Posted by Administrator on November 28th, 2023
More details about the mysterious restraining order by Daryl Hall against his longtime former musical partner John Oates have been revealed. Many of the details of the dispute were kept under seal when first reported on Nov. 17, however more info obtained by the AP reveals that Hall & Oates have a joint venture and Oates intended to sell his share to a company called Primary Wave. Hall contended that the sale of Oates' share would violate the business terms the duo had agreed upon. In response, a judge temporarily blocked the sale and granted the temporary restraining order on Nov. 16. Legal proceedings and a previously initiated arbitration are still continuing, and the case will be taken up at a court hearing in Nashville Chancery Court on Nov. 30. Primary Wave has previously owned "significant interest" in Hall & Oates' catalogue for more than 15 years. Hall apparently alluded to his own disappointment in a 2021 interview: "Oh, in the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn't get the money," he said. In the same interview, he also told artists to retain their publishing rights: "all you have is that." On Nov. 23, Hall performed a string of Hall & Oates hits during a concert in Japan at Tokyo's Garden Theater despite his ongoing legal battle with Oates. In 2022, Hall described being in a duo as "annoying" to the Los Angeles Times, and told podcaster Bill Maher that "You think John Oates is my partner? He's my business partner. He's not my creative partner." - New Musical Express, 11/26/23...... 
Dolly Parton's new star-studded rock-themed album Rockstar has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart, giving the Country music queen her biggest sales week in the modern era. Rockstar bowed with 118,500 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 23, according to Luminate. Of Rockstar's first-week sales of 118,500, physical sales comprise a little more than 96,000 (78,000 on CD, 18,000 on vinyl and a negligible sum on cassette) and download album sales comprise a little over 22,000. The album has also blasted in atop Billboard's Top Country Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums charts, dated Dec. 2. The legend adds her ninth No. 1 on the former and her first on the latter. The LP was promoted as Parton's first rock album, and its recording was sparked by her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. The artist has primarily released country music in her nearly 60-year career, through has taken detours (with albums and/or songs) into such genres as Americana/folk, bluegrass, children's music, Christian, dance/electronic and pop. The album's first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across a variety of editions and formats, in addition to some non-traditional music retailers including Cracker Barrel, Dollar General and HSN. The album's CD edition was available in four editions -- a standard version and three variants, each with alternative cover art: for HSN, with three bonus tracks; a Dallas Cowboys version, and a Tennessee Volunteers edition with a bonus track. The latter two were tied to a pair of high-profile live TV performances from Parton: during the Georgia Bulldogs vs. Tennessee Volunteers football game on Nov. 19, and during halftime of the Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys football game on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23). Dolly dazzled the crowd during the latter event by appearing in a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform. "Hello, Texas! Dolly does Dallas. How do you like my outfit?" Parton announced to the roaring crowd at Arlington's AT&T Stadium. "Hey, Cowboys and Commanders, stop fightin' long enough to sing along!" Her Thanksgiving halftime show can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 11/27/23...... In a new interview with the UK edition of Rolling Stone magazine, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he may never perform live again after a long string of medical procedures and surgeries. Osbourne said that though he hopes to return to the stage again one day, he might have to "accept the fact" that he might never get the chance to do so. "I'm taking it one day at a time, and if I can perform again, I will," he said. "But it's been like saying farewell to the best relationship of my life. At the start of my illness, when I stopped touring, I was really pissed off with myself, the doctors, and the world. But as time has gone on, I've just gone, 'Well, maybe I've just got to accept that fact.'" He continued: "I'm not going to get up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy looking for sympathy. What's the f---ing point in that? I'm not going up there in a f---ing wheelchair. I've seen Phil Collins perform recently, and he's got virtually the same problems as me. He gets up there in a wheelchair! But I couldn't do that." Ozzy concluded: "If I can't continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, 'Hi guys, thanks so much for my life.' That's what I'm working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I'll die a happy man." In Sept. 2023, the former Black Sabbath frontman underwent what he said would be his "final surgery" after he had suffered a fall in 2019, which dislodged metal rods that were put into his body after a quad bike crash in 2003. Meanwhile, Osbourne recently told the UK paper The Sun that he has gone back to smoking weed as he fears he has only 10 years to live. The 74-year-old musician, who is afflicted with Parkinson's and pain from a string of surgeries, revealed his wife Sharon Osbourne recently told him off for puffing in a joint but he told her he does not think he has long left so it didn't matter. "I don't fear dying, but I don't want to have a long, painful and miserable existence. I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to Switzerland and get it done quickly," he said. "I saw my father die of cancer. I said to Sharon that I'd smoked a joint recently and she said, 'What are you doing that for? It'll kill you!' I said, 'How long do you want me to live for? At best, I've got 10 years left and, when you're older, time picks up speed.'" - NME/Music-News.com, 11/27/23...... 
Wowing the crowd during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Nov. 23 was Cher, who turned the parade route into a dance club, performing on a silver stage flanked by dancers dressed like discofied toy soldiers. A troupe of silver-clad dancers also surrounded the stage and carried giant red hearts out for the grande finale. Cher performed "DJ Play a Christmas Song" from her brand new Christmas album, a yuletide club-banger that recalls one of the diva's biggest hits, 1998's "Believe," with its vocoder-assisted vocals and insistent beat. The holiday tune debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart in October -- Cher's highest-peaking song on the chart -- while its parent album, Christmas, debuted atop Billboard's Top Holiday Albums earlier in November. Fan shot footage of the performance can be viewed on X/Twitter. Meanwhile, Cher opened up about her long-anticipated memoir during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Cher said she is now working on it again after "totally chickening out" on the endeavour in the past, and she found the process more challenging than anticipated. "I just totally chickened out," the singer told host Jimmy Fallon. "I didn't put in some things that needed to be put in. And they're not comfortable, but they need to be put in so I have to go back and man up." She continued: "I've lived too long and done too much and so it's like it should be the encyclopaedia." She then joked with the audience: "Not that you guys know what that is." Cher's interview can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard/NME, 11/23/23...... David Bowie's handwritten lyric sheets for his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tracks "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City" are estimated to potentially fetch up to £100,000 at auction when they go under the hammer during an Omega Auctions sale on Nov. 28. According to the letter of provenance, the page is from the final recording sessions of the album. Bowie allegedly gave the original owner the lyric sheets at Trident Studio, alongside some other pages of original lyrics, some of which have not survived. The letter of provenance also said the sheet was purchased by the current owner in the early 1980s, and loaned to the V&A in 2013 for an exhibition. - NME, 11/26/23...... One of Paul McCartney's iconic Hofner bass guitars from the 1960's that the former Beatle gifted to a music executive in the 1990's is up for auction at GottaHaveRockandRoll.com. A photograph accompanying this guitar shows McCartney playing the bass with a clear photo-match to the signature on the body of the guitar. The music legend has signed the body of the guitar, "Paul McCartney waz here." The gem can be viewed at GottaHaveRockandRoll.com. - Music-News.com, 11/27/23...... Meanwhile, it has been revealed that McCartney and Elton John are set to appear in the upcoming sequel to the classic 1984 "mockumentary" comedy This Is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner, who directed the original film starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, confirmed various guest stars in the sequel during an appearance on the UK-based Leicester Square Theatre Podcast with host Richard Herring. Speaking on the podcast about the sequel, which was announced in May 2022, Reiner said: "We're going to start shooting in the end of February. Everybody's back. Paul McCartney is joining us, and Elton John. And a few other surprises, Garth Brooks." Along with directing the sequel, Reiner is set to reprise his role as filmmaker Marty DiBergi. McKean, Guest and Shearer will all return as the fictional metal band, comprised of David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls respectively. Regarding the plot, the sequel looks set to see DiBergi shoot a second film for the band in a bid for redemption. The Spinal Tap sequel was originally slated to be released in March 2024 to coincide with the original film's 40th anniversary. With filming set to begin in February, however, it's unclear when the sequel will be released. - NME, 11/27/23...... In other Beatles-related news, the Fab Four's "Red" and "Blue" compilation albums have re-entered Billboard's Top Album Sales chart (dated Nov. 25) at Nos. 6 and 5, respectively, following their expanded reissue on Nov. 10. The titles sold 22,000 and 24,000 in the week ending Nov. 16 in the U.S., according to Luminate. Each told sold less than 500 copies in the previous week. For both titles, it is their largest sales week since the week ending Dec. 24, 1994, when they sold 37,000 and 40,000, respectively. Upon their original release in 1973, the 1962-1966 album contained 26 songs, while 1967-1970 held 28 tunes. For the 2023 reissue, 21 songs were added to the two albums -- 12 songs on 1962-1966 and nine on 1967-1970. The latter's additional cuts include the recently released new single "Now and Then," which debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 - marking the Fab Four's 35th top 10-charting hit. - Billboard, 11/22/23...... 
Billy Joel recently told People magazine that he scored "cool dad points" after taking his daughters to a Taylor Swift concert in Tampa, Fla., back on March 15. "Oh, she's great. She's really very good," Joel told the magazine during his exhibit preview at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, which opened on Nov. 24 at the Stony Brook Village Center and features a Billy Joel exhibit, titled "My Life -- A Piano Man's Journey," in his honor. "We're going to probably go see her again." After Swift's concert, Joel took to Instagram to share a gallery of photos that included his wife, Alexis Roderick, and their two daughters, Della Rose, 8, and Remy Anne, 6. The Joel exhibit's designers said that approximately half of the exhibit's memorabilia came from Joel and the rest from fans when they learned it was planned. "It's a little overwhelming," Joel told the crowd. "Have you ever found yourself surrounded by you? It's kind of a nightmare," before concluding, "I guess I've lived." Joel added that he still plans on performing live after his the last show of his residency at Madison Square Garden ends in July 2024. "I'm not leaving [touring]. We'll still do the work -- we're just not going to keep working in the same place. We're going to different places." - Billboard, 11/25/23...... On Nov. 24 Neil Young shared a video of himself performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" on an electric guitar, urging viewers to "Stand For Peace." The track was shared for Thanksgiving 2023 and sees the Canadian-American songwriter share a Jimi Hendrix-style version of the US national anthem while standing next to an American flag. The video, which has been shared on YouTube, was directed by Young's wife Daryl Hannah and concludes with "Be Brave" and "Stand For Peace" written on the screen. Despite being titled "Stand For Peace," it does not refer to any ongoing conflict in particular, however it does arrive just days after Young posted a separate statement to social media speaking against the conflict in Israel and Palestine. "For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over in the present and release our terrible connections to the past," Young posted. "As bad as they are, they need to be forgotten so we can be free to move on in life together, all humanity, focused on saving our planet for future generations of all people." - NME, 11/24/23...... A court in Chile has ruled that Roger Waters' upcoming concerts in the country can go ahead, despite attempts to block them over accusations of antisemitism. The Representative Committee of Jewish Entities in Chile had sought to stop Waters' shows at the stadio Monumental in Santiago on Nov. 25 and 26 from taking place, citing what they describe as Waters' "history of incitement to antisemitic hatred." However, as reported by Cooperativa, the bid has been dismissed by Santiago's Court of Appeals, who ruled that "no facts have been mentioned that could constitute a violation of the constitutional guarantees." In response to the attempt to block the concerts, a group of over 60 Chilean artists wrote a letter to the country's Court of Appeals, imploring them to allow the shows to go ahead. Waters, who has repeatedly insisted he is not an antisemite, was recently the subject of a documentary, The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, which was produced by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and collates various incidents of alleged antisemitism perpetrated by the musician. The documentary makers put their findings to Waters but he reportedly did not respond. He has repeatedly denied all accusations of antisemitism and explained that his disdain is towards Israel, not Judaism. He also accused Israel of "abusing the term antisemitism to intimidate people like me into silence." - NME, 11/24/23...... Sir Tom Jones and rising UK singer Becky Hill have been confirmed for the UK's Forest Live 2024 festival in the summer of 2024. The Welsh music legend, 83, will headline High Lodge, Thetford Forest with support from Gabrielle on June 28, while UK chart-topper Hill heads to Delamere Forest on June 13. Rock legend Sting, 72, will top the bill on June 14, and Nile Rodgers and CHIC on June 15 at Delamere. The former is also playing Thetford on June 22. The concerts help raise funds for Forestry England to maintain beautiful natural areas. - Music-News.com, 11/26/23...... 
TV producer Marty Krofft, known for imaginative children's shows such as H.R. Pufnstuf and primetime hits including Donny and Marie in the 1970s, died of kidney failure on Nov. 25 in Los Angeles. He was 86. Mr. Krofft and his brother Sid Krofft were puppeteers who broke into television and ended up getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Along the way, they brought a trippy sensibility to children's TV and brought singing siblings Donny and Marie Osmond and Barbara Mandrell and her sisters to primetime. The Osmonds' clean-cut variety show, featuring television's youngest-ever hosts at the time, became a lasting piece of '70s cultural memorabilia, rebooted as a daytime talk show in the 1990s and a Broadway Christmas show in 2010. The Kroffts followed up with Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, centered on the country music star; it ran from 1980-82. Like Donny and Marie, H.R. Pufnstuf proved to have pop culture staying power. Despite totaling just 17 episodes, the surreal show, featuring an island, a witch, a talking flute, a shipwrecked boy and a redheaded, cowboy boot-wearing dragon, came in 27th in a 2007 TV Guide poll ranking of all-time cult favorites. More than 45 years after the show's 1969 debut, the title character graced an episode of another Krofft brothers success, Mutt & Stuff, which ran for multiple seasons on Nickelodeon. The Canadian-born Krofft brothers first made their mark in television with H.R. Pufnstuf, which spawned the 1970 feature film Pufnstuf. Many more shows for various audiences followed, including Land of the Lost; Electra Woman and Dyna Girl; Pryor's Place, and D.C. Follies, in which puppets gave a satirical take on politics and the news. The pair were honored with a Daytime Emmy for lifetime achievement in 2018. They got their Walk of Fame star two years later. Sid Krofft said on Instagram that he was heartbroken by his younger brother's death, telling fans, "All of you meant the world to him." "I am so saddened by the passing of my dear friend, Marty Krofft," Donny Osmond posted in tribute to Mr. Krofft on Nov. 26. "His fingerprint is on generations of entertainment and the impact he's had in connecting people around the world is an astonishing legacy he leaves behind. Our best wishes and love go out to his family and loved ones. As Marie and I sang at the end of every show, 'May God keep you in His tender care, 'till He brings us together again.'" - AP, 11/26/23...... 
'70s R&B star Jean Knight, best known for her funk hits "Mr. Big Stuff" and "Think It Over," died of natural causes on Nov. 22 in New Orleans. She was 80. Born Jean Caliste in New Orleans on Jan. 26, 1943, Ms. Knight began singing around town after graduating from high school and recorded her first single, a cover of Jackie Wilson's "Stop Doggin' Me Around" in 1965, which got her a recording contract with the Jet Star/Tribe record label. Her climb to fame began when she met producer Wardell Quezerque; he took her to Jackson, Miss., where she recorded "Mr. Big Stuff," which became her first single and the title track from her debut studio album on Stax Records. The song earned a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocal performance, and in July 1971, it reached the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it remained for five weeks; the song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following month. The album itself reached a high of No. 60 on the Billboard 200 in Sept. 1971. "Mr. Big Stuff" was used across films and covered many times, including in the 2005 movie Kinky Boots performed by soul singer Lyn Collins, and the 1994 Disney sports comedy-drama D2: The Mighty Ducks sung by Martha Wash. "She was the first person we appointed on the board when we took it over and we had a long relationship with her and she was just fabulous," said her friend and former Louisiana Music Commission director Bernie Cyrus. "She was always willing to get involved with good causes and help out." He continued: "'Mr. Big Stuff' -- it was just so universal. People remember it. And look, so many people covered it. But nobody did it like Jean." - Music-News.com, 11/27/23.
On Nov. 21, the Rolling Stones announced the dates for an ambitious 16-date 2024 North American tour in support of their Grammy-nominated new album, Hackney Diamonds. The core trio of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood will be sponsored by the AARP and kick off on Apr. 28 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Tex. Other cities on the itinerary include New Orleans (5/2), Las Vegas (5/11), Seattle (5/15), Atlanta (6/7), Philadelphia (6/11), Denver (6/20), Chicago (6/27) and Los Angeles (7/10) before wrapping at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on July 17. Tickets will go on sale Dec. 1. - Billboard, 11/21/23...... 
Axios.com reporter Nate Rau tweeted on Nov. 17 that Daryl Hall has been granted a restraining order against his former music partner John Oates in the midst of a confidential legal battle. "Members of the beloved pop rock duo Hall & Oates are locked in mysterious litigation," Rau posted. "Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit yesterday against John Oates in Nashville Chancery Court. At least for now, all of the filings in the litigation are under seal. Based on captions for the filings in the chancery clerk's system, a business trust is at the center of the dispute." Although very little information about the lawsuit is publicly available due to it being sealed, UltimateClassicRock.com is reporting that Hall "sued in his official capacity as trustee of the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust, naming Oates and fellow co-trustees Aimee Oates and Richard Flynn from the John W. Oates TISA Trust as defendants. Summons were issued on November 20, after the proceedings were placed under seal on November 16." Per Variety, the Nashville Chancery Court confirmed the lawsuit but did not comment further due to the lawsuit being sealed. Neither Hall or Oates have spoken about the lawsuit or shared any statement in regards to it. The platinum-selling duo have always had a weird relationship. In 1985, Rolling Stone described their relationship as "strange" with journalist Lynn Hirschberg writing that the pair "are a cross between business partners and brothers... Hall doesn't seem to really like Oates, and Oates seems removed, even distant, from the entire Hall and Oates organization." - NME, 11/22/23...... Rod Stewart, who is preparing to release a new album about his "latest passion" -- swing music -- says if his new swing collaboration with Jools Holland proves popular enough, he is looking to head back to Las Vegas for a special run of shows. "If I go back to Vegas -- and I'd like to -- if the album's a big success, maybe I could do a swing show, big band stuff," the 78-year-old Sir Rod told the Daily Star's Wired column. Stewart added he finds live performing "highly addictive," although he's not the biggest fan of "sitting in hotel rooms" waiting for the next gig. "That two hours on stage is the most potent drug you can imagine. It's highly addictive. It's all the bloody in between time I don't like, sitting in hotel rooms. Although when I am sat around like that, I build my model railroad so that I'm not idle." Indeed, there was a time where his model railway hobby almost took over his future as a legendary musician. He recalled: "My dad was the first person who bought me a model railroad but also the first to buy me a guitar instead of a part for my train set. When I was young I said, 'Dad, I don't want a guitar -- I want that signal." After a date at The Colusseum at Caesars Palace in Vegas on Nov. 23, Stewart will return to the venue in 2024 for three dates in July and four dates in August. In February, he has gigs set for Thackerville, Okla., Gary, Ind., Hollywood, Fla., Tampa, Fla. and Jacksonville, Fla. - Music-News.com, 11/21/23...... Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson joined the alternative band Tool on stage in Toronto on Nov. 20 for a surprise performance. As Tool wrapped up their North American headline tou two shows in Toronto earlier in the week, the band invited Lifeson, who grew up in the city, to the stage for a rendition of their song "Jambi." The performance also included Rush's "A Passage To Bangkok"' intro and guitar solo from their 1976 album 2112. Footage of the surprise performance has been shared on YouTube. - NME, 11/22/23...... 
Among the music gems being released on Record Store Day on Black Friday (Nov. 24) is WAR's The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition. The original album, which was the top-selling album of 1973, has been remastered and repackaged as a deluxe, five-LP boxed set curated by founding WAR member/lead singer Lonnie Jordan, the band's longtime producer Jerry Goldstein, and Jeremy Levine. Limited to only 4000 copies, the set is comprised of the original 1972 album, featuring the gold-certified hits "The World Is a Ghetto" and "The Cisco Kid," six previously unreleased session bonus tracks and unreleased "the making of" recordings that reveal the origins of the album's six tracks. The original album (which topped the Billboard Hot 200 and R&B album charts) and bonus tracks are pressed on two gold-vinyl LPs; the making of tracks on three black-vinyl LPs. "War Is Coming," one of the bonus tracks, will also be available digitally on Black Friday. The entire project is being released through Rhino and Avenue Records/Far Out Productions. "[WAR] practically invented their own genre while addressing race, class issues and more," music reporter Adam Weisller said during a recent symposium with Jordan and Goldstein at the Grammy Museum. "They had people on their feet every night." Describing the Long Beach, Calif.-based WAR as a "universal street band," Jordan noted that the group "refused to be political... we just wanted to let people know what was going on outside of their box. We were their internet then. We were waging war against war, but we didn't shoot bullets. We shot rhythms and harmonies." Currently, three of WAR's surviving original core members -- Howard E. Scott, Lee Oskar and Harold Brown -- perform as the Lowrider Band. Lonnie Jordan continues to perform under the WAR moniker. - Billboard, 11/21/23...... Pink Floyd's David Gilmour has collaborated with the English electronic music group The Orb on a new project that lets fans reimagine their own versions of Metallic Spheres in Colour, a newly released remix album from The Orb and Gilmour, based on their 2010 ambient album Metallic Spheres. The new remixing tool is by generative AI company Vermillio, which allows fans to type out how the music makes them feel and create a unique album cover based on their feelings. Plus, it can also generate a personalized version of one of the album tracks based on a few parameters: the unique album cover, mood, and tempo. "Fans in today's world are shifting from just consumption to creation. They want to co-create," says Dan Neely, co-founder and CEO of Vermillio, which can be achieved through creating remixes, covers, TikTok videos, or using generative AI. "The good news is ambient music has been a place where co-creation has existed for a while -- DJs have always looked to music like this. It's a good collaboration to start with." For now, these custom tracks based are limited to 30-second snippets that can be shared on Vermillio's website with other fans, but the team is considering giving fans the option to purchase a download of the full track in the future. - Billboard, 11/21/23...... 
Neil Young says he's swearing off X/Twitter as he takes a firm stand against the popular social media platform's current owner, Elon Musk, after Musk recently urged Palestinian and Jewish people to band together in light of the war between Israel and Hamas. "We are stopping all use of X that we can control," Young wrote in a statement posted to his NeilYoungArchives.com website on Nov. 20. "For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking action against his company." The post featured an image of Musk with the text "Tesla should fly flags of love, not hate" written over the billionaire's face. The statement continued: "For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over in the present and release our terrible connections to the past. As bad as they are, they need to be forgotten so we can be free to move on in life together, all humanity, focused on saving our planet for future generations of all people." The statement comes after the tech mogul approved of a Nov. 17 tweet that accused Jewish people facing antisemitism due to the Israel-Hammas war of furthering the "exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them" and supporting "hordes of minorities" to become immigrants. Musk replied, "You have said the actual truth." Also joining Young in a boycott of X/Twitter is Gene Simmons of KISS. Simmons announced his departure on Nov. 18 by simply sharing on X: "Friends, I've decided to end my X/Twitter posting. From now on find me on: instagram.com/genesimmons, tiktok/@genesimmons and threads.net/genesimmons." - Billboard/NME, 11/20/23...... Speaking of KISS, co-founding vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley posted a message of himself in a hospital bed with an IV to Instagram on Nov. 22 with a caption saying: "Toronto And Ottawa, I've done everything possible to get onstage and be a part of the incredible 2 1/2 hour celebration we planned but this flu has made it impossible. Along with Gene, Tommy and Eric couldn't be more disappointed and send our deepest apologies." The New York shock-rockers were forced to cancel their final ever Toronto show after tanley continued to deal with the flu. That cancellation came after KISS also axed a show scheduled for the previous evening in Ottawa due to Stanley's illness. Refunds for both the Toronto and Ottawa shows will be available and there will be no rescheduling either concerts as KISS plans to end their farewell tour at New York's Madison Square Garden on Dec. 2. - Canoe.com, 11/22/23...... A video clip of legendary British pop singer Cliff Richard has gone viral after the musician recalled passing on an opportunity to meet Elvis Presley due to the King of Rock & Roll's weight gain in the late '70s. Interviewed on the UK daytime TV show This Morning with Alison Hammond, Richard was asked if he'd ever met Elvis, to which he responded by telling the story of his "one chance" to meet the music legend. He recalled a journalist with connections to Presley who wondered if he would like to meet him. However, he chose to put off meeting the rock'n'roll legend because he'd "put on a lot of weight," adding: "I thought, if I'm having a photograph taken with him and it's gonna be hanging on my refrigerator, he's gotta look good." He added: "And I put it off, and of course then he died." Richard then said that anyone should take the chance to meet someone they're a fan of, "even if they've put on weight." One fan posted on social media that the interview, which can be viewed on X/Twitter, was "one of the most awkward, jaw-dropping things I've ever seen on TV." Richards is promoting a new memoir, A Head Full of Music, and new album, Cliff with Strings - My Kinda Life. - NME, 11/21/23...... There is speculation that AC/DC will tour Europe in 2024 after Munich, Germany mayor Dieter Reiter accidentally let slip to a reporter that the Aussie rockers will be performing at the city's Olympic Stadium on June 12, 2024. "I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret," Reiter said after inadvertently leaking the date of the AC/DC concert during a city council meeting. If the show is confirmed by AC/DC and goes ahead next summer, it will mark their first performance in Europe since their slot at Dusseldorf Espirit Arena in June 2016 -- back when Axl Rose was acting as frontman for the band. It will also mark their first show since they made their comeback at the huge Power Trip festival in Indio, California back on October 7. The slot saw the band close out the second of three nights at the rock festival, and featured a massive 24-song set with Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams returning to the line-up. - NME, 11/21/23...... 
Tom Waits is set to join Iggy Pop for a rare UK radio interview, which will span two hours on BBC 6 Music. The discussion will mark one of the first new interviews the iconic American singer-songwriter has taken part in during recent years, and will see him co-host a special show with punk veteran Pop. Taking place on Dec. 3, the show will air on BBC Radio 6 Music between 4pm and 6pm. It will also see the two converse about their time in the music industry, share anecdotes from their personal lives and spin some of the famous tracks that have influenced them over the years. Waits has rarely stepped into the public eye to discuss his music career since he released his last studio album, Bad As Me, back in 2011. Since then he has also celebrated the 50th anniversary of his 1973 debut LP Closing Timebuy sharing a new vinyl reissue. He played one of his last live shows back in 2008, taking place in a tent venue in Dublin named the Rat Cellar. However, in the time since then, he turned his focus towards an acting career, appearing in such films as The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018), the star-studded action film The Book Of Eli (2010) and the 2021 film Licorice Pizza. As for Iggy Pop, the punk icon released his latest studio album Every Loser in early 2023. His 19th full-length studio release, it featured contributions from Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, and Blink 182's Travis Barker, among others. More recently, he joined forces with Trevor Horn to share a gritty cover of the Depeche Mode classic track, "Personal Jesus." - NME, 11/21/23...... Dolly Parton has revealed that she sent a "love note" to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr asking them to contribute to a cover of the Beatles classic "Let It Be" for her new album RockStar. "I just sent them a love note through their managers, and I just said what I was doing. And I said, 'I didn't want to put you on the spot, but I'd love to have you sing with me on my rock album. And if you're interested, call me at this number'," Parton said in an interview with National Public Radio. "And [they] said, yes, we'd love to, and I was very honored and very proud and very humbled by that." A video for Dolly's version of "Let It Be" can be streamed on YouTube. Meanwhile, the Beatles have launched an official Christmas sweater ahead of the festive season through their Apple Corps Ltd. company. It pays homage to the band's iconic Abbey Road album cover, with the Fab Four wearing red Santa hats as they stride across the crossing near Abbey Road Studios in London. As described in a press release, the top is also "set in a winter wonderland surrounded by a snowscape scene and traditional Fair Isle Christmas motifs with The Beatles logo above" and the "subtle and stylish grey knit is finished with red sleeves and hems for a festive touch." UK Christmas sweater dealer Notjust clothing and Earth Merch have teamed up with Apple Corps to launch the new ethically-made jumper to celebrate the release of the Beatles' latest No. 1 hit "Now And Then." Priced at £44.99, the jumper is available now at the Notjust clothing site. In still more Fab Four news, Ringo Starr has dispelled the "terrible rumours" of John Lennon not singing on "Now and Then." Speaking with the AARP, the famous drummer also took a moment to dispel some rumors about the track's creation. "There were terrible rumors that it's not John, it's A.I., whatever bullshit people said," she said. "Paul and I would not have done that. It's a beautiful song and a nice way to finally close that door." "Now and Then" has become the group's first Billboard Top 10 since 1996. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 11/22/23...... One of Eric Clapton's legendary guitars has fetched one of the highest prices for a guitar at auction ever. Slowhand's 1964 Gibson SG Les Paul Standard guitar -- named "The Fool" -- was sold for $1.27 million (£1.03 million) at a sale conducted by Julien's Auctions. The six-string instrument was sold as part of the three-day music auction event "Played, Worn and Torn: Rock N' Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia" at the Hard Rock Café in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 16. Per Guitar World, the custom-painted psychedelic guitar is the same '64 SG that Clapton played when he and his Cream bandmates were creating their second LP, Disraeli Gears. The instrument was painted by the Dutch art collective from whom the SG got its name, and became an influential emblem of the psychedelic era as well as a symbol of the "Summer of Love" in 1967. According to Planet Rock, Clapton gifted the guitar to George Harrison following the disbandment of Cream. Harrison then passed it down to his Apple Records label mate Jackie Lomax. It was also owned by Todd Rundgren in the 70s and 80s who gave it the nickname "Sunny" after Cream's track "Sunshine of Your Love," until he sold it at auction in 2000. The axe was purchased by renowned memorabilia collector Jim Irsay, and a portion of the proceeds of "The Fool" will go towards Kicking The Stigma, The Indianapolis Colts and Irsay Family's mental health awareness initiative. - NME, 11/20/23...... In related news, Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler has announced he's selling off 120 of his guitars, also for good causes. Knopfler's guitars, with estimates ranging from 300 to 500,000, will be sold at Christie's in London on Jan. 31, and the non-profits that will benefit from the sales include the British Red Cross, Tusk and Brave Hearts Of The North East. Knopfler, 74, said: "I'll be sad to see them go, but we've had wonderful times together and I can't play them all." He added: "It's exciting having those guitars that figured so big on that record be in the sale. Each one brings back loads of memories. If you would have asked me 20 years ago I'd have thought, No way! But I'm happy now that they're going to different homes." The axe expected to fetch the most, a whopping 300,000-500,000, is the 1959 vintage Gibson Les Paul Standard which the "Money For Nothing" hitmaker used on tours in 2001 and 2008. - Music-News.com, 11/22/23...... 
R&B legend Gladys Knight has announced she's extending her UK Farewell Tour, due to overwhelming public demand. A second date has been added Southend at the Cliffs Pavilion on July 4 and shows at Eastbourne Congress on July 6, and the Bristol Beacon on July 8. Knight's UK farewell tour already includes dates in Glasgow, Birmingham, London, Swansea, Bournemouth, Nottingham and Southend. The 79-year-old "Empress of Sou" is expected to play all her classics during her tour including standout gem "Midnight Train to Georgia," which was voted one of Rolling Stone's greatest songs of all time. She's also set to play new material from her latest album Where My Heart Belongs. The icon will be joined by guest Mica Miller, 33, one of the UK's most critically acclaimed modern soul stars. Tickets for the recently added shows go on sale on Nov. 24. On Dec. 9, Knight launches an 11-city US tour in Phoenix, wrapping in Lincoln, Neb. on June 8. - Music-News.com, 11/21/23...... Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a true life partner to Pres. Jimmy Carter who helped propel him from rural Georgia to the White House in a single decade and became the most politically active first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, died on Nov. 19 in Plains, Ga. She was 96. The Carter Center in Atlanta announced the politically active former First Lady's death. It had disclosed on May 30 that Mrs. Carter had dementia. "She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones," a statement by the center said at the time. On Nov. 17, the center said she had entered hospice care at home. Jimmy Carter, 99, the longest-living president in American history, has also been in hospice care at their home, but so far he has defied expectations. The Carter Center had announced in February that he was stopping full-scale medical care "after a series of short hospital stays," and his family was preparing for the end. But he has hung on -- and celebrated his most recent birthday on Oct. 1. Although Bess Truman may have lived a bit longer than Rosalynn Carter, Mrs. Carter lived more years after her husband left office, and had a much higher profile. She is scheduled to be buried in Plains on Nov. 29. - The New York Times, 11/19/23.
Sean Connery, the Scottish-born actor who rocketed to fame as James Bond and became one of the franchise's most popular and enduring international stars, died in his sleep while in the Bahamas on Oct. 31. He was 90 years old. Born of Irish ancestry in the slums of Edinburgh on Aug. 25, 1930, Thomas Sean Connery was robbed of an education by poverty, and and by his teens he'd left school and was working as an unskilled laborer. At 17, he was drafted into the Royal Navy, but he was discharged three years later due to a serious case of ulcers. He returned to Edinburgh and worked a variety of jobs, including as a lifeguard. He took up bodybuilding and placed third in the 1950 Mr. Universe competition. After moving to London, Mr. Connery learned of an opening in the chorus of "South Pacific." He took a crash dancing and singing course and, surprisingly, landed the role, in which he stayed for 18 months. He was "hooked," he said, but spent several years paying his dues in small repertory companies in and around London before anyone else became hooked on him .In his early career, his physique was his main asset as he modeled and picked up acting jobs where he could. In 1956, he landed the role of a battered prizefighter in the BBC production of Requiem for a Heavyweight. Mr. Connery was a bodybuilder, model, and milkman before he found fame as an actor, making his movie debut in 1954's Lilacs in the Spring. He went on to appear in a series of British TV roles and films until his big break in the Disney musical Darby O' Gill & the Little People in 1959. Good notices brought him to the attention of the entertainment community, and his first film was No Road Back, a B crime movie in 1956. He seemed doomed to play the hunk to ageing leading ladies, as he did opposite Lana Turner in Another Time, Another Place, or roles that stressed his looks such as Tarzan's Great Adventure in 1959. 
In 1962, Mr. Connery made his debut in the first Bond film, Dr. No. His stature grew with the ever more popular Bond sequels From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball, which arrived over the next four years. Bond gave Mr. Connery a license to earn; he was paid only $30,000 for Dr. No but $400,000 for Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie and was soon getting $750,000 a film. His initial efforts to break out of the Bond mold, however, proved fruitless. Films like A Fine Madness, Shalako and The Molly Maguires were well-intentioned attempts that did nothing to shake Mr. Connery as Bond from the public consciousness. After 1967's You Only Live Twice, he left the Bond franchise, but he was coaxed back for 1971's 
Eddie Van Halen's hometown of Pasadena, Calif., has announced plans to memorialize the late guitar legend, but the City Council hasn't yet decided what form the tribute would take. On Oct. 26, the council directed officials to come up with ideas and report back on how to best remember Van Halen, who died of cancer Oct. 6 at age 65. According to a local paper, one idea could be renaming a street or alley near one of Van Halen's 1970s rehearsal spaces, while building a statue, installing a plaque or rechristening a city building also could be considered. Meanwhile, a memorial has grown outside Eddie and brother Alex Van Halen's boyhood home northeast of Los Angeles, where some fans are lobbying to make the house designated as a historic landmark. The Van Halen family moved to Pasadena after emigrating to the U.S. from the Netherlands in 1962. Eddie and Alex formed Van Halen about a decade later with singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony, who all grew up in the Pasadena area. - AP,...... In other Van Halen-related news, Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen is pushing back on rumours that he's replacing his father as the guitarist in a new incarnation of Van Halen, calling the speculation "a shitty lie." Wolfgang took to social media on Oct. 26 to refute claims being made in a Wolfgang Van Halen Fan Page on Facebook, which were shared to Twitter by user @MetalSludge. The Facebook post claimed that "there is a good strong possibility" that Wolfgang would be swapping his current role as Van Halen's bassist for his late father's position of lead guitarist, with "Van Hagar" era vocalist Sammy Hagar handling vocals and former VH bassist Michael Anthony handling duties on bass. Drummer Alex Van Halen would continue his position as drummer in the imagined lineup. The post claimed that the information came from "the VH camp", with Eddie Van Halen allegedly telling "his son and his brother, I give you my blessing." But Wolfgang says the rumour just isn't true. "This is just a shitty lie attempting to capitalize on these awful times," he tweeted in response to @MetalSludge sharing the post. "Please stop with this. Anyone peddling this shit is not only hurting the fans, but hurting me and my family." - NME, 10/26/20...... In related news, KISS bassist Gene Simmons said that he was "scared to death" one time after getting a lift with Eddie after a Metallica gig in Long Beach in the 1980s. Talking with Dennis Miller on his 
On Oct. 20 Jimmy Page released his new book 
A recently reunited Genesis have begun rehearsals in London for their massive 2021 UK reunion tour. Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks will head out on "The Last Domino? Tour" in April 2021, with dates having been pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. The trio, playing together for the first time since 2017, are set to be joined on the tour by Collins' son Nic Collins on drums, and guitarist/bassist Daryl Stuermer. Genesis recently announced the 19-date UK tour will kick off on Apr. 1 in Glasgow and wrap over three nights at London's O2 arena on Apr. 27, 29 and 30. Meanwhile, Phil Collins has issued a second cease and desist letter to Pres. Donald Trump's re-election campaign over the use of his hit "In the Air Tonight" at Trump rallies. Trump's campaign apparently ignored a previous legal letter over the use of the song, and again blasted the 1981 hit over the speakers at a gathering in Des Moines, Iowa on Oct. 14. At the time, Collins' representatives noted that Trump's aides had already been warned against violating the musician's copyright, and now his lawyers at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP are demanding an assurance it won't happen again, because Collins, 69, says he doesn't support Trump at all. Collins' lawyers state in the letter than their client takes particular offense that the song "was apparently intended as a satirical reference to COVID-19." "That reference was made at a time when Iowa was suffering from an acceleration of COVID-19 infection. Mr. Collins does not condone the apparent trivialization of COVID-19," the missive states. In other Phil Collins news, the singer may have to wait up to three years to have his ex-wife Orianne Cevey evicted from his mansion because of a backlog of trials due to COVID-19. Collins recently sought an injunction to have Cevey and her husband kicked out of his palatial waterfront home in Miami Beach, Fla., but suffered a major setback when Cevey made a counterclaim for $20 million. A county judge decided the explosive case should be heard in circuit court because of the huge sums at stake. It puts Collins' filling at the back of a long line of pending cases with court closures and pandemic restrictions expected to delay trials by a year or longer. Collins -- worth an estimated $300 million -- will now have to choose between paying his ex-wife off for the second time or facing off in court. - NME/WENN/DailyMail.co.uk, 10/27/20...... Music publishers Primary Wave announced on Oct. 23 that they've struck a 10-year strategic partnership with The Four Seasons. The marketing and administration deal is with the band's lead singer Frankie Valli and keyboardist Bob Gaudio, the two surviving members of the band's founding four; which also included bassist Nick Massi, who died of cancer in 2000, and guitarist Tommy DeVito, who died in Sept. 2020 from the coronavirus. Under the agreement, Primary Wave will work Valli and Gaudio to market the band's name and likeness, manage all daily digital marketing activities and administer their iconic catalog, which includes hits like "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," 
Speaking to the UK paper The Guardian, Joni Mitchell says she's "still struggling to walk" following her 2015 brain aneurysm in a rare new interview. "I haven't been writing recently. I haven't been playing my guitar or the piano or anything," said Mitchell. Instead, she's "just concentrating on getting my health back... You know what? I came back from polio, so here I am again, and struggling back." Mitchell was hospitalised in Los Angeles in March 2015, after being found unconscious at her home. Later that year she was said to be "making good progress." Mitchell also described to the paper that the five years since her aneurysm as "inching my way along," adding: "I'm showing slow improvement but moving forward." "Once again I couldn't walk. I had to learn how again. I couldn't talk," she added. "Polio didn't grab me like that, but the aneurysm took away a lot more, really. Took away my speech and my ability to walk. And, you know, I got my speech back quickly, but the walking I'm still struggling with. But I mean, I'm a fighter. I've got Irish blood! So you know, I knew, 'Here I go again, another battle.'" Mitchell is set to release a new archival album, 
Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry is labelling Van Morrison "insane" for his stance on the COVID-19 crisis. While Harry says she thinks Morrison, who has recently slammed safety measures designed to stop the spread of the virus at concerts and other venues, is a "creative genius," but also noted he is "completely mad." "I mean, he has a history of very strange behaviour so it doesn't really surprise me. And after all, everyone's entitled to their own opinion," Harry recently told New Musical Express. "As far as conspiracy goes... huh! If this is a conspiracy, then the biggest f---ing genius in the world has created it! I mean, that is insane. Totally insane!," Harry exclaimed. She then went on to attack Pres. Donald Trump, insisting: "When it comes to our president, white supremacists respect him not necessarily for himself but because he's achieved the presidency. There's a lot of kudos that hangs on the word 'president'... A lot of people fall for him, but this is not a good guy." - Music-News.com, 10/25/20...... Paul McCartney recently told the BBC that his new album 
In a new interview with the Irish Times, Don McLean branded his ex-wife of 30 years Patrisha McLean "the worst person I ever know" despite pleading guilty to domestic violence against his spouse. The 75-year-old 
Country singer/songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, best known for penning the 1971 hit 
In somewhat of an upset, the hit 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody beat out the latest Lady Gaga-starred remake of A Star Is Born for "Best Picture - Drama" at the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 6 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Bohemian Rhapsody actor Rami Malek also won Best Actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury, and during his acceptance speech Malek tipped his hat to the original Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, who were in the audience, for "ensuring authenticity and inclusivity exist in music and in the world and all of us" before honoring Mercury with "Thank you to Freddie Mercury. I love you, you beautiful man, this is because of you, gorgeous." Backstage, Brian May praised Malek and the others involved in the film, saying "We found the right people at the right time, or we wouldn't be standing here." Bohemian Rhapsody's big night at the Golden Globes was just the latest achievement for the movie, which has already grossed nearly $200 million in the U.S. alone, becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic film ever released, and also spawned a hit soundtrack, which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. Meanwhile, the upcoming 
70s teen idol Donny Osmond has released a whopping 61 total albums during his nearly 50 years in show business -- either as a solo artist, with sister Marie Osmond, or as a member of The Osmonds -- and on Jan. 6 he shared a "little secret" as he put it with his fans on Twitter. "I've officially started working on my 62nd album! -- I'll keep you posted throughout the year as I continue creating it, but I have a feeling you're going to love it," he tweeted along with an illustration of himself wailing on a keytar. Osmond says the LP will be a compilation of notable covers, including his take on Michael Jackson's "Ben" and the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road." - Billboard, 1/6/19...... Neil Young shared a tribute to his late ex-wife Pegi Young, who passed away on New Year's Day after a yearlong battle with cancer, on Jan. 5. The post, titled "Such A Woman: Pegi Young 1952-2019," includes lyrics from Young's song "Such A Woman," inspired by Pegi, with lines like "our love will live until the end of all time." Neil and Pegi Young were married for 36 years prior to their divorce in 2014, and they have two children, Ben and Amber. In 1986, they started the Bridge School non-profit to help children with severe physical and speech impairments, inspired by their own experiences trying to find schools for their son Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy. Pegi's own music career began in 1994 -- at the nationally televised Academy Awards ceremony, singing backup for Neil Young on his Oscar-nominated song "Philadelphia." She eventually became a regular backup singer on his tours and sang and played occasional acoustic guitar on some of his albums, including Greendale, Prairie Wind, Chrome Dreams II and more. She also took photographs for Neil's Silver & Gold and for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1999 comeback album Looking Forward. Graham Nash, a longtime friend and musical partner of Neil Young, said "Pegi was a very strong woman in many ways, certainly a lady to be admired." She passed away "surrounded by friends and family in California," according to an official statement, and memorial plans are pending. - Billboard, 1/6/19...... Cher has chimed in on a new viral video by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez which shows the newly elected Democratic congresswoman dancing on a roof during her student days at Boston University. "Know The Feeling @AOC SOMETIMES---JUST GOTTA DANCE, Good Thing You Can, Sponsor a Bill, Put On, & Kick Ass At The Same Time," Cher tweeted on Jan. 5. Ocasio-Cortez's video became a meme in record time, as different songs were paired with the visual continued to pick up steam. Ocasio-Cortez was understandably pleased to see Cher's tweet, posting "The Queen has spoken!" soon afterward. - Billboard, 1/5/19...... 
Bob Seger, who has said he may be retiring from the road in 2019, told fans at his Jan. 3 farewell concert at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Mich., that "in 2020 I'll be available for weddings...Keep me in mind." The quip has been the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's parting line since his "Final Tour" with his Silver Bullet Band began in November. Seger said goodbye with high-octane, 22-song two-hour show that included a few surprises. "Since I'm retiring soon I figured we better roll out some of the ones we've never played," said Seger who's also been opening some shows with his chart-topping Beverly Hills Cop II hit "Shakedown." "I'm pulling 'em out. Now's the time." He accompanied some of the songs with video screen montages of vintage images and lingered a bit longer on stories about "Like a Rock," "Her Strut" and "Turn the Page." He dedicated "We've Got Tonight" to his late mother, explaining that it's her "favorite song I ever wrote," while a cover Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" was a homage to the late Eagles' founder Glenn Frey, a close friend, and "some other people that we lost along the way," with photos of Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Prince, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Gregg Allman and Chuck Berry scrolling on the screen during the performance. He wrapped with his familiar encore set of "Against the Wind," "Hollywood Nights," "Night Moves" and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets." Seger's Final Tour is currently booked through May 2, but there's talk of more dates into the summer. - Billboard, 1/4/19...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason recalled Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett's mental breakdown in 1968 owing to acid-induced schizophrenia. Mason described how the band were "young and immature" with regard to "coming to grips" with Barrett's mental health issues. "So many songs were written by Syd in such a short time period. It was less than two years from out first public show in October of 1967," Mason said. "At that time we had only two or three original songs. And just about a year later, it was already sort of burning out," he added. Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes in 2006, aged 60. - Rolling Stone/NME, 1/3/19...... 
Olivia Newton-John reassured fans in a new video shared on Jan. 2 that recent rumors of her having only weeks to live "have been greatly exaggerated." Newton-John, 70, had announced in September that she is battling cancer for the third time after doctors discovered a tumor at the base of her spine, but in her video the healthy looking singer wished everyone a happy new year and said "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, to quote a very famous quote." "I'm doing great. I want to wish all of you the happiest, healthiest 2019 possible," she continues. "Thank you all for your wonderful love and support for me and my Olivia Newton John Wellness Center in Melbourne, Australia." Several Australian media outlets had picked up a Radar Online story claiming that a "ravaged" Newton-John was "clinging to life," and that her "bodily functions appear to be shutting down." The story also cited several doctors, none of whom have treated Newton-John personally, who insisted on the seriousness of her condition. "She almost certainly is going to die!" exclaimed one in what reads a lot like glee. A rep for Newton-John called the report "crap." - Billboard/Jezebel.com, 1/2/19...... Oscar-winning English actor Gary Oldman has confirmed he will be providing narration on a forthcoming app based on the David Bowie "Is" exhibition. The exhibition -- which explored "the broad range of the late artist's collaborations with artists and designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre, art, and film" -- shut permanently back in July, five years after it debuted at the V&A in London (where it became the renowned institution's most-visited touring exhibition). Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh curated the exhibition, which drew over 2 million visitors across 12 cities. Bowie and Oldman enjoyed a close and enduring friendship in the years preceding Bowie's death in 2016, with Oldman appearing in Bowie's controversial video for "The Next Day." The Augmented Reality (AR) app will be available in iOS and Android, and will grant fans access to the show's hundreds of costumes, videos, handwritten lyrics, original works of art and much more. Dozens of items not featured in the original exhibition will also be included, including some entirely new and exclusive to the AR version of the app. It will arrive on Jan. 8 at a cost of £7.99. - New Musical Express, 1/3/19...... Dean Ford, the former frontman with the Scottish guitar-pop band Marmalade, has died at age 72. Ford, whose real name was Thomas McAleese, grew up in Airdrie and formed his first band, the Tonebeats, aged 13 before joining local band the Cravats aged 16. He went on to front Dean Ford and the Gaylords, who became established in the nascent "swinging London" scene of the mid-60s, before changing their name to Marmalade. The band became the first Scottish group to top the UK singles chart, with their cover of the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" in December 1968. They had another seven UK Top 10 hits, including "Reflections of My Life," co-written by Ford, which also reached the US Top 10 and sold over 2 million copies worldwide. The band toured with the Who and Ford once duetted with country star Bobbie Gentry. Ford went solo after Marmalade split and released an unsuccessful album in 1975. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a limousine driver to stars including Michael Jackson, Tom Waits, Susan Sarandon and Bob Dylan, as well as delivering pizza and flowers. He also developed an alcohol problem before going sober in 1986. "The only thing that spoiled my life was alcohol," he said in a 2015 interview. "I spent a lot of money on alcohol. And drinking took me away from what I should be doing." - 1/2/19...... 
Keyboardist Daryl Dragon, best known as the hat-wearing "Captain" in the '70s pop group The Captain and Tennille, died due to renal failure in Prescott, Ariz. on Jan. 2. He was 76. A classically trained pianist, L.A.-born Dragon played keyboard for the Beach Boys from 1967-1972, where he was given the nickname "Captain" by lead singer Mike Love due to Dragon's penchant for wearing a captain's hat onstage. In 1971, Dragon met his future wife, Toni Tennille, when she hired him to play piano for a musical called "Mother Earth. "Shortly thereafter, Dragon suggested that Tennille join the Beach Boys on their next tour as an acoustic pianist. While on the tour, Dragon and Tennille soon began a romantic and musical relationship, performing in smaller venues together when not on tour with the Beach Boys. Going by the stage name the Captain and Tennille, the duo quickly formed a following. On the strength of the song "The Way I Want to Touch You," the team scored a record deal with A&M Records in 1974. Their song 
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y., announced on Dec. 27 that it is planning a golden 50th anniversary Woodstock festival in 2019. Set for Aug. 16-18 at the concert venue built on the original Woodstock site, the Center says the festival will feature "live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts." "Festival goers will also be able to visit the Museum at Bethel Woods, which tells the story of the 1960s through immersive media, interactive engagements, and artifacts from the 1969 festival, as well as experience the special 2019 exhibit We Are Golden: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival and Aspirations for an Aquarian Future," the statement continues. The original Woodstock, on Aug. 15-18, 1969, took place on a diary farm in the Catskill Mountains north of New York City. It quickly grew from a ticketed event to a massive free-for-all that drew more than 400,000 to a muddy 600-acre diary farm for one of the most iconic rock events of all time, featuring sets from Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Who, The Band, Joe Cocker and Santana, among others. At least three Woodstock tributes have been held since: a 25th anniversary concert in Saugerties, New York, in 1994, with performances from Cocker, Sheryl Crow, Aerosmith, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and Bob Dylan; a Woodstock '99 concert in Rome, N.Y., which drew 400,000 people to a former Air Force base for a chaotic three-day gatherng marred by excessively hot weather, fan rioting and reports of sexual assault; and a smaller event on the site of the original Woodstock in 2009, with sets from a number of the original show's performers, including Country Joe McDonald, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, Jefferson Starship, Mounatin and the Levon Helm Band. The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a concert venue built on the original Woodstock site in the town of Bethel in Sullivan County, a rural area 85 miles (140 kilometers) northwest of New York City. A newspaper in nearby Middletown has reported that many motels, bed-and-breakfasts and AirBnB rentals in Sullivan County have been sold out for some time. Officials in Sullivan County recently said they plan to install 36 fiberglass dove statues to commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary in a nod to the original event's iconic logo. Original Woodstock promoter Michael Lang has said he has "definite plans" to put on his own 50th anniversary Woodstock celebration, though it won't be on the site of the original and no further details have been released. - Billboard, 12/28/18...... Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, Dunkirk director Christopher Nolan, and Monty Python icon Michael Palin are among the leading personalities from the world of entertainment who have been recognised in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year honours list. Mason will be receiving a CBE for his services to music. Mason, who founded Pink Floyd in 1965, is the only member to feature on every one of their albums. Palin meanwhile bagged a Knighthood for his diplomatic service to travel, culture and geography. Commenting on his time with the Monty Python troupe, Palin said: "Discovering there were five other people who had the same sort of sense of humour as myself and we all appreciated each other's work and that the work that we did, both on television and film, is still being replayed and still being appreciated, that's quite something, really, after 50 years. It will be 50 years since Python started, next year. That's something that hit a high spot that will last forever, so I'm very grateful to all the other Pythons and I am very proud of Python." - NME, 12/29/18...... 
Legislators in Washington state have voted unanimously to rename the Renton Highlands Post Office in the Seattle suburb of Renton "The James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix Post Office." The post office is located less than a mile from the Jimi Hendrix Memorial in Greenwood Memorial Park cemetery, where Seatlle native Hendrix is buried. "I am honored to join in paying tribute to rock and roll icon and Seattle native Jimi Hendrix with the renaming of the Renton Highlands Post Office as the James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix Post Office Building," Rep. Adam Smith, who sponsored the bill to rename the post office, said in a statement. "This designation will further celebrate Hendrix's deep connection to the Puget Sound region and help ensure that his creative legacy will be remembered by our community and inspire future generations." In 2018, a deluxe 
A documentary showcasing the life and legacy of iconic funk musician Sly Stone and his band Sly and the Family Stone has been announced for 2019. Directed by Brady Spensor, the film will also delve into Stone's money troubles and the U.S. Music Modernization Act that ultimately saved him from financial turmoil. In 2015, Stone won a lawsuit against his former manager Gerald Goldstein and lawyer Glenn Stone after Sly alleged that they had diverted money away from him to them for 11 years from 1989 to 2000. The jury ended up awarding £1.6 million ($2.5 million) in damages to the singer against Even St Productions, the company with with which they made him sign an employment and shareholder agreement, as well as £1.6 million ($2.45 million) against Goldstein and £32,932 ($50,000) against Stone. In 2011 Stone entered rehab to seek treatment for drug addiction after revealing that he had been living out of a van in the LA neigborhood of Crenshaw. It was then that he opened the case against Goldstein, suing him for $50 million. Brady Spensor says he conducted several interviews with the reclusive artist for the documentary in what's described as a decade-long process. "It took months before Sly even remembered my name," Spensor told Deadline.com. "But soon after, I would get called at all hours, day or night. When Sly finally collected his royalties after years of being financially strapped and homeless, it warmed my heart." No official release date for the documentary has been set but it's scheduled to drop sometime in 2019. - New Musical Express, 12/29/18...... The Osmond Family member Jimmy Osmond was treated for a stroke on Dec. 27 following his performance as Captain Hook in the Peter Pan pantomime at the U.K's Birmingham Hippodrome. "On the evening of Thursday 27 December, after pushing through the evening's performance of Peter Pan at Birmingham Hippodrome, Jimmy Osmond was driven straight to hospital and diagnosed with a stroke," his spokesperson told the BBC. "He is grateful for all the well wishes and will be taking time out in the new year." Speaking of his role in the panto in November, Osmond told a local paper: "For me, I kind of took to panto well. I'm from this vaudevillian background. I grew up doing TV variety shows. I started as a three-year-old kid on the Andy Williams TV show and worked with Bob Hope and Andy Williams and all of those great people. And then when I came over here as a kid, it made me feel British because I would watch pantomimes. I never thought I'd be so lucky as to be in them. I think my background helps me because in variety TV you have to learn how to do the jokes and communicate with an audience. I was always a performer." - NME, 1/1/19...... 
Ray Sawyer, a former member of Dr Hook & The Medicine Show, died peacefully in his sleep on Jan. 1, his wife Linda Sawyer posted on social media. He was 81. Mr. Sawyer, known for wearing an eye-patch after losing his eye in a car crash, found fame in the 1970s with Dr Hook, which charted such hits as