Classic Rock 93.9

Legendary musician Randy Bachman, founder of such bands as The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, is auctioning off over 200 guitars from his personal collection via juliensauctions.com. He decided to do so after dealing with some serious health issues.

Bachman tells ABC Audio that he had “four or five health challenges in a row,” including Covid and four different cancers, and he says surviving them “made me look at my fragility.”

He decided to ask his eight kids if they’d want his guitars when he was gone, and they all said they’d rather have money, and knowing he’d get more for them alive than they would get for them after he was gone, Bachman decided to sell.

And the lot of guitars available is certainly impressive, including his ’59 Les Paul, which hasn’t been played since 1970.

“The last thing I played it on was ‘American Woman,’” he says, referring to The Guess Who classic, which spent three weeks at #1.

“These all played on number one records and albums. So I want to make a big deal out of it,” he says of the guitars up for auction. “I want them all to get a good home.” 

Of course, it won’t be easy to say goodbye to his instruments. When asked which guitar will be the hardest to say goodbye to, Bachman joked, “every single one.” 

Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction of The Randy Bachman Collection is happening Thursday, May 30, live at the Hard Rock Café in New York. More info can be found at juliensauctions.com.

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Looks like Stevie Nicks may have gotten a special delivery from Taylor Swift.

When Taylor’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released in April, she sent packages of merchandise to select people, including Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Simu Liu, Ellen Pompeo and Sarah Michelle Gellar. While there’s no photographic evidence that Stevie received one, she was seen onstage wearing one of the items Taylor sent to her fellow stars.

As Page Six reports, at the BottleRock Napa music festival on May 25 — one day before her birthday — Stevie took the stage wearing stacks of bracelets, one of which was a gold nameplate bracelet that says “TTPD” on it. 

Stevie deserved a package more than most of those celebrities: She’s actually mentioned in the lyrics of one of the songs on the album, “Clara Bow.” Taylor sings, “You look like Stevie Nicks in ‘75/ the hair and lips/ crowd goes wild at her fingertips/ half moonshine, a full eclipse.” She also wrote an original poem that’s included in the album.

Stevie and Taylor have known each other for years. They sang together at the Grammy Awards in 2010, and Stevie referred to Taylor as “my friend” in an interview last year. Stevie also thanked Taylor for writing the Midnights song “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” which Stevie said helped her grieve the 2022 death of her Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie.

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The Rock for Ronnie tribute concert, held in honor of the late Ronnie James Dio, raised $80,000 for the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.

The event took place May 19 in Woodland Hills, California, and featured performances by Quiet Riot and Lita Ford, among others. A guitar Ford played and signed, featuring a light-up Dio logo, was auctioned for $11,500, while a Quiet Riot-autographed guitar went for $7,000.

The Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund was founded in honor of Dio, who passed away in 2010 from stomach cancer. He was 67.

Along with Rock for Ronnie, the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund also hosts the Bowl for Ronnie charity bowling tournament.

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Jon Bon Jovi wants fans to know that despite what Richie Sambora says, the guitarist hasn’t made any “great overtures” about rejoining Bon Jovi.

Since Sambora left Bon Jovi in 2013, he’s hinted several times that he might reunite with the band, most recently in November 2023. But according to Jon, if Sambora is interested in doing so, he hasn’t made it very clear. In fact, according to Jon, the two have had very limited contact since 2013.

“I’ve talked to him twice,” Jon tells Classic Rock magazine. “He. Quit. The. Band. I swear to Christ there was never a fight, nothing … He wasn’t kicked out, he quit. And he hasn’t made any great overtures about coming back.”  

Jon also tells the magazine the exact circumstances under which Richie departed the band right before a show in Calgary.

“I talked to him the day before, I remember it so well. It was Easter Sunday, 2013 … [I was in New York] and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m feeling great … see you up there [in Canada].’”

“He said: ‘Can I stay home one more day?’ ‘Of course. You want to fly private tomorrow? Sure. Do it. I don’t care. See you up there,’”  Jon continues. “And then the next day the phone rings at three in the afternoon, and, you know… ‘I can’t go on.’”

Since then, Sambora has claimed that one reason he wanted to leave was that the band was getting “stale,” which Jon refutes.

“I didn’t think so, and the collective, we didn’t think so,” he tells Classic Rock. “I personally thought that everything was going incredibly … And it was never brought up in the room, or in the writing, or in the recording, or during the first 20 shows of that tour.”

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Dead & Company‘s Las Vegas residency is very much alive.

The band has just announced six additional shows for their Dead Forever – Live at Sphere residency, beginning August 1. That brings the total number of shows at the Sphere to 30, for now.

You can register for the presale at Dead & Company’s website. The presale itself starts Thursday at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT via deadandcompany.com. Tickets start at $145, including taxes and fees.

You can also access VIP concert and hotel packages for the dates at deadforever.vibee.com.

The band’s residency launched on May 16.

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A painting that Bob Dylan created while living in Woodstock, New York, in the ’60s has brought nearly $200,000 at an auction held one day before his 83rd birthday.

At the May 23 sale, held by RR Auctions, the colorful abstract painting — featuring the outline of a bull’s head and an image of a red man in a wide-brimmed hat — went for $196,156. It had been anticipated to sell for $100,000.

Dylan originally gave the painting to a Woodstock woman named Sandy LePanto in exchange for LePanto creating an astrology chart for him. The painting was rediscovered as part of LePanto’s ex-husband’s estate. 

Another notable item sold at the auction was a rare recording of Jimi Hendrix performing with Little Richard at a concert in Boston in 1965. That went for $51,644.

The next Bob Dylan auction item to keep an eye on is the ’65 Fender Telecaster he played on Blonde on Blonde and on his 1966 tour with The Band, then known as The Hawks. On each night of that tour, Dylan was booed by audiences who were upset that he’d “gone electric.” The Band’s Robbie Robertson later used the guitar at various live gigs, on The Band’s albums Music From Big Pink and Stage Fright, and on sessions for artists like Joni Mitchell and Ringo Starr.

The guitar will be auctioned off May 29 by Julien’s Auctions and is expected to bring up to $700,000.

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Metallica‘s longest song has made its live debut.

The “Enter Sandman” metallers played the 11-minute “Inamorata” for the first time during their concert in Munich, Germany, on Sunday.

“Inamorata” is the closing song off Metallica’s latest album, 2023’s 72 Seasons.

Metallica played two nights in Munich to kick off the 2024 European leg of their M72 tour. For each headlining stop on the tour, Metallica is playing two nights with completely different set lists.

The M72 tour will return to the U.S. in August.

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If you Google “Peter Frampton,” it’s likely you’ll find a photo of him playing a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Which is why it’s fitting that the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee will receive the annual Spirit Award from the Les Paul Foundation.

The Spirit Award is given to people who “exemplify the spirit of the late great [guitar pioneer] Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music.” Frampton will receive the honor June 9, which would have been Les Paul’s 109th birthday, at Gibson Garage Nashville. A grant from the foundation will also be made to the charity of Frampton’s choice in his name.

“I cannot think of anyone more fitting to be honored with this year’s Les Paul Spirit Award than Peter Frampton,” said Michael Braunstein, executive director of The Les Paul Foundation, in a statement. “Not only is he an extraordinary talent who has given us an amazing array of extraordinary music, but he is an innovator who understands music, technologies, and the spirit of Les Paul. … If Les were still alive today, I have absolutely no doubt that he and Peter would be experimenting together at Les’ house.”

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After announcing the postponement of four European concerts due to vocal issues, Bruce Springsteen has now taken to Instagram to address fans directly.

“Hey, it’s Bruce Springsteen. I’m in Marseille. Unfortunately, I could not sing for you,” says Bruce in his video message. “But we will be back — to Marseille, to Prague and to Milan — to give you the show of your life. That, I promise you.”

“In the meantime, I’d like to thank our Irish fans, our British fans, our fans in Wales for giving us a series of shows that [were] deeply memorable and we just had great times,” he continues. “We’ll be back, comin’ back to Madrid and Barcelona, where we plan to rock you into the ground. Alright, be seeing you soon. Bye bye.”

The message is followed by a video montage of Bruce & The E Street Band‘s U.K. shows.

Bruce and the band will resume their tour June 12 in Madrid.

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On This Day, May 28, 1945 …

Legendary rocker John Fogerty was born in Berkley, California.

Fogerty rose to fame as the lead singer, lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, which he co-founded in 1968 with his brother Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook.

The band had nine top-10 singles, including such classics as “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Green River,” “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and “Down on The Corner.” Eight of their albums have been certified Gold. 

CCR broke up in 1972 and Fogerty launched a successful solo career. His 1985 solo album, Centerfield, gave him his first and only solo top-10 single, “The Old Man Down The Road.” Fogerty was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In January 2023, after a 50-year battle with his former record label, Fogerty regained control of the worldwide publishing rights to his music with Creedence Clearwater Revival, which encompassed more than 65 songs.

Fogerty will be hitting the road this summer, with his tour kicking off June 2 in Simpsonville, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at johnforgerty.com.

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