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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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."

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).

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.
 

Pearl Jam, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé have all signed on to headline the Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park on Saturday, September 26th.

This free, ticketed event is in support of the new Global Goals, a United Nations program to fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty by 2030.

Free tickets for the show are being awarded by lottery to those who take online actions on GlobalCitizenFestival.com to help the world’s poor. Everyone else can just kick back and watch it at home. MSNBC and YouTube will air it live.

Hey Donald, You"ve Got to Change Your Evil Ways. 

Carlos Santana, who was born in Mexico in 1947, doesn't look very kindly on presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Carlos writes: "Donald Trump, Spirit requires integration, total acceptance of everyone in this blessed planet. I invite you to utilize your power of wealth to restore, amend and heal your relationship with ALL your sisters and brothers. It's never too late to graduate from the university of FEAR. I believe in YOU. Your light can make a difference on our great nation. When the power of love replaces the love for power, divinity is who you really are -- LIGHT. Peace to you, your family and all your immigrant employees, Carlos.”

ED SHEERAN: Doesn't Smell Like Teen Spirit

Plenty of stars, both female and male, have started selling their own fragrances in recent years, but Ed Sheeran isn't on the bandwagon.

Ed tells Britain's Sun that he was approached by a company that wanted to market a scent with his name on it, but quickly turned down the offer -- in part because he believes fans think he smells "like sweat, shame and stale cigarettes."

The ginger-haired singer says, "Someone was asking me about setting up my own perfume the other day... I think I look like I don't wash. I do shower twice a day but I don't think anyone would buy a perfume." (ContactMusic)

KEITH RICHARDS: Stepping Out Solo in September

Keith Richards will release Crosseyed Heart, his third studio solo album -- the first in more than 20 years -- on September 18th. The first single, "Trouble," will be out July 17th, two days after the end of The Rolling Stones' Zip Code tour.

Keith says, "I had a ball making this new record and working with drummer Steve Jordan and guitarist Waddy Wachtel again. There’s nothing like walking into a studio and having absolutely no idea what you’re going to come out with on the other end. If you're looking for ‘Trouble,’ you've come to the right place.”

Other titles on the 15-track collection include "Robbed Blind,” “Love Overdue,” “Blues in the Morning,” "Lovers Plea," "Nothing on Me," "Amnesia" and “Illusion,” a duet with Norah Jones, who co-wrote the song.

Keith's other studio albums are Main Offender (1992) and Talk Is Cheap (1988).

GREEN DAY: Only Summer Date Axed

Green Day's only show of the summer has been canceled.

The band was supposed to headline the new NiFi Fest at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky August 28th through the 30th. But the festival's promoters issued a statement on Wednesday that said, "We simply cannot deliver the NiFi vision and fan experience at our desired level of excellence given the lack of ticket sales to date." Refunds will be issued within the next two weeks.

The festival lineup had also included Kings of Leon, Gov’t Mule, Weezer, Spoon, Bleachers, The New Pornographers and Benjamin Booker.

JIMMY EAT WORLD: Jim's Solo Series

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World will release his first solo music this summer.

The frontman will release a bunch of digital singles to go along with his solo tour, starting this Friday with the new original "I Will Go." Every Friday between now and August 14th, Adkins will put on a digital single, with all of the tracks being released as a set of three seven-inch singles on September 11th. That physical release will have three originals and three covers -- including takes on Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and Beck's "Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard."

Adkins continues his U.S. solo tour Thursday in Columbia, South Carolina.

GRATEFUL DEAD: End of an Era in More Ways Than One

Not only did Fare Thee Well mark the end of the Grateful Dead, it appears to have marked the end of a time when concert-goers are routinely busted for smoking pot -- at least in Chicago, where weed is already decriminalized.

Billboard reports that, for 200,000 Deadheads who gathered in and around Soldier Field over the three days of Fare Thee Well, there were only three marijuana-related arrests -- and just one for possession of over 15 grams, which is still a felony there. During that same period, seven people were killed and 40 others shot in Chicago, so chasing pot smokers probably shouldn't be a police priority there.

A bill to decriminalize marijuana possession in the entire state of Illinois is currently awaiting the signature of governor Bruce Rauner, who actually attended Fare Thee Well on Friday.
 

Check out the U2 Tribute band that played the “Experience” stage at U2’s show in Toronto Monday Night.

If you've been to any of the shows on U2's Innocence and Experience tour, you know that the main stage is the Innocence stage and the small round one at the opposite end of the arena is the Experience stage. Well, the Experience stage is more like the Inexperience stage, as Bono has been inviting quite a cast of characters to perform on it -- including an Elvis impersonator and a Bono impersonator. And Mondaynight in Toronto, it was a complete U2 tribute band.

Acrobat took the stage while Bono, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton stood by and watched them perform "Desire." The Edge played a little guitar and Bono chimed in towards the end with background vocals and harmonica.

Also joining U2 at the first of two Toronto shows was Jessica, a belly dancer who gyrated her way through "Mysterious Ways." She actually joined them on stage in Toronto 10 years ago.

The video for "Song for Someone" off of Songs of Innocence, will premiere on Thursday during The Sundance Channel's Rectify at 10 p.m. ET. The video stars Woody Harrelson, who is released from prison after years of incarceration, along with his daughter, Zoe Harrelson. The short film thematically links to Rectify, which follows the story of Daniel Holden and his family as they struggle to move forward after Daniel’s release from 19 years on death row. Ironically, Harrelson's father, Charles Harrelson, was arrested in 1979 for killing a federal judge in San Antonio and he was sentenced to life in prison where he died in 2007.

NOEL GALLAGHER: Vinyl Sales Soar in Britain

Vinyl sales for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds have been soaring at home in Britain during the first half of this year.

The former Oasis guitarist and his band not only have their country's top-selling vinyl album over the past six months with Chasing Yesterday, they've got the top three vinyl singles there in "Riverman," "Ballad of the Mighty I" and "The Dying of the Light," plus the number-seven seller with "In the Heat of the Moment."

Also charting with vinyl sales are Led Zeppelin, whose expanded vinyl reissues of Physical Graffiti and IV came in second and eighth on the first half of the year's chart; David Bowie, who had three reissued singles, including "Changes" and "Young Americans," in the Top 10; and Gallagher's old Brit-pop nemesis, Blur, whose reunion album and its first single are number-four in each category. (The Guardian)

JONI MITCHELL: Attorney Says She's "Made Remarkable Progress"

The saga over the state of Joni Mitchell's health continues with her attorney saying the 71-year-old singer-songwriter "has made remarkable progress" and "is expected to make a full recovery" after suffering a brain aneurysm and stroke in March.

Attorney Rebecca J. Thyne made those comments in papers filed on July 2nd in Los Angeles related to Mitchell's conservatorship.

The comments contradict her long-time friend David Crosby's statement last month that Mitchell was "not speaking yet."

Thyne painted a different picture when she wrote about a June 26th visit to Mitchell's California home. "When I arrived she was seated at her kitchen table feeding herself lunch," she wrote.

According to Thyne, Mitchell told her she wants her conservatorship to continue, adding, "She also told me that she receives excellent care from caregivers round-the-clock. It was clear that she was happy to be home and that she has made remarkable progress. She has physical therapy each day and is expected to make a full recovery."

However, Thyne suggested that Mitchell lacks the ability to give informed consent for medical treatments and her long-time friend, Leslie Morris -- who had been acting in the role of conservator -- be named her official conservator. (People).

Has success spoiled U2 -- and do they need defending?

Those are kind of funny questions to be asking 35 years into an amazingly successful career, but an article posted Sunday at Salon.com examines why the biggest band of the modern rock era has become such a lightning rod for criticism. Titled Leave U2 Alone: Why Did One of Our Best Rock Bands Become So Loathed?, the piece lays out some reasons why the group seems to be surrounded by a "thicket of negativity."

Writer Annie Zaleski contends that "once musicians reach a certain level of fame, it’s open season on everything from their background to their intentions to their (perceived) overexposure." Their hugeness leads to them seeming "out-of-reach and untouchable," which in turn makes them "particularly vulnerable to scrutiny." She points out how Bono, in particular, can come across as both arrogant -- as with his defense of the band's forced download of Songs of Innocence on iTunes -- and humble, as when he self-deprecatingly described his recent bicycle accident.

She concludes that while U2 are very serious about their "music, politics and charity," they "often aren’t taking themselves very seriously." That, she says, is what has helped them survive as long as they have, and may enable them to get past what seems like a never-ending stream of hostility.

NEW ORDER: Killer(s) Guests on Album

New Order have announced a couple of killer guests on their upcoming album, Music Complete.

Brandon Flowers of The Killers, who took their name from the New Order track "Crystal," sings on the album's closer, "Superheated." And Iggy Pop appears on a track called "Stray Dog."

Music Complete, New Order's first full-length album in a decade, will be out on September 25th.

GRATEFUL DEAD: Big Bucks for Charity

Not only did The Grateful Dead bring their 50-year career to an end on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago, they also helped raise more than half-a-million dollars for HeadCount, a non-profit that "works with musicians to promote participation in democracy."

The four core members -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart -- along with their support staff of Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Chimenti, signed a guitar that was auctioned for $526,000 on Sunday. Weir played the guitar during the June 28th Fare Thee Well show in Santa Clara, California.

In addition to the signatures, the guitar also features the words "Fare Thee Well" and the band's skull logo on the back.

YOKO ONO: Outrage at "Jihadi John"

Yoko Ono is outraged that a key ISIS terrorist took his nom-de-guerre from her late husband. She says that Mohammed Emwazi's calling himself "Jihadi John" is "very distasteful" and runs against everything that she and John Lennon believed in.

Long known as a commited pacifist -- as was her late husband, as symbolized by their song "Give Peace a Chance" -- Ono adds, "I’m not going to let them destroy John Lennon or The Beatles... I don’t like to use the word optimistic because that sounds like it’s not really true, but I think we’re actually on the road to world peace."

Emwazi, who lived in London for nearly 20 years, is believed to have beheaded at least five hostages, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

IN OTHER NEWS

Courtney Barnett will open up Blur's concerts at the Hollywood Bowl on October 20th and at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 23rd.

Jake Bugg has been working on his third album with Mike D of Beastie Boys.

Keane singer Tom Chapin has posted a new solo demo called "Love Wins" on his SoundCloud page. He says it was inspired by "a song title submitted by a fan and inspired by the good news of things changing in America."

RINGO: All He Is Saying Is Give Peace & Love a Chance...Ringo Starr celebrates another milestone birthday tomorrow (Tuesday) when he turns 75. And as he's done for the past 10 years, all he asks is that at noon, wherever you are, just say, "Peace and Love." He says doing so will make his "heart sing."

Ringo, along with his wife Barbara Bach and friends, will be making their proclamations in front of the landmark Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood.

ERIC CLAPTON: Soundtrack Work
 
Eric Clapton has composed his first film soundtrack since working on the Lethal Weapon franchise in the late '80s and early '90s.

This latest effort is for director Philippe Mora's documentary, Three Days in Auschwitz, which will debut at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland on July 24th. Mora, who's been friends with Clapton since 1967, says, "This was a unique and trusting collaboration between old friends. I was simply blown away by Eric's score for this film, which combined the tragedy of the events with a celebration of life. He created music with great dignity and emotional power. In my opinion, this is one for the ages."

Clapton produced Mora's first film, 1969's Trouble in Molopolis, and he composed music for Mora's 1989 alien encounter film, Communion.

JACK WHITE: Return of Dead Weather

One of Jack White's side bands, The Dead Weather, will return with a new album in September.

Dodge and Burn contains remixed versions of four tracks that appeared on seven-inch singles the past two years, as well as eight new songs recorded by White, Alison Mosshart, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence (who's in The Raconteurs with White). A deluxe version of the album will be released only through Third Man Records' Vault subscription service. You can join the mail order service now through July 31st to get the deluxe Dodge and Burn.

The band says it won't tour behind the album, which is not surprising, since White announced earlier this year that he planned to take a break from the road for a while.

BLUR: Damon Gets Carried Away...Literally

Damon Albarn just didn't want the night to end Saturday at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

The Blur frontman was performing with one of his many side projects, Africa Express, and was having such a good time that he didn't want to leave after the collective's five-hour set hit the 4:00 a.m. curfew. After festival organizers asked Albarn to wrap things up, he refused and instead encouraged the audience to cheer for another song. Eventually, security carried him off stage.

Check out a clip of the bizarre sequence on YouTube.

AMY WINEHOUSE: Doc Sets Box Office Record

Amy, the Amy Winehouse documentary, set a new box office record in England over the weekend.

The film had the biggest U.K. opening of any British-made documentary, grossing $810,000. It's the second-best opening weekend for a documentary film ever in Britain -- only Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 earned more in U.K. theaters in its opening weekend.

Amy did pretty well in limited release in the U.S. -- it grossed $222,000 in just six theaters. It will expand into more on Friday.

FOO FIGHTERS: Throne of Grohl

Dave Grohl got to celebrate Foo Fighters' 20th anniversary at a huge July 4th concert in his onetime hometown of Washington, D.C.

It was a show many figured he and the band would have to miss after he broke a leg and dislocated an ankle falling off a stage in Sweden last month, but Grohl would not be deterred. He told the crowd, "I would never have canceled this show. This is the one!" Instead, his leg in a purple cast, he motored around the stage in a mobile throne with flashing lights, a display of guitar necks and the band's FF logo.

Grohl told the crowd how he conceived of the throne while introducing "Big Me," the sixth song in a two-and-a-half-hour show. Later he dedicated "For All the Cows," from Foo Fighters' debut album -- which was released on July 4th, 1995 -- to his mother, Virginia Grohl, and brought her out on stage.

The show ended with two covers during a fireworks display -- Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."

The festival-style show also featured performances from Joan Jett, D.C. band Trouble Funk and three artists spotlighted in the first season of Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways series: Gary Clark Junior, Buddy Guy and Trombone Shorty.

The show also served as the kickoff of Foo Fighters' summer tour. The band (and throne)'s next date is tomorrow (Tuesday) in Camden, New Jersey.

PAUL McCARTNEY: Still Competing With John Lennon

John Lennon's name can still ruffle Paul McCartney's feathers. Rehashing old hurts for a cover story in British Esquire, Sir Paul says, "The Beatles split up and we were sort of all equal. George did his record, John did his, I did mine, Ringo did his...We were equal. When John got shot, aside from the pure horror of it, the lingering thing was, OK, well now John’s a martyr. A JFK.

I started to get frustrated because people started to say, 'Well, he was The Beatles.' And me, George and Ringo would go, 'Er, hang on. It’s only a year ago we were all equal-ish.'

Yeah, John was the witty one, sure. John did a lot of great work, yeah. And post-Beatles he did more great work, but he also did a lot of not-great work. Now the fact that he’s now martyred has elevated him to a James Dean, and beyond."

He also complains about Yoko Ono. "[She] would appear in the press, and I’d read it, and it said, 'Paul did nothing! All he did was book the studio.' Well, OK, now people know that’s not true. But that was just part of it. There was a lot of revisionism: John did this, John did that."

He's also never gotten over Lennon's name being first in the composition credits for all the songs they wrote for The Beatles -- even "Yesterday," which did not involve John at all. Paul recalls that, around the time of The Beatles Anthology, Yoko agreed to have Paul's name listed first on songs that were clearly his -- but then reneged.
 

ED SHEERAN: Something Horrible Is Brewing

Ed Sheeran plans to leave his guitar behind when he steps in front of the camera later this summer for an acting role he describes as "really, really dark."

The ginger-haired singer, who has said he'd love a guest spot on Game of Thrones, tells Britain's Sun, "I have an acting job coming out after July. I can't say too much about it because the pilot just got picked up, which is good, but it's a TV show. It's a medieval TV show and it's really, really dark. It's gruesome and it's going to be fine because my friend wrote it."

This isn't the singer's first foray into acting: he had a cameo on the British soap opera Home and Away earlier this year.

PUMPKINS, MANSON: Tour Starts Tuesday  

The Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson kick off their co-headline tour Tuesday in Concord, California.

Even though Billy Corgan and Manson have said they don't see The End Times Tour as a '90s nostalgia-fest, it could be seen that way, especially with the return of original Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

Corgan predicts that long-time fans of both acts will "get a great show, it won’t be a surprise to those fans." He does want to surprise those who are casual listeners, or have written the veteran acts off. Corgan says this tour will "show people we’re still very capable of causing a lot of trouble”

SPOON: They Want My Cards

Spoon are going for an untapped market when it comes to their latest piece of merchandise -- professional gamblers.

T

he band have a pack of playing cards inspired by the artwork on They Want My Soul. The band posted a picture with two of the members holding the cards on their Facebook page. The image was originally intended as part of They Want My Soul's packaging, but ended up getting cut from the final version.

The deck, which you can buy now from Spoon's webstore, contains 56 cards -- the standard 52 cards, two R.I.P. cards (instead of Jokers), one two-tone double-backed card and a 4 that includes all four suits.

As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, a fun story in Billboard picks the top musical figure in each of the 50 states.

Appearing under the trade magazine's Chart Beat banner, the choices -- while skewed toward chart presence -- are subjective. The criteria are loose, as well. It's mostly, but by no means totally, based on state of birth, though some are where artists grew up or are most identified with.

For us here in Maryland: Hailing from Severn, Toni Braxton has enjoyed five No. 1s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and 11 top 10s, including two No. 1s, on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Rock artists are named tops in about half the states. Here's a list of those and a few others of interest:

Arizona - Stevie Nicks

Arkansas - Johnny Cash

California - The Beach BoysColorado - John Denver (via identification, he was born in New Mexico)

Connecticut - John MayerDelaware - George Thorogood

Georgia - Ray Charles (beat out R.E.M. and The B-52s)Indiana - Michael Jackson (with apologies to John Mellencamp)

Michigan - Madonna (They apologize to Bob Seger, but fail to even mentionAretha Franklin or Eminem, who was chosen to represent his birth state, Missouri, over rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, who's lived there for almost 90 years

Minnesota - Prince (with apologies to Bob Dylan, not to mention -- and they didn't -- The Replacements)

Montana - Jeff Ament, bassist of Pearl Jam (slim pickings in Montana, folks)

Nevada - The Killers

New Jersey - Bruce Springsteen

New Mexico - The Shins

New York - Billy Joel

Ohio - Chrissie Hynde

Vermont - Phish

Virginia - Bruce Hornsby (not sure how he beats out Dave Matthews Band, a far greater chart presence, and Virginia-based from the start, despite Dave being a native of South Africa)

Washington - Nirvana

Wisconsin - Les Paul (without whom...)

Amy Winehouse's father Mitch is so unhappy about the new documentary film about his daughter that he wants to make a competing movie to refute it.
The Daily Mirror reports that he and Amy's onetime fiancé Reg Traviss are considering teaming up to produce a feature-length film from their perspective. The paper cites a source that says, "Mitch and Reg are talking about doing something to correct all the wrongs and omissions in [Amy]. Their own take on Amy’s life is being discussed."
 

Amy opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend and expands nationwide on July 10th.

A test pressing of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album, believed to be one of only five in existence, can be yours for a mere $12,000.

The West Coast record chain Amoeba recently purchased a collection of 4,000 vinyl albums from the family of someone in the record industry and found the rare disc among them. It is currently for sale Amoeba's Hollywood location, priced at $12,000.

"The New York Version" is different from the album that was released in 1975. It contains alternate takes of five songs, recorded in the Big Apple and then replaced by versions Dylan cut in Minnesota: "Tangled Up in Blue," "You're a Big Girl," "Idiot Wind," "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" and "If You See Her, Say Hello."

Chris Martin of Coldplay was the talk of social media in India Wednesday night after he did a surprise set at club in Delhi.
 

He's in the country doing charity work with Oxfam and Global Citizen and had gone to dinner with actress Freida Pinto and musician Vishal Dadlani. According to Dadlani, "We were at a dinner together, and he just went, 'Let's go play somewhere'! And, boom!" The set at the Summerhouse Cafe saw Martin do "Fix You," "Paradise" and "Viva la Vida." The celebs who were there posted pictures on Twitter and Instagram, which caused Martin's name to trend across India.

The Black Keys had a funny Twitter exchange with the world's most powerful music fan -- President Barack Obama.

During a Twitter Q-and-A the Commander in Chief held yesterday (Wednesday), someone asked his "favorite song of the moment," and the President responded that he'd been listening to "Lonely Boy" that morning.

A couple of hours later the band retweeted what the President wrote and added, "Can we use Air Force One for our upcoming gigs?"
Late Wednesday night the President delivered a great comeback -- "It's not mine; just a loaner. Maybe you can come play at the White House sometime instead?"

One by one, the holdouts against streaming services continue to give in, with Radiohead's Thom Yorke the latest to capitulate.

Despite having had major issues with the way artists have been compensated by streaming services in general and Spotify in particular, Yorke appears to have agreed to participate in the new Apple Music service.

His two solo efforts, the album by Atoms For Peace -- his side band that also includes Flea -- and Radiohead’s In Rainbows are all found on the service, according to Consequence of Sound, who point out that Apple compensates artists slightly above the rate paid by Spotify.

After doing two shows last weekend in Santa Clara, California at Levi's Stadium, the Grateful Dead will say goodbye this weekend with threeFare Thee Well 50th anniversary shows at Soldier Field in Chicago, site of the band's last show with Jerry Garcia on July 9th, 1995. He died a month later, August 9th, 1995 of a heart attack while in rehab.

The band's four core members -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmannand Mickey Hart -- will be joined by keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, along with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. And Jerry almost joined them as his daughter Trixie says, "We came very close to making the Jerry hologram. I met with people and was very interested in trying to make the Jerry hologram where he appears for a couple seconds -- like a rainbow... It just didn't work out. It was too much."

One of the hottest ticket of the summer, with some asking for nine-grand a ticket on StubHub, the best seat might be in your living room as it isavailable on Pay-Per-View, YouTube, as well as select movie theaters. And, if you want to wait, the Chicago shows will be released on CD, DVD, Blu-ray -- as well as digitally -- on November 20th.
 

The Pay-Per-View event is being hosted by former NBA great and literally the biggest Dead Head of them all, Bill Walton, who, when Sunday's show is over, will have seen his favorite band 859 times, which is 391 more Dead shows than NBA games he played in. He attended his first show in 1967, but he says if you think about it, "That’s less than 20 shows a year, so that’s nothing!"
 

Not only is the Dead taking over Soldier Field, but literally what may seem like all of Chicago as two official Grateful Dead trucks will be truckin' the streets, selling every kind of merchandise imaginable, including T-shirts, hats, hoodies, jewelry, tote bags, lacrosse equipment and more. Each truck will also be handing out a free map of the city dubbed The Official Dead Head's Guide to Chicago, which you can also download at Dead.net/Chicago.
 

Illinois State Representative Scott Drury drafted a resolution, which was presented to the General Assembly. In it he requested that the city "wish the Grateful Dead much success at its upcoming concerts...at Soldier Field and which the individual band members of the Grateful Dead much success in their future endeavors."
 

The question now remains, will these be the final shows for the Dead? Perhaps not, there are rumors of a fall tour with John Mayer on guitar.