In news that we’re shocked hadn’t happened already, Metallica now has an official podcast.
The series, simply titled The Metallica Podcast, begins with an eight-episode exploration of the metal legends’ legendary 1991 self-titled record, aka The Black Album. The first episode is set to premiere later this month, presumably to coincide with The Black Album‘s upcoming 30th anniversary on August 12.
Frontman James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett will all be taking part in the podcast.
Meanwhile, Metallica has also been prepping a 30th anniversary deluxe reissue of The Black Album, as well as the 53-track Metallica Blacklist tribute compilation. Both releases are due out September 10.
Patricia Kennealy-Morrison in 1990; Tim Roney/Getty Images
Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, a rock music journalist, author and one-time romantic partner of Doors frontman Jim Morrison, died on July 23 at the age of 75.
Kennealy-Morrison’s passing was reported on the Facebook page of Lizard Queen Press, a publishing brand she founded.
“To say we are all reeling from the news is an understatement,” the message about Kennealy-Morrison reads. “We will miss our friend very very much. She was a beautiful soul, a talented writer, and a loving and wonderful friend.” No cause of death was mentioned.
According to The New York Times, Kennealy-Morrison met Jim Morrison in 1969 when she interviewed him for Jazz & Pop magazine, for which she was editor-in-chief. She and the singer soon began a romantic relationship. In 1970, Patricia, who practiced Celtic paganism, took part in a matrimonial “hand-fasting ceremony” with Morrison that involved drops of their blood.
Their relationship remained a long-distance one until Jim’s death in 1971.
In 1979, Patricia added “Morrison” to her last name, and she served as a technical adviser on the 1991 Oliver Stone-directed biopic The Doors. She was portrayed by Kathleen Quinlan in the film, in which she also had a cameo, appearing as the priestess who performed the hand-fasting ceremony.
Kennealy-Morrison later criticized the movie, according to The New York Times, feeling it didn’t feature her prominently enough and that it trivialized the ceremony. In 1992, she published a memoir titled Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison, which she said was a response to The Doors movie.
Kennealy-Morrison later wrote fantasy novels and rock-music-themed mystery books.
A star-studded concert celebrating the career and philanthropic work of ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons that was held in May at Nashville’s famous Grand Ole Opry House will premiere on various U.S. television stations on different dates in August and September.
Gibbons himself took part in the benefit event, which was presented by America Salutes You and raised money for several charities that aid military members, veterans and first responders.
The show’s lineup included country stars Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Ronnie Milsap and Travis Tritt, ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, lauded singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams, and actor/musician Dennis Quaid.
The show featured a house band led by keyboardist Martin Guigui, who played in Gibbons’ solo backing band The BFG’s, and also included ex-Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed, as well as trombonist Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg and trumpet player Mike Pender of The Max Weinberg 7 and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes.
Fans who want to view the concert are encouraged to donate to America Salutes You via the organization’s website.
“A sold out audience at the Grand Ole Opry House enjoyed an amazing show honoring Mr. Gibbons,” says America Salutes You executive producer Bob Okun. “Now a national TV audience can enjoy the same dynamic concert special while supporting charities assisting our veterans and first responders with their generous on-line donations.”
Gibbons recently released his third solo album, Hardware, and he’s currently on tour with ZZ Top, whose longtime bassist, Dusty Hill, sadly passed away on July 28 at age 72.
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts may have to sit out the band’s rescheduled U.S. leg of their No Filter Tour this fall.
A spokesman for Watts, 80, confirmed that it is “unlikely” the drummer will be able to join the 13-date tour. Watts, who joined the Stones in 1963, is recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.
“Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation,” his rep said in a statement. “With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming.”
Watts wasn’t thrilled by the decision, but explained that this is what’s best for his health and the band.
“For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while,” he explained in a statement. “After all the fans’ suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation.”
Watts said his “great friend” Steve Jordan will be his No Filter Tour understudy. Jordan says that, while he’s looking forward to rehearsing with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — he is more excited about the possibility of Watts recovering in time to join the trek.
“No one will be happier than me to give up my seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he is good to go,” he said.
The No Filter Tour starts September 26 in St. Louis, Missouri.
A remastered edition of Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe‘s acclaimed 2000 film inspired by his experiences as a teenage Rolling Stone journalist during the 1970s, was released last month on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.
In addition, expanded box-set versions of the film’s classic-rock-packed soundtrack are due out on August 20. Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, who was married to Crowe during the making of Almost Famous, composed the film’s score, co-wrote the original songs for Stillwater — the fictional band at the center of the movie — and served as a technical consultant and mentor to the actors.
Wilson tells ABC Audio that the movie “was a really, really great project to be part of.”
One of her interesting tasks was coaching Billy Crudup, who portrayed Stillwater guitarist Russell Hammond, on how to fake like he knew how to play the instrument.
“[M]ost of [what] I tried to show him…was all about the body language,” Nancy notes. “It was all about slouching…You gotta, like, lean on one foot, and you’ve got to have your guitar super low-slung.”
Wilson also remembers doing “a rock school thing,” where the actors were shown “video after video of The Who and [Led] Zeppelin and everybody from that era.”
As for creating Stillwater’s songs, Wilson says she and Crowe envisioned “a [meat-and-potatoes] band that would be a conglomerate of Bad Company and The Allman Brothers and maybe a little bit of R.E.M.,” whose tunes had “basic, bluesy chords [and] simple changes.”
To record the original tunes, Nancy enlisted such notable musicians as Peter Frampton, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready and ex-Heart drummer Ben Smith.
Wilson’s complete score and various versions of the songs she co-wrote for the film will be featured on the Almost Famous box sets.
Images from Chris Cornell‘s final photo shoot are being auctioned off as NFTs.
The pictures were taken in 2017 by Randall Slavin, photographer and friend of the late Soundgarden frontman. They’ve been authenticated by Chris’ widow, Vicky Cornell.
You can bid on the NFTs starting Thursday, August 5, via the platform Cryptograph.co. Proceeds will benefit Phoenix House, which assists those struggling with substance use disorder.
Previously, images from Kurt Cobain‘s final photo shoot were also sold as NFTs.
Elena Di Vincenzo/Archivio Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Besides being the godmother of punk, Patti Smith also is an acclaimed poet and an award-winning author. So it’s no surprise Smith is the singer with the biggest vocabulary, according to a new study that ranks 200 different music artists based on their song lyrics.
Word.Tips, which conducted the study, found that Smith uses 217 unique words per 1,000 words appearing in her songs.
At #2 is legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with 199. Other veteran artists ranked in the top 20 include late Doors frontman Jim Morrison at #4, with 177; Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers at #12, with 151; The Eagles‘ Don Henley at #17, with 149; Freddie Mercury at #18, with 148; and Gregg Allman at #20, with 144.
Perhaps surprisingly, Bob Dylan, the singer/songwriter considered by many to be one of the music world’s greatest wordsmiths, was at #44 on the list with 130 unique words per 1,000 — tied with David Bowie.
However, Dylan does top a separate list ranking the artists who have used the most unique words over the course of their entire career. According to the study, he has 12,285 different words in his songs. Prince is second on the tally, with 11,430; Elton John is third, with 9,467; Lou Reed‘s fourth, with 8,979; and Bruce Springsteen is fifth, with 8,862.
The artists that are part of the study came from Rolling Stone‘s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” and a list of Spotify’s 100 most-listened-to modern stars as determined by Kworb.net.
John Mellencamp‘s recently announced documentary The Good Samaritan Tour 2000will premiere August 27 on Turner Classic Movies’ YouTube channel, and a companion live album will be released the same day.
As previously reported, the film focuses on Mellencamp’s 2000 trek of the same name, which featured a series of free, unannounced concerts held at parks, on street corners and in other public spaces in select major cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast. John played acoustic guitar at the shows, backed by only a viola player and an accordion player.
The doc is narrated by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey.
Mellencamp co-produced the film, which was directed by Shan Dan Horan. The movie also includes special contributions from Nora Guthrie, daughter of late folk legend Woody Guthrie.
You can check out a trailer for The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 at John’s official YouTube channel. Following the movie’s debut, Mellencamp will appear as a guest programmer on the Turner Classic Movies network in September.
The soundtrack album, which is available for pre-order now, features 12 performances, including renditions the Mellencamp hits “Small Town” and “Pink Houses,” some deeper cuts from his catalog and covers of such tunes as Bob Dylan‘s “All Alng the Watchtower,” Donovan‘s “Hey Gyp” and The Rolling Stones‘ “Street Fighting Man.”
Here’s the full track list for The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 companion album:
“Small Town”
“Oklahoma Hills”
“In My Time of Dying”
“Captain Bobby Stout”
“Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)”
“All Along the Watchtower”
“The Spider and the Fly”
“Early Bird Café”
“Hey Gyp”
“Street Fighting Man”
“Cut Across Shorty”
“Pink Houses”
Life is ours, we live it our way. And that includes watching Metallica‘s “Nothing Else Matters” video many, many times.
The visual for the Black Album hit single has officially passed one billion views on YouTube, making it the first-ever Metallica video to reach the milestone.
“Nothing Else Matters” is also the just the sixth ’90s music video to join the billion-views club, following Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Guns N’ Roses‘ “November Rain,” The Cranberries‘ “Zombie,” 4 Non Blondes‘ “What’s Up,” and Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You.”
Originally released in 1992 before being uploaded to YouTube in 2009, the “Nothing Else Matters” video shows Metallica working and hanging out the studio while recording their massive 1991 self-titled record, aka The Black Album.
Fittingly, “Nothing Else Matters” hit the billion-views mark just ahead of The Black Album‘s 30th anniversary, August 12. Metallica will be celebrating the occasion with a massive deluxe reissue and the 53-track Metallica Blacklist tribute album, both of which drop on September 10.
Carlos Santana has announced plans to release the first single from his band’s forthcoming studio album, Blessings and Miracles, later this month.
Coinciding with the news, the legendary guitarist has announced that the star-studded project will be released as part of a new global deal he’s signed with the BMG label.
“I am honored to partner with BMG to release Blessings and Miracles,” Carlos says in a statement. “I would like to thank everyone at BMG for sharing our collective commonality-vision to touch people’s hearts with energy, conviction and integrity. Now more than ever, we need songs and melodies to remind us that we are significant, meaningful and that life is full of blessings and miracles.”
BMG executive Thomas Scherer adds, “Listening to and feeling this album is an embrace of the source from where we all come from. Blessings and Miracles is full of joy, and we are grateful to be his partner in spreading this musical treasure to his fans and new fans everywhere around the world.”
Santana recently revealed to ABC Audio that Blessings and Miracles will feature guest appearances by Steve Winwood, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, Living Colour frontman Corey Glover and Fifth Harmony‘s Ally Brooke, among others. In addition, Carlos reported that hit-making songwriter Diane Warren and country star Chris Stapleton have contributed tunes to the album.
Carlos’ next performance will be at the star-packed “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” event taking place August 21 in New York City’s Central Park. The Santana band then is slated to kick off a new series of Las Vegas residency dates at the House of Blues on August 25. Check out the group’s full schedule at Santana.com.
