Classic Hits

A new documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of Harry Chapin’s classic song “Cat’s in the Cradle” is coming to DVD and streaming on Nov. 4.

Harry Chapin – Cat’s in the Cradle: The Song That Changed Our Lives, directed by Rick Korn, delves into the lasting impact of the iconic tune. It features interviews with artists like Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Chicago’s Robert Lamm, Judy Collins, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels and more.

“What makes this song so amazing is the multi-generational and multi-cultural effect it has on people around the world even to this day,” says Korn.

“My father wrote many unforgettable story songs but ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ is by far his best known and it continues to have an impact on millions of people around the world,” says the singer’s son Jason Chapin, who’s a producer on the film. “I’m thrilled at how the film captures so many wonderful stories about the song and my father told by music legends, fans, family and others.”

On Nov. 1 the film will get a special benefit screening at the Cinema Arts Centre in Harry’s hometown of Huntington, Long Island, with proceeds going to Long Island Cares and the Cinema Arts Centre of Huntington.

Released in October 1974, “Cat’s in the Cradle” tells the story of the relationship between a father and a son. It written by Harry and his wife, Sandy Chapin, and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the singer/songwriter’s only chart-topper. The tune earned Chapin a Grammy nod for best male pop vocal performance in 1975. In 2011 the tune was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Styx has announced some new tour dates for 2026.

The band is set to play six shows in Florida, with dates kicking off Feb. 22 in Pompano Beach. They’ll also play Orlando, Estero and Clearwater, before wrapping their Sunshine State stint on Feb. 28 in St. Augustine.

Tickets for all shows are on sale now.

The Florida dates will follow the band’s already announced 2026 residency at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. The five-show stint, where they’ll be playing their 1978 album, Pieces of Eight, in its entirety, begins Jan 23.

A complete list of dates can be found at StyxWorld.com.

And speaking of Florida … Styx’s three-day Florida festival, Rockin’ In Paradise with Styx + Friends, is set to launch Oct. 9 in Miramar Beach. The “friends” in the lineup include Cheap Trick, Loverboy, 38 Special, Collective Soul, John Waite and Edwin McCain.

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Rock & Roll Hall of Famer James Taylor is set to make his Grand Ole Opry debut on Nov. 11 in Nashville.

“The Opry has been built over the last 100 years in large part by songwriters and storytellers,” Opry executive producer Dan Rogers says. “To have one of the very best ever with us to celebrate 100 years is amazing to so many of us.”

While Taylor may not be a country star, he has collaborated with several of them over the years, including Chris Stapleton, and Opry members Vince Gill and Alison Krauss. His collaboration with Krauss on the song “How’s the World Treating You?” earned Taylor a Grammy for best country collaboration of the year.

The “Sweet Baby James” singer’s appearance is part of the Opry’s ongoing 100th anniversary celebration. He will be joined by Gill and Opry member Emmylou Harris.

More info can be found at opry.com.

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On This Day, Sept. 30, 1982 …

Bruce Springsteen released the solo album Nebraska.

The album featured 10 acoustic songs Springsteen originally recorded as demos on a four-track recorder. He’d planned to rerecord them with the E Street Band but instead released them as a solo acoustic record.

The album was a critical darling and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the album’s biggest hit being “Atlantic City,” which reached #10.

Some of the songs on the demo that didn’t make it on Nebraska were later rerecorded with the band and wound up on Springsteen’s multi-Platinum #1 record, Born in the U.S.A.

The film Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, an adaptation of Warren Zanes‘ 2023 book about the making of the album, is set to open Oct. 24 starring The Bear star Jeremy Allen White as The Boss.

Springsteen is also releasing an expanded box set dedicated to the album. Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition drops Oct. 17.

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Paul McCartney officially kicked off his 2025 North American Got Back tour at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, Monday night. He treated the crowd to a set filled with Beatles and Wings classics, as well as his solo material.

According to setlist.fm, Sir Paul kicked off his 35-song set with The Beatles’ “Help,” only the second time he’s played the tune since 1990.

Other Beatles songs in the set include classics like “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Blackbird,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Get Back,” “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” “Love Me Do” and “Helter Skelter,” as well as the band’s latest hit, “Now and Then.” He also played The Quarrymen tune “In Spite of All the Danger.”

Among the solo tracks performed were “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “My Valentine” and “Coming Up,” while Wings was represented with such songs as “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run” and “Jet.”

Next up, McCartney brings his tour to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Saturday. A complete list of tour dates can be found at PaulMcCartney.com.

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There’s no doubt Beatles memorabilia is worth a lot of money these days, but one man in Vancouver got something no money can buy when he discovered an unreleased demo recorded in 1962 by the Fab Four. 

Rob Frith discovered the reel-to-reel tape The Beatles made for Decca records in March, and the Vancouver Sun reports that after news of the discovery hit the press he received a call from McCartney’s lawyer. That led to a Sept. 18 meeting between Frith and McCartney, where Frith returned the tape to the rock star.

“We hung out with him for like, 40 minutes,” said Frith, owner of the Vancouver collectors store Neptoon Records. “He’s an absolute sweetheart of a guy. If you’re a Beatles fan and you thought he was a really cool person, he was even nicer than you could imagine, just such a down-to-earth, nice, sweet guy.”

The meeting took place in Los Angeles, where McCartney was rehearsing for his upcoming Got Back tour. McCartney wound up inviting Frith and his family to check out rehearsal, where they also had lunch.

Frith says McCartney kept telling him how “wonderful” it was he just gave him the tape, but Firth says getting to meet McCartney was worth more to him than anything he could have made off the tape.

“I told Paul, ‘You changed my life as far as music. Basically, that’s why I have a record store, because of the influence from you guys,'” he told the paper.

McCartney kicks off his Got Back tour on Monday in Palm Desert, California. On Friday, he played a warm-up show in Santa Barbara, where, according to setlist.fm, he opened the show with The Beatles track “Help!” It marked his first performance of the tune since 1990.

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While the Bruce Springsteen movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere doesn’t hit theaters until Oct. 24, it is already receiving high praise from one of The Boss’ bandmates.

E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt attended the New York Film Festival premiere of the movie on Sunday and shared his thoughts on the film on X. He calls it a “stunning, meditative, masterful work of art.”

“No one is expecting this. In the modern world of AI, Green Screens, Comic Books, and Video Games, this work stands alone,” he adds. “If filmmaking still matters at the Academy, this should win everything.”

He ends the post, “Let’s hope this brings back the era when greatness WAS commercial.”

And Van Zandt’s wife, Maureen Van Zandt, agrees with her hubby’s assessment.

“This is a beautiful, profoundly moving film with a spectacular cast,” she writes on X. “Brought to tears both times we’ve seen it. Bravo to Bruce and all involved.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere opens in theaters and IMAX on Oct. 24. Tickets are on sale now.

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During her first-ever podcast interview, Madonna revealed that she contemplated taking her own life, but her spiritual practice helped her work through it.

Appearing on Jay Shetty‘s On Purpose podcast, Madonna discusses her study of Kabbalah, which is a form of Jewish mysticism, and how she never could have dealt with certain challenges without it.

“There were moments in my life where … I actually contemplated suicide,” she tells Shetty. “And that probably sounds really weird coming from me, ’cause I’m not emo. … But I was like, ‘I can’t take this pain anymore.'”

Asked what challenge caused her to feel that way, Madonna reveals, “One of the most painful moments in my life where I could, I honestly couldn’t see the forest for the trees, was when I went through a custody battle with my son. … Someone taking, trying to take my child away from me was like, they might as well just kill me.”

That battle took place in 2016, when Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie, who she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, left her during her Rebel Heart tour and went to live with his father in London. After a lot of legal back-and-forth, the couple resolved the matter privately.

“I was on tour at the time, so I had to go on stage every night,” Madonna recalled. “I would just be lying on the floor of my dressing room sobbing. I really thought it was the end of the world. I couldn’t take it … but thank God I don’t feel that way anymore.”

As for how Kabbalah helped her through it, Madonna explains, “As soon you understand that what’s happening to you is a challenge that you are karmically meant to experience and learn from and evolve to a higher level of consciousness, then you can look at that event, that experience as a lesson and not punishment.”

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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REO Speedwagon members Kevin Cronin, Bruce Hall, Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer reunited Saturday to join the University of Illinois band, the Marching Illini, for a performance during halftime of the school’s homecoming game.

The group joined the band on the field for three songs, “Riding the Storm out,” “Roll With the Changes” and “157 Riverside Avenue,” the latter being a song from their 1971 self-titled first album.

REO Speedwagon formed in 1966 after Neal and Alan met at the school; Cronin gave the university a shout-out from the field.

“I wanna thank the people of Illinois, the city of Champaign-Urbana and this great university for providing a springboard for our music that launched us on a mind blowing musical experience,” Cronin told the stadium crowd.

In September 2024, REO Speedwagon announced they were going to cease touring as of January 2025. The halftime show was the first reunion of Cronin and his bandmates since they stopped touring.

“Visiting Champaign, IL always brings back great memories. It’s a very special place, the birthplace of REO Speedwagon,” Cronin wrote on Instagram. “We have the greatest fans in the world. The love and support I feel from you all is the fuel that keeps me rocking.”

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Rod Stewart‘s once again rolling the dice on Las Vegas.

The star will return to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2026 for another round of The Encore Shows, his current residency show. He has dates mapped out from May 27, 2026, through June 6, 2026.  

“Next year will mark 15 years at The Colosseum and I still get terribly excited each time I return,” Rod says in a statement. “I love this theatre. So come along and we’ll forget the world outside for a couple of hours at The Encore shows!”

Rod initially launched his residency show The Hits at the Colosseum in 2011; that show ended in 2025. Rod returned in 2025 with The Encore Shows, featuring his hits, deep cuts and new production.

A Citi presale starts Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT via citientertainment.com. Fan club presale tickets are available starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, while other presales begin Thursday at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT via ticketmaster. 

The new dates going on sale are May 27, 29 and 30, and June 2, 4 and 6. There are also limited tickets available for Rod’s final Vegas dates of 2025: Oct. 1, 3, 4.

If you don’t want to wait to see Rod in Vegas, you can travel to Florida in early 2026. He’s just announced shows at the Seminole Hard Rock Live on Feb. 27 and March 3, as well as a March 5 show in St. Augustine.

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