Columbia Records has announced the release of a soundtrack album to accompany the new highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood featuring such classic rock and pop acts as Neil Diamond, The Bob Seger System, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Deep Purple, Simon & Garfunkel and Paul Revere & The Raiders. The 76-minute Once Upon a Time in Hollywood soundtrack, personally curated by Tarantino himself, also includes vintage radio advertisements between some songs to create a true ambience of late 1960's Los Angeles, where the film is set. The film, starring Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, follows the tale of a TV star and his stunt double as they work their way through the industry. In addition to CD, the album will also be available on vinyl and digitally across all platforms on the movie's day of release, July 26. - Billboard, 7/25/19...... Blondie has added the catchy Lil Nas X tune "Old Town Road" to their own set list. The smash hit, featuring Billie Ray Cyrus, is currently at its 16th week atop the Billboard Hot 100, tying the record for the most time at No. 1 in the chart's six-decade history. Blondie's Debbie Harry can be seen giving the song a sultry female rock vocal twist in a newly posted YouTube video. Blondie is currently in the midst of a co-headlining tour with Elvis Costello and the Imposters. - Billboard, 7/24/19...... 
As ZZ Top prepares to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a band with a North American tour in August, the band shared a trailer for the upcoming ZZ Top documentary, That Little Ol' Band from Texas, on July 25. It features snippets of interviews from ZZ members Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill, including actor Billy Bob Thornton saying: "They're unique, they're eccentric. When you would see them onstage, it was like seeing Bugs Bunny in person." That Little Ol' Band from Texas, which will have its world premiere on Aug. 13 at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood before hitting select theaters this fall, also includes never-before-seen footage and a performance at the oldest dance hall in Texas that was shot for the documentary. - Billboard, 7/25/19...... Refusing to throw in the towel after multiple setbacks, organizers of the Woodstock 50 concert have now relocated the festival to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbus, Maryland, some 350 miles south of the latest planned venue in Vernon, N.Y., but none of the artists from the original line up have been confirmed to perform at the new venue and organizers have released all the artists from their contracts. John Fogerty, whose Creedence Clearwater Revival played at the legendary 1969 Woodstock, and rap superstar Jay-Z had already reportedly pulled out of the Aug. 16-18 festival before reps for the festival including Michael Lang emailed the bands' talent agents and informed them that they would not try to enforce performance contracts for the event. Woodstock 50 organizers are now trying to book new artists for a possible event at Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion. "We made a deal quickly contingent on [Lang] putting a show together and dealing with the fact that we have a show booked on one of those dates," says Merriweather venue operator Seth Hurwitz. "So now I'm just a venue waiting to see if the promoter with the hold is going to confirm." John Fogerty has announced he will perform at a competing Woodstock anniversary festival at Woodstock's original site in Bethel, N.Y., on the same weekend in a smaller anniversary event not connected to Woodstock 50. The rock legend had appeared in March alongside Lang to announce that he and Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers would perform at Woodstock 50. - Billboard/AP, 7/26/19...... Bette Midler has come under for one of her latest tweets in which she shared a photo from one of Pres. Donald Trump's recent rallies which included a handful of African-American men in the background, with the singer/actress adding in the caption: "Look, there are African American men in this shot! How much did he pay them to be 'blackground'? (sic)." The post didn't sit well in the Twitterverse, with many fans calling out Midler for being "racist" and "really sick" for suggesting black Trump supporters couldn't make their own political choices. "She thinks black men cannot think for themselves but are willing to be bribed," wrote one user, while another tweeted, "She is the definition of a racist." The feud between Trump, 72, and frequent Trump critic Midler, 73, heated up earlier this year when the president labelled the star a "washed up psycho" after she apologized for a previous statement she had erroneously attributed to Trump. - WENN/Canoe.com, 7/26/19...... While John Travolta is one of the most recognized actors in the industry today, the Saturday Night Fever star will take an opposite tack when he plays an obsessed fan in the upcoming Fred Durst-directed film, The Fanatic. In a just released trailer, Travolta is shown in the role of Moose, a mega-fan of action star Hunter Dunbar, played by Devon Sawa. On his hunt to get an autograph, Moose finds the star's address from a paparazzi photographer. After Hunter warns Moose to never come to his house again, Travolta's character rages into a series of terrifying stalker behavior, including breaking into Hunter's house and tying him to the bed. The Fanatic hits theaters in the U.S. on Aug. 30. - Billboard, 7/25/19...... The estate of Prince has shared a video for a new posthumous Prince release called "Holly Rock." The uptempo, synth-heavy jam was originally recorded at Los Angeles' Sunset Sound studios in April 1985, the same week Prince recorded his 1986 No. 1 hit "Kiss." Prince originally had given Sheila E. sole writing and producer credit, but the rock/funk icon actually co-wrote the song with her and produced the track himself. Originally recorded for the soundtrack to the 1985 film Krush Groove, "Holly Rock" has not appeared on a Prince-related album until the recently released Originals. This is the first time the song has been made available digitally. - Billboard, 7/25/19...... 
Elton John hosted his inaugural "Midsummer Night's Dream Party" on July 24 in Antibes, France, with his husband David Furnish to raise funds for the Elton John Aids Foundation. Sir Elton said he's traditionally thrown a party during Wimbledon week at his home in Windsor, but was on tour this year, so decided to move the fete to France. "We thought a lot of people we know are here on holiday and it would be nice to invite our local friends. It's always great to mix things up and surprise people," he said. Also on hand was Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, who took to the stage to play the band's hits "Something Just Like This," "Yellow" and "Viva la Vida" in a relaxed set before joining John for duets of Elton's own "Rocketman" and "I'm Still Standing." John Lennon's son Julian Lennon was also among the celebrities present, and it was Julian's first time seeing John perform live, despite the fact the two are neighbors on the Cote d'Azur. "We have a lot of the same friends and we bump into each other, but I'm busy, he's busy," Lennon said. "I don't know why but it's just never happened so far," he added. But the two have also discussed the idea of a musical collaboration. "We have talked about it so maybe that will happen this year," Julian said. In an auction fundraiser, guests paid $90,000 for tickets to John's annual Oscar party, and Elton himself bid $280,000 on a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to add to his art collection. The evening overall raised $6.1 million for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which is earmarked for testing and treatment programs in Kenya. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/25/19...... In a new interview on his official website, Paul McCartney has hinted that he may release an album of outtakes in the future after amassing "millions" of them during studio recordings. Sir Paul described the outtakes as a "treasure trove" of material taken from various ab-libbed sound checks and rehearsals. "Thankfully our stuff is captured because these days you can record just about anything that moves!," Macca noted. "It's a little treasure trove. And one day we will have to put together an album, or something, with a selection of these songs that we've gathered. Because they are from all around the world!" - New Musical Express, 7/24/19...... The Rolling Stones have unveiled a limited-edition line of merchandise intended to coincide with the second half of the band's "No Filter" world tour. Robbie Owens-Russo, global vp creative director of the Universal Music Group's Bravado, worked alongside creative director Sarah Andelman and also designed the installation for the collection, which is centered around two giant pieces with the Stones' tongue-and-lip motifs, one in the colors of the American flag. "The tongue is almost like the Nike of the music industry," says Owens-Russo. "It is this iconic thing that doesn't even need the word Rolling Stones next to it." Indeed, the original John Pasche design has resonated far and wide since 1969, when it was created for the band. The items, which just hit shelves at Bergdorf Goodman's in New York, coincide with the band's New Jersey dates in early August. The collection will next travel to Los Angeles, where it will be available at Maxfield during the band's August stops at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and the Rosebowl in Pasadena; then it will head to Miami, where the tour wraps on Aug. 31. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/24/19...... In other Rolling Stones news, Mick Jagger is set to make his silver screen comeback in The Burnt Orange Heresy, a new art heist thriller by Italian director Giuseppe Capotondi, that will premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. An adaptation of American novelist Charles Willeford's book of the same title, the film stars Jagger opposite Donald Sutherland, Claes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki. Jagger plays Joseph Cassidy, a wealthy art collector who recruits a couple (Bang and Debicki) to steal a piece of artwork from a famous artist (Sutherland). Described as an "erotic neo-noir thriller," the movie will close out the 11-day Venice Film Festival on Sept. 7. It was filmed prior to Jagger's heart operation in April, when he underwent a heart valve replacement surgery after doctors told him he could not perform, forcing the postponement of the band's North American tour. - NME, 7/23/19...... 
Former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, who has had stints in Them Crooked Vultures and performed with the likes of Seasick Steve and Butthole Surfers, is set to make his live return with a new band called Sons of Chipotle. Jones will be playing piano and electronics, with Finnish musician Anssi Karttunen on cello and electronics. "It is incredibly rare to find two of the finest musicians in the world performing in such an intimate setting for what will be a series of remarkable concerts," wrote Jones on his website. "Both musicians are known to be curious minds, always ready to learn and to discover. When they improvise, borders disappear, they are free to migrate beyond prejudices, across continents. They'll be joined by guest musicians Otomo Yoshihide of Ground Zero and Jim O'Rourke of Sonic Youth. They'll be making their debut with a series of gigs in Japan in early September, beginning with the Pit Inn in Shinjuku on Sept. 3 and 5. - NME, 7/24/19...... On July 22 Alice Cooper announced he'll release a six-song EP drawn from recent sessions with his longtime producer Bob Ezrin called Breadcrumbs. It will feature covers of Bob Seger's "East Side Story," the MC5's "Sister Anne," Suzi Quatro's "Your Mama Won't Like Me" and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels' "Devil With a Blue Dress On," plus a rework of "Detroit City" from 2003's The Eyes of Alice Cooper album titled "Detroit City 2020," and a new song co-written with MC5's Wayne Kramer, "Go Man Go." Cooper says he started recording the songs, which pay homage to his Motor City hometown, in Detroit during March and continued in Los Angeles. The EP will be released digitally and on limited 10-inch vinyl. No release date or title have been announced for Cooper's next full-length album, which will be the follow-up to his 2017 set Paranormal, but Alice says that he and Ezrin have finished seven songs so far and will be doing more during August after he wraps up a summer North American tour with Halestorm and Motionless In White. Meanwhile, Cooper also released another album, Rise, in June, with the Hollywood Vampires, his all-star band with Johnny Depp and Aerosmith's Joe Perry. - Billboard, 7/22/19...... On July 23 Bruce Springsteen announced that a companion film to his recent hit album Western Stars will premiere in September. Springsteen revealed earlier in July that a Western Stars movie, directed by Thom Zimny and Springsteen himself, is on the way. Speaking to SiriusXM's Dave Marsh and Jim Rotolo on July 10, Springsteen said that the film consisted mostly of a live performance of the album. "We made a film of the 'Western Stars' album, where I play the record from start to finish along with some other things," he said. "We knew we weren't going to tour, so I was looking for a way to get some of the music live to the audience." The Western Stars film will receive its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 5-15. "The incomparable Bruce Springsteen performs his critically acclaimed latest album and muses on life, rock, and the American dream, in this intimate and personal concert film co-directed by Thom Zimny and Springsteen himself," a premise for the 83-minute film states. The exact premiere date has yet to be confirmed. - New Musical Express, 7/23/19......Queen hit The Forum in Los Angeles on July 19 and 20 for two nights on its "The Rhapsody Tour," their first since the release of the Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. Alongside original members Brian May and Roger Taylor, current Queen frontman Adam Lambert delivered a 30-song set on the opening night with a dramatic flair all his own while still taking time to celebrate Mercury's legacy. After a hearty intro including "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Killer Queen," Lambert took a moment to address the "pink elephant in the room," as he put it. "I am not Freddie Mercury. I f---ing know, because there will only be one Freddie Mercury. There's no replacing him," Lambert said. "All I'm here to do tonight is celebrate Freddie and carry the torch for Freddie. And I hope I'm making him proud." The crowd cheered their approval, and Lambert launched into "Don't Stop Me Now" with immense energy. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was an obvious high point before a "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" encore, with both Lambert and May sporting ridiculous outfits (an all-silver get up and an iridescent space-suit, respectively). As the iconic music video played in the background, the entire audience rocked out with the band until the song's dramatic finish. 
Meanwhile, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" video has officially surpassed one billion views on YouTube. Originally released in promotion of the band's single in 1975, it is the first pre-1990s music video to reach that milestone on the streaming platform, according to YouTube. To celebrate, the band released a newly remastered HD version of the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video on its YouTube channel on July 22. In partnership with YouTube Music, Universal Music Group and Hollywood Records, Queen is also launching its "You Are the Champions" project, which gives fans the opportunity to take part in three new user-generated videos. - Billboard, 7/21/19...... In related news, a new video for David Bowie's iconic "Space Oddity" premiered at a NASA event at the Kennedy Center in Washington on July 20 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The event also marked the golden anniversary of the song that chronicles the outer space adventures of star-crossed astronaut "Major Tom." The stunning visual directed by Tim Pope mixes footage of a red-haired Bowie performing the song at his 50th birthday concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1997 along with footage shot by Edouard Lock for the backdrop screen on the singer's 1990 "Sound & Vision" tour. The accompanying audio is a new mix of the song created by Bowie's longtime producer, Tony Visconti. The new audio mix was released on July 12 as part of a 50th anniversary double 7" box set. - Billboard, 7/22/19...... In a new interview with Variety, Sylvester Stallone says he's "furious" that he has such a small financial stake in the Rocky film franchise. While negotiating the contract for the original 1976 Rocky, which he wrote and starred in, Stallone says he lost out on equity in the entire franchise, which would have made him a part-owner of all features in the series. "I have zero ownership of Rocky," he says. "Every word, every syllable, every grammatical error (in the contract) was all my fault. It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, 'Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?' I was furious." Stallone said he's never been able to forgive himself for the lack of business savvy and naivete he had at the start of his career, but he adds, "You don't want to ruffle the feathers of the golden goose." His remarks have been met with criticism by some of his Rocky colleagues, with one anonymous associate telling Variety that Stallone has earned tens of millions in profit from his work in franchise installments as writer, star and producer over the years. "He made money from every angle, and still does, so I don't know what he's complaining about," his colleague stated. The original Rocky film cost roughly $1 million to make and has grossed global net profits of $225 million to date. - WENN/Canoe.com, 7/24/19...... Art Neville, a member of one of New Orleans' storied musical families, The Neville Brothers, and a founding member of the groundbreaking funk band The Meters, died on July 22 at his home in New Orleans. He was 81. His cause of death was not immediately available but Mr. Neville had battled a number of health issues including complications from back surgery. Mr. Neville was the voice of the iconic Carnival season anthem "Mardi Gras Mambo," which he recorded at 17 in 1954 with the group The Hawketts at a local radio station. After returning from a stint in the Navy, he recorded a number of songs that became late 1950s and '60s R&B classics, including "Cha Dooky Do" and "All These Things." Born Arthur Lanon Neville on Dec. 17, 1937, in New Orleans, La., Mr. Neville founded his family's eponymous band in 1976 with three of his brothers, Aaron, Cyril and late sibling Charles Neville, who died in 2018. Over the course of five-plus decades, the Neville family became the north star of the New Orleans funk scene, spinning off a series of related family bands and shepherding a long list of future funk stalwarts into the mainstream, including bassist George Porter Jr., drummer Joseph "Zihaboo" Modeliste, and guitarist Leo Nocentelli. In 1968, Art, Aaron and Cyril joined four New Orleans musicians to form The Meters, an American funk band often cited by other bands as a musical influence. Mr. Neville, known as "Poppa Funk," announced his retirement from music in December 2018, thanking fans for "all the wonderful years of support and for letting us share our music with the world." - AP/Billboard, 7/22/19...... 
As '70s TV icon Valerie Harper continues to struggle with cancer, her devoted husband of 32 years, actor Tony Cacciotti (The Longest Yard), says he refuses to put her in hospice care. On July 23, Cacciotti wrote an emotional Facebook message about his wife's health and their current situation. "I have been told by doctors to put Val in Hospice care and I can't (because of our 40 years of shared commitment to each other) and I won't because of the amazing good deeds she has graced us with while she's been here on earth," he wrote. Harper, best known for her award-winning role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her starring spinoff series Rhoda, was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis in 2013, four years after she beat lung cancer. At the time, doctors predicted she only had three months to live. "We will continue going forward as long as the powers above allow us, I will do my very best in making Val as comfortable as possible," wrote Cacciotti. "There are two special ANGELS on this planet masquerading as humans who live and work together, that have made it possible to have all of Val's needs taken care of." Harper, 79, has continued to receive chemotherapy treatments throughout her years-long health battle. "For those of you who have been in this position, you will totally understand that 'it's hard letting go.' So as long as I'm able and capable, I'll be where I belong right beside her," continued Cacciotti. "Many, many thanks for your outpouring of kindness and support." Cacciotti and Harper's good friend Deanna started a GoFundMe for the Valerie actress in mid-July and raised over $66,100. The page, however, has since been shut down, as members of the entertainment industry have stepped in to help pay for Harper's medical expenses. - RadarOnline.com/Canoe.com, 7/24/19......Bob Frank, the Memphis folk singer-songwriter who developed a cult following after his 1972 self-titled debut album, has died at the age of 75. "LITA is incredibly bummed to hear that Bob Frank passed away yesterday," tweeted record label Light In The Attic. "In 2014 we reissued Bob's 1972 album and loved working with him. He took elements of Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ian Tyson and filtered it through a pot-smoked haze infused with Bob's friend, Jim Dickinson. RIP, Bob." Frank was a Vietnam veteran who moved to Nashville and became a songwriter for the Tree music publishing company after the war. His debut album, originally released by Vanguard Records, received positive reviews but wasn't a commercial success; it eventually became a rare collector's item before being reissued decades later. In 2001, he reemerged after decades away from music with a series of new albums on his own label, Bowstring Records. His most recent album, Dancing In Dallas, was released in 2018. - Billboard, 7/22/19...... Actor David Hedison, best known for his starring role in the popular 1960s adventure series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, died on July 18 in Los Angeles. He was 92. Mr. Hedison also appeared in Off Broadway productions by Clifford Odets and in the original version of the 1958 horror sci-fi classic The Fly with Vincent Price. He also starred in the spy TV series Five Fingers, and over the next few years had roles in Perry Mason, The Saint and the feature film The Greatest Story Ever Told. Though many other TV roles in such series as Dynasty, The Colbys, Fantasy Island and soap operas as Another World and The Young and the Restless would follow, it was his performance as the heroic, handsome Capt. Lee B. Crane in producer Irwin Allen's submarine-set 1964-68 Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea that secured his place in the collective memory of the Baby Boomer generation. "He was adored by so many, all of whom benefitted from his warm and generous heart," said his family in a statement. "Our dad brought joy and humor wherever he went and did so with great style." - Deadline.com, 7/22/19...... Dutch film actor Rutger Hauer, who specialized in menacing roles, including a memorable turn as a murderous android in Blade Runner opposite Harrison Ford, died on July 19 at his home in the Netherlands. He was 75. Hauer's roles included a terrorist in Nighthawks with Sylvester Stallone, Cardinal Roark in Sin City and playing an evil corporate executive in Batman Begins. He was in the big-budget 1985 fantasy Ladyhawke, portrayed a menacing hitchhiker who's picked up by a murderer in the Mojave Desert in The Hitcher and won a supporting-actor Golden Globe award in 1988 for Escape from Sobibor. Early in his career, Hauer spent five years with a small troupe bringing theater to rural Holland. He made his film debut in the saucy Turkish Delight, nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language film of 1973. Gene Simmons, the KISS bassist who starred opposite Hauer in Wanted: Dead or Alive, described his former co-star as "always a gentleman, kind and compassionate."- AP, 7/24/19.
Rod Stewart has voiced his support for "my mate" A$AP Rocky following the Harlem rapper's recent arrest and incarceration in Sweden. Rocky, along with two members of his entourage, were arrested in Stockholm on July 2 ollowing a performance at the Smash music festival, will apparently be held for two weeks as Swedish authorities investigate the case. It's since been claimed that Rocky has been held in "inhumane conditions" while in prison, with the case prompting an outpouring of support from artists including Tyga and Tyler, the Creator. Rocky has also now received a message of support from Stewart, who said he was "dismayed" at Rocky's alleged "mistreatment at the hands of Swedish police." "I'm dismayed at the reports of mistreatment of my mate @asvpxrocky at the hands of Swedish police. Let's have #JusticeForRocky!," Stewart posted on Twitter on July 17. Stewart and Rocky first met after Rocky sampled Stewart's vocals from "In a Broken Dream," which he recorded with the band Python Lee Jackson in the early 1970s. The sample was used on Rocky's 2015 album At. Long. Last. ASAP, and Stewart received a feature credit on the track "Everyday" as a result. - New Musical Express, 7/17/19..... 
Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers says the band has been recording in the studio with producer John Shanks, who has worked with the likes of Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and the Goo Goo Dolls, for a 5-song EP that the Doobies plan to release sometime in 2020. "We got these done and everybody's pretty excited about them," Johnston told Billboard. "It's rock n' roll, basically. There's one that's kind of a ballad, but the rest of them are rock, with a little modern edge to it. It's totally different from anything we've ever done before... things I've never tried before vocally, musically. Everything is kind of different from what you expect to hear from normal Doobies, but it's still recognizable. It's a cross-matching of the two things -- (Shanks') input, which is strong, and ours," he added. The band has yet to give the new EP a name or set a release date, however it would be the group's first studio release since 2014's collaborative Southbound album and its first set of original material since 2010's World Gone Crazy. Meanwhile, the Doobies are on the road with Santana this summer, then mount a solo tour in the fall. It will include a stop at the Masonic Auditorium in the band's native San Francisco on Sept. 12 where it will perform their classic LP's Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me in their entirety, as it did in 2018 at New York's Beacon Theatre. - Billboard, 7/18/19...... A new wide-ranging exhibit of 150 rare Bruce Springsteen items will go on display at the Monmouth County Historical Association in Freehold, N.J. on Sept. 29. According to a press release, the "Springsteen: His Hometown" exhibit will provide a "comprehensive look of how Monmouth County, NJ has been thematically woven into Bruce Springsteen's music and art throughout his career." Items include the original color poster from Springsteen's Freehold-bred first band, The Castiles, a personal scrapbook made by the singer's mother, as well as her 1943 high school yearbook and the 1801 document signed by the Revolutionary War patriot and direct ancestor John Springsteen. Springsteen was born in Freehold, and the unveiling of the show will coincide with the city's centennial celebration. The pieces in the exhibit will come from both the Monmouth County Historical Association and the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University. Proceeds from the exhibit will benefit the Monmouth County Historical Association. - Billboard, 7/17/19...... A new, previously unreleased version of the Freddie Mercury song "Time Waits For No One" will be released on July 26. The single, which has been produced by Mercury's long-time friend Dave Clark of the 60's band The Dave Clark Five, was originally shared online in June and is described as showing Mercury "at his most compelling... a completely stripped-down performance, accompanied by just a piano [and] showcasing one of music s most beloved and show-stopping voices." "Time Waits For No One" is a previously unreleased version of "Time," which was recorded in 1986 for Mercury s concept album and musical of the same name. The single will be available on a vinyl picture disc and CD. - New Musical Express, 7/19/19...... 
Creedence Clearwater Revival's performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival has been glaringly absent from all music and video documents about the legendary festival including the Oscar-winning documentary in 1970, but now the band plans to correct that with the upcoming Creedence Clearwater Revival - Live at Woodstock release, which hits stores on Aug. 2. "We weren't in the movie on purpose," CCR frontman John Fogerty says. "Nobody really understood what the movie would be. The track they wanted to use was 'Bad Moon Rising'; I just didn't feel it was our best work. At that point in time Creedence was the No. 1 band in the world. I felt like, 'Why go backwards?'" But Fogerty says he changed his position over time. "Maybe around the late '80s I began to think that, historically, it is what it is. It doesn't matter if it's well done or not well done, it became more a fact of history. Therefore nobody was hurt by it. It was just history." Three CCR tracks -- "Green River," "Bad Moon Rising" and "I Put a Spell On You" -- first appeared on the 2009 box set Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm and are reprised on the recent June 2019 release Woodstock Back to the Garden -- 50th Anniversary Experience. CCR's Live at Woodstock features the group's entire 11-song set, including lengthy rendition of "Keep on Chooglin'" and "Suzie Q" along with its signature tune, "Proud Mary," of which it has shared a YouTube video. "I thought we played good, and in some cases I thought we played great (at Woodstock)," recalls bassist Stu Cook, whose Creedence Clearwater Revisited with drummer Doug Clifford is in the midst of a farewell tour. "Just like any show it has its highs and lows from a performer's point of view, most of which the audience has no clue about. I thought we played a journeyman's set that had some real high points. It's a shame we weren't in the film, but that was not my decision. It wasn't really supported by the other guys in the band." Fogerty adds that the festival is "a remarkable event to look back on now -- fondly, of course," while Cook says he feels "the event was about the audience and not the artists... the bands were almost the Muzak of a mysterious event that happened." - Billboard, 7/18/19...... Four years after forming, the Grateful Dead spinoff band Dead & Company have topped the Billboard Hot Tours chart with their summer tour grossing $40.9 million and selling 486,917 tickets for their biggest tour yet. The band's June 14-15 engagement at Chicago's Wrigley Field grossed $7.1 million and sold 72,851 tickets, improving on their 2017 performance at the same venue when it grossed $6.4 million. The tour featured a fair mix of amphitheaters and stadiums, playing six stadium shows and 13 dates in amphitheaters. Meanwhile, Billy Joel was No. 5 in the Hot Tours recap, grossing $6,575,093, while Paul McCartney's tour grossed $4,915,772, good for the No. 7 spot. Veteran acts are also discovering farewell tours can be very lucrative. Elton John has the highest-grossing tour at the 2019 midyear mark, according to Billboard Boxscore, so far the most successful in a wave of farewell outings from such acts as Paul Simon, Slayer, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger. - Billboard, 7/18/19...... 
A new Foreigner concert documentary entitled Double Vision: Then and Now premiered on the digital cable channels AT&T AUDIENCE Network (Channel 239), DIRECTV Ultra 4k (104 and 105), AT&T U-verse (1114) on July 19, and is curently streaming on DIRECTV NOW and the DIRECTV App. The film, whose trailer is currently being shared on YouTube, documents the classic rockers' two nights at the Soaring Eagle Casino Resort in Mount Pleasant, Mich., on Oct. 6 and 7, 2017, when four members of the original band -- founder Mick Jones, frontman Lou Gramm, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and drummer Dennis Elliott) along with second bassist Rick Wills -- performed together for the first time since the early '80s, as part of the group's 40th anniversary celebration. In conjunction with Foreigner's current lineup, the troupe played a five-song mini-set, then joined its successors for a two-song encore. The reunion has been repeated a few times since and will happen again four more times this October. Mick Jones says the documentary has "been a little while in the making, but the production of it, obviously, and a lot of paints went into it." "I'm very happy with the result," he says. "I think it captures the vibe of when the two lineups played together. We had a lot of fun. I think we captured that, and it's nice for it to be documented in this way." Jones added that he'd "like I'd like to put some new Foreigner material out, definitely." "I'm not sure about doing an album these days, but we'll see. (Lou Gramm) and I have been working on ProTools in the hotel rooms and stuff like that. So it's cooking." - Billboard, 7/18/19...... Iggy Pop announced on July 18 that he will release Free, the follow-up to his 2016 album Post Pop Depression, on Sept. 6 via Loma Vista Recordings. In a press release, Pop described Free as having "virtually nothing in common sonically with its predecessor -- or with any other Iggy Pop album." A collaboration with jazz trumpeter Leron Thomas, Pop says Free is "uniquely somber and contemplative... in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice." Pop has also shared the eerie title track for the new 10-track release on YouTube. - Billboard, 7/18/19...... The Doors have announced they will release a special 50th anniversary edition of their 1969 album The Soft Parade. The 3-disc special edition, which is set for release on Oct. 18, will also include 12 never-before-released songs as well as some "stripped down" versions of some of the album's classic tracks. The Soft Parade entered the Top 10 upon its release, and features the hit single "Touch Me." The album split listeners on release thanks to the varied brass and string arrangements on the tracks. Now, the special edition will strip-back some of these tracks, including "Touch Me," "Tell All The People," "Wishful Sinful," "Runnin' Blue," and "Who Scared You" so listeners can hear them in a simpler form. - NME, 7/19/19...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Dave Davies of the Kinks says he and brother Ray Davies have been digging for songs for possible inclusion for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the band's 1969 album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), which is due in October. "Some we recorded but never used," Dave said of things they found in the archive. "Others don't have finished vocals or they need other embellishments." "The songs are really just in demo form now," he continued, noting that he and Ray are recording some new songs while also finishing and re-recording the old ones. "But good demos. Ray is still dissecting various other material we might use. The intention is to get the work out, but it's not a done deal." - Billboard, 7/17/19...... 
On July 18 '70s pop/soul hitmakers Earth, Wind & Fire became the first R&B group in history to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, and just the fourth group overall to receive this acknowledgement, following three rock groups: The Who in 2008, Led Zeppelin in 2012, and the Eagles in 2016. The Kennedy Center Honors tend to go to individuals. As a result, they have generally chosen to honor lead singers and/or principal songwriters from groups, rather than the groups themselves. Maurice White, the lead songwriter for EWF, died in 2016. The Kennedy Center Honors program doesn't give posthumous awards, which led to them recognizing the group. Maurice's brother Verdine White, the group's longtime bassist, said he was proud of how their songs have become part of the soundtrack of American music. "We're part of the culture. We're part of people's lives," he said. "The music makes people happy. When you come to a show you leave happier than when you came." This year's other honorees include Linda Ronstadt (who in 2019 released her first ever live album Live in Hollywood), classical conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, actress Sally Field and Sesame Street, the first TV show to be honored. The recipients will be honored during a gala 42nd annual ceremony on Dec. 7. The event will be taped for broadcast on PBS on Dec. 15. For the third straight year, the attendance of Pres. Donald Trump seems likely to be a subject of speculation in advance of the event. Pres. Trump has skipped the past two celebrations. The first time, multiple recipients threatened to boycott the event if he attended. The Kennedy Center's president, Deborah Rutter, said it was too early to tell whether Trump or first lady Melania Trump would attend. "They are always invited," she said. "He is the president of the United States of America, and it would be good to have these extraordinary individuals acknowledged by the president." - Billboard/AP, 7/18/19...... Paul McCartney has signed on to write his first ever stage musical, an adaptation of the classic 1946 movie It's a Wonderful Life. The ex-Beatle is collaborating with "Billy Elliot" playwright Lee Hall, who also wrote the screenplay for the Elton John biopic Rocketman, as well as Broadway producer Bill Kenwright. Sir Paul said he'd never considered writing a musical, but after meeting Kenwright and Hall three years ago, "I found myself thinking this could be interesting and fun." Lee Hall said McCartney's "wit, emotional honesty and melodic brilliance brings a whole new depth and breadth to the classic tale." Producers say they are aiming for a 2020 launch for the show. Its dates and venue have not been released. - AP, 7/17/19...... AC/DC has returned to social media after a prolonged silence to mark the upcoming 40th anniversary of their classic 1979 album Highway to Hell. AC/DC's Facebook account had been inactive ever since announcing the death of founding member Malcolm Young on Nov. 18, 2017. Now the band has posted an emotional tribute to Young on its Facebook page. "With enormous dedication and commitment he was the driving force behind the band," the band posted on July 15. The band also announced they would be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Highway to Hell throughout July. A similar clip was also posted to their Twitter account on July 16, their first post since they paid tribute to Chuck Berry following his death in March 2017. The new posts will only fuel fan speculation that the Aussie rockers are reconvening to record a follow-up to their last LP, 2014's Rock or Bust. - New Musical Express, 7/17/19...... 
Barring the intervention of some kind of miracle, it appears there will be no Woodstock 50 concert at the Vernon Downs racetrack and casino in upstate New York in August 2019 after the Vernon town council voted unanimously on July 16 to uphold its permit application denial. Organizers released a statement after the decision, thanking everyone who supported them in recent weeks as it pushed to have the anniversary event moved to the upstate race track. "Woodstock 50 is disappointed that the Town of Vernon has passed up the opportunity to hold the historic 50th Anniversary Festival by denying our robust and thoughtful proposal," the statement said. "We regret that those in Vernon who supported Woodstock have been deprived of the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of the rebirth of a cultural peace movement that changed the world in 1969 and is what the world needs now. We want to thank the artists who stood by us. We are grateful for the support of Vernon Downs and its generous owner Jeffrey Gural." Also after the decision, Virgin Produced, who has been advising with the Woodstock 50 team, "officially concluded its consulting role with respect to the company and the proposed festival," according to a statement from Virgin Produced's publicist. The Woodstock 50 event had been originally planned for Aug. 16 to 18 at Watkins Glen International racetrack, but those plans also fell through. An estimated 65,000 people were expected to attend. - PageSix.com, 7/17/19...... A California judge has told the parties in the Michael Jackson estate/HBO lawsuit to deliver a briefing on whether a bid to force HBO to settle the case in arbitration violates the First Amendment. Jackson's estate filed suit against HBO in February, days before the Leaving Neverland documentary, which detailed allegations from Wade Robson and James Safechuck, premiered on HBO. The estate claims the film is a violation of a non-disparagement clause in a 1992 contract that once gave HBO the right to air a first-ever televised concert after the release of Jackson's album Dangerous, however instead of a judge determining that issue the estate to compel arbitration pursuant to that same contract. Once that happens, an arbitrator would look at the contract and the documentary and settle the dispute. In his decision on July 19, U.S. District Court Judge George H. Wu said, "While the Court agrees that attempting to enforce an arbitration agreement in a contract that includes a non-disparagement clause through the filing of a lawsuit does not initially suggest the presence of state action, the initiation of the litigation itself can trigger First Amendment concerns." A hearing to consider those concerns is now set for Sept. 16. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/19/19...... Meanwhile, Prince's estate has won a $7 million judgement against a record label it claims is bootlegging the star's music. Court documents reveal that the estate sued Eye Records in Aug. 2018, claiming it was a "bootleg label dedicated to Prince," for allegedly releasing 18 Prince compilations since his death. These included live performances and unreleased tracks, and were allegedly released without the sufficient rights. The label used the online store newlovesigne.com to sell the music, according to the lawsuit. Prince's estate had requested $2 million per trademark violation, but they have now been awarded $7 million. - TMZ.com/NME, 6/20/19.
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