Classic Hits

As The Scorpions gear up to launch the 2022 North American leg of their Rock Believer World Tour this Sunday in Toronto, the veteran German hard rockers have offered up a couple of goodies for fans.

First, the band has released a new song titled “Hammersmith” that’s available now as a digital download and via streaming services. The heavy-pounding tune finds The Scorpions paying tribute to the famous London venue the Hammersmith Odeon, while also expressing how enthusiastic they are to keep rocking their fans.

“The song takes us back to a time when we played in the smallest clubs, just dreaming about being able to perform in the Temple of Rock, the Hammersmith Odeon,” explains frontman Klaus Meine, who wrote the tune’s lyrics.

Meanwhile, The Scorpions have also just debuted an “official fan video” for the title track of their latest album, Rock Believer, which was released in February.

The clip features footage that Scorpions fans from around the world submitted, showing them rocking out and singing along to the song, and sharing their love for the group, mixed with video of the band performing the song.

The Rock Believer tour features 24 dates and is mapped out through an October 21 concert in Las Vegas. Whitesnake had originally been slated to open most of the shows, but had to drop off the trek recently because frontman David Coverdale has been battling a persistent respiratory infection. All-female Swedish rock band Thundermother will serve as The Scorpions’ support act throughout most of the tour.

Check out The Scorpions’ full schedule at The-Scorpions.com.

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This September 9 marks what would’ve been late soul legend Otis Redding‘s 81st birthday, and coinciding with the milestone, the Otis Redding Foundation has organized a weekend of special events celebrating his legacy in his hometown of Macon, Georgia.

The events, which include two special tribute concerts, will also serve as fundraisers for the planned Otis Redding Center for the Arts, an 11,000-square-foot facility that will help support the foundation’s “mission to empower, enrich, and motivate youth through education programs involving music, writing, and instrumentation.”

The weekend festivities will kick off on September 9 with a groundbreaking ceremony for the Center of the Arts. The building will house spaces for musical collaboration and rehearsal, learning rooms and a performance stage for the students.

That night, a concert dubbed An Evening of Respect will be held at Macon’s Grand Opera House that will include performances by country star Mickey Guyton and Grammy-winning jazz/R&B pianist Robert Glasper.

Then, on Saturday, September 10, another concert, called The Big “O” Homecoming Show, will take place at Macon’s the Capitol Theatre, which will be headlined by the husband-and-wife Americana duo The War and Treaty, and will feature performances by several other artists. The event is inspired by the Home Coming Show and Dance concerts Otis held in Macon throughout the 1960s that would include a lineup of Redding’s contemporaries and peers.

“Our family is elated to celebrate my dad’s legacy in person for the first time since the pandemic,” says Otis’ daughter, and Otis Redding Foundation executive, Karla Redding-Andrews. “We are happy to bring the weekend-long celebration back to Macon and thank the countless patrons who have supported the Otis Redding Foundation since my mother established it in 2007.”

For more details, visit OtisReddingFoundation.org.

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Forty-five years ago today, August 16, the band that became INXS, then known as The Farriss Brothers, played their very first gig at a house party in Sydney suburb of Whale Beach. In commemoration of the milestone, today will be celebrated as INXS Day by the veteran Australian rockers, in association with Petrol Records, Universal Music Group and Rhino Records.

The festivities will “kick” off at 5 p.m. ET with an exclusive hour-long TikTok livestream celebrating the 35th anniversary of INXS’ classic 1987 album Kick that will include a track-by-track look at the record, along with interviews with members of the band and with the group’s their executive music producer, Giles Martin.

Also as part of INXS Day, the band is announcing the release of its 2011 The Very Best compilation in the high-res Dolby Atmos format.

In addition, INXS will release a deluxe digital box-set version of its 1982 debut album, Shabooh Shoobah, as well as two special vinyl editions of the record, this October in honor of its 40th anniversary. A limited-edition clear-vinyl reissue of Shabooh Shoobah can be preordered now at the official INXS online store.

INXS also will mark the 30th anniversary of their 1992 studio effort Welcome to Wherever You Are throughout August by debuting HD versions of music videos for five songs from the album — “Heaven Sent,” “Baby Don’t Cry,” “Taste It,” “Beautiful Girl” and “Not Enough Time” — at the band’s official YouTube channel.

For more details about INXS Day, visit INXS.com.

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Julian Lennon, the elder of John Lennon‘s two sons, says watching his late father in the acclaimed Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back made him feel close to his dad, who was murdered in December 1980 at age 40.

Julian, who was the only child John had with his first wife, Cynthia, didn’t see his father very often after the famous Beatles co-founder left Cynthia for second wife Yoko Ono in 1968.

Julian tells ABC Audio that when he first watched an abbreviated version of Get Back at a screening in Los Angeles last year, it helped to remind him of the positive aspects of his father that he experienced when John was still regularly part of his life.

“[W]hat I was seeing was Dad how I knew Dad before we separated, before … he went off,” Julian notes. “So, that just brought back all the warm, funny, great, loving memories that I have up until the age of around 5 … I mean, obviously, I saw him a few times later in life, as a teenager, but that was him … before everything changed. … I just remember that warmth, the comedy, the cheekiness.”

The 59-year-old singer/songwriter says the docuseries also helped demonstrate what “phenomenal players” The Beatles were. He marveled at watching how they were able to create a set of great originals songs so quickly leading up to their famous rooftop performance.

“I mean, you were sitting in the theater going, ‘How can they do this?'” Julian says. “And yet, they were ultimate professionals in every way, shape or form. And … that again reminded us of why they … were so successful, because they were just, they were really on it.”

Julian is preparing to release his seventh studio album, Jude, on September 9.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison and ex-King Crimson guitarist/singer Adrian Belew have lent their talents to “Wasteland,” the debut single by New Originals, a new collaborative project by co-founding Turkuaz member Dave Brandwein and producer Rob O’Block.

In recent years, Turkuaz — a Brooklyn, New York-based alternative funk band that broke up in late 2021 — played a number of shows with Harrison and Belew that featured full performances of the Talking Heads’ 1980 album Remain in Light. After Turkuaz split, some members of the group have continued to perform with Harrison and Belew.

Brandwein is joined on “Wasteland” by former Turkuaz singer/electronic artist Danke on lead vocals, and veteran hip-hop and rock drummer Daru Jones.

“It seemed time for a new energy that could reflect more of the edge and darkness in my lyrics, and in the state of the world,” Brandwein says of the song.

“Wasteland” is available now as a digital download and via streaming services.

As previously reported, Jerry and Adrian will be performing together at two events this fall.

The first is a special concert and Q&A event celebrating the Remain in Light album on September 29 at famed Los Angeles theater The Wiltern, while the second is the 2022 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which takes place from September 30 to October 2 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Former Turkuaz members will be performing as part of the duo’s backing group at both events, although Brandwein isn’t among them.

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It seems that music icons attract other music icons as friends. On Sunday, Cher revealed in a Twitter message that she’d spent the day hanging out with Tina Turner.

“WE LAUGHED FOR 3 1/2 [hours] STRAIGHT,” she wrote. “My sides Ache.”

Cher added, “There Will Never Be Another TINA TURNER. We Love each other Dearly, I’m [lucky] To Have Her in my life…[We] Carried On Till The Sun went Down.”

In a follow-up tweet, Cher reported that she brought Tina “a little antique Buddha” statue as a gift, adding, “Wish I’d taken a picture…I’ll Call Her & Ask for one [tomorrow].”

Turner has been a practicing Buddhist since the 1970s.

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The relationship between co-founding Who members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend has historically been quite contentious at times, although the two seemed to have developed a close bond during the latter years of the group’s career.

That being said, Daltrey tells Forbes that he and Townshend don’t really socialize when they’re not touring or recording with The Who.

“Our relationship is a working one, and that’s about as far as it goes,” Roger reveals. “But when we get on stage, there’s a chemistry that’s created. When we’re playing well, it starts to kick in properly. It’s still as wonderful as ever.”

He adds, “We never really had a strong relationship off of the stage, though. It’s as simple as that.”

Also in the interview, the 78-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer reveals he was aware of his own vocal talents at an early age.

“I think people who sing know they can from very early on,” he tells Forbes. “I was born with perfect pitch, which most singers have. I used to sing in the church choir when I was 6 or 7 years old. It went from there. I started singing in youth clubs and things like that at the age of 12, and then went on at age 16 to start what became The Who.”

The Who will launch a fall North American leg of its The Who Hits Back! tour on October 2 in Toronto. The trek is mapped out through a November 4-5 stand in Las Vegas. Like with the spring leg of the tour and the band’s previous Moving On! trek, the upcoming concerts will feature The Who accompanied by an orchestra.

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Jeff Beck recently lined up six concerts in the southern U.S. that will feature him supporting ZZ Top, and now the British guitar legend has announced a full North American headlining tour that will immediately follow those dates.

The newly added shows run from an October 1 concert in Atlanta through a November 12 performance in Reno, Nevada. The outing features over 20 dates and includes a pair of two-night engagements — October 7-8 in Port Chester, New York, and October 14-15 in Huntington, New York.

Tickets for the concerts go on sale to the general public this Friday, August 19, while presale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, August 16, at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.com (password: beck18).

Beck’s upcoming shows are in support of his new collaborative album with actor/rocker Johnny Depp, 18, which was released last month on CD and digital formats. A 180-gram black-vinyl version of the album will follow on September 30.

The 13-track collection features two Depp originals alongside an eclectic selection of covers, including songs by The Beach Boys, late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Velvet Underground and The Everly Brothers.

“We were going to call the album ‘Kitchen Sink’ because we threw everything in it,” Beck explains about 18. “The only game plan we had was to play songs we like and see where they took us.”

Jeff will be accompanied on tour by bassist Rhonda Smith, drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Robert Stevenson.

Beck’s series of six dates opening for ZZ Top runs from a September 23 show in Del Valle, Texas, through a September 30 concert in Orange Beach, Alabama. Heart‘s Ann Wilson will be performing at the first three dates.

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A few months ago, Melissa Etheridge told ABC Audio that she’d been inspired by her idol, Bruce Springsteen, to develop her own life story for the Broadway stage. Now, she’s officially taking the first step toward that goal.

On October 13, Melissa Etheridge Off Broadway: My Window — A Journey Through Life will premiere at New York’s New World Stages. She’ll do 12 performances of the production to an intimate audience of 500 people per night.

“I am incredibly excited and humbled to debut this deeply personal show in New York this fall,” Melissa says in a statement. “While I’ve been telling my life stories through my lyrics and concert tours for many years, this is going to be something new for me. I cannot wait to feel the exchange of energy and deep connection that’s provided by an intimate theater experience. That’s going to rock.”

Melissa wrote the show with help from her wife, Linda Wallem-Etheridge, the former showrunner of Showtime’s Nurse Jackie. It’s directed by Amy Tinkham, who directed Aerosmith‘s Las Vegas Residency show.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on August 17 at 10 a.m. ET via Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Melissa’s fan club members get access to a presale now.

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As recently reported, CREEM magazine is returning after 33 years out of print, with its first new issue arriving September 15. Now, ABC Audio can exclusively reveal that a separate special David Bowie-themed edition of the mag will be included with every copy of the relaunched CREEM‘s Issue #1 for those who subscribe to the magazine by Wednesday, August 17.

Timed for release one day before the September 16 global premiere of filmmaker Brett Morgen‘s new Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, the special issue will feature archival articles from CREEM‘s original run and new content focusing on the late rock legend.

The archival pieces include a 1976 article penned by Cameron Crowe title “Space Face Changes the Station,” a Bowie-themed installment of the magazine’s “Star Cars” feature, a “David Bowie Lookalike Contest,” and album reviews from famed rock writers Lester Bangs and Dave Marsh.

The new content includes an interview with Morgen by veteran CREEM journalist and editor Jaan Uhelszki, and acclaimed rock author and former Guitar World editor-in-chief Brad Tolinski‘s reflections on Moonage Daydream. The cover of the issue features a 1973 photo of David wearing the unique flared body suit created by Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto.

As previously reported, the new CREEM will be available as an oversized subscription-only premium quarterly publication, while digital-only subscriptions also are available.

CREEM Issue #1 will include features on Slash, The Who and new artists like punk act Special Interest, and will boast a cover by legendary artist Raymond Pettibon, whose work includes the covers of albums by Sonic Youth and Black Flag.

Visit CREEM.com to subscribe.

Moonage Daydream, which is the first Bowie documentary officially sanctioned by his estate, is described as “a sublime kaleidoscopic experiential cinematic odyssey that explores Bowie’s creative, spiritual, and philosophical journey.”

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