Classic Rock 93.9

A previously unreleased concert from the Grateful Dead is coming out on CD later this month, featuring liner notes by a famous celebrity Deadhead.

Dave’s Picks Volume 48 will feature the band’s complete November 20, 1971, concert from UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, with Basketball Hall of Famer Bill “Grateful Red” Walton, who attended the show, sharing his memories in the notes.

“Basketball and music have always been alike for me, the celebration of life and all other good things,” Walton, who played for the UCLA Bruins, shares. “UCLA and the Grateful Dead embody the highest levels of this celebratory joy. At UCLA, it was endless fun, every day, in every way. We couldn’t wait to get there, to get going — though it was never as much fun as when the Grateful Dead came to play with and for us.”

Chosen by Dead archivist David Lemieu, the two-CD concert features performances of such Dead classics as “Casey Jones,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Bertha,” “Ramble On Rose,” an over 23-minute jam on “The Other One” and more.

The set also comes with a third CD featuring a concert from October 24, 1970, at Keil Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri, with performances of such songs as “Not Fade Away,” “Good Lovin,’” “Dancing In The Street” and others. 

Only 25,000 numbered copies of Dave’s Picks Volume 48 are being produced. They are available for preorder now and will ship October 27. 

In other Grateful Dead news … fans can now get their hands on the first-ever Grateful Dead vape pen from Grenco Science. The Grateful Dead x G Pen Dash is covered in the band’s colors and features their signature imagery, including the Grateful Dead skeleton. It’s available at gpen.com.

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Foo Fighters are headed back to Saturday Night Live.

The “Everlong” rockers will be the show’s musical guest for the ninth time — 10th if you count their special guest performance alongside Mick Jagger in 2012 — on October 28. Comedian Nate Bargatze will host.

Dave Grohl and company were reportedly booked for an SNL episode earlier in the year, but, according to Variety, it was scrapped due to then-ongoing writers strike.

Foo Fighters released a new album, But Here We Are, in June. They’ve been supporting the record with one-off headlining shows and festival performances throughout 2023, during which they’ve introduced new drummer Josh Freese, who joined the Foos following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

A more extensive U.S. Foo Fighters tour will launch in July 2024.

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Timothée Chalamet is gearing up to play Bob Dylan in the upcoming James Mangold-directed film A Complete Unknown, and he wants to make sure he nails the role. 

In a new interview with GQ, he says in preparing for the part he’s been inspired by actor Austin Butler’s commitment to the role of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, so much so that he’s hired the same people to help turn him into Dylan.

“I’ve basically been working with his entire Elvis team for my Dylan prep,” he says. “There’s a wonderful dialect coach named Tim Monich. Vocal coach named Eric Vetro. Movement coach named Polly Bennett.”

He adds of Butler, “I just saw the way he committed to it all, and realized I needed to step it up.”

Chalamet will be doing his own singing for the flick, but fans shouldn’t expect him to sound exactly like Dylan.

“It’s taking on all the characteristics of Dylan’s voice and his mannerisms and his speech patterns, and bringing that into the music – so that when you hear Timothée do the music, what you’re really getting is the essence of Bob Dylan,” Vetro tells the mag. “You’re not getting an impersonation of him. It’s breathing new life into that voice that we know so well.” 

And while the project’s been in development for three years, Chalamet has yet to meet the iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. “I didn’t want to three years ago, because I just didn’t want to for superstitious reasons,” he said. “Now I would love to.”

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Queen has been touring with Adam Lambert since 2011, but they are still working on perfecting their performance, as proven by a recent clip guitarist Brian May shared on Instagram.

The video was shot at the band’s Rhapsody Tour stop in Boston, Monday, October 16, and it shows May’s reaction to Lambert singing the final line in the Queen classic “Somebody To Love.” It seems this time Lambert’s delivery of the line was adjusted after a suggestion from May. 

“Adam sings our songs in his own unique way, bringing in lots of new ideas and adding sometimes amazing extensions of the vocal lines,” May explains. “Well, there’s one point in the song which all our fans know very well,” referring to the moment where fans finish the line, “somebody tooooooo.” 

May says Lambert usually extends it so it doesn’t sound like the original Freddie Mercury recording, and he believes that left the audience unsure how to sing along.

“So I suggested to Adam that, as an experiment, he might try singing the end of the line completely straight, to give a clear cue to the audience. He tried it for the first time tonight, and this is the result,” he says.

It all worked out, which is why you can see May telling Adam, “not bad” with a laugh. Lambert then goes on to improvise all he wants, much to May’s delight.

“So in my face you see my admiration and enjoyment of this moment – in which we’re all clearly finding a new joy !!!” he shares.

Queen + Adam Lambert’s Rhapsody Tour hits Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, October 18. A complete list of dates can be found at queenonline.com.

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Among the many legends of Ozzy Osbourne‘s storied career is that he once snorted a trail of ants as if it were a line of cocaine while on tour with Mötley Crüe in the ’80s. As for whether that story is actually true, that depends on which Osbourne you ask.

In the latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Ozzy and Sharon‘s son Jack asks his dad to confirm the ant-snorting incident. When Ozzy says the tale is indeed true, Jack turns to his mother, who replies, “I was not there, thank God.”

“I used to try and stay away from Mötley when they were with Ozzy,” Sharon says. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know.”

“All I know is that I think it made their movie,” Sharon adds, referring to the 2019 Crüe biopic The Dirt, which includes a scene depicting Ozzy snorting ants.

Despite Sharon’s skepticism, Ozzy insists he did indeed snort ants.

“I did, I was there, I did it,” Ozzy says. “It’s my nostril … I was drunk, and I did it.”

Sharon adds that she thinks Mötley bassist Nikki Sixx is an “a**hole,” but Ozzy disagrees with that as well.

For what it’s worth, Ozzy’s guitarist at the time of the tour, Jake E. Lee, has denied that the ant-snorting occurred, though he did say Ozzy snorted a tiny spider.

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Bonnie Raitt made a surprise appearance at a special concert at Antone’s in Austin, Texas, Monday, October 16.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer took the stage at a concert benefiting bassist Sarah Brown, who’s been a member of the venue’s house band for the past 40 years. The show also featured performances by Jimmie Vaughan, Larry Fulcher and others.

The concert aimed to raise awareness of the Living Liver Donor program in an effort to help Brown, a friend of Raitt’s for almost 50 years, find a liver donor match. It also raised money to help cover Sarah’s pre- and post-transplant expenses. Additionally, a portion of the money will be donated to University Health Transplant Institute.

More information on how to help Sarah can be found at caringbridge.org.

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Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale is considering getting the band back together.

The rocker revealed on the Totally 80s podcast that he’s thinking about recording a new album with some former bandmates, including Adrian Vandenberg, Doug Aldrich and Michael Devin. 

“I’m soon to be talking with my band about the idea of a farewell Whitesnake studio album and to invite some former members to participate to make it more complete,” he says. “But I think rather than just farewell to this current chapter, it’s farewell to, you know, a lot of guys that have been involved. It could be interesting.” 

He adds, “These guys are really inspiring to me. I’m not interested in trying to do it on my own. I see the big picture. It’s a collaborative band thing. I want the best for all of them.”

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Graham Nash is the latest rock star to sell his music catalog. Variety reports the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has made a deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artist Group, putting them in charge of his musical legacy.

There’s no word on how much his catalog sold for, but it is said to include his solo work and his music with The Hollies as well as his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and any variations of that group. 

“I’m looking forward to working with the Iconic team on various projects to further the legacy of CSN’s music and my own,” Nash shared. 

Azoff called the musician “an incredible talent and a true friend” and teased what may be in store for the future. “Without giving too much away, I will say there is a wealth of material in both Graham’s vault and the CSN archives that I’m incredibly excited about and fans will be too. Stay tuned,” he shared.

Two of Nash’s bandmates, the late David Crosby and Stephen Stills, also sold their catalog’s to Iconic: Crosby in March 2021 and Stills in June 2022. Neil Young sold 50% of his catalog rights to Hipgnosis in January 2021.

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Green Day will headline an upcoming installment of Amazon Music Live, the post-Thursday Night Football concert series.

Billie Joe Armstrong and company are set to perform October 26 following the matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. According to a press release, Green Day will play a “career-spanning set that will draw from their extensive catalog and includes new surprises.”

Said new surprises may be related to several teasers Green Day’s shared over the past couple weeks, which were posted to the website TheAmericanDreamIsKillingMe.com. One of the teasers featured Armstrong waking up in bed and looking at a calendar with the date October 24 circled.

Amazon Music Live airs at 9 p.m. PT via Prime Video or the Amazon Music Twitch channel.

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On This Day, October 17, 1980…

Bruce Springsteen released his fifth studio album, The River – his only double album to date.

The project was originally intended as a single album called The Ties That Bind, but Springsteen canceled its release at the last minute and wrote more songs.  Retitled The River, the album’s 20 tracks featured a deliberate mix of fun, upbeat tunes and darker material.

The River went on to become Bruce’s first #1 album and contained his first top 10 hit, “Hungry Heart.” It has since been certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA

Many songs on the album became fan favorites including “Out in the Street,” “Sherry Darling,” the title track and “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch),” with many becoming staples of The Boss’ live shows.

In 2015, Springsteen released the box set The Ties That Bind: The River collection and celebrated the original album’s 35th anniversary with a tour in which he performed the double album in its entirety.

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