Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 13th, 2021

Billy Joel paid tribute to late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts during his concert in Cincinnati on Sept. 10. Joel included a partial cover of the band's 1971 single "Brown Sugar" during his show at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park, and a fan captured the moment and shared it on YouTube. "That's for Charlie," Joel told the crowd before launching into his own track "Big Shot." At the same gig, Joel also dedicated a version of his classic "New York State Of Mind" to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack, which was memorialized in NYC the day after the show. - NME, 9/12/21...... The state of Georgia has honored its late native son Otis Redding in a special way by declaring Sept. 9 -- what would have been Redding's 80th birthday -- "Otis Redding Day." Redding, the hitmaker behind 29 Billboard Hot 100 songs including the posthumous U.S. No. 1 "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," was a Georgia native, born in the city of Dawson. He died tragically in a plane crash on Dec. 10, 1967, at just 26 years old. On that evening, DJ D-Nice also hosted a virtual Club Quarantine party in honor of Redding, who was popularly known as the King of Soul. The virtual fundraiser benefited the Otis Redding Foundation. The philanthropic organization, established by Redding's widow Zelma in 2007, will honor D-Nice with the Award of Respect. - Billboard, 9/9/21...... He may be a New Jersey native son but Bruce Springsteen has close ties to New York City, and on Sept. 11 the rock icon honored the victims of the 9/11/01 terrorist attack on the city with an emotional acoustic performance of his song "I'll See You in My Dreams" during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the event. The Boss's unannounced appearance on that day, which has been shared on YouTube, followed a moment of silence at the NYC World Trade Center memorial plaza. The event was attended by dignitaries and family members of people killed in the 2001 attacks. After his performance, relatives of the 9/11 victims read out the names of those who died in the attacks, which has served as a tradition in Sept. 11 memorial services over the years. "I'll See You in My Dreams" is the final track on Springsteen's 20th studio album, Letter to You, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in Nov. 2020, also topping the Top Rock Albums chart. - Billboard, 9/11/21...... In related news, Stevie Nicks has reflected on the 9/11 attacks in an open letter on Twitter. In the lengthy essay, Nicks remembers arriving in New York on that day in the early hours of the morning. It was 2:30 a.m. when we landed," she wrote. "By the time I went to bed it was almost 7:30 a.m. I sat in the window for a minute and looked dawn on a glorious day. The whole city was up. I actually thought about just not going to bed and going out to have breakfast and then out to walk the streets. Well, I'm too old to do that now, so, I laughed and went to bed," she added. Nicks then spoke about the attacks themselves and how her assistant woke her up right when the second plane hit the twin towers. "We had been attacked," she said. "It couldn't have been an accident. Not two accidents in a row... I walked over to the window where I had been sitting (it seemed like minutes ago) and looked down. Everything was grey. There were no cars. There were no yellow cabs. There were no people. It looked like death. It looked like the end of the world." Reflecting on the aftermath of the attacks she added: "I am so sorry, so broken hearted for all that we lost that day. But I would not have wanted to be anywhere else but there in New York with the people of New York. I became a New Yorker on that day. I was honoured." - New Musical Express, 9/13/21...... In other Fleetwood Mac-related news, former band guitarist/vocalist and Nicks partner Lindsey Buckingham has opened up about his contentious firing from the band in 2018. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Buckingham said the battle began when he finished his seventh solo album, the self-titled Lindsey Buckingham (due out Sept. 17), almost four years ago and asked his former longtime bandmates if they'd agree to delay their upcoming tour to give him time to promote the 10-song LP. Even though Fleetwood Mac's 2018 tour dates were already on the books most of the group, with the exception of Nicks, were reportedly flexible especially after he offered to book his solo gigs for Mac's off nights to fill in their three-show-a-week schedule. Months of what Buckingham said were unanswered emails and calls to the other members led up to the testy evening in Jan. 2018 when the band accepted their MusiCares Person of the Year award. Buckingham -- who joined the band in 1975 along with Nicks -- complained when he felt the Nicks-written song "Rhiannon" that played them on had "undermined" the impact of their entrance, and then Nicks was reportedly angered by what she felt was Buckingham's smirking mockery of her long speech on behalf of the band. It was less than a week later that Buckingham, 71, was booted from the group. He sued the band for what he estimated to be $12 million to $14 million in lost wages from the tour -- a suit that has since been settled -- and told the magazine that stories about his smirking causing the rift were "bulls---," and that it was the new album that really caused the split. "I think she wanted to shape the band in her own image, a more mellow thing, and if you look at the last tour, I think that's true," Buckingham said of his former life and music partner Nicks. The band carried on with Crowded House's Neil Finn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell filling out the lineup for a tour Buckingham said he didn't see, but based on the set list he called "somewhat generic and perhaps bordering on being a cover band." Nicks has responded to Buckingham's claims, telling Rolling Stone in a statement: "It's unfortunate that Lindsey has chosen to tell a revisionist history of what transpired in 2018 with Fleetwood Mac. His version of events is factually inaccurate, and while I've never spoken publicly on the matter, preferring to not air dirty laundry, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth." She added that following an "exceedingly difficult time" with Buckingham at the MusiCares event, she decided that she was no longer willing to work with him. Nicks insisted that she "did not demand he be fired... Frankly, I fired myself... I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being" but "after many lengthy group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members." - Billboard, 9/9/21...... On Sept. 9 a Florida judge canceled the trial for Rod Stewart and his son Sean over an altercation the two had on New Year's Eve 2019 with a hotel security guard. Judge August Bonavita set a hearing for Oct. 22 regarding a plea agreement to close the case without them needing to appear in court for a trial, which had been set to begin on Sept. 14. Stewart and his son are accused of pushing and shoving security guard Jessie Dixon at the upscale The Breakers Hotel on Dec. 31, 2019, because he wouldn't let them into a New Year's Eve party. Dixon told Palm Beach police officers that Stewart's group was at the check-in table for a private party they weren't authorized to attend, according to the police report. Dixon said the group became loud and began causing a scene, and told investigators he put his hand on the younger Stewart's chest and told him to back up and make space. That's when Sean Stewart allegedly got "nose to nose" with Dixon. Sean, now 41, then shoved Dixon backwards. Rod Stewart, now 76, then punched Dixon in his "left rib cage area" with a closed fist, prosecutors allege. The arresting officer said he viewed security footage at the hotel and determined that the Stewarts were the "primary aggressors." If convicted, the Stewarts were facing a year in jail, or probation and a $1,000 fine. The terms of the plea agreement are not clear yet, and their attorney Guy Fronstin did not respond to the AP for comment. The Stewarts' battery charges have taken long to resolve because of the Covid-19 pandemic and settlement negotiations. - AP, 9/12/21...... Judas Priest kicked off their belated 50th-anniversary tour (delayed a year because the pandemic) on Sept. 8 in Reading, Pa. Dubbed "50 Heavy Metal Years," Priest's North American leg runs through Nov. 5. The English metal icons played their first concert in nearly 25 months on Aug. 15 before 20,000 metalheads at the U.K.'s annual Bloodstock Open Air festival, and judging from that setlist, fans in the U.S. can expect to hear some vintage songs resurrected for this trek (1974's "Rocka Rolla," 1978's "Exciter" and 1988's "Blood Red Skies" among them), plus tunes that have never been played live, specifically "Invader" from 1978's Stained Class, and "One Shot at Glory" from 1990's Grammy-nominated Painkiller. Meanwhile, Sony Legacy has announced the release of a Judas Priest - 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music limited-edition box set on Oct. 15. Along with new artwork, memorabilia, collectible items and a photo book, the massive, 40-plus CD package also contains remastered versions of every official live and studio album the group has released -- including from when singer Tim "Ripper" Owens replaced Rob Halford from 1996 to 2003, and the recent studio works with guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing 10 years ago. - Billboard, 9/8/21...... As Metallica appeared on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show on Sept. 9 to promote their new covers album The Metallica Blacklist, Elton John made a guest appearance via Zoom and moved Metallica frontman James Hetfield to tears after calling the band's track "Nothing Else Matters" "one of the best songs ever written." "Listen, this is one of the best songs ever written," the Rocket Man said. "It's a song that never gets old. And playing on this track, I just couldn't wait. The chord structure, the melodies, the time changes, it's got drama written all over it." John continued: "They're not a heavy metal band. They're a musical band. Their songs aren't just heavy metal. They're beautiful songs. This is such a melodic song -- it's f---ing great, actually." Hetfield became visibly moved by Elton's sentiments, putting a hand to his face in shock and subtly wiping a tear from his eye. The heartwarming exchange between the two has been shared on YouTube. Metallica was joined on the program by Miley Cyrus for a performance of "Nothing Else Matters," which she, John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, WATT and Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith covered for the record. - NME, 9/11/21...... In a new interview with Goldmine magazine, Queen's Brian May said if he decides to release another solo effort it could be an album of instrumentals. "I do think about it," May said of the possibility of getting back into the studio. "And strangely enough, I think it probably would be instrumental this time. Because I have enough ideas. And I have lots of unfinished business," he added. However, May said if he does another LP it would be after he fulfills his touring commitments with Queen + Adam Lambert. "We have a big world of touring to do. And we've been postponing and postponing the Queen tour, which we started just before COVID happened," May noted. "Next May we will be doing a bunch of touring. Once that's done, I think I will have the opportunity to sit down, and if I'm spared -- as my mum used to say - and still functional, I think I might make the album," he added. May said he's never really thought about doing an instrumental album before because he has always written his songs with a vocalist in mind: "I don't have the dazzling technical expertise of a Joe Satriani or a Steve Vai or Al Di Meola or Eddie Van Halen. But I just might My guitar is very much my voice. I can't play faster than I think. I've always been obsessed with songs and songs to me are about singers, and about the vocals." - NME, 9/11/21...... In a rare interview, Phil Collins has updated fans on his ongoing health battles and their effect on his ability to perform. Collins, who has been suffering from nerve damage since a spinal injury in 2007 in which he damaged vertebrae in his upper neck, told the BBC Breakfast program that he is "kind of physically challenged a bit which is very frustrating because I'd love to be playing up there with my son," referring to his son Nic Collins who will be taking his dad's place behind the kit during Genesis' forthcoming reunion tour. When asked if he's still able to play, Phil said: "No. No, I would love to but, you know, I mean I can barely hold a stick with this hand, so there are certain physical things that get in the way." First announced in Mar. 2020 but delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the North American leg of the reunion tour will kick off on Nov. 15 in Chicago. It will see Collins reunite with Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, who last performed together in 2007 to mark Genesis' 40th anniversary. While Collins will sing, his son has been confirmed to take over on drums. "He plays a bit like me when he wants to," Collins said when the tour was first announced. - NME, 9/11/21...... Co-founding Jefferson Airplane member Jorma Kaukanen has reacted to the first trailer for the upcoming latest Keanu Reeves-starred The Matrix series installment The Matrix Resurrections, which features the JA's iconic 1967 hit single "White Rabbit" and has been shared on YouTube. Fans have reacted enthusiastically to the use of the iconic psychedelic song, noting how certain lines synchronized creatively with events in the trailer (the line "Go ask Alice" syncs up with Priyanka Chopra-Jonas' character reading a copy of Alice in Wonderland), and the song's title became a trending topic on Twitter upon the trailer's release. Another line -- "And if you go chasing rabbits" -- is sung while a shot highlights a rabbit tattoo on the arm of Jessica Henwick's character. "We started in the Matrix," Kaukanen told Rolling Stone. "Glad to be there again!" Of the song, JA members Grace Slick and Jack Casady recently told the UK paper The Guardian that it's been "bringing in royalties for over 50 years." "I still get to pay my bills off that one song. Now that's a good song!," Slick said. Over the decades, the song has been used in several film and television productions, including The Sopranos, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Handmaids Tale and The Simpsons. The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth in the series of sci-fi films and will be released in U.K. cinemas on Dec. 22, and receive a same-day release on HBO Max in the U.S. - NME, 9/11/21...... A cover of the Velvet Underground's "European Son" by Iggy Pop and Matt Sweeney that will be featured in the upcoming VU tribute album I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico has been shared on YouTube. Set for release on Sept. 24, the album also features contributions from Michael Stipe, Matt Berninger, St. Vincent and Fontaines D.C.. - NME, 9/10/21...... Alternative faves Green Day have released a live cover of KISS's "Rock and Roll All Nite" from their recently completed US "Hella Mega Tour." Green Day regularly covered "Rock And Roll All Nite," which was originally released by KISS back in 1975, during their sets on the tour, and the band have now released a live recording of the cover on streaming platforms, including Spotify.com. "Even though the 'Hella Mega Tour' is over (for now), we want to keep partying every day, which is why we're dropping our live version of 'Rock And Roll All Nite' right here, right now!!," according to a statement by Green Day, which is set to continue the tour in the U.K. and Europe in the summer of 2022. - NME, 9/10/21...... Michael Constantine, an Emmy-winning actor best known as the genial school principal on the popular '70s TV series Room 222 and, 30 years later, as the genially dyspeptic patriarch in the hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, died on Aug. 31 at his home in Reading, Pa. He was 94. Endowed with fierce eyebrows and a personal warmth that belied his perennial hangdog look, Mr. Constantine was routinely cast by Hollywood to portray a number of ethnicities, including several Jewish and Greek characters. He won an Emmy in 1970 for the role of Seymour Kaufman, who presided with grumpy humanity over a fictional Los Angeles school on Room 222. Broadcast on ABC from 1969 to 1974, the show centered on an idealistic Black history teacher, played by Lloyd Haynes, who contended with a variety of issues, social and otherwise, at the racially diverse Walt Whitman High School. Possessed of a gravitas that often led to him being cast as lawyers or heavies, he also played the title role, the night-court judge Matthew Sirota, on Sirota's Court, a short-lived sitcom shown on NBC in the 1976-77 season, and had guest roles on scores of other shows, including Naked City, Perry Mason, Ironside and Gunsmoke in the 1960s, and Remington Steele, Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order in the '80s and '90s. In 1966-67, he had a recurring role on the sitcom Hey, Landlord. On film, he appeared in The Last Mile (1959), a prison picture starring Mickey Rooney; The Hustler (1961), starring Paul Newman; the 1969 comedies If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium and Don't Drink the Water; and Voyage of the Damned (1976). Mr. Constantine became known to an even wider, younger audience as Gus Portokalos, the combustible, tradition-bound father whose daughter is engaged to a patrician white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, in the hit 2002 comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The son of Andromache (Fotiadou) and Theoharis Ioannides Efstratiou, Mr. Constantine was born in Reading on May 22, 1927. His parents were Greek immigrants, and his father was a steelworker. He settled on an acting career early, an idea reinforced after a youthful visit to a friend who was studying acting in New York. Mr. Constantine's first marriage, to the actress Julianna McCarthy, ended in divorce, as did his second, to Kathleen Christopher. His survivors include two sisters, Patricia Gordon and Chris Dobbs. - The New York Times, 9/8/21...... English folk singer-songwriter Michael Chapman has died at the age of 80, it was announced on his Instagram page on Sept. 11. No cause of death was revealed, but the social media post stated that Mr. Chapman died in his home. Born in Leeds in 1941, Mr. Chapman released his debut album, Rainmaker, in 1969. Since then, he has issued over 40 full-length albums. His final recorded effort, True North, was released in 2019. In his work, Mr. Chapman explored roots music, such as blues and folk, through acoustic and electric instruments, issuing multiple instrumental efforts and collaborations over the decades. His work has also been influential to various artists ever since, including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. U.S. label Light in the Attic, who reissued his first four albums in the 2010s, called Mr. Chapman "a rare human." - NME, 9/11/21...... Harry J. Coombs, a veteran music industry executive who was best known for his 30-year tenure at Philadelphia International Records, died on Sept. 3 of pulmonary fibrosis/acute pulmonary hypertension in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He was 85. Born Sept. 19, 1935 in Washington, D.C., Mr. Coombs joined PIR -- then distributed by CBS Records (now Sony Music) -- as a national promotion manager in 1972. He earned his first gold record that year for The O'Jays hit "Backstabbers". Promoted to PIR's executive vp internal operations and promotion in 1974, Mr. Coombs continued to play an integral role in building the label's iconic "Philly Sound" legacy as he oversaw projects released by hit-making acts such as The Stylistics, Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Billy Paul and Phyllis Hyman in addition to The O'Jays. An alumnus of the Modern School of Music in Washington, D.C. and an Army veteran, Mr. Coombs was presented with the Living Legends Foundation Award in 1999. He is survived by his wife Sandy Coombs and a daughter, Ashley Coombs-Cox (Malik). - Billboard, 9/10/21.

ABBA is on track to return to the U.K. Top 10 for the first ime in almost 40 years with their new singles "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down." Released earlier in September, both songs have been streamed over 500,000 times during the first weekend of the month, and the releases are poised to enter the U.K.'s singles chart at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. Should they hold their momentum, the songs will mark ABBA's first U.K. Top 10 singles since "One Of Us," which peaked at No. 3 in Dec. 1981. The tracks are culled from the forthcoming ABBA album Voyage, the Swedish pop quartet's first new album in 39 years, which is due out Nov. 5. ABBA has announced they will support the LP with a virtual concert event beginning on May 27, 2022, featuring avatars of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad, Agnetha Flaskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus, accompanied by a 10-piece live band, in a custom-built arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East London. "We don't want to give all the surprises away because we want everyone to come and enjoy it, but there will be lots of hidden surprises, hopefully a bit of stage banter and 100 minutes of pure ABBA euphoria," said event producer Svana Gisla. Voyage has also set a pre-order sales record for its label Polydor in the U.K., with more than 80,000 pre-orders in just three days. Britain has a deep connection with ABBA. It was in Brighton, the southern resort town, where the four musicians announced themselves to the music world in 1974, with the winning performance of "Waterloo" at the Eurovision Song Contest. Moreover, ABBA's hits collection Gold is the only album to log more than 1,000 weeks on the U.K.'s Official Albums Chart and is the second best-selling album of all time in the U.K., with 5.61 million copies sold as of Aug. 2021. Currently, ABBA has nine U.K. No. 1 singles, 19 Top 10 singles, and nine No. 1 singles in the country. - Billboard, 9/6/21...... Led Zeppelin mastermind Jimmy Page attended the 78th Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 4 in Venice, Italy, for that evening's premiere of the eagerly anticipated Led Zep doc Becoming Led Zeppelin. Producers Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty, both avowed LZ fans, obtained never-before-seen footage of some of the band's early U.S. and British concerts for the film, as well as an astonishing audio interview that drummer John Bonham gave to an Australian journalist before he died in 1980. The interview, concert footage and other archive material are spliced into contemporary interviews with the three surviving band members -- Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones -- to create a montage that maps the frenetic first two years of the band's existence and its early musical influences. Page says he turned down a lot of "pretty miserable" pitches over the years to make a documentary about his pioneering heavy metal band, but he finally consented when he received MacMahon and McGourty's deeply-researched proposal which focuses almost exclusively on the band's music and chronicling its birth in 1968 and its meteoric early rise. "When we first met we were probably a little nervous of each other. But the conduit was the storyboard," Page said. "And I thought they've really got it, they really understand what it was about. This one, it's everything about the music, and what made the music tick. It's not just a sample of it with a talking head. This is something in a totally different genre," he added. A teaser clip for the new documentary has been shared on YouTube. - AP, 9/4/21...... In other Zeppelin-related news, singer Robert Plant says that heritage rock bands who stay together are "hanging onto a life raft" in a new interview with the British music mag MOJO about the release of his latest collaboration with country singer Alison Krauss, Raise the Roof. "The good thing about Alison and I is that we're a couple of kindred spirits. Most musicians form a band, then they stay in the band until it's over -- 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, whatever it is -- and it starts to look sadly decrepit. It's like people hanging onto a life raft, or staying in a comfortable place," said Plant, who added that he and Krauss had "nothing written in blood." "We were ready to do something new, and we knew how good it was before, so we can just join up again and see where we go. We've got nothing to lose," Plant said. Raise the Roof is the pair's second collaborative record and will hit stores on Nov. 19. The 12-track album was produced by T Bone Burnett and features covers of the likes of Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers and Bert Jansch, as well as the original song "High And Lonesome," which was penned by Plant and Burnett. - New Musical Express, 9/5/21...... Patti Smith will give fans around the world access to her recent performance at the legendary recording facility Electric Lady Studios in New York with a special streaming session on Veeps.com on Sept. 9. Earlier in 2021, Smith released an EP, Live At Electric Lady, on Spotify.com. The 35-minute set includes renditions of "April Fool," "Blame It on the Sun," and more. The session, part of a series launched in July by Electric Lady Studios partner/GM Lee Foster, will now be streamed on Veeps.com on Sept. 9 for a global audience. - Billboard, 9/3/21...... On Sept. 8 Roger Daltrey announced a new set of solo U.K. tour dates this winter. The Who frontman's latest live show will consist of "a unique mix of music and conversation that is built around Roger's musical journey," according to a press release, with the singer performing a selection of tracks from across his nine solo albums on each night of the tour, alongside cuts from his 2014 album with Wilko Johnson and reinterpretations of Who classics and rarities. "The truth is singers need to sing. Use it or lose it," Daltrey said in the statement. "Throughout my life I have sung with so many great musicians, from the heavy rock of The Who and Wilko Jonson, to the Irish lilt of The Chieftains. On this tour I want to take the audience on a musical journey through my career as a singer, with a show of songs and sounds that explores and surprises. I look forward to having closer contact with my audience than festivals and arenas allow. Leaving time to chat," he added, noting that "it's important to get our road crew working again -- without these guys the halls would go silent." Daltrey's tour will launch on Nov. 7 in Birmingham, also visiting Manchester (11/9), Nottingham (11/11), London (11/15), Brighton (11/17), Southend (11/19), Oxford (11/21), Glasgow (11/24), Newcastle (11/26), Liverpool (11/29) and Portsmouth (12/1) before wrapping on Dec. 2 in Bournemouth. - NME, 9/8/21...... Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook have responded to their former bandmate John Lydon's comments following a recent lawsuit against his bandmates. Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, lost his legal battle against his former bandmates last month. Lydon was sued after refusing to license the group's music for inclusion in Danny Boyle's upcoming biopic series, Pistol. Following the verdict, Lydon issued a lengthy statement claiming that he didn't know about the proposed use of Sex Pistols music in the new series until "just a few hours" before it was announced, and he had no idea how the band would be portrayed in it. Now Jones and Cook have told Blabbermouth.com "despite Lydon's comments on his website, we reiterate that he was informed of the Pistol TV series, offered meetings with the director and to be involved in the show months before principal photography began." "He refused these offers and we were saddened he would not engage and at least have a conversation with the director Danny Boyle and co-showrunner Craig Pearce," they added. On Sept. 7, Lydon hit back at his former bandmates' statement during an appearance on Good Morning Britain, branding the pair "filthy liars" over their claim that he was informed about the Pistol series. "When they say I was 'informed', they don't certify a date... Two-faced hypocrites," he added. "How are you gonna do a documentary on punk without, hate to be pretentious about this, without Mr. Rotten?" - NME, 9/7/21...... After KISS recently postponed a run of shows when Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, Stanley has been spotted in public without a mask. Stanley was seen walking inside of a West Hollywood Hotel on Aug. 31 minus a face covering, and his photo was published in the U.K. paper The Daily Mail. Aside from the fact that California has imposed a mask mandate, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health has said that Covid-positive individuals should self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days. The band announced on Aug. 26 that Stanley had tested positive for the disease, and added that "everyone on the entire tour, both band and crew, are fully vaccinated." "The band and their crew have operated in a bubble independently to safeguard everyone as much as possible at each show and in between shows. The tour also has a COVID safety protocol officer on staff full-time that is ensuring everyone is closely following all CDC guidelines," the statement added. The day after his hotel appearance, Stanley took to Twitter to state that he was "staying clear of people for a few more days." He added, "Do I think my 'freedom' ever includes jeopardizing other people's health?... No, I don't." - NME, 9/7/21...... The recently reunited The Faces have recorded 14 new songs together since reforming this summer, according to a new interview by Faces drummer Kenney Jones with BANG Showbiz. "We've done about 14 songs, it's a mixture of stuff we never released which is worthy of releasing and there's some new stuff which is really wonderful," Jones said. "Rod [Stewart] is writing the lyrics and he's really keen on it," he added. Jones then went on to tease the prospect of forthcoming arena shows from the band. "Whether or not we're going to go on a big extended tour remains to be seen. What we have decided is to do some really big gigs like [London's] The O2, Madison Square Garden, some other big venues in America." The surviving Faces members -- Jones, Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood -- announced in July that they would be reuniting to write new music after over 40 years apart. The Faces' 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. - NME, 9/5/21...... David Crosby has unleashed on his former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Neil Young in a scathing new interview with the UK's The Guardian. According to Crosby, the quartet are being kept apart by some "petty-assed bullshit" that started when Crosby referred to Young's current girlfriend Daryl Hannah as a "predator." "Neil has got a genuine beef. I did say something bad about his girlfriend. I said I thought she was a predator. OK, he can be mad at me. That's all right." Despite admitting his mistake, Crosby went on to call Young "probably the most self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish person I know. "He only thinks about Neil, period. That's the only person he'll consider... We haven't talked for a couple of years. And I'm not going to talk to him. I don't want to talk to him. I'm not happy with him at all. To me, that's all ancient history, man," he added. Crosby also had some select words for CSN&Y member Graham Nash. "Graham just changed from the guy I thought was my best friend to being a guy that is definitely my enemy, so I don't see any future there at all," Crosby told the paper. - NME, 9/5/21...... The iconic Dodge Charger "General Lee" featured in the '70s series The Dukes of Hazzard was pulverized in the monster storm created by Hurricane Ida on Aug. 29. Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider shared an image of the damage on Facebook with the picture showing one of the General Lee cars from the show smashed by a tree. Schneider's photo was accompanied by the caption, "Well... When something like this happens you have two choices: Tears and laughter. I choose laughter. So... What's your caption? Here's mine: 'Miss Ida stopped by to see the General at Miss Shirley's last night...'" The New York-born Schneider, 61, played Bo Duke on the show during its 6-year run on CBS. Schneider, who is also a country singer, was seen in a clip published by TMZ on Aug. 29, in which he implored his fans to assist with the aftermath of the natural disaster by donating via his website. The actor wrote: 'My request is that if you know somebody that's going through something like this, then you help them - go out and help them... If you don't, I'd very much like you to help us by going to the store -- JohnSchneiderStudios.com... and I would very much appreciate it." Four people have died as result of the storm in the southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the AP, which has left more than a million residences and businesses without power amid the severe weather conditions. - TheDailyMailUK, 9/1/21...... Freddie Mercury's legion of fans paid tribute to late Queen frontman on what would have been his 75th birthday on Sept. 5. The charismatic Mercury, who died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS in 1991, was born Farrokh Bulsara on Sept. 5, 1946, in Stone Town, Tanzania, and his seismic impact on music and pop culture has long been felt since his death. Fans have flocked to social media to share stories, tributes, photographs and more to mark the the singer's birthday. "Happy heavenly birthday dear beautiful angel, the beautiful songs and moments you shared with us will always speak of a great person that you were, you will never be forgotten I love you," one fan wrote on Twitter. "'Who Wants To Live Forever?' No one can do that, but you will always live forever in our hearts. Happy 75th birthday, Freddie Mercury!," another fan posted. Elsewhere, a classic rock picture account shared a photograph of Mercury as a baby with his mother, Jer Bulsara: "Today is an entirely special date. on a day like this one, but back in 1946, the legend himself& freddie mercury, was born. to shine, to entertain, and to love. the singer will then forever remain in our memory. know that we all still love you. pic.twitter.com/kLpYWHY7ve." - NME, 9/5/21...... Arnold "Arnie" Pustilnik, a disciple of legendary concert promoter Bill Graham who managed the likes of Santana and Train and produced the Rolling Stones' massive 1982 stadium tour of Europe, died on Aug. 20 after a long struggle with cancer, his family announced on Sept. 3. He was 75. Over three decades, Pustilink worked alongside Graham to transform the promoter's namesake company into the premier rock concert promotion outfit of the 1970s and '80s. He eventually rose to co-head of the management division alongside Mick Bridgen, and, following Graham's death in a helicopter crash in 1991, helped keep the promoter's legacy alive by continuing to steward the company's management clients into the next decade. He is survived by wife Susan Pustilnik; daughter Sarah and son Samuel Pustilnik; and sisters Iris Kozac and Lynne Tauber. - Billboard, 9/3/21...... Longtime NBC weatherman Willard Scott, the portly, toupee-sporting TV personality who spent 35 years enlivening the Today show as its weatherman and resident merrymaker, died on Sept. 4. He was 87. Mr. Scott's death was announced by NBC News via a statement by his successor, Al Roker. Mr. Scott debuted on Today in 1980 and immediately made his presence known, draping his 6-foot-3 frame in outrageous costumes. He once dressed up as Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian entertainer known for her fruit-covered hats and garish dresses. On Groundhog Day, he appeared as the rodent. His tomfoolery drew private scorn from Today show contemporaries and predecessors such as Hugh Downs, but Mr. Scott was unapologetic. "People said I was a buffoon to do it," he told the New York Times. "Well, all my life I've been a buffoon. That's my act." Mr. Scott's centenarian birthday wishes segment began soon after he joined the show, when a friend asked him to wish a happy 100th birthday, "live and in color," to his uncle. NBC bosses didn't like the idea, but Mr. Scott went ahead with it. He was soon fielding about 200 requests a week. With his sunny disposition and jovial personality, he became a favorite of Madison Avenue and the lecture circuit, reaping a small fortune giving upbeat talks to trade associations and promoting products from Diet Coke to Florida oranges. Mr. Scott went into semiretirement in 1996 and retired fully in 2015. His final show drew a chorus of good-natured protests, including a message from former first lady Barbara Bush. Mr. Scott is survived by his second wife, the former Paris Keena, and two daughters from his first marriage to Mary Dwyer, who died in 2002. - The Washington Post, 9/4/21.