Music

The Monkees may not seem like a very subversive band, but in 2011 it was revealed the FBI had a file on the 1960s pop legends that included an informant’s observations about a concert, suggesting the group was delivering left-wing political subliminal messages to the audience.

Rolling Stone reports the band’s last surviving member, Micky Dolenz, has filed a lawsuit against the FBI seeking to gain access to the group’s full file via a request with regard to the Freedom of Information Act.

Rolling Stone has secured a copy of the lawsuit, which states that it’s “designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members.”

The suit adds, “Mr. Dolenz has exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies with respect to his [Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act] request.”

The legal action was filed on Micky’s behalf by lawyer Mark S. Zaid, an expert in Freedom of Information Act litigation and a Monkees fan.

When he met Dolenz recently, Zaid suggested to the singer it might be interesting to see if The Monkees had an FBI file, not knowing about the seven-page partially redacted document that was released in 2011.

“That just kind of reinforced for me that there was actually something here,” he tells Rolling Stone. “It’s not just a fishing expedition. I mean, we’re still fishing, but we know there’s fish in the water.”

The original document included an informant’s comments about a 1967 concert. The informant claimed “subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [name redacted], constituted ‘left wing intervention of a political nature.'”

Zaid says a judge should be assigned to the case in a few days and the process will then move forward.

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The Head and the Heart has premiered the video for “Don’t Show Your Weakness,” a track off the band’s latest album, Every Shade of Blue.

The clip, which is streaming now on YouTube, is a psychedelic interpretation of a vocal cord medical procedure.

“‘Don’t Show Your Weakness explores fragility and strength and revels in the often blurry territory in which these two seemingly opposing traits intersect,” The Head and the Heart says. “This colorful and mysterious video is a celebration of the liberation that comes when we allow the most vulnerable parts of ourselves to be laid bare for all to see.””

Every Shade of Blue, the fifth Head and the Heart album, was released in April. It also includes the single “Virginia (Wind in the Night).”

The Head and the Heart will resume touring in support of Every Shade of Blue September 10 at New Mexico’s Ladder to the Moon festival.

(Video contains uncensored profanity) 

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On Monday, Michael Joseph “Prince” Jackson Jr. and Paris Jackson remembered their late father, Michael Jackson, on what would’ve been the King of Pop’s 64th birthday.

Prince, 25, posted a series of Instagram photos with his father and siblings — Paris and Prince Michael “Bigi” Jackson II.

“Happy birthday to the greatest! Miss you more and more but I love you more and more with each day,” wrote Prince, who also shared a series of photos and videos from throughout Michael’s career to his Instagram Stories. “Thank you for everything.”

Paris, 24, posted a photo of herself as a toddler kissing Michael on the lips, alongside the simple caption, “hbd.”

As previously reported, it was announced Monday that an expanded version of the best-selling album of all time — Michael’s Thriller — arrives November 18 and is now available for preorder.  November marks the 40th anniversary of the album’s release in 1982.

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On Monday, Michael Joseph “Prince” Jackson Jr. and Paris Jackson remembered their late father, Michael Jackson, on what would’ve been the King of Pop’s 64th birthday.

Prince, 25, posted a series of Instagram photos with his father and siblings — Paris and Prince Michael “Bigi” Jackson II.

“Happy birthday to the greatest! Miss you more and more but I love you more and more with each day,” wrote Prince, who also shared a series of photos and videos from throughout Michael’s career to his Instagram Stories. “Thank you for everything.”

Paris, 24, posted a photo of herself as a toddler kissing Michael on the lips to her Instagram Story alongside the simple caption, “hbd.”

As previously reported, it was announced Monday that an expanded version of the best-selling album of all time — Michael Jackson’s Thriller — arrives November 18 and is now available for preorder.

November marks the 40th anniversary of the album’s release in 1982.

Michael Jackson Thriller 40 is a double CD set with a bonus record filled with rare audio recordings and demos that Jackson worked on during the 1982 album’s sessions.

Sony Music will begin unveiling the titles of every bonus track after Labor Day — but only one at a time. The final mystery title will be made known on November 17.

Sony is further treating fans by including 15 rarely heard tracks in an expanded digital release of the Thriller album. 

Thriller sold over 70 million copies worldwide and is certified 34-times Platinum by the RIAA, making it the second-best-selling album in the U.S. The album dominated the Billboard 200 chart for an impressive 37 weeks. It also dominated the Billboard Hot 100 with seven top-10 hits, including the chart-topping singles “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.”

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Noel Gallagher has announced a pair of new signature guitars with Gibson and Epiphone.

The instruments include recreations of two of the ex-Oasis member’s own beloved guitars: the 1960 Gibson ES-355 and the Epiphone Riviera. The ES-355 is widely regarded as Gallagher’s most famous guitar.

“F*** me, what a Guitar!” Gallagher says of the ES-355 recreation. “I’ve actually sent my main one back to storage, something I haven’t done since the day I bought it … THAT’S how good it is!”

Of the Riviera, Gallagher adds, “That guitar played a part on so many songs in the [’90s] it’s ridiculous. The Epiphone is excellent, really very good … sounds exactly like my original one, it’s a belter!”

For more info, visit Gibson.com or Epiphone.com.

Gallagher previously teamed up with Gibson last year to release the Noel Gallagher Gibson J-150 acoustic guitar.

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Former Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford has unveiled plans to release the latest in his “Cosmo’s Vault” series of archival music projects. The collaborative album, called California Gold, was recorded in 1978 with founding Derek & the Dominos member Bobby Whitlock and is slated for release September 9.

The 10-track collection was produced by Clifford, and all of the songs were co-written by him and Whitlock. Whitlock sang lead and played keyboards on every song, and also contributed some backing vocals and guitar. Clifford played drums throughout the record and added backing vocals to some tracks, as well.

California Gold also includes contributions from legendary Booker T & the MG’s bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and former Graham Central Station guitarist David Vega.

The album is packed with soulful songs featuring roots rock and blues influences. You can preorder California Gold now on CD and digitally.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Good Times”
“Get Down Fever”
“It Ain’t Like Mama Told Me”
“Turn the Beat Around”
“On Hold Again”
“Purple Mountain”
“It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn”
“Do or Die”
“I’m Happy Just Being Alive”
“Rollin’ On”

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Items from the personal collection of late Megaforce Records co-founders Jon and Marsha Zazula are going on sale in an upcoming auction.

Among the pieces available are various concert tickets and flyers from early Metallica shows, the key to a truck stolen from Metallica in 1983, and the original headpiece for the Anthrax Not Man mascot.

The auction, which is being put on by Backstage Auctions, will run September 2-11. For more info, visit BackstageAuctions.com.

The Zazulas founded Megaforce Records in 1982 and soon signed a then-unknown Metallica to their first-ever record deal. Marsha passed away in January 2021, followed by Jon in February 2022.

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Seal revealed his parents weren’t the people who pushed him to become a singer — it was one of his teachers.

Speaking on his Think About It podcast, the “Kiss from a Rose” singer opened up about the teacher, who’s one of his “champions and pivotal figures,” as the person who helped him realize he could sing.

“The person that really started it for me … that made a difference, was a teacher named Mr. Ren,” Seal recalled.

Seal said he attended a school that served low-income, blue-collar families. “I wasn’t very good academically and, like most of the people in my class … [I thought] we were never going to amount to anything,” he said.

“[Mr. Ren] was the one that saw me, and saw something in me and encouraged me to sing,” the Grammy winner said. “The first time I sung publicly was in front of him. I guess I started singing because I idolized him.”

Seal said Mr. Ren pushed him further by putting him onstage “in front of the parents and teachers” at the end- of-the-year celebration. The young singer was understandably nervous and “froze.”

“I’ll emphasize that my parents had never heard me sing. They didn’t even know I could sing,” added Seal, adding he was supposed to sing an a cappella version of Johnny Nash‘s “I Can See Clearly Now.”

“I remember being so afraid, and closing my eyes and getting through this song, and being lost in it and finishing it. And it was like one of those scenes in the movie where you could hear a pin drop,” said Seal.

Seal said he “never forgot that feeling” when the audience erupted into cheers, and he eventually pursued a singing career — because, as he said, Mr. Ren “believed in me.”

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Walker Hayes might be known as the good-timing “Fancy Like” guy, but fans of the artist’s deeper cuts already know that his song catalog is full of tear-jerking ballads, too.

For example, Country Stuff (The Album) includes a searing track called “Briefcase,” which Walker wrote about his complicated, loving relationship with his dad.

The song’s lyrics remember how his father sold real estate and was often too busy to spend time with the family. Once Walker grew up and became a father himself, he gained new perspective on the sacrifices his dad had to make to provide for his kids.

“He died right before this hit the rocket ship,” Walker explains in an interview on Southern Living‘s Biscuits & Jam podcast. “And it’s been perplexing to me this year. Honestly, I still text him. I texted his number from the Grammys, and said, ‘You know, I’m nominated for a Grammy.”

Though he never lived to see his son’s biggest musical successes, Walker says that his dad was an instrumental part of his early days in music.

“My first gig was at the yacht club on Mobile Bay. The only reason I played that show is because he booked it. He called me and said, ‘You’re already signed up to play,’ and he didn’t ask me, he didn’t ask if I wanted to, he didn’t say ‘practice,’ he said, ‘You’re playing on Friday,’” Walker remembers.

“I played that gig and it truly changed my life, and he is the reason,” he added.

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Garth Brooks is ending his Stadium Tour in style next month, heading over to Dublin for five sold-out nights at the city’s Croke Park.

It’s been more than two decades since Garth played in Ireland, but he says he still remembers how playing in the country elevates his live show.

“No matter how much you know or don’t know about Garth Brooks, you go to Ireland, you see what they do over there, it’s a whole new chapter,” the singer said in a recent installment of his Facebook Live series, Inside Studio G.

“People think they know who we are, they think they know the music. It takes on a whole different world when you hit Ireland,” he continued. “It’s something to behold.”

The singer says he’s particularly excited for fans who’ve seen him in other cities, who are now planning to make a trip to Ireland to catch one of his Croke Park shows. “Because get ready: You’re about to see what I saw for the first time, and cried like a baby the whole time,” he recounted.

Though this string of shows concludes his Stadium Tour dates for the year, Garth added that he’s hopeful he’ll get to return sooner rather than later, saying he’d like it to be “one of many trips” he’ll make to Ireland to perform in the future.

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