Blondie have shared details of a new graphic novel, Blondie: Against the Odds, that the band is set to appear in. Described as "an imaginative take on an oral history of the band, interspersed with artistic interpretations of 10 songs from their catalogue," the graphic novel is being distributed by Z2 Comics and will be written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, who are credited with bringing the Harley Quinn character back to prominence with their 2013 series for DC Comics. The cover artwork for Blondie: Against the Odds has been shared on Z2 Comics' Instagram page, which encourages Blondie fans to "immerse yourself in the grit and friction of New York City as Blondie fights for prominence -- among beautiful pages filled with artistic takes on 10 of their iconic songs." Z2 Comics has previously published graphic novels focusing on such other music acts as The Doors, Cypress Hill and Machine Gun Kelly. Blondie recently announced a run of UK arena shows with Garbage. Their 10-city "Against the Odds" tour is due to begin in Liverpool in Nov. 2021. - New Musical Expess, 2/25/21...... 
Bruce Springsteen pleaded guilty to one of the three charges related to his November arrest at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, N.J. According to his attorney Mitchell Ansell of the Ansell, Grimm & Aaron law firm, the musician "voluntarily plead[ed] guilty to a violation of consuming an alcoholic beverage in a closed area, agreeing to a fine of $500." Ansell added that the charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving were dropped because the prosecutor was "unable to provide the necessary evidence." Ansell said his client was "pleased with the outcome of today's court appearance," also noting that Springsteen had no previous criminal record. When news of Springsteen's arrest broke on Feb. 10, a spokesperson for the National Park Service said he was "cooperative throughout the process." According to New Jersey's Asbury Park Press paper, Springsteen's blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest was .02, a quarter of the legal limit of .08. A court filing noted that Springsteen had told an officer that he did two shots in 20 minutes, and declined to take a breath test, and it was also reported that the officer wrote in the report that he saw Springsteen take a shot of tequila before getting on his motorcycle. News of the arrest caused Jeep to pause their new ad featuring the New Jersey rocker, which aired during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. "As we stated previously, we paused the commercial until the facts were established. Now, that the matter has been resolved, we are unpausing the film," Jeep said in a statement. Meanwhile, the first two installments of an 8-part podcast conversation between The Boss and Pres. Barack Obama were shared on Spotify.com on Feb. 22. In a trailer for the Renegades: Born In the USA podcast, Obama noted: "On the surface, Bruce and I don't have a lot in common. He's a white guy from a small town in Jersey. I'm a black guy of mixed race, born in Hawaii. He's a rock 'n' roll icon. I'm... not as cool." However Pres. Obama added that the pair had been on "parallel journeys, looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning, truth, and community with the larger story of America." In the podcast trailer, Obama and Springsteen are seen talking about a variety of subjects, from their relationships with their fathers and masculinity, to the rock star's beginnings in music. Springsteen and the 44th president first met while the latter was on the campaign trail ahead of his 2008 election victory and became friends. In 2017, they went on a yachting holiday together, along with Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks. The remaining six installments of the podcast will arrive in the coming weeks. - NME, 2/22/21...... Pete Townshend of The Who has teased a new Who album could be ready for release in a post-lockdown world. Speaking to Uncut magazine, Townshend said he's been working on new music during the pandemic and "wants to make another" record after lockdown if it makes financial sense. "There's pages and pages of draft lyrics," he said, adding: "If the moment comes, I'll go in and start." The Who released their last album, WHO, in 2019, and recently cancelled their upcoming UK and Ireland tour due to ongoing coronavirus concerns. Cancelling their upcoming 10-date jaunt around the UK and Ireland, which was due to kick off in Dublin on Mar. 5 and end in Manchester on Mar. 29, Townshend and Who vocalist Roger Daltrey said: "We are very sorry that we have to cancel our planned March 2021 UK and Ireland shows. Please excuse the delay but we wanted to wait as long as possible to see if we could indeed play them. However, as you can see the current situation makes this impossible. Thanks for all your wonderful support and we hope to see you in the future when conditions allow." - NME, 2/22/21...... 
On Feb. 24 Paul McCartney announced a career-spanning biography titled The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present will be released on Nov. 2. Featuring 154 songs from his back catalog, The Lyrics will recount the iconic musician's life through his earliest boyhood compositions, songs by the Beatles, Wings and from his lengthy solo career, and feature previously unseen drafts, letters and pictures from his personal archive. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, The Lyrics was co-authored with Pulitzer Prize winning writer Paul Muldoon and establishes definitive texts of McCartney's song lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now. "More often than I can count, I've been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right," said McCartney in a statement. "The one thing I've always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I've learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life. I hope that what I've written will show people something about my songs and my life which they haven't seen before. I've tried to say something about how the music happens and what it means to me and I hope what it may mean to others too," he added. A trailer for The Lyrics has been shared on YouTube. - NME, 2/24/21...... The first trailer for the upcoming Tina Turner documentary Tina has been shared on YouTube. First announced at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Tina will premiere exclusively on HBO on Mar. 27 from 8 to 10 p.m. ET and be available to stream on HBO Max the same day. It will offer a revealing look at the life and career of the musical icon, from her early success in the '60s to her resurgence as a global phenomenon in the '80s. After divorcing from her then-husband and the other half of the Ike & Tina Turner duo in 1978, the singer launched one of the greatest comebacks in music history and landed her first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "What's Love Got to Do With It," in 1984. Tina will present intimate interviews with Turner herself in her current hometown of Zurich, Switzerland, as well as the Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It star Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, journalist and former MTV veejay Kurt Loder. Turner's husband, Erwin Bach, will also be featured in the doc alongside never-before-seen footage, audio tapes and personal photos. - Billboard, 2/23/21...... Iggy Pop has shared a new video for his 2019 song "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," which sees the punk rock icon reading the famous Dylan Thomas poem over music composed by Noveller. The simple but effective new visuals, directed by Simon Taylor, feature an intense close-up shot of Pop reciting the lyrics, and can be streamed on YouTube. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" originally appeared on Pop's album Free, which one reviewer described as "contemplative and eerie" [and] "finds the middle-ground between the avant-garde, which Iggy is prone to explore, and the grimy garage-rock that made his name." - NME, 2/24/21...... 
Turner's occasional collaborator Mick Jagger has narrated an emotional tribute to London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the iconic venue's 50th birthday. The short film, which can be viewed on YouTube, finds Jagger reading a portion of English poet W.H. Auden's 1964 ode to friendships past and present at a time when the building that has hosted everyone from Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix to Led Zeppelin to Foo Fighters over the years but currently sits in silence a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. "Distance and duties divide us But absence will not seem an evil/ If it make our re-meeting/ A real occasion. Come when you can:/ Your room will be ready," Jagger says over footage of performances by the above musicians, as well as the likes of Jethro Tull, Adele, George Michael, Diana Ross, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Queen's Freddie Mercury, Eric Clapton and The Who. While it was unknown at press time when the RAH might re-open, under new recently released guidelines limited capacity indoor shows may begin in the UK on May 17 with a possible wider opening after June 21. - Billboard, 2/23/21...... Queen drummer Roger Taylor is pushing back on long-established rumors that '80s star George Michael turned down the chance to become the band's new frontman after Freddie Mercury's death. Michael fronted Queen for three songs during 1992's Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, leading to speculation that he would become the band's full-time vocalist. Now Taylor tells Classic Rock magazine that Michael was never offered the gig and that the late singer "wouldn't have suited the group" as a long-term replacement. Queen instead joined forces with former Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers, who provided vocals for Queen between 2004 to 2009. Queen then selected American Idol contestant Adam Lambert in 2011, who remains their current vocalist. Roger Taylor's comments arrived a few days after he became the latest high-profile name to criticize the UK government's Brexit deal, after it failed to secure visa-free touring for musicians. He described it as a "dreadful retrograde step" during a recent appearance on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend. "Borders are a dreadful invention of mankind, and so we are just putting up another one, and I think it's a dreadful retrograde step," he said. Taylor also revealed the effect it could potentially have on Queen's road crews -- who have already faced a financial hit after coronavirus forced the band to postpone their European tour. "I know our road crew, all the guys that make our touring work, they are the one that have suffered," he said. Taylor's comments come after the UK government admitted that they are currently not negotiating with EU member states over touring arrangements for artists and crew, despite hearing that the music industry was "in crisis" and in urgent need of action. Meanwhile, Queen are set to head out on their rescheduled UK tour in 2022. - NME, 2/24/21...... In related news, Aerosmith have rescheduled their upcoming UK and European tour dates to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Boston-based rockers had been hoping to tour in June of 2021 after their initial 2020 live plans were scrapped due to the worldwide health crisis. Now their forthcoming live dates in the UK and Europe have been moved for a second time, with the band now set to complete a series of gigs in June and July 2022 -- on June 22 at London's O2 Arena; June 28 at the Manchester Arena; and July 1 at Sheffield's FlyDSA Arena. "Due to current conditions and for the safety of our fans, the 2021 European Tour has been rescheduled to 2022," the band said in a statement. "Please stay tuned for more information regarding the new dates or contact your point of purchase. All tickets will be valid for new dates." Other rescheduled Aerosmith tour dates can be viewed at Aerosmith.com/tour. - NME, 2/23/21...... 
80's pop rocker Rick Springfield, who first hit the US charts in Sept. 1972 with the No. 14 "Speak to the Sky," has reflected on his 1981 breakthrough LP, Working Class Dog, on the 40th anniversary of its release, Feb. 24. Springfield tells Billboard he only has "all good feelings" about the album and he "had great times recording it" in the wee hours of the morning at the same studio where Tom Petty had been recording earlier. Springfield says he hopes to reissue the album, which he produced with Bill Drescher and Keith Olsen, to include demos of the songs that didn't make it onto the finished set, which shot to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart and spawned three Top 20 hits including the No. 1 "Jessie's Girl." Though the coronavirus pandemic has pushed back a 40th anniversary tour Springfield had planned for Working Class Dog, he says he plans to play the album in its entirety when he's able to return to the road and has been relearning the tracks. "When I first started, they were the only songs that I had so I played everything," he says. "But I haven't played the whole record since '81." - Billboard, 2/24/21...... British husband and wife blues rock duo When Rivers Meet released their new single "Walking on the Wire" on Feb. 26. "Walking On The Wire" is the third single taken from their debut album We Fly Free and follows hot on the heels of their previous singles "Battleground" and "Did I Break The Law." The new single is by a music video filmed in the Essex countryside utilizing stunning aerial drone footage. In Nov. 2020, the band released their debut album We Fly Free which attracted rave reviews from Classic Rock and several other music mags. "When Rivers Meet are heavy enough to get your attention and quirky enough to hold it, with songs that kick at you, but leave a boot-print on your heart," Classic Rock wrote. A music video trailer for "Walking On The Wire" can be viewed on YouTube. - Noble PR, 2/23/21.
Dave Grohl and his band Foo Fighters have recorded a cover of the Bee Gees' 1976 hit "You Should Be Dancing" which he shared in a recent interview with BBC Radio 2's Sofa Session with Jo Whiley. Grohl says the cover, in which he sticks pretty closely to Barry Gibb's falsetto although the Foo Fighters do add a touch of rock to it, came about when they were in the studio with a to-do list that included recording a cover song for Whiley and one of guys asked Grohl if he had seen the recent HBO Bee Gees documentary How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. "I was like the last person on Earth -- the only person -- that hadn't seen it," Grohl says. "So I was just like, 'Why don't we do a Bee Gees song? Someone was like, 'How do you want to do it?' And I said, 'Well, let's do it like the Bee Gees.'" Grohl added that he "didn't realize that my voice could [sings in a high voice like Gibbs']. I sang the song -- and it was like six minutes -- and I was done. I should have been singing like this for the last 25 years!" A clip of the cover can be streamed on Twitter, and the entire song and interview can be heard on the BBC's website. The Foo Fighters, who have recently been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, released their 10th album, Medicine at Midnight, on Feb. 5. - Billboard, 2/18/21...... 
In an interview with Good Morning Britain on Feb. 19, Elton John's husband David Furnish said Sir Elton has embarked on a fitness and diet regime to help him shed the pounds during the Covid-19 lockdown. "(Elton) has embarked on a fitness regime and a diet, he's been losing weight, he's been looking after himself really, really well," Furnish told host Richard Arnold. "We've been really busy, happy and fulfilled and also, more important than anything, spending more time together as a family and loving it," he added. Furnish also detailed how the time has drawn the couple closer together. "We work together at home, we produce his radio show, we get on really well, we just enjoy each other's company and we're happy as a family. I want my kids to go back to school," Furnish shared. Asked if their children have experienced any negativity for having two dads, Furnish explained: "We've been very fortunate within their school and within their community everybody's been really warm, really welcoming to us, treated us the same as any other family, so they've not witnessed any of that." John recently appeared in a UK public service ad filmed at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital encouraging people to get the Covid-19 vaccine. - Music-News.com, 2/20/21...... In related news, KISS member Paul Stanley has revealed he just got his second Covid-19 shot in a Twitter post on Feb. 16. "I got my SECOND COVID SHOT this morning! So grateful and THRILLED. PLEASE, let's ALL stay safe as possible and continue to watch out for each other," Stanley wrote. The 69-year-old rocker recently told Variety he's been keeping in shape during the Covid-19 downtime. "The best way to be in shape is to be in shape, and once you get there, stay there," he said. "Once you have that momentum, it's much easier to maintain than to create." - Billboard, 2/18/21...... Fleetwood Mac keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie has clarified the comments she made in a recent radio interview with BBC Radio 2 in which suggested Fleetwood Mac would never tour again. Earlier in February, McVie told Sounds of the 70s host Johnnie Walker that her ex-husband John McVie and fellow bandmate Stevie Nicks had made it clear they wouldn't be up for another band trek. She also stated she was "getting a bit too old for it now" and Mick Fleetwood was the only band member keen to tour. Now Christine has addressed the fall-out from her comments in a new Rolling Stone interview, telling the magazine she's "thrilled" to see so many people are interested in Fleetwood Mac's future. "I'm thrilled to see that everyone still cares so much about Fleetwood Mac, how humbling to know what a lasting impact this band has had," she said. "To clarify my recent comments, I was specifically asked if Fleetwood Mac would tour again. I gave a cheeky answer indicating that the band might be 'done with that' or 'you just never know'. I always intended to convey that, particularly after the last year, we just don't know what the future holds." McVie added that "in no way" are any members of the band "done" with being part of the legendary group. "If anyone took that from my statement, that was a misperception and not intended. Fleetwood Mac is part of the DNA of who I am, and I know the same is true for Stevie, Mick and John. As for future touring... Who knows. We continue to hope for the best," she said. Fleetwood Mac has been on hiatus since the conclusion of their "An Evening With Fleetwood Mac" tour in Nov. 2019 -- the group's first tour since parting ways with Lindsey Buckingham and replacing him with Neil Finn and guitarist Mike Campbell. - Music-News.com, 2/18/21...... 
American musician and journalist Questlove has announced he's working on the follow-up to his acclaimed recent directorial debut, Summer of Soul, and it will be a documentary about musician/producer Sly Stone. Questlove says his as-yet-untitled rockdoc will capture the rise of Sly as a forerunner of funk as the vocalist of Sly and the Family Stone to his legacy as a fashion icon. "It goes beyond saying that Sly's creative legacy is in my DNA... it's a Black musician's blueprint. To be given the honor [sic] to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me," Questlove told Consequence of Sound. Questlove's Summer of Soul documentary chronicled the events of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which welcomed the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and The Staple Singers for a musical celebration of African-American culture. It recently won this year's Grand Jury prize at Sundance Film Festival, and is set to premiere on Hulu later in 2021. - New Musical Express, 2/20/21...... Clothing manufacturer Happy Socks has just unveiled a new David Bowie sock collection that includes two limited-edition designs based on iconic moments in the late rock star's career. The Silver Lining socks -- matte black wrapped in silver foil --- are based on the silver zebra outfit that Bowie wore on his 1976 Station to Station album. According to Happy Socks, the Ziggy Special is inspired by the Japanese concept Basara, which is "characterized by colorful attention-grabbing garments." The collection launched on Feb. 16 and will be sold on the Happy Socks website and its retail stores as well as some other retail outlets. Images from the collection can be viewed on the Happy Socks Twitter page. - Billboard, 2/16/21...... Motörhead has announced a new live album and concert film, Louder Than Noise... Live in Berlin, will be released on CD/DVD, vinyl and digital formats on Apr. 23. The album was recorded on Dec. 5, 2012 at the Berlin Velodrom during the band's "Kings of The Road Tour" and is "a crowning, definitive statement as to the power the trio had long held" according to a press release. "Theirs was a line-up (Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee) which had spent decades cracking sound barriers, bending ears and decimating lawns worldwide, consistently delivering the Motörgospel to hundreds of thousands of fans, and this line-up was Motörhead's longest serving by a considerable distance," it added. A preview of Louder Than Noise in the form of "Over the Top" has been shared on YouTube. - NME, 2/17/21...... Publisher Permuted Press has announced the autobiography of late heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio will be officially released in July, 11 years after his death. Dio, who was considered to be one of the genre's greatest vocalists, had been working on his memoir Rainbow in the Dark before he died from stomach cancer in 2010. The book has now been completed by music writer Mick Wall and will finally arrive on July 27th. Permuted Press said the memoir will tell the story behind Dio's 50-year career fronting some of metal's most influential bands, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell. In 2020, Dio's widow Wendy confirmed that a new documentary on her late husband is in production. Directed by Don Argott and Damian Fenton, the upcoming film will include "never-before-seen archival footage and photos from his personal archives" and feature "scenes with his closest peers, friends and family." - NME, 2/17/21...... 
The Beach Boys have announced they've sold the rights to their intellectual property to music industry veteran Irving Azoff's Iconic Artists Group. The amount Azoff has paid in the deal has not yet been made public, but in return, he now owns the group's master recordings, the rights to the Beach Boys' name, their likenesses, a share of their publishing rights and all memorabilia. As part of the deal, the band will still own an interest in their assets, but Iconic Artists has the power in their business decisions. "The Beach Boys, in a sense, are not just a band. They're a lifestyle. They're a consumer brand. And they've never really exploited that," Iconic Artists CEO Oliver Chastan told Rolling Stone. Chastan added that Iconic was keen to explore technological avenues. "That includes VR, AR, 3D, CGI, natural language processing, et cetera," he said. He also suggested the band could be digitally replicated and de-aged, like the actors in Martin Scorsese's 2020 film, The Irishman. In recent months, the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have all sold off the rights to their back catalogues. - NME, 2/18/21...... Dolly Parton has nixed plans to erect a statue of her outside the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville because she doesn't think it's a good idea for right now. Tennessee House of Representatives member John Mark Windle first proposed the statue plan in January, and the measure passed in the Naming & Designating Committee. It was headed to the State Government Committee for further approval when Parton herself put the brakes on the idea. In a statement on Feb. 18, Parton said although she was "honored and humbled by their intention... given all that is going on in the world, I don't think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time." "I hope, though, that somewhere down the road, several years from now or perhaps after I'm gone, if you still feel I deserve it, then I'm certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean," she continued, adding: "In the meantime I'll continue to try to do good work to make this great state proud." Windle wanted to honor Dolly with a statue to mark her 75th birthday and all the singer's contributions to her home state, including the Imagination Library, theme park Dollywood, and a recent $1 million (£720,000) donation to Vanderbilt University's COVID-19 research that assisted in the development of the Moderna vaccine. - Music-News.com, 2/19/21...... 
Rising singer Arielle's new album features a new guitar designed by Brian May of Queen exclusively for Arielle. "This is the very first guitar that Brian May guitars has ever offered that is not based on my original Red Special," says Brian May about the guitar, the BMG Arielle. "Designed by, and named after Arielle, it's a new dimension. To understand why this guitar was irresistible to me, you have to hold her in your hands. The guitar is light, smooth and agile. She sings like a bird," May added. Arielle is described as "a 21st century classic rock artist who recorded half of the new album in digital, and the other half in tape, to try and capture the impact the music of the 60's and 70's had on her." Arielle has premiered the music video on her official site for her new single, "Peace Of Mind," from her new album, Analog Girl in a Digital World, which drops on May 7. The BMG Arielle guitar is being released Mar. 2021 and can be pre-ordered from Brian May Guitars. - Noble PR, 2/12/21...... The death certificate of Cloris Leachman, who was best known as the nosy neighbor Phyllis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and died in January at the age of 94, has revealed that a stroke, a.k.a. a cerebrovascular accident, ended her life. Ms. Leachman's death certificate as released by the County Of San Diego also said that although she had suffered from Covid-19 and it was a factor in her death, it was not the cause of her stroke. In the wake of her cremation on Feb. 7 her ashes have been with her daughter Dinah Englund whom TMZ.com reported was also with Cloris when she died. The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress was adamant about not retiring and remained so busy until the end that she has two movies lined up to be released posthumously -- High Holiday and Not To Forget. - DailyMail.co.uk, 2/19/21.
As Todd Rundgren kicks off his "Clearly Human Virtual Tour" on Feb. 14, the pop star and studio wizard says he doesn't care as to whether his third time being nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be a charm. "It's no secret that I don't care about it," Rundgren told Billboard during a break from rehearsals in Chicago, where the tour concerts will be emanating from. "It doesn't matter how many times they nominate me. It's not gonna make me care." Rundgren says the RRHOF is an "industry invention" and that "true halls of fame are for retirees and dead people, because your legacy has been established... I'm too busy working to worry about my legacy -- and plan to continue working until whenever." Todd adds that he finds the makeup of the nominee list and inductee classes veering too far from what he considers appropriate. "I'm a big Dionne Warwick fan, but name me one Dionne Warwick rock 'n' roll song," he explains. "While I'm aware of Fela Kuti, I can't name a single musician who's ever cited him as a principal influence." His chief complaint, however, stems from how he feels his own fans were "duped" when he was first nominated during 2019. "They run this scam called the fan pool... but most fans don't realize that their votes count for absolutely nothing," Rundgren said. The top five nominees from the fan votes are turned into one additional ballot that's counted in addition to the 1,000-plus by artists and music industry professionals. "So the first time I got nominated all my fans, who all these years have been like, 'Geez, you've got to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!," they all stepped up and bumped me up to No. 3 in the fan pool -- by a pretty wide margin. And then when the actual inductees were 1, 2, 4, 5, 6... they essentially hosed my fans. So that made me angry, and I had to tell them that it was pointless casting votes, 'cause it really doesn't count for anything." Tickets for Rundgren's virtual concerts start at $35 via nocapshows.com. Meanwhile, the artist has also been releasing singles from his next album, Space Force -- a collaborative set similar to 2017's White Knight -- with the full set expected to be released some time later in 2021. - Billboard, 2/12/21...... Speaking of Dionne Warwick, a new TV series based on the pop songstress's life is reportedly in the works with rising singer Teyana Taylor in the title role. Warwick revealed to Entertainment Weekly magazine that the project is "in the works," adding that Taylor may also direct. "Teyana is certainly a talented young lady with whom I've had the pleasure of interfacing," said Warwick, who also noted that Taylor is "very excited about the prospect of being involved and she's also going to be very, very much involved in directing it and putting together parts and parcel of how we see this going." Warwick first teased the project via Twitter in December, asking fans if they'd "really watch" a series about her life, adding: "This is a case for @netflix. Please don't ask who I would cast to play me as it would obviously be @TEYANATAYLOR. - Music-News.com, 2/11/21...... 
Alice Cooper has joined the list of rock stars who have rolled up their sleeves for the Covid-19 vaccine. The Coop visited the Abrazo West Campus hospital in Goodyear, Ariz., a suburb of his hometown of Phoenix, on Feb. 11 for his vaccination, after being admitted to the hospital several weeks ago with a case of Covid. In a video message, Alice admitted he and his wife Sheryl have recovered from the novel coronavirus, but they're now covered against another bout. "We're out here getting vaccinated," he says. "We've already had COVID but we got vaccinated anyways... if you haven't been vaccinated come on out." During his visit to the hospital, Cooper signed autographs and thanked the volunteers and hospital staff for their good work, AZ Central reports. Meanwhile, in an interview with Britain's The Independent Cooper says the shock rock schtick that propelled him to fame wouldn't work today because modern audiences are "shockproof." "You could cut off your arm and eat it on stage and it wouldn't matter... The audience is shockproof," Alice says of how his act would go down in 2021. Alice will release his latest album, 
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Fleetwood Mac have announced details of a new deluxe edition of their classic 1980 live album Fleetwood Mac Live, which is comprised of live recordings that were largely made during a number of the band's live shows between 1979 and 1980. Rhino Records will re-release Fleetwood Mac Live in a 14-track "super deluxe" format on Apr. 9. The album is set to be presented in a new 
Chick Corea, a legendary Grammy-winning jazz fusion musician who played in Miles Davis' band, passed away on Feb. 9 after suffering from "a rare form of cancer which was only discovered very recently." He was 79. Born in Massachusetts in 1941, Corea joined Davis' band in the late 1960s and contributed to a number of his albums, including A Tribute To Jack Johnson, On The Corner, In A Silent Way and 
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, the self-described "smut peddler" who used his pornography empire and flair for the outrageous to push the limits of free speech and good taste, died on Feb. 10. He was 78. Flynt, suffering from a variety of health problems since a 1978 assassination attempt that left him a paraplegic, died "from the recent onset of a sudden illness," according to Minda Gowen, spokeswoman for Larry Flynt Publications, which runs the adult entertainment business he founded. Celebrated by some as a free-speech provocateur and reviled by others as a profiteer of sexual exploitation and misogyny, Flynt was renowned for taunting critics with such outlandish stunts as appearing in court wearing a diaper made from an American flag. In the most famous of numerous legal battles in which he was embroiled, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a landmark ruling in favor of Flynt in a libel lawsuit brought against him by evangelist Jerry Falwell. Flynt had published a fake ad in Hustler which depicted Falwell saying his first sexual encounter had been with his mother in an outhouse. Falwell sued for $50 million and won a lower-court ruling, but in 1988 the Supreme Court held that the ad was a parody and protected by the First Amendment. In his heyday, Flynt lived a lifestyle that could have made Caligula blush. He wrote in his autobiography that his first sexual experience was with a chicken and told of having sex every four or five hours during a workday. Flynt was convicted in 1977 in Cincinnati on obscenity and organized crime charges, but the verdict was overturned. After he was paralyzed from the waist down in 1978 after being shot by a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin who upset by Hustler's photographs of interracial sex, Flynt had penile implant surgery so he could continue to have sex. Flynt created a business with an estimated turnover of $150 million at one point. As Hustler's circulation slipped, he stayed ahead of trends by investing in adult-oriented television channels, a casino, film distribution and merchandise. Flynt said he never objected to being labeled a smut peddler as long as he was considered a First Amendment crusader, too. "Just because I publish pornography does not mean that I am not concerned about the social ills that all of us are," he once told an interviewer. Flynt's life was the basis of the 1996 movie 
The 
Former Crosby, Stills and Nash member David Crosby has found himself in the midst of another controversy after he called rising singer Phoebe Bridgers' 
Queen + Adam Lambert have rescheduled their forthcoming UK tour yet again and added new dates. Queen had been scheduled to kick off a huge UK and European tour in summer 2020, but the trek was rescheduled to May-July 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The dates have now been rescheduled to 2022 kicking off with two shows at the AO Arena Manchester on May 30 and 31. They have also added two extra UK shows at The SSE Hydro, Glasgow on June 2 and 3. "Under continuing Europe-wide Covid restrictions there's no possible way the tour can go ahead as planned for this year," the band said in a statement on Feb. 10. "The prospect of again not being able to look forward to performingand getting to experience those wonderful audiences is just heartbreaking," they added. All previously purchased tickets continue to be valid for the corresponding rescheduled shows. The band's new 16-date tour will commence May 30, 2022 with the first of two nights in Manchester, then play Glasgow on June 2 and 3, London's O2 on June 5, 6, 8 and 9, Birmingham on June 11 and 12, then return to London's O2 for dates on June 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20 and 21. In other Queen news, guitarist Brian May says the band is considering releasing a recording of one of their first gigs at Imperial College London after he recently heard a recording he didn't know existed. "We're debating what to do with it. A few years ago we'd have felt very protective and thought, 'Nobody should hear this because we're very rough'," May said, adding "But now, in the position that we are in our lives, we feel forgiving. We're not ashamed of where we were at that time. It was us against the world." May noted he is reluctant to release the recording because he feels protective over late frontman Freddie Mercury and the fact the singer's voice wasn't as powerful as it was in his prime. "But strangely, if he were alive and sitting here at this moment, he'd probably be the same as me, 'Oh darling, we were kids'," May explained. - NME/Music-News.com, 2/10/21...... Elton John and veteran actor Michael Caine have teamed up to star in a new UK commercial for the government's NHS to help persuade people to get their Covid-19 vaccination. In the 90-second clip which can be viewed on 
Mary Wilson, a co-founder of the iconic '60s Motown girl group The Supremes, died suddenly at her home in Henderson, Nev., on Feb. 8. She was 76. Her death was confirmed by her longtime publicist Jay Schwartz, who did not elaborate on a cause. Wilson was among the original members of The Supremes alongside Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin when they assumed the Supremes name in 1961 after forming in Detroit as The Primettes in 1959. After signing with Motown Records on Jan. 21, 1961, The Supremes went on to become one of the biggest-selling groups of all time, releasing such hit songs as "You Can t Hurry Love," "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me." Wilson remained with the group, who became a trio following Martin's departure in 1962, until their split in 1977. In a statement, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. said that he was "extremely shocked and saddened to hear of Wilson's death." In a post on its 
In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood says he can't remember two years of his life, after previously battling a heavy cocaine habit. Fleetwood shared that there was a period after his band made their iconic 1977 album Rumours when he didn't work for two years and has no recollection of his life during the period. "There's no doubt we were well equipped with the marching powder. That's a well-worn fairytale that gets more like a war story, that gets more and more aggrandised. I'm not minimalising the fact that we were definitely partaking in that lifestyle. But these weren't a bunch of people crawling across the floor with green froth coming out of their mouths, we were working, you know?," he explained, adding that Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks has also addressed the band's drug problem, "so I'm not divulging anything that she hasn't spoken about." "It got out of hand way after the making of 'Rumours'. I remember not working for two years. I can't even remember what I did," he said. Mick went on to confirm that he was the "party animal" in the band, but described Nicks as "a close second." Nicks has admitted to spending "millions" on cocaine and the band would often indulge in cocaine binges before they went onstage. - New Musical Express, 2/5/21...... A female white dove named Divinity that once belonged to Prince has passed away at the age of 28. According to a post on Prince's 
Alice Cooper allowed fans to stream his new single "Social Debris" for free on 
A new version of Dolly Parton's classic single "9 to 5" will air in a commercial for Squarespace.com during Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7). "A lot of people through the years have wanted to change the lyrics to fit certain things they're doing," Parton told the AP of the reworking. "I really thought that was a wonderful thing, especially for Squarespace. They're so into people, new entrepreneurs working after hours to start their own businesses. '5 to 9' seemed to be a perfect thing when they pitched it," she said. Parton also said she had been asked "several times" to perform at the Super Bowl, but had "always kind of chickened out." In another recent interview, the country/pop icon revealed that she had turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice after it was offered by former president Donald Trump's administration, but she couldn't accept it either time. "I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill, and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn't travel because of the COVID," Dolly explained. Parton said during the same interview that she is putting off getting her Covid-19 vaccine shot until "some more people get theirs." The 75-year-old singer, who donated $1 million (£730,000) to vaccine development at Vanderbilt University in her native Tennessee, is eligible to receive the vaccine but feels there are more at-risk people than her. "I'm not going to get mine until some more people get theirs. I don't want it to look like I'm jumping the line just because I donated money. I'm very funny about that. I'm going to get mine though, but I'm going to wait." Meanwhile, Parton was recently announced as one of the guest hosts of the Apple Watch's new Time To Walk series. The feature is being billed by Apple as "an inspiring new audio walking experience" which has been "created to encourage users to walk more often and reap the benefits from one of the healthiest activities." - NME, 2/2/21...... Nancy Sinatra has told the UK paper The Independent that Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks once "gave me the cold shoulder" when the two crossed paths during an event held at the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency. "I met Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks, and they gave me a cold shoulder. That was painful for me. It's like they didn't want to be friends," said Sinatra, who is the eldest child of Frank Sinatra. "I don't think they knew what to make of me and my so-called career," she added. "They shunned me a little bit, which I found hurtful. And I didn't quite understand why they did." Sinatra went on to claim that the pair of artists didn't want to speak to her following their introduction. "I tried to make an effort to shake hands, 'So nice to meet you' kind of thing, but they weren't interested," she recalled, adding that Nicks and Crow could have not seen her as an "authentic" musician. "I don't want to put words in their mouths. But yeah, I think there was definitely some of that. I felt like an interloper," she said. Sinatra released a new greatest hits compilation, 
Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that director Baz Lurhmann's forthcoming Elvis Presley biopic will be delayed from its originally scheduled Nov. 2021 release until June 3, 2022. Sources report that Warner's decision to delay the film, which was originally set to be one of its large slate of films to debut in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, spawns from the film still being in production in Australia with another five weeks of material left to shoot, making it highly unlikely to have made its November release on time without a rushed post-production. Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Dead Don't Die) will star in the lead role as Elvis alongside Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who is playing Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker, and Olivia DeJonge (The Visit), will play Presley's only wife Priscilla Presley. The film recently saw the additions of newcomer Alton Mason as Little Richard and Gary Clark Jr. as Big Boy Crudup. - ComingSoon.net, 1/30/21...... Legendary crooner Tony Bennett has revealed that he has been privately battling Alzheimer's disease in a new article published in AARP Magazine. "Life is a gift -- even with Alzheimer's. Thank you to Susan and my family for their support, and AARP The Magazine for telling my story," Bennet wrote on 
Hal Holbrook, an award-winning actor acclaimed for his one-man portrayal of American literary legend Mark Twain and whose film work included portraying the mysterious "Deep Throat" in 
Peter Frampton and his Peter Frampton Band have shared a new cover of Radiohead's "Reckoner" on 
Iconic country/pop singer-songwriter-actor Kris Kristofferson has announced his retirement after more than five decades in the entertainment industry. Though the 84-year-old officially retired in 2020, the public was unaware of his decision until it was mentioned in a press release on Jan. 27, issued to announce a change of management of Kristofferson's estate from his longtime manager Tamara Soviano to Morris Higham Management. It was also stated that Kristofferson's son, John, has stepped in to oversee his father's business dealings, including his record label, KK Records. "Kris is ageing; Kris is 84. It didn't feel like such big news to us," Saviano told Variety. "That's why there was no announcement: It was just sort of a slow changing of the guard thing." Kristofferson had remained active, touring solo and with members of Merle Haggard's band The Strangers, until February of 2020. Kristofferson gave his last full concert in Jan. 2020 as part of the fifth annual Outlaw Country Cruise, which can be viewed on 
Oscar and Emmy-winning veteran actress Cloris Leachman, perhaps best known as the delightfully neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on 
Acclaimed African-American actress Cicely Tyson, who specialized in portraying strong Black women caught up in life's struggles during a 60-year career that earned her three Emmys and a Tony Award, died on Jan. 28, her manager announced in a statement. She was 96. No cause of death was given. Ms. Tyson had recently completed a memoir, Just As I Am, which had been just released in January. Ms. Tyson's most-lauded performances came in historical works such as the 1972 movie