Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 10th, 2017

Officials in San Francisco have denied a permit for a 50th anniversary "Summer of Love" concert that was to be held on June 4 in Golden Gate Park's Polo Field and headlined by surviving members of such legendary bands as Jefferson Airplane, Santana and Big Brother and the Holding Company. The "city by the bay" was at the center of the '60s counterculture movement, and the concert was expected to draw tens of thousands of people, but city officials have informed event promoter Boots Hughston that his request for a permit was being denied. In a sharply worded, 3-page letter, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department said that Hughston had made "numerous misrepresentations of material fact" that left them with deep concerns about safety and security measures for the concert. Hughston denied making any misrepresentations and called the letter a "character assassination," saying he has a flawless record as a concert promoter and had organized events at Golden Gate Park and elsewhere since the 1970s without any problems. Hughston said he plans to file an appeal against the permit denial and added he still hopes the event can take place. - AP, 2/9/17....................... Black Sabbath played their last ever show in their hometown of Birmingham, UK on Feb. 4 at Birmingham's NEC Arena. The heavy metal legends, who wrapped up their 81-date The End tour, played a 15-song set including "War Pigs," "Iron Man," "Children of the Grave," and bowed out with an encore of 1970's "Paranoid." Founding members Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler all participated in the The End tour, and in November 2016 Osbourne told Classic Rock magazine that he has no plans to retire from either recording or performing live. "It's not me that wants to retire, it's Black Sabbath," Osbourne said. "I'll be continuing my own musical thing. My wife is good at telling me partial information, but I know I'm not hanging my boots up for a while." On Feb. 6, Tony Iommi told Planet Rock that he would also quit touring, but he was "sure" Black Sabbath would continue as a band, and that he was open to releasing more music with Black Sabbath, although the band hasn't discussed it yet. - New Musical Express, 2/5/17...... In other Heavy Metal news, AC/DC guitarist Angus Young pranked his friends Guns N' Roses on Feb. 8 by dressing up as a member of airport security staff and ordering a search after Guns N' Roses touched down in Sydney ahead of five councerts in Australia. "Told we had to stay on plane last night in Sydney; 'airport security' wanted to do a check. We waited. It was Angus Young is an orange vest!," Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan tweeted. The bands have grown close over the past year as Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose has been filling in for AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, who was forced to step down after being warned by doctors he could lose his hearing. Earlier in February, Johnson thanked a group of Swedish AC/DC fans for hosting an event raising funds for organisations searching for a cure for Alzheimer dementia, which has afflicted founding AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young. "I know Malcolm would be so proud of you," Johnson posted on the event's blog on Feb. 7. "I am and I want to thank you for doing this. We've tried to tell people about this awful disease, tried to get a cure for it. You guys are helping and I'm so proud of you." - NME, 2/7/17...... The estate of late rock icon Prince has granted Universal Music Group exclusive licensing rights to much of Prince's catalog of released and unreleased works. Under the deal, the estate is licensing the 25 albums Prince released under the NPG Records label between 1979 and 1995, plus UMG can now work with the estate on the artist's vault of career-spanning unreleased works. The agreement means UMG is now the home for much of Prince's recorded music, plus publishing rights and merchandising. - Billboard, 2/9/17...... Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson has accused one of her nephews, Trent Lamar Jackson, of being an "abusive con man" who has been attempting to take control of her finances for years. The Jackson matriarch has obtained a restraining order against Trent Lamar Jackson, after accusing him of taking cash from her accounts, and a Los Angeles judge has ordered the man to stay away from his aunt and return all his house keys. Trent Lamar Jackson reportedly disappeared from the Jackson compound shortly before sheriff's deputies and her lawyer arrived to force him off her property, and Katherine says she now fears for her safety if he returns. Katherine Jackson is currently in London visiting her newest grandson, Eissa, who was born to her daughter Janet Jackson in January. - WENN.com, 2/9/17...... Cher launched a residency at the Park Theater at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 8 after an illness forced her off the road for nearly three years. Cher's "Classic Cher" show featured the diva's hit singles, glamorous Bob Mackie-designed outfits, and her legendary sense of humor, as she joked about her breasts, her age, and her love of Dr. Pepper. The 90-minute show plays a series of dates at Park Theater in February and May, as well as at The Theater at MGM National Harbor outside Washington, D.C. in March, August and September. - Billboard, 2/9/17...... Interviewed by a Detroit TV station on Feb. 8, Aretha Franklin revealed that she plans on retiring at the end of 2017 after releasing a new album in September. "I must tell you, I am retiring this year," said Franklin. "I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either," she added. Franklin, 74, added however that she will remain open to "some select things, many one a month, for six months out of the year." Franklin's new LP will be an ode to her hometown of Detroit, composed of original works and recorded in the Motor City, and feature songs produced by Stevie Wonder. - Billboard, 2/9/17...... Speaking of Stevie Wonder, the legendary Motown singer has joked to TMZ.com that he will "reveal the truth" about his sight later this year, and claims that he has "flown planes." Wonder was recently stopped by TMZ and asked whether he would ever star in a reality TV show. His response was that it would be "too invasive." The artist went on to claim that he has flown planes twice before and actually landed one. When the TMZ reporter then joked that Wonder might one day come out and say he can actually see, he said (most likely in jest): "This year, I will reveal the truth." - New Musical Express, 2/7/17...... Blondie announced on Feb. 8 that it will kick off a 22-city North American tour on July 5 at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Calif. Blondie's "Rage and Rapture Tour" will come on the heels of the band's new album, Pollinator, which hits stores on May 8. The tour will run through an Aug. 12 date at Southside Ballroom in Dallas, Tex., and the opener will be Garbage. - Billboard, 2/8/17...... Willie Nelson announced on Feb. 8 he was postponing two more concerts -- one in Arizona and one in New Mexico -- due to illness. According to his website, concerts at Desert Diamond Casino in Sahuarita, Ariz., on Feb. 10 and the Route 66 Casino in Albequerque on Feb. 11 will be rescheduled. Two days earlier, the 83-year-old Nelson postponed three concerts in California and one in Tucson, Arizona. In late January, he canceled two of his five shows in Las Vegas due to a cold. On Jan. 31, Nelson was seen at an event in Las Vegas to promote his new line of specialty cannabis and played three shows at the Venetian on Feb. 1, 3 and 4. Nelson is due to release his latest album, God's Problem Child, on Apr. 28. - Billboard, 2/8/17...... Bob Dylan has added three warm-up shows at intimate venues to his upcoming UK arena tour, which is set to kick off on May 3 at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena. Dylan will play a trio of shows at the London Palladium on Apr. 28, 29 and 30 ahead of the main jaunt. The tour will also see the rock icon visiting Bournemouth (5/4), Nottingham (5/5), Glasgow (5/7), Liverpool (5/8), London (5/9) and Dublin (5/11). - NME, 2/8/17...... Elton John, Quincy Jones, George Clinton and Sean Lennon will be among the artist-curators of a new vinyl record subscription service called Experience Vinyl. For under $30 a month, subscribers to the new service will receive one of the artist's favorite albums (not their own album) along with personalized commentary, the artist's top ten albums list, access to the Experience Vinyl store and various rewards. A portion of the sales wil go to the artist's charity of choice. The service's first curator, Elton John, has directed a portion of his sales be donated to The Elton John AIDS Foundation. Co-founder Brad Hammonds called Experience Vinyl "a different kind of subscription service and a dream for any vinyl lover... Who better to send you great music each month than artists themselves?" - Billboard, 2/8/17...... In related news, David Bowie's No Plan EP is set to be released on vinyl later in 2017. No Plan is the latest posthumous release from Bowie, who died in Jan. 2016, and features three songs from his Lazarus musical, as well as "Lazarus" from his final album Blackstar. The EP was released digitally on Jan. 8 -- Bowie's birthday -- and features recordings from Bowie's final ever recording sessions. CD versions of No Plan will drop on Feb. 24, before the vinyl edition is released on Apr. 21. A special edition vinyl, which is a dye-cut version that comes with an accompanying lightograph, will follow a month later on May 26. - NME, 2/6/17...... Steven Van Zandt, the longtime guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has been named the speaker for this year's graduation ceremony at Rutgers University. Van Zandt, who also appeared in an acting role in HBO's The Sopranos, will also receive an honorary doctor of fine arts at the May 14 ceremony in Newark. Van Zandt was born in Massachusetts but moved to New Jersey when he was seven. The musician was chosen after a selection process involving students, faculty and staff, and he follows in the footsteps of former US Pres. Barack Obama, who delivered the keynote address in 2016. - AP, 2/8/17...... As the 1992 film Wayne's World was screened in US cinemas on Feb. 8 to mark the Mike Myers and Dana Carvey comedy's 25th anniversary, Alice Cooper has reflected on the movie's "we're not worthy" scene which featured him. The scene sees Wayne and Garth meeting Cooper backstage, and when the Coop asks the pair to "hang out," they bow to their knees and say: "We're not worthy, we're not worthy, we're scum." "I think we did it in two takes," Cooper reflected. "They [Myers and Carvey] were doing everything they could to get me to break up. But they didn't realise my iron will, so I went right through that dialogue and I think I surprised them." Cooper also revealed that some fans still re-enact the scene during chance run-ins. "Airports is when everybody does, 'We're not worthy!' I always try to let them think it's the first time anybody's ever done that. And they're so clever," he said. - Billboard, 2/8/17...... The creators of the classic rock "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap have reunited to file a $400 million lawsuit against Vivendi SA for "engaging in anti-competitive and unfair business practices, as well as fraudulent accounting" in its management of movie, which has been voted the funniest comedy film of all time. Co-creators Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and director Rob Reiner have formally joined fellow co-creator Harry Shearer in the lawsuit, which was originally filed by Shearer in October 2016. The co-creators are claiming they have been denied "their rightful stake in the production's profits." Commenting on the lawsuit, Guest said: "The deliberate obfuscation by Vivendi and its subsidiaries is an outrage. It is vital that such behavior is challenged in the strongest way possible." Shearer said of his co-creators' decision to join: "Their participation will help demonstrate the opaque and misleading conduct at the heart of this case. We're even louder now." - NME, 2/8/17...... Elton John paid tribute to his late friend George Michael during an interview on the UK radio show Beats 1 on Feb. 6. "George was one of Britain's most brilliant songwriters" and "the kindest, most generous man," Elton said, adding he'll miss Michael's "humanity most of all." Michael died at his England home at age 53 on Christmas Day. - AP, 2/7/17...... Former The Police frontman Sting was named one of the 2017 Polar Music Prize winners on Feb. 2 by Alfons Karabuda, chairman of the Prize committee. Sting and saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter will accept their Polar Music prizes from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on June 15. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, the manager and music publisher of ABBA. A well-known lyricist, he also was the co-writer on many of their early hits. The prize was first presented in 1992. Previous winners of the Polar Music Prize include Elton John, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith. - Billboard, 2/7/17...... Music author and journalist Ritchie York, who penned books on such rock stars as Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, and most recently John Lennon and Yoko Ono, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in his native Australia on Feb. 6. He was 73. Yorke, who was the senior music writer for Brisbane's Sunday Mail for 20 years until 2007, and also earlier served as Billboard's Canadian editor for a decade in the 1970s. His books include Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography, The Music: The Van Morrison Biography and The History of Rock 'n' Roll. - Billboard, 2/7/17...... "Professor" Irwin Corey, the wild-haired comedian and actor known for his improvisational riffs and nonsensical style who billed himself as "The World's Foremost Authority," died on Feb. 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 102. Mr. Corey's dizzying mix of mock-intellectual circumlocutions, earnest political tirades and slapstick one-liners made him the king of comedic confusion and earned him the nickname "professor." "Did you hear about the guy who went to the druggist and wanted to get some cyanide?" one of his jokes went. "The guy takes a picture of his wife out of his wallet, and the druggist says, 'I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a prescription!'" Mr. Corey became a staple on television talk shows and in comedy clubs in the 1960s and 1970s, and his film career included working with Jackie Gleason and Woody Allen. He often wore sneakers, a skinny black tie, black tails and his hair was disheveled. It was never clear exactly what he was an authority on. Often he would begin his act with long-winded gobbledygook filled with sentences that followed their own logic before pausing and then saying, "What was the question again?" Mr. Corey's son, Richard, alled his father "original and one-of-a-kind, iconic." - AP, 2/7/17.

Bob Dylan announced on Jan. 31 that he'll be releasing a 3-disc studio album, Triplicate, on Mar. 31 that will feature 30 "brand-new recordings of classic American tunes." All three discs of Triplicate will be individually titled ('Til The Sun Goes Down, Devil Dolls and Comin' Home Late), and each album will include a thematically arranged 10-song sequence. Triplicate will be the artist's 38th album release, and the first ever triple-length set of his career. Produced by Jack Frost, Triplicate will feature such pop standards as "As Time Goes By," "Once Upon a Time," "The Best Is Yet to Come," "Stardust" and "Stormy Weather." - Billboard, 1/31/17...... Two classic rock legends, Steve Miller and Peter Frampton, have announced a coheadlining 30-city summer tour of North America that will get underway in Holmdel, N.J., on June 15 and wrap on Aug. 13 in Murphys, Calif. Major cities along the way include Toronto (6/20), Philadelphia (6/27), Salt Lake City (8/2), Las Vegas (8/8) and Los Angeles (8/11). Steve Miller expounded on his long history with Peter Frampton in a Jan. 31 statement: "Peter and I first met at Olympic studios in London in the late sixties when we were both just starting our recording career. He was a wonderful guitarist and songwriter then and he is even more so today. Over the years, we've played together in venues from theaters to football stadiums and everything in between.... I'm looking forward to a summer of great music, exceptional performances and fun. Peter is remarkable musician." - Billboard, 1/31/17...... High profile movie producer Michael De Luca (Captain Phillips, Moneyball, The Social Network) is working on a new, currently-untitled movie about the relationship between John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as well as their antiwar efforts. "The story will focus on ripe and relevant themes of love, courage and activism in the U.S. -- with the intention of inspiring today's youth to stand up for and have a clear vision for the world they want," De Luca said in a statement on Feb. 1. "I am also honored and privileged to be working with Yoko Ono, [writer] Anthony McCarten and [Immersive Pictures chief] Josh Bratman to tell the story of two amazing global icons." McCarten is the author behind The Theory of Everything and an upcoming Winston Churchill biopic starring Gary Oldman. During their 11-year marriage, John and Yoko collaborated on multiple creative projects, including what would become Lennon's final solo effort, 1980's Double Fantasy. In 2016, Yoko Ono reissued three of her albums from the 1970s, the start of a full reissue campaign of her music. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/2/17...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney has unveiled a rare demo on the web featuring Elvis Costello called "Twenty Fine Fingers" as part of his ongoing Archive Collection. "Twenty Fine Fingers" is the first of nine demo tracks from the sessions for Macca's 1989 solo album, Flowers In the Dirt, that are set to be released in 2017. McCartney and Costello collaborated on four of Flowers In the Dirt's 12 tracks, with Costello credited as a featured artist on the song "You Want Her Too." While "Twenty Fine Fingers" has already featured on McCartney bootlegs since Flowers In the Dirt was released (incorrectly titled as "Twenty-Five Fingers"), this is the first time that the demo has been officially released by its creator. A deluxe reissue of Flowers In the Dirt is set to drop on Mar. 24, which will contain eight other McCartney/Costello demos in addition to "Twenty Fine Fingers." A super deluxe version will contain a bonus DVD, 64-page photo book, and many other extras. - New Musical Express, 2/1/17...... In a post on his official website on Feb. 1, David Cassidy said he's planning to retire by the end of 2017 after playing a Las Vegas show on Feb. 17 and his final West Coast concerts on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19. Cassidy, 66, said that "traveling and my arthritis" have made performing around the country difficult in recent years. "This is not a complete 'Good bye' but I'm planning on working much less," the one-time The Partridge Family teen heartthrob said. A spokeswoman for Cassidy says he will perform some East Coast dates in March as well. - AP, 2/1/17...... As he continues his tour Down Under with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen isn't letting up at all on US Pres. Donald Trump. During his show in Melbourne on Feb. 2 at AMMI Park, The Boss played a cover of The Orions' 1962 No. 4 pop single "Don't Hang Up" to mock an allegedly disastrous phone call between Pres. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The unlikely cover of the doo-wop song, which features the lyrics "Don't hang up (no no)... Don't hang up like you always do/ I know you think our love is true/ I'll explain the facts to you, don't hang up," came after the Australian media spent the day obsessing over what has been described as a tense conversation between Trump and Turnbull on Jan. 29 when the two men reportedly clashed over the American president's controversial immigration policy. Meanwhile, on Feb. 2 E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt tweeted "Australia is, was, and always will be one of the USA's best friends and closest allies. Apologies for today's temporary embarrassment." The tweet came after Springsteen spoke out against Trump's immigration policy at a concert in Adelaide on Jan. 30. - Billboard, 2/2/17...... Organizers of 2017 Tribeca Film Festival announced on Feb. 2 that a new documentary about music mogul Clive Davis, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, will open the event this April. Based on Davis' bestselling 2013 autobiography, The Soundtrack of Our Lives explores Davis' life and historic career in the music industry, from his humble Brooklyn beginnings and brief stint as a lawyer to his development of major record labels (Columbia, Arista, J). Some of the top acts who Davis helmed during his career, including Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind & Fire, will perform after the doc's world premiere at New York's Radio City Music Hall on Apr. 19. The 16th Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs Apr. 19-30. - Billboard, 2/2/17...... Premium cable network Showtime has announced a new documentary about the Beach Boys' 1966 classic LP Pet Sounds will air on their network later this year. The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds will premiere on Showtime in April and feature interviews with BB principal Brian Wilson as well as members Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks. The documentary will also feature footage from the band's 1960s studio sessions as well as outtakes from recordings. Released in May 1966, the hugely influential Pet Sounds is considered one of pop music's greatest masterpieces. Meanwhile, Brian Wilson has announced a 50th anniversary Pet Sounds tour of the UK that will include the Kendal Calling and Camp Bestival festivals, as well as London's Eventim Apollo on Aug. 1 and Sheffield City Hall on Aug. 2. "I'm really happy to be able to come back to the UK and perform Pet Sounds yet again for all our fans," Wilson said in a statement. "The response from everyone has been amazing and that's why we decided to come back and play Pet Sounds for one last time." - New Musical Express, 2/4/17...... Blondie released the first single, called "Fun," from their upcoming studio album, Pollinator, on Jan. 31. Blondie's core trio of vocalist Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke are joined by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio on "Fun," which features the uplifting chorus "You're my fun when I'm down/ You pick me up again, you pick me up again/ You're my fun too, much fun/ I get the feeling that you're changing my mind." Pollinator also features contributions from Joan Jett, Laurie Anderson, Johnny Marr and Nick Valensi of the Strokes, and was the final album recorded at the legendary New York studio The Magic Shop. The studio was the site of sessions for David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, and has since closed due to rising rent costs. Pollinator, the follow-up to Blondie's 2014 album Ghosts of Download, is due on May 5. - Billboard, 2/1/17...... Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Feb. 1, actor Keanu Reeves recalled the time Alice Cooper once babysat for him. "I grew up in Toronto and I lived on this street called Hazelton and there was a recording studio (near) there called Nimbus 9 and my mother was in costume design, she was in rock 'n' roll, in the business, and they had friends and she had friends, and so Alice Cooper -- I'm told -- babysat me. I don't know how that could possibly happen, but it did... Supposedly." Reeves will appear in the upcoming film John Wick: Chapter 2, as well as an upcoming new Bill & Ted project. - WENN.com, 2/2/17...... In a new interview with People magazine, the late Mary Tyler Moore's husband Dr. S. Robert Levine opened up about how her death has left him devasted. "I can't believe she is gone," he said. "Mary was my life, my light, my love. The emptiness I feel without her with me is without bottom." Revealing how she had remained fiercely independent even as her health failed after a long-term battle with diabetes and heart and kidney troubles. "She was a force of nature who fiercely defended her autonomy even as her health was failing," he said. "Mary was fearless, determined, and wilful. If she felt strongly about something, or that there was truth to be told, she would do it, no matter the consequences." Dr. Levine added that "My sadness is only tempered by the remarkable outpouring of good wishes, tributes, and personal 'Mary stories' told, with heart, by those touched by her grace." The death certificate for Mary Tyler Moore, who passed on Jan. 25, noted she died of "cardiopulmonary arrest, with aspiration pneumonia, hypoxia, and diabetes mellitus also listed as contributing factors." - WENN.com, 2/1/17...... John Wetton, a prog rock legend who was the ex-bassist for King Crimson and frontman for the '80s group Asia, died on Jan. 31 after losing his battle with colon cancer. He was 67. Born on July 12, 1949, in Derby, England, Wetton sang and played with the likes of Family, Mogul Thrash, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music, Wishbone Ash and King Crimson, before he formed the prog supergroup UK in the 1970s, and later the acclaimed and successful Asia with Geoff Downes, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer. Wetton also enjoyed a successful solo career, and played with the likes of Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, David Cross, Ayreon and District 97. Wetton joined King Crimson two years after the departure of Greg Lake who, also sadly, died last month. "With the passing of my good friend and musical collaborator, John Wetton, the world loses yet another musical giant," Carl Palmer posted on Facebook. "John was a gentle person who created some of the most lasting melodies and lyrics in modern popular music. As a musician, he was both brave and innovative, with a voice that took the music of ASIA to the top of the charts around the world," he added. Wetton is survived by his wife Lisa, son Dylan, brother Robert and mother Peggy. - NME, 1/31/17.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 23rd, 2025

Smokey Robinson has responded to a rumor about a '70s song he wrote which is speculated to be about an alleged affair with his fellow Motown legend Diana Ross, saying he "could not possibly have experienced everything" he has written music about. Robinson, 84, spoke to The Times about his music, the soul genre, and hanging out with the likes of The Beatles and Marvin Gaye. He was also asked about his 1975 track "The Agony and The Ecstacy" (available on YouTube) and whether it was about the affair he was having with Ross at the time. "As a songwriter, I could not possibly have experienced everything I've written about, and that song seemed like a good idea because so many people were in that situation," he said. "I've known Diana Ross since she was eight years old, man! She's precious to me. She's my longest living friend. Oh yeah, she's my babe." Smokey had been married to Claudette Robinson for more than a decade when he had the alleged affair with Ross. Robinson is scheduled to play his first UK show in over 15 years this summer in East Sussex. He will play a headline set at the "Love Supreme Jazz Festival" in Glynde Place in the South Downs, which will run from July 4 to 6. - NME, 2/17/25...... He isn't quite "slip-slidin' away" yet -- on Feb. 18 Paul Simon announced an ambitious 2025 North American tour on Twitter/X, some seven years after he retired from playing live. The 55-show, 19-city "A Quiet Celebration" trek will kick off in New Orleans' Saenger Theater on Apr. 4, hitting most major American cities and Vancouver, B.C. Runs of five shows in New York's Beacon Theater (6/16,18, 20, 21, 23) and Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall (7/9, 11, 12, 14, 16) are included in the run, which finally wraps in Seattle's Benaroya Hall on Aug. 3. The legendary 83-year-old singer-songwriter played what at the time was described as his final ever concert in Sept. 2018 in Queens, New York's Flushing Meadows Corona Park. "I've often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I'd consider bringing my performing career to a natural end," he said at the time. "Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief." In 2024, Simon opened up about being diagnosed with hearing loss while recording his 2023 album Seven Psalms, describing the process as "incredibly frustrating." A year earlier he had told The Times that he lost "most of the hearing in my left ear," saying the process happened "quite suddenly." "Nobody has an explanation for it," he explained, "so everything became more difficult." However, Simon went on to tell The Guardian in Nov. 2024 that he was "optimistic" about returning to perform live, saying he was "hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert." On Feb. 16, Simon made a surprise return to live performing when he was joined by rising singer Sabrina Carpenter for a duet of the Simon & Garfunkel classic "Homeward Bound" on the 50th-anniversary episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Introducing the performance, Simon told the audience: "I sang this song with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live in 1976," to which Carpenter responded: "I was not born then. And neither were my parents." Their duet can be streamed on YouTube. NBC has said the 3 1/2 hour extravaganza was watched by nearly 15 million people, the network's most-watched prime-time entertainment telecast in five years. It will be available to stream on Peacock. - NME, 2/18/25...... Speaking of the SNL special, Paul McCartney closed out the event with a stirring performance of The Beatles' Abbey Road medley, "Golden Slumbers"/ "Carry That Weight"/ "The End." Sir Paul, who was a musical guest on the show in 1980, 1993, 2010 and 2012 and made cameos in 2006, 2013 and 2015, also previously appeared on SNL's 40th anniversary special. His performance with members of his touring band -- guitarist Rusty Anderson, bassist/guitarist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. -- can be viewed on YouTube. In 1993, McCartney appeared in a skit with the late SNL cast member Chris Farley in which a starstruck Farley asked the Beatle legend "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.' Is that true?," before being overjoyed when the artist said he thinks it is. Now some fans are speculating Macca's latest SNL performance was a nod to Farley. The skit can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 2/17/25...... In other Beatles-related news, details of the forthcoming John Lennon documentary Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade have been revealed. The film follows the legend as he evolves beyond The Beatles, creating revolutionary music and standing at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time. Musicians, journalists, and close friends of the man himself set the record straight on the truth behind many famous Lennon moments, brought to life by rare archive footage, including never-before-seen interviews. For the first time ever, the full story of how John and Yoko Ono met is revealed and the curtain is lifted on the 1981 comeback tour that, sadly, never came to be. Speaking on the upcoming release director Alan G. Parker said: "I am so excited to share Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade with UK audiences. I've made a number of films, but this is the first one that feels personal. I never met John Lennon, but through his music he became the older brother that this bullied kid needed." Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade opens in UK cinemas on May 2, with an exclusive Director's Cut available on the Icon Film Channel on the same day. Special Q&A events about the documentary are to be announced soon. - Music-News.com, 2/20/25...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr has told Britain's Mojo magazine that he loves living in Los Angeles, where he has lived on and off since 1973. "When I first came to America and we landed in New York, I wanted to live in New York," said Starr, who was born and raised in Liverpool. "And then we want on tours around and we came to Los Angeles, I'd think, 'Uh ... maybe Los Angeles. No New York! Maybe Los Angeles. L ... A!' I just loved the atmosphere. I loved the light. I loved the heat." Despite this, Ringo says he's never been tempted to surf in the Pacific Ocean. "It took me seven years to go to the ocean. A limo took me down the Pacific Coast Highway. I got out the car, walked across the beach, put my feet in the water, turned around, walked back to the car and went for lunch." - Music-News.com, 2/17/25...... In what is likely a major disappointment to many fans, Ozzy Osbourne has said he won't play a full Black Sabbath set at the band's upcoming farwell show on July 5 in Birmingham, UK. Osbourne made the announcement on his Ozzy Speaks program on SiriusXM channel Ozzy's Boneyard, where he provided an update as to his plans for the recently-announced "Back to the Beginning" concert with the "ultimate" Sabbath lineup of Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. "I'm not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them," the "War Pigs" singer explained. "I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable." Osbourne hasn't performed a full set since Dec. 31, 2018 on the final date of his "No More Tours" tour. Just two months later, the heavy metal pioneer was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and any plans for further large-scale performances have been affected by numerous cancellations and health issues. "I am trying to get back on my feet," Osbourne added. "When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I'm not dead. I'm still actively doing things." Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Guns N' Roses, Tool and Jason Mamoa have been added to the lineup of the final Black Sabbath concert. Aquaman actor Momoa will host the event, while Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello will serve as musical director. Other previously announced acts include Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Rival Sons, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, songwriter-producer Andrew Watt, and bassist Dave Ellefson. Osbourne and Billy Morrison have shared their new single, "Gods Of Rock N Roll," on YouTube. The track is a reworking of the Morrison song "Gods," which appeared on his 2015 album God Shaped Hole. The track saw Ozzy co-write and sing on the original, and now it has been reimagined with a 61-piece orchestra featuring new guitar aspects from Steve Stevens. - Billboard, 2/16/25...... Matt Sorum, a former drummer with Guns N' Roses, says Steven Tyler will never return to touring just weeks after the Aerosmith frontman made a return to the stage as part of his sixth annual "Jam for Janie" Grammy Awards viewing party. With Sorum serving as Musical Director, the event was only the second time that Tyler had performed live since a 2023 vocal injury which halted Aerosmith's touring schedule, and the first time since the band announced their formal retirement in August of 2024. During Jam for Janie, Tyler sung covers of songs by Extreme and Led Zeppelin, and four Aerosmith staples. However, despite the positive response from fans, Sorum told Joe Rock of Long Island radio station WBAB that the strain of global touring would prevent Tyler from performing on a large scale once again. "Some fans were a little bit, like, 'Well, he can sing.' Well, let me just explain what's happening with Steven Tyler, 'cause he's a really good friend," Sorum explained. "He went out and sang. And it was a really big moment for him because he hurt himself bad. Now, is he gonna tour again? No, he's not. Because, and I explained this to people, Steven cannot put himself under the rigors of doing a full worldwide tour because there's a lot of pressure." Sorum went on to explain that Tyler "is 77 years old and a perfectionist... And if he doesn't sing correctly, it bothers him." On Sept. 9, 2023, Tyler fractured his larynx, necessitating the postponement of shows on Aerosmith's Peace Out tour. Ultimately, these shows were canceled entirely when the band announced their retirement from touring in Aug. 2024. In January, Aerosmith's Joe Hamilton said that "if [Aerosmith does] anything in the future, it would come from him." - Billboard, 2/18/25...... Queen guitarist Brian May. Created with significant design input from May, only 100 of the Brian May SJ-200 12-String models will be available worldwide in a limited run via Gibson.com, the Gibson Garage Nashville and London, and authorized Gibson dealers. In a press release, May said he "had the idea for the guitar when I needed a 12-String on tour, and the one I was accustomed to wasn't performing right on stage." "The guys at Gibson very kindly said, 'We'll make you something special that you can use on the tours.' One of the things I asked for was for the octaves to be placed around the other way from where it is normally done, because I like to pick upwards and hear the top notes when I'm playing," he added. Referring to his other career as an astronomer, he said: "Gibson was able to put the universe on it in a figurative way and the planet Mercury is here, and that is a little nod to a friend of mine that is always with me." An episode of the Gibson TV podcast with May introducing the instrument has been shared on YouTube. - New Musical Express, 2/19/25...... The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has topped the $100 million threshold in worldwide box-office grosses, according to boxofficemojo.com. The film, which has grossed $104 million as of Feb. 18, now ranks No. 8 on Billboard's list of music biopics with the highest worldwide grosses -- between the 2004 Ray Charles biopic Ray at No. 7 ($124 million) and the 2019 French singer Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose at No. 9 ($87.5 million). Released in December, A Complete Unknown received eight Oscar nominations on Jan. 23, and made Oscar history as the first music biopic to receive three acting nods -- for Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. The runaway all-time highest grossing biopic continues to be the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), with a worldwide gross of $910.8 million. - Billboard, 2/16/25...... In other rock biopic news, Jimmy Page has thanked fans for their "humbling and inspiring" reaction to the new IMAX documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin. Page took to Instagram on Feb. 17 to send his personal thanks for the film's enthusiastic reception. "In light of your incredible responses and the demand for the Becoming Led Zeppelin film from those of you that have either viewed it at the IMAX or during its general cinema release, I must say that feedback from fans is just humbling and inspiring," he wrote. Currently in UK cinemas, Becoming Led Zeppelin is the first authorized account of the band's history ever to come to the big screen, and has been in production since first being announced back in 2019. Since hitting IMAX screens on Feb. 5 and receiving a general cinema release two days later, Zeppelin fans have been flocking to see the film, which features new interviews with Page, frontman Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones, as well as rare archival interviews with the late drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980. - NME, 2/17/25...... A unique version of the classic Procol Harum single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" featuring late singer Gary Brooker is among the songs on the new charity album Think Loud 4 Parkinson's. The LP was put together by esteemed manager Ian Grant -- who helped steer the careers of the likes of Big Country, The Cult, The Stranglers, Elizabeth McGovern and many more -- and music producer Paul Mitchell, along with two others, in response to Grant's own experience living with Parkinson's disease for the last nine years. For the special version of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," Mitchell took the performance of the song from the "Remembering Gary Brooker" memorial concert that took place at G Live in Guilford, England, on Dec. 4, 2023. That performance features a 15-year old live vocal recording of Brooker -- who passed away from cancer in Feb. 2022, at the age of 76 -- matched to Procol Harum's live rendition of the track in tribute to the singer at that gig. Speaking at the launch of the album at the offices of Cure Parkinson's in London, Mitchell said: "Gary's widow Frankie Brooker very kindly allowed us to take some tracks from that concert. "The 'Whiter Shade of Paler' version on this -- and this is how valuable this album is going to be -- is super rare. The music is the band playing live in December 2023, but the vocal is Gary Brooker's vocal from Boston in 2010 and it's all synchronised together. It is an absolute one-off." All profits from the LP go to Cure Parkinson's to help the charity fund their vital research into the neurodegenerative disease. It additionally features an array of covers and rare tracks from such other music legends as Leo Sayer, Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley. - Music-News.com, 2/16/25...... Rick Buckler, a longtime rocker best known as the drummer for legendary UK band The Jam, has died. He was 69 years old. News of his death was announced on X via a heartfelt message from his bandmate Paul Weller. "I'm shocked and saddened by Rick's passing.... We went far beyond our dreams and what we made stands the test of time & Rick was a good guy and a great drummer whose innovative drum patterns helped shape our songs. I'm glad we had the chance to work together as much as we did. My thoughts are with [Rick's wife Lesley] and his family at this very difficult time." The Jam was formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey. Buckler was in the original lineup as drummer, and the group released their debut single "In the City" in 1977, and released their debut album of the same name that same year. The band made waves via their political statements, rising up against police brutality, the British government and beyond. Overall, the group released six albums, their final project being 1982's The Gift, which peaked at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. After a world tour in support of the album, the group disbanded due to a decision from Weller. After his time in The Jam, Buckler formed Time UK with Jimmy Edwards and Ray Simone, and later formed a new The Jam tribute band called The Gift. - Billboard, 2/18/25...... Scottish drummer Jamie Muir, a former drummer of the British prog rock group King Crimson, died of as yet undisclosed causes on Feb. 17. He was 82. News of his passing was confirmed by his friend and bandmate Bill Bruford, who wrote on Facebook: "Jamie Muir died today, 17.02.2025, in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side." Mr. Muir was best known for his stint with the legendary King Crimson from 1972 to 1973, playing most prominently on their fifth studio album Larks' Tongues In Aspic, released in 1973. Born in Edinburgh in 1942 and educated at the Edinburgh College Of Art, he moved to London in the 1960s as a passionate jazz trombonist, before switching to percussion. In London, he was involved in several free improvisational groups, including The Music Improvisation Company, and played with respected figures such as Derek Bailey and Evan Parker. King Crimson leader Robert Fripp invited him to join the band via a phone call in the summer of 1972, alongside a new incarnation of the band that included Yes drummer Bruford, bassist John Wetton and violinist David Cross. After just a year, and just days after the release of Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Muir abruptly left King Crimson and moved to a monastery in southern Scotland to pursue life as a Buddhist monk. He did return to music in 1980, appearing on albums by Bailey and Parker, as well as the soundtrack of the 1983 British independent film Ghost Dance. In 1990, he withdrew from the music industry once again, opting to devote his time to painting. Mr. Muir's passing comes just months after King Crimson songwriter and lyricist Peter Sinfield died, aged 80, on Nov. 14. Robert Fripp paid tribute to Mr. Muir on Instagram, writing: "Jamie Muir was a major, and continuing, influence on my thinking, not only musical. A wonderful and mysterious person. Of the five members of KC 1972, Jamie had the greatest authority, experience and presence. Fly well, Master Muir." - NME, 2/18/25.

Willie Nelson's 13th annual Luck Reunion concert has been set for March 13 at his ranch in Spicewood, Tex. Nelson's Willie Nelson & Family will top the bill, but the 2025 will also feature the likes of Charley Crockett, Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, Willie's sons Micah and Lucas Nelson, and "more than one surprise guests." The concert will also feature a tribute to Willie's late close friend and Country Music Hall of Famer Kris Kristofferson. Ticket information is available at www.luckpresents.com. - Billboard, 2/14/25...... The lineup for the 2025 Love Rocks Benefit concert, set for the legendary Beacon Theatre in NYC on Mar. 6, will feature sets from Cher, Peter Frampton, Michael McDonald, Alicia Keys, Beck, Kate Hudson, Mavis Staples, Phish's Trey Anastasio and many more. The ninth annual benefit supports God's Love We Deliver -- an organization that cooks and delivers medically tailored meals for people too sick to shop or cook for themselves. God's Love We Deliver was founded in 1985 as a response to the AIDS pandemic and now serves people living with more than 200 different diagnoses. The organization has served more than 40 million meals to date, with this year marking the group's 40th anniversary. Past performers at God's Love shows have included Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Jon Bon Jovi, Dave Grohl, Dave Matthews and The Black Crowes. - Billboard, 2/12/25...... A rep for Don Felder says the former Eagles guitarist is "feeling much better" after a medical emergency during a Rock Legends Cruise performance on Feb. 13. In a video shared by an attendee and posted on the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, Felder is seen introducing the Eagles classic, "Tequila Sunrise," sharing the inspiration behind the song before he began strumming his guitar to perform it. He then appears to look to crew members on the side stage and lose balance, before a member of his team and his bandmates helped escort him offstage. The crowd cheered in support for the musician before the video ends. Posting on Instagram, his rep said medical personnel determined that Felder "was deemed to be suffering from dehydration... He was given fluids, and is feeling much better." The statement continued that the remainder of Felder's cruise performances will be rescheduled to "ensure he has ample time to rehydrate and recover fully," before concluding, "Thank you for your understanding and remember -- drink your water!" Felder, 77, performed with the Eagles from 1974 to 2001, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 1998. After his departure from the group, he filed two lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract and breach of fiduciary duty, though the case was settled in 2007. Felder published the book, Heaven and Hell: My Life in The Eagles, in 2007. - Billboard, 2/14/25...... In other Eagles-related news, a rare book dealer filed a lawsuit against band co-founder Don Henley, their manager Irving Azoff, and their attorneys in New York state court on Feb. 6. Henley and his co-defendants are being sued by Glenn Horowitz, one of the men who was criminally charged for allegedly attempting to sell handwritten lyrics connected to the Eagles' 1976 album Hotel California, claiming they and their attorneys engaged in a "malicious prosecution" that harmed his reputation and caused him financial losses and emotional distress. Horowitz claims the parties falsely alleged that he and his two co-defendants in the criminal case "knew or had reason to believe" that the lyric sheets "had been unlawfully obtained" and nonetheless attempted to profit off of them via an online auction. However, Horowitz claims the men and their attorneys knew all along that the notes had been acquired through legal means in the first place. Horowitz, a rare book dealer, and his co-defendants -- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia auctioneer Edward Kosinski -- were criminally charged in 2022 over an alleged conspiracy to resell the lyrics that had been handwritten by Henley while working on the band's iconic Hotel California. At the time, prosecutors had accused the three men of hiding the fact that the documents had been stolen from Henley's home by Ed Sanders, a journalist hired by Henley and Azoff to write a never-published book on the Eagles in the late 1970s. But in a stunning turnaround in March 2024, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the case after Henley produced new evidence previously withheld under attorney-client privilege that cast doubt on his and Azoff's allegations. The judge in the case subsequently dismissed the charges and chastised Henley, Azoff and their attorneys for "obfuscat[ing] and hid[ing] information that they believed would be damaging to their position that the lyric sheets were stolen." Horowitz and his wife are asking for damages amounting to more than 10 million dollars over being "deprived of their liberty, suffering humiliation, defamation, diminished reputation and loss of business and/or wages." Henley and Azoff's attorney, Dan Petrocelli, said the Horowitzes' suit "highlights the dark underbelly of the memorabilia business that exploited the brazen, unauthorized taking and selling of Mr. Henley's handwritten lyrics... The only malicious prosecution involved here is the filing of this case by Mr. Horowitz." - Billboard, 2/10/25...... English Heritage, the charity responsible for the National Heritage Collection of England, announced on X/Twitter that late T. Rex legend Marc Bolan will be among several Londoners who will be honoured with a new London blue plaque in 2025 for their significant impact on the city's cultural landscape. Bolan, the charismatic frontman of glam-rock band T. Rex, was known for his flamboyant style and shape-shifting music and will be honoured with a plaque at one of his former addresses in West London. Others to be honoured with a blue plaque include actress Audrey Hepburn, poet Una Marson, ballerina Alicia Markova, novelist Barbara Pym and artist Graham Sutherland. In 2024, English Heritage paid tribute to George Harrison by unveiling a blue plaque at Harrison's childhood home in Liverpool. - New Musical Express, 2/13/25...... Performing a surprise concert at New York's iconic Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 11, Paul McCartney relived his Beatlemania days with several of the band's classic tracks and paid tribute to late bandmate John Lennon. McCartney, 82, announced the impromptu gig earlier in the day and, unsurprisingly, it swiftly sold out, with 575 lucky fans treated to a once-in-a-lifetime show. Sir Paul, backed by guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist and bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. -- kicked off proceedings in style performing the 1964 Beatles hit "A Hard Day's Night," then dusted off his '70s band Wings' 1975 track "Letting Go," which he hadn't performed live in 11 years. 1966's Revolver track "Got to Get You Into My Life" followed, and other rarities included Wings' "Let Me Roll With It" -- which was last featured in his set at the iTunes Festival in 2007 -- alongside a jam of "Foxy Lady" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Elsewhere, Macca gave a stirring stripped-back acoustic performance of the tear-jerking Beatles tune "Blackbird." McCartney was amused to reminisce about the Beatlemania days when he heard a "Beatles scream" and demanded more shrieking from the "girls." "OK, let's get it out of the way. Girls, give me a Beatles scream," he quipped. Paul also paid tribute to Lennon when performing The Beatles' "final song," 2023's "Now And Then," which Lennon had penned in the 1970s and was finished with the help of AI. He said: "Let's hear it for John." After performing a three-song encore of "Golden Slumbers," "Carry The Weight" and "The End" from Abbey Road, the legend declared: "This has been a blast -- we've loo-ved it." McCartney was in the Big Apple to help NBC's Saturday Night Live celebrate its 50th anniversary on Feb. 16. The venerable comedy show announced on X/Twitter on Feb. 14 that musical performances by McCartney, Paul Simon, Cher, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and other famous acts will be combined with a three-hour primetime special which will feature various live sketches which will see both past and present SNL cast members, special guests, and retrospectives celebrating the show's 50th anniversary. The special will air 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and simulcast on Peacock. - Music-News.com/Billboard/NME, 2/14/25...... Appearing on TMZ's new 2 Angry Men podcast on Feb. 12, Village People frontman Victor Willis told hosts Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos that the group's 1978 classic "Y.M.C.A." has an intentional dual meaning. "That was something that I credited myself on is writing my songs with what is called a double entendre," Willis said. "I would write a song to where you can take it any kind of way you wanted it. If you're straight, you can take the lyrics for somebody straight or if you were gay, you could take it for somebody gay." Willis then insisted that "there's like 10% of the gay community that have been coming to my shows and have been there over the past 10 years," although Levin and Geragos insisted that the number would be higher. Willis recently sent a cease and desist letter to Jim Jeffries after the comedian's claims about the song being a "gay anthem." "[Jeffries] went over the line when he got into saying it had to do with men having sex in the bathroom," Willis said. "There is nothing in my lyrics that says anything about that. We approached him and he apologized and said he was going to rephrase what it was he said and say it differently, because the way he said it as worded was defamatory," he added. - Billboard, 2/13/25...... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame revealed its nominees for the Class of 2025 on Feb. 12, with Mariah Carey, Oasis, Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes making the cut. Eight of those 14 acts -- Bad Company, the Black Crowes, Checker, Cocker, Idol, Maná, Outkast and Phish -- are first-time nominees, while the other six have been in RRHOF consideration in years past. Those names will now be narrowed down by an international panel of more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry players, with a fan-voted element factored in. That group's selected nominees will be revealed in late April, as well as whether they'll be entering in the Musical Influence or Musical Excellence categories, and who the year's Ahmet Ertegun award recipient will be. An induction ceremony in Los Angeles will follow in the fall. Industry insiders predict Oasis, The White Stripes, Outkast, Phish, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper and Joe Cocker, in that order, have the best odds of being inducted, while an informal Billboard fan poll showed support for Phish, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Billy Idol, Soundgarden and Chubby Checker. Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers says that "[Our] fans and friends have been lobbying for this nomination persistently for years and they never gave up, so big thanks to them. According to them, Bad Company fits all of the criteria and then some to be inducted." Drummer Simon Kirke, however, is more inclined to also note that it's about time. "I think it's been a long time coming. It has rankled me a bit," Kirke says. "We've been around a long time and we've influenced a lot of bands, and I think it's a place that we deserve. I'm just pleased that we're at least on the ballot. I'm happy and I'm honored, and fingers crossed that we make it." Formed during 1973 in London, Bad Company brought together Rodgers and Kirke from Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs from Mott the Hoople and bassist Boz Burrell, fresh out of King Crimson. The group was managed by the legendary Peter Grant and signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label. Its self-titled 1974 debut hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, going five-times platinum and launching enduring rock radio hits such as "Can't Get Enough" (No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100), "Movin' On" (No. 19) and the song "Bad Company." Four of the band's other 11 studio albums went platinum or better, as did the 1985 compilation 10 From 6. All told Bad Company sold more than 40 million records worldwide, with a cadre of other top 40 Hot 100 hits such as "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Young Blood," "Shooting Star" and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." The original Bad Company foursome came to a stop in 1982, and Bad Company last toured during 2019. Kirke confirms that "I think it's safe to say (the band's) playing days are pretty much over." He and Rodgers are still active, however. Though Rodgers is also battling health issues -- he's suffered several strokes since 2016 and 2019 -- he released the solo album Midnight Rose during 2023 and is continuing to write new material. Kirke, meanwhile, has written a stage musical about addiction that's currently being shopped and is planning to record his fourth solo album during the spring. - Billboard, 2/12/25...... On Feb. 12 The Jacksons shared details of three UK shows this summer. Comprised of founding members Jackie Jackson and Marlon Jackson, brothers of the late King of Pop Michael Jackson, the band are set to break out hits from their lengthy discography as they headline GuilFest at Stoke Park in Guilford, Surrey on July 5. From there, they'll take to the stage at the Heritage Live Shows at the Englefield House in Berkshire on July 19. For their set at GuilFest, the band -- formerly known as The Jackson 5 -- will join Razorlight at the top of the bill. They also join other previously announced acts on the 2025 line-up, including KT Tunstall, Soul II Soul, The Amy Winehouse Band, Sleeper, Elvanna, Stereo MCs and Dub Pistols. At the Heritage Live gig, they will appear alongside Sister Sledge, Boney M and Maizie Williams. For the Essex show, Sister Sledge will also be performing, as will Miss Disco. The news of their UK shows arrives months following the death of founding member Tito Jackson, who passed away on Sept. 15 at age 70 after he suffered a heart attack while driving from New Mexico to Oklahoma. At the time, the group's manager said The Jacksons were "far advanced" in the process of recording and releasing their first album since 1989's 2300 Jackson Street. - NME, 2/12/25...... Though not known as a country artist, Sammy Hagar will be among the eclectic lineup of headliners at this year's Stagecoach Country Music Festival, set for the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., on April 25-27. Hagar will perform on the final night of the festival on the event's Palomino Stage, with other notable performers during the three days including Lana Del Rey, Nelly, Tracy Lawrence, Goo Goo Dolls, Tommy James & the Shondells and Crystal Gayle. - Billboard, 2/11/25...... Patti Smith has announced she'll be hitting the road in the U.K. and U.S. this fall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her iconic debut album, Horses. The singer will be joined by longtime side men guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who both played on the seminal 1975 LP that is considered a punk classic and is often cited by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe as the album that made him want to make music, and has been enshrined in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry as a historically significant work. Her Patti Smith Group will kick off the 20-date jaunt on Oct. 6 at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. The outing is then booked to hit Madrid, London, Burssels, Oslo and Paris before moving over to the U.S. for theater gigs in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. before winding down on Nov. 29 at the Met in Philadelphia. "Please join us to help celebrate the final ride of our irreverent thoroughbred," read a statement announcing the run that will mark the first time in 20 years that Smith, 78, has performed the whole album. In 2005, she celebrated its 30th anniversary at that year's Meltdown Festival in London, which she curated. Before she hits the road, Smith will be feted at a March 26 all-star concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, "People Have the Power: Celebrating the Music of Patti Smith," which will feature appearances by Stipe and members of Sonic Youth and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. In January, Smith assured fans that she was okay after collapsing on stage in So Paulo, Brazil on Jan. 29. The health scare came a month after Smith was ordered by a doctor to rest following a brief stay in an Italian hospital to deal with what was described as a sudden, unnamed illness, resulting in the cancellation of a pair of European shows. - Billboard, 2/11/25...... Van Morrison has added two Scotland shows to his forthcoming 2025 UK tour. In addition to the initially confirmed four gigs in Nottingham (3/18), Birmingham (3/19), Oxford (3/23, 24) and Stroud (3/24), Morrison has scheduled a pair of headline concerts in Scotland at the end of the trek. He'll take to the stage at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on Mar. 30, before heading to Edinburgh for a performance at Usher Hall the following night. Morrison had previously announced two homecoming shows at Whitla Hall in Belfast on February 21 and 22, as well as European headline gigs in Antwerp, Brussels and The Hague. - NME, 2/11/25...... The legacy of legendary folk singer Joan Baez was celebrated on Feb. 8 with a star-studded Sweet Relief Musicians Fund benefit show at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. Performers included Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Margo Price, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Morello, Joe Henry, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal and Baez herself. There were also appearances by Jackson Browne and the Glide Ensemble. Actress Monica Barbaro, who recently received an Oscar nomination for playing Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, was in attendance, as were Linda Ronstadt and local counterculture icon Wavy Gravy. Eric Steinberg, executive director at Sweet Relief Musicians Fund said, "We're thrilled to celebrate 30 years of Sweet Relief while honoring the great Joan Baez and her amazing career. Joan has supported our charity for many years, and it was a privilege to honor her alongside so many incredible artists." Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides services and financial assistance for career musicians and music industry professionals. Grants are earmarked for medical and vital living expenses, including insurance premiums, prescriptions, medical treatment and operative procedures, housing costs, food costs, utilities, and other basic necessities. The event raised more than $600,000, and 100% of all donations will go to Sweet Relief for California fire relief for distribution to victims. - Billboard, 2/10/25...... 10cc's Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1975 hit "I'm Not In Love" on Vernon Kay's BBC Radio 2 program Piano Room on the morning of Feb. 14. Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra at the BBC Maida Vale studios, Gouldman and Godley performed their seminal hit "I'm Not In Love" plus their new single -- "I Don't Wanna Get To Heaven," and a cover of The Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream." When Kay asked about "I'm Not In Love" going through different iterations, Godley said: "There were two versions, the first recording of it was dreadful. It sucked. So we put it to one side. We knew it was a good song and then we came back to it when we were deeper into the album and discovered this new way of approaching it and suddenly it came to life." A full 10cc reunion seems unlikely however, as Godley said "no" when asked if there was a chance the band would be getting back on stage together. - Music-News.com, 2/14/25...... On Feb. 12, Nordoff and Robbins, the UK's largest music therapy charity that uses music to transform lives, announced the first wave of winners for the 2025 O2 Silver Clef Awards. Pink Floyd's David Gilmour will be the 2025 recipient of the coveted O2 Silver Clef Award, which celebrates outstanding contributions to music. "It's such an honour to receive the O2 Silver Clef Award," Gilmour said in a statement. "Music speaks its own language and it's inspiring to see Nordoff and Robbins using it to make a real difference to people's lives. What they do reminds us of music's ability to reach across boundaries and bring people together." Gilmour and other 2025 winners, including Rick Astley and Soul II Soul, will be celebrated at an exclusive awards evening hosted by broadcaster Edith Bowman on July 2 at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, London. Previous winners of the prestigious O2 Silver Clef Award include David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, Kylie Minogue and many more. First held in 1976, the O2 Silver Clef Awards is Nordoff and Robbins' largest annual fundraising event, raising over 13.5 million for the charity across its 49-year history. - Music-News.com, 2/12/25...... Ozzy Osbourne's new single "Gods of Rock N Roll" has already appeared on the charts days before its official release date of Feb. 14. It comes as the song as a new version of the Billy Morrison song "God," which appeared on his 2015 album God Shaped Hole The track saw Osbourne co-write and sing on the original, and now it has been reimagined as an orchestral edition featuring new guitar contributions from Steve Stevens. The reason that it has found its way onto the charts already comes as Morrison gave the new version of the track its premiere while on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard channel last month. Since then, it has been picked up by other radio stations and has made its way to the Number 26 spot on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. "Gods Of Rock N Roll (Orchestral)" is set to feature on the upcoming deluxe edition of Morrison's 2024 album The Morrison Project, which will arrive digitally on Feb. 21. - NME, 2/11/25...... Sir Tom Jones and Sugababes have been unveiled as headliners for the UK's 2025 Camp Bestival. The "She's A Lady" hitmaker and the "Freak Like Me" group will top the bill at the family festival at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, which takes place between July 31 and Aug. 3. They join previously confirmed headliners Basement Jaxx. Other acts on the stacked bill include Lightning Seeds, The Zutons and drum and bass legend Goldie, who will perform with a full band. - Music-News.com, 2/12/25...... The Stylistics have shared their first new song in more than 16 years, "Yes, I Will," featuring country star Shania Twain. The '70s soul legends -- who are behind the hits "You Are Everything," "Betcha by Golly, Wow," "I'm Stone in Love with You," "Break Up to Make Up" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New" -- have joined forces with the "You're Still the One" hitmaker on the lead single from their star-studded album Falling In Love With My Girl, their first in almost 20 years. Twain says she came up with the song and just so happened to be with musicians Steve Luthaker, Ray Parker Jr and Nathan East at the time, who contributed to the finished tune, but she says it wasn't until The Stylistics added their vocals that it "really came together." "I'm not known for making Soul records but Soul has always been a big influence for me musically," Twain says. "I'm so in awe of The Stylistics for their natural talent and effortless delivery. I can listen to their voices endlessly. I had this idea for the song Yes, I Will it all came together quite quickly for me lyrically and melodically, it was just a natural flow." The 21-track collection by the iconic group -- comprised of Airrion Love, Herb Murrell and Jason Sharp -- also features the likes of Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, KISS' Gene Simmons, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Falling In Love With My Girl -- the group's follow-up to 2008's That Same Way -- drops on Feb. 21. - Music-News.com, 2/13/25....... In a new interview with People, Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley set the record straight on the end of her relationship with the King of Rock & Roll. Priscilla, 79, was married to Elvis from 1967 until 1973 and birthed his only child -- the late Lisa Marie Presley, who died in 2023 aged 54. Director Sofia Coppola released her film, titled Priscilla, in 2023 and it chronicled the romance between the star and the late music legend -- who died in 1977 aged 42. While the film was based on Priscilla's 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, Presley says the film failed to depict the end of the relationship accurately. "The only thing was the ending. I wasn't really happy about the ending. It didn't end that way, and we ended -- Elvis and I ended very lovingly," she told People. Presley made her comments to the magazine during a panel event at MegaCon Orlando -- where she went on to explain she remained close to Elvis after their divorce. She divulged, "We kept our relationship. We did. He would drop by my home unannounced, and I was going with someone by the way, and he would come unannounced. Thank God it was two o'clock in the morning, and I knew who it was, so I quickly tried to get to the door before he rang the doorbell, and of course he came in, we went in the kitchen, we talked for a couple of hours." - Music-News.com, 2/12/25.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 20th, 2022

Elvis Costello & The Imposters unveiled details of a summer 2022 North American tour on Feb. 17. The 15-city tour kicks off on Aug. 6 in Huber Heights, Oh., also visiting such major markets as Toronto (8/8), Buffalo, N.Y. (8/9), New York (8/11), Boston (8/15), Denver (8/23), Salt Lake City (8/25), and Anaheim, Calif. (8/30) before wrapping on Sept. 3 in Las Vegas. Costell and The Imposters will be touring behind their latest LP, The Boy Named If [And Other Children's Stories], which dropped in January. Before travelling across the pond, Costello and the band will also mount a 13-city UK tour in June at Brighton Dome on June 5, wrapping on June 23 in London's Eventim Apollo. - NME, 2/17/22...... Aerosmith announced on Feb. 17 they've inked a deal with Epic Rights for a multi-category worldwide retail program for the Boston-based rockers that will include Funko pop figures and 3D vinyl collectibles in the coming years. "We are thrilled to have Aerosmith, one of the all-time greatest rock icons, on the Epic Rights roster," said Epic Rights senior vp of global licensing Lisa Streff in a press release. "In anticipation of the upcoming 50th anniversary activities, we're excited to be developing a global licensing program that will celebrate and illustrate the band's career at retail," she added. The announcement follows the recent news that Aerosmith signed a career-spanning, multi-faceted deal with Universal Music Group in advance of their 50th anniversary. In 2023, Aerosmith will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, the 45th anniversary of Draw the Line, and the 30th anniversary of Get a Grip. - Billboard, 2/17/22...... Paul McCartney announced on Feb. 18 that he'll be hitting the road in 2022 for his first live shows in three years. Macca's "Got Back" arena/stadium tour is slated to kick off on April 28 at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., his first-ever show in that city. The 13-city, 14-date outing will also find the Beatles legend playing East Rutherford, N.J.'s MetLife Stadium for the first time since 2016 on the tour's wrap date June 16. "I said at the end of the last tour that I'd see you next time. I said I was going to get back to you. Well, I got back!," McCartney, 79, said in a statement. Other stops on the 13-city, 14 date tour include Seattle (5/2, 3), Oakland, Calif. (5/6), Los Angeles (5/13), Fort Worth, Tex. (5/17), Winston Salem, N.C. (5/21), Hollywood, Fla. (5/25), Orlando, Fla. (5/28), Knoxville, Tenn. (5/31), Syracuse, N.Y. (6/4), Boston (6/7) and Baltimore (6/12). Tickets for the tour will go on sale to the general public beginning Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. local time. McCartney concluded his 39-date, 12-country "Freshen Up" tour in July 2019. - Billboard, 2/18/22...... In other Beatles-related news, a statue of the band's early manager, Brian Epstein, has been given planning permission by Liverpool council, according to a Twitter post by a local newspaper on Feb. 17. The statue of Epstein, who also worked with such "60's British invasion" acts as Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers, will be erected near his family's former record shop in the Whitechapel neighborhood. Jane Robbins, one of the statue's sculptors and Paul McCartney's cousin, says she showed Paul McCartney the photograph of the final clay model of the statue and that he "spent several minutes looking at it and he was delighted." "I don't know if there was an actual a tear in his eye but he was very moved to see the clay and that, I think, speaks volumes," she added. A date for the statue's installation is expected to be announced in the coming months. In related news, director Sara Sugarman (Vinyl, Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen) was hired to helm an upcoming biopic of Epstein in 2021. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, (Wolf Hall, The Queen's Gambit), will play Epstein in the biopic, which will chart the entrepreneur's huge influence on pop music within the 1960s. - New Musical Express, 2/17/22...... Citing concerns over the Covid pandemic, a rep for Willie Nelson announced on Feb. 15 that the country-pop legend will be cancelling several of his headlining indoor concerts in 2022. According to the publicist, all of Willie's March shows have been canceled, with the exception of Nelson's 10th annual, 40-artist headlining Luck Reunion show on Mar. 17, which is held at Nelson's ranch outside of Austin, Tex. Among the indoor March shows listed on Nelson's website (including some previously canceled shows) are two Nashville performances at the CMA Theater on Mar. 10-11, as well as concerts at New Orleans' Saenger Theatre (Mar. 13), Houston's 713 Music Hall (Mar. 14), Fort Worth's Billy Bob's Texas (Mar. 19) and San Antonio's Majestic Theatre (Mar. 21-22). An April 20 indoor show in Peoria, Ill., has also been canceled, as well as an April 22 show in New Buffalo, Mich., and an April 25 show in Nashville, Ind. Nelson also added an outdoor show to his schedule on April 22 at Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He will also play an outdoor show on April 24 in Simpsonville, S.C. Nelson is also set to release his latest album, A Beautiful Time, on Apr. 29, to coincide with the entertainer's 89th birthday. - Billboard, 2/15/22...... After revealing he is a big fan of cryptocurrency earlier in February, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons said on Feb. 20 that he'll accept cryptocurrency as payment for his Las Vegas mansion, which he recently put on the market for $13.5 million (£9.93 million). "I have been an outspoken proponent of cryptocurrency from the beginning. It is the future of money, and it just makes sense to offer interested parties the option of using cryptocurrency to purchase the estate," said Simmons, who bought the house in 2021 for $10.8 million (£7.95 million) but says that he and his family rarely stay at the property. The property, which can be viewed on Instagram, is described as a "distinctive and modern estate offers unparalleled artistic beauty unrivalled anywhere in the Las Vegas Valley." Meanwhile in other KISS news, vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley said on Feb. 16 that he would be open to making music with the Foo Fighters if the opportunity ever came up. "[Foo Fighters frontman] Dave [Grohl] and I, we had children in the same school, so I've known Dave for a while," Stanley said at the red carpet premiere of Studio 666, a new horror-comedy starring the Foos, at the TCL Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood. After praising Grohl as "arguably one of the biggest rock stars in the world," Stanley said that "at some point, I'm sure we'll do something -- we'll make some noise together. That's what makes music so fun." Not just the collaboration process, Stanley confirmed, but "not knowing what's coming tomorrow." In December, Gene Simmons brought Grohl onstage during a KISS concert in Las Vegas. Grohl told the audience he was one of the many young KISS fans who had posters of Simmons on his wall as a child. - New Musical Express, 2/20/22...... On Feb. 17 a federal judge held the son of late Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons in contempt of court for using his father's name and likeness to sell cannabis and other products without permission, including a $250 per day fine until he stops. Clarence Clemons III, also known as Nick, was sued by a family trust that controls his late dad's assets in 2021 for allegedly launching "Big Man Blazed Baked Goods" ("Big Man" being the nickname Springsteen and his band gave to Clemons Sr.) and other products without their permission, but Nick never responded to the lawsuit nor has he stopped using his father's name and likeness -- even after a judge ordered him to do so. "Defendants have taken no actions to comply with the order since receiving it, U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp wrote. "They have not responded to any filing in this action [and] more troublingly & plaintiffs detail defendants' extensive and ongoing violations of the order," he added. The judge also ordered Nick and Big Man's West to repay more than $7000 in legal fees incurred by the trust in seeking the contempt order. Nick Clemons has responded that the lawsuit was "frivolous" and that he had "totally disregarded it." He also said he was a part owner of the trust entity and that you "cannot sue yourself," and that he was "not even considering complying with the order, but might file a response" later in the week. After decades playing saxophone in The E Street Band, Clemons died suddenly in 2011 at the age of 69, after complications from hand surgery led to a blood clot that caused a stroke. Before his death, he established a legal trust to control his assets, naming Nick and three other siblings as beneficiaries. But under the terms he established, the trust itself has sole control over the rights to his name and likeness until his youngest song, Jarod, reaches the age of 25 in 2023. - Billboard, 2/18/22...... In a new interview with The New Yorker, Stevie Nicks revealed she has nearly 50 years of meticulous journals to help jog her memory. "When I keep my journal, it's big, like a telephone book, because I always feel that that will never get lost. So what I do is I write on the right side of the page, and then on the left-hand side I write poetry, which I usually take right out of my prose," Nicks told actress/writer Tavi Gevinson. "So lots of times, when I go back to them, it's to look at the poetry for songs. I would rather spend the time writing a new journal entry than going back and reading old journal entries, because if you go back you're not going to go forward. I just try to keep going forward," Nicks said. The 73-year-old musician also opened up about her burgeoning friendship with rising singer Lorde ("a really great writer and she's really good at doing her own recorded stuff"), the very important, prescient advice she gave to pop star Katy Perry in a hotel lobby 10 years ago ("We don't have rivals. That's just ridiculous."), and what she's learned from her longtime bandmate Christine McVie. The full interview can be read at NewYorker.com. - Billboard, 2/16/22...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Pete Townshend admits he "doesn't deserve to be alive." "Eighty is a strange number. I didn't expect ... To be absolutely brutal, I don't deserve to be alive today," the 76-year-old rocker said. "I have not been a perfect man. I think what I have done in the past 20 or 30 years has probably much more useful to society than anything I did as a young musician. I know I can continue to do good work in society as someone involved in public service and education and all those things. If that sounds pompous, then f--- you. It's the truth. It's a "f--- you" truth that I have to accept about myself," he added. Townshend continued: "But I have to say, 'Listen, if I live to be 80, that'll be one of the only useful things I'll be able to do.' [Laughs] I certainly won't be able to jump seven feet in the air without wires." However Townshend says the he and his surviving Who band member Roger Daltrey have to plans to retire from touring in the immediate future. "We're not saying that, but what's interesting is ... I had a conversation with Roger. I said to him, 'I don't want to be like one of these guys that dies on tour.' I do want to retire. And by 'retire' I don't mean retire from being a musician or artist or creator, but retire from the idea that it requires me to say yes to touring for a load of people to get a smile on their face and go home to their wife and go, 'Hey, honey! Everything is fine! The Who are going back on tour!'." The Who's UK shows were hit by several delays owing to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years and they plan to complete the run in 2023, beginning on May 1 in Birmingham. - Music-News.com, 2/20/22...... The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and his band The X-Pensive Winos will be among the headliners at the sixth annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert on Mar. 10 at New York's historic Beacon Theatre. The show -- which donates all proceeds to God's Love We Deliver, a charity dedicated to providing meals for clients unable to shop/cook on their own -- Mario Cantone and Kiefer Sutherland, among others, with all proceeds going to God's Love We Deliver, a charity dedicated to providing meals for clients unable to shop/cook on their own. Also on the lineup are Warren Haynes, Melissa Etheridge, Allison Russell, Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant and Anders Osborne, among others. - Billboard, 2/15/22...... Although he's attracted an extremely loyal base of fans throughout his career as one of the most famous pop crooners in history, authorities in New Zealand have decided Barry Manilow's music is good for deterring protestors upset about the country's Covid-19 mandates. Some of Manilow's biggest hits, including "Mandy" and "Could It Be Magic," were played on a 15-minute loop in an attempt to disperse the crowds in Wellington on Jan. 14. Truckers and other people participating in NZ's ongoing "Freedom Convoy" congregated at the parliament building, camping out in front of the government headquarters to protest the vaccine mandate issued by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. (Similar protests originated in Canada, with a convoy of truckers making their way to Ottawa to air their grievances about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.) The federal government hit back at the unrest clogging up public spaces by putting together a playlist featuring the greatest hits of Manilow, English pop singer James Blunt, an out-of-tune version of Celine Dion's Titanic theme "My Heart Will Go On," and even Los del Rio's inescapable 1996 dance hit "Macarena." The playlist -- interspersed with promotions for Covid-19 vaccines -- was the brainchild of Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, and the decision to use the music was not made by law enforcement. However the crowds of protestors fought back by playing Twister Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." The move is a bit ironic, given lead singer Dee Snider's full and vocal support for vaccine requirements at concerts and other live events as well as Covid-19 vaccination in general. Snider even condemned anti-mask protestors for using the song back in Sept. 2020, slamming their stance as "moronic." - Billboard, 2/14/22...... Diana Ross is among the headliners confirmed for The Los Angeles Philharmonic's upcoming celebration of the Hollywood Bowl's 100th season this summer. Beginning in June, the Hollywood Bowl will host shows with Ross, Sheryl Crow, John Fogerty, Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina, Boyz II Men, Billie Eilish, The Roots, Duran Duran, Ricky Martin, Grace Jones, TLC, and more. The venue will also feature a tribute to Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra with special guests Eilish, Debbie Harry, Diane Reeves and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The famous outdoor venue's centennial season will also feature 10 nights with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a Fourth of July fireworks celebration, and the free 101 Festival, which includes two nights of music at the Bowl and neighboring venue The Ford. In addition, the LA Phil will perform alongside beloved movies for the "Film at the Bowl" series. This year's titles will include Back to the Future, Amadeus, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 and more. In honor of the iconic venue's 100th anniversary, the LA Phil is releasing a limited-edition book, Hollywood Bowl: The First 100 Years, by Derek Taub. In addition, a vinyl box set of seven LPs will also be available featuring recordings from the Hollywood Bowl between 1928 and 2021. The book and box set will be exclusively sold at LA Phil and Hollywood Bowl stores beginning opening night. The current Hollywood Bowl season is scheduled to run from June 11 through Sept. 29. - Billboard, 2/15/22...... American conservative satirist P.J. O'Rourke, died on Feb. 15 of complications from lung cancer. He was 74. Known as "one of the major voices of his generation," O'Rourke defied the leftward trend of American humour -- particularly the "gonzo" style of irreverent journalism popularized by writers like Hunter S. Thompson -- by offering a more conservative, but equally cutting and iconoclastic, critique of the nation's culture and politics. O'Rourke authored over 20 boooks, including the best-sellers A Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance. A member of the Baby Boom generation, O'Rourke first debuted on the national stage as editor of the storied humour magazine National Lampoon in the 1970s. He went on to work as a freelancer for Atlantic Monthly, Esquire and Vanity Fair, and serve as foreign-affairs desk chief for Rolling Stone. One of his more memorable lines was that Democrats promise that government will make you "smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn," while "Republicans say that government doesn't work -- then get elected and prove it." O'Rourke was a fellow at the conservative Cato Institute, but also a regular guest on the left-leaning MSNBC news network and a panellist on the the NPR faux-game show, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. He frequently criticized Democratic presidents, but in 2016 endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump. "His insightful reporting, verbal acuity and gift at writing laugh-out-loud prose were unparalleled," his publisher Grove Atlantic said in a statement. A native of Toledo, Oh., O'Rourke attended college at Miami University, and earned a graduate degree in English from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was married twice and had three children. - The BBC, 2/16/22.

Elton John has given a shout out to 22-year-old U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen, who recently performed a golden routine to a medley of Elton tunes, including "Rocket Man," at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. "Congratulations @nathanwchen for winning Gold skating to Rocket Man in the free skate finals in Beijing," John posted to his Twitter page on Feb. 10. Elton's own "golden run" of late includes a U.K. No. 1 album, The Lockdown Sessions, and three leaders on the U.K. singles chart, included the coveted Christmas No. 1, the charity fundraising song "Sausage Rolls For Everyone." - Billboard, 2/10/22...... Sting announced on Feb. 10 that he's selling his entire song catalog -- from his early days in The Police through his long solo career -- to the Universal Music Publishing Group. The deal brings Sting's publishing and master recordings back together under the UMG roof and gives the label group a strong hand in licensing both his Police and solo classics. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Billboard previously reported that Sting had been shopping a music asset bundle that produced an annual royalty income stream of about $12-$13 million, and he was looking at a roughly $360 million payday. "I could never have imagined that someday I would get to lead a company that will be the guardian of Sting's remarkable songwriting legacy," UMPG chairman & CEO Jody Gerson said in a statement. "Every one of us at UMPG looks forward to this work with a sense of honor, responsibility and enormous excitement about what we can achieve for his music in the future," the statement added. For his part, Sting said: "I am delighted to have Jody and the team at UMPG curate and manage my song catalog... It is absolutely essential to me that my career's body of work have a home where it is valued and respected." That catalog includes such songs as "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take," "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You," "Fields Of Gold," "Message in a Bottle" and "Englishman in New York." Between the Police and his solo career, Sting has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, according to UMG, which has been Sting's label home for his entire career through A&M, Interscope and Cherrytree Records. - Billboard, 2/10/22...... Neil Young has debunked an internet conspiracy theory that his music publishing is overseen by the Covid-19 manufacturer Pfizer. In a since-deleted letter posted to his NeilYoungArchives.com website, Young addressed the rumour that his recent highly publicized views on vaccines were dictated to him by Pfizer -- who, according to the conspiracy theory, own Young's music publishing. However the misunderstanding seems to stem from the fact that a former CEO at Pfizer now serves as a senior advisor for asset manager Blackstone, which currently has a partnership with music publisher Hipgnosis -- with whom Young presently works. In his letter, Young described the conspiracy theory as "clever but wrong," while also quipping "so much for Pharm Aid" -- a reference to both the common conspiracy theory trope of "big pharma" and his own charity Farm Aid. "The publishing share Hipgnosis has in my copyrights is in the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, that is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange," Young explained. "The Blackstone investment went into a separate Hipgnosis Private Fund, and none of that money was used for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Pfizer has not invested in Hipgnosis, but a past Pfizer CEO is a senior advisor for Blackstone," he added. The "Pharm Aid" conspiracy is part of an ongoing conservative backlash against Young -- most recently expressed by right-wing American rocker Ted Nugent, who described Young as a "stoner birdbrain punk" for his recent protest against Spotify and podcast host Joe Rogan. Speaking on his "Friday Free For All" edition of The Nightly Nuge on Facebook on Feb. 11, Nugent said: "Well, Neil Young, God bless him. I'm sure that there's many people that appreciate Neil Young's creativity and his talents and his creation of wonderful music for those people who love that kind of music. I'm not a big fan. I happen to know that he's got a lot of soul... But now that I've praised him for all the positives, the guy is a complete punk." Nugent went on to accuse Young of taking "mind-altering chemicals throughout [his] life" and called him a "stoner birdbrain punk [who] delivers misinformation." - New Musical Express, 2/15/22...... Actor Kingsley Ben-Adir has been confirmed to portray Bob Marley in a forthcoming biopic of the reggae legend. Ben-Adir, who most recently portrayed '60s activist Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, will portray Marley in the as-yet-untitled film by Paramount Pictures. It was first announced back in 2018 that a Marley biopic, produced by Ziggy Marley, was in the works, before Reinaldo Marcus Green, director of Oscar-nominated tennis drama King Richard, was revealed to be attached to the film in 2021. In an interview at the time, Green said that the film will focus on the making of Marley's classic album Exodus with The Wailers, which he recorded after moving to London following an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Jamaica. Meanwhile, an immersive Bob Marley exhibition has recently opened in London. The Marley "One Love Experience" eceived its global premiere at the Saatchi Gallery before heading out on a multi-city U.K. tour. According to a press release, the "unique experience will showcase unseen Marley photographs and memorabilia whilst immersing audiences on a journey through his lifestyle, passions, influences, and enduring legacy." - NME, 2/12/22...... On Feb. 11 Paul McCartney issued a statement through PETA to both show his support for the nonprofit animal rights organization's new "Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics European Citizen's Initiative" to uphold the ban of animal testing for cosmetic items, and vehemently oppose the European Chemical Agency's current practices. "We all thought the battle was over and that cosmetics tests on animals in Europe were a thing of the past, but sadly, that's not the case," Sir Paul's statement reads. "The European Chemicals Agency continues to demand the use of thousands of rabbits, rats, fish, and other animals in cosmetics ingredients tests. But you can help put a stop to it. No animal should suffer for beauty, so if you re an EU citizen, please go to SaveCrueltyFree.eu and sign the European Citizens Initiative to protect the ban. Signing the petition takes only a minute and it will help save lives," he added. The Beatles legend also teamed up with PETA for his 78th birthday in 2020, when a video for the organization titled "Glass Walls" showed how horrific animal slaughterhouse conditions are. Most recently he urged leaders at COP26 -- the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference -- to address that animal agriculture has a detrimental effect on the environment. - Billboard, 2/11/22...... In other Beatles-related news, the Fab Four's legendary final concert on the rooftop of Apple Corps' Savile Row headquarters on Jan. 30, 1969 is getting an extended theatrical run in the UK market in 2D beginning on Feb. 18. The concert will be optimized for IMAX screens, digitally remastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Remastering) technology. Director Peter Jackson said in a statement that he is "excited to partner with Disney to bring Get Back to an entirely new stage and give Beatles fans everywhere a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch and hear their heroes in the unrivalled sight and sound of IMAX." The 65-minute concert is included in the new Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which was released on Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 8 in the U.S. - Music-News.com, 2/13/22...... In a chat between Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen that can be viewed on Vedder's YouTube channel, the two rock stars discussed Vedder's new solo album Earthling as well as politics and musical influences. Speaking about the track "Long Way," Springsteen commented that he could hear "the ghost of Tom [Petty]" in the song. "I thought I was coming up with some really interesting [chords] that'd never been played before," Vedder said. "It was very simple chords and that was kind of how Tom Petty would write.... got to be fairly close to Tom and maybe subconsciously you start writing songs or you write songs that you need to hear. We thought we should put some B3 [organ] on it and we know Benmont [Tench] from The Heartbreakers, so we called Benmont and he came down. I think it was the first time he had pulled the organ out of storage since the last show. It was very, very powerful." Dropping on Feb. 11, Earthling features duets from the likes of Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Ringo Starr. - NME, 2/12/22...... Heart legend Ann Wilson has shared a new single, "Greed," taken from her upcoming solo LP Fierce Bliss. Wilson says she wrote the feisty new anthem out of anger: "'Greed' is that thing in our animal nature that makes us want MORE. Whether it be money, sex, power or ecstasy, it fires our craving! It happens with all of us. When you turn around and catch yourself making decisions because you want the money, or because you're caught in the headlights of glory, well, those are greedy moments." She added: "I think people who claim to have made every decision from a root of pure idealism, and never done anything dark or greedy, is lying. I think everybody who ventures into especially the music industry hoping for a career with big success, ends up making these Faustian bargains at some point even if only briefly. It's an aggressive song and I think I write best when I'm angry." Along with new songs, the singer has recorded a cover of the Queen classic "Love of My Life" featuring country star Vince Gill, and Jeff Buckley's "Forget Her." Warren Hayes of Gov't Mule also contributed. Fierce Bliss hits stores on Apr. 29, and Wilson will hit the road behind her new LP with her "An Evening with Ann Wilson of Heart and The Amazing Dawg's" tour of the US on Feb. 19 at L.A.'s Family Gras in Metairie. Her upcoming tour dates behind the new album can be found at www.annwilson.com/tour. - Music-News.com, 2/9/22...... In a new interview with host Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Mick Fleetwood said he felt like the "Grim Reaper" when he had to tell Stevie Nicks that her song "Silver Springs" wouldn't be on Fleetwood Mac's classic 1977 set Rumours. "I ended up in a car park having to tell young Stevie that... a great song -- and truly, truly, truly, truly, we were so intent on [including it]... at that point when you master an album, getting it to sound, and we simply couldn't, unless we sacrificed the level of the dynamic of the album, when you put the needle down," Fleetwood said. "And we just felt something had to go, and then that was the song... But that song became legendary, but no doubt was really supposed to be part of this album. And it was a forever... Like I was the Grim Reaper in the car park, that had to break the news, and Stevie's made me suffer inordinately ever since," he added. - Music-News.com, 2/10/22...... Dolly Parton announced on Feb. 9 that her Dollywood Park complex in Tennessee will help out any of the company's employees who are intent on continuing their education. The Dollywood Co. announced that it will cover 100% of tuition, fees and books for any employee who is furthering their education, beginning Feb. 24. The program will be available to all seasonal, part-time and full-time employees at Dollywood Parks & Resorts. Parton's The Dollywood Co. includes the 160-acre Dollywood theme park; the 35-acre Dollywood's Splash Country; Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa; and Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Cabins. Parton is famously dedicated to education, and opened the Imagination Library in 1995 in her native Sevier County, Tenn. The Imagination Library gifts books free of charge to children from birth to age 5, and gifts more than 1 million free books each month to children around the world. Meanwhile the country legend is set to host the Academy of Country Music Awards on Mar. 7, and was recently announced as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022 nominee. "I'm not expecting that I'll get in. But if I do, I'll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock and roll album, which I've wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or Heart kind of thing," Dolly says. "So this may have been just a God-wink for me to go ahead and do that. It's just nice to be nominated." Parton also recently teamed with author James Patterson for the novel Run Rose Run, which will release Mar. 7, with a companion album from Parton to release Mar. 4. - Billboard/Music-News.com, 2/14/22...... The veteran British rock band Status Quo says its baffled by the enduring popularity of its cover of the John Fogerty track "Rockin' All Over the World." Status Quo covered the song in 1977, and though artists including Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and Bon Jovi have offered their take on the song over the years, Status Quo's version is viewed as the definitive one and remains one of their most popular anthems across the world. "I don't know why ours has become this classic 'raaaawk' song," Status Quo singer/guitarist Francis Rossi says. "We played Sweden Rock festival and all these people dressed head to toe in black were in front of the stage going, 'This is great!' I'm looking at them going, 'What the f---- are you thinking?... Even my dental hygienist sent me something the other day to say they were all singing it at some wedding reception," he added. Rossi recalled the band being skeptical when late SQ guitarist Rick Parfitt originally brought the track to his mates. "It sounded a bid piddly, to be honest. But me and Rick used to joke that we could Quo-up anything with a guitar on it. So that's what we did...," Rossi recalled. He added that he has particularly fond memories of kicking off their set at the legendary Live Aid charity concert in 1985 with the song. "Nobody wanted to go on first, so we went, 'F--- it, we'll do it -- get the f--- on, get the f--- off.' But when we started playing that song, there was a total sense of euphoria. Everything slotted in. The sense of love from the audience was something else." Status Quo will kick off a spring tour of the UK on Feb. 27 in Belfast, then later begin a fall run on Nov. 25 in Aberdeen. - Music-News.com, 2/6/22...... Producer-director Ivan Reitman, whose wildly successful comedies of the '70s and '80s included the madcap, wildly successful frat comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and the blockbuster spookfest Ghostbusters, died on Feb. 13. He was 75. Bornon Oct. 27, 1946, in Komamo, Czechoslovakia and raised in Toronto, Canada (where he first met such young comics as his later stars Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis), Reitman made his first major impression as the producer of Animal House, then quickly segued into feature directing, and his first two hits lofted another SNL luminary, Bill Murray, to the upper echelon of movie stardom: Meatballs (1979), which featured Murray as an anarchic camp counsellor, and the military service comedy Stripes (1980), which co-starred actor-writer Harold Ramis. As formidable as those pictures were at the box office, they were only a warm-up for Reitman's biggest smash, which he produced and directed. Co-written by Aykroyd and Ramis, who co-starred with Murray, Moranis and Sigourney Weaver, Ghostbusters was the perfect mating of wiseguy humour and creative, big-budget special effects. Though none of Reitman's subsequent features scaled similar box-office heights, he maintained his producing/directing profile with a series of comedies that reconfigured the career of beefcake action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger: Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994). He also produced the family-friendly Beethoven comedies starring the titular St. Bernard. In 2009, he co-produced Up in the Air, a comedy-drama starring George Clooney as a corporate downsizing specialist. Directed and co-written by his son Jason Reitman, the film garnered an Academy Award nod as best picture and collected the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Reitman is survived by his wife Genevieve; his son; and daughters Catherine, a TV actress-writer-producer, and Caroline. - Reuters, 2/13/22...... Jon Appleton a composer, professor and pioneer in electronic and electro-acoustic music, who helped develop the Synclavier (an early digital synthesizer), died on Jan. 30 in White River Junction, Vt., at the age of 83, his son JJ Appleton disclosed on Feb. 9. Mr. Appleton, who was born in Los Angeles, became part of the faculty at Dartmouth College in 1967 and developed one of the first programs and studios for electronic music in the country. "That really was a pioneering vision of his to create a center for electronic music at Dartmouth and it propelled Dartmouth very quickly to the forefront of the work in electronic, electro-acoustic music," said colleague and friend Theodore Levin, the Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth. Levin added that Mr. Appleton "couldn't have been farther" from the stereotypical geek or gearhead, whirling knobs and moving slider bars to make weird sounds. Instead, "he was at heart a kind of musical romantic... his interest in electronic music was on the side of "electro-acoustic," as a way to extend the expressive possibilities and potential of acoustic musical instruments and the human voice. "I think he regarded his electronic music as a kind of folk music for our age," Levin added. The Synclavier, developed in 1975 by Appleton, Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering research professor Sydney Alonso and student Cameron Jones, went on to become the Rolls Royce of the music industry, selling for $75,000 to $500,000, and used by Sting, Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, and many other musicians, according to Dartmouth Engineer magazine. "He was beloved by many of his students," said JJ Appleton. "He was a composer, a very accomplished one, but he was also a very accomplished professor and mentor to a lot of people." - Billboard, 2/10/22...... Musician Ian McDonald, a multi-instrumentalist who co-founded the highly influential prog rock outfit King Crimson and later became a founding member of the hard rock group Foreigner, died on Feb. 9 at his home in New York City. He was 75. McDonald's rep said the musician "passed away peacefully [while] surrounded by his family," and while no cause of death has been officially provided, his son said he died of cancer. Born in Osterley, England on June 25, 1946, McDonald gravitated to music as a youth, learning to play multiple instruments -- guitar, keyboards and reeds -- and playing in rock bands and orchestras. "I really liked jazz -- the big bands, Stan Kenton, stuff like that," he said. "When the rock 'n' roll came around, it didn't seem like a great leap to me. There was a great energy there that appealed to me." Guitarist Robert Fripp recruited McDonald, along with drummer Michael Giles, for the first lineup of King Crimson and the recording of the landmark In the Court of the Crimson King album during 1969; McDonald is credited as a co-writer on all five of the album's tracks, and "21st Century Schizoid Man" includes part of an instrumental piece "Three Score and Four," that he'd written prior to the band's formation. After Court and King Crimson's first lineup change, he and Giles formed a spin-off group that released one album, while McDonald returned as a guest for Crimson's 1974 album Red. His session work, meanwhile, included T. Rex's Electric Warrior album, Silverhead's Sixteen and Savaged, Herbie Mann's London Underground and more. After a subsequent move to New York he befriended future Stories singer Ian Lloyd, who suggested McDonald to guitarist Mick Jones as he was forming Foreigner. McDonald was with the band for its first four years and tours, serving as co-producer on the group's self-titled 1977 debut, Double Vision the following year, and Head Games in 1979, all of which went multi-platinum. "People used to say, 'How come you're doing this rock 'n' roll thing with Foreigner when you did all the prog rock things before," McDonald recalled. "It's not as if I'm someone learning a new trade or something like that. I just apply myself to whatever situation I'm in and try to make things as musical as possible. That's what I do, and that's what I look for when I produce records." McDonald was cut loose from Foreigner when Jones let half the band go in 1980, but bygones were bygones when he began playing occasional reunion dates 37 years later. "I actually left King Crimson sort of myself -- with Foreigner it was a different situation," McDonald explained. "Mick wanted to pare the group down to a four piece, so that's what happened. I didn't make the cut." He managed to stay busy, however, recording with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Roxy Music/Uriah Heep/UK/Asia bassist-vocalist John Wetton. He reunited with Fripp to play on Judy Dyble's 2009 album Talking With Strangers and was also part of the 21st Century Schizoid Band with other King Crimson alumni. He worked with former King Crimson bandmate Greg Lake and Keith Emerson during their duo shows in 2019, and a guest performance with Asia in 2009 appeared on the group's Spirit of the Night: Live two years later. His first solo album, Drivers Eyes, came out during 2009, followed by Take Five Steps a decade later. Original Foreigner keyboardist Al Greenwood posted a message to his Facebook page saying McDonald was, "like a brother to me. A true musical genius, Ian's musicianship was an integral part of launching both King Crimson and Foreigner into legendary status. His contribution to Foreigner's success was immense. Ian was a dear friend, a kind and wonderful man, and I will miss him terribly." - Billboard/NME, 2/11/22.