Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on June 5, 2020

After Rush drummer Neil Peart died in January after a three year battle with brain cancer, his surviving bandmate Alex Lifeson says that he no longer feels motivated to play music. "After Neil passed in January, I've played very little guitar. I just don't feel inspired and motivated," Lifeson said on the sports radio program Talkin' Golf. "I don't know if the motivation is there for us to really do anything now. We' re certainly proud of our track record, and we still love music. But it's different now," the guitarist added. Lifeson said he had similar feelings of lack of motivation after the influential drummer's daughter died in a car crash in 1997, followed by the death of Peart's wife from cancer a few months afterwards. "I didn't really play for about a year [after that]," he said. "I just don't feel it in my heart right now. Every time I pick up a guitar, I just aimlessly mess around with it and put it down after 10 minutes." - Billboard, 6/4/20...... Bruce Springsteen shared a powerful tribute to slain African-American citizen George Floyd during the latest installment of his home radio show From His Home to Yours on June 4 after the Minneapolis resident died following an altercation with police officers last month. Floyd, 46, was killed on May 26 when a white police officer appeared to kneel on his neck as he lay on the ground during an arrest, an incident which has caused outrage and sparked demonstrations both in the US and abroad. Opening his show with "American Skin (41 Shots)," an eight minute song he wrote in response to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo (an unarmed Guinean immigrant shot dead by four New York City police officers), Springsteen said the length of the song mirrored "how long it took George Floyd to die with a Minneapolis officer's knee buried into his neck." "That's a long time. That's how long he begged for help and said he couldn't breathe. The arresting officer's response was nothing but silence and weight. Then he had no pulse. And still it went on... May he rest in peace," Springsteen said. The Boss then brought up the White House's response to the George Floyd death as well as the coronavirus pandemic. "As we speak, 40 million people are unemployed. 100,000 plus citizens have died from COVID-19 with only the most tepid and unfeeling response from our White House. As of today, our black citizens continue to be killed unnecessarily by our police on the streets of America. As of this broadcast, the country is on fire and in chaos," he added. Other songs Springsteen played in the tribute included Childish Gambino's "This Is America," Kanye West's "Who Will Survive in America," Bob Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" and Bob Marley's "Burnin' and Lootin'." He also played a recording of a powerful 1963 speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham, Ala. - NME, 6/4/20...... In related news, former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel has condemned the "racist murder" of George Floyd in a recent moving statement on Twitter. "This type of brutality needs to be confronted directly, with justice clearly seen to be done whenever & wherever it occurs," Gabriel posted, using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Gabriel, who co-founded the human rights non-profit WITNESS in 1992, noted that the organization has been "helping groups monitoring police violence." He continued, "I hope these protests will not only lead to the addressing of the problems at the root of this, but also encourage a worldwide look at how each country is dealing with racism and religious persecution within their own borders." He also cautioned that politicians are "trying to win support by fueling nationalism and racism for their own gain." "If we don't like the way things are going, we have to speak out and act. The world can only be what we choose to make it," he concluded. - Rolling Stone, 6/1/20...... One of KISS frontman Paul Stanley's side projects the last few hears is Soul Station, a 17-piece ensemble tribute group that performs R&B and soul classics. Until recently, Stanley and Soul Station have been performing their catalog at smaller venues and clubs, but after the coronavirus pandemic has effected the live music industry, Stanley and the other four band members have released their debut video on YouTube: a remote cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Ooo Baby Baby." "Long before I ever heard the great British bands, I grew up listening to Philly Soul, Motown and so much more," Stanley said in a statement. "The great classics of that era are magical medicine for most and I felt myself drawn back to that era for some sorcery I think we could all use," he added. Stanley and the rest of KISS previously announced they were forced to postpone the last three dates on their North American tour due to the pandemic. - Rolling Stone, 5/29/20...... Eagles co-founder and longtime musicians rights advocate Don Henley testified virtually before a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee on June 2 in which he urged Congress to strengthen anti-piracy rules online. As the government mulls possible changes to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Henley spoke specifically on the need to update the DMCA's "notice and takedown" system. That process allows copyright holders to send a takedown notice to websites or services they believe have posted their content without permission. The offending party can either comply without any consequences or risk legal action. However Henley says that process is no longer suitable, describing it as "a relic of a MySpace era in a TikTok world." He argued in his remarks that the current deluge of content uploaded to the internet each day makes it practically impossible for artists to combat copyright infringement, and that for "each infringing link or file taken down, a dozen more pop up in its place." Henley added, "[D]ue to the antiquated procedures dictated by the DMCA, internet services with clear oversight and control of content posted on their websites are continuing to monetize and collect advertising revenue on videos containing music, even after that music has been flagged by the music creator as infringing. How is that a fair bargain?" However Jonathan Berroya, CEO of the tech lobbying group Internet Association, argued that the "overwhelming majority" of copyright infringement occurs on foreign tech platforms, and that tech companies and those in the entertainment industry should come together to find a solution. - Rolling Stone, 6/3/20...... Saying his 1970 song "Southern Man" is just as relevant in 2020 as it was in 1970, Neil Young shared a 2019 live version of "Southern Man" on his Neil Young Archives website on June 3. "Here's me as an old guy singin' this 50-year-old song that was written after countless years of racism in the USA," Young wrote of his After th Gold Rush track. "And look at us today! This has been going on for way too long. It's not just 'Southern Man' now. It's everywhere across the USA. It's time for real change, new laws, new rules for policing," he added, referring to mass protests against police brutality spreading across the nation and world in response to the police killing of George Floyd. Young's long-awaited "lost" Seventies album, Homegrown, has been scheduled for a June 19 release. - New Musical Express, 6/4/20...... Appearing on the TV show Good Morning Britain, the Who's Roger Daltrey said he misses human contact during the coronavirus lockdown, the kind of isolation that began when he became a global star in the 1960s and was distanced from his old pals. ""Human contact. That's what I didn't like about being a celebrity," Daltrey said after being asked what he misses most amid the lockdown. "It kind of distanced me from my mates and everyone treated me differently immediately after I became famous, I didn't like that. I never wanted to be different. I like to just chat to people and be treated normally. I just miss that human contact," he added. Daltrey says he and his wife Heather are lucky as they live on a farm in Sussex, South-East England, but the isolation has been a "nightmare." "It's like three months of Sundays. In that sense it's a nightmare. I live on a farm so it hasn't been too bad... it's not been completely isolating for myself and my wife." When asked for his favourite memory with the Who, the 76-year-old musician told host GMB Piers Morgan: "I suppose the sun coming up at Woodstock." "The sun pokes its head over the horizon. That moment, and it was very near to the end of the show, when I was so looking forward to coming up." - Music-News.com, 6/4/20...... According to a recent story in the UK paper The Mail, Elton John has reportedly been left "bereft" after taking a significant $75 million (£60 million) hit after the coronavirus outbreak forced him to cancel his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. John and his partner David Furnish had anticipated the cash would see the star into his retirement according to the article, and it is believed the "Bennie and the Jets" hitmaker is unlikely to receive any insurance payout for the losses. The cancellation of the tour has also resulted in his long-serving band -- including guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olsson -- being laid off until it becomes clear if concerts scheduled for later this year will take place. A number of the domestic staff at the "Rocketman"'s $25 million (£20 million) home in Atlanta, Ga. have also been told they are not needed. Despite being worth an estimated $445 million (£360 million), Elton is also thought to be considering making further cuts to save expenses. "The tour was forecast to make over £60 million this year. That revenue has literally disappeared overnight," a source told the paper. "Nobody expected this." John had to postpone or cancel 34 U.S. dates from his tour, and it appears increasingly likely that the 48 fall leg gigs scheduled from September to December will also be affected. - Music-News.com, 5/31/20...... In related news, Diana Ross has moved her UK "Top of the World Tour" from this June to 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic forced their postponement. Ross will play arenas in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, London and Birmingham between June 15 and July 15 on her 60th anniversary tour. Her shows in Cork and Dublin have not yet been rescheduled. Ross was also due to perform at UK festivals including the Eden Sessions and Glastonbury's Legends Slot in 2020. - NME, 6/1/20...... The popularity of Netflix's series Tiger King documentary and its exposure of mistreatment of big cats by private owners in the US has helped garner support for a petition calling for protection of the animals in Florida. Among those signing the petition are seminal punk rocker Iggy Pop, an animal rights champion who has previously worked with PETA. "The Big Cat Public Safety Act, which has bipartisan support in both the house and senate, is aimed at protecting big cats from abuse and neglect by prohibiting private possession of these wild animals, and banning risky public encounters with them," Pop said in a statement (via Stereogum.com). "Co-sponsoring this commonsense bill will show the Senators commitment to the safety of Floridians and respect for exotic wildlife." Pop and actors Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara are among the many celebrities urging Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to co-sponsor the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which would prohibit private ownership, direct public contact, and dangerous interactions with tigers, lions and other such animals. - New Musical Express, 6/4/20...... One-time Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar has said that VH "will probably be on tour next year" following original VH singer David Lee Roth's pronouncement last year that the group is "finished" and that he's concentrating on his Las Vegas residency. Reports surfaced in 2019 that co-founder and lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen had been battling throat cancer for a number of years, but Hagar says his former bandmate is doing better. "Eddie had a lot of health issues, but I heard he got it together," Hagar said in the Rolling Stone interview. "I pray for the guy and I love the guy." Hagar joined VH in 1986 after Roth departed for a solo career that never took off. He continued with the group throughout the rest of the '80s and into the '90s completing three other studio albums as part of Van Halen. He departed in 1996 after Eddie recruited Roth for a track on the band's first hits package before reuniting with group in 2004 for a reunion tour. Roth returned to the band in 2007, but original bassist Michael Anthony was replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen. In 2018, Anthony revealed that he had spoken to Van Halen's manager about a reunion trek that never took place. "They were gonna try to plan a thing for this summer [of 2019]. The next thing I knew, the plug got pulled on it," Anthony said. Hagar says that he "knows that Eddie and I are not done." "If enough water goes under the bridge before we die, it'll happen. It has to. God is going to slap us both around if he has to." - WENN/Canoe.com, 5/21/20...... Terry Quirk, an renowned British album cover artist best known for painting the iconic psychedelic cover for The Zombies' acclamed 1968 album Odessey and Oracle, passed away suddenly on the morning of June 1 at his home in Salisbury, England. Born on June 22, 1941 in Hertfordshire, England, Quirk began his association with The Zombies long before the band's formation, meeting future singer Colin Blunstone and bassist Chris White in the local grammar school. Quirk and White went on to attend art school together, and they shared a North London flat with keyboardist Rod Argent in 1967 when Argent and White were writing the songs that would become Odessey and Oracle. The musicians asked Quirk to design their album cover, and brought the artist into their recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios for inspiration. Quirk's now infamous misspelling of 'odyssey' in the album title -- an error that went unnoticed until after the record had gone to print -- is as much a part of Rock legend as the artwork and songs themselves. Released by a CBS Records subsidiary in 1968, Odessey and Oracle was initially considered a commercial failure, but a year later spawned the world-wide hit "Time of the Season" and went on to be named in Top All-Time Album lists from the likes of Rolling Stone and Mojo magazines. Quirk's friendship and association with The Zombies continued over the next 5 decades, most recently painting the covers for the band's 2015 album Still Got That Hunger and the tabletop book The Odessey: The Zombies in Words and Images. Quirk also wrote and illustrated children's novels, penned books of poetry, and staged musical productions for local schools. At the time of his death, he was collaborating with White on a musical about The Zombies. - Music-News.com, 6/1/20...... Steve Priest, a founding member of the famous '70s glam rock band The Sweet, died on June 4 at age 72, the band confirmed on its Facebook page. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce at 8:25am PT today, Steve Priest, founding member of The Sweet, passed away," reads the post. "He is survived by his wife, Maureen, three daughters, Lisa, Danielle & Maggie and 3 grandchildren, Jordan, Jade & Hazel." His former bandmate, Andy Scott, posted that he is "in pieces right now." "His wife Maureen and I have kept in contact and though his health was failing I never envisaged this moment. Never. My thoughts are with his family," Scott said. Scot added that Priest was "the best bass player I ever played with." "The noise we made as a band was so powerful. From that moment in the summer of 1970 when set off on our Musical Odyssey the world opened up and the rollercoaster ride started! He eventually followed his heart and moved to the USA. First New York then LA. Rest in Peace brother. All my love," Scott added. Priest and Scott formed The Sweet in London in 1968, alongside lead singer Brian Connolly, who died in 1997, and drummer Mick Tucker who died in 2002. By 2020 there were two iterations of The Sweet: Steve Priest's Sweet who were based in the US and Andy Scott's Sweet in the UK, the latter led by the band's founding guitarist. The band scored 13 Top 20 hits in the 1970s, including number one U.K. single "Block Buster!" in 1973, "The Ballroom Blitz" that same year, and "Fox On The Run" in 1975, the latter two songs appearing on its classic album Desolation Boulevard. - New Musical Express, 6/4/20.

Led Zeppelin is making a free stream available of their 2012 concert film Celebration Day beginning May 30 on their YouTube channel, an event that is being billed as a "global watch party." Celebration Day was filmed at the legendary band's one-off reunion show at The O2 in London on Dec. 10, 2007. The stream will be available to watch for three days, ending June 2. The gig saw founding members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones being joined by Jason Bonham, the son of the band's late drummer John Bonham, for a 16-song set. - New Musical Express, 5/27/20...... Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and new recruit Neil Finn have shared a new charity song on YouTube to benefit the Auckland City Mission, which helps the homeless population in Finn's native country of New Zealand. "Find Your Way Back Home" was written by Finn about the city s homeless population after he was inspired by a personal encounter he had at the Mission. Finn, a former member of Crowded House, joined Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after the equally quirky Lindsey Buckingham left the band. - NME, 5/30/20...... Universal Music will release a "reimagining" of Yusuf/Cat Stevens' classic 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman on Sept. 19. The multi-platinum album, which included the classic "Wild World," as well as "Where Do the Children Play" and "Father and Son," catapulted the 22-year-old musician to global stardom and helped define the singer/songwriter era. On May 28, UMe released the first single from the upcoming Tea for the Tillerman 2, "Where Do the Children Play," the album's opening track. It can also be streamed on YouTube. With the world in turmoil, "Where Do the Children Play" seems more relevant than ever -- as it questions how we protect children in the face of rampant urban sprawl, poverty, pollution and climate change. The 71-year-old musician, who was interviewed from his home in Dubai by Billboard, says he came up with the idea to revisit Tea for the Tillerman on its 50th anniversary after being inspired by his son. "He inspires me in many ways to do things and to get out there," Yusuf said. "This challenge was one I couldn't refuse because it's my record, but not only that, it set such a standard for so many people as far as my music is concerned, I thought, 'C'mon.' Not that I'm going to try to beat it or compete with it, but at least make it relevant to me today so the people can hear me singing it all over, but with some very interesting and new novel arrangements on some of the songs at least. ...If you do a masterpiece, people always want to see you do it again. That's another reason why I'm doing it because I'm satisfying that part of the curiosity of people to see how would I approach it today," he added. Asked what he wants the new generation to get out of his classic album, Yusuf replied: "Explore yourself and explore life and realizing, you know what, it is a wild world. We have to live in it, but try to find that place of peace within it that you can make your home." - Billboard, 5/28/20...... Elton John hosted a watch party of his 2019 biopic Rocketman on May 29 shared several anecdotes and thoughts along the way. One included him commenting on the "Herculean effort" it took him to get noticed for cocaine use in '70s LA when such debauchery was widespread. "It took a fairly Herculean effort to get yourself noticed for taking too much cocaine in the music industry of 1970s LA, but I was clearly prepared to put the hours in," John wrote next to a pic of an inebriated Taron Egerton, who portrayed him in the film. Elton also opened up about how emotional he got when he first saw Rocketman. "I broke down the first time I saw this scene of me hugging Little Reggie. I'd spent most of my adult life running away from myself. It was time to re-embrace the real me," he wrote. John said he was also brought to tears during the scene where his longtime musical partner, Bernie Taupin, warned him about his excessive drug and drink problem. "Seeing this scene for the first time also set me off sobbing again," he wrote alongside a contemporary picture of the pair. Meanwhile, Elton has posted a tribute to AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who passed away on May 27 in New York at the age of 84 after a battle with pneumonia. John remembered Kramer, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on Ken Russell's 1969 film Women In Love, as "a giant of a man who stood up for gay rights like a warrior." Kramer was also a co-founder of the Gay Men's Health Crisis organization in the early 1980s, the first organization of its kind to support HIV-positive people. - New Musical Express, 5/30/20...... ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus was named the named the president of CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies, on May 29. Known for his business-savvy, as well as his interest in technology, Ulvaeus steps into the role at a time when Internet companies and collecting societies are learning to live with one another but still have very different views on how streaming services should work and what they should pay creators. "I tend to think that creators get too little, of course, because I'm a songwriter, and I think that in the long run we have to take a closer look at how things are divided," Ulvaeus said. "It all starts with the song, as far as I'm concerned. What's more important -- 'Dancing Queen' [the song] or ABBA? And since you can't say, wouldn't it be more natural to split it down the middle?," he added. CISAC represents 232 societies in 120 countries around the world, and advocates for higher royalties and better terms for creators. - Billboard, 5/29/20...... Alice Cooper has shared what he's been doing lately during the coronavirus quarantine. "You know that Geico commercial with the whole family clogging? That's us," Cooper says. "We have a friend who's a great tap dancer, and every Wednesday night, he has an hour-long online class. So the whole family goes in the backyard where we have all this plywood on the ground, and everybody's got tap shoes on. My wife and daughters are professional dancers, so they're way ahead of me. But every Wednesday night is tap night," he added. Meanwhile, Cooper has told Yahoo! Entetainment that he would like his actor friend and Hollywood Vampires bandmate Johnny Depp to play him if a biopic were made about his life and times. "I hope it's not of those where we get to die first. Usually it's gonna happen with bands that were extremely commercially successful, whereas Alice was successful and we sold a lot of records, but I did not appeal to everybody," Alice said. "I was definitely on the darker side. And I think that it would make a great movie, myself. And if Johnny Depp were just better looking, he could play me," he quipped. "He knows me well enough now where he could imitate me pretty well, I'm pretty sure." - Billboard/NME, 5/29/20...... Bruce Springsteen wrapped a concert by the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys by appearing on the jumbotron at Fenway Park in Boston on May 29, after Dropkick Murphys performed a charity concert in an empty ballpark. The two-hour "Streaming Outta Fenway" show marked the first time a musical performance has ever taken place at an empty major U.S. arena, stadium or ballpark, and benefitted the Boston Resiliency Fund, Habitat For Humanity and Feeding America. "You're making us all look old!" Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey joked with The Boss, who laughed onscreen. "What are you, 15 years old?" The whole group went on to perform Dropkick Murphys' "Rose Tattoo" and Springsteen's "American Land." The concert can be streamed on YouTube, and encore performances will also be broadcast on Springsteen's exclusive SiriusXM radio channel E Street Radio starting May 30. - Billboard, 5/29/20...... Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden hosted a virtual fundraiser that featured conversations and performances from the likes of the Eagles' Joe Walsh, David Crosby, Jimmy Buffett and Sheryl Crow on the evening of May 28. The event was hosted by Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Whoopi Goldberg. In related news, Barbara Streisand and John Legend will be among the headliners of another virtual Biden fundraiser on June 11. Both Streisand and Legend have shown their support for Democratic presidential candidates in the past, each performing for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during their respective presidential campaigns. Streisand has been an outspoken critic of Trump, and previously tweeted: "I wholeheartedly endorse Joe Biden for President. Trump must be beaten in November before he does more damage to our democracy, environment, health, safety and standing in the world." - Billboard/Music-News.com, 5/28/20...... The premium cable channel Epix premiered a two-part documentary on Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon neighborhood, which became one of the greatest hotbeds in popular music history in the mid-'60s and '70s, on May 31. The film features such rock/pop stars as Michelle Phillips, Micky Dolenz and Chris Hillman sharing their Laurel Canyon memories and is directed by Alison Elwood, who also helmed History of the Eagles and The Go-Go's, among other documentaries. "It's just the story about this sort of zeitgeist that happened in this place," says Elwood, who originally became interested in the neighborhood while researching a possible The Doors documentary. "It became a magnet for all these artists discovering who they were, what their places was in the world through their art. And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger," she added. An encore presentation of Laurel Canyon will be aired on Epix on June 7, and Episode 10 can be streamed on YouTube. - Billboard, 5/29/20...... Jimmy Buffett released his first album in seven years, Life on the Flip Side, on May 29. The lavishly packaged 14-song set was co-produced by Buffett and Michael Utley and Mac McAnally of his Coral Reefer Band, and features songs co-written by Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady and Lukas Nelson. Currently quarantined with most of his family in Malibu, Buffett has been feeding the Parrothead flock with a Zoom chat, special weekly online performances for first responders, and vintage concerts on his Margaritaville TV. Buffett says the long wait in between albums was due to "a lot of creative stuff" that went into his Broadway musical "Escape to Margaritaville," and "the rewrites and writing songs that never got in the show." "Then the show went on the road, where it had a very successful two-year run until we had to shut it down because of the pandemic. So those two things really kind of kept a lot of writing time going," he added. Buffett says there's a streaming concert for Parrotheads in the future: "When the time comes we can play (the new album) for people, whether it's 10 or 10,000. We'll have a show. This will all calm eventually. I'd like a fresh new start in everything by next year -- we got back to work, this thing'll be done and we'll get rid of these foolish people who are making policies and stuff. That'd be the best end result." - Billboard, 5/28/20...... David Crosby performed a rendition of his song "What Are Their Names" from his 1971 solo debut LP, If I Could Only Remember My Name, on Stephen Colbert's A Late Show on May 27. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash Zoomed in for the special socially-distanced performance in which he ditched the instruments and sang the song a cappella. The performance can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 5/28/20...... KISS will be among the headliners of a virtual Download Festival in the UK on the third weekend in June, which has been forced to change its format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The virtual festival, set for June 12-14, will feature hours of exclusive footage, unseen performances and interactive content and "celebrate the spirit of Download Festival (with) 2 to 3 hours of tailor-made programming where Downloaders can tune in and rock out," according to the organizers' press release. June 12 will present a replay of 2015 headliners KISS' standout festival moments, with nostalgic performances from Iron Maiden on June 13 and System of a Down performances from 2005, 2011 and 2017 on June 14. Other interactive events will include live artist Q&A's, special lockdown performances, music tutorials and mindfulness sessions, according to organizers. "Downloaders are encouraged to put tents up in the garden, wear Download merch, dress as your favourite hero, send in photos and videos -- the weekend is about the fans and celebrating the Download community," the organizers said. In other KISS-related news, guitarist Bob Kulick who toured and worked with the band has died at the age of 70. "We are heartbroken. Our deepest condolences to the Kulick family in this difficult time," a message on KISS' Twitter account read. In addition to his work with KISS, Kulick also played with Lou Reed on Coney Island Baby, and was part of Meat Loaf's touring band. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 5/30/20...... A rhinestone-studded jockstrap said to have been worn by Elvis Presley is being offered for sale in Britain by Paul Fraser Collectibles for 30,000 pounds ($50,656.71). The piece was made for Elvis by a fan and later ended up in the collection of Jimmy Velvet, a singer who opened an Elvis museum in Memphis. Presley is believed to have worn the "family jewels" jockstrap several times in the 1970s. "It is extravagant. It is absurd. It is absolutely Elvis," said Daniel Wade of Paul Fraser Collectibles. Wade said the coronavirus crisis had increased interest in celebrity memorabilia, because buyers had more time on their hands and because people were seeking alternative investments at a time of turmoil in financial markets. "We are seeing more people coming to us with a view to sort of hedging the diversification for their portfolios," he said. - Reuters, 5/27/20...... Actor Alan Alda of M*A*S*H fame says he's been staying active during the coronavirus quarantine to stay healthy given his advanced age and underlying health conditions. "I began to exercise. A lot of people hear they have Parkinsons and get depressed and panicky and don't do anything, just hoping it'll go away. It's not going to, but you can hold off the worst symptoms," the 84-year-old star said in a new interview with AARP magazine. Alda continued: "Movement helps: walking, biking, treadmills. But also specific things: I move to music a lot. I take boxing lessons from a guy trained in Parkinsons therapy. I do a full workout specifically designed for this disease. It's not the end of the world when you get this diagnosis." While quarantining with his wife, Arlene, at their home on Long Island, Alda says the couple have also been going on socially distanced walks with their friends to keep moving. Alda announced in July 2018 that he was diagnosed with Parkinsons, a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system. There is no known cure for it. - PageSix.com, 5/27/20...... Emmy-nominated actress Marge Redmond, best known as the wry Sister Jacqueline in the 1967-1970 convent-based sitcom The Flying Nun, died of as yet undisclosed causes on Feb. 10, it was finally publicly announced in the last week of May in the latest quarterly SAG-AFTRA magazine. In addition to her role as Sister Jacqueline, she also had small roles in the films The Fortune Cookie, Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery and Alfred Hitchcock's final movie, Family Plot. Ms. Redmond also made appearances in the TV shows My Three Sons, Dr. Kildare, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, The Rockford Files, Hunter, Columbo, Murphy Brown and Law & Order. Ms. Redmond was married to late actor Jack Weston from 1950 until their divorce in the 1980s. - WENN/Canoe.com, 5/29/20.