Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on December 7th, 2020

Three classic guitars designed and played by Eddie Van Halen sold for $422,000 at a two-day Julien's Auction on Dec. 4 and 5. The instruments include one of Van Halen's famous Kramer "Frankenstrat" models with the signature white and black stripes on a red body, which went for $231,250. Eddie's 2004 Charvel Art Series ax went for $140,800 and the guitar and costume that EVH used in the "Hot For Teacher" video brought in $50,000. The auction was part of Juliens' annual "Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock 'N' Roll" event and also included items from the likes of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Lady Gaga and Kurt Cobain. Meanwhile, Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen is criticizing the auction, claiming that the auctioneers are "just taking advantage of my father's passing." "I had nothing to do with this. I don't EVER plan on selling any of my father's iconic guitars," Wolf posted on Twitter on Dec. 3. He added that one of the guitars was a gift from his dad, and called the sale's timing a "little fishy" following his dad's death in October. After learning the auction was not for charity a few hours later, he was a little more blunt, saying, "They're just taking advantage of my father's passing. What a surprise. F--- 'em." - Billboard/New Musical Express, 12/3/20...... Universal Music Publishing Group announced on Dec. 7 that it had purchased the entire catalog of over 600 Bob Dylan songs written by the iconic folk rock musician over six decades, including such classics as "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are A-Changin,'" "Like A Rolling Stone," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and "Tangled Up in Blue." Said to be one of the biggest deals ever for a single songwriter, the acquisition includes both publishing rights and Dylan's "writer's share," which together would be worth at least $100 million and perhaps several times that, based on the value of other songwriters' catalogs. The publishing rights for Dylan, whose influence in the rock era is rivaled only by the Beatles, is currently administered in the U.S. by the Bob Dylan Music Company and elsewhere by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. "To represent the body of work of one of the greatest songwriters of all time -- whose cultural importance can't be overstated -- is both a privilege and a responsibility," said UMPG chairman & CEO Jody Gerson in a press release. In the early 1960s, Dylan, 79, become one of the first popular artists to consistently write his own material, in the process overturning the dominant music publishing model of the time, which involved professional songwriters composing tunes to pitch to singers. The boom in streaming among the coronavirus pandemic is reportedly fueling the market for publishing deals, as well as the possibility that incoming president Joe Biden may raise the capital gains tax. Another factor, industry sources say, is that the generation of singer-songwriters who came of age in the '60s and '70s is at a point where they're thinking about their legacies, as well as estate planning. On Dec. 4, talent management company Primary Wave Music Publishing announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the catalog of Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks. Primary Wave didn't share financial details of the sale, but Nicks reportedly sold an 80% stake in her catalog, valuing the deal at about $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nicks's deal includes several of her biggest hits as a solo artist and member of Fleetwood Mac including "Landslide," "Edge of Seventeen" and "Dreams," the last of which returned the charts for the first time in 40 years this summer after resurfacing on TikTok. - Billboard, 12/7/20...... With a $114.1 million haul in ticket sales, Elton John is finishing 2020 with the year's top-grossing tour, according to the concert trade publication Billboard Boxscore. After performing 47 shows with nearly 800,000 tickets sold despite an abbreviated touring schedule due to the pandemic, the Rocket Man leads the pack including his fellow established superstars and genre-blurring newcomers that came to an abrupt halt on Mar. 12 amid the rapidly rising threat of COVID-19. John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour" began the 2020 chart year with 10 shows in North America, kicking off the new decade with $21 million in domestic grosses. He then went to Australia for a 37-show sweep that added $93.1 million before wrapping, as scheduled, on Mar. 7. Ultimately, Sir Elton crowns 2020's Top Tours chart with a $114.1 million haul, after being No. 4 in 2019 ($194.1 million) and No. 22 in 2018 ($55.4 million). In all, his tour has earned $358.6 million and sold 2.63 million tickets in 178 shows, now within $50 million of Billboard's all-time Top 10 tours list. In other Elton news, he and his husband David Furnish have revealed that they have a "one gift rule" for each other at Christmas. Appearing on the British talk show Loose Women on Dec. 1, Furnish said he and Elton have "a one gift rule because we don't need anything, we are very blessed in life. The thing I am most looking forward to is Christmas with our sons, because there is nothing like Christmas with children. All the magic for us with Christmas has just gone off the charts since we had our boys." The couple have raised sons Zachary, nine, and Elijah, seven, to be "grounded" in life, Furnish said. "It is daddy up on stage. They are very proud of him obviously and they love his songs but when he comes home he leaves Elton John behind," he added. - Billboard/DailyMail.co.uk, 12/3/20...... One of the most tragic anniversaries in rock history will occur on Dec. 8, which will be the 40th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon as he was walking into his residence at the Dakota apartment building with his wife Yoko Ono on the evening of Dec. 8, 1980. Unbelievably, Lennon, who was 40 when he was killed, has now been gone for as long as he lived. "It was a dark day," says British-born, Toronto-based author Piers Hemmingsen, 65, who penned 2016's The Beatles in Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania. "And I just remember the winter of 1980-81 was kind of all about feeling sad about that." Almost everyone remembers where they were when they heard the shocking news that Liverpool-born Lennon had been murdered by Mark David Chapman who waited for police to arrive and arrest him while reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. "I didn't find out about it until I turned my little Panasonic TV on at 6:30 in the morning (the day after) and I was shocked," said Hemmingsen, who was a computer programmer working overnight at the time. "A vigil was held at Nathan Phillips Square on the evening of Dec. 10. So I felt compelled to go. I felt something. Everybody felt something. We all felt a loss. It had to be 10-15 Celsius below zero. There were 35,000 people. It was jammed." Among those in attendance were musicians Ronnie Hawkins and Long John Baldry, the latter in a fur coat. "They all said things, great things, about John Lennon. But the power of it was that everybody just felt connected," said Hemmingsen. "We needed to be somewhere and we needed to share the emotion." On Dec. 12, 1980, Lennon's ashes were given to Ono, who requested 10 minutes of silence around the world instead of holding a funeral, and two days later over 225,000 converged on Central Park, close to the scene of the shooting. Five years later, New York City dedicated an area of the park, directly across from the Dakota, as Strawberry Fields. - WENN/Canoe.com, 12/6/20...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has hailed director Peter Jackson's upcoming Fab Four documentary Get Back for providing confirmation in his own mind that he wasn't responsible for splitting up the band. McCartney has previously been accused of orchestrating their split, after he announced his departure from the band in Ap. 1970 and later that year filed a law suit which called for the group's formal dissolution. While he previously said that he undertook the move to protect their music, McCartney explained that seeing footage from Jackson's film confirms that he isn't to blame for their split. "It was so reaffirming for me," McCartney told The Sunday Times on Dec. 6. "Because it proves that my main memory of the Beatles was the joy and the skill." He went on: "The proof is the footage. I bought into the dark side of the Beatles breaking up and thought, 'Oh God, I'm to blame.' I knew I wasn't, but it's easy when the climate is that way to start thinking so. But at the back of my mind there was always this idea that it wasn't like that, but I needed to see proof. There's a great photo [late wife] Linda [McCartney] took, which is my favourite, of me and John working on a song, glowing with joy. This footage is the same. All four of us having a ball." Paul has previously hailed the documentary for providing an authentic portrait of the Beatles' final years together. "I love it, I must say because it's how it was. It just reminds me of -- even though we had arguments, like any family -- we loved each other, you know, and it shows in the film," he said. The Beatles: Get Back covers the making of the band's 1970 album Let It Be and features recut material originally captured in director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary of the album recording process. - NME, 12/7/20...... England's Royal Mint has announced a series of David Bowie coins will be released as part of its music collection, which has previously honoured such music legends as Queen and Elton John. In true Bowie fashion, one of the coins orbited the Earth's atmosphere for 45 minutes after launch before its eventual return, and it is now being offered as a prize on the Royal Mint's Facebook page. The coin celebrates the music icon's career with a design inspired by his formative years spent living and recording in Berlin, as well as featuring the iconic lightning bolt design from Aladdin Sane. Fans can purchase the coins from the Royal Mint's website, which range from £13 for a uncirculated £5 coin, all the way to an "out of this world" which costs a staggering £72,195 for a kilo gold coin in a denomination of £1,000. Eleven of the gold coins will be minted. The Aladdin Sane lightning bolt design has also employed technology to create a glitter effect, giving the impression that it is sprinkled with stardust. "We are thrilled to unveil the third coin in the Royal Mint's music legends series, honouring the intergalactic legacy and career of David Bowie," said Royal Mint director Clare Maclennan. "We are thrilled to unveil the third coin in the Royal Mint's music legends series, honouring the intergalactic legacy and career of David Bowie," she added. - NME, 12/7/20...... In a new interview with the UK paper The Independent, David Byrne says he thinks it's "surprising" how many Americans still support Pres. Donald Trump. "We've all had our dystopian fantasies of what could go wrong, and there's plenty of books and TV shows that represent that," the former Talking Heads frontman responded when asked if he could imagine the political events of the last five years. "But then to see this happen... Trump was not a surprise. He is what he is. What is surprising is how many people still support him," Byrne said, referring to the amount of support Trump has post-election. He continued: "When you see the coronavirus exploding across the United States, and how many dead there are, and how many people just don't care about that or think it's a conspiracy, you just go, 'Wow, the country I'm living in isn't the country I thought it was.'" Meanwhile, Universal will be releasing the Spike Lee-directed movie version of Byrne's acclaimed stage show "American Utopia" on VOD services and on DVD on Dec. 14, in light of the coronavirus restrictions facing cinemas at the moment. - NME, 12/6/20...... Yusuf/Cat Stevens hosted a virtual event called "CatSong Festival" on Dec. 5, which saw famous fans covering several of his classic tracks. The special live YouTube broadcast celebrated the 50th anniversary of Stevens 1970 albums Tea For The Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon and saw the likes of Jack Johnson, HAIM, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Passenger and many more performing songs from across Stevens' discography. "It's great to see and hear these covers of my songs given new life," Yusuf said in announcing the event. "There's no better honour for a songwriter than to have his songs performed by talented musicians with such love and sincerity. Thank you," he added. The full CatSong Festival broadcast can be viewed on YouTube. - NME, 12/5/20...... In a new interview with Total Guitar magazine, Jimmy Page revealed he's been playing his guitar every day during the COVID-19 lockdown. "Under the circumstances of having a lockdown and isolating, I picked up the guitar and made a point of playing the guitar every day," the Led Zeppelin mastermind said. He continued: "Whereas before the lockdown, it had gotten to the point where I was always complaining that I didn't have enough time to play the guitar because there was all this other stuff that was going on. It's surprising how many things there are, even with Led Zeppelin, so I was not finding enough time to play the guitar as much as I would like. It was there, but not being played. I thought, that's not going to be the case. I'm now going to play it. I don't want to make it sound like I'd locked the guitars away. That wasn't the case. But there were so many things that kept getting in the way of playing -- or playing the way that you need to if you're exploring the instrument still." When asked whether or not people would see him play in public again, Page said: "That was the idea before we locked down. But... there'll be a time when we'll be able to play, so the thing to do is to think how you'd do it if you did do it, and have some surprises up your sleeve, you know?" - NME, 12/5/20...... Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry joined comedians Mike Myers and Dana Carvey for a virtual Wayne's World reunion on Dec. 7 as part of actor Josh Gad's "Reunited Apart" YouTube series, which benefits the First Responder's Children's Foundation. "'Sibilance... Sibilance' Surprise... We were 'worthy enough' to reunite with our friends Wayne and Garth!," Aerosmith wrote on Instagram as they announced their participation. The first Wayne's World film, released in 1991, was the second film based on a Saturday Night Live sketch, following The Blues Brothers in 1980. It starred Myers and Carvey as rock music knuckleheads Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar respectively. Although Aerosmith appeared in one of the SNL sketches, they originally opted not to appear in the first movie. However, they joined the cast for Wayne's World 2 in 1993, in which they performed "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" and "Shut Up and Dance" during an onstage appearance. Josh Gad has been hosting virtual reunions for classic films throughout the coronavirus lockdown, previously bringing together the cast of Ferris Bueller's Day Off in June. - NME, 12/6/20...... '70s artists Patti Smith and Nile Rodgers of Chic will be among the participants in the Royal Albert Hall's 150th anniversary celebration which kicks off on Mar. 29, 2021. Smith and Jon Hopkins will put on headline shows, while Rodgers will compose a pop anthem for the anniversary using a full orchestra and singers from across the community. Other performances will come from Brian Wilson, Gregory Porter, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel and Alfie Boe. The Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871 and was named in memory of her husband, Prince Albert, whose founding vision was for a venue that would both democratise and promote the arts and sciences. - NME, 12/3/20...... Kiss has announced it will play a show at what they described as "the coldest place on Earth" during the "150 shows left" on their farewell tour, which began in Jan. 2019 but forced to go on hiatus earlier in 2020 due to the pandemic. Speaking to Marci Wiser on radio station 95.5 KLOS, frontman Gene Simmons confirmed that the band will return in 2021 with some of their most ambitious shows to date. "We've already booked Europe outdoors. Most of the shows have already sold out. We start in summer," said Simmons. "The vaccines are gonna be out there for everybody, oh, by January, February, March at the latest, but we're gonna be out there a few months after that. And we've literally got a 150 cities booked," he added. Revealing plans to play the icy location, which remains nameless, Simmons revealed: "There's one place that's the coldest place on earth. And if you can imagine us playing there with even larger pyro than you've ever seen, 'cause there's nothing around there. But that's all I'll say about it." The latest update comes after Kiss announced plans for a special livestreamed gig on New Year's Eve. The band will take the virtual stage at the Atlantis hotel in Dubai on Dec. 31 for what they promise will be "the biggest & baddest concert event and pyrotechnics show of the year." Kiss are also set to co-headline the UK's Download Festival in 2021. - NME, 12/4/20...... Eight-time Grammy-winner Tina Turner reflects on her life in her latest memoir Happiness Becomes You: A Guide To Changing Your Life For Good that reveals her greatest untold life lessons and deepest realizations. Turner, 80, admits to overcoming a lifetime of adversity that includes an unhappy childhood, abandonment by her parents, an abusive marriage, a stalled career and financial ruin as well as the premature death of family members and multiple illnesses. In the book, she details how she overcame her setbacks through her faith in Buddhism and chanting that began five decades ago. Now in her 80s, Turner says she is fulfilling a long-held dream to teach with the writing of her new book and hopes it inspires readers to pursue Buddhism. - DailyMail.co.uk, 12/3/20...... In other heavy metal news, Black Sabbath have announced a reissue of their fourth album Vol. 4 containing 20 previously unreleased tracks. Vol 4: Super Deluxe Edition will be an expanded version of the 1972 classic and will drop on Feb. 12, 2021. The release will feature 20 unreleased studio and live recordings on the 4-CD and 5-LP formats, and both comes with extensive booklets of liner notes with quotes from band members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. The band announced the reissue, which will also include a poster and rare photographs as well as an early, previously unpublished draft of the album artwork, which boasts the working title "Snowblind," on Twitter on Dec. 3. - NME, 12/3/20...... Actor David Lander, best known as Squiggy on the hit '70s ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley, died on the evening of Dec. 4 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family confirms. He was 73. Lander died of complications related to multiple sclerosis, which he battled for 37 years. Since he went public with his diagnosis in 1999, Lander has worked closely with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, speaking out about his experience at related conferences. In Laverne & Shirley, Lander starred in opposite Michael McKean, who portrayed Lenny. The characters were developed by the longtime friends and collaborators while they were students at Carnegie Mellon University. Lander also made appearances in several TV shows, including The Bob Newhart Show, Barney Miller, Happy Days, Twin Peaks and The Drew Carey Show, and played smaller yet memorable parts in movies like A League of Their Own and Say It Isn't So. As a voice actor, Lander was the voice behind Smart Ass in the 1988 Disney movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He also voiced Ch'p in the DC Comics animated movie, Green Lantern: First Flight in 2009. He most recently voiced Rumpelstiltskin in Disney's children's show, Goldie & Bear, and Donnie the Shark in an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants in 2016. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Fields Lander, and daughter, Natalie Lander. - Variety, 12/6/20.

Van Morrison and Eric Clapton have teamed up for a new anti-lockdown song called "Stand and Deliver." Written by Morrison and performed by Clapton, the will be available for download and streaming on Dec. 4 and support Morrison's ongoing "Save Live Music" campaign. In recent months, Morrison has released three songs -- "Born To Be Free," "As I Walked Out" and "No More Lockdown" -- protesting the U.K. government's lockdown as a result of COVID-19, also campaigning for a re-opening of performance venues at full capacity because he feels that the ongoing lockdown presents an existential threat to the future of live music venues. The U.K. has allowed some socially distanced gigs since Aug. 1, but, as in the U.S., there have been few other shows since the pandemic caused a worldwide lockdown in March. Proceeds from downloads of the song will benefit Morrison's Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which aims to assist musicians who are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. "There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration," Eric Clapton told Variety.com. "We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover," he added. In a tweet dated Nov. 27, Morrison announced that the song would be "Available on @AppleMusic @AmazonMusicUK @Deezer and @Spotify https://t.co/xwSM1idIpl" beginning Dec. 4. - Billboard, 11/28/20...... In a new interview with the SiriusXM show Volume West Heart's Ann Wilson revealed that a Heart biopic is in development with Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney writing the project. "Yeah, there's one in the works," Wilson told host Lyndsey Parker, with her sister and bandmate Nancy Wilson weighing in, "I saw the first draft of the script, it's really cool... The script started in childhood and ended up in the '90s." Ann added that she doesn't have any particular actresses in mind to portray herself and Nancy in the Amazon Studios produced project, but she said she thought the one actress who's expressed interest in playing her in the film, Anne Hathaway, "isn't exactly right for it." Wilson said the search for the lead roles is ongoing and it's not known yet if whoever gets cast will sing Heart's hits themselves or lip synch. - Billboard, 11/30/20...... Co-founding Van Halen singer David Lee Roth has seemingly attacked his fellow former VH singer Sammy Hagar in a new cartoon posted on his Twitter page. Roth has regularly been posting illustrations that depict a fictional newspaper called "The Daily Catastrophe," with the latest appearing to attack Hagar, who replaced Roth as Van Halen frontman beginning in 1985 for 11 years. In the new cartoon, a figure pilots a worn-out airplane, surrounded by quotes including "Sam the man will be giving his life for rock and roll, but plans to be buried in his recently acquired jet," and "Red Rocker refuses to fly 55 in afterlife." As well as Hagar's track "I Can't Drive 55," the quotes appear to reference an interview he gave in June, where he said that he was willing to "get sick and die" to return to touring amid the coronavirus pandemic. Roth and Hagar's relationship following their respective tenures in VH has long been acrimonious. They did both front Van Halen on the same tour in the early 2000s, taking turns to headline the show, but reportedly squabbled throughout. - New Musical Express, 12/1/20...... In other Van Halen-related news, a newly unearthed cover of Jimi Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9" by the late Eddie Van Halen has been remastered by keyboardist David Garfield, and appears on Garfield's new EP "Guitar Heros OTB, Vol. 1." According to Garfield, he and Eddie met at a cigar bar and Garfield asked the late guitarist if he wanted to contribute to a tribute he was putting together for Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, with Van Halen responding with a "resounding yes." Eddie's cover of "If 6 Was 9" can be streamed on the GuitarWorld.com website. Speaking of Van Halen's death, Garfield added: "I'm sure sorry we lost him way too soon; I was hoping to collaborate with him again. Rest in peace, my brother Ed." - NME, 11/28/20...... Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced a virtual event called "CatSong Festival" set to take place on Dec. 5. Posting on Twitter, Yusuf said the special live YouTube broadcast will feature "over 40 fantastic musical artists" covering his songs and celebrate the 50th anniversary of his 1970 albums Tea For The Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon. Artists participating include HAIM, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Jack Johnson, James Morrison, Passenger and many more and will perform songs from across the Yusuf/Stevens discography. Yusuf says he sincerely hopes that this event "will give the participating artists a chance to share their talents with his and each other's audiences." "At all levels of the industry, it is imperative that we find ways to allow musicians to connect with new audiences to keep the flame of live music burning," according to a press release. To watch the Yusuf/Cat Stevens "Catsong Festival," tune into the singer's YouTube channel on Dec. 5 at 8:00 pm GMT/12:00 pm PT. - NME, 11/30/20...... Kiss member Paul Stanley has criticized members of the Republican party for not speaking out against Pres. Donald Trump, branding them as "cowards." Stanley's comments come after the president continued to make unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the November election. "Republican politicians who now cower before this president are the same ones that ridiculed & dismissed him in the 2016 primaries," Stanley wrote on his Twitter account. "Their silence IS a choice & not sharing their opinion IS a coward's way out. It feeds the mistrust that eats at the core of this country I love," he added. Trump recently said he'll "certainly" leave the White House when the Electoral College confirms President Elect Joe Biden's election win, though called on Biden to substantiate that a "ridiculous 80,000,000 votes were not fraudulently or illegally obtained." - NME, 11/30/20...... Cher traveled to Pakistan on the fourth weekend of November to celebrate the departure of Kaavan, dubbed the "world's loneliest elephant," who will soon leave a Pakistani zoo for better conditions after years of lobbying by animal rights groups and activists. The 36-year-old bull elephant has languished in the zoo for 35 years, and lost his partner in 2012. He was diagnosed by veterinarians as both overweight and malnourished earlier in 2020, and also suffers behavioral issues. He was set to leave for a sanctuary in Cambodia on Nov. 29. Cher took up Kaavan's cause and has been a loud voice advocating for his resettlement. Animal rescue organization Four Paws has provided the medical treatment needed before Kaavan can travel. The battle for his relocation began in 2016. Free the Wild, an international charity co-founded by Cher, worked in collaboration with Four Paws and others to orchestrate Kaavan's move, which cost roughly $400,000 in total. Cher traveled to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and visit Kaavan's exhibit to provide moral support. "My wishes have finally come true," Cher told The Guardian paper. "We have been counting down to this moment and dreaming of it for so long and to finally see Kaavan transported out of [the Islamabad] zoo will remain with us forever. And while I know everyone's first day can be nerve-wracking, I think Kaavan will make lots of new friends where he's going. What wholesome news to come out of this trash fire of a year," she added. - AP, 11/27/20...... Dolly Parton has revealed she "cried all night long" after turning down Elvis Presley's request to record a cover of her song "I Will Always Love You." Parton released the song in 1974, before it received a famous 1992 cover by Whitney Houston for the romantic thriller flick The Bodyguard. Parton revealed that Elvis also wanted to record a version of her hit, but she turned him down over the money. Writing in The Big Issue's "Letter To My Younger Self," she explained: "I'd been invited down to the studio to meet Elvis and be there when he sang my song. That was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. Who doesn't love Elvis? But then Colonel (Tom Parker, Presley's manager) called me the afternoon before the session and said 'You do know we have to have at least half the publishing on any song that Elvis records?' And I said 'No, I did not know that'. He said 'Well, it's just a rule'. So I said 'Well, it's not my rule'." Dolly said she then "cried all night long, 'cause I was so disappointed." "It wasn't Elvis, I loved Elvis. And I'm sure he was as disappointed as I was because he had it all worked up and ready to go. I know he loved the song," she said. Speaking about Presley's wife of six years, Priscilla Presley, Parton said: "Priscilla told me later that he sang that song to her when they were coming down the steps of the courthouse after they divorced. That really touched me and I thought 'Oh well, I can only imagine'. But it wasn't his fault." - NME, 11/30/20...... Details of the accompanying soundtrack album to the new Frank Zappa biopic Zappa have been announced. The 3CD/5LP release of Zappa - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack spans 68 tracks, ranging from the Mothers of Invention's "Freak Out" to the musician's final orchestral work "The Yellow Shark." The deluxe version of the soundtrack also includes offerings from Zappa's Bizarre Records, as well as pieces by Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky and 26 original Zappa score cues by John Frizzell. Zappa had been due to premiere at the since-cancelled South By Southwest Festival earlier in 2020, and its official trailer was shared in October. The 5-LP version of the soundtrack, available on both 180-gram black vinyl as well as limited edition 180-gram smoke vinyl, is due out May 7, 2021, with the 3-CD version expected Jan. 19, 2021. A 2-LP edition on 180-gram clear vinyl will also be available. - NME, 11/29/20...... In a new interview with Goldmine magazine, Elton John says he owns more than 120,000 CDs and 15,000 vinyl records and that the entirety of his vast collection of music remains in his house, rather than in storage, so that he can maintain regular access to it at all times. "I have over 120,000 CDs and 15,000 pieces of vinyl," Elton said. "They are stored in my home shelves so I can access whatever I want, whenever I want." When asked about his music format of choice, John said he "definitely prefer[s] LPs." Elton also touched on the move from a lifetime of touring to spending more time with his family, saying he felt "lucky to have had the opportunity to continue doing what I love so much for the last 50 years." "But looking at my life now, it is without a doubt one of the very best times of my life and really, it all changed when [his husband] David [Furnish] and I had our boys," John continued. "With children, you can't help but look retrospectively at how we got here today and the beauty of where my life is now. They have helped me focus on the present and surely make me appreciate my past." - NME, 11/29/20...... The estate of George Harrison has marked the 50th anniversary of his seminal album All Things Must Pass by sharing a new stereo mix of the stunning title track on YouTube. The new mix of the 1970 track was led by Grammy-winning producer Paul Hicks, who previously worked on recent reissues of the Rolling Stones' Goat's Head Soup and John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth. "The new stereo mix of the album's title track is just a taste of more things to come in 2021 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of my father's legendary All Things Must Pass album," said George's son, Dhani Harrison. "We've been digging through mountains of tapes, and they just kept coming -- boxes and boxes of them. Making this album sound clearer was always one of my dad's greatest wishes and it was something we were working on together right up until he passed. But with the help of new technology and the work of Paul Hicks on this project, we are now able to make that happen. We can't wait for you all to hear everything we've been working on and your patience will be rewarded next year," Dhani added. Originally released on Nov. 27, 1970, the triple LP was produced by Phil Spector and went on to become one of the most influential rock albums of all time. As well as the new stereo mix of "All Things Must Pass," the Harrisons are also set to release George's "My Sweet Lord" on a 7" Milky Clear Single, individually numbered, exclusive to Record Store Day. - NME, 11/27/20...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has revealed that he has his own yoga group with movie actor Alec Baldwin and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Sir Paul also says he's adopted Baldwin's "polite but firm" response whenever someone approaches him for a photo in public, because the rocker's always hated posing for pictures when he's not working. "I don't like to take pictures," he shared on the Smartless podcast with actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. "When people say, 'Can I have a picture?' 'cause everyone's got a camera (on their phone)..., I say, 'I'm sorry, I don't do pictures.' It's a line I got from watching Alec Baldwin once." - WENN/Canoe.com, 11/26/20...... Ozzy Osbourne's childhood home at 14 Lodge Road in Aston, Birmingham, UK, is now available to rent for a night. In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Ozzy revealed the person currently occupying his pre-fame family home is charging people to sleep in his old room. "He charges £400 a night," Osbourne said when asked about the alleged for-rent room. "The f---ing house weren't worth £300! They must be doing an expensive extension on the bathroom." He continued: "I tell you what was really weird: I went back to that house many years after I left. When you're little everything seems massive. But that house was me, my mum and dad and my five sisters and brothers -- eight of us in this house. It's so tiny, I'm going, 'How the hell did we do this?'" - NME, 11/29/20...... Actor Johnny Flynn says some David Bowie fans may think the idea of the new Bowie biopic in which he stars is "offensive" and will "potentially going to get a lot of flak." "It's pretty much as I as I expected. I mean, there's the Bowie fans, who don't want you to f--- with their idea of David," Flynn says. "But there's also generally -- rather unhelpfully, in this day and age, as you know -- there's such a kind of cancel culture on the internet, and the safety of tiny nine-inch devices, whatever they are, brings out the worst in people .I feel like there's an energy that people can't help but be swept up and in terms of condemning things or being offended by things. It provokes interesting dialogue around ideas, but also I think it's kind of sad that people would condemn something without seeing it." Flynn added: "Most of the the shit that we've been getting has been from people seeing the trailers, just the idea of the film that's offensive to them. When people see the film, they seem to really like it. And we get great reviews. But I think, if anything, it will provoke some interesting debate. And I don't mind there being a backlash to the film, because I know what our intention was, which was certainly not to be disrespectful." Stardust was released in the US on Nov. 25, and will be released in UK theaters by the end of 2020. - NME, 11/28/20...... David Prowse, the British actor behind the menacing black mask of Star Wars villain Darth Vader, died on Nov. 29 following a battle with COVID-19. He was 85. Mr. Prowse passed away following a bout of the killer virus, after previously being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, according to his daughter Rachel. She revealed that Mr. Prowse spent two weeks in hospital before his death, and amid the pandemic, the family were unfortunately unable to see him in his final days and his funeral will only be a small gathering. "He died of coronavirus. It's horrible to have not got to see him on the ward and say goodbye, it makes it even harder," she said. "We would have had a big celebration of his life, but now we are not going to be able to do the send off we would have wanted for him." Rachel, 50, paid tribute to her father, confessing that although he was known for mainly portraying villains on the big screen, in real life he was a gentle giant. "He was a really nice, kind, gentle man," she explained of the former bodybuilder. "He might have looked quite scary and was known for playing villains and lots of different monsters in films, but as a person he was a sweet, kind and generous man. He would have loved all this -- people tweeting and commenting about him," she added of the outpouring of tributes following his death over the weekend. "He would have loved to see himself trending on Twitter. It's lovely to see how much he was loved and what an impact he had on people's lives." Among those honouring Prowse was Star Wars creator George Lucas, who remembered him as being "up for anything," noting he "contributed to the success of what would become a memorable, tragic figure" in his role as the iconic Sith Lord. "He made Vader leap off the page and on to the big screen," Lucas wrote in a tribute on Twitter, which concluded with the words: "May he rest in peace." - WENN/Canoe.com, 11/30/20.