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Cool Yule: John Lodge, Nils Lofgren, Vanilla Fudge’s Mark Stein & The Go-Go’s’ Gina Schock share holiday plans

December 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Christmas is upon us, and a variety of music artists tell ABC Audio that, like so many people during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they’re planning a fairly low-key holiday celebration this year.

Moody Blues singer/bassist John Lodge explains that most years around this time he’d be on tour, “but not this year, so…I’m just gonna enjoy Christmas.”

Lodge notes that his wife is from Denmark, so his family usually observes the Danish tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

Nils Lofgren, a member of Neil Young‘s and Bruce Springsteen‘s respective backing groups Crazy Horse and the E Street Band, says his Christmas gathering likely will just feature him and his wife, Amy, their son Dylan, “his two dogs and our two dogs very quietly and safely having a very sedate Christmas, because it’s just not safe to do otherwise.”

Vanilla Fudge‘s Mark Stein says his family plans to “just have some stay-at-home dinners and opening presents, like most people in this country do.”

Stein also shares a holiday message for fans, wishing that people “stay safe and stay focused and appreciative of…what we do have this holiday season, because although there’s a lot of unrest going on in the nation and the world, anybody that’s got…a roof over your head and family that you can hug and love and share stories with and gifts…[that’s] more than enough payoff.”

Meanwhile, Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock won’t be home for the holidays. Schock, whose band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October, says her yuletide plans entail “rehearsing and doing shows” with the group.

The Go-Go’s have five West Coast concerts lined up between December 28 and January 3.

Do you know her? Mariah Carey answers some trivia questions about herself

December 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Christmas is a few days away and Mariah Carey is the gift that keeps on giving. Ahead of her favorite holiday, the Grammy winner revealed some little-known trivia facts about herself.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Mariah participated in a YouTube segment for the magazine called “Do You Know Her?” where she was quizzed on questions about her life and career — including the time of day she was born. For the curious, it was at 7:27 in the morning.

She wouldn’t reveal how many dogs she has — it’s seven — but she was able to recall that she spent 500 hours in beauty school, that she “almost burned” the bridal gown she wore in her “We Belong Together” music video, and that she has “no idea” which song of hers contains her longest note. Mariah guessed that it was “Emotions,” but the real answer was 2001’s “Lead the Way,” where she held a note for 21 seconds.

Mariah also stood her ground when she guessed that she’d scored 19 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100. When a woman off-camera corrected her, saying the number was actually 18, Mariah wasn’t having it.

“I think I know how many number ones I’ve had on the Hot 100 chart, because one of them was a holiday song and it is ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You,'” she deadpanned. “That’s my 19th number one.”

She also knew right off the bat which one of her songs allowed her to surpass Elvis Presley in the ranking of artists with the most Hot 100 number-one hits: It was her 2008 tune “Touch My Body.”

“That was my 18th number one,” she quipped. “It was a pretty amazing moment!”

Why Rob Thomas “hated” his childhood Christmases

December 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Rob Thomas is a big Christmas fan, as you might assume from his new holiday album Something About Christmas Time. But as a kid, he says he “hated” Christmas, not because of the holiday itself, but because of the weather, which wasn’t exactly “Christmassy.”

Rob lived in South Carolina as a small child and then moved to Florida at age 10.

“I mean, I hated it, because I started off in South Carolina where it’s a little more wintery and…you get some snow,” he tells ABC Audio.

“So for years and years, when I was young, we would all go to South Carolina for Christmas, and it always kinda still felt a little Christmassy,” he continues. “But then, when my grandparents passed away and we didn’t really have anybody to go see — just spending Christmas in Florida…people get excited because, you know, you needed a coat. Like, ‘Oh, I need to wear a coat. It feels like Christmas!'”

But since Rob has lived in the New York area for over 20 years, he now gets more snow that he can handle, and says “all my great [Christmas] memories are of New York.”

Rob says he’d love to be able to celebrate in Manhattan again like he did in the before times: December of 2019.

“It was one of our favorite Christmases of all time,” he tells ABC Audio. “My wife and her mom and I did the full traditional [thing]. We went to the Rockettes and then we went to The Plaza and had a really nice dinner there…and it just felt very ‘New York Christmas,’ for lack of a better term.”

“I would love something like that,” he admits. “I’m just not sure of my [comfort] factor right now, still, just being out and about.”

AXS TV to air ‘Live from the Artists Den’ episodes featuring Ringo Starr, Robert Plant & more in 2022

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Starting in January, AXS TV will begin airing select past episodes of the popular performance series Live from the Artists Den, including shows featuring Ringo Starr, Robert Plant and Sheryl Crow.

The season will kick off on Wednesday, January 12 with a performance by modern rockers Imagine Dragons, and the following week, on January 19, Plant and his former backing group Band of Joy will be featured.

The Led Zeppelin frontman’s episode was filmed in 2011 at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium, and includes renditions of Zeppelin’s “Gallows Pole” and “Ramble On,” as well as selections from Plant’s 2010 Band of Joy album. Among the musicians featured in the Band of Joy lineup were Americana artists Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.

Starr will appear in an episode that will air on March 2. That program was shot in New York City at the Egyptian wing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010, and features the former Beatles drummer performing songs by the Fab Four and from his solo career alongside Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 and Joan Osbourne.

Crow’s episode will air on March 9, and captures Sheryl playing some of her best-known songs at New York City’s Grand Ballroom of the Plaza in 2013.

Live from the Artists Den episodes will air weekly each Wednesday from January 12 through March 16 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Other artists featured on upcoming episodes include country stars, Lady A and Tim McGraw, pop group OneRepublic, and rock acts The Killers, Alabama Shakes and The Wallflowers.

AXS TV programming executive Sarah Weidman notes that Live from the Artists Den presents the various acts “in an intimate setting with a small audience, interspersed with insightful clips that find the performers reflecting on their own work and careers.”

SF’s Chase Center releases mini-doc highlighting Metallica’s international community

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Following Metallica‘s recent 40th anniversary shows at the San Francisco Chase Center, the venue has released a mini documentary highlighting the community of the band’s international fan base.

The four-minute video, streaming now on YouTube, includes interviews with fans who traveled to S.F. for the concerts from countries including Kuwait, Colombia and Chile.

“[Metallica is] like a soundtrack to my life, and millions and millions of people around the world feel the same way I do,” one fan says.

Metallica’s 40th anniversary shows took place December 17 and 19, and streamed live online. Rebroadcasts of the streams will air via the Coda Collection channel on Amazon Prime Video starting December 24 at noon ET.

Chris Martin sets year for final Coldplay album

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Back in October, Chris Martin told NME that Coldplay will stop making records after putting out their 12th album. Now, he’s put a date on that finish line.

Speaking with BBC Radio 2, Martin reveals that Coldplay’s “last proper record” will be released at the “end of 2025.”

“I think after that, we’ll only tour,” Martin says. “Maybe we’ll do some collaborative things, but the Coldplay catalog, as it were, finishes then.”

When host Jo Whiley asked if Martin was joking, he assured her he was not.

Coldplay just released their ninth album, Music of the Spheres, this past October. It includes the single “Higher Power” and the hit BTS collaboration “My Universe.”

Watch tonight: Joni Mitchell & more celebrated at star-studded Kennedy Center Honors event

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors special airs tonight on CBS, featuring star-studded tributes to Joni Mitchell, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Bette Midler, as well as Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels and opera baritone Justino Diaz.

Among the performers and presenters who took part in the gala, which was held December 5 in Washington, D.C., were Paul Simon, Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder and many more.

Nash was featured as the narrator of a video presentation celebrating Mitchell, who was his one-time romantic partner. Among the performers who paid tribute to the legendary Canadian singer/songwriter were Herbie Hancock, Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile and Ellie Goulding.

Simon, a close friend of Michaels, performed his classic Simon & Garfunkel tune “America” in honor of Lorne. The segment also featured tributes from Steve Martin and various former and current SNL cast members, including Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Michael Che and Colin Jost.

The event’s finale featured a salute to Gordy, which included musical tributes from Wonder and Smokey Robinson.

The Kennedy Center Honors special airs at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on CBS.

Saweetie, Jack Harlow and more starring in ‘Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party’

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Saweetie and Jack Harlow will be ringing in 2022 on a New Year’s Eve television special.

The rappers will perform on Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, hosted by Miley Cyrus and Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson, which airs December 31 at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBC. 24kGoldn and Kitty Ca$h will also add hip hop flava to the show.

Meanwhile, Saweetie, who graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in business in 2016, is headed back to USC in 2022, this time as a guest lecturer. The “Icy Grl” rapper, who is nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist, will teach two separate courses for students pursuing entrepreneurial studies. She will also speak to high school students during USC’s summer programs.

Little drummer boy: Josh Groban reveals the one Christmas gift he waited years for

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Many fans have given or received Josh Groban‘s holiday album Noël as a Christmas gift, but as a kid, he says he had to work hard to get his parents to finally agree to get him his dream Christmas present.

“I lobbied for about four years for a drum set,” Josh said Wednesday on Live with Kelly & Ryan. Josh explained that it was a “big ask from Santa” because it’s such a noisy gift — but he was so determined to get it that he actually wrote an essay explaining why he should receive it.

“I wrote an essay [to Santa]…single spaced…about how every drum has its own story, every cymbal told a story, and how I would treasure it every day, and finally, I got the drum set,” Josh says. His neighbors were even cool with him practicing an hour a day.

“It changed my life,” Josh said of his drum set, which he played for 20 years before finally donating it to his old music school this year. Today, as a global star, he plays drums in his show, and he notes, “Whenever I play them in an arena or something, I think back to that kid.”

“Any parent who’s thinking of a gift…they’re not sure what they wanna get their kids — you can never go wrong with an instrument,” Josh advises. “Because you never know when that light bulb’s gonna go off and they’re gonna figure it out.”

Mariah Carey declares she’s finally “fixed” last year’s infamous knockoff Christmas ornament

December 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Mariah Carey has finally given a much-needed makeover to the weird-looking Christmas ornament that famously annoyed her last year.

The ornament — which was supposed to look like Mariah but most certainly did not — hit Mariah’s radar after a fan showed off the sketchy new decoration on Twitter. The singer hilariously replied, “This is… Not approved” and gently added, “But it’s the thought that counts.”

Now, fans can finally hang an authorized Mariah Christmas ornament on their Christmas tree. Sharing a side-by-side comparison of the knockoff versus the real deal, the “Fantasy” singer declared on Twitter, “Fixed it!”

The new Mariah-approved ornament, which depicts cartoon Mariah dressed in a sexy Santa outfit, retails for $19.99 and is available at Target, along with the singer’s entire line of Christmas goodies, such as wrapping paper, Christmas stockings and more. The items are also available on Mariah’s official online store.

Fixed it! pic.twitter.com/8RTzDJfEM9

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) December 21, 2021

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