Elton John performs at the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, November 8, 2025 (Disney/Frank Micelotta)
Elton John has announced some details of his annual Elton John Aids Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party.
The party will be held Oscar night, March 15, at West Hollywood Park, hosted by Elton and his husband, David Furnish, as well as actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, David Burtka.
“EJAFOscars has always been about more than films, it’s about coming together to change lives,” reads a post on Elton’s Instagram. “We’re excited to return this March to bring heart and purpose to Hollywood’s biggest night.”
Elton has not revealed the evening’s entertainment, although he is asking for input from fans. The post asks, “Who would you like to see join our hosts on stage? Let us know in the comments!”
Last year’s party featured a performance by Chappell Roan, with money raised going to both Elton’s foundation and L.A. wildfire relief.
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings perform at the Canada’s Walk Of Fame Fundraising Event Music Under The City Stars held at Casa Loma on July 18, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by George Pimentel/Getty Images)
The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are opening up about the lawsuit that helped them get back the rights to the band’s name.
In October 2023, they filed a suit that accused former bandmates Jim Kale and Garry Peterson of tricking fans into thinking Cummings and Bachman were still performing with The Guess Who, when they were actually getting a “cover band.”
In a new interview with the Q with Tom Powerpodcast, Cummings says they filed the suit because they were “very upset with what the fake band had done.”
“At first, it didn’t bother me so much, but it went on and on … it was just enough already,” he said.
The pair said it wasn’t just that other people were playing their music under The Guess Who name. They said those musicians would say they wrote the band’s classic tunes like “These Eyes” and “American Woman,” would use Guess Who records to promote their shows and would even sign their names on the band’s albums.
Cummings noted, “They got to the point where they believed it was their stuff.”
“We decided to finally go to mediation in LA and not leave the room until it was decided,” Bachman said, with Cummings noting that during the mediation the two sides “were arguing and fighting that whole time.”
They settled the case in September 2023, and the first thing Cummings wanted to do was put a band together with Bachman. “He and I knew we could put together a tremendous show,” he said. “I knew right away, I said, ‘This is gonna be fun.'”
Cummings and Bachman are now set to return to the stage as The Guess Who, with their first show on Jan. 31 Niagara Falls, Ontario. They will also kick off a Canadian tour on May 26 in Moncton.
Eric Clapton kicked off a six-night residency at London’s Royal Albert Hall, treating the crowd to such classic songs as “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Wonderful Tonight” and “Cocaine,” as well as Cream tracks “White Room” and “Sunshine of Your Love.”
The residency became a near-annual event for Clapton. In 1991, he played a whopping 24 shows at Royal Albert Hall, breaking his own record for the longest run of concerts at the venue.
During that run, Clapton performed with three lineups — a rock band, a blues band and an orchestra. In June 2024, he released a box set, The Definitive 24 Nights, featuring performances from that run.
Clapton’s most recent Royal Albert Hall residency took place in May 2025. He has not yet revealed plans to play the venue in 2026.
Cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’/(Parlophone Records)
David Bowie is the latest artist to see a streaming bump thanks to the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Bowie’s “Heroes” plays over the closing credits of the show’s series finale, and according to Billboard, Luminate data shows that the song saw a 500% increase in streams following its inclusion.
“Heroes,” the title track to Bowie’s 12th studio album, saw about 342,000 streams on Jan. 1, the day after the show’s New Year’s Eve debut, and then continued to increase up to 456,000 streams on Jan. 2 and 470,000 streams on Jan. 3. Those numbers mark a significant increase compared to the months prior to the episode’s airing, when “Heroes” would average about 94,000 streams per day.
Stranger Things has a history of boosting the visibility of songs from previous decades. Most notably, KateBush‘s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)” became the most streamed song on Spotify in the U.S. and the U.K. after its use in the fourth season of the show. It also went to #1 in the U.K. and #3 in the U.S.
“Heroes,” originally released in 1977, wasn’t the only song featured in the Stranger Things series finale. Other songs in the episode include Prince‘s “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain,” Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper,” Pixies’ ” Here Comes Your Man” and Cowboy Junkies’ cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.”
Musician Mike Garson, former member of David Bowie’s touring band, performs onstage during the second annual Above Ground concert benefiting MusiCares at The Fonda Theatre on September 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Saturday marks 10 years since David Bowie’s death and his longtime pianist Mike Garson is opening up about the last time he spoke with the rock legend.
Garson tells Gold Derby that their last conversation was quite hopeful, despite the fact that Bowie was secretly battling cancer.
“It was only a few weeks before. He reached out to me, talking about continuing the trilogy of the Outside album,” Garson says, referring to Bowie’s 1995 album, and planned sequels that never happened. “He never gave up hope. … He was dying, and yet he was saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ So, of course, I got excited.”
Garson also recalls the last message he got from Bowie, noting he knew it was the end even though he was unaware of Bowie’s illness.
He says he had just listened to Bowie’s discography which left him “awestruck,” prompting him to send Bowie an email. Garson says, “And within three seconds, he emailed me back, saying, ‘Mike, we did a great body of work together.’”
Garson said the “finality” of that statement had him telling his wife “that’s the last time I’m going to hear form him.” “I don’t know if it was just my intuition,” he explained. “I did not know he was dying then, because he kept [his illness] secret from everyone. … But we had a very special connection.”
Garson is set to headline a trio of shows, Bowie’s Piano Man: A Decade in the Stars, at the Sun Rose West Hollywood in Los Angeles Jan. 8-10. The shows will celebrate Bowie’s birthday and the 10th anniversary of his death, and will feature guest appearances by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Bowie touring bassist Carmine Rojas and others.
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones performs with Seasick Steve and Dan Magnusson at the 2014 Bonnaroo Music Festival (Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Corbis via Getty Images)
Studio equipment previously owned by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones is currently up for auction.
The equipment comes from Jones’ private studio, and has no Led Zeppelin connection. Gear up for grabs includes amps, digital samplers, equalizers, processors and more.
“John is still very active musically – writing, recording and performing – but no longer requires so much studio equipment – most of which he has owned from new,” Soundgas writes on its website. “He feels it should be in the hands of people who will put it to good use, so it is offered here without formal provenance, with the intention that it continues to be used as intended.”
The John Paul Jones auction runs until Jan. 18. More info can be found at Soundgas.com
British singer and musician Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull performs live on stage during a concert at the Admiralspalast on September 25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson has taken to social media to blast AI-generated content that has apparently been fooling the band’s fans.
“It has come to our attention that fake fan websites and social media accounts are displaying AI-generated content purporting to be by me – whether lyrics, music or social commentary,” he wrote in a post on Instagram. “If you see this insidious, childish and dishonest material, please ignore it as it will not be genuine. If you haven’t read or seen it on our official social media platforms then it is most likely fake or, at best, copied and pasted from our legitimate sources.”
Anderson notes that Jethro Tull isn’t the only band to experience “their public personae tampered with and faked for the amusement of the perpetrators or even financial gain in some cases.”
“This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of a future where AI at its worst is accepted and tolerated in society,” he added. “As the AI algorithms become more sophisticated, it will be harder and harder to spot the fakes and we will all be reduced to simply not trusting ANY source of information or entertainment.”
He concluded the post by writing, “Sad world and sadder times…”
Jethro Tull is set to kick off a European tour on Feb. 11 in Munich, Germany. A complete list of dates can be found at JethroTull.com.
: David Lee Roth performs at Meritage Resort on September 14, 2025 in Napa, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images)
David Lee Roth is going on tour this year.
The former Van Halen frontman just announced dates for a new trek that kicks off April 16 near Spokane, Washington. The tour hits such cities as Tucson, Memphis, Orlando, Nashville, Boston and more, before wrapping June 20 in Milwaukee, with the latter show being part of Milwaukee Summerfest.
Roth’s 2026 schedule also includes a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on Aug. 7 in Sturgis, South Dakota.
A ticket presale begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
Roth returned to performing in 2025, which marked his first time on stage in five years. His first show back was a headlining spot at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland, where he treated fans to a set filled with Van Halen tunes.
Cover of Peter Gabriel single “Been Undone.” Artwork by Janaina Mello Landini (Real World Music Ltd / Sony Music Publishing/Peter Gabriel Ltd.)
Peter Gabriel has dropped his first new song of the new year.
The rocker released “Been Undone,” the lead single off his upcoming album o/i, the follow up to 2023’s i/o.
As he did with i/o, Gabriel plans to release a new song from the album with each full moon of the year. The entire album will be released by the end of 2026, along with Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes, handled by Tchad Blake and Mark “Spike” Stent, respectively.
“Been Undone (Dark-Side Remix)” is available now via digital outlets.
Like i/o, each new song release will be accompanied by a piece of art. The artwork for “Been Undone,” titled Ciclotrama 156 (Palindrome), comes from São Paulo–based artist Janaina Mello Landini.
“The first artwork is a special piece from Janaina Mello Landini. The way she takes the rope and moves it out, unravelling it, is almost like fractals or tree trunks and looks like the brain in some ways too, so I see a lot of entry points,” Gabriel shares. “I am delighted that Janaina is willing to participate and be part of the process.”
He adds, “We are using one of her existing images for this month to open the whole proceedings but I’m excited that she’s now going to create a piece, especially for the song.”
Fifty years ago, Bob Dylan released his 17th studio album, Desire, which went to #1 on the Billboard chart, and remained there for five weeks.
The album, the follow up to 1975’s Blood on the Tracks, had Dylan backed by the musicians he used for his Rolling Thunder Revue tours, with Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakley providing backup vocals.
Notable songs on the album include “Hurricane,” which he wrote about the murder case against boxer Rubin“Hurricane” Carter, as well as “Isis” and “Sara,” the latter of which was written about his wife.
Many of the tunes on the album were co-written by Jacques Levy, and in 2020 Levy’s estate sued Dylan and Universal Music Group claiming they were entitled to compensation from the sale of Dylan’s catalog. Dylan’s lawyers claimed Levy was hired under a “work for hire” arrangement, and Dylan won the suit.
Desire went on to become one of Dylan’s best-selling studio albums, and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA.
