Classic Rock 93.9

David Byrne‘s Broadway musical Here Lies Love, which he co-wrote with “Praise You” artist Fatboy Slim, will close November 26 after 33 previews and 150 performances.

In a statement, the producers said, “Succeeding on Broadway means not only producing excellent work with artistic merit — it also means creating the audience for it. And how much time it takes to find and grow new audiences is out of sync with the tight timeframes for audience-building and awareness.” Or, as Variety puts it, the show suffered from “lackluster ticket sales.”

Here Lies Love is a musical about the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines. It features the first all-Filipino acting company on Broadway and broke new ground with its innovative staging. Its theater was completely redesigned to mimic a night club, with the orchestra seats removed to create a dance floor where audience members can stand among the performers.

The show will be filmed for the archives of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and it may mount international productions in Japan and Australia.

Byrne’s previous Broadway musical production, American Utopia — in which he starred and performed — had two separate Broadway runs between 2019 and 2022 and spun off a Spike Lee-directed film.

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Metallica continues to make history with their M72 tour.

The metal legends’ concerts at St. Louis’ The Dome at America’s Center on November 3 and 5 now hold the title for selling the most tickets to an event at the stadium.

“Over 100,000 tickets were sold to our No Repeat Weekend gigs at The Dome, setting the record for most tickets sold for any event since the venue opened in 1995!” Metallica writes in a Facebook post. “Thanks for coming out to see us, St. Louis!”

Notably, The Dome used to be home to the St. Louis Rams football team, which has since relocated to Los Angeles.

Metallica previously broke the single-show attendance record at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium during the M72 tour, which supports the band’s latest album, 72 Seasons.

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Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell broke up more than 50 years ago, but he still remembers her birthday.

On Tuesday, November 7, Joni’s 80th birthday, Nash posted a photo of the legendary singer-songwriter as a young woman on his Instagram Story and wrote, “Happy Birthday, Joan. Wishing you a beautiful day.” Nash and Mitchell dated between 1968 and 1970, and she inspired the CSNY song “Our House.”

In other Graham Nash news, the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will receive the John Lennon Real Love award at the Theatre Within’s 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute concert, scheduled for December 2 in New York City’s Town Hall. Nash will play some of his favorite songs by The Beatles and John Lennon at the event, which will also feature Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, soul singer Bettye LaVette and Judy Collins.

“This is a very special award. I thank Yoko and the Theatre Within for thinking of me,” says Nash in a statement. “Over many years, I watched John and Yoko ‘fight the good fight’ for many whose voices were not being heard, a fight that Yoko continues to this day. I’m proud to be associated with the many fine artists who were previously honored with the John Lennon Real Love Award.”

Proceeds for the show will support Theatre Within’s free workshops, including the John Lennon Real Love Project songwriting program. Tickets are available now at LennonTribute.org.

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Iggy Pop and Garbage‘s Shirley Manson are featured on an upcoming tribute album to Marianne Faithfull.

The compilation is titled The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull and will be released December 8. It includes 25 artists putting their spin on 19 of the English musician’s songs from between 1964 and 2004.

Pop performs the track “Working Class Hero” alongside Cat Power, while Manson takes on “Why D’Ya Do It” with Peaches.

Proceeds from The Faithful will support Marianne, 76, as she continues to battle with long COVID. She was hospitalized with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

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A new book called Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae, in stores November 7, features contributions from Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Lenny Kravitz, Paul Simon, Keith Richards and more.

The book comes from photographer Kate Simon, who met Bob Marley in 1975 and gained unprecedented access to him, his band and his fellow reggae stars. Originally released in 2004 in a sold-out limited edition, this marks the first time Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae has been widely available.

Patti Smith wrote the intro for the book, Kravitz wrote the foreword, and Richards wrote the afterword. Other artists’ contributions come in the form of essays or paragraphs, included alongside the more than 400 photographs Simon took of Marley and his circle.

Kravitz writes that Marley was “raw, powerful, vulnerable” and “a genius without pretense,” while Smith says he “kept his spiritual sense intact, even at the height of public acclaim” and “set an example for the rest of the world.”

Richards adds that Marley “never got over” discovering reggae in Jamaica in 1972, and Bruce writes, “He filled your spirit, made you dance and sharpened your thoughts.” Bob Marley & the Wailers opened for Springsteen in 1973.

Visit MarleyBook.com for more information on the book.

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In between rocking countless arenas with Rush, Geddy Lee amassed what he calls a “wonderful and supremely mammoth collection of baseball memorabilia.” Now, Lee is giving you the chance to own a piece of that collection.

The New York City auction house Christie’s has announced it will be offering historic items owned by Lee, including Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron jerseys and a signed baseball from The Beatles legendary 1965 Shea Stadium concert.

“I admit I’m a crazy person, who’s been obsessed with the acquisition of many, MANY, fascinating things,” Lee says. “Yet, you just can’t have it all!”

“What an effin’ blast it’s been, but I must have had too much stuff because after these selections were sent to Christies my wife stepped into my office and said, ‘Hey! I thought you were selling some of your collection??'” he adds. “Uh, yeah Honey, I am…. Oopsie!”

The auction will be open online from November 21 to December 7, with a live in-person event taking place December 6. For more info, visit Christies.com.

Meanwhile, Lee is set to host a new docuseries premiering December 5 on Paramount+. Are Bass Players Human Too? features Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo, Primus‘ Les Claypool and Hole‘s Melissa Auf der Maur.

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On This Day, November 7, 1987 …

Bruce Springsteen landed at #1 with his eighth studio album, Tunnel of Love, which he recorded without the E Street Band.

The record featured the hits “Brilliant Disguise,” which peaked at #5; the album’s title track, which peaked at #9; and “One Step Up,” which went to #13.

Although he didn’t record the album with the E Street Band, Springsteen did tour with them, launching the Tunnel of Love Express Tour in February 1988.

The album went on to be certified triple Platinum, and the song “Tunnel of Love” earned Springsteen a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

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Bruce Springsteen wasn’t supposed to attend the annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit for the Bob Woodruff Foundation — held November 6 in New York City — but he showed up anyway.

Bruce was originally scheduled to be on the road during the annual event, which raises money for veterans’ causes. But since he postponed those concerts due to a diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease, he was able to make it to the show, along with John Mellencamp, Josh Groban, Jon Stewart, Tracy Morgan and Tom Hanks.

Bruce performed solo songs and duetted with Mellencamp; the two sang “Wasted Days” from Mellencamp’s 2022 album Strictly a One-Eyed Jack. According to the Asbury Park Press, Bruce also sang “The Power of Prayer” from 2020’s Letter to You, Born In the U.S.A. cuts “Working on the Highway” and “Dancing In the Dark,” and debuted his recent release “Addicted to Romance” from the movie She Came to Me.

The Boss also continued his tradition of telling dirty jokes in between his songs.

Mellencamp, who introduced Springsteen as the “big brother” who he’s “looked up to … my whole life,” also performed his hits “Jack & Diane” and “Small Town.”

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Celebrations are in order as legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell turns 80 on November 7.

Born Roberta Joan “Joni” Anderson in Alberta, Canada, Mitchell’s rise to fame began in the ’60s and ’70s with such classic songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Chelsea Morning,” “River” and “Both Sides Now.” She also wrote “Woodstock,” which later became a huge hit for her friends Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Mitchell has released 19 studio albums over the course of her career, but it’s her fourth album, 1971’s Blue, that is considered by many to be one of the best pop and rock albums in history.

Her biggest commercial success came with the 1974 release Court and Spark, which features the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Help Me.”

Turning 80 is a pretty big deal considering in 2015 Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm. She once revealed that she had to learn to walk again following the medical emergency. She made few public appearances after that but hadn’t performed live in 20 years when, in 2022, she surprised audiences at the Newport Folk Festival, joining Brandi Carlile for a guest-filled “Joni Jam.”

Mitchell again returned to the stage in June 2023, headlining a night at Carlile’s Echoes Through the Canyon festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington. The set again featured a “Joni Jam” with guests like Annie Lennox and Sarah McLachlan.

Joni has received several accolades over the course of her career. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2021 and was awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2023.

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The perfect holiday gift for the Bruce Springsteen fan in your life may end up costing you more than a ticket to see one of his shows in 2024.

Photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who dated Bruce in the ’70s, has documented his Darkness on The Edge of Town era in a new book, which is being published this month. Because Goldsmith had inside access to Bruce and the E Street Band, she was able to capture him and the band in intimate moments, as well as moments when they, as Goldsmith writes, “left everything on the stage to create a musical performance that suggested the failures and glories of being human.” 

Springsteen writes in the book’s foreword,  “These photos remain a record of a time when I truly played for my life, night after night.”

The lavish, 364-page hardcover book is a limited edition of only 1,978 copies, each numbered and signed by Goldsmith. You can order it now, but the bad news is that it costs $750.

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