Classic Hits

April 20 marks the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s classic album Aladdin Sane. The Southbank Centre in London will be celebrating with a slew of events, including live performances and a monthlong exhibition dedicated to the album’s iconic artwork.

The artwork exhibition is set to run from April 6 to May 28. It was curated by Chris Duffy, the son of photographer Brian Duffy, who shot the cover, and Geoff Marsh. 

“My father’s image of Bowie is often called the Mona Lisa of Pop,” Chris shares. “It’s extraordinary how it’s lasted and been endlessly reworked. Wherever I go in the world, it’s always somewhere on a t-shirt.”

The celebration will also include a tribute concert to Aladdin Sane on April 21 at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, Mercury Prize nominee Anna Calvi and others performing the album in full.

Other planned events include a free display celebrating Bowie’s history with the Southbank Centre, dance parties, talks and poetry events.

A full list of Aladdin Sane events, plus ticket information, can be found at southbankcentre.co.uk.

News of the Aladdin Sane celebrations comes just days after it was revealed that 80,000 objects from Bowie’s archives have been acquired by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the largest donation in the museum’s history. The archive will eventually be housed in the V&A’s new site at East London’s Olympic Park, in The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts. It is expected to open in 2025.

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Olivia Newton-John was remembered during a state memorial service in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday.
Delivering emotional speeches at the event were the late Grease star’s husband, John Easterling, and daughter Chloe Lattanzi. Olivia died of breast cancer in August 2022 at the age of 73.

“My heart is broken in two,” Chloe, 37, said at the memorial service. “The other half is with my mama. I know she’s holding it for me until we meet again.”

“I stand here before you so desperately wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently, but the truth is I feel like a little girl lost without her mother,” she continued. “She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the earth beneath my feet.”

She added, “I know she’s here, standing beside me and within me. I can hear her voice [saying], ‘You are safe, my darling. Don’t be afraid. You are so much stronger than you think. Speak from your heart. That’s all you have to do.'”

“I love how she loved: fully and completely,” she continued. “She would want us all to laugh and reminisce together in joy and celebrate her life. This life experience is temporary, and my mother is the perfect example of a life truly lived.”

Easterling, who married Olivia in 2008, became emotional when he recounted how she’d proposed to him during a game of charades.

Others who paid tribute to Newton-John via prerecorded messages included Dolly Parton, Nicole Kidman, Pink, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, RuPaul, Hugh Jackman and Elton John.

During the service, Australian singer Delta Goodrem performed a medley of Olivia’s hits, including “Physical,” “You’re the One That I Want” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

The memorial service is available to stream at Vic.gov.au until March 5.

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The Beale Street Music Festival returns to Memphis, Tennessee, in May and has nabbed quite a lineup.

The festival, taking place May 5 to 7 at Tom Lee Park, features headliners Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, along with Living Colour, Gov’t Mule, Earth, Wind & Fire, Ziggy Marley and more.

Also headlining the three-day fest are The Lumineers and Greta Van Fleet, with the lineup also featuring The Roots, Live, Gary Clark Jr., Lucinda Williams and 311.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit MemphisinMay.org.

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David Byrne is the latest artist to be added to next month’s Oscars telecast. Byrne will be joined by music trio Son Lux and Oscar-nominated actress Stephanie Hsu for a performance of the Best Original Song nominee “This Is A Life” from the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The artists join previously announced Oscar performers Rihanna, who’ll be on hand to perform her nominated track “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Diane Warren and Sofia Carson, who’ll perform “Applause” from the movie Tell It like a Woman.

Other songs nominated in the category include “Hold My Hand,” written by Lady Gaga for Top Gun: Maverick, and “Naatu Naatu” from the Indian film RRR. 

Byrne was previously nominated and won a Best Original Score Oscar in 1987 for his collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor.

The 95th annual Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, air March 12 on ABC.

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Roger Waters‘ concert schedule just got a little lighter. The Jerusalem Post reports the Pink Floyd member’s May 28 show in Frankfurt, Germany, has been canceled by the local city council.

The city council’s reason for canceling the show mentions Waters allegedly being “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites,” pointing out his use of an inflatable pig with a Star of David on it at one of his shows. They also noted his support for boycotting Israel. 

In making their announcement, the city council noted that the venue where the show was to be held, the “Festhalle” complex, was also a place where 2,000 Jewish men were held in November 1938 before being beaten and sent to concentration camps. The municipality owns 60 percent of the venue, so they had the power to cancel the show. 

Waters has not addressed the cancelation directly, although he did comment on a Twitter post by Ramzy Baroud that argued Waters was not an antisemite, noting, “Thanks Ramzy! You tell’ em my brother.”

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Sir Rod Stewart surprised patients waiting for their MRI scans at a British hospital by taking care of the bill. The money not only helped pay for their visit, it also allowed the hospital to provide faster service.

The Guardian reports Stewart donated funds that covered a full day of scans at Princess Alexandra hospital in Essex, England.

As previously reported, the singer was inspired to cover patients’ scans last month. He told Sky News it was ridiculous people had to wait in long lines for the procedure.

“I had just come from my scan in a private clinic near Harley Street,” he said. “I walked in and said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, I’m half an hour late.’ They said, ‘Don’t worry, there’s hardly anybody in here today.'”

“There were eight people with hardly anything to do. Then I thought this is a terrible injustice, so here we are,” he added.

A hospital representative said the singer’s donation reduced the waiting list by about 10 percent.

When making good on his word, Stewart joked he wanted to “prove I’m not all mouth and trousers.” 

Stewart now wants to help pay for MRI scans at other hospitals and hopes to inspire more people with the means to help others. “If this is a big success, which I think it will be, I’d like to do it in Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and just keep it going and hope some other people follow me,” he said.

The singer also rallied for nurses to be paid more.

“There must be enough money in the coffers to pay up for these nurses – only two years ago we were clapping and now … Bless them, they work so hard, salt of the earth,” Stewart said.

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A new documentary is coming out that focuses on John Lennon’s 18-month relationship with his personal assistant during a brief split from Yoko Ono in the early ’70s. 

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is May Pang’s account of that relationship. Pang, now 72, was just 19 when she got a job working at Apple Records, which eventually led to her becoming Lennon and Ono’s personal assistant.

In a new trailer for the film, archival footage shows Pang explaining how it was Ono who suggested the relationship with Lennon in the first place.

“Yoko walked into my office and said, ‘John and I are not getting along. I want you to go out with him,'” she says. “‘Well are you kidding? I can’t do that, he’s my employer, he’s my boss. He’s your husband.'” Eventually, Pang moved in with Lennon in New York, noting she “was 23 and my first boyfriend was John Lennon.”

Their relationship lasted 18 months and was referred to as Lennon’s “lost weekend.” It ended in February 1975, when Ono decided to return to Lennon.

“[Ono] did not realize it was going to turn into such a big love affair,” Pang says. “She thought it would be two weeks, gone, goodbye. She told me, ‘I’m thinking of taking John back.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘I think it’s time.'” 

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story hits theaters April 13.

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Neil Young hasn’t played in front of a crowd since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but that all changed this weekend.

Rolling Stone reports the rocker made a surprise appearance at Saturday’s United For Old Growth march and rally in Victoria, British Columbia, treating the assembled crowd to a performance of “Comes a Time” and “Heart of Gold.”

“I’m only here for those trees up there,” Young said at the rally, which aimed to protect old trees. “It’s a precious, sacred thing, these old trees. They show us the power of nature when we are being threatened. They show us the past. They show us our future. That’s something that I hope our Canadian government and business section will recognize.” 

He noted, “This has to do with Canada. It has to do with the ages, if we’re lucky enough to have ages. These trees have lasted so long. They deserve Canada’s respect.” 

The performance was Young’s first since Farm Aid in September 2019, but he appears to be ready to get back out there again. His next scheduled performance is at Stephen Stills’ Light Up the Blues charity show, taking place April 22 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

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Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott didn’t let a little altitude sickness get in the way of him rocking out in Bogota, Colombia, this weekend.

Blabbermouth.net reports that local news outlets in Bogota reported Elliott was taken to a local hospital Saturday ahead of their show with Mötley Crüe, which prompted the rocker to take to social media to set the record straight about his health.

“[It’s now] 5:20 p.m. We’re on at 8. So I am alive and well,” Elliott shared in the video posted to Instagram. “Little woozy, I’ll be honest. Moderate-to-severe altitude sickness. I would hate to know what ‘severe’ altitude sickness [is]; I wouldn’t wanna wish it on my worst enemy.” 

He added, “But here I am … Apparently the internet lit up, so I’m here to put everybody that cares about it minds at rest. I’m here, and we’re going on at 8 p.m.”

Elliott and his band did go on as planned, rocking through a 16-song set that included such Def Leppard classics as “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Rock of Ages,” “Armageddon It” and “Photograph.”

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On this Day, February 27, 1954…

Future Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Neal Schon was born at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

At just age 17, Schon joined the band Santana performing on albums Santana III and Caravanserai. In 1973, he and Gregg Rolie, who was also in Santana, formed Golden Gate Rhythm Section, which eventually became Journey, a band Schon has now been in for 50 years. 

Journey’s biggest success came between 1978 and 1987, when Steve Perry was their lead vocalist. They released hit albums like Escape and Frontiers, featuring such classic tunes as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Faithfully,” “Open Arms” and more. 

Schon and Journey were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

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