Poison frontman Bret Michael is performing at the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The festival takes place June 25 through July 10 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Admission is free.
The lineup also includes Flo Rida, Morris Day & The Time, Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, The Commodores, Young MC and C+C Music Factory.
For more info, visit the Freedom 250 Instagram.
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As a vegetarian, Paul McCartney doesn’t eat chicken, but that isn’t stopping him from appearing on the popular YouTube series Chicken Shop Date on Friday.
The show features host Amelia Dimoldenberg meeting a celebrity guest at a local fried chicken restaurant, and then asking them quirky questions while they eat. Each episode is only about eight minutes long.
In an Instagram post promoting the appearance, Amelia wrote, “Money can’t buy me love…but it can buy me vegan nuggets and chips ! my date with @paulmccartney is out FRIDAY.”
On an Instagram Reel featuring her and Paul acting goofy in the chicken shop, she wrote, “HELP! My biggest date yet.”
Amelia has welcomed everyone from Cher, Ryan Reynolds and Sabrina Carpenter to Cynthia Erivo, Conan O’Brien and Ben Stiller to the show.
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Andrew Watt produced The Rolling Stones’ well-received 2023 album Hackney Diamonds and the band’s upcoming release, Foreign Tongues. But Watt says he prefers latter, out July 10, because the Stones “never play the same f****** thing the same way twice.”
Watt tells the U.K. paper The Telegraph that for Foreign Tongues, he had the band play live in the studio. “It’s always changing, and then there’s moments where they blow your brains out with how unbelievable and tight it is, and they’re all on it,” he explains. “But part of their magic is that it’s always changing. … [S]o the recording process had to be something where we were going for keeps at all times, so you could capture those moments, moving with the heartbeats of the guys in the room.”
As a result, Watt tells the paper, “I like this one even more [than Hackney Diamonds]. It’s rawer and liver and jammier and wait till you hear the s*** Keith [Richards is] playing. It’s unbelievable.”
Describing the dynamic between Richards and Mick Jagger, Watt says, “You would think two people that have been with each other for as long as they have could read each other’s minds, and there’s times where they do and there’s other times where they go exactly opposite, and it’s those moments where some of the greatest s*** comes out.”
“When they’re recording, they’re almost like fencing a little bit,” he adds. “You know, it’s like this eloquent kind of battle that is occurring.”
“Balancing that whole act and keeping it moving along so you’ve got the take when the magic happens, that is really the main part of the job,” Watt notes. “Really, it’s the most fun thing in the world.”
Watt also produced Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
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The Rock for Ronnie benefit concert, which pays tribute to the late metal icon Ronnie James Dio, has announced a trio of signed instruments going up for auction as part of the event.
Attendees will be able to bid on a Lakland bass signed by Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler and an Epiphone Les Paul signed by George Thorogood. Additionally, Lita Ford, who’s headlining Rock for Ronnie, will contribute a custom-made guitar featuring the artwork from the Dio album Holy Diver, which she will sign and then play during her set.
Additionally, the auction includes a violin from Metallica’s 2019 S&M2 concert.
Rock for Ronnie takes place Sunday in Los Angeles. It raises money for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund in support of cancer research.
Dio died of stomach cancer in 2010 at age 67.
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The Beatles are among the most-covered artists of all time, but there’s one cover that has yet to see the light of day — though Paul McCartney really wants it to be released.
While appearing on the BBC Radio 2 segment The Tracks of My Years, where artists pick their favorites songs, McCartney chose Prince’s “Kiss” and revealed that he was told awhile back that Prince had covered one of his songs.
“I was with some guy a couple of years ago, it was after Prince had died, and this guy said, ‘Have you heard Prince do “Long and Winding Road”?'” McCartney recalled. “I said, ‘I don’t think he ever did it.'”
McCartney said the man, who he believes was Prince’s photographer, told him that Prince had done the song in rehearsal, and offered to send it to him.
“It’s really great,” McCartney said. “And so I’m gonna sorta ask them if they — ’cause I could make it into something really good.”
“It’s kinda rocky. He plays some really good guitar on it,” Sir Paul added. “No, he was a special guy, you know. It’s so sad, these people, you know, they’re like — suddenly, he’s not here. And it always makes me wish that I’d known him better. … It’s such a shame ’cause they’re such talents.”
He referred to Prince as “a wizard.”
Other songs that McCartney chose included The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up,” The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Despite the fact that Paul is one of the world’s most famous and successful musicians, he admitted that he’s always “a little bit nervous” to approach Dylan.
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Yes has announced a new live album called Live at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, 17 June 1976.
The record is due out July 17. It showcases the lineup of vocalist Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White and pianist Patrick Moraz, which played together on the 1974 Yes album, Relayer.
Live at Roosevelt Stadium includes renditions of songs including “Roundabout,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Long Distance Runaround” and “Heart of the Sunrise,” as well as a cover of the Beatles song “I’m Down.”
You can listen to the Live at Roosevelt Stadium version of “Roundabout” now.
The current incarnation of Yes will release a new album called Aurora on June 12.
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Belinda Carlisle and Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s, Cherie Currie of The Runaways and Kate Pierson of The B-52’s are taking part in the upcoming fourth edition of the Women’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp.
The camp, which is only open to women, takes place Nov. 5-8 in Los Angeles. Campers will have the opportunity to jam with the all-star guests, culminating in performances at the famed Whisky a Go Go and Viper Room venues in LA.
“I am so looking forward to spending time with the Campers, making some music and sharing stories of my experiences in the industry,” Carlisle says in a statement.
“I’m really looking forward to collaborating and getting creative with the campers!” Pierson adds. “Also I’d love to share any of my experiences in the music business that might be helpful to you all! See you there, happy campers.”
The camp will also feature Grammy-nominated songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman and music manager Susan Silver, who’s known for her role in the Seattle grunge scene.
For more info, visit RockCamp.com.
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The Black Crowes recently launched their new Southern Hospitality tour with Whiskey Myers. It’s their first tour since releasing their new album, A Pound of Feathers, and guitarist Rich Robinson tells ABC Audio that fans can expect them to play a mix of old and new songs.
“We change our set list every night,” he says. “You know, we have 10, 12 albums’ worth of stuff to pull from, some released and some unreleased albums.”
“It’s something I’m looking really forward to is to get in and flush these songs out and see where they fit within the set list,” he adds.
Rich says over the years they’ve adopted a different approach to creating their set list. “When we were younger, we were a little more militant about not playing a song twice in a row.”
“We kind of refused to play some of the songs that some of the people really wanted to hear every night,” he says, noting now that they’re older they get that people want to hear songs like “She Talks to Angels,” “Hard to Handle” and “Jealous Again” at every show.
“And we do that now,” he says, “but then we also have these moments in our set list where we can bring in these new things and bring in covers and stuff like that.”
And while incorporating new material may not always be easy, Rich says he’s up for it.
“To me, it’s not even a challenge,” he says. “It’s just like, I can’t wait to play these songs.”
The Southern Hospitality tour hits Orange Beach, Alabama, on Wednesday, and runs through Aug. 20 in Mountain View, California. A complete list of dates can be found at TheBlackCrowes.com.
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In a new video for Amazon Live and Amazon Music, Paul McCartney sits down with another famous Paul, Paul Mescal, who’s playing him in the upcoming quartet of Beatles films from Sam Mendes. During their 11-minute chat, McCartney discusses writing about his old Beatles bandmates on his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
“On this record, I might even refer to him in my mind, you know, as if we’re still writing together,” McCartney tells Mescal about John Lennon. “I’ll write something and go, ‘What’s that? Is that any good?'”
“And you’re talking to him?” asks Mescal.
“Kind of,” says McCartney. “You know, sometimes I get away with it. And sometimes you say, ‘No, it’s s***!'”
“That’s mad,” replies Mescal. “You know, his spirit’s still in me,” McCartney says. “And I’m very glad of that.”
Mescal also asks McCartney how it feels to have written songs on the album specifically about Lennon and George Harrison. “It’s like seeing old snapshots,” he says. “It’s nice because you’re kinda revisiting them.”
But when Mescal asks McCartney how he managed to write songs about the old days and still make them sound as though they’re in the “present tense,” he has no answer.
“I mean, I don’t know how I do it,” McCartney replies. “I haven’t got a formula.”
In other McCartney news, he’ll be going live on TikTok Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET. He’ll be answering questions submitted by fans ahead of time, and ones that come in live during the stream. You can now register for the upcoming event.
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The Frank Zappa compilation ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks is being released on vinyl for the first time.
The record will make its wax debut on July 17. It was previously only available on CD and digital upon its original release in 2016.
The two-LP package is divided into four sections — Appetizers, Entrées, Second Course and Desserts — and is described in a press release as “an inviting entry point into the more rock-oriented side of [Zappa’s] expansive repertoire.”
“This isn’t a greatest hits album, as Frank didn’t really have ‘hits,’ per se, nor is it a ‘best of,’ since it would be impossible to fit so much awesome onto one disc,” Zappa’s son Ahmet Zappa said of the collection back in 2016. “It’s a veritable smorgasbord of musicality for the curious and a buffet of favorites for the fans.”
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