Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

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RAY MANZAREK, 1935-2013: Ray Manzarek, a co-founder of the legendary L.A.-based classic rock band the Doors, passed away on May 20 at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74. Manzarek, whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complimented Doors frontman Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs including "Light My Fire," "Riders On the Storm" and "L.A. Woman," formed the Doors in 1965 after meeting iconic singer/poet Jim Morrison on L.A.'s Venice Beach. His playing was integral to the band's sound, since the band had no bass guitarist and most of the basslines were played by Manzarek on his keyboards. Next to Morrison, Manzarek was the most distinctive looking Doors member, his glasses and wavy blond hair making him resemble a young English professor more than a rock star. Born in Chicago on Feb. 12, 1935, Manzarek studied classical piano as a child and relocated to Los Angeles in 1962 to study film at UCLA's Graduate School of Film, where Morrison was also a student. The two decided to form a band after bumping into each other on a beach in Venice, Calif., in the summer of 1965, where Manzarek was a member of a local blues band, Rick and the Ravens. After Morrison recited one of his poems, "Moonlight Drive," to Manzarek, Manzarek suggested they collaborate on songs. "I'd never heard lyrics to a rock song like that before. We talked a while before we decided to get a group together and make a million dollars," Manzarek once recalled. Manzarek's brothers, Rick and Jim, served as guitarists until Manzarek met guitarist John Densmore, who then brought in his fellow bandmate in the Psychedelic Rangers, drummer Robby Krieger. Morrison christened the band the Doors, after Aldous Huxley's book on mescaline, The Doors of Perception. The band soon recorded a demo tape, and in the summer of 1966 they began working as the house band at L.A.'s Whiskey-A-Go-Go, where they were spotted by Elektra Records head Jac Holzman. Elektra artist Arthur Lee of Love convinced Holzman to sign the band, and an edited version of "Light My Fire" from their eponymous 1967 debut album became a No. 1 hit in the US, while "progressive" FM radio played (and analyzed) the album's final track, "The End." "We knew once people heard us, we'd be unstoppable. We knew what the people wanted: the same thing the Doors wanted. Freedom," Manzarek wrote in his 1998 memoir, Light My Fire. Morrison died in 1971, soon after the group completed their L.A. Woman album, and the Doors carried on for two more albums, but they split in 1973 after selling more than 100 million albums worldwide throughout their 8-year career. The Doors retained a large and obsessive following, and Manzarek remained extremely busy, producing albums for the L.A. band X and collaborating with such artists as Philip Glass, Iggy Pop, Echo & the Bunnymen and others. In 2002, he began touring as the Doors of the 21st Century with Krieger and singer Ian Astbury of the Cult. In 2003, Doors drummer John Densmore filed a lawsuit over Manzarek and Krieger's use of the Doors name, which lead to a protracted legal battle. "I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," said Doors guitarist Robby Krieger upon learning of Manzarek's death. "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him," he added. Manzarek is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his son Pablo and two brothers, Rick and James. Funeral arrangements are pending. - Yahoo News/AP/Rolling Stone, 5/20/13.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH: Original Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers says he has not one but two new solo albums in progress as he prepares for a 40th anniversary Bad Company tour this summer. One is a collection of soul covers "with an emphasis on Stax" -- the legendary Memphis soul studio where such soul icons as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave laid down tracks. Rodgers says he's recorded the songs at Stax and hopes to mix the album during May for a possible fall release. Meanwhile, Rodgers and producer-engineer Perry Margouleff are also working on the follow-up to Rodgers' first album of original material since his 2000 effort, Electric. The 22-date 40th anniversary Bad Company tour launches June 15 and includes 13 shows with Lynyrd Skynyrd, who introduced Rodgers to his wife Canadian wife Cynthia in the mid-2000s. After meeting her in Vancouver and marrying her in 2007, Rodgers became a Canadian citizen in 2011. Rodgers says a new Bad Company album, however, remains a long shot even though his fellow surviving band co-founders Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke mention it from time to time. "Anything's possible. I do keep an open mind, I must say. But there are no plans right now, no," Rodgers says. - Billboard, 5/12/13.

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 5/16: Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield, currently orbiting the globe in the International Space Station, has created an Internet sensation with a video re-imagining of David Bowie's 1969 classic "Space Oddity." In the five-minute clip, Hadfield is seen floating in zero-gravity while strumming his acoustic guitar, and looking at spectacular images of our world few will witness with their own eyes. "I'm floating in the most peculiar way," sings Hadfield, adrift in zero gravity with an acoustic guitar. Hadfield's "Space Oddity" is set to a full arrangement, recorded back here on earth by producer Joe Corcoran and piano arranger Emm Gryner. The vocals and guitar, however, were recorded in space. The 53-year-old Hadfield has achieved the dream of many Bowie wannabes of a certain era, and timed it to coincide with the conclusion of his five-month mission in space. Meanwhile, the popular '90s alternative band Smashing Pumpkins also covered "Space Oddity" at this year's SXSW festival in Austin, Tex., and the footage has recently surfaced online. The performance is taken from their Guitar Centre Sessions show, which, according to Rolling Stone, will be aired in full on DirectTV on May 17. - Billboard/NME...... Cable TV's HBO channel will be airing highlights from the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on May 18 from 9:00-11:50 p.m. EDT. Rush, Randy Newman, Donna Summer, Heart and Albert King were among the inductees during the Apr. 18 ceremony, which was the first held in Los Angeles in more than two decades....... Bob Dylan was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters on May 15, marking the first time a musician has been tapped as an honorary member for the prestigious award. "For more than 50 years, defying categorization in a culture beguiled by categories, Bob Dylan has probed and prodded our psyches, recording and then changing our world and our lives through poetry made manifest in song -- creating relationships that we never imagined could exist between words, emotions and ideas," read the citation awarded to Dylan, who was unable to attend the induction in person. Dylan was voted in as an honorary member after Academy officials could not decide whether to recognize him for songwriting or music. Instead of choosing one category where he could fit among the elite group of 250 regular members, the Academy voted him in as an honorary member -- an even shorter list that includes actress Meryl Streep and directors Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. - Rolling Stone...... EMI announced on May 16 that the Beatles' 1965 movie Help! will be released on Blu-ray with an hour of extra features in late June, nearly 48 years after its original theatrical release. Sporting a digitally-restored feature, the disc will also feature a 30-minute documentary on the making of Help!, an outtake scene, original trailers and radio spots, memories of the cast and crew, and an in-depth look at the restoration process. Richard Lester, Help!'s director, presents and introduction to the film, and Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese delivers an appreciation of the movie. Help! was restored for its 2007 DVD release, and the Blu-ray edition follows the 2012 release of a digitally-restored Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour films on Blu-ray, DVD and iTunes. The Help! Blu-ray arrives on June 25 in North America, a day earlier in Europe, and on June 21 in Australia. - Billboard...... In other Beatles-related news, Yoko Ono participated in an interview on BBC Radio 4's "Woman Hour" on May 14 to promote her forthcoming curation of the UK's Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in June, and said being married to a Beatle was "harder than being the wife of a politician." "That's why I have so much respect and love for the other Beatles' wives. It's the most difficult thing to be. I think it's more difficult than being a politician's wife, because it's endless. We have a position that is endless," said Ono, who also spoke in-depth about the experience of recording her and her late husband Lennon's 1980 album Double Fantasy. Yoko also thanked Paul McCartney for recently saying she wasn't to blame for breaking up the Beatles. "He was very sweet to say that, and he probably needed closure to say that," she said. "That's why he couldn't say that until now. He knew me -- we knew each other for 30, 40 years or something -- but there was no way to say anything like that because people just liked the idea that we were fighting like crazy in a boxing ring," Ono added. Yoko and a 2013 version of the Plastic Ono Band will headline the Meltdown festival, which runs from June 14-June 21, on the opening day at the Royal Festival Hall. - New Musical Express...... Meanwhile, a lifelong friend of late Beatles manager Brian Epstein has released a new book that claims John Lennon wanted to return to the UK before he was assassinated in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980. Writing in his new tome Standing In The Wings: The Beatles, Brian Epstein And Me, Joe Flannery says John "was very well and happy but he missed Liverpool, he missed the others and he missed London but he told me at one stage that he regretted getting 'too political'. He said that he had made a bit of a 'tit of himself'," Flannery says. The author adds that Lennon wanted to return to his native UK "before that bastard [Pres. Richard] Nixon gets me." "He was convinced that even out of office Nixon carried power and wanted him dead. He felt some kind of curse was hanging over him," Flannery added. - NME...... Modern rockers the Dropkick Murphys are releasing a duet with Bruce Springsteen for a special charity EP that will benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing attack on Apr. 15. The three-song EP will feature a re-recording of the Dropkick Murphys song "Rose Tattoo" with Springsteen, along with live acoustic versions of the songs "Jimmy Collins's Wake" and "Don't Tear Us Apart," on iTunes on May 15 as a $1.29 bundle. Springsteen previously worked with the Dropkick Murphys on their Going Out in Style album, and guitarist James Lynch says the Boss called the Boston-based band on the day of the tragedy and asked what he could do to help the victims. "We didn't have to reach out. He was there for us," Lynch says. Springsteen is currently touring Europe on his 2013 Wrecking Ball tour. He recently played the entire Born to Run album at a stop in Copenhagen, Denmark, and all of Born in the USA in Stockholm, Sweden. - Billboard...... Kiss principals Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have announced ambitious expansion plans for their co-owned "Rock & Brews" restaurant franchise in the next few years. Stanley and Simmons, who recently opened their third restaurant and second Los Angeles area location in a year, say they plan on opening 100 more Rock & Brews eateries in the next five years. "We are spreading our tentacles!" Stanley said. "It's a family friendly place where you dont have to compromise your palate. Most of the time when you bring your kids to a restaurant, you are eating cardboard pizza or dried out macaroni and cheese. This is really your place where you can hang out, choose from one of our 80 craft beers, hear quality rock music and have a great night with your friends," he added. Stanley also says Kiss is preparing to kick off a European tour in Stockholm this summer. "We have a brand new stage show that will be bigger and spectacular," he said. - The Hollywood Reporter...... As the Michael Jackson civil trial continues in Los Angeles, a state attorney filed court papers on May 14 stating the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Jackson's physician Dr. Conrad Murray should not be overturned because there were no serious errors made by the judge overseeing his criminal case. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Victoria B. Wilson said Murray's own lawyers forfeited several opportunities to object to a judge's rulings in the case, and also said jurors were presented overwhelming evidence that Murray's actions caused Jackson's death and his conviction should be upheld. A day earlier, an associate choreographer who worked on Jackson's planned comeback concerts testified that she didn't see any signs that the pop superstar was ill or might die in the final days of his life. "I just never in a million years thought he would leave us, or pass away," Stacy Walker told jurors hearing a lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother against concert promoter AEG Live LLC. "It just never crossed my mind." Walker, who is testifying for AEG, said Jackson appeared thinner than he had been in previous years and wore multiple layers of clothes while rehearing for his "This Is It" shows planned for London's O2 arena. But she added despite Jackson missing multiple rehearsals, she was convinced based on his performances the last two days of his life that he was ready for the series of shows. - AP...... John Fogerty's upcoming duets album Wrote a Song for Everyone will include a remake of the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman's 1969 anti-war anthem "Fortunate Son" with the Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl, playing rhythm guitar, helps Fogerty wail "It ain't me" as Fogerty plays the songs' irresistible guitar lick. "You could tell a band was in there. It was a unique group of people," says Fogerty, who will release Wrote a Song for Everyone on May 28. Other collaborators on the LP, his ninth solo effort since disbanding CCR, include Kid Rock, My Morning Jacket, Bob Seger, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Allen Toussaint and Jennifer Hudson. To celebrate his upcoming birthday and the release of the album, Fogerty is hosting a special one-night-only show on May 28 at El Rey in Los Angeles. The performance will be captured with a live broadcast on AXS TV. - Rolling Stone...... The Rolling Stones were joined onstage by "Teenage Dream" singer Katy Perry during their show at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 11. Perry jammed with Stones frontman Mick Jagger on the band's 1978 Some Girls classic, "Beast of Burden," and afterward an elated Perry immediately tweeted she "gyrated on Mick Jagger." The Rolling Stones are currently on their "50 & Counting Tour" in the US. Meanwhile, it has just been announced by ABKCO Records that three of the band's classic albums -- 1968's Beggars Banquet, 1969's Let It Bleed and the 1971 double-LP hits collection Hot Rocks 1964-1971 -- will be released as remastered versions on 180-gram clear vinyl in late May. In more Stones-related news, former bassist Bill Wyman recently told the Huffington Post that he will "never" play live with his old band again. "I've always maintained that you can't go back to things, and they can never be the same," said Wyman. "If you try to go back and have a relationship with someone, it doesn't work, and it's the same musically. It doesn't work. It was a one-off. Five minutes. OK, never again. No regrets, we're still great friends," he added. - New Musical Express...... Soul legend Aretha Franklin has been forced to cancel concerts in Chicago and Connecticut later in May on doctor's recommendation. Her physicians say Franklin, 71, will need treatment during the time period shows were scheduled with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on May 20 and at Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Connecticut on May 26. The release doesn't specify what kind of treatment Franklin, who underwent a surgery in late 2010 for an undisclosed health problem, was to receive. Prior to that operation, she was forced to miss various concerts and personal appearances. The soul great said at the time that she had suffered severe pain in her side, sparking rumors -- which she denied -- that that she was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. - AP/Billboard...... Sony Pictures Worldwide has struck a multi-market deal to distribute Spinning Gold, the upcoming Justin Timberlake-starred biopic of late '70s record mogul Neil Bogart. Timothy Scott Bogart, Neil Bogart's son, wrote the script and is co-producing alongside Timberlake, Laurence Mark, Gary A. Randall and Mark Damon. The film is set to start shooting early next year, although a director hasn't yet been announced. RCA Records, Timberlake's label, will also partner on the project and will release the movies soundtrack. Spinning Gold is set to start shooting early next year, although a director hasn't yet been announced. RCA Records will also partner on the project and will release the movies soundtrack. The movie is described as a "rags-to-riches story" chronicling the tale of a poor kid from Brooklyn who went on to define the pop music culture of his time. In his day, Bogart, who died at the age of 39 in 1982, was credited with discovering and launching the careers of a generation of superstars, including Donna Summer, Kiss, Village People, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Gladys Knight and Parliament. - The Hollywood Reporter...... Trailblazing broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, known for her interviews with world leaders and celebrities and the first woman to co-anchor a U.S. evening news program, announced on May 13 she will retire in the summer of 2014. Walters, 83, announced her upcoming resignation on The View, the all-woman show she created in 1997. "I have been on television for over 50 years. In the summer of 2014 I plan to retire from appearing on television," said Walters, who started her career in television journalism in 1961 as a writer on NBC's Today, She later became the first woman to co-host. In 1976, she became the first woman to co-anchor a television evening news broadcast on any U.S. network for "ABC Evening News." More recently, she has been with the ABC television network for 37 years, working as a producer and host of the ABC news magazine 20/20 and as a correspondent for ABC News. - Reuters...... Popular psychologist, columnist, and television and film personality Dr. Joyce Brothers died on May 13 in New York City. She was 85. Dr. Brothers was a pioneer of the television advice show who rose to fame after she entered a television quiz show called The $64,000 Question. She became the only woman to ever win the show's top prize, and was a frequent guest on many '60s and '70s TV talks shows and even regular series, appearing as herself. - AP

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 5/11: A musical inspired by the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be is coming to Broadway this summer. "Let It Be" has been in production on London's West End, and will begin performances July 16 at the St. James Theatre, with official opening slated for July 24. The musical, which samples from 40 of the band's greatest hits including the title song, "Yesterday," "Hey Jude" and Come Together," is the latest in a string of Beatles tribute shows that includes Cirque du Soleil's "Love" and the bio-musical about the group's early days, "Backbeat." Produced on Broadway by Jeff Parry/Annerin Productions, "Let It Be" is scheduled to run through Dec. 29, and a cast and creative team will be announced at a later date. - The Hollywood Reporter...... In other Beatles-related news, a rare guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison arrived in London in early May before it goes under the hammer at auction. The custom-made 1966 VOX electric guitar was played by Harrison and Lennon during the band's 1967 Magical Mystery Tour era, and was given to the band's friend "Magic Alex" Mardas by Lennon. A plaque attached to the back of the instrument reads "To Magic Alex/ Alexi thank you/ for been [sic] a friend/ 2-5-1967 John." According to Madras, the date refers to his 25th birthday earlier that year and not the date the guitar was given to him. It's one of the few guitars known to exist that was played by both Lennon and Harrison. - New Musical Express...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a telegram sent to Paul McCartney by the legendary axman Jimi Hendrix inquiring if McCartney would be interested in joining him, trumpet legend Miles Davis, and virtuoso jazz drummer Tony Williams in a new "super group" has come to light with the posthumous release of Hendrix's People Hell & Angels album, which came out Mar. 5. "We are recording and (sic) LP together this weekend in New York (sic). How about coming in to play bass. Stop. Call Alvan Douglas (sic) 212-5823323. Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams," the telegram reads. The missive has been part of the Hard Rock Cafe's collection since 1995, and is currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Prague, Czech Republic. Hard Rock spokesman Jeff Nolan says only "major Hendrix connoisseurs" are aware of Hendrix's plan to reach out to the other musicians. "It would have been one of the most insane super groups. These four cats certainly reinvented their instruments and the way they're perceived," he says. There's some evidence that McCartney was unaware about the invitation when it was issued. Reportedly, Beatles assistant Peter Brown responded to the telegram the day after receiving it and told Hendrix and Davis that McCartney was on vacation and wouldn't be back for two weeks. When Jimi Hendrix died on Sept. 8, 1970, the project perished with him. - Yahoo News...... In other Macca news, Sir Paul treated fans in Brazil to several Beatles songs that were never or rarely played live during his May 6 show at the 55,000 capacity Mineiro Stadium in Belo Horizone. McCartney played such unexpected Fab Four chestnuts as "Your Mother Should Know," "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite," "Lovely Rita" and "All Together Now" in Belo Horizone, a city he'd never played before. He opened his 36-song set with "Eight Days a Week," a song never played before by McCartney and only one time by the Beatles -- in 1965. He also gave a rare work-out to "We Can Work It Out," which hasn't been included in his set since his 2004 show at Glastonbury festival in the U.K. His Belo Horizonte gig came after a Facebook campaign which thousands of fans got behind, and some of the fans who had led the petition were invited onstage. One of the girls, Cecilia Cury (21), flaunted her Beatles tattoo -- and had the bass player autograph it in on stage. Paul is scheduled to kick off a U.S. leg of the tour on May 18 at Orlando's Amway Center; afterward he'll begin a string of European dates on June 22 in Warsaw. - Billboard...... The boyhood home of rock & roll legend Little Richard in Macon, Ga., is being moved to spare it from a new highway construction project where I-75 meets Interstate 16 to Savannah. Macon Mayor Robert Reichert announced on May 10 that the home in the Pleasant Hill section of the city will be relocated to a lot near the Pleasant Hill community garden. At its new location, the house will be used as a neighborhood resource center. Little Richard, 80, is scheduled to receive an honorary degree on May 11 from Mercer University. - AP...... A high school choir from Henderson, Nev., is set to join the Rolling Stones on May 11 as the band plays the MGM Grand Garden Arena in nearby Las Vegas. The 24-member choir will back the Stones as they encore with "You Can't Always Get What You Want" after sealing the deal with an audition via Skype for a Stones rep in London. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Mick Jagger demanded an apology from Keith Richards as a "prerequisite" to a Rolling Stones reunion. In his 2010 autobiograpy Life, Richards wrote of his bandmate and songwriting partner: "Marianne Faithfull had no fun with his tiny todger. I know he's got an enormous pair of balls, but it doesn't quite fill the gap." "I don't really want to talk about it apart from that, but I think it's good that he said it, and yes, it was a prerequisite, really," Jagger told Rolling Stone about the apology. However, in a separate interview with the magazine, Richards said, " I said I regret if I caused you any, you know, inconvenience or pain, or something... I'd say anything to get the band together, you know? I'd lie to my mother." The Rolling Stones are currently on their "50 & Counting Tour" in the US. The band return to the UK for their Glastonbury headline set on June 29 and a pair of massive gigs in London's Hyde Park on July 6 and 13. - AP/New Musical Express...... In other Stones news, a recording of their Oct. 17, 1973 show at the Forest Hills Arena in Brussels, Belgium, that has been part of Google Music's Stones Archive series since 2011 is now physically available as the Brussels Affair box set, a high-end package that includes the show on 180-gram vinyl, a limited-edition book of photos, a tour lithograph and even a tongue-and-lips-styled watch. Selling for $750, a Universal spokesman says, "It's a great gift whether it's your 50th birthday or 40th birthday or your wedding. It's not cheap, but it was never meant to be cheap." The band plans to release similar box sets for other Stones Archive material, including a deluxe set from a 1981 concert in Virginia, when Keith Richards famously hit a stage-rushing fan on the head with his Telecaster. - Rolling Stone...... Before Peter Frampton became a platinum album seller in the '70s with his Frampton Comes Alive! solo LP, the guitarist was a member of the English hard rock band Humble Pie. Now Frampton and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley are working on a new Humble Pie box set culled from the group's four May 1971 shows at New York's Fillmore East which were the source of Humble Pie's legendary Performance - Rockin' the Fillmore live album. "It's so great to be able to take yesterday's 24-track (tape) and use today's technology to bring out what's really there. And it's phenomenal," Frampton recently told Billboard. "Just to hear Steve (Marriott) talk, and we haven't edited anything out. It's just from the moment we walk on stage to the moment we walk off. Nothing is edited at all," he added. Jerry Shirley is writing the liner notes for the set, whose release date has not been set. Frampton says a career-spanning Humble Pie box set will likely come out in 2014, while there's a possibility he and Shirley may put together some sort of live representation of Humble Pie's music to coincide with these releases. Frampton says he's also working on some new solo music as well, but he's particularly keen to see the release of the seven new songs he created for a collaboration with the Cincinnati Ballet in April, including "The Promenade Retreat," "Norman Wisdom" and "Friendly Fire." On May 26, he'll kick off his summer Guitar Circus tour, featuring special guests B.B. King, Robert Cray and Sonny Landreth. - Billboard...... Georgia Holt, the 86-year-old grandmother better known as Cher's mom, made her Billboard Country chart debut in early May with her debut effort, Honky Tonk Woman. The song bowed at No. 13 on the Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 43 on the Top Country Albums chart. Initially recorded in 1980 with members of Elvis Presley's band, the sessions sat unreleased in Holt's garage until they were recently rediscovered. "Basically, we just kept Mom's voice and put everything else new on it," Cher recently explained during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Cher duets with her mother on the album, which includes covers of "Love Me Tender" and "Cryin' Time" in addition to original material written by Holt. In other Cher-related news, DJ and record producer Peter Rauhofer has died at age 48 after a long battle with brain cancer. Rauhofer was best known for his remix of Cher's "Believe," which he won a Grammy Award in 1999, as well as for dance remixes for such artists as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and Britney Spears. - Billboard/NME...... Michael Jackson's estate is denying new charges of child molestation against the late pop superstar from Wade Robson, a choreographer and television personality who was a key witness in Jackson's successful defense against child molestation charges. Robson, 30, is seeking permission to file a claim against the singer's estate alleging Jackson sexually abused him as a child, according to court records and his attorney. Robson met Jackson when he was five, and the two developed a friendship. Wade began spending time at Neverland Ranch and Jackson's homes in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for sleepovers by age seven, and the visits continued until he was 14. Jackson's estate has fired back against the new allegations. "This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him," Howard Weitzman, lawyer for the Jackson estate, told TMZ.com. "Now, nearly 4 years after Michael has passed, this sad and less than credible claim has been made," Weitzman added. Jackson's family is also currently in the middle of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the singer's mother against concert promoter AEG Live. - Rolling Stone...... In related news, Jackson's brother Jermain Jackson has launched a campaign to find five young talented Australians to turn them into a modern day version of the Jackson 5. Jermaine says he'll use social media and the www.JJ5TV.com website to "find, select, train, and mentor 5 lucky Australians to becoming the next big all-round performing band." Once the new band "JJ5" is created, Jermaine says he'll guide them through recording and releasing of their first single and through a series of live performances to prepare to unleash them on a world tour. - Undercover...... The Doors now have their own iPad app illustrated by Elektra Records Jack Holzman's son Adam Holzman. The app, which costs $4.99 and includes hundreds of photos, cartoons, FBI documents and court transcripts, essays by Patti Smith and surviving Doors members, interviews and concert footage, is Holzman's attempt to document a storied band in the post-CD age. The Doors' brief and strange history is organized according to albums and incidents. Holzman, 81, signed the Doors in 1966 and spent 16 months working on the new app, which was released May 8. "It really pulls you right into it," he says of the app, which is available for purchase on iTunes. Meanwhile, Doors drummer John Densmore has released The Doors Unhinged, his account of the band's post-Morrison legal saga in which he ended up battling his former bandmates in court after Cadillac offered the band a record-breaking $15 million deal to use Doors music in their ads in 2003, and Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek started touring under the Doors name. - Rolling Stone...... Willie Nelson, Carole King and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics were honored at with honarary doctorates by the Berklee College of Music during a Commencement Concert on May 11at Boston University's Agganis Arena. Nelson, who recently turned 80, was described as the "hippest octogenarian on planet Earth" by Berklee president Roger H. Brown. Nelson also made a surprise onstage appearance, as he led Berlee's huge student orchestra on a big band arrangement of his own standard "Night Life." King, taking in the concert a few rows from the stage, participated in an encore of her rock classic "The Locomotion" onstage, with a huge grin on her face. In recent years, Berklee has bestowed honorary degrees upon Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, to name a few. - Rolling Stone...... Almost 40 years after losing his one-of-a-kind bass guitar during a concert riot in Germany, Pete Sears of Jefferson Starship has been reunited with the instrument. Sears says the bass went missing in June 1978 during a riot at the Lorelei Festival, held at an outdoor venue overlooking the Rhine River. Jefferson Starship singer Grace Slick -- then battling alcohol addition -- had locked herself in the dressing room and refused to perform. Bad weather and the delay had the audience restless, and the band had to cancel the show. Recently, a German musician named Klaus Wilm responded to a 2009 post in a Grateful Dead forum by Tom Lieber, a luthier who worked on the guitar, about whether anyone had seen it. Wilm told Lieber he bought it between 1990 and 1991 from a studio musician in the Netherlands who claimed it once belonged to the bassist of the 1980s band Golden Earring. Lieber contacted Sears; a few exchanges later, Wilm agreed to sell back the bass to its original owner for $3,200 and shipped it to Lieber for restoration. "It's an antique now, like I am," jokes Sears. "I just can't wait to get it back and hold it again." - Rolling Stone...... Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham says his band has five more unreleased tracks from the sessions that also produced the three songs on the band's new Extended Play" digital release, EP, that came out May 6. "It may be too early to tell where things are going to go" with the remaining songs, (but) "it's safe to say there is more than these four songs that you're going to hear from Fleetwood Mac -- it's just a question of how and when, y'know?," Buckingham told Billboard. Fleetwood Mac is currently touring North America through July 6, then heads to Europe in September. The tour coincides with the 45th anniversary of the release of the very first Fleetwood Mac album. - Billboard...... Black Sabbath have filmed scenes for a special performance on an upcoming episode of the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The band, who have reformed to record their first album since 1978, will premiere their new song "End Of The Beginning" from their forthcoming LP 13 on the season finale of the CSI show when it airs on May 15. Also in the video, the show's star Ted Danson explains that the season finale will see his character DB Russell and a trio of suspect serial killers hold a meeting backstage at a Black Sabbath gig. "It's my first Black Sabbath concert, how cool is that?" says Danson. - NME...... The Catholic League, a leading Catholic advocacy group, is lashing out at David Bowie for his new video his song "The Next Day," which depicts Vatican stereotypes like corrupt cardinals, philandering priests and a Christ-like crooner played by the artist himself. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, issued a statement on the group's website just hours after the video debuted on May 7. Donohue describes Bowie as a "switch-hitting, bisexual, senior citizen from London" who has resurfaced. "The lyrics refer to the 'priest stiff in hate' and 'women dressed as men for the pleasure of that priest,'" Donohue writes. "In short, the video reflects the artist -- it is a mess." "The Next Day" is the third video and title track of Bowie's latest album. The Catholic League previously criticized Bowie in 1997, calling out the singer for "obviously posing as Christ" in an ad for Pulse magazine. "If this is supposed to be cute, it fails," he said at the time. A rep for Bowie has yet to respond to requests for comments. - Billboard...... After a decade of pillaging the Great American Songbook, Rod Stewart returns to co-writing his own material on Time, his new Capitol LP that dropped May 7. Many tracks, including the folk-inflected lead single, "She Makes Me Happy," are fairly anonymous, but ballad "Brighton Beach" and the anthemic "Can't Stop Me Now" serve as reminders that this is the man who brought us "Maggie May" -- and not just because he mentions the fact in the latter. - Entertainment Weekly...... Wax is no longer on the wane. Nielsen SoundScan reports that during the week of Apr. 21, 244,000 vinyl records were sold -- more than any other week since SoundScan began in 1991. The bump is thanks to the sixth annual Record Store Day, which fell on Apr. 20. "The younger generation has completely embraced the vinyl format," says Michael Kurtz, who organized the event. "Vinyl was dead in 2006, but now on Record Store Day, the average age is about 24." Top vinyl movers came from the Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and Phish, but all artists should be taking note, says Kurtz: "It's only getting bigger." - Entertainment Weekly...... Abba's Agnetha Faltskog recently told the UK's Daily Mail paper that she doesn't think the band "sounded very good" live during their '70s heyday. "Performing live is not my favourite. I am more of a recording person; I prefer to be private," she says. "I didn't mind doing videos, even if they came very close with the camera. I can take that, but walking onstage in concert and singing live, that is a bit difficult. And I don't think we sounded or looked very good," she added. Faltskog releases A, her latest solo album in more than a decade, on May 13 in the UK and a day later in the US. - NME...... Car customizer Dean Jeffries, who designed the "Monkeemobile" for The Monkees' '60s TV show and created the "Black Beauty" for the '60s show The Green Hornet, died in his sleep on May 4 at his home in Hollywood, Calif. He was 80. Mr. Jeffries also painted actor James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder, three months before the star died in a wreck in 1955, and built such movie vehicles as the moon buggy used in the 1973 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. He was also stunt driver and stunt producer on films such as The Blues Brothers and The Fugitive. - AP

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 5/6: Currently touring Southeast Asia for the first time ever, Aerosmith won't be playing a May 11 gig in Jakarta, Indonesia after the show's promoter, Ismaya Live, canceled the show when news broke that two suspected terrorists with explosives have been arrested by Indonesian authorities. The men were allegedly plotting to bomb the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta over that country's policies toward Muslims, although it's uncertain if the concert cancellation was due to that plot or there was another threat. Posting on their official website, Aerosmith apologized to their Indonesian fans and said "we hope that one day we can make it up to them." The veteran rockers arrived in Manila, Philippines on May 6 to play their first Southeastern Asia show on May 8. The band began its Asia-Pacific tour in April in New Zealand and Australia. Meanwhile, Aerosmith has announced plans to give back to their hometown of Boston by performing at "Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration" on May 30 at Boston's TD Garden. The show, which will benefit victims of the Boston Marathon bombing attack on Apr. 15, will also be headlined by James Taylor and Carole King, the band Boston, Jimmy Buffett, The J. Geils Band, Extreme, Godsmack, New Kids on the Block and Jason Aldean. - Yahoo News...... As a permanent Abba exhibition within Sweden's Pop Music Hall of Fame in Stockholm is set to open in early May, former Abba member Bjorn Ulvaeus said on May 6 that rumours that the exhibit could presage an Abba reunion are false. A British bookmaker was taking bets in April on an Abba comeback after singer Agnetha Faltskog hinted at a possible reunion, but the 68-year-old Ulvaeus said, "As you all know we have never reunited. So I take this opportunity to say now we are not going to either." Organizers hope to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually on a pop nostalgia trip where they can sing along to Abba hits alongside life-size holograms of the group, and then download the images to their Web account. Walls in the exhibition are plastered with newspaper cuttings, fan mail and videos. Visitors can also peer into a behind-the-scenes dressing room, admire Abba's gold and platinum discs and see a reconstruction of the Swedish cabin where they composed songs. Ulvaeus' former bandmate and ex-wife Agnetha Faltskog confirmed his sentiments during a radio interview on May 5 in Australia. "We've had a lot of offers but we have our own life now since many years back and we don't understand why we should do it. Because we've had our time and I think we should let Abba rest and just listen to the music," she said. Faltskog is down under promoting A, her upcoming first set of new music in almost a decade. It's due via Universal on May 14. - Reuters/Billboard...... Fleetwood Mac capped a soggy second week of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on May 4, the biggest day of the fest. The band's two-and-a-half-hour set was essentially the one they're playing on their current U.S. tour, including some deep album cuts ("Not That Funny," "I'm So Afraid") and two from their new EP, Extended Play, which is currently available exclusively on iTunes. Stevie Nicks explained that "Without You," one of the new cuts, was a lost song from the unreleased second Buckingham-Nicks album which has been rediscovered on YouTube, and that band co-founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie listened to them to scout a potential new guitarist. In honor of the setting, Nicks also performed the chorus to "New Orleans" from her In Your Dreams album, a song composed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Also performing at the Crescent City jam on the second week were Willie Nelson, Dr. John, Aaron Neville and Maroon 5, among others. - Rolling Stone...... Fans of the Grateful Dead are uniting in opposition to a proposal to rename a San Francisco venue named in honor of the Grateful Dead founder. More than 1,100 people have reportedly signed an online petition opposing any name change to Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in Excelsior, near where the late guitarist grew up. The city's Recreation and Park Department says the little-used stage, which currently only hosts fewer than 10 events per year, would gain new life under a public-private partnership with Los Angeles-based nonprofit Levitt Pavilions, which helps fund renovations for outdoor venues and puts on 50 free shows a year. The city is proposing to rename the venue "Levitt Pavilion San Francisco at Jerry Garcia Meadows." Critics say handing it over to Levitt would rob the venue of its independent spirit. - AP...... During a CBS 60 Minutes Overtime Webcast on May 6, it was revealed former president Bill Clinton once unsuccessfully tried to broker a Led Zeppelin reunion in 2012 for a Superstorm Sandy benefit concert in New York City. David Saltzman of the Robin Hood Foundation says he and film executive Harvey Weinstein flew to Washington to ask Clinton to make the plea. The 42nd president asked the band, who were in Washington to participate in a Kennedy Center Honors gala, but they said no. Led Zeppelin last played publicly at a one-night reunion in London in 2007. - AP...... In other Zeppelin-related news, cult singer/songwriter Patty Griffin has put to rest Internet rumors that she and former Led Zep singer Robert Plant are married. "We're not legally married, no," said Griffin, who has collaborated with Plant in his rootsy Band of Joy. Griffin is releasing her seventh solo album, American Kid, via New West Records on May 7. Meanwhile, Plant has taken out a temporary restraining order against a female fan who he says has been harassing him for three years. According to the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, Alysson Billings is a delusional, love-struck fan who has sent Plant hotel keys, flowers, random packages and has appeared at his concerts all over the world and believes she is in a relationship with Plant, despite the pair having never met. Plant reportedly sought advice from a security assessment team after Billings' obsession grew darker after he began his relationship with current girlfriend Patty Griffin, sending the singer increasingly threatening letters. Plant and his band Sensational Space Shifters are preparing for a U.S. trek that starts June 20 at the Palladium in Dallas, Tex. - Billboard/New Musical Express...... The Rolling Stones kicked off their "50 and Counting" anniversary tour at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on May 3. Highlights included a vigorous version of "Factory Girl" from Beggar's Banquet, a song the Stones had never before played live, and a stripped-down, bluesy arrangement of their 1974 hit, "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)." The packed house was treated to a 23-song set that included encores "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." The following night, a concert in Oakland, Calif., featured a surprise appearance by Tom Waits, who jammed with the band on "Little Red Rooster" from their 1965 LP The Rolling Stones, Now! Before starting the tour, guitarist Keith Richards admitted to the AP that he doesn't own an iPod. "I still use CDs or records actually. Sometimes cassettes. It has much better sound; a much better sound than digital," he said. Richards, 69, said he thinks music fans are being shortchanged by the new digital technology. "My old lady's got one. My kids have got them. I say, 'Look me up this.' Or, 'Oh I like that. Check me that.I know what these things can do. I'm not totally anti-them," he said. - Rolling Stone/Billboard/AP...... Former Van Halen and Montrose frontman Sammy Hagar says he's pleased that a defamation lawsuit filed against him by a former Playboy bunny who claims he fathered her child has been dismissed. U.S. District Judge Linda Reade ruled Apr. 30 that Hagar did not defame the woman -- identified as "Jane Doe" in court documents -- when he accused her in his 2011 memoir, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, of falsely naming him as the baby's father in order to extort money. The Waterloo, Ia., woman claims she and Hagar had an affair in the 1980s, when she was a Playboy bunny and that she became pregnant with his child after a concert in 1988. At the time, the two reached a legal settlement in which Hagar agreed to pay her during the pregnancy as long as she kept quiet about her belief that he was the father. The child died shortly after birth in 1989 and no paternity tests were conducted. In all, Hagar paid the woman $7,000. Hagar said he agreed to pay the woman during her pregnancy because his manager convinced him it was "the smart thing to do" and then to reassess the matter after the birth. Hagar said that when he learned of her claim of the baby's death, "I don't believe that she ever had a baby. She may have had an abortion early on." The woman filed a lawsuit against Hagar in 2011 claiming he defamed her, violated her privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional damage and breached their 1989 confidentiality agreement. - AP...... Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm's new autobiography Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades in Rock 'N' Roll chronicles the singer's successes, especially Foreigner's multi-platinum track record and his early solo albums Ready Or Not and Long Hard Look. But it digs into the darkness as well, including his struggles in pre-Foreigner bands, his early 90's stint in drug rehab and his harrowing but ultimately successful battle with brain cancer that started in 1997. He also writes in depth about his relationship with Mick Jones, a push-and-pull that led to Gramm leaving Foreigner "a couple times" before being replaced by Kelly Hansen in 2004. "We have had our problems, the two of us," Gramm says with a chuckle. "It's kind of a book about the different aspects of a relationship." Gramm and Jones are due to perform again as they are honored during an upcoming Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony. Gramm and his book co-writer, Scott Pitoniak, will begin a series of book signings later in May to promote Juke Box Hero, and a full schedule can be found at www.lougramm.com. Gramm says he's also planning a follow-up to his 2009 solo album, Baptized By Fire. - Billboard...... Elton John delivered a dazzling set during a benefit to combat Multiple Sclerosis at the 20th annual Race to Erase MS event on May 3 in Los Angeles. With Sharon Osbourne, Rod Stewart and Ziggy Marley in attendance, the Rocket Man opened with "Tiny Dancer" after quipping "Sharon Osbourne has so much information on me I had to be here." Then, getting serious, he praised both Sharon and her son Jack Osbourne for their courage and activism in the year since Jack revealed he was diagnosed with MS. John also teased his long-time friend Rod Stewart, and got sentimental when he explained that one of the thrills of the night was getting to sit with him. "We go back a long way," John said from the stage to his fellow British icon. "I love you, man." The event is put on every year by activist and author Nancy Davis to raise funds and awareness for the fight against MS. - Rolling Stone...... A hand-typed lyric sheet for an apparently unrecorded Bob Dylan protest song is expected to fetch as much as $35,000 when it is put up for auction in June. Dylan's lyric sheet for "Go Away You Bomb," a song written for a 1963 anti-nuclear campaign, will go under the hammer at Christies in London on June 26. Christie's spokesperson Nicolette Tomkinson described the song as "a beautiful example of Dylan's songwriting, representing his political protest activities during that era, but is also a potent symbol of the anxieties of the American public in the early 1960s." Dylan's 2013 summer tour schedule includes a stop at the Americanarama Festival. - New Musical Express...... How many second chances does Iggy Pop get? The Stooges frontman nabs another with Ready to Die, a robust studio alliance with guitarist James Williamson, the axis behind the Stooges' 1973 lethal-glam classic, Raw Power, and the battered jewels on the 1977 Pop-Williamson set, Kill City. Ready to Die more resembles the latter, not just in the lower acoustic gear of "Unfriendly World" and "The Departed," a homage to the late Stooge Ron Asheton, but in the meaty browling-Stones thrust of "Burn," "Job," "Gun" and the lascivious "DD's." Iggy is, as you can tell, in blunt f----you and just-try-to-kill-me form -- the reason, of course, he gets all these chances. - Rolling Stone...... On Apr. 23 Tom Jones released his latest CD, Spirit in the Room, which sees the Welsh crooner delivering his interpretations of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Paul McCartney, and others. The LP is Sir Tom's follow-up to his acclaimed 2010 set Praise & Blame and is produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, Laura Marling). "We wanted to go back to basics, go back to the source, it was just me singing live with a rhythm section," Jones says. "No overdubbing, no gimmicks, no complicated horn and string arrangements, just get the song down in an entire take, capture the meaning of the song, its spirituality, its life, and capture that moment, right there," he added....... The Eagles have a reputation for ruthless business tactics and showing little regard for the contributions of members not named Don Henley and Glenn Frey. The new 3-DVD set History of the Eagles (also available on Blu-ray) does little to disabuse fans of those notions, but it's still an honest and highly compelling look at the group's history. All seven members share memories of the meteoric rise from Linda Ronstadt's backing group to packed stadiums and piles of cocaine. This is a band that never experienced a moment of failure, yet Henley ("a malcontent," as Asylum Records head David Geffen calls him) and Frey still grind their respective axes, especially when it comes to former guitarist Don Felder, who actually breaks into tears as he recalls his firing. The set includes a bonus DVD of a 1977 gig in Washington, D.C. As always, the Eagles deliver th e hits with near-perfect precision. - Rolling Stone...... Bust out your fur hat for How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution, the latest literary layer from the glass onion: It's the Beatles vs. Communism in an oft-frightening Soviet Union. Fab Four zealotry doesn't get much more inspiring than this account by author Leslie Woodhead of what various Soviet citizens would risk to listen to their favorite band. A censorious state -- Yellow Sub's Chief Blue Meanie would come off as a pussy here -- meant radical solutions were required to get Russian ears on the gear Brits. X-rays are deployed in the service of bootlegs; broadcasts from the mythic West are taped in the middle of the night, the fuzz ever a-prowl. Gobsmacking, really. - Rolling Stone

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 5/1: Billy Joel performed a captivating set before several thousand fans at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Music Festival on Apr. 27. The almost two-hour concert was just Joel's second full-length show in the past three years, as he went to the N.O. gig fresh from the Stone Music Festival in Sydney, Australia. Joel and his band played an array of his huge collection of hits, including "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway)," "Movin' Out," as well as a cover of Johnny Horton's country song "Battle of New Orleans" as an ode to the city. After a string of hits ("We Didn't Start the Fire," "It's Still Rock & Roll To Me," "Only the Good Die Young," and "You May Be Right"), Joel and his band came encored with "The River of Dreams," the classic N.O. song "Iko Iko," and "Piano Man." Joel, 63, has announced no more "comeback" shows so far. - Rolling Stone...... Rod Stewart played a crowd-pleasing if unpredictable 10-song set before a hand-picked audience of around 300 at Los Angeles' legendary Troubadour club on Apr. 25. The crowd, including industry heavyweights like AEG Live CEO/President Randy Phillips and Stewart's own manager Arnold Stiefel, saw the 68-year-old iconic rocker perform six selections off his upcoming 28th studio album Time, including "Finest Woman" and "Can't Stop Me Now," and absolutely nothing off his smash five-volume Great American Songbook series. Stewart also lent his signature smoky rasp to familiar hits like "You Wear It Well" and favorites like his cover of Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young." The show was the kickoff for various digital strategies promoting Time, which is due out May 7 on Capitol. Meanwhile, NBC announced on Apr. 29 that Stewart, CeeLo Green, Lady Antebellum and Robin Thicke will be among the musical artists performing on their hit talent reality show The Voice. Stewart and Green are set to sing on the May 8 episode of The Voice, while Lady Antebellum and Thicke will perform May 14. - Billboard/AP...... Also rocking a smaller venue in L.A. the last week in April were the Rolling Stones, who performed a surprise 90-minute gig at the 700-capacity Echoplex in the city's hip Echo Park neighborhood on Apr. 27. The legendary group, who are do to launch their "50 and Counting" anniversary tour on May 3 at L.A.'s Staples Center, kicked off the show with "You Got Me Rocking" before catapulting into a mix of their own new and old material, as well as covers from Otis Redding ("That's How Strong My Love Is"), Chuck Berry ("Little Queenie") and The Temptations ("Just My Imagination"). Toward the end of the show, the band was joined by former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor for their version of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," as well as "Midnight Rambler." Rumors of the surprise pre-tour show spread across social networks in late April after the band teased the appearance on their Twitter accounts. - AP...... As the Michael Jackson civil trial formally got underway in Los Angeles on Apr. 29, a Los Angeles paramedic told a jury that Jackson looked pale, thin and like a hospice patient on the day he died in 2009. Richard Senneff, the first witness in the civil trial, testified that he was initially unaware that the person lying in pajamas on a bed in the rented Los Angeles mansion was the world famous "King of Pop," and said Jackson personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray appeared "frantic" but never mentioned that the "Thriller" singer had taken the anesthetic propofol. Senneff, who gave similar testimony in Murray's 2011 criminal trial, testified on behalf of Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson and his three children. On May 1, Los Angeles police Detective Orlando Martinez testified about the depths of debt that Dr. Murray faced while giving the singer treatments of the powerful anesthetic that killed the pop superstar. Martinez has said the debts may have led Murray to act inappropriately in his care of Jackson in order to ensure he received $150,000 a month payments from AEG Live LLC to serve as the singer's tour doctor. "He may break the rules, bend the rules, do whatever he needed to do to get paid... It might solve his money problems," Martinez said. AEG attorneys said they intend to call Murray, who remains in a Los Angeles jail and is appealing his conviction as a witness. Also being subpoenaed to testify in the trial on a future date is Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne, who once revealed that she may have evidence to support Katherine Jackson's claims that promoters AEG Live, who were responsible for the 50-date London residency he was preparing for at the time of his death from acute Propofol intoxication in June 2009, were negligent in hiring Dr. Murray to supervise the "Thriller" star's medical care. - AP/Reuters/New Musical Express...... Fleetwood Mac released their first new music in a decade -- an EP titled "Extended Play" that is now available exclusively on iTunes -- on Apr. 30. Fleetwood Mac members Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie announced the news on the band's website, after Stevie Nicks told Billboard in February that "Big, long albums don't seem to be what everybody wants these days... Whether a full-length album emerges from this current reunion is entirely up to fans." Fleetwood Mac is currently on tour until June. Songs on the new EP include "Sad Angel," "Without You," "It Takes Time" and "Miss Fantasy." - Billboard...... Cheap Trick celebrated the 35th anniversary of their legendary April 1978 performance at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan which resulted in their classic 1979 album Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan with a show on Apr. 28 at the tiny John Varvatos boutique on New York's Bowery. The venue was packed so tightly in the shop that many spilled out onto the sidewalk, and the original LP's gritty-warm audio recording was traded for a live web stream for fans worldwide to watch. Highlights of the 90-minute, 19-song concert included singer Robin Zander's vocals on "Come On, Come On" and the band's airtight musicianship on "Lookout." The band encored with "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me." The Varvatos venue is the original location of legendary NYC club CBGBs, ground zero for the punk movement of the late '70s. - Rolling Stone...... Speaking of the New York punk scene, the legendary band Television will play their classic album Marquee Moon in its entirety at the All Tomorrow's Parties event, which is set for Nov. 22-24 at Pontin's Camber Sands in the UK. It will be the last ever ATP weekender event, whose organizers have confirmed that their regular weekender events are to come to a close at the end of the year with two final "End Of An Era" events in the two last weekends of November. - NME...... Former Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Bob Weir's band Furthur has canceled its headlining slot at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival in California after Weir fell onstage during a concert in Port Chester, N.Y., on Apr. 25. "Grateful Dead & Furthur Co-Founder Bob Weir, is unable to perform in any capacity for the next several weeks," according to a post on the official Furthur website. Weir reportedly fell onstage midway through a performance on "Unbroken Chain" at the Port Chester show, and bassist Phil Lesh explained to the crowd that Weir was suffering from a strained shoulder. The website post added that Furthur "look forward to returning to the road as scheduled on July 11 in Brooklyn for their Summer tour, which carries them through early October on the West Coast." Weir and Lesh formed Furthur in 2009. - Billboard...... Def Leppard have announced plans to sponsor a Welsh youth rugby team, despite originally mistaking them for a football team. Lead singer Joe Elliott said he was delighted to sponsor the Rhiwbina under-10s and put their logo on the team shirts despite initially thinking the band were sponsoring a football team. "Like all things with our logo on it, I think it looks spectacular. I'm not sure it's going to guarantee a winning team every week though, but at least they will look cool," Elliott told the BBC News. Def Leppard are big football fans various members follow the teams of their home city, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. - New Musical Express...... A Minnesota man who admitted himself to St. Cloud Hospital on Apr. 20 is accused of pretending to be Pink Floyd singer-guitarist Dave Gilmour and racking up as much as 100,000 in unpaid medical bills. Authorities say the 53-year-old from Monticello, Minn., didn't have health insurance, was treated and released, but not before signing an autograph as Dave Gilmour. Hospital security reportedly became suspicious about the man's identity and his medical records were flagged, according to The St. Cloud Times. He returned for more treatment several days later and, when confronted by police, admitted he wasn't Gilmour. The man was booked into the Stearns County Jail on a possible charge of theft by swindle. - AP...... Beware of Mr. Baker, a documentary about Cream drummer Ginger Baker, will be released in cinemas in the UK on May 17. The doc captures the 73 year-old rock legend reflecting on his life from his South African home and follows him as he embarks on a 30-date sold-out European tour. It also features interviews from Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Carlos Santana and John Lydon. - NME...... Rising Scottish singer Emeli Sande has broken a U.K. chart record that was held by the Beatles for almost 50 years. The "Heaven" hitmaker's first album Our Version Of Events has spent more time in the U.K. Top 10 than any other debut record after notching up 63 consecutive weeks in the U.K.'s Official Album Chart. The Fab Four previously held the record with their 1963 offering Please Please Me, which spent 62 weeks in the Top 10 in 1963 and 1964. - WENN.com...... Speaking of Scotland, former Bay City Rollers frontman Les McKeown is about to hit the road on a 12-city Canadian tour. McKeown, 57, is the only original member of the Scottish band who now performs in what's now known as Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers (he actually replaced the first singer Nobby Clarke who quit in 1972). McKeown and his backing band will tour Canada after spending the first part of the year recording a new album, playing such BCR smashes as "Saturday Night" and "Money Honey." "Most, if not all, of the girls who connected with me back then, are still faithful and want to come and see me perform and supported me through the dark times from the good times," McKeown says. - QMI Agency...... Another famous teen idol group, The Monkees, has announced a 24-show summer tour of the U.S. that will kick off July 15 in Port Chester, N.Y. "A Midsummer's Night With the Monkees," with surviving members Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork at the helm, will also hit such markets as Philadelphia (7/20), Washington, D.C. (7/21), Raleigh, N.C. (7/23), Austin, Tx. (7/31), Houston, Tx. (8/1), San Diego (8/11), Long Beach, Ca. (8/12), and Seattle (8/17) before wrapping in Portland, Ore. on Aug. 18. The Monkees' late 2012 reunion tour marked Nesmith's first U.S. shows with the group since 1970. Dolenz says the upcoming tour "probably won't lean so heavily" on songs by late Monkee Davy Jones, who passed way in Feb. 2012. - Billboard...... Sylvester Stallone says he hopes a musical based on his beloved 1976 boxing film Rocky that's been a hit in Germany will also be a hit when it is presented on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in Feb. 2014. Based on the Oscar-winning Rocky film, "Rocky" the musical features a score by "Ragtime" veterans Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a story by Thomas Meehan, who wrote "The Producers" and "Hairspray." "Rocky" will be the first new tenant at the Winter Garden Theatre in years. The show that's been there since 2001, the Abba-based "Mamma Mia!," is transferring to another Broadway venue, the smaller Broadhurst Theatre. - AP...... Entertainment writer Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is releasing a new book, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, which examines the Emmy-winning 1970-77 The Mary Tyler Moore Show sitcom starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Valerie Harper and Ted Knight. Armstrong says MTMS captivated audiences because of its "great characters." "It's those characters and the people who played them, and the people who cast them. It turned into the story of a perfect storm. All these things and all the special combinations," she says. Armstrong added that a MTMS "might" work today, "but the question is, would it be as special now?" "It invented so many other things that we now take for granted. It wouldn't be as much a giant national experience as it was. It's not as brash as things today. But it's held up very, very well. I'm not sure I would have written the book if it hadn't. You can still identify with all the characters," she said. - USA Today...... TV director Jack Shea, who helmed such series as The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and Silver Spoons, passed away on Apr. 28 in Los Angeles from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 84. Mr. Shea directed hundreds of TV episodes during his four-decade career, along with many Bob Hope specials, and was also a three-time president of the Directors Guild of America. - AP...... Renowned feminist and former women's magazine Ms. editor Mary Thom was killed in a motorcycle crash on Apr. 27 on the Saw Mill Parkway in Yonkers, N.Y. She was 68. An accomplished author, editor and journalist, Thom devoted her career to giving voice to women's rights issues in books, magazine columns and through her work within the women's movement, which mourned the loss over the weekend. Thom, an Akron, O., native, spent more than a quarter century at Ms. magazine and wrote a book, Inside Ms.: 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement, about working her way from an entry level research position to executive editor. Thom, who was an editor at the Women's Media Center, was an avid motorcycle enthusiast who never owned a car and had been riding for four decades. - Reuters

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 4/26: With a jury comprised of six men and six women that was seated on Apr. 22, and six alternate jurors chosen the next day, the civil trial over the death of Michael Jackson is scheduled to formally begin on Apr. 29 in Los Angeles. An emotional, three-month trial in L.A. Superior Court is expected as the jurors weigh arguments between attorneys representing Jackson's 82-year-old mother Katherine Jackson and concert promoters AEG Live, the company behind Jackson's ill-fated series of comeback "This Is It" concerts in London in 2009. Jackson's $40 billion lawsuit alleges AEG Live was negligent in hiring Dr. Conrad Murray to care for the singer while he rehearsed for a series of 50 shows. AEG contends that it did not hire or supervise Murray and that Jackson was addicted to prescription drugs for years before he agreed to do the concerts. Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009, from a lethal dose of the surgical anesthetic propofol that Dr. Murray was administering for sleep problems. Murray, who is not being sued, filed an appeal against his criminal conviction on Apr. 22. - Reuters...... A limited-edition commemorative set of the now legendary U.K. 1970 Bath Festival of Blues featuring such acts as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa and the Mothers, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Canned Heat, Johnny Winter, Steppenwolf and Santana is now available at the Rockmusicmemorabilia.com website. The Bath Festivals of Blues Commemorative Set also includes the 1969 and 1970 programmes, tickets and flyers, a 330-page book dealing with all the backstage hassles, 15 photographs, two concert posters, a T-shirt from the 1970 Bath festival. Promoted by Freddy Bannister, the 1970 Bath Festival was probably the most famous of the concerts and was unique among European festivals as it was the very first outdoor event Led Zeppelin played. Appearing fourth on the bill, Zeppelin simply tore the place apart and received a standing ovation from the 30,000-strong crowd....... Bob Dylan has announced he'll kick off a 26-date North American tour on June 26 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Billed as "Bob Dylan and His Band," the rock bard will also visit Tampa (6/26), Atlanta (6/29), and Nashville (6/30) in June, then hit cities including Memphis (7/2), Cincinnati (7/6), Columbus, Oh. (7/7), Chicago (7/12), Toronto (7/15), Washington, D.C. (7/23), and Denver (7/31) in July. In August, he'll play Salt Lake City (8/1) and Irvine, Calif. (8/3) before wrapping at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. Openers Wilco and My Morning Jacket will accompany Dylan on the tour, and Ryan Bingham and Richard Thompson will perform on select dates. - USA Today...... In an interview with the syndicated celebrity gossip show Extra on Apr. 25, Elton John and his partner David Furnish revealed they've asked Lady Gaga to become the godmother of their 2-year-old son, Zachary. "She's a great role model. She's young. She's been a great godmother to Zachary. We're all bonkers in this business, but we're human beings at the same time," said John of the 27-year-old pop superstar. Elton, who became a dad late in life, also reflected on his new role and says he sees no downside. "I love getting up in the morning and having breakfast with Zachary. Everything I thought I would find annoying about having children, like screaming and shouting and tantrum... I don't find any of it annoying. I find it all enchanting," he added. Lady Gaga was recently named Time magazine's second most influential icon of the past decade. - Yahoo News...... The reunited Black Sabbath has added 16 more shows to their summer tour of North America after announcing four initial tour dates earlier in April. Touring behind their upcoming album 13, Sabbath will kick off the trek in Houston on July 25, then hit markets including Austin, Tex. (7/27), W. Palm Beach, Fla. (7/31), Detroit (8/6), Philadelphia (8/10), Boston (8/12), Indianapolis (8/18), Vancouver, B.C. (8/22), Seattle (8/24), San Francisco (8/26), Phoenix (8/30) and Las Vegas (9/1) before wrapping in Los Angeles on Sept. 3. The band is currently touring Australia in advance of 13, which is due via Vertigo/Republic Records on June 11. In other Sabbath-related news, frontman Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne put to rest rumours that the famous celebrity couple are divorcing on the Apr. 23 edition of the CBS chat show The Talk. "Everything that was printed in the tabloids has been distorted," said Sharon, adding the couple is dealing with Ozzy's recent relapse into drug and alcohol abuse. "Am I upset? Yes. I am. I'm devastated right now. It's a disease that not only hurts the person that has the disease but it hurts the family, it hurt people who love you," Sharon said. - Billboard...... Neil Diamond has announced he'll donate royalties from his song "Sweet Caroline" to the charity supporting victims of the Apr. 15 Boston Marathon bombings. Posting on Twitter on Apr. 25, Diamond retweeted a message from Nielsen SoundScan that noted "Sweet Caroline" sales were up by 597% percent after the bombings, selling 19,000 copies, and added his own line: "Donating these royalties to #OneFund!." "Sweet Caroline" has been adopted as the Red Sox's anthem and played during the 8th inning of every home game since 2002, and on Apr. 20 the veteran crooner made an impromptu visit to Boston's Fenway Park to lead a sing-along of the song to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. The One Fund Boston, formed to "help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013" according to its website, has raised more than $23 million to benefit the victims so far. Meanwhile, Diamond has told Rolling Stone magazine that he's been moved to write a new song about the Boston tragedy, which killed three people and injured approximately 180. "I'm writing now and obviously affected by this situation in Boston, so I'm writing about it just to express myself," he told the magazine on Apr. 22. While a release date has not been announced, Diamond says the song is on a fast track. "I spent the whole day recording it and I will spend tomorrow recording it. With a little bit of help from the man upstairs, I'll have it finished by the weekend," he said. - Billboard/Rolling Stone...... Queen guitarist Brian May has announced plans to release his new animal rights song, "The Badger Song," in protest as the British goverment plans to allow the culling of badgers beginning on June 1 in a bid to to reduce tuberculosis in cattle. "It's a kind of parody of 'Flash (Gordon)', as you'll see," May said during a public meeting on the issue in Taunton, Somerset on Apr. 20. Badgers are currently under threat after farmers in England were given a licence to shoot them in a bid to reduce tuberculosis in cattle for the first time in Gloucestershire. "The disease comes from cows, it doesn't come from badgers," May has previously explained. "It's a very unfair situation. Badgers have been the scapegoat for years and years and farmers have been killing badgers for many, many years now." A recent scourge of TB in cattle in the UK led to 26,000 cows being slaughtered in 2011. - New Musical Express...... A spokesperson for ailing country/pop star Glen Campbell announced on Apr. 23 that he's planning a new album, See You There, that will feature "haunting" reimaginations of some of his biggest hits. Campbell, who turned 77 on Apr. 22, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease back in 2011, and his condition has reportedly worsened recently. His publicist, Sandy Brokaw, says Campbell will never grace the stage again to perform after a farewell tour in 2012. "He's done touring. He went on the good-bye tour and wanted to see how it was with his health. After Christmas they put a big bow on (touring) and wrapped it up," Brokaw said. The "Rhinestone Cowboy" singer, who released a studio album entitled Ghost on the Canvas in 2011, was forced to scrap planned dates in New Zealand and Australia on the tour when his condition worsened. On Apr. 22, Campbell and his daughter, Ashley Campbell, testified before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Alzheimer's research, and also visited the U.S. Senate. - WENN.com......Barbra Streisand was honored by a crowd of famous friends including Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Michael Douglas, George Segal, Ben Stiller, Pierce Brosnan and Kris Kristofferson at the 40th annual Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C., on Apr. 22. Accepting the award for her career in film, Streisand said: "Ever since I can remember, people have been calling me bossy and opinionated. Maybe that's because I am. Three cheers for bossy women!" Streisand, who turned 71 on Apr. 24, is one of the few entertainers to have won Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. The Chaplin awards gala has raised $2 million for the film society. - AP...... Co-founding Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir became ill and fell onstage during a concert with his band Furthur at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y., on Apr. 25 and was unable to finish the show. After being helped back up by crew members, Weir's bandmate Phil Lesh told the crowd that Weir was suffering from a strained shoulder and that the set would go on without him. Before Further's set, it was announced that the Capitol Theatre's lobby bar would be named Garcia's in honor of Weir and Lesh's late Grateful Dead bandmate Jerry Garcia, for whom the venue was a favorite. - Rolling Stone...... Although David Bowie has made no public statement, yet alone appearance, in the four months since his acclaimed new album The Next Day was released, the rocker responded to a request for a "work flow diagram" of the new album by DailyBeast.com writer Rick Moody with 42 separate words. The words, including "Effigies," "Indulgences," "Anarchist," "Violence," "Isolation," "Revenge," "Urban," "Comeuppance" and "Tragic," were used by Moody to break down the new album, which he described as "the unlikeliest masterpiece of the recent popular song, the best album by an otherwise retired classic rock artist in many, many years." - Rolling Stone...... Legendary New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen and legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger are among 198 new members elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences' class of 2013. Each year the AAAS inducts the most accomplished individuals from a wide range of fields, including mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, philanthropy, the humanities, business, government, public affairs and the arts. Springsteen, who is currently in the middle of the European leg of his Wrecking Ball tour, also appeared on Seeger's latest effort, A More Perfect Union, released last fall. In 2006, Springsteen released a tribute to Seeger, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. In other Springsteen-related news, E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt has just announced that his Rock & Roll Forever Foundation will partner with the Grammy Museum to launch "Rock & Roll: An American Story (RRAAS)," a music education curriculum that will enable middle and high school students to learn about the societal influence of rock music. Van Zandt unveiled the news on Apr. 24 at New York University, where he led a panel of representatives from the Grammy Museum, the Rock & Roll Forever Foundation and the school. RRAAS is scheduled to launch in the fall, and within three years' time, organizers hope it will reach major target cities. - Rolling Stone...... Punk pioneer Richard Hell's new memoir, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, spares nobody -- including Hell himself. "I mean, I have a huge ego -- I don't hide that. But I tend to err on the side of self-criticism," says the author, who co-founded Television with Tom Velaine and later fronted the Voidoids. The book details Hell's evolution from a poetry-obsessed young provocateur (born Richard Meyers) into one of punk's celebrated figures whose self-created style -- short, spiky hair, ripped clothes held together with saftey pins -- become the genre's defining visual signifiers. "The impact punk had does amaze me," says Hell. "It has so permeated the culture that you don't even notice it half the time." - Rolling Stone...... Billy Joel performed his first full concert in over three years on Apr. 21 at the Stone Music Festival in Sydney, Australia. The Piano Man stuck largely to his hits throughout his 19-song set, though he did treat the audience to such lesser-known album cuts as ""The Entertainer," "Zanzibar" and "Don't Ask Me Why." Joel says he's considering shows in Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C., Detroit and Chicago this summer in addition to a previously announced gig at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Apr. 27 where he'll likely feature some of his more obscure tracks. "I got tired of doing the greatest hits set. It was boring playing the same songs over and over. There are a lot of songs the longtime fans want to hear," he said. - Rolling Stone...... Founding The O'Jays members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams have filed a lawsuit against spirits maker Crown Royal Whiskey over what they describe as a "humiliating" new TV ad. Levert and Williams claim Crown Royal ripped off their 1974 song, "For the Love of Money," for a quirky new commercial without asking for permission. They claim the background track to the ad is "humiliating and demeaning" and reduces them to "background singers." The pair are asking for more than $1 million in damages over the unauthorized use of "For the Love of Money," which was a Top 10 U.S. hit for their Ohio-based R&B group in May 1974. - WENN.com...... Olivia Newton-John has announced she's calling off her upcoming Las Vegas residency at the city's Flamingo hotel to spend more time with her older sister Rona, who is battling brain cancer. Newton-John was to begin a series of shows this summer at the Flamingo, but issued a statement saying in light of the news of Rona Newton-John's diagnosis, "I have decided to postpone my forthcoming Las Vegas residency to spend time with her and our family." "As a cancer 'thriver' myself, as many people are, I am very aware of the importance of love, support and family during this journey she is about to begin. I want to thank everyone in advance for respecting our privacy during this difficult time," the 64-year-old Olivia added. The singer/actress was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1990s, but she beat the disease after undergoing chemotherapy treatment and a mastectomy. Rona Newton-John was once married to actor Jeff Conaway, who co-starred with Olivia in the 1978 hit film Grease. - WENN.com...... Peter Frampton has announced he'll play a rare U.K. concert at the London Camden Roundhouse on Nov. 5. The special one-off UK concert will see the Grammy-winning guitarist and songwriter performing songs from his extensive catalog. Frampton latest album is the critically acclaimed Thank You Mr. Churchill, and in 2012 he completed a successful 35th anniversary tour of his multi-platinum selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive! FCA! 35: An Evening with Peter Frampton, a live 2DVD, Blu-ray and 3CD set of the tour, was released last November by Eagle Rock Entertainment. - Noble PR...... An Elvis Presley impersonator arrested on Apr. 18 for allegedly sending a letter laced with poison to Pres. Barack Obama was released from jail on Apr. 22 after it was determined he had nothing to do with the threat to the president. Paul Kevin Curtis, a resident of Mississippi, was released from custody by the U.S. Marshalls Service, who did not say if there were any conditions accompanying Curtis' release. - AP...... Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert married Thirtysomething actor Timothy Busfield on Apr. 24 during a ceremony at the exclusive San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, Calif. The 48-year-old Gilbert, best known for her role as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie and who more recently appeared on Season 14 of Dancing With the Stars, says she's known the 55-year-old Busfield "for more than two decades" and the couple became engaged over the holidays Gilbert and Busfield have each been married twice before, and have five children between them -- two for her, three for him. - Yahoo News...... Actor Allan Arbus, best known for portraying psychiatrist Maj. Sidney Freedman on the hit '70s/early '80s television series M*A*S*H, passed away on Apr. 19 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95. Mr. Arbus appeared in films like Coffy and Crossroads and was a TV regular during the 1970s and 80s, appearing on Taxi, Starsky & Hutch, Matlock and other shows. But his best-known role was Major Freedman, the liberal psychiatrist who appeared in a dozen episodes of M*A*S*H. As Sidney Freedman, he treated wounds of the psyche much as Capt. Hawkeye Pierce treated surgery patients: with a never-ending string of zingers. "I was so convinced that he was a psychiatrist I used to sit and talk with him between scenes," M*A*S*H star Alan Alda once said in an interview with the Archive of American Television. "After a couple months of that I noticed he was giving me these strange looks, like 'How would I know the answer to that?'" Mr. Arbus's last television role was on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2000. - New York Times...... Influential country music singer George Jones, whose career spanned more than six decades and included hits such as "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "Window Up Above," died on the morning of Apr. 26 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 81. Born in Saratoga, Tex., on Sept. 12, 1931, Mr. Jones first began performing for spare change as a boy on the streets of nearby Beaumont. Under the influence of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb and Lefty Frizzell, he graduated to the rough roadhouses of East Texas. Mr. Jones had an early marriage, a divorce and a stint in the Marines before his first hit, "Why Baby Why" in 1955. His first No. 1 song, "White Lightning," came in 1959, followed by "Tender Years" in 1961. The next two decades brought a string of top 10 songs -- "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)," "Window Up Above," "She Thinks I Still Care," "Good Year for the Roses, "The Race Is On" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which Jones said was his favorite. He also had a successful run of duets with Melba Montgomery. Mr. Jones, who was known as "The Possum," divorced his second wife in 1968 and the next year married one of country's most popular singers, Tammy Wynette. The pairing was an enormous professional success for both as they recorded and toured together and Jones also began working with Billy Sherrill, Wynette's producer. The marriage to Wynette went bad as Jones' addiction problem escalated and Wynette claimed he once came at her with a gun. They divorced in 1975 but later resumed recording together. Mr. Jones continued to put out hit songs in the early 1980s, even as cocaine compounded his personal tumult. Amid a string of hospitalizations and arrests, he disappeared for days at a time, missed shows and recording sessions and once took police on a drunken chase through Nashville. Mr. Jones credited fourth wife Nancy, who he married in 1983, with helping him clean up. But in 1999 he was seriously injured after driving drunk and crashing into a bridge, leading to another stay in rehab. Mr. Jones became a sought-after duet partner, and won a Grammy for the song "Choices" in 1999. He also won a Grammy for best country performance in 1980 for "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Mr. Jones was still touring last year, although an upper respiratory infection and other health problems forced him to postpone shows. He had been hospitalized since April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure, according to his spokesman. - Reuters...... Cordell 'Boogie' Mosson, a former bassist for George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective, died on Apr. 18 of undisclosed causes. He was 60. Mosson played on P-M's classic '70s albums, including 1975's Mothership Connection, 1976's The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein and 1978's One Nation Under a Groove. He became the main touring bassist for Funkadelic, and when Parliament bassist Bootsy Collins turned his focus on his solo career, Mosson took over on bass for that group as well. Though Clinton disbanded Parliament and Funkadelic in the early '80s, the reunited groups have continued to tour under slightly different names. Mosson performed with the P-Funk All-Stars just last year, adding rhythm guitar to his usual bass duties. Mosson and 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. - Rolling Stone

RICHIE HAVENS, 1941-2013: Legendary folk singer Richie Havens, a veteran of the 1969 Woodstock festival and known for such protest songs as "Handsome Johnny," "No Opportunity Necessary..." and "Stop Pulling and Pushing Me," died on the morning of Apr. 22 from a sudden heart attack at his home in New Jersey. He was 72. Havens mixed a variety of styles into his music, drawing on folk, blues, rock, jazz, funk and even elements of country and bluegrass that filtered through the music scene in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. He was also an avid interpreter of other songwriters' including Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and Leonard Cohen. Havens was a fixture in the Greenwich VIllage scene in the 50s and 60s and put out a pair of albums for Douglas Records before Dylan's manager Albert Grossman signed him and got him a deal with Verve Forecast Records. His acclaimed album Mixed Bag in 1967 featured "Handsome Johnny," which Havens co-wrote with actor Louis Gossett Jr., and a cover of Dylan's "Just Like a Woman." Havens was originally scheduled to go on fifth at Woodstock, but was pressed by organizers to open the legendary festival when another artists' equipment became stuck on the New York Thruway. He played a galvanizing set that included a vamp on "Motherless Child" that morphed into his song "Freedom." The performance gave a boost to his highest-charting albums -- Richard P. Havens, 1983 in 1969 (No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 200) and Alarm Clock in 1971 (No. 29). Notable moments in his also career included television performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show, and a role in the 1972 stage production of the Who's "Tommy." He also sang at Pres. Bill Clinton's inauguration in January of 1993, and a decade later he received the American Eagle Award form the National Music Council. He published an autobiography, They Can't Hide Us Anymore, in 2000 and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. In March of 2012, he announced he was ending 45-year touring career, citing health issues. He is survived by three daughters, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. - Billboard, 4/22/13.

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 4/21: Fans of Rush made their presence known as the Canadian power trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a star-studded ceremony at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on Apr. 18. Rush fans packed the rafters of the auditorium, booing Rock Hall chairman and Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner, undoubtedly for keeping their heroes out of the Cleveland-based hall and museum for years, heckled Quincy Jones and Flavor Flav during their lengthy speeches, and filled any quiet moments with shouts of "Rush" and "Geddy." Accepting the honor, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson used the simple phrase of "blah blah blah" and a bit of charades to explain the journey of he and his bandmates to this point in time. Also during the nearly four-hour ceremony, Eagles drummer/singer Don Henley inducted his close friend Randy Newman, wondering aloud why "this peculiar, perplexing organization" had taken 20 years to induct the acclaimed L.A. singer/songwriter, and the families of late '70s disco icon Donna Summer and late pioneering American blues guitarist Albert King graciously accepted the awards on the late artists' behalf. After an induction from talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones delivered a 16-minute speech saluting a dozen jazz musicians, among them Charlie Parker, Clark Terry and Lionel Hampton, saying "those cats were my Beatles and Rolling Stones." Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, inducted by Chris Cornell, performed their hits "Crazy on You," "Barracuda" and "Butterfly," and spoke of how two women from the isolated world of the Seattle music scene persevered. "Equality is coming right along. For us, music is the real church, it's a life calling, it's bigger than men and women put together, music makes us all equal and human," Nancy said. Also inducted were rappers Public Enemy and producer and Ode Records label owner Lou Adler. Rush performed their 1976 rock epic "2112" with the Foo Fighters, as well as "Tom Sawyer" and "Permanent Wave," and the evening's finale was an all-star jam of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" with Rush, the Wilsons, John Fogerty, Chuck D, Dave Grohl and Tom Morello. The eight inductees were chosen by some 500 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which includes past inductees and for the first time, allowed fans to vote. The ceremony, the first held in Los Angeles in more than two decades, was taped and will air on HBO on May 18. - Billboard/Reuters...... Willie Nelson announced on Apr. 18 that he'll turn an upcoming Texas concert into a benefit for victims of an Apr. 17 explosion at a fertilizer plant in Abbott, Tex., not far from where he grew up. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of West," the Grammy-winning country/pop crossover singer said in an interview before taping a CMT Crossroads special in Nashville. "There are a lot of our friends and loved ones and neighbors down there. We talked to some of them and some of them made it out OK, and some of them didn't. But they're strong and they'll be back. It's one of those things you don't get over. But you will get through it." The concert, which will also be an 80th birthday celebration for Nelson, is scheduled for Apr. 28 in Austin, Nelson's hometown since 1971. - AP...... Neil Diamond helped comfort an audience of Bostonians on Apr. 20 after the city was traumatized on Apr. 15 by a bombing during the Boston Marathon by leading a sing-along of his famous 1969 hit "Sweet Caroline" after the third inning of a Boston Red Sox/Kansas City Royals baseball game at Fenway Park. The song has been a longtime fixture during the bottom of the eighth inning of Boston Red Sox games, played at every Fenway game since 2002. "There is a lot of comfort that music can offer," Diamond told the AP. "In this particular situation, I'd much rather it not have happened than for 'Sweet Caroline' to become part of it. But it's obviously offering comfort to people and I feel good about that." Speaking on Apr. 18 at the Rock and Roll Hall induction ceremony, Diamond said he intended the song as solace to Pres. John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy after the 1963 assassination of her father. "I wrote it in a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee," he said. "And I think there's a little bit of God in that song. I always have felt that. There's no accounting for what can happen to a song. But this one had something special to it," added Diamond, who reportedly flew to the city just to attend the game. The sing-along came came one day after the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass. after a large-scale manhunt. His brother, suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout on Apr. 19. - AP...... An Elvis Presley impersonator arrested on Apr. 18 for allegedly sending a letter laced with poison to Pres. Barack Obama could face up to 15 years in jail for posting ricin to the White House as well as to two other government officials. Paul Kevin Curtis of Oxford, Miss., allegedly sent the letters on yellow paper apparently laced with ricin to Obama, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, and also to a judge in Tupelo, Miss., the place of Elvis' birth. As well as performing regularly as Elvis, Curtis also appeared at parties and events as Prince, Buddy Holly and Kid Rock. - New Musical Express...... Black Sabbath are offering fans a free download of their new album 13's first single, "God Is Dead?," with a pre-order of the album through Apple's iTunes store. 13 is the seminal heavy metal band's first album in 35 years and is due June 11. Meanwhile, Sabbath have added an extra Birmingham date to their upcoming UK tour. A second date at Birmingham's NIA on Dec. 22 will complement a previously announced Dec. 20 date. The band will also visit London, Belfast, Sheffield, Glasgow and Manchester in December on the the tour. - Rolling Stone/NME...... In other Sabbath-related news, frontman Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne has reportedly signed a £2 million deal to return to the UK version of X Factor. Osbourne, who previously quit the ITV show in 2007, has finalized the details of a lucrative new contract and will return as a judge on the upcoming new series. The announcement of the multi-million pound deal comes at a good time for Osbourne after it was recently reported that her and husband Ozzy had received a $1 million tax bill in the U.S. - NME...... Cheech & Chong are offering fans a green vinyl edition of their classic 1973 single "Earache My Eye" as part of this year's Record Store Day. "7-inch green, that sounds like my life story," Cheech Marin told Billboard. The famous '70s doper duo were in Los Angeles on Apr. 18 to help induct Lou Adler, the group's producer and the director of their hit 1978 film Up in Smoke. Meanwhile, the duo has a new big-screen project, Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie, hitting theaters the third weekend in April. - Billboard...... The ABBA-based Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" will leave the Winter Garden Theatre later this year for a smaller venue, the Broadhurst Theatre which is six blocks away. "Mamma Mia!," which opened at the Winter Garden in 2001, is the 10th longest-running show on Broadway and has been seen by more than 50 million people worldwide. In addition to the title song, tunes in the musical, which tells the story of a one-time pop singer and single mother whose daughter Sophie is getting married, also include "The Winner Takes It All," "Super Trouper," "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" and "Take a Chance on Me." - AP...... Rod Stewart has announced he'll perform a rare club show at the legendary Troubadour Club in Los Angeles on Apr. 25 to promote his forthcoming studio album, Time. Immediately following the performance, the 68-year-old will take questions about his new music. The album, Stewart's 28th studio LP and his first of entirely new material since 2001, is due May 7 via Capitol Records. The album's first single, "She Makes Me Happy," was released in March. - Billboard...... Paul McCartney has joined popular music icon Tony Bennett's campaign for tightening U.S. gun laws -- Voices Against Violence. The former Beatle is encouraging his American fans to send a text, which led to the singer's message and connected the caller to their local Senate office after providing a zip code. Sir Paul's message can be heard by Americans who send a text reading MYVOICE? to 877877. Legislation for the gun safety campaign hit a major hurdle on Apr. 17, however, when it was voted down in the U.S. Senate after being drafted in response to the Newtown school massacre last December. Pres. Barack Obama, a strong supporter of the bill, accused senators who voted against the bill of "ignoring the will of the American people" and vowed "we will not stop until our voices are heard." On Mar. 20 of this year, on what would have been their 44th wedding anniversary, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono made her own plea for tougher gun control in the U.S when she tweeted a photo of the blood-spattered glasses her husband was wearing when he was killed. - Billboard...... In other McCartney news, Macca will be among the headliners of the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, which is set for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park from Aug. 9-11. Also on the bill are Paul's son James McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Willie Nelson & Family, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Nine Inch Nails, among many others. It will be the first ever OLMAF performance for Paul, who recently announced a series of U.S. dates on his "Out There" tour. - Billboad...... The judge in the upcoming trial of Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson against concert promoter AEG said except for medical emergencies, she won't consider any more excuses from potential jurors to be dismissed from jury duty. Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos received a flurry of last-minute notes on Apr. 16 from people asking to leave the case because of scheduling and financial hardships they had not claimed earlier. She excused 10 more panelists from a pool of 87 and ordered attorneys to begin individual questioning. Jury selection in the case continued the following day. - AP...... Although Stevie Nicks has said Reese Witherspoon would be her choice to portray her in a biopic, she now seems to be cooling to the idea. Nicks, 64, told Entertainment Tonight Canada at the Toronto premiere of her new documentary, In Your Dreams, on Apr. 16 that "I've already told [Reese] she's almost too old." Witherspoon, 37, won an Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award for her role as June Carter Cash in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. In Your Dreams is a behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of her 2011 solo album of the same name. - Rolling Stone...... Former Oasis principal Noel Gallagher revealed during a radio interview on Apr. 20 that David Bowie could "have another album in the pipeline" to followup his new album, The Next Day. "According to people I've spoken to, there's another album in the pipeline. There was, like, 29 songs or something," Gallagher said on the Absolute Radio special "Bowie Part 3 - Let's Dance To The Next Day (1980-2013)." But Gallagher added that he "doesn't know what's next for Bowie." "He could disappear for another ten years or there could be another album. He might do the greatest tour of all time or he might never gig again. Who knows?," he added. - NME...... Meanwhile, sometime Bowie collaborator and electronic music pioneer Brian Eno has reportedly composed two music scores which will be used to help treat patients in hospital. The Montefiore Hospital in Hove, East Sussex, UK, has launched two music and light installations created by the famed producer and former Roxy Music man. The first piece, "77 Million Paintings for Montefiore," will be played in the hospital's reception area and will employ an electronic system called "generative music" so the sounds are constantly changing and never repeat themselves. Eno released his last LP, Lux, in November of 2012. - NME...... Frank "Poncho" Sampedro, a guitarist in Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, says Young's upcoming tour of the UK may be his last. "My gut tells me this is really the last tour," said Sampedro, who started playing with Crazy Horse in 1975. "It takes a lot of energy to play that much," the guitarist said. He also said that Young's "wrist bugs him, and he has to tape it when he plays... I already had an operation on my thumb... It just seems at some point something is going to break." Young and Crazy Horse began their current world tour in North America, and kick off a UK tour on June 10 in Newcastle, also hitting Birmingham (6/11), Glasgow (6/13), London (6/17) and Liverpool (6/18) before wrapping with another show at London's O2 on June 19. - NME...... Legendary American TV and movie star Dick Van Dyke says he's seeing doctors for a baffling health problem, and is seeking advice online as well. A spokesman for Van Dyke said on Apr. 18 that the 87-year-old actor is undergoing tests for "cranial throbbing" that's causing him to lose sleep. The sensation occurs when Van Dyke lies down, and scans and other tests have yet to yield a diagnosis. Van Dyke drew a number of responses to his Tweet for help on Apr. 17, including questions about what's been done so far for the problem he described as stubborn. "It has been going on for 7 years. I've had every test you can think of," he replied, including an MRI and spinal tap. The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis Murder star was to accept an award in late April from New York's 92nd Street Y but canceled the trip. He has been advised not to fly and is resting at his Malibu home, according to the spokesman. - AP...... Award-winning country and folk singer Rita MacNeil, beloved in her native Canada for hosting her own variety show in the 1990s and a certified triple-platinum album seller, died on Apr. 16 from post-surgical complications. She was 68. MacNeil had her biggest hit with 1986's Top 40 Canadian hit "Flying On Your Own," which was covered by another Canadian icon, Anne Murray, the following year. Another song, "Working Man," landed at No. 11 on the U.K. chart in 1990. In the 90s, she also had three albums chart in Australia. Known as Canada's "First Lady of Song," MacNeil won three Juno Awards, numerous East Coast Music Awards, Country Music Awards, and a Gemini Award for her CBC television variety show, Rita & Friends, that ran from 1994 to 1997 and consistently drew 2 million viewers. - Billboard...... Veteran NFL broadcaster and former pro football player Pat Summerall died on Apr. 16 of cardiac arrest in Dallas, Tex. He was 82.

STORM THORGERSON, 1944-2013: Graphic artist Storm Thorgerson, the English designer of one of the most famous rock music album covers of all time, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, as well as countless other eye-catching album sleeves, died on Apr. 17 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. A long-term collaborator with Pink Floyd and childhood friend of members of the founding members of the band, Thorgerson had an illustrious 40-year career in graphic design and was also responsible for artwork for such acts as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Genesis, 10cc, Peter Gabriel, Alan Parsons Project and Muse. Born in Potters Bar, Herts, in 1944, Thorgerson studied English and Philosophy at Leicester University as well as Film and TV at the Royal College of Art. He began his career with British design group Hipgnosis, which was founded in the late 1960s, and his distinctive style soon made him one of the graphic design industry's most recognizable artists. But it was his design for Pink Floyd's best-selling 1973' space-rock epic Dark Side of the Moon for which he was best known. "It's a nice but simple idea," he told the BBC in 2009.

Further reading on Super Seventies RockSite!: "The Album Covers of Pink Floyd" by Storm Thorgerson

"Refracting light through a prism is a common feature in nature, as in a rainbow. I would like to claim it, but unfortunately it's not mine!" Thorgerson said the idea came from the late Rick Wright, Pink Floyd's keyboard player. "(Rick) said, somewhat provocatively, 'Let's not have one of your photos, we've had your photos before. Can't we have a change? A cool graphic -- something smart, tidy, elegant'." Thorgerson, who designed artwork for more than ten Pink Floyd albums, as well as boxed sets and reissues, later added: "People pay me for my thoughts and my dreams. I think in that sense I'm very fortunate." "The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work. I will miss him," said Pink Floyd guitarist/singer Dave Gilmour, for whom Thorgerson served as best man at his wedding. "He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend," Gilmour added. "Two days before he passed away, and by then completely exhausted, he was still demanding approval for artwork and haranguing his loyal assistants... he was a tireless worker right up to the end," added Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. A statement issued by Thorgerson's management said: "His ending was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends... He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003." Thorgerson is survived by his mother Vanji, his son Bill, his wife Barbie Antonis and her two children Adam and Georgia. - The Telegraph/The Daily Mail UK, 4/18/13.