Posted by Administrator on Jan. 12th, 2016
The shocking news of David Bowie's death on Jan. 10 after an 18-month battle with cancer, just days after releasing a new album Blackstar on his 69th birthday, has been met with disbelief from fans, celebrities and members of the music industry. Bowie's longtime producer and collaborator Tony Visconti said that Bowie "always did what he wanted to do...and he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way." "His death was no different from his life - a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry," Visconti added. 
Born on Nov. 6, 1948, in Detroit, Frey was raised in nearby Royal Oak, Mich., and was exposed to both the Motown sounds and harder-edged rock of his hometown, including Bob Seger and his band. After playing in a succession of local bands in Detroit, Frey first connected with Seger when Frey's band, the Mushrooms, convinced Seger to write a song for them. Seger also invited Frey to sing backing vocals on Seger's first hit, 1968's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," which was also Frey's first recorded appearance. After relocatiing to Los Angeles with his then-girlfriend Joan Silwin, Frey was introduced to songwriter John David Souther by Silwin's sister, Alexandra. Before long, Frey, Souther and another aspiring songwriter, Jackson Browne were living as roommates in East L.A. and quickly became deeply involved in the burgeoning L.A. country-rock scene centered around the Troubadour nightclub. Frey and Souther, calling themselves Longbranch Pennywhistle, secured a recording contract with the short-lived indie label Amos Records in 1969, but soon split up. However 1971 would prove to be a fateful year when future country-rock superstar Linda Ronstadt hired Frey and his friend, drummer Don Henley to play in her backing band, on the advice of her boyfriend, Souther. Frey and Henley decided to form their own band on the night of their first show backing Ronstadt, and later recruited ex-Poco bassist Randy Meisner and former Flying Burrito Brothers guitarist Bernie Leadon to join them. Calling themselves the Eagles, they became one of the first artists signed to David Geffen's new label, Asylum Records. 
The Eagles became an instant success after releasing their eponymous 
Frey also began a side career in acting, and portrayed a drug-smuggling musician on Miami Vice named Jimmy Cole. In 1991, after solo hits by Frey and Don Henley began to dry up, the Eagles' manager Irving Azoff mastermined a reunion tour with a title, "Hell Freezes Over," that mocked the acrimony which caused the band to spllit up. The Eagles continued to tour periodically -- and lucratively -- over the past two decades, releasing just scattered new material (including a successful studio album called 
"He saw the videos; he heard the music; and he's so happy you're doing this and I want you to know too, so we're going to celebrate the life of David Bowie." Visconti, who appeared tearful at times, added: "The reason why we're doing this is about 46 years ago Woody and I were the original musicians who played this album, so technically we're not a tribute band; we are the real deal." The band closed out the two-hour concert with "Time" and "Suffragette City," with the crowd throwing red roses onstage. Meanwhile, Bowie's family posted a new message on Bowie's official Facebook page on Jan. 14 thanking fans for their recent "love and support" following the music icon's passing, describing themselves as "overwhelmed and grateful," and announcing plans for a private funeral service. "Thank you. The family of David Bowie is currently making arrangements for a private ceremony celebrating the memory of their beloved husband, father and friend...We are overwhelmed by and grateful for the love and support shown throughout the world," the message read, and also requested that fans "respect their privacy at this most sensitive of times" and noted that while the concerts and tributes planned in honor of Bowie in the coming weeks are welcome, "none are official memorials organised or endorsed by the family." Two Bowie tributes -- in Berlin and New Orleans -- already occurred on Jan. 17, with a memorial service held at Berlin's Hansa Studios, where Bowie recorded most of his "Berlin trilogy" albums (Low, Lodgers, "Heroes"), and a parade in New Orleans led by the band Arcade Fire that brought traffic in the city to a standstill. Additionally, two rock music superstars -- Elton John and Bruce Springsteen -- have honored the Thin White Duke during concerts in the past week. John performed a special "piano requiem" as a tribute to Bowie during his concert at L.A.'s Wiltern Theater on on Jan. 13, weaving his own hit "Rocket Man" and Bowie's "Space Oddity," and Springsteen, performing in Pittsburgh on the opening night of his The River Tour, treated the crowd to a rousing rendition of Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" from Diamond Dogs. According to a report in the U.K. paper The Guardian, the singer has been privately cremated in New York without any friends and family present, as per his wishes. He wanted "to go without any fuss", a source told the paper. The executors of Bowie's will have revealed that his family stands to inherit his fortune, thanks to his "Bowie bonds" scheme devised by California-based banker David Pullman, which gave investors the rights to royalties for his first 25 albums for 10 years, before ownership returned to him and llowed him to buy back the rights to some of his most popular work from a former manager. "He was astute financially and he had the foresight to have things set up then that would look after his family," Pullman said on Jan. 13. 
As predicted, Bowie's 26th album 
Cher has donated thousands of bottles of water to residents of Flint, Mich., as the city struggles with a drinking water crisis linked to lead contamination. Cher has reportedly paid for more than 180,000 bottles of water to be shipped to Flint beginning on Jan. 17, calling the situation "a tragedy of staggering proportion and shocking that it's happening in the middle of our country." Flint's 100,000 residents haven't had safe water to drink and bathe in since 2014, when officials began drawing water from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. However, the city did not treat corrosive water properly, which led to metal leaching from old pipes. - AP, 1/16/16...... Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer has announced he'll be opening up a new coffee shop in Nort Attleboro, Mass., just 40 miles outside of Boston, in April. Kramer says the 1,500 square-foot facility will serve up organic coffee and have a rock 'n' roll theme, with Kramer's drum kit and other Aerosmith memorabilia on display. Kramer has already put his name on a line of organic coffee, according to his business parter Frank Cimler, and they hope the business will be the first in string of coffeehouses with a "rock star edge." - AP, 1/16/16...... Actor Tim Curry, who played Dr. Frank N Furter in the original 1975 
A one-night-only Neil Young film event, "An Evening with Neil Young," will take place in theaters across the U.S. on Feb. 29 featuring two Young films and feature a Q&A with Young hosted by director Cameron Crowe. The Young-starred, co-directed and co-written 1982 film Human Highway will be followed by Young's 1979 concert film, Rust Never Sleeps, and capped off with a live Q&A. - Billboard, 1/14/16...... Veteran soul singer Patti LaBelle, 71, has reportedly struck up a romance with the drummer in her band, Eric Seats, who is 30 years her junior. "She tried to keep it quiet," a source told the website Dailymail.com. "But everyone around her has figured things out now. She's completely smitten with him and they spend so much time together." The source claims LaBelle and the 41-year-old Seats first met years ago, when he was hired to be her drummer, and he helped "heal her broken heart" after the end of a previous relationship. Seats, an accomplished musician, has also toured with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliot. - WENN.com, 1/13/16...... Pete Huttlinger, best known for being the lead guitarist in John Denver's band, died on Jan. 15 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after suffering a stroke. He was 54. Huttlinger, the youngest son of a former White House correspondent named Joseph Bernard Huttlinger, graduated with honors from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and moved to Nashville to begin his musical career. Ten years later he connected with Denver after a producer heard him playing on a recording session. Huttlinger toured with Denver over the next four years and played on his various recordings. He would go on to tour with such artists as LeAnn Rimes and John Oates. As a solo artist, Huttlinger recorded more than 15 albums. - Billboard, 1/16/16...... Giorgio Gomelsky, best known as the first manager of the Rolling Stones, died on Jan. 13 after a battle with cancer. He was 82. The Soviet-born and Swiss-raised Mr. Gomelsky originally moved to England to be a filmmaker, but became in London's London's burgeoning blues scene led by Alexis Korner and the as yet little known Rolling Stones. He opened the Crawdaddy Club where the Stones were essentially the house band and began managing their career, but by May of 1963 he had been disloged by Andrew Loog Oldham as their manager. Mr. Gomelsky then shifted his attention to managing The Yardbirds and began booking them at the Crawdaddy, along with other British acts like Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll and Gong. Mr. Gomelsky moved to New York in 1978 and settled into a building on 24th St. in Chelsea that later was converted into an underground club know as the Green Door. - Billboard, 1/14/16...... 
Acclaimed British actor Alan Rickman, one of the best-loved and most warmly admired British actors of the past 30 years, died in London on Jan. 14 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Rickman, who rose to fame in Hollywood as the sharp-tongued baddie Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard film, was much-loved on both sides of the Atlantic, later adding to his list of on-screen antagonists when he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Price of Thieves, for which he won a BAFTA, and finding a new generation of fans as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series. Other memorable roles included playing Metatron -- the voice of God -- in Dogma, as a deceased over in Truly Madly Deeply, and as Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. Although Rickman would never win an Oscar, he would add to his BAFTA win for Robin Hood with a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, both for his lead role in HBO's 1996 TV film Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. Rickman is survived by his wife Rima Horton, who he met as a teenager and married in New York in 2012. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/14/16...... Actor Dan Haggerty, best known as the lead character in the 1974 TV movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and the subsequent 
Denis Velleneuve, director of the new Blade Runner movie Blade Runner 2049, has revealed that David Bowie was originally considered to play the part of Niander Wallace in the film. "Our first thought [for the character] had been David Bowie, who had influenced Blade Runner in many ways," Villeneuve told a UK paper. "When we learned the sad news, we looked around for someone like that." After Bowie died in Jan. 2016 after battling cancer, Jared Leto was ultimately cast in the villainous role for Blade Runner 2049. The movie hits theaters on Oct. 6. Meanwhile, a story has emerged that Bowie once preferred to hide under a table to avoid the company of late James Bond actor Roger Moore to avoid his company back in the late 1970s. Author Dylan Jones writes in his new Bowie biography 
Kansas has just launched a second leg celebrating the 40th anniversary of its 5x platinum 1977 LP 
For the first of two shows at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, on Sept. 26, Paul McCartney called upon his old pal and Nassau native Billy Joel to contribute to the Beatles' classics "Get Back" and "Birthday," the latter which Macca thoughtfully dedicated to "anybody who's got a birthday -- and also anybody who's got a birthday any time this year." McCartney and Joel have jammed together several times in the past, most notably during Joel's 2008 concerts at New York's Shea Stadium before its demolishment. McCartney will take his One on One tour to Detroit for two shows at the start of October. - Spin.com, 9/27/17...... In other Beatles-related news, a new album of instrumental music from late Beatles producer George Martin is due out on Nov. 10. George Martin: the Film Scores and Original Orchestral Compositions will feature excerpts from Martin's under-recognized and unreleased film scoring work, specifically the original music he contributed (outside of the work he did for the Beatles and Paul McCartney's songs from the film) for the Beatles' animated feature Yellow Submarine and the James Bond film Live and Let Die. - Spin.com, 9/29/17...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Beatles fans can now literally live in a "Yellow Submarine" as sock distributor Happy Socks, in partnership with the band, has announced the release of a new line of Beatles-related socks. "The Happy Socks x The Beatles" collection boasts six designs based on the film's characters and scenes, including the Dreadful Flying Glove, Chief Blue Meanie and Jeremy, Pepperland, and, of course, the Yellow Submarine. And rather ingeniously, the socks are packaged in collectible gift boxes designed to resemble a record LP and EP. The Yellow Submarine sock collection will be available at Happy Socks stores and happysocks.com starting Oct. 3. - Billboard, 9/28/17...... Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley has announced a new children's book based on Elvis' 1956 ballad "Love Me Tender." 
Aerosmith has been forced to cancel dates of their current "farewell" tour after frontman Steven Tyler suffered what was reportedly a seizure after the band's performance in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 25. "Unfortunately, due to unexpected medical issues, lead singer, Steven Tyler, is seeking immediate care," according to a statement from the band. "(He) has been advised by his doctors that he cannot travel or perform at this time. Therefore, the last four shows of the South American tour will be cancelled." The cause of the seizure is not currently known, the report states, and neither Tyler nor his band have verified the reports. Tyler also released his own statement, saying he was sorry and he "felt like I've let you down" but "Please not to worry... I am not in a life-threatening condition, but I need to deal with this right away, and get some rest and medical care immediately in order to sustain and maintain my future performances... I promise I'll be back." The cancelled shows include dates in Curitiba, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Rosario, Argentina; and Monterrey, Mexico. - New Musical Express, 9/28/17..... A new series based on the 1974 "blaxploitation" TV movie and subsequent TV series 
As Robert Plant releases his latest solo LP 
Publishing and pop culture icon Hugh Hefner, who parlayed $8,000 in borrowed money in 1953 to create Playboy magazine, died in his home at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles of natural causes on Sept. 27. He was 91. Born Hugh Marston Hefner on Apr. 9, 1926, in Chicago to parents Glenn and Grace Hefner, who he once described as "puritan" and "repressive," as a boy he was non-athletic and introverted but incredibly imaginative, and he immersed himself in movies, music, radio, cartoons and a love for animals. At about age 6, he allowed his dog to sleep on his beloved "bunny blanket" -- which was replete with images of rabbits -- and when the pet died, the parents burned the blanket, an experience that some say may have influenced Mr. Hefner's choice of a bunny for the logo of his empire years later. Mr. Hefner created Playboy after borrowing $1,000 from his mom and $7,000 from more than 40 other investors for a publication he was set to call Stag Party until he discovered a men's magazine called Stag already existed. He purchased a picture of a naked Marilyn Monroe that was taken before she was famous and put it on the cover of his magazine, which he renamed Playboy. The first issue hit newsstands in December 1953. He didn't bother putting a date on it because he was doubtful there'd be future issues, but it sold 54,000 copies -- 80 percent of the total he had printed -- and his largely male audience thirsted for more. The iconic mascot, a silhouette of a bunny in a bow tie, made its debut in the second issue, chosen because Hefner thought rabbits carried "sexual meaning" and were "shy, vivacious, jumping" animals. In 2008, it was reported that Mr. Hefner had resorted to selling tickets to his famous parties at the Playboy Mansion with the proceeds going to Playboy Enterprises. Mr. Hefner's daughter, Christie Hefner, ran the company for more than 20 years but left in 2009. While most famous for Playboy, the urbane businessman dabbled in all forms of media, including hosting his own TV shows, beginning with Playboy's Penthouse in the late 1950s and early '60s. Shot in his hometown of Chicago and syndicated, the show featured Mr. Hefner in a tuxedo and smoking a pipe surrounded by "playmates" and interviewing such celebrities as Bob Newhart, Don Adams and Sammy Davis Jr. The show boosted his personal and professional reputation and promoted what eventually became known as the "Playboy Philosophy," a lifestyle that included politically liberal sensibilities, nonconformity and, of course, sophisticated parties with expensive accouterments and the ever-present possibility for recreational sex -- though Mr. Hefner maintained he was a relative late bloomer in that department, remaining a virgin until he was 21. Mr. Hefner followed that show with Playboy After Dark, which had a similar format but with more rock 'n' roll, including appearances by the Grateful Dead, Three Dog Night, Harry Nilsson and Linda Ronstadt. The syndicated Screen Gems show was taped at CBS in Los Angeles and ran for 52 episodes in 1969-70. Mr. Hefner also co-produced hundreds of Playboy-branded videos and a few feature films, such as Roman Polanski's Macbeth and Monty Python's first film, And Now for Something Completely Different, both released in 1971. 
He had been also been a sought-after guest on TV shows as far back as 1969 when he played a Control agent in an episode of Get Smart, and more recently he appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and Sex and the City as well as in animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. Mr. Hefner also made cameos in several movies, most recently 2008's The House Bunny, which told the fictional story of a Playboy "bunny," played by Anna Faris, who has been kicked out of the Playboy Mansion, the famous real-life, 22,000-square-foot house in Los Angeles where Mr. Hefner lived for more than four decades and where he hosted famously decadent parties that attracted celebrities A-list through D. The house sold for $100 million in August with the provision that Hefner be allowed to live there the rest of his life. Mr. Hefner became the unofficial spokesman for the sexual revolution that permeated the 1960s and '70s and he was both lauded and criticized by feminists of the era, with some accusing him of objectifying women while others said he liberated and empowered them. He was also a staunch supporter of abortion -- including helping to finance the landmark Rowe v. Wade decision in 1973 -- and more recently was an outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage, and his dedication to such issues (along with his distribution of pornography) made him a pariah in some religious circles. Mr. Hefner also launched the Playboy Channel in 1982, a premium cable outlet that has since been sold and rebranded Playboy TV and is more explicitly sexual than when it was under his purview. He created The Playboy Club nightclub chain that still exists as a novelty, but in its heyday in the 1960s, it featured some of the era's biggest stars -- including Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He was also a staunch supporter of abortion -- including helping to finance the landmark Rowe v. Wade decision in 1973 -- and more recently was an outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage, and his dedication to such issues (along with his distribution of pornography) made him a pariah in some religious circles. "By associating sex with sin, we have produced a society so guilt-ridden that it is almost impossible to view the subject objectively," he wrote in 1963 in one of his many broadsides aimed at Christian leaders. After his marriage to first wife and classmate Millie Williams ended in divorce in 1959, Mr. Hefner married Kimberly Conrad, a former Playmate of the Year, and the couple had sons Marston and Cooper. They divorced in 2010, and Mr. Hefner married Crystal Harris two years later. In 2011, Hefner told The New York Times that he had already chosen and paid for his final resting place -- a crypt next to Marilyn Monroe's in Westwood. Mr. Hefner's death was mourned by a wide variety of celebrities, including Ryan Seacrest, Mark Hamill, Kiss' Gene Simmons, former cover subject Jenny McCarthy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rob Lowe, Kat Dennings, Heidi Montag and Juicy J, among others. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/27/17.
Paul McCartney has posted a video online asking members of the public to skip eating meat one day a week in order to help reduce their carbon footprint. Sir Paul is making the plea in conjunction with with the upcoming United Nations Global Summit, which is set for late September, and has launched a "Meat-Free Mondays" campaign in association with British Prime Minister David Cameron's climate advisor, Gregory Barker. More information can be found at 
A new Queen album entitled Queen Forever and featuring three previously unreleased tracks with Freddie Mercury on vocals -- including a collaboration with Michael Jackson -- will be released in November 2014. The Queen and Jackson duet, "There Must Be More To Life Than This," was written by Mercury during sessions for Queen's 1981 album Hot Space and the band recorded a backing track, but the song was never completed. Mercury later visited Jackson in Los Angeles, where Jackson's vocals were recorded but the song remained uncompleted. In 1984, Queen attempted to revive the track during sessions for their The Works album, but again it was not finished and Mercury's own version of the song surfaced on his debut solo album, 1985's Mr Bad Guy. This new production of the ballad uses Queen's original backing track and Mercury and Jackson's vocals, and was produced by William Orbit. Also featured on Queen Forever, which will be released both as a 20-track single CD and an extended 36-track, 2-CD set, will be previously unheard tracks "Let Me In Your Heart Again" and "Love Kills." Queen guitarist Brian May describes the rest of the album as "things that we have collected together that are representative of our growth rather than the big hits." - NME, 9/19/14...... In other Michael Jackson news, a federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit against Hologram USA owner Alki David, whose company produced a holographic re-creation of Jackson that was featured at the Billboard Music Awards. In court, David attacked those who had created the spectacle for allegedly infringing his patents rights. And through the media, he hyped the various applications for the projection technology. A day after the May 18 Billboard Music Awards, David gave an interview with CNN that aired with the caption, "Michael Jackson Hologram: How'd They Do It?" Pulse Entertainment then brought a $10 million lawsuit against David, charging that he "falsely claimed credit for creating and developing the visual effects spectacle in a nationally-televised interview on CNN." Now U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson notes that the allegation of misrepresentation is grounded in fraud and means that Pulse has the burden of specifying the statements it claims were false. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/19/14.
Meanwhile another famous diva from the '60s and '70s, Aretha Franklin, is preparing to release a new album on Sept. 30, produced by Arista Records president Clive Davis. Davis has previously produced Franklin and says she has "always held a very special place in my heart...She's universally recognized to be the greatest singer of all time" and that the new LP shows Franklin "in absolutely peak form." Aretha's new album is purely and simply sensational," Davis says. "She's on fire and vocally in absolutely peak form. What a thrill to see this peerless artist still showing the way, still sending shivers up your spine, still demonstrating that all contemporary music needs right now is the voice. What a voice." The album's name has not yet been announced. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Lawyers representing Led Zeppelin have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the heirs of founding Spirit member Randy Craig Wolfe alleging that Led Zep used Wolfe's song "Taurus" as inspiration for 
A pair of new books about soul legend James Brown by two of his children offer a disturbing look into the world of the Godfather of Soul, with graphic descriptions of abuse and unbelievable tales of family murders going back 40 years. In her new memoir 
Grand Ole Opry star George Hamilton IV, best known for such country hits as "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" and "Abiline," passed away at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital on Sept. 17 at the age of 77. Hamilton is also remembered as one of the first Nashville-based artists to blend country with folk, recording many songs by up-and-coming songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. Born in Winston Salem, N.C., on July 19, 1937, Hamilton recorded the John D. Loudermilk-penned "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for a small regional label named Colonial Records while still attending college, and it climbed to No. 6 on the Bilboard Hot 100 in 1956. The flip side of the single, "If You Dont Know," was very much in the rockabilly fashion. The record was acquired by ABC / Paramount, where Hamilton would remain through 1960. He would place nine more releases on the Billboard pop chart, with the biggest being 1958's "Why Don't They Understand," which hit No. 10. In 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry soon after. His country hits continued throughout the decade, with the biggest being 1963's "Abilene," (also written by Loudermilk) which topped the country charts for four weeks and hit No. 15 on the charts. Hamilton also enjoyed worldwide popularity, and earned the moniker "The International Ambassador of Country Music." He also hosted a weekly syndicated show in Canada, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. His last album was 2011's In The Heart of Texas, recorded on the Heart of Texas label. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Polly Bergen, a versatile Emmy-winning actress perhaps best known as the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear movie as well as portraying the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died from natural causes in her Southbury, Conn., home on Sept. 20. She was 84. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Ms. Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas, including the 1983 epic The Winds of War, and during the 1950s she became a regular on the popular game show To Tell the Truth. She also hosted her own variety series and founded a thriving beauty products company that bore her name. In recent years, she played Felicity Huffman's mother on Desperate Housewives and the past mistress of Tony Soprano's late father on The Sopranos. Ms. Bergen won an Emmy in 1958 portraying the tragic singer Helen Morgan on the famed anthology series Playhouse 90, and was nominated for another Emmy in 1989 for best supporting actress in a miniseries or special for War and Remembrance. She also battled emphysema and other ailments in the late 1990s, a result of 50 years of smoking. She is survived by her children Peter Fields, Kathy Lander and Pamela Fields and three grandchildren. - AP, 9/20/14...... Johnny Rotella, an accomplished instrumentalist and songwriter who wrote the Frank Sinatra standard "Nothing but the Best" and recorded with such artists as Neil Diamond, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan and others, died peacefully in his sleep in Van Nuys, Calif., on Sept. 11. He was 93. Mr. Rotella, a master of the clarinet, saxophone and flute, played with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman's big bands, was featured on the twin altos with the Billy Vaughn Orchestra and worked in many sessions with top-notch composer/arrangers Jimmie Haskell, Earle Hagen and Buddy Baker. He was a band regular on the 1970s CBS variety series The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and contributed to TVs I Spy and the first two The Godfather films. He also played in the orchestra for Broadway shows and Los Angeles theater productions. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14.
Bob Dylan announced on his official website on Mar. 7 that his upcoming 37th studio album, another album of cover standards, will be titled Fallen Angels, and he'll kick off a summer 2016 tour behind the new LP with a two-night stand in Woodinville, Wash., on June 4 and 5 at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. Other key dates include Berkeley, Calif. (6/9); Santa Barbara, Calif. (6/11); San Diego (6/13-14); Morrison, Col. (6/19); Indianapolis, In. (6/25); Nashville, Tenn. (6/26); Lenox, Mass. (7/2); Vienna, Va. (7/5-6); Queens, N.Y. (7/8); Philadelphia (7/13); Boston (7/16); and Portland, Me. (7/16) before wrapping in Gilford, N.H. on July 17. No release date was given for the new album on the site, however it states "For every pair of tickets purchased, you will receive a redemption code to receive a Compact Disk of Bob Dylan's forthcoming album Fallen Angels (Not available for Indianapolis and Boston.)" Opening for Dylan on the tour will be Mavis Staples. Meanwhile in other Dylan news, Barbara Streisand has reached out to the New York Times to tell her side of the story of a note from her to Dylan that is included in the recently announced Dylan archives that will be archived and displayed at a permanent Oklahoma residence. "I was so touched to find out (Bob) had saved a note from me," Striesand said via a spokesperson. "It prompted me to go back into my own archive and retrieve a letter I had saved from him. As I remember it, first he sent me flowers and a lovely note, asking me if I would like to sing with him. In return, I sent him the note that's in his archive, thanking him for the flowers and the invitation. But for whatever reason, it never happened at the time." The note is from the late '70s/early '80s period, and a few years earlier Dylan was rumored to be one of the male performers under consideration for the role opposite Streisand in her 1976 film A Star Is Born. - Billboard, 3/7/16...... A letter penned by John Lennon in 1951 that is thought to be the earliest known letter written by the late Beatles legend is set to be sold at auction in April. The letter by the 11-year-old Lennon is a thank-you letter to his aunt, which thanks her for his Christmas presents that included a towel with his name on and a book about ships. The letter will be sold by online auction house 
Patti LaBelle and late Earth, Wind & Fire principal Maurice White were among the honorees at the BET Honors at on Mar. 5 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. LaBelle said above all she is thankful for the recognition from BET. "It means everything great," the "Lady Marmalade" singer said. "I've done the show about three times performing and then for me to be honored tonight, I am just so wonderfully blessed." LaBelle added fans can expect her new, jazz-flavored album out by the end of the year. "I've finished it, and it will be released in about six months," she said. - Billboard, 3/7/16...... Sinead O'Connor and Ava Cherry were among the performers paying tribute to David Bowie at a cancer fund-raising concert at the Metro in Chicago on Mar. 4. O'Connor fronted the Bowie tribute band Sons of the Silent Age (a group which takes its name from a track on Bowie's "Heroes" album) for covers of the rock icon's "Life on Mars" and "Sorrow" (originally a hit for The Merseys). Cherry, a former collaborator and backing vocalist for Bowie, performed "Young Americans" at the sold-out concert, which raised funds for cancer research. Money raised from the concert will go toward immunotherapy research, a treatment that uses your body's own immune system to help fight cancer. Bowie died Jan. 10 after a battle with liver cancer at age 69. Meanwhile, Bowie was honored by The Who at their concert on Mar. 3 at New York's Madison Square Garden. A message displayed on the Garden's big screens prior to The Who's performance read: "David Bowie. Friend of The Who. Son of New York. Tonight we will distinctly miss David Bowie, longtime fan of The Who. He's told the story of how he climbed the fence at London's Roundhouse to sneak backstage and give Pete Townshend a copy of his new 1969 album, David Bowie. He covered I Can't Explain and Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere on his Pin Ups album. Nearly every year at MSG, he sat in the first row right beside the stage. We'll miss our friend, a true icon of music and art, and a brilliant innovator." Bowie, a resident of New York City, was a regular guest and performer at MSG. - Billboard, 3/7/16...... In other The Who news, the band returned to US late-night television for the first time since 1967 on Mar. 4 when they performed "Who Are You?" on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Falllon. The Who last performed on American TV in 1967 on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The band is promoting their The Who Hits 50! North American tour, which resumed on Feb. 27 at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena after being postponed for almost six months after lead singer Roger Daltrey was diagnosed with viral meningitis. - New Musical Express, 3/5/16...... Two vinyl releases of David Bowie's music will be re-issued to coincide with the UK's Record Store Day 2016. Bowie's official Facebook page announced on Mar. 7 that the pair of Bowie re-issues will come in the form of a "Station to Station" single "TVC15" and the second, 1970's The Man Who Sold The World album (which is also reportedly being reissued with original German artwork). Record Store Day runs on Apr. 16. - NME, 3/7/16...... Elton John is among several high-profile celebrities who have signed an open letter calling on world leaders to fight for gender equality across the globe. The letter, released on Mar. 6, states that some 62 million girls around the world are denied the right to education, 500 million women can't read and 155 countries have laws that discriminate against women. "Nowhere on earth do women have as many opportunities as men. Nowhere," the letter states. "The fight for gender equality is global." Others signing the petition include Mary J. Blige, Oprah Winfrey, Charlize Theron, Meryl Streep, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Patricia Arquette, Muhammed Ali and Colin Ferrell. Meanwhile, on Mar. 2 Elton co-headlined a Hillary Clinton fundraiser with Katy Perry at Radio City Music Hall in New York. John played an eight-song set that included "Tiny Dancer," "Your Song" and "Still Standing," which he dedicated to Clinton. "This is a very important year for America and she's the only hope you have," Elton said at the event. - AP/Billboard, 3/6/16...... 
Veteran rockers Joe Walsh and Bad Company announced on Mar. 3 that they'll be hitting the road in the US together beginning on May 12 in Dallas for a 25-city "One Hell Of A Night" tour. "I had always hoped that we would do something together and so here we are 30 years later finally touring together, Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers said in a statement. "It has taken us this long so I wouldn't miss this. Unless you want to wait 30 more years for our next tour in 2046! There is only one Joe Walsh, he is such a unique person and an uber talented singer, songwriter and musician." The tour, which wraps on July 3 in Nashville, will also include stops in Morrison, Col. (5/15); Los Angeles (5/20); Phoenix, Ariz. (5/22); New Orleans (5/26); Tampa, Fla. (5/28); Holmdel, NJ (6/11); Wantagh, NY (6/14); Kansas City, Mo. (6/20); Chicago (6/23); Pittsburgh (6/28); Charlotte, NC (6/30) and Atlanta (7/1). The tour, in which Walsh and Bad Company will rotate the finishing slot for each performance, will be Walsh's first since his friend and former Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey died Jan. 18. Bad Company, currently comprised of Rodgers, vocalist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke, is expected to announce the release of a classic live album soon. - Billboard, 3/3/16...... The operators of an Elvis Presley exhibit in Las Vegas that opened at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort in 2015 amid great fanfare have "left the building" amid a leasing dispute that involves hundreds of the King's artifacts. The hotel-casino says it's holding the valuables from the Elvis attraction after the operator, Exhibit A Circle LLC, defaulted on its 10-year lease with the off-Strip property. Westgate said its casino shuttered the space on Mar. 4 after it was told the operators were leaving. "They notified us they were shutting down. We closed the facility," Westgate's chief operating officer Mark Waltrip said. "We weren't going to let them pack up in the middle of the night." Waltrip said the casino spent millions of dollars outfitting the space and wants to recoup money owed as part of the leasing agreement, and meanwhile, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which loaned hundreds of Elvis memorabilia and artifacts to the attraction, says it will seek court intervention to get the items back. Poor marketing and promotional efforts have been blamed for the attraction's lack of financial viability. - AP, 3/2/16...... 
Former Velvet Underground member John Cale has revealed that he will be performing the VU's classic Velvet Underground & Nico album in Paris in April with a band comprised of special guests including the Libertines and more. Cale says the Nico LP will be performed in its entirety t the Philharmonie de Paris on Apr. 3. - NME, 3/3/16...... Alice Cooper's manager Shep Gordon says he's generally pleased with the depiction of his client in HBO's new series VInyl, about the early '70s record business. But Gordon says the scene in episode 3 in which an A&R exec tries to convince Cooper's character, played by Dustin Ingram, to leave the band that bears his name for a solo career never happened, although Cooper did eventually split from the band, following the success of the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies. "If you got a million miles away to Mars, then it was accurate," Gordon quips. "But in that moment, it wasn't. I think the story has been told over and over again. It didn't come out of an A&R guy's thing. It really came out of each of the guys having the desire to do their own things." Gordon adds that he likes how Vinyl depicts how artists were often seen as commodities. "It was very rare to find someone on the business side who really dealt with an artist as an artist," he says. "That was one of my biggest challenges." - Billboard, 3/4/16...... Media mogul Rupert Murdoch married actress/model Jerry Hall, the former girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, on Mar. 5 during a private ceremony at St. Bride's church in London. Murdoch, who has been married three times previously and is 84 years old, said he was "the happiest man in the world." The star-studded guest list included actor Michael Caine, Irish rocker Bob Geldof, and composer Andrew Lloyd Weber. Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp and owner of 21st Century Fox Inc, and Hall, 59, posed for photographs after the service at the historic church, but simply smiled and made no comment to the waiting media. - Reuters, 3/5/16...... Lana Rae Meisner, the wife of former Eagles member Randy Meisner, was found dead at the couple's home in Los Angeles on Mar. 6. LAPD detectives say Lana Rae accidentally shot herself as she was "moving a rifle that was stored inside the closet when it accidentally went off." Hours before the incident, police had been summoned to the residence after a domestic violence call, but left without incident. Randy Meisner has been cleared of any wrongdoing in his wife's death. Celebrity gossip site TMZ.com reported that Lana Rae had called the police to report her husband, who she said was "acting erratically" and in possession of a BB gun, according to law enforcement sources. Randy Meisner was taken to hospital on Mar. 7 after "acting in an altered state," according to TMZ. Meisner was a member of the Eagles from 1971-77, when he was replaced by Timothy Schmidt. - NME, 3/7/16...... 
Gayle McCormick, a big-voiced singer who scored the Top 5 hit "Baby It's You" in the late 1960s with the soul/psych rock band Smith before going solo in the '70s, died on Mar. 1 in suburban St. Louis following a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 67. McCormick began her career in the mid-1960s in St. Louis as the featured singer in a well-known local band called Steve Cummings and The Klassmen. By 1969 she had moved to Los Angeles and joined a group that had recently changed their name from The Smiths to simply Smith. Before long, the band and its striking frontwoman caught the eye of "Runaway" singer Del Shannon, who helped them get signed to Dunhill Records. In July 1969, the band released A Group Called Smith, a tight-knit set of mostly rock covers that peaked at No. 17 on Billboard's Top LPs chart. Their biggest hit was Burt Bacharach's "Baby, It's You," previously recorded by The Shirelles and the Beatles, which rose to No. 5 on the Hot 100. While riding the wave of that hit, McCormick and the band made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand and elsewhere. In the summer of 1969, Smith's cover of The Band's "The Weight" was included in Easy Rider soundtrack album -- the original was heard in the actual film -- and in 2007, "Baby, It's You" got renewed attention when director Quentin Tarantino featured it in his film, Death Proof. After Smith disbanded in 1970, McCormick was signed to a solo deal by Dunhill, which led to her self-titled debut in 1971. Though unable to match the early success of Smith, the set's standout single, the dance-ready "It's a Cryin' Shame," did reach No. 44 on the Hot 100. McCormick then lost interest in the music business, married a carpenter and moved to Hawaii before ending up back in St. Louis a few years later. - Billboard, 3/4/16...... Former First Lady and actress Nancy Reagan, the wife of the 40th US president Ronald Reagan, died at her home in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She was 94. As first lady during Ronald Reagan's eight years in the White House, Mrs. Reagan was known as the "Just say no" spokeswoman of anti-drug campaigns and as a fierce protector of her husband, both personally and politically. When Ronald Reagan was shot in a 1981 assassination attempt, Mrs. Reagan never left the hospital where the president was treated until he was released. After she and her husband left Washington, Mrs. became his protector again as he struggled with Alzheimer's disease until his death in 2004. Afterward, she remained a staunch guardian of his image and legacy. Mrs. Reagan is survived by Patti Davis and Ron Reagan -- her two children with Ronald Reagan -- and Michael Reagan, a son from Ronald Reagan's first marriage to Jane Wyman. Maureen Reagan, Ronald Reagan's daughter with first wife Jane Wyman, died in 2001. Mrs. Reagan will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., next to her husband, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who died on June 5, 2004. - CNN, 3/7/16...... Bud Collins, a colorful tennis broadcaster who pioneered tennis journalism, died on Mar. 4 at hishome in Brookline, Mass. He was 86. Mr. Collins, known for his kaleidoscopic clothing and encyclopedic knowledge of the sport, was a favorite son of Boston who led the way for print journalists to become broadcasters. Mr. Collins wrote for the Boston Globe for 50 years and worked in the NBC booth from 1972 until the network let him go in 2007. For viewers, he was as much a part of NBC's coverage of Wimbledon as strawberries and cream. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/4/16.
Yoko Ono was released from a Manhattan hospital on Feb. 27 after being admitted there a day earlier for treatment for flu-like symptons. Ono, 83, spent the night at Mount Sinai West Hospital after someone in her The Dakota residence on the Upper West Side called 911 and said the artist had "slurred speech" and was "possibly having a stroke." Ono was then transported to hospital by ambulance where she was diagnosed with the flu. Ono's son Sean Lennon tweeted that night that she was "really fine," and on the following day he tweeted "She's home and running about as usual. Just the flu in the end. I may go get a flu shot now..." Mount Sinai West Hospital, formerly known as Roosevelt, is the same facility where her husband, John Lennon, died after being shot by an assassin on Dec. 8, 1980. Meanwhile, Ono has revealed her favorite Beatles album in a new interview with US Weekly magazine. "I don't know if people will hate me for saying this, but I always preferred 'The White Album' to 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'," Ono said, but quickly added "Don't get me wrong, I love 'Pepper's' too." - AP/New Musical Express, 2/27/16...... In related news, John Lennon's boyhood stamp collection is set to go on display at the World Stamp Show, which will be held in New York City from May 28-June 4. Lennon's interest in philatey was sparked as a child when a relative reportedly handed down a half filled book of collectors stamps. The collection has been housed at the The Smithsonian National Post Museum since 2005, and the majority of it is filled up with United States and New Zealand postage stamps that the iconic rocker collected in later life. In 2005, a curator with the Smithsonian noted there weren't many rarities in John's collection: Typically, young boys aren't interested in rarity," he said. "They tend to concentrate on geography and colors. If they come back to collecting when they have more time and money, that's when collections become exceptional." - NME, 3/2/16...... 
The Songwriters Hall of Fame announced on Mar. 2 that Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Marvin Gaye and Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic will be inducted into their organization during the 47th Annual SHOF Induction and Awards Dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on June 9. SHOF co-chairs Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, a famous songwriting team themselves, noted that the 2016 inductee roster "is a beautiful mosaic of the best of late 20th Century popular music...with creators of Rock & Roll, Soul/R&B, Country and Funk/Dance represented." Gamble and Huff are serving their first year as co-chairmen of the SHOF. Gaye and Edwards will be inducted posthumously. - Billboard, 3/2/16...... The Rolling Stones have announced they will play a free concert in Havana, Cuba on Mar. 25, becoming the biggest act to play Cuba since its 1959 revolution. A massive audience is expected when the Stones play Havana's Ciudad Deportiva, just three days after US Pres. Barack Obama visits the carribean nation. Although Cuba once persecuted young people for listening to rock music, then seen as a tool of Western capitalism, it has since dropped that policy, and its government has increasingly allowed large non-official gatherings. "We have performed in many special places during our long career but this show in Havana is going to be a landmark event for us, and, we hope, for all our friends in Cuba too," the band said in a statement. - AP, 3/1/16...... Around $6.2 million was raised on Feb. 28 at Elton John's annual AIDS Foundation Oscar Viewing Party at The City of West Hollywood Park in West Hollywood, Calif. Elton, who performed with his band at the event for the first time in nearly a decade, noted he remembered the first one, which was held 24 years ago, very well. "We raised about $300,000 and we thought we were the best thing since sliced bread," he said. Also performing was Mary Wilson of The Supremes, and other attendees included Mariah Carey, Ashlee Simpson, Boy George, Brandy, Brittany Snow, Dave Grohl, Dave Navarro, Heidi Klum, Hillary Swank, Kelly Osborne, Lana Del Ray, Mary J. Blige, Trey Parker, Vince Vaughn and Zooey Deschanel, among others. A day earlier, Elton and his band shut down Hollywood's Sunset Strip with a pop-up performance in front of the old Tower Records building, was also live streamed exclusively on AOL.com. John performed an hour-long, 12-song set of old and new hits alike to thank the city of West Hollywood for its support of his AIDS Foundation and its Academy Awards Viewing Party. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/1/16...... 
Legendary vocalist Freddie Mercury of Queen will be honored with a commemorative Blue Plaque at his West London home. Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, had a London residence in Feltham, west London, and is among the list of celebrities and famous contributors to culture that are to be honored this year with the Blue Plaque. More than 900 Blue Plaques have been installed across the UK to date, and an app is being developed which will guide people to the homes of Blue Plaque honorees including Mary Shelley, Ian Fleming and Mozart. Meanwhile, shooting is expected to start in June on a long-planned Freddie Mercury biopic, with Ben Whishaw set to play the rock star. - New Musical Express, 2/26/16...... Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker has canceled all upcoming tour dates with his band Airforce 3 after being diagnosed with "serious heart problems." "Just seen doctor big shock. no more gigs for this old drummer. everything is off. of all things i never thought it would be my heart," Baker posted on his blog. Upon hearing the news, several fans commented on Baker's Facebook page that the drummer should give up smoking. His team responded to many of those comments to say that Baker "gave up smoking months ago." - Billboard, 2/28/16...... Def Leppard announced on Feb. 29 that they'll kick off a massive 55-city North American tour on May 1 by headlining the Moonstone Festival in Orlando, Fla. REO Speedwagon and Tesla have been named as supporting acts for many of the dates, and two nights early in the tour -- on May 4 in Lafayette, La. and May 5 in Corpus Christi, Tex. -- will also feature Styx. The tour wraps on Oct. 10 in Cedar Rapids, Ia. - Billboard, 2/29/16...... Iggy Pop recently posed as a nude model for a life drawing class at the New York Academy of Art. The Feb. 21 event was organized by the Brooklyn Museum in conjunction with British artist and Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Portraits from the session will be on display at Brooklyn Museum later this year, as part of an exhibition titled "Iggy Pop Life Class." The drawings will then embark on a tour of different galleries and museums. On Mar. 18, Pop will release his new solo album, 
The Who resumed its US "The Who Hits 50!" tour on Feb. 27 in Detroit at the city's Joe Louis Arena. At the end of the nearly two-hour show, frontman Roger Daltrey -- whose bout with viral meningitis caused some 2015 shows to be postponed and pushed the entire second North American leg of the tour off for almost six months -- offered thanks to "you nice people who supported me last year... We never gave up." Though he sounded strained in certain points of the 20-song set, Daltrey performed with robust confidence, right up to the lung-busting scream in "Won't Get Fooled Again." The show was shortened and tweaked a bit from the 2015 edition, dropping staples such as "I Can't Explain" and the mini-opera "A Quick One (While He's Away)," and pacing the set with instrumental breaks. For instance, the 
Officials in California have dubbed the tunnel north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco The Robin Williams Tunnel in commemoration of the beloved actor, comedian and longtime Bay Area resident. Signs were erected to officially mark the passageway on Feb. 29. The $3,000 signs were privately funded. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Williams' TV daughter on the CBS sitcom The Crazy Ones, hailed the tribute on Instagram. "I guess I know who is on the other end of the #rainbow#robinwilliams," Gellar wrote in reference to the tunnel, noting, "It's the former Waldo tunnel in SF." Residents previously referred to the U.S. Highway 101 tunnel as the "Waldo tunnel" because it cuts through the Waldo Grade. Its famed rainbow arches invoked memories of Williams' multi-colored suspenders on the sitcom, 
George Kennedy, the beefy character actor best known for playing cops, soldiers and blue-collar authority figures in such famous films as Cool Hand Luke,