Classic Rock 93.9

Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro has teamed with Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood for the new album Blues Experience, and he tells ABC Audio he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to embrace the blues with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

“You know, he’s one of my favorite drummers,” Jake says. “He kind of just pioneered that style,” noting that early Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green was a blues band. He adds, “I mean, who better to kind of explore this genre of music than with him?”

Jake shares that recording the album with Mick “was just a blast,” describing it as “so inspiring to play” with him.

“He’s just got this incredible, like, intensity and you know, he’s so present when he plays,” Jake says. “He’s just always listening and he’s watching you and elevates everyone around him.”

“He just looks at you and somehow, telepathically, you just kind of know what to do,” he adds.

The album features covers of tunes like Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale,” Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” and more. The last song on the album is a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird,” which was recorded as a tribute to its songwriter, the late Christine McVie.

Jake calls their version of the tune “a beautiful tribute” to McVie and says when they were recording it, Mick got lost in the song. 

“At the end, I remember, like, we all kind of faded out and Mick just kept the drums going,” he said. “And then he opened his eyes and he told us that he felt Christine’s presence with us in the studio.”  

Blues Experience will be released Friday. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A classic Buster Keaton movie is getting an update thanks to R.E.M.

The 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr. is being re-released in theaters on Feb. 4, soundtracked by two R.E.M. albums: 1994’s Monster and 1996’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

The screening is part of the Silents Synched series, which pairs classic films with contemporary albums. A previous screening paired Nosferatu with two Radiohead albums.

“Buster Keaton is one of my favorite actor/director/writers in movie history,” R.E.M.’s Peter Buck said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “I’m honored that in some small way R.E.M. is collaborating with him from beyond the grave!”

A trailer for the new version of the film has just been released, featuring clips from the movie soundtracked to the Monster tune “Star 69.”

Fun facts that pop up during the trailer reveal that New Adventures in Hi-Fi is R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe’s favorite R.E.M. album. It also notes that Sherlock Jr., released 100 years ago, is “considered one of the greatest silent comedies” and in 1991 was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A graphic designer from Sunderland, England, has created a very unique portrait of The Beatles.

The BBC reports that Darren Timby has created the portrait of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr using 24,000 screws.

He says the work pays tribute to his hometown, noting, “Ship building and coal mining are all part of our history and the screw art is almost like a nod to where I’m from.” 

Timby spent 120 hours completing the portrait, which is 6 feet wide, 3 feet tall and uses black, silver and gold screws on a white canvas. 

This isn’t the first time Timby has captured iconic figures with his screw art. Previous subjects include Elvis Presley, Oasis‘ Liam and Noel Gallagher, Amy Winehouse and Queen Elizabeth.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sammy Hagar has finally sold his prized 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari.

The rocker was initially planning to sell the car, which originally cost him $1.4 million, at the Barrett-Jackson 2024 Scottsdale Auction back in January, but the auction had to be postponed after it was discovered the car needed a new battery. 

Well, the car finally went on the auction block at Saturday’s Barrett-Jackson Auction, also in Scottsdale, and USA Today reports it sold for $4.25 million. There’s no word on the identity of the new owner.

“Quite honestly, it was exhausting being part of the bidding war,” Hagar told the paper. “I’m thinking the whole time, do I really want to do this? Seller’s remorse and all. When that gavel came down and they said ‘Sold!,’ I wasn’t sure if I was heartbroken or relieved. What an experience.” 

Hagar did get a chance to meet the car’s new owner, and says he and the buyer look at it as though they are “caretakers of something special” who eventually pass it on to someone else.

“So you’re just looking in each case for someone who will preserve and take care of the legacy of a car that has this level of perfection,” he said.

According to Barrett-Jackson, the sale of Hagar’s Ferrari set a new record, noting that before Saturday the highest price paid for a 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari was a little over $3.9 million.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pearl Jam has shared a new video for their song “Dark Matter” in support of SeaLegacy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the ocean.

The clip features various shots of how humans are impacting the ocean — including one that looks very similar to the cover of PJ’s 2020 album, Gigaton — as well as the various creatures that live around and inhabit it.

“We are on the front lines of a new climate era: a world built on stolen lands, waters, and futures,” the video’s description reads. “Without our voices for the oceans and the Earth, our fellow species will vanish in silence.  Change begins with awareness and the courage to act.”

You can watch it now on YouTube.

“Dark Matter” is the title track off Pearl Jam’s latest album, which was released in April.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen recently revealed that he’s often mistaken for being Jewish.

According to People, Springsteen made the comments during an appearance at the USC Shoah Foundation 30th Anniversary Ambassadors for Humanity gala on Sunday, where he performed two songs: “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Dancing in the Dark.”

“I actually was Bruce Springstein for the first year or two of my career,” he said. “Everywhere I went — I pull up to the club. ‘Welcome Bruce Springstein.’”

He added, “This happened as late as a month ago. I’m not joking.”

The Shoah Foundation, which was founded by director Steven Spielberg, collects and preserves testimonials of Holocaust survivors, and Springsteen sees similarities in what they do and his job as a songwriter.

“The work of collecting the personal testimony and the voices of those who’ve witnessed history has just something in common with the work that songwriters, filmmakers, all artists do to understand and to create our real and imagined worlds,” he said. “We follow the ghosts of history. We listen for the voices of the past to take us into the future, and we lean into their stories and we listen to them.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Joel‘s Long Island mansion, nicknamed MiddleSea, is on the market for just under $50 million. But one reason why the Piano Man says he’s unloading the 26-acre property is because he feels the real estate taxes are just too high.

While Billy is a millionaire many, many times over, he tells the New York Times that the yearly tax bill — $567,686 — is too much for him to swallow. “It’s not cheap, let’s put it that way,” he said. “As successful, I’ve been financially, yeah, that’s, you know, that’s a lot.”

The other reason Billy is selling is because he’s decided to move his home base to Florida, where his daughters, 7 and 9, are now enrolled in school — which means, Billy says, he’s “kind of locked in.”

But Billy can’t help but marvel at the fact that he ever bought MiddleSea in the first place. That’s because as a teenager, Billy had a job dredging oysters on the Long Island Sound. While out on the water, he used to see a huge brick mansion and think to himself, “Rich b*******. I’ll never live in a house like that.”

And then, in 2002, he bought it.

“The word that applies is ‘absurd,’” Billy tells the Times. “I grew up in a quarter-acre lot house in Hicksville [on Long Island]. And I would ride my bicycle up here and take a bike ride and look at all the rich people and cuss them out.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Neil Young is the latest artist to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election.

In a post to his Neil Young Archives site, with the headline “Why I Love Kamala Harris,” Young writes, “Kamala Harris — She is an honest forthright truth teller who is experienced in the White House, free from ambiguity or evasiveness, who goes straight to the point.” 

He adds, “Clear headed, young enough to hold the office for a couple of bright future terms, Kamala Harris is a good person who is unafraid to take on criminals and uphold the law of the USA. She’s my candidate for the future of this country.”

Young, a Canadian who became a naturalized American citizen in 2020, added that she “will take on the billionaire class and make them pay their fair share of taxes,” noting, “She will not owe them favors. She is a kind, considerate American.”

He concluded the post with, “Cast your vote for a beautiful future for your family. Kamala Harris for President.”

Young’s support for Harris shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The rocker has been very vocal about his feelings toward Donald Trump and has threatened to sue him over the use of his songs, like “Rockin’ In The Free World,” at rallies.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Oct. 14, 2007 …

The Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers documentary, Running Down A Dream, debuted at the New York Film Festival.

The four-hour documentary, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, gave insight into the history of the band from its early days as Mudcrutch, to its 30th anniversary concert at the University of Gainesville in Petty’s Florida hometown. It also touched upon Petty’s solo career and his work with the Traveling Wilburys.

The film featured archival footage, as well as interviews with fellow musicians such as George Harrison, Stevie Nicks, Jeff Lynne, Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.

The doc was originally released as a four-disc box set that included not only the movie, but a disc featuring the 30th anniversary concert and a disc of rare tracks.

The movie won a Grammy for Best Music Film.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Zakk Wylde has dropped off the final dates on the Experience Hendrix tour due to his upcoming performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in honor of Ozzy Osbourne.

A post to the Black Label Society frontman’s Instagram reads, “We apologize to fans for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding as Zakk takes part in this momentous occasion.” 

The affected dates run from Tuesday in Nashville to Saturday in St. Augustine, Florida. The shows, which pay tribute to the music of Jimi Hendrix, will go on as scheduled with artists including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Taj Mahal, Eric Johnson, Dweezil Zappa and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Saturday in Cleveland and will stream live on Disney+. Also taking part in the Ozzy performance will be Tool‘s Maynard James Keenan, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo, Wolfgang Van Halen, producer Andrew Watt, Billy Idol and Steve Stevens.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.