Two holiday solo classics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney have reached the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart for the first time in 2018. Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 Plastic Ono Band track "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" debuted at No. 45 on the Streaming Songs chart (13.2 million, up 33 percent) dated Dec. 29, while gaining by 10 percent to 16.6 million in airplay audience. Meanwhile, McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," first released in 1979, has also made its first Hot 100 appearance, debuting at No. 50 on Streaming Songs (12.1 million, up 27 percent) and increases by 13 percent to 18.5 million in radio reach. Lennon and McCartney last appeared on the Billboard chart as solo artists for the week ending March 1, 1975 when Lennon's "#9 Dream" ranked at No. 13 and McCartney's "Junior's Farm"/"Sally G" was at No. 64. - Billboard, 12/25/18...... 
Bruce Springsteen, who earlier in 2018 told fans he hopes to release a new solo album in 2019, has made recordings of his "No Nukes 1979" two-night stand concert at New York's Madison Square Garden available for the first time on the live music archive site Nugs.net. Held on Sept. 21 and 22 of 1979, the shows found Springsteen in between his fourth and fifth studio albums, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River. Both nights open with a trio of songs from the former and feature then-unreleased songs from the latter, like "Sherry Darling" and "The River," which got its live debut at his No Nukes shows. Both concerts feature Springsteen and the E Street Band covering Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' "Stay," a '60s doo-wop song that had been reworked by Jackson Browne in 1978 for his classic Running On Empty album. Browne (who helped organize the No Nukes benefit) joins alongside Rosemary Butler both nights, while Tom Petty comes along for the second show. Complete recordings of both nights are available in a variety of formats. $2 from every purchase will benefit MUSE (Musicians United For Safe Energy), the coalition formed by Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, John Hall and Harvey Wasserman in response to 1979's Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Earlier in December, Nugs.net also shared Springsteen's 1975 Roxy concerts. - Billboard, 12/27/18...... Record producer Phil Spector, who is currently serving his sentence for the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, settled his divorce with his third wife, Rachelle Short, on Dec. 4 and secured several items of his celebrity memorabilia in the settlement. According to court documents, the many priceless celebrity treasures Spector was awarded include a John Lennon electric guitar with an accomanying handwritten note by Yoko Ono; Grammy Awards, including an "Album of the Year" award for 1972's The Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison; a Best Original Song Score Oscar statue for the 1970 Beatles film Let It Be; and diamond cufflinks gifted to him by Elvis Presley. Spector's ex-wife Rachelle meanwhile got to keep many of her vehicles, including a 2009 Vespa GTS 250 and 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish, and a 2007 Columbia 400 airplane. The documents also state that Spector and Rachelle must sell his infamous residence, Pyrenees Castle, in Alhambra, Calif., where Clarkson was killed for a 50/50 split. The house will be listed for $5.5 million. Short and the "Wall of Sound" creator wed on Sept. 1, 2006, as Spector was awaiting trial. They split in 2016, with Spector claiming Rachelle was bleeding him dry by spending money on lavish items like planes and homes. - TheBlast.com, 12/24/18...... 
The federal judge presiding over pop singer Dionne Warwick years-long legal battle with the IRS has set a court date for Mar. 6, 2019 in New Jersey, it was revealed on Dec. 27. Warwick filed for bankruptcy in 2013, with assets totaling only $25,500 but liabilities in the amount of $10,727,429, which includes an almost $7 million tax debt to Uncle Sam. At the time she blamed a business manager for her finances being in a mess. The case has dragged on for years due to the singer suing the government over her issues with the tax division. Warwick was seeking a court order discharging her $7 million tax debt from 1990-2008 and for a judge to order the IRS not be allowed to seize her assets over the debts. The debt was discharged in her bankruptcy, but the feds maintain the wiping clean of her debt was not valid. The judge has reportedly cleared four days off the calendar when the two sides face off in March, in case it takes that long for both sides to present their case. - TheBlast.com, 12/27/18...... In related news, the attorney for Aretha Franklin's estate said on Dec. 27 that the estate has paid at least $3 million in back taxes to the IRS since the Queen of Soul's death in August. Franklin's estate is being audited by the IRS, which filed a claim earlier in December in a county probate court north of Franklin's hometown of Detroit. TMZ.com reported on Dec. 20 that legal documents it obtained showed the IRS claimed Franklin owes more than $6.3 million in back taxes from 2012 to 2018 and $1.5 million in penalties. "We have a tax attorney. All of her returns have been filed," the estate lawyer, David Bennett, told the AP. "We have disputes with the IRS regarding what they claim was income. We claim its double-dipping income because they don't understand how the business works." Bennett added that Franklin had a lot of expenses whenever she toured. Documents filed in an Oakland County court after Franklin's death did not mention the value of her estate, which could run into the tens of millions. Franklin's estate also has paid money to the state of Michigan and other jurisdictions "where she would have had some income," Bennett said. Franklin had been the target of a number of lawsuits by creditors during the late 1980s and 1990s, and The Detroit Free Press reported in 2008 that Franklin owed a total of $19,192 in back taxes on the property through 2007. - AP, 12/28/18...... Meanwhile in other Aretha Franklin news, The Grammy Awards' Recording Academy will pay tribute to the 18-time Grammy winner with an "Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul" tribute concert on Jan. 13. Among the artists performing songs from Franklin's legendary repertoire will be Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Patti LaBelle and John Legend. The live concert, hosted by actor/filmmaker Tyler Perry, will tape on Jan. 13, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. PT at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The special will be broadcast later in 2019 on the CBS Television Network. - AP, 12/27/18...... 
Drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, says he's hatching plans for his own Led Zep golden anniversary celebration during 2019. "Next year I feel is an even bigger year because [1969] was the first two albums, the first concerts, all of that," Bonham says. "So I've got a few more plans with how I'd like to do things. I'd love to play the Royal Albert Hall and do the set they played back in '69. That would be something I'd love to achieve. Bonham, who has been carrying the torch for Zep and his father with a tribute live show that he started during 2009 as Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, continued: "And all of this, I think, will continue as the years go on, because each year coming up will be 50 years since Led Zeppelin III, whatever. I can imagine the celebrating of Led Zeppelin IV will be a big one. I just can't believe it was that long ago, and it still sounds so good and so timeless. People still love to hear this [music], and I'm happy to be able to go out and play it for them with some authenticity and a real connection to it all." Bonham -- who also plays in the all-star Black Country Communion and in Sammy Hagar's band The Circle -- took his "Led Zeppelin Evening" show on the road with Foreigner and Whitesnake this past summer, and played his own shows in the fall. - Billboard, 12/21/18...... Britain's Prince Charles has revealed some of his favourite music artists in a new interview with Radio 3's "Private Passions" program to mark the prince's 70th birthday. On the show, Prince Charles chose to play Leonard Cohen's "Take This Waltz," saying: "I've always loved Leonard Cohen's voice and his whole approach to the way he sang. He was obviously incredibly sophisticated in the way he sang, but also wrote." The prince continued: "I find it very moving, the words are so extraordinary, sort of Salvador Dali-like - they lead you into this remarkable Dali-like world." Charles' appearance on "Private Passions "is not the first time the prince has praised Cohen. He previously described him as a "remarkable man" and hailed his orchestration and lyrics as "fantastic." Elsewhere in the programme, he talked about 'Scylla et Glaucus', a rare 18th-century opera by Jean-Marie Leclair, the final movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony, and more. - New Musical Express, 12/27/18.
As the iconic Motown record label in Detroit celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2019, plans are underway to expand the Motown Museum after it announced on Dec. 22 it has received a number of grants, including a $1.3 million grant from the Kresge Foundation, $500,000 from The Elaine & Leo Stern Foundation, $225,000 from AARP and $55,000 from the State of Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The gifts will support development of a public plaza and renovation of three nearby buildings for education and community programs. The expansion will be built around the existing museum which was founded by label head Berry Gordy and includes the original studio and famous "Hitsville U.S.A." sign. - AP, 12/22/18...... 
Drummer Carl Palmer, the sole surviving member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, is hatching plans to commemorate the legendary prog-rock trio's 50th anniversary in 2020 with more catalog re-releases and a special live ELP tribute concert. "I'm looking right now at putting a show together, probably in America, with some A-listers," Palmer says. "I can't tell you who they are, but in principle as a project it looks like it's going to go through." Palmer also hopes to revisit a lengthy ELP documentary film that's been sitting on the sideline for some years. "When we were signed to Sanctuary, ELP released a documentary that was six hours long. That got lost in the wash, so we're going back and re-editing that and putting together another couple hours of documentary stuff that hasn't been seen," Palmer adds. ELP, which formed in 1970, played its first concert in August of that year, followed by a slot at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival six days later. The group released 10 studio albums during its two tenures (1970-79 and 1991-98) and last performed together to commemorate its 40th anniversary at the 2010 High Voltage Festival in London. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake both passed away during 2016. Palmer, who says he "wakes up every morning and says to myself, 'Thank God I'm here and I'm still playing'," noted that "you don't really live it as it's happening 'cause things are moving so fast... You only appreciate it afterwards. So now I'm appreciating what we did way back then." Meanwhile, Palmer has been carrying the ELP torch since 2001 with his Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy shows, leading a trio that substitutes guitar for Emerson's keyboards in order to pay tribute to the group's songs. Palmer was also a member of the 1980's prog-rock supergroup Asia, and says "there's nothing planned at the moment" for the band, which is curently on hiatus. "Depending on how meetings go, Asia might even be touring next summer," Palmer says. I'm going to link it and Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy into the same tour; I'm not sure how it's going to happen yet, but we'll make some proposals and see. I like the idea of doing some double-dipping." - Billboard, 12/21/18...... Neil Young announced on Dec. 20 that he'll launch a new paid subscription service and app for his vast, years-in-the-making Neil Young Archives (NYA). Young, in partnership with Warner Bros. Records, launched the NYA site in beta in 2017 for completists and hardcore fans. "If you want to hear my music and would like to have the option to listen to it with all the depth and glory of high resolution, it will be there," Young says. "All my new records can be heard there first, before they get released anywhere else. New, unreleased albums from the archives and old, unreleased albums from the archives will always be heard there first. Our machine is a monster." The NYA subscription service will cost $1.99 per month or $19.99 for a full year and includes unlimited access to Young's ever-expanding archives, including hi-resolution streams of all available recordings, plus a timeline filled materials related to his music, movies, videos, books, photographs, manuscripts and press notes. The new paid subscription service, accessible via his website and an iOS app (Android soon), includes other perks like first dibs on concert tickets, livestreams of other live shows, early access to new and unreleased music, and full access to Young's personal news outlet, the "NYA Times Contrarian." A free version of the subscription will let users peruse the timeline and includes access to a featured album and song of the day, both using Xstream by NYA. - Billboard, 12/20/18...... 
Speaking to the New York Times on Dec. 19 in his first full-length interview in nearly 10 years, Van Halen's David Lee Roth revealed he's moving into the celebrity skincare game with his surprising new line "Ink the Original," which is designed specifically for people with tattoos. Roth says the line includes products like an SPF stick, SPF spray, and a "tattoo-brightening balm," and was inspired by Roth's own tattoos, which he says he spent over 300 hours getting for $300 an hour. Diamond Dave says he wasn't only thinking of himself with his new cosmetics line though but also "power women": "Tina Fey can take this out of her bag at a full table of the most stellar, dynamic wits in the business. She takes this out of her bag, and the guys will want to borrow it." (Tina Fey has no visible tattoos.) - The New York Times/Jezebel.com, 12/19/18...... Despite naming his "farewell tour" the "No More Tours 2" tour, Ozzy Osbourne is assuring fans that he still plans to tour in the future -- just not as much. Osbourne, who turned 70 on Dec. 3, told the Pasedena Star-News on Dec. 22 that his upcoming shows aren't actually a farewell tour at all. "People have gotten that all wrong," he said. "The tour should have been the Ozzy Osbourne 'Slowing Down Tour'. What I'm actually doing is not going out on January 1 and coming back on December 31. I'll still tour, but not as extensively like I have been for the last 50 years. I mean, I have grandchildren now and I'm 70 years old and I don't want to be found dead in a hotel room somewhere. I'm going to do it at a more leisurely pace and do some shows in Vegas -- but I'll never stop. The whole lifestyle I have lived, it has all come down to the fact that there are people who want to hear me and as long as they want to hear me, I'm there." Meanwhile, Ozzy's former band Black Sabbath and '70s funk rockers George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic are among the artists set to receive the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2019 Grammys awards show. Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, soul duo Sam & Dave and late jazz singer Billy Eckstine will also be receiving the award during the ceremony set for May 11 in Los Angeles. The Grammys' non-performance Trustees Award will be presented to Lou Adler, Ashford & Simpson and Johnny Mandel. - New Musical Express, 12/22/18...... The first leg of Elton John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" has earned a total of $42 million, enough to handily top the Billboard Hot Tours recap for the week ending Dec. 22, 2018. John began the trek playing to 8,983 fans at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa., on Sept. 8, 2018, and has played 41 arena dates across North America. In the new year, Elton will resume the FYBR tour in Boise, Idaho, on Jan. 11 and continue in North America through March 18 in Orlando. More European and North American dates are scheduled through the end of 2020, with even more to potentially be added. John has grossed $1.2 billion since Billboard Boxscore began tracking touring data in 1990. With approximately 250 dates left before the curtain closes, his final gross could climb past the $1.5 billion mark. - Billboard, 12/18/18...... 
The Beach Boys singer Mike Love has teamed up with teen pop idols Hanson for a new Christmas video entitled "Finally It's Christmas," a track from his new yuletide LP Reason For the Season. "I love the song because it pays homage to some of the cultural mythology of Christmas as well as the spiritual part of it, too," says Love, who was introduced to Hanson via Reason For the Season co-producer Steve Greenberg. The album features a mix of originals and holiday favorites, including a remake of the Beach Boys' "Little St. Nick," and Love's four children sing on five of the tracks, along with his sister Maureen. Meanwhile, Love and the Beach Boys are wrapping up a holiday tour in December behind Reason For the Season, and are planning the usual full schedule of touring for 2019. Love is also awaiting word from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where he's been nominated as a Performing Songwriter for the class of 2019. "It's really cool and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. That would be a very nice thing to be part of," says Love, who would also view it as a vindication as well after having to sue during the mid-'90s to receive songwriting credit (and royalties) for 35 Beach Boys songs. "It's rough when your uncle (Murry Wilson) handles the publishing and he purposely eliminated my participation on 'Help Me, Rhonda" and 'California Girls' and 'I Get Around' and the others," Love says. "But it got rectified for the most part, and my participation was confirmed and affirmed and even Brian himself said, 'No, Mike wrote that.'" - Billboard, 12/18/18...... Queen guitarist Brian May announced on Dec. 19 that he'll release "New Horizons," his first solo single in 20 years, on New Year's Day live from NASA's Control Center. May, who is also an astrophysics doctor in addition to one of the world's most renowned guitarists, will drop the track in tribute to NASA's on-going New Horizons mission - which will achieve the most distant spacecraft flyby in history on New Year's Day. The track also features words spoken by the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. "This project has energised me in a new way," said May. " For me it's been an exciting challenge to bring two sides of my life together - Astronomy and Music... I was inspired by the idea that this is the furthest that the Hand of Man has ever reached - it will be by far the most distant object we have ever seen at close quarters, through the images which the space craft will beam back to Earth. To me it epitomises the human spirit's unceasing desire to understand the Universe we inhabit." "New Horizons" will be available on NASA's website from 12:02 am EST on Jan. 1, 2019. - New Musical Express, 12/19/18...... Book publisher Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced on Dec. 18 that Olivia Newton-John's autobiography Don't Stop Believin', released in the fall of 2017 in her longtime home Australia, will be released in the U.S. on March 12, 2019. The U.S. edition will include a new afterword by the 70-year-old award-winning singer and actress, who announced in September that she was again being treated for breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 1992. - AP, 12/18/18...... Officials in the U.K. have granted pop star Robbie Williams permission to develop an underground swimming pool at his London home, ending a feud with his next door neighbor, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, that began five years ago. The plans for Williams' underground gym and swimming pool at his Grade II listed home were given the green light during a Kensington Town Hall meeting on Dec. 18. Page had previously raised concerns that the construction work could severely damage the foundations of his gothic revival mansion, which is located next door. Councillors now say that work will only be allowed to take place once suitable assurances are received on both vibration levels and the movement of the property's foundation. Williams could also be asked to pay a bond, which will be forfeited if the damage occurs or any planning conditions are subsequently breached. The feud originated in 2013 when Williams purchased the property, which is the former home of late film director Michael Winner. Page has lived next door since 1972. Appearing before a planning committee earlier in 2018, Page said: "My home was designed by William Burges, one of the greatest architects of the 19th Century. I'm here to plea that you take all necessary measures to protect the Tower House from the threat of harm it faces." In 2017, Williams issued an apology for referring to Page as "mentally ill," having previously accused the legendary guitarist of sitting in his car and recording workmen to test noise levels at the property. - New Musical Express, 12/19/18...... International blues/rock/soul guitarist, singer and songwriter Ben Poole has announced a second leg of his "Anytime You Need Me Tour" in February 2019. The tour kicks off on Jan. 31 at The Maltings in Farnham and wraps on Feb. 16 16th February at The Leopard in Doncaster. Tickets for all concerts can be booked from http://benpooleband.com/live. - Noble PR, 12/18/18...... 
Actress/director Penny Marshall, the nasally and good-natured Bronx native who starred on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley before shattering records as a top-grossing female director in Hollywood with such films as Big, A League of Their Own and Awakenings, died from complications from diabetes at her Hollywood Hills home on Dec. 17. She was 75. The younger sister of the late writer-director-producer Garry Marshall and the first wife of actor-director Rob Reiner, Marshall had been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in 2009. Marshall rose to fame in the mid-'70s for playing the wisecracking Laverne DeFazio on the Happy Days spinoff Laverne & Shirley, created by her brother. Laverne & Shirley, which aired for eight seasons from 1976-83, centered on the escapades of two romantically challenged Milwaukee brewery workers, with Cindy Williams co-starring as Marshall's idealistic roommate, Shirley Feeney. Marshall also directed a handful of episodes of the sitcom, then was approached to step in as a last-minute replacement for Howard Zieff to helm the feature comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), starring Whoopi Goldberg. For her next film, she hit comedic pay dirt with Big (1988), the Tom Hanks vehicle about a boy who wakes up in the body of an adult. Co-produced by James L. Brooks, who brought the script to her, it was the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million (about $198 million in today's dollars) domestically. Another successful Marshall comedy, A League of Their Own (1992), was a fictional account about the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League organized during World War II that also starred Hanks (as well as Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna) and broke through the $100 million barrier as well. In between those films, the director dramatically changed course with the fact-based Awakenings (1990), which starred Robert De Niro as a middle-aged man who has been catatonic for 30 years and Robin Williams as a painfully shy doctor determined to "awaken" him. With Awakenings, Marshall became the second woman ever to helm a best picture Oscar nominee. She also is only one of seven to achieve that without landing a directors nom as well. Born Carole Penny Marshall on Oct. 15, 1943, Marshall and her family lived on the Grand Concourse, a major thoroughfare in the Bronx. Following high school, she fled to the University of New Mexico to study psychology, got married in 1961, dropped out and had a daughter, Tracy, her only child (who later was adopted by Reiner). Divorced after two years, Marshall supported herself with an array of jobs, including a stint as a choreographer for the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera Association, before heading to Los Angeles in 1967. Supporting herself as a secretary while studying acting, she appeared in commercials, including a Head & Shoulders ad where she played the "plain" girl opposite the gorgeous and then-unknown Farrah Fawcett. After appearing on such shows as That Girl and Love, American Style, she and Reiner -- mere months before they were to marry -- auditioned for a new CBS sitcom. But while Reiner was cast as Michael Stivic, it was Sally Struthers who ended up playing his wife, Gloria, on All in the Family. Marshall also appeared in such sitcoms as The Odd Couple (as Oscar Madison's flighty secretary, Myrna Turner), The Bob Newhart Show andThe Mary Tyler Moore Show and had a regular role on the short-lived sitcom Friends and Lovers, created by Brooks and Alan Burns. More recently, Marshall directed a couple of episodes of Showtime's United States of Tara and appeared on IFC's Portlandia, and the Fox sitcom Mulaney. One of Hollywood's most fervent Los Angeles Lakers fans, Marshall regularly was seen courtside at the Forum and then Staples Center, with her trademark tinted glasses perched precariously on her nose. Marshall, who published her candid autobiography My Mother Was Nuts in 2012, was twice married, the first time to Michael Henry from 1961-63, the second time to actor-director Rob Reiner from 1971-79. Both marriages ended in divorce. She is survived by a daughter by Henry who was adopted by Reiner, actress Tracy Reiner and sister Ronny Hallin, a TV director. Garry Marshall died in 2016. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/18/18.
"Who Cares" is taken from Macca's 17th studio album, 
Rush frontman Geddy Lee says he decided to release his new massive coffee table-style book 
José Feliciano, whose "Feliz Navidad" happens to be the world's best-loved bilingual Christmas song, performed the tune and other seasonal favorites in Rome, Italy on Dec. 15 during The Vatican's annual holiday concert. The charity concert was filmed for a Christmas Day broadcast. Feliciano will also travel to Austria to perform at The Vienna Boys' Choir's Christmas celebrations on Dec. 20 and 21. On Christmas Eve, Feliciano will make his annual appearance at the Church of the Assumption in Westport, Conn., the latino singer-songwriter's home town. "Feliz Navidad" is a perennial favorite on the pop charts, and is currently No. 3 on Billbaord's Latin Streaming Songs chart, and No. 12 on the Holiday Chart. - BIllboard, 12/14/18...... A tour van owned by former Wizzard frontman and ELO co-founder Roy Wood has been returned to Wood after it was stolen during a ram-raid on a warehouse in Leeds, UK on Dec. 12. The robbery forced Wood, who is currently touring with his Roy Wood Rock 'n' Roll Band, to cancel the band's scheduled show in Hull on Dec. 13, which they now hope to reschedule. They had feared that "about £100,000 of gear, with PA equipment, three or four guitars, and Marshall amps" had gone for good as a result of the robbery, however the van -- with all of the equipment inside -- was discovered by West Yorkshire Police in East Ardsley on Dec. 13. Wood and his band are set to conclude their latest tour with a live show in Sheffield on Dec. 20. The "Rockmas" gigs take place around the time that the Wood-penned festive hit, 
Carlos Santana revealed on social media on on Dec. 17 that he will be offering online guitar lessons through MasterClass.com, sharing his best tips and anecdotes throughout his 53-year career ."My intentions, motives, and purpose, with this online class, are to help ignite a new wave of creative spirit around the world and inspire you to create music and carry yourself on and off stage the same way we try to navigate life -- with passion and joy," the 71-year-old guitarist says in a video announcement posted to Facebook. "In the class, you will learn about the influences, as well as the musical and spiritual moments in my life that have shaped my playing, songs, and heart throughout my career," he adds. The program, which costs $180 per year and is available on mobile or desktop, includes 13 lessons with exclusive access to videos, materials. Meanwhile, the Grammy-winning guitarist has announced he'll release an EP titled Mona Lisa on Jan. 25, before releasing a full album later in 2019 produced by Rick Rubin. Santana says Mona Lisa is a three-part suite that was inspired by a visit to see the actual Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre in Paris. The EP opener "Do You Remember Me," which was produced by Rubin, is an elegant tone poem that incorporates some of the onstage improvisations Santana has made a part of his live performances of the Supernatural hit "Smooth." "In Search of Mona Lisa" -- produced by Narada Michael Walden -- is more upbeat and "more radio friendly, along with Bo Diddley," according to Santana. Jazz bass legend Ron Carter guests on "Besame Mucho" as well. The full album, meanwhile, will be out "between spring and summer," according to Santana, the product of 10 days in the studio with Rubin during which he and his band recorded 49 songs. Santana adds that he may consider playing the Supernatural album in its entirety at some point, but the one point of nostalgia he is focused on is his legendary appearance at the original 1969 Woodstock festival. "We've talked to (Woodstock co-founder) Michael Lang, but we don't know if he has secured a place," Santana says. "If they invite me, I'm in." In the meantime he's booked his own show at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on the site of the original festival. - Billboard, 12/17/18...... In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the classic 1978 film 
Cher announced on her Twitter feed on Dec. 12 that she will be penning her memoir for a "book due out in the first part of 2020." As if that weren't enough, the iconic diva also added that a Cher biopic will follow the book's release. "Writing Life Story--Book Due Out First Part Of 2020--Bio Pic To Follow," she posted. Cher previously released a book called The First Time, a collection of essays that recounted major first-time events in her life, in 1998. In related news, Cher and her late husband Sonny Bono's famed Owlwood Estate in Los Angeles has significantly dropped its price after being on the market for over a year. The 10-bathroom, 9-bedroom, 12,000 square foot Italian Renaissance home can now be scooped up for $115 million, a bargain compared to its original asking price of $180 million. The estate, designed by renowned architect Robert D. Farquhar in the 1930s, was originally built for the ex-wife of Arthur Letts Jr. -- the first owner of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion. Since then, it's been passed around by actor Tony Curtis, and 20th Century Fox co-founder Joseph Schenck, a Superior Oil founder and the founder of the Hotel Bel-Air. - Billboard/TheBlast.com, 12/12/18...... Joe Osborn, a legendary bass player for the L.A. studio supergroup of session players known as the Wrecking Crew, died on Dec. 15 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81. Mr. Osborn played a a string of indelible hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'," America's "Ventura Highway," the Carpenters' "Close to You" and The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You." He also played on dozens of albums by country stars such as Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard and Reba McEntire, among many others, and is also credited with being the first person to record a teenage Karen and Richard Carpenter, when he tracked the soon-to-be pop superstars on his home four-track deck in his studio. Born in Mound, La., on Aug. 23, 1937, Mr. Osborn switched from electric guitar to bass early in his career, joining up with Ricky Nelson's band in 1960 for a four-year stint that led to steady session work in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. In 1974, he moved back to his southern roots, setting up in Nashville, where he played on albums by Hank Williams Jr., Chet Atkins and Mel Tillis. His final release was the just-released Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which paired his classic playing and the Carpenters' original vocals with new orchestral arrangements by Richard Carpenter. - Billboard, 12/17/18...... 
Cable news channel CNN has announced it will premiere Love, Gilda, a documentary of influential Saturday Night Live cast member Gilda Radner, on Jan. 1, 2019 at 9:00 P.M. EST. Radner played a pivotal role in shaping SNL, forever changing the course of comedy, and the special explores the dramatic story of the legendary comedian. CNN, 12/7/18...... Jazz singer Nancy Wilson, the Grammy-winning "song stylist" and torch singer whose polished pop-jazz vocals made her a platinum artist and top concert performer, died on Dec. 13 in Pioneertown, Calif., near Joshua Tree National Park. She was 81. Influenced by Dinah Washington, Nat "King" Cole and other stars, Ms. Wilson covered everything from jazz standards to "Little Green Apples" and in the 1960s alone released eight albums that reached the top 20 on Billboard's pop charts. In the 1970s and after, Ms. Wilson continued to record regularly and perform worldwide, at home in nightclubs, concert halls and open-air settings, singing at jazz festivals from Newport to Tokyo. She officially stopped touring with a show at Ohio University in Sept. 2011. In accordance with Ms. Wilson's wishes, there will be no funeral service, a family statement said. A celebration of her life will be held most likely in February, the month of her birth. - AP, 12/14/18...... Oscar-nominated actress Sondra Locke, best known for the six films she made with Clint Eastwood in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including The Outlaw Josey Wales, Every Which Way But Loose and Sudden Impact, died on Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, it was formally announced on Dec. 13. She was 74. Locke, who had a 13-year romantic relationship with Eastwood, was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for 1968's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, her first film. Although her death was promptly reported to authorities, it was not publicized until a RadarOnline.com story on Dec. 13, for reasons that have yet to come to light. - The Daily Mail UK, 12/13/18.
On Dec. 13 the 
Former Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham revealed that he's settled his lawsuit with his former band during an interview with Anthony Mason on CBS This Morning on Dec. 8. In his first interview since he was fired from the band before it launched a run of concerts in North America this summer, Buckingham said the firing cost him millions of dollars in lost earnings. Though he did not disclose terms of the settlement agreement, Buckingham noted, "We've all signed off on something.... I'm happy enough with it." Buckingham, who was replaced in Fleetwood Mac's touring band by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House, launched his civil suit in October, claiming band members Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and John McVie sacked him without just cause. Buckingham claimed he was informed just five days after their performance at the 2018 MusiCares event in January that the group would be hitting the road without him, which he says caused him to miss out on upwards of $14 million in earnings. His suit refuted the band's claim that he was fired from the band due to his "refusal to tour in 2018 and focus on his solo career." Buckingham singled out Stevie Nicks for causing his departure from the band, maybe because she thought he "smirked" during a speech she gave on stage, or maybe because he requested to push back the tour by several months. "It appeared to me that she was looking for something to hang on me, in order to instigate some kind of coup," he told Mason. At the time, Fleetwood Mac disputed Buckingham's claims and said it "looks forward to their day in court." During his CBS interview, Buckingham also said there's little chance he could reunite with Fleetwood Mac, which he and Nicks first joined in 1975, when asked if a reunion could happen. "I'm pretty much figuring that I won't," he said. - Billboard, 12/10/18...... Neil Young has scored a victory in his fight to drop Barclays bank from sponsoring his upcoming British Summer Time festival due to its, according to Young, funding projects that have "accelerated climate change." "I believe in science. I worry about the climate crisis and am deeply concerned about its massive global ramifications," Young posted on his Neil Young Archives website of his opposition to the affiliation with the bank and its credit card division Barclayscard. Young claims that the concert set for July 12 in London was announced without his knowledge, and on Dec. 12 concert promoter AEG announced that Barclays would not be sponsoring Young's upcoming concert with Bob Dylan and that the event would no longer be part of the British Summer Time series. "Neil Young has made the decision to move away from the Barclaycard presents British Summer Time concert series. Neil Young and Bob Dylan will play a stand-alone concert in Hyde Park on the same date, 12th July. All tickets will remain valid. The Barclaycard presents British Summer Time concert series remains unaffected and will continue as normal with more headliners to be announced in early 2019," a statement from AEG reads. On Dec. 11, Young posted that he was "happy to announce that the Hyde park show will proceed without Barclays as a sponsor." "We are overjoyed, so happy to be playing the show!" says Young, who played the festival series in 2014 with his band Crazy Horse and didn't raise any objections to the sponsorship at the time. Barclaycard announced its concerts with Robbie Williams, Florence + The Machine and The National will not be affected. Young has a personal stake in his decision -- he and wife Daryl Hannah lost their Malibu home in the recent Woolsey wildfire in Malibu. Barclays was listed as top financier of oil drilling and fracking in a 2018 report by the non-profit group Banking on Climate Change, receiving a "D+" rating. - Billboard, 12/12/18...... 
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Keith Richards has revealed that he has cut back drastically on his drinking, admitting that "it was time to quit." Richards, who will turn 75 on Dec. 18, says that he's been curbing his drinking for "about a year now" revealing that he "pulled the plug on it... I got fed up with it." While the guitarist conceded that still has "a glass of wine occasionally, and a beer," he said that now was the right time to make the change: "It was time to quit. Just like all the other stuff." Asked if it had been an adjustment to his lifestyle, he quipped: "You can call it that, yeah. But I don't notice any difference really -- except for I don't drink. I wasn't feeling [right]. I've done it. I didn't want that anymore." Richards' bandmate Ronnie Wood, who was also sitting in on the interview, said that he'd noticed changes in Richards since he cut back on his drinking. "He's a pleasure to work with. Much more mellow, Wood observed. "He's open to more ideas, whereas before I'd kind of grit my teeth and go, 'He's gonna give me some shit for saying this.' Now, he'll say, 'That's cool, man.'" Richards and Wood gave the interview ahead of the Stones' upcoming North American leg of its 2019 "No Filter" tour, which kicks off in Miami in April. - New Musical Express, 12/12/18...... Universal Music Group announced on Dec. 10 that Queen iconic 1975 song "Bohemian Rhapsody" is "officially the most-streamed track from the 20th century, achieving more than 1.6 billion global streams." "Bohemian Rhapsody" is also the most-streamed Classic Rock track of all time, edging out Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O'Mine" and "November Rain" and a-ha's "Take on Me" in both categories. Queen guitarist and founding member Brian May responded to the announcement in a statement: "So the River of Rock Music has metamorphosed into streams! Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!" Since its release in 1975 as the penultimate track on the album 
Stevie Wonder held his annual House Full Of Toys Benefit Concert at Staples Center on Dec. 9, 2018 in Los Angeles. In addition to the Motown legend, fans were gifted with performances by special guests including Ella Mai, Anderson .Paak, Sheila E., PJ Morton and Leon Bridges. In keeping with the tradition of donating unwrapped toys and gifts on behalf of children, people with disabilities and families in need, concertgoers also aided another good cause -- supporting families who suffered losses in the catastrophic fires in Northern and Southern California, the firefighters who saved lives and homes, and first responders. "This has been a crazy year, as we all know," Wonder declared at the show's outset before he and daughter Aisha Morris broke into a rollicking rendition of his holiday song "What Christmas Means to Me." Afterward, Wonder thanked the concert's team of sponsors, including Bank of America, Bank of the West and Salesforce, the latter of which donated $1 million to the We Are You Foundation. - Billboard, 12/10/18...... Some of the biggest names in the 1970's punk movement will be featuring in an upcoming docuseries on the Epix channel next year called Punk. The docuseries will focus on the music, art, fashion and overall misfit culture that defined the punk movement, and also include original interviews with America's punk pioneers and the U.K.'s most notorious bands, rare photos, archival film and videos, as well as a soundtrack of punk hits and misses. Iggy Pop, Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols), Marky Ramone (Ramones), Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (Blondie), Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses) and more are among the prominent artists featured in Punk, which will premiere on the channel starting Mar. 11 at 10:00 p.m. EST. - Billboard, 12/10/18...... The estate of Prince and Legacy Recordings announced on Dec. 10 that the first three albums in a planned roll-out of Prince catalog material will be released on CD and, for the first time, vinyl, on Feb. 8, 2019. The albums slated for physical release are part of a trilogy from the early 2000s, including the Grammy-nominated Musicology (2004), 3121 (2006) and Planet Earth (2007). According to a statement announcing the re-issues, the vinyl versions will be pressed on collectable, limited-edition purple vinyl, with new exclusive merchandise tied to each album on sale in the official Prince store website. - Billboard, 12/10/18...... The celebrity gossip website TheBlast.com is reporting that Gene Simmons of Kiss is being sued for claims of "sexual battery." According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, the unnamed woman is alleging that the singer-bassist "forcefully placed his hand on her vagina" during the opening of Simmons' "Rock & Brews" restaurant in 2016. The women who has made the allegations was working as a dishwasher in the restaurant two years ago when Simmons is alleged to have touched the claimant. The woman claims that she didn't know who Simmons was but was asked to appear in a photo with him at which point she alleges: "he reached over and forcefully placed his hand on her vagina, completely covering it." Simmons has yet to make any official comment on the allegations. In 2017, Simmons was sued for sexual battery by another woman who alleged that the star made "unwanted, unwarranted sexual advances" during an interview. In July, he reportedly settled the case for an undisclosed amount of money. Meanwhile, Kiss previously announced they are bringing their 45-year career to a close with their "End Of The Road" farewell tour. The world tour, expected to last three years, will begin in January 2019. - New Musical Express, 12/7/18...... 
After the classic Christmas song 
Steve Miller is joining forces with country star Marty Stuart and his band for a pair of "Music From Appalachia" shows at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in New York City on Dec. 7 and 8. The second show is being streamed on the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" Facebook page, and Miller promises it will shed a different insight on his exploration of the blues roots of jazz than his previous explorations into jazz greats Miles Davis, T-Bone Walker and the "blues triangle" of the Mississippi Delta, Chicago and Texas. "All the basic blues really came over from Africa with the slaves and was developed primarily in the Mississippi Delta," Miller says. "The Appalachian blues is kind of interesting because it's mountain music, and it was more integrated than the Delta blues was at the beginning because of coal mining and timber," he added. Miller and his Steve Miller Band will continue his collaboration with Marty Stuart and his band the Superlatives in the summer of 2019 as they tour the US together. "I'm thrilled because I'll be taking mandolin lessons every day," Miller says with a laugh. "Marty and his guys are going to come out and travel with us all over and country and I'm going to expose him to my audience. They've already come up to me and said, 'Oh, man, come on, we wanna do "Jet Airliner"! Let's do "Going to the Country."' It's just going to be a great time." After that tour, Miller says he's planning on laying low for a couple of years as he works on his next album, which he plans to release in 2021. - Billboard, 12/6/18...... Bruce Springsteen knocked down internet rumors that he's planning a 2019 tour with his E Street Band on Dec. 4 with a post on Twitter. "Just a note to quell some of the rumors over here on E Street. While we hope to be back with you soon, the E Street Band won't be touring in 2019," he posted. The Boss continued: "Before I go back to my day job, the year will be consumed with a break after our Broadway run and various recording projects I've been working on. We do hope to see you soon, and until then, we have some mighty E Streeters out there regularly performing with their own projects who'd love and deserve your support." In an interview with London's Sunday Times, the musician said he will be going "back to my day job" after performing on Broadway since 2017 but without further elaboration, which led fans to believe a tour was coming sooner than expected. Meanwhile, Springsteen's "Springsteen On Broadway" special will debut worldwide on Netflix on Dec. 16, the streaming service has announced. The film, which follows the structure and sequence of the Broadway show, includes the full length of Springsteen's theatrical creation interspersed with his songs played on piano and acoustic guitar. A 
On Dec. 3, 1968, NBC aired Elvis Presley famous "'68 Comeback Special" which relaunched the King of Rock 'n Roll's music career. Now the network is planning to mark the special's 50th anniversary with a 50th Anniversary of the Elvis Comeback Special on Feb. 17 with several prominent artists re-creating Elvis' 1968 performance that propelled him back into live performing after years of absence. In addition to musical performances, the two-hour special will also show exclusive footage of Presley and interviews from those involved in the special, including his late wife Priscilla Presley and director Steve Binder. The full lineup of musicians is set to be announced early next year. The new special, set for Feb. 17 from 9:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST, will be hosted by The Voice's Blake Shelton, and the full lineup of musicians is set to be announced early in 2019. A 
The opening night of the new Cher-based Broadway musical "The Cher Show" on Dec. 3 at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York featured a surprise performance from the star herself. Cher was in the audience as three actresses -- Stephanie J. Block, Teal Wicks and Micaela Diamond -- stepped into her shoes at different stages of her life for renditions of 35 hit songs by the famous diva. The production ended with a stage appearance and short performance of "If I Could Turn Back Time" from the real Cher, accompanied by Block. Attending the premiere were the likes of Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Bernadette Peters, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. "The Cher Show" director Jason Moore said the singer provided direction for the musical "from the beginning," and that it was initially difficult to portray the life of someone who's still living. "We want to do her justice, and I think we have, but it's also been really fun because she gives us shortcuts," he said. "She's like, 'This is more me. This is what actually happened.' So we're telling the truth." - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/4/18...... In other Cher news, the singer was among the class of 2019 honorees at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 2. Among those honoring the 72-year-old iconic pop star were Cyndi Lauper with a show-stopping performance of "If I Could Turn Back Time," and a Lauper and Adam Lambert duet of the Sonny & Cher classic "I Got You, Babe." Lambert also put his stamp on "Believe," and got a standing ovation from Cher upon sustaining a high note. After the ceremony, Cher seemed genuinely honored to add this national honor to her treasure trove of awards. "Meryl [Streep] told me once, 'You do things for the art and if the award comes, it's a bonus,'" she said. But Cher added she never expected to win this particular award: "I never thought I was the right person to win this award, because I'm just a little bit out there. I'm the girl who rode the cannon." The event was taped and will air on CBS as a two-hour primetime special on Dec. 26. Cher will kick off her newest U.S. tour on Jan. 17, 2019, in Estero, Fla., and wrap on May 18, 2019, in Saint Paul, Minn. - Billboard, 12/3/18...... Elton John is among the big names in the running for this year's annual Christmas No. 1 single in the U.K. Bookies in the country are giving Sir Elton only a 15/2 chance of being this year's festive chart-topper however, for his performance of his first major hit "Your Song" which was used in a Christmas ad campaign for the UK retail chain John Lewis & Partners. Ariana Grande is currently the favourite, at 6/5, to land at the top spot on Dec. 22 with her latest single "Thank U, Next." - New Musical Express, 12/3/18...... Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to a number of classic Prince songs for a new original Prince-inspired movie. However, don't expect the fictional narrative to be a Prince biopic like the 1984 film Purple Rain. Instead, like the ABBA music that inspired the successful Mamma Mia! movie franchise, the studio is looking to develop an original film that uses Prince songs as signposts. The as yet untitled Prince project follows the 2016 death of the multi-instrumentalist and virtuosic performer, who sold more than 100 million records worldwide and earned eight Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Purple Rain. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/3/18...... 
Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the English punk rock band the Buzzcocks, died on Dec. 6 of a suspected heart attack in Estonia, where he was living at the time. He was 63. "It's with great sadness that we confirm the death of Pete Shelley, one of the UK's most influential and prolific songwriters and co-founder of the seminal original punk band," the Buzzcocks wrote on their official Twitter account. Former Sex Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock also shared sympathetic words about the late singer. "I am totally shocked and saddened to just hear of the untimely death of Pete Shelley," he wrote. "A superb songwriter, artist and a totally sweet hearted guy who was one of the very few originals of punk and even a one off within that. My deepest condolences to his family and friends." Best known for hits such as "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?" and "Why Can't I Touch It," the Buzzcocks were formed in Bolton, England, by singer/songwriter/guitarist Shelley and singer/songwriter Howard Devoto, after the two met at the Bolton Institute of Technology and traveled to London to see a Sex Pistols gig. The Buzzcocks then released their debut album in 1976, and opened for the Sex Pistols in Manchester. The band went on to release their acclaimed U.S. debut, 
Todd Rundgren has announced he'll embark on a hybrid concert and book-signing tour around the globe in the spring of 2019 behind his upcoming new memoir, 
Rod Stewart performed during the iHeartRadio LIVE concert on Nov. 27, 2018 in Burbank, Calif., taking over the iHeartRadio Theater with songs from his latest release, 
Actor/singer/dancer Ken Berry, the star of such TV series as Mama's Family, Mayberry R.F.D. and F Troop, passed away at age 85 on Dec. 1 in Burbank, Calif. Born in Moline, Ill. on Nov. 3, 1933, Mr. Berry realized he wanted to be a dancer and singer at age 12 and won a local tap dance talent competition at age 15. He toured US Air Force bases in the U.S. and Europe for 15 months with The Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program, a popular touring group. After volunteering for the Army, he entered a post talent contest which he won, then headed to New York for his television debut on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show. After being spotted by Carol Burnett during a performance with The Billy Barnes Review in Los Angeles, Burnett convinced the producers of The Garry Moore Show, on which she was appearing, to sign Mr. Berry. Mr. Berry then became on of Burnett's most frequent guest stars on her