Classic Hits

Prolific hit songwriter Desmond Child will headline a special songwriting-themed edition of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp scheduled to take place April 7-10 in Nashville.

Child, who has co-written such classic songs as Bon Jovi‘s “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Aerosmith‘s “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” KISS‘ “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and Ricky Martin‘s “Livin’ la Vida Loca,” will be joined by — as he describes them — “spectacular featured guests,” including Steve Cropper, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Marti Frederiksen and Desmond’s “all-time hero,” Felix Cavaliere from The Rascals.

Attendees will be expected to bring their own original songs to the camp, and Child will share his expertise on how to hone their compositions. In addition, he will give campers assignments to write various types of tunes, and campers also will collaborate with each other on songs.

Of course, the guest mentors also will be on hand to impart their songwriting knowledge.

“I’m gonna be attending every single one of those [sessions] if they don’t have me busy doing mine,” Child tells ABC Audio, “because there’s something to learn from everybody.”

Regarding his own participation in the camp, Child says, “I have all of this knowledge inside that I’m dying to share…with young people [who]…even if they don’t make it their career…have that kind of appreciation of…how a song is made and how it’s constructed and what makes a song successful.”

In addition to the various aspects of songwriting, the camp will focus on such topics as recording demos, navigating through the music business and much more.

Desmond says that for him, though, “the main thing is to be inspired by art, by creating.”

Visit RockCamp.com for full details about “Desmond Child & Friends” camp.

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Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett kicks off a 36-date North American tour leg with a two-show engagement this Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27, in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

The trek, dubbed “Genesis Revisited: Seconds Out + More Tour,” is plotted out through a May 19 concert in Seattle. As the trek’s name implies, Hackett and his solo band will be performing Genesis’ 1977 live double album Seconds Out in its entirety at each show. Steve tells ABC Audio that the concerts also will feature some material from his new solo album, 2021’s Surrender of Silence, “and some old favorites as well.”

Hackett notes that Seconds Out is an album “much loved by fans,” and says about the performance, “[W]e’re doing full-length things. We’re doing all the introductions, all the ins and outs to try and give people the works.”

As for his band’s preparation for the trek, Steve says, “They’re sounding spectacular. They sound wonderful. And it’s not easy music. I won’t pretend that it is. You have to be on your mettle the whole time.”

Nine of the U.S. concerts that Hackett is playing on the tour actually are rescheduled dates from shows that were postponed in 2020 and 2021. Those concerts also will include a full performance of Genesis’ 1973 studio album Selling England by the Pound, as well as Seconds Out.

In other news, a two-CD/three-LP version of Hackett’s his 2019 concert album Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra: Live at the Royal Festival Hall will be released on May 6.

The collection, which previously was issued as a two-CD/DVD/Blu-ray set, documents an October 2018 show in London that featured Hackett and his touring band accompanied by the 41-piece Heart of England Orchestra.

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Blue Öyster Cult has recently added a variety of concerts to its 2022 U.S. tour schedule, which now features more than 20 dates.

The veteran rockers’ stateside itinerary stretches from a headlining set at, appropriately enough, the Fiesta Oyster Bake on April 1 in San Antonio, Texas, through an October 7 performance in Las Vegas.

Among the newly announced concerts are a May 30 gig in Pomona, California, with Kansas, and a September 17 appearance at the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa, with Grand Funk Railroad.

Interestingly, Blue Öyster Cult also will be performing with ex-Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner on September 16 in St. Charles, Missouri. That bill also features veteran rockers Head East.

In addition, Blue Öyster Cult has lined up a U.K. tour for October that will be followed by several shows on mainland Europe. Visit BlueOysterCult.com for a full list of dates.

The band’s most recent studio album, The Symbol Remains, was released in October 2020.

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Julian Lennon, the late John Lennon‘s older son, will release a new studio album later this year as part of a new global recording deal with BMG.

The project will be Julian’s first new collection of songs since 2011’s Everything Changes.

“After working on new music for the past few years, I am happy to have found the perfect partner in BMG, to help me bring this work to light,” says Lennon in a statement.

Adds BMG executive Fred Casimir, “Julian is a unique artist working across multiple art forms with a clear humanitarian and ecological perspective, which dates back decades. There is sometimes a long wait between Julian Lennon albums, but having heard this one, I’m convinced it was worth the wait.”

News of the new album comes on the heels of Julian’s recent NFT auction, the “Lennon Collection,” which featured six digitized collectibles that respectively focused on three prized Beatles-related items from his memorabilia collection, and three guitars that his late dad gave him as gifts.

Musically, Julian is best known for his top-10 hits “Valotte” and “Too Late for Goodbyes,” from his 1984 debut album, Valotte. Most recently, he teamed up in 2020 with Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt for a performance of Radiohead‘s “Karma Police” that was shown on AXS TV as part of a benefit event for the Crew Nation charity during the pandemic.

Julian also is an accomplished photographer and has written a number of children’s books.

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Are you ready for some Journey? The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have been tapped to perform at a special concert this summer that will help celebrate the 2022 inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Journey will headline the 2022 Concert for Legends, taking place August 6 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, one of the events being held in conjunction with Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week.

Tickets for the show go on sale on Friday, April 1, at 10 a.m. ET at HOFVillage.com and Ticketmaster.com.

An as-yet-unannounced guest artist will open the concert and will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The 2022 Enshrinement Week will see over 100 Pro Football Hall of Famers visiting Canton to participate in a variety of planned festivities at Hall of Fame Village, where the Hall of Fame museum and stadium are located.

Journey currently is in the middle of their spring Freedom Tour 2022 of North America with Toto. The trek is mapped out through a May 16 show in Quebec City, Canada. The band also will release a new studio album called Freedom later in the year.

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Mariah Carey‘s brother is currently suing her for defamation, but now Mariah has hit back with her own counterclaim, the New York Post reports.

Morgan Carey sued Mariah last year, accusing her of making false claims about him in her best-selling memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.  Now, the Post reports that, according to papers filed on Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Mariah is seeking to have her brother pay her legal fees.

In the papers, Mariah says she’s likely to win the case because, according to the filing, the parts of the book that Morgan claims are libelous are “true or substantially true.”  What’s more, whatever Mariah said about Morgan wasn’t published “with actual malice” — a legal standard that has to be met to prove defamation.

The Post notes that last month, a judge tossed out the majority of Morgan’s claims, finding that most of what Mariah wrote about him was “opinion and exaggeration,” which doesn’t count as defamation.  The remaining claims concern Mariah writing that Morgan, 62, was a drunk who sold drugs, assaulted their mother, and once hired a hitman.

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At the age of 73, former Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter will release his very first solo album, Speed of Heat, on June 18.

The 12-track collection features a mix of original tunes and select covers. Among the latter are renditions of the Steely Dan classics “My Old School” and “Do It Again,” and the 1960 instrumental “Apache” that was popularized by The Shadows.

The album features Baxter singing lead on some tracks, as well as some guests vocalists and musicians, including his one-time Doobie Brothers band mate Michael McDonald, country star Clint Black and blues rocker Jonny Lang.

Baxter’s main collaborator on Speed of Heat was veteran producer. composer and keyboardist CJ Vanston.

Baxter’s version of “My Old School,” which showcases his lead vocals, has been released as an advance digital single.

The guitarist reveals that after he’d laid down an initial scratch vocal on the track, he’d actually hoped to have Steven Tyler sing the lead, but when he played the Aerosmith frontman the recording, Tyler had a surprising reaction.

“He heard what I’d done and said, ‘Hey, who’s singing on this?'” Baxter recalls. “I told him it was me, and he said, ‘Well, it’s really great. You should do it yourself.’ I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. So I took a shot and the reaction has been very positive.”

The track also features Toto‘s David Paich on keyboards.

Speed of Heat also features a song called “My Place in the Sun” that Baxter co-wrote with Vanston and McDonald, and featuring Michael on vocals. You can pre-order the album now.

Meanwhile, Baxter has a series of U.S. concerts lined up on the East Coast in May 3.

Here’s the full Speed of Heat track list:

“Ladies from Hell”
“My Old School”
“Juliet”
“I Can Do Without”
“Do It Again”
“Apache”
“My Place in the Sun”
“The Rose”
“Bad Move”
“Giselle”
“Insecurity”
“Speed of Heat”

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After being forced off the road since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aerosmith will be getting back in the saddle this year with a new series of their “Deuces Are Wild” Las Vegas residency shows at the Dolby Live at Park MGM theater.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have scheduled three eight-show engagements at the venue, running from June 17 to July 8, from September 14 to October 5, and from November 19 to December 11. According to a press statement, the shows will be the first concert experience presented in immersive Dolby Atmos audio technology.

For their “Deuces Are Wild” show, Aerosmith will deliver a 90-minute performance, accompanied by a 12-screen multimedia presentation that includes previously unseen visuals from the band’s archives.

“The only rust at Dolby Live is going to be on our van in the lobby!” says Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. “We are locked, cocked and loaded!”

Tickets to the new dates go on sale to the general public on Thursday, March 31, at 10 a.m. PT at Ticketmaster.com/Aerosmith. Members of the band’s Aero Force One fan club can purchase pre-sale tickets starting Thursday, March 24, at 9 a.m. PT.

Citi card holders will be able to access pre-sale tickets beginning Friday, Mach 25, at 10 a.m. PT; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more details.  Pre-sale opportunites for members of the MGM Rewards loyalty program, as well as Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers, also will be available.

The last shows Aerosmith played before the pandemic began were in February 2020 as part of their residency at the Park MGM resort.

The band’s only other confirmed concert on their 2022 schedule is a previously announced September 8 show at Boston’s Fenway Park with Extreme celebrating Aerosmith’s 50th anniversary.

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A new book titled Why Patti Smith Matters that examines punk-era legend Patti Smith‘s music and literary work and its continued cultural and artistic influence will be published on May 31.

The book was written by veteran music journalist Caryn Rose, whose comprehensive research for the project included an exclusive interview with Bruce Springsteen that focused on his collaboration with Smith on the classic song “Because the Night.”

Why Patti Smith Matters looks at Smith’s life and artistic work, from her immersion in the New York City art scene beginning in the late 1960s, at first mainly as a poet, to her emergence as an influential singer and songwriter as part of the punk movement in the mid 1970s, to her acclaimed prose writing, including her award-winning 2010 memoir Just Kids.

Explaining what inspired her to write the book, Rose says, “I was eager to take on the formidable task of chronicling Patti Smith’s career because aside from Smith’s own work, the existing scholarship didn’t possess the kind of informed, careful perspective of her life and art that it deserves.”

You can pre-order Why Patti Smith Matters now at UTPress.UTexas.edu. The book is available as a paperback and via digital formats.

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Hit songs “Ain’t Nobody” and “Sweet Thing” are just two of many iconic tracks that should be at the top of everyone’s playlist on Wednesday in honor of the legendary Chaka Khan‘s 69th birthday. 

Born Yvette Marie Stevens, the “Queen of Funk” will celebrate the milestone on Wednesday night alongside her only daughter, R&B singer Indira Khan, with a show at Los Angeles’ Catalina jazz club.

Chaka shared a throwback photo of a younger version of herself and Indira in an Instagram post, along with information about the performance. 

Khan rose to fame as the lead vocalist of ’70s funk band Rufus. With a very successful and even more impactful career that spans five decades, the 10-time Grammy winner is certainly considered an icon. 

Although she’s a proud and devoted activist, some may not know Chaka’s beginnings as a member of Chicago’s Black Panther Party. As a young girl, she sold Black Panther papers and even opened a “Free Breakfast for Children” program. Her activism easily translated into her artistry when she produced chart topping songs like “I’m Every Woman” and 1985’s “Through the Fire.”

Chaka paved the way for many contemporary funk and R&B artists. “I’m Every Woman” has been frequently sampled and covered, including Whitney Houston‘s 1992 chart-topping version. Also, rapper Kanye West‘s 2003 debut single was a re-imagined rendition of “Through the Fire,” which nabbed a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo performance.

As stated so accurately on her official website, Chaka has “the rare ability to sing in seven music genres, including R&B, pop, rock, gospel, country, world music and classical,” and is “revered by millions of fans as well as her peers for her timeless, classic and unmatched signature music style and ability.”

Happy 69th birthday, Chaka Khan!

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