Leslie West, the singer and guitarist for Mountain who were among the acts to play the legendary Woodstock festival in 1969, died on Dec. 23 after a brief illness. He was 75. West's brother Larry West Weinstein had shared news of his brother's rapidly declining health in a Facebook post on Dec. 20. "I am asking for all your prayers. Jenni [Leslie's wife] is by his side in Florida but it's not looking good. Thanks Jenni, he wouldn't have made it this far without you. His heart gave out and he's on a ventilator. May not make it through the night," Weinstein posted. West reportedly entered cardiac arrest on Dec. 21 and was rushed to a hospital near his home in Daytona, Fla. He reportedly did not regain consciousness. Born Leslie Weinstein in Queens, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 1945, West founded Mountain in 1969, alongside Cream associate and producer Felix Pappalardi, N.D. Smart and Steve Knight. Mountain are perhaps best known for their Southern-rock hit "Mississippi Queen," co-written by West, which appeared on Mountain's 1970 debut album, Climbing!. The song was the group's biggest chart hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. More recently "Mississippi Queen" was covered by Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin as part of their "Hanukkah Cover Song Series," which celebrated the religious holiday by paying tribute to Jewish artists. Mountain also had the distinguished honour of performing at Woodstock in 1969. In one of their earliest appearances as a band, the group joined a legendary lineup which featured Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and more. "Woodstock was just our third job, and it was quite a thrill," West once told Rolling Stone magazine. "Mountain got on the show because our booking agent also handled Jimi Hendrix... I think I had the most amplifiers of anybody there. It was paralyzing because that stage, that setting, was some kind of natural amphitheater. The sound was so loud and shocking that I got scared. But once I started playing, I just kept going because I was afraid to stop." 
Although Mountain's 11-song set went unrepresented in the original film documentary and soundtrack album, it did figure into the Woodstock II album and the extended home-video cut of the movie. Mountain disbanded for the first time in 1972, before reforming periodically in the years that followed. During one of Mountain's hiatuses, West formed a supergroup with Cream bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Corky Laing called West, Bruce and Laing. West was often cited as one of the all-time great rock guitarists, but he downplayed his ability in a 1987 interview with Guitar World magazine. "I'm no great guitarist technically," he said. "I only play with these two fingers [index and ring]. But you wanna know why people remember me? If you take a hundred players and put them in a room, 98 or 99 of 'em are gonna sound the same; the one who plays different, has some of his own, that's the one you're gonna remember." West had appeared almost unrecognizably thin in recent years, after being big enough at the outset of Mountain's career that the band was said to have been named after his hefty size. He even named his second solo album in 1975 The Great Fatsby. In 2011, he had part of his right leg amputated as a result of complications from type II diabetes. "I lost my leg, but at least it wasn't one of my arms," West said in a 2016 interview. "Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." The last studio album under the Mountain name, Masters of War, which consisted of Bob Dylan covers, was released in 2007. West continued doing live shows under his own name as recently as the fall of 2019, and also became known to new generations via his appearances on Howard Stern's radio show. Paul Stanley, Tom Morello, Slash and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider are among those to have paid tribute to West following news of his passing. "So very sad. Leslie's tone could stop a rhino in a full charge. Mountain sound was massive. Leslie was a warm and lovely guy. Sad," Paul Stanley tweeted. - Variety.com/Billboard/NME, 12/23/20.
Iggy Pop is kissing off a worldly disastrous 2020 with a track called "Dirty Little Virus," an ode to the rapidly spreading pandemic. The song, which can be streamed on YouTube, features lyrics like "Grandfather's dead/Got Trump instead," and "She's only 19, but she can kill you/ She ain't my type/ But it is what it is." Iggy also explained what motivated him to write "Dirty Little Virus": "I was moved to write a direct lyric, not something too emotional or deep, more like journalism. If there was still a Man of the Year, it would be the virus, so I wrote the lyric," he said. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... In related news, Van Morrison is continuing his campaign against what he feels are harsh Covid restrictions with a new song called "Stand & Deliver," and has recruited Eric Clapton to contribute. "Do you wanna wear these chains/ Until you're lying in the grave?," Morrison and Clapton sing on the track released on Dec. 18. The song supports Morrison's Save Live Music campaign, and all proceeds will benefit the Celtic crooner's Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which aims to assist musicians who are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. Morrison has also shared "Stand And Deliver" on YouTube. - Billboard, 12/18/20...... 
A San Diego-based indie brewing company named Duckfoot Brewery Co. has teamed up with the estate of Frank Zappa to create a new tribute beer, hilariously named "Why Does It Hurt When IPA?," a play on the 1979 Zappa Joe's Garage track "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" Described as containing "notes of passion fruit, spice and the rocker's favorite, grapefruit," Why Does It Hurt When IPA? features never-before-published photos of Frank on the cans and was launched on Dec. 21 to mark Zappa's birthday. Duckfoot's co-founder, Matt DelVecchio, says he's a Zappa fan from childhood and also a longtime friend of a member of the Zappa Plays Zappa touring band fronted by Frank's son, Ahmet Zappa. "Stay home, be safe and enjoy Why Does It Hurt When IPA? responsibly," Ahmet said in a press release. "All the Zappa Trust proceeds from this batch will go to support the music community in need. Music is the Best!," he added. U.S. residents can purchase the beer at ZappaBrew.com. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... As he embarks on a promotional campaign for his new album McCartney III, Paul McCartney appeared on the CBS show Sunday Morning on Dec. 20 and reminisced about the lasting legacy of the Beatles and whether the Fab Four might've eventually set aside their differences and reunited. "[John Lennon] was showing no signs of slowing up. You know, he was still making great music," McCartney said of Lennon's newly re-energized solo career. "The question is: Would we have ever got back together again? I don't know. We don't know." McCartney also discussed how he recorded McCartney III in isolation at his Sussex studio earlier in 2020. "It's not like working with the band, because I know what I want to hear, and I don't even have to tell anyone," he said. "I just said, 'Let's do some drums.' I'll sit on the drums and I'll think, 'OK, I wanted doo doo doo ... doo doo dah.' So, it's all in my head," he added. The full interview can be viewed on YouTube. Meanwhile, Macca has just shared a video for "Find My Way," a track from McCartney III, on YouTube. Directed by Roman Coppola, the video shows Paul playing every instrument on the song -- including guitar, drums and piano -- in a collage of footage taken by a staggering 46 cameras. Much like 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II, the former Beatle is at the helm of every instrument on every one of McCartney III's songs. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 12/20/20...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, director Peter Jackson has shared a preview clip of his upcoming documentary The Beatles: Get Back on YouTube. Announced on the Beatles' official Twitter account, the film aims to "take audiences back in time to The Beatles' intimate recording sessions during a pivotal moment in music history" and has already had its release date moved from 2020 to August 27, 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Jackson says that he and the producers "wanted to give the fans of The Beatles all over the world a holiday treat, so we put together this five-minute sneak peek at our upcoming theatrical film The Beatles: Get Back... We hope it will bring a smile to everyone's faces and some much-needed joy at this difficult time." - NME, 12/21/20...... Neil Young returned to his hometown of Omemee, Ont. recently for a new performance of his classic "Comes a Time" in an empty theatre. "Coronation Hall in Omemee, Ontario, is a wonderful old theater," Young wrote on his Neil Young Archives website. "It holds memories of my family, all together in that little town. My dad played Coronation Hall once in a local show as my mother, my brother, and I sat in the audience... I know this time of year is going to be hard for a lot of us as we long to be with our loved ones. Our hearts go out to all of you. We send much love and a Coronation Hall quarantine 'Comes a Time'," he added. The "Comes a Time" performance, one of a host of new and archived footage of Young on his website that's free to watch until the end of the year, can be watched on his Archives site. - NME, 12/22/20...... Eddie Van Halen has been posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the U.K.'s National GUITAR Museum. "Several of the people we've honoured over the past decade have left us in the years since we presented them with the award," a statement reads from the museum, which has previously honoured the likes of B.B. King, Tony Iommi and Glen Campbell. "In this case, however, the sadness of Eddie Van Halen's passing is somehow harder to accept. Several of the people we've honoured over the past decade have left us in the years since we presented them with the award. In this case, however, the sadness of Eddie Van Halen's passing is somehow harder to accept. Thanks, Eddie. We only wish we could deliver this in person," it added. Meanwhile, Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen has said the iconic hard rock VH band will never return without his father, who passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in October. Replying to a since-deleted Tweet on Dec. 17 from one of many people asking whether he would reform the band, Wolfgang said: "I can confidently say I will NEVER replace my father in Van Halen and tour around the world disrespecting my father's memory. No EVH = No VH. Get the f--- over it, but if you can't, just quit bothering me about it and demanding I do it when I've made it very clear how I feel." - Music-News.com/NME, 12/21/20...... 
Soul singer Al Green has just released his first new recording in a decade, a cover of Freddy Fender's 1975 hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls". Green recorded the song with Matt Ross-Spang in 2018, a decade after his last LP release, 2008's Lay It Down. "As a lifelong Memphian, I've always been a massive fan of Al Green and his Producer Willie Mitchell," Ross-Spang said at the time. "Together they created some of the most enduring soul music. Sonically speaking, Willie and Al also really invented a distinct sound that separated them from Stax or Motown." The cover was released in 2018 as part of Amazon Music's "Produced By" series, and two years on, is now available on other music platforms. Green's cover of "Teardrop" can be heard at YouTube. Although Green is currently on an extended hiatus, he has kept up an active presence on social media, regularly posting on Twitter and Facebook. - NME, 12/21/20...... Bruce Springsteen has announced on Instagram the details of a mammoth new 24-disc box set from his Darkness on the Edge of Town era. "Eight of the finest performances from Bruce Springsteen's 1978 tour are now available in a limited, collectible box set," the announcement aid of the new release, which is due on Feb. 1, 2021. "This 24-CD set contains all five of the legendary radio broadcasts on the Darkness tour: The Roxy in L.A., The Agora in Cleveland, The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, Fox Theatre in Atlanta and Winterland in San Francisco. Rounding out the collection are the second shows in Passaic and San Francisco, plus the December 8 show in Houston, Texas. A limited number of empty boxes are also available to hold previously purchased CDs," it added. - NME, 12/19/20...... Bob Dylan has announced a new box set of material recorded in 1970 with George Harrison to celebrate its 50 year anniversary. 1970 (50th Anniversary Collection), a 3-disc set, is due on Feb. 26, 2021 via Columbia/Legacy and features outtakes from Dylan's sessions for studio albums New Morning and Self Portrait, as well as his infamous 1970 studio session with Harrison. Artwork and a full tracklisting can be viewed on Instagram. - NME, 12/19/20...... Appearing on cable news channel CNN on Dec. 17, Cher candidly discussed the difficulty surrounding her son Chaz Bono's transition from female to male in 2009. Cher, 74, remembered the extremely difficult moment when she called his answering machine and heard his old voice. She also looked back on the light-bulb moment when she realised she hadn't "lost" her only child -- previously known as Chastity -- but that he had simply changed "shape." "It was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that, Cher said of her initial struggle to accept Chaz's transition. "But it wasn't easy. I remember calling, and the old [voicemail] message was on the phone, and that was very difficult," she added. Chaz, a successful writer and actor, was also the first transgender star to appear on Dancing With The Stars in 2011. He is currently in a relationship with former child star, Shara Blue Mathes, and is "unbelievably happy," according to his mom. Cher is now a staunch supporter of transgender rights and recently spoke out following a report that Pres. Donald Trump's administration is considering implementing a policy which would eliminate the recognition of transgender individuals. - Music-News.com, 12/19/20...... Former Talking Heads frontman has told England's New Musical Express that he is hopeful about an America after the presidency of Donald Trump, though he adds its "too early to celebrate. "For me Trump was not so much a shock; we knew who he is," Byrne told NME. "He was around New York before that, in the reality show [The Apprentice], we knew what kind of character he was. What shocked me was how quickly the Republican party all fell into line behind him, behind this guy who's obviously a racist, misogynist liar and everything else. But it's kind of encouraging -- although it's taken four years and with some it's only with the prospect of him being gone -- that quite a few have been breaking ranks. There are some possibilities of bridge building being held out." Byrne then warned that it is "too early to celebrate" following Trump's loss to former vice-president Joe Biden the election, discussing the current Republican control of the Senate. "[This] is what happened with [Pres.] Obama..." Byrne said. "I want to see real change happen," and added that "climate change absolutely needs to be a priority." - NME, 12/21/20...... 
As Keith Richards celebrated his 77th birthday on Dec. 18, the Rolling Stones frontman has been honoured with a cockroach named after. Officials at the Children's Museum in West Hartford, Conn. have decided to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after the Rolling Stones icon -- and have even given the insect its very own custom miniature guitar to crawl all over. The news was revealed to acknowledge the fact that both Keith Richards and cockroaches have great survival rates, according to the celebrity gossip site TMZ. "Keith the Cockroach" has been adopted by Denver, Colorado's classic rock radio station 103.5 The Fox, although it will permanently remain at the museum's wildlife sanctuary -- not far from the town of Weston, where Richards has a home -- and it will be cared for by staff at the museum, noting that "all of his rider demands will be met" thanks to a generous contribution from 103.5 The Fox. "It is said the only two things to survive a nuclear war would be cockroaches and Keith Richards," the museum wrote in a press release. "Chances are the real Keith will outlive the newly named, oval-shaped invertebrate whose life span is two to five years," it added. The museum said it was inspired to name the nightcrawler after Richards, who himself has notoriously cheated death on several occasions, including when he fell out of a coconut tree in 2006, and in 1978, when someone laced his dope with strychnine, which landed him in a coma. Stones fans can visit Keith the Cockroach by getting tickets on the website of the Children's Museum in West Hartford. Admission is $8 for both adults and children. - The New York Post, 12/18/20...... Ozzy Osbourne is reportedly "about halfway through" his next studio album, according to producer/guitarist Andrew Watt, and it includes contributions from members of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica. The new band, Watt explained in a new interview, features Ozzy on vocals, himself on guitar, Metallica's Robert Trujillo on bass, and Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith sharing drumming duties. "There's a bunch of people involved," Watt told Guitar World magazine. "I can't say for sure until the end, but I started doing a bunch of basic tracks with Chad and Robert Trujillo, who used to play in Ozzy's band. Osbourne released his well-received last studio album, Ordinary Man, earlier in 2020, just before the pandemic hit. - NME, 12/18/20...... John Prine has been honoured posthumously with an Artist of the Year prize at the 19th annual Americana Honors and Awards. Prine, a 2003 Americana Lifetime Achievement Award winner, becomes the first artist in Honors & Awards history to be posthumously nominated in this category. There will be no in-person awards ceremony this year due to the COVID crisis and the winners were announced via social media on Dec. 15. Prine lost his battle with the coronavirus in April. - WENN/Canoe.com, 12/15/20...... Actor Jeremy Bulloch, best known for playing Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, died on Dec. 17 from health complications after living with Parkinson's disease for many years, according to his agent. He was 75. Bulloch played bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the character has since featured in the second season of Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian. Bulloch also appeared in James Bond film Octopussy in 1983, and the BBC TV series Doctor Who in the 1970s. Born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Bulloch's first major role was in the musical film Summer Holiday in 1963, aged 17, when he starred alongside pop star Sir Cliff Richard. His death follows the passing of fellow Star Wars actor David Prowse, the actor behind the menacing black mask of Darth Vader, on Nov. 29. - BBC.com, 12/18/20...... 
British '60s pop singer Chad Stuart, one half of '60s hitmaking folk-pop duo Chad & Jeremy, has died at age 79, according to a post on the duo's Facebook page on Dec. 20. Born David Stuart Chadwick, Stuart met Jeremy Clyde at London's Central School For Speech and Drama, and the pair started performing together as a folk duo in the early '60s. After briefly attempting a side rock band and separating after graduation, they reassembled as Chad & Jeremy -- both members singing and playing guitar -- and released their debut single, the upbeat-but-melancholy "Yesterday's Gone," in 1963. The song became a No. 37 hit in their home country, but was more successful on U.S. shores, where it peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, as part of a growing wave of popular post-Beatles U.K. acts collectively known as the British Invasion. The group would score two more Stateside hits off their eventual 1964 album, also titled Yesterday's Gone: "A Summer Song" (No. 7) and "Willow Weep For Me" (No. 15). Stuart continued to find work in entertainment after Chad & Jeremy's split in 1968, becoming the musical director for The Smothers Brothers' variety TV show, and later working as a staff producer for A&M Records. Chad & Jeremy informally reunited in the late '70s, and eventually began to record and tour again, releasing the Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde album in 1983. They separated again from 1987 to 2002, but resumed touring for much of the 21st century, playing at a number of '60s and British Invasion-themed gigs and on such package tours, before Stuart officially retired to Sun Valley, Idaho in the late '10s. "He just loves being at home and puttering about," Clyde said about Stuart in 2019. "He has a shed and he does all sorts of woodwork, and feeds the birds and watches and identifies them, and has a lovely time." According to the Facebook post, Stuart contracted pneumonia in the fall, after having been admitted to the hospital for non-COVID-related reasons. "The family would like to thank his fans from around the world for the outpouring of birthday wishes and gifts he received every year," his family noted. "Chad took the time to read each and every card. The world has lost a legend today, but his voice will continue to touch our lives through his music," they added. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... Country star K.T. Oslin, a three-time Grammy-winning country singer and songwriter, died on Dec. 21 after battling Parkinson's Disease and being diagnosed with COVID-19 the previous week. She was 78. The Crosssett, Ark., native won a trio of Grammys in the late 1980s for her songs "80s Ladies" and "Hold Me." She took home best country vocal performance by a female for "80s Ladies" in 1988, then won the same award and best country song for "Hold Me" in 1989. The singer-songwriter also topped the charts with her 1990 song "Come Next Monday." At the Country Music Association awards, Oslin was named the 1988 female vocalist of the year, and "80s Ladies" earned the song of the year award. It was the first time a female songwriter took home the prestigious honour. Oslin would go on to influence several of today's songwriters, including Grammy-nominated country music singer Brandy Clark, who remembered her in a Twitter thread as "Larger than life, smart, funny, elegant, beautiful...the list could go on and on." - Variety.com, 12/21/20.
In other Springsteen news, the Boss has recalled his reaction to hearing the finished version of his 1975 iconic album 
With his new album 
As Dionne Warwick celebrated her milestone 80th birthday on Dec. 12, the Grammy-winning pop singer took to her Twitter page on Dec. 17 to share a video pitch for a new Netflix project based on her life and career, and she singled out rising singer Teyana Taylor as the perfect person to portray her on screen. "This is a case for @netflix," Dionne wrote alongside a video, in which she asked if fans would really want to tune in. "Please don't ask who I would cast to play me as it would obviously be @TEYANATAYLOR." Taylor was quick to share her gratitude for the honor, replying with clapping hand emojis, while Netflix admitted they were "taking notes." "I'll call ya!," Dionne replied to Netflix. Although she recently turned 80, the "I Say a Little Prayer" singer shows no signs of retiring. She's currently working with Chance the Rapper on an initiative to feed homeless people, with The Weeknd joining them too. Warwick's upcoming charity single "Nothing Is Impossible" -- penned by her son Dionne Damon Elliott -- will benefit the non-profit charity Hunger Not Impossible, whose aim is to fight hunger by connecting American families in need with nutritious meals provided by local restaurants. - Music-News/NME, 12/17/20...... In a recent interview with the UK paper The Guardian, Cher shared both her hopes and fears for the end of Pres. Donald Trump's term in January and said she hopes Trump will be prosecuted once he's out of office. Cher argued that Trump had turned US culture "toxic" during his time in office, adding: "People who just disagreed with each other before are now enemies. I hate to even call him a president because all he does is watch TV." She also related her fear that "if Trump can't be in the White House, he's going to burn it down." "He's trying to block [Pres. Elect] Joe [Biden] at every moment," she said. "He's the most vindictive person I've ever witnessed. I think he's fighting so hard because he's going to be prosecuted when he gets out of the White House." Asked if she thinks Trump could end up going to prison in the future, Cher replied: "Oh, I hope so. I'll be dancing around." - NME, 12/14/20...... An official cause of death of guitar legend Eddie Van Halen has been revealed as a copy of the 65-year-old's death certificate was obtained by the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com on Dec. 13. Van Halen's immediate cause of death on Oct. 6 was as a cerebrovascular accident, or a stroke, according to the certificate. He also had several underlying causes, including pneumonia, the bone marrow disorder myelodysplastic syndrome and lung cancer. The certificate also listed a number of "other significant conditions," including skin cancer on his head and neck and an irregular heart rate. Van Halen's body was cremated 22 days after his death and his ashes have been given to his son, Wolfgang Van Halen. - NME, 12/13/20...... A Slingerland drum kit played by Rush drummer Neil Peart between 1974-1977 has sold at a Bonhams' Music Memorabilia auction for just over $500,000 (£379,000) that ended on Dec. 10. The coveted kit, which features dual blue heads printed with Rush's logo and Neil Peart's name, as well as chrome-wrapped Tom-toms with an original head signed by Peart himself, was expected to fetch somewhere between $104,000 (£77,695) and $157,000 (£117,290). That estimation, however, was shattered as the drummer's hardware was sold for just over half a million dollars -- $500,312, to be exact. As the Bonhams listing explained, the kit was purchased by Peart in 1974 from Toronto's Long & McQuade music store shortly after he joined the iconic band. Peart used the kit for his first performance with the band on Aug. 14, 1974 and it acted as his main drum set until 1977. - NME, 12/12/20...... 
Trailblazing African-American country musician Charley Pride, the first African-American to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, passed away in Dallas, Tex., on Dec. 12 due to COVID-19 complications. He was 86. Born in Sledge, Miss., on Mar. 18, 1934 to a sharecropper, Mr. Pride enlisted in the Army as a young man and later worked at a Missouri smelting plant. Mr. Pride then played for the Memphis Red Sox and Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro League before heading in 1963 to Nashville where he made demonstration recordings. Four years later, his recording of "Just Between You and Me" broke into country's Top Ten. He went on to score 52 Top Ten hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'," "Why Baby Why" and "Night Games" were among Mr. Pride's 29 songs to reach No. 1 on that chart, and he also earned four Grammy Awards throughout his career, including three Grammys for his gospel songs "Let Me Live" and" Did You Think to Pray," and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. He was also a distinguished advocate for African-American rights. "We're not color blind yet, but we've advanced a few paces along the path and I like to think I've contributed something to that process," Mr. Pride wrote in his memoir, 2017's Pride: The Charley Pride Story. Mr. Pride was also a talented baseball player in his youth, earning professional contracts during the 1950s. Mr. Pride gave his final public performance at the Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 11. Following claims that Mr. Pride may have been exposed to COVID-19 at the indoor event, the CMA Awards issued a statement. "Everyone affiliated with the CMA Awards followed strict testing protocols outlined by the city health department and unions," the statement read. "Charley was tested prior to traveling to Nashville. He was tested upon landing in Nashville, and again on show day, with all tests coming back negative. After returning to Texas following the CMA Awards, Charley again tested negative multiple times," the statement added. Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and Billy Ray Cyris are among the musicians to have paid tribute to Pride following his passing. "I'm so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It's even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19," Dolly Parton posted to 
Neil Young announced on his 
Willie Nelson has announced he'll release 
Appearing recently on the NBC morning show Today, Jimmy Buffett said he had to do some homework before recording his new album of old songs, Songs You Don't Know By Heart, because he'd forgotten the lyrics to so many of his lesser known tunes. "There were a lot of them that I had to go back and learn...!," Buffett, 73, mused. "I'm old, and I've been doing this for 40 years!," he added. Buffett said the album was initially an idea for a video performance series online during the coronavirus shutdown, and t's all thanks to his daughter Delaney, and her pal. "Delaney and a friend of hers from high school, who had been working for us for a little while, came up with the idea to go to fans and ask them, 'Hey, he's not doing shows, what songs would you like to hear that he hasn't played in 20 years?' so that became Songs You Don't Know By Heart," he explained. "(Delaney and her friend) got like 10,000 setlists (suggested by fans) in a short period of time, and so we collected 50 of the most voted on songs, and went to 15 which we could do, and that was the video (series). And then we started getting mail back from people saying, 'Why doesn't your dad go in the studio and do an acoustic album?' So as a person who hadn't made an album in seven years, I made two in three months!," he added. - Music-News.com, 12/11/20...... Jimmy Page is joining a growing list of musicians who are calling for fairer payments from streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music. "Having recently viewed the Select Committee for Music Streaming on 24 November 2020 I feel compelled to write this letter," the Led Zeppelin guitarist posted on 
Olivia Newton-John has announced she's shifting her new cancer foundation to America for tax reasons after launching it in Australia in Oct. 2020. Newton-John, who is currently battling stage-four metastatic breast cancer, posted on Instagram that she has chosen to voluntarily deregister the NJ Foundation Down Under in Australia and she and husband John Easterling "will now focus on our ONJ Foundation Fund in the USA. We're excited to be supporting plant medicine research, specifically for cancer, through a simple Donor Advised fund with CAF America!." "The ONJ Foundation received significant and positive public support after a soft-launch in October 2020, primarily from USA residents, and Olivia is keen to make sure these donors receive maximum tax benefits and support," according to the singer/actress's publicist, Michael Caprico. - Music-News.com, 12/10/20...... Appearing on the MSNBC show The Beat on Dec. 8, David Byrne said that "reunion tours have become an exercise in nostalgia" when host Ari Melber asked why many fans can't accept that his former band Talking Heads won't make a comeback. "There's a period where music really is essential to you kind of defining who you are and what your place is in the world, and you can never let go of that moment," Byrne said. "But then again, you could never could never recreate and replace that moment either. There's plenty of reunion tours and things like that and it's become an exercise in nostalgia. You can never recreate that moment when people hear things like that for the first time. It has to do with the moment that they heard this music in their life, where they were in their life, when this happened -- more than it was us." Talking Heads broke up in 1991, and have only played together once since, for their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002. - NME, 12/8/20...... Aerosmith have added an additional concert at Sheffield Arena on July 2, 2021 to their upcoming European tour. Aerosmith had been due to hit the road this summer, before they were forced to postpone the shows due to the coronavirus crisis. Other U.K. dates include previously announced shows in London and Manchester on June 23 and 29, respectively, and the band will also visit Switzerland, Spain, France, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary before wrapping in Austria on July 15. - NME, 12/8/20...... In an interview with The Oakland Press, Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang Van Halen told fans "not hold their breath" over the release of archived songs of his late father's. "That's not gonna happen for a long time," Wolfgang said. "I have no idea what's in there that would be worth releasing. To a certain extent, my dad released all the good stuff. Even without the intention to release, I want to archive it properly and digitize it, so everything is safe for years to come. It's going to be an incredibly difficult process and a very long process to do properly," he added, noting "you usually see right away the compilations of unreleased music that maybe should have stayed unreleased, and it just seems like a cash grab to take hold of the moment." Eddie Van Halen passed away from cancer on Oct. 6 at age 65. - NME, 12/8/20...... Bruce Springsteen recently teamed up with the rock band Bleachers to perform a song titled "Chinatown" together. Bleachers, led by frontman Jack Antonoff, filmed the performance on the roof of Electric Lady Studios in New York City and have shared it on 
Legendary American airman Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first pilot in history confirmed to break the sound barrier, died on Dec. 7 at age 97, according to a post on his verified Twitter account. A World War II ace, Gen. Yeager's place in history was secured in 1947 when he became the first pilot to blow past the speed of sound. Gen. Yeager's daring and understated swagger personified "The Right Stuff" associated with the test pilots who followed in his footsteps to become the first astronauts in the American space program. While stationed in England during the war, Gen. Yeager flew P-51 mustangs but was shot down over France on his eighth mission. He escaped and returned to the air. On Oct. 12, 1944, Gen. Yeager downed five enemy aircraft in a single mission and finished the war credited with shooting down at least 12 German planes. In all, Gen. Yeager flew 64 combat missions. After the war, he remained in the military and became a test pilot at Muroc Army Air Field, now called Edwards Air Force Base. He was selected to fly a rocket-powered Bell XS-1 to research high-speed flight, and broke the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947, flying his X-1 plane at 700 miles an hour, Mach 1.06, at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Because of the top-secret nature of the mission, Gen. Yeager's feat was not announced to the public until months later in June, 1948. Now, the X-1 he flew that day is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. His feat put Gen. Yeager in the headlines for a time, but he truly became a national celebrity only after the publication of Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff in 1979, about the early days of the space program, and the release of the movie based on it four years later, in which Gen. Yeager was played by Sam Shepard. He was depicted breaking the sound barrier in the opening scene. Gen. Yeager continued sound barrier-breaking flights well into his life. On Oct. 14, 1997, on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight, he broke the sound barrier again, flying an F-15D Eagle. Then as a co-pilot at age 89 on Oct. 14, 2012, on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, Gen. Yeager did it again in an McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. His death was announced in a heartfelt statement by his wife of 17 years, Victoria Yeager. "It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET," she wrote on his account. "An incredible life well lived, Americas greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever." - AP, 12/8/20.
Universal Music Publishing Group announced on Dec. 7 that it had purchased the entire catalog of over 600 Bob Dylan songs written by the iconic folk rock musician over six decades, including such classics as "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are A-Changin,'" "Like A Rolling Stone," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and "Tangled Up in Blue." Said to be one of the biggest deals ever for a single songwriter, the acquisition includes both publishing rights and Dylan's "writer's share," which together would be worth at least $100 million and perhaps several times that, based on the value of other songwriters' catalogs. The publishing rights for Dylan, whose influence in the rock era is rivaled only by the Beatles, is currently administered in the U.S. by the Bob Dylan Music Company and elsewhere by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. "To represent the body of work of one of the greatest songwriters of all time -- whose cultural importance can't be overstated -- is both a privilege and a responsibility," said UMPG chairman & CEO Jody Gerson in a press release. In the early 1960s, Dylan, 79, become one of the first popular artists to consistently write his own material, in the process overturning the dominant music publishing model of the time, which involved professional songwriters composing tunes to pitch to singers. The boom in streaming among the coronavirus pandemic is reportedly fueling the market for publishing deals, as well as the possibility that incoming president Joe Biden may raise the capital gains tax. Another factor, industry sources say, is that the generation of singer-songwriters who came of age in the '60s and '70s is at a point where they're thinking about their legacies, as well as estate planning. On Dec. 4, talent management company Primary Wave Music Publishing announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the catalog of Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks. Primary Wave didn't share financial details of the sale, but Nicks reportedly sold an 80% stake in her catalog, valuing the deal at about $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nicks's deal includes several of her biggest hits as a solo artist and member of Fleetwood Mac including "Landslide," "Edge of Seventeen" and "Dreams," the last of which returned the charts for the first time in 40 years this summer after resurfacing on TikTok. - Billboard, 12/7/20...... With a $114.1 million haul in ticket sales, Elton John is finishing 2020 with the year's top-grossing tour, according to the concert trade publication Billboard Boxscore. After performing 47 shows with nearly 800,000 tickets sold despite an abbreviated touring schedule due to the pandemic, the Rocket Man leads the pack including his fellow established superstars and genre-blurring newcomers that came to an abrupt halt on Mar. 12 amid the rapidly rising threat of COVID-19. John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour" began the 2020 chart year with 10 shows in North America, kicking off the new decade with $21 million in domestic grosses. He then went to Australia for a 37-show sweep that added $93.1 million before wrapping, as scheduled, on Mar. 7. Ultimately, Sir Elton crowns 2020's Top Tours chart with a $114.1 million haul, after being No. 4 in 2019 ($194.1 million) and No. 22 in 2018 ($55.4 million). In all, his tour has earned $358.6 million and sold 2.63 million tickets in 178 shows, now within $50 million of Billboard's all-time Top 10 tours list. In other Elton news, he and his husband David Furnish have revealed that they have a "one gift rule" for each other at Christmas. Appearing on the British talk show Loose Women on Dec. 1, Furnish said he and Elton have "a one gift rule because we don't need anything, we are very blessed in life. The thing I am most looking forward to is Christmas with our sons, because there is nothing like Christmas with children. All the magic for us with Christmas has just gone off the charts since we had our boys." The couple have raised sons Zachary, nine, and Elijah, seven, to be "grounded" in life, Furnish said. "It is daddy up on stage. They are very proud of him obviously and they love his songs but when he comes home he leaves Elton John behind," he added. - Billboard/DailyMail.co.uk, 12/3/20...... 
One of the most tragic anniversaries in rock history will occur on Dec. 8, which will be the 40th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon as he was walking into his residence at the Dakota apartment building with his wife Yoko Ono on the evening of Dec. 8, 1980. Unbelievably, Lennon, who was 40 when he was killed, has now been gone for as long as he lived. "It was a dark day," says British-born, Toronto-based author Piers Hemmingsen, 65, who penned 2016's The Beatles in Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania. "And I just remember the winter of 1980-81 was kind of all about feeling sad about that." Almost everyone remembers where they were when they heard the shocking news that Liverpool-born Lennon had been murdered by Mark David Chapman who waited for police to arrive and arrest him while reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. "I didn't find out about it until I turned my little Panasonic TV on at 6:30 in the morning (the day after) and I was shocked," said Hemmingsen, who was a computer programmer working overnight at the time. "A vigil was held at Nathan Phillips Square on the evening of Dec. 10. So I felt compelled to go. I felt something. Everybody felt something. We all felt a loss. It had to be 10-15 Celsius below zero. There were 35,000 people. It was jammed." Among those in attendance were musicians Ronnie Hawkins and Long John Baldry, the latter in a fur coat. "They all said things, great things, about John Lennon. But the power of it was that everybody just felt connected," said Hemmingsen. "We needed to be somewhere and we needed to share the emotion." On Dec. 12, 1980, Lennon's ashes were given to Ono, who requested 10 minutes of silence around the world instead of holding a funeral, and two days later over 225,000 converged on Central Park, close to the scene of the shooting. Five years later, New York City dedicated an area of the park, directly across from the Dakota, as Strawberry Fields. - WENN/Canoe.com, 12/6/20...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has hailed director Peter Jackson's upcoming Fab Four documentary Get Back for providing confirmation in his own mind that he wasn't responsible for splitting up the band. McCartney has previously been accused of orchestrating their split, after he announced his departure from the band in Ap. 1970 and later that year filed a law suit which called for the group's formal dissolution. While he previously said that he undertook the move to protect their music, McCartney explained that seeing footage from Jackson's film confirms that he isn't to blame for their split. "It was so reaffirming for me," McCartney told The Sunday Times on Dec. 6. "Because it proves that my main memory of the Beatles was the joy and the skill." He went on: "The proof is the footage. I bought into the dark side of the Beatles breaking up and thought, 'Oh God, I'm to blame.' I knew I wasn't, but it's easy when the climate is that way to start thinking so. But at the back of my mind there was always this idea that it wasn't like that, but I needed to see proof. There's a great photo [late wife] Linda [McCartney] took, which is my favourite, of me and John working on a song, glowing with joy. This footage is the same. All four of us having a ball." Paul has previously hailed the documentary for providing an authentic portrait of the Beatles' final years together. "I love it, I must say because it's how it was. It just reminds me of -- even though we had arguments, like any family -- we loved each other, you know, and it shows in the film," he said. The Beatles: Get Back covers the making of the band's 1970 album Let It Be and features recut material originally captured in director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary of the album recording process. - NME, 12/7/20...... 
England's Royal Mint has announced a series of David Bowie coins will be released as part of its music collection, which has previously honoured such music legends as Queen and Elton John. In true Bowie fashion, one of the coins orbited the Earth's atmosphere for 45 minutes after launch before its eventual return, and it is now being offered as a prize on the Royal Mint's Facebook page. The coin celebrates the music icon's career with a design inspired by his formative years spent living and recording in Berlin, as well as featuring the iconic lightning bolt design from Aladdin Sane. Fans can purchase the coins from the Royal Mint's website, which range from £13 for a uncirculated £5 coin, all the way to an "out of this world" which costs a staggering £72,195 for a kilo gold coin in a denomination of £1,000. Eleven of the gold coins will be minted. The Aladdin Sane lightning bolt design has also employed technology to create a glitter effect, giving the impression that it is sprinkled with stardust. "We are thrilled to unveil the third coin in the Royal Mint's music legends series, honouring the intergalactic legacy and career of David Bowie," said Royal Mint director Clare Maclennan. "We are thrilled to unveil the third coin in the Royal Mint's music legends series, honouring the intergalactic legacy and career of David Bowie," she added. - NME, 12/7/20...... In a new interview with the UK paper The Independent, David Byrne says he thinks it's "surprising" how many Americans still support Pres. Donald Trump. "We've all had our dystopian fantasies of what could go wrong, and there's plenty of books and TV shows that represent that," the former Talking Heads frontman responded when asked if he could imagine the political events of the last five years. "But then to see this happen... Trump was not a surprise. He is what he is. What is surprising is how many people still support him," Byrne said, referring to the amount of support Trump has post-election. He continued: "When you see the coronavirus exploding across the United States, and how many dead there are, and how many people just don't care about that or think it's a conspiracy, you just go, 'Wow, the country I'm living in isn't the country I thought it was.'" Meanwhile, Universal will be releasing the Spike Lee-directed movie version of Byrne's acclaimed stage show "American Utopia" on VOD services and on DVD on Dec. 14, in light of the coronavirus restrictions facing cinemas at the moment. - NME, 12/6/20...... Yusuf/Cat Stevens hosted a virtual event called "CatSong Festival" on Dec. 5, which saw famous fans covering several of his classic tracks. The special live YouTube broadcast celebrated the 50th anniversary of Stevens 1970 albums Tea For The Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon and saw the likes of Jack Johnson, HAIM, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Passenger and many more performing songs from across Stevens' discography. "It's great to see and hear these covers of my songs given new life," Yusuf said in announcing the event. "There's no better honour for a songwriter than to have his songs performed by talented musicians with such love and sincerity. Thank you," he added. The full CatSong Festival broadcast can be viewed on 
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry joined comedians Mike Myers and Dana Carvey for a virtual Wayne's World reunion on Dec. 7 as part of actor Josh Gad's "Reunited Apart" YouTube series, which benefits the First Responder's Children's Foundation. "'Sibilance... Sibilance' Surprise... We were 'worthy enough' to reunite with our friends Wayne and Garth!," Aerosmith wrote on 
In other heavy metal news, Black Sabbath have announced a reissue of their fourth album 
In a new interview with the SiriusXM show Volume West Heart's Ann Wilson revealed that a Heart biopic is in development with Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney writing the project. "Yeah, there's one in the works," Wilson told host Lyndsey Parker, with her sister and bandmate Nancy Wilson weighing in, "I saw the first draft of the script, it's really cool... The script started in childhood and ended up in the '90s." Ann added that she doesn't have any particular actresses in mind to portray herself and Nancy in the Amazon Studios produced project, but she said she thought the one actress who's expressed interest in playing her in the film, Anne Hathaway, "isn't exactly right for it." Wilson said the search for the lead roles is ongoing and it's not known yet if whoever gets cast will sing Heart's hits themselves or lip synch. - Billboard, 11/30/20...... Co-founding Van Halen singer David Lee Roth has seemingly attacked his fellow former VH singer Sammy Hagar in a new cartoon posted on his 
Cher traveled to Pakistan on the fourth weekend of November to celebrate the departure of Kaavan, dubbed the "world's loneliest elephant," who will soon leave a Pakistani zoo for better conditions after years of lobbying by animal rights groups and activists. The 36-year-old bull elephant has languished in the zoo for 35 years, and lost his partner in 2012. He was diagnosed by veterinarians as both overweight and malnourished earlier in 2020, and also suffers behavioral issues. He was set to leave for a sanctuary in Cambodia on Nov. 29. Cher took up Kaavan's cause and has been a loud voice advocating for his resettlement. Animal rescue organization Four Paws has provided the medical treatment needed before Kaavan can travel. The battle for his relocation began in 2016. Free the Wild, an international charity co-founded by Cher, worked in collaboration with Four Paws and others to orchestrate Kaavan's move, which cost roughly $400,000 in total. Cher traveled to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and visit Kaavan's exhibit to provide moral support. "My wishes have finally come true," Cher told The Guardian paper. "We have been counting down to this moment and dreaming of it for so long and to finally see Kaavan transported out of [the Islamabad] zoo will remain with us forever. And while I know everyone's first day can be nerve-wracking, I think Kaavan will make lots of new friends where he's going. What wholesome news to come out of this trash fire of a year," she added. - AP, 11/27/20...... Dolly Parton has revealed she "cried all night long" after turning down Elvis Presley's request to record a cover of her song "I Will Always Love You." Parton released the song in 1974, before it received a famous 1992 cover by Whitney Houston for the romantic thriller flick The Bodyguard. Parton revealed that Elvis also wanted to record a version of her hit, but she turned him down over the money. Writing in The Big Issue's "Letter To My Younger Self," she explained: "I'd been invited down to the studio to meet Elvis and be there when he sang my song. That was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. Who doesn't love Elvis? But then Colonel (Tom Parker, Presley's manager) called me the afternoon before the session and said 'You do know we have to have at least half the publishing on any song that Elvis records?' And I said 'No, I did not know that'. He said 'Well, it's just a rule'. So I said 'Well, it's not my rule'." Dolly said she then "cried all night long, 'cause I was so disappointed." "It wasn't Elvis, I loved Elvis. And I'm sure he was as disappointed as I was because he had it all worked up and ready to go. I know he loved the song," she said. Speaking about Presley's wife of six years, Priscilla Presley, Parton said: "Priscilla told me later that he sang that song to her when they were coming down the steps of the courthouse after they divorced. That really touched me and I thought 'Oh well, I can only imagine'. But it wasn't his fault." - NME, 11/30/20...... Details of the accompanying soundtrack album to the new Frank Zappa biopic Zappa have been announced. The 3CD/5LP release of Zappa - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack spans 68 tracks, ranging from the Mothers of Invention's "Freak Out" to the musician's final orchestral work "The Yellow Shark." The deluxe version of the soundtrack also includes offerings from Zappa's Bizarre Records, as well as pieces by Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky and 26 original Zappa score cues by John Frizzell. Zappa had been due to premiere at the since-cancelled South By Southwest Festival earlier in 2020, and its 
The estate of George Harrison has marked the 50th anniversary of his seminal album 
David Prowse, the British actor behind the menacing black mask of