Page 5318 – 105.7 WDNY

Nile Rodgers named Apple Music’s artist in residence for spatial audio

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Chic‘s Nile Rodgers has landed a new gig with Apple Music. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performer and producer will be Apple Music’s artist in residence, with a specific focus on spatial audio.

As part of his job, Rodgers will take part in playback sessions and educational events at Apple Store locations in New York and London, as well as in Los Angeles at the Dolby Screening Room. He also appears in a trailer where he talks about the spatial audio remixes of his Chic tunes.

“What Apple is doing with spatial audio is the gateway to the future,” Rodgers shares, noting that while streaming “has completely changed the way we consume music,” audio quality has been sacrificed in the process. He notes, “But now with spatial audio you can have the convenience you want while getting a completely immersive audio experience.”

“When I first put up my master tapes and listened back in spatial, I started to lament the fact that I didn’t have it back then. Like The Beatles in mono, our creativity was limited by the technology of the time,” he says. “The fact that I could have done more artistically would’ve been incredible to me and now thanks to spatial audio I can. This is a real gift for music lovers.”

Those interested in attending any of Rodgers’ events can sign up now at apple.com.

This isn’t the first time Rodgers has teamed up with Apple. He currently hosts the radio show Deep Hidden Meaning, where he talks to songwriters about the inspiration behind their work.

Daniel Caesar announces part 2 of Superpowers World Tour

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Daniel Caesar supported his Never Enough album with a few intimate shows, but now, he’s taking it up a notch. The singer has scheduled a 33-date tour that will bring him to fans across North America. Starting August 29, the singer will perform in cities including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Houston.

The trek, the second leg of his Superpowers World Tour, closes out October 19 at The Met Philadelphia. Omar Apollo and Montell Fish, Flying Lotus and Orion Sun, Charlotte Day Wilson, BADBADNOTGOOD & Moses Sumney will support on select dates.

Tickets for Daniel Caesar Presents Superpowers World Tour – Leg 2: U.S. & Canada will be available Tuesday, June 13, via presale, with additional presales going on throughout the week. General tickets will go on sale beginning on Friday, June 16, at 9 a.m. local time at danielcaesar.com.

The trek comes after the first leg of the outing, which will take place in Asia in July. Both follow April’s release of Daniel’s latest album, Never Enough.

Rod Stewart says his upcoming concerts will be “the last of the rock n’ roll shows”

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Is Rod Stewart giving up on rock ‘n’ roll?

In the new print edition of the magazine Scottish Field, Rod says that his upcoming concerts in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 6 and 7 will be “the last of the rock n’ roll shows.” He explains, “I want to move on and I’ve always wanted to do The Great American Songbook live. It sold 38 million copies.”

Rod was referring to his bestselling series of albums of standards, which began in 2002 with It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook. He made five Songbook albums in all, and they all reached the top 10 in both the U.S. and the U.K.

He goes on to say he’s recorded a “fantastic swing album” will Jools Holland, the pianist and TV host who was a founding member of Squeeze. “I just want to make a change,” he tells the magazine.

It’s likely that Rod means the Edinburgh shows are his last rock ‘n’ roll shows in the U.K., since he’s got a whole U.S. tour kicking off on July 29, followed by a string of shows in Las Vegas as part of his residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rod, who lives up the street from Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, says he used to go to the former president’s Christmas parties and balls, until his wife, Penny Lancaster, put the kibosh on that.

“There was stuff he was coming out with, what he was saying about women he had known in the past,” Rod explains. “And Penny said ‘you’re not going – he’s a disgrace.'”

‘Venom 3’ reportedly slithering into theaters for Halloween 2024

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Although the writers strike is gumming up the works like sticky, black alien goo, Venom 3 is close to getting underway for Sony Pictures.

The third go-round for Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock, who is also host for the foul-mouthed, voracious shape-shifting, titular extraterrestrial parasite, also stars Marvel movie veteran Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ted Lasso Emmy nominee Juno Temple.

The latter tells Variety she’s “thrilled about” the project getting underway “very, very soon.”

Venom 3 is slated for an October 2024 release, the trade revealed.

Even if production starts, the ongoing strike could pose a problem for the film, as WGA rules would forbid any on-set rewrites, a common occurrence.

A spinoff franchise from the Spider-Man universe, the R-rated Venom movies have been a smash for Sony Pictures. The 2018 original made more than $856 million worldwide, and while its 2021 sequel made considerably less, Venom: Let There Be Carnage still earned over $506 million against a reported production budget of $110 million.

Blue Öyster Cult’s Albert Bouchard to release final installment in his ‘Imaginos’ trilogy

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Blue Öyster Cult drummer and founding member Albert Bouchard is set to release a new album, Imaginos III – Mutant Reformation, on July 7.

The album is the third and final record in Bouchard’s trilogy of Imaginos, following 2021’s Imaginos 2 — Bombs Over Germany and 2020’s Re Imaginos, which was a reworked version of Blue Öyster Cult’s 1988 concept album Imaginos.

The albums have all been inspired by the writings of the late producer and songwriter Sandy Pearlman, which centered on an alien conspiracy happening in the 1800s and early 1900s through the actions of an evil character named Imaginos.

“Sandy’s not being here to feel the long-awaited culmination is perhaps the greatest irony of this epic journey through the invisibility of conspiracy, the shape-shifting, and eternal light that is Desdinova,” Bouchard says. “But legend lives on, as will tales told ‘round the fire of when Man still walked the Earth, and the carnage had yet to begin.”

And Bouchard is giving fans a taste of Imaginos III with the release of his new take on the Blue Öyster Cult track “E.T.I.,” featuring his brother, Blue Öyster Cult bassist and singer Joe Bouchard.

Imaginos III – Mutant Reformation is available for preorder now.

Cynthia Weil celebrated at star-studded memorial in Los Angeles

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

A star-studded group of musicians and songwriters gathered in Los Angeles last weekend to pay tribute to songwriter Cynthia Weil, who passed away June 1 at the age of 82.

USA Today reports that Carole King, Diane Warren, music producer Lou Adler, Carole Bayer Sager, Tony Orlando and more were on hand at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunday, June 11, for the memorial service for Weil. She and husband Barry Mann wrote such classic tunes as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway” and “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.”

King, accompanied on piano by Paul Shaffer, performed “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail, which was a collaboration between Weil, Mann and James Horner. Orlando, who hosted the memorial, also performed Weil and Mann’s first top 20 hit, 1961’s “Bless You.”

Several artists paid tribute to Weil by video, including Dolly Parton, who had a crossover hit with the songwriting pair’s “Here You Come Again.” She said of Weil, “She left a great body of work.” KISS’ Paul Stanley also paid tribute via video, talking about how Weil wrote many of his favorite songs as a teenager, noting, “Invariably, songs that I loved, I would see her name on it.”

Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme was diagnosed with cancer in 2022

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

In an interview with Revolver, Homme shares that the cancer was successfully removed through surgery, although, as the writer of the profile puts it, he’s “still healing.”

“I never say it can’t get any worse,” Homme says. “I never say that, and I wouldn’t advise it. But I do say it can get better.”

“Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know?” he continues. “I’m extremely thankful that I’ll get through this, and I’ll look back at this as something that’s f***** up — but will have made me better. I’m cool with that. There’s a lot of stuff I want to do. And there’s a lot of people I want to do that with.”

Homme’s cancer battle came as Queens of the Stone Age were working on their upcoming new album, In Times New Roman…, and amid his divorce and custody dispute with ex Brody Dalle.

“I definitely had a serious case of emotion sickness,” Homme says, borrowing the title from the lead In Times New Roman… single. “There were times I almost didn’t make it. It’s OK for me to ruminate on that. It’s not OK to stay there, feel too sorry for myself. This has been the darkest four years of my life. But that’s OK, too.”

In Times New Roman… drops Friday, June 16.

Ed Sheeran sets new attendance record, does his biggest show ever in the U.S.

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Over the weekend, not long after his pal Taylor Swift vacated the premises, Ed Sheeran pulled into New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on his Mathematics tour — and promptly set a new record.

The show on Sunday, June 11 — the second of Ed’s two dates at the stadium — attracted over 89,000 fans, setting a new attendance record for the venue. It also marked Ed’s largest show ever in the U.S.

Ed posted a photo on Insatgram of the message board at the stadium lit up with the words, “Congratulations Ed Sheeran, MetLife Stadium All Time Concert Record, Thanks to the 89, 106 Fans Here Tonight.” He also shared a photo of himself posing with some of the celebrity attendees: Gordon Ramsay, Chris Hemsworth and Matt Damon.

In a separate post, Ed wrote, “Played my biggest ever USA show today… really don’t take this for granted, my dad told me if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere, and today was really reminiscing about playing my first show at [New York’s] mercury lounge in 2012 to 130 people. It feels like a dream today. I love you all, see you in Toronto.”

Ed’s next tour stop is in Toronto.

Kimberly Perry blooms on debut solo EP

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Kimberly Perry‘s debut solo EP, BLOOM, has finally arrived.

The five-track set was co-written entirely by Kimberly and features her new single, “If I Die Young Pt. 2.”

“I was having such a profound creative experience here in Nashville while collaborating with these incredible songwriters, and at the same time, some of the most important and intrinsic relationships in my life were changing,” shares the former The Band Perry lead singer, who now resides in Nashville.

“Having those events coincide with each other, combined with the emotions and wisdom that I was collecting from life itself, made me realize that it was the perfect time to release BLOOM. It’s a project I’ve dreamed of making since I was a little girl, and I just knew in my soul it was time,” adds Kimberly.

BLOOM is available now wherever you listen to music.

Here’s the BLOOM track list:
“If I Die Young Pt. 2”
“Burn The House Down”
“Cry At Your Funeral”
“Ghosts”
“Smoke ‘Em Too”

GAYLE announces the Scared But Trying Tour, has new song on ‘Barbie’ soundtrack

June 12, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Now that she’s opened for both Taylor Swift and Pink, GAYLE is ready to go out on her own.

The “abcdefu” singer has announced the Scared But Trying Tour, which gets underway in Tampa, Florida, on October 17 and is set to wrap up in her hometown of Nashville on November 15. A presale starts June 13 at 10 a.m.; the general on-sale date is June 16 at 10 a.m. local time. Visit GAYLE’s official website for the full details.

GAYLE has also recorded a new song called “butterflies” for the soundtrack of the highly anticipated Barbie movie. Both the album and the movie arrive July 21.

As if that wasn’t enough, GAYLE also co-wrote Kelly Clarkson‘s single “Me.” She’ll continue to open for Pink’s Summer Carnival tour on and off through mid-July. In August, she’ll open for two more Swift shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

“Going on tour with Taylor Swift and Pink have been some of the most exciting and terrifying moments of my life,” GAYLE says in a statement. “Before walking on stage, I would get nauseous and it would be hard for me to control my breathing, but no matter how I felt, I would try and do it anyways. The last couple of years have been a whirlwind, but I’ve continued to do things even though I was afraid.”

“The thought of going on my own tour is very intimidating to me, but over time, I’ve learned I can do things even though I’m afraid,” she adds. “With this tour, I am scared, but I’m ready to try.”

+ More