Macklemore recently celebrated two years of sobriety.
The rapper said in a TikTok video posted Sunday (July 24th), "I relapsed during the first summer of Covid. Today I have 694 days clean."
He revealed on Dax Shepard's The Armchair Podcast last year that he struggled to stay sober when his 12-step program meetings went virtual.
In a new chat with Goldmine, Slash admitted that he's unsure if he ever owned a copy of Guns N' Roses' 1987 masterpiece, Appetite For Destruction. Slash explained, "I don't think I've ever owned the Appetite For Destruction record. And even if I did, I didn't live anywhere, so I wouldn't have any place to put it! Granted, I did have a lot of records I've kept. But I just never was one to sort of really collect records of the bands that I'm actually in. Does that make sense?"
He went on to say, "You have to understand -- I mean, it's like this for all the records I do -- I don't collect any of it. If you were to come to my house, you'd be hard pressed to know I was in a band. Or at least any band you had heard of. I mean there's instruments around, but I don't have any, like, souvenirs or anything special from the releases over the years."
Slash shed light on how things really work for a musician who's been constantly recording and touring on a treadmill over the years: "I mean, you make a record, you go through this whole process of creating the music and working on it with the guys and developing it. Then you go into the studio and you record it, then go in and mix it. And then the final process is mastering. And once that's done and it's off to be released, you've moved on. Y'know what I mean? It's like you've gone through everything you need to on that material, and the only thing you have to look forward to at that point is going out and performing it. . . You play it every night, so the material's always there. And it's exciting if you hear it on the radio or something. But I don't listen to it otherwise."
Slash told us a while back what he's most proud of when it comes to Guns N' Roses: "The most proud I am would have to be just the sense of accomplishment from getting from these sort of nomadic gutter rats that we definitely were, to manage to get from that point and make a record and go out and start touring and doing all that stuff and then to actually succeed, to have that record succeed, it was definitely an accomplishment that I'm very proud of."
Guns N' Roses kicks off their 16-date South American tour on September 1st, in Manaus, Brazil at Arena da Amazonia.
Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook has rolled out a string of fall dates, primarily hitting the East Coast with a smattering of Midwest shows thrown in the mix. The solo jaunt kicks off on September 14th in Ridgefield, Connecticut and wraps on October 11th in Atlanta, Georgia.
Along the 19-date trek, Tilbrook will make stops in Michigan; Illinois; Tennessee; Maryland; Washington, D.C.; New Hampshire; Rhode Island; and Massachusetts -- along with a total of six New York state appearances -- including a pair of New York City shows.
Glenn Tilbrook explained to us the difference between hitting the road on his own as opposed to the "big machine" surrounding Squeeze: "What I've really liked about being by myself is the ability to actually talk to people, to develop communication with the audience, and to get relaxed to a point where I don't work with a setlist anymore and just go out and see what happens. And I really enjoy that, and I think people enjoy that, too. I think people enjoy the fact that there isn't a set thing that's gonna happen -- that it can just go any way."
JUST ANNOUNCED: Glenn Tilbrook North American tour dates (subject to change):
September 14 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
September 15 - Montgomery, NY - City Winery - Hudson Valley
September 16 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
September 17 - Homer, NY - Center for the Arts of Homer
September 19 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
September 20, 21 - Chicago, IL - City Winery
September 23 - St. Louis, MO - Delmar Hall
September 24 - Nashville, TN - City Winery
September 27 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head On Stage
September 29 - Washington, DC - City Winery
September 30 - New York, NY - City Winery
October 1 - New York, NY - City Winery
October 2 - Derry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
October 4 - Philadelphia, PA - City Winery
October 5 - Pawling, NY - Daryl's House
October 6 - East Greenwich, RI - Greenwich Odeum
October 7 - Boston, MA - City Winery
October 11 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
In one of the rare cases of a showbiz couple defying the odds, congratulations go out to the Fifth Dimension's Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. who celebrate their 53rd anniversary today (July 26th). In the couple's autobiography, Up, Up And Away: How We Found Love, Faith And Lasting Marriage In The Entertainment World, McCoo recalled being less than thrilled at seeing Davis at the altar on the big day. She wrote, "I had begged him not to drink before the wedding. I looked into Billy's bloodshot eyes. His buddies had taken him out the night before, and he still showed the effects of the celebration."
Released last year was the couple's latest album -- Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney. The pair covers 10 Beatles and solo classics by the pair: "Got To Get You Into My Life" (featuring Yancyy), "The Fool On The Hill" (featuring Natalie Hanna Mendoza), "Blackbird," "Yesterday," "Ticket To Ride," "The Long And Winding Road," "Silly Love Songs," "Help!," "(Just Like) Starting Over" (featuring James Gadson), and "And I Love Her."
In recent years, McCoo and Davis, who have both embraced Christianity, have tried to pass along their knowledge of keeping a marriage alive and healthy by doing marriage counseling work with select couples.
McCoo and Davis were asked if they ever felt smothered by spending so much time together both as a couple and as a headline act: "Billy and I didn't run into the problems of 'I've had enough of you (laughs), I'm sick of looking at your face' kind of thing. It was very easy to do that, where you could talk about your work and the business and the challenges 24-7."
Davis credits the couple's longevity to always allowing the relationship to take precedent over music: "When we started our relationship, our relationship wasn't built on the business. We talked about everything, we became friends right at the beginning -- before the group even started. And as the group was developing, we got closer and closer as friends. I mean, we would talk about everything but the business."
The Fifth Dimension scored 20 Top 40 Hits including the Top Ten smashes "Up-Up And Away," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "One Less Bell To Answer," and the Number Ones "Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In" and "Wedding Bell Blues."
After leaving the group in 1975, McCoo and Davis went on to score a Number One hit as a duo in 1977 with "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)," and briefly starred in their own short-lived TV variety show.
McCoo also starred with Andy Gibb as the co-host of the syndicated music show Solid Gold.
In 2008, McCoo and Davis released their first joint album in 30 years, called The Many Faces Of Love. The collection features the couple tackling some of the greatest love songs of the past four decades, including the Stylistics' "You Make Me Feel Brand New," the Manhattans' "Shining Star," Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is," Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman," Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," Quincy Jones and James Ingram's "Just Once," and others.
In 2014 the couple released their most recent concert collection, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. LIVE.
Britney Spears made a rare public appearance in Los Angeles this week at the San Vincente Bungalows members only club.
The pop star showed up with her husband, Sam Asghari and agent, Cade Hudson. An insider told Page Six, "It was weird…Everyone stopped talking as Britney walked in and through the crowd to her table."
According to the source, she was seated near Monica Lewinski who was dining with American Crime Story: Impeachment star, Sarah Paulson.
Bruce Springsteen die-hards are besides themselves with the way the new Ticketmaster ticket pricing has left more fans deciding where to pay their rent or catch the E Street Band. The Asbury Park Press reported that with several of the initial onsales happening last week, "the price of some floor seats rose to more than $4,000 due to the Ticketmaster dynamic pricing system, which adjusts the price in real time due to demand. . . The base price for the shows was $60 to $399 on Wednesday (July 20th)."
Ticketmaster's official website explained the concept of "Dynamic Pricing," also called "Platinum Seats," as enabling market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold."
E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt was asked on Twitter about the ticket situation and responded by posting: "I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis."
Bruce Springsteen admits that well over 50 years into his performing career, whether it's a festival crowd of 200,000 or a club gig in front of 75 people, hitting the stage has never failed to excite and inspire him: "It's like you come out and you fall in love every night in some way. When you're doing it right, it's like a rebirth, y'know? It's not a repetition -- it's a renewal -- so that involves something happening every night for the first time. And, amazingly enough, it's like your first kiss in that there's something in playing. There were thousands of other times, but still when you come out there's some element of the first time that's very, very present. And it keeps you very open and present and it's what people feel."
According to numerous sources, U2 has signed on for a 2023 Las Vegas residency as the first music act the new MSG Sphere at The Venetian. Billboard reported that for concerts, the $1.8 billion MSG Sphere "can hold 20,000 standing spectators or 17,500 seated guests, with 23 VIP suites."
According to the report, "The Sphere will include 160,000 square feet of video viewing space -- Sphere officials describe the technology as 'interior immersive display' -- state-of-the-art spatial audio and an exterior exosphere that changes the building's look via fully programmable LED technology. It will connect to the Venetian Resort via an approximately 1,000-foot-long pedestrian bridge."
Construction on the Sphere is expected to begin in March 2023 with the venue opening in November 2023 with the FIA Formula One World Championship.
A while back, Bono admitted that unfortunately getting all the fans into their shows comes down to commerce -- so much so that they even released the 2007 3D film, U2 3D to satisfy demand: "Also, U2 tickets are a bit expensive. I'm just thinking of people going to high school or going to college don't have the cash. We fight to have the tickets at a reasonable price -- like at least 50, 60 percent of them -- but you know the way it goes, the tickets get sold on. . . and there's not enough of them, so. I hope for people who are just thinkin,' well, I'm kinda into that band, that they'll give us a shot and come and see what we've got."
The Edge explained that ultimately with U2, the more things change, the more they stay the same: "That's the thing about a band, you get together at age 17, 18 -- you all decide you wanna do the same thing, which is make music together, and then the years go by but you kinda still kind of maintain that same dynamic and it's, it's remarkable not so much what's changed over the years, but how little has changed over the years. Y'know, when we get into the studio, it still feels like we're making our first album. It's that same sort of intensity and combines with ambition and a little bit of desperation, as well. And you really just wanna give it your best, and nothing really much has changed over the years."
Selena Gomez's recent breakup was exposed by her grandmother during a TikTok makeup tutorial Thursday (July 21st).
During the video, the singer is seen applying lip liner when her nana asked her off-camera, "So, how did you end it with that guy."
Gomez froze before replying, "Uh … I'll tell you in a second."
Fans who didn't even know about the secret relationship commented on the video with surprise, including one user who wrote, "We're going to need a part 2 where you tell us too."
BLACKPINK announced Sunday (July 24th) they will release the music video for their Pubg Mobile special track "Ready For Love" this Friday, July 29th.
The song, which originally made its debut during the group's 2020 Light Up the Sky Netflix film, was recently featured in The Virtual, PUBG' Mobile's first ever in-game concert.
PAUL SIMON
Paul Simon played a surprise four-song set on Saturday (July 23rd) during the Newport Folk Festival. Rolling Stone reported Simon appeared during a tribute set to him, led by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.
At various points, Simon was joined by Jerry Douglas on guitar, Rhiannon Giddens, Lucius, Rateliff, and Willie Nelson's son Lukas Nelson -- whom Simon introduced as "an old family friend." Simon performed "Graceland," "American Tune," and "The Boxer" before closing with a solo take on the Simon & Garfunkel standard, "The Sound Of Silence."
The semi-retired 80-year-old Simon last performed last April 6th at L.A.'s Hollywood Pantages Theatre for the tribute concert -- Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute To The Songs Of Paul Simon.
Although Paul Simon calls on his life experiences for his material, he admitted that it sometimes it takes time to name and number whom he exactly is writing about: "Once I knew more about what I was writing, then I began to recognize the characters; 'Oh, that's this person in my life, that's this event, or this is somebody I know.' So in a sense the snapshot analogy is so. More like a movie than a snapshot, because they seem to be stories. Quite often the songs are stories."
JONI MITCHELL
Also on Sunday (July 24th) Joni Mitchell -- still recovering from a stroke -- played her first Newport set since 1969. The legendary singer / songwriter who was sitting on a throne, was joined by Brandi Carlile, Blake Mills, Lucius, Wynonna Judd, Celisse, Taylor Goldsmith, and Marcus Mumford among others.
Mitchell performed "Both Sides Now," "A Case Of You" with Marcus Mumford and Brandi Carlile, after which, Mitchell took an extended guitar solo, "Big Yellow Taxi" with Brandi Carlile, "The Circle Game" with Wynonna Judd, a cover of George Gershwin's "Summertime," Frankie Lyman & The Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," before closing with the Blue highlight "Carey" and "Just Like This Train."
Selena Gomez recently rang in her 30th birthday with best friend, Taylor Swift. The Only Murders in the Building star shared two photos of herself with Swift on Instagram Friday (July 22nd), with the caption, "30, nerdy and worthy."
Swift was also spotted performing with Haim during their London show Thursday (July 21st).
A TikTok posted by the "Cardigan" singer shows her copying the sisters' look, wearing black leather pants and a black bra. In a separate Instagram post, Haim wrote, "thank u SO MUCH to our fourth sister @taylorswift for joining us on stage for our sold out show at the O2 arena!!!!"
Aerosmith's 50th anniversary celebration rolls on with the band's new "official bootleg" streaming series -- 50 Years Live!: From The Aerosmith Vaults. The series spotlights "five deep, archival, and unreleased multi-camera live shows from Aerosmith's vast personal vaults, all remastered in HD from the original master tapes."
Fans finally get the chance to watch never-before-seen concert footage over five consecutive weeks, starting Friday, July 29th and following each livestream unearthed from Aerosmith's legendary archive, the show will be available -- in its entirety -- as a free gift to the fans for one week only.
Leading the series is Live From The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977 from the Draw The Line tour: "a combination of classic live performances from a two-night stand in Houston that captures the band in all its raw and powerful rock n' roll splendor."
The show premieres on Aerosmith's official YouTube channel on July 29th at 12pm PT/3pm ET/8pm BST.
"The 50 Years Live!: From The Aerosmith Vaults" broadcast schedule:
July 29: Live From The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977 - Draw The Line tour
August 5: Live From The Capital Centre, Landover, MD, 1989 - Pump tour
August 12: Live From The Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheatre, Pittsburgh, PA 1993 - Get A Grip tour
August 19: Live From Comerica Park, Detroit, MI 2003 - Rocksimus Maximus tour
August 26: Live From Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, 2016 - Rock ‘N' Roll Rumble tour
Not too long ago when Aerosmith was prepping to head out on the road, co-founding drummer Joey Kramer told us that playing live with Aerosmith still means everything to him: "Absolutely, positively, without a doubt. More than anything else that I do in life itself. 'Cause what it's about for me is being behind my drums, seeing those four guys in front of me, and playing for two hours. That's it -- that's what I live for."
As part of his ongoing "Ask Croz" advice column in Rolling Stone, David Crosby doubled down on his contempt for the former, twice-impeached president, Donald Trump.
A reader named Shelia sent in a question, which asked, quote, "Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, you were wrong about Trump? The economy was strong those four years, the Covid vaccines were developed, and America didn't get entangled in any foreign wars. I know his personality was off-putting and he said dumb stuff, but isn't it just possible he was a good president and you refused to let yourself see that?"
Crosby responded by writing, "No. It's not. I'm offended by the fact he's a child. I'm offended grossly by the fact that he's a total racist. I'm offended even more by the fact that he's never looked at a woman as anything other than a mouth and some t***. He doesn't even know they are human beings. He's an obnoxious person. He has absolutely no values at all. He's all ego. No knowledge. No accomplishments. He never created anything."
He added, "I measure people by, 'What have they created? What have they done to help anyone else? Who do they love?' He doesn't love anybody. He hasn't created anything. He hasn't made anything better at all. Also, there's several inaccuracies in what you said. Entangled in foreign wars? Well, we didn't get out of any either. And he definitely blew our relationship with Europe, which was our biggest bunch of allies, you dimwit."
Crosby went on to say, "I think you want to find an excuse for him. I think you're probably another racist person and you're looking for an excuse and for it to be OK. It's not OK. His idea of what's right and wrong is completely antithetical to me and the values that we started this country on."
The legendary singer/songwriter closed by stating: "I will remind you that all men are created equal. All women too. He doesn't believe that. So he's out of the picture for me right there. Not a good human being, not trying to be a good human being. So there. I seriously don't like him, and I'm not about to start liking him."
David Crosby told us that big business has all but ruined the political process by showering politicians with money. Crosby told us that money has -- for now -- almost entirely polluted the U.S. Congress and portions of the U.S. Senate: "What we're up against is money. Greed. The United States is a 'corporatocracy' at this point. It may not be at some point in the future, but right now, our congress has been bought. You can buy a congressman for the price of a good car. You can buy a senator for the price of two or three. The corporations can buy our congress, for what to them, is pocket money."
Ozzy Osbourne has dropped the second teaser from his upcoming album, Patient Number 9, which is set for release on September 9th. The track "Degradation Rules" reunites Ozzy with Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi for their first teamup since Sabbath's 2016 EP, The End.
Back in 2006 at their long-overdue induction into the Rock Fame, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne talked about the respect that Black Sabbath had eventually earned within the music industry: "(Tony Iommi): "I think it's great. I think it's taken a few years, mind (you), because I think for a while, nobody took us seriously. But, y'know, our friends in the music business and that obviously did. As we went on, the more we carried on, the more we proved, the more we stayed there, y'know? And I think we got the respect from that. (Ozzy Osbourne): I never thought anybody liked us, and people on the Ozzfest would come to me and go, 'You were really one of our inspirations.' And I didn't really, I didn't believe it, y'know?"
Social media is dragging Drake over posting a photo of a woman onto his social media. The rapper -- who is currently vacationing in St. Tropez, posted a photo of a white woman in his IG stories, along with the caption, "Tried to airdrop this woman a pic of herself cause she's a dime."
One person said via Reddit, "I haven't seen anyone talking about this. This is so unbelievably creepy (Drake posted this on his IG story)." Another person wrote, "Yes she's beautiful but he could have kept that to himself or been a normal person and struck up a conversation instead of posting this to his Instagram where he has MILLIONS of followers who are now gonna chime in on their opinion of her. If that were me I would not be ok with that, regardless of the fact that it's a ‘compliment.'"
It was 42 years ago today (July 25th, 1980), that AC/DC released their biggest selling album ever, Back In Black. It was the band's first set without lead singer Bon Scott, who had died on February 19th, 1980 at age 33, after passing out and choking on his own vomit following a long night of drinking.+
The group quickly decided to press on and hired Brian Johnson from the band Geordie to take over on vocals, and they headed to the Bahamas for about six weeks to do the album. AC/DC had made some serious headway in America before Scott's death, but no one knew how Back In Black would be received. The album, produced by "Mutt" Lange, took off, and eventually sold over 25 million copies in the U.S. All told, Back In Black spent a whopping 22 weeks in the Billboard 200 Top Ten.
The tracklisting to AC/DC's Back In Black is: "Hells Bells," "Shoot To Thrill," "What Do You Do for Money Honey," "Given The Dog A Bone," "Let Me Put My Love Into You," "Back In Black," "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Have A Drink On Me," "Shake A Leg," and "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution."
Angus Young told us that Bon Scott would've absolutely given his blessing to AC/DC carrying on with a new frontman: "Yeah, he was just not one of those sort of people, y'know? For us, we'd always been playing rock n' roll, and I think that people were sort of glad that we continued."
Brian Johnson admitted that he didn't have a clue how successful Back In Black would turn out to be: "I'd just melted me brain in there, and I didn't know if it was good or bad. That was the first time I'd been in the Bahamas, anyway, or near America, y'know, and you (have to) remember, I was just fascinated by the whole culture and all, and I had no idea what the hell I was doing! And (laughs) lucky, really -- I was a bit lucky, I think."
Johnson once told us that AC/DC's continued success over the years came directly from brothers Angus and the now-late Malcom Young: "Malcolm and Angus really gotta take a lot of credit for the fact that they've just stuck exactly to what the first thought about rock n' roll. . . Angus has got a lovely story. When Malcolm asked him to join the band, right at the very start, and Angus asked Malcolm, he said, 'Well, what kind of music are we gonna play?' And Malcolm looked at him, with a quizzical look in his eyes, and he went, 'rock n' roll!'"
Angus Young recently explained to us that AC/DC is like a killer recipe that always delivers, which is why the band has never changed its approach to playing live: "Somebody once had said, 'Y'know, people know what they like and like what they know.' In the beginning, we were a, y'know, just a rock n' roll band, and, y'know, when you would play in bars and clubs and stuff, y'know, this is what the audience was coming to hear you for."
Back In Black included the singles "You Shook Me All Night Long," which peaked at Number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Back In Black," which topped out at Number 37.
Despite its massive success, Back In Black never got higher than Number Four on the album charts. The band's next album, 1981's For Those About To Rock, marked the band's sole chart-topper to date.
To date, Back In Black, which has sold 25 million copies to date, is at Number Five on the list of the biggest selling albums in the U.S.
FAST FOWARD
Out now is renowned rock photographer Robert Ellis' latest book -- AC/DC In The Black: Inside The Tour.
Ellis, who has taken some of the most iconic photos in music history, has captured such legends as Queen, Paul McCartney, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Genesis, the Scorpions, Prince, and the Who, both on and off then stage across the decades.
Kane Brown has released his new single called "Grand," which he recently referred to on social media as "pop single." He co-wrote the song with pop artist and producer Mike Posner, among others. It will be included on Kane's upcoming third studio album, Different Man, due out on September 9th. The song's official music video is set to premiere tomorrow (Tuesday, July 26th) at 9 p.m. ET.
Of the song, Kane tells us: "This song is basically just about how life is grand. For me it's talking about what I'm doing musically, being able to be on the road with my family and just being you know, super happy about life."
Different Man will feature a total of 17 songs, including his current Top Five hit single "Like I Love Country Music."
This fall, Kane will launch his international Drunk or Dreaming Tour, which will include his first touring dates to Australia and New Zealand as well as his return to Canada and Europe. The tour will kick off September 17th in Melbourne, Australia before continuing throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and Europe.
According to RadarOnline, Marilyn Manson has hired Blair Berk, a female attorney who represented Harvey Weinsten and Mel Gibson to fight ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood.
As previously reported, Manson sued Wood, accusing her of fabricating abuse claims. Wood revealed that she was abused by an unnamed ex for years but named Manson in 2021. Manson has claimed that she lied and is trying to ruin him. He also revealed that he believes Wod worked with her significant other to reach out to his other exes to convince them to speak out against him. The suit said Wood even wrote a letter where she posed as an FBI agent.
Manson and Wood dated from 2007-2010.
Beyonce has unveiled the credits for her upcoming album Renaissance via Apple Music and iTunes. The composer credit list includes Drake, Tems, Skrillex, Labrinth, Lucky Daye, SYD, Nija Charles, Honey Dijon, 070 Shake, The-Dream, MIKE DEAN, Raphael Saadiq, No I.D., DIXSON, GuiltyBeatz, Hit-Boy, The Neptunes, BloodPop, Rami Yacoub, A. G. Cook, Ari Pensmith, LilJuMadeDaBeat, Nova Wav, P2J, Boi-1da, Sevn Thomas, Leven Kali.
Meanwhile, sample credits include Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, James Brown, Teena Marie, Twinkie Clark, Kilo Ali and Moi Renee. Renaissance is due out on July 29th.
Billie Eilish surprised everyone on Twitter yesterday afternoon (7-21) by dropping 2 new songs, "TV" and one called "The 30th."
Both songs are mellow, acoustic tracks about heartbreak.
Eilish wrote online: "These songs mean so, so much to me. I'm happy for them to be yours."
She's calling the collection… Guitar Songs. ."
TL;DR:
Fresh off the multiple Emmy noms for his groundbreaking six-hour-plus documentary The Beatles: Get Back -- director Peter Jackson has another Beatles-related project in the works.
While chatting with Deadline, Jackson, still best knowd for his The Lord Of The Rings saga, revealed, "I'm talking to the Beatles about another project, something very, very different than Get Back. We're seeing what the possibilities are, but it's another project with them. It's not really a documentary. . . and that's all I can really say."
Peter Jackson shed light on his key roll in sepatating John Lennon's footage and audio from the group's January 30th, 1969 rooftop performance that's enabled Paul McCartney to duet virtually with his late-partner on "I've Got A Feeling" during his recent concerts: "I had that idea when I started working on Get Back, four years ago. We had access to all that footage, and to do something like that, you need the footage. The shots have to be right. I didn't mention it to Paul. I thought, 'Suggesting to Paul that he sing onstage with John, he's going to think I'm a fanboy geek idiot.'"
Jackson attended McCartney's 2019 Dodger Stadium concert and filmed McCartney durting the song in preperation of presenting him a computer generated presentation of how the "duet" could possibly work: "When he did 'I've Got A Feeling, I sat there with my phone. I held it really still and filmed, with the idea I would take that in the cutting room and do a mockup, a simple CGI proof of concept. I sent him a text. I didn't send him the mockup version, just a text trying to describe it to him. Within 10 minutes, he replied to me: 'Yeah, this is a fantastic idea; let's go do it.' Then it was a frantic rush to restore frames that were missing from that long shot of John from Let It Be. But Paul was thrilled by it."
During his 2018 chat at the Liverpool College Of Art with Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Paul McCartney was asked whom he would choose to work with considering all the musicians he's played with over the decades: "Of all the ones I've worked with, it would be fellow Beatles. It would be John (Lennon) -- who was pretty cool -- and George (Harrison), and Ringo (Starr). Y'know, having worked with John, so one on one, I got to see his brilliance before the world did. So, y'know, I would get to hear 'Across The Universe,' and 'Julia' and some of these songs, y'know, and I'm a big fan."
Happy Birthday to Don Henley, who turns 75 today (July 22nd)!!! Henley and the late-Glenn Frey co-founded the Eagles in 1971, and are responsible for the band's best loved songs, including "Hotel California," "One Of These Nights," "Desperado," "Best Of My Love," "Life In The Fast Lane," "Tequila Sunrise," "Take It To The Limit," "New Kid In Town," "The Long Run," and many more.
Rolling Stone recently reported Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi along with Glenn Horowitz and Edward Kosinski were formerly charged on July 12th for "allegedly possessing a trove of stolen handwritten notes and lyrics by Don Henley, with New York officials estimating the documents are worth more than $1 million."
Inciardi and Kosinski were also charged with first degree counts of criminal possession and had previously tried to sell of the lyric manuscripts to such high profile auction houses as Sotheby's and Christie's -- while attempting to also get Don Henley to buy back his stolen property.
Just released on vinyl for the first time is the Eagles' Live At The Forum '76 album. The set was originally released back in 2017 as part of the Hotel California: 40th Anniversary Collection, and was taped in L.A. in October 1976.
The live music takes up three LP sides while the final one features an exclusive etching of the artwork.
In 2020, ESPN aired the new Eagles concert Live From The Forum MMXVIII (2018). The band, which features Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill and the recently departed Deacon Frey, hit the Forum in Los Angeles for three sold-out, critically-acclaimed concerts on September 12th, 14th, and 15th, 2018. Highlights from all three shows were compiled for the band's recent 26-song live album and concert film.
On June 2nd, 2021 Don Henley appeared virtually before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in an effort to push forward on what he believes are outdated copyright laws for songwriters and performers. He told the committee that the online services that post musical content are done so at the expense of his "brothers and sisters in the creative community" and labeling the payment structure as being "a relic of a MySpace era in a TikTok world."
In 2018 Eagles overtook Michael Jackson's 1982 masterpiece Thriller for bragging rights to the best-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 has now been certified 38-times Platinum, accounting for sales and streams of more than 38 million copies since its release in February of 1976.
In addition to the new benchmark, the Eagles' followup to the classic compilation, the watershed Hotel California album, released in December 1976, is now the third best-selling album of all time, certified 26-times Platinum by the RIAA for sales and streams of more than 26 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Recently released is Eagles: Legacy, a massive dozen disc, CD/DVD/Blu-ray set that spans the group's career with seven studio albums, three live albums, singles, B-Sides, and two concert videos.
The 15 LP version includes the vinyl debut of Millennium Concert. The CD version of the Legacy box is available for $179.98, and includes two concert videos: Hell Freezes Over (DVD) and Farewell Tour: Live From Melbourne (Blu-ray).
In 2015, Don Henley released his latest solo album, Cass County, which marks his highest charting solo set to date -- debuting on the Billboard 200 album charts at Number Three -- a full four spots higher than his last album, 2000's Inside Job.
In addition to that, Cass County debuted at Number One on Billboard's Top Album Sales and Top Country Albums charts marking the first chart-topping album of Henley's solo career, selling more than 87,000 units in its first week of release. Cass County features collaborations with Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, and Miranda Lambert, among others.
In 2016, the Eagles, James Taylor, and Mavis Staples and Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, were honored with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. The Eagles were originally tapped to accept the award in 2015, but postponed their acceptance due to Glenn Frey's failing health.
Since originally parting ways with the Eagles in 1980, Don Henley has scored eight Top 40 hits -- including the Top Tens: "Leather And Lace" - with Stevie Nicks (#6), "Dirty Laundry (#3), "The Boys Of Summer (#5), "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" (#9), and "The End Of The Innocence" (#8).
In April 2011, Henley was honored in Washington, D.C. at the 10th annual Grammys on The Hill for his advocacy on behalf of the music community. Henley was awarded the inaugural Recording Artists Coalition award.
Although the press has unsuccessfully tried to pigeonhole Don Henley's 2015 Cass County into being a "country" album, Henley maintained that it was conceived and recorded without any hangups as to where it would fit and who would be buying it: "There's been a lot of discussion when they were trying to fit in what categories to put it in (laughs), y'know, for, like, iTunes. There's been a lot of argument back and forth, ‘Well, is it a country album? Is it an Americana album? Is it a pop album -- what is it? And the fact is, it's all those things. It's just an American music album. I don't like to put things in boxes."
A while back, Don Henley told VH1 that he wouldn't want to be an up and coming artist trying to break into the music business: "I feel badly for a lot of these new artists, a lot of these younger artists now, who come out and sell five, six, seven, eight million copies of their first album, because that creates unrealistic expectations. And most of them will not be able to duplicate that again. I mean, I guarantee that their second album will not sell as many copies as their first album. I'm grateful that we went up slowly. Which is not to say, of course, that If you're tremendously successful your first. . . right out of the box that you won't have that success again, you have to get through the sophomore year."
Back in 2015 Don Henley was interviewed by old friend Billy Joel at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y, and spoke candidly about how and where the Eagles fit into his life these days: "The Eagles is just a part of me. Glenn (Frey) and I started that band back in 1971 and we did have a little hiatus; y'know, we parted company for 14 years -- and then in 1994 realized actually that there was still a demand for our services -- and so, we got back together. And it hasn't always been smooth sailing, but as we've gotten older and more mature, and as we've all gotten married and had children, y'know, that will have a tempering effect on your personality."
U2 will be spotlighted at this year's Kennedy Center Honors.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday (7-21) that the 22-time Grammy winners, along with actor George Clooney, singers Gladys Knight and Amy Grant and composer Tania León will be honored in December.
It's a rare occasion that a band is among the honorees… Though U2 is in the company with Earth, Wind & Fire, they were the most recent group, that was in 2019. The Eagles were honored in 2016 and Led Zeppelin in 2012.
Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said she was told that U2 frontman Bono was eating and was so surprised that he dropped his fork when he was told the band had been selected for this lifetime achievement award.
This is the 45th year of the honors, which will include a gala performance Dec. 4 in Washington featuring top entertainers. The show will be broadcast on CBS at a later date.
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The new movie, My Policeman, starring Harry Styles will world premiere at this year's Toronto Film Festival.
The romantic drama is about three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty and forgiveness. Styles plays Tom Burgess, a policeman in 1950s Brighton who marries a school teacher while engaging in a gay relationship. Emma Corrin plays his wife and David Dawson is his lover.
The festival, slated for September, is in its 47th year, and after two years of pandemic disruption, it returns to full throttle with open theatres and red carpet interviews.
My Policeman arrives in U.S. and U.K. theaters on Oct. 21 and will be available on Prime Video globally Nov. 4.
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