Classic Hits

The Eagles’ Don Henley received quite an honor this week. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was feted at the 2023 Pollstar Awards with this year’s Milestone Award.

“I appreciate this very much,” Henley said in accepting his honor. “We are three shows into our 51st year as a band and touring entity — and feeling every one of them. But we feel very fortunate.”

Henley was referring to the band’s current Hotel California tour, which hits Palm Springs, California, on Friday, and wraps April 8 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Other winners at the Pollstar Awards include: Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard’s co-headlining Stadium Tour, which nabbed Rock and Roll Tour of the Year; Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, who were among the openers on the trek, won Support/Special Guest Act of the Year.

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A new documentary on rock’s founding father Little Richard is heading to theaters in New York and LA on April 21.

Little Richard: I Am Everything premiered at Sundance. It details the life of the man born Richard Penniman, and how he pioneered a new form of gender-bending showmanship that was later adopted by everyone from Mick Jagger, Elton John and David Bowie to Prince and Harry Styles. 

His music, meanwhile, influenced generations, from The Beatles, Robert Plant and AC/DC, to Patti Smith and Michael Jackson, to Bruno Mars and Chris Cornell. 

Jagger is interviewed in the documentary about Richard’s influence, as is Emmy-winning actor and singer Billy Porter.

The documentary also covers Richard’s internal battle between rock and roll and religion, which led him to temporarily abandon secular music and switch to gospel in the late ’50s, and become ordained as a minister in 1970.

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On this Day, February 23, 2000…

Santana’s album Supernatural won nine Grammys, breaking the record held by Michael Jackson’s Thriller for most Grammys won by a single album in one night. Among the wins was Album of the Year, making Carlos Santana the first Hispanic artist to win that award. 

Supernatrual was a huge hit for Santana, landing at number one in eleven countries. It spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at number one in the U.S., and went on to be certified 15-times Platinum by the Recording Industry of America.

The album’s biggest hit was the song “Smooth,” featuring Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks. On Grammy night the song won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

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Barbra Streisand has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award, according to The Washington Post. The superstar will receive the honor April 22 at a ceremony held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

The award, which Ginsberg established with her friend, philanthropist Julie Opperman, 18 months before her death, honors “women who strove to change society in positive ways.”

“She wanted to honor women of great passion and achievement,” Opperman tells the paper. “She wanted it to be women in the RBG tradition. I’m pleased to say Barbra Streisand was among them.”

“Women everywhere have benefited from the brilliance and courage of the Hon. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Streisand said in a statement to the paper. “She is an inspiration to us all. She devoted her life to advancing equality and justice, and the world is a better place for it.” She added, “I am so deeply honored to receive an award in the name of such an extraordinary woman, American hero and an icon to the world.”

Previous winners of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award include arts patron Agnes Gund, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and Queen Elizabeth II.

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Yusuf/Cat Stevens is paying tribute to George Harrison, who would have turned 80 this coming Saturday, with a new cover of the late Beatle‘s classic “Here Comes the Sun.” 

“George Harrison has been an immense influence on me, spiritually, from the very beginning,” Yusuf/Stevens says. “He pioneered certain thoughts and ideas, which stretched way east, and that was very important.” He adds, “I’m happy to sing one of his songs, especially as it represents the returning of light and hope to a seriously dark and broken world.” 

The new release coincides with the news that Stevens has signed with Dark Horse Records, a record label founded by Harrison, that is currently operated by his son Dhani and David Zonshine, with a brand new album on the way.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Yusuf/Cat Stevens to the Dark Horse Records family,” Dhani Harrison shares. “Not only is Yusuf a great musical legend but his songs could not fit the Dark Horse mythos any better,” adding, “….Yusuf is without question one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time, it is a great honor to be able to give his music a home on our humble yet historic label.”

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If you’re a David Bowie fan, start making plans now to visit London in 2025. The city’s Victoria and Albert museum has acquired the late rocker’s entire archive, in the largest donation of its kind in the museum’s history, reports The Telegraph.  Comprising 80,000 objects, the archive is so vast that it’ll take two years to catalog.

Among the items given to the museum from Bowie’s estate include his most famous stage outfits — including his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane ensembles — as well as  handwritten lyrics to songs like “‘Heroes'” and “Ashes to Ashes,” and notebooks filled with ideas for projects that were never realized, such as his fabled musical adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was nixed by Orwell’s widow.

In addition, there are some 70,000 photos, as well as letters, sheet music, awards, album artwork, set designs and instruments, like the synthesizer used by Brian Eno on such Bowie albums as Low, “Heroes” and Lodger, and the Stylophone that was gifted to Bowie by Marc Bolan and used in the recording of “Space Oddity.”

The archive will 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, set to open in 2025.

The Telegraph quotes a spokesman for the estate as saying, “With David’s life’s work becoming a part of the U.K.’s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses. We’re so pleased to be working closely with the V&A to continue to commemorate David’s enduring cultural influence.”

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The Joe Perry Project is getting back on the road.

The Aerosmith guitarist’s solo band has announced a spring U.S. tour, running from April 15 in Mashantucket, Connecticut, to April 26 in Los Angeles, California.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit JoePerry.com.

The Joe Perry Project first began after Perry left Aerosmith in 1979, and went on to release three records. When Perry rejoined the “Dream On” outfit in 1984, the JPP went on hiatus and eventually reformed in 2009.

Perry also has touring plans with The Hollywood Vampires, which also features Alice Cooper and actor Johnny Depp. The group launches a European trek in June.

Aerosmith, meanwhile, hasn’t performed live since last year, when they were forced to cancel the remaining dates on their Las Vegas residency due to health issues affecting frontman Steven Tyler.

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Since February 22 is National Margarita Day, how about celebrating by watching one of the popular cocktails get mixed by a guy you always associate with tequila: Paul McCartney?

Believe or not, the ex-Beatle is apparently famous for his “Maccarita,” his version of a Margarita that’s made with the juice of one orange or two Clementines, various orange liqueurs, lime juice, salt and of course, tequila.

A clip of Paul making his signature cocktail has been posted on his Twitter to mark National Margarita Day: It’s from his daughter’s cooking show Mary McCartney Serves It Up, which streams on Discovery+. And yes, Paul does sing as he’s shaking up the ingredients in a cocktail shaker.

“This is hands down my favorite cocktail in the whole world, and even better when it’s lovingly made by my dad,” says Mary. “Cheers, everyone,” adds Paul.

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Earlier this year, KISS‘ Paul Stanley told ABC Audio that he’s sometimes confused by the things that his bandmate Gene Simmons tells the press. But in a new interview, Stanley says he’s able to look past what he calls Simmons’ “schtick” to see the real person, who he loves and respects.

Speaking to the U.K. publication Louder, Stanley says what he loves about Simmons is his selflessness.

“Gene is a team player, and he loves the band, and wants what’s best for it, even if it’s not always what’s best for him,” says Paul.

“I love Gene’s ability to put his own advantages and possibilities within the band by the side to do whatever is best for the collective,” he adds. “I admire that quality, because it’s you don’t find it that often in people.”

What’s more, Stanley points out, “Underneath all the bravado and all the ‘Gene Simmons’ schtick is a very caring, and very kind and giving person, who takes care of a lot of people, far outside and beyond his family. I respect that very much.”

KISS have a festival date coming up in April in Brazil, and in June, they’ll kick off a European tour which is set to run through July. Meanwhile, the fifth installment in their Off The Soundboard live bootleg series arrives April 7.  As previously reported, it documents a November 28, 1984, concert recorded live in Poughkeepsie, NY during the band’s Animalize World Tour.

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Roger Waters‘ recent comments about the war in Ukraine and his alleged antisemitism haven’t just raised the ire of fans and his former bandmate David Gilmour: Germany isn’t too thrilled with him either.

The German news site DW.com reports that local politicians in Cologne, Germany, want to cancel a Waters concert scheduled to take place May 9. The city council’s members have sent an open letter to the manager of the venue where Waters is set to play, asking them to “do everything they can to prevent the concert” and questioning why the concert’s organizers would give Waters a platform.

It’s worth noting, though, that since the venue is private, the city council has no say in whether or not the concert takes place.

In addition, DW.com reports that an alliance of Jewish groups are calling for the cancellation of a Waters concert scheduled for Frankfurt in late May. In a statement, the alliance accuses Waters of antisemitic propaganda and of expressing “hostility toward Jews” at events. 

The alliance refers to Waters as an “antisemitic conspiracy theorist and Israel-hater” and argues that “protecting human dignity in the public sphere” outweighs “freedom of expression.”

The Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media told a local paper that she can’t ban Waters’ concerts, but she’d like to see concert promoters stop booking him — and if they can’t do that, she’d like to see him “play to empty halls.”

Waters has said, among other things, that Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine was “provoked.” He has actively called on musicians not to perform in Israel.

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