Classic Hits

Carl Palmer is giving fans a health update. As previously reported, the Emerson, Lake & Palmer drummer underwent a successful heart procedure last week, and he’s now shared a video on social media to let fans know how he’s doing. 

“I just want you to know I’m back home now, feeling really good,” he says in the clip. “The people at the Brompton hospital were fantastic; the Royal Brompton in London. And my surgeon, Tushar Salukhe — fantastic man.”

Palmer thanked his fans for their support and explained that he’ll be spending a few days recuperating, noting he’s “feeling wonderful,” although he is tired.

And he doesn’t plan on letting his condition stop him from hitting the road, telling fans, “I’m looking forward to seeing all of you — that’s the most important thing — in July; that’s my aim.” 

Palmer’s The Return of Emerson, Lake & Palmer 2023 Summer Tour, which has him performing alongside footage of his late bandmates Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, is set to kick off July 8 in West Jefferson, North Carolina. A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at carlpalmer.com.

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Heart’s Ann Wilson is heading out on the road this summer. The singer just announced dates for a new tour, where she’ll be backed by the group Tripsitter.

The tour is set to kick off July 7 in Toronto, Canada, with the first U.S. date booked for July 12 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The trek wraps August 30 in Syracuse, New York. A complete list of dates can be found at annwilson.com.

And it sounds like we may soon be hearing new music from Wilson. According to her website, she and Tripsitter are working on finishing up a new album featuring original material.

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Keith Richards made a surprise appearance at Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles over the weekend. Rolling Stone reports that Richards joined the birthday boy Sunday night for a performance of Waylon Jennings’ “We Had It All” and Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever.”

“I’d like to thank Willie for inviting me to this party,” Richards told the crowd.

The two-night Nelson birthday party, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, featured a lineup that included Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Warren Haynes, Sheryl Crow and Snoop Dogg. 

Saturday’s show, according Variety, featured a whole host of highlights, including: Young and Stills teaming up with Promise of the Real for “Long May You Run” and “For What It’s Worth”; Willie and Young, along with Lukas and Micah Nelson, performing “Are There Any More Real Cowboys”; Haynes performing the Allman Brothers Band classic “Midnight Rider”; and Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson performing “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).” 

Both nights featured a “Happy Birthday” serenade to the singing legend. As for his actual birthday, Willie shared on social media, “I was born before midnight on the 29th but it didn’t get registered in the county courthouse until the next day, the 30th. So, it went out officially as the 30th. So I just do both days.”

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KISS’ Paul Stanley is facing some backlash after posting his thoughts about gender confirmation treatment for children, suggesting it’s been “turned into a sad and dangerous fad.”

“There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it,” Stanley writes on Twitter.

He seems to suggest that it’s OK if adults make the decision to change their gender, but he has some issues with parents “normalizing” the choice for kids.

Stanley adds, “With many children who have no real sense of sexuality or sexual experiences caught up in the ‘fun’ of using pronouns and saying what they identify as, some adults mistakenly confuse teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous fad.” 

The post has quickly been met with backlash. One of those blasting Stanley is The Offspring guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, who tweeted, “This is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole career. As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all. #thatsashame.”

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On This Day, May 1, 1976 …

Led Zeppelin’s seventh album, Presence, hit number one on the Billboard Album chart. 

The band, unable to tour due to injuries Robert Plant sustained in a car accident, completed the album in just 18 days, with Plant doing his vocals from a wheelchair.

The album, which spent two weeks on top of the chart, featured the 10-minute opener “Achilles Last Stand,” one of the band’s longest studio recordings.  

Presence received mixed reviews and is the band’s lowest-selling album. It was one of seven Led Zeppelin albums to reach number one. The others include 1969’s Led Zeppelin II, 1970’s Led Zeppelin III, 1975’s Physical Graffiti, 1979’s In Through the Out Door and 2003’s live album How The West Was One.

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Tim Bachman, guitarist and one of the co-founders of the Canadian band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, passed away Friday at age 71. The news was announced by the artist’s son Ryder in a post on Facebook, with an earlier post revealing that doctors had found “cancer riddled all throughout his brain.”

“My Dad passed this afternoon. Thank You Everyone for the kind words,” Ryder wrote. “Grateful I got to spend some time with him at the end. Grab yer loved ones and hug em close, ya never know how long you have.”

BTO also featured Bachman’s brothers Randy and Robbie, along with Fred Turner. Tim was featured on two of the band’s albums, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, with the latter featuring the band’s two biggest hits, “Takin’ Care of Business” and “Let It Ride.”

Tim left the group in 1974 and was replaced by Blair Thornton. He did return for a 1984 reunion album and tour, which had BTO opening for Van Halen.

Tim’s death comes after the January passing of his brother Robbie, at the age of 69.

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George Michael may not need “One More Try” to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — he might be going in this year.

Voting for this year’s “Fan Ballot” has closed and Billboard reports that the former Wham! singer-turned-solo star came out on top by a huge margin. He got a little more than 1.04 million votes. In second place is fellow ’80s icon Cyndi Lauper, who received a little more than 928,000 votes.  

This year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on Wednesday. The “Fan Ballot” isn’t a guarantee of induction, but as Billboard notes, all but one of the previous five fan vote winners ended up getting in: The only one who didn’t was Dave Matthews Band in 2020.

The other top vote-getters were Warren Zevon, Iron Maiden and Soundgarden. The rest of the nominees who’ll find out Wednesday if they’ve made the cut include Missy Elliott, Kate Bush, The White Stripes, The Spinners, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson and Joy Division/New Order.

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On Friday, Barry Manilow announced that his long-in-the-works musical Harmony is finally coming to Broadway. But he tells ABC Audio he wouldn’t want to turn his life into a musical, like fellow stars Neil Diamond and Carole King have done.

“I’m not interested in being a part of something like that. And I’ll tell you why: I don’t have the drama,” he notes. “My life is pretty boring…I haven’t got enough drama in it to keep the curtain up for two acts!”

“Yeah, I got the music, but I haven’t got the story that other other guys have…So I wouldn’t be interested in doing it myself,” he adds. “But if somebody else is? Sure!”

Harmony, which opens in November at the Barrymore Theater, has taken more than 20 years to hit Broadway. It’s the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, an internationally famous German vocal group whose career was essentially ended by the Nazis.

“It takes a long time to get a Broadway musical up. We all know that,” says Barry. “But..we would always hit some wall that would stop it from coming in to New York. But this time…we’re coming in!”

It’s just one thing Barry has going on at the moment: He’ll play five shows at Radio City Music Hall later this month and on Monday, he’s being honored by the New York Pops orchestra, which will perform his music with guest singers like Dionne Warwick and Melissa Manchester.

Barry says he’ll be “sitting there with my Kleenex, ready to applaud” during the tribute, and admits he’s most excited to see them do “Copacabana,” because of the guest vocalist.

“I asked Charo,” he says. “I mean, can you think of a better person to sing ‘Copacabana’ than Charo? And she said yes!”

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As suspected, Aerosmith is saying goodbye to the road. The band just announced dates for their “Peace Out” farewell tour, featuring special guests The Black Crowes.

“It’s not goodbye it’s PEACE OUT!,” the band shared in a statement. “Get ready and walk this way, you’re going to get the best show of our lives.” 

The tour is set to kick off September 2 in Philadelphia, hitting such cities as Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville and more before wrapping, January 26, 2024 in Montreal, Canada. The trek also includes a New Year’s Eve show in the band’s hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.  

One person who won’t be joining the band for their farewell run is drummer Joey Kramer. “While Joey Kramer remains a beloved founding member of Aerosmith, he has regrettably made the decision to sit out the currently scheduled touring dates to focus his full attention on his family and health,” the band explained. “Joey’s unmistakable and legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed.” 

Ahead of the official announcement the band teased the news with a trailer that featured cameos by such stars as Ringo Starr, Slash, Kelly Clarkson, Eminem, Dolly Parton and Bill Burr, with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler ending the clip by saying “and if you think we’re joking, dream on,” a reference to their classic song.

Tickets for the Peace Out tour go on sale Friday, May 5 at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at Aerosmith.com.

(Video contains uncensored profanity)

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John Fogerty kicked off his Celebration Tour last week, marking his first tour since regaining the worldwide rights to his Creedence Clearwater Revival songs. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer fought for 55 years to get those rights back, and he’s learned some big lessons along the way.

So, what would he say to young artists who are so eager to get a deal that they’d be willing to sign any contract?

“Don’t do it,” he tells ABC Audio. “I know you think you’re going to write another great song tomorrow and it doesn’t matter, but it’s really an abomination that somehow at the moment, you’re writing this masterpiece of yours down on paper, it’s now whisked away from you and it gets to be owned by someone else. That’s just a tragedy.”

Of course, it’s easy for young artists to get discouraged if nothing’s happening in their career, but Fogerty urges them not to be too eager.  

“I would sure tell a young person, look, if you have the talent, it’s going to come through no matter when you decide to let it shine,” he says. “And doing it with a gun to your head is really a poor outcome for you because you don’t want to end up doing what I had to do (which was) fight for my rights for, you know, 50 years or longer.”

He notes, “There’s so many more positive things that you should be doing with music.” 

Fogerty’s Celebration Tour picks up again on May 6 in Pomona, California. A complete list of tour dates can be found JohnFogerty.com.

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