Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival
Green Day is continuing to tease new music.
Over the last few months, the punk trio has uploaded various videos showing them in a recording studio, each with the year 1972 prominently featured. That trend continued Tuesday with a new clip, once again with a focus on 1972.
Notably, all three Green Day members — Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool — were born in 1972. In fact, Armstrong just celebrated his 50th birthday last week.
No official details about whatever Green Day’s been teasing have been announced, so stay tuned.
Green Day released three new singles in 2021: “Here Comes the Shock,” “Holy Toledo!” and “Pollyanna.” Their most recent album is 2020’s Father of All…
When it comes to fashion, Elton John knows no boundaries. He’s happy to work with Gucci — and does, regularly — but now, he’s also teaming up with a fashion line started by a YouTube star.
Thursday sees the launch of the “Teddy Fresh x Elton John” collection. The Teddy Fresh fashion line is the passion project of Hila Klein, who with her husband, Ethan, is famous for the H3 Podcast channel and h3h3Productions YouTube channel. The line has a devoted following and has already created collections in collaboration with Looney Tunes, Spongebob Squarepants and Care Bears.
The new collab was first announced on Ethan and Hila’s H3 After Dark podcast, during which Ethan said he loved working with Elton because the legendary star is “so gracious, super-nice, and enthusiastic.” Hila, meanwhile, revealed that Elton “personally loved the designs.”
According to the Teddy Fresh Instagram, the new collection is “inspired by the way John has revolutionized music and broken boundaries,” and by his “outlandish style and lust for life.” It features “sequins…intricate patchwork and vibrant fabrics” that convey Elton’s “luxurious and regal taste for fashion and life.”
Some of the designs feature imagery from Elton’s album covers, like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and The One. There’s also a sequined baseball jacket with Elton’s name across the front in a font reminiscent of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fans are already stoked for the new collection, with one writing, “I’ll never financially recover from this,” and another adding, “obsessed is an understatement.”
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder took a moment during his solo concert in Seattle Tuesday night to pay tribute to another hometown rocker, Mark Lanegan, who passed away yesterday at age 57.
In fan-shot footage of the show, a clearly emotional Vedder tells the crowd that he’d been feeling “really terrible” before he and his solo band The Earthlings were set to take the stage.
“I think it was because I was having an allergic reaction to sadness,” Vedder said as his voice broke. “Because we lost…there’s a guy called Mark Lanegan.”
“There are a lot of really great musicians, some people know Seattle because of the musicians that have come out of the great Northwest,” the “Even Flow” rocker continued. “Some of those guys were one-of-a-kind singers. Mark was certainly that, and with such a strong voice.”
Lanegan co-founded the band Screaming Trees in nearby Ellensburg, Washington, and helped pioneer the grunge sound that brought fame to the Seattle area in the ’90s.
“He’s gonna be deeply missed,” Vedder said of Lanegan. “At least we will always have his voice to listen to and his words and his books to read, he wrote two incredible books in the last few years.”
Vedder added that he wanted to “let [Lanegan’s] wife and loved ones know that people in his old stomping grounds have been thinking about him, and we love him.”
According to Setlist.fm, Vedder dedicated a performance of the song “Tender Mercies,” which he recorded alongside Glen Hansard for the Flag Day soundtrack, to Lanegan.
The video features footage of various homeless people, and explains what The Man/Kind Initiative has been doing to help, providing food, shelter and personal care items and more to the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The clip notes that one of the ways that the charity is helping is providing homeless people with temporary mobile shelters called EDAR, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Roof. The The Man/Kind Initiative stocks the shelters with food and personal care items and distributes them to organizations that can provide safe locations, as well as offer on-site sanitation facilities, food services and counseling.
“We’ve all walked past them trying not to notice,” says The Man/Kind Initiative’s founder, Richard Stellar. “I had to find a way to make people see them, to wake them up. We needed to reach millions, and I had to think outside the box on how to make that happen. So, we turned to Paul McCartney, and he delivered. The use of his music may be one of the greatest gifts that a non-profit like ours could get. We now will be able to touch millions with our message, and in turn help tens of thousands of homeless, especially veterans and minorities.”
Foo Fighters are headed back to Austin City Limits.
The long-running PBS music performance series has booked Dave Grohl and company for a taping to air during its upcoming 48th season. The show will take place on April 27.
The Foos previously rocked the ACL stage twice before. Highlights from those shows were compiled into an hour-long ACL special, which premiered in 2021.
“I’m sure I can speak for every musician when I say that being asked to come play Austin City Limits is practically like getting a medal,” Grohl said at the time. “As a musician it’s something to aspire to and if you actually achieve that then you wear it like a badge.”
Other artists set to tape episodes for ACL‘s next season include Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast and Cimafunk.
In addition to their trip to ACL, Foo Fighters will be headed to the silver screen with their movie Studio 666, which premieres in theaters this Friday, February 25.
Members of the rock community have been sharing their tributes to Mark Lanegan following the news Tuesday that the Screaming Trees frontman and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator had passed away at age 57.
The Screaming Trees Facebook shared a post mourning Lanegan as “our true brother.”
“We all truly loved him,” the post reads. “As we say goodbye to Mark, a member of our family, remember he still lives with us all in his music.”
The Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, who frequently worked with Lanegan and released an album with him as The Gutter Twins, simply posted a photo of the two of them together.
Here are some of the other reactions:
Iggy Pop: “Mark Lanegan, RIP, deepest respect for you. Your fan, Iggy Pop.”
Lamb of God‘s Mark Morton: “I am so profoundly grateful to have had the chance to make music & become friends with Mark Lanegan. Few artists ever achieve the level of honesty & authenticity that he did. He was absolutely brilliant. Godspeed my friend.”
Ex-New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook: “Mark Lanegan was a lovely man. He led a wild life that some of us could only dream of. He leaves us with fantastic words and music! Thank god that through all of that he will live forever. RIP Mark. Sleep well. Love Hooky.”
Garbage: “Terribly saddened to hear the news of the passing of Mark Lanegan. A very gifted artist blessed with honey dipped tones, gone far too soon.”
Shinedown‘s Brent Smith: “My heart truly aches today, as we have lost an incredible artist…An undeniable pioneer in the late 1980s and early 1990s grunge era, and beyond. A poet, singer, songwriter, author, and creative genius, with a voice like no other. Bless you Sir, and thank you.”
Elton John‘s private jet was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday after experiencing technical failure at 10,000 feet, according to various reports.
The U.K. tabloid The Sun reported that Elton was flying from England to New York for a concert when the plane on which he was traveling suffered a hydraulic failure about an hour after takeoff.
The pilot made the decision to return to the U.K.’s Farnborough Airport and declare an emergency landing, it was reported.
Witnesses tell The Sun that the pilot made two unsuccessful attempts to land in winds that reportedly gusted to 80 mph before successfully touching down on the third try.
The legendary rocker, 74, was said to be shaken by the ordeal, but he boarded another flight to New York just hours later to make his gig at Madison Square Garden
Elton made it to New York City safely and confirmed that the show would go on as scheduled, tweeting, “Hello New York! See you @TheGarden tonight.” He also has a second concert scheduled at Madison Square Garden tonight.
ABC has not been able to reach Elton’s reps for comment.
A variety of noteworthy musicians from the rock and pop world, including Ringo Starr, Billy Joel and KISS‘ Paul Stanley, have paid homage to Procol Harum lead singer and pianist Gary Brooker, who died Saturday at age 76 after a battle with cancer.
Brooker, who was most famous for singing and co-writing the classic Procol Harum song “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” led the group for its entire 50-plus-year history, and he also was a member of Ringo’s All Starr Band from 1997 to 1999. The former Beatles drummer posted a tribute note on his Twitter page that reads, “God bless Gary Brooker peace and love to the family,” along with a photo of him and Gary together.
Joel also took to Twitter, where he wrote, “Sorry to hear about the passing of Gary Brooker. Rest in Peace.”
Stanley meanwhile, saluted Brooker with a tweet that reads, “RIP Gary Brooker. You could identify that voice as soon as you heard him sing. Procol Harum…Who can forget ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’? The man sang with a captivating, grand authority and soul.”
Here are more tributes to Brooker from various other well-known music artists:
Queen‘s Brian May: “SAD NEWS: Procol Harem singer Gary Brooker dies at 76 – RIP.”
Faces and ex-Who drummer Kenney Jones: Very sad to hear the news that Gary Brooker has passed away. My thoughts are with Gary’s wife Franky at this sad time. He was a wonderful man who will be sorely missed. Rest in peace.”
Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens: “Safe travels to Gary Brooker of Procol Harum. A truly incredible talent that redefined what rock and roll could be. Big influence on me.”
Former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden: “So sorry to hear of the passing of Gary Brooker. One of the highlights of my career is playing ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ with him. I was very proud to know him. My condolences to his family and fans.”
E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt: “RIP Gary Brooker. I’m too p***ed off to speak right now.”
Bonnie Tyler: “So sad to hear about Gary Brooker. He was a lovely guy and made incredible music that will live on forever.”
Beatles reissue producer (and son of George Martin) Giles Martin: “Rest in peace #GaryBrooker — incredible singer, writer and musician — more than that he was a lovely, lovely man. He and his wife…looked after me and my sis when my parents were away. They gave so much love and warmth to us as kids, I wish I’d thanked him before he passed.”
Aldo Nova has released a new single called “Burn Like the Sun” that will appear on his recently announced forthcoming EP, The Life and Times of Eddie Gage, which is due out April 1.
The veteran Canadian rocker also has debuted a performance video for the song, which you can check out at his official YouTube channel.
As previously reported, the 10-track EP will serve as the first chapter of a planned 25-song rock opera, also titled The Life and Times of Eddie Gage, which tells the fictional story of a talented young rocker who is tempted and exploited by various characters as he tries to break into the music business. He initially succumbs to drugs, alcohol and other excesses before finding redemption when he delves into spirituality.
“The song describes Eddie’s life’s ups and downs and rebirth,” Nova explains of the new tune. “In the opera, ‘Burn Like the Sun’ is the last song that Eddie sings and it sums up his life perfectly with everything coming full circle because it was the only song he had ever written that wasn’t owned by any publishing company or record company, so it’s fitting that the beginning becomes the same song that makes him reborn.”
“Burn Like the Sun” is the second advance track released from The Life and Times of Eddie Gage, following “Free Your Mind.”
After the EP arrives, Nova will release a three-disc set titled Aldo Nova 2.0 Reloaded on April 19 that features updated versions of nine tunes from Nova’s back catalog on the first disc, and those same tracks mixed without vocals and without guitar, respectively, on the second and third discs.
After it was postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Black Crowes hit the road last year on a major tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. The veteran rockers have now announced a new 2022 North American leg of the trek.
The outing, dubbed The Black Crowes Present: Shake Your Money Maker, features more than 30 dates. It kicks off June 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and runs though an August 27 concert in Miami, Oklahoma.
Tickets for most dates go on sale to the general public this Friday, February 25, at 10 a.m. local time, while a pre-sale offer from the band begins Wednesday, February 23, at 10 a.m. local time. For more details, visit TheBlackCrowes.com.
For each ticket purchased via Ticketmaster in North America, the buyer will receive an exclusive free collectible NFT of the tour poster. This marks the first time that Ticketmaster has teamed up with an artists to offer these unique digital tokens.
The Shake Your Money Maker trek features The Black Crowes playing their 1990 debut album in its entirety, as well as hits and select other songs from their catalog. The group’s current lineup features co-founding siblings Chris and Rich Robinson on lead vocals and lead guitar, respectively, plus longtime bassist Sven Pippien and three other newer members.
The Black Crowes also have some previously announced festival appearances on their 2022 itinerary, including May 1 at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio California; May 6 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; May 28 at the BottleRock Napa fest in Napa, California; and June 3 at The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
