Classic Hits

The New York Dolls’ David Johansen is the subject of a new documentary set to premiere next month on Showtime. Personality Crisis: One Night Only, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, will debut April 14 at 8 p.m., and a new trailer for the film has just been released.

The doc, which had its world premiere at the 2022 New York Film Festival, tells Johansen’s story alongside footage of a January 2020 performance of his cabaret show at the Café Carlyle in New York. 

“I’ve known David Johansen for decades, and his music has been a touchstone ever since I listened to the Dolls when I was making Mean Streets,” Scorsese shares. “Then and now, David’s music captures the energy and excitement of New York City.”

He adds, “I often see him perform, and over the years I’ve gotten to know the depth of his musical inspirations. After seeing his show at the Café Carlyle, I knew I had to film it because it was so extraordinary to see the evolution of his life and his musical talent in such an intimate setting.”

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Paul McCartney was celebrated at a tribute concert in New York City Wednesday night, with an all-star lineup performing some of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s classic tunes. 

The Music of Paul McCartney, a benefit show put on by New York City entrepreneur Michael Dorf, featured performances by Graham Nash, Nancy Wilson, Wings guitarist Denny Laine, Bruce Hornsby, Natalie Merchant and more, with a special surprise appearance by Patti Smith.

Showbiz 411 reports that Smith treated the crowd to a performance of The Beatles track “She’s Leaving Home,” while the concert also featured performances of “Band on the Run” by Wilson and Laine, “For No One” by Nash,  “Yesterday” by Lyle Lovett, “Maybe I’m Amazed”  by Betty LaVette and “Let It Be” by New York’s Resistance Revival Chorus. 

The night ended with a finale that featured all the performers singing “Hey Jude.”

Dorf has been organizing these tribute shows since 2004, with previous concerts paying tribute to such artists as The Who, Van Morrison, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. The concerts raise money for organizations that provide music education programs and opportunities for underserved youth.

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While U2 certainly has a lot of fans, there are also plenty of people who think they take themselves a bit too seriously, and now Bono is apologizing for that … sort of. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the rocker reads off a so-called apology, before pretty much taking it all back.

“I apologize for having the unreasonableness of youth as I enter my 60s,” he shares.  “I apologize for being a singer who will get in your face whatever direction you’re looking. I apologize for not being shy or retiring and for loudly giving thanks for where I go to work. I apologize for stretching our band to its elastic limit.” 

He also apologizes for his desire to make “an unreasonable guitar record that rattles my cage and others,” and for “repeating over and over that rock ‘n’ roll is not dead, it’s just older and grumpier, and occasionally makes fireworks out of its mood changes.”

But in the end, he’s not really apologizing for anything: “But most of all, I apologize for apologizing.”

The interview comes as U2 is set to drop their new album, Songs of Surrender, on Friday. Their Disney+ special, Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, also premieres Friday.

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Grand Funk Railroad is hitting the road this year in celebration of the 50th anniversary of their Platinum single “We’re An American Band.”

The American Band Tour kicks off March 18 with an appearance at the Clewiston Sugar Festival in Clewiston, Florida, followed by an April 1 headlining date in Akron, Ohio. The tour concludes with Grand Funk Railroad’s appearance as a “special guest” at Kid Rock’s July 14 and 15 hometown shows in Detroit, Michigan.

A complete list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at grandfunkrailroad.com.

Released July 2, 1973, “We’re An American Band,” written by founding member Don Brewer, was the title track of the band’s seventh studio album and became the band’s first number one single.

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Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was the victim of an attack outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend.

TMZ obtained the police report from the incident, which reveals Allen was the victim of a sneak attack by 19-year-old Max Hartley, who was hiding behind a pole and rushed Allen as he was smoking a cigarette outside the hotel. A women tried to help the drummer, but was also attacked. Hartley knocked her to the ground, and grabbed her by the hair and dragged her as she tried to run back to the hotel to get help.

Hartley was eventually arrested after cops caught him breaking car windows at a nearby parking garage. He was charged with elder abuse, battery and criminal mischief. He was eventually released on bail.  

So far there’s no word on Allen’s condition. He and the band were in Florida for a stop on their tour with Mötley Crüe. The Stadium Tour’s next show is happening May 22 in Sheffield, England.

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On this Day, March 16, 1954…

Nancy Wilson, one-half of the rock duo Heart, was born in San Francisco, California.

Nancy and her older sister Ann, along with Roger Fisher and Steve Fossen, formed Heart in 1973, and were later joined by Michael Derosier and Howard Leese, releasing their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1975, which featured future Heart classics “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man.”

The group went on to sell over 35 million records, and landed two number one singles, “These Dreams” and “Alone,” along with Top 40 singles “Barracuda,” “What About Love,” “Never,” “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,” and more.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

Nancy and sister Ann also formed the acoustic group Lovemongers, which released the EP Battle of Evermore in 1992, and the full-length album Whirlygig in 1997. Nancy also released several solo albums, the most recent of which, You and Me, came out in 2021.

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Def Leppard is going orchestral. The band is set to release a brand new album, Drastic Symphonies, featuring some of their classic tunes reimagined with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The album features audio from the original recordings, combined with the Royal Philharmonic’s performance,  plus new vocals and guitars. It features reworked versions of Def Leppard songs like “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Hysteria,” “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” “Love Bites” and more, including the just-released version of “Animal.”

“Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path … So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, we all jumped at it,” frontman Joe Elliott shares. “Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.” 

Drastic Symphonies will be released May 19 on CD, two-LP black vinyl, limited two-LP colored vinyl, limited two-LP picture disc, CD/Blu-ray (Atmos) and digitally. It is available for preorder now.

Here’s the track list for Drastic Symphonies:

“Turn To Dust”
“Paper Sun”
“Animal”
“Pour Some Sugar on Me (Stripped version)”
“Hysteria”
“Love Bites”
“Goodbye For Good This Time”
“Love”
“Gods Of War”
“Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”
“Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”
“Switch 625”
“Too Late for Love”
“When Love & Hate Collide”
“Kings Of the World”
“Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” (vinyl & Atmos versions only)

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Belinda Carlisle‘s new single — her first English-language recording in nearly thirty years — has arrived, along with a video.

The upbeat, ’80s flavored tune, “Big Big Love,” is the first taste of Belinda’s new EP Kismet, due May 12. All the songs on the EP were written by Diane Warren, who was most recently seen performing her nominated song “Applause” with Sofia Carson on last weekend’s Oscars.

“Twenty-seven years on from making my last English language pop record I really wasn’t thinking I would ever make one again…and I was quite happy with that idea,” the Go-Go‘s frontwoman says in a statement. “Then a chance encounter in a coffee shop led me back to the wonderful Diane Warren and she gave me the incredible gift of this song and the other songs on my upcoming EP.”

Belinda’s summer tour kicks off July 1 in Peachtree City, GA and is set to wrap up August 27 at LA’s Greek Theatre.

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The Zombies are set to kick off a short run of U.S. dates this week, and according to frontman Colin Blunstone, there will be more than just older folks in the audience.

“We’re really, really fortunate in that our fan base goes right across the ages,” Blunstone tells ABC Audio. “So that when we play, and especially in America, there’ll be people there in their teens and then it goes right through the ages to people who followed us from the ’60s.” 

He loves the spectrum of fans that come to the shows. “It really, really, really adds an energy,” he says. “Our fanbase really does lift us.” 

The 77-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says his favorite thing about touring is “the hour and a half, hour and three quarters onstage,” noting “it really lifts your spirits to play with a band that they’re all wonderful musicians.”

And just because The Zombies have been around since ’60s, and he and bandmate Rod Argent are in their 70s, doesn’t mean they are taking it easy onstage.

“I know that some bands from the ’60s tend to go through the motions, but we don’t take any prisoners,” he says. “We’ve often said there’s more energy on the stage now than there was in 1964 when we were teenagers.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

The Zombies tour kicks off Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. A complete list of dates can be found at thezombiesmusic.com.

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Jim Gordon, a top session drummer who played with some of rock’s biggest acts, including Derek and the Dominoes, Joe Cocker and George Harrison, died Monday from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, California, after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness, publicist Bob Merlis confirmed on Wednesday. Gordon was 77.

Gordon was a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles session musicians who played on hundreds of pop hits in the late 1960s, including Glen Campbell‘s “Gentle on My Mind” and The Beach Boys‘ influential album, Pet Sounds. As a member of Eric Clapton‘s band Derek and the Dominos, he was credited with co-writing the group’s 1970 classic “Layla.” He was also a member of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen group, as well as Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and he was one of the main drummers on George Harrison’s 1970 album All Things Must Pass.

Gordon’s other credits include songs and albums by John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Traffic, Steely Dan, Seals & Crofts and Carly Simon. Gordon’s drum solo on the Incredible Bongo Band’s version of “Apache” is one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history.

However, Gordon also had a history of mental illness. While touring with Cocker in 1970, he assaulted his then girlfriend, singer Rita Coolidge. In 1983, Gordon bludgeoned and then stabbed his 72-year-old mother to death, claiming that voices told him to do so. A year later, he was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He was up for parole multiple times, which was denied. 

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