Classic Hits

In 2021, an auction of some of Janet Jackson‘s vast collection of memorabilia and personal items raised more than $4 million via Julien’s Auctions. Now, as Janet prepares for her Together Again Tour kickoff on April 14, another chunk of her collection is going on the auction block.

An exhibition of some of the items going under the hammer will be on display starting April 11 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, where Janet’s tour begins. Starting May 8, the items will be on display at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

The auction itself takes place May 21 live at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe and online at julienslive.com; the items will go on display at the Hard Rock on May 15.

As with Janet’s 2021 auction, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the child advocacy group Compassion International.

Among the 800 items going up for sale are Janet’s 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish luxury car; an outfit she wore in the 1995 “Scream” music video; and a coat she wore on her 1990 Rhythm Nation tour. It also includes an outfit from the 1993 “That’s the Way Love Goes” video; the ensemble she wore to the Billboard Music Awards in 2006; and a jacket and hat from the 1989 “Alright” video.

Janet’s also selling a monogrammed Louis Vuitton suitcase, a Ralph Lauren leather bed frame and other furniture, fine jewelry, stage props and household items.

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Joe Perry has some new music to share. The Aerosmith guitarist is dropping the new album Sweetzerland Manifesto MKII on May 26. 

The album, being released digitally and on vinyl, is a companion to Perry’s previous release, 2018’s Sweetzerland Manifesto. It will include six new tracks, and alternate vocals and mixes. It features guest appearances by The Black Crowes‘ Chris Robinson, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert DeLeo, Cheap Trick‘s Robin Zander, New York Dolls’ David Johansen and more. 

“We had so many songs and with everything going on with The Vampires, Aerosmith, COVID, not touring, and touring, this music kept riding along for me,” Joe shares. “I tend to think in terms of albums. The first one had a vibe, and MKII is a little more rocked out. I almost prefer it.”

He added, “It’s one of those records I can play from front-to-back live.” 

And to give fans a taste of what to expect, Perry has dropped the first single from the record, “Fortunate One,” which he wrote with sons Tony and Roman and features Robinson on vocals. 

Here is the track list for Sweetzerland Manifesto MKII:

“Fortunate One” – featuring Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) and Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots)
“Quake” – featuring Gary Cherone (Extreme/Van Halen)
“I’ll Do Happiness” – featuring Terry Reid
“Aye Aye Aye” – featuring Robin Zander (Cheap Trick)
“Man with a Golden Arm” – Instrumental
“Time Will Tell”
“I Wanna Roll” – featuring David Johanson (NY Dolls)
“Suck It Up” – featuring Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) and Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots)
“Goes His Own Way” – featuring Terry Reid
“Won’t Let Me Go” – featuring Terry Reid

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Billy Idol is ready to rock Las Vegas again. The singer has announced a new set of dates at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan Hotel. 

Billy Idol: Live in Las Vegas will consist of five new shows, October 20, 21, 25, 27 and 28.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, April 15, at 10 a.m.

The news comes as Idol is currently on the road on a spring tour, which is set to hit Hollywood, Florida, on Tuesday, April 18. A complete list of tour dates can be found at BillyIdol.net.

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On This Day, April 11, 1981 …

Eddie Van Halen married One Day at a Time actress Valerie Bertinelli eight months after meeting her at a concert in Shreveport, Louisiana.

They welcomed their first and only child, Wolfgang, in 1991, but the marriage didn’t last and Bertinelli filed for divorce in 2005. Despite the end of their marriage, the pair remained close over the years. In fact, Bertinelli and Van Halen’s second wife were both at his side when he died in 2020. 

As for Wolfgang, he went on to follow in his father’s footsteps. He performed with his dad in Van Halen from 2006 to 2020 and also fronts his own project, Mammoth WVH, which released their self-titled debut in 2021.

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Seems like Jon Bon Jovi is about to add a new A-lister to the family.

The rock star’s son Jake Bongiovi has apparently gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.

19-year-old Millie seemingly confirmed the news in a post on Instagram, featuring a happy photo of the couple embracing, with a ring clearly visible on Millie’s finger. In the caption she quoted another music superstar, Taylor Swift, writing, “I’ve loved you for three summers now, honey, I want ’em all.” That’s a lyric from Taylor’s top 10 hit “Lover.”

20-year-old Jake also shared photos of himself with his apparent new fiancée at the beach, captioning the pics “Forever.”

The couple has been publicly linked since 2021.

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The new movie Spinning Gold tells the story of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart, who launched the career of several artists in the ’70s, including KISS. And while Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons don’t appear in the film, they did play a part in making the movie look and feel as accurate as possible.

“They were very collaborative in making the film,” director Timothy Bogart, who is Neil’s son, tells ABC Audio. “You know, they were speaking to our costume designers, our makeup designers, our production designers.”

Timothy says they’ve had “great support over the years” from the artists his father worked with, noting, “I think the idea that he’s being celebrated finally is something that makes them all, you know, feel like that’s an appropriate thing to finally happen.”

And while Timothy doesn’t know if Gene and Paul have seen the film, he says former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has reached out to him. “He actually went to the theater and was with a friend of his, and apparently the whole time going, ‘Yup, I remember that. I remember that.’”

Even though Ace’s relationship with Neil isn’t part of the film, Timothy says, “Just to hear his response was great. He really loved it.” 

Spinning Gold is in theaters now.

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Journey’s Neal Schon knows a few things about suing bandmates, and now he’s throwing his two cents in regarding the legal battle between Mick Mars and his former bandmates in Mötley Crüe.

As previously reported, Mars sued his former bandmates Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil, claiming they unfairly decreased his portion of the band’s profits from 25% to 5% after he announced his retirement from the road. He also accused them of playing to pre-recorded tracks on last summer’s Stadium Tour.

Motley later responded to Billboard, insisting they “did not owe Mick anything” and have offered Mars “generous compensation.”

Well, now Schon has taken sides. When Twitter user Mitch Lafon asked folks whose side they were on in the Mötley debate, Schon chimed in “Mick,” adding, “Given his health issues, and (t)he  obvious swagger, he gives to the band through his guitar playing. He didn’t deserve this.” 

Schon, of course, has a history of legal entanglements with his bandmates, most recently with Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. He sued him over a company credit card, and also sent a cease-and-desist to stop him from playing “Don’t Stop Believin’” at political events. 

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Melissa Etheridge is spending a lot of time on the road this year. The singer is set to embark on a 44-city tour that will keep her on the road through most of the summer. 

The trek kicks off April 22 in Los Angeles and wraps August 15 in Annapolis, Maryland, with Etheridge just announcing more than 20 new shows in such cities as Las Vegas, Toledo, Charlotte and Nashville. 

In addition to her solo shows, the trek features appearances at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, the New Orleans JazzFest and the Kemptville Live Music Festival in Ontario, Canada.  

Tickets for all new shows go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, April 14, at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at melissaetheridge.com. 

The new tour follows Melissa’s successful one-woman off-Broadway show, Melissa Etheridge — My Window: A Journey Through Life, which ran at New York’s New World Stages through October 2022. 

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The set list for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band‘s current tour is a hits-packed extravaganza that includes nearly every song a casual fan would want to hear, from “Dancing in the Dark” to “Born to Run,” plus some deep cuts for the Bruce fanatics. But those fanatics are also keeping careful track of Bruce’s surprise “tour premieres”: a different song he throws into the set every night, many of which he hasn’t performed in years.

Sunday night’s show at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, brought the tour premiere of “Mary’s Place,” a song from Springsteen’s 2002 album The Rising, which he hasn’t performed since 2017.

Shows in Maryland and Cleveland featured the tour premieres of “Lucky Town,” the title track of one of The Boss’ two 1992 albums, and “Atlantic City,” from 1992’s Nebraska.

For his April 3 concert in Brooklyn, New York, Bruce threw it back to his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, for “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City.” His April 1 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden brought the first performance of “Jungleland” since 2017.

Other songs that have so far gotten a single airing on the tour include “Workin’ on the Highway,” “Hungry Heart,” “I’m On Fire” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”   

As previously reported, if you missed your favorite song’s tour debut, you can stream all of the tour’s shows via nugs.net and buy recordings of every show, as well. All the details are available on live.brucespringsteen.net.

The current leg of the tour wraps up April 14 in Newark, New Jersey, but Bruce and the band are coming back to North America to play stadiums starting in August. The set list may change even more by then.

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The guitar Eddie Van Halen played in Van Halen‘s “Hot for Teacher” video is going up for auction.

Created specifically for Eddie by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars, the “Hot for Teacher” axe was one of Van Halen’s main guitars between 1983 and 1984. In the “Hot for Teacher” video, Eddie memorably shreds the song’s solo on the guitar while walking across desks in a library.

The auction begins at $1.8 million, and is expected to fetch between $2 million and $3 million. It’s open until April 18 via Sotheby’s.

For more info, visit Sothebys.com.

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