Classic Rock 93.9

Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood and The Police’s Stewart Copeland are among the artists coming together to help raise money for the victims of the Maui wildfires. Both artists are set to take part in #MauiStrong, a live stream event happening Friday, September 8, on YouTube. 

Mick is set to perform alongside Gretchen Rhodes “and friends,” while Copeland will lead a “Drums for Maui” segment, backed by some local musicians from the island. The live stream will be a mix of art, music and storytelling and will also feature LL Cool J, Sarah McLachlan, Ziggy Marley, Lukas Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff and others .

Funds raised will benefit the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund as well as the Recording Academy charity MusicCares. A future soundtrack from the event will also benefit the two organizations.

#MauiStrong will premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Marley’s YouTube channel. Those interested in donating will be able to do so by clicking a button right on the watch page. 

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This fall marks 50 years since David Bowie released his covers compilation, Pin Ups. The anniversary is being celebrated with a vinyl reissue of the album.

Recorded in France and released October 19, 1973, Pin Ups featured Bowie covering tracks from such artists as The Yardbirds, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Who, Pretty Things, The Easybeats and more, all artists who influenced Bowie. The album went to #1 in the U.K. and featured an iconic cover image of Bowie with model Twiggy, a photo that was originally supposed to be used for the cover of Vogue.

The 50th anniversary vinyl will be released on October 20 as a limited edition half-speed mastered LP from restored masters of the original tapes. It is available for preorder now. 

Here is the track list for Pin Ups:

“Rosalyn”
“Here Comes The Night”
“I Wish You Would”
“See Emily Play”
“Everything’s Alright”
“I Can’t Explain”
“Friday On My Mind”
“Sorrow”
“Don’t Bring Me Down”
“Shapes Of Things”
“Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”
“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”

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Joni Mitchell has just treated fans to a never-before-heard song, “Like Veils Said Lorraine,” which will appear on her upcoming box set, Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975).

The song, which was recorded in late 1971/early 1972 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California, is one of several previously unreleased demos featured on the set, which will be released October 6.

In addition to the demos, Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) will also feature performances and early and alternative versions of songs from three of her albums: 1972’s For The Roses, 1974’s Court And Spark and 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

It will be released in a variety of formats, including a five-CD/digital version and a shorter four-LP version, and is available for preorder now.

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Personal items belonging to the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury are currently up for auction at Sotheby’s, and the rocker’s bandmate Brian May doesn’t sound too happy about it.

May revealed his feelings about the auction in a sentimental post on Instagram, next to a picture of Freddie playing guitar.

“Inescapably thinking so much about Freddie in these strange days,” he wrote. “At the time this photo was taken I’m sure it didn’t seem very important to see Freddie’s fingers dancing on my own home-made guitar. Now it summons up waves of affection and great memories. He is so missed.”

May then noted he was about to headline a speaking engagement in front of a group of farmers, adding that at the same time, “Freddie’s most intimate personal effects, and writings that were part of what we shared for so many years, will go under the hammer, to be knocked down to the highest bidder and dispersed forever.”

He added, “I can’t look. To us, his closest friends and family, it’s too sad.”

Day one of the Sotheby’s Freddie Mercury: A World of his Own auction kicked off Wednesday, September 6, bringing in $15.4 million. A second live auction is happening Thursday, September 7, with a third scheduled for Friday, September 8. There are also three online auctions that run until September 13. More info can be found at Sothebys.com.

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Miley Cyrus has opened up on the time she spent with late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins prior to his death in 2022.

In the latest installment of her “Used to Be Young” TikTok series, the pop star shares that she and Hawkins lived in the same neighborhood during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

“We became really close,” Cyrus says. “I would go to his house, he taught me all the Chrissie Hynde songs on the drums. I would go over and play the Pretenders with him every night, he would have me dance around to ‘Brass in Pocket’ with that wireless headset while he would sing along.”

Cyrus also reveals that Hawkins was the first person she called after her plane made an emergency landing when it was hit by lightning on the way to a festival in Paraguay, which Foo Fighters were also supposed to headline.

“Next day or the day after, I woke up to the news that he had passed away,” Cyrus says.

Hawkins died March 25, 2022. On March 26, Cyrus performed a show in Brazil, during which she dedicated her song “Angels Like You” to Hawkins.

“I knew that he, of all people, would want me to still perform through the pain,” Cyrus says.

Cyrus would later perform at Foo Fighters’ Los Angeles tribute concert to Hawkins in September 2022, joining members of Def Leppard to perform their song “Photograph.” Following the show, Cyrus shared a voicemail Hawkins had left her saying that she should cover “Photograph.”

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Foo Fighters are headed back to Austin City Limits.

Dave Grohl and company will perform on the upcoming 49th season of the long-running music performance TV series. Their episode airs on November 18.

The Foos have performed on Austin City Limits twice before. Highlights from those shows were also compiled into an hourlong ACL special, which premiered in 2021 in celebration of the “Everlong” band’s 25th anniversary.

Foo Fighters had also booked an ACL taping for 2022, but it was scrapped due to the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Austin City Limits airs on PBS. Episodes will also be available to stream via PBS.org.

Foo Fighters are set to headline the 2023 Austin City Limits Music Festival, taking place October 6-8 and 13-15.

In other Foos news, the creators of the Foo Fighters pinball game have released a behind-the-scenes video on how the machine came together. You can watch that streaming on YouTube.

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Bob Dylan played his first shows in Japan 45 years ago, and now, those iconic concerts are being celebrated in a new box set. 

Bob Dylan – The Complete Budokan 1978, dropping Friday, November 17, will feature two full shows recorded at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan hall on February 28 and March 1, 1978, all remastered from the original analog tapes. It includes 36 previously unreleased performances, one of which, “The Man in Me,” has just been released, giving fans a preview of the set.

The Complete Budokan 1978 will be released digitally and as four-CD set. There will also be an eight-LP set, available in Japan only, and a two-LP set, Bob Dylan – Another Budokan 1978, with 16 selected tracks. 

The Japan shows were part of the Bob Dylan World Tour 1978, his first international tour since 1966. Dylan played 114 shows on that tour, hitting Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe.

Bob Dylan – The Complete Budokan 1978 is available for preorder now.

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Jimmy Buffett’s daughter Sarah Buffett, who goes by the name Delaney, is remembering her late father, who passed away September 1 after a four-year battle with with Merkel cell skin cancer.

Delaney shared a tribute on Instagram, writing, “I knew my dad my whole life but in his final days, I saw who he was: a man who spirit could not be broken,” adding that even though he was in pain, “he smiled everyday. He was kind when he had every excuse not to be. He told us not to be sad or scared, but to keep the party going.”

As for that party, Delaney says Jimmy “loved his weed and his wine, but the truth is, most of the time, he was high on life, and that is what he wanted for everyone: to enjoy the fantastic trip that life can be.”

“My dad was the joy he sang about. He was the hardest working person I’ve ever seen,” she explained, noting that while fans have thanked her for sharing her father with them, “I know he would have wanted me to thank his fans for sharing their lives with him.”

“We are his family but the stage was his home, and you, his band, and everyone on the road gave him the strength to keep going back,” she writes. “I’ll pass something along my mom said to me, ‘Whenever you feel sad or lost, look for the messages in the music. There are plenty.'”

She concluded with a message to her dad, writing, “You turned nothing into something and gave me everything. I will never be able to repay you or my mom for my beautiful life. I will love you forever, and I will always keep the party going (responsibly, of course).”

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On This Day, September 7, 1951… 

Christine Ellen Hynde, better known as future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, was born in Akron, Ohio.

Hynde formed the Pretenders in March of 1978 alongside James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon and Martin Chambers and released their self-titled debut in 1979. They had their first real hit, “Brass in Pocket,” in 1980, with the track hitting #1 in the U.K and #14 in the U.S.

Others hit singles include “Back on the Chain Gang,” which went to #5 and “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” which hit #10.

Over the years, the band has gone through several lineup changes, with Honeyman-Scott and Farndon passing away in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Hynde has been the only consistent member of the group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

Hynde is both a U.S. and U.K. citizen. She is a vegetarian and a vocal animal rights activist. She’s been married twice, to Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr, father of her daughter Yasmin, from 1984 to 1990, and to Columbian artist Lucho Brieva from 1997 to 2002.

Pretenders are set to release their 12th studio album, Relentless, on September 15.

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Billy Joel is ringing in the New Year close to home. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will headline a special New Year’s Eve concert at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York.

The show will be Joel’s first time playing the arena, which opened in 2021. It is also his first concert on Long Island since ringing in the New Year at Nassau Coliseum in 2018.  

“We are thrilled to welcome Long Island’s own Billy Joel to UBS Arena at Belmont Park,” said UBS Arena President Kim Stone. “To have such an iconic artist as our New Year’s Eve show is an honor. We look forward to ringing in the New Year with him and our guests later this year.” 

A Citi presale kicks off Monday, September 11, at 10 a.m., with the public onsale beginning Friday, September 15 at 10 a.m.

Joel has a long history of celebrating the New Year onstage, including several New Years shows in the New York area. In addition to the 2018 Nassau concert, in 2013, he rang in the New Year at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He also welcomed the new millennium at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2019.

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