Classic Hits

Girl From the North Country, the Broadway musical featuring songs from Bob Dylan’s catalog, is coming to the big screen. 

Variety reports that Woody Harrelson, Olivia Coleman and Chloe Bailey have been cast in the movie adaptation of the musical, which follows a group of Midwestern travelers during the Depression who cross paths at a guest house. 

Conor McPherson, who wrote the stage show, is set to write and direct the film with Dylan’s blessing. “To be associated with Conor is one of the highlights of my professional life,” Dylan said in a statement. “It goes without saying the man is a genius for putting this thing together and I’m thrilled to be a part of the experience. My songs couldn’t be in better hands.”

After an original run in London, Girl From the North Country opened off Broadway in 2018, then moved to Broadway in March 2020 before being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened in October 2021 and closed for good in June of that year.

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The Rolling Stones are out with another peek at their upcoming release, GRRR Live!, which drops Friday.

The rockers just released a video for “Doom and Gloom,” which was the first single released from the band’s 2012 album, GRRR!, a compilation celebrating their 50th anniversary. At the time it was the first song the band recorded together in almost seven years. 

The video is a performance clip from their December 15, 2012, concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, which was part of their 50 & Counting tour, celebrating the anniversary. 

GRRR Live! is the first audio release of the concert, which featured guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr., Mick Taylor and The Black Keys. It’s being released in a variety of formats, including a two-CD set, a three-LP set (classic black, limited red and a white indie exclusive), digital, a DVD and two-CD combo set, and a Blu-ray and two-CD combo set.

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A funeral for the late guitarist Jeff Beck was held Friday in London with several A-list stars in attendance, including Rod Stewart, Johnny Depp and Jimmy Page.

Metro UK reports Stewart paid his respects to Beck with a bouquet of white roses in the shape of a heart, alongside a handwritten note in which he called Beck a “guitar genius.” “It was a privilege to perform alongside a proper guitar genius,” the note read. “Rest In Peace. See ya later Jeff, Sir Rod Stewart.”

The service took place at St Mary’s Church in Beddington, Sutton. Other famous faces who paid their respects to Beck include Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Sir Bob Geldof.

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There are some who have compared Harry Styles to the late icon David Bowie, but someone who knows Bowie pretty well doesn’t agree at all.

Consequence reports that music producer Tony Visconti, who worked with Bowie for years and produced his final album, 2016’s Blackstar, shot down any such comparisons between Bowie and Styles in a Facebook post about Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

“What’s the difference between the Grammys and Las Vegas? Nothing!” he wrote in the post, which has since been taken down. He later commented, “Someone just told me that Harry Styles is the new Bowie? From what I saw tonight he’s not worthy of shining his shoes.”

Whether he’s the new Bowie or not, Styles did have a pretty great Grammy night, winning Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Harry’s House.

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Elvis Presley will be doing more than just shaking his hips in a new Netflix adult animated series.

Agent Elvis, co-produced by Priscilla Presley, will feature Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey voicing The King, who “trades his jumpsuit for a jetpack” after he’s recruited into “a secret government spy program to battle the dark forces that threaten the country he loves — all while holding down his day job.” The teaser for the show sees Elvis landing on the moon, fighting off bad buys and more.

The 10-episode series, which McConaughey is also producing, is the brainchild of Archer veteran Mike Arnold. It’s set to premiere sometime next month. 

(Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

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Sheryl Crow was part of the beautiful and emotional tribute to the late Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie at Sunday’s Grammys, but apparently the performance didn’t go off without a hitch. Crow reveals on Instagram there were problems with her piano during the performance, which also featured Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood.

“Beautiful Christine! Last night during our tribute, something really strange happened. I sat down to play with @bonnieraittofficial and @mickfleetwoodofficial and the piano was not working right,” Crow shares. “I still cannot wrap my brain around it because I’ve never had it happen but the clock started for Mick and the first chord I played, only a couple of notes at a time would play. At one point, the piano in our ears was in a different key than what I was playing!” 

Sheryl says folks behind the scenes quickly noticed the problem so what the audience heard sounded “completely normal,” but it still left her disappointed.

But soon Sheryl had a new outlook on the mishap. She notes, “Mick and I decided after the performance that perhaps Christine might be up there sipping champagne and giggling, having been a keyboard player herself.”

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Van Morrison is the latest artist headed to Las Vegas. The “Moondance” singer just announced a three-night stand at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The three shows are set for September 6, 8 and 9, with tickets going on sale Friday, February 10, at 10 a.m. PT.

The new dates come as the 77-year-old Morrison is getting ready to release his new studio album, Moving On Skiffle, on March 10. In addition to the Vegas dates, he has a few European shows lined up to promote the release, including March 13, 14 and 15 at The Stables in Milton Keynes, England, and April 6 and 7 at Whitla Hall in Belfast, Ireland.

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Items from Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Perry and more brought in big bucks at the annual MusiCares Charity Relief Auction, which was held at Julien’s Auction House in Beverly Hills this weekend.

Big sellers included a personally signed copy of McCartney’s The Lyrics book, which sold for $25,600, 25 times more than expected, as well as a Rolling Stones signed 2022 60th anniversary European tour poster, which brought in $16,000, 16 times its original estimate.

Other items that brought in the big bucks include: a Joe Perry stage-played and signed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, which went for $25,000; Fleetwood Mac’s band-signed MusiCares Person of the Year Gibson Les Paul, which was purchased for $19,200; a signed SG Electric guitar that belonged to Ozzy Osbourne, which sold for $19,200; Joni Mitchell’s original print of Jimi Hendrix, signed by Mitchell, which sold for $10,240; and a black Epiphone acoustic guitar from the 2015 celebration of honoree Bob Dylan, signed by the artists who paid tribute to him, including John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, which sold for $12,800. 

The auction also featured items from Robert Plant, Sting, Don Felder, David Lee Roth and others.

Proceeds from the auction benefit MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s charity arm that provides health and human services to the music community.

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Carlos Santana is extending his residency in Las Vegas. The 75-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and his band have just added a string of fall dates at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This is the 11th year Carlos is headlining the residency.

The 16 new dates for An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live will be happening in September and November. The first set runs from September 6 to September 17, followed by shows from November 1 to November 12.

Tickets for the new shows go on sale February 10 at 10 a.m. local time.

Santana wrapped up his latest set of House of Blues dates on Sunday and will return to the venue in May, with dates confirmed from May 17 to May 28. Tickets for those shows are on sale now. A complete list of Santana tour dates can be found at santana.com.

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Kenny Loggins is heading out on the road this year on his This Is It tour, which, as previously reported, will be his last. But he’s added more dates to the trek. 

Loggins has added eight new shows, starting with a May 11 concert in Franklin, Tennessee. There are also new dates in Alpharetta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Victor, Idaho; Park City, Utah; Niagara Falls, Ontario; and Lincoln, California, with Richard Marx as special guest. He’s also added what, as of right now, is the final show of the trek, an October 29 concert in Highland, California.

Tickets go on sale for the new dates on February 10 at 10 a.m.

“It’s been an amazing journey since starting with Jimmy Messina in 1971, and I’m fortunate to have had such a long touring career,” Loggins shared when he first announced the tour. “I don’t see this as the end of my professional career, but certainly a halt to the grind of major touring. After spending a lifetime on the road, I want to have more time at home.” 

Loggins’ This Is It tour is set to kick off March 10 in Sarasota, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at kennyloggins.com.

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