Luke Combs’ latest collab with Crocs will drop on Wednesday. The singer, whose limited-edition Crocs shoes have been in high demand in the past, is releasing a new design with a Mossy Oak camo pattern.
Parker McCollum has announced some summer 2023 dates on his upcoming headlining tour. Larry Fleet, Jackson Dean, Flatland Cavalry and Randy Rogers Band will serve as opening acts on the new dates.
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Donald Trump is ready to get on with his 2024 presidential campaign, but he may not be the only one. It appears Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is also preparing to run for president.
Celebrity gossip site X17 shared a video in which Ye introduces the cameraman to alt-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who he confirms will be “working on the campaign.” He then shows off his political merch, which was “cut” from clothing used in his former lines with Balenciaga, Gap and Adidas.
“Everything we do is gonna cost $20,” he says of the attire. “We need to make sure that everyone can receive the same level of cuts, the same level of food, the same level of water, the same level of education … we’re getting past the past. We’re focused on the future.”
“This is the update. We are the update. That’s all we need to do,” he continued. “As a species, we need to update together. Everything’s been so divisive. Think about when they say ‘diversity’ — people look at that like it’s a good thing, but we’re the United States of America. We’re a universe. We’re a university. We’re a republic.”
In other Kanye news, Julia Fox came clean about her decision to date Ye. Responding to a fan who wished she’d never dated the “famously violent misogynist and antisemite,” she said, “I thought I could help him.”
Though Kanye made headlines for throwing jabs at Kim Kardashian‘s ex Pete Davidson, Fox claimed “he wasn’t on Twitter” or “any forms of social media” during the month they dated. She said she thought, “Oh my god, maybe I can get him off Kim’s case. Maybe I can distract him,” but Ye eventually returned to Twitter; she realized she was “delusional” for having that idea.
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A bookshop in Portugal, which claims to be “the world’s most beautiful bookshop,” placed the winning bid on a set of love letters written by Bob Dylan when he was in high school.
According to the New York Post, Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, shelled out almost $670,000 for the letters, which the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wrote to high school girlfriend Barbara Ann Hewitt between 1957 and 1959. The collection, which was being auctioned off at RR Auction, features 42 handwritten letters and about 150 pages of writings, including bits of poetry, an invitation to a Buddy Holly concert and more. They were found by Hewitt’s daughter following her 2020 death.
The bookshop says they plan to keep the collection complete for any Dylan fans or scholars to study.
But the letters weren’t the only Dylan items up for grabs at the auction. There was also a set of poems he wrote at the University of Minnesota, which went for about $250,000, and an early signed photograph of the artist, which sold for over $24,000.
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The xx is reissuing the trio’s 2012 album Coexist in honor of its 10th anniversary.
An expanded digital version of the record, featuring three bonus live recordings, is out now, and a vinyl deluxe edition will be available on January 13.
“We can’t believe it’s been 10 years since we released Coexist,” The xx says.
Coexist is The xx’s second album and gave the group their first top-10 debut on the Billboard 200. They’ve since followed Coexist with 2017’s I See You, which remains the most recent The xx album.
Meanwhile, vocalist/bassist Oliver Sim dropped his debut solo album, Hideous Bastard, in September, while vocalist/guitarist Romy Madley Croft just premiered a new solo single, called “Strong,” last week.
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Elton John is one of several artists set to be honored at Variety’s sixth annual Hitmakers celebration, which honors artists who have the 25 most-consumed songs of the past year, according to Luminate.
Elton is being honored alongside Dua Lipa as Hitmakers of the Year thanks to the success of their collaboration “Cold Heart-PNAU Remix,” which combines Elton’s hits “Rocketman,” “Sacrifice” and more. It peaked at seven on the Billboard chart and became Elton’s 28th top-10 hit. The honor also recognizes Elton for his incredible six-decade career, as well as his “mentorship of young artists.”
Also being recognized at the event is Kate Bush’s ’80s single “Running Up That Hill” for Sync of the Year, due to its resurgence on the chart after its use in season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things. It turned out to be the 12th most consumed song of 2022.
This year’s honorees, which include Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez and Lizzo, will be celebrated on December 3 with an invitation-only brunch.
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Danny Kalb, guitarist for the 1960s/1970s band The Blues Project, passed away Saturday at his nursing home in Brooklyn; he was 80 years old. His brother Jonathan confirmed the news of his death to the New York Times and revealed that Kalb had been diagnosed with cancer three years ago.
In a 2013 interview with AM New York, Kalb shared that he met Bob Dylan at the University of Wisconsin. After the singer “crashed with me for a few weeks” on his way to New York, Kalb said he “dropped out and followed him.”
He went on to become a fixture in the Greenwich Village music scene and played in the studio with such artists as Judy Collins and Pete Seeger. He contributed two songs to the 1964 anthology, The Blues Project: A Compendium of the Very Best on the Urban Blues Scene, which featured music from eight Greenwich Village regulars.
Kalb embraced the electric guitar and the blues after seeing John Lee Hooker perform at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. He then formed the Blues Project with Steve Katz, Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld and Tommy Flanders, releasing their only studio album, Projections, in 1966. Although they broke up in 1967, they regrouped in various forms up until about 2012. He also released several solo projects, including Livin’ with the Blues in 1995, All Together Now in 2006 and more.
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Tuesday marks 25 years since INXS frontman Michael Hutchence died, and now, his sister is expressing her anger over his ex-girlfriend’s failure to reveal the truth about his state of mind at the time of his death.
Hutchence hanged himself in a Sydney hotel room on November 22, 1997, and at the time, his family had no idea he was suicidal. In the 2019 documentary Mystify, however, his ex-girlfriend, supermodel Helena Christensen, revealed he had suffered brain damage as a result of an assault by a taxi driver in Copenhagen. She said he wound up with a crack in his skull, and it caused him to suffer uncontrollable rages, something his sister, Tina Hutchence, wished she had divulged earlier.
Tina tells The Sun she knows her brother was “happy” with Christensen, but she says, “I did feel angry when I first found out about the assault, as I felt it was her duty to say something to his family,” especially since there were so many terrible rumors surrounding his death, including ones suggesting he died during a sex game.
“She was very close to our parents and could have easily reached out,” Tina says. “My first thought was, ‘He died all those years ago. Why didn’t she say something before now?’” She adds, “I’m sure that if Michael didn’t have that accident in Denmark, he would still be with us today.”
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Axl Rose has posted a statement honoring late Nazareth vocalist Dan McCafferty, who died November 8 at age 76.
Acknowledging the delay in his response to the news, the Guns N’ Roses rocker writes, “Haven’t addressed this…been a tough pill to swallow…Very, very sad to learn of the passing of Dan McCafferty of Nazareth.”
Rose shares that he learned of McCafferty’s death shortly before taking the stage for a GN’R show and admits he was “in a bit of a surreal headspace on stage for several songs.”
“Went on a Nazareth binge for a few days,” Rose writes. “Thanks Dan n’ all of Nazareth for all the music over the years. Their music n’ Dan’s voice will always have a special place in my heart. Rest in peace Dan.”
McCafferty, Nazarath’s original frontman, sang on hits including “Love Hurts” and “Hair of the Dog,” the latter of which Guns N’ Roses memorably covered on their 1993 record “The Spaghetti Incident?”
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While Elton John welcomed some notable names to the stage Sunday night for his final North American concert — Dua Lipa, Brandi Carlile and his “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” duet partner Kiki Dee — the star power in the audience was pretty impressive.
Among those who attended the hit-packed show at LA’s Dodger stadium were Elton’s fellow music legends Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Joni Mitchell, as well as Taron Egerton, who portrayed Elton in his biopic Rocketman, and Elton’s good pals Donatella Versace, Neil Patrick Harris and Will & Grace star Eric McCormack.
Also in the house were Jude Law, Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance, Miles Teller, Heidi Klum, Christopher Lloyd, Connie Britton, Kirsten Dunst, Jenna Dewan, John Stamos, Sara Gilbert, Lisa Rinna, JoJo Siwa and more.
Another guest was Elton’s longtime friend, tennis legend Billie Jean King, who’s also co-owner of the Dodgers. Over the weekend, she and other Dodger executives presented Elton with a $1 million donation to his AIDS Foundation in honor of the three shows he played at the stadium.
Sunday’s show was Elton’s 103rd in the Los Angeles area since his career began, and the 271st show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which started way back in 2018. When it finally wraps up in July of 2023, Billboard notes that it’ll likely overtake U2‘s 360 tour to become the second highest-grossing tour in history, and may even overtake Ed Sheeran‘s Divide tour, which holds the all-time record.
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Publisher Simon & Schuster have agreed to refund Bob Dylan fans who shelled out almost $600 for what was supposed to be personally “hand-signed” copies of his book The Philosophy of Modern Song.
It turns out, the 900 books sold were not actually signed by Dylan, and instead, the signatures were just mechanical duplicates. According to Variety, complaints about the signatures started rolling in Friday as those who purchased the book started receiving their copies. Many quickly realized they were actually signed using “autopen,” which reproduces real signatures using a machine. The publisher initially insisted the books had been hand-signed, especially since each book came with “a letter of authenticity,” and refused refunds, but later announced they had changed their stance.
“To those who purchased the ‘Philosophy of Modern Song’ limited edition, we want to apologize,” Simon & Schuster tweeted. “As it turns out, the limited edition books do contain Bob’s original signature, but in a penned replica form. We are addressing this information by providing each purchaser with an immediate refund.”
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