Classic Rock News

KISS’ Paul Stanley is set to make two new public appearances to promote his latest art collection.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will stop by two Wentworth Gallery locations in New Jersey: Nov. 15 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City and Nov. 16 at the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills. 

The collections will feature new original paintings, hand-painted signature Paul Stanley Ibanez guitars, mixed media originals, hand-painted acrylic sculptures and more. The collection will also include three new series by Stanley: the “Black Series,” “World in Chaos” and “Joy & Rebellion.”

And some fans may get a chance to actually pick up a brush with the rocker. A limited number of private VIP “Painting with Paul” experiences are available, plus there’s an option to visit Paul’s art studio at the KISS warehouse. Those interested can contact the Wentworth Gallery for more information. 

Stanley has been creating art for decades, and actually designed and created the iconic KISS emblem. About 10 years ago he returned to painting, creating portraits and abstract work, earning tens of millions of dollars for his work. 

In other Paul Stanley news, the rocker may have recently let it slip that KISS is making a documentary about their End of the Road tour, which wrapped in New York in December. Stanley shared the info in a social media post next to a picture of his wife, writing, “WOW… My beautiful wife Erin being interviewed today for a five-part documentary on our final tour. I’m blessed.” No other info about the doc was revealed.

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After performing the final Beatles song, “Now and Then,” in concert for the first time in Uruguay, Paul McCartney has made it part of the set on his Got Back tour. Now, he’s giving fans at home a peek at the performance. 

The rocker has shared a clip on social media of him performing the tune at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the footage showing fans in the audience in tears. There’s also clips of the music video playing behind McCartney as he sings.

McCartney kicked off the latest leg of his Got Back tour in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Oct. 1. Next up, he brings the tour to Santiago, Chile, on Oct. 11. A complete list of dates can be found at paulmccartney.com.

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Gov’t Mule frontman Warren Haynes is paying tribute to musician Johnny Neel, a member of the Allman Brothers Band and the Dickey Betts Band, who passed away Oct. 6 at the age of 70. 

Neel’s death was confirmed on his official Facebook account, with the post noting he died “from a massive heart failure.”  

“Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character,” Haynes wrote on social media. “’Johnny Neel stories,’ as we refer to them in our little chunk of the music world, are legendary.”

Waynes then shared tales of him meeting Neel in Nashville, and them both joining the Allman Brothers and the Dickey Betts Band.

“Mostly what I want to focus on, however, is what a musical person Johnny was,” he shared. “There was always music in his head. It was his savior. Whenever we were writing together, he was an endless fountain of ideas, and the same on stage or in the studio.”

“We wrote a lot of music together, we played a lot of music together, and we traveled the world together, and maybe most importantly, we had a lot of fun times and created a lot of beautiful memories. Hence the stories,” he concluded his post. “Johnny’s music and his legend will live on forever. Miss you Neely.” 

Neel joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989 ahead of their second reunion tour. He played keyboards in the group and also appeared on their 1990 album Seven Turns, co-writing four songs on the record, including the single “Good Clean Fun.”

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Classics from The Beatles are being celebrated by Lucinda Williams, who’ll release the new album Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road on Dec. 6.

The album has her covering tracks the band recorded at the legendary London recording studio, with the first single released being a cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Other covers on the album include “Let It Be,” “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “The Long And Winding Road.” 

This album is the seventh volume of Williams’ Lu’s Jukebox series. Previous releases were dedicated to The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and more.

Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road is available for preorder now. Here is the track list for the album: 
“Don’t Let Me Down”
“I’m Looking Through You”
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“Rain”
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“Let It Be”
“Yer Blues”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“I’m So Tired”
“Something”
“With a Little Help from My Friends”
“The Long And Winding Road”

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Neil Young and Stephen Stills, who were in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young together, teamed up Saturday afternoon for a performance at the Harvest Moon benefit concert, which took place at The Painted Turtle camp in Lake Hughes, California.

According to setlist.fm, the duo teamed up to play several classic tunes, including Crosby Stills & Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping,” Stills’ “Love The One You’re With,” CSNY’s “Helpless,” The Stills-Young Band track “Long May You Run,” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and “Bluebird.”

The pair also broke out the Buffalo Springfield deep track “Hung Upside Down,” with Stills initially joking to the crowd that it was a new song. 

“The worst four words you can hear in a live performance are ‘here’s a new song,’” he told the audience, according to fan-shot footage posted to YouTube. “But this is actually a new version of an old song that took two centuries to write.”

Young also performed his tracks “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon,” and they then ended the set with “Rockin’ In The Free World,” which featured a guest appearance by the show’s other headliner, John Mayer.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit both the Painted Turtle, which offers the camp experience to children with serious medical conditions, and The Bridge School, an educational institution for children with severe speech and physical disabilities.

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James Taylor is set to play an upcoming benefit concert to help those in the Carolinas affected by the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who grew up in North Carolina, will perform at Concert for Carolina, which will also feature country stars Luke Combs and Eric Church and bluegrass artist Billy Strings, with more artists to be announced. 

The concert, hosted by ESPN’s Marty Smith and Barstool Sports’ Caleb Pressley, is taking place Oct. 26 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, with proceeds supporting Hurricane Helene relief efforts in the Carolina region.

Tickets for the show go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. More info can be found at concertforcarolina.com.

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On This Day, Oct. 7, 2016 …

The first-ever Desert Trip festival kicked off at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, the same location where the yearly Coachella Festival is held.

Dubbed “Oldchella” by the public, the six-day event was split over two weekends and included a lineup of superstar classic rock acts like The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Pink Floyd‘s Roger Waters.

The Stones and Dylan headlined the first night of each weekend, with Young and McCartney playing the Saturdays, and The Who and Waters closing both weekends.

McCartney’s set during the second weekend featured two special guests: Rihanna, who joined him for their collaboration “FourFiveSeconds,” and Young, who joined McCartney for “A Day In The Life,” “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” and a cover of John Lennon‘s “Give Peace A Chance.”

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In October 2014, the Allman Brothers Band played their final live show, and now fans will be able to experience it again. 

The concert, which took place Oct. 28, 2014, at New York’s Beacon Theatre, has been remastered and will be released digitally on Oct. 25 and as a three-CD set, with a 16-page booklet, on Nov. 22.

The location of the concert was, of course, very special to the Allman Brothers Band. They’d played the venue annually since 1989, which helped them set a Broadway record of 237 consecutive sold-out shows.

The concert had the band — founders Gregg Allman, Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, along with Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Marc Quinones and Oteil Burbridge — playing a set that included such songs as “Mountain Jam,” “Midnight Rider,” “Whipping Post” and “Melissa.” The three-set show was one of the longest in the band’s history, lasting into the wee hours of the morning, which coincided with the 43rd anniversary of Duane Allman’s death.

Final Concert 10-28-14 is available for preorder now.

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Green Day performed on the American Music Awards 50th anniversary special, which aired Sunday on CBS.

The punk rockers played their song “Dilemma,” a single off their latest album, Saviors. You can watch the rendition streaming now on YouTube.

Green Day supported Saviors on a U.S. stadium tour, which wrapped in September. Each night, they also played their albums Dookie and American Idiot in full to celebrate their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries.

A 20th anniversary edition of American Idiot will be released Oct. 25.

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A new short film about Jimi Hendrix’s life in New York has just been released, narrated by E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt. 

The nine-minute film, Jimi Hendrix’s New York, features archival photos and video, with Stevie walking fans through Jimi’s time in the Big Apple. 

It also features interviews with Jimi’s friend Colette Harron, who owned a clothing store and sold him the jacket he wore at Woodstock. She shares stories of going to local clubs with Hendrix and getting to see him perform, noting, “When you saw him, it was magic … his music was everything.”

Producer/engineer Eddie Kramer is also interviewed for the film, where he talks about working in the studio with the rocker, sharing, “There was this wonderful communication where we understood each other.”

The film is a companion to the recently released Hendrix box set, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision. The set, dedicated to Hendrix’s legendary New York studio, Electric Lady, features a treasure trove of previously unreleased music from the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The set also includes the full-length documentary of the same name, which debuted in theaters in August.

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