Paul McCartney’s rep is disputing a claim by an artist who suggested that a portrait he made of The Beatle legend was banned for being unflattering.
As previously reported, London artist Wilfrid Wood created a sculpture of McCartney’s face for the cover art for “Pipes of Peace,” McCartney’s contribution to War Child U.K.’s annual Secret 7” auction, but shared on Instagram that it was “BANNED by Macca and the gang because it was TOO UNFLATTERING.”
McCartney’s spokesperson has since denied Wood’s claim, telling NME the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “never saw this artwork.”
In the end, a positive thing did wind up coming from the portrait. Wood sold it on eBay for over $1,700 and plans to donate all proceeds to War Child U.K. in their mission to help children affected by conflict in various war zones, including Gaza and the Ukraine.
Sean Lennon, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Photo credit: Disney/Scott Kirkland
In a recent Billboard article, Billie Eilish spoke out against artists who release multiple vinyl variants of their new albums without thinking about the environmental consequences, but not everyone agrees with her stance.
Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, took to social media to share his opposing views.
“The vinyl record industry is a tiny shadow of what it once was. LPs and 45s are NOT disposable single use plastics,” he writes. “Everyone complaining about vinyl records from an environmental perspective are doing so with their cellphones and their computers and their blue jeans and their sneakers and their bulls***.”
Lennon doesn’t mention Eilish by name but insists he’s not trying to disrespect her. “The main artist speaking on this is brilliant and talented at music,” he shares. “I love them very much actually.”
He continues, “But coming out against a tiny niche market in an industry that has already been gutted by streaming services, is not the win you think it is. We literally only have a tiny handful of factories globally that can even print vinyl anymore.”
“Leave us boomers alone. We like our music to sound good. Let us have our records in the physical world. You can stream all you want to pay a tiny handful of CEOs. But we like vinyl” the 48-year-old Lennon warns, signing off, “From my cold dead hands!”
In her interview, Eilish said it’s “wasteful” to release multiple vinyl variants just to sell more records. “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favorite artists doing that s***,” she noted.
Peter Frampton fans will now be able to appreciate his classic live album Frampton Comes A Live even more, as it’s streaming on Dolby Atmos for the first time.
“This is the definitive version of the album; audio was sourced from the original 1975 masters by Doug Sax,” Frampton shares on Instagram, adding, “and it sounds better than ever.”
Released in January 1976, Frampton Comes Alive was the guitar great’s first double live album. It went to #1 on the Billboard 200 thanks to performances of such songs as “Show Me the Way,” “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do,” and spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks in the top spot.
The album went on to become one of the bestselling live albums of all time and has been certified eight-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Frampton, who was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, is currently on his Never Ever Say Never tour. It hits Waukegan, Illinois, on Saturday, March 30. A complete list of dates can be found at frampton.com.
The viral music collective Rockin’1000 has taken on yet another rock classic.
The collective just shared a recent performance of Pink Floyd‘s iconic tune “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two),” featuring 1,000 musicians playing the track in Cesena, Italy, to a stadium filled with fans. The performance also includes a guitar solo from Enrico Drigo Salvi of the Italian rock band Negrita.
Rockin’1000 is the same group responsible for the viral performance of Foo Fighters‘ “Learn To Fly” in Cesena in 2015. It also featured 1,000 musicians playing the song. After the video went viral, the Foos got wind of it and decided to play a show in Cesena later that year.
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)” from Pink Floyd’s 1979 album, The Wall, is the band’s only #1 single in the U.S. It also topped the charts in 13 other countries, including the U.K. and Canada. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Earlier this month, paparazzi photos surfaced online of Timothée Chalamet in character as Bob Dylan for the upcoming movie A Complete Unknown, but now, we have our first official photo from the film.
The movie’s director James Mangold shared a photo on social media of Chalamet as Dylan, dressed in a black jacket and dark glasses, crossing 23rd Street in Manhattan in front of the famed Chelsea Hotel. The only detail Mangold shared about the shot was the camera that was used to take it: a “Leica SL3 Summicron-SL APO 50mm 2.8 1/160 ISO 12500.”
A Complete Unknown, which has been in the works for more than four years, is set in New York in the early ’60s, when 17-year-old Dylan comes to the Big Apple and meets artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.It follows him through his famed 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival, where he shocks the crowd by plugging in an electric guitar.
The rest of the cast includes Edward Norton as Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax.
Sammy Hagar at Sammy’s Island at Palms Pool: Photo Credit: Robert John Kley
Sammy Hagar fans are going to want to tune in to AXS TV on Sunday, April 14, because starting at 10 a.m. ET the network will devote a day of programming to the rocker.
Dubbed Sammy Super Sunday, the programming will include the concert film Sammy Hagar & The Wabos: Livin’ It Up, featuringHagar’s former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony.The concert will air at 9 p.m. ET, with a set that includes tunes like “I Can’t Drive 55″ and “Heavy Metal,” along with Van Halen tracks like “Good Enough” and “Best of Both Worlds.”
Other highlights of Sammy Super Sunday include a Sammy appearance on Daryl Hall’s Live from Daryl’s House; episodes of Rock & Roll Road Trip with Sammy Hagar, featuring such artists as Willie Nelson, Robby Krieger and Rick Springfield; The Eddie Money Tribute Concert, with a performance from Sammy; and a Sammy edition of Rockstar Shuffle.
“Sammy Hagar is the quintessential rock icon, and a longtime favorite for our audience,” said Katie Daryl, vice president of programming for AXS TV. “He continues to be a beloved fixture on our network, and we are excited to raise a toast to him this spring!”
To coincide with Sammy Super Sunday, AXS TV is holding a sweepstakes in which a winner and their guest will get to see Sammy live in Las Vegas. The package includes two VIP tickets to the opening party of Sammy’s Island, a poolside restaurant and bar at the Palms Casino, along with two VIP tickets to see Sammy with The Circle at The Pearl on May 18. The sweepstakes open April 1 and runs until April 15 via AXS TV’s social media platforms.
Foreigner’s Lou Gramm seems impressed by producer Mark Ronson’s efforts to get the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.
In February, Ronson, stepson of Foreigner’s Mick Jones, shared a star-studded video featuring artists like Dave Grohl and Slash declaring their love of the band to try to get them inducted.
“I think he’s a pretty creative guy, and there hasn’t been anything too boisterous or outlandish,” Gramm tells Billboard. “It’s telling the story the way he sees it, from his vantage point with his stepdad. It makes sense.”
Ronson even got Paul McCartney to film a clip, with The Beatles member using some colorful language to express his shock that Foreigner isn’t already in the Hall of Fame. Gramm calls it awesome.
“That one I certainly didn’t expect, and if you just see it once you know it was completely off the cuff for him,” he says. “He said what needed to be said and that was it. I was very impressed and very thankful.”
Gramm tells the mag he “had given up” on Foreigner ever getting nominated, sharing, “I was not feeling good that our peers were in years ago and we were completely neglected.”
And while Gramm believes “things look pretty good” they’ll make it in this year, he’s trying not to get his hopes up. He notes, “I’m patiently waiting to see what happens.”
The Hall of Fame fan vote is open until April 26 and winners will be announced later that month. The 2024 induction ceremony will take place in Cleveland in the fall.
Def Leppard is continuing their 40th anniversary celebration of the album Pyromania.
In addition to the upcoming 40thanniversary deluxe edition of the album, set to drop April 26, the band has just launched a new 40th anniversary Pyromania merch collection.
Items in the collection include a Union Jack tank and short set and a variety of T-shirts, including one that reads “Ah F F Foolin,’” plus a woven blanket, mug, baseball cap, lighter and more.
The 40th anniversary edition of Pyromania will be released as a four-CD + Blu-Ray box set featuring the original album and a full disc of unheard demos. It will also be released digitally, as a one-LP half-speed master, and on two-LP black vinyl and two-LP colored vinyl. All formats are available for preorder now.
Released in January 1983, Pyromania featured such hit songs as “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin,” and reached number #2 on the U.S. Album chart. It sold 6 million copies in 1983 and went on to be certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies.
The show will take place April 2 in San Francisco, and aims to raise awareness for “human rights-based approaches and solutions to climate change and the suffering it causes.” Green Day will also be recognized for their “long-standing commitment to social justice and environmental causes.”
“As world renowned artists and activists, Green Day continues to leverage its major influence and platform to bring awareness to the impact of climate change on the people and the environment,” says Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.
“Don’t be an Idiot, you won’t want to miss this one,” Green Day adds.
Tickets go on sale Friday, March 29, at noon PT.
Green Day will launch a U.S. stadium tour in July in support of their new album, Saviors. They’ll also be playing their albums Dookie and American Idiot in full each night to celebrate their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries.
