Pulse Music

Happy Birthday to Graham Nash who turns 80 today (February 2nd)!!! Nash heads back on the road on March 2nd playing Collingswood, New Jersey's Scottish Rite Auditorium. Nash's road dates feature just him, Shane Fontayne -- Crosby, Stills, & Nash's longtime road guitarist, and keyboardist Todd Caldwell.

Nash announced yesterday (February 1st) that he would be following bandmate Neil Young in pulling his music off the Spotify streaming service.

The statement reads in full:

Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend, Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service.

There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous. Likewise, there is a difference between misinformation, in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway public opinion.

The opinions publicized by Rogan are so dishonest and unsupported by solid facts that Spotify becomes an enabler in a way that costs people their lives.

Graham Nash, who published his latest photo book, A Life In Focus, in November, currently has three new projects in the work; a new original solo set, a live album comprised of recent performances of his first two albums -- 1971's Songs For Beginners and 1974's Wild Tales, along with a reunion with fellow Hollies co-founder and childhood friend Allan Clarke.

Last month, Graham Nash slammed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for using his song "Chicago" to promote an anti-vaccination rally on January 23rd. A portion of the song is used in a promotional video on the Children's Health Defense site. Nash's chorus -- featuring the hook line "We can change the world" -- is clearly heard in another song titled "Heart Of Freedom," which claims that the lyrics were penned by RFK Jr.

On January 22nd, Nash posted a message on Instagram writing: "The use of my song 'Chicago; by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Children's Health Defense movement in a video to promote his organization's rally in Washington, D.C. tomorrow (January 23rd) is not authorized, and I am taking steps to cause the cessation of its use. I do not support his anti-vaccination position as the history of the efficacy of the Covid 19 vaccines is well documented."

In October 2021, Graham Nash released a new track and video, titled "Vote," in the lead-up to the November 3rd presidential election. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer told Rolling Stone, "I wanted to make sure that people understood that there were many people hitting rock bottom. And because this new Covid relief bill hasn't been signed yet, there are people that are going to be made homeless, who will starve and won't have enough money for rent and meds. It's crazy."

In 2021 Nash compiled and produced Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young's critically lauded "50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" box set for the group's 1970's Déjà Vu.

2018 saw Nash's 30-track career retrospective, titled Over The Years. The set features tracks from Crosby, Stills, & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Crosby & Nash; and Nash on his own. The collection's second disc features a selection of Nash's personal demos of his best-known tracks taped between 1968 and 1980. In 2016, Nash received raves for his latest solo set, This Path Tonight, along with glowing reviews for his ongoing scaled back live dates.

Perhaps the biggest shakeups of Graham Nash's life these days are the end of his marriage to wife, the late-Susan Sennett after nearly four decades and three adult children together, his new marriage with writer/actress Amy Grantham, and the crumbling of his partnership with David Crosby. Nash's ongoing issues with Crosby seem to have marked the end of CSNY. Nash revealed to the Dutch magazine Lust For Life that his relationship with Crosby is virtually non-existent at this point and that CSNY are effectively over.

In an exclusive interview, we pushed Nash on what, if any, future CSNY might have as a working unit: "In my world, there will never, ever be a CSNY record, and there will never, ever be another CSN record or show. Y'know, I let people play their hand right in front of me and I let them do it and then I make a decision. How can I not be sad? Look at the music we probably lost? Right now I don't want anything to do with David Crosby at all. It's just that simple."

Although both Neil Young and David Crosby have openly made positive comments regarding a possible CSNY reunion, the usually outspoken Nash has stayed mum.

Back in 2015, Graham Nash compiled the group's Top 20 live archival release CSNY 1974. Among the many highlights featured on the third Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young live set are "Teach Your Children," "Love The One You're With," "Deja vu," "Old Man," "Carry Me," "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Long May You Run," "Almost Cut My Hair," "Immigration Man," "Helpless," "Long Time Gone," "Pre-Road Downs," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Guinevere" "Chicago," "Wooden Ships," "Ohio," and "Our House," among many others.

In 2013, Nash published his long-awaited autobiography, called, Wild Takes: A Rock & Roll Life, and hit the road for a brief solo tour.

In 2010, along with the rest of the Hollies, Nash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The occasion marked Nash's second entrance into the Hall, having already been inducted with CSN back in 1998.

Graham Nash told us prior to their 2010 Rock Hall induction, that if any English rock group deserved Hall of Fame status -- it's gotta be the Hollies: "I'm old enough now to realize and look at my history so far. The Hollies were so influential in the early-'60s through the '60s. Very, very, influential. We were probably one of the very first bands to ever use three-part harmony constantly. I mean, even the Beatles were two-part most of the time. The Hollies were a fabulous band. Maybe they weren't 'cool,' but by the time I'd left we'd had 18 Top 10 hits. I mean, how many do the Kinks have? How many did everybody else have that's in (the Rock Hall)? I think the Hollies deserve to be in there."

Nash was born in Blackpool, England and raised in Manchester. It was there that he co-founded the Hollies in 1962 with childhood friend Allan Clarke. Following his departure from the group in 1968, Nash teamed up with David Crosby, who had recently left the Byrds, and former Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills -- who along with occasional member Neil Young -- have gone on to form one of the most important and lasting rock partnerships of the past 50 years.

Although CSN's music and career choices have been analyzed and second-guessed by fans and journalists alike, Nash says he's been fortunate to have never taken himself that seriously: "You just can't spend too much time thinking in those terms, y'know, about how significant you are. You're not, y'know? This is not brain surgery or astrophysics or Mozart -- this is a very simple form of music that moves a great many people, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

Nash, who became an American citizen in 1978, has spent decades fighting for global human rights and social programs that will help leave a better world for the following generations. He told us that he never takes for granted the freedoms afforded him by being an American: "It's amazing to live in a country like this where at least I'm allowed to speak my mind. Some of the things that this band says, we could've gotten into deep trouble about had we not been in America. We couldn't have done this in other countries -- they wouldn't have allowed us. But at least we live -- and we are privileged to live -- in America, where we can speak our minds. Nobody has to agree, and in fact, nobody has to listen, but I have to speak my mind."

Hailey Bieber will no longer be commenting on her personal life, including discussing her marriage to Justin Bieber.

The model explained her reasoning to WSJ Magazine, saying, "The media loves to take a tiny little blurb of something for clickbait," and added, "the media has always been a disgusting thing."

She continued, "Behind closed doors, we're two really normal people that just have not-normal lifestyles and careers. I think given the magnitude of Justin's career, he's a very normal person, and I don't think that always happens."

Despite her new policy, she did let the magazine in on a bit of personal information. Hailey revealed that she and her famous hubby will "ideally" start trying for kids "in the next couple of years."

The DVD and Blu-ray release of director Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back has been delayed. The Fest For Beatles Fans sent out a mailer telling fans that the February 8th release has been pushed back. The Fest, which is the largest online distributor of Beatles products, posted: "Disney has delayed the release of these much anticipated releases. As soon as we get the official word, we will let you know when they will be coming out. We are making an assumption, that they will be manufacturing a lot more copies of both formats, now that they see the high demand for them."

According to some reports, the release could be delayed until September. At the recent theatrical screenings of the "Fab Four's" complete rooftop performance, Peter Jackson urged fans to lobby Disney to release his "director's cut," which had had previously revealed was an astounding 18 hours long.

During a chat with BBC radio, Paul McCartney spoke about Peter Jackson's Get Back movie, and admitted that he was worried the raw footage would find the "Fab Four" at their end of their tenure, angry, and exhausted with one another: "He got back to me and said, 'No -- it's a laugh. It's just four guys working -- and y'know, you can see you making up songs, and George (Harrison) wonderin' about the lyric to 'Something in the way she moves' -- or me trying to figure out 'Get Back.' And he's shown me little bits and pieces of it and it's great -- I love it, I must say, 'cause it's how it was. It just reminds me -- even though we had arguments, like any family -- that we loved each other, y'know, and it shows in the film. It's a very warm feeling -- and it's amazing just being backstage with these people making this music that turned out to be good."

Charlie Puth is the voice of a beat boxing fox in a Super Bowl ad for Frito-Lay.

The 30-year-old singer will represent the Flaming Hot Cheetos and Doritos brands alongside Megan Thee Stallion, who will be transformed into a songbird for the commercial.

He told Billboard, "The premise is that all these animals eat these Flamin' Hot products and they become musically active, they start harmonizing and being in synch and perfect tempo with each other and that's what happened to me life as well. I have some Cool Ranch Doritos and I'm off to the races writing 5 songs."

Eddie Vedder is heading out on the road tomorrow night (February 3rd) in support of his new solo set, Earthling. Vedder kicks off the nine-date run at New York City's Beacon Theatre.

While chatting with The New York Times, the Pearl Jam frontman recalled discussing his and the band's career with U2's Bono, who had very specific opinions and advice for Vedder, recalling, "I've had conversations with Bono back in the day. He was suggesting that we needed to work harder and that you didn't want rock n' roll to become a niche. He said that when U2 makes a record, it's like they've got a racehorse and they don't just want the horse in the race, they want to win the race. I said we race the horse and then we let the horse run free. I wasn't trying to be clever. That was the truth. He was frustrated with me. But the dream was to be in a group that toured and recorded, and we were okay with things being scaled down if that allowed the dream to survive."

He explained that he's aware of the affect Pearl Jam has had on its fans: "People tell me powerful stories about what the music means to them, so, in that way, I know what they get out of it. When people tell me that stuff, I don't feel like I should get credit. They'll say that a song helped them, but, ultimately, I'm like: 'You did it.' Really all I can do is hope that other people appreciate the music that I like."

Regarding his connection to fellow Seattle legend Kurt Cobain, Vedder admitted, "I didn't know Kurt that well. We had a few hangs. I'm grateful for those or those phone messages or being in the same room every once in a while, but it would be offensive to claim that I knew him more than I did."

Vedder went on to say that seeing how Cobain and Nirvana looked at celebrity with a mixture of distain, confusion, and disinterest helped the guys in Pearl Jam come to terms with their own success: "That was naturally how we felt. I know it's how I felt. But I think that his attitude made it okay to feel that way because he was the guy in the biggest spotlight. If he would've totally embraced all that stuff, it might have made me think, like, you better embrace this (expletive), too. You couldn't argue that he wasn't the figurehead of that whole thing. That's probably one of the things that bummed him out the most."

Like Bono, there are numerous causes that Eddie Vedder supports. But ultimately, he believes it's more effective to get people involved and registered to vote than it is to preach from the stage: "I've always been wary (of) speaking from some kind of a podium as a singer in a rock band. First of all, I think it's ridiculous that it should be left to singers of rock bands to bring up these issues. But then again, the arts are always going to reflect society, and there could be a responsibility there."

John Mellencamp is proud of that fact that Bruce Springsteen offered up some killer guitar work on his newly-released album, Strictly A One-Eyed Jack. "The Boss" is featured on three tracks in total -- both singing and on guitar.

We caught up with Mellencamp who shed light on how the joint sessions went down: "He's playing guitar on '(A) Life Full Of Rain' -- he's playin' the lead. 'Cause Bruce started out as a lead guitar player -- he wasn't so much the singer of the band as he was the guitar player. So he had that ability to play that type of guitar. Y'know, we didn't know what he was gonna do. He just showed up, I said, 'Whaddya think about singin' a duet on this song?' -- and he goes 'Sure.'" SOUNDCUE

A source close to Rihanna and ASAP Rocky says the singer "couldn't be happier" to be having her first child. The source told People, "Having a baby is something she was never focused on, but being with Rocky opened her up to the idea. She couldn't be happier and is so excited to be a mom."

She continued, "She's loving all the changes to her body during pregnancy and has always celebrated pregnant women in her runway shows for Fenty." The insider added, "They're just like any other pair of parents-to-be. Yes, they happen to be famous but they're just the cutest, giddiest young couple that's expecting kids."

Meanwhile, another source revealed that RiRi and A$AP "live together now and seem beyond happy."

RiRi's dad Ronald Fenty is also excited, telling Page Six, "I'm ecstatic. I'm so happy that I jumped for joy. I'm still so excited. Fenty continued, "Rihanna always said that she wanted children, she loves kids. She always takes care of her cousins' kids…she's going to be a good mom." Fenty said that he found out the big news on Sunday (January 30th) before the couple announced the news to the world.

Some amazing unseen footage of the Rolling Stones performing on November 30th, 1969 in Florida at the West Palm Beach International Music and Arts Festival has just been posted online by The Associated Press. The nearly 10-minute clip shows the band -- along with then-road manager Sam Cutler -- arriving at the Palm Beach International Raceway, with portions of six of the set's 13 songs -- "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Stray Cat Blues," "Midnight Rambler," "Gimme Shelter," "Live With Me," and "Little Queen."

The West Palm Beach Show has been available on bootleg for years and took place the day after the original end of the Stones' historic 1969 North American tour. Following the tour's official wrap, the Stones performed at the festival and six days later played their infamous free concert at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California, which resulted in the murder of concert-goer Meredith Hunter by Hells Angel Alan Passaro.

On November 26th, 1969 the Stones met with the press in New York City with Mick Jagger and bassist Bill Wyman making light of their celebrity: (Reporter): Are you any more satisfied now, as far as your career goes? (wild laughter) (Mick Jagger): D'you mean sexually or, or philosophically? (Reporter): Both. (Jagger): I -- yeah, we're more satisfied now sexually. (Bill Wyman): It depends on what happens tonight. (wild laughter) (Reporter): How about philosophically and financially? (Jagger): Financially -- dissatisfied. Sexually -- satisfied. Philosophically -- trying."

We asked Keith Richards to recall his life in and around the time of the band's golden period of the late-'60s into the early-'70s: "You ask other people that (laughs), y'know? You can't describe your own wildness, but off and on, fairly (crazy). After all, you're a bunch of guys that are just thrown into the deep end. Nobody else knew what to do. Nobody had been through situations like this. You had to make things up as you went along (laughs). It was fun."

Billie Eilish is back in black.

The "Bad Guy" singer shared an image of herself Tuesday (Feb. 1st) night sporting black hair and baby bangs. She captioned the Instagram post with a black square and commented, "she's back."

Eilish has a history of breaking the internet whenever she makes a drastic change to her hair color. When she debuted her platinum locks in March 2021, she broke Selena Gomez's record for reaching one million Instagrams likes in the shortest amount of time.

It was 39 years ago this week (February 2nd, 1973) that the late night rock show The Midnight Special premiered on NBC. The show's pilot had aired in 1972, and went on to create a buzz the next year when it followed late night king Johnny Carson. The Midnight Special originally aired at 1 a.m. on Saturday mornings, but when Carson scaled The Tonight Show down from 90 minutes to an hour, the show moved up to 12:30 a.m.

Among the major guests who performed during the show's first season were John Denver, the Everly Brothers, Cass Elliott, Linda Ronstadt, Harry Chapin, Helen Reddy, the Isley Brothers, the Stylistics, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, Dionne Warwick, Al Green, the Bee Gees, Don McLean, Ike & Tina Turner, and many more.

The show went on to feature timeless performances by such heavyweights as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Blondie, the Cars, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eddie Money, Electric Light Orchestra, Fleetwood Mac, Gordon Lightfoot, Heart, Helen Reddy, Jim Croce, KC & The Sunshine Band, LaBelle, Marvin Gaye, Captain & Tennille, Peter Frampton, REO Speedwagon, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, the Village People, and countless others.

Paul Brownstein, who distributed the show for owner and producer Burt Sugarman, told author Ed Robertson, "Back then, a band would come to Los Angeles on Saturday and lip-sync their hit on American Bandstand, then go to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Sunday and do Don Kirshner's Rock Concert -- which was syndicated. If they really wanted major television exposure, though, they'd have to go to NBC in Burbank and do The Midnight Special, because that was the only opportunity for a network TV gig at the time. They would perform with live vocals, and the concert would air that (Saturday morning) -- before a huge audience."

Over the years, most of the day's top rock, pop, and disco acts appeared on the stage -- with many acting as the revolving guest host. Celebrity DJ Wolfman Jack, who hosted many of the shows as well, was often on hand to introduce the groups and sometimes briefly interview them as well.

The Midnight Special was canceled in May 1981 and replaced with the Canadian comedy show SCTV Network 90, an expanded version of the popular SCTV. In 1997, VH1 aired many of The Midnight Special episodes, many of which hadn't been seen since their initial broadcast.

Out now on DVD is a highlights package, titled The Midnight Special Collector's Edition, is being sold in three different formats: 11-DVDs, six-DVDs, and a single DVD.

The deluxe 11-disc collection also includes rarely seen comedy performances from Richard Pryor, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Andy Kaufman, Steve Martin, and Freddie Prinze, among others.

Blondie's co-founder and keyboardist Jimmy Destri credits Debbie Harry's movie star looks for keeping the band in step with cutting edge fashion -- a fact that was especially underlined on the band's TV appearances: "A major part of that was Debbie. When you've got somebody that looks like that in your band, you're sort of lifted up by the power of your lead person. y'know? You've gotta strive to look better and better. So we used to like really carefully try and put the persona on. Actually Clem said this a while back, when we had the reunion, he said, 'Well, look at us. . .' -- there was a picture of us without Debbie, like waiting for her, for her makeup, and we look like Oasis (laughs). Y'know?"

Nirvana members are asking that Spencer Elden's second amended complaint filed just last month should be tossed out by a judge, according to a new filing in Los Angeles federal court. Elden is the naked baby on the cover of the band's Nevermind album who sued the band as well as Kurt Cobain's estate for child sexual exploitation. Rolling Stone reports that Nirvana's lawyers wrote in their motion, "For Elden, this is strike three. This case must end."

Elden claims he couldn't consent to his image being used on the album art since he was only four months old at the time. He also said that his legal guardians didn't consent to it either. Elden says that the image is child pornograpy, adding that the band made a promise to cover his genitals with a sticker but it was never incorporated on the album cover, which has caused him to suffer lifelong damages.

A judge dismissed the case on January 3rd, but Elden's lawyers "filed a second amended complaint a week later that dropped a claim related to sex trafficking while adding more language to address alleged conduct within the last 10 years that would restart the 10-year statute of limitations on the child pornography claims," according to Rolling Stone.

Nirvana's new filing states, "Elden's decision to not sue these defendants for the past 30 years, despite his decades-long knowledge of their same and unvaried conduct, is dispositive of his claim. It is as simple as that."