake up every morning and let your conscience be your guide. Did you know I own the money bag logo? The dollar sign with the bag of money. I own all kinds of things. I own 'motion pictures' as a trademark. Anyone who thinks that's silly -- the silliest thing I've ever done is wear more makeup and higher heels than your mommy." Then turning his attention to Dio's widow Wendy Dio, who has said that the symbol belongs to culture and that "to try to make money off of something like this is disgusting," the Kiss frontman said: "People said, 'You can't do that.' Actually, bitch -- I can. I can do anything I want to do." An investigation into Simmon's claims shows that he does indeed have a trademark on one particular clip art-style image of a bag with a money sign on it, but his other trademark claims are dubious. - NME/Spin.com, 8/18/17...... 
Foreigner founder and guitarist Mick Jones has revealed plans for the surviving original Foreigner lineup members and second bassist Rick Wills (his predecessor Ed Gagliardi died in 2014) to get together in Michigan this fall for a session that will be filmed, according to Jones, though no firm details have yet been announced. "One thing for sure is all the musicians are getting on very well together and it's just refreshing and we're really enjoying it," says Jones, who reunited with singer Lou Gramm when the duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013. "Lou is good, and he's kept his voice. Al [Greenwood] and Ian [McDonald] are playing the same as they did 40 years ago, basically, and it's a hoot. It's great adrenaline and very enjoyable. I think there's no bad apple anywhere in the whole thing, so I can't see any big problems." Jones is equally excited about Foreigner's current 40th anniversary run, which is touring North America this summer after a spring run in Europe. "I have to say it's just wonderful," Jones says. "It feels like the early '80s. The crowds are flocking in everywhere. Nearly everywhere's a sellout and people just want to be out there and have fun with us.... It feels like the old days back again, so it's going tremendously well. I'm just so happy." Jones, who also published the memoir A Foreigner's Tale earlier in 2017, also hinted the energy could send the band back into the studio to record new material. "It just requires a bit of time to concentrate on writing, which I will have coming up early next year," he says. - Billboard, 8/15/17...... Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley and her children, eight-year-old twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood and her 24-year-old son Benjamin Keough honored Presley on the 40th anniversary of his death at Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 16. Over 50,000 fans joined the family, including Lisa Marie's mother Priscilla Presley, for a candlelit vigil at Elvis' Memphis estate. Lisa Marie, 47, reportedly carried a torch and lit candles with those who'd turned up to remember the late musician. A procession walked around the grounds where he, his parents and grandmother are buried. Meanwhile, some fans attending the annual ceremony have complained after being charged to visit Elvis' grave to pay their respects. For the last four decades, it has been free to visit his grave to mourn him -- but for the first time in 2017, a fee has been introduced. Elvis fans now have to pay $28.75 for an "Elvis Week Property Pass" wristband to be able to walk up the driveway procession towards his grave. "I understand they are a business, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them making money," one Elvis fan said. "But the current price-gouging situation has created so much friction, it's even dividing fans." Earlier in the week, Priscilla Presley told a British TV interviewer that she didn't think Elvis would "never have overcome his demons." I "I think that he would always have his demons," the 72-year-old Priscilla said. "Elvis was a thinker. He was a searcher. His mother had demons, his father had demons. We all have demons obviously; I don't want to make it bigger than it is. They were a close family but there was always a little bit of sadness in them." In other Elvis-related news, Graceland Holdings LLC has announced it is planning a new $135 million live venue in Memphis that will draw global stars. Also, an "Elvis on Tour: The Exhibition" exhibit is set to open on Nov. 3 in London that will provide Elvis fans with a never before seen glimpse of Presley's life on tour in the 1970's. Among the main attractions are some of Elvis' most recognizable jumpsuits and guitars that he played on tour -- including a Gretzsch Country Gentleman guitar that he used in Las Vegas in 1969. - NME/WENN.com, 8/17/17...... Cher has just released a trippy, magical new song called "Ooga Boo," a contribution to the soundtrack for animated children's television show Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh. The release comes with a psychedelic animated video, where a glamorous alien creature named "Chercophonie" (wink wink) floats through outer space with Tip and Oh, the main characters of the new Netflix spinoff based on the Dreamworks film Home. Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh is streaming now on Netflix. - Billboard, 8/16/17...... 
Stephen Stills and his former paramour Judy Collins are planning the release of a collaborative album called 
The new U.K. Elvis Presley compilation 
Archival footage of David Bowie, who appeared in director David Lynch's original Twin Peaks series, is being included in the Showtime Twin Peaks sequel, Twin Peaks: The Return. Bowie played FBI agent Phillip Jeffries in the original series, one of the select few FBI agents involved with the "Blue Rose" task force who mysteriously disappeared and reappeared in the late 1980s. A number of scenes in the new show indicate that the agent is alive and well, and working on a plot centering around "Evil Coop" and the infamous green ring. In an episode that aired on Aug. 14, Lynch integrated the footage of Bowie from the early episode "Fire Walk With Me," rather than recasting the role or integrating new material. Lynch also tweeted that he was dedicating the episode to the late rock star. - Billboard, 8/14/17...... In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ringo Starr has revealed how his new collaboration with his former bandmate Paul McCartney on a track from Starr's upcoming album 
In related news, Country legend Willie Nelson was forced to cut a concert short on Aug. 13 after he experienced breathing problems. Nelson's concert at Salt Lake City's USANA Amphitheatre was abbreviated after the singer experienced respiratory problems and checked into a local hospital. A few hours after the incident, the octogenarian music legend, who has battled with a string of health complaints in recent months and years, took to his official website to reassure worried fans: "This is Willie I am sorry to have to cut the SLC show short tonight The altitude got to me I am feeling better now & headed for lower ground - Willie Nelson." Nelson's latest album, 
Former Doobie Brothers member and '80s solo star Michael McDonald is preparing to release 
Deep Purple has just embarked on what they've dubbed The Long Goodbye Tour, which will see the hard rock icons playing at least 65 dates around Europe, North America and South America. The tour will be Deep Purple's final tour of big treks around the world, very much like their classic rock counterparts Black Sabbath and Judas Priest have done. Guitarist Steve Morse, who effectively took over founding member Ritchie Blackmore's slot in 1994, says the band is currently working on what could be its final album and "my guitar playing is more sensitive to the music, the song." Morse adds the upcoming album will "have an awesome producer, Bob Ezrin, who we didn't have before. It was just the band and Roger [Glover, bassist]." - Billboard, 8/8/17...... Bruce Springsteen announced on Aug. 9 that he's prepping for an epic eight-week run of Broadway performances at the 1,000-capacity Walter Kerr Theatre this fall that will mix singing, storytelling and readings from his 2016 memoir, 
As Bonnie Raitt nears the end of her summer road trip with James Taylor, the veteran singer and blues guitarist says it's one of the more satisfying adventures in her long and highly collaborative career. "We're having such a great time," Raitt told Billboard. "The two bands love each other, and James and I have known each other since I was 20 and he was not much older and I opened for him at Harvard University. And of course we've worked together on a lot of different environmental shows. I don't get to see him that much -- at the Grammys, and occasionally we'll run into each other at benefits. This is the first time we've toured together. We've been talking about doing this for a long time, and it just worked out in my schedule." Raitt and Taylor wrap up their trek on Aug. 11 at Boston's iconic Fenway Park, where both have musical roots. "There's a lot of love and appreciation" of each other, according to Raitt, who joins Taylor for a rendition of "Close Your Eyes" to close each night. "We did Fenway together in 2015, and it was so special. It never gets old. It's been really warm, and the audiences have been incredible. To hear that many people hushed quiet on the ballads is really an extraordinary thing for me. I could keep doing this for a very long time." Raitt, a longtime supporter of environmentalism, nuclear anti-proliferation and other liberal causes, also weighed in U.S. Pres. Donald Trump: "Things have gotten more absurd and more difficult and more scary and depressing than I ever even expected. Every day is a challenge. We just have to try to stay in the positive solutions and to try be active and promote what I can to make a change happen... I have to figure out what times of the day I'm strong enough to take it but not look away too much, either." - Billboard, 8/7/17...... In related news, founding Journey guitarist Neal Schon is feuding with his bandmates over the controversial 45th American president, recently tweeting up a storm about his anger over a White House visit and meeting with Pres. Trump last week by Journey members, singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist Jonathan Cain and bassist Ross Valory. "I will remain strong and consistent with the belief we've always shared and agreed upon -- Journey should never be used and exploited by anyone, especially band members for politics or any one religion," Schon posted on Aug. 3. "I've been here since 1972 and this has always been our belief. This was with intent to exploit the brand and use the name. Journey was not there -- 3 individual members were Cain Valory and Pineda whom I found ... Tours are done all the time but it could have been privately," he added. In a tweet on Aug. 7, Schon denied that he's leaving the group over growing tensions, although he hinted that those tensions have been running high for "close to 2 years." Keyboardist Cain is married to Trump's spiritual advisor, Pastor Paula White, one of the religious leaders who participated in Trump's January inauguration. Schon did hint that he might be forming a new version of Journey, and denied that the rift is about Trump or politics, telling one skeptical fan that the group had been invited to the White House several times, including during the Obama administration. - Billboard, 8/7/17...... 
A long-rumored 3D version of Michael Jackson's famous short for his 1983 hit "Thriller" is set to make its world premiere at the 74th annual Venice Film Festival in Italy, which runs from Aug. 30 through Sept. 9. In making the announcement on Aug. 7, the Jackson estate also said the accompanying The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller documentary -- originally available on VHS between 1983-1990 and not available for purchase in any format since then -- will be screened at the festival. With its nearly 14-minute running time and feature film aesthetics, Thriller redefined the traditional video when it opened at the Avco Theatre in Los Angeles in 1983 for a sold-out three-week run. The short film was directed by John Landis (Animal House, Trading Places), who also co-wrote the script with Jackson after Michael was inspired by Landis' 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. This will mark the first time the Thriller short is ever screened in a cinema, something Landis says he and Jackson always intended. "But we didn't just restore Thriller," Landis added. "We enhanced it -- like in that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and the others are being buffed and polished inside Emerald City." Thriller remains the only music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. - Billboard, 8/7/17...... In a recent interview with DJ John Perry of Chicago's 95 WIIL Rock, Ozzy Osbourne responded to claims that rock is dead with a simple denial -- "I'm still alive." "I'm still alive," he said, "[But] I never thought in my lifetime I'd see the demise of records. I never use the computer. It's totally changed. A lot of people steal music now, so a lot of people can't afford to do it anymore." When asked about his ongoing career, Ozzy confirmed that he has no plans to retire soon. "I think I'll do this till the day I die," he continues. "It's not a job; it's a passion. It's great. It pays well." Ozzy and Black Sabbath played their final show in February of this year, at the NEC Arena in their hometown of Birmingham, UK. - New Musical Express, 8/7/17...... In an interview with the London Daily Mail on Aug. 6, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood revealed he refused to undergo chemotherapy after a recent cancer scare because he did not want to lose his hair. Wood said that the possibility of chemotherapy had been discussed but that he decided against it. "It's more I wasn't going to lose my hair," he said. "This hair wasn't going anywhere. I said, 'No way.' And I just kept the faith it would be all right." Wood, who underwent a five hour operation to have a growth in part of his lung removed earlier in 2017, added that he'd been surprised that he hadn't fallen ill sooner after his life of hedonism. "I had this thought at the back of my mind after I gave up smoking a year ago: 'How can I have got through 50 years of chain-smoking -- and all the rest of my bad habits -- without something going on in there?'" the guitarist said. Wood also told the mag that he's kicked cigarettes by using the "heavy duty" nicotine inhibitor Champix and he's fine now, and will be going for regular check-ups. Meanwhile, the Stones will kick off their upcoming 13-date No Filter Tour of Europe on Sept. 9 in Hamburg, Germany, wrapping on Oct. 22 in Paris. - New Musical Express, 8/7/17.
He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s, where he began to write songs and record demos, and he became a sought-after session guitarist, playing for Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard, The Beach Boys (he played guitar on the Pet Sounds album and toured with the band for several months following the breakdown of Brian Wilson), Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and The Monkees, to name a few. He became part of Phil Spector's The Wrecking Crew, the famed session band that played on many of the world's biggest hits at L.A.'s Gold Star Studios, creating the producer's legendary "Wall of Sound." In 1962, Campbell was signed to Capitol Records after releasing the single "Turn Around, Look at Me" on Crest Records a year earlier. His career had only minor success until he partnered with producer Al De Lory and songwriters Jimmy Webb and John Hartford. Campbell's distinctive fingerpicking style and indelible guitar riffs were the perfect foundation that allowed his warm, personable vocals to shine, and the title track to his Burning Bridges album became a No. 18 hit on the Country chart. His cover of Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" became a top 40 hit on both the Country and Pop charts that year. His biggest accomplishments came when he partnered with Jimmy Webb in the late 60s -- interpreting and singing his songs with a striking intimacy that made them his own. On certain songs, the magic is undeniable: "'Wichita Lineman' and 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix'... it's almost as though the song was waiting for the singer and the singer was waiting for the song," Webb once said. On 
Campbell hosted his Goodtime Hour from 1969-1972, and in 1969 he starred as young Texas Ranger La Boeuf in True Grit after being handpicked by John Wayne to star opposite him in his lone Oscar-winning role. He also sang the Oscar-nominated title track. A year later, he starred as the title character in the film comedy Norwood, playing opposite NFL quarterback Joe Namath as Vietnam veterans returning home to Texas. Campbell played himself in Clint Eastwood's 1980 romp Any Which Way You Can, and also did guest stints on such TV series as The F.B.I. and, three decades later, Players -- which also was about FBI agents and was his last acting credit. In 1975, Campbell's rendition of Larry Weiss' 
His youngest children Cal, Shannon and Ashley joined him as his backup band on his last series of concerts, dubbed The Goodbye Tour, which launched in Los Angeles in late 2011. Earlier that same year, Campbell announced he was struggling with Alzheimer's disease and was moved to a private care facility for Alzheimers and dementia patients near Nashville in April 2014, where he passed away with his family at his side. His personal struggle with the disease was chronicled in the documentary I'll Be Me, directed by his friend James Keach, which premiered at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival and followed the singer on his farewell tour in the U.S., Australia and Europe as he dealt with his illness. Campbell released the "farewell" albums Ghost on the Canvas in 2012 and See You There in 2013, the latter featuring stripped-down versions of such hits as "Rhinestone Cowboy." Earlier in 2017, he released his final album, 
On one drug-fueled night in August 1976, Neil Young recorded a solo acoustic album called Hitchhiker in a single session at Malibu's Indigo Ranch Studios. Although Hitchhiker's title track appeared in a drastically different form on Young's 2010 album Le Noise and most of the other 10 tracks eventually saw the light of day in some form, the original Hitchhiker album was never released because Young was unsatisfied with his performances -- until now. Reprise Records announced on Aug. 4 that 
Sony Pictures and other principals behind the current critical and commercial hit movie Baby Driver are being sued by Roland Feld, the son of late T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan, for failing to clear the use of the T. Rex song "Debora" in the movie. In Feld's complaint, he charges that Sony, along with Media Rights Capital, Bambino Films, and others, "failed to obtain -- or even seek -- the permission of the composition's U.S. copyright holder Rolan Feld," and that in the six weeks since Feld brought the infringement to Sony's attention, "Defendants have done little more than point fingers at one another -- and they have neither apologized nor offered to pay Feld a reasonable license fee." Feld is seeking "disgorgement of profits and punitive damages," and demanding" an order that Sony be permanently enjoined from engaging in improper exploitation." In 2014, Feld brought another lawsuit to reclaim the song rights of his father, who died in a 1977 car accident when Feld was still an infant. Feld won that lawsuit, which gave him the rights to 144 works by Marc Bolan. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/3/17...... In July, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters revealed to BBC Radio 1 that the new Foo Fighters album which is due in September will feature "the biggest pop star in the world," and after later carifying to Rolling Stone magazine that it "isn't Adele or Taylor Swift, Grohl told ET Canada on Aug. 2 that the star is indeed his old pal -- Paul McCartney. "[Paul] hadn't even heard of the song," Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins added. "He comes in and Dave picked up an acoustic and showed him real quick. He sat on his special drum set that his tech set up for him. I sat there with a drumstick conducting. He did two takes." The new Foo Fighters album, 
Donald Fagen of Steely Dan says that his longtime music partner Walter Becker is "recovering from a procedure and hopefully he'll be fine very soon," but did not elaborate on Becker's surgery or prognosis. Becker missed both of Steely Dan's performances during the recent Classic West and Classic East concerts in Los Angeles and New York, and Fagen admitted the shows, which also featured such classic rock acts as the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers, were a bit odd, and not only because of the absence of his musical partner. "They were fun," Fagen says. "I think it's been a long time since we opened for another band, and that was stranger than I thought it would be because I realized that a lot of the audience, probably a majority fo the audience, was there to see the Eagles, and although we have certain things in common I don't think it's a perfect fit. I'm used to the audience being mainly interested in Steely Dan, so that was a little different. But they were good." Fagen and his new band the Nightflyers -- named after his 1982 solo album The Nightfly -- will kicked off a summer tour with two nights on Aug. 3 and 4 in Port Chester, N.Y., wrapping up the 26-date run Sept. 23-24 at the Yokohama Blue Note Jazz Fest in Japan. Fagen says he's particularly looking forward to giving an airing to songs from his four solo albums, which have taken a back seat since Steely Dan reactivated and began touring extensively in 1993. Fagen added he's also begun writing material with his Nightflyers guitarist Connor Kennedy, which may surface as part of his fifth solo album. "I'd love to go into the studio with these guys," he said. "I've got some new material. We haven't had a chance to work up too many things but on the road I'm hoping to show the guys some of the new stuff I've been writing, and it'll be fun developing that with a band 'cause generally speaking in recent years the way I work is usually alone and doing arrangements by myself, or with Walter. It'll be fun actually having a band to try this stuff out on. I don't think I've done that since the early '70s, probably." - Billboard, 8/2/17...... Founding Queen member Freddie Mercury is among the 100,000 AIDS victims who are memorialized in a 54-ton AIDS memorial quilt, an enormous community art project launched in 1987 to stitch together the story of people who have died from AIDS, to educate the public about the epidemic and to raise funds for prevention, and research efforts to find a cure. The quilt spans more than 30 football fields, making it impossible to move as one unit, so The NAMES AIDS Project unstitches individual sections in order to put parts of the quilt on display at museums, government buildings, churches and schools across the United States. The quilt features other singers and musicians aside from Mercury, who notably has 29 fan-submitted panels dedicated to him. Disco legend Sylvester, rapper Eazy-E from N.W.A., and guitarist Ricky Wilson from the B-52's are also represented on the quilt. Because of the NAMES organization's efforts, the quilt has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, declared an American Treasure by Congress in 2005 and inspired books, songs and even a musical called "Quilt, A Musical Celebration." - Billboard, 8/2/17...... 
Actor Tom Wopat, best known as portraying Luke Duke on the 1979-1985 CBS show