Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has teamed up with Blink-182 and Pixies to help support his Montana Pool Service organization, which builds skate parks across his home state.
Both the “All the Small Things” outfit and the “Where Is My Mind?” rockers have contributed signature skateboard decks, which will help fund the creation of two more parks set to be built in 2023.
Since 2000, Ament and MPS have built over 30 skate parks for Montana’s rural and native communities.
“Thanks to MPS, there is a new generation of rippers out there creating their own scene and style — an opportunity to express themselves in a unique way that would otherwise not be possible,” Ament says.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss star in a brand-new episode of CMT Crossroads, and now, fans are getting their first look at the episode.
The 90-minute special, CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. A preview of the episode features the pair teaming up for their Raise the Roof track “High and Lonesome.”
The special will also have the two artists performing tracks from their albums Raising Sand and Raise The Roof, including “Can’t Let Go,” “Gone Gone Gone” and more. They will also team for some Led Zeppelin tracks, including “Rock and Roll” and “When The Levee Breaks.”
Plant and Krauss have appeared on CMT Crossroads together before. They first teamed for an episode in 2008 following the release of Raising Sand.
U2 fans are always anxiously awaiting tour news, but they just got some that may not make them happy. In a Washington Post piece celebrating the band’s upcoming lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. revealed that any tour U2 may do next year will be without him.
Although not directly quoted, writer Geoff Edgers says Mullen shared that “if the band plays live in 2023 it will probably be without him, as he needs surgery to continue playing.” What type of surgery he needs wasn’t revealed, but on Twitter, Edgers writes he “has issues with his neck and elbows,” sharing that Larry said, “I have lots of bits falling off, elbows, knees, necks, and so during Covid, when we weren’t playing, I got a chance to have a look at some of these things. So there’s some damage along the way.”
On a happier note, U2 does reveal they have two albums described as either completed or almost completed. They include Songs of Ascent, which is said to be “nearly finished.” The article notes, “Bono and the Edge aren’t sure when to release it.” There’s also Surrender, featuring stripped-down versions of the 40 songs Bono writes about in his recent memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.
The 2022 Kennedy Center Honors goes down Sunday in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. and airs December 28 on CBS.
The holiday season is here, and AXS TV is getting into the spirit with a slew of holiday programming that kicks off this weekend with the premiere of a Sting special.
Sting: A Winter’s Night… Live From Durham Cathedral features the former Police frontman’s special intimate performance at the famous London landmark. It features Sting performing his classic tunes as well as songs from his 2009 album, If On A Winter’s Night. The special premieres Saturday, December 3, at 8 p.m. ET.
Heart is also subject of another holiday special, Heart & Friends: Home For The Holidays From Benaroya Hall, which also airs Saturday, starting at 3 p.m. ET. It features Ann and Nancy Wilson‘s performance of such holiday tunes as “Santa’s Going South,” “Ring Them Bells” and “Remember Christmas.” The concert, shot in their hometown of Seattle, features special guests Sammy Hagar, Shawn Colvin, Pat Monahan and Richard Marx.
And on Christmas day, the network will air three classic concerts: Fleetwood Mac – The Dance at 8:30 p.m. ET; Tom Petty – Live from Gatorville at 11 p.m. ET; and Tomorrow is a Long Time: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, at 1:45 a.m. ET.
Eurythmics‘ Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart recently reunited for their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, and now, a new report claims they may get together again for a new tour. According to The Mirror, the pair has been offered big bucks to reunite for a world tour, which would be their first in over 20 years.
“Eurythmics have been offered a huge amount to reform for a world tour,” a source tells the paper. “Seeing them perform together again at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has really stirred the interests of promoters who are throwing money at the band to hit the road again.”
While they have yet to accept any offers, the insider adds, “Nothing is off the table, including a brand new studio album,” noting, “It is very early days but everyone is excited to bring the project to life.”
While most musicians dream of becoming a huge success, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck says it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Louder Sound reports that in the latest Classic Rock magazine, Buck says the band’s huge success in the 1990s, thanks to songs like “Losing My Religion,” “Man on the Moon” and more, “took away some of the pleasure” of being in the band, noting, “when it got really big, I don’t know if anyone really enjoys that.”
Buck blames his unhappiness on the “non-musical stuff,” explaining, “It’s just the stuff where you kind of wake up and go: ‘God, I don’t really want to have my picture taken today. And I don’t really want to pretend to be an actor in some video where I can’t act.’”
R.E.M. mutually decided to call in quits in September 2011. While the band got to play in front of large crowds and sell millions of records, Buck says, “it was never the reason I did it,” sharing, “And when we got to the point where we decided that it was the end, it felt like a great shared experience. I wouldn’t change it, but I’m not gonna go back to it.”
Tom Petty’s classic track “I Won’t Back Down” is being covered by an all-star group of musicians to raise money for a good cause.
The new version, which was approved by the Petty estate, features country star Blake Shelton on vocals, backed by The Eagles’ Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit on guitar and bass, and Guns N’ Roses’ Matt Sorum on drums.
The philanthropic music and arts platform, GoodNoise.io is responsible for the track, with proceeds benefiting Miraculous Love Kids, a nonprofit music school that has protected and educated hundreds of young women in Afghanistan. The proceeds will help the school continue its mission in conflict zones and impoverished regions around the globe.
“In I Won’t Back Down, Tom Petty so powerfully wrote, ‘You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down,” musician Lanny Cordola, who founded Miraculous Love Kids in 2015, shares. “The girls and I are honored to have Blake, Joe, Timothy and Matt join us in spreading this message far and wide.”
Fans can listen to the song here and are asked to “give what you want” to support the project.
Patti Smith is on the cover of this month’s Harper’s Bazaar, where she looks back on her 50-year career. The singer’s been given a variety of titles, including “rock poet,” “godmother of punk” and more, but she doesn’t care for them very much.
“Calling me a rock poet or the poet laureate of punk? What does that mean?” she asks. “If they just call me a worker, which is what I am, they wouldn’t have to try so hard to find some kind of absurd little tagline.”
Smith, who recently released her new visual book, A Book of Days, is certainly a lot of things, including a musician, poet and writer. She admits she has a lot of admiration for people who can focus on just one thing, which she’s incapable of.
“I’m just not that kind of person. I don’t know why,” she says, noting she loves to perform, talk to people and more. She does share, though, that there are times she’ll “just want my solitude or to sit alone in a café or in my room or at a desk and write for hours.”
Patti is set to turn 76 on December 30, and she has some thoughts as to why she is still around. “I haven’t survived all this time, and sadly survived many of my friends and loved ones, because of any special formula,” she says. “I’ve survived [because] I want to live. I want to be here,” she adds. “Even in our troubled world. Even with all the greed and stupidity and terrible things that we’re all facing and reading in the news or experiencing, I want to be alive. I want to breathe. I want to do my work.”
Deep Puprle’s Ian Gillan is mourning the loss of his wife, Bron, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 67. No cause of death has been revealed.
“GILLAN Bron Passed away peacefully on 19th November 2022, aged 67 years,” read an announcement on the Bridport & Lyme Regis News website. “A dearly loved wife to Ian, mother to Grace, daughter to Sheila, sister to Julie and Jill, and a devoted grandma to Rowan.”
The Deep Purple rocker acknowledged the news Sunday, posting a photo of him and his wife on Facebook without any further comment. They’ve been married since 1984.
Mick Jagger has dabbled in acting over the years, and apparently, he had his sights set on a pretty iconic role. At the Torino Film Festival, actor Malcolm McDowell was the guest of honor at an evening about music, where he revealed that the Rolling Stones frontman really wanted to play his role in A Clockwork Orange.
“We used to be friends. We were hanging around in New York. At the time, we were the ‘In Crowd’ with Andy Warhol and all,” Malcolm shared, according to Variety. “One evening, we were hanging out at somebody’s apartment on the east side of Central Park. We were sitting in a window seat and talking because Jagger wanted to play Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange.’” He added, “Before (director Stanley) Kubrick got hold of the property, Mick Jagger and the Stones wanted to do it! Well, I’d like to see that!”
Malcolm added that the same evening, Mick told him he didn’t see himself performing all that long. “Mick Jagger said to me, you know Malcolm, I can’t see myself doing this at 50!” he said. “50? And so what are they now? 80? Fantastic!”
