Classic Rock 93.9

Eric Clapton‘s management said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t pursue the nearly $4,000 fine ordered against a German widow who attempted to sell a Clapton bootleg online.

Following a significant public backlash again the three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Clapton’s management attempted to clarify the guitarist’s role in the suit, as well as their reason for pursuing legal action, in a statement to his fan club.

Germany, the statement explains, “is one of several countries where sales of unauthorized and usually poor-quality illegal bootleg CDs are rife.” As a result, Clapton “and a significant number of other well-known artists and record companies” hired German lawyers in the region to restrict the sale of the bootlegs.

“It is not the intention to target individuals selling isolated CDs from their own collection, but rather the active bootleggers manufacturing unauthorized copies for sale,” the statement continues. Had the widow, Gabrielle P., complied with the cease-and-desist letter, they say, “any costs would be minimal, or might be waived.”

However, the woman — who claimed that she had inherited the disc from her late husband and didn’t realize it was bootlegged — told them through her lawyer to “feel free to file a lawsuit if you insist on the demands.” Her attempt to have the case dismissed was rejected and the judge ruled in favor of Clapton’s camp, ordering her to pay $4,000 in legal fees for both parties.

“If the individual had complied” and “explained at the outset the full facts…any claim might have been waived, and costs avoided,” Clapton’s management said.

“When the full facts of this particular case came to light and it was clear the individual is not the type of person Eric Clapton, or his record company, wish to target,” they say, Clapton decided not to take further action.

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Christmas is upon us, and a variety of music artists tell ABC Audio that, like so many people during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they’re planning a fairly low-key holiday celebration this year.

Moody Blues singer/bassist John Lodge explains that most years around this time he’d be on tour, “but not this year, so…I’m just gonna enjoy Christmas.”

Lodge notes that his wife is from Denmark, so his family usually observes the Danish tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

Nils Lofgren, a member of Neil Young‘s and Bruce Springsteen‘s respective backing groups Crazy Horse and the E Street Band, says his Christmas gathering likely will just feature him and his wife, Amy, their son Dylan, “his two dogs and our two dogs very quietly and safely having a very sedate Christmas, because it’s just not safe to do otherwise.”

Vanilla Fudge‘s Mark Stein says his family plans to “just have some stay-at-home dinners and opening presents, like most people in this country do.”

Stein also shares a holiday message for fans, wishing that people “stay safe and stay focused and appreciative of…what we do have this holiday season, because although there’s a lot of unrest going on in the nation and the world, anybody that’s got…a roof over your head and family that you can hug and love and share stories with and gifts…[that’s] more than enough payoff.”

Meanwhile, Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock won’t be home for the holidays. Schock, whose band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October, says her yuletide plans entail “rehearsing and doing shows” with the group.

The Go-Go’s have five West Coast concerts lined up between December 28 and January 3.

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Following Metallica‘s recent 40th anniversary shows at the San Francisco Chase Center, the venue has released a mini documentary highlighting the community of the band’s international fan base.

The four-minute video, streaming now on YouTube, includes interviews with fans who traveled to S.F. for the concerts from countries including Kuwait, Colombia and Chile.

“[Metallica is] like a soundtrack to my life, and millions and millions of people around the world feel the same way I do,” one fan says.

Metallica’s 40th anniversary shows took place December 17 and 19, and streamed live online. Rebroadcasts of the streams will air via the Coda Collection channel on Amazon Prime Video starting December 24 at noon ET.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors special airs tonight on CBS, featuring star-studded tributes to Joni Mitchell, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Bette Midler, as well as Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels and opera baritone Justino Diaz.

Among the performers and presenters who took part in the gala, which was held December 5 in Washington, D.C., were Paul Simon, Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder and many more.

Nash was featured as the narrator of a video presentation celebrating Mitchell, who was his one-time romantic partner. Among the performers who paid tribute to the legendary Canadian singer/songwriter were Herbie Hancock, Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile and Ellie Goulding.

Simon, a close friend of Michaels, performed his classic Simon & Garfunkel tune “America” in honor of Lorne. The segment also featured tributes from Steve Martin and various former and current SNL cast members, including Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Michael Che and Colin Jost.

The event’s finale featured a salute to Gordy, which included musical tributes from Wonder and Smokey Robinson.

The Kennedy Center Honors special airs at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on CBS.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

When Andrew Watt was growing up, he predicted he’d end up working with Eddie Vedder. He just didn’t know it then.

Speaking with Billboard, the producer/guitarist shares that he would go to Pearl Jam shows when he was younger while holding a sign reading, “Let me play the guitar solo to ‘Alive.'” Flash forward to the year 2021, and Watt is indeed playing alongside Vedder in his solo backing band, The Earthlings.

“It’s just an actual full-circle, unbelievable moment that I feel like I’ve been ready for my whole life,” Watt says. “It’s not supposed to happen like that — you’re not supposed to have those posters on your wall and be in the position where you’re creating with those people.”

In addition to playing in his live band, Watt is also producing Vedder’s upcoming solo album, Earthling, due out February 11, 2022.

“I’m so excited for everyone to hear it,” Watt says of the record. “We’re just finishing up the mixes and stuff, and I’m just really excited.”

He adds, “I don’t want to say too much besides, just to hear his voice in front of me, and get to play guitar and bass under that? It’s like a celebration.”

Vedder and The Earthlings will launch a U.S. tour in February 2022. The collective also features Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, ex-Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, and singer-songwriter and Once star Glen Hansard.

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Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022 special, which was going to feature performances by Billy Idol and various other stars, has been canceled due to the surging number of COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant.

The show was set to be hosted live in New York City’s Times Square by Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, alongside special correspondent Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy Osbourne.

A statement from Fox obtained by Variety reads, “While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards.”

The statement continues,”We will not be moving forward with Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022 in New York. The health and safety of our casts and crews has always been, and will continue to be, of the utmost importance. Replacement programming for New Year’s Eve on Fox will be announced in the coming days.”

Variety notes that it “remains to be seen” whether the announced musical guests, including Idol, whose performance was among several that were recorded at an earlier date, will still be part of said replacement programming.

In an unrelated note, Idol canceled his planned appearance this past Monday at the 2021 Above Ground benefit concert, an event organized by his longtime touring guitarist Billy Morrison and Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro.

Billy explained in a Twitter post that he’d dropped off the bill of the Los Angeles event because he’d caught a respiratory cold that affected his voice, while noting that he’d tested negative for COVID-19 twice.

Idol is next scheduled to perform in February, when he serves as the opening act for Journey‘s 2022 tour.

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Founding Vanilla Fudge lead singer and keyboardist Mark Stein recently released his first official solo album, There’s a Light.

Stein put the album together during the COVID-19 pandemic, mixing brand-new songs with older originals and a few covers, all featuring themes reflecting issues that the U.S. and the world have been facing during this volatile period in history.

Speaking about There’s a Light to ABC Audio, Stein notes that the album features “songs about love and patriotism and social issues that we’ve all been dealing with. Songs like ‘Racism’ and ‘All Lives Matter’ and ‘We Are One‘ and my cover of [The Temptations‘] ‘Ball of Confusion.’ It all holds together and has a message.”

Stein says the song that kickstarted the project was “We Are One,” a song about unity that he wrote in response to the divisiveness he noticed in the U.S. during the early days of the pandemic.

“I wrote that about six weeks after the initial pandemic, in April 2020,” he recalls. “I was compelled to write this song, and it started out like a ball of fire.”

Another song with a positive message on the album is “Let’s Pray for Peace,” and Mark recently released a music video for the tune to coincide with the holidays.

“During this Holiday Season, I hope this song helps to bring our volatile world a little closer together,” Stein says in a message. “Merry Christmas & A Happy Healthy New Year.”

Among the guest musicians featured on “There’s a Light” are longtime Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton, former Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto and Vanilla Fudge’s bassist, Pete Bremy.

There’s a Light is available now. Limited-edition bundles featuring a signed CD copy of the album and special merchandise items can be purchased at MerchBucket.com.

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Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain will be co-hosting a special Christmas concert called “Wonder of Wonders” tonight with his wife, pastor Paula White-Cain, at her City of Destiny church in Apopka, Florida.

The event, which begins at 7 p.m. ET, is free and open to the public, and also will be livestreamed at CityofDestiny.us.

The concert will feature guest appearances by Brianna Alomar, a young singer-songwriter who has collaborated with Jonathan in recent years; Cain’s brother, drummer Tommy Cain; and guitarist Kevin Eknes, who plays in Jonathan’s solo touring band. There also will be a full choir and a string quartet.

Cain tells ABC Audio that he’s planning to have the show filmed, and possibly put it out on video.

According to a press release, Cain will take people “on an adventure through the Nativity” during the concert, which will feature performances of his 2019 Christmas radio hit “Wonder of Wonders,” and other songs from his recent faith-based solo releases, including material from his new EP, Oh Lord Lead Us.

Jonathan also will perform a tune called “Behold” that he wrote specially for this concert.

Cain tells ABC Audio that his family Christmas celebration will be “abbreviated” this year, because of how busy he’s been this month, with Journey having played a series of shows in Las Vegas leading into his preparation for the holiday concert.

“I’m coming right out of Vegas into church, and then straight into Christmas,” he explains. “So it’s gonna be crazy.”

Cain will stay busy right into 2022, as Journey will be heading to New York City to perform in Times Square on New Year’s Eve as part of the ABC special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

“Hopefully, Paula and I will get a vacation in January,” Jonathan declares.

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Think you’ve got it tough, trying to wrangle all your kids together for Christmas? Consider Rod Stewart, who has eight children by five different women. While he says he managed to get most of them together years ago, it’s just become way too complicated now that they’re adults.

“We did it once, I think about 20 years ago,” Rod tells ABC Audio. “There was my first wife, Alana, and then my second wife, Rachel, and my to-be third wife, Penny, and the mother of Ruby, my third daughter. So they were all there, cooking the turkey in their own particular way.”

But Rod says these days, spending Christmas together is pretty impossible.

“We’re in all different parts of the world now, you know,” he explains. “The kids all go home to their mums’ for Christmas Day. But hopefully we’re all going to get together in Florida for New Year’s Day and my birthday, which is the 10th of January.”

However, Rod admits that he doesn’t mind that gathering his brood is a logistical nightmare.

“I’m glad it’s difficult because they’ve all got their own careers you have to consider,” he notes. “It’s not like they’re little and they depend on me. They’ve got their own careers, their own relationships and I have to be, y’know, a different father to every one of them, such is the age group: It goes from 10 up to 57.”

Rod’s eldest child, Sarah, was given up for adoption when she was born, but the two now have a relationship. Alana Hamilton is the mother of Sean and Kimberly Stewart. Kelly Emberg is the mother of Ruby Stewart. Rachel Hunter is the mother of Liam and Renee Stewart, while Penny Lancaster is the mother of Aiden, 10, and Alastair, 16.

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Former Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi is releasing an autobiography.

The book, titled Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, will be released June 2022, and finds Corabi telling the story of his life “from the mean streets of Philadelphia to the Sunset Strip,” including tales from his days in Crüe, as well as his other musical endeavors.

A publisher’s escription for Horseshoes and Hand Grenades reads, “Whether it’s detailing his parents difficult divorce, his family’s dark history of abuse, his run-in with a serial killer, or simply the best way to arrive at a wedding — which maybe is by helicopter and maybe it isn’t — [Corabi] pulls no punches and outlines the good and bad of it all in this raucous autobiography.”

Corabi joined Mötley Crüe in 1992 after the band parted ways with founding vocalist Vince Neil. He sang on Mötley’s 1994 self-titled album before being fired himself in 1996, after which Neil rejoined.

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