Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on December 8th, 2019

Ozzy Osbourne is offering a $25,000 reward for the return of a stolen guitar that once belonged to his late friend and musical collaborator, Randy Rhodes who died in a plane crash in 1982 at age 25. Osbourne shared images of the guitar which was stolen from the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood on Thanksgiving, posting "As many of you have heard, the Musonia School of Music in N. Hollywood, CA (the school where Randy Rhoads famously taught guitar) was viciously robbed on Thanksgiving night. Musonia was run by Randy's late mother, Delores, and after his death 37 years ago, the school became something of a pilgrimage to his fans from all over the world." He continued: "It is a place where the Rhoads Family happily opened their hearts to share the life of Randy. As you can imagine, the items that were stolen, including Randy's first electric guitar, are irreplaceable to the Rhoads Family. I am heartbroken that these treasured physical memories of Randy and Delores have been taken from the family so I've decided to personally offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction and/or return of all stolen items." Ozzy previously announced his "No More Tours 2" tour with opener Marilyn Manson will kick off on May 27, 2020 in Atlanta and conclude July 31 in Las Vegas, then in the fall he'll play several rescheduled dates in the UK and Europe with Judas Priest. - New Musical Express, 12/8/19...... December 8 marked the 39th year since John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York apartment at age 40, and his widow Yoko Ono posted an emotional tribute to her late husband on Twitter that day. "Dear Friends. Every day, 100 Americans are shot and killed with guns. We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone. Together, let's bring back America, the green land of peace," she wrote. Ono also shared a statistic that revealed over 1,400,000 people have been killed by guns in America since Lennon's death. "The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 39 years, Sean, Julian and I still miss him. Imagine all the people living life in peace," she added. Yoko's outdoor art installation, the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjav'k, Iceland, is lit up each year in memory of John from the date of his birthday until the anniversary of his death. Live footage of the tower can be viewed on Twitter. - New Musical Express, 12/9/19...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has weighed in on the ongoing climate crisis in a new interview during an event to promote a product from his late wife Linda McCartney's vegetarian food product line. Sir Paul, his family, climate activist Anna Taylor, and zero-waste restaurant founder Doug McMaster were in attendance at the Dec. 8 event sponsored by the UK's Vice. Speaking about the crisis, McCartney said: "It changes really slowly, so all you can do is what the kids are doing, and protest and do everything you can." Speaking about recent environmental protests, McCartney said: "I was thinking the other day, 'Oh, it's going to turn everyone off' and sure enough it is: 'Oh they're naughty, they're making noise, it woke me up.' But it's like, what about the suffragettes? They were dying for it and now women have rights. Well, some women -- not everyone." Macca also went on to note the government's lack of action on climate change. "The weird thing is that the only people who aren't responding are the government. Everyone else is going, 'Yeah!' and [U.S. Pres. Donald] Trump is going, 'Climate change is a hoax.'" - NME, 12/9/19...... Sheryl Crow and one of her musical heroes, Stevie Nicks, joined forces on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Dec. 5 for a performance of "Prove You Wrong," the track on which Nicks also appears on Crow's latest collaborative album, Threads. The pair traded verses effortlessly as they promise an ex lover it would be easy to move on after a relationship's end. Earlier in December, the two singers also stopped by Ellen DeGeneres' talk show to sing "Prove You Wrong" along with "Redemption Day," and on Dec. 4 Nicks surprised the audience during Crow's concert at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in L.A. for renditions of "Prove You Wrong" and Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," with a clip of the performance later posted on YouTube. - Billboard, 12/6/19...... Rod Stewart has earned his first Billboard Classical Albums chart No. 1 with his new album You're in My Heart, with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra debuting at the top of the chart for the week ending Dec. 7. The honor is just a week shy of the 50th anniversary of Stewart's Billboard chart debut, as he made his first appearance on any ranking with The Rod Stewart Album, which entered the Hot 200 (at No. 200) on the list dated Dec. 13, 1969. The new set takes its title from Stewart's classic 1978 single, and also on the album's 22-song tracklist are a new duet version, with Robbie Williams, of the Motown classic "It Takes Two," which Stewart originally recorded in 1991 with Tina Turner, and a newly-recorded Stewart ballad, "Stop Loving Her Today." Stewart also boasts three No. 1 songs on Adult Contemporary and one each on Dance Club Songs ("Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," 1979), Mainstream Rock Songs ("Downtown Train," 1990) and Pop Songs ("All for Love," 1994), along with a leader each on Top Rock Albums and Top Holiday Albums. - Billboard, 12/5/19...... Dolly Parton is honoring her Eastern Tennessee childhood upbringing with a new musical dubbed "Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol," which will run through Dec. 29 at Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston. The musical is based on a book and adaption by David H. Bell, and while Dolly doesn't perform in Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, she wrote much of the music with songs like "Appalachian Snow" and "Circle of Love" paying homage to those who, like her, lived on the margins in the Tennessee mountains. "We decided to use the (Charles) Dickens story of a Christmas Carol -- and of course that mean ole guy Scrooge -- because I related to all those people in the family, just struggling and trying to have good things even in the worst of times," Dolly says. "Being from that part of the world, I was from a poor family and remember how we had so little but always wanted to have a good Christmas." Parton's life story is also at the center of a new podcast from New York Public Radio's WNYC. - Billboard, 12/5/19...... Aerosmith emailed a list of their 2020 European tour dates to fans on Dec. 6 and included was a stop at the UK's iconic Glastonbury festival on June 27. If the Boston-based rockers play Glastonbury on that date it rules them out of a headline slot, as Paul McCartney is already confirmed to take top billing on the same day. Aerosmith's European tour also sees them performing at London's O2 Arena on July 15 and Manchester Arena on July 18. Despite officially calling it a day in 2017 with their "Aero-Vederci Baby!" farewell tour, the rockers reunited earlier in 2019 for an expansive Las Vegas residency. - New Musical Express, 12/7/19...... Elton John has taken the No. 4 spot on the Billboard Boxscore's 2019's year-end top tours list, as his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour grossed $194 million during the year. John toured consistently throughout the year, topping two monthly Boxscore recaps in February and September. The Rolling Stones also made an appearance on the year-end roundup, as they swept North American stadiums in a short summer leg that complimented their 2017-18 European dates. - Billboard, 12/5/19......Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett have announced a massive co-headlining stadium tour in 2020 simply titled "The Stadium Tour." Visiting some of America's largest venues, the Stadium Tour gets underway July 7 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and then hit cities including Houston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Boston, Chicago and more. The 22-date trek will close out on Sept. 5 at the brand new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. During a press conference at SiriusXM Studios' garage in Hollywood on Dec. 4 featuring members of Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Poison, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott said, "There's a lot of people who still think the '80s is a mockable decade, and we're about to prove that it's not. It's last man standing to a point maybe, but we have survived. Whether we've gone away and come back or we've been constant, it's the music that's been the thread that keeps bringing everybody back again." - Billboard, 12/4/19...... Two members of The Ramones have apparently reached a truce in their ongoing trademark dispute. Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Hyman) and Johnny Ramone (born Johnny Cummings) died in 2001 and 2004, respectively -- both from cancer. After a year of arbitration, Joey Ramone's brother, Mitchel Hyman, and Johnny Ramone's widow, Linda Cummings-Ramone, have come to an agreement over the use of the name Ramone. A final arbitration agreement was filed on Dec. 2 in New York, resulting in Hyman and Cummings-Ramone each owning 50% interests in Ramone Productions Inc. (RPI), the company which markets license and produces memorabilia and music-related products bearing the group's name and likeness. Cummings-Ramone is also the company's co-president and director. The dispute started when Hyman brought claims against Linda Cummings after she legally changed her name to Ramone in 2014. Hyman claimed that Cummings' use of the Ramone name was "improper and unauthorised." He also wanted to stop her from referring to her Los Angeles house as "Ramones Ranch." - Billboard, 12/6/19...... Questlove, the drummer of the band The Roots, is set to make his directorial debut with a feature documentary titled Black Woodstock, detailing 1969's Harlem Cultural Festival. The outdoor festival, held in Harlem's Mount Morris Park, was headlined by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and The Staple Singers for a musical celebration of African-American culture and unity. However despite attracting a crowd of 300,000 attendees, the festival -- held in the same year as Woodstock -- failed to receive any mainstream media coverage. It's said that Black Woodstock will use 40 hours of never-seen-before footage, while producers promise music and performance footage to "knock audiences out of their seats." "I am truly excited to help bring the passion, the story and the music of the Harlem Cultural Festival to audiences around the world," Questlove said in a statement. "The performances are extraordinary. I was stunned when I saw the lost footage for the first time. It's incredible to look at 50 years of history that's never been told, and I'm eager and humbled to tell that story," he added. - NME, 12/5/19...... In a recently surfaced interview with local San Antonio, Tex. news station KSAT, Willie Nelson revealed that in an effort to take better care of himself, he no longer smokes cigarettes or marijuana. "I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful," the 86-year-old said. "I started smoking cedar bark, went from that to cigarettes to whatever. And that almost killed me," he added But a rep for Nelson told the AP later that Willie hasn't given up cannabis, and pointed out "there are different ways" to consume pot. "That said," she said "Willie does what he wants, when he wants, when it comes to smoking." One thing though Nelson won't be giving up anytime soon is touring. "I love the bus," he told KSAT. "This is my home." When asked how he feels about rumors that his health problems might suggest he is "near death," Nelson, in response, said "I don't give a f---, I'm here, I'm glad to be here." - AP/Jezebel.com, 12/4/19...... Carroll Spinney, the legendary puppeteer who gave the Sesame Street characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch their warmth for nearly 50 years, died on Dec. 8 at his home in Connecticut at age 85, according to the Sesame Workshop. Mr. Spinney voiced and operated the two major Muppets characters from their inception in 1969 when he was 36, and performed them almost exclusively into his 80s on the PBS kids' television show that later moved to HBO. "Before I came to 'Sesame Street,' I didn't feel like what I was doing was very important," Mr. Spinney said when he announced his retirement in 2018. "Big Bird helped me find my purpose." Through his two characters, Mr. Spinney gained huge fame that brought international tours, books, record albums, movie roles, and visits to the White House. The Sesame Workshop said in a statement that Mr. Spinney lived for some time with dystonia, which causes involuntary muscle contractions. "Carroll was an artistic genius whose kind and loving view of the world helped shape and define Sesame Street from its earliest days in 1969 through five decades, and his legacy here at Sesame Workshop and in the cultural firmament will be unending," the Workshop said in a statement. - AP, 12/8/19.

The Eagles and the Doobie Brothers announced a luxury destination concert on Dec. 3 scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend in Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, Mexico. From May 23-24, 2020, fans can experience intimate sets from the two groups at the event titled Cabo en Vivo. May 23 will be an evening with The Doobie Brothers, including Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons and John McFee. The following day, attendees will be entertained by the Eagles consisting of their current lineup of Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, with Deacon Frey and Vince Gill. Both beachfront performances will be held at Cabo Corridor for a select crowd. Only 5,000 passes will be sold for the entire event. Destination packages will go on sale Dec. 20. - Billboard, 12/3/19...... Chicago announced on Dec. 2 they'll hit amphitheaters this summer with special guest Rick Springfield. The 2020 trek will see the two legendary acts bring their hits to 26 cities in U.S. and Canada. The tour will kick off on June 12 in Concord, Calif., at Concord Pavilion and run through Salt Lake City, Dallas, Tampa, Toronto and more. Scheduled dates will close out Aug. 1 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. At the beginning of the tour, the Doobies and Springfield will play the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver on June 18. The Doobies appeared in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and will perform on NBC during the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting in New York on Dec. 4. - Billboard, 12/1/19...... On Dec. 3 Lynyrd Skynyrd announced U.S. dates for the third year of their farewell tour with special guests Travis Tritt and the Eli Young Band. New dates for the legendary Southern rockers' "Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour" will launch on Mar. 7 at Martin Luther King Jr. Arena in Savannah, Ga. The tour will continue through California, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Kentucky and more. On July 31, the newly announced dates will close out at The Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis, Ind. "We've said we want to play every venue and market we've ever visited around the world one last time and even some places we haven't, so we get to see all of Skynyrd Nation," said the band's lead singer, Johnny Van Zant, in a press release. "We are getting close!" International dates will be announced soon. - Billboard, 12/3/19...... In other Southern rock news, Allman Brothers Band keyboardist Chuck Leavell will lead a Dec. 3 Macon City, Georgia Auditorium concert celebrating the re-opening of the home of the group's former record label, Capricorn Records. ABB drummer "Jamoe" Johanson, Cowboy guitarist Tommy Talton, bluesman Taj Mahal and Widespread Panic's John Bell will be performing, as well as newer artists like Marcus King, Brent Cobb and Dickey Betts' son Duane Betts. The ABB released its debut album in November 1969, the first album issued on Capricorn Records. The Macon, Ga. based imprint would become synonymous with Southern rock, thanks to iconic hits by the Allmans, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie and others. On Dec. 3, the legendary studio is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a grand re-opening as "Mercer Music at Capricorn." - Billboard, 12/3/19...... German electronic rock pioneers Kraftwerk have been confirmed as the latest headliner for the UK's All Points East 2020 festival, joining a line-up that includes the likes of Iggy Pop, Johnny Marr, Anna Calvi and Kim Gordon. Kraftwerk will perform their "Kraftwerk in 3D" show at London's Victoria Park on May 29, in what is set to be their only UK show of 2019. In October, Kraftwerk were announced among the latest nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. - New Musical Express, 12/3/19...... As Elton John's massive "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour" kicked off in Australia in late November, the Rocket Man blasted off with a four-letter tirade at security personnel at HBF Park in Western Australia on Dec. 1, objecting to the treatment of a female fan who was being ejected. "Hey, you two security guards with the girls, F--- off. Bring her back here immediately," he said, as the audience cheered him along. "Come on you c---s. Morons, you both are, morons. You don't treat girls like that. Leave her alone you turds." His colorful outburst happened at the second of two Perth concerts on his farewell tour, and was caught on film by onlookers and posted on Twitter. Soon after, John shed some light on his angry moment. "I apologize for the 'c-word', I just hate people being assaulted, especially women by security guards. I have a pet hate of security guards anyway," he said. It is unclear why the woman was ejected. Elton's final lap of Australia and New Zealand will see the veteran rocker play 40 arena and open-air shows through the southern summer. Billboard, 12/2/19...... Beatles fans are being invited to listen to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at a new immersive event that aims to give the impression that the Fab Four are performing live. The pioneering experience, which is set to take place at Liverpool's Dr. Martin Luther King Building between Dec. 19 - Jan. 9, will present fans with a remixed version of the legendary 1967 album by George Martin's son, Giles Martin. The record will be played in Dolby Atmos with speakers being placed around the fans in a bid to transport them to Abbey Road Studios, where the album was recorded. "People will become fully immersed in a soundscape, which is unlike any other," Martin told the Liverpool Echo. "For me, it's like imagining falling through the vinyl of a record and and into this world where you're surrounded by the Beatles. It's like sitting in Abbey Road's Studio 2 and having the Beatles play for you," he added. In other Beatles-related news, singer Rihanna has shared a funny clip of her chance reunion with Paul McCartney during a flight from New York after Thanksgiving. The pair, who collaborated on Kanye West's song "FourFiveSeconds" in 2015, bumped into one another in the first class section of the plane, which was heading to London. A video that Rihanna shared on her Instagram stories reel (since reposted by the Metro paper) shows the former Beatles musician stood in front of her plane seat. "I'm about to put you on blast, Mr McCartney. How are you on this flight?" she asks him off-camera. McCartney then laughs, saying: "What's going on here? Who is this filming me?" before Rihanna answers: "Who is this peasant filming this legend?" - New Musical Express, 12/2/19...... In an interview with Cincinnati TV station WCPO on Dec. 3, The Who's Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey gave their first extended on-camera interview about the Dec. 3, 1979, tragedy that took the lives of 11 Who fans 40 years ago. "It's a weird thing to have in your autobiography that, you know, 11 kids died at one of your concerts," Townshend said. "It's a strange, disturbing, heavy load to carry." Townshend, Daltrey and their manager Bill Curbishley shared their personal accounts of what happened that night at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where 11 fans were crushed to death by a surging crowd trying to enter the building, with the dead ranging in age from 15-27. A new documentary about the incident, The Who: The Night That Changed Rock, was taped in Seattle earlier in 2019 and aired on WCPO the same evening. The incident left a lasting scar on the city, which has religiously marked the grim anniversary over the years, with survivors of that night and their families sharing their stories with O'Rourke in the special. "That dreadful night of the third of December became one of the worst dreams I've had in my life," Daltrey says in the hour-long special. Curbishley witnessed the deaths that night and made the call to not tell the band until after the gig, convincing local fire officials to let the band keep playing to avoid any other potential injuries or deaths. In the years since, a memorial plaque was unveiled outside the now-renamed arena honoring the dead, Daltrey visited a Finneytown memorial site in 2018 and Townshend recently told the Associated Press that the group has plans to return to Cincinnati for its first concert since that night in 1979. Meanwhile, Daltrey told Rolling Stone in a new interview that Townshend wanted him to rap on the band's new album, WHO. Daltrey said he was less than impressed with the demo version of "All This Music Must Fade" that Townshend had sent him. "I hated [the song] at first... well, no f---ing way I'm going to rap. No way. Let the youngsters wear those clothes," he said. WHO, the band's twelfth studio LP, hits stores on Dec. 6. - Billboard/NME, 12/3/19...... To celebrate the festive season, Piston, a five-piece rock and roll band from Cannock, West Midlands, have recorded an electrifying homage to '70s rockers Slade by releasing a cover of their 1972 anthem "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" just in time for Christmas. The official music video features cameos from Bad Touch, Collateral, Gorilla Riot, Sons of Liberty, New Saints and Liberty Lies. Piston recorded the single at Long Wave Recording Studio in Cardiff on Oct. 27, with production by Romesh Dodangoda. A clip of their Slade cover can be viewed on YouTube. - NoblePR.co.uk, 11/29/19...... Family members of late "American Top 40" radio personality Casey Kasem have settled dueling lawsuits alleging that Casem was badly mistreated before his death in 2014. The two sides filed a joint request on Dec. 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit by three of Kasem's children and his brother against Kasem's widow that claimed her neglect and physical abuse led to his death, as well as a countersuit making similar claims against the plaintiffs that was filed by his widow and another daughter. The terms of the agreement were not revealed. Kerri Kasem, one of the daughters who filed the initial lawsuit, released a statement saying she was "distraught and heartbroken over her family and lawyers' decision to force her into a settlement." The first lawsuit was filed four years ago by Casey Kasem's children from a previous marriage, Kerri, Julie and Michael Kasem, and his brother Mouner Kasem. It was a lingering chapter in a series of heated and often public fights between his children and his second wife, former actress Jean Kasem, that began even before his death at age 82. The wrongful death lawsuit accused Jean Kasem, who was married to Casey Kasem for 34 years, of elder abuse and of inflicting emotional distress on his children by restricting their access to him before his death. Jean Kasem denied all of the allegations. She counter-sued and alleged that Casey Kasem's children were motivated by their desire to get his money after he cut them off financially in 2012, and that they had brought emotional distress to her and her father, claims they denied. Police and prosecutors in California and Washington investigated his treatment and death and found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Best known as the voice of radio's "American Top 40" for decades and for his sign-off catchphrase, "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars," Kasem was also a constant on television as a host of shows and specials and as the voice of animated characters that included Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo TV cartoons. - AP, 12/2/19...... Actress Shelley Morrison, best known for her roles on The Flying Nun and Will & Grace, died on Nov. 30 of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 83. Ms. Morrison played Sister Sixto alongside Sally Field on The Flying Nun, but was probably best known for her role as Rosario Salazar on Will & Grace from 1999 to 2006. She was the maid to Megan Mullally's character, Karen and the two often bantered back and forth. Mullally tweeted that her heart was heavy after learning about her co-star's passing. Ms. Morrison, who held many stage and screen roles throughout her 50-year career, more recently voiced Mrs. Portillo on the children's cartoon Handy Manny. - CBSNews.com, 12/2/19.