Classic Hits

There’s no doubt Beatles memorabilia is worth a lot of money these days, but one man in Vancouver got something no money can buy when he discovered an unreleased demo recorded in 1962 by the Fab Four. 

Rob Frith discovered the reel-to-reel tape The Beatles made for Decca records in March, and the Vancouver Sun reports that after news of the discovery hit the press he received a call from McCartney’s lawyer. That led to a Sept. 18 meeting between Frith and McCartney, where Frith returned the tape to the rock star.

“We hung out with him for like, 40 minutes,” said Frith, owner of the Vancouver collectors store Neptoon Records. “He’s an absolute sweetheart of a guy. If you’re a Beatles fan and you thought he was a really cool person, he was even nicer than you could imagine, just such a down-to-earth, nice, sweet guy.”

The meeting took place in Los Angeles, where McCartney was rehearsing for his upcoming Got Back tour. McCartney wound up inviting Frith and his family to check out rehearsal, where they also had lunch.

Frith says McCartney kept telling him how “wonderful” it was he just gave him the tape, but Firth says getting to meet McCartney was worth more to him than anything he could have made off the tape.

“I told Paul, ‘You changed my life as far as music. Basically, that’s why I have a record store, because of the influence from you guys,'” he told the paper.

McCartney kicks off his Got Back tour on Monday in Palm Desert, California. On Friday, he played a warm-up show in Santa Barbara, where, according to setlist.fm, he opened the show with The Beatles track “Help!” It marked his first performance of the tune since 1990.

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While the Bruce Springsteen movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere doesn’t hit theaters until Oct. 24, it is already receiving high praise from one of The Boss’ bandmates.

E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt attended the New York Film Festival premiere of the movie on Sunday and shared his thoughts on the film on X. He calls it a “stunning, meditative, masterful work of art.”

“No one is expecting this. In the modern world of AI, Green Screens, Comic Books, and Video Games, this work stands alone,” he adds. “If filmmaking still matters at the Academy, this should win everything.”

He ends the post, “Let’s hope this brings back the era when greatness WAS commercial.”

And Van Zandt’s wife, Maureen Van Zandt, agrees with her hubby’s assessment.

“This is a beautiful, profoundly moving film with a spectacular cast,” she writes on X. “Brought to tears both times we’ve seen it. Bravo to Bruce and all involved.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere opens in theaters and IMAX on Oct. 24. Tickets are on sale now.

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During her first-ever podcast interview, Madonna revealed that she contemplated taking her own life, but her spiritual practice helped her work through it.

Appearing on Jay Shetty‘s On Purpose podcast, Madonna discusses her study of Kabbalah, which is a form of Jewish mysticism, and how she never could have dealt with certain challenges without it.

“There were moments in my life where … I actually contemplated suicide,” she tells Shetty. “And that probably sounds really weird coming from me, ’cause I’m not emo. … But I was like, ‘I can’t take this pain anymore.'”

Asked what challenge caused her to feel that way, Madonna reveals, “One of the most painful moments in my life where I could, I honestly couldn’t see the forest for the trees, was when I went through a custody battle with my son. … Someone taking, trying to take my child away from me was like, they might as well just kill me.”

That battle took place in 2016, when Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie, who she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, left her during her Rebel Heart tour and went to live with his father in London. After a lot of legal back-and-forth, the couple resolved the matter privately.

“I was on tour at the time, so I had to go on stage every night,” Madonna recalled. “I would just be lying on the floor of my dressing room sobbing. I really thought it was the end of the world. I couldn’t take it … but thank God I don’t feel that way anymore.”

As for how Kabbalah helped her through it, Madonna explains, “As soon you understand that what’s happening to you is a challenge that you are karmically meant to experience and learn from and evolve to a higher level of consciousness, then you can look at that event, that experience as a lesson and not punishment.”

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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REO Speedwagon members Kevin Cronin, Bruce Hall, Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer reunited Saturday to join the University of Illinois band, the Marching Illini, for a performance during halftime of the school’s homecoming game.

The group joined the band on the field for three songs, “Riding the Storm out,” “Roll With the Changes” and “157 Riverside Avenue,” the latter being a song from their 1971 self-titled first album.

REO Speedwagon formed in 1966 after Neal and Alan met at the school; Cronin gave the university a shout-out from the field.

“I wanna thank the people of Illinois, the city of Champaign-Urbana and this great university for providing a springboard for our music that launched us on a mind blowing musical experience,” Cronin told the stadium crowd.

In September 2024, REO Speedwagon announced they were going to cease touring as of January 2025. The halftime show was the first reunion of Cronin and his bandmates since they stopped touring.

“Visiting Champaign, IL always brings back great memories. It’s a very special place, the birthplace of REO Speedwagon,” Cronin wrote on Instagram. “We have the greatest fans in the world. The love and support I feel from you all is the fuel that keeps me rocking.”

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Rod Stewart‘s once again rolling the dice on Las Vegas.

The star will return to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2026 for another round of The Encore Shows, his current residency show. He has dates mapped out from May 27, 2026, through June 6, 2026.  

“Next year will mark 15 years at The Colosseum and I still get terribly excited each time I return,” Rod says in a statement. “I love this theatre. So come along and we’ll forget the world outside for a couple of hours at The Encore shows!”

Rod initially launched his residency show The Hits at the Colosseum in 2011; that show ended in 2025. Rod returned in 2025 with The Encore Shows, featuring his hits, deep cuts and new production.

A Citi presale starts Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT via citientertainment.com. Fan club presale tickets are available starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, while other presales begin Thursday at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT via ticketmaster. 

The new dates going on sale are May 27, 29 and 30, and June 2, 4 and 6. There are also limited tickets available for Rod’s final Vegas dates of 2025: Oct. 1, 3, 4.

If you don’t want to wait to see Rod in Vegas, you can travel to Florida in early 2026. He’s just announced shows at the Seminole Hard Rock Live on Feb. 27 and March 3, as well as a March 5 show in St. Augustine.

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Bruce Springsteen appeared at the New York Film Festival premiere of his biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Sunday, where he surprised the audience with a performance of “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

Springsteen shared video of the performance on Instagram, and before the performance he thanked the audience for coming out, and then gave shout outs to the film’s cast and director, Scott Cooper.

He noted that Jeremy Allen White, who plays him on the big screen, put “his whole heart and soul in the part,” adding, he did a wonderful job “playing a much better-looking version of me.” He also thanked Jeremy Strong, who plays his manager Jon Landau, for his “creativity and his inspiration,” noting, “he played a much, much better looking Jon Landau.”

He called out Stephen Graham “for being the living embodiment of my late father,” and Gabby Hoffman for playing his mom, noting, “They’re all gone now, so it’s nice to have this piece of film.”

Springsteen also shared some “last thoughts” before the song.

“These days we have daily events reminding us of the fact that we’re living through these particularly dangerous times,” Springsteen shared. “I spent my life on the road, I’ve been moving around the world as kind of a musical ambassador for America, trying to measure the distance between American reality, where we’ve often fallen short of our ideals of the American dream.”

He added, “Seeing that America, as battered as she feels right now, but for a lot of folks out there, she continues to be a land of hope and dreams, not of fear or divisiveness or government censorship or hatred…That America is worth fighting for.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere hits theaters and IMAX on Oct. 24. Tickets for IMAX screenings are on sale now.

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It was just announced that R.E.M.’s Mike Mills is teaming with former The Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker to form the new band Howl Owl Howl, and to mark the news, Rucker has shared his take on a classic R.E.M. track.

In a post on Instagram, Rucker performs the Automatic for the People track “Everybody Huts,” dubbing the performance “episode 1 of Songs I Wish I’d Written.”

And it looks like the folks at R.E.M. are impressed with his rendition, sharing Darius’ cover on Instagram with the caption,  “Such a beautiful version… looking forward to @howlowlhowl.”

Howl Owl Howl is set to release their debut track, “My Cologne,” on Oct. 31, and will hit the road for a nine-date tour starting Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. A complete list of dates can be found at howlowlhowl.com.

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A unique piece of John Lennon memorabilia is set to go up for auction in October.

The tinted prescription glasses the Beatles legend wore during his “Lost Weekend” era of 1973 to early 1974 are set to go on the auction block as part of Propstore’s Music Memorabilia Live Auction. 

Lennon’s “Lost Weekend” was a period of 18 months where he was separated from wife Yoko Ono and in a relationship with his former assistant May Pang. 

The round metal frames, known as Windsor Glasses, were first worn by Lennon during the filming of the 1967 Richard Lester movie How I Won The War. They also appeared on the cover of his 1973 single “Mind Games.”

Lennon infamously lost the glasses during a fight at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in March 1974, which started after Lennon and musician Harry Nilsson got drunk and began heckling the Smothers Brothers during their performance at the venue.

The glasses were originally part of a Sotheby’s Collector’s Carousel auction in June 1987. They were then sold again during Christie’s Popular Culture: Rock & Pop Memorabilia Auction in July 2008.

They are estimated to sell for somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000. Bidding will open in person and online on Oct. 23. More info can be found at Propstoreauction.com.

In other Lennon news … A video has been released for the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” from John and Yoko’s Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory.

The song is part of the upcoming box set Power to the People (Super Deluxe Edition), produced by the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon. It will be released Oct. 10, on what would have been John’s 85th birthday.

It is available for preorder now.

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Cyndi Lauper has been working on the music for a stage adaptation of the 1988 movie Working Girl for a while now, and the public is finally going to get to see it.

The singer shared on Instagram that Working Girl: The Musical will have its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California, on Oct. 28. 

Following the premiere, the show, written by award-winning playwright Theresa Rebeck and directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, is set to run at the Playhouse through Dec. 7.

Tickets are on sale now.

The movie Working Girl starred Melanie Griffith as an ambitious secretary from Staten Island hoping to make it in the business world. Sigourney Weaver played her boss and Harrison Ford played her love interest. 

Plans to turn the movie into a Broadway musical were first announced in 2017. So far there’s no date for a Broadway run, although Lauper previously told ABC Audio that it’s expected to open on Broadway sometime in 2026.

Lauper is no stranger to Broadway musicals. In 2013 she won a Tony Award for best original score for composing the music to another big-screen-to-Broadway adaptation, Kinky Boots.

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KISS founding member Ace Frehley has canceled a Friday concert appearance in California after injuring himself in a fall.

“Dear Rock Soldiers, Ace had a minor fall in his studio, resulting in a trip to the hospital,” read a post on the guitarist’s social media pages. “He is fine, but against his wishes, his doctor insists that he refrain from travel at this time.”

“As a result, he is forced (to) cancel his performance at the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster, California on Friday, September 26th,” the post continues.

Frehley’s page encourages fans to go to the show anyway and check out Quiet Riot and Vixen, who are also on the bill.

The post also gave fans an update on what Ace has been up to, noting he “looks forward to continuing on his tour and finishing work on his next album, Origins Vol. 4.”

Origins Vol. 2 is a covers album that was released in 2020. Origins Vol. 3 is expected out sometime in 2025, although no release date has been revealed.

Frehley’s next scheduled concert is Oct. 11 in Decatur, Illinois. A complete list of dates can be found at AceFreheley.com.

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