Classic Rock 93.9

Some never-before-seen video footage of The Beatles can be yours if you’re willing to dip into your wallet.

An original 8mm reel featuring black-and-white footage of the band is now available through RR Auction. The reel features a little over three minutes of footage taken while the band was shooting their 1965 film Help!

According to Hot Press, the footage was found by Dublin-based illustrator Thomas Emmet Mullins after he set up an eBay alert for “Beatles 8mm.”

When he got his first alert, the listing featured some stills from the video. He says, “[I]t was clear it was unseen footage of what is arguably the most documented band in modern history,” noting he believes it was taken by either a crew member on the film or someone else who had access to the set.

The description of the footage says it was shot near Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in England, which means it was likely shot between May 3, 1965, and May 5, 1965, which is when they were filming in the area.

The clip give fans a peek at John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their “natural jovial state,” and shows them interacting with the cast and crew. At one point you can even see Lennon “clowning around” with the film’s director, Richard Lester.

The 8mm reel is currently part of RR Auction’s Remarkable Rarities auction, with the sale set to run through February 22. It is estimated to sell for over $10,000.

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Metallica is releasing a new action figure modeled after late bassist Cliff Burton.

Created in collaboration with Burton’s family and the toy company Super7, the 3.75-inch scale recreation of the “Orion” rocker is dressed in torn jeans, a black T-shirt and flannel. It’s also accompanied by a mini plastic bass.

Proceeds will benefit Cliff Burton Music Scholarship Fund. You can buy yours now via Metallica.com or Super7.com.

Burton played bass on Metallica’s first three records — 1983’s Kill ‘Em All, 1984’s Ride the Lightning and 1986’s Master of Puppets — before he died in a bus accident in 1986 at age 24. Jason Newsted then became Metallica’s bassist, followed by Robert Trujillo.

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Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar appears in a new episode of the PBS series Finding Your Roots, and in a preview of the episode Sammy discovers that Hagar really isn’t his last name. 

In the clip, the rocker is informed by host Henry Louis Gates Jr. that DNA testing shows he doesn’t match with any men with the last name Hagar.

“Get out of here. This is nutty as anything I’ve ever imagined,” he says in the clip, before being informed that his biological last name is actually Belcher and that he matches with 27 men with that surname. 

“What a trip,” he says.

Sammy’s episode of Finding Your Roots debuts Tuesday, January 23, at 8 p.m.

Sammy Belcher, we mean Hagar, is gearing up to hit the road this summer on his The Best of All Worlds Tour, where he’ll be joined by Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Joe Satriani. The tour kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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We are about to learn a whole lot more about Bon Jovi.

The band’s history is set be revisited in the new docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which has just been acquired by Hulu. 

All past and present members of the band provided their full cooperation for the four-part series, which will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the 40-year history of the New Jersey band and its frontman, Jon Bon Jovi. It will feature personal videos, early unreleased demos, never-before-seen photos and more.

According to the series description, Thank You, Good Night will delve into the band’s “triumphs and setbacks, greatest hits, biggest disappointments and most public moments of friction.”

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, directed by Gotham Chopra, debuts Friday, April 26, on Hulu.

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Jon Bon Jovi is set to be honored next month as the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year, and it looks like the occasion may include a Bon Jovi reunion. 

Showbiz411’s Roger Friedman reports that former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora will be on hand to help Jon celebrate his big night, although there’s no word on whether he’ll be performing.

Sambora left Bon Jovi in 2013. If the MusiCares gala does include a reunion performance it will be their first performance together since 2018, when all of Bon Jovi performed at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year gala is set to take place Friday, February 2, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, two nights before the Grammy Awards. A star-studded lineup of musicians is expected to perform Jon’s songs at the event, but so far there’s been no official announcement regarding the lineup.

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Meat Loaf’s wife and daughter paid tribute to him on Saturday, which was the second anniversary of his death. 

The rocker’s wife, Deborah Aday, took to Facebook to share a tribute to her husband, posting a photo of him and their dog with the note: “Missing my beautiful husband!”

Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday also shared a message for her late father on Instagram, sharing a boomerang of her and her dad. In her note, she wrote, “One second live smile. I love you, Dad. I wish we were allowed more time.”

She added, “We miss you and we love you.”

Meat Loaf, whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday, died January 20, 2022, at the age of 74.

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Rick Wakeman is ready to say goodbye to the road. The legendary Yes keyboardist just announced dates for what he says will be his final solo tour.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is promising fans a brand new show, which will have him performing highlights from his career with Yes and his solo work. He also plans to debut a brand new 30-minute instrumental piece, Yessonata, which turns themes and melodies from Yes’ music into a sonata. 

“I always planned to stop touring by my 77th birthday,” Wakeman, who turns 75 on May 18, shares, “but there is so much to fit in before then that I’m having to make plans now and so my final one-man shows will have to cease by that date.”

He adds, “I have thoroughly enjoyed performing the various one-man shows, but it’s time to call it a day. I intend to throw in the best of what I have done in the past, plus a few new surprises on the way, and possibly even the odd guest joining me on the odd occasion.”

The first leg of the tour is set to kick off March 19 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and wrap March 29 in Albany, New York. Ticket information and a complete list of dates can be found at rwcc.com.

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Eagles are ready to say goodbye to their fans overseas.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers announced they will play a three night residency at Co-Op Live in Manchester, U.K., on May 31, June 1 and June 4. They’ll also play a fourth show on June 13 at Gelredome in Arnhem, Netherlands. All four dates will feature special guest Steely Dan. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. local time. 

The concerts are the Eagles’ first overseas dates since they announced in July this will be their final tour. The last time they were overseas was in June 2022 for a short U.K. tour.

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During a concert in December, Billy Joel teased, “We’ve got a little something we’ve been working on you might hear sometime.” Now, we know what that something is.

Billy will be releasing a new pop single February 1 called “Turn the Lights Back On.” It’ll be available on both digital and limited-edition 7-inch vinyl, and a lyric video will be released. In the song, he sings, “Did I wait too long… to turn the lights back on?”

The song, which Billy co-wrote with three other people, will be his first song with lyrics — sung by Billy himself — since his 2007 single “All My Life.” In 2008, he put out a rock single he wrote called “Christmas In Fallujah,” but it was sung by Cass Dillon.

Billy’s last pop album, River of Dreams, came out more than 30 years ago.

This news comes as Billy prepares to wrap up his 10-year residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He also has quite a few other shows booked for 2024, either solo or with Sting or Stevie Nicks.

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Fresh off the news of their new album, Happiness Bastards, The Black Crowes have revealed they’ll hit the road in support of the record.

The rockers announced dates for the Happiness Bastards Tour, hitting 35 cities in North America and Europe. The trek kicks off April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, and will hit big cities including Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., before wrapping May 7 in Philadelphia.

They’ll then head overseas starting May 14 in Manchester, U.K., and stop in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and more, before ending June 9 with a set at the Stone & Music Festival in Mérida, Spain.

A ticket presale kicks off Tuesday, January 23, with the general onsale set for Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found theblackcrowes.com.

Happiness Bastards. dropping March 15, is The Black Crowes’ 10th studio album and their first album of new music in 15 years. It is available for preorder now.

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