Classic Rock News

It seems George Harrison’s mother didn’t think too much of how fans reacted to The Beatles in their heyday. 

Louise Harrison used to respond to her son’s fan letters, and the BBC reports that some of those letters are to be auctioned off in late August. In one of them, Louise reveals how she felt about some of the band’s fans.  

“Nobody with any sense would pay and queue for a ticket just to stand on a seat and scream and not hear one sound from the stage,” she wrote in a letter to fan Janet Gray, regarding the band’s 1963 show in Manchester. She added that she was “disgusted at the way the so-called fans just screamed,” noting, “I was really ashamed I was a female.”

The letter is one of 25 being auctioned off at the Beatles Memorabilia Auction in Liverpool on August 26. It is expected to sell for between $126 and $190.

Gray was a teenager during the time she corresponded with Harrison’s mom, and in some of the other letters the rocker’s mom offered her guidance on her relationship with her mother, wrote about her worries for her son’s health and even revealed how many letters she had to write.

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The 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s sophomore album, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, will be celebrated with a symposium put on by the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. 

According to the Asbury Park Press, the daylong event is happening October 28 at the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, with speakers and ticket information coming next month.

A similar symposium was held back in January to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Boss’ debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ. It featured a panel with former Springsteen manager Mike Appel, as well as an appearance by E Street Band members Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez and David Sancious, who performed songs from the album. 

Released November 5, 1973, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle features such future Springsteen classics as “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Kitty’s Back” and “The E Street Shuffle.” 

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Graham Nash and Stephen Stills both paid tribute to their late bandmate David Crosby on Monday, August 14, which would have been Crosby’s 82nd birthday.

Nash posted to Instagram a black-and-white picture of them performing, writing, “What to say besides how much I miss him? Thinking of you, David. Remembering these moments, the smiles, the laughter… the music.”

Stills posted a photo of Crosby playing guitar and remembered him with a poem. It read, “When I was a young man I found an old dream, Was as battered and worn a one as you have ever seen. But I made it some new wings and painted the nose, And I wished so hard up in the air I rose, singing… Carry me above the world.” 

At the end Stills added, “Remembering @thedavidcrosby today and every day.” 

Crosby passed away January 18, following a bout with COVID-19.

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Alice Cooper has been wearing makeup on stage for years, and now, he’s teamed with the vegan and cruelty free cosmetics brand Vampyre Cosmetics for a new makeup line that will be out just in time for Halloween.

The Alice Cooper Collection, designed to “exude Alice’s style,” features makeup palettes shaped like guitars and amps and two lipsticks shaped like a microphone: one in pink and one in lime green. There will also be a new version of his unisex Whiplash mascara, also shaped as a microphone.

The Vampyre Cosmetics x Alice Cooper Collection is available for preorder now.

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Joe Walsh is once again getting some big-name artists together to help veterans.

The Eagles guitarist just announced the lineup for his seventh annual VetsAid concert, taking place November 12 at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in San Diego, California, the first time the concert is being held at an outdoor venue. 

This year’s concert will be headlined by Jeff Lynne’s ELO, marking their first show in four years, along with Walsh and special guest Stephen Stills. Other artists on the bill include The War On Drugs, The Flaming Lips and Lucius.

“VetsAid is back for 2023 and we’re taking it outside in beautiful San Diego to support California’s veteran population.” Walsh explains. “My friends and I will see you under the stars this November 12th!”

Proceeds from the concert will be donated directly to charities helping veterans. This year’s concert will specifically help organizations based in, or with operations on the ground in, Southern California. In the seven years Walsh has been holding the VetsAid concerts, the organization has given out $3 million in grants. 

Tickets for this year’s show go on sale Friday, August 18, at 10 a.m. PT.

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Bob Dylan has paid tribute to his good friend The Band’s Robbie Robertson, who passed away Wednesday, August 9, at the age of 80.

“This is shocking news,” Dylan shared in a statement on his website. “Robbie was a lifelong friend. His passing leaves a vacancy in the world.”

Dylan and Robertson knew each other since the ’60s. In 1965, Robertson and his bandmates in the Hawks (the original name of The Band) — Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson — played in Dylan’s backing band for a series of concerts.

Robertson also played guitar on Dylan’s classic 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde, as well as 1974’s Planet Waves and more. Dylan was also one of several musicians who appeared at The Band’s final concert, which was filmed for the 1978 concert documentary The Last Waltz.

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Stevie Nicks, who owns a house on Maui, has posted a lengthy essay mourning the loss from the wildfires in Hawaii — especially the devastation of Lahaina, which is about 15 minutes from her house there.

“This island, in so many ways, defines Fleetwood Mac and me and our families,” she writes. “Mick [Fleetwood] and I came here in 1978…he said to me, ‘I will live and die on this island.’ I knew he was telling me his truth. John [McVie] also lived here in Maui for a long time — Christine [McVie] never lived here but visited many times.”

Stevie mentions that her niece, her husband and their son were at her home when the fires started, though they were eventually able to get to safety and leave. “They escaped a bullet,” Stevie writes, adding, “The end result could have been very different.”

“The Lahaina that we knew — the Lahaina that in many ways connect Fleetwood Mac and our music to the world, is gone,” she writes. “But my memories of everything that happened to me there is clear as a bell” — including, she notes, meeting her longtime backing singer, Sharon Celani, there in 1979.

“Lahaina is not gone,” Stevie concludes. “It is just away. With Aloha, Stevie Nicks.”

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U2’s Bono and The Edge brought their star power to the Friday, August 11, opening of the Sarajevo Film Festival, where the documentary Kiss the Future was screening.

Bono surprised the crowd with an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” with The Edge and the crowd joining in.

Kiss the Future, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony, follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. The doc includes footage of U2’s memorable 1997 concert at Koševo Stadium celebrating the country’s liberation, along with interviews with the band.

The Sarajevo Film Festival runs until August 18.

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On This Day, August 14, 1971… 

English rockers The Who released their iconic album Who’s Next, featuring such future Who classics as “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “Behind Blue Eyes.”

The album was originally conceived as another rock opera, Lifehouse, following their 1969 hit Tommy. Pete Townshend eventually scrapped the whole project, although a 10-CD/Blu-ray set of the recordings from the sessions are finally set for release on September 15. 

Who’s Next was a critics darling, and consistently lands on lists of the greatest albums of all time. The album was the band’s only #1 in the U.K.; it hit #4 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.

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Foo Fighters‘ headlining set at the Outside Lands festival on Saturday, August 12, featured a surprise appearance by Michael Bublé.

As for why the Canadian crooner showed up during a Foos show, Rolling Stone explains that Dave Grohl and company have been performing a medley on their current tour, which features bits of new drummer Josh Freese‘s past collaborations with artists including Bublé. Their Bublé song of choice has been the track “Haven’t Met You Yet,” which Grohl has invited fans to sing onstage during recent shows.

In a clip from the Outside Lands performance posted to the Foo Fighters Facebook, you can see Grohl spot someone in the crowd holding a sign that read, “I [heart] Bublé.” That person turned out to be the real Michael Bublé.

Bublé also shared an Instagram video of him backstage with Grohl, excitedly sharing, “Well, the time has finally come: I’ve been asked to be in the Foo Fighters!”

“F*** you, Bublé!” Grohl responds.

FYI: Bublé is something of a rocker when it comes to the music he listens to; he’s especially a big fan of Deftones.

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