The Who wrapped the first leg of its ambitious Moving On tour in Pittsburgh on May 30 before it heads to England for a July 6 show at London's Wembley Stadium. On the tour, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and company have been delving into some of the most iconic rock opera tracks of all time as they're backed by an orchestra, opening the show with the first five tracks from Tommy before diving into a frenzied "Pinball Wizard" and "We're Not Gonna Take It." During the show, the orchestra is onstage for an hour and 40 minutes before The Who take over for 25 minutes or so for band-only runs through hits and deep tracks, such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Tea & Theatre." The orchestra then returns for the final Quadrophenia set, ending with an explosive "Baba O'Riley." "We've had glitches every night," says orchestra conductor Keith Levenson. "But it's The Who. It's a dangerous band. It's not like we're doing Rod Stewart Sings the American Songbook, where you play one note all night and you're not playing with one of the greatest drummers in the world [Zak Starkey]." The Who will return to America for a second leg of the tour this summer. - Billboard, 5/30/19...... 
Carlos Santana has shared a new video for "Candombe Cumbele," the closing track from his new studio album Africa Speaks. "Candombe Cumbele" is, according to the Grammy-winning guitarist and bandleader, "the basket that will hold the things that I want to do in the future." "It's a Budu ritual," Santana explains. "When you hear this, the closest thing we've had is on Christmas Eve, when you have the Pope going 'the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, Nabisco, Fig Newson, Amen.' You're drinking the blood of Christ, right, to account for the sins of mankind. That's a ritual; I don't care what people call it -- anything that has to do with blood and sacrifice is a ritual, whether it's Catholic or Haiti or Africa or American Indian or whatever. A ritual is a ritual, and 'Cumbele' is ground zero. Santana says Africa Speaks was culled from 200 tracks he'd accumulated for the project; 49 were recorded from which the 11 were chosen (13 for a Target exclusive edition). "Sometimes we were recording, like seven songs a day, one right after the other," Santana says. Santana will be playing some Africa Speaks material during his summer Supernatural Tour, which kicks off June 22 in Phoenix, celebrating not only the 20th anniversary of his Grammy Award-winning Supernatural album but also the 50th anniversary of his band's recording career. An Africa Speaks tour, he says, will take place during 2020, playing in theaters. He's also booked to play on the original Woodstock festival anniversary weekend at both the Bethel Arts Center (Aug. 17) on the original site and at the embattled Woodstock 50 in Watkins Glen, N.Y. Africa Speaks hits stores on June 7. - Billboard, 5/30/19...... A monthlong "Unfiltered" exhibit of photos of Keith Richards and some of rock's other legendary acts opened on May 23 at West Hollywood's Sunset Marquis Hotel. Photographer Timothy White says that Richards "was just easy" to work with. "Here I am with this like rock idol god, you know?" White says. "And he was unpretentious. Shows up by himself, met him in a bar, had a drink, played a little pool, went for a walk, just started taking pictures on the street. Like, who does that, you know?" White's photos from that day's session -- during which Richards was notably mobbed by a swarm of fans and police officers -- were just a few of many represented at the exhibition, whose opening gala drew the likes of Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Other photos taken by such legendary rock photographers as Bob Gruen, Lynn Goldsmith, Norman Seeff, Gered Mankowitz and Michael Joseph are also on display. The exhibition runs from May 24 to June 22, with concurrent showings at the gallery's New York and Maui outposts. - Billboard, 5/28/19...... A full tape of the Beatles' only performance on the long-running UK show Top of the Pops has been found in an attic. The Fab Four appeared on the show in June 1966, weeks before their last-ever gig at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Fab Four fan David Chandler used a wind-up camera to record the band's performance of "'Paperback Writer" when it aired and says he was compelled to try and find it after hearing about the discovery of a short 11-second clip of the appearance in Mexico in April. The footage lasts for 92 seconds and has been donated to Kaleidoscope, a UK organization which specializes in locating missing TV footage. Chandler's footage had no sound and slowed down where the camera was wound up but has now been remastered by Kaleidoscope. The company's CEO called the footage "phenomenal," and says it be shown in Birmingham on June 1 at Birmingham City University. Other performances from Top Of The Pops will also be screened, including ones by The Troggs, The Hollies and Small Faces. - New Musical Express, 5/30/19...... 
The Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love released a cover of the Ramones' classic "Rockaway Beach" on May 30. "It felt so natural to sing it," says Love, who turned 78 in March. "It fits beautifully in the Beach Boys surfing song genre. Not only is it a great song, it's also right in my vocal range. It's almost as if it was designed for me to sing, and that's why I am so eager to play it live." The current Beach Boys lineup (which includes Love and long-time Beach Boy Bruce Johnston) will feature "Rockaway Beach" in their live act this summer. Love's version of "Rockaway Beach" will also feature on his upcoming solo album 12 Sides of Summer, which drops on July 19. It also features covers of "Summertime Blues" and "California Sun," along with re-boots of BB classics "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin'." Legendary rock producer Ed Stasium, who produced the Ramones original version of "Rockaway Beach" (and added both guitar and harmony vocals to the track), says the Beach Boys were never far from the Ramones' mind. "Every one of the Ramones expressed their admiration for The Beach Boys on numerous occasions," notes Stasium, who produced five albums for the Ramones between 1977 and 1984. "When we recorded 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker' in the spring of '77, Johnny [Ramone] asked specifically if I could play a guitar bit that would reflect the 'plonky' guitar on the Beach Boys' 'Little Honda'." - Billboard, 5/30/19...... In related news, recently deceased surf guitar great Dick Dale was remembered with a California beach memorial on May 26 when a crowd gathered at the Huntington Beach Pier to remember Dale, who died in April at age 81. A group of surfers then took to the water for a "paddle-out," the traditional ceremony held for fellow surfers when they die. Dale was famous for his pounding, blaringly loud power-chord instrumentals in the 1960s on songs like "Miserlou" and "Let's Go Trippin." - AP, 5/27/19...... Bruce Springsteen confirmed on May 28 that he and his E Street Band will head back into the studio later in 2019 before hitting the road again in 2020. Speaking to Italian news site Repubblica, he explained: "I'll record with the E Street Band in the autumn, and when we are done, we'll go on tour [next year]." It comes after Springsteen teased the record in an interview with Martin Scorsese to promote the new documentary Springsteen on Broadway. "About a month or so ago, I wrote almost an album's worth of material for the band...There'll be another tour!" The Boss explained. Springsteen is gearing up to released his latest solo LP, Western Stars, on June 14. On May 30, Springsteen unveiled "Tuscon Train," the third preview track from Western Stars. Accompanied by a string and horn section and a train track beat, the mid-tempo love song about waiting for a lover to arrive mixes anxiety, anticipation and regret in a lush Wall of Sound-style arrangement. The black-and-white performance video was directed by acclaimed collaborator Thom Zinny, who also worked on Springsteen on Broadway. - NME, 5/28/19...... Tom Petty's widow Dana Petty filed new appeals in Los Angeles County court on May 29 and 30 against her daughters Adria and Annakim Petty in the family's escalating battle over the late rocker's trust. In two separate petitions, Dana asks the court to deny a previous petition filed by Adria demanding that Dana immediately fund Petty Unlimited, an LLC set up to receive assets (a.k.a. "artistic property") from Petty's trust. Instead, Dana wants to fund and execute an operating agreement for Tom Petty Legacy, a separate LLC that she established on her own. In Adria's petition filed in April, she accused Dana of withholding Petty's assets from Petty Unlimited in order to keep her and Annakim from "participat[ing] equally" in the management of those assets, as stipulated in the trust. Dana's new petitions dispute that characterization, instead claiming that as "sole successor trustee" of Petty's trust, she is "exclusively authorized" to form any entity of her choosing to be the beneficiary of Petty's assets so long as all three women are given equal participation in its management. The attorney for the daughters, Alex Weingarten, says that "Dana and her lawyer are basing their case on smoke and mirrors. Every claim they make is demonstrably false. Adria and Annakim are laser focused on one thing -- honoring and protecting their father's legacy and enforcing the terms of his trust, as written." Petty died of an accidental drug overdose on October 2, 2017, at the age of 66. - Billboard, 5/30/19...... Prince's former bodyguard Kirk Johnson was deposed for seven hours on on May 29 in Minneapolis as part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by relatives of the late rock star. His attorney told reporters that the deposition for his client, who considered Prince a good friend, "was traumatic event for my client." "He feels very sad over the loss of a good friend of his. To have to come back and go through this and re-litigate this whole matter has been very difficult," the attorney siad. The lawsuit names Dr. Michael Schulenberg as a defendant. Authorities say Schulenberg admitted prescribing oxycodone, a different opioid, to Johnson in the days before Prince died, knowing the drug would go to Prince. Schulenberg has disputed that, although he paid $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation alleging the drug was prescribed illegally. Schulenberg's attorney has said his client stands behind the care Prince received. - AP, 5/30/19...... Iggy Pop has announced he's prepping a career retrospective book entitled 'Til Wrong Feels Right that will highlight lyrics from more than 100 of his songs along with photos, memorabilia and previously unseen notes from the punk godfather. Billed as offering Pop's insight into his creative world-with the complete lyrics for 100 songs brought to life by full-color photos, his own memorabilia, never-before-seen notes, short essays by Iggy, and commentary from other music legends-from T. Rex's Mark Bolan to Blondie's Debbie Harry," the 288-page book is due out on Oct. 1 from Penguin Random House. Meanwhile, Iggy fans can see the rocker in cult director Jim Marmusch's new zombie comedy The Dead Don't Die, which also stars Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Selena Gomez, Danny Glover and Steve Buscemi and hits theaters on June 14. - Billboard, 5/30/19...... 
In related news, Blondie's Debbie Harry will release her memoir, Face It, on Oct. 1 via Dey Street Books. In a statement, the New Wave legend said she originally didn't want to write the book, but took on the project anyway. In the book, Harry writes about her years in 1970s New York and her rise with Blondie and shares stories about everyone from fellow New York bands Talking Heads and the Ramones to encounters with Rita Hayworth and David Bowie. Harry said parts of her life were funny and warm and others chilling "to the bone." She says writing the book led to her discovery that she had led "a very full life." Her memoir is also expected to provide new details about her claims that she narrowly escaped the deadly clutches of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. Harry has previously spoken of the time she once hitched a ride from a handsome stranger in New York City the early 1970s, not realizing she was within a hair of an untimely trip to the morgue, but was able to bail herself out of the car after realizing she'd made a big mistake. - AP, 5/29/19...... As his Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour hit Verona, Italy on May 29, Elton John took time out to weigh in with reporters on the UK's controversual Brexit issue. "I'm sick to death of politicians, especially British politicians. I am sick to death of Brexit. I am a European. I am not a stupid, colonial, imperialist, English idiot," Elton said. John has previously spoken out on Brext, telling The Guardian in 2018 that "I don't think people in Britain were told the truth to start with They were promised something that was completely ridiculous and wasn't economically viable. [Brexit was like] walking through Hampton Court maze blindfolded, being turned around 16 times and trying to find your way out." Meanwhile, Elton has revealed that he found his new biopic Rocketman, which premiered in the US on May 31, "difficult" to watch as it delves into the darker moments of his life. "This is how my life was, and I didn't want to cover it and gloss it over. And it's difficult to watch because I thought, 'God, I don't want to go back there. Thank God I came out of it'," he said. Meanwhile, the son of record mogul Dick James, who is portrayed in Rocketman as a foul-mouthed cockney in the movie, is hitting out at the film's depiction of his dad. Stephen James insists that his late father "just wasn't like that." He instead claims that he had been "like a surrogate father" to the singer and says he and his dad "only ever tried to do the best for him and to promote his career." "They basically depict my father in the film completely opposite to the way he was in real life. It's rather upset me because my father was a nice guy. Elton's own father had run off and wasn't around. He treated my father at the time as very much a father figure, and my father treated Elton very much as if he was a son." Describing how his father had been reduced to "stereotypes," he added: "They have turned him into this stereotype with a big fat cigar, swearing every other word." Elton initially fell out with Stephen and Dick in 1985 after a High Court battle over royalties. Dick died of a heart attack only three months after the legal dispute came to an end. In other Rocketman news, it has been revealed that Justin Timberlake was once in the running to play Elton in the movie, a role that eventually went to Taron Egerton. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, John's husband and Rocketman producer David Furnish said Timberlake, who had previously portrayed John in the music video for "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" in 2001, was the first person the star thought of when first beginning work on the movie, "but we never formally approached Justin because we weren't ever at a stage where it was the right time to approach him." - New Musical Express, 5/31/19...... In a new interview with the music publication Kerrang!, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he wishes Black Sabbath could have finished their recent farewell tour with co-founding Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. The sticksman was due to go on tour with Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, and bassist Geezer Butler, when they announced a final reunion tour in 2011. But at the time Ward cited an "unsignable" contract, and parted ways with the iconic metal band. They wrapped up their final two hometown gigs in Birmingham, in 2017. "[stand in drummer] Tommy [Clufetos] did great, but the four of us started this, and it should have been the four of us ending it," Osbourne said. "Those final gigs in Birmingham were bittersweet because you think of how far we came, and how much we did, and it would have been good to have shared that together. Maybe one day there'll be one last gig, I don't know." Ozzy recently announced a rescheduled run of shows for 2020, after serious illness forced him to postpone his farewell tour. - New Musical Express, 5/27/19...... In other Heavy Metal news, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford became irritated at a fan who was filming him with a mobile phone during a Priest concert in Rosemont, Ill. on May 25, and kicked the phone out of the fan's hand mid-concert. The band was performing the song "Judas Rising," when suddenly, Halford sends a front-row fan's phone flying with a swift and powerful kick. - NME, 5/31/19...... Sammy Hagar has released "Affirmation," the third video from his first studio set from his current band, the Circle. Hagar will be releasing Space Between: The Affirmation, an album-length short film later in 2019. "The reason I like this movie is it gives the album more legs. It's not just a record, and when you see this movie you're gonna go back and listen to the record and go 'Oh!' It elevates your listening and viewing experience." Hagar released his new CD with the Circle, Space Between, on May 10. - Billboard, 5/28/19...... 
Robert Plant has announced he'll be launching a new career retrospictive podcast, Digging Deep, on June 3. "I'm going to be picking out some songs from here and there along the way, mixing constant shifts in sound and in tension," the former Led Zeppelin singer explained. In a one-minute teaser for the new podcast, Plant describes going back and listening to some of the songs he's recorded during his five-decade career and marveling at them, finding the players in the room to be, "out of sight... they found me to be something that they hadn't been used to dealing with." The podcast promises to uncover the "moments, people and places that have inspired some of his most treasured music." Plant has not announced how many episodes the podcast will run. The podcast announcement comes on the heels of news in May that a Led Zeppelin "in their own words" documentary with new interviews from Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones and directed by Bernard MacMahon (American Epic) is in the works. Plant is on the road this summer playing a series of festival dates and amphitheater shows in support of his 2017 Carry Fire album. - Billboard, 5/28/19...... HBO has won the first round of a lawsuit brought by Michael Jackson's estate over the recent controversial Leaving Neverland documentary. Ahead of its premiere in March 2019, Jackson's estate sued the HBO network while protesting the late star's innocence. Claiming that his accusers are seeking financial gain, the complaint to Los Angeles Superior Court read: "Michael is an easy target because he is not here to defend himself, and the law does not protect the deceased from defamation, no matter how extreme the lies are." Following a recent hearing, a federal judge has rejected a motion from Jackson's estate to throw the case to an arbitrator, and it will remain open in court. The estate alleges that Leaving Neverland constitutes a breach of a non-disparagement clause in an agreement that is 27 years old. It's said that the deal provided the network with rights to air a Michael Jackson live show around the time of his 1991 album, Dangerous. HBO has claimed that the decades-old deal had expired, and therefore does not cover the Leaving Neverland film. The broadcasters hit out at legal action set in motion by Jackson's estate, claiming it was a "transparent effort to bolster their publicity campaign against the documentary." - NME, 5/29/19...... Fans of the 1977 sci-fi classic Star Wars will be able to attend a music festival later this year in the desert where the iconic movies were filmed. Les Dunes Electroniques was founded in 2014 but has not been held for the last three years. In September, it will return with 30 hours of "uninterrupted music" from a line-up of Tunisian, French, and international electronic artists. Although the line-up is yet to be confirmed, tickets are on sale now for the festival which will run from Sept. 21-22. - NME, 5/29/19...... Neil Young defied a strict 10:00 p.m. curfew put in place by California's BottleRock Napa Valley Festival on May 25 when he finished his set with his iconic "Rockin' In The Free World," even if it meant finishing off with an acoustic flourish. Videos posted on YouTube show the 'Heart of Gold' singer and his band continuing to play after the plug has been pulled, much to the delight of the huge crowd in attendance. The California festival is known for its strict curfew, with Foo Fighters previously getting the plugged pulled after they dared to defy the rule at the very same event. - NME, 5/29/19...... Country/pop crossover icon Kenny Rogers has been admitted to a Georgia hospital for dehydration, according to his official Twitter account. A statement posted on May 31 said the singer would remain there for physical therapy to "get his strength back" before being discharged. The statement said the 80-year-old Rogers appreciated the well wishes from fans and wanted to assure everyone that "he plans on sticking around through the years to come." Rogers retired from touring in 2017 after a 60-year career spanning jazz, folk, country and pop, with hits like "The Gambler," "Lucille" and "Lady." - AP, 5/31/19...... Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley has sold her L.A. mansion for $3.8 million after she put it on the market to bail out her debt-riddled, drug-challenged daughter Lisa Marie Presley. The sale of the Brentwood area home brought in a huge cash windfall for the daughter who was in a legal battle with her divorce and financial woes. Lisa Marie has claimed that her business manager squandered her famous father's $100 million fortune and she was left virtually penniless in the process. Her mother, who never lived in the 1950s style ranch home, put the mansion on the market for $3.6 million but earned a whopping $200,000 more in the final deal, according to Variety. Priscilla purchased the home for $170,000 in 1976, three years after she divorced Elvis. - Canoe.com, 5/30/19...... 
Legendary Tin Pan Alley/jazz interpreter Leon Redbone died on May 30 of undisclosed causes, his family has confirmed. He was 69. "It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127," read the statement, which channeled the same whimisical air that Redbone portrayed in his jester musical persona. "He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat," the statement continued. Over the course of more than a dozen albums, Redbone took a deep dive into his love of all things jazz, country, ragtime, blues and vaudeville, reaching back to a bygone era of the 1920s and '30s through his natty onstage attire -- which invariably included his ever-present white Panama hat, matching suit and dark shades -- on songs such as the whistle-assisted, taking-its-time jazz ramble "Lazybones" from his 1975 debut, On the Track. Despite seeming perpetually out of time, Redbone's singular style shone through even in the midst of the heady rock of the mid 1970s, with two guest musical appearances in the debut 1975-76 season of Saturday Night Live (and again in 1977 and 1983) as well as multiple The Tonight Show spots. His final studio album of new material was 2014's Flying By on his own August Records imprint, with fan Jack White re-releasing Redbone's 1975 Warner Bros. debut album and the pre-fame collections of unheard tracks Long Way From Home in 2016. "I don't do anything mysterious on purpose," Redbone once said about why he nevery directly answered questions about his age, origin or family background. "I'm less than forthcoming, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm mysterious. It just means I'm not inclined to go there." - Billboard, 5/30/19...... Legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr died on May 26 at the age of 85, the team announced. The Packers announced Starr, a catalyst of Vince Lombardi's powerhouse NFL teams of the 1960s, died in Birmingham, Ala., citing his family. "We are saddened to note the passing of our husband, father, grandfather and friend, Bart Starr," family members said in a statement. Starr "battled with courage and determination" after a serious stroke in September 2014, but "his most recent illness was too much to overcome," family members said. The Packers selected Starr out of the University of Alabama with the 200th pick in the 1956 draft. He led the team to six division titles, five NFL championships and wins in the first two Super Bowls. Until Brett Favre came along, Starr was known as the best Packer ever. The team retired his No. 15 jersey in 1973, making him just the third player to receive that honor. Four years later, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In 1965, Starr and his wife, Cherry, helped co-found Rawhide Boys Ranch in New London, Wisconsin, a facility designed to help at-risk and troubled boys throughout the state. The couple dealt with tragedy in 1988 when their son Brett died at 24 due to complications from cocaine addiction. They also had another son, Bart Jr. - Fox News, 5/26/19.
Elton John has written an article for the UK paper The Guardian about his new biopic, Rocketman in which he reveals he fought hard for the film's R-rating. "Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven't led a PG-13 rated life," Elton wrote. "I didn't want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the 70s and 80s, so there didn't seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I'd quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon's Bible for company." John also writes that some movie studios had wanted a more traditional biopic instead of Rocketman's more surreal elements, "but that was missing the point." "Like I said, I lived in my own head a lot as a kid. And when my career took off, it took off in such a way that it almost didn't seem real to me. I wasn't an overnight success by any means -- I'd been slogging around the clubs, making records, writing songs with [songwriting partner] Bernie [Taupin] and trying to sell them to people who weren't interested for four or five years before anything big happened. But when it happened, it went off like a missile: there's a moment in Rocketman when I'm playing onstage in the Troubadour club in LA and everything in the room starts levitating, me included, and honestly, that's what it felt like." Meanwhile in a new interview on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show on Apple Music, the singer explained why Taron Egerton was the ideal candidate to play him in the movie. "I'd heard him sing 'I'm Still Standing' on the Sing soundtrack," Elton said. "I knew he could sing and I definitely wanted in this movie people to know that it wasn't me singing. I didn't want lip syncing. So he was given the brief of 'you're going to sing everything'. My songs aren't easy to sing. I know because loads of musicians have told me that they're hard to sing." Explaining that he stayed away from the recording sessions for the soundtrack, John said Egerton's work "blew his mind" when he heard the results. "What he's done is quite extraordinary because he sounds like me, but he also sounds like Taron," he said. "And that's down to Giles [Martin, producer] giving him the confidence in the studio as well. As well as featuring Egerton singing some of John's classic tracks, the Rocketman soundtrack also boasts a brand new song performed by the actor and the musician. '(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again' was written by Taupin and plays out over the film's credits. Rocketman opens in theaters in the US on May 31. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 5/26/19...... 
Shortly before accepting an International Achievement Award at the 2019 Ivors Awards in the UK on May 24, Deep Purple's Ian Gillan told reporters that younger artists should not have heroes and make a space of their own. "When I was in my formative years, I rejected Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams and Dean Martin," Gillan said. "I now realise they were all great artists but at the time as a young man, you have to clear the decks. There's this sort of psychological vandalism that takes place for yourself." Gillan added: "The only advice I can give is to absorb as much as you can from as wide a spectrum as you can. If you're in a rock band and only soak up Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple kind of beginnings then you're not going to have much leeway. We soaked up everything from Beethoven to Chopin to Jimi Hendrix to Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan." Deep Purple will kick off a lengthy US tour this fall in September. - New Musical Express, 5/24/19...... The 100th birthday of folk legend Pete Seeger was honored on May 23 during the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater benefit concert in Albany, N.Y. The Pete Seeger Centennial Concert at The Egg, the performing arts center in Albany, was one of several international events honoring Seeger, but few were as intimate as the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater benefit with such Seeger muses as Arlo Guthrie, Dar Williams, Dan Zanes and Guy Davis sharing songs and memories of the man they knew and loved deeply. "What a night," said Guthrie, who led the evening's bill. "I don't do a lot of tribute things. But this is one I could not say no to." Arlo's father, Woody Guthrie, was Seeger's longtime friend, and Arlo toured with Seeger for some four decades. "He brought humanity together with his actions, not just as a performer but as a human being," Guthrie said after Seeger's death in 2014. The concert was a benefit for the Hudson River sloop Clearwater, a 106-foot-long wooden replica of a Dutch sailing vessel, which Seeger launched 50 years ago on May 17, 1969. The most-enduring activist organization with its roots in music, the Clearwater is widely recognized for its role in the decades-long cleanup of the Hudson River, for its advocacy of environmental and social justice campaigns and for its education programs to train a new generation of environmental activists. For the show's finale, Guthrie was joined by all the artists for "This Land Is Your Land," which his father had written but Seeger had popularized. - Billboard, 5/25/19...... The Rolling Stones have given The Verve leader Richard Ashcroft back the royalties and profits from The Verve's 1997 single "Bitter Sweet Symphony." The song sampled a four-second segment of Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham's orchestral recording for the Stones' "The Last Time," and the only deal Ashcroft could reach that allowed him to keep Urban Hymns, the album the song featured on, on shelves was to sign away all of his rights and royalties to the track. "It gives me great pleasure to announce as of last month Mick Jagger and Keith Richards agreed to give me their share of the song 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'," Ashcroft said in a statement after receiving an Outstanding Contribution to British Music award at the Ivor Awards on May 23. "This remarkable and life-affirming turn of events was made possible by a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards], who have also agreed that they are happy for the writing credit to exclude their names and all their royalties derived from the song they will now pass to me." The news follows Ashcroft filing a lawsuit in 2018 in the hopes of reclaiming some of the royalties from "Bitter Sweet Symphony." "Someone stole god knows how many million dollars off me in 1997, and they've still got it," he said at the time. "In terms, in normal basic terms, I don't care where you come from, that's a serious matter. The Verve split up in 1999, but later reformed from 2007-2009, including a headline set at Glastonbury. - NME, 5/23/19...... The estate of Michael Jackson and Jackson's former manager Tohme Tohme have settled a long-running dispute mid-trial over whether Tohme was owed commission from as far back as 2008. Tohme had sued the estate in 2012, claiming he was owed a 15 percent commission on money Jackson made during the last year of his life, a cut of the Jackson movie This Is It's revenues and a finder's fee for a loan that stopped Neverland Ranch from going into foreclosure. The estate had argued Tohme was terminated before Jackson's death and that he breached his fiduciary duty, among other claims. The trial began May 14, but ended after just five days in court when the two parties announced they had reached a confidential settlement. - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/24/19...... 
Eddie Levert of The O'Jays has reflected on the sudden chart success of The O'Jay's' 1972 chart-topping smash "Love Train" in a new podcast with Billboard. Levert said what he remembers most about the song was how it was created right in the studio. "When it came out, it just shot up the Billboard charts," he recalls, noting that it felt surreal because the thing he had always dreamt of was happening. His fellow O'Jays member Walter Williams added that the band had to "hustle to catch up with it," when it came to things such as their live shows and their uniforms. "It really went to the top, and we were not ready," he explains. "You have to get ready for it being at the top of the charts, because it puts you in places that you were never gonna be without that No. 1." The O'Jays released their latest studio album, The Last Word, on Apr. 19.- Billboard, 5/24/19...... Preston Epps, a renowned percussionist whose 1959 instrumental hit "Bongo Rock" helped introduce bongos and conga drums to mainstream pop, has died. He was 88. Born on July 19, 1930, in Mangum, Okla., Mr. Epps attended grade school in Tulsa and moved as a teenager to Oakland, where he attended junior high and high school. He served in the Air Force in Okinawa during the Korean War. He became fascinated with the drums in the early '50s when he visited a San Francisco jazz spot called Bop City. He started as a percussionist but took to the bongos after he saw an African group perform in the City of Hope and they gave him his first drum. Mr. Epps was the main percussionist on "Earth Angel," first recorded by The Penguins in 1954. Mr. Epps followed "Bongo Rock" with other tunes like "Bongo Bongo Bongo," "Bongo in the Congo," "Bongo Rocket" and "Bongo Boogie." He also toured and performed with such artists as Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, Little Richard, Johnny Otis, Sam Cooke, Jewel Akens and Clifton Eddie, and appeared as a headliner in Las Vegas. Mr. Epps also helped to establish and manage the West Hollywood nightclub Pandora's Box, where he discovered Lou Rawls. Mr. Epps performed until he was 85, with his final gig coming in 2014 at the Tiki Oasis in San Diego before more than 3,000 people. - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/21/19.
"Sharp Dressed Man," a musical based on the music of the Texas trio ZZ Top, will open in Las Vegas in 2020, it was announced on May 21. Executive produced by ZZ Top -- vocalist/guitarist Billy Gibbons, vocalist/bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard -- "Sharp Dressed Man" is described as a a rock musical with a wicked sense of humor and a heart as big as Texas" about "a Lone Star auto mechanic who becomes a modern-day Robin Hood, stealing hearts -- and car parts -- with the help of his merry band of beer drinkers and hell raisers." Iconic ZZ Top songs including "Legs," "La Grange," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Cheap Sunglasses" will all be featured. "We're excited about this fantastic project and look forward to hearing our music in a new innovative context," said Billy Gibbons said in a statement. "Fans have often told us that we've provided the soundtrack to their lives, and this is very much in line with that kind of enthusiastic thinking." Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins, who wrote the teleplays for Fox TV's Grease Live! and A Christmas Story Live!, have been tapped to write the musical. - Billboard, 5/21/19...... The Woodstock 50 festival is appealing part of a ruling earlier in May when Japanese financier Dentsu withdrew from the festival in late April and withdrew $18 million from the event's banking account. On May 15, Justice Barry Ostrager ruled Dentsu did not have the right to cancel Woodstock 50, but also decided he would not force Dentsu to return the remainder of the $49 million investment to festival founder Michael Lang and his partner Greg Peck so they could continue to produce the show. Lang responded with a lawsuit and, after a two-day hearing, Ostrager ruled a clause in the contract that allowed Dentsu to take control of the festival did not include the right to cancel it. But the judge stopped short of demanding Dentsu return any money it had previously promised to invest. Woodstock 50 attorney Marc Kasowitz's appeal seeks "a preliminary injunction in aid of arbitration requiring (Dentsu) to return $18 million withdrawn from a dedicated festival account and allowing Petitioner to use those funds for appropriate expenses." - Billboard, 5/22/19...... A trailer for the new Leonard Cohen documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words Of Love was released online on May 22. The documentary explores Cohen's relationship with his muse, Marianne Ihlen, who inspired songs like "So Long, Marianne." It documents the pair's initial meeting on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 and their life in a bohemian community. The trailer also features an excerpt from a letter Cohen wrote to Ihlen just before her death, in which he said: "Dearest Marianne, I'm just a little behind you -- close enough to take your hand." Marianne & Leonard: Words Of Love, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in 2019, features unseen footage by legendary rock documentarian D.A. Pennebaker and arrives in US cinemas on July 5. - New Musical Express, 5/22/19...... The official Jerry Lee Lewis Facebook page posted on May 21 that the iconic rock 'n' roll pioneer has been forced to cancel a show at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center set for July 1 as he recovers from a stroke he suffered in late February. "Although Jerry Lee is progressing miraculously in his recovery following the recent stroke, he doesn't feel his performing is yet back to the level that his fans deserve," the post says. In the meantime, Jerry Lee is continuing his rehabilitation and his team expects a full recovery, as well as a return show in Nashville in the very near future." Lewis, 83, suffered what was described as a minor stroke Feb. 28 in Memphis. A statement was later issued saying he would make "a full recovery." - Billboard, 5/21/19...... Dolly Parton, who turned 73 years old in January, took time to wish her friend Cher, who turned the same age on May 20, a happy birthday. "Hi Cher, It's Dolly. Happy birthday to you. We're the same age now," the country icon said in a video uploaded to social media. "Well, I might be a minute or two older than you but what's a minute or two among friends and old bags like us?" Parton continued: "I just want you to know I'm proud of you. I think you're great. I hope you'll be around for 100 more years to hang out with me, if nothing else... Heres to more years of singin', sequins, and swappin' secrets!" - Billboard, 5/20/19...... After legendary Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin passed away in August 2018 it was widely reported that the singer left no will. Now, her neice Sabrina Owens has found her aunt's will wedged under sofa cushions and filed them in court on May 20. "Two handwritten wills from 2010 have been found in a locked cabinet, and another dated 2014 was found in a notebook underneath some couch cushions," the brief states. The validity of the documents will be examined at a hearing set for June 12. A breakdown of the wills by The Detroit Free Press shows that Franklin's 2014 document requests that her son Kecalf Franklin serve as the estate's personal representative. That role is currently held by Owens. Meanwhile, Detroit's Chene Park was officially renamed Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre earlier in May in tribute to the late soul singer. - New Musical Express, 5/22/19...... 
A remix of Van Halen's 1983 hit "Jump" by VH singer David Lee Roth and Dutch trance DJ/producer Armin Van Buuren has been released by Warner Bros. Records. van Burren says he's "always been a fan of the song," which became Van Halen's biggest hit and topped the Billboard Hot 200 pop chart for five weeks. "I was 6 when it came out. I've heard it many times, and years ago, I had a conversation with my publisher saying if there could be one track that I want to get my hands on one day, [it's 'Jump.'] He remembered that, and a couple of months ago, I got the stems from a befriended label. First of all, to have the original stems to such an iconic record [is amazing.] I sent the mix it a label... For about two weeks, I didn't hear anything, then I got a phone call when I was on my way to Israel to do a gig. My publisher couldn't breathe. He was like 'David Lee Roth loves it, and he loves it so much, he wants to come to Miami to perform with you.' That's when I couldn't breathe anymore." The strange musical partners have been performing the "Jump" remix on the road, live for crowds at Ultra Miami and on stage at KAOS day club at the Las Vegas Palms Casino for the recent EDC festivities. "There are places in Texas where you could drive off the road and 20 minutes later I can still see the car," Roth says. "That's like these remixes. You can still kind of see the car and feel the music of the original, but it sure looks different and very far away from what it was originally." - Billboard, 5/20/19...... Sting will be among the headliners at NBC's fifth annual Red Nose Day Special, it was announced on May 20. The two-hour-long special airs on May 22 at 8:00 p.m. EDT in support of this year's Red Nose Day campaign, which raises money and awareness to ensure impoverished children in the U.S. and around the world are "safe, healthy and educated." Also performing at the star-studded charity event, hosted by Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, will be John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend. In its four years in the U.S., Red Nose Day -- created by Yesterday and Love Actually director Richard Curtis -- has raised almost $150 million. - Billboard, 5/20/19...... Patti Smith was among the headliners at the Museum of Contemporary Art 40th Anniversary Benefit in Los Angeles on May 18. Lenny Kaye performed several of her mainstays, including "In My Blakean Year," "Wing" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" before closing the evening with a fiery rendition of "Because the Night." "Robert Mapplethorpe and I used to go to museums," Smith told the audience. "We were 20 years old and we had very little money and never had enough money to go into museums together. We would turns -- I would go in the Museum of Modern Art, he would wait for me outside, and then he'd go in the Whitney and I wait for him outside. And it would have meant so much to us to be able to just go into a museum for free and just study and absorb the work within. So good luck with this pursuit. And it's such a beautiful thought." - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/19/19...... In a new interview with the UK paper The Sun, Elton John slammed the haters of his new biopic Rocketman because lead actor Taron Egerton, who is straight, plays a gay man. "That's all bulls---, I'm sorry," John said. "If people don't like it, review-wise, or it doesn't make one dollar, it's the movie I wanted to make and that's all that counts," John continued. "I can look back and say, 'You know what, I love it. I can live with it." Egerton has previously spoken out about his same-sex love scenes. "For me, kissing a man onscreen is no less appealing than kissing a woman onscreen," he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm not in any way repulsed by the male form. It's an uncomfortable thing regardless of who you're with." Rocketman hits US theaters May 31. - Billboard, 5/17/19...... Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes has announced a new set of UK dates in November alongside ones he recently re-scheduled for his "Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live" tour. The re-scheduled dates include Salisbury (11/17), Norwich (11/20), Holmfirth (11/23) and Birmingham (11/29) with additional dates in Bexhill (11/16), Cambridge (11/19), Cheltenham (11/22), Aberdeen (11/25), Inverness (11/26) and Middlesbrough (11/28). "I'm excited to return to touring "Classic Deep Purple Live" in the UK in November 2019," says Hughes. "I first toured Classic Deep Purple Live in Australia and New Zealand last year and it went down a storm. We are looking forward for a second round in the UK in November." - Noble PR, 5/21/19...... '70s glam rockers Sweet have announced Novatines will be their special guests on their upcoming UK tour this November and December. The 16-city tour kicks off on Nov. 28 in Frome, also hitting venues in Holmfirth, Stockton, Nottingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Islington, Exeter and Southampton before wrapping in Bexhill on Dec. 21. - Noble PR, 5/22/19...... 
The final days of '70s sex symbol Farrah Fawcett are chronicled in a new ABC special, This Is Farrah Fawcett, which airs on the network on May 23 at 8:00 p.m. EDT. The special documents Fawcett's years-long battle with cancer in a series of raw and intimate video diaries. "She was never, ever someone who cried about why she got cancer and someone else didn't," said her oncologist and friend Dr. Lawrence Piro, who is also the chief medical advisor for the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. "She wanted to show everyone that cancer looks the same on one of the most glamorous, beautiful women in the world as it looks on every other woman and every other man." Fawcett passed away on June 25, 2009, in Santa Monica, Calif., with her husband Ryan O'Neal and close friend Alana Stewart by her side. She was 62 years old. "About a week before she died, she was in the hospital and I was sitting by her bed," Stewart remembered. "I remember I was holding her hand and I said, 'You know, you're my sister.' And she said... She looked up at me, and she was very ill at the time and weak, and she looked up at me and she said, 'More than a sister.'" - ABCNews.go.com, 5/22/19...... Geneviève Waïte, an actress, singer and songwriter and the mother of actress Bijou Phillips, died in her sleep Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 71. A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Wate starred as the title character opposite Calvin Lockhart and Donald Sutherland in the London-set racial drama Joanna (1968). She also recorded a 1974 album, Romance Is on the Rise, that was produced by her then-husband, John Phillips, of Mamas and the Papas fame. Waïte also worked as a model and appeared in Myra Breckinridge (1968) and Move (1970), and her song "Love Is Coming Back" from Romance Is on the Rise is heard in the 1976 David Bowie starred The Man Who Fell to Earth. (Phillips did music for the film.) She was married to Phillips from 1972 until their divorce in 1985. Survivors also include her son, Tamerlane, and three stepchildren: actress Mackenzie Phillips, actress-singer Chynna Phillips and Jeffrey Phillips. "She was a beautiful soul and born from another planet," Bijou Phillips said in a statement. "Her ideas, her songs, her voice and her heartbeat [were] to a beautiful African rhythm no one else had, and I am so thankful she was able to share it." - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/21/19...... Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk, best known for writing the WW2 novels The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, died on May 17 at the age of 103. Mr. Wouk (pronounced woke) regarded The Caine Mutiny as his "signature work," and the novel's ringing plausibility springs from its author's personal experience. Set aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific during World War II -- "a pile of junk" modeled on ships Wouk served on -- the novel tells the story of a crew that rebels against its psychotic skipper, Philip F. Queeg. It was later turned into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart. Mr. Wouk, who was born on May 27, 1915 in the Bronx, followed Caine with another hit, 1955's Marjorie Morningstar, the story of an aspiring Jewish actress who, after a sexual fling, abandons her dreams of the stage and settles into a safe suburban marriage with a man who regards her loss of virginity as a "deformity." The novel, an unabashedly conservative call for conformity and chastity, was made into a film starring Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly. It also landed its author on the cover of Time magazine. Mr. Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance were turned into a lavish TV miniseries starring Robert Mitchum. In 2008 Mr. Wouk was awarded the first Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Writing of Fiction by the Library of Congress. At the awards ceremony, which included a performance by Jimmy Buffett, Mr. Wouk donated more than 100 volumes of his journals to the library.- TheDailyBeast.com, 5/17/19.
With the premiere of the long-awaited Elton John biopic Rocketman at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, Paramount Pictures becomes the first major studio to depict gay male sex onscreen. Rocketman features multiple scenes between Taron Egerton, who plays John, and Richard Madden (portraying his first gay lover, music manager John Reid) (while Ang Lee's 2005 film Brokeback Mountain also showed a sex scene between two men, it was not aimed at broad audiences like Rocketman and was released by the specialty label Focus Features). "For me, kissing a man onscreen is no less appealing than kissing a woman onscreen," Egerton says in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm not in any way repulsed by the male form. It's an uncomfortable thing regardless of who you're with -- it makes no difference as to your sexual preference." However Rocketman's R-rating and its depiction of gay sex should most certainly disqualify it from being released in China, indeed the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody edited out any suggestion that Freddie Mercury was bisexual for its release in that lucrative market. "Our movie is a different animal," Egerton said during a May 16 press conference at Cannes. "Our movie is a musical. It requires an actor who can sing in the lead role. For a biopic, that's not necessary. I'm very grateful that people compare us (to Bohemian Rhapsody). Hopefully, it shows that there's an appetite for movies [like this]. However, that movie is a unicorn." Meanwhile, Elton John has released new track, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," from the soundtrack of Rocketman which also features vocals from Egerton. The upbeat track, written by John and his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, plays out over the film's credits. "It was so important that the music I composed and recorded had to be sung by Taron," Elton says. "I wanted his interpretation of me, through Bernie's lyrics and my music -- not just acting. I left Taron in the hands of [producer and composer] Giles Martin, who I trusted implicitly because he's brilliant." Rocketman hits US theaters on May 31. - The Hollywood Reporter/New Musical Express, 5/17/19...... In related news, Queen guitarist Brian May said during a May 14 appearance on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show that the band "hasn't earned a penny" from the worldwide smash biopic, which stars Rami Malek as frontman Freddie Mercury. "It was a long labour of love -- about 12 years in development, I guess. We thought it would do well in the end and we felt good about it, but we didn't realise it would do that well. It's incredible around the world -- it's like a billion-dollar movie." But May went on to say that it hadn't had an impact on the band's finances that many fans assume. "I had to laugh the other day because there's a thing in the paper saying that we were getting rich off this movie," he said. "If they only knew. We had an accountant in the other day and we still haven't earned a penny from it. Isn't that funny? How successful does a movie have to be before you make money? There's so many people that people don't realise will take pieces off the top." - NME, 5/14/19...... Cheap Trick will be among the headliners honoring songwriter Linda Perry on June 29 in Los Angeles at The Novo at L.A. Live. "Linda Perry & Friends: A Night at the Grammy Museum" will also feature appearances from Sharon Osbourne and Oscar-nominated actress Juliette Lewis and Perry's wife, actress Sara Gilbert. Perry, one of the most successful songwriters and producers in the music industry, has crafted hits for the likes of Christina Aguilera, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys and others. Proceeds from the gala will assist the Grammy Museum Foundation. - AP, 5/16/19...... 
Dionne Warwick has just released 
David Byrne has announced he's taking his "American Utopia" show to a residency at Broadway's Theatreland this fall, following the likes of such artists as Bruce Springsteen and Morrisey. The former Talking Heads frontman's stint will take place at the Hudson Theatre and will open for previews on October 4, 2019, with an official opening taking place on Oct. 20. The residency will run until January 20, 2020. In a statement, Byrne explained why he was taking the show to Broadway. "Because of how theatrical the show is, others started telling me 'this needs to go to Broadway,'" he said. "Why not? But what did that mean? Parked in a beautiful Broadway theatre we can perfect the sound, the lights, the movement. I thought to myself that this new context might be good -- it might bring out the narrative arc a little bit more, to make it just a little more explicit... People ask me will I be darting into a town car after these shows or taking a flying leap onto my bicycle -- take a wild guess." Byrne's 2018 "American Utopia" tour was acclaimed by critics, with one describing it as "maybe just the best live show of all-time," and the musician later released a six-song live EP from the theatrical performance and named it after that quote. - NME, 5/17/19......The Rolling Stones have announced their itinerary of rescheduled "No Filter" tour dates, after the tour was postponed earlier to allow frontman Mick Jagger to heal after undergoing heart surgery in April. All 17 previously announced dates have been rescheduled, with the band now gearing up to launch the tour with a two-night stand at Chicago's Soldier Field on June 21 and June 25. They will then visit such markets as Ontario (6/29), Washington, D.C. (7/3), Foxboro, Mass. (7/7), New Orleans (7/14) and Philadelphia (7/23) before wrapping up with an Aug. 31 show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Mick Jagger proved he was ready to rock the stage again on May 15 when he posted a video in which he's doing one of his signature vigorous dance routines before a mirror in a studio. Jagger was told by doctors in late March he could not go on tour "at this time." Jagger tweeted he was "devastated" the band couldn't tour, but said he hoped to be "back on stage as soon I can." - Billboard/AP, 5/16/19...... Dana York Petty, the widow of late Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty, is being sued for $5 million by Petty's daughters Adria and Annakim Petty. In a suit filed in Los Angeles County court on May 15, Dana and several other defendants are bing accused of breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and more. Filed on behalf of plaintiff Petty Unlimited -- an LLC established in Petty's will that allocated one-third of Petty's assets to each of the three women -- the suit alleges "self-dealing, theft, and gross mismanagement of company assets" on Dana's part by failing to fund the LLC with assets from Petty's trust, for which she was previously named as "directing trustee." "Tom Petty wanted his music and his legacy to be controlled equally by his daughters, Adria and Annakim, and his wife, Dana," said Petty Unlimited's attorney Alex Weingarten says that Tom "wanted his music and his legacy to be controlled equally by his daughters, Adria and Annakim, and his wife, Dana. Dana has refused Tom's express wishes and insisted instead upon misappropriating Tom's life's work for her own selfish interests. After countless efforts to resolve this matter amicably and out of court, we could no longer stand idly by and watch Dana disrespect Tom's wishes, his music, and his legacy." In response, Dana Petty's lawyer Adam Streisand said: "This misguided and meritless lawsuit sadly demonstrates exactly why Tom Petty designated his wife to be the sole trustee with authority to manage his estate. Dana will not allow destructive nonsense like this to distract her from protecting her husband's legacy." Petty died on Oct. 2, 2017, of an accidental drug overdose at age 66. - Billboard, 5/15/19...... The Alice Cooper-led supergroup Hollywood Vampires shared their new single, "The Boogieman Surprise," and posted a live performance of the track online on May 17. Hollywood Vampires debuted the new track recently at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and were joined on stage at separate points by Marilyn Manson and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. The band, comprised of Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry, are prepping for the release of their second album, 
Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder released his third solo album, 
Though the cast of the ABC special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons is new, everything else is a blast from the past -- including the sets, which replicate the originals down to their precise measurements, and 1970s-inspired costumes. "These two scripts will be done word for word. We're not updating anything," says producer Norman Lear. "The lesson is human nature doesn't change. All of the problems that Archie and the Jeffersons face are clearly here today. Nothing has been totally resolved. There isn't any subject we did through all those years that we couldn't do again today." The 90-minute trip down memory lane airs live on ABC on May 22 at 8:00 PM EDT. - Entertainment Weekly, 5/17/19...... Michael Jackson's two sons Prince Jackson and Bigi (formerly "Blanket) Jackson have just launched a new film review show on YouTube. The show, which is hosted on Prince Jackson's Life On 2 channel, also features Taj Jackson, the nephew of Michael. The trio launched their show with a review of Avengers: Endgame, which was uploaded on May 15 and features James Sutherland as a special guest. - NME, 5/16/19...... Rock vocalist Glenn Hughes has rescheduled the four dates of his upcoming UK "Classic Deep Purple Live" tour due to illness. The rescheduled dates are Salisbury City Hall (11/17), Norwich Waterfront (venue change from Norwich UEA) (11/20), Holmfirth Picturedome (11/23) and Birmingham O2 Institute (11/29). The rescheduled concerts follow the news of Hughes needing to cancel his May 2019 UK tour dates due to illness. He needs to be treated for an illness that while not life threatening, must be dealt with immediately so that does not become a serious problem. Hughes is expected to make a full recovery. The shows for Edinburgh, St Albans, Liverpool and Nottingham had to be cancelled. Customers for the cancelled shows have been asked to return to their original point of purchase to request refunds. The former bassist and singer of Deep Purple is the current front man for rock super group Black Country Communion and had been scheduled to kick off the second leg of his tour at the Holmfirth Picturedrome on May 14. - Noble PR, 5/15/19...... Former Thin Lizzy member Brian Downey's "Alive and Dangerous" tour will return to the Camden Underworld for a one off concert on Nov. 7. Downey's band also features guitarist Brian Grace and former Low Rider band members Matt Wilson (lead vocals, bass), and Phil Edgar (lead guitar). 2018 marked the 40th Anniversary of Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album. Although the album was recorded live in 1977 at London's Hammersmith Apollo and Toronto's Seneca College, it wasn't officially released until a year later in 1978. - Noble PR, 5/14/19.
Actress Peggy Lipton, who rose to stardom in the late 1960s as a co-star of the counterculture police series 
Screen legend and singing star Doris Day, whose wholesome, all-American image guaranteed box-office and record-chart hits in the '40s, '50s and '60s, died in the early hours of May 13 at her Carmel Valley, Calif., home, nearly two months after celebrating her 97th birthday, her Doris Day Animal Foundation announced shortly later. Born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Oh., on Apr. 3, 1922, the daughter of a music teacher and a homemaker, the crystal-voiced pop soprano changed her surname to Day when, as a teen, she began singing on the radio. After appearances with the Big Bands of Barney Rapp and Bob Crosby, she joined Les Brown's Band of Renown and had her first hit with "Sentimental Journey." Going solo in 1947, she successfully auditioned for Warner Bros. the following year and was cast in the studio's attempts to compete with the romantic musicals that were the specialty of rival MGM. By the mid-'50s came better roles at other studios including 1954's Love Me or Leave Me, a fictionalized biopic of '20s singer Ruth Etting, which she considered her best film. In 1956, she costarred with James Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which she introduced the Oscar-winning song that became her signature, "Que Sera Sera." In 1959, she was paired for the first time with leading man Rock Hudson in the racy (for its time) romantic comedy Pillow Talk, which resulted in her one and only Best Actress Oscar nomination, and also in her greatest box-office success. Two more vehicles with Hudson (and sidekick Tony Randall) followed, as did similar comedies in which Ms. Day -- sometimes as a career woman, but always squeaky clean -- costarred with the likes of Cary Grant, James Garner and Rod Taylor, prompting Hollywood musician and resident Oscar Levant to famously quip, "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." In 1967, she was offered the role of Mrs. Robinson in the box office smash The Graduate by director Mike Nichols, however Ms. Day wasn't interested. "I could not see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age whom I'd seduced," she recalled later. "I realized it was an effective part... but it offended my sense of values." As the '60s wound down and her wholesome image went out of fashion onscreen, Ms. Day turned to TV, having been forced there by a contract signed by her third husband and manager Martin Melcher without her knowledge. CBS's 1968-73 
Beloved comedian Tim Conway, a five-time Emmy winner who reveled in cracking up straight man Harvey Korman on CBS's variety series 
Acclaimed '70s/'80s singer Rickie Lee Jones will release a new album of covers, 
Billy Joel celebrated his 70th birthday with a blowout concert at New York's Madison Square Garden on May 9. "Welcome to my birthday. This is kind of a weird night," Joel said, as he looked out at the 18,000-plus crowd packing the venue. "But what else am I gonna do?" he deadpanned. Joel's birthday bash included video happy birthday wishes from the likes of Paul McCartney, Don Henley, Garth Brooks, Pink and Brian Johnson of AC/DC. Peter Frampton showed up in person to jam on "Show Me The Way" and "Baby, I Love Your Way" with the Piano Man, and Joel's daughters Alexa Ray, 34, and 3-year-old Della Rose appeared onstage to sing "Happy Birthday" to their dad. Joel wrapped the show with four high-energy hits: "We Didn't Start the Fire," "Uptown Girl," "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and "You May Be Right," and encored with his signature tune, "Piano Man." The show was Joel's 64th consecutive sell-out at the Garden, a continuation of the record-setting residency he launched in December 2013. The Garden has already announced the 70th show in the MSG residency for Nov. 15, which will be Joel's 116th all-time performance at the arena. In January, Joel announced his sixth consecutive year of playing stadium shows, including a concert June 22 at Wembley Stadium in London. - Billboard, 5/10/19...... Speaking of Peter Frampton, the '70s rocker will release a new album of blues covers, 
Sammy Hagar released a new album with his all-star band The Circle, 
Marie Osmond announced on May 7 that she will join the panel of the CBS daytime talk show The Talk, replacing Sara Gilbert one month after the Roseanne star announced her departure. Osmond -- who last appeared on the small screen in her short-lived Marie daytime talk show on the Hallmark Channel in 2013 -- has been a regular guest host on The Talk over the years. The singer/actress will join the current panel of rapper/actress Eve, Carrie Ann Inaba, Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood when The Talk kicks off its 10th season on Sept. 6. I could not be more thrilled," Osmond said in video to fans. Osmond recently announced that she and brother Donny Osmond -- her co-star in the 1970s 
The Who kicked off their "Moving On!" North American tour on May 7 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and company were accompanied by a 49-piece orchestra on 18 of the night's 22 songs, tastefully blending rock and richness in material from Tommy and Quadrophenia. The latter's instrumental "The Rock," in fact, was the show's best moment, replicating the original album version with genuinely exciting precision. Songs from the rest of the Who's catalog varied, meanwhile, with some faring better (the rare "Imagine a Man," "Emminence Front") than others ("Who Are You"). After a particularly messy "Join Together," Townshend -- who also poked fun at the sheet music on a music stand in front of him -- even told the crowd, "It's all a bit too much, I think." The band delivered a roaring show-closing rendition of "Baba O' Riley," spotlighting touring violinist Katie Jacoby. But 28 more North American shows across two legs gives Townshend and Daltrey plenty of time to build it up to its promise, and the duo could still be credited with trying on a new challenge when it could have easily played the age-old favorites in a traditional manner yet again. - Billboard, 5/8/19...... J. R. Cobb Jr., a founding member of the '60s band Classics IV and later the '70s group Atlanta Rhythm Section, died on May 4 of a heart attack. He was 75. Born James Barney Cobb Jr. in Birmingham, Ala., and raised in Jacksonville, Fla., Cobb was a co-founder of Classics IV, which formed in Jacksonville in 1965, and co-wrote such hits as "Spooky," "Stormy" and "Traces" with Buddy Buie, the band's manager and producer. "Spooky" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in 1968 and was later re-recorded by ARS on their 1979 Underdog album. In the spring of 1970, Cobb, who had already moved to Atlanta, worked as a session guitarist at Doraville's Studio One, where he played in a session band with members of Classics IV and The Candymen. Two years later, Cobb, along with three former members of the Candymen -- Rodney Justo, Dean Daughtry and Robert Nix -- formed ARS with Justo on vocals, Daughtry on keyboards, Nix on drums, Cobb on guitar, Barry Bailey on guitar and Paul Goddard on bass. ARS charted seven Top 40 singles on the pop chart from 1974 through 1981, their biggest hits being "So Into You" (1977) and "Imaginary Lover" (1978), which both reached No. 7. Cobb left ARS in 1986, and in 1993 he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His death was shared by his family and bandmates on the ARS Facebook page. - 5/6/19....... Zoologist Jim Fowler, best known as the longtime host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, has died at the age of 89. Mr. Fowler first co-hosted Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins beginning in 1963, then became its main host starting in 1986. Fowler, who helped preserve and protect endangered species through his educational and outreach work, made hundreds of appearances on television, including Omaha's KETV NewsWatch 7, and he would visit schools whenever he visited the city. Dennis Pate, the director of Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium praised Mr. Fowler's service. "Jim Fowler was an early ambassador of wildlife conservation along with Marlin Perkins. He continued that wildlife stewardship late into his career and throughout his life. Jim set the stage for many others to follow in advancing wildlife conservation." In 2003, Mr. Fowler was honored with the Lindbergh Award for his 40 years of dedication to wildlife preservation and education. He was president of the Fowler Center for Wildlife Education, with a mission of educating the public about wildlife so they may help protect habitats and influence government policy. - AP, 5/9/19.