Eddie Vedder encourages COVID-19 testing ahead of US solo tour: “The goal is to be conscientious of others”

February 3, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has shared a statement regarding the COVID-19 safety protocols for his U.S. solo tour, which launches Thursday in New York City.

“We have done our absolute best and are doing everything we can to be able to play these shows as safely as possible,” Vedder writes.

Vedder asks attendees for tonight’s show to “remember to bring your proof of vaccination and wear your mask.” He adds, “If you have access to testing and can double-check you’re negative before you come, even better.”

“The goal is to be conscientious of others,” Vedder concludes. “And in doing so, get 2 or 3 hours where we can not think of any of this crap and tap into the live music we’ve been missing.”

Vedder will be touring in support of his forthcoming solo album, Earthling, due out February 11. His live band for the outing features Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, ex-RHCP guitarist and current Pearl Jam touring member Josh Klinghoffer, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, and producer and guitarist Andrew Watt.

Slash recalls his fake ID days during ‘Kimmel’ interview

February 3, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Slash is one of the most recognizable people in rock today, but when he was growing up, he often pretended to be someone else. Specifically, someone old enough to get into rock clubs.

During an interview on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night, the Guns N’ Roses icon recalled creating fake IDs when he was a teenager.

“I was pretty good at it,” Slash said. He then told a story of when he and his future GN’R band mate Steven Adler used fake IDs to get into a particular club, but while the doorman let Adler in, he rejected Slash.

“I was just crushed,” Slash shared. “So I went home, and I put on a bunch of makeup and put on some of my mom’s clothes — I was really drunk, you have to understand — and I went back up there. It was Ladies Night, so I went back and I got in.”

Slash’s initial thought was he was going to mess with Adler — “Steven would screw anything,” he joked — but soon realized that the drummer had since left the club.

“This whole black cloud of reality came down,” Slash remembered. “I felt the most vulnerable I’d ever felt, ever. Still to this day, I’ve never felt like that.”

After the interview, Slash and his solo band Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators performed their new single “The River Is Rising.” The track will appear on the upcoming Conspirators album 4, due out February 11.

Immersive sensory presentation co-created by David Byrne to premiere in Denver this August

February 3, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Founding Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has teamed up with author Mala Gaonkar to create an immersive sensory experience called Theater of the Mind, which will premiere August 31 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Off-Center.

The production, which originally was scheduled to debut in 2020 but was postponed because of COVID-19, takes place in a 15,000-square-foot historic warehouse and, according to an official description, brings audience members on “an immersive journey of self-reflection, discovery, and imagination, inspired by and grounded in neuroscience.”

The show uses stories from Byrne’s and Gaokar’s own lives to shape a narrative that attendees will be able to see, feel, taste and hear.

At each show, 16 audience members will follow a “Guide” through various environments and will have the opportunity to try a number of sensory experiments devised to make attendees question how they perceive their own beliefs, memories and identities.

Byrne explains that Theater of the Mind was inspired by a series of neuroscience experiments in which both he and Gaonkar participated.

“We began referring to the project as a Neuro Funhouse, but as we worked on it we came to realize that it was evolving to be something more than that,” he notes. “It has made us rethink some of our own beliefs and assumptions, to see ourselves and the world in a different way, and we hope that it might have a similar effect on our audience.”

Theater of the Mind begins previews on August 31, and officially opens on Septmber 13. The production will run through December 18. Tickets will go on to the general public on May 20, while pre-sale tickets will be available to all Denver Center for the Performing Arts subscribers starting May 6.

Visit TheateroftheMindDenver.com for more details.

Dave Grohl’s ’The Storyteller’ audiobook nominated for 2022 Audie Awards

February 3, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Dave Grohl may need to find more room in what’s surely a crowded trophy case.

The Foo Fighters frontman is nominated for the 2022 Audie Awards, which celebrate the best in “audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” Grohl’s 2021 autobiography The Storyteller, the audiobook for which he narrated himself, will compete for the top prize: Audiobook of the Year.

Grohl’s fellow nominees include the novels Project Hail Mary and The Sweetness of Water, as well as former President Barack Obama‘s memoir A Promised Land.

The Storyteller, Grohl’s debut book, finds the prolific musician sharing tales from throughout his life, from his childhood to joining Nirvana and forming Foo Fighters. Upon its release last October, it topped two New York Times Best-Sellers lists.

The 2022 Audie Awards will be held virtually on March 4.

Meanwhile, Grohl’s expansion beyond music continues with Studio 666, an upcoming horror-comedy movie starring the Foos. The film premieres in theaters February 25.

Billy Idol forced to pull out of Journey tour support slot; Toto now opening entire trek

February 3, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Back in November, Journey announced plans for a lengthy U.S. trek this year dubbed the Freedom Tour 2022 featuring Billy Idol and Toto opening the first and second respective portions of the outing, but now comes word that Idol has dropped off the tour for health reasons.

Instead, Toto now will be the support act for Journey’s entire trek, which kicks off on February 22 in Pittsburgh and is mapped out through a May 11 show in Hartford, Connecticut. 

Idol’s departure from Journey’s Freedom Tour is due to a chronic sinus infection that will require surgery in the coming days.

“The last thing I ever want to do is cancel shows and I am absolutely gutted that I won’t be able to perform the upcoming dates with Journey as planned,” Idol says in a statement. “I wish Journey only the best on their tour and give thanks to TOTO for stepping in for me.”

The trek features a total of 40 concerts, including two newly added dates that are scheduled for March 4 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and on March 6 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Tickets for the two shows will go on sale to the public on Monday, February 7, at 10 a.m. ET. In addition, pre-sale tickets will be available via Ticketmaster starting today, February 3, at 10 a.m. ET. Visit JourneyMusic.com for more information.

Toto originally had been slated to join Journey’s tour in April, and had lined up a U.S. headlining trek that was to have run from February 25 through March 19, but now their own outing has been postponed until a later date.

A note on Toto’s official website advises that tickets purchased for the band’s headlining shows will be honored when the dates are rescheduled. Details about those shows will be announced soon.

Hey ’22: Steely Dan announces Earth After Hours Tour featuring openers Snarky Puppy, Aimee Mann

February 2, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Steely Dan has unveiled dates for a 2022 U.S. trek called the Earth After Hours Tour.

The 23-city road trip gets underway on May 20 in Portland, Oregon and is mapped out through a July 3 show in Bethel, New York.

The tour originally was to have featured Steve Winwood as the opening act, but according to a message on SteelyDan.com, the former Traffic frontman “is no longer able to appear due to unforeseen circumstances.” Instead, contemporary jazz-rock ensemble Snarky Puppy will open most of the concerts from May 20 through June 19, while singer/songwriter Aimee Mann will serve as the support act from June 21 until the end of the trek.

Following the Earth After Hours Tour, Steely Dan will play a series of rescheduled U.S. dates from their postponed 2021 Absolutely Normal trek. Those shows run from a July 15 performance in Richmond, Virginia, through an August 4 concert in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Tickets for all dates are on sale now. Visit SteelyDan.com for the band’s full itinerary.

Ronnie James Dio documentary premiering at South by Southwest Film Festival

February 2, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

A new documentary about Ronnie James Dio is set to premiere at the 2022 South by Southwest Film Festival.

Titled DIO Dreamers Never Die, the film is said to be the “definitive career spanning documentary” on the late Dio frontman. It takes its name from a lyric off Dio’s 1987 song “I Could Have Been a Dreamer.”

The SXSW Film Festival takes place March 11-19 in Austin, Texas, with Dreamers Never Die making its debut on March 17. For more info, visit SXSW.com.

Dio died in May 2010 from stomach cancer. He was 67. In addition to fronting his namesake band, Dio also sang in Rainbow alongside Deep Purple‘s Ritchie Blackmore, and joined Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne was fired in 1979.

Crosby, Stills and Nash join together to ask that their music be removed from Spotify in support of Neil Young

February 2, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Tuesday, Graham Nash announced that he was removing his solo music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young over alleged COVID-19 misinformation hosted by the streaming service. Now Graham and his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young band mates David Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined together in support of Neil.

While its been years since they’ve collaborated, the members of Crosby, Stills & Nash have teamed up to ask their labels to pull all of their collective recordings from Spotify.

A statement from trio reads, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music — or the music we made together — to be on the same platform.”

The request covers recordings by CSN, CSNY and Crosby & Nash, as well as David’s and Stephen’s solo projects.

Young recently announced that he was pulling his music from Spotify after he was alerted to an open letter signed by hundreds of scientists and medical professionals expressing concern that harmful misinformation was being circulated on some recent episodes of the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which is hosted exclusively by the streaming platform.

Neil had sent a letter to Spotify that basically gave them an ultimatum, and the service ended up removing his music rather than cutting ties with Rogan.

After Young exited Spotify, the company did announce that it will be adding content advisories before podcasts that discuss COVID-19.

Find out what “truly happened” with ‘Pam & Tommy’ on new Hulu limited series

February 2, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

Kickstart your Wednesday with Pam & Tommy.

The new Hulu limited series, which tells the story of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee‘s infamous sex tape, premieres today. The Baywatch superstar is played by Baby Driver and Yesterday actor Lily James, while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Sebastian Stan trades his vibranium arm for a pair of drumsticks to portray the Mötley Crüe rocker.

Speaking with ABC Audio, Stan shares that he feels Pam & Tommy will tell the truth of such a highly sensationalized story.

“You hear things about it, or you’ve heard something about it, but you don’t really know what happened, you don’t really know the true story,” Stan says. “I think it was a nice opportunity for us to be able to tell that story, finally, as it pertains to how it affected [Anderson and Lee], but also really, truly what happened.”

In playing Lee, Stan says that was “always conscious” of the real person.

“I think any time you’re playing a real person, it’s inevitable that you’re gonna be thinking about them, just purely from a sense of respect,” Stan says. “You wanna learn about that person as much as you can, and you wanna be able to go out there and take your best shot.”

“You’re not these people, you’re never gonna be these people,” he adds. “You can give it your best shot and your best guess. But, absolutely, you’re always conscious of them.”

The Pam & Tommy cast also includes Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman and Taylor Schilling.

Bob Marley’s 77th birthday celebrated with series of special events this week

February 2, 2022 by Classic Rock 93.9

This Sunday, February 6, marks what would’ve been Bob Marley‘s 77th birthday, and to commemorate the milestone the late reggae legend’s family is curating a series of special in-person, virtual and charitable events that will take place in the coming days.

Marley’s 77th Earthstrong ROOTS festivities include a newly curated exhibit at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, dubbed The 7 Roots of Bob Marley’s Livity, which will feature artwork by young, up-and-coming artists. Submissions will be accepted until Friday, February 4.

Also on February 4, The Marley Brothers, a group featuring Bob’s sons Ziggy, Stephen, Damian, Julian and Ky-Mani Marley, will release a new cover of their dad’s song “Cornerstone,” a day before the siblings perform a headlining set at the CaliVibes Festival in Long Beach, California.

The 77th Earthstrong ROOTS festivities will wrap up on Bob’s birthday this Sunday with a limited-capacity concert celebration at Tuff Gong International studio in Kingston, Jamaica that will be streamed live on Marley’s official YouTube channel and the Tuff Gong Television YouTube channel. Also that day, a performance by Stephen Marley from his Lion’s Den Studio in Miami will premiere at Bob’s YouTube channel.

For more information about Bob’s 77th birthday festivities, visit Tuff Gong International’s official Facebook page.

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