THANKS FOR LISTENING AND USING THE NEW WRNR APP TELL A FRIEND!

Music News

David Bowie, An Icon dead at 69

We wake up on this Monday morning with some news that is both shocking and equally upsetting. The great David Bowie has passed after a long battle with cancer that he had kept private. He was 69.

 

Watch Bowie's new video for his song Lazarus, which premiered last week.


Bowie's life-long producer Tony Visconti took to Facebook, sharing words in the wake of Bowie's tragic passing. 

 

"He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life - a work of Art.

 

"He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it.

 

"He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry."

 

Visconti Worked with Bowie on albums spanning from 1969's Space Oddity, to Bowie's final album Blackstar, which was released on Friday. 

 

Many musicians who were influenced by his work, and dear fans, have been expressing their sorrow over this tragic passing. 

 

RNR's own Bob Waugh Shared a memory with me this morning. Bob remembers seeing David Bowie with Nine Inch Nails at the Nissan Pavillion in 1995. He also brought in the single for "Afraid of Americans" signed by both David Bowie and Trent Reznor. Reznor remixed the single, which was later released was then later released on the bonus disc of the Digibook Expanded Edition of Earthling in 2004.

 

 

The legacy of David Bowie is one that will live on indefinitely through his own music, and the music of those who have been influenced by him. 

 

Rest in Peace to the iconic David Bowie. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to a Rare Pre-White Stripes Recording from Jack White

 

You remember that band that Jack White was in before The White Stripes? No..? Well he was. The band went by the name of Two Star Tabernacle, and a rare recording of one of their live shows has recently been released. 

 

 

The Track, entitled "Itchy" is going to be featured on the newest installment of White's Third Man Vault Series. The Series will include live recordings from three of the bands that Jack White was a member of in the late 90's. 

 

Third Man's 27th Vault offering, like all previous packages, is only available to subscribers. Fans have until January 31st to sign up.

Radiohead Shares New Track Initially Intended for Bond Film

 

"Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre.

Yes we were. It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much.

As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it.

Merry Christmas. May the force be with you."

(-via Radiohead Soundcloud)

 

Let us know what you think of this new Radiohead track. Should it have been used for the new Bond film?

Hozier Goes Off on the Pope and Russians

WEEZER: Two New Songs, But No New Album
 
Weezer have unveiled two new songs in back-to-back weeks, but that doesn't mean a new album is on the way.
 
They released "Thank God for Girls" last week, and on Tuesday put out "Do You Wanna Get High?" But Rivers Cuomo says these new singles aren't leading to a new album just yet. He tells Beats One, "We don't have a record deal anymore, so we're kind of on the loose and experimenting, and nobody's in charge anymore. We're just doing what we want to do."
 
 
FOO FIGHTERS: Rock for "Learn to Fly" Town
 
Foo Fighters played Cesena, Italy Tuesday night, home of the "Rockin' 1000" campaign that had 1000 fans play "Learn to Fly" in hopes of getting Dave Grohl and company to perform in their city.
 
Grohl told the audience, "To see you people singing our song for the whole world, to me, it’s the greatest moment of my life. Of course we couldn’t say no, we had to come. You trapped us, we had to come here." The show opened with "Learn to Fly," and Grohl invited some of the campaign's organizers on stage to speak to the crowd. They also brought on the guy with a huge mohawk from the campaign's video to play drums on a cover of "Under Pressure."
 
 
HOZIER: Denounces Vatican and Russian Homophobia   
 
Hozier weighed in on homophobia in a Monday appearance on Larry King Now, blasting both the Catholic Church and Putin's Russia for their stands on it.
 
Speaking to guest host Kelly Osbourne about his hit "Take Me to Church," the Irish singer criticized Pope Francis for paying lip service to tolerance for gays without actually doing anything about it.
 
He blamed The Catholic Church for "institutionalized gender inequality," its "dangerous policy over contraception" and what he calls its "irrational aversion to homosexuality," which led him to write the song that became his first hit.
 
He also attacked anti-gay laws in Russia under Vladimir Putin, saying, “What is frightening about Russia is it is not that far from home, especially if you are in Europe, and cultures like that cross borders.
 
"They have in the past." he said, alluding to Nazi Germany, without specifically mentioning it. "This scapegoating of and 'other-ing' of one group in society, that has happened before in the past in Europe not that long ago.”
 
 
ADELE: New Album Is Kid Stuff
 
Adele admits that giving birth to her son Angelo contributed to the long break she took before making her new 25 album -- but she also says that he's the main reason it exists in the first place.
 
The superstar singer tells Rolling Stone, "It might've seemed like the most ridiculous time to have a baby, but I was starting to get a bit afraid of everything. When I had him, it made everything all right, and I trusted everything because the world had given me this miracle, you know, so I became a bit of a hippie, an Earth mother. I don't know if I would've come back had I not had my kid.
 
"I was like, 'I don't want to wait until my kid is 16 to show him who I am.' Because I'm very proud of what I achieved. And I wasn't, before I had Angelo. I didn't understand, actually, what I had achieved and how far I had come. Because everyone wants to do something with their life, and we don't all get the opportunity because [stuff] gets in the way."
 
25 is out on November 20th. She'll appear on Saturday Night Live the following night.
 
 
OASIS: New Doc in Production
 
Oasis are the subject of a new documentary that's expected out in 2016.
 
The producers behind the Amy Winehouse film Amy have set their sights on the Gallagher brothers, and NME reports that the filmmakers have received "unprecedented" access to the band members and unseen archive footage. The film will be officially announced at the American Film Market, which takes place Wednesday through November 11th in Santa Monica, California.
 
 
KURT COBAIN: Hair and Sweater Up for Auction
 
A lock of Kurt Cobain's hair is going up for auction on Saturday.
 
The item is part of Julien's new Icons and Idols auction. The lock of hair was originally given to doll maker Dame Darcy by Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, who wanted a doll for her daughter Frances. The strand up for bids was left over once the figure was made. It’s expected to fetch between $8000 and $10,000.
 
Also up for bids is the cardigan sweater Cobain wore for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged taping. It was obtained "from a close friend of the Cobain family" and is expected to go for between $40,000 and $60,000.
 
 
IN OTHER NEWS
 
Jimmy Page was in the audience for U2's show Monday (Nov 2nd) at the O2 arena in London. Bono acknowledged him during "One."
 
When Van Morrison performed two outdoor shows on Cyprus Avenue in Belfast in August, he was presented with the original Hyndford Street sign to mark his 70th birthday. Morrison recorded the song "On Hyndford Street" for his 1991 album, Hymns to the Silence.
 
Jackson Browne will be honored tonight (Tuesday) by the Grammy Museum in L.A. with the Jane Ortner Artist Award. The award was created to recognize an artist’s dedication to education through the arts. Browne will perform at the ceremony.
 
Train took part in the Chef's Classic fund-raiser for the James Beard Foundation Sunday night (Nov 1st) in San Francisco and brought on Sammy Hagar to perform "Fall in Love Again," "Bad Motor Scooter" and "With a Little Help From My Friends" with them.
 
Rob Thomas is doing a Facebook question-and-answer session Wednesday Nov 4 from 3 to 4 p.m. ET.
 
O.A.R. has announced its first three 2016 dates. January 29th at the Beau Rivage Theater in Biloxi, Mississippi; January 30th at Gold Strike Casino in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi and February 13th at Tropicana Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They say more will be coming soon.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Its Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas!

SARAH McLACHLAN: Headlines Another X-Mas Benefit
 
Sarah McLachlan will headline a holiday benefit on December 4th at New York's Carnegie Hall.
 
Tim Janis's The American Christmas Carol will include performances by actor-singers Ioan Gruffudd and Zachary Levi, backed by an orchestra and a 200 person choir. Proceeds from the show will go to Kate Winslet’s Golden Hat Foundation, which helps people with autism, and The Sarah McLachlan School of Music.
 
 
LEON BRIDGES: New Song for Will Smith Film
 
Leon Bridges will have a brand new song in an upcoming Will Smith film.
 
"So Long" will be featured in Concussion, which stars Smith as the doctor who discovered CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in NFL players and fought to get his work acknowledged by the sport. The song will be released on November 20th, with Concussion opening in theaters on Christmas Day.
 
 
MUSE: Announce More Dates
 
Muse have added a bunch of shows to their North American tour.
 
The trek is broken up into two legs. The first runs from December 1st in Houston through the 19th in Los Angeles, with Phantogram as the opener. The second runs from January 14th in Detroit through February 1st in Washington, D.C. at the Verizon Center, with X Ambassadors opening. All the concerts will have Muse performing in the round.
 
Tickets for the new dates go on sale Friday.
 
 
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: House Where Born to Run Album Written For Sale
 
You can now buy the house where Bruce Springsteen wrote his Born to Run album for under $300,000.
 
Springsteen lived in the Long Branch, New Jersey two-bedroom in 1974 and '75 and is said to have written all the songs for his breakthrough album there. Billboard reports that it's been owned since 2009 by three fans who intended to turn it into some kind of shrine to The Boss, but weren't able to. The asking price is $299,000.
 
 
ADELE: Teases New Song on British TV   
 
Adele unveiled a snippet of her first new music since her 2012 theme for the James Bond film "Skyfall" on Sunday.
 
The reveal came by way of a 30-second ad spot shown during a commercial break of X Factor UK on Sunday. The unnamed song was played while its lyrics scrolled across a black background in white lettering. Accompanied by piano, Adele sang:
 
"Hello it's me/I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet to go over everything/They say that time's supposed to heal ya, but I ain't done much healing."
 
There were no other graphics or indication of who the singer was except Adele's unmistakable voice. The rumored date for her new album, which is expected to be titled 25, is November 20th, though her label has not confirmed it. (Metro)
 
 
GRATEFUL DEAD: Lesh Has Bladder Cancer
 
Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has bladder cancer.
 
He says he was diagnosed earlier this month and has been at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona undergoing tests and preparing for surgery to remove the tumors.
 
"I am very fortunate to have the pathology reports show that the tumors are all non-aggressive, and that there is no indication that they have spread...all is well and I can return to normal activities in two weeks from my surgery."
 
However, he has had to cancel the Phil Lesh & Friends shows scheduled for October 24th and 25th with Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson. Lesh promises to reschedule the shows "as soon as we can." He also plans to do some shows at his Terrapin Crossroads club and restaurant in San Rafael, California.
 
Lesh had a liver transplant in 1998 due to chronic hepatitis C and prostate cancer surgery in 2006. 
 
 
YOKO ONO: Says John Lennon Considered Bisexuality
 
Yoko Ono touched on a range of topics in a lengthy interview this week with The Daily Beast. But the comments people will talk 
about revolve around John Lennon's sexuality.
 
She recalls, "John and I had a big talk about it, saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable. But I don’t have a strong sexual desire towards another woman."
 
What about the old rumor that Lennon had sex with Beatles manager Brian Epstein -- which was also the subject of the 1991 film The Hours and the Times? John once was quoted, "It was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship." Though Yoko doesn't believe John and Brian were ever intimate, she is "sure Epstein made a move," but Lennon "just didn’t want to do it, I think."
 
Yoko believes John "had a desire to [have sex with a man], but I think he was too inhibited." She quotes him saying, "It’s very difficult: They would have to be not just physically attractive, but mentally very advanced, too. And you can’t find people like that."
 
 
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Kiedis is Dying to Play New Stuff
 
Anthony Kiedis says Red Hot Chili Peppers can't wait to share their new songs with the world.
 
The singer says the group decided to not do any of their new songs at Saturday's Silverlake Conservatory of Music benefit concert because "every single human has a recording device on them at all times." But Kiedis tells Rolling Stone that their sessions are going very well and "we’ve written some songs that I feel are as good as any songs we’ve ever written."
 
The group isn't working with Rick Rubin for the first time in over 20 years, opting instead to team up with Danger Mouse. Kiedis says, "He's very good about coming up with super-modern ideas, but he'll also touch on the acoustic guitar in the control room and strip the song down to its acoustic essentials."
 
 
TRACY CHAPMAN: Bringing the Hits
 
Tracy Chapman has assembled the first compilation of her career.
 
Greatest Hits, due out November 20th, includes newly remastered tracks from all eight of her studio albums. In addition to hits like "Fast Car," "Crossroads" and "Give Me One Reason," the album contains a cover of "Stand by Me" recorded during one of the final episodes of The Late Show With David Letterman.
 
 
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE: Up for Big U.K. Award
 
Florence and the Machine are up for England's most prestigious music award.
 
The group's How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful has been nominated for the Mercury Prize, which honors the best album of the year as chosen by a panel of British music critics and people working in the industry. Florence Welch and company were nominated for the same award in 2009 for Lungs but didn't win.
 
This year's prize will be given out on November 20th in London.
 
 
PATTI SMITH: Long-Ago Stolen Items Returned
 
Patti Smith received an unexpected surprise at a recent appearance.
 
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was on stage Sunday at Illinois Dominican University when she was given a bag of items by a fan -- items that has been stolen from a truck outside a Chicago hotel during a 1979 tour. Among them were the Keith Richard T-shirt she wore in a Rolling Stone magazine cover photo and a bandanna given to her by her late brother.
 
Smith fan Noreen Bender says she obtained the items years ago -- apparently unaware they'd been stolen -- and gave them back to Patti during the show. According to a blogger who was there, Patti got weepy while telling stories and reading from her new book M Train. As the night went on, "after she piled everything on the podium, she couldn't stop touching [the items], eventually slowly slipping the bandana into her pocket...and proceeded to do a ripping version of 'Because the Night' with her son on acoustic guitar. (BBC)
 
 
 

 

Has it really been 20 years?

GOO GOO DOLLS: A Boy Named Reissue
 
Yes, Goo Goo Dolls fans, it's been 20 years since the release of A Boy Named Goo -- and the band is planning a deluxe reissue to celebrate.
 
The revamped album will feature seven previously unreleased tracks -- a mix of acoustic recordings and covers. It'll be available on vinyl, on CD and as a digital release, and will be out on November 27th. Fans who pre-order it will get an instant download of a live version of "Long Way Down."
 
On October 23rd, the hit single "Dizzy Up the Girl" will be released on vinyl for the first time.
 
 
VH1 BEST MUSIC OF 2015: Miguel, Tori Kelly, George Ezra and More
 
Miguel, Tori Kelly, George Ezra and Hozier are on the bill for Best Music of 2015: You Oughta Know. The annual VH1 showcase of emerging artists will also include performances by James Bay, Nate Ruess, Rachel Platten, Elle King and X Ambassadors.
 
The concert airs on November 12th at 9 PM (ET) live on VH1.
 
 
CARLOS SANTANA: How to Change the Mind of a Killer
 
Carlos Santana has commented on Thursday's shooting-spree at an Oregon college and offered a plan to try to change the minds of those who are contemplating doing the same thing. 
 
He writes on his social media feeds: "Yes! Enough is enough. People, let’s change the mindset of a mass murder suicide monster."
 
A) Create and erect billboards in city's road highways that touch the heart center core of those who are contemplating the unspeakable act of mass murder and destroying innocent lives.
 
Ingrain in the brain and mind positive affirmations that changes fear, hurt, anger, pain, loneliness, vengeance and revenge with words that have the power to give back the glorious feeling of knowing you are a beam of light with the sole purpose to bring love, compassion, patience, mercy, generosity, kindness and healing. Words like: I am significant; I am meaningful; I can rock the world’s foundation doing good, great and wonderful deeds; I am worthy of the highest good abundance of blessings and miracles; I am capable of creating miracles and offering blessings.
B) Utilize music to touch people's hearts in only the most loving and positive ways. Put love into the lyrics, intention, vibration and soul of the music that we may help people from inside out -- from the spiritual to the physical.
 
Examples of songs:
"Imagine" - John Lennon
"One Love" - Bob Marley
"A Love Supreme" - John Coltrane
"A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke
"All You Need Is Love" - The Beatles
"What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye
"Wonderful World" / "Over the Rainbow" - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Add all these songs to radio all day and night. Work with Live Nation for billboards, radio, TV commercials and airplay.
 
C) Be a living, breathing, walking, talking real life example of love... Be loving in only the most appropriate ways -- be compassionate, kind, forgiving, caring and sharing.
 
 
BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS: Live Disc, Live Dates
 
Big Head Todd and The Monsters have released their third concert album: Live at Red Rocks June 6, 2015. And with the release comes the announcement of a 2016 tour, which will get under way on January 12th in Salt Lake City and currently extends through late March.
 
All the dates can be found on the band's website, BigHeadTodd.com.
 
 
RAY DAVIES: Beatles or the Stones?   
 
Ray Davies was asked on BBC 2 Radio Friday morning to choose between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
 
Having shared bills with both groups, he opted for The Beatles, calling them "a better rock band. The Stones are more of a groove band."
 
Host Chris Evans then asked him to choose between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Ray went with Lennon. Asked to choose between Lennon and George Harrison, Ray said, "John was a beautiful person. George was a sweet person... I like sweet things."
 
 
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Frusciante's Ex Wants Big Bucks
 
Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante has been blindsided by a lawsuit from his ex-wife, who thinks he can afford to pay her $75,000 per month in support.
 
Nicole Frusciante, who filed for divorce from the musician back in May, initially took a small lump sum payment, but TMZ says she's changed her mind and now wants a much bigger payday. She says that Frusciante, who recently announced that he'd be putting out all his future releases for free, is worth $14 million and can afford it.
 

 

Hmmm. Go To Rehab or Buy the Box Set

AMY WINEHOUSE: Box Set Due in December
 
A new Amy Winehouse box set will be released on vinyl December 11th.
 
The Collection features Winehouse's three studio albums, the concert album Live in London at Shepherd's Bush Empire as well as an entire collection of rarities spread over eight pieces of vinyl. The set also has an exclusive collection of pictures taken from the photo sessions for Frank and Back to Black.
 
Meanwhile...
 
Amy Winehouse's father blasted another documentary about his late daughter.
 
Mitch Winehouse was critical about the film called Amy when it hit theaters this summer. Last night (Monday night), he added his displeasure about Autopsy: The Last Hours of Amy Winehouse, which aired on Channel 5 in England.
 
The documentary retraced the singer's final steps using dramatic reconstructions in which actress Katie Robinson portrayed the singer drinking and taking drugs.
 
Alex Foden, a Winehouse friend and hairdresser, appeared in the film. Mitch called him out on Twitter. He wrote "Doc told us nothing we didn't know. Just another exploitation of Amy by so-called friends. Alex Foden, you should be ashamed."
 
 
KURT COBAIN: Doc to Get Deluxe Home Release
 
The release of the Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck soundtrack and the DVD and Blu-Ray release of the film have been moved to November 13th.
 
The soundtrack -- subtitled The Home Recordings -- will be available as a 13-song standard CD and digital editions as well as in a 31-track vinyl and digital deluxe edition. A CD of the 31-track version is part of the Super Deluxe Edition of the film, which includes the full-length documentary and 48 minutes of bonus interviews on Blu-ray or DVD, a 160-page hardbound book with extended interviews and images from the Cobain archive, a puzzle, movie poster, postcards and bookmark.
 
 
BECK, JAKOB DYLAN: Performing at California Acts Tribute
 
Beck, Jakob Dylan and Fiona Apple are among the artists taking part in a tribute to the Southern California folk-rock scene.
 
Echo in the Canyon will be held October 12th at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles and will see the artists covering songs by The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, The Mamas and the Papas, Love, The Association and others. A companion studio recording featuring all the artists performing at Echo in the Canyon will be released early next year.
 
 
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND: New Album "At Some Point"
 
For anyone who's been wondering when we'll have another Dave Matthews Band studio album, your guess is as good as his.
 
Matthews confirms that the band has been working toward that goal, but he sounds pretty ambivalent about a timetable. He tells Rolling Stone, "At some point, we'll have an album that we'll put out for whatever reason people still do that... It's not the '80s or '90s or '70s when it mattered. We've always let people record our music, so probably they'll end up getting some of it anyway if they just tape the shows or we put some live releases out."
 
Matthews says they had a "good time in the studio" a while back and that he's made enough music to "fill the space of several albums." Problem is, he hasn't yet "fallen in love with the whole thing," just parts of it. He names three new songs he's excited about that DMB has played live -- "Virginia in the Rain," "Black and Bluebird" and "Death on the High Seas."
 
 
MUMFORD & SONS: Ben's Citizen Album
 
Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons is assembling an album to promote Global Citizen's effort to end extreme poverty.
 
Metamorphoses will feature Lovett and his hand-picked group of as-yet-announced performers putting music to writings and lyrics submitted from people around the world through the Global Citizen site. Lovett says, "Send in your lyrics, your words, your thoughts -- an old school speech, a wedding vow, anything that feels important to you. Musicians from all over the world are gonna help bring your words to life through music."
 
The deadline to submit words to the Metamorphoses project is January 1st. The album is due out late next year.
 
 
CSN: Fins to the Right
 
Crosby, Stills and Nash were joined on stage Monday night in Paris by Jimmy Buffett.
 
The chief Parrothead came out for "Southern Cross," a song he regularly does in his own show. Afterwards, David Crosby tweeted, "Big fun...a great guy." Also joining CSN in Paris was Christopher Stills, the singer-songwriter son of Stephen Stills from his marriage to French singer Véronique Sanson.
 
 
STEELY DAN, DOOBIE BROTHERS: Skunk to Enter NAMM Tec Hall of Fame
 
Don't hold your nose, even though a Skunk will be entering the NAMM Tec Awards Hall of Fame.
 
Former Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter was named today as the next inductee by the music merchandisers trade organization. Chris Stone and the late Gary Kellgren of the legendary studio The Record Plant will also enter the Hall of Fame. Previous inductees include Les Paul, T-Bone Burnett, Frank Zappa, Hal Blaine and Nathan East.  
 
Musicians have been nominated in three of the eight "creative" categories at the January 23rd awards show, which is held at the Anaheim Hilton during NAMM Week. They are:
 
Record Production/Album
Smoke + Mirrors, Imagine Dragons
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, Florence and the Machine
Toto XIV, Toto
Wallflower, Diana Krall
Before This World, James Taylor
 
Record Production/Single or Track
"Bad Blood," Taylor Swift
"Baltimore," Prince
"Bloodstream," Ed Sheeran and Rudimental
"Dreams," Beck
"Stretch of the Highway," James Taylor
 
Tour/Event Sound Production
Before This World Tour, James Taylor
1989 World Tour, Taylor Swift
Fare Thee Well, Grateful Dead
Sonic Highways World Tour, Foo Fighters
Zip Code Tour, The Rolling Stones
 
Foo Fighters Sonic Highways TV series, the 57th annual Grammy Awards and the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony are all up in the Remote Production/Recording or Broadcast category.The winner of the NAMM Foundation's annual Les Paul Award should be announced in the next month or so. Slash, Todd Rundgren and Pete Townshend are the last three artists to claim the prestigious honor. Skunk Baxter joined Slash on stage during his performance last year.
 
 
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE: Cover Bieber at the Beeb
 
BBC Radio One's Live Lounge program in London has been the source of some very interesting cover versions lately and Tuesday was no exception.
 
Florence and Machine offered up their take on "Where Are U Now," the current hit by the Skrillex-Diplo collaboration Jack U, with vocals by Justin Bieber.
 
 
 
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: Postpone Shows For Baby
 
Death Cab for Cutie had to postpone a couple of shows for a joyful event.
 
Bassist Nick Harmer's wife gave birth to their daughter on Tuesday. That was a bit ahead of the her due date, which was set after the band's tour wrapped up Monday in Seattle. The group postponed their show set for Wednesday in Missoula, Montana and moved their show planed for Spokane, Washington on Thursday to December 15th. A rescheduled date for Missoula will be announced soon.
 
 
IN OTHER NEWS
 
Nick Mason joined his former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters Monday night at the New York City premiere of Roger Waters The Wall at the Ziegfeld Theater. Sting was also in the audience.
 
U2 did the Innocence + Experience tour debut of "New Year's Day" on Monday in Berlin. The last time the band did the song was in 2011, and it now joins "I Will Follow" as the only songs to be performed on every U2 tour since War.
 
Robbie Robertson will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Hiawatha & The Peacemaker, at Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles on Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
The Rolling Stones' From the Vault: Live at the Tokyo Dome 1990 will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and vinyl on November 13th.
 
The Grammy Museum in L.A. will bring out the rock at a number of programs just announced for October. John Fogerty will discuss his new memoir on the 16th and Warren Haynes will chat and perform on the 27th.
 
Steve Earle and The Dukes took home an award for top Acoustic Blues Album for Terrapin, Earle’s first album in that genre, at the Blues Blast Music Awards last Friday in Champaign, Illinois.

 

Keith's Gotta New Album- But Will He Tour?

 
KEITH RICHARDS: To Tour or Not to Tour   
 
It took 23 years, but Keith Richards is back with his third solo studio album.
 
Crosseyed Heart is out, accompanied by Under the Influence, a documentary on Netflix that looks at the making of the record as well as his life and career.
 
Keith recorded the album with his longtime accomplice, drummer-producer Steve Jordan. He says it was finished before he realized he was tipping his hat to many of the artists who had influenced him. "There was no intention about that [and] I'm kind of happy about it in a way because us minstrels, when all is said and done, the best thing you put on a minstrel's tombstone is, 'Well he passed it on.'"
 
Asked what he wants his fans to get from listening to it, Keith tells us, "A smile and love."
 
Keith promoted the album with appearances on NBC's Today show followed by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He's made the media rounds this past month in both the U.S. and Europe, but will Keith's release of his new album, Crosseyed Heart, be accompanied by a tour?
 
He tells us he wants to, but logistically doesn't know if he can. "I'd love to because I always think that a record isn't finished until you play it on stage. We'll do our best and see what happens."
 
Keith's last solo tour was in 1993, following the release of his second studio album, Main Offender.
 
 
SARAH MCLACHLAN: Monkey Off Her Back
 
Sarah McLachlan had hoped to make some inroads into the musical theater jungle when she signed on to write songs for a King Kong musical back in 2013 -- but that plan has finally been shot down for good.
 
The original got a critical thumbs up for its staging and some of the songs, created by Sarah and trance-pop stalwarts Massive Attack when it premiered in Australia, but the script got a big thumbs down. Now, producers have decided to go back to square one entirely, replacing Sarah's work with a new score from Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman, who won a Tony for their adaptation of Bridges of Madison County.
 
No word on a possible opening night, but the principals will do a test run later this fall in the Big Apple. (Broadway.com)
 
 
O.A.R.: Cruising From Some Brews-in
 
O.A.R. are the headline act on the inaugural Lebrewski Cruise.
 
As implied by its name, the cruise is focused on craft beers and will include meet-and-greets with celebrity brewers as well as discussions about making beer. The cruise leaves Miami on March 1st, sails to the Bahamas and returns on March 5th. Other acts performing on the boat include Kyle Hollingsworth of String Cheese Incident (who is a brewer and host of the cruise), The Samples, Alpha Rev, Molly Hatchet and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
 
For you beer geeks out there, the cruise will include folks from Stone, Lagunitas, Boulder and Cigar City.
 
 
O.A.R. will headline the first Lebrewski Cruise in March. http://bit.ly/1ODOvZ0 - Tweet
 
 
DECEMBERISTS, DYLAN, BEACH BOYS: On New Mad Men Comp
 
The Decemberists, Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys are among the artists on a new album featuring music from the AMC series Mad Men.
 
Retrospective: The Music of Mad Men will be out digitally on October 9th, and it has selections from throughout the show's seven seasons -- including the infamous "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" from the series finale. It will also be released as a special double-vinyl edition with a Crosley Executive Turntable that can only be purchased online through the Mad Men shop.
 
 
MORRISSEY: Says He's Doing His Final U.K. shows
 
Morrissey says his shows Sunday and Monday in London could be his last ever in England.
 
The ex-Smiths vocalist says that since he can't find a major label to release his new material, "without new releases, there is no point in any additional touring. Thank you for so many absolutely incredible times. The pleasure and privilege is mine." Morrissey released his last album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, in 2014, but had a falling out with Harvest Records just after it came out and was dropped by the label.
 
Morrissey has shows set throughout Europe and South America through late December, and if he can't find a label to release his new music in those countries, perhaps his days of touring the world are over, too.
 
 
JOHN FOGERTY: Lonesome Conversation
 
John Fogerty has a few special events planned around the October 6th publication of his autobiography, Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music.
 
In addition to a previously announced Q&A and performance for Chase credit card members in New York, Fogerty will sit down for a conversation with George Thorogood on October 12th at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. Also on the schedule:
 
10/6 - New York, NY - Q&A at the 92nd St Y
10/8 - New York, NY - Signing at Barnes and Noble - 555 Fifth Avenue
10/13 - Los Angeles, CA - Q&A at Barnes & Noble - The Grove
10/16 - Los Angeles, CA - Q&A at the Grammy Museum
 
All dates subject to change

 

Taylor Swift Now Has A Touch of Alt-Rock Cred

Beck, St.. Vincent Dream With Taylor Swift
 
Beck and St. Vincent gave Taylor Swift a taste of alt-rock cred at her show Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
 
The pair joined Swift to do Beck's "Dreams," which featured a lengthy guitar solo St. Vincent -- a.k.a Annie Clark. 
 
 
ED SHEERAN: T-Shirts for Charity
 
Coldplay and Ed Sheeran have designed T-shirts for charity.
 
The shirts, on sale at H&M locations around the country on September 3rd, raise money for Global Citizen. If you purchase the shirt or donate gently used clothing to be recycled at any H&M location now through September 17th, you'll be entered to win tickets to the Global Citizen Festival September 26th at New York's Central Park. Coldplay and Sheeran are performing, along with Pearl Jam and Beyonce.
 
Global Citizen's aim is to fight extreme poverty and inequality around the world.
 
ROB ZOMBIE, INXS: It's Halloween, Now!
 
The folks behind the long-running Now! compilation series have announced its first Halloween-themed release.
 
Now! Halloween includes a mix of all sorts of genres, with Rob Zombie's "Dragula," INXS's "Devil Inside," Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" sharing space with John Carpenter's theme to Halloween, the "Monster Mash" and a cover of "Ghostbusters" by rappers Run-DMC. Now! Halloween will be out on September 11th.
 
NEIL YOUNG: All-Star Fest Announced
 
The folks who produce the annual Dylan Fest and Stones Fest are launching Neil Fest to pay tribute to Neil Young.
 
It'll take place September 13th and 14th at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, with proceeds going to the Sweet Relief Musician's Fund. Artists talking part include Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, Jakob Dylan, Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ryan Miller of Guster and Nicole Atkins.
 
G. LOVE: All-Star Lineup on New Album
 
G. Love and Special Sauce have lined up an impressive roster of guests for their new album.
 
Loves Save the Day, due out October 30th, features David Hildago of Los Lobos playing guitar on three songs, Lucinda Williams singing on a cover of the old Leadbelly tune “New York City,” Citizen Cope co-writing and appearing on the track called “Muse,” and Ozomatli performing on two songs.
 
G. Love and Special Sauce will kick off a fall tour on September 3rd in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 
THE WHO: Coming to Theaters
 
The Who's show this past June at Hyde Park in London is coming to the big screen.
 
The Who: Live in Hyde Park will start being shown in theaters around the world on October 7th. In addition to the concert, the film includes interviews with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, along with Iggy Pop, Robert Plant and others.
 
The Who start the second North American leg of their 50th anniversary tour on September 14th in San Diego.
 
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Governor Christie Gushes Over Born to Run
 
The 40th anniversary yesterday (Tuesday) of the release of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album Born to Run was not lost on New Jersey Governor and Presidential candidate Chris Christie.
 
The big Springsteen fan -- no pun intended -- posted his love of the album on Twitter, saying it is "the most powerful rock album of my lifetime," and adding that "Bruce wrote of the people and places that I knew. He wrote about our hopes and frustrations."
 
Christie was 12 when the 26-year-old Springsteen released the album...
 
VAN MORRISON: Catalog Upgrade in the Works
 
The Van Morrison catalog is about to get a huge overhaul.
 
Legacy Recordings has picked up the rights to all of his solo albums from 1971 to 2009, and will reissue 33 of them digitally on Friday. Many of these albums have been out-of-print for some time. They'll also be placed on streaming services for the first time. Also due out on Friday is Essential Van Morrison, a 37-track career-spanning anthology that will be available digitally and as a two-CD set.
 
The label has also secured the two studio albums and two compilations from Morrison's band Them. Those will be reissued in the fall. Also in the works is a new single-disc compilation of his best material, as well as deluxe editions of 1972's Saint Dominic's Preview, 1973's Hard Nose the Highway, the 1974 double live album It's Too Late to Stop Now and 1990's Enlightenment.
 
The only albums not covered by the deal are Morrison's first four solo albums -- 1967's Blowin' Your Mind, 1968's Astral Weeks, and Moondance and His Band and the Street Choir, which were both released in 1970.
 
U2: New Old Live Tunes   
 
U2 has a new live album, but it's not being sold through the normal channels. Or even given away on iTunes. Another Time, Another Place, recorded at London’s Marquee Club in 1980, is being offered only to those who pay for a subscription to U2.com.
 
The double 10-inch vinyl release contains 10 songs, including "11 O’Clock Tick Tock," "I Will Follow," "The Electric Co." and "Out of Control." It also contains a reminiscence from Bono about the band's shows at the legendary club. He says, "The first Monday it was half full, the second Monday nearly full, the third Monday they had to turn people away, the fourth Monday, there were lines round the block, across the road. Wardour Street looked like an A-bomb had landed on it – we thought of it as 'The Irish Invasion.' It’s incredible what a few hundred people believing in you does for your self-confidence."
 
LENNY KRAVITZ: See His...Hits
 
Lenny Kravitz will try to turn the attention back to the music he makes on stage with the October 23rd release of Let It Go, a live DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.
 
Shot during the European leg of his tour behind his latest album, Strut, the collection features such hits as "Fly Away," "Are You Gonna Go My Way," "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" and "American Woman." The 12 songs are augmented by another six bonus cuts. Interviews, rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes footage are cut between the songs. (Billboard) 
 
BOB DYLAN: Another Lyric Goes to Auction
 
An early draft of Bob Dylan's lyrics for "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is headed to auction -- and could fetch more than $300,000.
 
Dated "1962," the typewritten page contains numerous scribbled revisions and scratches-out. Dylan recorded the song in December 1962 and released it on his second album, Freewheelin', in May 1963.
 
In the draft, the refrain is "It's a hard rain must fall," which was altered on the recording to "It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall."
 
In 2014, Dylan's handwritten lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" sold for more than $2 million at Sotheby's.
 
Sotheby's in London will conduct the "Hard Rain" sale on September 29th. (Reuters)
 
PEARL JAM: Touring = Skateparks
 
Jeff Ament says that Pearl Jam will likely start work on a new album next year.
 
A new album means more touring for the band, and Ament tells Vice that being on the road helps his other passion -- building skateparks. Ament explains, "The way I look at it is if I’m touring and doing more things with the band, I make more money. If I make more money, I build more parks. It helps me get more excited about touring because I’m usually not too excited about it.”
 
Pearl Jam's last album was 2013's Lightning Bolt.
 
IN OTHER NEWS...
 
Third Eye Blind has released a new video inspired by the 40th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Directed by and starring frontman Stephan Jenkins, the not-safe-for-work clip for “Get Me Out of Here,” from their latest album, Dopamine, can be viewed on Vevo.
 
Carlos Santana is among the entertainers profiled in the HBO documentary The Latin Explosion: A New America, which debuts November 16th.
 
Garbage recently tweeted that they’ve just about completed recording a new album.
 
The Velvet Underground classic Loaded will be re-issued in a six-CD 45th Anniversary Edition that will include stereo and mono re-masters; demos, early versions and alternate mixes from that era; their Live at Max's Kansas City remastered and a previously unreleased 1970 Philadelphia concert; two high-resolution mixes; plus a surround-sound mix in DTS and Dolby Digital.

 

Paul Simon's Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Exhibit Is Coming To Baltimore

PAUL SIMON: New Home for Rock Hall Exhibit
 
Words and Music will become a traveling exhibit whose next stop will be in Baltimore beginning October 11th.
 
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Paul Simon exhibit will soon hit the road.
 
After it ends an 11-month run on September 7th in Cleveland, it will re-locate to the Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore, as the first stop on a nationwide tour.
 
Paul Simon: Words and Music will open on October 11th and run through January 18th, 2016 -- as one of several programs on noted Jewish American songwriters, also including Bob Dylan, the late Theodore Bikel and religious composer Debbie Friedman.
 
BOB DYLAN & JIMMY BUFFETT: A Tale of a Bed and Toilets
 
 
Fans raise money to buy Dylan a bed while Parrotheads leave behind portable toilets at Boston-area concert.
 
It's not known why, but Bob Dylan has himself a new bed if he wants it.
 
A few fans got together and decided he needed one, so they started a Go Fund Me campaign. And with the help of 156 folks who obviously felt the same way, they raised $1555 to buy Dylan a Sleep Number adjustable bed. A post on the page reads, "His songs have redefined genres and given voice to generations, and he has continued to crank out tune after awesome tune well into his winter years. If you have ever listened to any of Bob's music, you owe it to him to donate to this wonderful cause. Let's show him that he is not forgotten, but rather loved and feared."
 
The goal was to raise $1360,so with the extra $195, they also tossed in a "beautiful Bob Dylan duvet cover." That, along with the gift certificate for the bed, was sent to his label, Columbia Records in New York.
 
And the donors also got something. If you ponied up $40, you'll received a "drawing of what Bob Dylan might look like in the bed." For $100 you receive a phone call in which someone will whisper the entire Dylan discography to you. And for $500, you become the proud owner of the Twitter account @BobDylan4990.
 
No word if Bob needs a new toilet, but if he does, perhaps Jimmy Buffett can direct him to the right people. Police in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where Buffett performed on Saturday, say that Parrotheads left behind seven to 10 homemade portable potties in the parking lot, despite warnings not to. What is a homemade portable pottie? It's usually a five-gallon bucket with its rim lined with a foam pool noodle for a seat, placed inside a tent.
 
STEVIE WONDER: More Than Musial Memories in New York Show
 
Along with performing eight songs, he commented on several topical issues.
 
Stevie Wonder capped his Monday tripleheader of mini-concerts with a nighttime show in New York. His Central Park performance was more than just an exercise in nostalgia. Stevie was very much in the moment.
 
Along with spoofing popular rapper Kendrick Lamar, he turned topical discussing gun control, police brutality and the underprivileged. He also hinted that he might release new music before the end of the year.
 
Later, chatting backstage with reporters, Stevie got serious on such topics as judicial reform -- especially as it relates to sentences for selling marijuana -- and racially motivated killings. (Billboard)
 
DAVE CHAPPELLE: Announces Tour Dates
 
The funnyman will hit the road for the first time in years with a string of dates starting next month.
 
Dave Chappelle’s comeback continues.
 
After returning to comedy with a surprise appearance at last year’s Oddball Festival and residencies at New York City's Radio City Music Hall and Gramercy Theater, the funnyman is getting ready to take the show on the road.
 
Chappelle will visit 12 cities across the U.S. when his tour kicks off September 14th in Salt Lake City. He’ll end the run with a performance in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 7th.
 
FOO FIGHTERS: Grohl Opens Up on Emmy Nominations
 
He says Sonic Highways' four noms didn't seem possible "because the people working on it were just music lovers and friends," not TV pros.  
 
Back in June, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl-directed PBS series Sonic Highways scored four technical Emmy nominations, including Best Informational Series or Special and Best Directing (Nonfiction Programming). And he's still pinching himself.
 
In a 20-minute webcam interview with the TV blog Gold Derby that hit YouTube yesterday (Monday), Grohl opens up about the nominations, saying he didn't even think he would be considered "because the people working on it were just music lovers and friends," not TV pros. He says all they were trying to do was "make a show that music lovers would appreciate...something we would enjoy watching... That was it."  
 
Grohl received his Best Directing nomination specifically for an episode about the music of Washington, D.C. He recounts how, while having dinner with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, Ringo told him he'd been turned on to D.C.'s "go-go" music by watching that episode. An excited Grohl says "And I'm like, 'Oh my God, I turned Ringo on to go-go!'"
 
The Emmys in Sonic Highways' four categories will be handed out at The Creative Arts Emmys, which take place on September 12th in L.A. FXX will broadcast a two-hour version of the show on September 19th at 8 p.m. [ET/PT] and again at 10pm [ET/PT].
 
SQUEEZE: New Album in October   
 
Cradle to the Grave is the band’s 14th studio effort and first since Domino in 1998.
 
Squeeze has a new album on the way.
 
Cradle to the Grave is the band’s 14th studio effort and first since Domino in 1998. The lead track is "Happy Days," a bouncy summertime song that is typical feel-good Squeeze.
 
And as we've reported, Squeeze frontmen Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook will bring their storytelling acoustic shows to the U.S. this fall. The At Odds Couple tour starts on November 11th in Anaheim, California and wraps up December 18th in New York.
 
NEIL YOUNG: Fall Tour Announced
 
He'll be backed once again by The Promise of the Real, the group featuring two of Willie Nelson's sons.
 
Neil Young has announced a fall tour.
 
It will run between his annual fall benefits -- Farm Aid on September 19th in Chicago and the Bridge School Benefit October 24th and 25th in Mountain View, California. It starts October 1st in Missoula, Montana and wraps up October 17th in Berkeley, California. He'll be backed once again by The Promise of the Real, the group featuring two of Willie Nelson's sons,
 
 

 

Coldplay Does It For The Kids

COLDPLAY: Not Giving Up on Kids Center

 

Coldplay are hoping to save a kids therapy center in London that just lost its major sponsor.

The Treehouse provides education and therapeutic help for vulnerable children and was funded by Kids Company, a charity that shut down last week due to a lack of funds. It's been accused of financial mismanagement and is also being investigated by the Met Police's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command.

 

The band donated an estimated $15 million over the past six years to Treehouse, and Coldplay's manager Phil Harvey said the group is looking at ways to keep it open. He tells the BBC, "We're incredibly proud of Treehouse's work with children in great need over the past six years. We're not going to give up on the center without looking at all options for the future."


MY MORNING JACKET: First Webcast on Friday

 

My Morning Jacket will webcast one of their headlining shows for the first time on Friday.

The band's concert at Red Rocks in Colorado on Friday will stream at TourGigs.com starting at 10:00 p.m. ET and cost $12.99. If you purchase the webcast, you'll be able to watch it on a looped replay for 24 hours. The band is also offering a $20 bundle that includes the webcast and MP3 audio downloads of the show.


ARCADE FIRE: Reflektor Film Debut Set

 

The Reflektor Tapes, the film about Arcade Fire's last album, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

 

The first screening will be held on September 12th, and members of the band are expected to be on hand for the debut. The North American release of the film has been moved up to September 23rd -- cities and showtimes are posted at TheReflektorTapes.com.

 

SAM SMITH: Getting in His Licks
 
Sam Smith wanted to see if his just-made Madame Tussaud's wax figure could take a licking -- so he went to its unveiling and licked it!
 
Sam showed up at the San Francisco location of the wax museum chain to check out the figure, which he spent an afternoon posing for earlier this spring. Sporting a few days more stubble than his wax lookalike, Sam took a number of selfies, including shots where he was spotted smooching himself and even licking his own cheek.
 
He put a few of the shots up on Instagram, calling the experience "surreal" and telling fans "feel free to touch my wax bum." You don't necessarily need to go to the Bay Area to do so: Sam's life-size likeness will tour the country next year.
 
ALABAMA SHAKES: New Videos, Another ACL Taping
 
Alabama Shakes have a lot of new video-related things in the works.
 
Tonight (Tuesday) the group will be the musical guest on Conan on TBS. They've also confirmed they'll shoot their third appearance on the long-running PBS concert series Austin City Limits on October 2nd. The taping will happen the day before their set at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas the next day.
 
Finally, the group has released two more official videos from Sound & Color. The clips for "Over My Head" and "Future People" were directed by Danny Clinch and shot at Capital Studios in Los Angeles.
 
 
LENNY KRAVITZ: Quality Piercing
 
One person who was quite pleased to see the recent photo of Lenny Kravitz and his wardrobe malfunction, in which he split his pants and exposed himself, is Elayne Angel -- who says she pierced his male member.
 
She tells Mashable.com, "The piercing still looks happy, healthy and very sturdy. I was proud to see it still alive and kicking... He's definitely into aesthetics and how it looks. But this one also had function. It was meant to please women... After I pierced his nipples, which he clearly enjoyed, he announced, 'I wish I had 10 nipples so I could have you pierce all of them.'"
 
While proud of her work, Kravitz would like to keep it private. His lawyers say that any posted image of his busted trousers breaches their client's "copyright, human rights, right-of-publicity and performer's rights.”

 

Gwen and Gavin- Welcome to Divorce Court

GWEN STEFANI: Let's Make a Deal
 
Gwen Stefani is scrambling to save her $120 million fortune before going to divorce court with hubby Gavin Rossdale -- by offering him a buyout, rather than letting a judge split their assets.
 
According to Radar Online, the couple didn't bother getting a pre-nup before tying the knot 13 years ago -- which Gwen now regrets. A source close to the couple says, “Her business advisers recommended they get a pre-nup, but Gwen balked and didn’t think it was necessary because this was going to be her forever. Gwen has really struggled with the idea of just handing over half of her hard-earned money to Gavin, and there is a lot of anger there. Gwen is hoping to just pay Gavin off because she doesn’t want to pay him any support. Gwen’s approach is that she should get to keep what is hers.”
 
The insider says that lawyers for Gavin, who's worth "only" $20 million on his own, will fight to get half of everything.
 

GREGG ALLMAN: New Album and New Dates


Gregg Allman's new album, Live: Back to Macon, GA, is out -- and he's adding to his live catalog.

 

He's just announced more dates that take him through October, followed by another run set for next January. All the dates can be found at GreggAllman.com. Up next is the Allman Brothers' Peach Music Festival, next Thursday through Sunday in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
 

PEARL JAM, GUNS N' ROSES: Pay Tribute to Iggy
 
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and ex-Guns n' Roses bassist Duff McKagan have teamed up to help out a Seattle public station.
 
Raw Power is the name of the one-off group with McCready, McKagan, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and Mad Season, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney. They'll play a set of Iggy Pop and the Stooges covers on the Pike Place Market rooftop on August 23rd.
 
The free show promotes a campaign to help public station KEXP build a new facility.
 
MICK JAGGER: Peels Back the Vinyl
 
Mick Jagger is offering up a sneak peek of his new TV series, Vinyl, a fictional account of the debauchery in the music world in the '70s as New York music executives try to navigate an industry that is controlled by the mob. The trailer is a minute long with The New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis" providing the soundtrack.
 
The series stars Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Andrew Dice Clay and James Jagger -- Mick's son with Jerry Hall, who'll play the leader of a punk rock band. Among the real-life musicians portrayed in the series are David Johansen, Otis Redding, Elton John, Alice Cooper and Lou Reed.
 
Mick tells us they're shooting nine episodes through October. It will premiere on HBO next year.
 
NEIL YOUNG: For Sale Down by the Ocean
 
Want to sleep in Neil Young's bedroom? He's put his estate on the Big Island of Hawaii up for sale.
 
 
It has five bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths spread over nearly 3000 square feet, with two guest cottages and 830 feet of ocean frontage. The asking price is $24.5 million.
 
RYAN ADAMS: Teaming Up With Judd Apatow for Benefit
 
Ryan Adams is teaming up with director and stand-up comedian Judd Apatow for a benefit.
 
Their concert on August 26th at Largo in Los Angeles will raise money for the victims of last month's shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana. The July 23rd tragedy -- which left three dead, including the shooter, and nine others injured -- occurred in a theater where Apatow's film Trainwreck was playing.
 
Apatow promises that this won't be a standard benefit with just a few songs from Adams -- he says they'll both turn in "long sets."
 
TEARS FOR FEARS: Back on the Road Next Month
 
Tears for Fears will be back out on the road next month.
 
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith will hit eight cities, starting September 19th in Pasa Robles, California and wrapping up September 30th in Red Bank, New Jersey.
 
X AMBASSADORS, ROYAL BLOOD: More Turns in Video Games
 
Royal Blood, X Ambassadors, James Bay and Kings of Leon are the latest acts to have their songs added to two major video games.
 
Up first is Madden '16, the latest edition of the popular NFL game that's due out August 25th. The game makers have gone with newer artists for this year's soundtrack, which includes cuts by James Bay, Twenty One Pilots and X Ambassadors.
 
The latest additions to the re-launch of the Guitar Hero series, Guitar Hero Live, includes tracks by Blink-182, Royal Blood, Rush, Echosmith, James Bay, MGMT and Kings of Leon. Guitar Hero Live is due out October 20th.
 
 

 

You'll Watch This And Say Wow!

Caution- There is an "F" Bomb at 4:47 of this Video

 

In an attempt to get Foo Fighters to play in his hometown of Cesena, Italy, a rocker named Fabio Zaffagnini assembled 1,000 singers and players in a field and shot a video of them performing "Learn to Fly." It's up on YouTube and is truly one of the most incredible things you'll ever see.
 
After the song was over, Zaffagnini spoke to directly to Foo Fighters, saying, "Italy is a country where dreams cannot easily come true, but it’s a land of passion and creativity. So what we did here was a huge, huge miracle." He said he worked for a year to make it happen and that the musicians came from all over Italy at their own expense to take part.
 

Cesena is a city of 100,000 in the Romagna region of northeastern Italy. Expect Foo Fighters to play there someday soon.

 

Thursday afternoon the official Foo Fighters Twitter account tweeted "Che bello, Cesena,' which means "How beautiful, Cesena."

 
 

Lolla 2015

LOLLAPALOOZA: Expanding the Empire

 

Perry Farrell and his concert promoting partners are adding another country to the Lollapalooza empire.

 

Farrell and company have announced that they're launching a Lollapalooza Colombia in the city of Bogota in the fall of 2016. This means that next year the festival will mark its 25th anniversary in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and the city where it was relaunched as a destination event, Chicago.

 

Metallica, Paul McCartney and Florence + the Machine are the headline acts at Lollapalooza this weekend at Chicago's Grant Park.

 

The sets by Metallica, Alabama Shakes, Alt-J, Walk the Moon, Of Monsters and Men and others will be be streamed live by RedBull.tv. Check out the full schedule at Lollapalooza.com.

 

On Friday, the festival will present McCartney, Alt-J, Alabama Shakes, Gary Clark Junior, The War on Drugs, Father John Misty, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, James Bay and Borns.

 

Saturday's lineup promises Metallica, Sam Smith, Walk the Moon, Death From Above 1979, Delta Spirit and Catfish and the Bottlemen.

 

Lolla 2015 winds up Sunday with Florence + the Machine, Of Monsters and Men, TV On The Radio, Twenty One Pilots, Lord Huron and George Ezra.

 

NIRVANA: Bonus Song in Heck Re-release
 
Nirvana fans have a reason to go see Montage of Heck when it returns to theaters on August 7th -- even if they've already seen the controversial documentary on HBO.
 

 

Director Brett Morgen says he added an unreleased Kurt Cobain demo to the film. He tells Billboard that the insertion of the untitled track doesn't alter the original cut of the film and that he won't reveal where the song is in the film "because I don't want to get people out there bootlegging it on their cell phones."
 
GARY CLARK JR.: Feeling Sonny on New Album
 
Gary Clark Junior will release his second major-label studio album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, on September 11th.
 
Clark played most of the instruments on the album, with backing vocals by his sisters Shawn and Savannah Clark. Fans who pre-order Sonny Boy Slim from Clark's website starting today get an immediate download of the tracks "The Healin" and "Grinder."
 
Clark has also posted a mini-documentary about the making of the album on YouTube.
 
 
 
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, ALT-J: Auction to Help Coastal Areas

 

 

Linkin Park, Alt-J, Florence + the Machine and Evanescence have donated items to an auction to save the Mexican coastline.

 

The Charity Buzz online auction is running now through August 12th and all funds raised will go to Music for Relief's ocean project in partnership with WildCoast to conserve 61 miles of mangroves -- groups of trees that grow in coastline sediment -- in Magdalena Bay in Baja California, Mexico.

 

The best item up for bids -- at least in the eyes of Linkin Park fans -- is Chester Bennington's boot cast, with artwork by Mike Shinoda. Bennington broke his ankle back in January while playing basketball,

forcing Linkin Park to cancel most of their North American tour.

 

RADIOHEAD: So They're Doing the Bond Theme?

 

Radiohead has emerged as a new dark horse in the guessing game of who will record the next James Bond theme.

 

Speculation and betting in England over the past two months has focused on Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding, but then some anonymous person placed a $23,000 bet -- with 10 to 1 odds -- on Radiohead to doing the title song to Spectre.

 

Rupert Adams, a spokesman for the bookmaker William Hill, told NME, "There seem to be all kinds of rumors and the plot has had more twists and turns than a classic Bond tale, but surely nobody risks [$23,000] on a hunch."

 

We should know the answer within a couple of months, as Spectre is due to open November 6th.

 

OF MONSTERS AND MEN: We Want Your Video!

 

Of Monsters and Men want fans to help in crafting a new video.

The band is holding a contest to make a lyric video for "Empire" from Beneath the Skin. Fans are encouraged to "submit a public YouTube video of yourself acting out the song and we'll edit them together in one big epic lyric video.

 

Don't forget to be expressive & if you can, film yours against a white or black background." Submission will be taken through August 12th at OfMonstersAndMen.com/lyricvideo.

 

YOKO ONO, DEATH CAB: Collaborators

 

Yoko Ono has lined up an impressive list of collaborators for her next project.

Yes I'm a Witch Too will be released on January 22nd, 2016 with assists from Death Cab for Cutie, Peter Bjorn and John, Portugal the Man, her son Sean Lennon and veteran producer Jack Douglas. This new album is a sequel to Ono's 2007 album of collaborations, Yes I'm a Witch.

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: Weir's Next Move

 

Bob Weir has his first post-Grateful Dead reunion project lined up.
Weir has been working with songwriter Josh Ritter on an album of songs about cowboys. The pair have written a few songs so far and

 

Weir tells Relix he's also going to draft his longtime collaborator John Barlow to pitch in with some lyrics too. Weir has been recording in New York and San Francisco, with members of indie acts The National and The Walkmen pitching in. No release date has been announced yet for the project.

 

U2: Innocence on TV

 

An HBO camera crew has been traveling with U2's Innocence + Experience tour, with the result being a behind-the-scenes documentary that will premiere on the cable network November 7th. On top of that, HBO will air a live U2 concert from Paris on November 14th.

The seventh and eighth shows of U2's stand at Madison Square Garden in New York are tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow, which concludes the North American leg of the tour.

 

ROLLING STONES: DANG!

 

Talk about getting some satisfaction: The Rolling Stones' Zip Code tour proved that they're still kings of making money on the road.

 

Billboard estimates the trek grossed $109.7 million from 629,000 tickets sold at 14 concerts. (The figures from the band's 15th and final date, at the Quebec City Summer Festival on July 15th, have not been reported.) The Stones' last three tours -- 50 & Counting in 2012 and 2013, 14 on Fire and Zip Code -- grossed a total of $401 million with 1.8 million fans showing up at 62 shows.

 

MORRISSEY: Claims He Was Groped at SF Airport
 
It sometimes seems like trouble follows Morrissey around. Well, make no mistake, this latest incident is troubling -- if it's true and if it's not.
 
The former Smiths singer writes on his True to You fan page that he had his crotch groped by a TSA officer after he went though screening at San Francisco International Airport on Monday. He says he was traveling with two members of British Airways Special Services, who were "horrified at the sexual attack and suggested that [he] lodge a complaint." He was hesitant to do so, but they assured him it was worthwhile.
 
He then claims to have confronted the officer and accused him of an illegal action, to which the officer responded three times, "That's just your opinion." Morrissey wrote that he expected his complaint would "obviously be unread or ignored" even though he also pointed out that it was probably all caught on security cameras.
 
He was right about that, but wrong that it would be unread or ignored, since the media now have it. In response to a request from Billboard, the TSA said it had reviewed the footage and determined "that the officer followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual."

 

IN OTHER NEWS
 
Robert Plant has taken the iPhone movie-making app and put together another very short film highlighting his summer tour with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters. You can see it on his website, RobertPlant.com.
 
Elton John celebrated 25 years of sobriety on Wednesday.
 
Leon Bridges, Of Monsters and Men, Jackie Greene and Joy Williams will all take part in programs at the Grammy Museum in L.A. during August. Bridges will be there on the 3rd, Of Monsters... on the 10th, Greene on the 11th and Williams on the 19th. 
 
Record producer and engineer Al Schmitt will get the 2,557th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 15th. Joe Walsh will speak at the ceremony. Schmitt has worked with Paul McCartney, Jefferson Airplane, Jackson Browne, Neil Young ,Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and many others.
 
The Brian Setzer Orchestra will release Rockin’ Rudolph, its third Christmas album overall and first in a decade, on October 16th. A limited deluxe edition will also be available via PledgeMusic.com.
 
 

Why Go To Lollapalooza When You Can Watch It From Home...

PETER GABRIEL: Car+Scratch+Melt+Security=Vinyl

 

Peter Gabriel will re-release his first four albums on vinyl on October 2nd. The albums, which originally date from 1977 to 1982, have not been available in the format for more than a decade.

 

While the official title of each album is Peter Gabriel, each has a nickname. The first one is Car, named for the car he is sitting in on the cover. The second one is Scratch for the marks he is making on the cover. Melt is the nickname of the third album thanks to his melting face. And the fourth, Security, got its nickname from a sticker on the shrink-wrap to differentiate it from his previous releases.

 

Each reissue is limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies.

Gabriel is currently at work on a new album.


FARM AID: Turns 30 With Imagine Dragons, Kacey Musgraves, More

 

The 30th anniversary edition of Farm Aid will be held September 19th at the FirstMerit Bank Pavilion in Chicago.

 

Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews (with his acoustic partner, Tim Reynolds) are all on board as headliners. This year they will be joined by Jack Johnson, Imagine Dragons, Kacey Musgraves, Mavis Staples, Old Crow Medicine Show and more. Tickets go on sale Monday.

 

Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $48 million to support the survival of family farms.


U2: "Beat" for First Time in 25 Years

 

At U2's sixth show at New York's Madison Square Garden last (Monday) night, the band dug out a song it hasn't played in 25 years.

T

he second song in the set was "Two Hearts Beat as One" from the 1983 album War. Bono introduced it by saying, "This is a song we haven't played in a quarter of a century." And he was correct: U2 last did it live on December 27th, 1989. And the previous performance of the song was April 29th, 1985, so they've only played it in concert twice in the past three decades.

 

U2 continues its eight-night run in New York on Thursday night.

 

SMASHING PUMPKINS: Radiohead Is Last Band to Innovate on Guitar

 

The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan calls Radiohead "probably the last band that really did anything new with the guitar."

 

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Corgan complains about how the current dominance of pop with younger audiences has left kids expecting a rock concert to be "like an MTV awards show or something: A lot of flash, a lot of bang, a lot of putting your hands in the air, a lot of declaring everything awesome."

 

He says that "no band in the past 15 years has come along and been able to figure out" how to "invoke a darker spirit on stage and conjure it right in front of you in a mass of power you can’t explain." He cites Royal Blood as a current band that's "trying to figure that power out," but feels even a successful band like Queens of the Stone Age is, like the Pumpkins, "coming from an earlier generation of power and an earlier language." He says most alternative rock music hasn't really evolved for 20 years. 

 

He also updates the progress on the next Smashing Pumpkins album, which he says is "almost done. There’s probably six to eight weeks of work left until we finish." He says it probably won't actually come out until the beginning of next year.

 

LOLLAPALOOZA: What You Can See If You're Not There

 

Lollapalooza takes over Chicago this weekend -- and once again you can watch much of it at home.

 

Forty-eight of the 130 acts performing on the festival's eight stages in Grant Park are already on the list for live-streaming via Lollapalooza.com and RedBullTV, which is available through a variety of apps and cable systems. Among the artists you'll be able to see are Paul McCartney, Metallica, Florence and the Machine, Alt-J, Of Monsters and Men, Alabama Shakes and many more.

 

Friday's live-stream lineup includes McCartney, Alt-J, Alabama Shakes, Gary Clark Junior, MS MR, Borns, The War on Drugs, Cold War Kids, Saint Paul and the Broken Bones, Father John Misty and James Bay.

 

Saturday's live-streamed sets include Metallica, Walk the Moon, Death from Above 1979, Chet Faker, Zella Day and Delta Spirit.

 

Sunday closing day includes Florence and the Machine, Of Monsters and Men, TV on the Radio, Lord Huron and Marina and the Diamonds.

 

JOHN LENNON: Guitar With Amazing History to Be Auctioned

 

The guitar John Lennon used to record and write such Beatles classics as "Please, Please, Me," "From Me To You," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "All My Loving," and "This Boy" will go to auction in November. According to Collectible Guitar: Then and Now, John McCaw of San Diego, California has owned the Gibson J-160E with a Sunburst finish since 1969.

 

McCaw says he played that guitar for 45 years before finding out it was John's. He adds, "And ever since the guitar has had this wonderful aura around it, especially to the true believers and fans of Lennon and The Beatles... This is a very special guitar, and I believe it wants to be played again."

 

Its estimated value is between $600,000 and $800,000. Julien's begins taking bids November 6th.

 

IN OTHER NEWS

 

Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera has tapped Clash bassist Paul Simonon and Nigerian drum legend Tony Allen to be part of an ad hoc group of musicians from around the world that will perform at the annual La Notte della Taranta concert, held in Salento, Italy on August 22nd.

 

The Doors, Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young are back on the British airwaves, after a contractual impasse that kept them from BBC radio broadcasts was solved. Their music publisher, a company called Wixen Music UK, concluded a licensing deal with the MCPS, a British counterpart to BMI and ASCAP.

 

David Gilmour has added a warm-up show to his tour - September 5th at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, England. It comes a week before its September 12th start in Croatia and two weeks before the release of his new album, Rattle That Lock.

 

The crossword puzzle in this Thursday's Guardian newspaper (in England) will be based on Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.

 

David Crosby may not be Neil Young's favorite person for negative comments Crosby made about Young's girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah, but that hasn't stopped Young from selling Crosby's new album, CROZ, in the store for his Hi-Resolution Audio player, Pono.

Fifty Years Later at Newport...

BOB DYLAN: His Newport Electric Guitar Is Played There 50 Years Later

 

The Fender Stratocaster Bob Dylan played when he went electric for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival 50 years ago this weekend (July 25th, 1965), returned there this weekend.

 

No longer in Dylan's possession, the historic instrument is now owned by Jim Irsay, who's also known as the owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team. He bought it for slightly under a million dollars when Dylan's daughter put it up for auction a couple of years ago. The curator of Irsay's guitar collection accompanied it to Newport and planned to let some of the artists there play it.

 

On Saturday, Americana artist Jason Isbell became the first, according to his Instagram post, which was accompanied by a photo of him playing the historic guitar. Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith is also reported to have played it during Sunday night's festival closing Dylan tribute.

 

Also at Newport-  Brandi Carlile covered Led Zeppelin's "Goin' to California" at the Newport Folk Festival. It's a new addition to her repertoire that she first played at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia last Wednesday, according to Setlist.fm.

 

The Decemberists closed their Newport Folk Festival set by covering Woody Guthrie's folk anthem "This Land Is Your Land."

 

Replacements and Guns N' Roses bassist Tommy Stinson was joined by guitarist Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi All-Stars and bassist Catherine Popper of Jack White's Peacocks, among others, during his solo set at Newport.

 

The Bob Dylan tribute that closed the Newport Folk Festival Sunday night was devoid of big name stars, but it did have the ring of authenticity when Al Kooper, who played organ with Dylan on that historic occasion 50 years ago, took the stage to perform "Maggie's Farm" with the L.A. group Dawes. The song was the first of the three electric songs Dylan played on July 25th, 1965 and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith had the Dylan guitar.

 

The rest of the tribute lineup was:

 

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who started things acoustically with "Mr. Tambourine Man."

 

Willie Wilson, who performed "All I Really Want to Do," also acoustically.

Ireland's Hozier and his band, joined by Klara Soderberg of First Aid Kit, who did “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.”

 

Deer Tick members John McCauley and Ian O’Neil, who played "Outlaw Blues."

 

England's Robyn Hitchcock, who released a double live album of Dylan covers in 2002. He took on "Visions of Johanna," which he called “possibly the greatest song ever written.”

The performers, including Kooper, who played its iconic organ part, led the crowd in singing

"Like a Rolling Stone."

 

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who joined them for the closing number, "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35," better known by its chorus, "Everybody must get stoned." (The Providence Journal)


SHEERAN: You Bastard!

 

Ed Sheeran will put down his guitar later this year to sharpen a different kind of ax -- for his role in the new FX medieval drama The Bastard Executioner.

Ed, who hinted at a "really dark, really gory" acting role in a series of tweets earlier this spring, will play Sir Cormac, an ambitious and deadly protégé of a high-ranking church elder who joins forces with a journeyman killer-for-hire. The drama is the newest offering from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter -- who hired Sheeran to record a tune for that show's second-to-last episode.

 

FX hasn't revealed how many episodes will feature Ed, but has called it a recurring role. (Hollywood Reporter)

 

KEITH RICHARDS: Bridges to Greener Pastures

 

Keith Richards supports the legalization of marijuana. In the new issue of England's Mojo magazine, He says, “I smoke regularly, an early-morning joint. One of the most pleasant things to watch is a map of America where it goes green, green, green.”

 

Nearly two-dozen states already have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, but Connecticut, where Keith lives, has only legalized it for medical use.

 

 

SMASHING PUMPKINS: Uncomfortable Question and Photo

 

Billy Corgan had a testy exchange at a recent VIP Q-and-A held before a Smashing Pumpkins show in Denver.

 

One of the attendees earlier this month asked Corgan his thoughts about Soaked in Bleach, a film that claims Kurt Cobain did not commit suicide but was murdered by his wife Courtney Love. Corgan got defensive and said, "Are you legitimately asking me this question here?” The fan responded, “If you care to answer it.” Corgan countered, “No, I don’t care to answer because I think it’s — what does that have to do with me?”

 

Watch the whole exchange on YouTube.

 

In other Corgan news, he doesn't seem to like rides at Disneyland. Us Weekly ran an amazing photo -- that's gone viral -- of Corgan on a train at the park with the caption, “From a rat in a cage to the House of Mouse! Smashing Pumpkins rocker Billy Corgan took his Mellon Collie self to the Happiest Place on Earth, aka Disneyland, where he traveled back in time to the Wild, Wild West of the 19th century.”

 


U2: Experiment Worked 

 

The Edge says one result of U2's controversial decision to give away their last album, Songs of Innocence, can be seen at their concerts. "They know the lyrics to the new album, and it's amazing, they're singing along to every song. And so these news songs have really landed. They're part of the language now."

 

That language will continue to be spoken in New York this week as U2 is down to the last three nights of an eight-night run at Madison Square Garden: tonight (Monday), Thursday and Friday, which concludes the North American leg of the Innocence + Experience tour.

 

On Sunday at the Garden, Lady Gaga became the latest surprise guest to join the band on stage, playing piano and singing "Ordinary Love" with Bono and the boys.

 

Make sure you listen to the ‘RNR Podcast with Bob Waugh chatting with The Edge and Adam Clayton.


NEIL YOUNG: Monsanto Fires Back

 

Neil Young's frequent target this year, Monsanto, has some issues with his documentary short, Seeding Fear.

 

The film Young released Thursday looks at the life of farmer Michael White, who Monsanto sued -- and settled with -- for patent infringement. A Monsanto spokesperson tells Rolling Stone, "Mr. White is not transparent in describing his actions or the situation. He actually admitted to knowingly planting, producing, saving, cleaning and selling Roundup Ready soybeans illegally.

 

All of this information is available in court documents."

 

The spokesperson continues, "Protecting patents and copyrights can be difficult in any business -- including the entertainment industry. Mr. White's actions are equivalent to pirating an album, producing thousands of copies and selling bootleg copies -- all while knowing what you're doing is illegal and that it will result in criminal charges if caught."

 

Young has not yet replied.

The Grateful Dead Made How Much Money???

NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL:

 

50 Years Since Dylan Went Electric...The Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island this weekend will close with a tribute to its most famous performance.

'65 Revisited will feature an all-star lineup of current artists -- who have yet to be revealed -- paying tribute to Bob Dylan's electric set from 1965. The rest of the festival's lineup is packed with big names as well.

 

Friday's lineup -- which reveals just how far things have come since then -- includes Roger Waters, Iron and Wine, Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses, The Lone Bellow, Calexico, Leon Bridges and Bahamas.

 

Saturday promises The Decemberists, Brandi Carlile, Courtney Barnett, Jason Isbell, Nikki Lane and Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear.

And Sunday the festival closes with Hozier, First Aid Kit, Lord Huron and Shakey Graves.

 

MICK JAGGER: A Stone Rolls in Brooklyn  

 

With The Rolling Stones' Zip Code tour now behind him, Mick Jagger is back to working on his HBO series with director Martin Scorsese. On Twitter, Jagger reports that he stopped by the set in Brooklyn, New York this week, adding that "all is going well" and they are "working on episode six."

 

The still-untitled rock and roll series, which stars Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano and Olivia Wilde, is about a record executive in the 1970s who is trying to reinvent his label as disco and punk rock take off. The cast also includes Andrew "Dice" Clay, actress Juno Temple and James Jagger -- Mick's son with Jerry Hall, who'll play the leader of a punk rock band. Mick tells us they are shooting nine episodes through October.

 

 

Meanwhile, 

 

KEITH RICHARDS: No Rest for the Wicked

 

Keith Richards didn't need much of a rest after The Rolling Stones' Zip Code tour ended to get into promotional mode for his upcoming solo album, Crosseyed Heart.

 

The first single, "Trouble," was released just hours after the tour ended; on Tuesday, Richards held court at an intimate listening party at Electric Lady Studios in New York. He briefly addressed the media before the album was played in its entirety. After shout-outs to his manager and to his main collaborator on the album, Steve Jordan, Richards told those in the room, "I hope you like it enough tonight to go out and buy it!" (Rolling Stone)


NEIL YOUNG: Posts Anti-Monsanto Film

 

Neil Young this morning posted a 10-minute film on his website and Facebook page that attempts to explain some of what inspired his current album, The Monsanto Years.

Seeding Fear, produced by Young's Shakey Pictures, features Alabama farmer Michael White speaking about how his life has been affected by the agri-business giant.

 

In a written introductory piece, Young contends that:

 

      +an act currently before Congress would take away people's rights to vote on labeling      GMO's in their states.
      +both party's presidential frontrunners are "in bed with Monsanto."

      +Michael White is "one of only four farmers who is still legally allowed to speak about his   case, as all the others have been effectively silenced."  

 

The film features instrumental music by Daniel Lanois, although some of Young's song "Monsanto Years" plays over the end credits.

 

SAM SMITH: Not Under Pressure

 

Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour won him multiple Grammy awards and sold millions of copies, making it one of the most memorable debuts in recent years. But he says he's not concerned about being able to repeat that success.

 

Sam, who recently kicked off his first round of North American dates since undergoing vocal cord surgery earlier this year, tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "I really am not [feeling pressure]. After the second album, people will be nervous about the third. It’s an ongoing thing. If you let things eat you up like this, you’ll never enjoy life. I’m happy. My dreams have come true. All I ask is to be able to document my life till I drop down dead."

 

Looking ahead, he says, "I want this to be the most honest piece of work I’ve ever done. I want to destroy this idea of celebrity and people being untouchable. We are humans; we are all the same when it comes down to it.”

 

U2: Bono Throws Shades for Charity

 

Bono is hoping to improve the eyesight of underprivileged people around the world.

The U2 singer, who was diagnosed with glaucoma 20 year ago, has teamed up with eyewear maker Revo for the "Buy Vision, Give Sight" campaign which hopes to raise $10 million for screening, eyeglasses and other assistance. Revo will donate $10 from each pair of eyeglasses it sells. As part of the partnership Bono will unveil his own line of Revo sunglasses in the fall.

 

Bono said in a statement that "tens of millions of people around the world with sight problems don't have access to glasses, or even a basic eye test." He called vision a "human right.”

Don’t forget to catch Bob Waugh’s exclusive interview with The Edge and Adam Clayton Saturday morning at 9:00am and again Sunday morning at 10:00am and 7:00pm on 103.1 WRNR.


THIS WEEKEND'S NEW RELEASES

 

The Rolling Stones’ From the Vault: Hyde Park 1969 is a CD and DVD or CD and Blu-ray set that’s a live companion to the recent Sticky Fingers re-issue.

 

Roger Waters’ 1992 solo album Amused to Death gets re-issued in multiple formats.

 

Warren Haynes teams up with Railroad Earth for his latest solo effort, Ashes and Dust.

 

The Watkins Family Hour’s self-titled debut sees Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek joined by Fiona Apple, Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers and more on a set of covers.

 

Also out are Straight in No Kissin’ from Big Talk, which features The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci and The Doobie Brothers' 10-CD box set, The Warner Bros. Years 1971-1983.

 

GOOD TO KNOW

 

The Grateful Dead's two Fare Thee Well concerts in Santa Clara, California and three in Chicago grossed a total of $52.2-million. It was also the biggest musical pay-per-view event of all time with more than 400,000 cable or satellite subscriptions and online streams.

Vinyl, Exhaustion, and Old Pictures in a Box...

A teenager recently discovered photos of the very first Nirvana gig.

 

Maggie Poukkula, the 19-year-old daughter of Tony Poukkula, tweeted three photos of the 1987 gig in Raymond, Washington along with the caption, "Pictures of my dad and Kurt Cobain playing together back in the day." Tony was a member of Seattle band Laytem. He grew up with Cobain and hosted the band's first show -- with drummer Aaron Burckhard -- in his basement. He reportedly joined Nirvana on guitar for two Led Zeppelin covers.

 

Maggie Poukkula tells Rolling Stone, "I had no idea that those were during Nirvana's first concert. My dad showed me them a while back, but he never mentioned that's what was going on in the photos. I found out because of all the articles. I didn't realize it was such a historical thing. I thought they were just cool pictures of my dad and Kurt jamming together."

 

David Gilmour adds more dates.

 

Gilmour has added a second date in each of the four North American cities he’d previously announced for next spring. The new shows are March 25th at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A.; April 1st at the Air Canada Center in Toronto; April 4th at the United Center in Chicago; and April 12th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

 

Neil Young helps fight for an Apache Stronghold

 

A Native American activist group called Apache Stronghold has been part of Neil Young’s current Rebel Content Tour. They’re protesting a Congressional giveaway of sacred Apache land to a Canadian copper mining company.

 

Van Still the Man

 

Another Glorious Decade, a documentary DVD focusing on the 10-year period in Van Morrison’s career following his return to music in 1977 after a couple of years of inactivity, will be released September 18th.

 

Sinead Exhausted from being a Grandma

 

Sinead O’Connor has cancelled all her summer tour dates because of what a statement from her management calls “exhaustion” caused by an untreated illness. The 48-year-old became a grandmother this past Friday..

 

St.Vincent Does the Red Carpet

 

Annie Clark -- the alternative rocker known as St. Vincent -- continued a really exciting week last night (Tuesday) when she accompanied girlfriend Cara Delavingne on the red carpet at the premiere of Cara's big new movie, Paper Towns.

That comes on the heels of Delavingne giving her a gift of a guitar autographed by David Bowie. The actress told People during the event that "true love is inspiring...it's what makes the world go round.”

 

Bob Marley Vinyl Box Set on the Way

 

The Bob Marley 70th birthday celebrations will continue with a hefty amount of vinyl reissues on September 25th.

 

The Complete Island Recordings box has 11 LPs -- all nine Bob Marley and The Wailers studio albums recorded for Island Records, along with the two live albums, Live and Babylon by Bus. A Collector's Edition of the box set comes with a slip mat for a turntable and is packaged in a numbered metal box.

 

Each of the albums will also be released individually and will replicate the original album pressings.

Videos? On MTV? What a concept...

MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS: Nominees Announced

 

They will be handed out August 30th in Los Angeles, with Miley Cyrus hosting. Voting is open now at at VMA.MTV.com.

                
Video of the Year

Beyonce - "7/11"
Ed Sheeran - "Thinking Out Loud"
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar - "Bad Blood”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"
Kendrick Lamar - "Alright"
                                          

Best Male Performance

Ed Sheeran - "Thinking Out Loud"
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"
Kendrick Lamar - "Alright"
The Weeknd - "Earned it"
Nick Jonas - "Chains"
                                          

Best Female Performance

Beyonce - "7/11"
Taylor Swift - "Blank Space"
Nicki Minaj - "Anaconda"
Sia - "Elastic Heart"
Ellie Goulding - "Love Me Like You Do"
                            

Best Hip-Hop Video

Fetty Wap - “Trap Queen”
Nicki Minaj - “Anaconda”
Kendrick Lamar - “Alright”
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth - “See You Again”
Big Sean - “I Don’t F With You”
                                             

Best Rock Video

Hozier - "Take Me to Church"
Fall Out Boy - "Uma Thurman"
Florence + the Machine - "Ship to Wreck"
Walk the Moon - "Shut Up and Dance"
Arctic Monkeys - "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?"
                                          

Best Collaboration

Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
Ariana Grande & The Weeknd – “Love Me Harder”
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicky Minaj – “Bang Bang”
                                                                            

Best Video With a Social Message

Jennifer Hudson - “I Still Love You”
Colbie Calliat - “Try”
Big Sean - “One Man Can Change the World”
Rihanna - “American Oxygen”
Wale - “The White Shoes”
                                          

Artist to Watch

Fetty Wap - “Trap Queen”
Vance Joy - “Riptide”
George Ezra - “Budapest”
James Bay - “Hold Back The River”
FKA Twigs - “Pendulum”


BOB DYLAN: New Book About His First Electric Concert

 

It was 50 years ago this week that folk icon Bob Dylan first performed with an electric guitar. His brief set at the Newport Folk Festival, backed by a band, on July 25th, 1965, changed rock and roll. Elijah Wald has chronicled this groundbreaking event in a book called Dylan Goes Electric.

 

Wald says the book has two different potential audiences.

 

"If they're Dylan fans, it's the attempt to sort out what really happened that night [in 1965] when he went electric at Newport."

 

If not, "I'm really trying to explain what it felt like in that moment... when the early '60s suddenly splits into the '60s of rock and roll, long hair and the Vietnam War."
Wald explains, "It's also the story of the time and of the Newport Folk Festival which is the model of... festivals as a place to not just share the music but as a communal experience. Newport is the investor of the modern music festival."

 

Dylan's decision to go electric was met with resistance, anger and rejection by many in folk music circles -- while he was simultaneously welcomed as a peer by such rock luminaries as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

 

ROGER WATERS: While We're at It, Let's Improve the Video

 

Roger Waters seems to have sweated the details for the reissue of Amused to Death.

He's not only remixed the 1992 album in 5.1 surround sound high-definition audio, but has also tweaked the video for its lead track, “What God Wants, Part 1.″ He's added better footage, along with sound from an in-studio jam with Jeff Beck that was used in the original clip.

 

The updated album -- which is still his most recent studio effort 23 years after its initial release -- comes out Friday.


DAVID BOWIE, ST. VINCENT: Autograph From One Star to Another

 

Nothing says loving like a guitar autographed by David Bowie.

That's what Paper Towns star Cara Delevingne gave her musician girlfriend Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent. The all-white Eastwood Airline Twin Tone is signed on the back, "For Annie, With my very best wishes. David Bowie."

 

Clark posted a photo of it on Instagram and wrote "Best gift ever in the entire world. (Heart emoji...)" (NME)


JIMMY PAGE: Hosting Zep Events in Toronto & New York

 

Jimmy Page is back in North America to talk about next week's release of the final three albums in the Led Zeppelin catalog reissue campaign -- Presence, In Through the Out Door and CODA. All three will be released next Friday, July 31st.

 

Last night he was in Toronto to host 65 contest winners for a listening session of select tracks from the albums. He says he chose Toronto because it was "really supportive of Led Zeppelin in those days. And the press that we got from those very early shows, it seemed like honest reviews as opposed to what was appearing in Rolling Stone... Heaven knows why they were negative reviews... They [didn’t have a] clue what was going on during the albums or the shows. But here [in Toronto] it was just a fantastic response to what we were doing and an honest response because it was just so good, anyway."

 

Page heads to New York for a listening session tonight (Wednesday 7/22).


TOM PETTY: Wants to Spread a Little Mud

 

The next time Tom Petty hits the road, it's likely to be with his pre-Heartbreakers band, Mudcrutch, who will start recording their second album next month.

 

Petty says, "[In 2008] we were kinda under the gun because there was a big Heartbreakers tour coming up not long after that, so we didn't have a lot of time [to tour]. We kind of just ran up and down the West Coast real fast and did a fairly long stand at the Troubadour [in West Hollywood]. Those were really fun gigs. It's a totally different thing than the Heartbreakers. It's a different rhythm section. It's a different style of music. Just writing for this group is interesting because I have to change my mindset from where I'm at today with the Heartbreakers."

 

In addition to Petty, who plays bass in Mudcrutch, the lineup includes Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers, along with drummer Randall Marsh and guitarist Tom Leadon, brother of Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon.

 

SAM SMITH: Ladies Man

 

Sam Smith has been hailed for his unique, emotive vocal style, and he says he owes it all to the ladies in his life -- namely Adele, Amy Winehouse and Beyonce, who he cites as his main influences.

 

Sam tells Cleveland's Plain Dealer that he never gave much thought to his listening habits as a teen, but says, "I realize now why I listened to females. One, as a gay man, I could relate to their lyrics about men more than a man talking about a girl. And also, there is an element of strength in all those artists. That made me feel strong when I listened to them."

 

He adds that the female perspective helps him connect with fans. "I look into my audience and see how much that physically affects people and realize how important it is. I read something today, a quote from someone in a magazine and they said, "I just want to make people feel something through my music. It's that simple.'' And I couldn't agree more, it is that simple. That to me comes from honesty."

 

Sam will perform in Raleigh, North Carolina on Thursday night.


LORDE, KEANE, BASTILLE: Here Come the Judges

 

Lorde, Bastille and Keane are among the artists acting as judges for this year's International Songwriting Competition.

 

The annual competition, which was created in 2002, “encourages songwriters to create, develop and challenge their artistry by creating something truly meaningful." Vance Joy won the Grand Prize last year for “Riptide.” He picked up $25,000 cash and $30,000 in merchandise and services. Previous winners include Bastille, Gotye and Passenger. The contest is open to professional and non-professional songwriters.

 

Other artists voting this year include American Authors, Keb Mo, Moby, Shakey Graves, ex-Civil Wars singer Joy Williams, Art Alexakis of Everclear and Tom Waits.


BLUR: No Gigs Without "Song 2"

 

Dave Rowntree of Blur says the band has to play "Song 2" at every festival they do -- or they could get hurt.

 

The drummer tells England's XFM they're sort of locked into "Song 2" and other tracks like "Girls and Boys" because most people in a festival won't know their more obscure material. He explains, "It's difficult. It's an hour and a half set, and there's about an hour's worth of music that you absolutely have to play or we'd get bottled off... You know, if we didn't play 'Song 2' we'd never get invited to a festival again."

Monday July 20th, 2015

WILCO: Star Wars Free for 30 Days

 

Wilco fans, you have 30 days to download the band's new album, Star Wars, for free.

After the surprise release through WilcoWorld.net Thursday night, the band is now offering the free download through iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Digital through August 13th. Star Wars is also being streamed on YouTube and through other streaming services.

 

 

Star Wars will be available on CD on August 21st and vinyl on November 27th.


RADIOHEAD: Yorke Does First Solo Gig in 5 Years

 

Thom Yorke of Radiohead did his first solo concert in over five years Saturday night at the Latitude Festival in Southwold, England.

 

Yorke performed songs from his 2014 solo album Tomorrow's Modern Boxes live for the first time, as well as tracks from his solo debut ,The Eraser, and his side project Atoms for Peace. He also debuted two new untitled songs, which has Radiohead fans speculating that the tracks are ones the band has been working on for a new album.

 

Yorke also joined Portishead on stage during the festival to add vocals to their song "The Rip.”

 

ED SHEERAN, SNOW PATROL: Chase "Cars"

 

Ed Sheeran was joined by a couple of members of Snow Patrol during a surprise concert on Saturday.

 

Sheeran did an unnanounced set at the Latitude Festival in Southwold, England on Saturday and decided to break out a cover of Snow Patrol's big hit, "Chasing Cars." For some reason, members of that band were on hand, and Snow Patrolers Jonny Quinn and Nathan Connolly joined him for the performance. Check out a fan-shot video of it on YouTube.

 

FOO FIGHTERS: Rock Boston With Dave's Doctor

 

Dave Grohl did something nice Sunday for the orthopedic surgeon who operated on his broken leg.

 

Midway through Foo Fighters' set night at Fenway Park in Boston, Grohl invited Dr. Lew C. Schon onstage to lead the band in a cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

 

 

The Foos were later joined by another special guest, Godsmack singer Sully Erna, for a cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out.”


U2: It's a Bono Jovi Couple of Days  

 

U2 and Jon Bon Jovi are not two musical icons that immediately come to mind when it comes to making the social rounds together, but that has been the case for the past few nights.

It started on Thursday when Bono, The Edge and Jon crashed a bachelorette party in East Hampton, New York. The three were dining at Moby's and were seated next to the table with all the pretty young ladies.

 

That was followed by the U2 duo extending an invitation to Jon and his wife, Dorothea, to attend their show at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the first of eight nights at the New York City arena. Also in attendance were Salman Rushdie, Harry Belafonte, chef Mario Batali, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and actor Ed Burns with supermodel wife Christy Turlington.

 

Musically, the big surprise was "October," the title track of their 1981 album, which the band hadn't performed since November 11th, 1989 in New Zealand. Towards the top of the show, Bono said, "Welcome to Innocence and Experience. When we first played a club called the Ritz in this great city (December 6th, 1980), we thought of ourselves as a great punk band. We still do. A band of equals with an audience of equals."

 

U2 did two songs on Saturday that it did at that first show, which also happened to be the band's very first U.S. show -- "Electric Co." and "I Will Follow," both off the group's first album, Boy.

 

U2 did the second Garden show Sunday night and number-three is on Wednesday.

 


 

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Surprise at the Shore

 

Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at a Jersey Shore club on Saturday -- and he sure didn't skimp time-wise.

 

Joining his buddies Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers at Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, Springsteen stayed on stage for two hours, performing 15 songs. He came onstage three songs into the band's set and stayed through two encores. The band accommodated their guest by backing him on a lot of his own songs and a couple of their own.

 

Among the songs he rocked were "Adam Raised a Cain," "Darkness on the Edge of Town" "Racing in the Street ('78)" "Atlantic City," "Because the Night" and "The Promised Land."

 

 

Springsteen plays Grushecky's annual Light of Day benefit concert at the nearby Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, but it's been a while since he's shown up unannounced at a club there.

 

His last club show there, in 2011, was a benefit at the Stone Pony.

 

Set list:

 

Never Be Enough Time (Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers song)
Adam Raised a Cain
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Racing in the Street ('78)
Chain Smoking (JG)
Talking to the King (JG)
Save My Love
Frankie Fell in Love
Atlantic City
Pumpin' Iron (JG)
Code of Silence (JG)
Because the Night (Springsteen co-wrote the song for the Patti Smith Group)
The Promised Land

 

ENCORE: Pink Cadillac
ENCORE: Light of Day (Springsteen wrote it for Joan Jett to do in a movie)

 

 

NEIL YOUNG: Debate Over, I Win

 

Neil Young thinks he's won his debate with Monsanto over the safety of genetically modified foods.

 

Young's current album, The Monsanto Years, is an anti-corporate concept record that, in its title track, criticizes the agri-business giant for pushing genetically modified seeds and crops he claims are harmful to humans. Monsanto recently answered Young in a statement that says the lyrics are based on "a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do."

 

Saturday, Young posted on his Facebook page what he calls "MASSIVE NEWS!!!" It's the results of a study he says "unequivocally proves...that a GMO [genetically modified organism] is not 'substantially equivalent' to the non-GMO." He links to the study and concludes "END OF DEBATE."

 

He'll probably be hearing from Monsanto, or its lawyers, again soon.

Friday July 17th, 2015

POLICE: Summers Says They're Not Dead, Just Resting  

 

You'd think Andy Summers might be ready to put this Police thing behind him.

Nearly seven years after the band's reunion tour, the guitarist's documentary film on his own band, Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police was released on DVD and Blu-ray this week. We asked him at a screening of the movie at the Grammy Museum in L.A. on Wednesday if he looks at both the tour and movie as cathartic experiences.

 

 

So is he still in touch with the other two?

 

 

Summers also released a new instrumental album this week titled Metal Dog.

 

Meanwhile, Sting will bring his Symphonicities show to New York's Carnegie Hall on December 14th for a one-night-only gala benefit concert with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Proceeds will benefit Carnegie Hall’s artistic and music-education programs.

 

 

COURTNEY LOVE: "Over" Music, Loving Acting Again

 

Courtney Love says she's over it -- "it" being music.

 

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about her return to acting after about a dozen year absence, Love says she's "done it all in [music]," but hasn't done it all acting and "would really like to learn more." She claims she's "having more fun" acting.

 

Love's part in the super-successful music business drama Empire this year followed her return to acting with a four show part on Sons of Anarchy in 2014. She says got the bug again three years ago after watching Sean Penn in a movie at the Cannes Film Festival. "Sean was so good in it that I got this fire in my belly. I was like, ‘Dammit, I want that again. That is rock and roll, to be able to do what Sean does; it’s just a different kind of rock and roll.’”

 

 

U2: Time For a Garden Party  

 

U2 is down to the final eight North American shows on the Innocence + Experience tour and all of them are at New York's Madison Square Garden, starting Saturday night.

 

Bono tells us, "We never normally want to play that amount of shows in the same venue. [But] we're doing it, it's New York, and we're gonna tear the city up."

 

 

U2 will be camped out at the "World's Most Famous Arena" through July 31st, followed by a European tour, starting on September 4th in Turin, Italy.

 

 

WILCO: Get New Album for Free Now!

 

Surprise -- there's a new Wilco album! And you can get it for free for a short time.

The band sent out a message to its email list while band members John Stiratt and Mikael Jorgensen tweeted out links to Wilcoworld.net saying "Would you like to download a new, free (for a limited time) Wilco album called Star Wars?"

 

The band's frontman, Jeff Tweedy, posted a note on Facebook that said, "Why release an album this way and why make it free? Well, the biggest reason, and I'm not sure we even need any others, is that it felt like it would be fun. What's more fun than a surprise?”

 

Not much else is known about the 11-track album as of yet, but more details about the surprise release are expected later today.

 

Also-  Wilco are selling a book of their tour posters, called Beyond the Fleeting Moment, through their web store.

 

 

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND: Haynes Says Door Is Always Open for More

 

Fans of The Allman Brothers Band who still harbor hopes seeing the Georgia rockers again one day, well, here's a glimmer for you.

 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, guitarist Warren Haynes -- who had a stint in The Dead to go with 25 years in the Allmans and even longer in Gov't Mule -- is asked about the recent Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well shows. The interviewer wonders if he can see something similar happening with the Allmans in a few years –- them saying, "Let's do another show just for fun?"

 

Haynes replies that he "would never rule anything out." And while he cautions that "There's no talk of that," he says "the door's always open."

 

Haynes, who originally hails from Asheville, North Carolina, will be inducted into that state's Music Hall of Fame on October 15th.

 

 

KINKS: Ray Recording Americana

 

The Kinks' Ray Davies is turning his most recent book, Americana, into his next solo album.

In an interview Thursday with Britain's The Guardian, he says he's in the studio working on it. He adds that he's currently had "two or three projects come together all at once," but doesn't

say what the other ones are.

 

Among the other notable moments in the extensive chat:

 

He's asked about sometimes being referred to as the godfather of the '90s Brit-pop movement and responds, "I'm not a godfather...more a concerned uncle."

 

Asked about a quote from his brother Dave that described their relationship as being like Cain and Abel, he says, "It's more like Satan and Jesus."

 

When told that Dave has recently said that he's open to a Kinks reunion, Ray comes back with, "When he says he’s up for a reunion, does it say what he’s referring to? He can decorate my house if he wants.”

 

 

JOHN LENNON: Bad Vinyl

 

Universal Music has admitted there's a problem with recent vinyl pressings of John Lennon's Rock and Roll LP.

 

The 1975 covers collection, one of the eight titles in its John Lennon Vinyl Box Set, contains his version of "Sweet Little 16" on two separate tracks and leaves off "You Can't Catch Me." The label says it will exchange faulty discs for new ones -- as long as the owner can show proof of purchase.

 

The eight albums will be available as individual releases next month. (Billboard)

 

 

Finally- CONGRATS DAVE!

 

Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways picked up four Emmy nominations in the technical categories, while Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck grabbed seven nominations, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

 

Thursday July 16th, 2015

The Rolling Stones have posted a new video officially putting the wraps on their Zip Code tour, which ended Wednesday night in Quebec.

 

In the clip, Keith Richards says, "We met a lot of old friends and made a lot of new ones." Ronnie Wood adds that the crowds "have been fantastic" and there was a "great feeling on stage." And Mick Jagger sums it up by saying, "I think we seem to be getting the hang of this. Maybe we should do it again sometime."

 

 

 

The tour featured 15 shows in 15 cities, along with the Stones' usual pre-tour surprise show and one private gig in San Diego, where the tour officially started on May 24th

 

 

 

 

TEDESCHI TRUCKS: Lockn' in Musicians for Mad Dogs Tribute 

Derek Trucks says he wasn't expecting the response he got once word began to get out about the Mad Dogs and Englishmen Celebrate Joe Cocker tribute that the Tedeschi Trucks Band will be leading at the Lockn' Festival in Virginia on September 11th.

 

The former Allman Brothers Band guitarist tells us that while he'd asked the more famous living members of the ensemble such as Leon Russell, Chris Stainton and Rita Coolidge to join in, what happened next both surprised and delighted him.

 

 

On Tuesday, the entire line-up for the tribute was revealed and it includes a total of nine musicians and singers from the original 1970 tour. A number of members, including saxophonist Bobby Keys, bassist Carl Radle and, of course, Joe Cocker himself are no longer with us. Trucks explains that the plans to do something with Cocker actually began while he was still alive.

 

 

In addition to the original Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Tedeschi Trucks will also have over a half dozen special guest on stage, including Chris Robinson, Dave Mason and Doyle Bramhall the Second. As Trucks says, it should be a thing.

 

 

 

GORILLAZ: New Album Next Year

 

Damon Albarn says a new album from Gorillaz will be released next year.

The Blur frontman tells Australia's ABC News that he’ll begin recording the band’s new album in September. Albarn's collaborator on the project, illustrator Jamie Hewlett, has been posting new artwork of the band’s cartoon characters to his Instagram page.

 

Gorillaz's last album was 2011's The Fall, which Albarn recorded on an iPad while on tour.

 

 

 

STEVIE WONDER: Emmy Nomination for February Special

 

Stevie Wonder could soon be adding another statuette to his already crowded trophy case. The Motown legend's TV special Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life — An All-Star Grammy Salute has received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Direction.

 

This is Stevie's second prime-time Emmy nomination -- his first came for a 1984 guest appearance on The Cosby Show.

 

The Emmys will air September 20th on FOX.

 

 

 

TOM PETTY: Done With Himself

 

Tom Petty's name is front and center on everything he does with The Heartbreakers, but he doesn't consider himself a solo artist who has a backing band.

 

So when asked if he plans to record anymore albums without The Heartbreakers, he says, "I don't see that on the horizon. Well, the truth is that I would call these guys [Heartbreakers] to play anyway. There's nobody I'm longing to play with, and I'd rather play with them. At this point in my life, it's such an honor to play with [keyboardist] Benmont [Tench] and [guitarist] Mike [Campbell]. It's just my favorite band to play with. I just don't want to make a solo record. I don't see the point."

 

Petty has released three solo albums - Full Moon Fever, Wildflowers and Highway Companion.

Petty is working on songs for another album from his pre-Heartbreakers band, Mudcrutch, which also includes Tench and Campbell. They'll start recording next month in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

FOO FIGHTERS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Jam With Me

 

Foo Fighters got some drum help from a special guest Wednesday night -- Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

 

Smith sat behind the drum kit as Taylor Hawkins took over lead vocals from Dave Grohl for a cover of Faces' "Stay With Me" at Citi Field in New York.

 

 

 

DAVID GILMOUR: New Album & Tour Details

 

David Gilmour has announced the details for his new album, Rattle That Lock, which will be released in various configurations on September 18th.

 

It's his fourth studio album and first since On an Island in 2006. The title track is the first single and will be released tomorrow (Friday). The other nine songs are:

 

5 A.M.
Faces of Stones
A Boat Lies Waiting
Dancing Right in Front of Me
In Any Tongue
Beauty
The Girl in the Yellow Dress
Today
And Then...

 

Gilmour will support the album with four U.S. dates starting on March 24th in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl, followed by:

 

3/31 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Center
4/6 - Chicago, IL - United Center
4/11 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

 

All tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday) at Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets or by phone. And each ticket purchased comes with a copy of the album.

 

 

 

THIS WEEKEND'S NEW RELEASES

 

Iron and Wine and Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses team up for Sing Into My Mouth.

 

Sublime With Rome’s first album in four years is called Sirens.

 

Joss Stone’s Water for Your Soul is her seventh album.

 

Also out this weekend are America’s eight-CD box set The Warner Brothers Years 1971-1977, Continental Drifters’ Drifted: In the Beginning and Beyond and Jason Isbell’s Something More

Than Free.

 

 

 

COLLECTIVE SOUL: Back After Six Years

 

Collective Soul will release a new album on October 2nd.

 

See What You Started by Continuing is their ninth album overall and their first in six years. It's the first recording for Collective Soul's revamped lineup, which saw original members Ed Roland, Dean Roland and Will Turpin joined by drummer Johnny Rabb in 2012 and guitarist Jesse Triplett last year.

 

The first single, "This," is streaming now on SoundCloud.

 

 

 

NEIL YOUNG: Pulls All Music From Streaming Services

 

Neil Young is pulling all his music from streaming services.

 

Unlike other musicians, Young isn't making the call for financial reasons. He says in a Facebook post, "It's about sound quality. I don't need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I don't feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It's bad for my music. For me, It's about making and distributing music people can really hear and feel. I stand for that."

 

He does leave the door open for a return, saying, "When the quality is back, I'll give it another look. Never say never."

Wednesday July 15th, 2015

JOE JACKSON will be out with a new Album and Tour this Fall.

 

Joe Jackson will be a busy man this fall when the eclectic British artist releases his first album of original music in seven years and heads out on tour.

 

Jackson, best known for the '80s hits "Stepping Out" and "Breaking Us in Two," releases Fast Forward on October 2nd. Drawn from sessions recorded in New York, Amsterdam, Berlin and New Orleans, it uses different backing players from each city. There's only one guest vocalist, 14-year-old Mitchell Sink from the Broadway musical Matilda.

 

Song wise, it's mostly originals, along with a cover of the 1930s German cabaret song "Good Bye Jonny." A preview of the track "A Little Smile" has been posted on YouTube.

Jackson's tour will stop in Washington 10/23 at the Lincoln Theatre   (Pollstar)

 

 

FOO FIGHTERS: You Say It's Your Birthday?

 

Dave Grohl continues to take his "nicest guy in rock" title seriously.

 

His latest good deeds took place at Foo Fighters Toronto show last week. Early in the concert, he spotted a six-year-old who, it turned out, was attending her first concert. He pulled her out of the crowd during "Walk" and had her stand on the side of the stage for the duration of the song. But he wasn't done there.

 

Later on, he spotted a fan holding a sign that said it was his birthday and asked if he could play drums with the band. Guess who pulled him out of the crowd and gave him the chance to live out his dream. Grohl warned the new 18-year-old, Anthony Bifolchi, "If you suck on the drums, I will personally tar and feather your ass backstage." Not to worry. The kid delivered the goods on "Big Me" and everyone went home happy.

 

 

TOM PETTY: Regrets Over "Rebels"

 

With the controversy over the Confederate flag dominating the headlines lately, Tom Petty has weighed in about his decision to use it while promoting his 1985 song "Rebels" off his Southern Accents album.

 

He has written an essay for Rolling Stone in which he says he remembers fans coming to his shows wearing flag bandanas and having it be on other clothing. "Fortunately, that went away, but it left me feeling stupid... People just need to think about how it looks to a black person. It's just awful. It's like how a swastika looks to a Jewish person. It just shouldn't be on flagpoles.

 

Beyond the flag issue, we're living in a time that I never thought we'd see. The way we're losing black men and citizens in general is horrific. What's going on in society is unforgivable. As a country, we should be more concerned with why the police are getting away with targeting black men and killing them for no reason. That's a bigger issue than the flag.”

 

 

WEEZER: Rivers' TV Pilot Grounded

 

Rivers Cuomo's plan to become king of another medium has been sidetracked -- after FOX decided to pass on the pilot for his proposed scripted series, DeTour.

 

The Weezer frontman was working on a potential series about a rock star who abandons the limelight to get a college degree, an echo of his own experience of attending Harvard off-and-on for many years. Rivers tells Vulture, "DeTour did not get picked up, so that whole chapter is closed. It’s weird. In music, if you make an album and your label decides not to put it out, you can bring it to another label and sometimes it can be a big success... In TV, I’ve learned, it’s not like that. The pilot was made, completely finished, and we can’t show it to anybody! No one will ever see it. It’s a huge waste of money.”

 

 

TAYLOR SWIFT, LORDE: Taylor Gets "Royals" Visit In D.C.

 

No one expected "Royals" at a Taylor Swift concert in our nation's capital -- but there it was.

Lorde made the 19-hour flight from Auckland to Washington D.C. to join her gal pal onstage last night (Monday) at Nationals Park, where the two hooked up on the New Zealander's

Grammy-winning song.

 

Afterward, they both took to Instagram. Taylor wrote, "When your friend flies across the world to surprise your crowd with 'Royals' because she's a wondrous angel." And Lorde captioned a photo of the two, "Looking over at my girl like, 'Can u believe this is the kind of fun stuff we get to do for a living?' THANKS TAY AND D.C. GETTING TO SING FOR U TONIGHT RULED."

 

Lorde also wrote on Twitter, "I’m gonna talk more about the show when I see it in full tomorrow. Be prepared for live tweeting and/or a long reference-heavy Tumblr post, but seriously, @taylorswift13 is the leader of a great and beautiful galaxy that I’d live in forever.”

 

There was one slight mishap in Taylor's galaxy during the show, though. A mechanical malfunction left her stuck up on a platform with no way down. She toughed it out, however, telling the crowd, "In the meantime, I’m gonna sing a song for you called 'Clean' and I hope you’ll sing along.”

 

T plays Nationals Park again tonight (Tuesday).

Friday July 10th, 2015

The Kurt Cobain Documentary 'Montage of Heck' Will Return to Theaters Next Month.

The film's run on HBO is up, so the project's distributors will have it back up on big screens in select cities starting August 7th. Montage of Heck already had a run in New York and Los Angeles, and at ArcLight Cinemas around the country, back in April to make it eligible for the Academy Awards. A Blu-ray and digital release is expected in the fall.

 

 

 

U2: Into 2016? 

 

When U2 opened their Innocence and Experience tour in May in Vancouver, we asked if there were plans to extend it into next year. The Edge told us that they would take a wait-and-see approach -- but now it appears they have something in the works.

We caught up to them this week, and The Edge told us, "We can't announce anything, but there could possibly be some extra shows next year." And bassist Adam Clayton added, "Life is long and so's the road."

 

In the meantime, U2 have four shows in Boston starting Friday night at the TD Garden. Bono says Boston was the town that broke U2 in America and that they view it as "a capital and America as a colony. We are made to feel very at home [there]."

Instead of one-night stands in multiple cities, U2 have been playing multiple nights in a select group of major cities. Drummer Larry Mullen says this approach has worked out very well.

 

"There are a lot of advantages, and it also pushes the band to be creative. We can't sit back and do the same set... It's has the affect of making the band better."

 

Following the four shows in Boston -- through next Wednesday -- U2 will park themselves at Madison Square Garden in New York for eight nights from July 18th to the 31st. Then it's on to Europe from September 4th through November 15th.

 

 

SHERYL CROW: Diner Does Delaware

 

Diner, the musical based upon the 1982 film, with songs written by Sheryl Crow, will return at the end of this year.

 

The musical was initially staged in December 2014 at Virginia’s Signature Theater with an eye to it reaching Broadway this past spring, but those plans fell through.

This second run is from December 2nd through the 27th at the Delaware Theater Company in Wilmington, Delaware. That has given rise to speculation about a Broadway debut in spring 2016.

 

 

IMAGINE DRAGONS: "Radioactive" Diamond

 

What does it take to make a radioactive diamond?

 

We don't know if that's even possible, but Imagine Dragons hit "Radioactive" has just been certified Diamond by the RIAA for a combination of sales and equivalent streams adding up to 10 million copies sold, with every 100 streams equaling one sale.

 

It follows Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," Justin Bieber's "Baby" and Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" and "Not Afraid" as Diamond-certified digital songs. Elton John's "Candle in the Wind, backed with "The Way You Look Tonight" is the only Diamond physical single.

 

The Diamond certification is yet another honor for "Radioactive," which also holds the record for the longest stay of any song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. (Billboard)

 

 

PEARL JAM, ALICE IN CHAINS: One More Mad Season Re-Issue

 

There's another re-issue on the way from Mad Season, the Seattle supergroup that brought together Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley.

 

Live at The Moore, which documents the original band's final concert, will be released on vinyl on August 28th. The 11-song set was a home video released in 1995. The audio from it was included in a deluxe edition of the band's Above album that was released in 2013.

Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin revealed earlier this week that he, McCready and Duff McKagan are recording some new tracks together.

 

 

PETER GABRIEL: New Album in the Works

 

Peter Gabriel is working on a new album -- and he's got the hard drives to prove it.

Gabriel posted a picture of the back-up hard drive that's storing the songs for the album with the caption, "New album... Backup one of three  in the anti-static case (also backed up off site to raid). And it's still getting full!"

 

Gabriel's last two albums were orchestral covers of other people's songs (Scratch My Back) and his own (New Blood). His last album of new, original songs was 2002's Up.

 

 

THE WHO: Not Happy at Glastonbury

 

A blog post on The Who's website suggests their recent set at England's Glastonbury festival was sabotaged.

 

It says, "As we began to prepare [to set up], we found someone had sabotaged the carefully tested audio connections for much of our gear. We’ve never seen that before, but we’re good at plugging things in, so all damage was repaired in time. Was it [Paul] Weller or Lionel [Richie], no way. Dalai Lama -– hmmm… he did steal the show already. Well, so far…"

 

Turns out, Pete Townshend was also unhappy with the way the set began, with the band playing "more than a little loose... Pete decided the clear sound screens in front of Zak [Starkey]’s drums were in the way, and violently pulled them over onto his amps."

 

 

KEITH RICHARDS: Its Former Owner Is a Rolling Stone

 

Last month, former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman auctioned off two of his cars, and now one formerly owned by Keith Richards is up for bids.

 

It's a 1965 Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur, which Keith used to affectionately refer to as "Blue Lena," after the legendary singer Lena Horne. He bought it new in '65, and for the most part everything is original, even the hidden storage compartment he had built into it for carrying his stash of illegal goods. It was this car that he drove to Morocco in the late '60s along with Brian Jones in an attempt to escape drug charges in England. He later banged up the car after falling asleep at the wheel, with his nose reportedly leaving a mark on the dashboard.

 

Bonhams will put it on the auction block in England on September 12th at the Goodwood Revival, and it is expected to go for anywhere from $610,000 to $920,000.

 

Meanwhile...

 

The Rolling Stones paid tribute to Motown Records Wednesday night in Detroit by covering The Temptations' "Just My Imagination." The last U.S. show on the Zip Code tour is Saturday in Orchard Park, New York, just outside Buffalo, followed by the tour finale next Wednesday in Quebec City.

 

 

DAVID CROSBY: Doesn’t Like Kanye. Period.

 

David Crosby has taken another shot at Kanye West. Asked on Twitter what he thought about Kanye's statement at last month's Glastonbury Festival that he's "the greatest rock star of all time" Crosby replied, "He can't write, sing or play at all. He is an egomaniac. He is dumb as a post. He creates nothing. He helps no one. [I'm] not picking a fight. Just call 'em like I see 'em."

 

 

SNOW PATROL: Lightbody to Play West Coast Solo Shows

 

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has announced a run of six intimate West Coast solo dates starting at Sodo Lounge in Seattle on July 29th. The other dates are:

 

7/30 - Portland, OR - Star Theater
8/2 - San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
8/4 - Santa Cruz, CA - Don Quixote's Music Hall
8/5 - Napa, CA - City Winery
8/8 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo

 

 

FINALLY…

 

American Authors release the video for their single “Go Big or Go Home” tomorrow (Friday). In case you can’t wait, they’ve posted a 15-second snippet on their Facebook page.

 

Duran Duran have moved the release date of their 14th album, Paper Gods, up a week. It will now come out on September 11th.

 

Billy Zoom, guitarist with the seminal L.A. punk band X, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer and will start chemotherapy next week. Five years ago, the now-67-year-old revealed that he’d been successfully treated for prostate cancer. A Web page has been set up to raise money for his medical costs at GoFundMe.com/yx66a4.