Classic Rock 93.9

SPOILERS) In episode seven of Only Murders in the Building’s fourth season, one of Billy Joel‘s most beloved songs pops up unexpectedly, and the series’ showrunner hopes the Piano Man will enjoy the joke.

In the episode, Oliver, Mabel and Charles — played by Martin Short, Selena Gomez and Steve Martin, respectively — are afraid they’re being pursued by a killer, so they flee Manhattan for suburban Long Island, where Charles’ estranged sister Doreen, played by Melissa McCarthy, lives.

Arriving at the house, they ring the doorbell, only to hear the melody of Billy’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” — specifically, the part of the song that goes “a bottle of red, a bottle of white” — and it becomes a running joke in the episode.

“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” from The Stranger, was never a single, but it’s a fan favorite that Billy frequently plays live. It was deliberately chosen by showrunner John Hoffman, who tells Vulture, “I lovingly poke at Long Island throughout the show, and I hope people enjoy the silliness of it … anyone from … Manhattan, as our trio is, feels that way about Long Island.”

“Billy Joel is universally beloved, in my experience, in Long Island, and it’s sacrilegious to think otherwise,” he adds. 

Hoffman says he considered using the melody of another line from the song — “Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies/ and the king and the queen of the prom” — “but then I realized, ‘Oh no, this is too much.‘”

Hoffman tells Vulture he hopes Billy “won’t be too surprised” by the cameo and will get a kick out of it, adding, “I can only hope there is goodwill coming from the Billy Joel side of things.”

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The new documentary Daytime Revolution is in theaters now, giving fans a look at the surprising week in February 1972 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono produced and co-hosted the popular daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show. 

The film’s director, Erik Nelson, tells ABC Audio the music superstars “in essence hijacked” the show, calling it “an amazing piece of cultural and political history.”

“In my opinion, it represented the high watermark of the entire ’60s, as far as the message of the ’60s, the optimism of the ’60s being injected into mainstream American culture,” he says.

The week of shows featured guests invited by the couple, including activist Ralph Nader, comedian George Carlin, musician Chuck Berry and Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale. The movie features plenty of footage from the actual shows.

The film also gives fans a different look at the couple, who got more comfortable with the show and the format as the week went on. 

“I’ve never seen John Lennon so relaxed, so funny, so articulate,” Nelson says. “It was a great moment where the venue captured the artist at his peak.”

Daytime Revolution hits theaters on what would have been Lennon’s 84th birthday. The director notes that it was also purposefully released ahead of the upcoming presidential election because he feels the message of that week of shows is very relevant to today. 

“If you look at it from an historical perspective, it’s striking,” he says. “This took place in 1972, in the middle of a highly polarized, contentious election year. And in essence, we’re rebroadcasting these shows in the middle of a contentious, polarized election year.” 

He adds, “That conversation between eras was quite intentional on the part of the filmmakers.”

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Graham Nash has set his first shows for 2025.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced dates for the spring leg of his More Evenings of Songs And Stories tour. The leg kicks off with a two-night stand, March 29 and March 30, in Easton, Maryland, and wraps with a two-night stand in San Francisco, April 22 and April 23.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday.

Nash is currently on the fall leg of the tour. He plays Quebec City in Canada on Tuesday. A complete list of dates can be found at grahamnash.com.

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Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello will induct MC5 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The influential proto-punk outfit is included in the 2024 class with the Musical Excellence Award. The honor comes after the 2024 deaths of band members Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson, who were the final surviving members of the classic Kick Out the Jams lineup.

Morello has long spoken of MC5’s influence on him and Rage, and guests on the band’s upcoming album, Heavy Lifting, due out Oct. 18. Following Kramer’s passing in February, Morello wrote, “Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known.”

Morello is also returning to the Rock Hall induction ceremony for the second straight year, following Rage’s induction in 2023. He was notably the only Rage member to attend the event and gave a fiery speech encouraging any fans missing the “Killing in the Name” rockers to start their own band.

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction takes place Oct. 19 in Cleveland and will stream live on Disney+.

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Lenny Kravitz is taking a trip down memory lane on social media, giving fans a tour of some of the places he lived while growing up in New York.

Back in September, Lenny took fans to the apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where he lived with his parents, and now he’s giving folks a tour of Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.

“Here we are in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn on the corner of Troop and Kosciusko,” he says in a new video posted to social media, panning the camera to a home where he says he grew up with his grandparents.

“The house looks nothing like it did,” he says. “This was a single-family house that had a stoop and a little yard back here. It’s a trip to see all the changes.”

At one point the two girls who currently live in the apartment came out on their balcony and invited him up to see the place.

Lenny also gave a little tour of the neighborhood, sharing, “You got a taste of my old block. Bed-Stuy do or die.”

Next up, Kravitz is getting ready to head to Las Vegas. His five-night Blue Electric Light residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM kicks off Oct. 18. A complete list of dates can be found at lennykravitz.com.

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Joni Mitchell is set to headline two nights at the Hollywood Bowl, her first time playing the venue in 24 years, and it sounds like fans are in for some surprises.

The shows, dubbed Joni Mitchell & The Joni Jam, are happening Oct. 18 and Oct. 19, with Brandi Carlile among the artists joining her onstage. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Carlile teased fans with what to expect. 

“The tea I can spill is that I’ve spent these last five, six years in the passenger seat with Joan, and in this case I’m in the backseat,” she says. “She’s chosen to learn songs that I never heard before, that have been an incredible challenge for us all to learn.”

Brandi tells fans who will be attending that they can expect Joni to put on “a long show.” 

“She wants to give everybody a full-spectrum performance of who she really is and what her career has done,” she says, noting the concerts are “gonna be even crazier” than Joni’s previous shows at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 and the Gorge Amphitheatre in 2023.

“I’m seeing her be inspired in ways I haven’t seen before,” Brandi adds. “And we’ve got some people that have joined the party that are just an inspiration to watch work.”

In addition to Brandi, previous Mitchell shows featured such special guests as Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan and Marcus Mumford.

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Personal items belonging to the late Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie are set to go up for auction on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17. To celebrate the event, AXS TV will air a weekend of special Fleetwood Mac programming, including concerts, interviews and previews of the auction items.

The Fleetwood Mac weekend is happening Oct. 12 and Oct. 13. It will include showings of Fleetwood Mac-Live In Boston, recorded during the 2003 Say You Will tour; an episode of Classic Albums dedicated to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours; the documentary Stevie Nicks Wild At Heart; an episode of Rock Legends: Fleetwood Mac; and other concerts.

Plus, on Sunday AXS TV will air the special Property From The Life And Career Of Christine McVie, giving fans a preview of the collection up for grabs. 

The Christine McVie auction will feature over 650 McVie items from her London estate, including instruments, handwritten lyrics, clothing, jewelry and fine art. 

Julien’s Auctions is handling the auction, which will take place live at the Musicians Hall of Fame Museum at The Historic Municipal Auditorium in Nashville and online at www.JuliensAuctions.com.

Proceeds from the sales will be donated to MusiCares and other charities.

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Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett are set to star in a new Audible series that will come with a companion album. 

The True Story of The Coward Brothers, written by Costello and directed by This Is Spinal Tap’s Christopher Guest, is a three-part scripted audio series that tells the satirical story of Henry and Howard Coward, two musical brothers, one English, one American. During the series, the brothers share tales of their career and of being duped by their manager while being interviewed for a radio show, hosted by Sterling Lockhart, voiced by This Is Spinal Tap’s Harry Shearer.

The True Story of The Coward Brothers will debut on Audible Nov. 21, with Costello and Burnett releasing a 20-track companion album, The Coward Brothers, on the same day. It will feature the fictional duo’s forgotten hits, like “Pure Bubblegum,” “Like Licorice” and “World Serious.” The first song from the album, “Always,” is out now via digital outlets.  

The album will be released digitally and on CD, LP and limited-edition licorice red vinyl. There will also be a limited-edition pink bubblegum vinyl released Nov. 15 at Barnes & Noble.

This isn’t the first time the pair has used the name The Coward Brothers. In 1985 they released the tune “The People’s Limousine” under that moniker.

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Two Don Henley solo albums are getting the reissue treatment later this year.

Rhino is set to reissue the Eagles frontman’s 1982 debut solo album, I Can’t Stand Still, and 2015’s Cass County on Nov. 22, with both remastered from the original analog tapes.

Both albums will be available digitally, and on CD and vinyl, while Cass County will also be available as a 16-track deluxe version on CD and double vinyl.

Released in August 1982, I Can’t Stand Still was released while Henley was on hiatus from the Eagles. It featured the hit “Dirty Laundry,” which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Cass County, released in September 2015, is Henley’s most recent solo album and features collaborations with Mick Jagger, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, Alison Krauss and others. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Both are available for preorder now.

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Bruce Springsteen is set to attend two special screenings of his upcoming documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Billboard reports that the film will be part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Screening Series. Two special screenings being held in New York and Los Angeles, both of which will feature a conversation with Springsteen, his manager Jon Landau and the film’s director, Thom Zimny, moderated by RRHOF chairman John Sykes.

The screenings are scheduled for Oct. 15 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Oct. 21 at the David Geffen Theater at the Motion Picture Academy in Los Angeles.

“Bruce Springsteen is one of the great artists and storytellers of our time,” Sykes said in a statement. “With this film, we hear firsthand from Bruce about how music has shaped his life and learn the story behind how his legendary E Street Band continues to redefine the live music experience for over five decades.”

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band debuts Oct. 25 on Hulu and Disney+. Springsteen is also set to sit down for a conversation with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for the primetime special Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets, airing Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming the following day on Hulu and Disney+.

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