Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks' co-headlining "Two Icons - One Night Only" tour kicked off on Mar. 10 at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles with the two hitmakers duetting on a couple of songs. The first duet happened when Joel took on Tom Petty's vocal part on the 1981 Nicks/Petty collaboration "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," which has been shared on YouTube. The pair reunited for a performance of one of Joel's personal favorites of his many hits, "And So It Goes." Elsewhere during the show, Nicks delighted the audience with her first performance of "Fall From Grace" in more than a decade, and delivered a rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Sara," marking her first solo performance of the track since 2008. She also paid tribute to her late FM bandmate Christine McVie, who died in Nov. 2022, with an emotional delivery of the band's "Landslide." That performance can also be viewed on YouTube. The two rock icons' stadium tour continues on Apr. 8 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex. Shows are also set for Nashville (5/19), Philadelphia (6/16), Columbus, Oh. (8/5), Kansas City (8/19), Foxborough, Mass. (9/23), and Baltimore (10/7) before wrapping in Minneapolis on Nov. 10. - Billboard, 3/11/23...... 
The Who frontman Roger Daltrey says he's enlisted such rising artists as Kasabian, Wet Leg, Courteeners and Underworld for the 2023 edition of his annual Teenage Cancer Trust shows, which take place Mar. 20-26 at the historic Royal Albert Hall in London. Daltrey, who is an Honorary Patron of TCT, will play a solo concert there on Mar. 26, as he announced on The Who's official Twitter account on Mar. 2. He'll be joined on the night by special guests Richard Ashcroft and Joan Armatrading. "The place gets an incredible vibe," Daltrey told New Musical Express of the Albert Hall's unique atmosphere during the TCT series. "Even though it's five-and-a-half-thousand seats, it doesn't feel like it. It almost feels like [the performers are] in your front room." But he says still not an easy place to play: "It's a tricky hall to master the sound for bands going in on a one-off. But because we've done it for 21 years, we know all of its quirks. We have the best sound, lights and video in there for the whole week." As for his personal highlights from the line-up, Daltrey said: "I'm really glad we got Wet Leg because I've had my eye on them from this time last year. I saw them as up-and-coming with something kind of fresh. I find them very interesting... they're gonna have a great night." Daltrey adds that the TCT has so far funded 29 age-specific specialist units in NHS hospitals across the UK. "We've done remarkably well, but it's not to say we can't do better. One of the problems we have, of course, is that we have to work in the NHS, although we're not a part of it. And if [the patients'] GP or their consultant, and their clinician doesn't refer them to Teenage Cancer Trust, they don't even know we're there, and it's tragic," he lamented. Meanwhile, The Who's orchestral UK headline tour is set to kick off in Hull on July 6, also hitting Edinburgh, (7/8,9) London (7/12), Derby (7/14), Bristol (7/16), Durham (7/19), St Helens (7/21), and Brighton (7/23) before playing a final show on Aug. 28 at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. In 2022, The Who managed to make it back on the road for the first time since 2019. Daltrey, his Who co-founder Pete Townshend and their band played a one-off TCT show in London before embarking on their two-leg North American "The Who Hits Back!" tour. - New Musical Express, 3/10/23...... The Rolling Stones have been hit with a copyright lawsuit after a little-known songwriter claims he gave a demo CD to an "immediate family member" of frontman Mick Jagger and that then band then lifted elements from two of his tracks for their 2020 song "Living in a Ghost Town." In a lawsuit filed in New Orleans federal court on Mar. 10, songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez (stage name Angelslang) is claiming that Jagger and his songwriting partner Keith Richards "misappropriated many of the recognizable and key protected elements" from his 2006 song "So Sorry" as well as his 2007 tune "Seed of God." Although the two songs have less than 1,000 spins on Spotify, Fernandez claims he gave a demo CD to "an immediate family member" of Jagger. "The immediate family member & confirmed receipt & to the plaintiff via e-mail, and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound The Rolling Stones would be interested in using," the complaint states. Released at the peak of the Covid-19 shutdowns in Apr. 2020, "Living in a Ghost Town" was the first original material released by the Stones since 2012. The song, a blues-rock tune with reggae influences accompanied by a Covid-themed video, reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in May 2020. Fernandez says the new song was created by borrowing key features from his songs, including the "vocal melodies, the chord progressions, the drum beat patterns, the harmonica parts, the electric bass line parts, the tempos, and other key signatures" from "So Sorry" and the "harmonic and chord progression and melody" from "Seed of God." The band has yet to comment on the lawsuit. - Billboard, 3/10/23...... 
In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Deep Purple's Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore recalled the "pretty hostile" police situation with their classic "Smoke on the Water" riff was born back in 1971. The legendary rock band were jamming in a mobile unit after Switzerland's Montreux Casino burned down in 1971 during a concert by The Mothers of Invention after a fan had set the venue on fire with a flare gun. And the cops came knocking the doors down because they were making a "hell of a racket." "There was no sound-proofing and we were recording at night. A hell of a racket!," drummer Paice said. Guitarist Blackmore continued: "We did 'Smoke On The Water' there, and the riff I made up in the spur of the moment. I just threw it together with lan Paice. Roger Glover [Bassist] joined in. We went outside to the mobile unit and were listening back to one of the takes, and there was some hammering on the door. It was the local police, and they were trying to stop the whole thing because it was so loud. We knew that they were coming to close everything down. We said to Martin Birch, our engineer: 'Let's see if we have a take.' So they were outside hammering and taking out their guns... It was getting pretty hostile." Birch added: "It was about two in the morning, the neighbours were complaining. We locked all the doors. I mean, literally, it was 'da-da-da! Bang, bang', 'polizei, polizei' 'P*** off. Da-da-da'. So we had to get the track down before the police broke in and chucked us out." The iconic riff could have easily got away amid the "hostile" situation, however, "Smoke on the Water" ended up being the big hit from the band's 1972 album Machine Head. - Music-News.com, 3/11/23...... In a new interview on the UK's BBC Breakfast program, former Genesis guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford updated fans on the state of former Genesis frontman Phil Collins' health. "As you know, Phil is a bit... He's much more immobile than he used to be, which is a shame, but at the tour, he was in good spirits," said Rutherford, who is promoting his upcoming tour with Mike + The Mechanics. "He's fine now at home, enjoying life. He's worked so hard over the years. I think he's enjoying his time at home." When he was asked whether Collins or his son Nic Rutherford, who will be playing drums on his dad's upcoming tour, was the stronger drummer, Rutherford said: "I always support the dads because I'm this generation. Phil's the most amazing drummer, but Nic is fantastic too. Like his dad, but a bit different." Collins has experienced issues with his health since suffering a spinal injury in 2007, which damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and also left him with nerve damage. The injury has impacted his ability to perform, and at Genesis' last ever show in Mar. 2022, he performed in a wheelchair. He has also been walking with a cane for the last few years. - NME, 3/9/23...... Earth, Wind & Fire has filed a lawsuit in Florida federal court to stop a rival group that's been performing under the name "Earth Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion," calling them imposters who are infringing the band's trademarks to "mislead the ticket-buying public." In the suit filed on Mar. 7, the company that owns EW&F's intellectual property argued that Legacy Reunion's only claim to the name is a few "side musicians," who briefly played with EW&F many years ago. Despite that allegedly spurious link, the lawsuit says the rival group's organizers "hatched a scheme to falsely imply in advertising that this new group was the real Earth, Wind & Fire." "Defendants did this to benefit from the commercial magnetism and immense goodwill the public has for plaintiff's 'Earth, Wind & Fire' marks and logos, thereby misleading consumers and selling more tickets at higher prices," the group's lawyers wrote. According to court papers, the allegedly phony group is directly competing with the "real" Earth Wind & Fire, which has continued to tour since founder Maurice White died in 2016. Led by longtime members Philip Bailey, Maurice's brother Verdine White and Ralph Johnson, the band operates under a license from Earth Wind & Fire IP, a holding company owned by White's sons. The organizers of Legacy Reunion said on Mar. 8 that "It is sad that a greedy corporation has chosen to use trademark law to attempt to pass judgment on which historic members of Earth, Wind & Fire are worthy of being called alumni of the band." Substantial Music Group founder Richard Smith said, "I was personally a member of the band for five years and performed on two tours and one album. I'm proud to be an alumnus of the musical group and the corporation's dismissiveness of my and others' contributions Earth, Wind & Fire is hurtful. We will not be erased." - Billboard, 3/8/23...... 
It was announced on Mar. 9 that iconic '70s actor John Travolta is scheduled to be among the presenters at the 2023 Oscars on Mar. 12, held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, the show's usual home since 2002. This will give the Saturday Night Fever and Grease star another chance to prove that his inexplicable mangling of Idina Menzel's name as "Adele Dazeem" on the Oscars nine years ago was just a once-in-a-lifetime verbal slip. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast to outlets worldwide on Mar. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Among the notable '70s-related nominations is director Baz Luhrmann's dizzying Elvis Presley biopic Elvis, which has been nominated for 8 Oscars. On Mar. 7, an expanded edition of the movie's soundtrack was announced, featuring previously unreleased recordings of star Austin Butler, some contemporary versions of Elvis classics and the new mash-up "Backstreet Boss Nova (Daisy O'Dell Remix)" that mixes up Presley and the iconic '90s boy band. At a massive 52 tracks, the deluxe edition features such tracks as "Toxic Las Vegas," "Rubberneckin'," "Blue Moon" and "Can't Help Falling In Love," along with the Butler-performed "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Crawfish" (live on set). The Elvis - Deluxe Edition can be previewed on Spotify.com. - Billboard, 3/9/23...... In related news, Tom Hanks' depiction of Elvis manager Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis has earned the beloved Oscar-winning actor a "Razzie" award for Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Screen Combo. Despite the Forrest Gump actor's legacy of Oscar-winning roles, many critics and fans condemned his performance in Elvis, particularly his accent. Naming him Worst Supporting Actor, the Razzie Awards on Mar. 11 also noted Hanks' "latex face" in the film. The Razzies, the self-described "ugly cousin to the Oscars," started in 1980 as the Golden Raspberry Awards, created by UCLA film school graduates and film industry veterans John J.B. Wilson and Mo Murphy. More than 1,100 Razzie members from across the U.S. and about two dozen other countries vote on the awards, according to the Razzie website. - Reuters, 3/11/23...... Alice Cooper's long-serving guitarist Nita Strauss has rejoined his band after taking time out to be part of pop star Demi Lavato's touring line-up. Alice and his 36-year-old axe-slayer Nita will reunite on the "School's Out" rocker's upcoming "Too Close For Comfort" North American tour, which kicks off on Apr. 28 in Michigan. The 75-year-old rocker said of Nita's returns: "She's Back! Nita asked for a leave of absence to work with someone else, something I always encourage my band members to do. I like them to challenge themselves and try new things. I'm thankful to my old friend Kane Roberts for stepping up and filling in for her, but she'll be back with us for the new tour that starts up in late April. It's going to be great to have her back." Nita added: "From the studio to the stage, it's always an immense honour to make music with Alice Cooper!! I'm very excited to be re-joining the band on the road for the 2023 dates, and so I'll see you on the road in April. Let the nightmare return!" Meanwhile, Alice's "supergroup" Hollywood Vampires are to tour the UK next summer. The band -- which also comprises Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and Aerosmith rocker Joe Perry -- are to play shows across the UK and Europe in 2023 after being forced to cancel dates in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The trio -- accompanied by guitarist Tommy Henriksen -- play songs in tribute to the "great lost heroes of music" and perform original material from their two album releases. - Music-News.com, 3/8/23...... Speaking to the UK paper The Mirror, former The Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock said that he thinks that the concept of "ABBA Voyage"-style hologram shows can't live up to the real thing. "There's nothing better than a band playing with passion, vim and vigour in front of a live audience -- in tune, with a couple of beers inside them, or a coffee, going for it," he said. "If they can dig up some 3D imagery of Sid [Vicious] at this stage, that would be an achievement in itself." Sid Vicious passed away from a drug overdose in 1979 at the age of 21. Matlock will be playing live with Blondie at Iggy Pop's "Dog Day Afternoon" event at London's Crystal Palace on July 1. The Buzzcocks and Lambrini Girls have also recently been added to the bill. - NME, 3/9/23...... 
Legendary New Wave icons The B-52's and '80s hitmaker Cyndi Lauper have joined a rising chorus of voices speaking out against new laws being passed by Republicans targeting the trans community and seeking to ban drag artists. "We, The B-52's, are deeply concerned about the numerous new bills that promote transphobia and discrimination against transgender individuals and drag artists, which have been introduced in the United States," the band said in a sharply worded statement issued on Twitter on Mar. 8. "We strongly denounce these bills and stand in solidarity with out LGBTQ+ community... These bills not only violate the fundamental human rights of the affected individuals but also perpetuate a toxic culture of hate and intolerance that has no place in our society." Lauper, another longtime advocate for LBGTQ causes, was quoted in an article on TheHill.com as saying "Equality for everybody, or nobody's really equal. This is how Hitler started. just weeding everybody out." Hitler's Nazi Germany tagged gay people as "enemies of the state" and many were jailed or killed in concentration camps and Lauper said it's imperative that we keep "fighting for civil rights." The statement from B-52 members Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland came a week after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed two controversial laws -- one banning gender-affirming care from being performed on minors, another aiming to prevent drag queens from performing in public spaces where the "adult cabaret performances could be viewed by a person who is not an adult." The legislation defines these displays as any performance that "features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration." Critics of the legislation have called this statue a violation of the performers' First Amendment rights, claiming the law is an unwarranted attack on LGBTQ performers who pose no threat to children. According to the Human Rights Campaign, Tennessee has passed more anti-LGBTQ laws than any other state in the U.S, at fourteen in the past few years. - Billboard, 3/9/23...... Speaking to People magazine, '70 disco star Gloria Gaynor delved into her divorce from her manager, Linwood Simon, after 26 years of marriage, and even recalled the exact moment she knew it was time to call it quits. Gaynor, 79, said that she had an awful migraine headache for the second time in a few days, and Simon did not want to take her to the hospital. "I said, 'OK, I'm done. You really, truly don't care about me, and I'm done.' I'd have to be freakin' comatose not to get that," she explained. "My friend nailed it when she said it was disregard. You don't know how painful that can be until you experience it. [Leaving him] was extremely liberating." However, Gaynor says she's now "very happy," but is still open to the right person coming along. "I absolutely believe in love," she says. "Whether it's in the cards for me, I sincerely doubt it, 'cause I'm truly not interested anymore. If it happens, it happens. If not, I'm good. It's a wonderful place to be." Her 1978 hit "I Will Survive" also feels true to her now more than ever. "I have not only survived, I have thrived," Gaynor shared. "I really think a lot of it has to do with the fact that whenever I'm going through something, I have used that song." - Billboard, 3/8/23...... Cher told E! News on Mar. 6 that she's working on new music, and she's even brought her boyfriend Alexander "A.E." Edwards -- who is a producer himself -- into the studio for collaboration. "I'm going to England to make two albums," she revealed. "Some of the songs Alexander gave me, so I'm pretty excited about that. He's a producer and a writer and he does everything, so I'm happy about that." In Dec. 2022, Cher told talk show host Kelly Clarkson that her 40-year-age difference with Edwards is "kind of ridiculous...on paper." "But in real life, we get along great. He's fabulous. And I don't give men qualities that they don't deserve." he noted that Edwards is "very kind, very smart, he's very talented, and he's really funny," before sweetly observing, "And I think he's quite handsome." Cher and Edwards met at Paris Fashion Week in Sept. 2022, and were later spotted holding hands. The rapper and music executive was previously linked to Amber Rose, with whom he shares three-year-old son Slash Electric. Cher also told E! News that she's "trying to get myself in shape" for an upcoming tour she is planning to embark on later in 2023. - Billboard, 3/6/23...... Tom Jones is confirmed for two festivals in the U.K. this summer -- the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival 2023 which returns to the royal landmark from June 6 to June 17, and a brand new festival called Greenwich Summer Sounds held at Old Royal Naval College from July 4 to July 8. Joining Sir Tom on the bill at the Hampton Court Festival will be Soft Cell and Kool and The Gang, while Nile Rodgers + Chic and Kaiser Chiefs will co-headline the Greenwich Summer Sounds event with Jones. Jones will play Hampton Court Palace Festival on June 14, and Greenwich Summer Sounds on July 6. - Music-News.com, 3/11/23...... 
Actor Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001, died of heart disease on Mar. 9 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89. Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, Baretta, had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of Bakley outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court. In a 2002 interview while he was jailed awaiting trial, Blake bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: "It hurt because America is the only family I had." He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him, but a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley's family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him "Robert," not "Dad." Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake's career peaked with the 1975-78 series, Baretta, in which he starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," was often quoted. Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood's finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life. In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, Judgment Day: the John List Story, portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children. Born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, N.J., Blake's Italian immigrant father and is Italian American mother wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, "The Three Little Hillbillies." When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the Our Gang comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake. He also acted in a movie classic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and as an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote's true crime best seller In Cold Blood. 
On television, fans also watched Blake on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where he was a recurring guest who appeared in funny skits with longtime friend Johnny Carson and other featured celebrities. He is also remembered as a pitchman in commercials for STP, Geico and others. Blake's career had slowed down well before the trial. Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his murder defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor's Guild pension. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch's Lost Highway, released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years "enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films." A private memorial service will be held to honor his life. - AP, 3/9/23...... Chaim Topol, the spirited Israeli actor and singer who portrayed Tevye the milkman in "Fiddler on the Roof" on stages all around the world and in an Oscar-nominated turn in Norman Jewison's 1971 film adaptation, died on Mar. 9 in Tel Aviv. He was 87. Israel's first international movie star, Mr. Topol also played famed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in Galileo (1975); an American scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov, in the cult sci-fi classic Flash Gordon (1980); and Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler and ally of Roger Moore's James Bond, in For Your Eyes Only (1981). As Polish family man Berel Jastrow, he was central to the plot of two acclaimed 1980s ABC miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, both based on Herman Wouk novels. Topol last portrayed Tevye on a Boston stage in 2009 but was forced to exit the musical after suffering a shoulder injury. He received the prestigious Israel Prize for lifetime achievement from his government in 2015. Survivors include his wife, Galia, whom he married in October 1956. They had three children, Omer, Adi and Anat. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/9/23...... Bert I. Gordon, the professed king of the monster movies whose B pictures featured giant rats, giant spiders, giant grasshoppers, giant chickens, a colossal man and 30-foot teenagers laying waste to everything in sight, died on Mar. 8 in Los Angeles. He was 100 years old. As anxieties over nuclear testing and the effects of radiation swept postwar America, Mr. Gordon embarked on a low-budget filmmaking odyssey that turned mutated monsters loose on the hapless world. Despite the fact that his movies featured stars like Ida Lupino and Orson Welles, and despite the eye-catching apocalyptic titles and lurid posters, he generated many flops, a few minor hits and largely negative reviews. He also generated a cult following. In the 1950s and early '60s, Mr. Gordon's monster movies were perfect for drive-in theaters, where audiences took in wildly improbable plots, silly dialogue and crude special effects, including locusts overrunning a miniature city, a gigantic rat hovering over a girl in a negligee, and Ida Lupino being eaten by vast mealworms. - GlobalVillageSpace.com, 3/8/23.
Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member of Southern Rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd, died on Mar. 5, nearly four months before the band was planning to launch its next tour. He was 71. No cause of death was given, though Rossington had been dealing with health issues over the past couple of decades and particularly since the mid-2010s, when heart ailments occasionally sidelined him, and the band."It is without deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington today," the band wrote in an official statement. "Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary and Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family's privacy at this time," the band added. Rossington was the last man standing in a band that formed during 1964 in Jacksonville, Fla., starting with bassist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns in a trio called Me, You, and Him. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, who played on a rival baseball team, jammed with the team after one of their games, playing the Rolling Stones' "Time Is on My Side," and the rest was history. The band settled on its name around 1970, taking it from Leonard Skinner, the strict physical education teacher at Robert E. Lee High School. Skinner was particularly hard on boys who had long hair, which led Rossington to drop out of school. After working the local and regional scene Skynyrd was discovered by Al Kooper, founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, who signed the band to his Sounds of the South label. The band's debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, was released on Aug. 13, 1973 and featured the lengthy anthem "Free Bird," which would become Skynyrd's signature song. The group continued to build a following through hard touring and tracks such as "Sweet Home Alabama" -- its answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man." Rossington co-wrote that track as well as other Skynyrd favorites such as "I Ain't the One," "Things Goin' On," "Don't Ask Me No Questions," "Gimme Back My Bullets" and "What's Your Name." The first phase of the band ended on Oct. 20, 1977, when a Convair CV-240 carrying the band from Greenville, S.C. to Baton Rouge, La., crashed near Gillsburg, Miss., killing three band members (Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his older sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and both pilots. Rossington and other suffered severe injuries and put the group on hold immediately after. "We couldn't imagine going on after something like that," he said later. 
"We were a brotherhood, and when you lose your brothers you can't just go on." He and guitarist Allen Collins formed the Rossington Collins Band, which lasted nearly four years and two albums before breaking up in 1982. Lynyrd Skynyrd, meanwhile reformed in 1987, ostensibly to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the plane crash; the band has continued ever since, recording nine more studio albums and going through a number of number of lineup changes. Rossington -- who is part of a guitarist core that included Collins (who passed away during 1977), Ed King (who died in 2018), Hughie Thomasson (who died in 2007), Rickey Medlocke and others -- was the only Skynyrd member to appear on all of its albums. During a 2016 interview, promoting his Take It on Faith album with wife Dale Krantz-Rossington -- who's also a Skynyrd back-up singer -- Rossington said that despite his health battles he'd made a decision to go on playing and die with his proverbial boots on. "It's just in my blood, y'know?," he explained. "I'm just an old guitar player, and we've spent our whole loves and the 10,000 hours of working to understand how to play and do it. So I think once you've got something going for yourself you should keep it up and keep your craft going. When you retire, what's next? I like to fish, but how much of that can you do, right? So I want to keep doing what I do now." Despite his health concerns, Rossington still appeared at some of Lynyrd Skynyrd's shows in 2022, although sometimes he would only play for the second half of the gig. The band recently confirmed that he would be making "guest appearances" on their upcoming co-headlining tour with ZZ Top this summer. Tributes to Rossington began hitting social media immediately after the band's announcement. The social media team of the late Charlie Daniels wrote on Instagram, "the last of the Free birds has flown home. RIP Gary Rossington, God Bless the Lynyrd @Skynyrd band. Prayers to Dale and the rest of his family." Artists remembering Rossington on Twitter include Peter Frampton, Paul Rodgers, The Allman Brothers Band, Brett Michaels, and Ricky Scaggs. - Billboard, 3/5/23.
Yusuf/Cat Stevens has been confirmed to play the coveted Legends Slot at the UK's Glastonbury 2023 festival on June 25, the BBC reports. The Legends Slot, often reserved for older and heritage acts, traditionally takes place at around 4:00 pm on the iconic Pyramid Stage. This will mark Yusuf's debut appearance at the festival held at Worthy Farm. Other acts set to join Elton John -- who'll be headlining the Pyramid Stage as part of his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour and will be playing his final UK concert ever -- include Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Lana Del Rey, Lizzo and The War On Drugs. Previous Legends Slot appearances include Diana Ross in 2022, Barry Gibb, Jeff Lynne's ELO, Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton. - NME, 3/3/23...... In a new interview shared on 
In a new interview with Goldmine magazine, Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box revealed fans of the Heep are keen to launch a petition to get the band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Box, the only original member of the British hard rockers left in the current line-up, said: "People have been making rumbles about it, and I think our fans are trying to get a petition together for it to get the right numbers to warrant being there. But I think over the years, and maybe we deserve a place, but they have a selection committee that chooses what bands go in and what bands don't. And there's nothing we can do about that really." He continued, "All I know is that we've been going for over 52 years now, have 25 albums, sold over 40 million albums, and have toured in 62 countries, so there is some merit for us to be there. Whether or not we get chosen is neither here nor there. And if it doesn't happen, as usual, life goes on." When asked how he'd like to be remembered, Box said for "inspiring" people and being a "good guitarist." "I don't know, as that's a tough one. As a good guitarist and a good human being would be enough. I treat others how I want to be treated myself, and I'm very grounded in what I do. I'm one of these people who can go onstage and produce an ego to perform, but then I can leave it onstage and come back and be Joe Schmo again.... the most rewarding thing [is] inspiring people to bring music into their lives, because to be honest, music is life and life is music." - Music-News.com, 3/3/23...... Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has shared a preview of "Us and Them" from his re-working of the iconic prog rock band's classic 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and says in it's YouTube description that it's not intended as a "replacement" for the "irreplaceable" original. Waters says he simply intended to tip the hat to a song that he and his former bandmates, Nick Mason, Dave Gilmour and the late Rick Wright, have "every right to be proud of." "It's not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable," Waters wrote in the description of the YouTube clip. "But it is a way for the seventy nine year old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the twenty nine year old and say, to quote a poem of mine about my Father, 'We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us.' And also it is a way for me to honor a recording that Nick and Rick and Dave and I have every right to be very proud of," he added. Waters also confirmed he's "now in the process of finishing the final mix" for his Dark Side redux. Upon revealing he had been working on the project for months without the knowledge of Gilmour and Mason, Waters dismissed his former bandmates' contributions to the record insisting it was always his "project, let's get rid of all this 'we' crap." Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper in February, he said: "I wrote 'The Dark Side of the Moon'. Let's get rid of all this 'we' crap! Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed - but it's my project and I wrote it. So... blah!" Waters wrote the album's lyrics and is credited with composing three of the 10 tracks, along with co-writing the music for another two. Asked why he has remade the record, he said: "Because not enough people recognised what it's about, what it was I was saying then." - Music-News.com, 3/3/23...... Chaka Khan has apologized for blasting singers such as Mariah Carey and Adele in a recent interview. Khan, real name Yvette Stevens, took to Instagram on Mar. 5 to apologize for her remarks to Andrew Goldman for his The Originals podcast earlier in March, when she was asked about being ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time" earlier in 2023, and gave her controversial opinions on those ranked higher. During the interview, when Goldman noted that Carey was ranked at number five, she jokingly alleged that Carey "may have bribed someone at the magazine," and as for Adele landing at number 2 ahead of Mary J. Blige at 25, she commented, "OK, I quit." Khan told Goldman: "Recently, I was asked about a list of the 'greatest singers of all time' and instead of questioning the need for such a list, I was pitted against other artists and I took the bait," she began. "As artists, we are unfairly put into 'boxes', 'categories' or on 'lists.' Being an artist or musician is not a competition. It's a gift, for which I am truly grateful. It was not my intention to cause pain or upset anyone. To anyone that felt this way, I sincerely apologize." She continued, "Thank you for all the love everyone has shown me, unconditionally. I have always been about empowering others and I started a foundation for that very purpose. I will be announcing soon. Empowering all artists is most important because we truly are the architects of change... and change begins within the heart. I love you all and God bless." - Music-News.com, 3/6/23...... 
Revered American jazz composer/saxophonist Wayne Shorter passed away in Los Angeles on Mar. 2 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 89. "Visionary composer, saxophonist, visual artist, devout Buddhist, devoted husband, father and grandfather Wayne Shorter has embarked on a new journey as part of his extraordinary life -- departing the earth as we know it in search of an abundance of new challenges and creative possibilities," read a statement from a spokesperson for Mr. Shorter. "Always inquisitive and constantly exploring -- ever the fearless and passionate innovator -- Shorter was 89 years young and had just won his 13th Grammy Award in February." Born on Aug. 25, 1933 in Newark, N.J., Mr. Shorter studied music at New York University in the mid-1950s, developing a style influenced by such jazz pioneers as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. After brief runs with the Horace Silver Quintet and the Maynard Ferguson big band, Mr. Shorter's career began in earnest in 1959 when he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, a four-year tenure that found him graduating to musical director for the group while blossoming into a multi-faceted composer and master of the driving, hard bop sound. He then moved on to a fruitful six-year run with jazz icon Miles Davis, first in his Quintet, where Mr. Shorter was able to stretch his musical wings and add layers to his already formidable talents, including on Davis' landmark 1969 jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way and 
Notable L.A. session musician David Lindley, a talented multi-instrumentalist known for his work and collaborations with the likes of Jackson Browne, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart and others, died on Mar. 3. He was 78. Born in San Marino, Calif., on Mar. 21, 1944, Lindley grew up surrounded by music and began playing banjo and fiddle as a child. By his early twenties, he had developed an interest in electric music and formed the psychedelic folk-rock band Kaleidoscope, which released its debut album, Side Trips, in 1967. That same year, he worked as a session musician on Leonard Cohen's first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. After splitting with Kaleidoscope in 1970 following the release of four albums, Lindley joined Jackson Browne's band, establishing himself on albums like 1973's 
Appearing on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show on Mar. 1, KISS announced they'll play their final shows ever on Dec. 1 and 2 at Madison Square Garden. "Dec. 1 and 2 is Madison Square Garden. Those are the last two shows of the band. We're finishing up where we started," KISS's Paul Stanley told Stern. Ahead of the gigs at the legendary New York venue, KISS will play 17 other shows across the U.S. and Canada as part of its End of the Road World Tour, including stops in Los Angeles, Seattle, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Baltimore. "Look, some people have kind of snickered and said, 'Oh this End of the Road tour's gone on for years,'" Stanley continued. "Yeah, we lost two and a half years to Covid. We would've been done already! So, yes, this is the end." Prompted by Stern, Gene Simmons said he's almost certain he'll be emotional once the band reaches its final performances. "I kid around a lot about, 'Men don't do that,'" he added. "I'm sure I'm gonna cry like a 9-year-old girl whose foot's being stepped on. KISS was born on 23rd Street. It's only taken us 50 years to go play the final shows 10 blocks away on 33rd Street, which is Madison Square Garden." In February, Stanley starred in Workday.com's Super Bowl commercial along with fellow rockers Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Clark Jr. KISS's Howard Stern Show interview can be viewed on 
Van Morrison announced on Feb. 28 that he'll play a special one-off show at London's legendary Royal Albert Hall on June 28. The Celtic crooner will perform tracks from 
On Feb. 27 The Doobie Brothers announced 35 new U.S. dates for their ongoing 50th anniversary tour. The shows, which will run from June through October of 2023, extend the outing that has brought guitarists Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, John McFee and singer Michael McDonald back together for the first time in 25 years. "We are thrilled to be back on the road in 2023 playing some cities we haven't gotten to yet on this tour," Doobie's co-founder Johnston in a statement. After a June 9 launch in Sparks, Nev., the band will also visit markets including Kansas City (6/14), Des Moines (6/18), Louisville (7/1), Biloxi (8/28) and Charleston (9/7). After wrapping the U.S. dates in Atlantic City on Oct. 8, the group is slated to head overseas for shows in Australia, Japan and Singapore. - Billboard, 2/27/23...... A U.K. George Harrison fan named Andy Chistlehurst has dug through the archives to find a 1965 interview by Harrison with Record Mirror, where the guitarist discussed some of his influences at the time, and created a playlist from Harrison's jukebox from that time. Chistlehurst has now compiled the recommendations from the interview, including Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Little Richard, Otis Redding and more, into a 
Elton John and Mariah Carey were among the family, friends and celebrities paying tribute to Olivia Newton-John during an Australian state memorial in Melbourne on Feb. 26. During the ceremony, Sir Elton said during a video link that Olivia's "bravery and optimism" would stay with him forever. He added: "She was such a wonderful force of nature, she was funny, kind, warm and talented and every time we got together we laughed and laughed and laughed. Throughout her career I have watched her grow and grow and grow to be the artist she became." Mariah Carey noted how Newton-John "really affected my life." "As a little girl, I loved her so much. Grease was probably the first movie I ever saw. I looked up to her so much and when I got to meet her, she was just as nice as she was a star," Carey said. During the memorial, Delta Goodrem, the Sydney pop singer who portrayed Newton-John in the 2018 TV mini-series Hopelessly Devoted to You, performed a medley of Olivia's biggest hits. Speaking beforehand, she said that "being able to honor and celebrate Olivia is incredibly special." The ceremony also saw Australian actor Hugh Jackman pay tribute to Newton-John alongside her husband John Easterling and daughter Chloe Lattanzi. Newton-John died in Aug. 2022 having battled breast cancer since 1992. She was 73. - NME, 2/26/23...... New Wave legends Devo have announced a one-off date in the UK on Aug. 19 as part of their world "farewell tour" of 2023. "In celebration of their 50th year and as part of their Farewell Tour, pioneering synth-pop legends @DEVO will be playing the Eventim Apollo in London this August - their one and only UK show!," London's Eventim Apollo venue 
Since its debut in 1971, an anti-pollution ad showing a man in Native American attire shed a single tear at the sight of smokestacks and litter taking over a once unblemished landscape has become an indelible piece of TV pop culture. It's been referenced over the decades since on shows like The Simpsons and South Park and in internet memes. But now a Native American advocacy group that was given the rights to the long-parodied public service announcement is retiring it, saying it has always been inappropriate. The so-called "Crying Indian" with his buckskins and long braids made the late actor Iron Eyes Cody a recognizable face in households nationwide. But to many Native Americans, the public service announcement has been a painful reminder of the enduring stereotypes they face. The nonprofit that originally commissioned the advertisement, Keep America Beautiful, had long been considering how to retire the ad and announced on Feb. 25 that it's doing so by transferring ownership of the rights to the National Congress of American Indians. "Keep America Beautiful wanted to be careful and deliberate about how we transitioned this iconic advertisement/public service announcement to appropriate owners," Noah Ullman, a spokesperson for the nonprofit, says. "We spoke to several Indigenous peoples' organizations and were pleased to identify the National Congress of American Indians as a potential caretaker." NCAI says it plans to end the use of the ad and watch for any unauthorized use. When it premiered in the 1970s, the ad was a sensation. It led to Cody filming three follow-up PSAs. He spent more than 25 years making public appearances and visits to schools on behalf of the anti-litter campaign. From there, Cody, who was Italian American but claimed to have Cherokee heritage through his father, was typecast as a stock Native American character, appearing in over 80 films. Most of the time, his character was simply "Indian," "Indian Chief" or "Indian Joe." His movie credits from the 1950s-1980s included Sitting Bull, The Great Sioux Massacre, Nevada Smith, A Man Called Horse and Ernest Goes to Camp. On television, he appeared in Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Rawhide among others. He also was a technical adviser on Native American matters on film sets. Dr. Jennifer J. Folsom, a journalism and media communication professor at Colorado State University and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, applauded Keep America Beautiful's decision as an "appropriate move." "It will mean a trusted group can help control the narrative the ad has promoted for over 50 years," she said. - AP, 2/25/23.
Graham Nash announced on Feb. 22 that he'll release his first studio album in seven years, titled 
Concurrent with the recent re-release of the 1973 concert documentary 
BMG and Dark Horse Records have reached an agreement to bring George Harrison's solo recorded works to BMG. It marks the first time that Harrison's recorded and publishing works are under the same roof, and comes just in time for what would have been the late Beatle's 80th birthday on Feb. 25. BMG entered into a global deal last year with the George Harrison Estate to administer the 200-song plus Harrisongs catalog, which includes all of Harrison's work written with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys and his solo career. Harrison died in 2001. "This is a banner day for BMG, bringing together for the first time the song and recorded rights of one of the greatest musicians in popular music history under one roof," said BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch in a statement. "Only BMG can do this. We look forward to working with the George Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Records to promote George's peerless music to generations old and new." To commemorate his Feb. 25 birthday, Dark Horse and BMG have released Harrison's entire catalog in Dolby Atmos surround sound exclusively on Apple Music. The catalog partnership is the latest move in the relationship between BMG and Dark Horse, which began in 2020 to revive the label Harrison launched in 1974. George's son Dhani Harrison runs Dark Horse with David Zonshine. In 2022, Dark Horse signed a new licensing agreement with the Leon Russell estate for 16 albums by the late singer/songwriter and Harrison friend, as well as with Joe Strummer's estate to administer The Clash co-founder's music publishing. BMG has been working with Dhani since 2014. - Billboard, 2/21/23...... Britain's Victoria & Albert Museum announced on Feb. 23 that it has acquired David Bowie's archive of more than 80,000 items as a gift from the late musician's estate. The trove of costumes, musical instruments, letters, lyrics, photos and more will be opened to the public at a new arts center dedicated to the chameleonlike pop icon. The David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts is due to open in 2025 as part of V&A East Storehouse, an offshoot of the U.K.'s national museum of art, design and performance that is being built in east London's Olympic Park. The V&A said the center will let fans and researchers gain insights into the creative process of Bowie, who died in 2016 at the age of 69. Some of the items in the archive formed part of "David Bowie Is," a multimedia exhibition that toured the world after a sold-out run at the V&A in London in 2013. Some items are iconic, such as a multicolored quilted jumpsuit designed by Freddie Burretti for Bowie's alien rock star creation Ziggy Stardust, Kansai Yamamoto's futuristic creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973 or the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the cover of 1997's Earthling album. Others are more personal, including letters, handwritten lyrics for songs including the anthem "Heroes," and notebooks that Bowie kept throughout his life. The archives also contain more than 70,000 photographs, slides and images. Bowie's official reps shared the announcement in a post on 
Barbra Striesand -- an 8-time Grammy, 5-time Emmy, and 2-time Oscar winner -- will add another honor to her awards shelf in April when she receives an honor named for one of ther heroes: late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg. "I am deeply honored to receive this award named after one of the iconic and pathbreaking Justices ever to serve on the Supreme Court," Streisand wrote in a tweet announcing that she will be the recipient of the 2023 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award at the Library of Congress on Apr. 22. According to the Washington Post, Ginsburg was huge fan of Streisand's and that late in her life when she invited her friend philanthropist Julie Opperman to her chambers to discuss establishing an award in her name for women striving to change society in positive ways, Babs's name quickly came up. "She wanted to honor women of great passion and achievement," Opperman told the paper about the Mar. 2019 conversation that came 18 months before Ginsburg's death. "She wanted it to be women in the RBG tradition. I'm pleased to say Barbra Streisand was among them." In a statement to the Post, Streisand, 80, said that "women everywhere have benefited from the brilliance and courage of the Hon. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg... She is an inspiration to us all. She devoted her life to advancing equality and justice, and the world is a better place for it." In a 
Beloved New Orleans session man Huey "Piano" Smith, who backed Little Richard, Lloyd Price and other early rock stars and with his own group made the party favorites "Don't You Just Know It" and "Rockin' Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu," died in his sleep Feb. 13 at his home in Baton Rouge, La. He was 89. A New Orleans native who performed nationwide but always returned to Louisiana, Mr. Smith was one of the last survivors of an extraordinary scene of musicians and songwriters who helped make New Orleans a fundamental influence on rock 'n' roll. He was just 15 when he began playing professionally and in his 20s helped out on numerous '50s hits, including Price's "Where You At?," Earl King's "Those Lonely Lonely Nights" and Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking." Little Richard, Fats Domino and David Bartholomew were among the many other artists he worked with. In 1957, he formed Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns and reached the top 10 with "Rockin' Pneumonia," a mid-tempo stomp which featured the vocals of John Marchin and Mr. Smith's buoyant keyboard playing, and the equally rowdy and good-natured "Don't You Just Know It." The Clowns also were known for "We Like Birdland," "Well I'll Be John Brown" and "High Blood Pressure." One Mr. Smith production became a major hit and rock standard, for another performer. Mr. Smith and his group wrote, arranged and recorded "Sea Cruise," but Ace Records thought the song would have more success with a white singer -- as Mr. Smith learned bluntly from local record distributor Joe Caronna -- and replaced the Clowns' vocals with those of Frankie Ford, whose version became a million seller. Artists covering "Sea Cruise" and other Mr. Smith songs included John Fogerty, the Beach Boys, Aerosmith and Jerry Garcia. In 2005, Ford would deny "stealing" the song, alleging that he had written the words. "Huey sorta went through a period and 'forgot' a lot of things," Ford told Offbeat Magazine. Mr. Smith's popularity faded after the Beatles arrived and by 1980 he had quit the business, settled in Baton Rouge with his wife, Margrette, and become a Jehovah's Witness. Like many rock musicians from the '50s, he fought to be paid and credited for "Sea Cruise" and other hits and spent decades in legal battles and financial trouble. Local musicians, meanwhile, continued to cite him as an inspiration. In 2000, Mr. Smith received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and he was honored a year later by the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame. Admirers would cite him as one of the most vital performers not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is survived by his wife, 10 children, 18 grandchildren and 47 great grandchildren. - AP, 2/20/23.
On '70s cuts like "Wild Horses," "Dead Flowers" and "Far Away Eyes," the Rolling Stones showed their affinity for American country music. Now some of country music's top artists are returning the love with a 14-track set titled 
As she reached her milestone 90th birthday on Feb. 18, Yoko Ono has launched a "wish tree" website -- WishTreeForYokoOno.com -- where people all over the world can post their wishes online and (in association with One Tree Planted) plant real trees in Yoko's honor. Yoko first came up with the idea of "Wish Trees" in 1996 and since its inception, Yoko has collected nearly two million wishes from more than 200 physical installations of the Wish Tree in over 35 countries. Meanwhile, a new documentary is set to revisit the one week in 1972 when Yoko and John Lennon co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show. Titled Daytime Revolution, the doc was authorized by Ono's son Sean Ono Lennon, and will include archival footage from each of the five episodes co-hosted by the famous couple in 1972. Directed by Erik Nelson, the film features interviews with surviving guests who were interviewed by John and Yoko on the show, as well as behind-the-scenes stories of the pair's week-long stint. Across their five-episode run on the show, Lennon and Ono discussed then-controversial topics like environmental conservation and police brutality, and interviewed activists like Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale, lecturer and attorney Ralph Nader, and pioneering rock & roller Chuck Berry. A release date for Daytime Revolution has not yet been announced. It will follow a string of Lennon-focussed documentaries to be released in recent years, including Lennon's Last Weekend in 2020 and the re-release of 24 Hours: The World Of John And Yoko in 2021. In still more Lennon-related news, the Beatles legend's former home inspired Judas Priest's 1980 classic "Living After Midnight," according to Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. Speaking to Guitar Player magazine, Tipton recalled how the song came about while the band were working on their iconic LP British Steel at Tittenhurst Park, where the old residence of Lennon is situated in Berkshire, England. "We'd been out at the pub, and when we got back quite late, I started working on some ideas in the living room, but the noise woke Rob [Halford]. His bedroom was right above. He came down and said he couldn't get the riff out of his head, so I asked him to sing some lyrics right there on the spot and he came up with, 'Living after midnight, loving till the dawn.' That was how we used to live our life back in those days." He continued: "I should mention that it was very surreal sitting in the living room with John Lennon's white piano there -- the one he played 'Imagine' on in the video for that song." - NME/Music-News.com, 2/16/23...... Also recently interviewed by Guitar Player is Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who when asked if he's as much of a perfectionist about the music business side as he is with the music itself, he replied: "God, no! But that perfectionism applied to everything, to be honest." When asked if his bandmates -- including Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and the late John Bonham -- ever found him difficult to work with, the 79-year-old rocker admitted he never got that impression from them. "I don't know if anyone thought I was," Page said. "You're always trying to strive to be better and better and better. That's all there is to it. And sometimes, whatever you've done isn't good enough. Do better, do better. But, you know, that's my own thing. And I haven't changed. That's how I am." Meanwhile, Jimmy previously admitted he doesn't think Led Zeppelin would exist today because of the immediacy of the online world: "We used to throw songs into the live set that we hadn't recorded yet, just for fun. We did that with 'Immigrant Song' at Bath Festival in 1970, and nobody had heard anything like it. You don't have that freedom now because it would be posted online immediately. It was a fun time as a creative musician, a fun time to be in a band." Led Zeppelin disbanded in 1980 when drummer Bonham passed away but they have reunited for special one-off performances, most recently in 2007. - Music-News.com, 2/11/23...... 
After The Kinks announced the upcoming release of a 60th anniversary Kinks compilation with a with a two-part anthology called The Journey, Twitter apparently flagged the band's name as "sensitive content." That sent Kinks guitarist Dave Davies down a Twitterhole, unleashing a flurry of tweets in which he told "chief Twit, Elon Musk", that he's "tired of waiting" for him to get it right. "Dear @elonmusk would @twiiter please stop putting warnings on everything from 'the Kinks'. We are just trying to promote our Kinks music," Davies tweeted on Feb. 15. The tweet linked to a previous one in which Davies invited fans to check out the band's TikTok promo for the set, which featured a message at the bottom that read, "We put a warning on this Tweet because it might have sensitive content." A short time later, Davies gave Musk a bit of a lesson on his group's background, 
Former The Police frontman Sting will become an Academy Fellow, the highest honor The Ivors Academy bestows, at the 2023 Ivors, which will be presented at Grosvenor House in London on May 18. Sting is the 23rd Fellow that the Academy has inducted in its 79-year history. He follows such songwriting greats as Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Joan Armatrading and the 2022 winner, Peter Gabriel. "Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me, the most prestigious," Sting said in a statement. "Songwriting is a skilled craft and The Ivors Academy are its guild. So, I am delighted and honoured to be offered this Fellowship of the Academy, joining and acknowledging this extraordinary group of fellow songwriters, and all of those who went before us." - Billboard, 2/15/23...... It was disclosed by The Carter Cener on Feb. 18 that former Pres. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the US, will begin receiving hospice care at his home in Georgia. "After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team," the statement said. Jason Carter, a onetime Democratic state senator in Georgia and the former president's grandson, said he visited with his grandparents on Feb. 17 and that "they are at peace and -- as always -- their home is full of love." Pres. Carter, who turned 98 last year, became the oldest living US president in history after the passing of former Pres. George H.W. Bush, who died in late 2018 at 94. Pres. Carter has kept a low public profile in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic but has continued to speak out about risks to democracy around the world, a longtime cause of his. Pres. Carter beat brain cancer in 2015 but faced a series of health scares in 2019, and consequentially underwent surgery to remove pressure on his brain. His health woes forced him to give up his decadeslong tradition of teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga. - CNN, 2/18/23...... Gerald Fried, the Oscar-nominated, oboe-playing composer who created iconic gladiatorial fight music for the original Star Trek series and collaborated with Quincy Jones to win an Emmy for their theme to the landmark miniseries Roots, died on Feb. 17 of pneumonia at St. Vincent's Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., his wife said. He was 95. After meeting director Stanley Kubrick on a baseball field in the Bronx in the early 1950s, Mr. Fried wound up scoring the acclaimed filmmaker's first four features: Fear and Desire (1953), Killer's Kiss (1955), The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957). Mr. Fried also supplied the music for several cult Roger Corman classics from 1958 through 1971, and his work can be heard in such classic TV series as Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, Mission: Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Emergency!, Flamingo Road and Dynasty. Mr. Fried first worked on NBC's Star Trek midway through the first season on the Dec. 1966 episode "Shore Leave," but he really made his mark on the second-season opener, "Amok Time." His relentless "The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah" score dramatizes a memorable "fight to the death" on the planet Vulcan between Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy). More recently, Mr. Fried taught at UCLA and played the oboe with the Santa Fe Great Big Jazz Band and Santa Fe Community Orchestra. He is survived by his wife, Anita Hall, four children and six grandchildren. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/18/23...... Beloved comedian Richard Belzer, a stand-up legend and actor who played Det. John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU and eight other shows, died on Feb. 19 at his home in Bozouls in southwest France. He was 78. Belzer made his film debut in the hilarious 
Actress Stella Stevens, a top starlet of the 1960s who brought sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad of Cable Hogue, died on Feb. 17 in Los Angeles, according to her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens. She was 84. Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed bombshell appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli's The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968). She also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested. Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced, directed, co-written and starring Jerry Lewis as the nice but nerdy Julius F. Kelp, a college chemistry professor who invents a potent cocktail that transforms him into swinging ladies' man Buddy Love. Her character, the coed Stella Purdy, finds herself attracted to Love but also sees something in Kelp. "I am basically a comedienne, I always have been," Ms. Stevens said in a 1992 interview. A lot of the serious dramatic roles I've played, I've thought to myself, 'Oh God, they were dreary.' I like the pacing of comedy, the excitement of it." Stevens, though, did stand out in dramas. She convinced jazzman Bobby Darin to abandon his idealistic dreams in director John Cassavetes' Too Late Blues (1961) and played prostitutes with hearts of gold in Rage (1966) and Sam Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), respectively. In the classic disaster film