Classic Rock 93.9

Richie Sambora and Chicago are among the artists taking part in the 2023 ASCAP Foundation Holiday Auction. 

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Sambora has donated a signed Fender guitar to the auction, while Chicago is offering up four VIP tickets to their 2024 tour, including a meet and greet with the band. 

Also up for auction is a guitar from the 2004 ASCAP Pop Music Awards signed by Jackson Browne, Metallica, Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell and others; posters signed by Tenacious D and Papa Roach; and a custom song written by Songwriter Hall of Fame members Desmond Child (“Livin’ on a Prayer”) and Paul Williams (“Rainbow Connection”).

The auction is open now through December 14. Proceeds will benefit the ASCAP Foundation, which is “dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs.” 

For more info, visit ASCAPFoundation.org/auction23.

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Music fans who didn’t snag tickets to Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jam will still be able to enjoy the show.  

The concert, with a lineup that features Haynes’ band Gov’t Mule, ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons, Slash & Myles Kennedy, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Clutch and more, will be livestreamed on volume.com.

The 32nd annual Christmas Jam is happening Saturday, December 9, in Haynes’ hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Asheville Habitat for Humanity and BeLoved Asheville.

Haynes is also celebrating Christmas Jam this year with the December 8 release of The Benefit Concert Volume 20. Recorded live during 2018’s 30th annual Christmas Jam, it features performances by Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl, Gov’t Mule, Joe Bonamassa, Jim James, Grace Potter and others. It is available for preorder now.

And fans are about to get a preview of the album. Haynes is set to release a video of Grohl’s performance of “Play” on Friday, December 1, at 10 a.m. ET.

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Mick Fleetwood is paying tribute to his late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie to mark the one-year anniversary of her passing.

Sharing a picture of him and Christine on Instagram, Mick writes, “Dear Chris, a year ago today you flew away, and memories come flooding back[.] Too many to mention! I miss you .. Fleetwood Mac misses you… along with so many that loved your music. Always love, Mick Fleetwood.”

Mick also shared a video of his Grammy tribute to Christine, where he performed with Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow, writing, “Honoring our beautiful Christine today and every day.” Plus he posted a photo of the cover of the instrumental version of Christine’s “Songbird,” which he recorded with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, commenting, “We miss our songbird[.] We miss you Christine.” 

McVie passed away November 30, 2022, following a short illness. She was 79.

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Following U2‘s opening residency, Phish will be the next band to take over the Las Vegas Sphere.

The jam band will play four shows at the immersive venue, which boasts a 160,000 square foot LED display, taking place April 18-21. Each performance will feature completely different set lists and visuals.

“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” says frontman Trey Anastasio. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”

You can request tickets now through Monday, December 11, at noon ET via Tickets.Phish.com. Remaining tickets will go on sale Friday, December 15.

U2 launched their Sphere residency in September. They currently have dates scheduled into February.

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On This Day, November 30, 2003… 

New York City officially renamed a street on the Lower East Side Joey Ramone Place after the late Ramones frontman Joey Ramone, who passed away April 15, 2001.

The street sign was unveiled on a portion of East 2nd Street, near the punk rock club CBGB, where the band played their early gigs. It was also near an apartment where Joey once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone.

In 2010, New York reported that Joey Ramone Place was the most stolen street sign in the city, forcing the Department of Transportation to reinstall the sign 20 feet above street level.

Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman in Queens, New York, Ramone co-founded The Ramones in 1974 with friends John Cummings, a.k.a. Johnny Ramone, and Douglas Colvin, a.k.a. Dee Dee Ramone. Considered by many to be one of the most influential punk rock bands of all time, the band was known for such hits as “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Rockaway Beach,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” and more.

The Ramones were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

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The Rolling Stones are giving fans another way to enjoy Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new material in 18 years.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced they’ll be releasing Hackney Diamonds (Live Edition), featuring the original album, along with recordings of the seven songs they performed at the surprise record release concert they held at the intimate New York City venue Racket on Thursday, October 19.

The show featured the debut performance of four Hackney Diamonds tracks: “Angry,” “Whole Wide World, “Bite My Head Off” and “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” which featured a surprise appearance by Lady Gaga. The show also featured performances of Stones classics “Shattered,” “Tumbling Dice” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Hackney Diamonds (Live Edition) will be released January 19, as a double CD set. It is available for preorder now.

The live performances are just a taste of what fans can expect when The Rolling Stones head out next year on their Hackney Diamonds tour. The trek kicks off April 28, in Houston, Texas, and wraps July 17, in Santa Clara, California. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 1. A complete list of dates can be found at therollingstones.com.

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The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke shared on social media Thursday. He was 65. 

No cause of death was given, but in late 2022, the singer spent months in a Dublin hospital viral fighting encephalitis.

MacGowan’s life, and his music, were famously intertwined with his hard partying ways.

“[T]he love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese,” Clarke began her post. 

“I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures,” she continued. 

Calling MacGowan the “love of my life,” Clarke also expressed, “There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.”

Drinking problems led to MacGowan leaving the beloved band he founded in 1982 — as Pogue Mahone, a rude Irish slang phrase — in 1991.

The Celtic punk legend’s famous holiday song, with the late Kirsty MacColl, “Fairytale of New York,” came to a new generation last year, thanks to its addition to James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special soundtrack. 

The 1987 hit was also covered by Bon Jovi in 2020, and most recently, Travis Kelce teamed up with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, to record a hit cover called “Fairytale of Philadelphia.”

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Elton John told U.K. politicians that the country could be the “first country in the world to defeat” AIDS, in a speech to Parliament on November 29.

Elton was honored at a reception hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS for his work with his Elton John AIDS Foundation.  According to the Evening Standard, during the event, he said the government’s fight against AIDS should have three goals: widespread HIV testing, wider access to to PrEP, which is, he says, the “proven safe and effective pill to prevent HIV infection,” and identifying thousands of people with HIV who aren’t in treatment.

He said, “If we do these three things in the U.K. … we can be the first country to end new cases of HIV.”

“I implore you not to waste your allotted time as political leaders,” said Sir Elton. “Take action and push things a little further than might feel comfortable. And as you do, I can promise you this: I will be there with you … [g]iving everything I can for the rest of my life to ending HIV and AIDS.”

“We can be the first country in the world to defeat this awful virus,” he added.

Recalling his own experience, Elton said, “In the 1990s, I visited far too many homes where people were dying of AIDS. I remember the helpless, suffocating feeling as one after another they succumbed, not knowing if it would ever end. These memories are etched on my soul, and they taught me a lot.”

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You’d think that working for your dad you’d have job security, but that wasn’t the case for Harry Waters, son of Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters.

Harry tells Rolling Stone that despite playing keyboard and organ for his father for 14 years, he was let go when Roger began work on his 2017 US + Them tour.  

“I think he just wanted a change of blood, something new, something fresh,” Harry says, calling it “pretty miserable.” “I’m not sure of his exact reasoning, but everyone except two people [keyboardist Jon Carin and guitarist Dave Kilminster] got fired. But the other guys that got the sack weren’t his son, so it was doubly hurtful for me.” 

But Harry is still on good terms with his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame father and defends Roger against the criticism he’s received for his political views, along with accusations he’s antisemitic. 

“It’s just not true at all that he’s an antisemite,” he says.

Roger has also been criticized for some parts of his concerts, specifically where he dresses in what appears to be an SS officer uniform and flies an inflatable pig with a Star of David on it.

“He’s been doing that for 40 years. It’s satire,” Harry says. “He’s bringing to light all the evils of the world. But people confuse that and think he’s an antisemite, which is really stupid.”

As for whether he’ll ever work with his dad again, Harry shares,  “I don’t imagine it’ll happen again, but maybe. We’ll see.” 

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Over 15 years after its original release, the Foo Fighters song “Statues” has finally gotten its live debut.

Dave Grohl and company played the track, which appears on the 2007 Foos album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, for the first time in concert during their Australia tour kickoff in Perth on Wednesday, November 29.

You may recall that Grohl performed a rendition of “Statues” alongside Norah Jones on an episode of her podcast, Norah Jones Is Playing Along, which premiered in October.

According to Setlist.fm, the Perth show also included another Echoes deep cut, “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners,” and a cover of AC/DC‘s “Big Balls” sung by Foo Fighters’ drum tech.

Foo Fighters will continue to tour Australia into mid-December, followed by a trip to New Zealand in January. They’ll launch a U.S. stadium tour in July.

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