Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 6th, 2019

Dressed in a dazzling white outfit, '70s R&B singer Gladys Knight kicked off Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Feb. 3 with an elegant rendition of the national anthem. Knight, a seven-time Grammy winner, previously said in a statement that she saw the opportunity to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a chance to "unite and represent our country" after several African-American artists declined an offer to sing at the event in support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was fired by the team for "taking a knee" during the natinal anthem in protest of the country's treatment of African-Americans. "I hope that this anthem will touch people in a different way," Knight said. "We've been singing it forever. But this time I would hope that they would feel it so deeply that it would lift them to a higher place. That's what I feel when I sing this song." Meanwhile, the much-ballyhooed series of Super Bowl commercials featured music by such '70s artists as Queen ("Don't Stop Me Now" in an Amazon spot), The Who ("Pinball Wizard" in a Toyota ad) and Bob Dylan ("Blowin' in the Wind" for Budweiser). - Billboard, 2/3/19...... After more than 50 years in the music business, Linda Ronstadt has released her first live album ever -- Live in Hollywood, a 13-track set from an April 1980 concert at Television Center Studios in Hollywood that was originally taped for an HBO special. Speaking to Billboard, Ronstadt recalled that the concert "was insufferably hot." "It was a small studio and we had an audience, so it heated the room up quite a lot. And then they had really hot, really big lights on us," she said. "It's something that should've been considered, but we were brave little soldiers and pushed through it. But it was really too hot to make music." Ronstadt says she didn't even know the recording existed until one of her producers, John Boylan, discovered the master tape in 2018, and even know is ambivalent about the recording seeing the light of day. "It was recorded for television, which is unfortunate because television compresses things so much," she explains. "So it didn't turn out to be a really hi-fi record. It turned out to be a television record." Ronstadt adds that she "just kind of smiled through it" when she heard the tapes. "I don't like to listen to stuff I've recorded," she says. "It's just another time, and it's a frozen in time kind of thing. I always think, 'Why did I sing that note like that? Why did I phrase it like that? Why wasn't it faster? Why wasn't it slower?' I always see things I would've corrected in the studio, so (listening to the recordings) is a fool's errand for me." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who performed her last concert during 2009 after noticing she was having problems with her voice, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2013 and now cannot sing at all, "not even in the shower." She recently told CBS Sunday Morning that she busies herself now with watching operatic performances on YouTube and working with the Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center in San Pablo, Calif., which helps teach Latin American youth about their culture. She'll be leading a trip to Mexico with the group later in February. She's also working on writing a project about the Sonoran Desert, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the southwest. "These (projects) tend to come up naturally and in sort of an organic fashion. I don't go looking for them," she says, adding that she tries not to bemoan the loss of her music career. "It just seems so long ago, it was another person. I don't have the same life now. I tried my best. I like to think that I gave it an earnest shot but, y'know, you can never be completely satisfied. It's always what would you do the next time -- you can improve this, you can improve that. But I can't create new (music) anymore, so I think about other things. And to be honest I have more home life now, and I like that better." - Billboard, 2/4/19...... Several of Cher's elaborate costumes are set to go on display at a "Camp: Notes on Fashion" display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Longtime Cher fashion designer Bob Mackie, who is also the cosume designer for the Broadway musical "The Cher Show," tells Fashionista.com that the pieces will go on display in May at the exhibit, which was first announced in Oct. 2018. This year's accompanying Met Gala, which will have the same "Camp" theme, will be hosted by Lady Gaga, Harry Styles and Serena Williams. - Billboard, 2/5/19...... Paul McCartney has been awarded one of the UK's prestigious Blue Peter badges, in honor of his inspirational music career. Macca will accept his award during the Feb. 7 Blue Peter award show on CBBC. Upon receiving his badge, McCartney said: "That is beautiful, that's a great badge. I will wear it with great pride. Yes! I made it!" Meanwhile in other Beatles-related news, a set of legal letters that foretold the split of the Fab Four in 1970 are set to be sold for a total of $550,000. The pair of letters were sent to Paul's lawyers John and Lee Eastman in January and April that year. John and Lee were also the father and brother of Paul's late first wife Linda McCartney, whom he married in March 1969. In the first letter, all four Beatles members and Apple Corps head Neil Aspinall write to John Eastman to inform him that "we retain you and authorise you to act on our behalf in negotiations in respect of all contracts proposed." However the second piece of correspondence, which has become known as "the split letter," sees John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr end their working relationship with Lee Eastman to work with the Rolling Stones' managers Allan Klein, while McCartney would stay working with the Eastman family. Memorabilia auctioneers Moments In Time are selling the January 1969 letter for $225,000, and the April 1969 letter for $325,000. - New Musical Express, 2/5/19...... Canadian singer-songwriting legend Gordon Lightfoot has announced he is working on his first new album in 15 years. "It's kind of philosophical and it's kind of funny," the 80-year-old Lightfoot says of his 21st album. "It's got a great beat and my arrangements are real good too. I write all my own arrangements for my band." The still-untitled album is important to the "If You Could Read My Mind" singer, because he says he didn't get to properly finish his last studio collection, 2004's Harmony, due to a near-fatal ruptured artery. "Harmony was done by using just guitar and vocal tracks as a basic track. And it was stuff that I recorded a year before I became ill," he says. "So we looked way back in the file and we found a number of tunes I had recorded just using guitar and vocal. And the guys then overdubbed all their parts on the very last album. I wasn't actually able to complete that album in a professional way. The songs were good, but the production was not up to radio standard." Asked when the new album will be ready he says, "It's gonna take a year. It's there, but it will happen for sure because I already have the material." Lightfoot adds he's eager to share his new music with the world, and will hit the road in North American with his "80 Years Strong" tour on Mar. 4 in Sacramento, Calif. He'll play 26 dates in California, Ontario and selected cites in the eastern US before wrapping on May 19 in Boston. Though he is understandably cautious about his past serious illness, Lightfoot says he has a regular exercise regime he has kept up since 1980 which he credits that with a great part of his longevity. "The [album] I'm working on right now, provided I don't fall again or get sick again, I will be able to carry through and produce it in a highly professional manner. If I'm still walking around we'll finish it," he says, laughing at the last part. - Billboard, 2/4/19...... Elton John announced on Feb. 5 that he'll be taking his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour to Australia and New Zealand beginning on Nov. 30 in Perth. The Australasian leg of the tour will span 18 arena and open-air shows and will be the veteran British rocker's "most extensive tour of the region to date," according to an announcement made by promoter Chugg Entertainment. As the itinerary stands, New Zealand will host three shows, the final at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on Feb. 9, 2020. John is expected to announce additional shows in Australia and New Zealand later in the year. "I always love coming back to Australia," Elton said in a statement. "Ever since my first visit in 1971 it has held a very special place in my heart." - Billboard, 2/5/19...... An appeals court has ruled that Eddie Money's decision to fire his former drummer Glenn Symmonds is protected activity under California's anti-SLAPP statute. In June 2016, Money filed an anti-SLAPP motion in response to Symmonds' claims that he was fired because of his age and disabilities from bladder cancer and a back injury, arguing that playing music is a First Amendment right and Money's choice of bandmembers is protected activity stemming from that right. However Judge Rafael Ongkeko denied the motion, finding Symmonds' lawsuit arose from the alleged discriminatory conduct and not the decision to fire him. It didn't reach the second prong of the anti-SLAPP analysis, which addresses the plaintiff's probability of prevailing on the merits of his claim. Symmond's complaint also includes allegations that Money sexually harassed his fiancee. Those claims are not impacted by this decision. Opening arguments in the trial are currently set for August. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/5/19...... NBC has announced it is scrapping a planned live musical rendition of the Broadway play "Hair," which had been set to air on the network on May 19. The network says it hopes to find a more family-friendly title to compete against the season finale of ABC's American Idol and the series finale of the HBO series Game of Thrones. "Hair" -- the 50-year-old Broadway hit of the hippie generation -- explored topics including the Vietnam War, drugs, race, gender and sexual identity and included brief nudity in most of its previous stagings. NBC's previous live musicals have included "The Sound of Music," "Peter Pan," "The Wiz" and "Hairspray." - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/4/19...... Singer/songwriter Paul Anka has signed a long-term multimillion dollar deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing, the company announced on Feb. 4. In addition to Anka's music publishing, Primary Wave will also help manage Anka's name and likness to build brand awareness for his music, and oversee his daily digital marketing activies, including tour marketing, e-commerce and direct-to-fan initiatives. "Paul Anka is an American icon and has penned some of the greatest songs in American culture," said Lawrence Mestel, CEO and founder of Primary Wave Music Publishing, in a statement. "He transcends time and has the most engaging, youthful spirit. It's an honor to have Paul in the Primary Wave family." Anka is a recipient of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame's Johnny Mercer Award and the prestigious French award Chevalier de Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has been appointed to the Order of Canada and he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2018. - Billboard, 2/4/19...... Veteran rocker Suzi Quatro, who is preparing for the Mar. 29 release of her new album, No Control, says she is through being "polite" over being chronically snubbed for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The singer/songwriter/bassist made her first mark with the Pleasure Seekers and Cradle during the '60s in her native Detroit, but she really connected after moving to England during the early '70s and worked with producers Mickie Most, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman on records acknowledged as an influence for a slew of others -- most notably on Joan Jett's early band the Runaways. "(Jett) deserves to be in -- she's an excellent artist -- but it's disgusting that I'm not," Quatro says. "I'm a real stickler for the truth, and I'm pissed off that history is being rewritten. I was first, right? I was there before anybody else had a twinkle in their eye -- that's a fact of life. I'm happy that I opened a door because that door needed to be opened. I'm so proud of that, and I get thanked by everybody -- all the girls, they all say 'Thank you, thank you, thank you...' I said in in very early interviews there would be loads of (women) after me and there were. I'm happy about that, absolutely." Quatro continued: "I just don't like being ignored because that's not correct. It's a big fault. I hear from a lot of people -- they say, 'What? You're not in it?!' No -- and my biggest fan is, and that's not right. You can't rewrite history just to suit your organization." Quatro, who currently resides in England, had her greatest success in the U.S. with 1978's If You Knew Suzi, which peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 200 LP chart, and scored a top 5 duet with Chris Norman, "Stumblin' In", concurrent with her recurring late '70s run as Leather Tuscadero on the TV sitcom Happy Days. She's also had No. 1 singles in the U.K. and Australia with "Can the Can," "Devil Gate Drive" and "48 Crash," and Quatro acted in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" in London during the mid-80s. "So my feelings are hurt," Quatro says of the Rock Hall exclusion. "I've been very polite about it for many years, and now I don't want to be polite anymore. It doesn't make sense. The truth is the truth, history is history, the timeline is the timeline. I need to be in that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." In the meantime, she's planning to record and hit the road with dates in Australia in February and march, and her story will also be told in a new documentary by Liam Firmager that's expected out later in 2019. - Billboard, 2/4/19...... Queen guitarist Brian May is hitting out at claims that he and fellow Queen member Roger Taylor turned down an offer to perform at the 2019 Oscars, where the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is up for five Academy Awards, including best film and best actor for Rami Malek's portrayal of Freddie Mercury. Earlier in February, the UK paper The Daily Express had reported that May and Taylor rejected the chance to perform at the ceremony, but May took to Instagram on Feb. 2 to dispute the claim. "NOPE! We never turned down playing at the Oscars," May posted on Instagram. "We're just happy and proud that Bohemian Rhapsody has received 5 nominations, and we will be there in support !!!" May previously said of Bohemian Rhapsody: "It came out to s---ty reviews, as some of our work has before, but the public has embraced it magnificently. Everybody gave 200%, from the actors and technicians to the production team and hair and make up, everyone." - New Musical Express, 2/3/19...... Lynyrd Skynyrd have added 21 more dates to their "Last of the Street Survivors" farewell tour, which will kick off its 2019 edition in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on May 10. In addition to festival appearances at Stagecoach and KABOO Texas, the Southern Rockers will play arenas and amphitheaters in New Orleans, Seattle, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver and more. The current slate of dates will close out on Sept. 28 at the Warf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, Ala. They will be joined for select dates by special guests including Bad Company, Cody Jinks and Hank Williams Jr.. Following the Canadian run the band will head to the U.K. and Europe this summer. They will be joined by special guests, English rock band Status Quo, for U.K. dates and Southern rock band Blackberry Smoke for dates in Germany. - Billboard, 2/4/19...... The Grammy Awards' Recording Academy announced on Feb. 5 that the 2019 Grammys ceremony will feature a special tribute to country/pop music legend and eight-time Grammy winner Dolly Parton, who will also take to the Grammy stage for the first time in 18 years to perform her new music. Also paying musical tribute to Parton will be Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and Maren Morris. Parton will then take center stage to sing her latest tunes from her 2018 album, Dumplin' -- the soundtrack to Netflix's original motion picture by the same name starring Jennifer Aniston. The 61st Annual Grammy Awards will take place live from the Staples Center on Feb. 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET, and will be broadcasted on CBS. - Billboard, 2/5/19...... Legendary funk/rock artist George Clinton has announced he'll be launching his final tour with his group Parliament-Funkadelic before retiring from the road after touring and recording for over 50 years. The 77-year-old musician's North American "One Nation Under a Groove" tour will feature Clinton and his funk/soul/rock troupe performing alongside some of the funkiest younger artists of today: Galactic, Dumpstaphunk, Fishbone and Miss Velvet & The Blue Wolf. Clinton will kick off the tour on May 30 at the Miller High Life Theatre in Milwuakee, Wis., and hit Chicago, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Denver and Phoenix before wrapping up at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas on Aug. 18. Even after he retires from the road, Clinton promises the P-Funk tours will continue with a band that includes younger members of his family. "It's always been about the music and the band," Clinton said in a statement. "That's the real P-Funk legacy. They'll still be funkin' long after I stop." - Billboard, 2/5/19...... George Klein, the deep-voiced radio personality who became friends with Elvis Presley in high school and stayed close to the King of Rock 'n' Roll throughout his career, died on Feb. 5 at hospice in Memphis, Tenn. He was 83. Elvis's ex-wife Priscilla Presley said Mr. Klein had been suffering from illness, including pneumonia, for about two weeks prior to his death. Mr. Klein met Elvis in 1948 at Humes High School in Memphis and they were close friends until the rock 'n' roll icon died in 1977. Mr. Klein was part of Presley's entourage, known as the "Memphis Mafia," and enjoyed telling stories about the times he and Presley spent together. Priscilla said her former husband liked Mr. Klein's outgoing personality, his loyalty, and his sense of humor. She called their friendship a "guy's thing," with their own inside jokes and "their own language." Elvis used to affectionately call Mr. Klein "GK." "Their friendship was golden, truly golden," Priscilla said. "I don't think I've ever heard George say anything bad about anybody." Presley served as Mr. Klein's best man, and Mr. Klein was a pallbearer at Presley's funeral. Mr. Klein also appeared in his friend's 1957 film, Jailhouse Rock. When Presley was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, Mr. Klein made the acceptance speech. Mr. Klein hosted a radio show featuring Presley's music on Sirius XM. He had also hosted radio and television shows in Memphis dating to the 1960s. Mr. Klein was known throughout the city, speaking at charity events for no pay, Priscilla said. - AP, 2/6/19.

The Recording Academy announced on Jan. 31 that Diana Ross will give a "very special performance" at the upcoming Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 10 at Los Angeles' Staples Center .Ross, who has racked up more than 100 in sales and streams over the course of her career, received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. The 61st annual awards show will be broadcast on CBS beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. - Billboard, 1/31/19...... Paul Simon performed two tracks from his latest album In the Blue Light on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Jan. 28 and talked about the making of the record, which features re-recordings of Simon's lesser-known songs. Although Simon joked that his 2018 farewell tour was "to bump the prices up," he explained that he is indeed done touring, but will continue to perform and donate the proceeds to causes that he believes in, such as ecological groups and music education. He added that In the Blue Light was a way to revisit some of the songs he wrote in years prior -- not only to cover them, but to "fix them." "I picked 10 songs that I thought were really interesting and good songs that didn't get much attention when they first came out, either because they were on an album that had a bunch of hits or they were on an album that had no hits," Simon told Colbert. "It's really quite a treat as a composer and have the opportunity to go back and fix your mistakes." - Billboard, 1/29/19...... As the Beatles mark the 50th anniversary of their iconic final concert on the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters in London on Jan. 30, 1969, the band announced on Twitter on Jan. 30 that The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson will collaborate with them on a new as-yet-untitled film using 55 hours of previously unreleased footage of the group recording what would become its Grammy Award-winning album Let It Be in January 1969. "We are proud to announce an exciting new collaboration between The Beatles and the acclaimed Academy Award winning director Sir Peter Jackson," the band tweeted. "These studio sessions produced The Beatles' Grammy Award winning album Let It Be, with its Academy Award winning title song... The album was eventually released 18 months later in May 1970, several months after the band had broken up. Peter Jackson said the 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us, ensures this movie will be the ultimate fly on the wall experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about," the tweet continued. British director Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg had originally intended to use the footage he filmed half a century ago, alongside 140 hours of audio, for a television special. But as the Beatles' Twitter account noted, it "organically" morphed into Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary Let It Be. "It's simply an amazing historical treasure-trove. Sure, there's moments of drama -- but none of the discord this project has long been associated with," Jackson added. "Watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating -- it's funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate." - Huffingtonpost.com, 1/30/19...... Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson has pleaded for people to "let Michael rest" in the first televised interview from a Jakcson family member after the premeire of the controversial King of Pop biopic Leaving Neverland at the Sundance film festival on Jan. 25. Jermaine, appearing on the UK TV program Good Morning Britain on Jan. 27, upheld his family's stated position that Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the documentary subjects who claim to be survivors of Michael's abuse, are "admitted liars." "Just leave us alone," a choked up Jermaine said. "Leave him alone. Let him rest. Please, let him rest. He deserves to rest." Jermaine said he's "1,000 percent" sure of his brother's innocence and called the allegations in Finding Neverland "nonsense." Finding Neverland director Dan Reed hit back at Jackson's family and estate on Jan. 28, telling The Hollywood Reporter that the Jackson camp has "a very precious asset to protect." "Every time a song plays, a cash register goes 'ka-ching.' It doesn't surprise me that they've come out fighting in defense of their asset," Reed said. In the bitter war of words, the estate previously called his film "a tabloid character assassination" and insisted it "isn't a documentary" while the family called him and the film's two accusers "opportunists." Meanwhile Dame Jame Goodall, one of the world's most foremost primatologists, has said she believes Jackson assaulted his pet chimpanzee Bubbles while living with the pop icon at his Neverland ranch. Despite appearing to live a life of pampered luxury, Goodall claims that Bubbles was frequently attacked and that Jackson lost his temper when she personally presented the theory to him. "I went to see him and we talked about Bubbles. I ticked him off," she told TMZ.com. "Bubbles is still alive and he's beautiful. But when he was with Michael he was being beaten," she added. Michael famously adopted the unlikely pet from an animal trainer in the late 1980s, before it became a frequent companion that travelled with him across the globe. - Jezebel.com/New Musical Express, 1/30/19...... Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley is claiming his former bandmate, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, once "groped" his wife in a scathing social media post that also accuses his former band members of control freakery, untrustworthiness and much, much worse. In the 330-word screed, Frehley claims Simmons "groped" his wife and "propositioned" her some time ago, and blasts Simmons and Paul Stanley for undermining his career through the years. "Your slanderous remarks about my bad habits over the years has cost me millions of dollars and now that I'm over 12-years sober you're still saying I can't be trusted to play a whole nights show," Frehley writes. "Well that's exactly what I've been doing for the last 12-years with different configurations of 'The Ace Frehley Band' to you and Paul's dismay." Frehley, who split twice from Kiss twice (1982, 2001), also states the pair "tried to derail my solo career multiple times over the years unsuccessfully," and reckons newly-published comments by Simmons "have made me realize you're just an asshole and a sex addict who's being sued by multiple women, and you're just trying to sweep it all under the carpet." Although some Kiss fans had hoped Frehley and the band had buried the hatchet when they performed together for the first time in 16 years at a Hurricane Harvey benefit show in St. Paul, Minn., it is unlikely they will appear together anytime soon. Paul Stanley says that Kiss' "End of the Road World Tour," which kicked off on Jan. 31 in Vancouver, is going to last a few years but "is in no way a reunion tour." "It's been 45 years," Stanley says, "and we want to be able to do this with the fortitude and with the respect for our legacy that it deserves. We felt it was time to make a conscious decision that this is the last tour and go out in a blaze of glory and take a victory lap and spend a very special evening with fans around that world." Kiss has currently has dates booked through Dec. 3, including a Kiss Kruise setting sail on Oct. 30. - Billboard, 1/30/19...... According to the American rock band Terrorizer, AC/DC will be releasing a new album in 2019 featuring vocalist Brian Johnson. "We ran into Brian Johnson from AC/DC at the airport today after the flight home," the band posted on Facebook. "We asked him about the rumours of him being on the new AC/DC album and he said 'yes' and that he is 'sick of denying it.' So that was a cool surprise ending to the tour." In 2018, it was reported that AC/DC were working on a new album that will feature the work of their late rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young on "every track," according to "a reliable source inside the AC/DC camp." Malcolm died in November 2017 after retiring from the band due to early onset dementia. Johnson meanwhile was forced to quit the band in 2016 after suffering hearing loss and was replaced on the band's tour by Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose. Johnson was then rumoured to be reuniting with the rock legends for a new record after being spotted with the band's former drummer Phil Rudd in Vancouver. - New Musical Express, 1/30/19...... Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters is urging Maroon 5 to show solidarity with NFL player Colin Kaepernick and "take a knee" during Maroon 5's halftime show at Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta on Feb. 3. In a statement, Waters said: "My colleagues Maroon 5, Travis Scott, and Big Boi are performing during the halftime show at the Super Bowl this coming Sunday, I call upon them to 'take a knee' on stage in full sight. I call upon them to do it in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, to do it for every child shot to death on these mean streets, to do it for every bereaved mother and father and brother and sister." There is also a petition on Change.org/takeaknee aimed at persuading the three music acts to take a knee during their performances. - New Musical Express, 1/31/19...... In other Pink Floyd-related news, David Gilmour has announced he is auctioning several of his iconic guitars for charity, including his cherished black Stratocaster. "These guitars have been very good to me," Gilmour said in a statement. "They're my friends. They have given me lots of music. I just think it's time that they went off and served someone else. I have had my time with them. And of course the money that they will raise will do an enormous amount of good in the world, and that is my intention." Among the approximately 120 guitars that will go on auction at Christie's in New York this June include his signature black Fender Stratocaster "The Black Strat" -- a guitar that he played on "Comfortably Numb," "Money," and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." Also included in the sale is his 12-string Stratocaster that he wrote "Wish You Were Here"' as well as the Ovation six-string that he's played for nearly every live performance of "Comfortably Numb." Gilmour says he's also selling the guitars to declutter his house. "I didn't want to get too ancient and have a whole stash of guitars sitting around doing nothing," he said. "And frankly, too many of them are guitars I just don't have time to play often enough. They will give joy to other people." - NME, 1/30/19...... Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has told Rolling Stone magazine that the Stones are now set to head back into the studio for a week before embarking out on their first US tour in five years. Richards said that he had spent the holiday period assessing the material they'd already written. "Sometimes it's not as much writing as listening to what's been written and figuring it out, and honing and all kinds of stuff," he said. "It's very boring. It's like a carpentry shop." Asked about the band's upcoming tour and the feeling of playing live after so many years doing so, Richards said that he was "not at all" tired of life on the road. "I mean, hey, how bad can it be?" he said. "You get up there and do what you love to do, and fortunately so do millions of others. It's not something to turn your nose up at, you know." Meanwhile, Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood's horse is said to have a good chance of winning the British Grand National Run, the world's most grueling steeplechase competition. Organizers say Wood's horse, Sandymount Duke, is among 112 entries that will be whittled down to 40 runners for the race on Apr. 6. Sandymount Duke has won 10 of 30 races and runs in the 71-year-old Wood's red and white silks. Wood bred the 10-year-old gelding, which is trained by Jessica Harrington in Ireland. Race organizers hope Wood can attend the 4 1/2-mile (6,400-meter) race near Liverpool in northwest England because the band doesn't begin their tour of the U.S. until Apr. 20. - New Musical Express/AP, 1/28/19...... The Who announced on Jan. 28 that they'll play a huge show at London's Wembley Stadium on July 6 with openers Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and English indie rockers Kaiser Chiefs. In a cryptic video shared on Twitter teasing the concert, a line from their hit "My Generation" flashes up on a venue banner screen and the Who's iconic target bullseyes are displayed either side. Some fans have speculated that the announcement could be linked to the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia, their 1979 seminal film which chronicled the '60s clashes between Mods and Rockers on Brighton Beach. The news of the concert comes on the heels of the band recently announcing their 2019 North American "Moving On!" tour, which kicks off on May 7 in Grand Rapids, Mich. - Billboard/NME, 1/28/19...... Olivia-Newton John is among the native Australian performers who have been recognized in the Australia Day Honours. In a statement, Newton-John said she was "excited and delighted and honored" after she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the highest award in the awards system, for her service to community health. "I am so proud to be an Aussie and this couldn't have come at a better time," says the artist, who is currently battling cancer for a third time. Newton-John previously received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 1979. - Billboard, 1/30/19...... Wayne Newton is marking the 60th anniversary of his first Las Vegas hotel appearance with a return to the Caesars Palace casino-resort. His Caesars residency started Jan. 28 with dates scheduled through May. "It's hard for me to articulate, much less think about it," Newton told the AP, referring to the anniversary. "I was here when Caesars (Palace) was built. This hotel for me has always represented the flagship of the Strip." The "Danke Schoen" crooner will be backed by a live band during his "Wayne Newton: Up Close and Personal" shows. He will perform some of his favorite tunes and share personal career highlights through songs, film clips, anecdotes and questions from the audience. Newton, 76, asked the casino operator to lift the venue's age restriction to allow young people to attend. "I promised myself when I left the lounges that I would never be in a room again that had those kinds of restrictions. There's nothing in our show that would offend anyone, even the youngsters," Newton said. "That doesn't mean that the show is geared to particularly that group, but it is geared not to exclude that group demographically." Newton's show was previously at a showroom at Bally's casino-resort, but it ended in December as the venue shifted toward magic acts. - AP, 1/27/19...... John Travolta is sporting a new look these days -- the Saturday Night Fever star debuted a completely shaved head to ring in 2019 -- and he says his new look is here to stay for a while. "[It] feels great," Travolta told People magazine at the G'Day USA Black Tie Gala sponsored by Qantas airlines on Jan. 26. "Listen, my new look came on a whim. It was a New Year's Eve idea. Because everyone liked it so much, I decided to keep it for a while. So, we'll see." Travolta, 64, debuted his new look on Jan. 6 in an Instagram selfie with his 18-year-old daughter Ella Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, then thanked fans for their supportive comments in a video with his 8-year-old son, Benjamin. "Hey there, Ben Travolta, John Travolta here. We're dirt biking today and we just got the great news that it's hit over a million followers on Instagram," the actor said while wearing a cap on his head. "We love you and we thank you and also, thanks for liking the new hairdo," he added, momentarily lifting his hat up to show off his new look. "Yeah." Travolta previously had lock longs throughout the month of December. - People.com, 1/28/19...... Once thought to be erased and lost forever, the first ever TV performance of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust has been unearthed for a new documentary. In June 1972, Bowie made his TV debut as his new and most legendary incarnation on ITV's Lift Off with Ayshea -- a month before his now iconic Top Of The Pops appearance. It was feared that the footage would never been saved again, as it was not stored by the station. However, it has now emerged that the performance was recorded by one viewer and has been found on old computer tape. It will be televised as part of the BBC's new documentary David Bowie: The First Five Years - Finding Fame. Speaking to the Radio Times, director Francis Whately said that the tape was in very bad condition after slowly being "baked" in high temperatures and degrading over decades. "For fans, it is something of a Holy Grail," said Whately. "It would fall apart if we played it, so it's had to be very carefully restored. It will be a real coup if it comes off." - New Musical Express, 1/29/19...... In other Bowie-related news, Bowie's movie director son Duncan Jones is hitting out at plans for a new Bowie biopic starring Johnny Flynn. It was confirmed on Jan. 31 that Flynn will portray Bowie in Stardust, which traces the star's 1971 trip to America that inspired the creation of Ziggy Stardust. However, Jones has now confirmed that the film is going ahead without the approval of Bowie's family -- and there has been no approval to feature his music in it. "Pretty certain nobody has been granted music rights for ANY biopic & I would know," Jones posted on Twitter. He added: "I'm not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn t know. I'm saying that as it stands, this movie won't have any of dads music in it, & I can't imagine that changing." - NME, 2/1/19...... Character actor Dick Miller, who starred in Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood and whose six-decade career included all of Joe Dante's movies, died on Jan. 30 in Toluca Lake, Calif. He was 90. His resume includes more than 150 film and TV credits ranging from 1950s westerns to 2000s features including Dante's Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Burying the Ex. Along the way he appeared in films by such acclaimed directors as Martin Scorsese (New York, New York), James Cameron (The Terminator) and Jonathan Demme. On the small screen, he guested in such memorable series as Dragnet, The Untouchables, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Virginian, Mannix, McCloud, Police Woman, Police Story, Soap, Alice, Taxi, Police Squad!, NYPD Blue, ER and Star Trek: The Next Generation. - Deadline.com, 1/30/19...... R&B singer James Ingram, who scored two No. 1 hits and earned two Grammy Awards during his decades-long career, died on Jan. 29 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 66. "I have lost my dearest friend and creative partner James Ingram to the Celestial Choir. He will always be cherished, loved and remembered for his genius, his love of family and his humanity," Ingram's friend and creative partner Debbie Allen posted on Twitter. "I am blessed to have been so close. We will forever speak his name," she added. Ingram collected two Grammys during his career, for his song "One Hundred Ways" which won best male R&B performance in 1981 and for his duet with Michael McDonald, "Yah Mo B There," which won best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals in 1984. Ingram charted nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including a pair of No. 1s: "Baby Come to Me," with Patti Austin, in 1983, and "I Don't Have the Heart" in 1990. Other top 20-charting Hot 100 hits included "Just Once" (No. 17 in 1981, Quincy Jones featuring Ingram), "Yah Mo Be There" (No. 19 in 1984, with McDonald) and "Somewhere Out There" (No. 2 in 1987, with Linda Ronstadt). The Akron, Oh., native also logged 19 hits on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart and 18 entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. He also tallied hits as a songwriter, co-penning Michael Jackson's top 10 Hot 100 hit "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," from the Thriller album, as well as songs recorded by The Pointer Sisters, George Benson, Ray Charles, Shalamar and others. - Billboard, 1/29/19...... Former ABC News and Good Morning America anchor Steve Bell died on Jan. 25 in Muncie, Ind. He was 83. Mr. Bell was the first anchor for ABC News' Good Morning America in 1975 and covered a slew of historical events over the years. During his time as a reporter in the early '70s, Mr. Bell covered the Vietnam War, where he was once captured by the Viet Cong and held at gunpoint, the Watergate scandal, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy. Following his tenure in the field, Mr. Bell went on to teach journalism at Ball State University's College of Communication Information and Media in Muncie, where he taught telecommunications from 1992 until his retirement in 2007. Mr. Bell, who graduated from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, is survived by wife Joyce, and daughters Allison and Hillary. - PopCulture.com, 1/27/19.