Pink Floyd tweeted on Mar. 11 that they're removing all their music form 1987 onward, along with member David Gilmour's solo recordings, from streaming servicesin Russia and Belarus in support of the Ukranian people who are currently in a life or death struggle with their Russian invaders. "To stand with the world in strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the works of Pink Floyd, from 1987 onwards, and all of David Gilmour's solo recordings are being removed from all digital music providers in Russia an Belarus from today," the band posted on its Twitter account. The works being pulled from streamers in Russia and Belarus -- whose pro-Russian government has allowed the country to be used as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine -- will include albums released after Roger Waters left the band in 1985 and Gilmour began leading the group. Under Gilmour's leadership, Pink Floyd released 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason and 1994's The Division Bell. 
The pre-1987 albums -- including 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1979's The Wall, along with another 10 studio albums -- will remain on streaming services in the two countries. Earlier on Mar. 1, David Gilmour posted on Twitter pleading with Russian solders to "stop killing your brothers....there will be no winners in this war" and added "[Vladimir] Putin must go." Ukraine officially severed diplomatic ties with Russia and declared martial law after the Russian President Putin ordered an attack on the neighbouring nation on Feb. 24. The Russian invasion has killed an estimated 549 citizens including 41 children, although those numbers are likely much higher. Meanwhile, Roger Waters has also condemned the invasion of Ukraine, releasing an open letter on Mar. 9 calling it "a criminal mistake" and "the act of a gangster." He added that he wished Western countries assisting Ukraine would provide help in the form of diplomacy instead of weapons. "Rest assured if all our leaders don't turn down the rhetoric and engage in diplomatic negotiations there will be precious little of Ukraine left when the fighting is over," he wrote. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 3/11/22...... In related news KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons has told the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com that although he's usually against "political statements on stage," he's making an exception for the current war in Ukraine which is "just lunacy." "We're not going [to perform in Russia]... there's a bigger issue than putting on a rock concert," Simmons said, adding: "The only possible upside might be if a band gets up there and makes political statements on stage, which is usually something I'm against but this is beyond politics. This is just lunacy." Simmons continued: "I mean we were faced with the same problem with Botswana in the days of apartheid. We were offered millions of dollars, but we said, 'No, we can't go there, because if a western band goes there, you're saying it's okay for apartheid and all the racism and the lack of justice.' So we said no. There were some bands that went, and they paid the price. Their fans turned on them. The problem is if a western band plays Russia, it gives credence -- a political win for Putin's outright lies." He also urged other bands to cancel their Russian gigs and "stop drinking Russian vodka." KISS is set to kick off their summer European tour in Dortmund on June 1, with an appearance at the Download Festival scheduled on June 10. - NME, 3/10/22...... In more Ukraine-related news, 2022 Academy of Country Music awards show co-host Dolly Parton opened up the 57th show in the series in Las Vegas on Mar. 7 with a nod to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. "I don't want to be political and this is not. I'd rather pass a kidney stone than do that. I want us to send our love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine," Parton said. "Let's dedicate this whole show to them and pray for peace around this crazy world," she added. - Billboard, 3/8/22...... 
Variety.com is reporting that a planned Billy Joel biopic about the musician's early days appropriately titled Piano Man is currently in the works at Michael Jai White's Jaigantic Studios, even though the studio has yet to obtain permission to use Joel's music or likeness. Piano Man will reportedly detail early moments in Joel's career, "from being discovered by Irwin Mazur, who managed the band The Hassles that Joel joined as a teenager, to his breakout performance in 1972 that captured the attention of then CBS Records head Clive Davis." Piano Man is set to be written and directed by Adam Ripp, son of Artie Ripp who gave Joel his first record deal as a soloist and produced the singer's 1971 debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. According to Variety, a representative for Joel said he "is not involved with this film project, and that no rights in music, name/likeness or life story will be granted," and that the music needs for the film are reportedly "yet to be determined." Jaigantic Studios instead acquired Artie Mazur's life rights -- the music manager served as Joel's representative from 1970 to 1972; Mazur's father owned the Long Island club that Joel, along with The Hassles, got his start in 1966. "Billy Joel has been a part of my life since my father signed him to his record label when I was 4 years old; his music is ingrained in my DNA and it's been a dream of mine as a filmmaker to explore and celebrate the untold story of how Billy Joel became the Piano Man," Adam Ripp says. There is no word as yet when pre-production on Piano Man will begin. Meanwhile, Billy Joel is scheduled to perform several stadium concerts in 2022, with the next stop at the Campus World Stadium in Orlando on Mar. 12. He also has six scheduled appearances at Madison Square Garden between Mar. 24 and Aug. 24. - Billboard, 3/10/22...... Famed rock photographer Neal Preston says he's certain there will never be a Led Zeppelin reunion, because Robert Plant simply doesn't want to make any sort of rock music anymore. "There is never going to be a Led Zeppelin reunion. And if you hear that there is, I authorize you to cash out, liquidate everything and put it on 'No, it's not going to happen.' It comes up every year and it's not going to happen, and it never was going to happen," Preston says in a recent interview with Goldmine magazine. Preston, the only photographer ever hired by Zeppelin to go on tour with them, said he even passed on attending the one-off Led Zep concert years ago "because I need that band to live somewhere in my brain." "Robert [Plant] just doesn't want to make that music anymore. They offered them so much money for the 'Old Chella' thing, the desert trip show. It's never going to happen! I don't want to see a 75-year-old Jimmy Page duckwalking across the stage." Preston also addressed the occasional reunion shows that the remaining members of the band did, including a performance at London's O2 arena in 2007 that featured drummer John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, on the drums. Neal said: "I know that the show at the O2 in London got great reviews, but it's not Led Zeppelin! It's three guys from Led Zeppelin and Jason Bonham." - Music-News.com, 3/10/22...... 
Publisher Simon & Schuster announced on Mar. 8 that a new Bob Dylan book dedicated to the art of songwriting, The Philosophy of Modern Song, will hit stores on Nov. 8, 2022. Dylan began writing the book, which delves deep into the art and craft of songwriting, in 2010, and it features more than 60 essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Elvis Costello to Nina Simone, where the rock bard analyzes "the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal," according to a press release. Throughout the book, nearly 150 carefully curated photos are included as well as a series of riffs that, taken together, resemble a poem. "The publication of Bob Dylan's kaleidoscopically brilliant work will be an international celebration of songs by one of the greatest artists of our time, says Simon & Schuster exec Jonathan Karp. "The Philosophy of Modern Song could only have been written by Bob Dylan. His voice is unique, and his work conveys his deep appreciation and understanding of songs, the people who bring those songs to life, and what songs mean to all of us," he adds. The new book will be Dylan's first new writing since Dylan's Chronicles, Volume One, published in 2004, and follows his 2020 LP, Rough and Rowdy Ways. - Billboard, 3/8/22...... On Mar. 8 another federal court has rejected accusations that the Spencer Davis Group ripped off its 1966 hit "Gimme Some Lovin" from an earlier song, two years after a federal appeals judge complained that such an outcome was a "grave injustice." Judge William L. Campbell tossed out another lawsuit from two Tennessee songwriters, Homer Banks and Willia Dean Parker, who claim the Spencer Davis Group stole the bass riff from their 1965 song "Ain't That a Lot of Love." Even a 1990 book quotes Spencer Davis saying he had indeed based "Gimme" off of "Lot of Love," but Judge Campbell said the Memphis duo had failed to submit their song to the U.S. Copyright Office at the time as required, meaning they could not sue. Although "Ain't That a Lot of Love" didn't make much of a splash in its original release, the song was later covered by many others, including The Band and Tom Jones. "Gimme Some Lovin'" was released a year later to far more commercial success, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and No. 2 on the UK charts. In the years since, the song has been heavily featured in movies, television and advertisements. The ruling, by a 2-1 vote, came with scathing dissent from Judge Bernice Donald, who said the songs were "strikingly similar" and cited the fact that many British bands in the 1960s had been "inspired by the works of black R&B artists." Attorneys representing Banks' widow and Parker called the ruling "disappointing" and that their clients are "considering their options going forward and have not yet made any decisions." - Billboard, 3/11/22...... A video for "Finish Line," a standout track from Elton John and collaborator Stevie Wonder on John's 2021 album The Lockdown Sessions, has been shared on YouTube. The clip features a much younger Elton performing for a cheering crowd alongside a much younger Stevie Wonder, with more clips of the generation-defining artists laughing, talking and performing interspersed in the video between feel-good "homemade" snippets. "I've been through so many down periods in my life. I've battled alcoholism and drugs and I've been 31 years sober now," Elton told Billboard. "Of course, I'm going to feel good by hearing this song because I have had redemption and I have now a wonderful life and I lead a good life... This song really makes me feel very proud of who I've become, proud of working with someone like Stevie," he added. - Billboard, 3/10/22...... 
The legendary Detroit rock band MC5 announced on Instagram on Mar. 9 that they'll release their first album in over 50 years later in 2022 and launch a US tour behind it in May. In an accompanying video, old footage of the band is featured along with a snippet of the new album's title track, "Heavy Lifting." The song also features Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello. Another single, "Edge of the Switchblade," is also coming soon, and will feature the only other surviving original member of MC5, Dennis Thompson, getting back behind the drum set. "I'm thrilled about that... the results are earth-shaking rock and roll," original member Wayne Kramer said in a statement, talking about getting back in the studio with his old bandmate and legendary rock producer Bob Ezrin. Five decades after they split up in 1972, MC5 have reformed under the moniker We Are All MC5 with original member Kramer, Pollo Elastica's Brad Brooks, Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Vicki Randle (Mavis Staples) and guitarist Stevie Salas. Heavy Lifting will be MC5's first proper studio effort since 1971's High Time. The new not-yet-titled album will drop sometime this October, and We Are All MC5's "Heavy Lifting Tour" will play eight shows through the first half of May, kicking off in MC5's hometown of Detroit. MC5 were recently nominated for the Class of 2022 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, the punk veterans' sixth nomination over the years. - NME/Billboard, 3/9/22......The Paramount+ streaming channel has announced it will travel back in time with two new music docuseries on soft rock and hard rock. Sometimes When We Touch: The Reign, Ruin and Resurrection of Soft Rock will look at the history of soft rock (hence the working title from the weepy 1977 Dan Hill hit) from its '70s start through the current day. The three-part documentary will include new interviews with soft rock artists, as well as archival and performance footage. Nothing to Lose: The Untold Story of '80s Hard Rock, also a three-parter, explores the hard rock band explosion that launched from LA's Sunset Strip. "Nothing to Lose" was a track on Sunset Strip hard rock mainstays LA Guns' 1988 debut album. Both series will be produced in partnership with the production company Gunpower & Sky. "As much as I would have loved to have heard what the illegitimate love child of Karen Carpenter and Ozzy Osbourne would have sounded like, the fact is that the soft and hard rock artists lived worlds apart -- slinging heaps of mud at each other from the sidelines," Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said in a statement. "Yet each genre was so incredibly rich with a long list of diverse, somewhat deviant and insanely talented musicians whose stories and music we will unearth and bring to life in these two docuseries." The documentaries will debut on Paramount+ later in 2022. - Billboard, 3/8/22...... In a new interview with The Los Angeles Times, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford says Priest being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be a "win for heavy metal." The "Breaking the Law" group have been nominated for the third time, and frontman Halford, 70, admits there is a "distinct lack" of their style of music represented in the Hall of Fame at present. "It would be a blast," he says. "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is for all kinds of music and that includes heavy metal. But if you look at the people who have made it into the Hall, there's a distinct lack of this style of music that we make. If we do get in, it's a win for Priest, it's a win for metal, it's a win for our fans," he added. In 2021, heavy metal fans felt they were slighted when metallers Iron Maiden were nominated but failed to be inducted. But Hall of Fame boss Greg Harris insisted that rock music is a "big tent and everybody fits under it," even if they don't play rock 'n' roll music. - Music-News.com, 3/9/22...... 
In 2015, iconic '70s Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta introduced Idina Menzel, who was about to sing "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen, as "Adele Dazeem," an inexplicable gaffe which made Travolta the subject of much mockery and ridicule in the media in the following weeks and was even mocked during the following year's Oscars by host Neil Patrick Harris. Now, Travolta will present at the upcoming 94th Annual Academy Awards for the first time since 2015 when he made the embarrassing gaffe (which can be viewed on YouTube, along with Harris's 2016 retort). Later in the 2015 show, Travolta and Menzel teamed to present the award for best original song (which went to "Glory" from Selma). The moment was designed to show that Travolta was a good sport and that he was in on the joke. Menzel came out first and said, "Please welcome to the stage, my very dear friend, Glom Gozingo." Travolta appeared and said, "I deserved that, but you, you, my darling, my beautiful, my wickedly talented Idina Menzel." "You got it!" Menzel exclaimed. "Is that right?" Travolta asked with mock concern. However as Oscar gaffes go, Travolta's screw-up was completely eclipsed three years later when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented best picture to the wrong film -- the most mind-boggling blunder in awards show history. The 94th Oscars will be held on Mar. 27, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The show will be televised live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT and in more than 200 territories worldwide. - Billboard, 3/11/22...... In 1984, Friends co-star Courtney Cox made an iconic cameo in the video for Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA single, "Dancing in the Dark." The video saw Cox invited on the stage to dance with The Boss, and during a recent appearance on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, Cox reflected on her nerves about the appearance, and remembered her audition for the part. "Bruce Springsteen is such an amazing... God, he's so incredible. I love that song," Cox told Stern. "I get a little embarrassed because I do feel like when I watch the video, when I see it...I mean, God. Did you see my dance? It was pathetic. I'm not a bad dancer, but that was horrible. I was so nervous." Of her audition, she added: "I thought I was in the wrong place. I was like, 'I don't know what they're doing but I can't even bend my leg. This is it.' I went into [director] Brian De Palma's office. He put on the music and said, 'Well, you dance.' And I thought, 'Right now? Here? In front of you? Just the two of us?' I think that's why I got it because I was like, Okay!' I think that's what they wanted, a fan that just couldn't believe it," she added. The full interview can be viewed on YouTube. Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen was recently named the highest-paid musician of 2021, bringing in a reported sum of $590 million (£431.3 million) - most of which he earned via the landmark sale of his masters and publishing rights in 2021. Springsteen's record-breaking deal with Sony Music, valued at $550 million (£402.1 million), marked the biggest sale a musician had ever made for their discography. It gave the company ownership of The Boss' entire back catalogue, which spans 20 studio albums, 300 songs, seven EPs, 23 live records and more. - NME, 3/6/22...... Emilio Delgado, the actor and singer who for 45 years was a warm and familiar presence in children's lives and a rare Latino face on '70s American television as fix-it shop owner Luis on Sesame Street, died on Mar. 10. He was 81. Carol Delgado, his wife, told the AP that Mr. Delgado died from the blood cancer multiple myeloma at their home in New York. Mr. Delgado joined the show starting with its third season in 1971. He said the producers embraced his suggestion to sprinkle Spanish terms into the script. "The first time that I saw Big Bird walk on, my line was, 'Big Bird!'" he said in the 2021 interview. "But I didn't say 'Big Bird,' I said, 'pjaro!'" After a quick meeting in which Mr. Delgado explained that "pjaro" meant "bird," the producers decided to keep it in. "I called him 'pajaro' from then on every time I saw him," Mr. Delgado said. The Calexico, Calif. native also made frequent appearances in the theater and on other TV series during his time as Luis. He played a recurring character on the newspaper drama Lou Grant from 1979 to 1982, and made multiple appearances on Quincy M.E., Falcon Crest and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Mr. Delgado was diagnosed with multiple myeloma late in 2020, but was still making appearances and giving interviews in 2021, until his health started to decline. - AP, 3/11/22...... Bobbie Nelson, the singer, pianist, and a regular collaborator for more than 50 years with her younger brother Willie Nelson, died on Mar. 10, peacefully and surrounded by family, according to a rep. She was 91. Bobbie's holiday collaboration with Willie, Hill Country Christmas, peaked at No. 60 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart in 1997. Her debut album,
David Byrne and his "American Utopia" band performed the Talking Heads' 1982 hit "Burning Down the House" on the CBS Saturday morning program Saturday Sessions on Mar. 5. In performances that have been shared on YouTube, Byrne and his band also did a rendition of "Marching Through The Wilderness." Byrne's lauded "American Utopia" production is currently in the midst of its second Broadway run, which had begun in 2021 but was forced to cancel dates towards the end of 2021 due to company members testing positive for Covid-19. However, Byrne announced that the show would go on and set to work creating a modified version of "America Utopia." The show is being presented at Broadway's St. James Theatre, and tickets are on sale now for shows until the end of Apr. 2022. - New Musical Express, 3/6/22...... 
In 1985, former The Police frontman Sting released his debut solo album The Dream of the Blue Turtles, which featured a track ruminating about the Cold War called "Russians." Sting says he has "only rarely" sung the song -- which expressed a hope that both the US and Soviet Union would find some kind of common humanity before destroying the world through nuclear warfare -- since it was written "because I never thought it would be relevant again." But now with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the song has once again, sadly, found relevance, and Sting has posted a video of himself performing it on Instagram in aid of "Help Ukraine," an initiative that sends medicine and humanitarian aid to a warehouse on the Ukrainian border in Poland. "...In the light of one man's bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbour, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity," Sting explains in the clip. "For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment -- We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war," he adds. The video's caption includes more information on Help Ukraine, how you can help, and where you can send care packages to. Meanwhile, Sting is set to return to the BBC Radio 4 audio drama "I Must Have Loved You," a play he co-created with writer Michael Chaplin. The story follows Jess Doyle [Fran McNamee], a young singer compelled to leave Newcastle, to escape an overbearing blues-singing father [Sting] and to find her own voice. Yet somewhere inside Fran knows that success may be the unmaking of her and all of those who love her. The play explores a theme both Sting and Chaplin continue to mine in their work -- what do you win and what do you lose when you turn your back on the things that made you? "I Must Have Loved You" features music by Sting, and he'll also play the role of Vince, the father of the family. The play will be broadcast on Radio 4 and available on BBC Sounds from 14:45 GMT on Mar. 19. - NME/Music-News.com, 3/6/22...... In related news, Stevie Wonder has spoken out in support of the Ukraine, which he says is "in a battle for the soul of the world" due to it ongoing conflict with Russia. Posting a video statement on Twitter with the caption "UKRAINE, YOU AND I.... THE WORLD" on Mar. 4, the Motown legend condemned Russia's "evil" invasion and called for people to rise up in order to "prevent World War III." "Can we survive if Ukraine does not? 
That is the question that all of us should ask," Wonder asked. "Are we surprised that the forces of evil are alive and aggressive in today's world? I'm not surprised, and you shouldn't be either. I write and sing about it because I can feel it. You should know about it because you can see, unless you have a blind eye to it and don't want to do anything about it, you should see it." Wonder concluded: "Hate has no color, has no loyalty. Greed has no commitment, but to itself. Only you, the people, can prevent World War III. We must stand up to hate and kill hate before it kills us. I believe in power of the people, all the people. We can stop this right now." Meanwhile, punk rock legend Iggy Pop has announced he's cancelling a number of his scheduled live shows in Russia following the invasion. Pop was due to perform a headline show at the Park Live festival in Moscow on July 10 alongside Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, but on Mar. 1 promoters Solo Music Agency confirmed that Iggy's appearance at the event will no longer go ahead. "In light of current events, this is necessary. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainians and all the brave people who oppose this violence and seek peace," Solo Music posted on Twitter. - NME, 3/5/22...... On Mar. 6 news leaked that the Rolling Stones are planning to mark their 60th anniversary with a string of European concerts this summer, which will reportedly include a gig at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium and two nights in London's Hyde Park as part of the British Summer Time festival. The Liverpool gig will be the first night of the UK leg of the tour and will mark the group's first concert in the city since they performed at the Empire Theatre in 1971. "The last time the Stones were in Liverpool, they played to a small crowd of a few thousand people at the Empire. But Anfield has a capacity of 53,000 people. It will be a huge moment for them and their fans," a source said. The anniversary shows will include a tribute to late drummer Charlie Watts, who died last summer. Meanwhile, in a column in the British paper The Sun on Mar. 6, it was revealed that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards "have recently been in Jamaica writing songs that they are now recording" and that "there is a lot to look forward to from the Stones in the months to come." - Music-News.com, 3/6/22...... Hipgnosis Song Management announced on Mar. 5 that they have acquired rights to the entire song catalog of Songwriter Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Leonard Cohen. The deal gives the company 100% ownership of Cohen's songwriter's share of all 278 songs and derivatives written over the course of his life. Cohen, who died in 2016, is the renowned songwriter, poet, novelist and performer best known for penning one of the most frequently covered songs of all time, "Hallelujah." Among "Hallelujah"'s over 300 estimated renditions, some of the most famous cuts of the track include those by the likes of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and Pentatonix. Cohen's catalog is often characterized in two distinct groupings: "Stranger Music" (known as all Cohen releases up to the year 2000) and "Old Ideas" (releases from 2001 until his death in 2016). The Stranger Music period includes 127 compositions, including Cohen's biggest hits. Hipgnosis now owns 100% of the royalties and ownership of Cohen's songwriter share. Since Cohen preferred to work alone on his craft, Hipgnosis now owns the totality of the songwriter's share of these songs. Sony Music Publishing, the artist's longtime publisher, will retain its ownership of the publisher's share. With gross assets of $2.2 billion, Cohen's catalog joins Hipgnosis's already lucrative portfolio which includes works by Neil Young, The B-52's, Blondie, Journey, Lindsey Buckingham and Steve Winwood, among others. - Billboard, 3/5/22...... 
Accomplished Broadway star Will Swenson has been tapped to portray music icon Neil Diamond in the upcoming production "A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical" when it makes its debut at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre this summer. Swenson's Broadway credits include the hit musical "Waitress" opposite Sara Bareilles, creating the role of Javert in the 2014 revival of "Les Misrablés," and starring in "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" and "110 in the Shade." Penned by four-time screenwriting Academy Award-nominee Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour), "A Beautiful Noise" will be directed by Tony-winner Michael Mayer and choreographed by four-time Tony-nominee Steven Hoggett. It will play the Emerson Colonial Theatre from June 21-July 31. Swenson told the AP that "A Beautiful Noise" is "not straightforward musical... It's unconventional and it's beautiful." Swenson adds he's become so adept at singing Neil Diamond that he developed an impression, using it in concert with his wife, Audra McDonald, and at cabarets. So when it was time to play Diamond in front of the man himself, Swenson had an "out-of-body experience." "If you want to talk about a surreal moment, try singing 30 Neil Diamond songs while portraying Neil Diamond, 10 feet away from Neil Diamond. It was the most crazy, crazy experience of my life," he said. - Billboard, 3/5/22...... Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar have been confirmed as the Pyramid Stage headliners at this year's legendary U.K. event The Glastonbury Festival. McCartney will return to Glastonbury in 2022 to headline on the Saturday (6/25), and Lamar, who will go last on the Sunday, organizers announced on Mar. 4. Also announced for this year's event are Diana Ross, Billie Eilish, Angelique Kidjo, Arlo Parks, Australian acts Amyl And the Sniffers and The Avalanches. Organizers have shared poster line-up of acts confirmed so far on Instagram. Established in 1970 by Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer, Glastonbury is the granddaddy of U.K. music festivals and attracts upwards of 150,000 attendees each year. The event is returning in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. - Billboard, 3/4/22...... In other Beatles-related news, the band's 2000 Beatles 1 compilation has been remastered for spatial audio by Giles Martin, the son of the band's late producer George Martin. Giles said in a 2021 interview that he was a fan of the immersive 360-degree sound technology launched in 2021 by Apple Music, as well as the Dolby Atmos that it is built on, but said that it doesn't always "sound quite right." Martin revealed that he intended to remaster the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band but has since worked on the band's mega-selling greatest Number Ones compilation album 1. "Records don't get old, we get old," Martin explained. "We get older, records stay the same age as it was on the day of recording. Spatial audio works to make music more engaging and accessible on the latest tech platforms. You could be with the band with Dolby Atmos," he added. - NME, 3/2/22...... The Elton John and Dua Lipa collaboration "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" has earned a landmark 20th week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for the week dated Mar. 4. The track earned 38.8 million all-format radio airplay audience impressions (up 6%) and 10.9 million U.S. streams (up 1%) and sold 8,300 downloads (up 37%) in the Feb. 18-24 tracking week, according to MRC Data. "Cold Heart" is only the eighth song to earn 20 or more weeks at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs since its inception in Jan. 2013. Concurrently, "Cold Heart" has claimed a 28th week at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart and has topped the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart for a 16th week. - Billboard, 3/3/22...... 
Randy Newman announced on Instagram on Mar. 2 that he's rescheduling his upcoming tour of the U.K. and Europe due to a broken neck, and is taking time off to recover before hitting the road again. "Recently, I noticed I was shrinking. People over whom I had towered now towered over me. Could this be payback for having written Short People? Turns out, my neck was broken. They operated on me successfully, I think. For even now, I look less like an anteater and more like a folk rock artist from the early sixties," Newman said in a statement posted to RandyNewman.com and Instagram. "But the doctor said I'm not quite ready to tour. I was really looking forward to coming to Europe to perform. I miss performing a great deal and I look forward to a time when I can come. I'm sorry I won't see you this time but I will see you soon," he added. The tour, officially titled "An Evening With Randy Newman," was set to begin in Mar. 2022 and run through June with stops in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. This marks the third postponement of the concert dates, which had been set to start back in 2019 but were pushed back due to the pandemic. Newman, 78, also had been set to tour Australia and make his first-ever trek to New Zealand, but was forced to cancel those in Jan. 2020 following hip surgery. His new statement assured fans that "new dates to be announced as soon as possible," and promised that current ticketholders will be contacted with additional info about the rescheduled dates in the future. His appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for May 1 remains unconfirmed. - Billboard, 3/3/22...... Patti Smith has been confirmed as the headliner of a new one-day festival in London, the Higher Ground Festival. The event will take place on the slopes of Alexandra Palace on July 24. It will be headlined by Smith, with Nadine Shah, Connie Constance, Spelling, Nabihah Iqbal and Joviale also confirmed to be performing. The festival will also host DJ sets, workshops, talks and readings. - NME, 3/3/22...... Streams and sales of the English rock band Procul Harum have seen an uptick since the Feb. 19 death of Procul Harum frontman Gary Brooker. In the Feb. 18-24 tracking period, the band earned 518,000 on-demand official streams, a boost of 44% over Feb. 11-17 (359,000), according to MRC Data. Additionally, Procol Harum's music moved 1,700 downloads in the U.S., a 561% jump from a negligible amount the previous period. Leading the way is "A Whiter Shade of Pale," the band's signature track, with 1,300 downloads, a 537% boost. As such, it debuts at No. 12 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart, Procol Harum's first appearance on the ranking. "Pale" was a No. 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, the band's lone top 10. "Pale" also re-entered the LyricFind U.S. ranking at No. 1 and returns to LyricFind Global at No. 3. According to LyricFind, "Pale" saw a 772% increase in lyric views and usages in the U.S. and a 559% such boost globally. Brooker died of cancer at his Surrey, England, home on Feb. 19. He was 76. - Billboard, 3/2/22...... 
Actor Mitchell Ryan, the square-jawed character actor who played a heroin-smuggling retired general in the first Lethal Weapon movie, an ex-con on the TV series Dark Shadows, and an obnoxious father on Dharma & Greg, died on Mar. 4 of congestive heart failure at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88. Mr. Ryan was perhaps at his best as Shorty Austin, a ranch hand who gets mixed up with the wrong crowd, in the Lee Marvin-Jack Palance Western Monte Walsh (1970). Born in Cincinnati on Jan. 11, 1934, and raised in Louisville, Ky., Mr. Ryan moved to New York and worked on the stage and in television, then made his film debut in Thunder Road (1958), starring Mitchum. He had a big year in 1973, when he appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter and Magnum Force -- in the latter as a burned-out motorcycle patrolman -- with Robert Mitchum in The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and as a hippie-hating detective alongside Robert Blake in Electra Glide in Blue. He also portrayed the head of a sanitarium and leader of a Druid-like cult in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Hugh Hefner in Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981) and Minnie Driver's father in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). Later, Mr. Ryan played it for laughs on about 120 episodes of the 1997-2002 ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg as Edward Montgomery, the rich, boozy father of Greg (Thomas Gibson). For three years in the 1960s, Mr. Ryan appeared as ex-con Burke Devlin on Dark Shadows before being fired in 1966. "I was so drunk that year, I barely remember what it was about," he told TV Guide in 1976. (He said he eventually gave up booze.) In the 1970s, Ryan starred in three short-lived TV series: Chase, a cop show; Executive Suite, based on the 1954 William Holden movie; and Having Babies, a hospital drama. His film credits also include Two-Minute Warning (1976), Midway (1976), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Speechless (1994),Judge Dredd (1995), Liar Liar (1997) and The Devil's Own (1997). On Facebook, his Dark Shadows co-star Kathryn Leigh Scott wrote that Mr. Ryan "was a great gift in my life. I cherish my warm memories of his beautiful soul. I'm heartbroken." He played Burke Devlin on the soap, and she was Maggie Evans. He later appeared on other daytime serials including All My Children, Santa Barbara and General Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Barbara; stepdaughter Denise Freed, and five grandchildren. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/4/22...... Veteran country music television producer Jim Owens, known for creating country music television programming that dominated television ratings in the 1980s and 1990s, died on Mar. 4 in Franklin, Tenn. He was 84. Mr. Owens' wife of nearly four decades, Lorianne Crook, was by his side at the time of his passing. Born in South Carolina on Aug. 27, 1937, Mr. Owens made his first push into national syndication in 1977, when he created and produced A Concert Behind Prison Walls, featuring Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt and Roy Clark. In 1978, Mr. Owens launched country music's first fan-voted live awards show, the Music City News Country Awards. The awards show rose to No. 1 in ratings in syndication. Mr. Owens syndicated and produced the show via his own company through 1990. In 1983, Mr. Owens set his sights on creating an Entertainment Tonight-style program focusing on country music. He teamed entertainment news correspondent Crook with radio and local TV personality Charlie Chase. The show, This Week in Country Music, offered a blend of news and interviews with country music artists and performances. Two years later, TNN: The Nashville Network secured a deal to exclusively partner with Jim Owens Entertainment for content creation. For the next 15 years, Mr. Owens crafted and produced the bulk of the highest-rated programming on TNN, including the first daily and weekly country music news shows, awards programs, variety specials, musical documentaries and lifestyle programming. After TNN closed in 2000, Mr. Owens produced (and Crook hosted) several Celebrities Offstage specials, in addition to 180 episodes of Celebrity Kitchen for GAC. In 2007, Crook & Chase returned to television, first on RFD and then later in syndication through 2015. Jim Owens Entertainment has held the trademarks for TNN: The Nashville Network since 2011, with over 10,000 hours of footage from a 45-year library of original productions and other raw footage. - Billboard, 3/5/22...... 
Johnny Brown, the easygoing actor/comedian/singer best known for portraying the housing project superintendent Nathan Bookman on the CBS sitcom Good Times, died on Mar. 2, his daughter, actress Sharon Catherine Brown, announced on Instagram. He was 84 and died of as yet undisclosed causes. "Our family is devastated. Devastated. Devastated. Beyond heartbroken. Barely able to breathe," Sharon wrote. Mr. Brown, who did a mean impression of Louis Armstrong and others, was a leading contender to play Lamont Sanford opposite Redd Foxx on Sanford and Son, but because his contract bound him to the comedy/variety series Laugh-In, the role went to Demond Wilson. With former Laugh-In writer Allan Manings serving as a producer on Good Times, Mr. Brown joined the Chicago-set CBS comedy in 1975 midway through its second season. His character was often teased about his weight by the gangly J.J. (Jimmie Walker) and other members of the Evans family. Born on June 11, 1937, in St. Petersburg, Fla., Mr. Brown was raised in Harlem. He won an amateur night competition at the Apollo Theater; starred in nightclub acts with his future wife, June, and with tap dancer Gregory Hines Jr. and drummer Gregory Hines Sr.; and recorded songs for Columbia and Atlantic records. While working in the Catskills, Mr. Brown met Sammy Davis Jr., and the legendary entertainer would prove to be an inspiration. "He did all the things I wanted to do," Brown said in a 1996 interview. "I wanted to be a well-rounded, complete entertainer; I didn't just want to sing or tell a joke." Mr. Brown was the understudy of Godfrey Cambridge in the Broadway production of "Golden Boy," and eventually took the lead on the show-stopping number "Don't Forget 127th Street" as "Golden Boy" lasted more than 500 performances. Mr. Brown made his film debut portraying a blind pianist in the Davis-starring drama A Man Called Adam (1966), and returned to Broadway in 1968 for the short-lived "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights," directed by Sidney Poitier. He came to Los Angeles when Neil Simon asked him to play a waiter on a train in The Out of Towners (1970). While in town, he met influential CBS casting director Ethel Winant, "and by the time I got back to New York, I had a series" -- The Leslie Uggams Show. Other TV credits include Julia, Maude, The Rookies, Lotsa Luck!, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker's Place, Family Matters, Sister, Sister, Moonlighting and Martin and in such films as The Wiz (1978), Poitier's Hanky Panky (1982), Life (1999) and Town & Country (2001). He also pitched Write Brothers pens ("Write on brothers, write on!") in a series of musical commercials for Papermate in the early 1970s and starred in "The Gospel Truth," which played on stages around the country in the late '80s. In addition to his daughter and his wife of 61 years, survivors include his son, John Jr. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/5/22...... Influential Hollywood producer Alan Ladd Jr., who greenlit the 1977 sci-fi box office sensation Star Wars as well as producing such other hits as Braveheart, Police Academy, The Brady Bunch Movie and The Man in the Iron Mask, died at his home in Los Angeles on Mar. 2. He was 84. The son of actor Alan Ladd (Shane, This Gun For Hire), Mr. Ladd served in the U.S. Air Force and spent several years in London working in the British film industry. Upon returning to the U.S., he became an executive at 20th Century Fox, where he fought for the studio to make Star Wars and was one of its most enthusiastic supporters during production. He later founded his own production company, the Ladd Company, as well as working as an executive at MGM/UA. When Braveheart won the Oscar for Best Picture, Mr. Ladd was among the honorees who accepted the award onstage. Many other hit movies were released during his tenure as an executive, including Moonstruck, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and The Right Stuff. "Laddie was a remarkable studio boss, producer & friend to movie makers. He supported & green lit #StarWars, and on a personal note he gave the go-ahead to both #NightShift and #Willow. He was smart, gracious & loved movies," actor/director Ron Howard tweeted on Mar. 3. - Legacy.com, 3/3/22.
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