Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 16th, 2024

Five of late reggae icon Bob Marley's sons have announced their first joint tour in nearly 20 years for the fall. On Apr. 15, Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damian Marley announced they'll be teaming up for their first extended run of dates together since 2007. Kicking off Sept. 5, in Vancouver, the 22-city "Marley Brothers: The Legacy Tour" will also hit such major markets as Phoenix, Dallas, Cincinnati, Toronto, Atlanta and Tampa before winding down in Miami on Oct. 5. The brothers say the tour will feature both their individual hits and classic Bob Marley songs. On Apr. 20, an expansion of screenings in US theaters will occur for the recent Bob Marley hit biopic Bob Marley: One Love, and May marks the 40th anniversary of the musician's landmark 1984 greatest hits compilation, Legend. Meanwhile, Bob Marley: One Love debuted on the Paramount+ streaming channel on Apr. 12, with channel subscribers allowed to stream the film at no additional cost. Paramount+ offers a free trial for the first week. - Billboard, 4/15/24...... Billy Joel fans are feeling "closer to the borderline" after the CBS network cut a telecast of his 100th Madison Square Garden Show a few minutes short due to the network's live coverage of the Masters golf tournament on Apr. 14. The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden special was announced during this year's Super Bowl and taped on Mar. 28 during the Piano Man's 100th performance at the legendary New York city venue. The show was slated to run from 9-11 p.m. on CBS but unfortunately, the network's live coverage of the Masters tournament pushed back the start of the Joel concert's airing, which meant that the climactic ending of the show was cut off for many viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones to throw to the local news. To make matters worse, according to posts from livid viewers, the screen went black at the worst possible time, near the celebratory ending of Joel's signature sing-along ballad, 1973's "Piano Man." "#BillyJoel #MSG #100 concert not only starts a half hour late, but then you cut off the last 3-4 minutes for local news to start at 1130?," read one rage-filled tweet that opened with a not polite, four-letter salutation to the Tiffany network. "Are you serious. Absolutely pathetic decision making, on an event that's been advertised for MONTHS, and you f--k it up." The abrupt cut-away from the broadcast had some X users comparing to the infamous moment in 1968 when NBC jumped from a nail-biter New York Jets/Oakland Raiders football game to switch to children's movie Heidi. A spokesperson for CBS apologized for what was described as a "network programming error" and added "due to the overwhelming demand from his legion of fans, [the concert] will be rebroadcast in its entirety on CBS on April 19th at 9:00PM ET/PT." - Billboard, 4/15/24...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, former Hall & Oates member John Oates shot down a H&O reunion, saying he has "moved on." When asked if "an official end date should be added to the career of one of the most successful pop duos of all time?", Oates responded: "You can ask Daryl [Hall] the same question. But, yes. As far as I'm concerned, I've moved on. I feel like I have a new lease on my creative life." Oates's comments come after Hall said he was suing Oates after claiming that he was left "blindsided" by his plan to sell a business stake in Nov. 2023 -- while the latter described the claims as "inaccurate." Although he is not open to a reunion, Oates said he would be open to repairing their friendship in the future: "I'm always open for that. Daryl Hall is an amazing individual. He is one of the great, great songwriters of all time, and without a doubt, one of the great singers of all time. I would never say anything negative about him. But we have a different strategy for our lives, and we have a different strategy for our business lives as well as our personal lives. And that's that, so be it. We're old guys. We deserve to be allowed to do whatever we want to do." When asked if the duo will ever get back together, he continued: "I have no idea. But I don't see it. I really don't. Life is funny though. You never know what kind of curve it will throw you." - NME, 4/13/24...... Classic rockers Blue Öyster Cult have revamped 40-year-old recordings for their latest album, Ghost Stories. Released on Apr. 12 via Frontiers Music srl, Ghost Stories comprises a dozen songs originally recorded between 1978-1983 (with one from 2016), mostly featuring the original lineup. Initially co-produced by golden age BOC audio engineer George Geranios, the versions on the album were spruced up, and in some cases added to, by band member Richie Castellano and BOC manager Steve Schenck, with remaining co-founders Eric Bloom and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser participating and brothers Albert and Joe Bouchard returning for some overdubs. "We were casting around for what we might want to do," Roeser says, "and we had all these archival recordings from back in the day with the original members. Rather than just put it out as a rarities record we went back to those tapes. There were some multi-track tapes and some stereo tapes, and we used modern tools to sort of deconstruct the elements and then process them as if they were contemporary recordings. So the sonics of the LP are pretty modern-sounding. Of course I remember the songs from the day, but they sound like new tracks to me. It's almost eerie to me to hear the Bouchard brothers back in the band and Allen Lanier still alive." Roeser says the songs on Ghost Stories "were all contenders" for BOC's albums during that time -- including Mirrors, Cultsaurus Erectus, Fire of Unknown Origin and The Revolution By Night -- but that "for one reason or another, they didn't make the cut. There's probably a different reason for each one, y'know?" The guitarist purports to have "no opinion" on the original songs, but Castellano lists a few "Holy Grail" finds -- including Bloom's vocal on "Don't Come Running to Me," the late Lanier's piano that kicks off "Shot in the Dark" and Roeser's solo on a cover of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." Blue Öyster Cult -- which also includes bassist Danny Miranda and drummer Jules Radino -- continues to perform sporadically and has several shows set for summer, including a June 7 appearance at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook, NY. Roeser, meanwhile, has been working on a new solo track called "The End of Every Song" that he plans to release this year, but he's circumspect about the possibility of fresh music from BOC. "I have the thought, to be honest," he says. "At this point in our career I don't think we have anything we have to do. We don't have anything to prove. So there's no reason to just put stuff out for its own sake. But if we have something that's significant and if it's good, it can come out. But it has to hold up with what we've already doneand that's a pretty high bar." - Billboard, 4/12/24...... In a new interview with Stereogum.com, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott laughs off claims his band uses backing tracks at gigs. Elliott says he isn't fazed by the musicians who made the claims because it shows that they think their performances are too good to be true. "I don't normally comment on this kind of stuff, but a friend of mine just sent me some link to something on YouTube, a recent posting by, forgive me, I don't know his name, Chuck something from Testament [singer Chuck Billy], I think it is, and [ex-W.A.S.P. guitarist] Chris Holmes accusing us of using backing tracks. I don't get angry at this. I'm flattered because their standards must be very different to ours. For anybody that thinks we use backing tracks, it must mean that when they hear us, they can't believe how good it is for real." Elliott continued: "We don't use backing tracks. We use effects. God, who wouldn't? When there's four people singing, we use effects. There's no tapes of backing vocals." Elliott admitted the band does have some tricks they use, such as a triggered loop for the drums and keyboards, but he insists everything is played live and he's never mimed. He explained: "We use keyboards. We use a few drum loops because, in fairness, two-armed drummers use drum loops, but Rick Allen, to play a song like 'Rocket', it's a cacophony of toms that one arm couldn't play. So yeah, we use a triggered loop, which is part of his drum kit, but [U2 drummer] Larry Mullen's been doing that for years. So have thousands of other drummers to enhance a sound. But backing tracks or playing along to a backing track -- we've never done that, never. We've never mimed to the vocals, or we've never had multiples of stuff on tape. It's literally live." In fact, the 64-year-old rocker admits their high-octane performances often take a "toll" on them. He went on: "If we're running at about 90 per cent [live], it's more than most people's 100 per cent. Because we do play and sing, it does take a toll." - Music-News.com, 4/13/24...... A Paul McCartney and The Eagles jam happened during a tribute concert for the late Jimmy Buffett at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on Apr. 11. The concert, titled "Keep the Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett," also included performances from the likes of Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Zac Brown, Jon Bon Jovi, Kenny Chesney, Jackson Browne, Brandi Carlile and Buffett's own Coral Reefer Band. Introduced to the stage by his pal, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, McCartney spoke about his relationship with Buffett. "I had the great pleasure of knowing Jimmy, and like everyone else on the bill tonight has said, this is one great man," he said. "He was generous, he was funny, he'd done just about everything in his life. I was on holiday with him and I forgot to bring my guitar, so he had his own guitar strung left-handed for me. And then the next time I saw him he'd had one custom made left-handed for me." Sir Paul then took to a grand piano and performed the Beatles classic "Let It Be," backed by The Eagles. Footage of the performance has been shared on YouTube. A posthumous Buffett album, Equal Strain On All Parts, that the musician had been working on before his death was released in November, and featured the McCartney collaboration "My Gummie Just Kicked In." In a social media tribute to Buffett following his death, McCartney announced his involvement in the album, writing: "I was very happy to have played on one of his latest songs called 'My Gummie Just Kicked In'. We had a real fun session and he played me some of his new songs." Buffett, known for his tropical rock sound, died at the age of 76 in Sept. 2023 after a four-year battle with skin cancer. - NME, 4/13/24...... In other Beatles-related news, John Lennon's eldest son Julian Lennon has listed his dream French Riviera property for sale. The four-story, five-bedroom home comes with a guide price of $27.6 million (£22 million). Described as a "classic" and a "passion project," the captivating, white-shuttered 18th-century house features a music studio, cinema room, its own chapel, and a Venetian mosaic floor. Musician, photographer and philanthropist Lennon -- the only child of John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia -- has owned the house for the past 25 years. The grounds feature a swimming pool and pool house and a terrace with views across the Mediterranean Sea. - Music-News.com, 4/13/24...... Appearing on ABC's late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Apr. 10, Jon Bon Jovi said although he didn't get a chance to party with Michael Jackson during the two musicians' heyday in the 1980s, he did get to hang out with the next best thing: the King of Pop's beloved pet chimpanzee, Bubbles. Bon Jovi recalled the time he met Jackson in the middle of Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" tour, and he invited the late pop icon to a party with them that night, but things didn't go quite as planned. "He didn't come," Bon Jovi told host Jimmy Kimmel, laughing. "But he sends Bubbles the Chimp as his representative. That was big. Bubbles comes down and wreaks havoc. Bubbles partied like a rock star." To the 62-year-old Bon Jovi's memory, Bubbles spent much of the evening "jumping on the bed, putting on a show." "I don't remember who brought him down, or if he just came down on his own with a cigar... Bubbles showed up, man -- he hung hard. Hotel management threatened to throw us out." Bon Jovi's new interview comes a few weeks ahead of the Apr. 26 release of the documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story on Hulu. The band's 16th studio album, Forever, will arrive just over a month later on June 7. - Billboard, 4/11/24...... Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson has recorded a posthumous duet with the late Glen Campbell, on a version of the latter's song "Strong," which appeared on the latter's 2011 album Ghost on the Canvas. Campbell, known for hits including "Wichita Lineman" and "Rhinestone Cowboy," died in 2017 at the age of 81 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, and toured with the Beach Boys for a short time in the 1960s. Campbell addressed the disease in the original version of "Strong," singing "As I look into these eyes I've known for all these years / I see for the first time in my life fear." On this new version, which can be heard on YouTube, Wilson adds his signature golden harmonies, while also echoing Campbell's longing verses. Speaking about the collaboration, and referencing a song he wrote for Campbell in the 1960s, Wilson has said: "Glen was a great singer and a great guy. Our intention in doing 'Strong' was to echo back to 'Guess I'm Dumb' and the times that Glen and I worked together. It's kinda got that vibe to it and I dig the sound of it." The song takes on added poignancy in the light of the news in February that Wilson himself has been diagnosed with dementia. Glen Campbell Duets - Ghost on the Canvas Sessions drops on Apr. 19, and a long-lost country music themed album from Wilson, Cows in the Pasture, has finally been scheduled for a release sometime in 2025. - New Musical Express, 4/14/24...... Original AC/DC frontman Dave Evans has claimed that he was the legendary Aussie headbangers' "best" singer in a new interview with Jos Luis Mata Sanchez's YouTube podcast. Evans, who co-founded AC/DC in 1973 alongside brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, drummer Colin Burgess and bassist Larry Van Kriedt, provided lead vocals on AC/DC's first official single 'Can I Sit Next To You, Girl' and it's B-side 'Rocking in the Parlour'. In 1974, Evans was replaced by Bon Scott, who sang lead vocals until his untimely death in 1980. The late singer was then replaced by Brian Johnson, who has fronted the band ever since. Asked by Sanchez who the best AC/DC singer was, Evans said: "Well, first, Dave Evans is the best, of course. That's me, okay? Of course. And most of my fans will tell you exactly that, too," and added that his fans called him "maestro." He also explained that the comparison between Scott and Johnson shouldn't happen as the two singers have such different vocal styles. "If you're an AC/DC fan, you must embrace the whole band, because first of all, there was the five founding members, and I'm one of 'em," he said. "And if you're biased against one or the other, then you're not really an AC/DC fan. If you're a Bon Scott AC/DC fan or a Brian Johnson AC/DC fan, you're a fan of part of the band." - NME, 4/8/24...... O.J. Simpson, the legendary college and NFL running back, Hollywood actor, broadcaster and pitchman who was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her acquaintance in 1994, resulting in the televised "trial of the century," died on Apr. 11 of prostrate cancer. He was 76. Born Orenthal James Simpson on July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, Simpson would become one the greatest football players ever, winning a Heisman Trophy and national championship at USC and leading the nation in rushing during his two seasons in 1967 and 68. He also was an All-American both years and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. His amiable personality and good looks made "The Juice" a natural for show business. He guested on late-60s TV series including Dragnet, It Takes a Thief, Medical Center and Ironside and went on to star in commercials for Chevrolet and Hertz -- famously running through airports and leaping over benches for the latter -- before becoming a broadcaster. He was a commentator for ABCs juggernaut Monday Night Football from 1983-85. Simpson continued to guest on popular TV shows into the 1970s before co-starring in the 1974 disaster epic The Towering Inferno opposite such huge screen icons as Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. He went on to appear in an episode of Roots and several films through the 70s, culminating in a star turn as an astronaut in the 1979 movie Capricorn One, which depicted a faked mission to Mars. His most famous screen role came in 1988 when he was cast opposite Leslie Nielsen in the comedy gem The Naked Gun. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman outside her condo in West L.A.'s Brentwood area on June 12, 1994. That led to the infamous televised slow-speed pursuit that captivated the nation and much of the world five days after the killings. Coming just 21/2 years after the Rodney King riots, Simpson's televised trial mesmerized the country, with its overtones of race, celebrity, wealth, spousal abuse and brutal violence. It became a cultural touchstone of the 1990s that ruminates today. Later in 1996, the families of victims Brown Simpson and Goldman filed a wrongful-death civil suit again Simpson. After a seven-week trial, the jury found Simpson liable and awarded the plaintiffs $33.5 million in damages, however the families would fail to recover most of that judgment. All the time, Simpson proclaimed that he was searching for and would hunt down the "real killer or killers." Simpson's family issued a statement saying Simpson was "surrounded by his children and grandchildren" when he passed and asked the public to "please respect their wishes for privacy and grace." - Deadline.com, 4/11/24...... Longtime PBS newscast host Robert MacNeil died on Apr. 12 of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He was 93. The veteran newsman co-founded and co-hosted the long-running PBS NewsHour and The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with the late Jim Lehrer, with the two solidifying their partnership in 1975 with the 30-minute PBS news program that soon would bear their names. Lehrer died in 2020 at age 85. Unlike other newscasts, The MacNeil/Lehrer Report focused on one story per day, taking a deeper dive beyond the headlines. Their approach and execution would earn them considerable accolades, including News Emmys and a Peabody Award. It was the predecessor to what is now the PBS NewsHour. Born on Jan. 19, 1931, in Montreal and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mr. MacNeil had a brief acting career for the CBC, then he moved to London to become a playwright. While there, he signed on to the new network ITV as a reporter. From there, he landed a job as an editor at Reuters. He joined NBC News in 1960, working as a London-based correspondent. In 1963, he was transferred to the network's Washington bureau, where he covered the Civil Rights Movement and the White House, among other beats. Within five years he was co-anchoring a 30-minute weekend news broadcast with Ray Scherer. After his work at NBC and, briefly, the BBC, he joined PBS in 1971 as a correspondent. Two years later, his national profile increased considerably with the award-winning coverage of the Watergate hearings. After retiring in 1995 from the nightly news program, Mr. MacNeil periodically would return to PBS, most notably hosting the 2007 PBS docuseries America at a Crossroads. He is survived by sons Ian MacNeil, a Tony Award-winning "Billy Elliot: The Musical" theatrical set designer, and Will MacNeil; daughters Cathy MacNeil and Alison MacNeil; and five grandchildren. - Deadline.com, 4/12/24.

As eclipse-mania engulfed North America on Apr. 8 during a rare total eclipse of the sun, sun-and-moon-themed songs by a diverse group of musicians including '70s artists Pink Floyd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bill Withers and the Beatles have seen streaming spikes. Pink Floyd's "Eclipse" was up a whopping 1472% to 541,000 streams, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" jumped 48% to 559,000, the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" rose 58% to 656,000, and Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" was up 87% to 772,000. But the mother of all eclipse jams -- as during the 2017 US eclipse -- proved once again to be Bonnie Tyler's 1983 No. 1 smash "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which was not only up 652% to nearly 1.3 million streams on Apr. 8, but also sold nearly 4,000 digital copies on the day, an increase of 3,992%. Seattle's Heart were in New York to perform Tyler's hit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.. The performance was captured from the rooftop at 30 Rockefeller Center when the eclipse was closest to NYC at 3:25 PM EDT. Host Jimmy Fallon, flanked by the Wilson sisters, wore the appropriate shades and a throwback public school uniform from the official music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and their performance can be viewed on YouTube. The eclipse wasn't the only freak natural phenomenon that boosted streams -- plenty of Northeasterners were affected by the 4.8 magnitude earthquake on Apr. 5, causing them to process their feelings via streams of Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move" (up 25% from the previous Friday to 65,000), and R.E.M.'s end-times classic "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" (up 66% to 100,000). - Billboard, 4/10/24...... Rush fans are now able to discover the origins of the famous Canadian rock band in a fun way with Orbit: Rush, a new vibrant, graphic novel-style comic book written by Todd Matthy with illustrations by Noumier Tawilah. Released on Apr. 10 and already No. 1 on the Amazon.com biography/history graphic novels list, Orbit: Rush's 26 pages allows fans to go back to the beginning when the rockers initially started the band and see their rise to fame through an interactive book that'll leave fans with a deeper understanding of just how the group -- and their iconic songs -- were created. Matthy has previously authored graphic novels on the likes of Foo Fighters and Black Sabbath, and will release another on about Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath in July. - Billboard, 4/10/24...... On Apr. 10 Aerosmith took to Instagram to unveil a slew of new rescheduled dates for the fall and winter of 2024. After taking an unexpected break from the "Peace Out" farewell tour due to frontman Steven Tyler's vocal cord injury in 2023, the Boston-based rockers will reunite on Sept. 20 in Pittsburgh, Penn., after which they'll travel through cities across the US and Canada before wrapping with a Feb. 26 show in Buffalo, N.Y. "All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled shows -- you'll receive more info via email," reads the announcement. "Tickets for the rescheduled dates & newly added shows go on sale Fri 4/12 @ 10AM local at aerosmith.com." The news comes more than six months after the band announced that the remainder of the previously scheduled "Peace Out" shows were to be postponed indefinitely due to Tyler's injury, which the band had discovered was "more serious than initially thought." Joining Aerosmith on select dates of the updated trek will be The Black Crowes and Teddy Swims. - Billboard, 4/10/24...... A new book featuring unreleased interviews with The Beatles, All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words, is currently at the top of Amazon.com's bestsellers charts, where it sat for many weeks before being released. Written by longtime Beatles biographers Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, All You Need Is Love was officially released on Apr. 9. Beatles fans can expect to learn more previously unknown details about the band's history as well as why they broke up, hearing from each band member's point of view as well as from their closest confidants, such as Yoko Ono, their families, friends and business associates. Juicy tidbits include a claim that Ono once instructed her husband John Lennon on how to take heroin, and a Mick Jagger encounter with Lennon that made the Rolling Stones frontman feel "uncomfortable." Brown and Gaines previously collaborated together back in 1983 when they co-authored the bestselling book The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles, which detailed the rise of the band and their oftentimes complicated relationships with one another. - Billboard, 4/9/24...... Elton John's longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin is set to share his tales of collaborating with the Rocket man at a charity event called "The Other Songs Live," set for May 20 at the London Palladium. "The Other Songs Live celebrates the most distinguished songwriters, offering audiences an intimate, 'backstage' experience -- the event is a combination of performances, interviews, and storytelling throughout the evening," according to a press release. Money raised on the night, which will also feature Tom Odell, Gabriels, Celeste, KAMILLE and many more, will go to The BRIT School, The Ivors Academy Trust, and Nordoff and Robbins. This year's Ivors nominees will be announced on April 23, with the winners set to be revealed at The Ivors with Amazon Music at Grosvenor House in London on May 23, and tickets are available now via TheOtherSongs.com. - Music-News.com, 4/10/24...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr is set to share "February Sky," the first single from his forthcoming EP, Crooked Boy, on Apr. 12. Ringo penned the song -- along with the EP's other three tracks -- with renowned songwriter and producer Linda Perry, who has worked with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Pink and Adele. The other songs are: "Gonna Need Someone," "Adeline" and the title track. "Linda made me a great EP -- she produced it in her studio and then sent me the tracks and I added the drumming and my vocals," Starr said, adding "February Sky is great -- very moody -- but since Linda wrote these specifically for me -- it of course has to have a positive peace and love element." The EP -- Ringo's fourth consecutive in a row -- will be released on a limited-edition marble vinyl on Record Store Day, Apr. 20, 2024. The following Friday, Apr. 26, it will be released digitally. Black vinyl and CD versions will hit stores on May 31. Meanwhile, Ringo and his All Starr Band are hitting the road this spring for 12 shows, beginning May 23 with six dates at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas through June 2, then a June 9 date at Hildago's State Farm Arena. Meanwhile, Ringo's son Zak Starkey has teased a new star-studded charity album with his dad alongside the likes of Elton John, Slash and Iggy Pop. Zak, who is currently the drummer for The Who, shared the details in a post on Instagram earlier in April, writing "Duff [McKagan] and I went in a local studio and cut bass for a cover of T-Rex's 'Children Of The Revolution'. My dad played drums in LA (while I fudged the bass) then in Rio, Duff cut bass. A couple of weeks after the tour we cut guitars in NYC with Slash -- sent the track with sshh guide vocal to Elton who played amazing piano." He went on to reveal that the track was currently being mixed, saying the final record would be auctioned off for the Teenage Cancer Trust -- of which The Who's Roger Daltrey is an Honorary Patron. In other Beatles-related news, a Beatles memorabilia collection worth up to $3,000,000 is currently up for auction on the website GottaHaveRockandRoll.com Some highlights include the quartet's signed artwork of "Peace to Monterey" with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club'' handwritten lyrics, which is estimated to be worth $2 million. The auction features two sessions, on Apr. 12 and Apr. 13. - Music-News.com, 4/10/24...... Bruce Springsteen invited his old pal Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave), onstage at his Apr. 7 concert at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles to jam on "American Skin (41 Shots)" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Besides marking the first time these songs were performed during the 2024 tour, April 7 was also the first time that they have been played live since 2017 and 2016, respectively. Springsteen and his E Street Band kicked off the night with "Open All Night," which marked the first time the track was performed on this current tour, as well as the first time it's been played live since 2014. During the same show, he also performed "Sherry Darling" for the first time during the current tour. Meanwhile, the long rumored Springsteen biopic has now been made official -- 20th Century Studios and Disney announced on Apr. 8 that they will produce and distribute the upcoming Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, which chronicles the making of the rocker's 1982 album, Nebraska. The Bear star Jeremy Allen White is reportedly in talks to portray the Boss in the film. The biopic is based on Warren Zanes' 2023 book, Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, and will feature involvement from Springsteen himself as well as his manager Jon Landau. Per a press release, Scott Cooper will direct the film, while Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson will produce alongside Cooper, Zanes and Scott Stuber. Shooting on the film is set to begin in the fall. - NME/Billboard, 4/9/24...... Speaking of rock biopics, the recent Bob Marley movie One Love has just passed the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman to become the fifth highest-grossing music biopic of all time. One Love, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as reggae legend Marley, grossed $607,000 in its eighth week at the box office, allowing it to jump ahead of Rocketman on the all-time list, according to boxofficemojo.com. One Love's domestic gross so far is $96.6 million, with Rocketman racking up $96.4 million in ticket sales during its run in 2019. Ahead of One Love on the all-time list are Bohemian Rhapsody ($216.4 million), Straight OUtta Compton ($161.2 million), Elvis ($151 million), and Walk the Line ($119.5 million). - Billboard, 4/8/24...... The English rock band The Libertines have revealed that they've bought the Paris bathtub that late The Doors frontman Jim Morrison died in for their Margate, England hotel, The Albion Rooms. During a new interview with Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music 1, The Libertines' Pete Doherty and Carl Bart talked about achieving their "dream" of opening their own Libertines hotel and studio space in 2020. "We've also got the bathtub that Jim Morrison died in, which we're going to be putting in one of the rooms," Doherty explained at one point in the chat. Morrison, aged 27, was found dead in the bathtub of the Paris apartment he was renting in 1971, with the official cause of death being ruled as heart failure. Due to French law, however, no autopsy was carried out as no foul play was suspected at the time. Doherty continued: "There's a fellow who my wife's cousin knows, and his cousin was basically the landlord. And he's not interested in music, and even less interested in music mythology, and so he's just been going on about this bathtub which people have been trying to buy off him. He doesn't want it. He thinks it's morbid to make money off it. So I said, 'Well, we'll take it for the hotel'." The Libertines released their fourth album, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, on Apr. 5, marking their first full-length record in almost a decade. It is currently on course to hit No. 1 in the UK. - NME, 4/9/24...... ABBA released a new statement on Apr. 6 marking the historic 50th anniversary of their Eurovision song contest win with their 1974 hit "Waterloo." "It's slightly dizzying and deeply humbling to think that millions of you who saw us for the first time in the Eurovision final 1974 have passed our music on not only to one generation, but to several," the band wrote. "We see evidence of that every time one of us visits ABBA Voyage in London and it's because of this we can celebrate the 50th Anniversary of that event in the knowledge that our songs still resonate around the world," they added. To further mark the occasion, ABBA's Benny Andersson has recorded a short piano piece called the "Piano Moment" that will be experienced as if he were at the competition and playing live. In London, Berlin, Warsaw, and Stockholm, several different renditions of the piano piece will be linked together simultaneously to play the piece every hour on the anniversary. In England, the piano will be placed at Waterloo Station railway in London -- also named after the 1815 battle that dealt defeat to the French leader Napoleon -- where a choir belted out a rendition for commuters on Apr. 6. In the English coastal town of Brighton the same day, where the 1974 competition was held, fans were staging a flashmob dance and silent ABBA disco to mark the anniversary. ABBA's Eurovision victory turned the quartet into a pop juggernaut, by far the most successful band to win the pan-continental music contest, which will hold its 68th edition in May in ABBA's home country, Sweden. The Eurovision final will take place May 11 in Malm, after Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 competition with "Tattoo." The band have also released of a 50th-anniversary reissue of their iconic album Waterloo in celebration of the milestone. It was also recently reported the Swedish icons are set to take their acclaimed Voyage hologram show to Las Vegas to the tune of millions of dollars. - NME, 4/6/24...... Cher's son Elijah Blue Allman is fighting back in his conservatorship battle with his famous mother. Elijah Blue filed an objection to Cher's request for a temporary conservatorship, according to court documents obtained by People magazine on Apr. 9. "My mother's petition raises dual concerns that I suffer from some mental illness and that I live hand-to-mouth using my trust distributions to buy drugs and place myself in mortal danger," Allman said in the filing. "As I have mentioned in previous pleadings, I have struggled with addiction, but I am not mentally ill." He admitted that he has been inclined to engage in self-destructive behaviours, but states he wants to solve his own problems. "The only person who can save me from my demons is me," he insisted, "and I'm doing just that." He further argued that he has taken steps by retaining counsel and an accounting firm to assist him in managing his finances. He is the son of Cher and her second husband, musician Gregg Allman. - Music-News.com, 4/9/24...... The Isley Brothers' master guitarist and vocalist Ernie Isley was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Guitar Center Music Foundation on Apr. 4 during the foundation's second annual benefit concert and fundraiser at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. "It's such an honor to be a part of this because Ernie's influence has been truly unrecognized for a long time," said award presenter and fellow guitarist-songwriter Vernon Reid, founder of the rock band Living Colour. He added in part, "It's so long overdue that it's ridiculous. So this is a measure of justice as well. As a kid, I used to get guitar magazines and I'd see Duane Allman on a cover. I'd see Dicky Betts on a cover. Or I'd see Rory Gallagher, who I love, on a cover. But the one person I didn't see on those magazines was the person who had the most influence on me. And that's Mr. Ernie Isley." Video tributes from a host of artists and musicians also were presented, among them: Nile Rodgers, Chaka Khan, Narada Michael Walden, Sheryl Crow and Carlos Santana. Referencing his Isley Brothers siblings -- O'Kelly Jr., Rudolph, Ronald, Vernon and Marvin Isley -- Ernie remarked in part as he accepted the award, "We've been blessed with longevity and the music. This is a highly distinguished honor and privilege. I really don't have the words to describe it. Just thanks." Proceeds from The Guitar Center Music Foundation's annual fundraiser go toward music education and music therapy. - Billboard, 4/6/24...... Veteran Australian concert promoter Garry Van Egmond, who produced blockbuster tours for AC/DC, Dire Straits and many others, died on Apr. 6 following complications of recent surgery. He was 82. Based in Melbourne, Mr. Van Egmond was AC/DC's promoter of choice for touring Australia and New Zealand, and, in 1986, he helmed Dire Straits' record-smashing Brothers In Arms tour, a juggernaut that shifted more than 900,000 tickets when Australia's population was just 14 million. More than 250,000 tickets for that Dire Straits tour were sold in Sydney alone. With over 50 years' experience in live events, Mr. Van Egmond sold upwards of 35 million tickets across Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Mr. Van Egmond also produced AC/DC tours dating back to 1985, including the 2010 Black Ice trek, which shifted more than 600,000 tickets across 11 Australian dates (and 760,000 tickets across Australia and New Zealand). The rock legends' "Rock or Bust" Australasia leg in 2015 sold in excess of 460,000 tickets across nine stadium dates in seven cities (five in Australia, two in New Zealand). He is survived by his daughter Katie, son Christo and grandchildren Hugo and Saskia. - Billboard, 4/7/24...... Joe Flaherty, a writer and performer on the influential and beloved sketch comedy series SCTV and a series regular on the retro TV series Freaks and Geeks, died on Apr. 1 following a brief illness. He was 82. "After a brief illness, he left us yesterday, and since then, I've been struggling to come to terms with this immense loss," Mr. Flaherty's daughter Gudrun Flaherty said in a statement. "Dad was an extraordinary man, known for his boundless heart and an unwavering passion for movies from the '40s and '50s.... In these last few months, as he faced his health challenges, we had the precious opportunity to watch many of those classic movies together -- moments I will forever hold dear." Born Joseph O'Flaherty in Pittsburgh on June 21, 1941 -- he eventually dropped the O' because the name was already taken by another Actors' Equity Association member -- he began his comedy career at The Second City in Chicago, and appeared on the National Lampoon Radio Hour from 1973-74. He moved to Toronto to help launch a Second City troupe there, and in 1976 became a founding cast member of the Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV that would feature some of the most influential comedians of the era, including himself, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Among Mr. Flaherty's were popular characters were fictional TV station owner-manager Guy Caballero; Sammy Maudlin, a fawning talk show host inspired more than a little by Sammy Davis Jr.; and the station's horror movie host Count Floyd, whose Monster Chiller Horror Theater featured movies so bad -- and frequently very non-horror -- that the host would be forced to unconvincingly stammer, "Oooh, that's scary, kids"; and Big Jim McBob, whose Farm Film Report (with Candy) was a sort of Siskel & Ebert for fans of movie explosions. The segment made a catchphrase of "that blowed up real good." After SCTV stopped production in 1984, Mr. Flaherty appeared in such films as Johnny Dangerously, Innerspace, Who's Harry Crumb, Back To The Future Part II, Stuart Saves His Family and Happy Gilmore. But he would find his second signature role as an alternately angry and befuddled dad in 1999 on the short-lived cult favorite Freaks and Geeks, the Paul Feig-Judd Apatow coming-of-age drama about high school students in 1980s Detroit. Like SCTV, the series launched the careers of numerous actors, including Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley (who played Mr. Flaherty's kids), James Franco, Seth Rogan, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps. In March, Mr. Flaherty's former improv group Second City organized a fundraiser to help support the actor during his illness, with his former SCTV co-star Martin Short writing in part: "We are writing to our friends because we believe SCTV meant something to you, and that would not be the case if it were not for Joe Flaherty. He was a mentor, a director, and an inspiring improviser who gave us many of the tools we are still using in the careers he helped kickstart." In addition to his daughter, survivors include son Gabriel and brother (and SCTV writer) Paul Flaherty. - Deadline.com, 4/2/24.