Classic Rock 93.9

February marks the 60th anniversary of The Beatles touching down in America, and the anniversary is being celebrated with a unique collectable Beatles fans will want to get their hands on.

Crosley Radio has teamed up with Apple Corps Ltd. and Bravado to release a limited-edition 1964 Beatles Mini Three Inch Turntable, which is a fully functional piece of audio equipment. Crosley, a founding sponsor of Record Store Day, will release the mini turntable in stores for the upcoming Record Store Day on April 20.

The mini turntable has regular turntable features like a headphone jack, adjustable pitch control and more, and also gives music fans the ability to stream vinyl using external speakers with a Bluetooth transmitter. It also comes with four 3-inch Beatles releases, featuring the songs the band played on The Ed Sullivan Show, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Till There Was You,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and “She Loves You.”

The four songs will also be available separately in a limited release vinyl pressing in the 3-inch format.

“Crosley is so proud to be a founding sponsor of Record Store Day and a supporter of independent record stores,” said Crosley President Keith Starr. “We love to create unique products that can make each year something special for music fans, and we are more than excited to finally share the 1964 Beatles Mini Record Player with everyone.”

Participating Record Store Day locations can be found at recordstoreday.com.

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Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton, Oasis and the late Sinéad O’Connor are among the nominees to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.

Also on the ballot are Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Jane’s Addiction, Lenny Kravitz, Cher, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Sade, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & the Gang and Eric B. & Rakim.

Of the 15 nominees, 10 are being nominated for the first time: Osbourne, Frampton, Oasis, O’Connor, Foreigner, Cher, Carey, Kravitz, Sade and Kool & the Gang. Ozzy was previously inducted as a member of Black Sabbath, but is being nominated now as a solo artist.

“This remarkable list of nominees reflects the diverse artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors and celebrates,” says John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “Continuing in the true spirit of Rock & Roll, these artists have created their own sounds that have impacted generations and influenced countless others that have followed in their footsteps.”

Inductees will be announced in April, and the 2024 induction ceremony will take place in Cleveland in the fall. As with the 2023 ceremony, the 2024 festivities will stream live on Disney+. An ABC special will air at a later date.

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Phil Lesh has announced his birthday plans. The Grateful Dead founding member is set to headline The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, this March to celebrate turning 84.

“Surprise! I’m psyched to continue the tradition of celebrating my birthday at The Cap!” he shares. “I hope you can all help me celebrate my 84th at my home on the east coast with old friends and more to be announced.”

Lesh, who turns 84 on March 15, will play six nights at The Capitol Theatre: March 4-6 with The Q, made up of Lesh, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Widespread Panic’s Jimmy Herring, Dark Star Orchestra’s Rob Barraco and drummer John Molo; and March 13, 15 and 16, billed as Phil Lesh & Friends, although he has yet to reveal who those “friends” are. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Tuesday, February 13.  

Lesh has a long history with The Capitol Theatre. In fact, last March he celebrated his 83 birthday at The Cap with his 100th show there.

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Ozzy Osbourne is distancing himself from Kanye West. The rock superstar took to social media to let fans know that he is not OK with Kanye’s use of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” at the listening party held for Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign‘s Vultures album in Chicago on February 8.

“@kanyewest ASKED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE A SECTION OF A 1983 LIVE PERFORMANCE OF ‘WAR PIG’ FROM THE US FESTIVAL WITHOUT VOCALS & WAS REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY,” Osbourne wrote.

Ozzy says Kanye still used the sample despite not getting permission — and he is not happy about it. 

Ozzy writes, “I WANT NO ASSOCIATION WITH THIS MAN!”

Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign are due to hold another Vultures listening party on Friday, February 9, at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York. So far there’s no word on whether Kanye plans to use the sample.

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Is David Lee Roth a Swfitie? There’s no way to know for sure, but the former Van Halen frontman has apparently felt inspired by Taylor Swift‘s song “Lavender Haze” and has shared his take on the track.

The rocker posted a video, titled “Lavender Forgiveness,” which has him dancing to the the Midnights song while rapping his own lyrics over the track.

“I took a long trip south on that that whiskey train. I took Jesus Christ’s name in vain. I blew a fortune on cocaine and I caused my own family heartbreak and shame,” he raps, adding the chant “found forgiveness” throughout the song.

Apparently Roth is hoping to grab some attention from big-name stars. Not only did he add a Swift hashtag to his Instagram post, he also tags Foo Fighters, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, Queens of the Stone Age, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and more.

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A new trailer has been released for the documentary Kiss the Future, which features Irish rockers U2. 

The film, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony, follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996, and shows how they used music and art to affect change. Their commitment prompted an aid worker to reach out to U2, and the doc includes footage of the band’s memorable 1997 concert at Koševo Stadium celebrating the country’s liberation.

The film features interviews with U2’s Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton, as well as former President Bill Clinton, journalist Christiane Amanpour and others.

“Poets, writers, filmmakers musicians can inspire people to find the strength and courage to resist,” The Edge says in the trailer, which features the band’s song “One.” Bono adds, “Somebody said courage is grace under pressure, that’s a good definition of the people of Sarajevo.”

Kiss The Future is set to open exclusively in AMC theaters in the U.S. starting February 23. AMC will also host an early screening of the film on February 21, which will include a a prerecorded conversation with The Edge and Clayton. Tickets are on sale now at amctheatres.com.

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Bon Jovi is giving fans a first look at their upcoming Hulu docuseries, Thank You Good Night – The Bon Jovi Story.

The New Jersey rockers shared a short 30-second teaser of the four-part series, featuring archival photos and video of the band throughout their career.

At one point in the clip, alongside footage of an annoyed Richie Sambora and an image of an article about Richie leaving the band, keyboardist Dave Bryan is heard saying, “Every night was a war.” There’s also video of Jon Bon Jovi in a hospital bed holding a sign that reads, “I’m Good.” Then, Jon is heard saying, “It almost killed us”; there’s no context regarding what exactly he’s talking about. 

The clip ends with Jon looking right at the camera and sharing, “I got a story to tell” as their hit “Livin’ On A Prayer” begins to play.

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, directed by Gotham Chopra, debuts Friday, April 26, on Hulu. It will have its premiere at South by Southwest on March 14.

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It’s been a while since the members of R.E.M. have been out together publicly, but that all changed on Thursday, February 8.

Photos and videos posted to social media show Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck at the 40 Watt Club in their home city of Athens, Georgia, where they made a surprise appearance at a concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s debut album, Murmur.

The show was part of actor Michael Shannon and musician Jason Narducy‘s tour, in which they play Murmur in full along with other R.E.M. tracks. According to Stereogum, Buck, Berry and Mills joined Shannon and Narducy for various songs.

Stipe didn’t perform, but he did come out onstage to address the crowd. “Speaking on behalf of Bill and Mike and Peter, we are so f***** thrilled to be here tonight,” he said, prompting cheers from the crowd. 

This isn’t the first time members of R.E.M. turned up at the 40 Watt Club for a celebration of one of their albums. In 2022, Mills and Buck were surprise guests at a concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s debut EP, Chronic Town.

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Go get your flannel: Pearl Jam season is upon us.

In an Instagram post on Friday, February 9, the grunge rockers shared a video compiling various fan inquiries about new music on social media. In the caption, PJ posts an emoji with word “soon” and an arrow.

Pearl Jam’s most recent album is 2020’s Gigaton. In 2022, they revealed they’d started working on a follow-up with producer Andrew Watt, who previously collaborated with Eddie Vedder on his 2022 solo effort, Earthling.

According to Spin, Pearl Jam previewed the upcoming record during a Los Angeles listening party in January.

“I think this is our best work,” Vedder reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Pearl Jam is also set to return to the road in 2024. So far, the only U.S. date scheduled is a headlining set at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival in May.

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Queen is wrapping up the second season of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live, with a montage of footage from the band’s legendary career.

Queen launched the series back in 2021, and for this season’s 50th episode, the 100th overall, they are sharing a five-minute video highlighting 100 memorable images and moments, set to their track “One Vision.”

The video features lots of performance footage of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, including clips from the Rainbow Theatre in 1974 and 1985’s Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. There’s also a helicopter view of Knebworth Park in 1986, which was Mercury’s last live show, as well as lesser known moments, like the band enjoying tea on their first trip to Japan in 1975 and Freddie on the shoulders of Superman.

The montage also includes some post-Freddie highlights featuring Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert, and ends with footage of Freddie wearing his infamous red crown and cloak. 

But this isn’t where things end for Queen. It sounds like fans have a lot to look forward to in the year to come, as the band has promised “big plans afoot for 2024 and beyond.”

Queen is currently on a tour of Japan. They play Sapporo on Saturday, February 10. A complete list of dates can be found at queenonline.com.

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