A new musical based on soul greats The Tempations, "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations," debuted at the Ahmanson Theater in Hollywood on Aug. 24. Featuring performances of their all-time classic hits like "My Girl," "Just My Imagination" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by a cast that includes Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Derrick Baskin and Melvin Franklin, "Ain't Too Proud"'s opening night audience included John Legend, Billy Crystal, Berry Gordy and the founding member of the Temptations, Otis Smith. The show will run at the Ahmanson until Sept. 30, before it eventually migrates to Broadway, where it will likely be one of the hottest theater tickets of the year. - Billboard, 8/25/18...... 
There are reports that Neil Young and actor Daryl Hannah were secretly married over the last weekend in August. Blues guitarist Mark Miller revealed the news via a Facebook post, saying: "Congratulations to Daryl Hannah and Neil Young on their wedding today. may they have a long and happy relationship." The following day Hannah, known for her roles in such films as Blade Runner, Kill Bill and Wall Street, posted a picture of an owl on Instagram with the caption: "someone's watching over us love and only love". It was met with several messages of congratulations from fans. Young, 72, and Hannah, 57, have been dating for four years, following Young's split from his wife of 36 years, Pegi Young. Earlier this year, Young appeared in the Netflix film Paradox, a fantasy Western musical that directed by Hannah. - New Musical Express, 8/29/18...... As the music world prepares for its final tribute to soul queen Aretha Franklin on Aug. 31, fans around the world will be able to say their goodbyes to the music legend when her private funeral service is streamed live online and broadcast on TV. Cable channels CNN and Fox News have announced plans to air portions of the ceremony, and the funeral will also be live streamed by the Associated Press, meaning that it will be picked up by various online media outlets worldwide. It will also be simulcast on the Sirius XM radio's Soul Town Channel (channel 49). Franklin's life will be celebrated in song at her funeral with a star-studded lineup who will perform in tribute, including Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Ariana Grande and Faith Hill. The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., pastor of Atlanta's Salem Baptist Church, will deliver the eulogy, and former president Bill Clinton, Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Clive Davis and Clive Davis will also be among the speakers. It's expected to be a marathon service, perhaps lasting five hours or more. Earlier in the week, hundreds of members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority streamed into the rotunda of Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Aug. 28 to pay tribute to Franklin, who was a member of the sorority. Although the sorority's Omega Omega Service is not usually open to non-sorority members, a rare exception was made for Franklin, who was remembered by her sisters as a proud black woman who demanded respect and loved her community. "She loved Delta and its ideals... she looked for the best in others. Her life was an inspiration," said U.S. House Rep. Brenda Lawrence, a member of the sorority who was elected the first black mayor of Southfield, Mich., in 2001. At least 1,000 Delta Sigma Thetas from across the country attended the service, which lasted nearly an hour and is traditionally performed for any member before her funeral. Thousands of mourners poured into the museum to pay their final respects to Franklin, who was dressed in her sorority's signature crimson. The two-day viewing, which continued on Aug. 29, was part of a week of commemorations for the legend, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. Meanwhile, Franklin's 30 Greatest Hits album has climed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart, making it her highest-charting album in 50 years. 30 Greatest Hits is Franklin's seventh top 10 appearance on the chart, and the first since Amazing Grace reached No. 7 in 1972. Both her I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967) and Aretha: Lady Soul (1968) LP's reached No. 2. - AP/Billboard, 9/29/18...... Paul McCartney has scored his first Top 10 appearance on Billboard,'s Adult Alternative Songs chart in two decades as "Come On to Me" from his upcoming album Egypt Station rose from No. 12 to No. 6 for the week ending Sept. 1. "Come On to Me" is Sir Paul's first top 10 on an airplay chart by himself since 1997, when "The World Tonight" from his Flaming Pie LP peaked at No. 9 on the same chart for week ending June 21, 1997. Macca notably appeared on "FourFiveSeconds" with Rihanna and Kanye West in early 2015, and the song reached No. 6 on the Pop Songs and Rhythmic Songs Chart. Egypt Station drops on Sept. 7 via Capitol. - Billboard, 8/29/18...... In other Beatles-related news, rising pop star Ed Sheeran will play himself in a new Fab Four-inspired movie directed by Danny Boyle. The as-yet-untitled project, written by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill), will tell the tale of a singer/songwriter, played by Himesh Patel, who wakes up one day as the only person in the world with any memory of the Beatles. "And then I discover him and take him on tour," Sheeran explains. "Then he gets much, much bigger than me through doing stuff. Yeah, it's very clever." Sheeran adds his parts were filmed earlier in 2018, during his latest tour. "It was a very intense two months," he said. "I would have four days of gigging and then three days of shooting a film. I was playing myself so I don't think I was that bad. There wasn't much to [mess] up." The movie is scheduled for release in September 2019 and will also reportedly star Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Joel Fry, and more. - New Musical Express, 8/29/18...... 
Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has come under fire in Ukraine for supporting Russia's annexation of Crimea in an interview published in a Russian newspaper prior to his concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the interview, Waters defended Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, saying that "many agreements and other papers" exist that prove Russia's claims for Sevastopol, a major military port in Crimea. Waters went on to say that Moscow's actions were "provoked" by ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, which he claimed was orchestrated by Washington. The Ukrainian non-government organization Mirotvorets ("Peacemaker"), which aims to inform local law enforcers about foreign citizens who allegedly committed crimes against Ukraine, reacted by putting Waters on its unofficial blacklist. Ukrainian authorities have not yet made any comments regarding Waters' statements. Waters is scheduled to perform in St Petersburg on Aug. 29 and in Moscow on Aug. 31. - Billboard, 8/28/18...... Reps for Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks announced Nicks' Twitter page on Aug. 27 that the diva was officially rejoining Instagram. In Nicks' first Instagram post since 2015, she is seen in a backstage photo from a shoot of her upcoming appearance on the popular FX show American Horror Story. She is shown wearing bold eye makeup and heavily crimped hair with the caption, "3am selfie after shooting." Her team promised that fans will get to see "exclusive photos" of her on Instagram in the weeks ahead. - Billboard, 8/28/18...... In other Fleetwood Mac-related news, the band will be among the guest lineup for the premiere week of the sixteenth season of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which launches Sept. 4. Fleetwood Mac will appear on the show on Sept. 5 for a rare performance of two of their classic hit songs prior to their North American tour, which kicks off in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 7. Cher will also make an appearance on the show's premiere week on Sept. 7. She will sit down with host Ellen DeGeneres for an interview, then perform "SOS" from her upcoming ABBA tribute album Dancing Queen which hits stores on Sept. 28. - Billboard, 8/27/18...... Former president Jimmy Carter and former CBS talk show host and Indiana native David Letterman have helped launch a Habitat for Humanity project in northern Indiana. The retired late-night TV host praised Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, for their dedication to the nonprofit during an Aug. 26 event at the University of Notre Dame that kicked off a five-day Habitat for Humanity effort to build 23 homes in adjacent Mishawaka, Ind. Letterman noted the Carters' long involvement with the group, telling the roughly 4,000 attendees that if it weren't for the Democratic former president and his wife, he wouldn't have become a Habitat for Humanity volunteer. The 93-year-old former president reportedly said he and his wife get "more out of it than we put into it" when they build Habitat homes. - AP, 8/28/18...... The African American Museum in Philadelphia hosted a 90th anniversary celebration of the venerable Philly gospel group The Dixie Hummingbirds on Aug. 27. Although Stevie Wonder was unable to attend the event, the Motown icon called in during the event to praise the group for its contributions to modern music. The Dixie Hummingbirds was formed in Greenville, S.C., and eventually moved to Philadelphia in 1942. They notably provided soulful backups for Paul Simon on his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon. - AP, 8/28/18...... Country/pop crossover stars Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson are among the vocalists appearing on a new tribute album to late country legend Roger Miller. King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller also features the likes of Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgraves and Asleep at the Wheel covering such Miller classics as "Dang Me," "Do Wacka Do," "England Swings" and "Engine, Engnie #9." The album drops Aug. 30 via BMG. - Billboard, 8/28/18...... Speaking of Dolly Parton, the singer has made her first appearance on Billboard's Social 50 Chart after posting a meme of her song "Jolene" to Twitter's Distracted Boyfriend meme on Aug. 20. Parton's meme received a whopping 123,000 reactions on Twitter in the Aug. 17-23 tracking week. The Social 50 is powered by data tracked by music analytics company Next Big Sound and ranks the most popular artists on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Wikipedia and Tumblr. - Billboard, 8/28/18...... 
Engelbert Humperdinck has announced he'll be following up his 2018 album The Man I Want To Be, his first set of original material in more than a decade, with a new Christmas album titled Warmest Christmas Wishes. "It's been such a long time since I recorded a Christmas album, and fans have been asking me, 'When are you going to do another one?'," said the 82-year-old pop legend, who released the first of his several holiday sets, Christmas Tyme, in 1977. "Finally, we decided to do it. I love (Christmas). From me growing up with a large family and everybody singing around the Christmas tree, it was a wonderful, wonderful upbringing. So (Christmas) is very special with me to share." Humperdinck is currently filming a PBS special in Hawaii, which will feature five of the songs from Warmest Christmas Wishes as well as other favorites from throughout his career. He says he has no plans to retire: "I don't feel the age I am -- and I don't act it and I don't speak like it. When God calls me, that's when I stop. Until then I'm going to just keep going." - Billboard, 8/27/18...... The estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music won an appeal on Aug. 28 over supposedly fake vocals on his posthumous album Michael when a California appeals court ruled that claims on the album cover didn't constitute commercial speech and must be protected under the First Amendment. Vera Serova, who insisted that Jackson wasn't the lead singer on three of the LP's tracks, attempted to lead the class action suit with the allegation that the album amounted to a misrepresentation that was punishable under California's Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act. The judge concluded that statements on the album cover and the promotional video for the album amounted to commercial speech subject to regulation. Meanwhile, SiriusXM radio celebrated what would have been Jackson's 60th birthday on Aug. 29 by airing an hour-long King of Pop tribute across seven of its channels. Jackson's music also aired in blocks all day once an hour the channels. - Billboard, 8/28/18...... British pop star Cliff Richard has announced he'll release a new album called Rise Up on Nov. 23 that will address "the bad period I went through in life." The album follows the singer's long but victorious legal battle with the BBC after it was reported back in 2014 that he was being investigated over historical child sexual assault claims. A court ruled in July that the BBC had breached Richard's privacy by broadcasting a police search of his home, and he was awarded over 200,000 in damages. Richard, 77, says he's now looking to resume his music career. Richard says he chose the title track, which debuted on BBC Radio 2 on Aug. 29, as the name for the new album "because after the bad period I went through in my life, I've managed to 'Rise Up' out of what seemed like a quagmire... I love the lyric 'They're never gonna break me down, they're never gonna take me down, they know I'm gonna rise up feeling stronger'." - New Musical Express, 8/29/18...... Roger Taylor of Queen joined the alternative rock band Foo Fighters onstage to perform a cover of one of his band's classic songs at an LA pop-up shop show on Aug. 27. Before the Foo Fighters took to the stage as "The Holy Shits," drummer Taylor Hawkins led the covers band Chevy Metal through a number of classic rock songs, including the Queen and David Bowie duet "Under Pressure." Taylor took over drum duties, while Hawkins handled Freddie Mercury's vocals. - NME, 8/28/18...... 
Jim Croce's son A.J. Croce sings his late dad's songs in his occasional "Croce Plays Croce" concerts, but he's stayed away from recording any of them -- until now. A.J. has announced he is releasing a new version of his late father's posthumous 1973 hit "I Got a Name." Just out via digital retailers and streaming services, the new "I Got a Name" was commissioned for a new Goodyear ad campaign paying tribute to retired race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. For the single's art Croce also came up with the idea of recreating the iconic image of his father smoking a cigar from the 1973 release. "I thought it was funny and kind of just tongue-in-cheek, and a nice nod to (the original)," he says. Don't look for Croce to start recording more of his father's music, though. "I would be a very wealthy man if I'd taken those opportunities, but I've turned every one of them down in the past," he says. "I don't know what the point would be. If you want to hear Jim Croce, go buy the records." A.J. adds he does not rule out the idea of documenting a "Croce Plays Croce" concert for release at some point, however. - Billboard, 8/24/18...... A California judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by Spinal Tap actor Harry Shearer in 2016 can go forward. Shearer originally sued entertainment groups Vivendi and StudioCanal for $125 million, saing he has received only $81 in merchandising income from Spinal Tap's enduring array of albums, tours, swag, and home video sales. In 2017, Shearer's lawsuit brought on fellow bandmates Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, as well as Rob Reiner, the director of the original film, upping the damages sought to $400 million. Judge Dolly Gee's ruling denied Vivendi's motion to have the fraud claim dismissed, clears the way for the case to make its way into a courtroom. - Deadline.com, 8/29/18...... Blues-rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Joe Bonomassa has announced he will return to Glasgow's SEC Armadillo on Apr. 22, 2019. Bonomassa's only Scottish date, the concert will kick off his April 2019 UK tour two days before he performs three consecutive nights at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall on Apr. 24, 25 and 26. The Glasgow SEC Armadillo and the Royal Albert Hall shows will feature Joe performing alongside a hand-picked group of world-class musicians playing material from Joe's forthcoming studio album, which will be released in September 2018. - Noble PR, 8/28/18....... The London-based band Jawbone, who has played with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ten Years After, Van Morrison and Robert Plant, will self-release their eponymous debut album on Nov. 9. In January 2018, Jawbone were chosen to back Clapton, Morrison and Tom Jones at Paul Jones' legendary charity show at G-Live in Guildford. Named after a song taken from The Band's self-titled 1969 second album, Jawbone tracked all the songs live as a four piece with minimal overdubs at London's State of The Ark Studio. Jawbone will kick off a 6-date UK tour at Milton Keynes' The Stables on Sept. 6. - Noble PR, 8/29/18...... Arizona Sen. John McCain, the six-term Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, died on Aug. 25 at his Arizona ranch with his family after a battle with brain cancer. He was 81. The son and grandson of Navy admirals, Sen. McCain was a former Navy pilot and was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years. He was elected to Congress in the early 1980s and elected to the Senate in 1986, replacing Barry Goldwater who retired. Sen. McCain gained a reputation as a lawmaker who was willing to stick to his convictions rather than go along with party leaders. Sen. McCain had recently decided to discontinue medical treatment. Though Sen. McCain had "surpassed expectations for survival," the family said in an Aug. 24 statement about the decision that "the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict." The senator had been away from the Capitol since December. Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to name a replacement who would serve out the remainder of McCain's term through the 2020 election. Sen. McCain ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, then won it in 2008 before losing the general election to former president Barack Obama. On Aug. 28, it was announced that actor Warren Beatty will be among the pallbearers at Sen. McCain's memorial service on Sept. 1 at the Washington National Cathedral. - AP, 8/25/18...... 
Neil Simon, the creator of such Pulitzer and Tony award-winning plays as "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park" and "Lost in Yonkers," died on Aug. 25 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from complications from pneumonia. He was 91. Mr. Simon's unparalleled career in the theater included more than 30 plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades. He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with "Come Blow Your Horn," and concluded his Broadway run with "45 Seconds From Broadway" in 2001. He established his reputation writing some of Broadway's most successful comedies, including "Barefoot in the Park," "The Odd Couple," and "Plaza Suite." Many of his later plays explored darker themes, as those found in "Biloxi Blues," "Broadway Bound" and "Lost in Yonkers." Born in the Bronx, N.Y., on July 4, 1927, Mr. Simon grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He studied at NYU and the University of Denver while serving in the U.S. Army Air Force Reserve. He began his career in the early 1950s, working as a team with his older brother, Danny, writing scripts for radio and television shows, including The Garry Moore Show. After 10 years in television, Simon turned his attention to writing for the stage. His first Broadway show was a comedy, "Come Blow Your Horn" (1961). Next came two of the biggest hits of the 1960s, "Barefoot in the Park" (1963), starring Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley, and "The Odd Couple" (1965), starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney. Both shows were directed by Mike Nichols. Simon won the 1965 Best Author Tony Award for "The Odd Couple." "The Odd Couple" was arguably Simon's largest commercial success, with the film adaptation and an ABC series, which ran from 1970-75 and starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. However, one of Simon's regrets was selling the screen rights to Paramount, and he didn't watch the show for the first two years because he was so upset. A reboot of the series, starring and executive produced by Matthew Perry (he played Oscar Madison), ran for three seasons on CBS starting in 2015. His original screenplays include The Out-of-Towners (1970), directed by Arthur Hiller, The Heartbreak Kid (1972), directed by Elaine May, and Murder by Death (1976), directed by Robert Moore. Mr. Simon received a 1971 Writers Guild Award for The Out-of-Towners. The Goodbye Girl (1977), directed by Herbert Ross, starred Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss. In addition to a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards, Mr. Simon received many honors, including four Writers Guild of America Awards, an American Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement honor, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's Monte Cristo Award. Mr. Simon is survived by his third wife, the actress Elaine Joyce Simon, whom he married in 1999, and two daughters from his marriage to his first wife, dancer Joan Baim. - Deadline.com, 8/26/18...... Influential British dancer, choreographer and mime artist Lindsay Kemp, known for tutoring singers David Bowie and Kate Bush during his career, died on Aug. 25 at 80. Mr. Kemp, who often performed in stark-white face makeup and dramatic costumes, was born in 1938 and formed his dance company in the 1960s. He is credited with helping Bowie create his Ziggy Stardust persona and teaching Bush to dance. He choreographed and performed during Bowie's celebrated Ziggy Stardust concerts in London in 1972, and also made cameo appearances in the films The Wicker Man and Velvet Goldmine. - AP, 8/25/18.
Paramount Pictures announced on Aug. 23 that the upcoming Elton John biopic will be released on May 17, 2019, two weeks later than originally announced. Taron Egerton (Kingsman) will portray the pop idol from his days at the Royal Academy of Music to his rise on the rock scene in the '70s, also exploring his drug and alcohol addiction in the '90s. Egerton will do the singing and has already recorded songs at Abbey Road Studios. The ensemble cast includes Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard and Gemma Jones. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/23/18...... The Who's Roger Daltrey confirmed in a recent interview with the BBC that development of a Keith Moon biopic, which has been in the works since 2013 but has stalled in recent years, has begun again. "I've got to find a Keith Moon," Daltrey said. "It's going to be very, very dependent on the actor and the actor's eyes. Because you've got to cast it completely from the eyes because Moon had extraordinary eyes." Daltrey added that people "didn't really know Keith." "I don't know whether anybody outside the band really got to know him like we did. He was a strange bunch of people," he said. The singer also explained that he was searching for "the right screenplay" and that he hoped production would begin "next year." - New Musical Express, 8/24/18...... 
A Mick Jagger and Carly Simon duet apparently recorded in 1972 and thought to have been lost has been found more than 45 years after it was first recorded. The song, believed to be named "Fragile," is a slow love ballad that has Jagger and Simon seemingly sitting together at a piano and singing and was found recently on a tape owned by Rolling Stones collector Matt Lee. Lee, an entrepreneur from London, declined to say where the tape of the song came from. But he said Wednesday that he sent a digital copy of the song to Rolling Stone magazine because they promised to give it to Simon. "I'm not doing it for the money," he said. "I'm a collector. My motive for sending it to Rolling Stone was to pass it to Carly." Jagger does most of the singing on "Fragile," with Simon adding some harmonies, and when the song ends, a female voice believed to be Simon's gasps: "Good song." Simon and Jagger famously worked together in 1972 when the Stones frontman sang backup vocals on Simon's hit "You're So Vain." For many years, it was thought that Jagger was the subject of that song, but Simon has denied that. - Billboard, 8/23/18...... Former president Bill Clinton, who hosted Aretha Franklin at both of his inaugurations, and Franklin's fellow Detroit native Smokey Robinson will be among the speakers at Franklin's funeral at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple on Aug. 31. Other speakers will include former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, music mogul Clive Davis and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to a spokesperson for Franklin. The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., pastor of the Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, will deliver the eulogy, and Chaka Khan, Ronald Isley, Fantasia and Yolanda Adams are among the approximately 30 artists slated to give musical tributes to the late Queen of Soul. The funeral will be private, but some public seating might be made available. A separate free tribute show will take place the evening before at Chene Park, featuring Johnny Gill, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others. The concert will be part of a four-day Aretha memorial that includes open-casket public viewings on Aug. 28-29 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and on Aug. 30, at New Bethel Baptist Church. Meanwhile, the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com is reporting Franklin, who died on Aug. 16 at age 76, died without a will. Franklin's not having a will was somewhat surprising for two main reasons: she had reportedly been ill for quite some time (she finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer); and, according to TMZ, one of her adult children, Clarence, has special needs, and requires "financial and other forms of support for his entire life." The good news is that Franklin left an estate reportedly worth more than $80 million, which will be split evenly among Clarence and his three brothers, according to Michigan state law. The executor, who administers the process of transferring assets, will be appointed by the court, however without a will the executor can collect millions in fees while the family receives nothing until the value of the estate is established. - AP/Billboard/TheRoot.com, 8/24/18...... John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman was denied parole for the 10th time by New York's parole board on Aug. 23 and will remain behind bars for at least two more years. Chapman, 63, appeared before the board on Aug. 22 and is serving 20-years-to-life in the Wende Correctional Facility in western New York. The board cited Chapman's "callous disregard for the sanctity of human life and the pain and suffering of others (by killing) someone who was not only a world renown person and beloved by millions." The board said releasing Chapman would not only "tend to mitigate the seriousness of your crime," but also would endanger public safety because someone might try to harm him out of anger or revenge or to gain similar notoriety. Chapman will be up for parole again in August 2020. During the hearing, politicians and fans in New York City called for his release to be denied during a rally at Strawberry Fields, Lennon's memorial in Central Park across from his former home. - AP, 8/23/18...... In other Lennon news, Geffen Records announced on Aug. 23 that a 6-disc box set, John Lennon: Imagine: The Ultimate Collection, will be released on Oct. 5 -- four days before what would have been his 78th birthday. The set will feature rare, unheard demos, outtakes, isolated tracks, films and more from the making of Lennon's most celebrated album, 1971's Imagine. Also being re-released is the 1971 John and Yoko Ono-film Imagine packaged with the 2000 documentary Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine. - Billboard, 8/23/18...... 
In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr has taped an interview for the 100th episode of Dan Rather's AXS TV show The Big Interview which will be aired on Oct. 2. In the interview, Ringo says though he's the centerpiece in his All-Starr Band he's happiest when surrounded by other musicians. "I'm a band guy. I play with all these other guys," he says. "When the band first started, I was so insecure, though I'd said yes, there were three drummers. I was in the middle, Jim Keltner, my hero from L.A., drummer, was on this side and Levon Helm was on this side and we were all boogieing away. Life is good." Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Joan Baez and Kenny Loggins are among the other '70s artists scheduled to appear on Rather's show this fall. - Billboard, 8/21/18...... Alice Cooper will release a new 2-disc live album, A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia Paris, on Sept. 28 via earMUSIC. Cooper, curringly on a North American tour in support of his latest studio LP Paranormal, reflected on how rock has changed over his long career: "Well, three generations of people come to the show: the grandfather who was there at the beginning, the father and now the kid who's 16 or 17 and goes, 'Wow, this is rock'n'roll.' Now, I'm as all-American as Pat Boone." - Billboard, 8/24/18...... The music video for the previously unreleased alternate version of the Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' song "You And Me" which appears on Petty's upcoming box set An American Treasure was released on Aug. 23. The box set , which also includes alternate versions of classic songs, rarities, historic live performances and deep tracks, hits stores on Sept. 28. - Billboard, 8/23/18...... The Band will release a 50th anniversary edition of its classic 1968 album Music From The Big Pink on Aug. 31. Adding studio chatter and additional annotation, the new edition offers a broader look at what's considered one of the most seminal debut albums in rock history, taking The Band from its previous incarnation as Bob Dylan's backing group and vaulting it into the limelight. The Band's Robbie Robertson says he expects there will be 50th anniversary editions of The Band's other albums in the future, meanwhile, he's keeping himself busy by writing a sequel to his 2016 memoir Testimony, writing the score to Martin Scorsese's next film The Irishman (about controversial labor union leader Frank Sheeran), and a solo album that he predicts will come as a surprise to listeners. - Billboard, 8/23/18...... The family of Prince filed a lawsuit in Hennepin County (Minn.) District Court on Aug. 24 alleging Prince's doctor failed to treat him for opiate addiction and therefore bears responsibility for his April 2016 death. Authorities say Dr. Michael Schulenberg admitted prescribing oxycodone to Prince under his bodyguard's name to protect Prince's privacy, though Schulenberg has disputed that. The suit claims the doctor and other defendants had the opportunity and duty during the weeks before Prince's death to diagnose his opioid addiction and prevent his death, but failed to do so. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000. - AP, 8/24/18...... 
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has sent a cease & desist letter to Pres. Donald Trump after the president once again used the Aerosmith tune "Livin' on the Edge" at a campaign rally in West Virginia on Aug. 21. "It has come to our attention that President Donald J. Trump and/or The Trump Organization (collectively, "Mr. Trump") have been using our client's song 'Livin' On The Edge' in connection with political rally events, including at an event held yesterday at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on August 21, 2018," read the letter from Tyler's attorney Dina LaPolt. "As expressly outlined in the Previous Letters, Mr. Trump does not have our client's permission to use any of our client's music, including 'Livin' On The Edge.'" As referenced in the letter, this is not the first time the veteran rock band has asked Trump to stop using their music at his political events. During the 2015 presidential race, Aerosmith fired off a similar cease & desist letter after Trump played 1973's "Dream On" during campaign rallies, noting that the real estate mogul needed Tyler's "express written permission" to use the song and that doing so without was a violation of Tyler's copyright. A White House spokesperson could not be reached for comment. - Billboard, 8/22/18...... An "Across the Great Divide" benefit concert featuring the likes of John Prine, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams and Lee Ann Womack has been set for Oct. 1 at the Ace Theatre in Los Angeles. The concert is co-sponsored by the Americana Music Association and The Blues Foundation. - Billboard, 8/22/18...... As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, prog-rockers Yes will release Live at the Apollo on Sept. 7, a new live LP featuring a dozen songs from the Yes canon. Also being released are accompanying DVDs and Blu-rays of the performances taped at the Manchester Apollo in early 2017. Yes kicks off a U.S. tour on Aug. 26 at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. Yes is touring under the moniker Yes ARW, which refers to members John Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, which the group adapted shortly after its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2017. - Billboard, 8/21/18...... Speaking of 50th anniversaries, Judus Priest will be celebrating theirs in 2019, and frontman Rob Halford says the heavy metal icons are "already having discussions every now and again in the band, with our label, our promoters and management" to mark the milestone. "We have some ideas and when we get close to solidifying something, we'll let you know," Halford said in a recent interview with Philadelphia radio station 93.3 WMMR. "It's going to be a great year -- what a celebration. Another incredible milestone for Judas Priest that we're looking forward to sharing with everybody." - Billboard, 8/21/18...... The Heaven Hill liquor distillery in Kentucky has filed a cease & desist letter against Bob Dylan's new whiskey Heaven's Door Spirits, which is co-owned by the musician and debuted earlier in 2018, over Heaven's Door's "stacked" logo which they say is similar to Heaven Hill's. The lawsuit says Heaven's Door attorneys replied that they didn't expect confusion over the logos and didn't plan to change or comply with the demands. Heaven's Door is a reference to Dylan's song "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court in Louisville. It said Bardstown-based Heaven Hill has used the trademark for more than 80 years. - AP, 8/20/18...... 
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King, who co-wrote Skynyrd's huge hit "Sweet Home Alabama," died on Aug. 22 in Nashville, Tenn. He was 68. A cause of death was not specified, though King had been battling lung cancer and had recently been hospitalized for the disease. A California native, King was a founding member of the psychedelic '60s band Strawberry Alarm Clock, known for their hit "Incense and Peppermints." He offered to join Skynyrd when, opening for the band at the Jacksonville, Fla., bar the Comic Book Club in 1968, he heard them rehearsing the song "Need All My Friends." It wasn't until 1972, however, when King would sign on with Skynyrd, temporarily replacing bassist Leon Wilkeson and then becoming a full-fledged member as third guitarist. King played on the band's first three albums: 1973's Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd, 1974's Second Helping and 1975's Nuthin' Fancy. He most famously co-wrote Second Helping's "Sweet Home Alabama" (that's him counting off "1, 2, 3" in the song's intro) which, along with "Free Bird," has become synonymous with the group. After a dust-up with frontman Ronnie Van Zant, King, tired of the Skynyrd drama and propensity for fighting, left the band in 1975. King moved over to guitar when Wilkeson re-joined the band and then took his first leave in 1976, replaced by Steve Gaines. Ronnie Van Zant, Gaines and sister Cassie Gaines were tragically killed in a plane crash in October 1977. King was again part of Lynyrd Skynyrd when the band reformed in 1987, but was forced to leave the group again due to complications from congestive heart failure, for which he underwent a successful heart transplant in 2011. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside the other pre-plane crash members in 2011. "Ed was our brother, and a great songwriter and guitar player," Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossignton said in a statement. "I know he will be reunited with the rest of the boys in Rock and Roll Heaven. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family." - Billboard, 8/23/18...... Guitarist Eddie Willis, who played on many of the best-known Motown hits from the Detroit era as a member of the so-called Funk Brothers, died on the morning of Aug. 20 at home in Gore Springs, Miss. He was 82. His daughter Terez Willis said he had been suffering complications from a childhood bout with polio. Mr. Willis started with Motown in 1959, and remained with the label as it moved operations to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Mr. Willis soon returned to Detroit, working as a touring guitarist with Eddie Kendricks and spending about two decades with the Four Tops. With the death of Mr. Willis, only guitarist Joe Messina remains from the seminal, core lineup of the Funk Brothers, the revered Motown house band that largely worked in obscurity. - 8/20/18...... 
Veteran celebrity journalist Robin Leach, best known for his work on TV's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, died on Aug. 23. He was 76. He had been hospitalized since Nov. 21 after suffering a stroke in Cabo San Lucas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where Leach worked as a celebrity columnist. Born on Aug. 29, 1941, Leach wrote for The Harrow Observer while he was attending the Harrow County School for Boys, earning $6 a week at the newspaper after he graduated. He went on to become the youngest editor at London's Daily Mail at 18, then wrote for the New York Daily News, Ladies' Home Journal, People and The Star after moving to the U.S. in 1963. Leach parlayed his fame into appearances in such films as She-Devil (1989) and Free Money (1998) and on TV programs like Hoteland A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle. Leach joined the Review-Journal in 2016 as an entertainment columnist to beef up the newspaper's celebrity and lifestyle coverage across all platforms. He also was an early investor in the Food Network. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/24/18...... Barbara Harris, the Tony Award-winning actress whose comic-neurotic charms lit up the Broadway stage and helped her steal films including Nashville, Freaky Friday and A Thousand Clowns, died on Aug. 23 of lung cancer in Scottsdale, Ariz. She was 83. Ms. Harris played the mother who switched bodies with Jodie Foster in the original Freaky Friday in 1976, the same year she starred in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot but it was Robert Altman's 1975 Nashville that would become her best-known film with her memorable performance of "It Don't Worry Me" in front of a shell-shocked crowd after the violent climax. She played a pathetic wannabe on the periphery of the action who in the end proves to be a truly good singer, attempting to calm a crowd that has just witnessed the on-stage shooting of a star. Ms. Harris was one of the performers in the historic first cast of Chicago's Second City improvisational theater, which opened its doors in late 1959. Over a half-century it has become the proving ground for dozens of now-famous actors and comedians, from John Belushi to Stephen Colbert. Ms. Harris had no surviving family. - AP, 8/22/18.
Barbra Streisand posted "Not only was she a uniquely brilliant singer, but her commitment to civil rights made an indelible impact on the world," while music exec Clive Davis wrote, "I'm absolutely devastated by Aretha's passing. She was truly one of a kind. She was more than the Queen of Soul. She was a national treasure to be cherished by every generation throughout the world. Apart from our long professional relationship, Aretha was my friend. Her loss is deeply profound and my heart is full of sadness." Meanwhile, following her death sales of the Aretha Franklin music catalog have grown tremendously in the U.S., according to figures from Nielsen Music. Aretha's combined album and digital song sales increased by 1,568 percent on Aug. 16, as compared to Aug. 15. On the day of her passing, the legendary diva sold 134,000 combined albums and digital song downloads, up from 8,000 the previous day. Her top 10 selling songs on Aug. 16 were: "Respect" (16,000), "A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)" (13,000), "I Say a Little Prayer" (10,000), "Chain of Fools" (8,000), "Think" (8,000), "Freeway of Love" (4,000), "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (4,000), "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), with George Michael (4,000), "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" (3,000), and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (3,000). The late singer has also tallied her highest-charting LP on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in 46 years, as her 30 Greatest Hits re-entered the roundup at No. 7 for the week ending Aug. 16 following her death. The album is Franklin's highest-charting album since 1972, when her landmark gospel release Amazing Grace peaked at No. 7 on the July 22, 1972-dated tally. Aretha's funeral will be held on Aug. 31 in her hometown of Detroit, it was announced by her publicist on Aug. 17. The funeral, to be held at Greater Grace Temple, is limited to the late singer's family and friends. Public viewings will take place Aug. 28-29 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. She will be entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, along with her father Rev. C.L. Franklin; sisters Carolyn Franklin and Erma Franklin; brother Cecil Franklin; and nephew Thomas Garrett. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 8/17/18...... Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks conducts an interview with Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson in the latest issue of Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book, which hits newsstands Sept. 13. On her use of social media, Jackson admits to Nicks, who is one of her idols, "Honestly, the less I use my social media, the happier I am, and I've been using it less and less, but when I do use it I make sure to keep it very real and honest and true to myself." Paris also revealed that her current projects include a movie about the '90s rock and roll scene on the Sunset Strip, modeling, and making new music with her band, the Soundflowers. "We have enough material for an album, so I think we are going to get that done by fall," she said. - Billboard, 8/20/18...... 
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Aug. 20 that the Eagles' 1976 album 
Eric Clapton announced on Aug. 17 that he will release his first full-length Christmas album, 
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the co-stars of the 1978 film version of the smash musical 
Aretha Franklin, the definitive female soul singer of the 1960s whose influence on popular music in the latter half of the 20th century cannot be overstated, died on Aug. 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 76. "It is with deep and profound sadness that we announce the passing of Aretha Louise Franklin, the Queen of Soul," her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn said in a statement. "(She) passed away on Thursday morning, August 16 at 9:50 a.m. at her home in Detroit, MI, surrounded by family and loved ones.... (her) official cause of death was due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin's Oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI." The statement continues: "In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family... Thank you for your compassion and prayers. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time." Born on March 25, 1942, in Detroit, Aretha was one of five children of Rev. C.L. Franklin, himself a well-known figure in gospel music, having released over 70 regularly-selling albums of recorded sermons on the Chess Records label. As a child she sang with her brothers and sisters in the choir of her father's New Bethal Baptist Church, and upon turning 14 joined her dad on his evangelistic tours, gaining a reputation as a remarkable soloist with his choir. After turning 18, Aretha was encouraged to broaden her musical horizons by adding blues songs to her repertoire, and moved to the East coast to try the pop market. Aretha was auditioned by John Hammond of Columbia Records, who signed her to a contract but the label seemed not to know how to produce her, or what type of material she was best equipped to handle. In the winter of 1966 Aretha left Columbia for Atlantic Records, which had a better track record of producing blues and soul artists, and Atlantic head Jerry Wexler immediately took her to the legendary Muscle Shoals studios where he produced her first hit, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)" (#9 pop, #1 R&B), a song that unleashed the incredible fire and passion of her voice and became a gold record. That song almost single-handedly changed the course of soul music, and Aretha was dubbed "Lady Soul," a title that has never been contested. Her string of hits in the closing years of the 1960s included 
Overseas, she was never quite able to equal her success in America, however her 1968 European tour was considered a complete triumph, and produced the live LP Aretha in Paris. In 1968, "Think" (#7 pop, #1 R&B) became her first self-composed million-seller, and she began to start writing and helping to produce her own material, though the main production duties continued to be trusted veteran Atlantic poducers Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. As the '70s arrived, Aretha's personal problems (in 1968 she was arrested for reckless driving and again in 1969 for disorderly conduct, also around this time she was rumored to be drinking heavily) forced her into semi-retirement, and for about 18 months her apparently lukewarm interest in her career was an open secret. However she was coaxed back into regular recording and touring, though rarely outside the U.S. Her hits continued, giving her more million-sellers than any other woman in recording history until her record was recently broken by rapper/singer Nicki Minaj. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (#6 pop, #1 R&B), "Spanish Harlem" (#2 pop, #1 R&B), "Rock Steady" (#9 pop, #2 R&B), and "Day Dreaming" (#5 pop, # 1 R&B), became huge hits at the start of the decade, and during that time she gave birth to her fourth son, Kecalf, and married actor Glynn Turman in 1978. Although she appeared to be searching, sometimes aimlessly, during this time, she nevertheless had high points with the acclaimed albums Spirit in the Dark (1970), Live at Fillmore West (1971), and 
Aretha appeared in The Blues Brothers movie, singing "Respect" and "Think," and her version of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'" earned her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. However another series of personal tragedies, which included an attack on her father during a robbery which later resulted in his death, would halt her commercial comeback. In 1982, she moved back to the Detroit area where she remained for the rest of her life, and in 1985 she came back into the public eye with the hit album Who's Zoomin' Who, which spun off three hit singles -- the title track, "Freeway of Love" and "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves." Her newfound pop crossover success continued with 1986's Aretha, which included the Top 30 "Jimmy Lee" and a version of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" produced by and featuring Keith Richards. In 1987, she scored another No. 1 hit, "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)," a duet with George Michael. Subsequent albums were less popular, though her 1987 LP One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism was a critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning effort featuring Mavis Staples and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Though the title track of 1989's Through the Storm was a hit duet with Elton John, the album peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 200. 1991's What You See Is What You Sweat would be the lowest chart debut of any album of her career. 
In 1987, Aretha became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1993 she starred in her own television special, Duets, which featured collaborations with a number of current pop stars, including Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, George Michael and Rod Stewart. Subsequent honors include the famed Apollo Theater's hall of fame and the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. A Kennedy Center honoree in 1994, Aretha was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. Aretha charted 73 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any female artist and ninth-most of all artists. Dealing with health issues in recent years, Aretha denied she was suffering from rumored pancreatic cancer when she underwent surgery in 2010 for an undisclosed illness. In 2017 she canceled a series of concerts citing "doctor's orders," and her last public performance was on Nov. 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. The mother of four sons, Franklin was married twice: to her former manager Ted White and actor Glynn Turman. "I'm absolutely devastated by Aretha's passing," said Clive Davis, who signed Aretha to his Arista Records in 1980, on Twitter. "She was truly one of a kind. She was more than the Queen of Soul. She was a national treasure to be cherished by every generation throughout the world. Apart from our long professional relationship, Aretha was my friend. Her loss is deeply profound and my heart is full of sadness." Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days. - Billboard/The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 8/16/18.
The Kinks announced on Aug. 15 they will release a a 50th-anniversary edition of their iconic 1968 album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society on Oct. 26. While not a commercial success when it was initially released, the album is now considered one of the most influential albums from the seminal British rock band's catalog and included the singles Starstruck" and "The Village Green Preservation Society," both which failed to chart in the US. The album features timeless songs written by frontman Ray Davies about growing up in the UK and the decline of national culture and its traditional ways through wit, sadness and regret. The 50th-anniversary edition will include previously unreleased tracks like "Time Song," which was only heard by the public once at a live performance in 1973. A deluxe box set of VGPS will include extra sleeve notes, interviews, photographs and stories of the album's production, release and cultural impact. - Billboard, 8/15/18...... John Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman is scheduled to go before New York's parole board during the fourth week of August, in what will be his 10th attempt to win his freedom. Chapman, 63, is serving a 20 years to life sentence in the Wende Correctional Facility in western New York after being convicted of shooting and killing Lennon outside his Manhattan Dakota apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. Chapman was last denied parole in 2016, with the board noting he has since described the murder as "selfish and evil." The board determined that Chapman should remain behind bars, in part because of the premeditated and "celebrity-seeking" nature of the crime. A decision on his latest hearing is expected within two weeks. - AP, 8/15/18...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney released the third single from his upcoming album 
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Phil Collins revealed that he's open to a reunion with his iconic prog-rock band Genesis -- if his 17-year-old son Nic Collins is sitting in for him on drums. "I wouldn't say there isn't not a possibility. Me, Mike [Rutherford] and Tony [Banks] are pretty close still. I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't play the drums, but anything is possible," Collins said. Collins says that he spoke to Rutherford and Banks when they saw his show in London last summer. "They both were raving about Nic," says Collins. "Mike made the appropriate comment of, 'He just gets it. He just gets what is needed and what is required and why you're doing this for that song.' I thought that was a wonderful thing to say. He was 16 at that point. I think that, yeah, if we did anything, I think it would have to be with Nic on drums, because I don't think I'm capable of it. I think their opinion of Nic is high enough for them to take him on board as part of the band.... I did mention to Tony very quietly if we did anything again it would be with Nic on drums. He kind of didn't say no. But I'm not sure if he heard me or not." - Rolling Stone/Billboard, 8/15/18...... It was a head-banging extravaganza down under when more than 450 guitarists gathered at the Sydney Guitar Festival in Australia to perform the AC/DC classic "Highway to Hell" in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for most people playing the same song on the electric guitar at once. Participants used small battery-powered amps while Australian band the Choirboys performed the song onstage. "They were tiny amps but they got the sound happening," festival spokeswoman Tatiana Marchant said. "It was such a great atmosphere." The previous record was 368 guitarists set in India in 2013. It could take Guinness upward of six weeks to verify the Sydney record. - Billboard, 8/15/18...... Records from the classic rock and pop era have dominated the midyear marketplace report compiled by online music retailer Discogs.com. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Michael Jackson's Thriller came in at Nos. 1 and 2 respectively atop the online vinyl/CD/cassette seller's top 30 most popular albums list. All told, Pink Floyd landed five titles in the top 30 -- and four in the top 11 (Wish You Were Here, No. 4; The Wall, No. 7; The Piper At the Gates of Dawn, No. 11) -- tying the Beatles for the most albums in that region. Dark Side of the Moon also landed atop Discogs' lists for most wanted albums, most collected albums and top catalog sales. Other artists among the top 10 of the most popular titles include Fleetwood Mac (Rumours, No. 3), the Beatles (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, No. 5; Abbey Road, No. 8), Dire Straits (Brothers In Arms, No. 6) and Led Zeppelin (IV, No. 9; Led Zeppelin II, No. 10). - Billboard, 8/15/18...... The BBC announced on Aug. 15 that it will not appeal a recent court ruling in favor of singer Cliff Richard who had sued over the U.K. public broadcaster's coverage of a police raid at his home in 2014. The BBC had reported that Richard was being investigated for claims of child sex assault in the past. Richard, who was never charged or arrested, sued for invasion of privacy for naming him and airing helicopter footage of his apartment, which was searched by police as part of the probe. In July a judge awarded the music star an initial £210,000 ($274,000 at the time) in damages, saying that possible further damages for the financial impact on Richard, such as canceled book deals or concerts, would still have to be assessed. The BBC said back then that it would look at an appeal and criticized the court decision as a threat to the freedom of press. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/15/18...... Aerosmith announced on Aug. 15 it will launch a Las Vegas residency on Apr. 6, 2019 at the Park Theater, the same venue where Lady Gaga will launch her own residency in December. Aerosmith announced 18 shows for April, June and July. Tickets, priced from $75 to $750, go on sale Aug. 24. Promoter Live Nation says the residency will be the "world's first THX Certified live performance presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound." - AP/Billboard, 8/15/18...... 
After hinting on his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube accounts on Aug. 14 that he was planning a comeback of sorts, long-absent former Journey singer Steve Perry released a video on Aug. 15 for "No Erasin'," his first new song on 20 years. The mid-tempo song begins, appropriately enough, with the line, "I know it's been a long time coming," before going into a tale of "love that won't go." The video features Perry performing the song in a studio with a band. Perry also took to his website to explain his absence and announce his new album, 
The Guess Who have just finished recording their first new studio album in 23 years, The Future Is What It Used To Be. One of its tracks, "In America," reflects some of the ambivalence have toward their neighbors in the south. "The chorus says, 'In America, you can get anything you want, you can get anything that you need,'" says drummer Garry Peterson, the sole remaining founding member in the current lineup. "It's in the spirit that America's a land of opportunity; If you really want to work hard you can become a rock musician, you can become a brain surgeon, you can become a doctor -- you can become president, if that's really what you want to be. It kind of celebrates that," Peterson adds. Peterson also says the band's No. 1 US single 
Randy Newman performed a 28-song set a L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 12. The audience seemed to be just happy to see the legendary singer/songwriter after he canceled a string of dates in Europe earlier this year to undergo urgently needed knee surgery. Newman performed such classic hits as "Leave Your Hat On," Short People," "You've Got a Friend in Me," and "I Love L.A.," along with other favorites. He even name-checked Tom Jones and Joe Cocker as "other geriatric artists" who had done "Leave Your Hat On," while pointing out their cover versions were each "real excited about sex" while his writerly intent was to portray the song's narrator as more "on the fence." - Billboard, 8/13/18...... Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley accused her ex-husband of stealing "millions" from her in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 14. During her testimony, Presley said she believed her estranged husband Michael Lockwood reviewed the postnuptial agreement before he signed it on November 2007. When asked by Lockwood's attorney whether she thought it was fair that Lockwood did not receive any spousal support if their marriage ended, Presley answered, "Correct." "You thought it was fair because you would not have wanted a man who wanted money from you, had you known if he was that way, right?" the attorney asked Presley. "Not true," she answered. At the heart of the legal drama between the feuding exes is whether or not the postnuptial agreement signed by Presley and Lockwood is valid. Presley filed for divorce from Lockwood on June 2016 after 10 years of marriage. They have two twin 9-year old daughters, Harper and Finley. - RadarOnline.com, 8/14/18...... Actress Patricia Benoit, who played Nancy Remington, the sweetheart and eventual wife of Wally Cox's character on the 1950s NBC sitcom Mister Peepers, died at her home in Port Chester, N.Y., on Aug. 12. She was 91. NBC's Mister Peepers, broadcast live from a New York theater for three seasons from July 1952 to June 1955, starred Cox (later the voice of the superhero Underdog and a Hollywood Squares regular) as the mild-mannered Robinson Peepers, a science teacher at Jefferson City Junior High. Benoit's Nancy was a nurse and the object of Peepers' awkward affection. Ms. Benoit also starred as a divorcee on the short-lived 1958 NBC soap opera Today Is Ours and later worked on CBS' As the World Turns as well. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/12/18...... Morgana King, an acclaimed jazz singer who released dozens of albums but is perhaps best known for portraying the wife of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in the first two Godfather films, died March 22 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 87. Ms. King's death had gone unreported until a friend, John Hoglund, wrote about her recently week on Facebook. Ms. King had a music breakthrough in 1964 with her operatic version of "A Taste of Honey," originally composed by Bobby Scott and also recorded by the likes of Herb Alpert and Billy Dee Williams. At the 1965 Grammys, she lost to the Beatles (who also performed "A Taste of Honey" early in their career) in the category of best new artist. Ms. King, who also had a hit with "Corcovado" ("Quiet Nights"), made a comeback with 1973's New Beginnings and recorded her final nine albums for Muse Records. In Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), Ms. King as Mama Carmela Corleone dances with Brando and sings "Luna mezz' 'o mare" during the opening wedding sequence. When she didn't want to be photographed in a coffin in the 1974 sequel, Coppola's mother, Italia, doubled for her. She also appeared in Brooklyn State of Mind (1998) with Danny Aiello and on the ABC soap opera All My Children. - Billboard, 8/15/18.
There are rumors that AC/DC are working on new music with their former frontman, Brian Johnson, and their ex-drummer, Phil Rudd, after the pair were recently spotted together in Vancouver. Johnson voluntarily left the band in 2016 after suffering hearing loss, before being replaced by Axl Rose. Rudd, meanwhile, departed in 2015 after a string of publicized legal problems, and was replaced by Chris Slade for the band's Rock or Bust World Tour. AC/DC have recorded all their albums in Vancouver over the last two decades, and Johnson and Rudd were spotted outside the city's Warehouse Studios, where it's thought the other members of AC/DC are working on a new LP. - New Musical Express, 8/8/18...... Hall & Oates are among the artists who are releasing a classic album from their catalog on pink vinyl to benefit the cancer charity Gilda's Club NYC. The limited edition pink vinyl LPs will be available at retailers across the country from Sept. 25 to Oct. 26, and can be ordered at 
During a recent interview on SiriusXM's Beatles Channel, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry seemingly confirmed his iconic hard rock band will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019 with a residency in Las Vegas. "We're going to be doing a residency in Vegas starting next spring," Perry said. "What we want to do is something that I haven't seen before just downsizing our live show, just playing in a smaller place. We want to do something different. We're in the middle of the production now. What we're talking about is having an experience that you wouldn't be able to see on a regular Aerosmith tour," he added. Aerosmith is expected to announce the full details of the residency, which Perry says he's quite excited about, on Aug. 15 with the band performs on NBC's Today show. Meanwhile, a van used by Aerosmith has just been discovered in a Massachusetts forest during the filming of the popular antiques reality show American Pickers. Hosts Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe stumbled upon the 1964 American Harvester Metro van while filming a new episode, and its authenticity has been confirmed by former Aerosmith member, Ray Tabano, who was with the band early on when it traveled New England playing to smaller crowds. The owner of the property in Chesterfield, Mass., about 100 miles west of Boston said the van was there when he bought the land from someone with a connection to Aerosmith. The pickers paid $25,000 for the dilapidated vehicle, with Wolfe noting it is "a piece of American rock and roll history." - New Musical Express/AP, 8/10/18...... After Paul McCartney filmed a segment for CBS late night host James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" series in June showing the Beatles icon and Corden riding around in McCartney's icon's hometown of Liverpool and the 23-minute clip became so popular, CBS has announced it will air a one-hour special, Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney Live From Liverpool, later in August. Featuring never-before-seen footage, the special will air in prime time on the network on Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. EST/PST. Meanwhile, McCartney took to Twitter on Aug. 6 to share a photo of himself recording his upcoming album Egypt Station at London's Abbey Road Studios. The photo depicts Paul putting the finishing touches on the LP at the edge of a sound board and empty pages of sheet music waiting to be filled. Egypt Station is due on Sept. 7. - Billboard, 8/7/18...... The estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music have announced a celebration for what would have been Jackson's 60th birthday on Aug. 29 will be held on that evening at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. The "Michael Jackson Diamond Birthday Celebration in Las Vegas" will kick off with an early evening performance of "Michael Jackson One" by Cirque du Soleil, followed by an exclusive after-party at Daylight Beach Club. Jackson fans from around the world are expected to flock to the celebration, which is expected to be attended by Jackson's children Paris and Prince Jackson as well as his brothers, Jackie, Marlon and Tito Jackson. There is no word yet on whether Sony plans to release or reissue any Jackson material around the birthday. - Billboard, 8/6/18...... 
Stevie Nicks will be returning to the FX series American Horror Story this fall as it premieres its eight season, dubbed American Horror Story: Apocalypse. Ryan Murphy, the creator of the horror anthology series which will be in its eight season, tweeted on Aug. 8 that Nicks and previous cast members including Taissa Farmiga and Gabourey Sidibe will be together again and he's "so thrilled." The new season will be a crossover between American Horror Story: Murder House and American Horror Story: Coven, which 
Former NSYNC pop boy band member Lance Bass is set to meet with bosses of cable TV's HGTV after the U.S. lifestyle channel outbid him for the iconic home shown in the opening and closing scenes of the '70s sitcom