Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on October 9th, 2023

AC/DC returned to the stage with their first concert in seven years at the Power Trip festival at Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., on Oct. 7. Reuniting with lead vocalist Brian Johnson for the first time since Sept. 2016 at the end of the "Rock or Bust" world tour, AC/DC performed a 24-song setlist, opening with "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" for the first time. The show also included performances of AC/DC classics "Highway To Hell," "Thunderstruck" and "Black In Black." The group also performed live debuts of "Demon Fire" and "Shot In The Dark" from 2020 album Power Up, and closed the show with "Let There Be Rock," "T.N.T." and "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)." Fan-shot footage from the show has been shared on YouTube. Meanwhile, AC/DC has also just launched a new limited edition whiskey with Ballantine's Scotch whiskey. The collaboration is part of the Scottish distillers' "True Music Icons" series and celebrates the band's 50th anniversary. "With AC/DC's unwavering commitment to staying true to their roots aligning with Ballantine's ethos of celebrating self-expression, it was a natural fit for the Scotch whisky to pay tribute to this iconic band in its 50th anniversary year," read a statement from the company. The whiskey bottle design features the band's thunderbolt logo in neon red -- a tribute to the Power Up LP. Ballantine's have also named a cocktail in the band's honor, the Dark and Thunderstruck, which they described as "a twist on the classic Kentucky Mule Whisky cocktail." The Oz-based headbangers have close links to Scotland, with lead guitarist Angus Youngand his late elder brother Malcolm Young being born in Glasgow and late singer Bon Scott in the town of Forfar. - New Musical Express/Music-News.com, 10/9/23...... The YouTube channel of the MTV show Catfished revealed on Oct. 4 that an impersonator of Bee Gees frontman Barry Gibb scammed a woman out of her retirement money. The woman, named Wanda, reportedly believed she was in a relationship with the singer, despite Gibb being married to wife Linda Gray since 1970. The romance began when Wanda was browsing one of the fake Gibb's web pages, where a button said she could message him. Though she was suspicious at first -- the impersonator turned down a FaceTime offer, claiming a fan tried to blackmail him through video before -- Wanda was eventually charmed by the fraud. "It started getting really intimate, and we started really chatting and talking about visiting and stuff like that," she said. Wanda also questioned his decades-long marriage to Gray; in response, the person pretending to be Barry Gibb said he was leaving his wife for her. He additionally requested Wanda to search for houses in Oregon that they could live in together. The fraud referred her to a man posing as an Oregon realtor named Aaron Williams, who was sent a total of over $11,000 by Wanda from her retirement fund. The fake Barry also claimed he couldn't access his money and didn't want people to know about his relationship with Wanda just yet. The pair had fans donate a total of $20,000 to an account that Wanda could access and transfer money to the scammer, who claimed it would help get through the divorce. Despite the supposed Gibb refusing to voice or video call Wanda, she believed he was the real Barry Gibb as he continuously assured her they would meet in person. She also said her "gut feeling" led her to believe it was actually him. Eventually, Gibb's verified Facebook page had posted a warning written by the singer's son, Stephen Gibb: "I am posting on his behalf today as it seems there are several profiles pretending to be Dad on Facebook and other social media platforms. Please report and block these scam artists to the platform," the post read. When Wanda confronted "Barry Gibb" about the post, he responded: "Babe, doubts ruin a relationship." Catfished convinced Wanda to cease money transfers to the scammer. Reaching out to the real Aaron Williams, they proved that the house Wanda and Gibb were supposedly going to live in together was not only still on the market, but that no payments had been received. The show also tracked the location of the supposed Aaron Williams to be in Lagos, Nigeria. Wanda has since blocked the fake accounts of Barry Gibb and Aaron Williams, and she is changing her bank information. Wanda was also shown recent footage of Gibb and Gray at their 50th anniversary to prove they were still married. They added: "The next step is for her to file a police report and we are turning everything we were able to find out over to the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission)." In other Bee Gees news, a biopic of the Gibb brothers was announced back in 2020 with Bradley Cooper rumoured to be interested in the titular role. Barry is the sole surviving member of the Bee Gees following the deaths of his brothers Maurice Gibb in 2003 and Robin Gibb in 2012. - NME, 10/6/23...... Queen + Adam Lambert kicked off their 2023 "Rhapsody" tour on Oct. 4 at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore by opening with a timely song named "Machines (Or 'Back to Humans)," then launching into "Radio Ga Ga, followed by "Hammer to Fall" and "Another One Bites The Dust." Queen launched the Rhapsody tour in 2019, ant brought it to the UK, Ireland and Europe in 2022. The 25-song setlist also included such Queen classics as "I Want to Break Free," "Killer Queen," "Somebody To Love," "Don't Stop Me Now," "We are the Champions," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and more. Elsewhere in the set, Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May took over lead vocal duties from Adam Lambert on a few tracks. Taylor sang "I'm In Love With My Car," a song he penned for 1975's A Night at the Opera, as well as singing co-vocals with Lambert on "Under Pressure." May took over "Love Of My Life" and "39'." After another show in Toronto on Oct. 8, Queen next visits Detroit (10/10), New York's Madison Square Garden (10/12, 13), Boston's TD Garden (10/15, 16), Philadelphia (10/18) and five other U.S. cities on October. In November, the band plays Dallas, Denver and San Francisco before wrapping in L.A. with two nights on Nov. 11 and 12. Fan shot footage of the Baltimore gig can be viewed on X/Twitter. - NME, 10/6/23...... On Oct. 6 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band rescheduled dates from their postponed 2023 to early 2024 as frontman Springsteen continues to recover for peptic ulcer disease. The tour will now reboot on Mar. 19 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix (a make-up for a show originally scheduled for Nov. 30), followed by a Mar. 25 show at San Diego's Pechanga Arena through a Sept. 13 show at Baltimore's Oriole Park. All tickets for postponed shows will be valid for the newly announced dates, with fans encouraged to reach out to the ticketing company for each date about refunds. New dates for the Canadian shows will be announced in the near future. Peptic ulcer disease is fairly common, though painful, gastrointestinal condition that can cause severe abdominal pain as a result of an imbalance in the protective lining of the stomach. "Bruce Springsteen has continued to recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks and will continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor's advice," read a statement released on Sept. 27 announcing the push of all 2023 dates to 2024. - Billboard, 10/6/23...... On Oct. 6 Cher released the first single from her upcoming first-ever Christmas album, Christmas, due on Oct. 20 via Warner. "DJ Play a Christmas Song" was written by Sara Hudson (Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Troye Sivan) an her team, and has been shared on YouTube. Featuring contributions from the likes of Stevie Wonder ("What Christmas Means to Me"), Michael Bublé ("Home"), Cyndi Lauper ("Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart"), Tyga ("Drop Top Sleigh Ride") and Darlene Love ("Christmas, Baby Please Come Home"), Christmas is Cher's follow-up to her hit 2018 album, Dancing Queen. "I never say this about my own records but I'm really proud of this one. It is one of the most amazing highlights of my career," Cher says. "They're not 'Christmas Christmas' songs, OK, they're just great songs. And I never say that because I almost never like what I do. But I mean people love it and I'm happy. I'm so particular, but I love the songs and everyone who hears them loves them," she adds. - NME, 10/6/23...... Legendary NYC punk godfathers The Ramones have been channeled by the pop-punk trio Blink-182 in a video for their new single "Dance With Me" that dropped on Oct. 5. In the video which has been shared on YouTube, Blink-182's Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker dress up in their finest Ramones-appropriate shag wigs, sunglasses and leather jackets and offer sincerely annoyed answers before busting into a cover of the Ramones' chaotic song "Sedated." "The video serves as a love letter to the Ramones and finds the guys paying homage to one of their favorite iconic bands that came before them," reads a description of the visual that opens with a clueless interviewer introducing the band and then asking, "What the hell is punk? And is it punk that I said 'hell'?" A second set-up re-creates the legendarily grimy interior of the Ramones' musical mecca, New York's late lamented CBGB punk club, with drummer Travis Barker smashing his kit in front of a wall of graffiti and band posters while wearing a "Disco Sucks" t-shirt. The 17-song effort One More Time, produced by Barker, is Blink-182's first album by the core trio in 11 years, and is due out on Oct. 20. - Billboard, 10/5/23...... In a new episode of The Osbournes Podcast on Oct. 5, Sharon Osbourne revealed that she is opening a museum showcasing her husband Ozzy Osbourne in Ozzy's hometown of Birmingham, UK. Sharon said that the planned "memorabilia place" will feature both a music-education section and a café. "He's having all of his awards [in the museum], all his stage clothes, posters, old posters from [the pre-Sabbath band] Earth Days, I've got so much memorabilia," she told the couple's son, Jack Osbourne. Sharon continued: "We're gonna do it totally interactive -- every video, every live show of your dad's, everything there. It's more of an educational thing for musicians and artists that want to see that you can come from nothing, and if you work hard enough this is what you can get. We're going to have a café, and in there we're going to have every instrument you can think of. Music students can come in and we're gonna do music classes, because there's no music at schools anymore. We're gonna get friends, other musicians to come in." Jack asked Sharon if it would be like a "School of Rock kind of thing?" to which Sharon replied: "Yes." The full episode can be viewed on YouTube. - NME, 10/5/23...... Pink Floyd's David Gilmour has continued his long running feud with his former bandmate, Roger Waters, by sharing a documentary detailing instances of alleged anti-Semitism from the latter. Taking to X/Twitter on Oct. 5, Gilmour retweeted a post about a documentary titled The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, originally published by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which produced the project. The clip shared by Gilmour sees two of Waters' former collaborators recall their experiences working with the musician, and the instances where they reportedly saw him make anti-Semitic comments. The first of which was from Waters' former saxophonist Nortber Statchel, who told the BBC about a time when the Pink Floyd musician allegedly imitated a stereotypically poor Polish woman as a reference to his Jewish ancestors. He also recalled another instance where the bassist expressed outrage at a restaurant serving "Jew food." The second of the former collaborators featured in the video was Bob Ezrin, the music producer who helped helm the band's 1979 album The Wall. In the clip, Erzin recalled Waters' speaking about the band's then-manager, Bryan Morrison, and claims that he described Morrison as a "f---ing Jew." Although Gilmour did not provide a comment when sharing the promotional video, the guitarist has spoken openly about the accusations in the past. Earlier in 2023, his wife, Polly Samson, claimed that Waters was "antisemitic to [his] rotten core," as well as "a [Vladimir] Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac." Gilmour reposted that tweet as well, and told his followers that his spouse's claims were "demonstrably true." Waters himself issued a statement in response to Samson's comments, saying he "refutes [them] entirely" and that they are "incendiary and wildly inaccurate." Waters also said he was "taking advice as to his position" regarding Samson's claims. Waters will release The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux, his full-length reimagining of the band's iconic 1973 album, later in October to celebrate its 50th anniversary.The band is also celebrating the milestone anniversary by releasing a brand new 30-minute YouTube-exclusive film entitled Eclipse which documents the Apr. 2023 Australian eclipse. On Thursday 20 April 2023, the shadow of the moon grazed the tip of Western Australia, as it travelled over one of the world's most beautiful areas -- the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park in Exmouth. Overseen by the group's long time Creative Consultant and Hipgnosis co-founder, Aubrey "Po" Powell, Pink Floyd gave eight Australian fans (named The Astronome Domine Eight) the exclusive opportunity to visit the special scenic location within the region to hear the Dark Side LP in its entirety. The album's soaring epic final song "Eclipse"' (with the closing lines "But the sun is eclipsed by the moon") was timed to align with the exact moment of total eclipse. Pink Floyd's stand-alone release of the newly remastered Dark Side on CD, LP and Blu-ray will also be available on Oct. 13. - NME/Music-News.com, 10/5/23...... On Oct. 4 the Eagles announced the dates for their swansong "The Long Goodbye" tour. The trek will feature fellow Rock and Roll Hall of famers Steely Dan as openers for the tour, which is slated to kick off Sept. 7, 2024 with two-night stand at New York's Madison Square Garden, then hit Boston (9/11, 13), Newark, NJ (9/16, 17) and Belmont Park, NY's UBS Arena on Sept. 20. The 23-date/15-city tour also visits such major markets as Denver, Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Raleigh and St. Paul, Minn. before wrapping with two nights at Inglewood, Calif.'s Kia Forum on Jan. 5 and 6, 2025. "The Eagles have had a miraculous 52-year odyssey, performing for people all over the globe; keeping the music alive in the face of tragic losses, upheavals and setbacks of many kinds," read a statement from the group. "Credit and thanks go to our longtime management team, our dedicated road crew, and our exceptional backup musicians for providing skilled and steadfast support, throughout these many years. We know how fortunate we are, and we are truly grateful." - Billboard, 10/4/23...... Paul McCartney launched his new A Life in Lyrics podcast on Oct. 4 with the first episode breaking down the creation of the Beatles' 1966 classic "Eleanor Rigby." In episode one Sir Pual explains where the title for the song came from, sharing that the name for the song came from a grave that he and his late bandmate John Lennon saw. "There is a grave which John and I wandered around endlessly talking about our future," he recalled in the podcast. "And there is a grave there [with the name Eleanor Rigby]. I don't remember ever having seeing that gravestone but it's been suggested to me that psychologically I would have seen it." He also shared where the famous lyric "wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door" originated from, attributing the words to his mother and her love and use of Nivea cold cream. "My mum's favourite was Nivea and I love it to this day. It kind of scared me a little that women used quite so much cold cream, and it was my dread, when I got older and got married, that I would marry someone who would [wear a lot of cold cream] and put one of those big shower caps on and the curlers and have masses of things. So that played on my mind quite a bit, so she's wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door," he said. McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, based on McCartney's best-selling book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present was co-produced by Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts. Superfans can binge all of the first season immediately with a Pushkin+ subscription. A new episode will come out every week, and Season 2 will follow with an additional 12 episodes set for release in February of 2024. In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr has recently said that the "final" Beatles song -- which has been made with help from artificial intelligence (AI) -- "should have been out already." Speaking to AP News, Starr said when asked when fans can expect to hear the track or find out the title, he responded: "It should've been out already." "Can't say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created," Paul McCartney said in a June 22 tweet. "It's all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings -- a process which has gone on for years. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year," he added. - NME, 10/4/23...... Mick Jagger announced on Oct. 5 that he's releasing a second collection of his harmonical line after the first offering of mouth harps flew off the shelves earlier in 2023, selling out within a month. The 80-year-old Rolling Stones frontman, who plays the harmonica on the likes of the Stones tracks "Midnight Rambler" and "Gimme Shelter," is releasing a "Mick Jagger Series: Edition Two" as part of his continuing partnership with Whynow Music and Lee Oskar, the original harmonica player for rock-fusion legends War and who started manufacturing his own harmonicas in 1983."I was blown away by the response to our first range of harmonicas!," Sir Mick said is a statement. I hope everyone has enjoyed playing their harps, and that more people are falling in love with my favourite instrument. With artists like Little Nas X and Kendrick Lamar using it in their music today, I'm confident that the harmonica will be gracing stages around the world for a long time to come," he added. The harmonica design, which includes a Mick Jagger logo in black on a striking red harp, can be purchased on Jagger's official website. - Music-News.com, 10/5/23...... The Exorcist: Believer, the latest in the demonic franchise based on the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, took possession of the US box office on the first weekend of October by bringing in $27.2 million in its opening weekend for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, according to studio estimates released on Oct. 8. Facing competition from no major new releases, The Exorcist: Believer took in a bigger weekend box office than the next three films combined. But while it nearly earned back its reported budget of $30 million in just a few days, its take was underwhelming after the two companies paid $400 million in 2021 for the rights to a new trilogy. The new Exorcist was released just shy of the 50th anniversary of the original horror classic, and it comes just two months after the death of the original film's director, William Friedkin. Directed by David Gordon Green, who has become a legacy sequel specialist after helming a trilogy of Halloween films, The Exorcist: Believer stars "Hamilton" actor Leslie Odom Jr., withLidya Jewett as his 13-year-old daughter, taking on the role of the demonically possessed girl played by Linda Blair in the original. The new film has garnered unfavorable reviews -- managing a critics score of just 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewer Jake Coyle of the AP was more charitable than most, giving it two stars out of four for its lead performances and sure-handed direction but saying it "never manages anything like the deep terror of the original." The release of the film was moved up a week to avoid competing with the juggernaut of Taylor Swift's new concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. - AP, 10/8/23...... Grammy-winning record producer and manager Ron Haffkine, known for his work with '70s and '80s hitmakers Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, died at his home in Mexico on Oct. 1 after a brief bout with leukemia and kidney failure. He was 84. Mr. Haffkine was instrumental in getting Dr. Hook signed by Clive Davis at Columbia Records in the 1970s, and the band led by Dennis Locorriere and the eyepatch-wearing Ray Sawyer, would compile a string of hits that included "Sylvia's Mother," "Cover of the Rolling Stone," "Sharing the Night Together," "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman," "Sexy Eyes," "Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk" and "A Little Bit More." Mr. Haffkine produced 10 Dr. Hook studio albums and two live albums and also worked with the likes of Waylon Jennings, Lou Rawls, Mac Davis and Helen Reddy. He often collaborated with singer, songwriter and poet Shel Silverstein, and won a Grammy Award in 1985 for producing Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends and received another Grammy nom two years later for his work on another Silverstein children's album, A Light in the Attic. Born in New York on Dec. 13, 1938, Mr. Haffkine contracted polio when he was 12, leaving him paralyzed for two years. Later, he and Silverstein became friends in Greenwich Village. Mr. Haffkine and his wife of 37 years, Sydney, moved to Mexico several years ago. She survives him. - Billboard, 10/6/23...... Legendary NFL linebacker Dick Butkus, perhaps the greatest player to ever suit up in that position, died "peacefully in his sleep" at his home in Malibu, Calif., on Oct. 5. He was 80. Mr. Butkus patrolled the middle for the Chicago Bears' "Monsters of the Midway" for nine seasons -- from 1965 to 1974 -- stuffing the stat sheet and striking fear into the hearts of opponents in the process. A five-time first team All-Pro and eight-time Pro Bowl selection, Mr. Butkus was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-1960s and All-1970s teams and was inducted as a player in 1979. He was a Chicago legend through-and-through -- born in the Windy City and becoming a college football legend at Illinois before he was selected by the Bears with the third overall pick in the 1965 NFL draft. His impact was immediate as he intercepted five passes and recorded seven fumble recoveries, both career highs, while earning his first All-Pro honor, and continued to shine from there. Mr. Butkus retired in May 1974 after nine seasons, hastened by a 1970 knee injury, finishing his career with 22 interceptions and 27 fumble recoveries. Mr. Butkus went on to appear in a number of movies and TV shows following his retirement, including the motion picture Any Given Sunday and most notably on NBC sitcoms Hang Time and My Two Dads. "Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL's all-time greats," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Dick's intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model linebacker whose name will forever be linked to the position and the Chicago Bears." In 1985 the Butkus Award was established, honoring the top linebacker in college football. Since 2008, Mr. Butkus' foundation has overseen the award, with the best high school and NFL linebackers also honored. A moment of silence was held for Mr. Butkus before the Oct. 5 game between the Washington Commanders and the Bears. - USA Today, 10/6/23.

AC/DC announced in an Instagram post on Oct. 3 that they'll be opening up a pop-up dive bar in celebration of their headlining gig at the upcoming Power Trip festival, set for Oct. 6-8 in Indio, Calif. Located near the festival grounds at 82971 Bliss Ave., the bar will open every day from Oct. 5-8 from 11:00 am PST until 10:00 pm PST. The bar is "the ultimate way to connect and plug in with fellow AC/DC fans over the weekend and check out iconic AC/DC props and exclusive merch," their post reads. AC/DC's headlining set at Power Trip will mark their first live performance in seven years. The first day (Oct. 6) will be headlined by Guns N' Roses and Iron Maiden, with AC/DC and Judas Preist headlining the second night. Things then wrap up on Oct. 8 with sets from Metallica and Tool. - New Musical Express, 10/4/23...... Ringo Starr took a tumble onstage on Sept. 20 during a gig at Albuquerque, N.M.'s Rio Rancho Events Center while making his way back onstage during the band's encore performance of John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace A Chance." Starr, 83, quickly got to his feet after the fall and joined his band to sing the chorus. There were no later reports of any injuries suffered. Moments after the fall, Starr cracked a joke about the mishap. "I fell over just to tell you that, thank you," he said. - NME, 9/30/23...... In a recent interview with Vulture.com, Stevie Nicks says "there's no reason" to continue on with Fleetwood Mac after the November 2022 death of Fleetwood Mac keyboardist/singer Christine McVie. "We did go out on the road and do a year-and-a-half tour with [Lindsey Buckingham replacements] Neil Finn and Mike Campbell," Nicks said. "We had a really great time and it was a huge tour. That was there in the realm of possibility. But when Christine died, I felt like you can't replace her. You just can't. Without her, what is it? You know what I mean?" Nicks is currently in the midst of a solo tour as well as a co-headlining tour with Billy Joel, and recently unveiled her very own Barbie Music Collector doll from Mattel. Decked out in a Rumours-esque black outfit and feathered '70s hair, the doll will be released in November. "My Stevie @Barbie has been with me now for several months," Nicks later posted on X/Twitter. "When Mattel came to me asking if I would like to have a Barbie made in the Rumours" cover style I was very overwhelmed. Of course I questioned 'would she look like me? Would she have my spirit? Would she have my heart'." The doll retails for $55 and is available for pre-order at Amazon, Target and Walmart while supplies last. Meanwhile, Nicks has once again spoken of her love for the Fleetwood Mac-based Amazon Prime series Daisy Jones & The Six." It was the kind of snappy sarcasm between Daisy and Billy, who in my mind was like me and Lindsey [Buckingham]," Nicks told Vulture.com. "It was the back-and-forth between the two of them. It was so good. It was so real and it was really so right on." She continued: "I would be watching and be like, Well, there you go. That's exactly why we did it. That's exactly why Fleetwood Mac stayed together for 50 years. It was all for the music. It was all just to keep the music going, and the show got it." Asked whether she enjoyed the original music featured in Daisy Jones, given the parallels with Rumours, Nicks replied: "My favorite is the one that goes, 'We could make a good thing bad'," referring to "Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)," which can be streamed on YouTube. - Billboard/NME, 10/3/23...... The trailer for the new Sofia Coppola-directed Priscilla Presley biopic Priscilla was shared on YouTube on Oct. 3. It begins with a young Priscilla at a diner drinking a soda. A member of the army comes up to her and asks, "Hi, what's your name?" to which she replies, "Priscilla Beaulieu." The man then asks her if she enjoys Elvis Presley's music, and Priscilla's answer was a simple one. "Of course. Who doesn't?" The trailer then cuts to brief moments from Elvis' courtship of Priscilla, from them flirting with each other at a party and going to the movies, to eventually meeting the parents in between army deployments. Rising actors Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi play Priscilla and Elvis in the film, which the actual Priscilla Presley has said did an accurate job at representing her life and emotions during her time with the King of Rock n' Roll. "Sofia did an amazing job. She did her homework, we spoke a couple of times and I really put everything out for her that I could," Presley said in September during the film's world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Priscilla arrives in U.S. theaters on Nov. 3. - Billboard, 10/3/23...... UK fans of R&B/soul legend Gladys Knight will have one final chance to catch the "Empress of Soul" next summer when she embarks on a seven date tour of the UK. Dates include Glasgow (6/24), Birmingham (6/25), London (6/27), Swansea (6/29), Bournemouth (6/30) and Nottingham (7/2) before wrapping in Southend on July 3. Opening for the 79-year-old "Midnight Train to Georgia" singer will be Mica Miller, 33, one of the UK's most critically acclaimed modern soul stars. In addition to her catalog of classics, Knight is also set to play new material from her latest album Where My Heart Belongs. - Music-News.com, 10/3/23...... The legendary 1985 Live Aid charity mega-concert featuring such top rock stars as Queen, U2, David Bowie and Paul McCartney is being made into a musical that will be staged in London in 2024, it was announced on Oct. 2. Titled "Just For One Day," the production has received the blessing of Live Aid organizer and former The Boomtown Rats frontman Sir Bob Geldof, who told BBC News that no actors will be trying to imitate the original performers. "This isn't a tribute thing. I wouldn't have anything to do with that," he said. "So, there isn't a person dressed up as Freddie [Mercury] wearing a crap moustache. The songs drive the drama along." The plot of "Just For One Day," named after a line in Bowie's song 'Heroes', will balance a behind-the-scenes look at how Band Aid and Live Aid came together, with a love story inspired by real events. "The story is based on actual testimony from the day," Geldof noted. "It's real people telling their story throughout this. So it's complex theatre." "Just For One Day" has been green-lit with the full permission of the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which will receive 10% of every ticket sale. John O'Farrell, who wrote the "Mrs Doubtfire" musical, originally conceived the play with musical director Luke Sheppard. Live Aid, held on July 13, 1985 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was attended by about 72,000 people at London's Wembley stadium, and, simultaneously more than 89,000 people at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, US. An estimated 1.9 billion people from across 130 countries watched the TV broadcast. - NME, 10/2/23...... It appears the years-long copyright battle against contemporary pop star Ed Sheeran over whether he copied his hit "Thinking Out Loud" from Marvin Gaye's iconic No. 1 '70s single "Let's Get It On" isn't over just yet. Although one of Sheeran's accusers dropped their case in September, a separate set of plaintiffs filed their opening salvo at a federal appeals court on Sept. 29, setting the stage for years more litigation and a ruling that could revive the case against the rising pop star. Sheeran was first sued over "Thinking" by the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the famed 1973 tune with Gaye. It was that long-running case that culminated in a May jury verdict that cleared Sheeran of any wrongdoing. Then more recently Kathryn Griffin Townsend's lawyers dropped their efforts to overturn that verdict, ending that leg of the legal battle. But Sheeran has long faced a separate, closely related case filed by an entity called Structured Asset Sales (owned by industry executive David Pullman) that controls a different one-third stake in Townsend's copyrights. In May, weeks after the big jury verdict, a federal judge tossed out that case, too, ruling that it was seeking an "impermissible monopoly over a basic musical building block." Unlike Griffin, however, Structured Asset Sales seems ready for a long appellate battle. In their opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit, Structure Asset Sales' lawyers cited a wide range of supposed errors by Judge Louis Stanton in that May ruling dismissing the case, including his decision about "musical building blocks." But they mostly focused on what they said was a far more basic error: that Judge Stanton refused to let them cite the famous recorded version of "Let's Get It On" in making their case. Instead, the judge ruled that Structured Asset Sales owned only the rights to a "deposit copy" -- the basic notation filed at the Copyright Office decades ago to secure a copyright registration. That erroneous holding, the company's lawyers said, "severely" limited their rights and unfairly hurt their ability to win the case. Sheeran's legal team will file their own appellate brief in the months to come. - Billboard, 10/2/23...... Peter Gabriel has shared a song he co-conceived with Skrillex, "This Is Home" (Dark Side Mix) on YouTube. In a statement, the former Genesis frontman noted that "I'd had a call from Skrillex, who's a very talented musician, and I thought it would be interesting to see what he had in mind, so he came to my home studio and we sat down and talked and tried to evolve bits and pieces and it was mainly for this song. He was trying to encourage me to write a song about staying up all night in a night club and that sort of thing, but that's not really my life so I made it more about family and home and I like it. Though we took the song in this other direction it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and I think it is good for me to be taken outside my normal comfort zone sometimes." "This Is Home" will also be featured on Gabriel's long-awaited, upcoming solo effort i/o, due out sometime in 2023. Gabriel is currently on tour in the US through Oct. 21. - Billboard, 10/2/23...... Roger Waters has released a statement hitting back at a new documentary titled The Dark Side of Roger Waters that makes him out to be anti-Semitic. Waters mentions that the filmmakers, who are sponsored by the UK-based advocacy group Campaign Against Antisemitism, approached him for comment before releasing the film, but he declined. Now, however, he has given his verdict on it in a lengthy post on his RogerWaters.com website. "All my life I have used the platform my career has given me to support causes I believe in. I passionately believe in Universal Human Rights," he began. "I have always worked to make the world a better, more just and more equitable place for all my brothers and sisters, all over the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, from indigenous peoples threatened by the US oil industry to Iranian women protesting for their rights. That is why I am active in the non-violent protest movement against the Israeli government's illegal occupation of Palestine and its egregious treatment of Palestinians. Those who wish to conflate that position with anti-Semitism do a great disservice to us all. Truth is, I'm frequently mouthy and prone to irreverence, I can't recall what I said 13 or more years ago. I've worked closely for many years with many Jewish people, musicians and others." He continued: "If I have upset the two individuals who appear in the film I'm sorry for that. But I can say with certainty that I am not, and have never been, an anti-Semite -- as anyone who really knows me will testify. I know the Jewish people to be a diverse, interesting, and complicated bunch, just like the rest of humanity. Many are allies in the fight for equality and justice, in Israel, Palestine and around the world." He closed by saying, "In summary, the film is a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda that indiscriminately mixes things I'm alleged to have said or done at different times and in different contexts, in an effort to portray me as an anti-Semite, without any foundation in fact." The filmmakers are yet to respond to Waters' statement. - NME, 10/1/23...... The Who's classic 1971 set Who's Next has returned to Billboard Top Album Sales chart dated Sept. 30 following its expanded deluxe reissue on Sept. 15 across an array of formats, many containing a hefty number of bonus tracks. Who's Next re-entered the tally at No. 8. The album was first released in 1971 and reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 200 and spun off two Hot 100-charting singles in "Won't Get Fooled Again" (No. 15 peak) and "Behind Blue Eyes" (No. 34). The set also houses the rock radio staple "Baba O'Riley." The sales of the Who's Next reissue was bolstered by its availability in multiple configurations. On the low end is the base original 9-track album remastered on CD, vinyl and digital download, up through a lavish $257 Super Deluxe Edition boxed set with 10 CDs, a Blu-Ray Audio disc, a 100-page hard back book, posters and other merchandise. - Billboard, 9/29/23...... Neil Young has lost untold millions of dollars over his career in potential ad sales and endorsement deals. But as an artist who's always clearly voiced his principals and stood by them, he's long made it clear money is not his first priority. A new analysis by Billboard has determined the "Heart of Gold" singer has missed out on about $16,000 in royalties each month since he first pulled his songs from Spotify.com in January 2022. At the time, Young blamed Joe Rogan and his Spotify-exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, for spreading "fake information about vaccines" and putting the public's health at risk. Spotify acquiesced a few days later and removed Young's catalog from its platform. Young's open letter and demand for removal from Spotify attracted worldwide media attention and caused a brief spike in streams, but his departure from the platform created an immediate decline in his average stream rate -- and it hasn't rebounded since, according to Luminate data. From 2021 to Sept. 21, 2023, Young's average weekly global on-demand audio streams declined 32% from 10.5 million to 7.1 million. The actual loss is deeper considering that weekly on-demand audio streams in the U.S., Young's largest market, increased 25% over that period. Another place you won't see Young's music is advertisements, given he's famously opposed to using his music to sell products and advertise corporate brands. Young encapsulated his distaste for putting music in advertisements in his 1989 song "This Note's For You" a take on a Budweiser ad slogan from the era, "This Bud's For You." "Ain't singing' for Pepsi, ain't singing for Coke," Young sang in the album's title track. "I don't sing for nobody, makes me look like a joke." The song's video stirred up controversy -- and was initially banned from MTV -- for its mocking depiction of a 1984 Pepsi commercial shoot during which pyrotechnics set Michael Jackson's hair caught fire. - Billboard, 9/29/23...... Aerosmith announced on Sept. 29 that they're postponing the remainder of their farewell tour, due to frontman Steven Tyler's vocal chord injury. "Unfortunately, Steven's vocal injury is more serious than initially thought," the band posted to Instagram. "His doctor has confirmed that in addition to the damage to his vocal cords, he fractured his larynx which requires ongoing care. He is receiving the best medical treatment available to ensure his recovery is swift, but given the nature of a fracture, he is being told patience is essential." As a result, the band noted that the current dates for the Peace Out tour will be postponed to "sometime in 2024," with the new dates being announced at some point soon. In his own statement, Tyler said he was "heartbroken to not be out there with Aerosmith, my brothers and the incredible Black Crowes, rocking with the best fans in the world. I promise we will be back as soon as we can." The news comes just a few weeks after Aerosmith postponed six shows as a result of the injury to the 75-year-old rocker's vocal chords. - Billboard, 9/29/23...... Alice Cooper has told Rock Candy magazine that has no plans to retire like his peers in KISS and Aerosmith, and insists that if Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger, 80, "can do it, so can I". "A farewell tour hasn't crossed my mind at all," said Cooper, 75. "And it's weird, because all my friends are retiring. Gene Simmons said to me recently, 'Look, I'm done. Come December, it's over.' And I go, 'Well, you know, these farewell tours go on for years and years now, right?' But Gene was very serious and said, 'Not this time. I promise you that come December, Kiss as we know it is absolutely done.' The guys in Aerosmith are saying the same thing, as are many other bands from my era. But none of that occurs to me. It's never been a thought that I'd retire. I feel great, and the band sounds great. I'm 75, but I'll be up there at 90 if I'm still in good enough shape. I'm looking at Mick Jagger as the prototype. Mick still does three-hour shows and the soundcheck. So if Mick can do it, so can I." The "I'm Eighteen" hitmaker -- who released his 22nd solo album and 29th album overall, Road, in August -- previously insisted the word "retirement" "doesn't exist" in his "vocabulary." Alice has enjoyed decades of success but is showing no signs of slowing down with two touring bands: his own band and the Hollywood Vampires with movie legend Johnny Depp and Aerosmith's Joe Perry. - Music-News.com, 10/2/23...... On Sept. 29 Bruce Springsteen shared a new single, "Addicted to Romance," which was co-produced and orchestrated by The National's Bryce Dessner. The track was recorded for the soundtrack of the new Rebecca Miller film She Came To Me and also features vocals from his wife and E Street Band member Patti Scialfa. "As a lifelong Bruce fan, along with my bandmates, he is one of our biggest influences, it was a dream to work on this song with Bruce, and he was incredibly generous and open to my ideas and contributions," Dressner told Spin magazine. She Came To Me stars Peter Dinklage as a composer married to Anne Hathaway, who has an affair with Marisa Tomei while he's attempting to deal with writer's block. "Addicted to Romance" has been shared on YouTube. Springsteen recently was forced to postpone all his remaining 2023 tour dates citing his continuing battle with peptic ulcer disease. - NME, 9/29/23...... A massive 55-song Tina Turner compilation titled Queen of Rock 'N' Roll will drop via Rhino Records on Nov. 24. The set showcases Turner's solo-billed singles from 1975 through 2020, including such Top 40 charting hits as "What's Love Got To Do With It" (a No. 1 from 1984), "The Best" and "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)." Included on the collection is a reworked version of Turner's "Something Beautiful Remains," retitled to "Something Beautiful." It was remixed by Turner's longtime collaborator Terry Britten, who co-wrote and produced the original version of the song, released in 1996. The Queen of Rock 'N' Roll collection will be released via streaming services and as a five-vinyl LP box, a three-CD package, and a digital download album. An abbreviated 12-song version of the collection will simultaneously be issued on a single vinyl LP. All iterations of the album will include a foreword written by Tina's 1985 "It's Only Love" duet partner Bryan Adams. Turner passed away on May 24 at age 83. - Billboard, 9/29/23...... Cher has been accused of allegedly hiring four men to kidnap her own adult son with the late Gregg Allman -- Elijah Blue Allman -- as a way to halt him from seeing his then-estranged wife. Back in 2021, Elijah Blue had filed for a divorce from his then-wife, Marie Angela King. Allegedly, the pair had reconnected for 12 days in November 2022. In newly revealed court documents, King has claimed that on November 30, the night of their wedding anniversary, four men reportedly entered the couple's New York hotel room and abducted Allman. The allegations of the case were outlined in a court declaration that was then signed by King on Dec. 4 in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The documents were recently made public as part of the couple's ongoing divorce case. Allman first filed for divorce back in 2021. "I did so on the belief that my support payments would be timely, and I would be able to afford housing," King said in the documents. "I was not allowed to retrieve all my belongings from our primary home and residence, nor was I given the opportunity to inventory our assets." The couple's next court date is slated for Oct. 27 in Los Angeles. Allman has been open about his struggle with drug addiction and has publicly discussed his issues with addiction before, revealing that he first began using as a preteen. As the Daily Mail reported, after the alleged kidnapping, Allman stayed at the Chateau Marmont under the eye of a caretaker who was hired by Cher. Cher is yet to comment on the proceedings and allegations. In early September, Elijah Blue was escorted by police to a rehabilitation facility after hotel staff found his caretaker's "lifeless body, lying face down on the pavement leading to the hotel entrance with his arms by his side." - NME, 9/28/23...... ABBA's Agnetha Faltskog and Gary Barlow have reunited on a modern version of their 2013 duet "I Should've Followed You Home." The Swedish pop star and the Take That frontman originally released the song for Agnetha's solo album A, which has been reimagined for her new release A+. The pair went on to perform the song on the benefit telethon BBC Children In Need. "I have such happy memories with this song, and my first meeting with Gary! I love this duet and the new version is even better!!!," Faltskog said. The duet follows the release of Agnetha's first new solo music in 10 years, "Where Do We Go From Here?," which she released on Aug. 31 and also features on A+. A+ will be available via BMG on Oct. 13. - Music-News.com, 9/28/23...... In the new Joan Baez documentary I Am a Noise, the 82-year-old singer, whose high, ringing voice was the most beautiful sound to come out of the '60s folk revival, looks back on her life with wise, rueful humor (yes, Bob Dylan broke her heart). But she goes further, bravely exploring the darkest recesses of her childhood. Joan Baez: I Am a Noise is in limited release in U.S. theaters beginning Oct. 6. - People, 10/9/23...... U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat and champion of liberal causes who was elected to the Senate in 1992, died on Sept. 28 at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 90. Ms. Feinstein, the oldest sitting U.S. senator, broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, and was a passionate advocate for liberal priorities important to her state -- including environmental protection, reproductive rights and gun control -- but was also known as a pragmatic lawmaker wo reached out to Republicans and sought middle ground. Ms. Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and became its first female president in 1978, the year SF Mayor George Moscone was gunned down alongside Supervisor Harvey Milk, a local champion of gay rights, at City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor. Ms. Feinstein found Milk's body. After Moscone's death, Ms. Feinstein became San Francisco's first female mayor. In the Senate, she was one of California's first two female senators, the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary committee's top Democrat. Her death came after a bout of shingles sidelined her for more than two months earlier in 2023. When she returned to the Senate in May, she was frail and using a wheelchair, voting only occasionally. Pres. Joe Biden, who served with Ms. Feinstein for years in the Senate, called her "a pioneering American," a "true trailblazer" and a "cherished friend." - AP, 9/29/23.