Pulse Music

Bono is bringing his Stories Of Surrender musical book tour back to New York City next spring. As it stands now the U2 frontman, who is promoting his memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, has rolled out a total of eight dates at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre.

Earlier this fall Bono promoted his book and musical theatre chats in New York City, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Across the Atlantic, Bono hit London and Manchester, England; Glasgow, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; and Madrid, Spain.

Bono has been one of the leaders in the rock community to raise awareness of the devastating role poverty plays on shaping global matters: "It's hard to make this a popular cause. It's hard to make it 'pop,' y'know, and I guess that's what my job is, 'cause pop is often -- sadly often -- the oxygen of politics. Didn't John and Robert Kennedy come to Harvard? Isn't equality a son-of-a-bitch to follow through on? Isn't 'love thy neighbor' in the global village so inconvenient? God writes us these lines, but we have to sing them, and take them to the top of the charts. But it's not what the radio is playing, is it? I know."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Bono's "Stories Of Surrender" Beacon Theatre performances (subject to change):

April 16, 17, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
May 3 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Taylor Swift will go head-to-head for the Best Song category at the 2023 Golden Globes.

Swift was nominated for "Carolina" from Where the Crawdads Sing, Gaga and Bloodpop received a nod for "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun Maverick, and Tems, Ludwig Goransson, Rihanna and Ryan Coogler will represent Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with their song "Lift Me Up."

Other nominees in the category include Pinoccio's Guillermo del Toro & Roeban Katz for "Cio Papa" and RRR's Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj for "Naatu Naatu."

Some Swifties have been given another chance to score tickets to the Eras Tour.

According to Billboard, and unknown number of Taylor Swift fans who signed up for the Ticketmaster Verified Fan pre-sale were notified that they will get the opportunity to try and secure tickets at a sale later this month.

A note sent to the lucky fans read, "Congratulations, you have been selected to participate in a limited-time opportunity to request to purchase 2 tickets to Taylor Swift The Eras Tour. You were selected for this opportunity because you have been identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets. We apologized for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor's team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets."

The ticket purchasing window will be staggered by tour date and will begin some time before December 23rd.

ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd are teaming up for a 23-date joint run this summer, dubbed "The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour." The trek kicks off on July 21st at West Palm Beach, Florida's iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre and runs all the way through September 17th when the two iconic Southern Rock legends hit Camden, New Jersey's Freedom Mortgage Pavilion. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 16th, at 10 a.m.

It's going on 40 years after ZZ Top's MTV era-defining 1983 Eliminator album, which featured such instant band classics as "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs." We asked guitarist Billy F. Gibbons how the band was able to embrace the 1980's while staying true to themselves musically: "Yeah, well as the old saying goes: 'One foot in the blues.' It keeps it honest and kinda straight ahead. We can narrow the range -- take it far left, far right; let's go back to step one -- the blues."

Frontman Johnny Van Zant told us that the best of Lynyrd Skynyrd's music has always seemed to defy genres: "They gave us a tag years ago of 'Southern Rock,' and to me I always thought that must mean it's 'Country Rock,' which is the truth, and around our house we were listening to Merle Haggard and George Jones, but we also watched Ed Sullivan and saw Elvis Presley and the Beatles, too, and loved all that stuff too, so there's no boundaries in music these days."

ZZ Top kicks off their latest string of dates on February 4th in Taupo, New Zealand at Taupo Amphitheatre Riverside Park.

Lynyrd Skynyrd next performs on February 23rd in San Antonio, Texas at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

JUST ANNOUNCED: ZZ Top / Lynyrd Skynyrd tour dates (subject to change):

July 21 - West Palm Beach, FL - iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
July 23 - Alpharetta, GA - Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
July 28 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
July 29 - Fort Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
July 30 - Woodlands, TX - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell
August 7 - Denver, CO - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
August 10 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
August 11 - Wheatland, CA - Toyota Amphitheatre
August 13 - Phoenix, AZ - Ak-Chin Pavilion
August 17 - Maryland Heights, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
August 19 - Tinley Park, IL - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
August 20 - Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center
August 25 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
August 26 - Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
August 27 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage
September 1 - Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
September 2 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
September 3 - Burgettstown, PA - The Pavilion at Star Lake
September 8 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
September 9 - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium
September 10 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
September 15 - Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
September 17 - Camden, NJ - Freedom Mortgage Pavilion

Selena Gomez responded to a viral TikTok video that claimed she was "always skinny" while dating Justin Bieber because the "Peaches" singer would "rather" date "models."

The Rare Beauty founder left a sad-face emoji in the comments section of the clip, leading fands to wonder if she was upset that she was being body shamed or if she was admitting that Bieber did think she was "too normal" and wanted her to have a smaller frame.

Kiss has announced the band's final UK gigs for this June as part of their ongoing "End Of The Road" tour. Five of the six of the dates will take place in major hubs in Britain -- with the tour wrapping in Glasgow, Scotland, with NME reported tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT this Friday, December 16th.

The band said in a statement about their final go 'round:

All that we have built and all that we have conquered over the past four decades could never have happened without the millions of people worldwide who've filled clubs, arenas and stadiums over those years.

This will be the ultimate celebration for those who've seen us and a last chance for those who haven't. KISS Army, we're saying goodbye on our final tour with our biggest show yet and we'll go out the same way we came in. . . Unapologetic and Unstoppable.

Gene Simmons, who's been a songwriter for well over 50 years, told us that style will never trump substance when it comes down to the art of crafting a song, explaining that the groove and the melody need to be there before any of the bells and whistles: "At the end of the day, you're going to be judged by -- and I'm not the judge or jury, by any chance -- of the people, for the people, by the people. It's less about being in a punk band, 'cause other than the (Sex) Pistols and (the) Clash, there ain't no other punk bands. I know, we talk about the Misfits. . . but we're talking about successful bands."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Kiss UK tour dates (subject to change):

June 3 - Plymouth, England - Home Park
June 5 - Birmingham, England - Resorts World Arena
June 6 - Newcastle, England - Utilita Arena
July 7 - Manchester, England - AO Arena
July 8 - Glasgow, Scotland - OVO Hydro

It was 36 years ago today -- December 13th, 1986 -- that Bruce Hornsby & The Range scored their sole Number One hit to date -- the poignant coming-of-age track and one-week chart-topper, "The Way It Is."

Hornsby -- a Williamsburg, Virginia native -- went on to score six more Top 40 hits over the next few years -- including the 1987's "Mandolin Rain" (#4) and "Every Little Kiss" (#14), 1988's "The Valley Road" (#5) and "Look Out Any Window" (#35), along with 1990's "Across The River."

In 1989, Don Henley's Bruce Hornsby co-written "The End Of The Innocence" peaked at Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100.

When we last caught up to Bruce Hornsby, he told us he thinks "The Way It Is" hit the way it did because it was such a departure from the mainstream: "I think of Top 40 hits -- mine, others -- as novelty records, okay? I think of 'The Way It Is' as a novelty record in the best sense, in the same sense as I think of (Dire Straits') 'Sultans Of Swing' as a novelty record, or 'Fast Car' by Tracy Chapman. Those songs sounded so different from anything else, and their sound was, I guess, alluring to people."

Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers will next perform on January 20th at Scottsdale, Arizona's Virginia G. Piper Theater. Following that, on January 22nd, Hornsby and the band will play Tucson's Fox Tucson Theatre.

The official online John Lennon shop has posted a string of new holiday merchandise products, mostly based around his and wife Yoko Ono's 1971 classic "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." In addition to shirts, caps and blankets that proclaim, alternately, "Peace Love Truth," "War Is Over," "Happy Xmas," there is a "Hair Peace" wool cap, a "Bed peace" blanket -- as well as a new "And so this is Christmas. . ." crewneck and greeting card.

To biew the entire 2022 perch line, log on to: https://store.johnlennon.com/

John Lennon recalled the impetus to writing and recording the now-Christmas classic, 1971's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)": "What we wanted to do was have something (laughs) besides 'White Christmas' being played every Christmas, y'know? And there's always a war, right? There's always someone gettin' shot. So, every year you can play it and there's always someone being tortured or shot somewhere, so the lyrics stands in that respect."

David Crosby isn't necessarily ruling out performing live again. He and his Lighthouse Band are receiving great reviews for the new concert set, Live At The Capitol Theatre. Back in May, the now 81-year-old Crosby publicly stated he was quitting the road due to his age and his lack of stamina.

During a new chat with Ultimate Classic Rock, Crosby backtracked a bit, saying, "It's possible that I could teach my guitar parts to somebody else. I can't play well enough anymore. I've got tendonitis in both hands. I can't play well enough for my standards on stage. I could probably get away with it and you'd probably like it, but it's not good enough for me. It's possible I might do a residency some place. We'll see. . . I miss it really badly. I love playing live."

Regarding his connection to the younger players in the Lighthouse Band, he said, "Y'know, in your lifetime, man, you could try a lot of times to put a group of people together in a room and make music. Every once in a while, it will be magical. That's when there's a chemistry going on in there. This one was definitely one of those. It was like the last night of a tour and we had done really well. We'd polished ourselves up to where we were very confident and very happy. You can hear it in our voices. We're just extremely joyful and really into it. It's rare that you get that kind of thing recorded, but we did and we're lucky."

During his last tour, David Crosby revealed to us that his current collaborators have helped him reach a new plateau creatively: "It finally hit what I thought it would be in the first place. And it takes time; a band is a chemistry -- they had to find out how to respect each other and leave room for each other. The whole thing had to have time for the chemistry to gel, and it did. And two nights ago, it was one of the best nights of my life. Ever. I don't think there's ever been a ‘Deja Vu' better than two nights ago. There were several things we did that were the best I've ever done with anybody. So, I'm (as) happy as I could possibly be. It's like a dream coming true for me working with cats that good."

Taylor Swift is not just a musician, she's an auteur.

Searchlight pictures announced Friday (December 9th) that the "Anti-Hero" singer will direct an unnamed film for which she wrote the original script.

According to Variety, Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said, "Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey.

Last week, Swift posted behind-the-scenes video of herself directing the short film for "All To Well" on Instagram. She wrote, "I loved every second of it and I will always remember it."

Finneas doesn't think the Jonas Brothers are a typical boy band.

In a conversation for The Hollywood Reporter's "Songwriters Roundtable," the 25-year-old hitmaker told Joe Jonas, "Jonas Brothers are songwriters, man. I think that separates him from a traditional boy band."

The two also bonded over Camp Rock. Finneas admitted that the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie made him want to learn to play guitar.

The DNCE singer responded, "It made me want to learn how to play guitar, too, and I still am trying."

Justin Bieber, Snoop Dog, and The Weeknd and dozens of other celebrities are being sued for promoting NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

According to a complaint obtained by Billboard, Adonis Real and Adam Titcher claim that Bored Ape parent company Yuga Labs Inc "discreetly" paid "highly influential celebrities" to inflate the value of their NFTs, leading investors with "staggering losses."

In a statement to Billboard, a spokesman for Yuga Labs denied the allegations: "In our view, these claims are opportunistic and parasitic. We strongly believe that they are without merit, and look forward to proving as much."

Other notable names on the defandant list include Madonna, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Kevin Hart, Stephen Curry, Diplo, Post Malone, Future, and DJ Khaled.

The Rolling Stones have just dropped the live video for "Happy" as featured on the band's latest archival release, titled Grrr Live! The multimedia release drops on February 10th and was recorded on December 15th, 2012 during the band's "50 And Counting" tour stop at Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center.

Keith Richards remains puzzled how a band that started in 1962 is still gaining new and younger fans: "I don't know how we crossed the (laughs) generation gaps. I can only presume that it's good music and everybody's had a good feeling when they hear it when they grow up with it. There's the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat -- and then there's the Rolling Stones. And I guess we're just part of the furniture, y'know?"

Over 45 years since first hitting the road with the Rolling Stones, Ron Wood says that he and Keith Richards still possess a sixth sense about how to intertwine their guitar work onstage: "That was something that Keith and I have always luckily had from the start. We never planned, as such, what we are gonna do individually. We have a knack of if one goes this way, the other one will slide in this way. On a certain number, we don't even look at each other. If I wanna take the solo, I'll take it, right? And if he wants to take it, he'll take it."

ABC has canceled A Very Backstreet Holiday.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the special, scheduled to air on December 14th, was dropped following claims that Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter raped a fan.

In a civil lawsuit filed in Nevada, Shannon "Shay" Ruth alleges that Carter raped heron his tour bus after a concert in Tacoma, Washington in 2001. She was only 17 at the time.

Despite Thursday's (December 8th) court filing, Carter and the rest of the boy band performed at Jingle Ball in New York City Friday night (December 9th).

It was 52 years ago tonight (December 12th, 1970) that the Doors played their final concert with the late-Jim Morrison. The 20-song show took place in New Orleans at the 3,500-seat Warehouse and was only the second city in the band's planned winter run. Tickets were $5 for the show with future '70s stars Kansas serving as the opening act. Members of Kansas later joined the Doors onstage during "Light My Fire."

During the show the band tried out material that would be featured on theri next album, 1971's L.A. Woman -- including the title track, "Love Her Madly," "Hyacinth House," and "Riders On The Storm."

The Doors had played two well-received shows the night before in Dallas at the State Fair Music Hall but any future shows were scrapped after the New Orleans date.

Promoter Don Fox, whose Beaver Productions was the primary promoter for The Warehouse, recently recalled to Nola.com the Doors' final gig with their legendary frontman: "Jim had a buzz on that night. I don't know what exactly from, but he was not all there. He was slurring and rambling. He was having a tough time."

He went on to say, "I was standing on the side of the stage at the end. Jim started talking about life and death and what was going on in the world in 1970. All of a sudden, he took the mic stand and started smashing it and smashing it right into the stage floor. And then he walks off."

David Dutkowski, the Doors' official archivist, spoke about Morrison's final gig, revealing, "Multiple band members said it was like something left him at that moment. Ray Manzarek swore he looked up from his keyboard and saw Jim's spirit leave his body. He swears the shamanistic energy, the soul of Jim Morrison, flowed out of his body and with it, the will to perform."

Just prior to his 2013 death, Ray Manzarek told us he understood that the public would always be fascinated by Jim Morrison's short time on Earth and long for more of the long-dead "Lizard King": "I love the fact that people love the Doors. When you say 'The Doors,' it's very important to know the psyche of Jim Morrison. America cannot figure out the psyche of Jim Morrison. And they are having a marvelous Freudian struggle trying to figure out who he was, why he was that way, and they just can't figure it out. So I understand completely why they're so intrigued with him. And want more and more and more."

The Doors' setlist on December 12th, 1970 at The Warehouse in New Orleans - via Setlist.fm:

"Roadhouse Blues," "Back Door Man," "Love Her Madly," "When The Music's Over," "Riders On The Storm" - aborted, "Crawling King Snake," "L.A. Woman," "Hyacinth House," "Maggie M'Gill - Been Down So Long - Maggie M'Gill," "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," "Who Do You Love?," "There's A Palace In The Canyon," Poem, "Light My Fire - Summertime - Light My Fire," Love Me Two Times," "Riders On The Storm," "Soul Kitchen," and "The End."

The Doors' L.A. Woman was the band's sixth studio album and was released on April 19th, 1971.

On July 3rd, 1971, Jim Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris, France by his longtime companion, Pamela Courson. The local coroner ruled the official cause of death for the 27-year-old Doors frontman as "heart attack induced by respiratory problems." Morrison was buried in Paris's Pere Lachaise Cemetery on July 9th of that year.

Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic recalled the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards when he tossed his bass into the air -- only to have it slam back down onto his head. While chatting with Bass Player magazine, Novoselic recalled, "Oh, that was mega! We started playing this song and my amp just didn't work. So I thought, 'I'm gonna do this bass toss and walk off'. Well, the bass got caught in the TV lights, and then boom! It fell on my head. So I storm off stage, and these paramedics come and take a look at me and put a bandage on and I had to sign all these release forms so I'm not gonna sue anybody. It was in front of 200 million people, right?"

Novoselic went on to recall the on-site medics tending to his head wound: "So I'm all annoyed, right, and I'm like 'What the hell!' and behind them there is this amazing fellow, with a glass of champagne. It's Brian May! Just standing there politely. He says, 'Here you are, my good man' and he hands me this glass of champagne. I was like 'You're Brian May! How are you?' and he said, 'More importantly, how are you?' Moments later Dave Grohl burst in. He'd been looking all over for me, only to find me enjoying a calm glass of bubbly with Mr. May."

Krist Novoselic recently looked back at Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough set, Nevermind, which revolutionized rock for a new generation: "Well, it was a phenomenon. I think a lot of it was timing as what was going on in the music business. And a lot of the Sunset Strip hair bands were past their prime and people were ready for something new. And I think Nirvana always tried to be sincere."

Celine Dion posted an emotional video and shared that she is facing a serious health struggle and will have to cancel shows because of it.

On Thursday morning (Dec. 8) the 54-year-old singer described her battle against a rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome and said it has caused uncontrolled and serve muscle spasms.

She acknowledging that she had been dealing with health issues for a "long time" and called her recent diagnosed a "very rare" disorder that affects one in a million people.

The immediate result is that she will not be able to re-start her tour in Europe in February as planned. In fact, all of her spring dates will move to 2024 and 8 of her summer 2023 shows have been cancelled.

Ongoing health issues have caused problems as far back as October of last year, when her Vegas residency was cancelled due to muscle spasms.

TL;DR:

• Celine Dion is facing a serious health struggle with a rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome.
• She will not re-start her tour in Europe in February as planned.
• All of her spring dates will move to 2024 and 8 of her summer 2023 shows have been cancelled.

Out today (December 9th) is Journey's Live In Concert At Lollapalooza. The new live collection follows their Freedom studio set released last summer and features the band's July 31st, 2021 performance at Chicago's Lollapalooza.

The album's lineup features classic members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain along with longtime frontman Arnel Pineda. The band included the dual drumming by Deen Castronovo and Narada Michael Walden, Marco Mendoza on bass and Jason Derlatka on keyboards.

We recently caught up with keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and he walked us through how one of his and Steve Perry's greatest team-ups -- and the opening track to the new Lollapalooza live set -- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" -- came into being: "We took Escape on the road and we knew we needed more teeth. We knew we needed something like 'Separate Ways,' y'know? Like, what would make our set undeniably great? And we tried to fill in what we were missing musically. I think we all sensed it. And I remember writing 'Separate Ways' with Steve (Perry) on the road. We wrote that in a hotel room -- (bassist) Ross (Valory) was going through a divorce and boom -- out comes 'Separate Ways,' and we're playin' it at the end of the Escape tour. Y'know, 'cause we needed it in the set. Now, we start fine tuning ourselves, y'know? And that's how in tune we were with our music. It was all of us, man."

The tracklisting to Journey's Live In Concert At Lollapalooza is:

"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"
"Only The Young"
Guitar Interlude
"Stone In Love"
"Be Good To Yourself"
"Just The Same Way"
"Lights"
"Still They Ride"
"Escape"
"La Do Da"
Piano Interlude
"Who's Crying Now"
Guitar Interlude
"Wheel In The Sky"
"Ask The Lonely"
"Open Arms"
"Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'"
"Faithfully"
"Any Way You Want It"
"Don't Stop Believin'"

IN OTHER JOURNEY NEWS

As perhaps a solution to Journey's inner-band squabbles, Billboard reported Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain have hired Def Leppard's manager, Mike Kobayashi, to look after the band's affairs.

Cain is defending himself against a lawsuit filed against him by Schon, who claims there is a corporate American Express account set up by Cain in which, "millions of Journey funds have flowed through," that Schon is unable to access.

Jonathan Cain alleges Neal Schon is fully aware of the AmEx account -- but is simply suing him for access to the band's corporate credit card because he's strapped financially.

Alice Cooper has signed on as the opening act for Motley Crue and Def Leppard's upcoming string of U.S. stadium shows. The August dates will hit Syracuse, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Fargo, North Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and El Paso, Texas.

Crue and Leppard are paring off in 2023 for a 28-date South American and European trek dubbed the "World Tour." The new tour, which kicks off in February and wraps in July, will hit Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, England, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Ireland.

Although undoubtedly one of rock's most enduring legends, Alice Cooper admits he doesn't know how he would compete in today's music marketplace as a new original artist: "I think if I started a band today, I don't know, I wouldn't know how to compete with the bands today. If I were Alice Cooper starting today, I think you probably have to kill somebody and then get acquitted so people know that you're a killer, at least, so you have some validity, whereas when I played Alice before, all I had to do was play that killer. Now I think, you know, on a lot of rap records, a lot of even the metal things, you have to kill something or kill somebody or be implicated in a killing or something in order to have validity. That's scary."

UPDATED: Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper North American tour dates (subject to change):

February 10, 11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Rock Live at Etess Arena (Motley Crue and Def Leppard only)
August 5 - Syracuse, NY - JMA Wireless Dome
August 8 - Columbus, OH - Ohio Stadium
August 11 - Fargo, ND - Fargodome
August 13 - Omaha, NE - Charles Schwab Field Omaha
August 16 - Tulsa, OK - H.A. Chapman Stadium
August 18 - El Paso, TX - Sun Bowl Stadium

BLACKPINK has been named TIME magazine's Entertainer of the Year. Over the last 12 months, the all-girl group made their U.S. awards show debut on MTV, embarked on a world tour and released their sophomore album, Born Pink.

Member Jennie commented: "We put in a lot of work so we could look like superwomen. We're very normal girls, at the end of the day."

Collectively the K-pop group is from Australia, Thailand, South Korea, and New Zealand. Member, Rosé says that helps with their creativity calling their differences, "only a plus."

BLACKPINK recently wrapped the U.S. leg of their Born Pink World Tour, now they'll make stops in Europe before heading to Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

TL;DR:

• BMG has acquired the rights to Peter Frampton's catalog. The deal includes, "Frampton's publishing interests, songwriter, recording artist, and sideman revenue streams, and neighboring rights, spanning his entire musical career from his late-60s work with UK hitmakers the Herd, to 70's breakthrough supergroup Humble Pie" -- through gaining superstar status with Frampton Comes Alive! and beyond.
  • Frampton said in a statement: "I am so pleased to join the BMG family. As an artist-first company, I trust BMG will care for my legacy and that my songs are in good hands." (Press release)
    
    
• Out now is Roger Waters' latest project, the scaled-back six-track set, The Lockdown Sessions. The set, which was taped between May 2020 and 2022, features home-recorded remakes of solo tunes and Pink Floyd classics.
  • The Lockdown Sessions tracklisting is: "Mother," "Two Suns In The Sunset," "Vera," "The Gunner's Dream," "The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range," and "Comfortably Numb 2022."
    
    
• Billy Joel has just added three new dates to his itinerary. On May 5th, the "Piano Man" will play Madison Square Garden as part of his ongoing "Big Apple" residency, with two more stadium stops with Stevie Nicks set for 2023.
  • On June 16th, the pair will rock Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field and on September 23rd, they'll hit Foxborough, Massachusetts' Gillette Stadium.
    
    
• Streaming now on the Coda Collection on Amazon Prime Video is the rarely seen BBC documentary, 24 Hours: The World Of John & Yoko from December 1969. According to the announcement: "Last seen more than 50 years ago, and having aired just once on TV, this intimate documentary -- captured over a five-day period -- shows a day in the life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono while Lennon was still a member of the Beatles, controversies raged and activism became a central concern in the couple's everyday reality." (Press release)
  
  
• To mark its 15th anniversary, Led Zeppelin will present a global streaming event of Celebration Day, the concert film of the band's historic live performance at London's O2 Arena on December 10th, 2007. Celebration Day will begin streaming this Saturday, December 10th, at 3 p.m. ET / 12pm PT, on the Official Led Zeppelin YouTube channel. (Press release)

Kanye West's honorary degree from The School of Art Institute of Chicago over "anti-black" and "antisemitic" comments. According to TMZ, Elissa Tenny, the president of SAIC, said that Ye "exhibited disturbing behaviors and made dangerous statements that do not align with our community values."

She said, "His anti-Black, antisemitic, and incendiary statements, particularly those directed at Black and Jewish communities, are disgusting and condemnable. His words and actions have been painful for our entire community and, particularly, for those of us who feel that our identities and life experiences are under attack."

She continued, "While the School grants honorary degrees to individuals based on their contributions to art and culture as of a moment in time, his actions do not align with SAIC's mission and values. After hearing from many of you, and conferring with the Board of Governors, the honorary degree awarded to Kanye West has been rescinded."

Tenny also said that SAIC had never rescinded an honorary degree before, but administrators feel the measure is "appropriate" in this situation.

She explained, "There is no precedent in SAIC's more than 80 years of granting honorary degrees for rescinding one, and as an institution of higher education, we know we must uphold a higher standard in protecting freedom of expression. Though we firmly believe in the right to express a diversity of opinions and beliefs, the severity of his behavior made it clear that rescinding this honor was appropriate."

The 2022 year end results are in and the musician that was Google searched the most was Adam Levine.

He got more attention that he wanted in connection to his alleged affair with Instagram model Sumner Stroh back in September.

Rounding out the top 5 were Mary J. Blige, Lil Tjay, Kendrick Lamar, and Migos.

Outside of the "musician" category...Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were in the over-all top 5 Google searches of 2022.

TL;DR: