Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on November 28th, 2019

While not celebrated in his native England, the American Thanksgiving holiday is being observed by longtime L.A. transplant Ozzy Osbourne in the form of a 32-song Turkey Day playlist posted on Spotify.com. Osbourne's eclectic collection includes not only several of his famous Black Sabbath and solo tracks ("Dreamer," "Thank God for the Bomb," "In My Life," "Sweet Leaf," "After Forever," "Thank God For the Bomb," "Rat Salad" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home"), but also includes some holiday-appropriate songs including Adam Sandler's "The Thanksgiving Song," the Ramones' "We're a Happy Family," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," ZZ Top's "I Thank You," REO Speedwagon's "Flying Turkey Trot" and John Lennon's "Cold Turkey." Ozzy will release his latest solo LP, Ordinary Man, in January. Meanwhile, Ozzy and his latest collaborator Post Malone have shared an official live video for Malone's song "Take What You Want" on YouTube. "Take What You Want" is featured on Malone's latest album Hollywood's Bleeding and reportedly inspired Ozzy to begin working on new music. The video shows the pair erforming at the track at the LA Forum during Malone's final show of his "Runaway" tour. - Billboard, 11/28/19...... In memorial to his late Cream and Blind Faith former bandmate Ginger Baker wo passed way in October at age 80, Eric Clapton has announced a 2020 charity tribute concert for Baker at London's Hammersmith Apollo on Feb. 17. "Eric Clapton & Friends: A Tribute to Ginger Baker" will focus on the pair's work together in those two bands, with proceeds going to Leonard Cheshire, the health and welfare charity that aids people living with disabilities. Ginger Baker's social media accounts, which are overseen by his daughter Nettie, announced the event with the message: "Very pleased to share this news. Big thank you to @EricClapton." With bassist Jack Bruce, Cream released four albums including the influential Disraeli Gears before splitting in 1968. Baker and Clapton went on to play in Blind Faith with vocalist Steve Winwood of Traffic and Family bassist Ric Grech, who released only one self-titled album. - New Musical Express, 11/25/19...... The ex-wife of Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin has announced she will offer handwritten lyrics to some of Elton's biggest songs, including "Your Song," "Candle in the Wind," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Bennie and the Jets," for auction through Bonhams Auction House in Los Angeles on Dec. 9, where individual items have estimates of between $30,000 - $250,000. Maxine Taupin, who was married to Taupin from 1971 to 1976 and the inspiration for the John classic "Tiny Dancer," is also set to auction off the lyrics for "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" and "Border Song." In an interview with Rolling Stone, Maxine said she couldn't recall how she wound up with the valuable lyrics after her divorce. "You don't just normally sit in a room and divide things up, but it might have happened like that. I don't really remember the moment. But some of them were framed on a wall in my home and other ones were in a bank vault, perfectly preserved," she said, adding "When I heard the finished songs, I was instantly transported to that magical place these two creative forces have been taking us all to for so many years." Maxine, who last saw Elton perform in 2004, said that she decided to cash in on the lyrics in the wake of the Elton biopic Rocketman's success. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart has told a Scottish radio station that he's currently in the midst of a spat with his good friend Elton after criticising John's decision to head out on an extensive farewell world tour. "I do love Elton, only we're not talking at the moment. We've had a spat because I criticized his tour as being money-grabbing," Stewart said. In March, Stewart slammed John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," telling Andy Cohen "I did email her [Sir Elton] and said, 'What, again dear?' And, I didn't hear anything back. I don't think this is a big deal, it stinks of selling tickets." - NME, 11/25/19...... Neil Young posted on his Neil Young Archives website on Nov. 23 that he plans to rlease his long-awaited album Homegrown in 2020, 45 years after the album was originally shelved. "'Homegrown' will be our first release in 2020, sounding great in vinyl -- as it was meant to be Made in the mid-nineteen seventies!," he wrote. Young called the album "the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes a Time, and suggested that the mostly-acoustic LP, which focused on his difficult relationship at the time with actress Carrie Snodgress, didn't originally see the light of day because it was too intensely emotional. He described it as a "record full of love lost and explorations," and one "that has been hidden for decades... too personal and revealing to expose in the freshness of those times." Young added that Homegrown had taken longer than usual to restore because he refused to complete the process digitally, with the accompanying video showing his longtime producer John Hanlon working on the album. "Mr. J. Hanlon is seen here mastering 'Homegrown' in an all analog chain," he explained. "This is the way records were made when we started out. This is the way we made them sound great. We were told that this was impossible now, the 'Homegrown' tapes were too damaged to use; we had to use Digital." - NME, 11/23/19...... Chicago released a Christmas album, Chicago Christmas 2019, in October, and the brassy rock troupe says that's only the beginning of its holiday festivities. Chicago is being featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on Nov. 28 riding the Hallmark float, and will appear on NBC's Today show when they will announce the itinerary of its 2020 summer tour. They'll also be on hand for a co-headlining performance at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, filming Dec. 3 and airing the following night on NBC ."I usually try to check in with what's going on with the holidays and try to get into the festivities with the family," trumpeter Lee Loughnane, who produced Chicago Christmas 2019, says. "If there's a football game on I'll usually watch that, but it's good to feel a part of everything this year." Chicago Christmas, which features eight new original songs and three seasonal staples, recently hit No. 1 on the Billboard Holiday Album Sales chart. Singer Robert Lamm says "Each song has its own personality, and that's one of the things I love about (Chicago Christmas 2019) the most; It's really where we are, creatively, at this point." Lamm added that the group is "open to (recording) new material... now that we have the ability to record while we're touring, it's that much easier. So we'll see." Chicago will begin a residency at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas on Feb. 28, and is also planning an extensive summer tour in 2020. - Billboard, 11/27/19...... Robbie Robertson of The Band has worked with director Martin Scorsese for more than 40 years (they were even roommates in the '70s when Robertson moved into Scorsese's L.A. house on Mulholland Drive), and now Robertson has scored the soundtrack of Scorsese's new Netflix film The Irishman. Robertson says Scorsese wanted him to create music that fit the tone of the new film, probably best described as a character drama more than a traditional mobster movie. "It's a very strong mood, and I've never seen a gangster movie with this kind of tonality before," says Robertson. "It was tricky." It was made trickier by the fact that The Irishman, which stars Robert De Niro as a truck driver who becomes a hitman for an Italian crime family and crosses paths with infamous Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), spans multiple decades. This meant that Scorsese used de-aging technology to make septuagenarian actors De Niro, Pacino and Joe Pesci look, at some points, as young as 30. "I thought, 'as long as it works,'" says Robertson of his first impression when he was told about the de-aging concept. "As long as it isn't distracting. All we know from the past is people that are younger playing older, not too much the other way around. They give these tests and the tests looked really encouraging and it was like, if you can do that and if you can pull it off, this is historic." Robertson, who previously worked with Scorsese on several of his films including Raging Bull, Casino, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street, released his latest solo album, Sinematic, on Sept. 20. - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/28/19...... Newly discovered letters written by Paul McCartney's late first wife Linda McCartney about Paul will be auctioned through Chiswick Auctions in London on Jan. 29, 2020. Discovered by Linda's friend and former male housemate Miki Antony, the letters were written before Linda married the Beatle in 1969. They reveal her excitement about dating the star and how she was commissioned to photograph "groovy" bands of the day. In June 1967, weeks after she had begun dating McCartney, Linda (then Linda Eastman) photocopied an American gossip column that featured a sentence about her. She sent it to Antony with a passage underlined that read: "They say Beatle Paul McCartney's latest favourite femme is Linda Eastman, a Yankee Doodle fan-mag [photographer]." Linda wrote on the back: "Thought you'd get a big laugh over the enclosed clipping. Have no idea where they picked up that lie, but it just shows how truthful newspapers are." Linda and Paul met at the Bag O' Nails nightclub in London's Soho in May 1967. They married in March 1969 and McCartney "cried for a year" after his wife's death from cancer in 1998, aged just 56. aul and Linda McCartney. Antony says she met Linda while she was studying at the University of Arizona. He said: "She was a good friend for a year and a half. But then, of course, she went off into the Beatles world and that was it. She was lovely." - New Musical Express, 11/24/19...... Cher paid homage to her late first husband Sonny Bono on the Season 28 finale of ABC's Dancing With the Stars on Nov. 25 with a performance of the Sonny & Cher classic "The Beat Goes On." Dressed in a hippie outfit straight out of the 1960s with a sparkly magenta top, striped bell bottoms and teal faux fur vest, the 73-year-old icon duetted with Sonny on the 1967 hit using old video footage of the pair. "Charleston was once the rage, uh huh/ History has turned the page, uh huh/ Miniskirt's the current thing, uh huh/ Teenybopper is our newborn king, uh huh," Cher belted out, trading lines with Sonny as she launched into some serious arm-ography with the backup dancers. A clip of the performance has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 11/26/19...... The Who's Pete Townshend is apologizing for his recent controversial interview with Rolling Stone in which said that he "thanks God" that his bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwistle are no longer around. "They were f---ing difficult to play with," Townshend said in the interview, sparking criticism. "They never, ever managed to create bands for themselves. I think my musical discipline, my musical efficiency as a rhythm player, held the band together." Now Townshend has posted a message to himself on his Facebook page. "PETE! FOR F---'S SAKE PUT A LID ON IT!," he wrote. "No one can ever know how much I miss Keith and John, as people, as friends and as musicians. The alchemy we used to share in the studio is missing from the new album, and it always feels wrong to try to summon it up without them, but I suppose we will always be tempted to try. To this day I am angry at Keith and John for dying. Sometimes it shows. It's selfish, but it's how I feel." The guitarist and singer went on to apologize to the late musician's children, Chris Entwistle and Mandy Moon, as well as to the Who's fans. "I understand that a lot of long-time Who fans will be hurt by the way it comes across as a headline. I only hope that they know me well enough that I tell the truth as much as I can, but I also tell both sides and the upside is missing in the headlines," he said. - Billboard, 11/27/19...... Tina Turner shared a rare video message with her fans on Nov. 26, her milestone 80th birthday. "Yes, I'm 80. How did I think I would be at 80? Not like this," she said. "How is this?" she continued. "Well, I look great, I feel good, I've gone through some very serious sicknesses that I'm overcoming. So it's like having a second chance at life. I'm happy to be an 80-year-old woman." Turner's video montage also featured birthday messages from the likes of Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Nile Rodgers and others. - New Musical Express, 11/26/19...... Dolly Parton has delivered big ratings for NBC with her Nov. 26 special Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Opry. The two-hour show outdrew the same-day season averages for competing series on other networks, and averaged 7 million viewers, along with a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49. The total-viewer count was the best for the NBC from 9 to 11 p.m. on Tuesday during the fall 2019 season. The show also outdrew ABC's Nov. 12 Parton interview special, Dolly Parton: Here She Comes Again, which had a little under 4 million viewers. - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/27/19...... Prince will release a Super Deluxe Edition of his classic 1982 album 1999 on Nov. 29. In addition to a remastered version of the 1999 double LP, the release also features 35 alternate versions, remixes, previously unreleased tracks and live cuts, including a Special Dance Mix of "Little Red Corvette." It also features the guitar-pop gem "Money Don't Grow on Trees" from his 1979 self-titled debut, and the Dirty Mind outtake "Vagina." - Billboard, 11/27/19...... The rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires featuring Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp has announced a fall 2020 UK tour in support of their latest album, Rise. The group will play Leeds on Sept. 2, Glasgow on Sept. 3, London on Sept. 5, and Birmingham on Sept. 6. "This show has something for everyone," Cooper says. "I like to joke that The Vampires are the world's most expensive bar band, but what a lot of people don't realise is that this is a real rock band, not just some novelty. I wouldn't keep doing it if it weren't such a great band... I never get tired of playing with these guys!" - New Musical Express, 11/26/19...... Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has been slapped with a restraining order by his longtime girlfriend Rachael Gordon after a bizarre incident when he stormed into his home and grabbed his belongings. According to the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, Gordon claims in court documents that Frehley, 68, returned home from a business trip unannounced and barged into the couple's home with a male and a female bodyguard, as well as his adult daughter, Monique, and gathered up items including guitars and gold records. Gordon also alleges that Monique threatened her with physical violence and screamed at her, "You are a skank. My family will kill you." According to her filings, the tumultuous visit and verbal abuse left Gordon "in shock, afraid, filled with anxiety" and "paralyzed with fear." A friend of Gordon's also claims to have witnessed the incident and stated Frehley's entorage "looked like they were on drugs." Gordon also alleges Frehley has displayed troubling behaviour with her in the past, alleging he once threw a knife on their bed and told her words to the effect of "you know what that can do to you." Gordon says she's also planning to move out after the altercation, claiming the home ambush happened just as their lease ended and she needs the cash to find a new home as she does not work and he controls their finances. She is asking for $20,000 for moving expenses, $11,000 for rent and $25,000 in legal fees. - WENN/Canoe.com, 11/28/19...... Doug Lubahn, a studio bassist for The Doors, died on Nov. 24 of as yet undisclosed causes. While The Doors never had a full-time bass player, Lubahn appeared on three of the group's most acclaimed albums including Strange Days, Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade. After his work with The Doors, Lubahn went on to play in several other bands including Dreams, Pierce Arrow and Riff Raff. "Words could never express the sorrow. He was the love of my life. I'll miss the laughter more than anything," wrote his wife Pat Devanny. On The Doors' official Twitter page, a note read: "Our condolences go out to the family, friends and fans of Doug Lubahn. Doug made indelible contributions to rock and roll, and especially to The Doors. He played bass on Stage Days, Waiting for the Sun and Soft Parade. #RIP, Doug." - NME, 11/26/19...... Ron Oberman, a senior record executive and former publicist to David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen, died on Nov. 21 in his Spanish Springs, Nev., home after battling FTD (Frontal Temporal Degeneration) disease, a family spokesperson confirmed. He was 76. Oberman was best known for developing and furthering the careers of international music artists such as Bowie, Springsteen, The Bangles, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Warrant, Wilderness Road, Martika and more. He also worked with the Beatles and Mick Jagger. Oberman began his career with a Washington, D.C. newspaper as the writer of a weekly teen column, and later worked in the A&R department of Mercury Records, where he developed and introduced the then-unknown Bowie, and subsequently served as Bowie's North American publicist. Columbia Records eventually signed Oberman as head of its A&R department. Apart from Bowie, Oberman helped save Springsteen from being dropped by Columbia after writing a letter to the head of the label, pleading to give the singer-songwriter another chance. Oberman stayed with Columbia for 25 years, and then moved to become the head of MCA Records' A&R department, where he discovered and signed the Bangles. He is survived by his wife, Amber DiLena. - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/24/19...... Cartoonist Gahan Wilson, whose illustrations in such iconic magazines as Playboy, The New Yorker and National Lampoon earned him the nicknames "the Michelangelo of the Macabre" and "the Wizard of Weird," has died at 89. Mr. Wilson gained fame with such offbeat drawings as a man deliriously happy as he is being strapped into the electric chair and saying, "Gee, it's just like in the movies." Another showed an eye doctor with a knife about to attack a patient who is reading an exam chart that says, "I am an insane eye doctor and I am going to kill you now..." Mr. Wilson told David Letterman in 1982 that he was always attracted to circus sideshows and freaks. "They're fun," he said. "They're nice people." Mr. Wilson's stepson wrote on Facebook that Wilson, born Feb. 18, 1930, died peacefully surrounded by loved ones on Nov. 21. - CNN.com, 11/23/19.

Carole King will present the American Music Awards' "Artist of the Decade" honor to pop sensation Taylor Swift during the 2019 AMA Awards on Nov. 24 in Los Angeles, it was announced by ABC and Dick Clark Productions on Nov. 21. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to present Taylor with the Artist of the Decade honor," said King in a statement. "She is an extraordinary songwriter who has cultivated a unique and personal relationship with her audience. As a woman songwriter who also got into the music world at a young age, I know the kind of determination, struggle and single-minded perseverance it has taken for her to reach such heights." The award show will be broadcast live on ABC from L.A.'s Microsoft Theater beginning at 8 p.m. EST. In addition to Swift, among the many performers will be Post Malone featuring Travis Scott and Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy recently collaborated with Malone on Malone's single "Take What You Want." - Billboard, 11/21/19...... Neil Young has declared that Facebook "is toast" on his Neil Young Archives website and that he's "no longer interested" in linking to the popular social media platform due to its "support of right wing groups." In the NYA posting entitled "Facebook is toast at NYA", Young wrote: "Facebook is facing criticism for sponsoring the annual gala of the Federalist Society, the powerful right wing organisation behind the nomination of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. This turn of events, in addition to the false information regularly supplied to the public on Facebook, with its knowledge, has caused us to re-evaluate and change our use policy. I don't feel that a social site should be making obvious commitments to one side of politics or the other. It further confuses readers regarding truthfulness in coverage and message. NYA, is no longer interested in further links with FACEBOOK and will be discontinuing use. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to you." Young's move comes just a month after he threatened to pull all Facebook posts from his archive site, when he wrote: "It's a problem we face together. FB gives you more than you want and it's not all good. A lot of it is very bad misinformation about political campaigns and ads that are outright falsehoods... If we continue to be on Facebook, we are conflicted about who we are. With that in mind, don't be surprised if we drop all references and contacts with the platform." - New Musical Express, 11/21/19...... As the annual Record Store Day approaches on Black Friday (Nov. 29), Paul McCartney has shared two new songs on YouTube that he'll release on that day as a double A-side, 7-inch picture disc single. "Home Tonight" and "In a Hurry" are upbeat and fun, featuring the former Beatle's characteristically melodic vocals, and were recorded during Paul's sessions for his 2018 album, Egypt Station. The limited edition single will feature album artwork based on the old-time parlour game "Exquisite Corpse." - Billboard, 11/22/19...... Speaking of the Beatles, the late George Harrison is given credit by Elton John for helping him during his long battle with drug addiction in an interview Elton recently gave with DJ Chris Evans on the UK's Virgin Radio Breakfast Show. When asked by Evans what the "best piece of advice" was that Harrison gave him, John replied "stop putting that marching powder up your nose." "Twenty-nine-years it's been. The nose is still here!," the 72-year-old Elton added. In another recent interview, Elton also revealed how he had to learn to walk again after contracting a serious infection following surgery for prostate cancer. Speaking to Graham Norton for new BBC programme Elton John: Uncensored, he revealed: "I had to learn to walk again. I was extremely sick. All I could think about when I was lying in my hospital bed was 'please don't let me die, I want to see my children', and luckily I survived it." The music icon then compared himself to the Bionic Woman. "Now I'm fine but there's very few bits of me left. There's no hair, there's a pacemaker, there's no tonsils, there's no prostate, there's no appendix, I've had kidney stones. I'm like the Bionic Woman." - New Musical Express, 11/22/19...... It has been revealed that a movie about the life and career of Michael Jackson is in the works from Graham King, the producer of the smash Queen and Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. King and his GK Films will work on the project with the Jackson estate, which has granted him the rights to the late singer's music. Bohemian Rhapsody earned over $900 million at the global box office and six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. GK Films is also developing a new Bee Gees movie for Paramount. In other MJ news, the lead role for an upcoming Michael Jackson Broadway musical set to open in the summer of 2020 was revealed on Nov. 21 by its producer, Lia Vollack, and the Jackson estate. Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes, currently on Broadway in "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations" portraying Motown recording artist David Ruffin, will take on the role of the late King of Pop. The production -- previously titled "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," after Jackson's 1979 single -- will begin preview performances July 6 with an official opening set for Aug. 13 at New York's Neil Simon Theatre. Sykes' other Broadway credits include "Hamilton: An American Musical," "Memphis," "Newsies," "Motown the Musical" and "The Little Mermaid." - The Hollywood Reporter, 11/22/19...... In other Broadway news, Tina Turner made a surprise appearance on the opening night of the "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," which debuted at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Nov. 7. Turner suprised the audience by joining the cast onstage with other members of the musical's team after the show and gave an emotional speech, noting that "This musical is my life but it's like poison that turned to medicine. I can never be as happy as I am now." "Tina" follows the Grammy-winning singer, played by Adrienne Warren, as she moved from Tennessee to St. Louis, detailing her abusive relationship with ex-husband Ike Turner, but ultimately launching her 50-year global career as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll. Other celebrities in attendance on opening night included Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Martha Stewart and Spike Lee. - Billboard, 11/8/19...... Ozzy Osbourne released his new single, the thrashing new track "Straight to Hell," on Nov. 22 and has shared it on YouTube. Kicking it off with his signature "Alright now!" phrase, the veteran shock rocker chants, "You're flying higher than a kite tonight / You took the hit and now you feel alright. You're deadbeat's dead so we must celebrate / I'll make you scream, I'll make you defecate." Then none other than Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash shows up to deliver some devlish riffs. "Straight to Hell" follows Ozzy's previous single, "Under the Graveyard," which was his first new single in almost a decade. Osbourne is gearing up to release his forthcoming album Ordinary Man in early 2020, which will coincide with his "No More Tours 2" tour featuring special guest Marilyn Manson. - Billboard, 11/22/19...... The Who became the first act to be honored on London's new Music Walk of Fame on Camden High Street on Nov. 19 in what organizers hope will become a must-see Hollywood Boulevard-style tourist attraction for visitors to the city. Founding Who members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey were on hand at the inaugural presentation and spoke of their pride at being immortalized on the permanent walk, located in the north London borough of Camden. "This will be great for Camden. It'll be great for London," Townshend said. "It'll be great for the neighbourhood and it will be great for our business, one of the biggest exports that we have in the U.K. We've all contributed. We're all still contributing and we will go on contributing," he added. Townshend went on to say, joking that he would have preferred the commemorative paving slab to be on Goldhawk Road in West London, where The Who started their career, "but those f---ers have got no money." Roger Daltrey spoke of Camden's rich musical heritage and said the area remains "a great place to come for the best of the music that's out there at the moment." "May it long reign and may this avenue of stars grow and grow because we have got the best music industry in the world," Daltrey told the audience, made up of invited guests, media and hundreds of curious bystanders lining the opposite side of the street. London's Music Walk Of Fame is the brainchild of music promoter Lee Bennett, who first came up with the idea when he was living in California and noticed the U.K. had no equivalent to Hollywood's world famous tourist attraction. Bennett says he plans to lay around 20 special paving stones recognizing iconic music artists and ground-breaking innovators each year. Future inductees will be selected by an international panel of artists, executives and journalists. The next act to be honored will be Camden band Madness in early 2020. - Billboard, 11/19/19...... In other Who news, the band has just shared the third single, "I Don't Wanna Get Wise," from their upcoming album WHO. The upbeat new song extolls the virtues of not wanting to "get wise" because life will work itself out. It will be featured on the band's twelfth studio album, which hits stores on Dec. 6. The band has also shared information about four bonus tracks that will be found on the deluxe edition of WHO. "This Gun Will Misfire" and "Danny & His Ponies" were written and recorded specifically for WHO, while "Got Nothing to Prove" and "Sand" are demos from the mid-'60s that the group finally completed. Townshend says the latter two songs "would not have been rejected by the bandmembers but rather by my then-creative mentor, Who manager Kit Lambert." - New Musical Express, 11/22/19...... Lynyrd Skynyrd will be among the headliners at the Epicenter 2020 Music Festival, set for Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. from May 1-3. Other headliners include Metallica, David Lee Roth, Staind, Papa Roach, Anthrax and Dropkick Murphys. Camping at Epicenter will begin on Apr. 30 with campgrounds open until May 4. VIP, 3-day passes and more are available now. - Billboard, 11/19/19...... The Doobie Brothers have announced they'll reunite for a special North American tour in 2020 to celebrate 50 years since the band's formation. Kicking off on June 9 at the Coral Sky Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach, Fla., the 30-date run will mark the first time four of its members -- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, John McFee and Michael McDonald -- will tour together in nearly a quarter century. Other cities on the tour include Nashville (6/17), Toronto (7/19), Denver (8/30), Seattle (9/5) and Los Angeles (9/18), before it wraps on Oct. 10 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, Tex. Pat Simmons recently teased a 50th anniversary Doobies tour during a set on Nov. 18 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., part of a short outing that includes performances of its albums Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me. After hitting "Takin' It To the Streets," Simmons told the audience, "that's really good, maybe we should go on the road." In a press release announcing the tour, Tom Johnston said, "We're truly excited about our 50th Anniversary Tour as it's a celebration of the band's entire history. We'll be performing songs from our full catalog, as well as new music." - Billboard, 11/19/19...... A coin commemorating what would have been the 70th birthday Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott has been announced by the Central Bank in Lynott's native Ireland. Bank president Michael Higgins will unveil the special coin, of which 3,000 will be minted at a face falue of 15, on Nov. 26 at St Kevin's College, Crumlin, Dublin, which is Lynott's former school. Lynott, who played bass and sang lead vocals in the celebrated Dublin band from 1969 until his death in 1986, died at the age of 36 after contracting pneumonia and suffering organ failure. Other tributes to Lynott over the years include a statue erected in Dublin city centre, just off Grafton Street, in 2005 which was organized by his mother, Philomena. Thin Lizzy are among the nominees for the class of 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. - New Musical Express, 11/20/19...... Three members of KISS -- Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer -- performed for eight lucky fans during a boat cruise off the coast of southern Australia on Nov. 18. KISS had also planned to perform for great white sharks during the cruise, with the fans in another boat separated from them by a small submarine, but unfortunately the sharks never showed up. As part of a promotion by Airbnb, the concert was planned to entice sharks using the low-frequency sounds of rock and roll, and the fans on glass-bottomed boats would be able to get a close look. "I would say it's one of the most unusual, eclectic things we ever did, that's for sure," Singer told an Australian TV station. The station's segment of the event can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 11/20/19...... Actor Michael J. Pollard, who became a familiar face to movie audiences in 1967 with his supporting role as C. W. Moss in the acclaimed Arthur Penn-directed movie Bonnie and Clyde, passed away on Nov. 22 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 80. Rob Zombie, who directed the 2003 horror movie House of 1000 Corpses which featured Pollard in the role of Stucky, broke the news on his Facebook page with a touching message for the late actor. "We have lost another member of our House Of 1000 Corpses family. I woke up to the news that Michael J. Pollard had died. I have always loved his work and his truly unique on screen presence. He was one of the first actors I knew I had to work with as soon as I got my first film off the ground. He will be missed." Born in New Jersey in 1939, Mr. Pollard attended Montclair Academy and Actors Studio in New York. By the late '50s, he had appeared in such television programs as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Andy Griffith Show. On The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, he took over for future Gilligan's Island star Bob Denver, with Jerome Krebs replacing Denver's iconic Maynard G. Krebs for a short period of time. This started what would become a decades-long career as a character actor performing in dozens of roles. In 1966, he took on one of his most memorable roles on an episode of the original Star Trek series as Jahn, the teenage-leader of an all-child planet. But Mr. Pollard is perhaps best known for his supporting role as C. W. Moss in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, which starred him alongside Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons. For his performance, Mr. Pollard scored Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and was won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The movie's success also led to Mr. Pollard staging a mock presidential campaign where he created the joke campaign song "Michael J. Pollard for President." Following Bonnie and Clyde, the character actor would continue to appear in dozens of movie and TV roles over the years, including Scrooged, Melvin and Howard, Dick Tracy and the Superboy TV series. For horror fans, he is also very fondly remembered for his part as Stucky in House of 1000 Corpses, which serves as one of his final acting roles. - MovieWeb.com, 11/22/19.