Classic Rock 93.9

While KISS may have said goodbye to the road in 2023, Paul Stanley says it doesn’t necessarily mean we will never see the band play live again.

In a new interview with the Daily Times, Stanley says he’d be open to playing with his bandmates again for some kind of one-off performance.

“Anything’s possible,” he says. “KISS is so far from over, though KISS as we know it is done. But, having our hands and our ideas and our fingers in what KISS continues as makes all the sense in the world.”

He adds, “So, I look forward to whatever comes next without knowing what comes next. But I’m open to it all.”

In the meantime, Stanley is focusing on his art; he’ll be making appearances at Wentworth Gallery locations in Atlantic City and Short Hills,  New Jersey, on Friday and Saturday, respectively. He’s also getting ready to play again with his soul/oldies side project Soul Station. 

“We’re just lining up shows and tours now nationally and internationally,” he says. “It’s financially daunting to take a band of that size out, but selfishly, it’s so rewarding for me because those songs mean so much to me.”

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Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach is getting ready to show off his lack of cooking skills. 

The rocker is one of the celebrities booked for the Food Network competition series Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains, debuting Jan. 5.

“Hey i can make one thing perfectly in a restaurant! That would be a reservation,” Bach shared on Instagram. “i had a hilarious time filming this show and it should be very entertaining to watch!”

The heroes vs. villains labels come from the contestants’ previous reputations during their reality show days, with Bach, who appeared on reality shows like Sing Your Face Off and The Masked Singer, landing in the heroes category. 

Bach and his fellow contestants, including Cheryl Burke, Adam Rippon, Frankie Grande and Tiffany “New York” Pollard, will be mentored this year by chefs Jeff Mauro and Antonia Lofaso, with the two most-improved contestants facing off in the season finale, airing Feb. 2. The winner gets $25,000 for the charity of their choice.

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An animated video for the previously unreleased Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song “Never Be You” has just been released.

The clip, directed and animated by Jeff Scher, features hand-drawn images of Petty and the band, cut with similarly drawn visuals of couples kissing, various women and even an alligator. 

Petty and the Heartbreakers’ version of “Never Be You” appears on the recently released Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) reissue. The song was originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, appearing on her 1985 album, Rhythm & Romance.

Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) was released in October and featured the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, including “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” as well as tracks taken from sessions for French TV. 

Originally released in 1982, Long After Dark featured the Petty classic “You Got Lucky,” along with “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” It was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass and was a top-10 record for the band.

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Former Hole bandmates Courtney Love and Melissa Auf der Maur reunite on the new album from hip-hop artist 070 Shake.

The record, titled Petrichor, includes a cover of Tim Buckley‘s “Song to the Siren,” which features vocals from both Love and Auf der Maur.

Both “Song to the Siren” and Petrichor are out now.

Love and Auf der Maur last performed live together in 2018. While talk of a Hole reunion followed, Love declared in a 2021 interview one would “absolutely not” happen.

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King Crimson songwriter and lyricist Peter Sinfield passed away Thursday at the age of 80. The news was announced on social media by King Crimson founder, and longest lasting member, Robert Fripp.

Sinfield co-founded King Crimson with Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake and Ian McDonald, and came up with the band’s name. He was the principal lyricist for the group, responsible for songs on their first four albums, including their hugely successful debut In The Court of the Crimson King, which featured the song “21st Century Schizoid Man.”

Sinfield left the group in January 1972, following a request from Fripp, who said he could no longer work with him.

In addition to King Crimson, Sinfield wrote for Emerson Lake & Palmer and had songs on four of their albums. He also wrote lyrics for songs recorded by Cher, Celine Dion, Chris Squire and Alan White, Leo Sayer and more, and produced the 1972 self-titled debut of Brian Ferry’s English rock band Roxy Music.

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A court in Switzerland has ruled that a watch Yoko Ono gave John Lennon shortly before his 1980 death does in fact belong to Ono, and not a watch collector who claimed he legitimately purchased the item.

According to Bloomberg, the Patek Philippe watch in question was stolen by Ono’s chauffeur, and the collector purchased it in Germany in 2014. The collector argued the watch was his because of the purchase, but the Swiss Federal Court just ruled the sale wasn’t legitimate because the chauffeur wasn’t the watch’s actual owner. 

According to the ruling, “[T]here was no evidence to show that Yoko Ono intended to donate to the driver something as special as the watch, engraved with an inscription, that she had given to John Lennon two months before his death.”

Rolling Stone reports the watch included the inscription “(Just Like)/Starting Over/Love Yoko/ 10·9·1980/N.Y.C.,” a reference to the song “(Just Like) Starting Over,” from Lennon’s album Double Fantasy, which he was released just a month before his death.

Ono has been battling the collector over the watch for quite some time. According to lawyers, the watch could be worth $4.5 million, but the fact that it was owned by Lennon means it could be worth even more.

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The new 50th anniversary reissue of George Harrison’s solo album Living in the Material World is out now, and to coincide with the release, the legendary rocker’s estate has shared another previously unheard recording.

The latest is an all-star recording of “Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond),” featuring Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, along with Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko from The Band.

“Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)” is available now via digital outlets.

A 7-inch of the song is included in the limited-edition super deluxe edition of the reissue, which also includes two LPs and two CDs, featuring the newly remixed album, plus a separate disc with previously unreleased session outtakes with early editions of each song on the album. There’s also a Blu-ray featuring the album in Dolby Atmos.

In addition to the super deluxe edition, the reissue was released in two-LP and two-CD deluxe editions that include the session outtakes. It was also released as a single CD and LP, with limited-edition color vinyl variants available at various retailers, including a purple color vinyl from the Harrison online store.

Released in May 1973, Living in the Material World, Harrison’s second solo album of original material, was his second solo album to hit #1.

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On This Day, Nov. 15, 1980 …

Blondie landed their fifth U.K. #1 single with “The Tide Is High,” from their fifth studio album, Autoamerican. It would be another18 years before Blondie topped the U.K. chart again, landing at #1 in 1999 with the track “Maria.”

“The Tide Is High” was a cover of a 1967 song originally performed by the Jamaican group The Paragons, with the tune’s songwriter, John Holt, singing lead on the track.

Blondie’s version of “The Tide Is High” also went on to hit #1 in the U.S., becoming their third #1 single. It also topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand.

And Blondie is still making music. Their last studio album, Pollinator, was released in 2017 and in October, Blondie’s Chris Stein revealed on Instagram that a new album is coming next year.

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Ringo Starr is sharing another preview of his upcoming country album, Look Up.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released the new song “Thankful,” featuring Alison Krauss, a tune Starr co-wrote with his producer/engineer Bruce Sugar. It is available now via digital outlets.

“I love this track … I feel we put an LA country sound to it,” Ringo shares. “For the lyrics, I always like to focus on the positive, and for this song in particular, about what we can be thankful for.”

He adds, “I hope it brings you some joy and peace and love.” 

This is the second single Ringo has shared from Look Up, following “Time On My Hands.”

Look Up, produced by T Bone Burnett, will be released Jan. 10 and is available for preorder now. Ringo plans to celebrate the release with two shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, billed as Ringo Starr & Friends. The shows are happening Jan. 14 and Jan. 15.

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Elton John and his pal Brandi Carlile teamed up for a new song for his new documentary, and it has finally arrived.

The song, “Never Too Late,” was written for Elton John: Never Too Late, which captures Elton looking back on his life and career as he prepares for his final North American concert at Dodger Stadium.  The doc gets a limited theatrical release today, Nov. 15, before hitting Disney+ on Dec. 13.

The song’s video shows archival footage, scenes from the documentary of Elton, his sons and his husband David Furnish, and footage of Elton and Brandi working on the song in the studio.

Brandi was inspired to write the song after Elton and David screened an unfinished version of the documentary for her in the summer of 2023.  In a statement, she says, “It was really amazing to see historic footage of Elton and the trajectory of his life. But as fantastic and as beautiful as everything was … his life was also pretty lonely and difficult at times.”

She adds that seeing Elton find “serenity and peace” later in his life made her think about how “it is never too late – too late to find the love of your life, or to start a family, or to change your mind about anything.”

In a statement, Elton says he was “thrilled” when Brandi suggested they co-write a new song for the film. He adds, “She just perfectly captured the essence of the documentary and why I stopped touring to spend more time with my family.”

He adds, “She can channel my voice in a way only Bernie [Taupin] has managed to do before. I know Bernie helped guide Brandi on that. The standard of her musicianship, her songwriting, her passion for what she does are sensational.”

The song is credited to Elton, Bernie, Brandi and producer Andrew Watt.

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