ZZ Top in 2016; Brill/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Following Wednesday’s sad news of the death of longtime ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill, the band’s frontman, Billy Gibbons, has revealed that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers plan to continue.
Yesterday, rock radio personality Eddie Trunk took to his Twitter feed to share a text message Gibbons sent him that reads, “As Dusty said upon his departure, ‘Let the show go on!’ and…with respect, we’ll do well to get beyond this and honor his wishes.”
The 71-year-old singer/guitarist added, “Dusty emphatically grabbed my arm and said, ‘Give Elwood the bottom end and take it to the Top.’ He meant it, amigo. He really did.”
The “Elwood” Billy mentions is Elwood Francis, ZZ Top’s longtime guitar tech, who’d been filling in for Hill on bass at recent concerts by the band.
Before Hill’s death, ZZ Top announced on their Facebook page that Dusty had to exit the band’s tour and return home to Texas “to address a hip issue,” and that Francis was stepping in “with his slide guitar, bass guitar, and harmonica playing in full swing.”
ZZ Top canceled their show on Wednesday, July 28, in Simpsonville, South Carolina, but the band is still slated to play its next scheduled gig this Friday, July 30 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
On Wednesday, ZZ Top announced that Hill had “passed away in his sleep at home in Houston.” He was 72. No cause of death has yet been publicly revealed.
The upcoming archival Joni Mitchell compilation Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) includes a full unreleased live performance Mitchell gave in March 1968 at Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa, Canada, that — amazingly — was recorded by Jimi Hendrix.
Hendrix had been performing at another Ottawa venue at the same time that Mitchell was playing a residency at the coffee house and he decided to catch her show there on March 19, 1968, and record it on a reel-to-reel tape machine he owned. The guitar legend documented his plan in a diary entry that reads, “talked with Joni Mitchell on the phone. I think I’ll record her tonight with my excellent tape recorder.”
After Joni’s two-set show, Jimi wrote about her, describing her as a “fantastic girl with heaven words.”
In a new interview featured in the Archives Vol. 2 liner notes, Mitchell recalls giving Hendrix permission to record the concert. “He beautifully recorded this tape,” Joni remembers. “Of course I played part of the show to him. He was right below me.”
Unfortunately, Hendrix’s tape was stolen a few days later, but the recording recently was rediscovered in a private collection that was donated to the Library and Archives Canada. The recording was then given to Mitchell, and it now will be released on Archives Vol. 2.
The five-CD collection features numerous previously unreleased live, studio and demo recordings from Joni’s early career, leading up to the release of 1971’s Blue.
The studio version of “The Dawntreader” appeared on Mitchell’s 1968 debut album, Song to a Seagull.
It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long, but Rick Astley‘s 1987 video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” has finally hit one billion YouTube views.
The cheese-tastic clip for Astley’s number-one hit earned a second life online starting in 2007 thanks to the popular RickRolling meme, where you’re directed to click on a link but instead of getting what you expect to see, you get Astley’s video instead.
This year alone, the clip received 2.3 million daily views on April Fool’s Day.
This makes “Never Gonna Give You Up” only the fourth music video of the ’80s to join the Billion Views Club, following Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, a-ha’s “Take on Me,” and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”
Whitesnake‘s ongoing deluxe reissue campaign continues with a four-CD/DVD collection focusing on the band’s 1997 studio album, Restless Heart, which will be released on October 29.
Restless Heart: Super Deluxe Edition features newly remixed and remastered versions of the album, plus a variety of unreleased demos and studio outtakes, and a DVD containing official music videos, fan videos, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the record that includes new interviews with frontman David Coverdale.
Restless Heart originally was intended to be Coverdale’s third studio album, but it was released as a new Whitesnake record due to label pressure. It was never issued in the U.S. at the time.
The super deluxe reissue’s first disc features a 2021 remix of Restless Heart that’s closer to how Coverdale originally intended for the album to sound. It includes three bonus tracks, which were originally available on the Japanese version of the record.
The original musicians who contributed to the project included guitarist Adrian Vandenberg, drummer Denny Carmassi and bassist Guy Pratt, while Coverdale tapped guitarist Joel Hoekstra and keyboardist Derek Sherinian to add their talents to the updated tracks.
Disc two features a remastered version of Restless Heart, while the third and fourth CDs boast demos and outtakes that help show how the tracks evolved to their final stage.
In addition to the aforementioned music videos and making-of feature, the DVD offers a trio of acoustic performances from the 1997 live acoustic album, Starkers in Tokyo, originally only available in Japan.
The set comes with a hardbound book featuring rare and unseen photos.
The Restless Heart reissue, which you can pre-order now, also is available as a two-CD set, a two-LP silver-vinyl release and a single CD.
Here the Super Deluxe reissue’s track list:
Disc 1: Restless Heart — 2021 Remix
“Restless Heart”
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Theme for an Imaginary Drum Solo)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
“Can’t Go On (Unzipped)”
Disc 2: Restless Heart — 2021 Remaster
“Don’t Fade Away”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Restless Heart”
“Too Many Tears”
“Crying”
“Stay with Me”
“Can’t Go On”
“You’re So Fine”
“Your Precious Love”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Anything You Want”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Too Many Tears ’95 (Live & Drunk in the Studio featuring The Horny B’stards)”
Disc 3: Dancing on the Titanic — Early Arrangements & Getting Drum Tracks in the Studio
“Restless Heart “
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love (Soul Version)”
“You Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now (Instrumental Version)”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Instrumental)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
“Snakes Down South (Unreleased Demo)”
Disc 4: Restless Heart — Evolutions
“Restless Heart”
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“(Red Light Green Light)”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Instrumental)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
Disc 5: Restless Heart — DVD-Video
“All in the Name of Love” (Fan Video)
“Anything You Want” (Fan Video)
“You’re So Fine” (Music Video)
“Restless Heart” (Fan Video)
“Too Many Tears” (Music Video)
“Don’t Fade Away” (Music Video)
“Can’t Go On” (Acoustic Slideshow)
“Restless Heart” (Lyric Video)
Starkers Trilogy
“Too Many Tears”
“Can’t Go On”
“Don’t Fade Away”
Journey returns to the concert stage this week for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with two shows in Chicago — one tonight at the Aragon Ballroom and the second on Saturday at the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park.
The concerts also will mark Journey’s first live performances since three new members were welcomed into the band — bassist Randy Jackson, drummer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. However, keyboardist Jonathan Cain tells ABC Audio that Jackson — who previously played with Journey during the mid-1980s — will be missing the Chicago gigs.
“Unfortunately, Randy’s not going to be there, ’cause he’s got back surgery,” Cain reports. “Marco Mendoza, a good friend of ours [who] plays great, he’ll fill in for now.”
Cain says he finds it interesting that Journey will launch its new chapter in Chicago, where he was born.
Journey recently released its first single with the new lineup, “The Way We Used to Be,” and Cain says the band likely will include it in their sets this week, as well as plenty of the group’s classic hits. Jonathan also notes that Journey will be playing a longer set at the Aragon Ballroom — which is considered an official Lollapalooza “Aftershow” event — so they may dig deeper into their catalog for that performance.
Journey guitarist Neal Schon, meanwhile, tells ABC Audio that he’s hoping the band will be jamming more and be doing more extended sets in the future.
“I think Journey is capable of being one of the greatest jam bands in the world ever,” he declares. “And everything in my intuition is telling me that it’s time to…encompass it all in one concert, be daring, go out on a limb with no net and create…in front of people.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler‘s debut solo album, Golden Heart. To commemorate the milestone, an expansive box set featuring newly remastered versions of all of the solo studio efforts Knopfler issued from 1996 through 2007 will hit stores on December 10.
Mark Knopfler: The Studio Albums 1996-2007 will be available as a six-CD package or an 11-LP set, and will feature remastered editions of the lauded singer, songwriter and guitarist’s first five solo records — 1996’s Golden Heart, 2000’s Sailing to Philadelphia, 2002’s The Ragpicker’s Dream, 2004’s Shangri-La and 2007’s Kill to Get Crimson. The box set also will include as a bonus disc a new companion compilation titled Gravy Train: The B-Sides 1996-2007.
The vinyl box set will feature two-LP versions of the five studio albums, plus the single-disc compilation, all pressed on 180-gram black vinyl. This will mark the first time that Golden Heart, Sailing to Philadelphia and, of course, Gravy Train, will be available on vinyl.
Both box sets will come with a download card allowing access to digital versions of the albums, plus six embossed art prints of the albums’ covers.
The Knopfler studio album featured in the box set that saw the most commercial success is Sailing to Philadelphia, which peaked at #4 on the U.K. chart and was certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies in the U.S.
Joan Jett loves rock ‘n’ roll, and the rock legend will get back to doing what she loves with her band, The Blackhearts, when they kick off a series of 2021 concerts with a show this Sunday, August 1, in San Francisco at the Stern Grove Festival.
Jett & the Blackhearts have 20 concerts lined up this year, running through a November 21 performance in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Several shows on Jett and company’s schedule are joint gigs with some other big-name rock acts. These include an August 12 concert in Vienna, Virginia, with George Thorogood & The Destroyers; performances with Cheap Trick on August 28 and 29, respectively, in Chesterfield, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri; and an October 2 show in Laughlin, Nevada, with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Joan and the band also will play the 2021 of Milwaukee’s Summerfest on September 9.
Meanwhile, The Stadium Tour, the long-delayed trek that will feature Joan Jett & the Blackhearts teaming up with Def Leppard, the reunited Mötley Crüe and Poison, is scheduled to finally get underway on June 16, 2002, in Atlanta. The outing is plotted out all the way through a September 7 show in San Francisco.
Whitney Houston: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images; Jon Bon Jovi: Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images
Sure, getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is nice, but now New Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi and Whitney Houston are getting a real honor: rest stops named after them on the Garden State Parkway.
The neighboring New Jersey Turnpike has rest stops named after historical New Jerseyites, like Thomas Edison, but the Parkway is going for star power, reports NorthJersey.com. The rest stop formerly known as — no joke — Cheesequake will now be known as the Jon Bon Jovi Service Area, while the one formerly known as Vauxhall will be renamed the Whitney Houston Service Area.
Other famed New Jerseyites who are getting the rest stop treatment include Frank Sinatra, Toni Morrison, James Gandolfini, salsa legend Celia Cruz and author Judy Blume. It’s all part of a campaign by the New Jersey Hall of Fame, which is installing displays about each rest stop’s famous namesake.
But wait, you ask — where’s the Bruce Springsteen Service Area?
“Bruce Springsteen respectfully declined to have a service area named after him,” a New Jersey Hall of Fame spokeswoman told NorthJersey.com. “It should be noted, though, that Bruce has been very supportive of the New Jersey Hall of Fame over the years, and is very much a part of the fabric of the Hall.”
Courtesy of Rex Foundation and The Jerry Garcia Family
A second annual edition of Daze Between, a series of events celebrating the life and legacy of Jerry Garcia that’s scheduled on and around the late Grateful Dead frontman’s August 1 birthday, recently kicked off and is slated to run through August 10.
While last year’s inaugural Daze Between was a virtual celebration because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 edition is a hybrid of live and streaming events and activities.
In conjunction with Daze Between, a variety of Garcia tribute concerts by Melvin Seals & JGB, The Garcia Project, Dark Star Orchestra and others will be held at various venues between Thursday, July 29, and Monday, August 9. Among these is a special Daze Between show on August 8 in New Haven, Connecticut, featuring Warren Haynes, Grace Potter and more.
In addition, Major League Baseball will host a series of special “Jerry Day” games featuring special Garcia merch giveaways and taking place July 29 at Boston’s Fenway Park, August 2 at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, and August 10 at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.
Other events include livestreamed concert, an exhibition of Garcia’s digital art hosted by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and an online auction featuring a selection of Grateful Dead collectibles.
Daze Between was launched in partnership between Garcia’s family and the Grateful Dead’s Rex Foundation charity. Proceeds raised will benefit the foundation, which supports people involved with creative endeavors in the arts, sciences and education.
Tuesday marked 40 years since the release of Stevie Nicks‘ solo debut album, 1981’sBella Donna. Now the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has released an essay explaining how important the album is to her.
On her socials, Stevie writes that “Bella Donna was a dream…I did not want the record to sound anything like Fleetwood Mac. That would have defeated the dream.” Instead, she explains, she wanted her and her two backup singers Lori and Sharon to sound like “the girl version of Crosby, Stills & Nash.”
According to Stevie, the inspiration for the album was a poem she wrote, inspired by her then-boyfriend’s mother, Maria Teresa Rojas. As Stevie tells it, Rojas’ lover in Chile was “banished to France” after the Chilean coup of 1973.
“She never saw him again,” Stevie writes. “I was so touched by this story of lost love that I wrote Bella Donna. The moment the poem and then the song was finished, I knew I had the basis for my first solo record.”
Stevie goes on to say that Bella Donna “defined how I would feel about love forever,” adding, “I could not have been more proud of those songs, or the three months it took [us] to craft it. It did not break up Fleetwood Mac. If anything, it kept us together.”
And finally, Stevie notes that Bella Donna “opened the doors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, took my hand and invited me in for my own work…the thing I am most proud of. And all because of a tragic love affair that caused… an important and relevant song to be turned into a story that the world seemed to love.”
Bella Donna topped the Billboard 200 album chart and has since been RIAA-certified four-times Platinum on the strength of hits including “Edge of Seventeen,” “Leather and Lace,” and its highest-charting single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with the late rock legend Tom Petty.
