Classic Hits

Stevie Nicks is featured on a track called “Oil” on the upcoming album by the virtual alternative-rock group Gorillaz, Cracker Island, and the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee says she only one “demand” for taking part in the song.

Speaking with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Nicks shares that she requested to be in the video for the track.

“That’s how I know about the Gorillaz, is because of all their crazy cartoon videos,” Nicks says. “I’m going, ‘I want to be in the ‘Oil’ video. I want to be a Gorilla, and I want to have big, false eyelashes, and I want to have blond hair, right?'”

The Fleetwood Mac singer and solo star continues, “I said, ‘This is my one demand that I will make.’ And so, they’re doing it as we speak.”

Nicks adds that she’s “so proud” of the collaboration, which she describes as “somewhere between love and war.”

“I was an honorary Heartbreaker, I was an honorary Foo Fighter,” she says. “And now, I’m an honorary Gorilla. I’m so happy.”

Cracker Island will be released February 24, 2023. It also features collaborations with artists including Beck, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny and Thundercat.

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Something new appears to be brewing with Bruce Springsteen.

Over the last day or so, Springsteen has posted two mysterious, uncaptioned photos on his social media sites, prompting speculation that The Boss is about to announce plans for a new album.

The first photo, which was posted on Sunday, is an image of a double-yellow line on a paved road that runs off into the distance. The second pic, which was posted Tuesday, is of the steering wheel of a vintage car.

Springsteen posted some unexplained photos on his social media sites before the release of his 2019 album, Western Stars, so many fans feel these new pics are serving a similar purpose.

Earlier this month, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner revealed in a Billboard interview that a new album by Bruce was “coming out soon,” but no official news about the project has been announced yet.

Meanwhile, as previously reported, Bruce and his E Street Band will kick off a 2023 tour on February 1 in Tampa, Florida.

He and wife E Street Band member Patti Scialfa will also perform this Thursday, September 29, at the inaugural Albie Awards ceremony, which will be held at the New York Public Library.

The event is being presented by the Clooney Foundation for Justice, an organization co-founded by George and Amal Clooney, and salutes global justice defenders.

“The Albie Awards … are a way to shine a protective light on the many courageous individuals who, at great personal risk, have devoted their lives to justice,” the Clooneys say in a statement.

Other celebrities who will participate in the event include Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep, Oscar Isaac, Dua Lipa, Aloe Blacc, John Oliver and Julia Roberts.

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The second of Foo Fighters‘ two tribute concerts honoring late drummer Taylor Hawkins takes place tonight, Tuesday, at the Kia Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

The first show was held at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3. Many of the artists who performed at the London tribute will be making the trip back across the pond for the LA concert, including Queen‘s Brian May and Roger Taylor, The Police‘s Stewart Copeland, Joe Walsh‘s pre-Eagles band the James Gang,  Led Zeppelin‘s John Paul Jones, Rush‘s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Wolfgang Van Halen, David Bowie drummer Omar Hakim, Blink-182‘s Travis Barker and Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich.

The LA lineup also includes Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott, Phil Collen and Rick Savage, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, Joan Jett, The Cars‘ Elliot Easton, Alanis Morissette, Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, Yes vocalist and Hawkins’ childhood friend Jon Davison, Miley Cyrus, Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx, and Pink.

Additionally, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl‘s daughter Violet and Hawkins’ son Shane will perform.

Like with the London show, proceeds from the LA tribute will be donated to MusiCares and Music Support. Unlike the London show, however, no streaming details have been announced for the LA concert.

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland will host a special John Mellencamp Fan Day this Thursday, September 29, that will celebrate the opening of a permanent exhibit dubbed “Legends of Rock: John Mellencamp.”

Mellencamp, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2008, will be on hand on Thursday to give a special performance and take part in an interview that will air live on select satellite radio stations at 5 p.m. ET.

The heartland rocker also will reveal plans for a 2023 tour during the event.

Prime access to view the performance and Q&A is sold out, but visitors will be able to listen to the presentation at the Union Home Mortgage Plaza.

Fans who purchase general admission Rock Hall tickets for Thursday will be able to check out the exhibit and enjoy all other John Mellencamp Fan Day activities. Tickets are available at RockHall.com.

The “Legends of Rock: John Mellencamp” exhibit will feature such memorabilia as the suit the singer/songwriter wore in promo photos for his 2003 album, Trouble No More; the 1976 Fender Telecaster guitar he played onstage extensively starting in 1981; a guitar that David Bowie gifted him; and a new original oil painting.

As part of the Fan Day festivities, video clips from John’s Rock Hall will be screened in a theater in the Ahmet Ertegun Exhibition Hall; a career-spanning Mellencamp playlist will be played throughout the museum; the Rock Hall’s house band, The Mechanics, will help teach fans to sing and play Mellencamp songs in the Jam Room of the museum’s Garage area; and more.

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This year marks the 10th anniversary of Rob Thomas‘ annual charity concert at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and he’ll mark the milestone with a special one-night-only event taking place in January.

For the show, the Matchbox Twenty singer has invited some “very special guests” to perform along with him — but he is remaining tight lipped on who they are at the moment. The event is set for Sunday, January 15.

The concert benefits Thomas’ Sidewalk Angels Foundation, which he co-founded in 2003 with wife Marisol Maldonado. He explained on Twitter that his charity supports “over 20 no-kill animal shelters and animal rescues across the country” by providing them critical resources and funds. 

The Grammy winner noted that COVID-19 impacted these rescues and shelters, so his charity is helping them “continue their work as well as make sure that families can continue to get the care they need for their pets.”

Tickets for the event go on sale on Tuesday, September 27, for VIP and fan club members on The Borgata‘s website. General public ticket sales start Friday, September 30.

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Founding Pink Floyd singer/bassist Roger Waters‘ April concerts in Krakow, Poland, were canceled by promoter Live Nation Polska and the Tauron Arena, according the venue’s official website.

The cancellation comes after Waters’ recent comments defending Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine drew the ire of Krakow city councilor Łukasz Wantuch, who has called for the rocker be declared “persona non grata” in Krakow.

In early September, Waters posted an open letter to Olena Zelenska, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s wife, suggesting that Ukraine negotiate with Russia rather than continue fighting. He maintained that U.S. military support for Ukraine was prolonging the conflict.

Zelenska responded with a Twitter message that read, “It is Russia that invaded Ukraine, destroys cities and kills civilians. Ukrainians defend their land and their children’s future. If we give up — we will not exist tomorrow. If Russia gives up — war will be over.”

Roger then wrote a lengthy response to Zelenska reiterating his beliefs.

Now Waters has penned an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the invasion of Ukraine.

The message reads in part, “I know some people who think you want to overrun the whole of Europe, starting with Poland and the rest of the Baltic states. If you do, f*** you, and we might as well all stop playing the desperately dangerous game of nuclear chicken that the hawks on both sides of the Atlantic seem so comfortable with, and have at it.”

He also declares, “[Y]our invasion of Ukraine took me completely by surprise, it was a heinous war of aggression, provoked or not.”

Waters concludes by asking Putin to reply to his letter, writing, “I would mightily respect you for it, and take it as an honorable move in the right direction towards a sustainable peace.”

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Celebrities coming out as LGBTQ doesn’t seem to be a big deal these days, but back in 1993, when Melissa Etheridge came out, it was. In fact, Melissa was such a pioneer that many other super-famous but closeted celebrities asked her for advice about doing it themselves.

Melissa tells The Daily Beast that Ricky Martin, Barry Manilow, Jodie Foster and Ellen DeGeneres are some of the now-out gay stars who approached her. “I had people come to me and say, ‘I see you being out,’ and they would apologize to me because they were not out,” Melissa recalls. “I would say, ‘Look, it’s very personal. It’s totally up to you, you don’t have to explain anything to me.’”

Melissa recalls that Manilow was concerned about coming out because, he said, “all my fans are women.” “I was so glad when he came out,” she notes. She says Ricky Martin was worried because he was a sex symbol. She says she told him, “Dude, it’s obvious you’re gay.”

“It’s been wonderful to see all these people finally come into themselves,” she adds. “The ones who come out do much better than the ones who don’t, or didn’t.”

Melissa also tells The Daily Beast that the TV show The L Word was based on her real-life group of friends in the late ’80s to mid-’90s, who at the time included everyone from Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts to k.d. lang, DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell. Another member of the group was Ilene Chaiken, who went on to co-create the show.

Melissa laughs, “I stopped watching The L Word because I lived it!”

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Linda Ronstadt will release a new memoir, Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonora Borderlands, on October 4 that focuses on her family connections to the culture and music of the Sonoran Desert region of the American Southwest and Mexico.

The October/November issue of AARP The Magazine features an excerpt from the book, which was co-written by Ernesto Lechter, along with a brief interview with Ronstadt.

Linda grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where her family’s home sat on a 10-acre plot that used to be part of a cattle ranch.

“I felt very connected to both my grandparents,” Ronstadt tells the magazine. “We still lived like ranch owners, with horses and chickens. It was their way of life, and it became my way of life too.”

Regarding her attachment to the area, she writes in Feels Like Home, “Wherever I’ve lived, wherever I travel, my soul is always winging it down the road, south over the border, back to my land and my roots in Sonora. I feel the pull like a summons from my father’s parents and their parents and grandparents, from a chain of ancestors, most of whom I never knew.”

Linda also notes, “[M]y sense of connection to my ancestors is strengthened by my own vivid sensory memories of Sonoran things they also knew and loved, particularly those involving music and food.”

The book also features recipes from Ronstadt’s family; the AARP article includes a meatball recipe from Linda’s grandmother.

In conjunction with the book, a companion album that Ronstadt curated titled Feels Like Home: Songs from the Sonoran Borderlands — Linda Ronstadt’s Musical Odyssey will be released this Friday, September 30. For more details, visit Putamayo.com.

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Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson has released a new song called “Amigo Amiga” that pays tribute to her friend, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

The melancholy tune, which Wilson began writing on the night that Hawkins died, got its premiere Monday at Consequence.net along with a lyric video featuring footage of Nancy singing the song and playing acoustic guitar.

“I heard myself in tears saying ‘too soon too soon’ which became a refrain in the song,” Wilson explains to Consequence. “I spent quite a few sleepless nights trying to express it all. He was a wonderful friend and we always had funny pet names for each other like ‘Amigo’ and ‘Amiga’ as well as ‘Luv’ and ‘Dahling.'”

Hawkins was featured on a song called “Party at the Angel Ballroom” that appeared on Nancy’s 2021 debut solo studio album, You and Me. Wilson is also among the many stars scheduled to perform at the second of two Hawkins tribute concerts organized by the Foo Fighters, taking place this Tuesday, September 27 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

“It is such a painful loss — but it also feels like Taylor has galvanized and re-energized rock ‘n’ roll with so many of his musician friends and fans coming together,” Wilson says. “It’s a new renaissance Taylor and the Foo family have gifted us all.”

All proceeds raised by sales of the track will be donated to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares charity.

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Styx has unveiled plans to return to The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas early next year for a new five-show residency.

The concerts will take place on January 27 and 28, and February 1, 3 and 4. The 2023 residency follows Styx’s September 2021 and early 2022 engagements at the same venue, which is located inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

Tickets for the new Vegas shows will go on sale to the general public this Friday, September 30 at 10 a.m. PT. Styx fan club members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets starting Tuesday, September 27 at 10 a.m. PT, while Live Nation customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, September 28 at 10 a.m PT.

You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at the resort, and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.

A limited amount of VIP packages also will be available.

Meanwhile, Styx is preparing to launch a Canadian tour featuring Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson and her solo group as the supporting act. The trek is mapped out from an October 5 concert in Victoria through an October 18 show in Winnipeg. Wilson and her group were also Styx’s special guests at the 2022 Vegas residency.

Styx also has a couple of U.S. headlining shows scheduled for December and early January. Visit StyxWorld.com to check out the group’s full list of dates.

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