Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on July 25th, 2021

Former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham shared a new single, "On The Wrong Side," on YouTube on July 23. The Fleetwood Mac-inspired song is the latest track shared by Buckingham from his forthcoming self-titled solo album, which will be his first studio effort since 2011's Seeds We Sow, and follows a previous single from the new album released in June, "I Don't Mind." In a statement, Buckingham said "On The Wrong Side" is "not a happy song, subject-matter wise, but it was an ebullient song musically. This was sort of the same idea." Interestingly, Buckingham released a separate track also titled "On The Wrong Side" in 1994 with featured on the soundtrack of the film With Honors. Buckingham has said his new LP "is one I've been intending to get out for a couple of years now, but on more than one occasion, unforeseen circumstances necessitated a postponement of plans." "Now that we're back in gear, I'm thrilled to finally be sharing new music with my listeners!," he added. Lindsey Buckingham is due to arrive on Sept. 17, and Buckingham will launch a fall 2021 US tour behind the new album in Milwaukee on Sept. 1. - New Musical Express, 7/23/21...... Cher has offered to take beleaguered pop star Britney Spears on a tropical island vacation after Spears name-checked the legendary diva in a lengthy Instagram post on July 22. "Maybe I'll just be nice and plant here and keep my dreams alive by thinking about visiting St. Tropez with @cher and eating ice cream. She was one of my favorite singers as a kid and I loved to dress up as her," wrote Spears, who is currently embroiled in a headline-grabbing conservatorship battle with her father. Responding to Britney's post, Cher said in a "#FreeBritney" Twitter post: "When #FreeBritney is FINALLY FREE, I'm Taking her to San Tropez & We'll Eat Ice Cream To Her Hearts Content." The kind words from Cher were just the latest show of support from Britney Nation and the singer's cadre of superstar supporters like Cher, and it came as the pop star mused about who she can trust these days and her current "shoe crisis." - Billboard, 7/23/21...... As the 1-year-delayed Olympics games kicks off Tokyo, Yoko Ono has reacted to her late husband's peace anthem "Imagine" being used during the opening ceremony on July 23. After the athlete parade at Tokyo'snew Olympic Stadium, a number of drones formed a globe above the venue, after which John Legend and Keith Urban joined Spanish performer Alejandro Sanz, Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and the Suginami Children's Choir for a moving virtual rendition of "Imagine." Following the performance Ono, who also shares a songwriting credit on the song with John, reacted with a Twitter post where she shared her thoughts on what the song embodied to her and Lennon. "IMAGINE. John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other," she wrote. "The song 'Imagine' embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met -- he comes from the West and I come from the East -- and still we are together." Meanwhile the mini-documentary 24 Hours: The World of John and Yoko was made available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video in May. - NME, 7/23/21...... In other Beatles-related news, isolated audio of Paul McCartney chomping on celery and carrot has been released by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. The band teamed up with Sir Paul on their 2001 track "Receptacle For The Respectable," which will feature on the upcoming 20th-anniversary re-issue of SFA's album Rings Around The World. Band member Gruff Rhys bumped into McCartney at the New Musical Express Awards in 2000, where he accepted the bizarre request to play "carrot and celery" percussion on the song. SFA keyboard player Cian Ciaran commented: "He was going to come to the studio and then decided not to for some reason. So, we sent him stereo backing tracks so he could keep time, then he sent the tape back with a message that started with a really dodgy Welsh accent. Then he goes 'I hope you like it' -- the next thing you know you just hear this chewing sound!" Now fans can get their ears around the full 60-second "Macapella" cameo on YouTube. - Music-News.com, 7/22/21...... The Rolling Stones announced on July 22 that their Covid-19-postponed "No Filter" tour will return to the U.S. this fall, beginning in St. Louis on Sept. 26. The 13-date stadium outing follows on the first leg of the tour in 2019, with rescheduled stops in Charlotte (9/30), Pittsburgh (10/4), Nashville (10/9), Minneapolis (10/24), Tampa (10/29), Dallas (11/2), Atlanta (11/11), and Detroit (11/15) before wrapping in Austin, Tex. on Nov. 20. The band also added new dates in Los Angeles (10/17) and Las Vegas (11/6), as well as their first-ever trip to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Oct. 13, 2021. The band was not, however, able to reschedule previously announced dates in Vancouver, Louisville, Cleveland and Buffalo; ticketholders in those markets will be contacted by Ticketmaster directly with more information about possibly attending nearby shows. All previously purchased tickets will be honored at the rescheduled performances. "I'm so excited to get back on the stage again and want to thank everyone for their patience. See you soon!," Stones frontman Mick Jagger said in a statement, with guitarist Keith Richards adding, "We're back on the road! See you there!" - Billboard, 7/22/21...... After 15 years of legal wrangling, the family of James Brown appears to have finally settled a feud over his estate, which has been valued at anywhere from $5 million to $100 per year. Six years before his death on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73, Brown had specified in a will that he would bequeath little to his heirs, other than a $2 million scholarship fund for his grandchildren. But his daughters Deanna Brown-Thomas and Yamma Brown, among others, found a way to inherit potentially millions of dollars. Although details of the July 9 settlement have not been mad public, several of the late Godfather of Soul's are likely to split up termination rights on the copyrights to Brown's 900 compositions, which according to U.S. law cannot be bequeathed as part of a will. The rights are potentially incredibly valuable -- the publisher portion of Brown's songs, including classics like "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" -- are due to "terminate" and revert to Brown's control under U.S. copyright law starting in the next few years. That allows the Brown heirs to license them to commercials, TV shows, movies and video games or sell them outright. Marc Toberoff, a lawyer for nine of Brown's heirs, says that "all matters" had been settled between the parties and that his clients were "very happy." The deal also paves way for Brown's dying wish to fund scholarships for disadvantaged children to finally be realized. It comes one year after a judge ruled Brown's longtime girlfriend Tommie Rae Hynie was not his legal wife so has no right to Brown's fortune. - Billboard, 7/22/21...... The Boss and a former POTUS are teaming up to release a new book entitled Renegades: Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen and former Pres. Barack Obama teamed up in February for an 8-part Spotify.com podcast conversation back in February, and now the two are coming together again to tell tales on a literary counterpart. Spanning 320 pages, Renegades: Born in the U.S.A. captures those conversations between the rock legend and the 44th U.S president, and features more than 350 color photos, illustrations, and never-before-seen archival content, according to a press release. "There were serious conversations about the fate of the country, the fortune of its citizens, and the destructive, ugly, corrupt forces at play that would like to take it all down," writes Springsteen in his introduction for the forthcoming book. "This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens," he continues. "This is a time for serious consideration of who we want to be and what kind of country we will leave our children." Springsteen and Obama first met back in 2008, and went on to form a deep friendship. Renegades: Born in The U.S.A. will arrive Oct. 26 via Penguin Random House in partnership with Higher Ground, the production company established by Barack and Michelle Obama. A trailer for the new book has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 7/22/21...... In other Springsteen news, The Boss' famous performances from the legendary 1979 "No Nukes" concert series is being compiled and remastered for release later in 2021. Two of Springsteen and the E Street Band's performances, long touted as among their finest early shows, will be released as The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts. The film features remixed and remastered audio and was edited from the original 16mm film by longtime Springsteen collaborator Thom Zimny. A final release date is still to be confirmed. In Sept. 1979, MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) organized a series of five "No Nukes" concerts at Madison Square Garden, followed by a rally of almost 200,000 people. As well as performances from MUSE organizers Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt, the shows included performances from Springsteen, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Tom Petty and more. Meanwhile, Springsteen has curated a "frat rock" playlist for the latest episode of his SiriusXM show From My Home To Yours. Springsteen introduces the songs by saying, "I just want you to drink beer and go apeshit listening to this music." Among the bands featured were the Swingin' Medallions, The Trashmen, Flamin' Groovies, Fleshtones and The Romantics. - NME, 7/20/21...... On July 21 Eric Clapton was quoted as saying he will not play any live shows that require attendees to show proof that they've received the Covid-19 vaccine. The 76-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, who feared he would "never play again" after receiving both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made his statement after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a press conference on July 19 stating, "We're planning to make full vaccination the condition of entry to nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather" by the end of September in England, where 35% of 18- to 30-year-olds have not had their first shot. Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that nightclubs can be classified as "potential super spreading events" because of attendees being in close contact. Italian architect and film producer Robin Monotti Graziadei shared Clapton's announcement on Instagram's Telegram messaging app. "Following the PM's announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021 I feel honour bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present," the message read, which was signed off by Eric Clapton. "Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show." Clapton previously made his thoughts about Covid loud and clear in 2020 with his anti-lockdown track "Stand and Deliver" with Van Morrison, which he wrote in an earlier Telegram message is "when I found my voice, and even though I was singing his words, they echoed in my heart." - Billboard, 7/21/21...... Dionne Warwick has slammed Amazon.com founderJeff Bezos after the multi-billionaire and a crew of three others blasted off into space on July 20, then in a post-flight news conference thanked his Amazon employees for customers for "paying for the flight." Warwick caught one of Bezos' rather tone-deaf remarks from the press conference: "I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this," said Bezos, who's worth more than $200 billion and whose company's workers have earned notoriously low wages and unfair treatment. Warwick was not a fan of his comment and shared her disdain for it on Twitter. "Why did he make a truly dumb statement like this? I don't get what he expected from those employed at Amazon! I know it couldn't have been a YAY!! Shame on you, Mr. Bezos...," the multiple Grammy-winner wrote while adding a clown emoji to her tweet. - Billboard, 7/21/21...... '70s artists Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler will be among the 2021 recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors this December at the Opera House in Washington, D.C. Also receiving the Kennedy Center Honors will be Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. If it seems like the Kennedy Center Honors just aired on CBS, well, they did. The show that would have normally been held in Dec. 2020 was finally held in May (and aired on CBS on June 6), delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Kennedy Center announced that this year's show will return to the famed Opera House after the most recent show was taped all over the Kennedy Center campus to allow for greater social distancing. "I'm grateful to the Kennedy Center for bestowing this honor on my work and I look forward to being a part of this prestigious celebration of the arts. I wish my mother and father were alive to see this. It's a long way from Saskatoon," said Joni Mitchell in a statement, while Bette Midler said she was "profoundly touched by this honor, in fact, I am stunned and grateful beyond words." "For many years I have watched this broadcast celebrating the best talent in the performing arts that America has to offer, and I truly never imagined that I would find myself among these swans. Thank you to the Kennedy Center for recognizing me, and my heartfelt thanks to everyone who put me here," she added. - Billboard, 7/21/21...... Dolly Parton has recreated her 1978 Playboy magazine cover in honor of her husband Carl Dean's 79th birthday. "Today is July 20th," Parton said in a Twitter video commemorating her husband Carl Dean's 79th. "It's my husband Carl's birthday and you're probably wondering why I'm dressed like this. Remember some time back I said I was going to pose for Playboy magazine when I was 75? Well, I'm 75 and they don't have a magazine anymore but my husband always loved the original cover of Playboy, so I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy. He still thinks I'm a hot chick after 57 years -- and I'm not going to try to talk him out of that." Wearing the iconic Playboy bunny ears, a black bodysuit with long black gloves, a pink bowtie and some mesh across her chest, Parton revealed that she did "a little photoshoot" in the outfit and had a new cover made just for him. "The first one, remember this? I was kind of a little butterball in that one," she said of her original shoot. "Well, I'm string cheese now. But he'll probably think I'm cream cheese... I hope." - Billboard, 7/21/21...... Actor/musician Johnny Depp is reportedly teaming up with guitar legend Jeff Beck to record material for Becks upcoming new album. "They've been collaborating on material for Jeff's next album," a source told the UK paper The Daily Mail. "It's been great for Johnny to get back to his first true love, which is music. Jeff has been a great friend to Johnny during a very difficult time, and being away from Hollywood has been exactly what Johnny needed." The news comes after Depp lost his libel case against another UK news outlet, The Sun, in 2020. The actor had been suing the British company News Group Newspapers (NGN) and The Sun's executive editor Dan Wootton over an Apr. 2018 article which referred to him as a "wife beater" in relation to allegations from ex-wife Amber Heard, claims that Depp has strongly denied. Following the judge's verdict that found the story to be "substantially true," in June 2021 Depp was denied permission to appeal his libel case against NGN, with his lawyers saying he is "looking forward to presenting the complete, irrefutable evidence of the truth" in another libel case in the US. Depp, who in 2015 formed the supergroup, Hollywood Vampires, with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, now wants to "take a step back from everything and focus on a comeback through music." - NME, 7/24/21...... In the latest edition of his YouTube podcast Digging Deep, Robert Plant revealed how he's been dreaming about hanging out with his late Led Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham, describing his visions as "magnificent moments of great relief." Plant explained how the restrictiveness of the Covid-19 lockdown has led him to experience lucid dreams filled with "amazing landscapes" and visions of the legendary drummer, who died in 1980. Other figures in his dreams included his son Karac, who died aged five in 1977 from a stomach virus. "I've dreamt that I've been back with old friends, quite a lot, like John Bonham, like my father, my son who left when he was five. And they've been magnificent moments of great relief," Plant explained. Explaining his own experiences of lockdown, Plant said he was "really lucky because my next-door neighbour, who lives 100 feet from me -- who played with me and Bonzo [John Bonham] in the 1960s -- he's there. We're part of a pod. And the farmer who was born in my place, whose family owned my place, he's over the road and we've turned into the greatest pals -- the card schools that go on for ever!" Meanwhile, the first ever John Bonham biography, Beast: John Bonham And The Rise Of Led Zeppelin by journalist C.M. Kushins with a foreword by Dave Grohl, will be released on Sept. 7. - NME, 7/20/21...... The estate of Dr. John issued a statement on July 22 saying a forthcoming Dr. John documentary directed by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach is unauthorized. Auerbach and Dr. John, who died in 2019, collaborated multiple times in the last decade of the latter's life, with Auerbach producing and playing guitar on John's Grammy Award-winning 2012 album Locked Down. Earlier in July, Auerbach announced he would make his directorial debut with a documentary about the singer-songwriter, in partnership with Radical Media and Impact Artist Productions. But in a new statement, Dr. John's estate announced the project does not have its blessing. "The Official Estate of Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., p/k/a Dr. John, clarifies that the Estate has not authorized the recently announced documentary on the life of Dr. John purportedly to be produced by Impact Artist Productions (and Management) and Radical Media," the statement reads. "For clarity, Impact Artist Productions (and Management) does not manage or speak for the Estate, which has its own team with, as Mac would say, a gang and a half of legalizers. The Estate thanks Mac's fans for their support and assures that the Estate will 'Walk On Guilded Splinters' to deliver new music and an officially authorized documentary, to be announced In The Right Place at the right time," it continued. When announcing the project, Auerbach said he was honoured to be directing the film, describing it as "a tale of true Americana." "[Dr. John] was such a unique individual and a shining example of the great melting pot of American music," he said. - NME, 7/22/21...... On July 21 Columbia/Legacy Records announced that the next edition of Bob Dylan's ongoing bootleg series, Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 , will be released later on Sept. 17 and feature rarities, unheard gems and more from 1980-1985. 54 previously unreleased recordings will appear on the 5-CD set of the new bootleg series, including outtakes from the sessions for Dylan's early '80s studio albums Shot Of Love, Infidels and Empire Burlesque. Also available will be a "highlights" package of the mammoth new series, available on 2-LP and CD. The first preview from the upcoming collection, "Too Late ('Band Version')," has been shared on YouTube. - NME, 7/21/21...... Martin Kahan a renowned music video director best known for his work with such legenary rock acts as KISS, Rush, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, died in Lakewood, N.J. on July 18 following a battle with cancer. He was 74. A New York native born in 1947, Kahan cut his teeth working on promotional videos for Rush, editing live clips for "Tom Sawyer," "Freewill" and "Limelight." It was 1983 when Columbia Records offered him a breakthrough opportunity with the video for Scandal's single "Love's Got A Line On You." That same year, he scored an MTV Video Music Award nomination with the video for Ian Hunter's "All Of The Good Ones Are Taken." Kahan went on to crank out a pair of iconic clips with Bon Jovi ("In And Out Of Love" and "She Don't Know Me'", the first videos to feature KISS sans makeup ("Lick It Up" and "All Hell's Breakin' Loose") and the Motley Crue fan-favourite "Too Young To Fall In Love." - NME, 7/21/21...... Lithofayne "Faye" Pridgon, a long-term girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix and the presumed inspiration for his classic song "Foxy Lady" died at her home in Las Vegas on Apr. 22, it has recently been publicly announced. She was 80. "We are saddened at the passingof Lithofayne "Faye" Pridgon. Jimi and Faye met each otherin Harlem in 1964 and enjoyed an immediate connection with the two sharing a love for each other and music. Faye had a beautiful spirit. She will be missed," reads a post on the official Jimi Hendrix Twitter page. Experience Hendrix catalogue manager John McDermott described Faye as "an extraordinary lady" and that the two "began a friendship more than 30 years ago which continued right up to her recent passing... Her contribution to the Hear My Train A Comin' documentary was immensely important, providing first-hand accounts of Jimi Hendrix history from a vantage point that no one else had." - WENN/Canoe.com, 7/24/21...... The famously politically-incorrect comedy legend Jackie Mason died on July 24 at the age of 93. Mr. Mason (real name Yacov Moshe Maza) began his career in the mid-1950s, appearing at New York City nightclubs. He also worked resorts in the Catskills region of New York state, known as the "Borscht Belt," that fostered such comics as Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles and Phyllis Diller. In 1987, he received a special Tony Award for his solo show, "Jackie Mason's The World According to Me!," which ran for 573 performances. The self-titled show also netted him an Emmy award when it aired on television in 1988. Mr. Mason won a second Emmy for voicing Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, the father of Krusty the Clown, on The Simpsons in 1992. His film roles included 1979's The Jerk with Steve Martin, Mel Brooks' 1981 comedy, The History of the World: Part I, and 1988's Caddyshack II. The comedian's 1992 series, The Jackie Mason Show, featured a panel discussion format about the topics of the day, very much along the lines of Bill Maher's show Politically Incorrect, which premiered the following year and ran through 2002. When the comedian launched a one-man show in 1994, called Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect, the cable network Comedy Central, which hosted the Maher show, unsuccessfully sued the veteran comic over the name. Mr. Mason retired from show business in 2012 and is survived by his wife, Jyll Rosenfeld, who he married in 1991, and a daughter. - Variety, 7/24/21.

A lyric controversy in the first line of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 song "Thunder Road" has been settled, some 46 years after the song was released. "Thunder Road," which is the lead off track on Springsteen's classic Born to Run album, has been the subject of scrutiny in regards to its first line, which in official versions of its original vinyl release and a version on Springsteen's official website posted in 2021, have the first line reading: "The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves." Over the last few weeks though, a debate has begun to rage online from those who believe that Mary's dress in fact "sways" rather than "waves." It prompted The New Yorker magazine to reach out to Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, who said that "The word is 'sways'" and that "any typos in official Bruce material will be corrected." Now the official "Thunder Road" lyrics on Springsteen's website have since been changed from "waves" to "sways." Discussing the matter further, Landau said: "That's the way he wrote it in his original notebooks, that's the way he sang it on Born to Run, in 1975, that's the way he has always sung it at thousands of shows, and that's the way he sings it right now on Broadway. And, by the way, 'dresses' do not know how to 'wave'." - New Musical Express, 7/18/21...... Digital art made by the late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia in his final days are being put up for sale on the NFT (non-fungible tokens) cryptocurrency marketplace YellowHeart. Garcia, when he wasn't busy penning jams for the Dead as its principal songwriter, lead guitarist and vocalist, was an early adapter of digital artwork. Now a partnership between Garcia's family and YellowHeart is selling a three-part collection titled "An Odd Little Place: The Digital Works of Jerry Garcia (1992-1995)." It includes 20 digital art pieces as well as tickets to a corresponding art exhibit of the same title at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The first drop kicked off on July 19 and included NFT tickets for an exclusive preview event with the Garcia family at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Aug. 5, the day before the exhibit opens to the public. On Aug. 1 -- what would have been Garcia's 79th birthday -- the first 17 pieces of limited-edition art will go on sale, priced between $400 and $2,500, and collectors will also have the option to acquire a physical, framed digital screen displaying their purchase. On Aug. 5, the three works created in Garcia's final hours will go up for auction as one-of-ones, with a physical, framed screen of the work included with each purchase. More info can be found on the YellowHeart site. - Billboard, 7/19/21...... Bob Dylan returned to a concert stage on July 18 for a virtual concert, a year and a half since the folk rock icon last performed live. The rock bard performed for fans who paid $25 to watch online through the live-streaming platform Veeps.com. It was actually less a concert than a stylized black-and-white film, with the 80-year-old musician fronting a four-piece band in a juke joint before audience members who smoked a lot and paid little attention to him, never applauding. Dylan, who hasn't performed live since Dec. 2019 when he completed his so-called "Never Ending Tour," performed with a band that included an accordion player and, for many songs, an upright bass player. There was no drummer, with the performances more folk, blues and country instead of rock 'n' roll. Dylan didn't speak to his online audience and performed for less than an hour, wrapping the show with a stark version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Dylan hasn't announced any further appearances on Veep.com, and hasn't said when he is returning to the road. - AP, 7/19/21...... Former members of the Sex Pistols have filed a lawsuit against their one time bandmate Johnny Rotten after Rotten (real name John Lydon) refused to grant permission for Sex Pistols songs to be used in an upcoming TV series about the anarchic punk rock icons. Former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook want the songs to appear in Pistol, a television memoir based on a memoir by Jones, but the outspoken Lydon has slammed the project as "disrespectful." During a hearing at the High Court in London on July 15, a lawyer for Jones and Cook argued that under the terms of a 1998 band agreement, decisions regarding licensing requests could be determined on a "majority rules basis." Lydon, however, contends that licenses to use the music can't be granted without his consent. Cullen said both the band's original bassist, Glen Matlock, and the estate of Matlock's replacement, Sid Vicious, supported the position of Cook and Jones. Vicious died in 1979 at age 21. Lydon's lawyer, Mark Cunningham, said in written arguments that Jones's memoir depicted the singer "in a hostile and unflattering light," at one point describing Lydon as "the annoying little brat with the great bone structure who's always asking for more." The court case is due to continue in July. With their controversial songs "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K.," the Sex Pistols scandalized the British music scene for a year before splitting up in 1978 after releasing one album. The band split up in 1978 after releasing one album, but surviving members have reunited for several concerts since. Pistol is due to be broadcast next year and is directed by Danny Boyle, the Academy Award-winning director of Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire. - AP, 7/16/21...... The 5th Dimension veterans Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. have found themselves back in the limelight with their inclusion in the new concert film Summer of Soul, which includes never-released concert footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. "What's so beautiful is that the timing is so perfect," says McCoo of Summer of Soul. "Fifty years ago, the film might not have had the tremendous impact that it's having today. People are being blown away by all the iconic talent featured in the film," she added. McCoo and Davis are also working on Blackbird, their first album in 30 years, and are also among the 38 new Hollywood Walk of Fame honorees announced in June. "Now, all of a sudden, we're being noticed like we were years ago," says Davis of the Grammy-winning husband-and-wife duo. "It's a blessing." In tandem with the social justice and equality movement that reached a boiling point in the summer of 2020, McCoo and Davis weaved those themes into their latest project, Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons. Using the famous Beatles tune and album title track as a catalyst, the duo recorded nine more Lennon/McCartney compositions threaded in the same vein, among them "Help!," "The Long and Winding Road" and "The Fool on the Hill." Their cover of "Blackbird" has since been chosen by the Social Justice Learning Institute (sjli.org) as its "Summer of Equity" anthem. - Billboard, 7/15/21...... Elvis Costello has announced he is re-releasing his classic 1978 album This Year's Model, but as a new Spanish version that erases his vocals and replaces him with Spanish-language singers. Producer Sebastian Krys kept, and remixed, the original instrumental tracks recorded by Costello and his backing band, the Attractions. In a press release, Costello said he was inspired by television producer David Simon's request that he record his song "This Year's Girl" as a duet with singer Natalie Bergman for his show The Deuce. He said he had a dream where he heard This Year's Model sung in Spanish, and wanted to rerecord the album with hispanic singer Juanes. A video of Costello and the Attractions playing "Pump It Up" with Juanes has been shared on YouTube. The full version of the new Spanish Model album will drop on Sept. 10. - AP, 7/16/21...... A prequel series of the hit 1978 movie Grease has been announced by the Paramount+ streaming service. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will be a 10-episode show that takes place four years before the original Grease. According to Paramount+'s description, the series will be set in a period "before rock 'n' roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, four fed-up, outcast girls dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever." Stockard Channing, Didi Conn, Dinah Manoff and Jamie Donnelly played the Pink Ladies in the 1978 feature film version of Grease. Paramount, Temple Hill and Picturestart are also behind another feature-film prequel to Grease titled Summer Lovin', with Brett Haley directing. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/16/21...... Disney+ has confirmed that the new Paul McCartney docuseries McCartney 3,2,1 will air in the UK on the streaming service in August 2021. McCartney 3,2,1, a six-episode series that sees the legendary musician break down his music career in depth with acclaimed producer Rick Rubin, premiered in the US on Hulu on July 16, and viewers in the UK will get to see the first episode on Aug. 25. The pair are seen dissecting Beatles songs including "Come Together," "All My Loving," "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "In My Life" in the trailer, which can be viewed on YouTube. - NME, 7/20/21...... During a recent YouTube livestream Ted Nugent insisted that American doesn't have a "gun problem," and launched a diatribe against allowing violent criminals to re-enter society. The controversial hard rocker said that "bad guys need to be locked up," adding that they won't be able to commit other crimes if they're never let out of jail. "If they shoot or stab people, I don't care if they even miss, that's a dangerous, vicious, evil act. We don't want people capable of dangerous, vicious, evil acts walking our streets. We want them either dead or in a cage -- forever," he added. Nugent then said that the US is living in "engineered recidivism" due to a "failed court system" that too easily allows for criminals to be released. "Ninety-six per cent of violent crimes are committed by people that were let out for violent crimes," he claimed, before adding: "Here's a little guitar player idea: don't let 'em out." "There isn't a gun problem in America," Nugent added. "There is an intentional engineered recidivism problem in America. You wanna stop ninety-six per cent of the violent crimes. Don't let 'em out." Nugent's statements come as recent statistics show homicides in the US rose by 30% in 2020 over the previous year. - NME, 7/20/21...... The surviving members of The Faces -- singer Rod Stewart, guitarist Ronnie Wood and drummer Kenney Jones -- are reportedly recording their first new music in four decades. In a new interview with the London Times, Wood said he met up with Stewart and Jones recently, in addition to catching up with his Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Jagger for a separate project. "I saw Mick [Jagger] here last week and Rod [Stewart] and Kenney [Jones] were here yesterday," Wood told the paper. "Me and Mick have done nine new tracks for the [40th anniversary] re-release of Tattoo You, and me, Rod and Kenney have been recording some new Faces music. I've had a front-row seat on some amazing rock'n'roll projects these past couple of weeks," Wood revealed. The Faces, who formed in 1969 from the ashes of The Small Faces, formally disbanded in 1975 after Stewart left the group. Around the same time, Wood began playing with the Rolling Stones. The Faces recorded four studio albums in their time, the last being 1973's Ooh La La. The band's last reunion performance was at the 2020 BRIT Awards, where Stewart, Wood and Jones closed the ceremony with a live rendition of "Stay With Me." Faces' founding keyboardist Ian McLagan died of a stroke in 2014, and bassist Ronnie Lane passed award more than a decade earlier in 1997. Wood, 74, is also involved in yet another new project -- a tribute to blues legend Jimmy Reed with former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. - NME, 7/19/21...... In the latest episode of Queen's retrospective series Queen: The Greatest, surviving Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor revealed that late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in the bath in 10 minutes as a rockabilly tribute to Elvis Presley. After May noted that Queen "got into this rather indulgent way of just bowling into the studio with no ideas, or very few ideas, and just doing it from scratch" and were trying to find a new tact after recording seven albums, May added that "The first thing we did was 'Crazy Little Thing...', and Fred did write the song in the bath in about 10 minutes." Speaking about Mercury's love of Presley, May said: "He was very fond of Elvis, and of Cliff [Richard], I have to say. Yeah, Freddie wrote it very quickly and rushed in and put it down with the boys. By the time I got there, it was almost done." "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" went onto be Queen's first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, and reached No. 2 on the Official UK Singles Chart. - NME, 7/17/21...... AC/DC has authorized two new craft beers that are set to be released on the fourth weekend of July. A joint venture between KnuckleBonz, Inc. and Calicraft Brewing Co., the beer is set to be launched at a series of events in California on July 23-25. "We are excited to announce this is the first in a series of AC/DC branded beers to be featured in this unique collaboration to bring quality beverages to the music superfan," KnuckleBonz and Calicraft said in a statement, with KnuckleBonz also announcing the beer on its Instagram page. The two beers -- named "AC/DC PWR UP Juicy IPA" and "AC/DC TNT Double IPA" -- will be available in a 16 oz. collector's edition can and can be pre-ordered now from the Calicraft website, with the limited first batch shipping from July 26. The AC/DC PWR UP Juicy IPA -- named after the band's recent PWR UP album -- is a 6.6% "modern take" on a juicy/hazy IPA that is, according to a press release, "designed to be an all-day session IPA -- perfect for at the show or at the after-party." The AC/DC TNT Double IPA, meanwhile, is an 8.2% "modern take on a classic style." "We blend a mix of Australian Cascade, American Cascade and Simcoe to create a big, bold 8.2% Double IPA," a description explains. "Flavours of fresh-cut grapefruit, sweet mango and fresh pine explode out of the glass. Inspired by the first international AC/DC album, AC/DC TNT Double IPA proves that classics never go out of style." - NME, 7/15/21...... Robert E. "Robby" Steinhardt, a violinist and co-lead vocalist with the American prog-rock band Kansas, died on July 19 due to complications from pancreatitis. He was 71. Steinhardt's wife Cindy posted on Facebook that Robby had just recorded his first solo album and had been looking forward to being back on stage and going on tour. A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Steinhardt co-founded the group with his Topeka West High School classmates Kerry Livgren, Rich Williams, Phil Ehart and Dave Hope and with Steve Walsh, who grew up in St. Joseph, Mo. Steinhardt joined Kansas shortly after their original formation in 1971, when the band was performing under the name White Clover, and performed with Kansas from 1973 to 1982 and 1997 to 2006, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Kansas sold more than 15 million records and notched seven top 40 hits, including "Dust in the Wind," which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Carry on Wayward Son," which hit No. 11. The band, which now makes its home in Atlanta, continues to perform with Williams and Ehart as the only original remaining members. "We are beyond devastated as our lives were about to start a new adventure," Cindy wrote on Facebook, revealing her husband's plans for new music and a tour. "Robby just recorded his first solo album with the talented music producer Michael Franklin at Solar Studios. A tour to start in August, Robby was so looking forward to being back on stage doing what he loved," she added. Kansas also paid tribute to Steinhardt on Facebook, writing "We love him and will miss him always Robby will always be in our souls, in our minds, and in our music." - AP/NME, 7/19/21.